The Lost World Of Nagalapuram

"Nagalapuram??!!!!! where is that??? "
Being a trekker for 5 years I was pretty much clueless about this hidden trekking trail near Tirupathi. Frequented by CTC, Shashi was able to dig it out from their archives. The first few google results throws up the incidents of an IIT student drowning and such morbid news. But still we planned a trek on the weekend of June 8-9 ,  on the verge of full blown monsoons setting in. Booked a TT since the headcount was hovering around 11 and 10 finally making it (Shashi, Harsha, Vineeth, Raj, Rajkumar, Vinod, Umesh, Harish, Sharavan and Myself ). But one disadvantage of trekking in the eastern ghats is that the trails are comparatively shorter when compared with their western ghats counterparts. Generally a single day trek at most !!!!

Kone Reservoir Backwaters

On the night of June 7, 10 of us set off to our destination. Had more or less a disturbed sleep which is usually the case when travelling overnight. Reached the small town of Pichatur and it was time to turn on our GPS maps and search for the trail even when we had a local passing us every 1 min. Heights of depending on technology I must say :P... Anyway in the end common sense prevailed, we asked a local and he directed us to the correct path. Landed at the starting point of the trail which is very near to the Kone reservoir and we started the trek when the clock was close to striking 7.

Within a 10 min walk we come face-to-face with the first awesome view of the day. The back-waters of Kone reservoir against the backdrop of the Eastern Ghat mountains which we were all set to conquer (almost !!!!) for the day. From here we enter the shrub filled maze with multiple trails going in all possible directions. But one reassuring point is that all these trails somehow lead to our destination, as goes the very common saying "All roads lead to Rome!!! "

After trekking through this open shrub filled wilderness we finally enter the dense forest just in time when the sun was about to shine bright. But thankfully the entire duration of our trek was under overcast sky thanks to the monsoons clouds lashing out on the south-west coast of India. The forest was dense and soon enough we come across a beautiful stream filled with crystal clean water. Water as clean as you can get in the wilderness.... The idea is to follow the same stream up till the top while we encounter 3 gorgeous pools en-route. But that said it is not easy to find the trail in this bolder filled pathway.  For starters we got lost even before we could reach pool 1 !!!!

The main trail which anyone would assume would be the right path actually climbs to the second tallest peak in this reserve forest standing at 700m and the path to this is pretty steep. This was the toughest part of the trek and we went offtrail for close to 3 kms, until we came across a tribal settlement (not the "huha huha" types :P) and they informed us that this particular path doesn't go to the destination we had hoped for. They also informed that we had to take a diversion from main trail somewhere just after we come across the stream. So having no other option we returned back along the same way till we came across the stream.

Pool No 1

Pool No 2

But all attempts to find a trail along the stream were met with dead ends. Finally when we were contemplating as to what to do next, we came across a family from Chennai who were trekking till pool 1 , so hitched the walk along with them. These guys frequented this place regularly and they knew exactly where the trail was. From the main trail as soon as the it gains elevation and starts leaving the stream, there is sudden sharp trail to the left which unfortunately is unmarked and would appear insignificant to the naked eye. But this trail takes us back to the stream and from here it is pretty much a well paved pathway through boulders. 

The gorgeous and absolutely stunning pools come one after the other in quick successions almost 0.5 hr walking distance from each other. Crystal clear waters surrounded by absolute greenery makes these pools all the more inviting. NATURE'S JACUZZI is what I would like to term these pools. And the surprising part is that these pools never get dried up even in peak summer and being in relatively unexplored and a bit confusing trail its relatively untouched by the invasion of plastics and other man-made viruses. We trekked all the way to the third and the top most pool to have our dip. The water was so good that we spent close to 2 hrs in the water, oblivious of time running by. The center of this pool has a 40 feet deep abyss, which makes semi-swimmers like me quite nervous, but with a swim tube by our side we were able to conquer that fear to some extent.

Even after getting lost for the major part of the trek, the time was still 2 pm and it didnt make sense to spend time here till nightfall. Also considering there was very little camping space at pool 3 for all 10 of us, we decided to trek down till Kone reservoir and pitch our tents there. Hence we packed up our belongings and started the return journey. Reached the camp spot at around 5 pm and by then most of us were exhausted for having walked for nearly 21kms. If one has a proper guide this trek is actually a single day trek, but if some one yearns for some adventure and are well prepared to get lost in jungle then it can be a 2 day trek. For us it barely made a 2 day trek.

We pitched our tents by the banks of this picture-some reservoir, cooked some maggi (our staple diet on treks) for dinner. Every now and then it would start raining with us scurrying for cover within the tents, but these showers would just last for only a couple of minutes. Because of this the weather was quite humid and it literally was like an oven inside the tent. Shashi couldnt take it and took his sleeping bag outside to sleep under the stars. I too followed him after a hour or so to sleep under the stars, but I was woken every other minute by some movement or the other. This being a moonless night (amavas ki raath !!!!) I had no idea what was stalking behind the darkness, but fortunately once in while was able to catch them within my torch lights and they were nothing but the village dogs which had accompanied us for the entire duration of trek. Once woken up due to this I just sat in the darkness for close to an hour, absorbing the absolute silence (of-course broken once in a while by the snores of fellow trekkers :P) and pitch darkness... A very soothing and calming experience it was !!!!. Anyway not comfortable with the idea of those dogs coming and licking my face when sleeping I decided to go back inside the tent, but removed the rain cover and opened both the doors so that there was some air flow.

Pool No 3

After that the situation inside was much more comfortable and I was able to sleep till the first signs of sunrise on the horizon. Packed our stuff and went to the point where our TT would pick us up for the return journey back home. Had our breakfast at Chitoor and reached home at around 2 pm leaving us half a day to catch upon some lost sleep over the last 2 days. One point of advice for trekkers is that this forest is teaming with honeybees with 3 in our group (Raj, Umesh and Shravan) being victims of 1-2 bites each. Its better to cover up from head to toe in order to protect onself. Also there didnt seem to be any leeches around considering that the ground was quite damp and moist due to heavy rains for the past few days.

I remember Raj on his first trek-camp experience summing it up "U know the importance of a cozy bed and warm meal", reflecting exactly my sentiments as a trekker for the past 5 years. On top of that I think trekking makes you a much more humble person. For starters you don't demand luxuries even if you can afford them. The importance on materialistic pleasure is much more subdued and you have this sense of restrain/calmness bcoz in a trek nothing goes exactly as planned, and we are at peace with reality.

 Trek Details:

Trek Distance->   16kms (Reservoir-> Pool 1 ->Pool 2 -> Pool 3-> Reservoir) + 6km (Of getting lost in the jungle :P)
Total Cost Per Person -> 1.9 K

Snaps Link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112114250378515450499/NagalapuramTreK

Driving Directions:


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Marathon Mania : My 3rd Appearance @ World 10 K

My third appearance at the much popular marathon (technically this is not a marathon :P ) in the Southern part of India and I had some unrealistic aims set for this event. For starters I had an aim of finishing my 10k run within the 50 min mark. Why the 50 min mark ??!!! , you can blame that on the organizers. They have segregated the runners as Category A for those having a best time of within 50 mins, Category B for those having it between 50 mins and 1hr 20 mins and Category C for anything above it. Missing the Category A by just 2 mins and being officially classified as a second class runner got me raging mad :P. So decided that no matter what I would finish within 50 mins and calm myself down.

But with the total show of strength being close to 23,000 pair of legs and growing exponentially over the last few years, I somehow knew that this is going to be one tough job. For starters the initial pain of overtaking innumerable slow runners/walkers makes matters worse. There were a lot of slow runners/walkers since the corporate participants were let into the track before us. But on the other hand weather was superb thanks to heavy rains the previous day and the overcast sky. Were let into the track at around 7.20 am @ Kanteerva Stadium. The run again goes through the traditional route followed the previous years comprising of Kasturba Road, MG Road, Cubbon Road, Vidhana Soudha and finally Cubbon Park before ending back at Kanteerva Stadium. Maintained a constant pace of around 11.5 kmph and finished my race strong with a final sprint with a timing of 52:46 mins, 6s slower than my best :). Over the previous 3 editions my timing has improved from 59:57 mins(2010) to 55:40 mins(2011) to 52:46 mins(2013). Atleast was satisfied bettering my event record :P.

But one thing I learned was never to have a timing goals at this event. Just run for the love of running, enjoying the company of the fellow runners and absorbing the whole festive spirit. My overall ranking was 593 and surprisingly my gender ranking was 585. That means only 8 females in the whole of Bangalore have a better timing than myself ?????!!!!!!!....(out of that I saw 2 western ladies overtaking me :P ) This ratio is definitely skewed and I guess more females should be encouraged to take up running as a sport.

The organizers have announced that this year too the top 850 male runners would get the Nike Finishers T-shirt (THE t-shirt which cant be bought but earned ;) ), down from 1500 given the last few years. The number of participants are increasing, but these guys are reducing the number, looks like they need some basic lessons in ratios. Anyway, hopefully they are increasing the quality of the t-shirts. Still working hard for the coveted Category A :).

OFFICIAL STATS:
Name: Nithin Uliyar
Bib No : 1808
Net Time : 52:46 mins
Overall Rank : 593
Gender Rank : 585

Update (30 June 2013)
Got my finisher T-shirt :)

Ek Aur Phunny Bideo !!!!!

Run Fatboy Run !!!!!!

"Running is equivalent to meditation !!!!!"
Have any of you heard this above statement ??? This is in fact true in my case.

How do you define meditation?
According to me meditation is something where you live in the present moment, not worrying about the past or the future and simultaneously keeping your mind at peace. To achieve this concept of  living in the present, meditation involves concentrating on each and every breath inhaled and exhaled. And finally the awareness and feeling of each and every part of the body.

For me running is everything the above definition states and more. While running your whole concentration is on moving the body forward one step at a time, taking deep breaths of air in order to fuel that motion, feeling each and every part of the body, especially via the sensation of pain which makes you live at the present moment. This is of-course somewhat different from a traditional sense of meditation. Its like trying to find peace in midst of absolute chaos. There is literally no scope to get distracted with any other thoughts creeping regarding the past or the future. In other words the mind is totally void of any unnecessary thoughts, in short a calm and peaceful mind.

It has been nearly 5 years since I started running. So it was high time I ranted something in favor of it :P.  It was more of a necessity back then and this necessity was triggered by a lifestyle of just working for 7 months in the corporate world. 7 months of corporate world and my triglyceride level was 171 mg/dL, which exceeded the normal value in unison with its other cholesterol cousins. So what solution comes to my mind???? RUNNING OF-COURSE and in one of the most unlikely places to do it. Initially was running within my house, up-down in the terrace and so on. I was way too shy to run on the streets or scared of  being chased by dogs because I didn't want to end up as an object of ridicule to someone , since I couldn't run for more than a couple of minutes altogether.

The first month was the toughest. You could not run for more than 5 mins, hence the motivation was low , and on top of that there were pains at all the unimaginable places post the run. But something kept on inspiring me to keep on running and surprisingly I did. Gradually over a period of time I started to become better and better. And when someone starts to improve in something there is a constant urge to keep on bettering that. Finally I had a sustainable motivation which has been driving me for the past 5 years. It does surprise me when I reach a goal which I thought to be impossible a year back.... bringing out the fact that with necessary dedication anything is possible with the human body and more importantly the human mind.

The first official run I took part was in the Sunfeast Bangalore 10K 2010 , clocking a time of 59:57 mins. The subsequent year it was 55:40. Of late my official fastest time in 10K is 52:40 min and my BHAG for this year (Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goal!!!!) is a timing of under 45 mins. Hopefully would be able to do that in TCS Bangalore 10K on May 19. Keeping my fingers crossed. Apart from the countless 10K's I have run , I have run only 1 half-marathon (2:18:26 hrs) and 1 full-marathon(5:29:05 hrs). The later 2 were done in quick successions in order to strike out an entry in my bucket list :P. Moving on I plan to concentrate only on 10K's and half marathons, bettering my personal records. Eventhough I dont have plans of running full marathons frequently, considering that it takes a toll on the legs and the overall physical well being, pushing the body to the extremes, I do plan to run that distance for some special occasions like my bada-BHAG (Biggest-Hairiest-Audacious-Goal !!!!) of becoming an Ironman triathlete :) (3.9 km swim, 180 km cycling, 42.2 km run to be done within 17hrs ), hopefully would be one before I turn 40 :P.

Another reason for taking up running is that now I eat whatever I want -totally bindass. No Dieting, Not bothering abt calories-  running pretty much compensates everything. It might be because of the same reason that I have not lost weight in the past 3 years and have the perfect weight for my height. Neither less nor more :). And this is one the cheapest sports out there, just slip into your favorite sneakers and run your heart out on the endless roads, churning out mile after mile. If there is one sport which signifies freedom, running would surely be at the top of that list :). Freedom from capitalist society with minimal or no gear required, freedom from dependence on an other individual, freedom from time of the run, freedom from competing with other individual (everyone is running their own races) which leads to freedom from worries, strategy and probably backstabbing  and finally freedom from unnecessary thoughts.

But apart from the good side there is an ugly side to running too. Run very frequently without a break and you end up with a busted knee. So I do keep in mind not to run more than twice in a week. Further I plan to participate in just 2-3 events in a year so that they are distributed over the entire year and providing sufficient motivation to train in sun, rain or cold.  And in order to supplement my running i have taken up cycling, kickboxing and planning to be a regular swimmer too :). So in short I can be termed as a pakka fitness freak :P.

So end of the day what is my present triglyceride count? which started it all in the first place.... it has come down to 94 mg/dL :).

"Pain is just temporary, Victory is forever !!!!!"

P.S.-->The title is shamelessly hijacked from a movie of a same name starring Simon Pegg, where his character runs a full marathon. A rather hilarious take on it :).

Image Courtesy: Navy Running.

A Coastal Sojourn: Drive, Dive and Run !!!!!

"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF"(Darth Vader Style) "GURGGGGGLE"!!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!

This is pretty much the only thing you hear while Scuba Diving.
 "हर एक सांस  का एहसास" (u get to feel every breath) gushes the beautiful Katrina Kaif in 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. And for once I do agree with what they say in movies. You become aware of every breath you take, sucking in air through a tube and releasing it in form of millions of bubbles, which is pretty much the only thing that is keeping you alive. And the views you get to see is just "WOAAAHHH!!!!", its much-much better experiencing it than what is shown in the idiot box by the channels like Discovery and NGC. A must-try for the adventure loving people. Became such a huge fan of this sport that even planning to become a certified diver sometime next year :).

Group Shot

With a free weekend and Raghu's marriage falling on the same we decided to go for a trip. Shashi had prior plans of running 10K @ Nitte-Mangalore Marathon, hence resulting in combining all the individual events into a grand plan of ours. First was to attend wedding @Sirsi, Second was to go for Scuba Diving @Netrani Island and third was to participate in the 10K run @ Mlore. Got myself registered for the 10K run, reason being to give company to Shashi in particular and for my love of running in general :). Contacted Dreamz Diving Centre  and booked our slots for Saturday (23 Feb 2012), with the fee being 4.5k/head. Since this island is a restricted island one has to get permission from the Navy beforehand itself which is part of the diving package.

5 of us(Vineeth, Manju,Harsha, Shashi and Myself) left Bangalore on 22 Feb @ an unearthly hour of 4.15 am in Shashi's brand new Chevy Sail hatchback. Since the car was new it couldn't be driven at speeds exceeding 90kmph and this tested our patience when driving in the 4 laned Pune highway.  So much so that I was eager to get off the Golden Quadrilateral and ride in the 2 laned state highways, which was much more fun at these speeds. We got into a State highway near Harihara and from there it was smooth drive till Sirsi. We reached just in time to attend the marriage, enjoyed a sumptuous lunch and it was time to drive all the way to Murudeshwara in a highway kissing the coastline. Reached the place by dusk booked a room in a secluded place called 'Sea Side View Resort'. Roamed around Murudehswar for the rest of evening, chilling out.

Netrani Island

Got up pretty late next day since we had to report to the dive centre only by 9am. After reaching the venue on time we got to know that "9am" was the time mentioned only so that people make an effort to come early. One by one everyone of the 19 people registered for the "Discover Scuba Diving" program showed up and we started to our destination only by 10.30 am. The 1.5 hrs boat ride to Netrani Island which is 18kms from the coast is pretty boring, with nothing much to do. But one of the Hungarian dive instructor gave an introductory talk about underwater sign languages, the gear, adjusting body to the depth etc during this time, but unfortunately that lasted only for about 30 mins. Reached the totally desolate Netrani Island , a small hillock in middle of nowhere. In fact this island is used by the Navy for target practice, and hence taking their permission is an absolute necessity. The sun was bright and up , the water was still,clear and dark aqua green, hence making it an ideal condition for diving. Eventhough the water was not totally transparent as in Lakshadweep (within the lagoons), this would do for our first diving session without having to travel great distances.

Plan was dive to a maximum depth of 12m(40ft) and the duration of the dive being around 40 mins. Each novice diver is accompanied by an expert diver and one doesn't need to know swimming for this program, with the buoyancy control inbuilt in the diver's jacket making one float effortlessly at a particular depth. For obvious reasons everyone cant dive at the same time since there are only around 5 expert divers, the others were left to do snorkeling which looks like a big joke after scuba diving :D. They called for the first 3 divers and it was vineeth, shashi and myself volunteering within no time. Then started the gearing up process. Couple of fins connected to the legs, a compressed air cylinder in the back with a nozzle to the mouth, a dive mask over the face and a 20kg lead weight belt to the waist. They asked me to get up and sit on the side platform of the boat and to my utter surprise I couldnt even stand up in my first attempt due to all that weight. Finally was able to and then comes the scary part, with the tank facing water and feet inside the boat, they flip the body upside down so that the tank enters the water first. Supposedly a standard diving procedure to avoid the tank weight falling on top of the diver.

The first few minutes my instructor tried to familiarize me with breathing, clearing the face mask, adjusting the ear pressure as we went down and so on. Once I understood everything it was time to dive. Was initially a bit scared and this resulted in some heavy breathing which snowballed into me thinking that enough air is not getting pumped through the pipe :P. Call it the paradox of fear :D. But after some time got to know the problem, tried to relax and after that it was a smooth ride. Every time we dived couple of meters the ear would pain and I would have to adjust the pressure by just popping the nose :P. Then the beauty of this place started to emerge. Thousands of the fishes swimming here and there , in so many bright colors.

I never expected to see such huge schools of fishes anywhere near to the mainland. Every now and then there would be fish floating just in front of my eyes, blue, green, orange with violet stripes, brown, translucent ....pretty much an endless list with sizes varying from minuscule 0.5 inch to around 3 feet. Felt altogether in a different world, where one is totally weightless and there is no effort to keep oneself afloat. And when one looks up towards the water surface, one is easily spellbound by the rays getting refracted through the water and giving various different light patterns . Was able to descend to the max possible depth of 40ft without any problems, giving a thumbs up for any future options :).

After scuba diving session tried to do some snorkeling and by then it was time to return back. This was followed by yet another boring ride. Reached the coast at around 5 pm and it was time to leave for Mangalore for the final leg. Reached Mangalore at around 8pm and went directly to Hotel Pentagon off Pumpwell circle to collect the BIB and timing chip. From here we went to have our dinner @ Mainland China nearby, thnks to a treat by Shashi. All of us were in shorts, especially me in extra short swim-shorts , attracting stares from a lot of beautiful girls :D. Kinda felt like a girl wearing a mini skirt and getting stares from guys :D :D.  Went to Hotel Woodside @ Balmatta Road and it was time to call it a day.

Me and Shashi got up early @ 5.45 am to reach the 10K run destination @ Mangala Stadium. We were just in time and sharp @ 6.40 we were flagged off. Majority of the route was through concrete roads which took bit of a toll on my legs. But the major turnoff running in this marathon is that traffic is not stopped enroute. So that leaves runners nowhere else to run but along with buses, 2 wheelers zig-zaging through traffic. I was like "WTF!!!!!" .Humidity was another factor which took some time getting used to. Apart from that the route had a lot of gradients to be negotiated, making it a pretty tough track. Finally when I was just 100 m from the finish like as per my norms I started sprinting really fast, and this was suddenly cheered by a huge crowd comprising majorly of pretty girls from some local engineering college and this further fueled my final push and I completed my run in 52 min 40 secs, my best 10k finish time. When I say my GPS reading I was really shocked seeing that the last 100m I had clocked a speed of 21.1 kmph :D, my fastest marathon finish ever and u know what some cheering from pretty girls can do :D.

Just before leaving M'lore we had a feast of sorts @ Pabba's supposedly the place for best ice-cream in Karnataka. The return drive was eventless and we reached Bangalore at around 5 pm. Looks like I have one more hobby to be interested in, but to become a certified diver I have to become an expert swimmer, which I am not at the present moment, therefore starting towards my new goal. So that I can dive at any location across the world, with the options being endless :).

Underwater Photo's Courtesy: Dreamz Diving


Official Run Timing:

Overall Rank	Bib	Name	Category	Category Rank	Split @6.5	Net Time / Gross Time
55/160	2052	NITHIN ULIYAR	OPEN	46/126	00:34:02	00:52:40 / 00:52:48

Route Map:


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