Chapter 1 : The beginning
I don’t wanna Extuberate or exenterate in the very beginning of this post…. I actually involve myself in every post to replicate my actual feelings…but for this post I have no words to describe… am an average office worker… bound to live with limitations and technically advanced environment…. Spotting a snake or running an extra mile in the thread mill or winning a tough cricket or scoring more points in a video game…. We call all these as top notch apart from those at work places…..but they are professional anyways (I mean the work achievements)…. In the middle of life with fulla technical advanced world and secured risks, we had a big 48 hours of unforgettable memories that made us to forget- project deadlines
- appraisals, hikes and bonus
- managers/leads
- Bangalore traffic
- any mental tortures in the routine life (catching the cab on time for that matter)
The innocent/magnificent/awesome/bravo/deadly 7 wer all ready for kick off on last Friday night…. We booked a quails and managed to leave Bangalore around midnite… we planned to be back with in 20 hours or so as the place is only 200 kms away from Bangalore… The usual fun and enjoyment one would have…. We slowly dozed away jus an hour before we reach the destination…. Not enough sleep yaar…. Its 7 am already…. We had few idlis and vadas in sakleshpur before we proceed (pic.1)…. Trust me the TEA in that region is mindblowing (pic. 2)… don’t miss it !!!... We then moved on to Donigul which is the starting place for the unique railway line trekking (infact it should be called as ‘track’ing )
PIC. 1: The first break .. the breakfast 
Pic. 2: Mindblowing tea session soon 
The information all i(we) know is that we just gotto walk along the rails for some kms and detour from the track incase of extreme tiredness to catch some truck or bus to get back to the origin….. We bought food packs from a local shop near donigul…. And got detached from the quails… very unfortunately the driver din have a mobile…. So we instructed him to call us at 2 pm…. He said he will wait for us in a place called Gundiya…. ( I have no idea about wer the hell is that place)…. We were very much curious to kick off and so we din bothered to plan how to meet the driver once we are done with the ‘Tracking’ (Dude… trust me its one bloody big mistake that we did which has put us in deep trouble after 30 hours or so from that point)
We started to walk(Pic. 3,4,5 & 6)….the advice from a localite is to walk on a narrow path way for 3 kms or so to get the railway track and from there keep going towards the place ‘Yedakumeri’…. We don’t know anything else and our mind was anticipating the track route that time…. We started clicking snaps here and ther on the way… I felt the heat on me so quickly made me changed to my sleeveless and 3/4th … reached the railway bridge… oh man… this is awesome scene…. Mountains around….chill air even at 11 am amidst hot sun…. gracy river under the bridge that tempt us for a bath… (no chance… already wasted lotsa time.. miles to go before we sleep)… we all charged up with the scenice beauty after a 3 km walk on the hill….
The information all i(we) know is that we just gotto walk along the rails for some kms and detour from the track incase of extreme tiredness to catch some truck or bus to get back to the origin….. We bought food packs from a local shop near donigul…. And got detached from the quails… very unfortunately the driver din have a mobile…. So we instructed him to call us at 2 pm…. He said he will wait for us in a place called Gundiya…. ( I have no idea about wer the hell is that place)…. We were very much curious to kick off and so we din bothered to plan how to meet the driver once we are done with the ‘Tracking’ (Dude… trust me its one bloody big mistake that we did which has put us in deep trouble after 30 hours or so from that point)
We started to walk(Pic. 3,4,5 & 6)….the advice from a localite is to walk on a narrow path way for 3 kms or so to get the railway track and from there keep going towards the place ‘Yedakumeri’…. We don’t know anything else and our mind was anticipating the track route that time…. We started clicking snaps here and ther on the way… I felt the heat on me so quickly made me changed to my sleeveless and 3/4th … reached the railway bridge… oh man… this is awesome scene…. Mountains around….chill air even at 11 am amidst hot sun…. gracy river under the bridge that tempt us for a bath… (no chance… already wasted lotsa time.. miles to go before we sleep)… we all charged up with the scenice beauty after a 3 km walk on the hill….
Pic. 3: Start mission
Pic. 4: The Warriors of Earth and tracks on earth
Pic. 5: Oh yeah, we are curious
Pic. 6 : I guess we are nearing the tracks
Chapter 2 : On the track
So far so good…we started to walk on the track and our very first mission is to cross the immaculate bridge… we liked it… nothing to fear about as there were metal plate laid to walk on top of those sleepers… I jumped, danced, ramp walkd etc…. I love to live ther for ever…. (oops….miles to go before I sleep for ever)…
Pic. 7: The bridge and the tunnel:
We started to walk… we reached the first tunnel… 100 metrs or so… nthng much exciting (ofcourse, apart from the lavishing outlook)… the look of the tracks induced a kind of joy in me (a thing of joy is beauty for ever…
Pic. 8: The fearless hyena (me in the tunnel)
Pic. 9: Passenger train
I seriously admired the beauty of two friends stay together with out touching each other endless…. Seri seri… moving on…. We felt that the food pack is too heavy to carry and we gotto share the load (by eating it)… we took off from the track way and rested near the bank of a miniature river…showering enough water with apt force for us to wash our hands and fill the water bottles…. We opened the food packs and started to munch the idlis and parathas we bought(Pic. 10)…. It was quiet tasty (atleast for me) to have any tasteless food after a good long walk in the mountain….
Pic. 10: The royal lunch
All on a sudden a scene we saw had put all our walking-on-the-tracks fun in to complete jeopardy…. We just saw two giant train engine sailing on the track with a long horn then and ther…. Ayoooooo I din kno that the tracks are completely fixed for train route… I heard (the news long ago) that the tracks are still under construction…. We took that as a caution notice and ther after we fixed a flag in our mind to be aware of oncoming huge man made moving idiot (sorry object)….
Pic. 11: Move on soldiers
Pic 12: Never say die souls
We took a small 15 mins rest after lunch and started to proceed… we started facing more tunnels…and ther you are .. a 200+ metrs long tunnel… we lost the vision at one point…. All we had is a small torch that may cover few cms…. We 7 ppl managed to go with that one by one….man that is tough…!!! we slowly started to twist our ankles due to impaired vision inside the pitch dark caves….. the only question nudging every one that time was ….what to do if a train comes now?.....no answer though…. We kept walking… we admired the beauty and parallely we felt the souring knees begging for rest…. We din wanna waste our time by taking too much rest…
Pic. 13: 'Miles to go before i sleep'
Now, we encountered the longest tunnel (523 metrs) so far... we are quiet annoyed with the repeating tunnels… few of our mates started to swear with this agonial parade… we walked one by one holding hands with the help of this mini torch…praying the battery should not go off, the train shouldn’t come, the bats shouldn’t give us any scare, etc……
Atleast 14 kms or so went by…. Now we are desperate to get back…. But we have no idea on how to get away from the track as all we can see are tunnels, bridges and dense forests every wer…. We initially saw few railway workers but later no sign of humans any wer…. We are confused… confusion all over in the crowd…. The timez 3 o clk… we are in the eastern side of the mountain and so we are approaching the dark quickly which initiated the hurriness in us to find a ray of hope…. This point we encountered a bridge with no plates underneath for a while…. We din bother much except 1… we crossed jus like a fashion show…. The one stayd back and refused to come with his fear to heights…. Hahaha… we smiled inspite of the energy ripped body… 2 of us back tracked to help him walk across…
Unit testing : Can this take more load?
We gotto decide… ther is one footpath kind of way going away from the track but we don’t have any idea on how long it goes and wer will this end up…. We are a bit aware that there is 0.5 probability of finding dangerous animals inside the forest…. We decided to take the footpath after a minor set of arguments…. We kept walking for 15 mins or so and found no hope…. Jus raw gut feelings….
We had a small team meet and used our critical thinking…. Atleast if we stay in the track and keep walking we can cross 4+ kms before the sunset…. The next station should be some wer at 3+ kms range….so sure that we can find some ray of hope…. On the other side…this jungle route may take us quickly to the nearest road but we don’t kno how quick and other problem is the fear of wild animals….if everything goes well we can catch the road otherwise we may have to stay in jungle for the night….absolutely dangerous…..so we decided to get back to the track…..trust me, that half an hour walk in the jungle burnt rest of the calories out of us which we saved until now….
I guess this is wat correctly means ‘Back on track’…. We approached yet another tunnel… 250 mts length…we got ourselves in the convenient order and started to sail inside the tunnel….after 50 metrs or so…. That happened… what???? ….
Physically tired….
Mentally drowned…
Approaching a pitch dark tunnel…
Gravels are the synonym of ‘pain’ on the tracks….
Hunger started to strike….
We heard….
Yes, we heard….
A long loud bloody train horn…..!!!!!!!!
F***g hell…… we all panic…. Confusion… fear…. Irritation… pain…..!!!!
That sound took S**t out of us… we ran back for life…. Though we had a hope that we can save ourselves by crawling to the walls of the tunnels, we preferred to run out…. God saved us and we are at the starting point again… safely parked ourselves on the woods….then realized that sound came from a train which approached the spot after 5 mins or so (Pic. 14 & 15)…. First time I was standing this closer to a goods train… it was scary and made me sick for some reason…. The frequent brakes from the wagons raised a disgusting smoke made us feel more sick…. It took around 4 mins for the entire train to cross….. well after that we immdly walkd inside and kept our pace up….
Pic.14 : After 2 mins panic situation:
Pic. 15: The monster took the room
4.30 pm…. We wer walkng… not enjoying the walk or the nature or any hell ……all we need is some hope to get away…. We spotted another goods train crossed…we thought of asking for a lift…. F***g crazy !!! thaz wat it meant when the engine driver gave that sort of smile…. We felt pity on ourselves and kept walking….at one point we spotted a railway signal on the side of a bridge…. Our hope are lighted…. This sort of signal normally exists ahead of a station…. We wer happy…charged up inspite of no-fuel ‘us’….
Pic. 16 : Stop man...Oyeeee!!!
Pic.17 : Did u notice? its evening already
Chapter 3 : Ray of hope
We got the glimpse of this station view lying 700 mts away from us…. We all shouted out of joy… yes, success, lets get away, I need food, ………. Pure pleasure of happiness(Pic.18)…..Not for long….. Its not a happy ending movie yet…. We din kno that we are in the middle of the movie that time…. Oh yeah … read on ..!!!!
Pic.18 : Reached 'Yedakumari' after a hard day's walk
We entered the station platform took some snaps…we went further tried to go out of the station ….. hahaha… hahaha…. I cant stop laughing man… I love this … u kno what?… there is ‘only’ a bloody deep valley jus outside the station and not even a foot path….. we all laughed like the heroine’s dad in the munnabhai movie….now, go through the list of bad news we got after this point….
- No road transport from this station at all…
- The labours or staffs working in the station will go out like once in a week or smthng by means of goods train or railway engines crossing that way
- The next nearest station is 15 kms away (Gundya – remember wher the driver is waiting)
- There are no passenger trains in that track and the next goods train is after 2-3 hours and if the driver is kind enough he will give a lift…
- The station master and his subordinate are the rudest animals we spotted in the jungle…
o They denied to give any food for us
o They gave a dirty look when we askd for some help
- Walking further in the track after evening is absolutely dangerous survival is 0.1 probability
- It is cold already and situation will be worse… we are sure
Pic. 19: After all....... itz a developer's situation (no reward even after hard work)
Food…. We all needed it …. No strength to walk or think or do anything at all… few of us felt giddy… we need food…. Food…!!!!
We are ready to give any amount … we need some food … please…. No onez ready… the labours wer helpless as they themselves have enough food for them… all said ‘we don’t have food’… the station master and the co master idiot showed no mercy and they totally ignored us…. We have no choice … keep the fingers crossed for the quickest arrival of the next train…. Atlast after 3 hours our prayers wer answered (that’s what we thought) by the horn sound of the goods train… it appeared as a hope sent by god…we asked the railway staff to help us get in to the train…he jus told us to go and get on the engine…. We ran.. we wer happy… we are happier… we are the happiest… we reached the engine.. all got in…it shouldn’t have happened… the driver din wanna take us in… he shouted at us to ‘GET OUT’… I immediately throwed a lie telling ‘Sir, one of our friend is suffering from high fever and we need to admit him immediately’…. He listend and said ‘ GET OUT’…. ‘Widh Oout my Peermission you Canoot ender in to my drain now Ged Oout’..very obvious … my dear engine driver from the state of coconuts….unusually rude…
I thought from his shoes…. We all looked fit young guys…We are 7… We may be Naxals or terrorists… Its night 10 o clk…. The driver is alone in the engine with one another labour… so, physically no power to fight back incase of worst happens…. Hez right therz no need for him to help us… from his point the probability that we are safe passengers is 0.1…. Thaz why he din wanna take us but he was rude beyond the boundaries…. We cant do anything…. Jumped off from the train cursing our fate…
We slowly walkd back to the platform… there were these 4 guys (railway labours I guess) adviced us to catch up the guard in the last compartment…. They mentioned hez good and he may take you…. We rushed back to the last compartment and we literally begged the guard…. Yes, the guard was kind enough to take us at some cost (of money ofcourse)… we give damn about the money… I quickly called all my mates… Believe it !!! the guard got the news from his walkie talki that ‘the front engine got derailed from the track’… oh my gosh….. wat do u call this as????
We were shocked and have no idea about wat to do next…. We went to the station master and he said that no train transport until the track is fixed and this goods train moves off…. And he himself don’t know how fast will it get completed…. We had no energy to do any more thing… the other guy in the station showed us a hall like thingy and asked us to sleep for the night…. We had no blankets, no mattress, no bed, nothing….all we had is our own clothes… luckily I had my sweater and 2 more tshirts….i weard all the dresses I had and still felt too cold…. I cant sleep due to hunger and cold factors…. Some how dozed away due to extreme tiredness….
Chapter 4 : Day II
6 o clk in the morning…. I got up hearing an engine horn…. I was eager to know wat happened with the broken track…. One of my mate and me went out to check the situation… not much work was done…no one is sure about wen all these gets over…. We are confused…. More hungry…more anger…more frusturation… desperation ruled all our minds…. We begged for food here and ther …all in vain…. One good person among the railway labours managed to make some milkless tea for us…. Oh man that was so refreshing….tho doesn’t fill our stomach…. Lots of tea powder and loads of sugar gave us some refreshment and quick energy…. We enquired about the jungle route to some road…. We decided to walk out rather waiting for the fix… (Pic. 20)
We walked back say around 1.5 kms in the same track… as the good person (who gave us tea) mentioned, we got the spot wer therez a narrow messy foot path that goes in to the jungle…. We all are not totally with this idea to break in to the jungle… but part of us (includes me) were desperate to find some way out rather waiting in between animals ( I mean the railway employees there)…. Arguments started to crack in…. debate on wther it’s a right decision or not…. I made up my mind that am not going back at any cost… I gotto go…. I seriously gotto take this risk to go soon…. I cant wait any more …I cant bear being hungry…. Most of us was with us… (I meant the idea of going forward)….sooo otherz came along though half minded…. We kept climbing the totally messy path mountain… it was dense, beautifu but scary to us… we cant even run if some thing attacks us…Pic. 21: Frequent breaks when we walkd back for life
Pic.22 : On our mission .... Still - Never say dieeeee
Chapter 5 : The Life
It was hard 2 hours walk….. and there you go finally we found a little house (Pic. 23)... existence of a village guy showed raised all sorts of hopes… we all wer happy… he took us to some water resource… we drunk enough and he also gave us a water bottle (did I mentioned that our old water bottle was lost in the engine wer we got in and got out?)
Pic. 23 : Lemme breath
We walk more 200 mts and saw a big shelter like thing where 2 people cooking lunch for 40 wood cutters working around…. We were drooling looking all vegetables and the smell of cooking… there were these two malayalis who offered some water… we told our whole story so far and requested for some food at any expense… he first royally rejected the request telling we have only for people who work hard here all day…. However after seeing our pathetic condition, he gave us a kind of boiled rice ball and a glass of tea (similar one we had earlier)… trust me we felt heaven in us when we eated that….. he offered few more but we wer lil embarrassed as he was seriously nice to the 7 strangers….. they said the road is only few 100 mts away… and we all are completely delighted…. They also offerd us phone to call and intimate our families about our status….important point to note : one of their mates asked us wther we are here for some shooting…. Hahahaha… what a charge…. We guys started to fight for the hero role….
Pic. 24: Ayoooo foodu
Now I felt I can live comfortable until the dark…. Its around 11 o clk in the mrng… We touched the road right and royal in next few mins…. We again met more localites ther…we asked if we could get any hotel or something… as usual we explained our state of sympathy…. The people haven’t showed much response… ‘Therz an engagement (betrothal) function going on 2 kms away from here, so no one prepares lunch today at any near by houses… infact we are about to leave to the function’….. we cant do anything about it… we just moved to the shades near by and rolled in the grass to get some rest… we decided to wait for the bus and do whatever after reaching sakleshpur…. After 20 mins from that point… these guys came back with a big container with full of puliogare (tamarind rice)…. ‘Take it guys, we got it from the function hall’…. Oh man…. Why is the world turned so good all on a sudden… 5 mins from that point the container is empty… I took the privilege to wash the vessel…. We thanked the people with ‘Aanantha kanneer’ (Happy tears) inside…. Also we all wished the couple (in the function) … (pasila iruntha 7 peruku virunthu vachirukaanga do you think any one else would deliver a better hearty wish that we could?) They also said, ‘If bus don’t come, just walk to the function hall and we can arrange some food and a jeep to go to Sakleshpur’. (ayoooooo pothum pa pothum…. Enough….mudiyala…. I had no words) That was the point (ironically) we all felt that we shouldn’t offer any money to them thinking as a return favour and insulting their humanity…..
We got the bus around 1 pm…the bus stopped for lunch around 2.45 pm…. Thaz it… we filled up the tank… lots of petrol now… can live for ever… still !!! the movie isn’t over yaar… ‘Twist(s)’ is the name of the game….. We reached Sakleshpur finally around 5.30 pm…. Now what??? To call all the bloody humans and find out driver’s identity… our mates started calling all the numbers… we called his frnds and they sed ‘I have no idea where he is infact his parents are worried that he haven’t contacted’…oh man… is somthng happened to that poor soul…. I observed he was a bit rash the day before… I prayd nthng bad shdve happened… I thought its better to take a bus from sakleshpur… as I presumed the driver must be on his way back to Bangalore losing all his hope to contact us through phone… my mates was too kind with that person and had no heart to leave with out being sure abt his status…. 3 of our fellas hired an auto and went to the point wer we bought food packets the previous day… I took one of the other mate to make a brief search on the Sakleshpur busstand & railways station…. No use… both searches went in vain… we came back puzzled and a little scared (not again !!!) …the argument started on wat to do next… different minds…different thoughts…not good !!! its chaos…
Pic. 25: Watz next yaar?
The loud kailash kher song kicked off in some onez mobile…. My mate picked the phone… ‘Oh ya… wer are u??? gosh…. Thank god… are u ok… call your home and come to sakleshpur busstand soon … we are waiting’…….we all guessed it… ya man he is still in Gundya (the place we instructed the driver to be until we get back) …. Which is 2 hours away from Sakleshpur… great…. Super…amazing…. All are happy….
Pic. 26: Waiting for recovery vehicle
We all sensed the movie is nearing the climax…
and all ended well when we landed Bangalore rightly 6 hours from that point……But…..
But …..
The movie is not over for one married guy in that happy crowd…!!!
*** THE NO-END ***
