Nagala Tales
I saw this HTC meetup, which was a trek to Nagalapuram, 2kms from Tirupathi. The photographs looked very convincing and attractive, as this is April and summer and the photos were all greenish and water-ish!! And I decided, I should get a good company and join the club.
So, I started asking my office friends and ex-office friends. Around 6 friends were ready to join me and it ended up that 3 persons joined. 😁
All of us paid for the trek and shopped the necessary items, of course, the day before the travel. Thus it arrived, the day to travel. 😘
We uber-ed till Secundarabad Railway Station, where we met the others, who were joining the trip! Waited for around half-an-hour (Yes! We were early!! ) and then came all the others and the train. We hopped on the train and two of my friends had to sit in another compartment. Oops! Forgot to introduce them - Myself, Nidhi, Kavi and Sarath are the four of us.
We talked, played dumb-charades in different languages and got to know most of the others, who had joined the trip. 😁
We got to sleep for a while, as we got our berths confirmed. Reached Tirupathi around 7 in the morning. We had to spend some time to freshen up and to have breakfast, after which we were all set to go. The drive to Nagalapuram !!!
It was 15 seater, where 18 of us had to travel. And my bad, I am the thin girl, so to share the seat. A 2-seater, where not even 2 people can fit. Three of us had to share it. :| All right, and I let it go, as the excitement to see Nagala was more than that momentary despair. :P
As we reached the trek starting point, we were dropped from the van and as I got down, I realized the hot sun was planning to roast us like a chicken gets roasted in an oven. Though it drained me of all the water in my body, it did not drain the excitement to trek into that forest, which was waiting for us all. Before we start, hydrate! hydrate! hydrate!.. that happened and the walk started.
We climbed upon what looked like a canal's shores built out of stones, crossed it to find the path(ஒத்தையடி பாதை , as we call it) that lead to the forest. The sun made us take shelter in even the smallest shade we could find, in the beginning. It was a dry land with shrugs, after all. As we kept following the route, big trees began to appear, wanting all of us to settle down, hydrate, feel the breeze, of course, in addition to clicking pictures.
The trekking continued and now, to all of our refreshments, came a small stream of water, which was sparkling clean and perhaps, it had some magic in it, to make whoever walk through it joyful.
It was a start. Our first stop was at a small waterfall and it was lunch time. Waterfall and a pool. One can get into the pool, by that, I mean, swim across the pool and reach the rocks where water fell from the top. I am no swimmer, by the way. For people like me, they had those balloons and the rings filled with air and a rope tied to the trees. By the time, I was ready to cross the pool, which was 9ft, 4ft taller than me, all the rings and the air balloons were taken over by the others. Now, people are encouraging me to just hold on to the rope and that I could float across to the other side to the waterfall. Whaat?!! Yes, but opposed to what you are thinking, I decided to give it a try and in the mid way, I panicked and my specs got broken and I was drowning and of course, the saviors were trying to save me, lol! Anyway, I was rescued, but the mood was not spoiled. So, myself and Nidhi followed others to sit on a rock under the water fall and guess what, best experience. You walk in the scorching hot sun and you find the cleanest water you could, falling from the mountains, and you are drenching in it. What can I say?! Its the beginning..
After all the fun, swimmers by swimming and me by just sitting and watching with my legs in water, maggie, upma & drinks were served by the in house chefs :D and that was the delicious maggie & upma, I ever had. ( As I never liked maggie or upma very much). After a short lunch break, we started walking further deep into the forest. Now I was getting the forest vibe, as I started trekking on hilly slopes, rocky paths. People were helping each other, crossing some narrow paths, with rocks on one side and valley on the other.. We kept going, crossed few sparking streams and reached the final pool, in the top of the mountain. And the height of the pool was 30 something ft. You got it right, I never drenched my feet even.. I was sitting on the top of the pool, in the rocks.. watching people have fun.. It was somewhere in the evenings.. Sun was about to set.. there was a small water stream above that pool, near the rocks, for kids like me to play with water. :D I played there.
Our trek organizers had it all planned. We were to cook vegetable pulao for the dinner. They even got pickles as side dish. My job was not to cook, as I am not an expert there, but to just cut the veggies and help the in house chef. We were all hungry after all the walk and playing around in the water and when we sat down to have the veg briyani for dinner, nothing else had ever been the delicious food in my lifetime. No, not the one, I had in that italian restaurant.. not the one, I had in that pricey briyani house.. But this veg briyani was filling both the stomach and the soul. Not lying, all the truth.
Time to rest. We started lying around on the rocks, where there was a clear sky view, as the sun set and the moon appeared.. watching the sky with all those million stars twinkling. I was wondering, when I watched the sky from the hostel roof, where did all these stars go, . It was a sight, one could cherish forever, not a camera can capture that beautiful beauty. The feeling like you are in the space, among the stars.
As if, we were not mesmerised by the pitch darkness, the quiet and the starry night, we started seeing blinking greenlights, wandering around the rocks, trees and our heads. Fireflies!
**** Memerised ***** Lost in that beautiful sight ******
No other words!
When it was time to sleep, we camped under the trees, nearby. Used sleeping bags or some sheets, and the roots ( :( ) as the bed, to sleep.. or atleast tried and the morning arrived.. brushed our teeth..had upma again (delish, yes), packed our bags, started walking down, stopped at few not-so-deep pools.. where we had fish pedicure -free of cost. Then back to the van and away from the nature.
Memories are cherished!
So, I started asking my office friends and ex-office friends. Around 6 friends were ready to join me and it ended up that 3 persons joined. 😁
All of us paid for the trek and shopped the necessary items, of course, the day before the travel. Thus it arrived, the day to travel. 😘
We uber-ed till Secundarabad Railway Station, where we met the others, who were joining the trip! Waited for around half-an-hour (Yes! We were early!! ) and then came all the others and the train. We hopped on the train and two of my friends had to sit in another compartment. Oops! Forgot to introduce them - Myself, Nidhi, Kavi and Sarath are the four of us.
We talked, played dumb-charades in different languages and got to know most of the others, who had joined the trip. 😁
We got to sleep for a while, as we got our berths confirmed. Reached Tirupathi around 7 in the morning. We had to spend some time to freshen up and to have breakfast, after which we were all set to go. The drive to Nagalapuram !!!
It was 15 seater, where 18 of us had to travel. And my bad, I am the thin girl, so to share the seat. A 2-seater, where not even 2 people can fit. Three of us had to share it. :| All right, and I let it go, as the excitement to see Nagala was more than that momentary despair. :P
As we reached the trek starting point, we were dropped from the van and as I got down, I realized the hot sun was planning to roast us like a chicken gets roasted in an oven. Though it drained me of all the water in my body, it did not drain the excitement to trek into that forest, which was waiting for us all. Before we start, hydrate! hydrate! hydrate!.. that happened and the walk started.
We climbed upon what looked like a canal's shores built out of stones, crossed it to find the path(ஒத்தையடி பாதை , as we call it) that lead to the forest. The sun made us take shelter in even the smallest shade we could find, in the beginning. It was a dry land with shrugs, after all. As we kept following the route, big trees began to appear, wanting all of us to settle down, hydrate, feel the breeze, of course, in addition to clicking pictures.
The trekking continued and now, to all of our refreshments, came a small stream of water, which was sparkling clean and perhaps, it had some magic in it, to make whoever walk through it joyful.
It was a start. Our first stop was at a small waterfall and it was lunch time. Waterfall and a pool. One can get into the pool, by that, I mean, swim across the pool and reach the rocks where water fell from the top. I am no swimmer, by the way. For people like me, they had those balloons and the rings filled with air and a rope tied to the trees. By the time, I was ready to cross the pool, which was 9ft, 4ft taller than me, all the rings and the air balloons were taken over by the others. Now, people are encouraging me to just hold on to the rope and that I could float across to the other side to the waterfall. Whaat?!! Yes, but opposed to what you are thinking, I decided to give it a try and in the mid way, I panicked and my specs got broken and I was drowning and of course, the saviors were trying to save me, lol! Anyway, I was rescued, but the mood was not spoiled. So, myself and Nidhi followed others to sit on a rock under the water fall and guess what, best experience. You walk in the scorching hot sun and you find the cleanest water you could, falling from the mountains, and you are drenching in it. What can I say?! Its the beginning..
After all the fun, swimmers by swimming and me by just sitting and watching with my legs in water, maggie, upma & drinks were served by the in house chefs :D and that was the delicious maggie & upma, I ever had. ( As I never liked maggie or upma very much). After a short lunch break, we started walking further deep into the forest. Now I was getting the forest vibe, as I started trekking on hilly slopes, rocky paths. People were helping each other, crossing some narrow paths, with rocks on one side and valley on the other.. We kept going, crossed few sparking streams and reached the final pool, in the top of the mountain. And the height of the pool was 30 something ft. You got it right, I never drenched my feet even.. I was sitting on the top of the pool, in the rocks.. watching people have fun.. It was somewhere in the evenings.. Sun was about to set.. there was a small water stream above that pool, near the rocks, for kids like me to play with water. :D I played there.
Our trek organizers had it all planned. We were to cook vegetable pulao for the dinner. They even got pickles as side dish. My job was not to cook, as I am not an expert there, but to just cut the veggies and help the in house chef. We were all hungry after all the walk and playing around in the water and when we sat down to have the veg briyani for dinner, nothing else had ever been the delicious food in my lifetime. No, not the one, I had in that italian restaurant.. not the one, I had in that pricey briyani house.. But this veg briyani was filling both the stomach and the soul. Not lying, all the truth.
Time to rest. We started lying around on the rocks, where there was a clear sky view, as the sun set and the moon appeared.. watching the sky with all those million stars twinkling. I was wondering, when I watched the sky from the hostel roof, where did all these stars go, . It was a sight, one could cherish forever, not a camera can capture that beautiful beauty. The feeling like you are in the space, among the stars.
As if, we were not mesmerised by the pitch darkness, the quiet and the starry night, we started seeing blinking greenlights, wandering around the rocks, trees and our heads. Fireflies!
**** Memerised ***** Lost in that beautiful sight ******
No other words!
When it was time to sleep, we camped under the trees, nearby. Used sleeping bags or some sheets, and the roots ( :( ) as the bed, to sleep.. or atleast tried and the morning arrived.. brushed our teeth..had upma again (delish, yes), packed our bags, started walking down, stopped at few not-so-deep pools.. where we had fish pedicure -free of cost. Then back to the van and away from the nature.
Memories are cherished!
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