Crazy Trek to Siddara Betta

"You have been staying in Bangalore for so long and never went for trekking", a friend said who later explained to me everything about trekking. But what he didn't understand was that I was scared, scared of heights and scared of disappointing people around me. Leaving aside all my fear I chose to register for this trek organized by Vikram who in Vijaya's opinion is the "Clever guy". Since I don't remember the names of all of my trek mates I ll be naming them with what I observed about them..

As the day came closer the nervousness and excitement grew in me and I couldn't sleep the entire night before the trek... Finally I reached Majestic and everyone else was surprisingly on time and the journey began at 7am.. We introduced ourselves and played dumb charades dividing us into two teams.. Pralove, Dinesh and Ashish were such Professionals that we didn't even had to act much for them to guess the movie... We stopped on the way to eat breakfast and pack lunch, here I spoke to Meghal , Pralove and other guys. Finally, after breakfast we left to reach the hill. On the way I saw various other "Betta's" and ponds which I would love to explore and guys ensure you keep your eyes open during the journey it's beautiful...

We reached our destination at around 10am, and straightaway headed towards the hill after introducing ourselves and were also made aware of the rules of BTC. While walking towards the hill I saw my nightmare right in front of my eyes "never ending stairs", I saw my journey coming to an end even before starting it... I got nervous but anyway started walking not even crossing 1.5 km I was exhausted and the fear of disappointing people was right there..... I saw people walking past me and I thought "Jess you aren't just disappointing but irritating people now".. Thank you Meghal, Pralove and Aamir to not letting me give up and kept motivating me because the next part of the journey was worth every bit of struggle I went through.. finally I walked and walked and crawled on a big rock. This is where we were divided into two groups- One group of 10 people including me ;) took the caves way led by Vikram and the others who could not catch up went the stairs way led by Aamir..

"My beginning wasn't great, so what I ll improve my end" - feeling determined I walked further. Once I climbed the rock I saw caves and said to myself " No giving up, don't look down, don't be afraid, ignore the insects and just keep moving...". These were the same words that kept repeating on my mind throughout the journey.. Dinesh and Pralove were like knights to me, they stayed by my side and ensured I did well, I slipped once, jumped, climbed the trees and rocks, and crawled my way up with the help of everyone.. They initially called me "Agra" because my name is quite complicated but later started calling me "Taj express" well, mostly because I did well inside the caves than on the stairs... It was scary yet fascinating at the same time and this is what kept me going... The selfie queen did not miss a chance to take pictures in the beauty of the caves and I can totally understand her happiness because I was taking pictures too and capturing every bit of memory in the camera... While I was happily taking pictures and climbing the rocks I heard a sound, turned back with a horrified expression saw Pralove slipped and got injured but thankfully he balanced himself well and no serious injuries took place... So we kept moving and just when we were about to reach the top we got lost and even after going here and there we realised we have been moving around the same place in the cave trying to figure out a way. Finally, we headed slightly down and found our way towards the temple.. "Aaahhhh such I relief" - I said with the cold breeze flowing across my face, it gave a sense of relief and happiness that I hv finally made it. 

Next, we went inside the temple, me, Pralove, Vikram and Dinesh went first followed by the others. Just like the other temples we had to wash our hands and feets but here they pour water on our heads too. So, they poured cold water on my head 5 times which almost felt like taking a nice shower with cold water, then we took aarti applied teeka and came out. Finally, we went further up took pictures, opened our lunch boxes and shared snacks.... I had already lost my appetite because of the excitement and happiness that I just couldn't eat.. "Jess you made it, you overcame the hurdles and you ll fear less now on..." - I thought with joy...

Now, we headed back down and I slipped twice again, Thank god, no injuries... And we descended back to the bus... All tired yet with full of energy Ashish and Vikram started dancing... Later I danced too followed by Geeta, from the Seeta-Geeta duo. Later they sang songs n I slept for a while until the bus stopped for a tea break... We drank tea and coffee respectively, had snacks and continued our journey back home. This is when Vijaya named Vikram "the clever one" I would say "Double meaning don" and Aamir "the innocent guy".. Their conversation I must say was hilarious all of us had a great laugh...

Finally, concluding our journey we all went back home. I must thank all of you for being a part of this astounding journey especially Dinesh and Pralove for staying by my side, Aamir for carrying my bag and Vikram for organizing the trek, constantly entertaining us and ensuring we go safe... To all of you who were a part of this beautiful journey -My first trek... 

by Jesinta Rozario