Introduction
With all the pent up energy from the previous weekends trek to BM betta still surging through me, I knew I had to do something the following week as well. It wouldn't matter if it was another one-dayer or the typical 2 day jaunt with the usual overnight bus journeys and one night spent camping in the forest.
So I decided to enquire with some of my old trek buddies if they were ready to do a two day thing. A few conversations over two days, and a plan was baked and ready by Wednesday evening. It was going to be 7 of us. The plan was more or less the same, i.e for easy treks. Get into the eastern stream at Nagala, show the newbies the sights, the pools, waterfalls and all, spend ample time at those places and then call it a night with warm soup by the stream. The next day cook some happy breakfast, indulge in some sliding, diving, frolicking around in the pool, get a fish pedicure, and do some underwater exploration. Check out the other pools nearby, and exit early in the evening. At least, that was the plan!
Day 0
It was Friday evening, and I was all packed and ready for the trek. I was ecstatic as this was to be the first full blown 2 day trek after months of lockdown. I left for the Majestic bus stand in Bangalore all exuberant and cheerful, listening to my favourite mashup tracks on Youtube. I had booked the 11 PM sleeper bus to Tirupathi.
I arrived at the bus stand quite early and had lots of time to kill. So I made a few calls to some of my trek buddies and we talked about the good old days of trekking. Not the days before Covid-19. But the older days, where everyone trekked almost every weekend, and no one was married or had other commitments to attend to. Those were the days!
Continuously blabbering on the phone, I was totally oblivious to the time and before I knew it, it was already time to board my bus. I got to the terminal, reached the bus and read out my PNR number to the conductor. I climbed into the bus and stopped at the third stair. I gazed into the eyes of the person who I was going to hand over my life to for the next 6 hours. He looked straight ahead with a blank stare on his face, and didn't as much as give a slight tilt towards my side when he (must have) noticed me staring.
Did I really have to connect with him on that level? I didn't have to, as I later saw what a smooth driver he was. Not once did I feel threatened or get woken up during the entire journey, and I can confidently declare that it was one of the smoothest bus rides I've ever taken to a trek.
Day 1
I arrived at Tirupathi early Saturday morning. The rest of gang was to get in from Hyderabad. And it was only then, that I got to know that they'd be joining me directly at Nagala instead of the main Tirupati bus stand. But as it often happens on treks, plans got changed at the last minute and they landed up at Puttur, a town not very far from our main destination. And again, as fate would have it, they ended up getting on the very bus that I was on. So with pleasantries and introductions completed, myself and Anil got around to discussing the itinerary for the day. And that's how the rest of the bus ride to Nagala went.
Once at Nagala, we got around to purchasing vegetables and chicken for the Biryani that was to be cooked by the stream at night, along with some processed stuff for Sunday afternoons lunch. The weather was quite salubrious owing to a week of continuous rain, as told to me by one of my contacts at the town. One could easily make out it that it had been raining as the soil was damp, and there were lots of puddles all over the place. It was also exceptionally cool and breezy that day. It is usually hot and humid in Nagala for most part of the year.
After purchasing the requisite foodstuff, we moved towards the bus stand to hire an auto to take us to the dam, the start point of the trek. The scenery on the way is definitely something you do not want to miss out on. Although the SS Puram road is in a pathetic condition right now, it's an absolute pleasure and joy to cruise on otherwise. You'll be mesmerized with stunning views of the majestic peaks in the distance, while breathing in the fresh forest air that lingers en route the main village. After an extremely bumpy ride in the auto, we arrived at the breakfast point on the road with all our joints intact.
Fresh piping hot Idlis, dosas and Puris welcomed us into the miniature eatery, as vehicles whizzed past us on the road below, blowing the rising steam from our plates into our faces. The red hot chutney, or "kaaram" as it is called, burned my senses as usual and stirred up poignant memories of my earliest days at Nagala. How so many generations of people I've trekked with have now gone ahead with their own lives, leaving me to trek here with the ever floating population, that is the trekking community in India.
I took care not to overeat unlike previous treks where I'd always end up taking a dump somewhere on the trail before the trek could even start. The energizing essence of the Kaaram and other chutneys can turn even the most disciplined eaters into gluttons who will overeat and bloat themselves out. If it were for anything, I'd come here every weekend just to have Idlis with the different varieties of chutneys they have to offer, especially the fiery red Kaaram.
It was 9 by the time we got into the first pool and began playing in the water. The first-timers to Nagala couldn't contain their excitement, and started yelling and screaming their lungs out on spotting the waterfall at the end of the pool. We spent close to an hour there and then took the call to leave as more groups shuffled into the area and started crowding the pool.
The initial trail to the first pool was overgrown with shrubs and was teeming with life in the form of mushrooms, flowers, reptiles and insects. We even saw a snake dart across a pool right in front of our eyes. Luckily, I captured part of it on my camera.
We left for the dead-end pool, and reached there in less than an hour. There was another group of 5 here who had the same plans for the night as us. We'd be seeing them again later in the evening at a common campsite. We all got into the water and swam over to the other side to feast our eyes on the majestic gorge and waterfall. We spent close to 3 hours at the dead end pool, jumping, swimming, and just lazing around in the pool, exactly the way one is supposed to relax and rejuvenate themselves on a weekend. After tiring out our bodies with all the fun and frolic, we dived into our lunch packets with gusto and then settled down to a nice long nap. There was no need of a "power nap" for once, unlike the rest of the 99% of treks I go on, as this was a relaxed foodie trek.
It was early evening by the time we decided to make a move for our campsite, the magic pool plateau. I was tricked into thinking it was sundown by the low hanging monsoon clouds, and started hurrying the group up to pack up and start moving for the campsite, when one of them reminded me that it was just 5 in the evening.
Oh you mischievous monsoon clouds! You tricked me again, didn't you?
By around 5.30 or so, we started packing up and moving from there, one by one, to regroup at the cave and then head for the sliding pool as a single unit.
We arrived at the campsite exceptionally early and I was able to get two hours of rest before joining the others in the kitchen. But instead of food, I was welcomed by the sorry sight of everyone desperately trying to get the fire started. They were trying to get the wet logs to burn since the last 2 hours and had failed every single time. I immediately sent some of them to go get a bunch of dry logs which I caught sight of at the cave on the way up. We then got the fire started, made our meals and hit the sack at around 11 in the night. Still not too late for a trek. Funnily enough, it is sleeping early that is an issue on most treks. People either keep chatting all night to get themselves to sleep, or wake up extremely early next morning to relish and bask in the silence of dawn when everyone's still asleep.
The moon rose high up into the sky behind one of the many beautiful hill formations of Nagala and shone brightly into everyone's faces negating the need for flashlights. This was the best part of camping on the magic pool plateau and I knew it. There were intermittent clouds playing hide n' seek with the moon like they do with the sun during the day.
Day 2
The second day began with long yawns and droopy eyes as most of us hadn't slept well. I remember watching the others slant precariously on a steep slope when I had gone to fetch water some time after midnight. I was the only one in the group who found flat space to sleep, yet barely managed to get any sleep at all. It was the constant buzzing of insects and their antics that kept me up for most of the night. Then at some point - I have no idea when - my body just gave up fighting with them and crashed. But I woke up terribly drained as if I hadn't slept at all.
With a different set of insects (along with the sun) now thwarting my second attempt to sleep, I decided enough was enough and got up for the day. I changed into my swimming trunks and descended to the magic pool which was on the other side of the plateau.
Trek or no trek, an early morning swim always does the body wonders!
A few steps above the pool, some folks from the group were seated on the rocks and engaged in soft early morning conversation. I greeted them as I got down, lowered myself into the water, and let the blissful cold envelop me as I swam. After moving around for a while, I stood still and let the pedicure fishes do their thing. The others were still seated on the rocks and engaged in conversation, while checking on me every now and then. After a while, they got up and went to the campsite.
I waddled in the water for a few more minutes and then went to join them. I was disappointed with the news they had for me. After the previous night's stunts with the fire, and with most of the ingredients for the fresh food spoiled, none of them were in a mood to cook. And we now had to make do with whatever processed stuff we had. This was a total bummer as this was supposed to be a foodie trek with lots of fresh food involved. I didn't want to have any dry processed stuff right at the beginning of the day, and so just gulped down a few mouthfuls of glucose powder along with some water for an energetic start.
It was at that moment that another impromptu change was made to the plans. Here we go again!
It was decided that one of the organizers and I would go back to the dead end pool as he wanted to experience the gorge one more time, while the rest of the gang would stay at the sliding pool to slide and play in the water. We decided to meet at a common point on the eastern stream at 1 in the afternoon, and then break for lunch at the first pool. Some in the group were trying to push for an early exit in the afternoon, but since I'd already booked my tickets for the night, we deferred our exit to the evening.
I mean, what was I going to do all alone at the Tirupathi bus stand for 6 whole hours anyway? Even If I decided to stay back, it would be a terrible waste of my time lounging around in the pools just to push for a late exit. Both groups promptly made it to the rendezvous point at 1. We then discussed how much time we'd like to kill at the pool before starting for our exit. Since they wanted to get out of the forest in the afternoon, and with me pining for a late evening exit, we decided to do a middle ground and exit at 4 in the evening. Keeping that in mind, we had our lunch at the first pool, and spent the appropriate amount of time at the rest of the pools on the way out, so as to get out by 4.
Being Sunday, there were a ton of trekkers at the first pool, with more groups entering and leaving as we were there. It was clear that the amount of trash on the boulders around the pool had significantly increased, and I made a mental note to come clean it up some time like I've done in the past. We arrived at the dam just as the clock struck 4, and there were intermittent low hanging clouds sprinkling water on us every now and then. The droplets were clearly visible on the vast area covered by dam water. But it never rained. We arrived at a local village house to eat the Bondas and Bajjis we had ordered the previous day. And boy did they taste heavenly after two days of trekking!
I tried to capture the stillness and tranquility of the backwaters as the droplets fell:
We got into the auto at the dam, reached the village home where we'd ordered food, and sat down to some scrumptious bajjis and bondas with coffee. We spent close to 45 mins here gorging on the Bondas one after another, and they tasted absolutely divine after a trek. It was 6 by now and we decided to make a move for it, as the guys wanted to catch an early train departing from Puttur for Hyderabad.
At the Nagalapuram bus stand, we again got into a private auto who took us all the way to Puttur. I had never rode on the main Puttur-Satyavedu highway in an auto and this was the part of the trip that was most euphoric for me. The view of the wide highway, majestically flanked by mountains on both sides, which is usually covered by the bonnet of a car or the windows of a bus for the majority of times I've been here, was now open and unhindered. This stretch is a trekkers playground and definitely must be on the bucket list for all the diehard fans of trekking and exploration. It was absolutely mesmerizing and captivating to be surrounded by mountains on all sides, especially when the scenery is painted by the colours of dusk.
We arrived at the train station just as the train blew its departing whistle, and I saw them off in total filmy style, without even as much as getting a chance to say goodbye. They had to make a wild dash for it from the auto, and the last of them boarded the train like how the heroes do in movies, running and jumping into it as it rolls out of the station. I sauntered back to the Puttur town area amidst all the noise and cacophony of the market area. Too much to take after two blissful days spent in the tranquility of nature. I plonked myself at the bus stand as I waited to hop into any bus going to Tirupathi. I got one in a few minutes and arrived at Tirupathi in an hour or so.
At the Tirupathi bus stand, I was in for some major disappointment. The AC waiting lounge was no longer there, and I couldn't relive my memories of 10 years spent waiting there for the sleeper bus to Bangalore. I badly missed the Telugu movies with its uber loud speakers enveloping the entire lounge with the movie being played as the AC froze you over, completely blocking out all the cacophony of the bus stand, with the constant air horns of buses and yelling of conductors unable to penetrate inside.
I then remembered that I hadn't had my dinner yet, so I could somehow kill time doing that. I walked out of the bus stand, found a Chinese place by the main road and sat down to some very mediocre fare. I should have trusted my instincts and gone for the traditional food on the cart. But how much cart food could one possibly have? As trekkers well know, the craving is for something tangy and filling after a trek.
I finished it quickly, got back to the bus stand and boarded my bus back to Bengaluru. Not bad for a first trek to Nagala. After months of lockdown, it sure felt like a breath of fresh air!
