Trip to Mt.Abu: Day 2 - Sept 17th 2006

We were supposed to wake up at 5:30 to leave for trek at 7. We woke up at 9 :o)
We were thinking, whether we should go on the trek or not, since the sun was up n it was pretty hot. We finally decided we should go. So at around 11:30 we set out.
Our first destination was honeymoon point (he he…nice name isn’t it :o)). We walked upto that point. It’s a pretty nice view from there. Then we asked a couple of horse riders (yes there are many horse riders in abu :o)) as to where can we go for trek. There was a temple a bit higher up from honeymoon point. The riders said we can go upto there, and from there, we can go to on thru the jungle to anchalgarh (that is in the city).
We were a bit skeptical. Then we found a person (our guide for the jungle tour) who is a lumberjack in the forest. He also had brought his elder brother to show him around the forest. So he said he will take us around (I was skeptical but that is the topic for another blog).
So we set out. First we went to the temple. Then we all walked up n up n up. The path was called craig’s path and we were headed first towards anchal cave. We reached there (most of us were a bit tired…but I am not boasting here….but my weekly 5-10 weekend walks in blore…coupled with my regular 3 km treadmill run in blore ensured that I wasn’t tired at all :o)). No one was there in the cave. It’s a temple actually n the guide told us some priest had come down from Punjab n settled in the cave. Then after many years, the police came n caught him n took away. Sounds so much like the hindi movies where someone does some crime and flees and then becomes a holy man, both for redemption and for safety. Lekin kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hote hai :o) :o) :o)
From there, we moved up, and reached craig’s point. We were told there are wild bears in this region and recently there have been incidents wherein they have come out in the day, and attacked people frequently. While walking, once in a while, I had streaks of vision of scenes from Rambo 3 and An Unfinished Life (try n correlate the two…kar liya to chikki treat :o)). After climbing a lot, and trekking thru jungle paths strewn with leaves, we finally reached craig’s point. I was having a lot of fun. Because my idea of a holiday is one in which u don’t rest but just keep doing something. Lying down and lazing around isn’t my idea of a holiday…yet :o). At craig’s point, another round of snaps was taken. Then we decided to go to another cave. This time the path was a real jungle one. The forest wasn’t dense. But it was still dense enough to give the feel of a forest. Bole to a average Indian forest. Not like the amazon or the satpuda ke ghane jungle :o).
This time, the cave we reached was Limbunala cave. Its called limbunala coz there is a small stream flowing near it :o) Also the guide told us that this cave was inhabited by a chamatkari aghori baba, who used to become a tiger at night, and not allow anyone near the cave…….no comments on the plausibility of that….coz I kinda believe that :o)
Neway, we washed up a bit at the stream and then after another 5-10 minutes, came out into the town (mt abu is a town n not a city). From there, our guide took us to anchalgarh temple. It’s a walk up 265 steep stairs. N the temple is some 5500 yrs old (so I was told).
From the temple, we walked to the market, bid adieu to our guide, went to the ATM, reloaded our wallets, had lunch (I had a beer after about 6 months..i usually never have beer but then today was feeling too thirsty :o)).
Then we went to Nakki lake again, to collect our photos as Tipu Sultan. I got mine. But the photographer gave Lugaai’s photo to a group of school scouts (like the scouts n guides). Poor lugaai. But then latak had taken snaps of both of us in those costumes. So no emotion (of those moments) was lost.
Then we boated and took snaps in Nakki lake. Then these two bought a couple of articles and we headed to the room.
Oh..point to be noted that throughout these 2 days, the service at the hotel sucked.
Neway, after lazing around till 8:30 we walked to the bus stop (in the whole day we walked more than 20 kms, many of those in the trek). The bus started. The bus was a Volvo bus, so there were no windows. But the fare was for a non ac bus. So the driver wont start the ac. It was getting very suffocating. Then we the people (not me, the other passengers) used their right to noise n got the ac running. In the trip of 5 odd hours, I could sleep just about half n hour, partly coz I was thinking bout someone :o) (I call it day dreaming…not it was night but then the fact that I wasn’t sleeping n still dreaming makes it day dreaming…even though it was night)…n partly coz I wasn’t feeling sleepy (u see those claims of stamina I made…even after a whole day of trekking n walking thru hilly roads, I was still not feeling sleepy, n even now, I am sitting n typing this, after sleeping for just half n hour in the bus). Neway, we reached Ahmedabad at around 2:30, reached college by 2:50, had a small snack n thn I came back and started typing, while orkutting :o)

Today (18th Sept) is Deka’s bday, so gotto call him today. First ISD call I will make with my mobile. Also have a buy a suit. Planning to buy a couple of t-shirts and maybe also watch a movie. Oh yes, want to play basketball at night. Hope that works out. Latak is gonna teach me how to play basketball :o)