Kolli Hills Trek Jan 10-11 2009

Great start this new year was with about 20 km of tough trekking to over 1000 m altitude along the difficult trails of Kolli Hills!

First of all it was a nice re-union for me to meet my new trekker friends whom I met in Yelagiri trek. We started by salem express at chennai central railway station at 23:40 hours to salem, from where we went to the kolli hills base by tempos. Seeing 80 plus young men and women with trekking suits, the whole central station was staring at us differently :-D . The other passengers in the train even started whispering among themselves like "They are all from national geographic channel. That white man (Peter) is the trainer and they are going for scientific expedition". Wah! it felt lot of pride!!

Day 1 started with a mission to reach summit1 at altitude 1064 m and back to the base camp at Arapaleeswarar temple; and having dip in the stream on the way. The trek heads led us along the trails to the planned destination. "Move, move" and "just 10 more minutes" were the keywords. These words, along with reliance fresh apples, peer fruits, glucon-d and other snacks kept us moving. And thanks to the soup at the base! That is most memorable in the two day trek!

Day 2 plan was to trek to the water falls and caves in the hills and back. Never ever thought even steps could be this much difficult. Ever stepped up/down sever kilometers of steps? Day 2 trek was even more difficult and had absorbed the whole of our energy. Day 2 stream was even more fun! "10 more minutes" magic didn't work out this time, for all its magic had been hijacked by the tough terrains with slippery mud somewhere and thick forest around. When we finished the trek and reached the base at arapaleeswarar temple, all of us flooded the shops to re-energise ourselves. All some of us wanted was sleep and we even skipped lunch for it (ofcourse took other snacks). The heads informed us of another plan. To trek down the hills to the hill base and board the tempos to railway station from there. Ouch!! They gave another option, to go by tempo right from there!! This sounded appropriate for some of us and we did it! Some trekkers went the first way.

And the 2 day trekking event was great fun! Enjoy the kolli hills trek photos here!!

Yelargiri Nov 08 Group

The mighty tough terrains trekkers from CTC!! Visit http://www.tnik.in/trekking-expeditions for more trekking albums!!

Happy New Year 2009

Wish you all a happy and prosperous new year :-)

We wish you great success and prosperity in the coming year.

TNIK India goes live in own domain!

TNIK India (The Name Is Karthikeyan India) has so far been at http://sites.google.com/site/thenameiskarthikeyan. Beginning Wednesday, 10th December 2008, TNIK India is hosted on its own domain tnik.in. Watch out for more fun and updates from TNIK India!!

Also this blog, which has so far been http://thenameiskarthikeyan.blogspot.com is hosted from http://blog.tnik.in.

Yelagiri Bike Trip and Trek

     As soon as I found my name in the confirmed participants list mail, I was totally excited! Wah! Karthikeyan goes trekking! On friday, 21st nov 2008, I left office early at around 8:30 PM so as to get up early the next day for joining the trek. After debating with myself if the alarm time should be 3:30 AM or 4:00 AM, I decided to go with 4:00 AM.

Polaama... venamaa...

4:00 AM should have been sufficient enough, had it not been raining so heavily. Ouch! My judgement failed! I hurriedly packed one extra set clothes, a pair of canvas shoes, brush, paste and a bed sheet. 

By the time I set out Guindy (from chromepet) with my bike, it was already 4:45, just 15 mins before the scheduled depature time from Guindy Le Meridien hotel. With the week long expectation and enthusiasm on, I kept riding to the place. I could reach the place only at 5:20 AM, far behind the schedule. I breathed a relief sigh only after finding Baskar and Krish Waiting there for the rest of the group. Soon joined Chaaru and . Finding me without cover from rain, Baskar offered his bike jacket to me. Thanks Baskar. Krish was fully and professionally packed with sleeping mat and other trekking goods in his back pack. I thought, "ennadaa idhu.. malai yera pack panna sonna vinvelikku pora maari pack panni irukkaan..?".  I later realised how wrong I was.

All along, it still kept raining. We waited for the other group from Tidel park, the other pickup point. They were stranded there in the rain. It was 7:00 AM or over by the time they reached Guindy. There I met the other heads of CTC, Vinodha, Vikki, and Amal to name a few. Oh oh... they were having bad news to convey. They doubted if we could make it to the trek safely due to the rains. My pictures of dreams and expectations with the trek appeared to blur. The other first timers too seemed to have the same feeling. Being a new comer, I was hesitant to maintain my stand to continuing with the trek. But still I managed to put some words to the heads with the support of other first timers. At around 8:00 AM, the group seemed to come up with a conclusion (don't know what) and started our vehicles towards porur. The rain didn't seem to make way. After crossing Poonamallee, the heads spoilt our dreams again by making a U turn and assembling us all in Poonamallee. Some of us (me, Baskar and few more) even secretly decided that we would still go with the trek, no matter what the heads and others decide. We took breakfast (packed chappathis) there. While still confusion was on, someone from bangalore group called one of the heads and encouraged to come forward for the trek because the weather was clear from their side. Adding to it, one of chennai trekkers was already at Yelagiri at 8:30 AM. This was sufficient to convince the heads to show a green signal to go trek.

Puyalaai purappadu!

All confusions disappeared and we started to Yelagiri at around 8:45 AM, close to 4 hours behind schedule! We CTC trekkers proved that we are mightier than the weather. We biked/carred to Yelagiri following the lead car and reached Yelagiri at around 3:30 PM. Ravi was all along with me through out the biking. It was so thrilling to ride uphill by bike through U bends and N bends and other tricky routes. Monkeys were there to cheer us in our journey!

And rest friends.. find out in the albums mentioned in the below link:

Kartrekeyan - Yelagiri Trekking Albums

A picture is worth 1000 words after all.

Day out at sea

Our office conducted a Day Out at Sea program at Tamilnadu Sailing Association (TNSA) in Sep 2008. Below are some of the moments:

I Promise To Be A Responsible Driver

I wish you prosperity and good luck in your life. I wish you own a luxurious car someday. If you already own one, I congratulate you for that. So being an owner/to be owner of a car ( or any vehicle for that matter), I think it is necessary that you read the below poem. I'm feeling fulfilled because I've put up my first worthy post in my blog :)

Death of an Innocent

I went to a party, Mom,
I remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I drank soda instead.

I really felt proud inside, Mom,
The way you said I would.
I didn't drink and drive, Mom,
Even though the others said I should.

I know I did the right thing, Mom,
I know you are always right.
Now the party is finally ending, Mom,
As everyone is driving out of sight.

As I got into my car, Mom,
I knew I'd get home in one piece.
Because of the way you raised me,
So responsible and sweet.

Please read the full poem at http://www.charityguide.org/volunteer/fifteen/death-of-an-innocent.htm
Also I recommend that u explore http://www.charityguide.org for other ways u can make a change in this world.

Regards,
Karthikeyan