Skandagiri: A painful yet, pleasurable experience

The third week of December brought a gush of cold winds with it. The second floor of the hostel felt like a freezer and the ground floor seemed like a warmer place to be! So, 10 of us were huddled up in our classmates' room on the ground floor, talking random stuff and discussing on every possible topic in the world! It was then that the topic of New Year celebrations came up. Thanks to our University, most of the people were destined to spend New Year's eve writing the last examination of the semester and spend New Year on the train/flight home. Only the students from Mechanical Engineering department were a little relieved as our exams ended a couple of days earlier.

We had an unnecessary gap of around 6 days between 2 subjects. Someone came up with an idea of going on a short trip during one of these days. After finishing the most excruciating exam of the course, we were all geared up to trek to the top of Skandagiri Hill, a hill famous for its Sunrise Point and also for the difficulty to ascend and descend. After hiring 3 SUVs from one of the rental car companies, 19 of us started the journey at 3 in the morning from our classmates' flat as we aren't allowed in or out of the hostel after 10:00 PM. We were on the Bangalore International Airport Road within 20 minutes of departure and it took us around an hour and a half to reach the base near Kalavaara, a small village in Chikkaballapur district. A small temple is situated at the base of the hill. 5 of us had been to the same place a few months ago and faintly remembered the route of the walk.

Waiting for the cars to arrive outside the flat

After getting confused and stranded and walking in the wrong direction for some distance, we finally figured out the right route. The walk towards the peak finally started. With so many people, there was no way that the journey was gonna be a quiet one. Jokes, conversations and the scampering for flashlights in the darkness kept the walk alive and memorable. I, being the fat one, and my old roommate, were left behind as I would get tired very soon and he stayed back to give me company, being the good friend he is. It took us time, but we did finish the 8 km walk up the hill, putting our lives at risk by walking on the edge, quite literally! Walking and resting on the walks, getting our feet stuck in a couple of ditches and slipping on the wet soil a million times, we reached just in time for the sunrise, one of the most mersmerising scenes that I've seen in my life. The orange sun coming up the horizon in the east while we sat on the edge, emptying the water bottles that we had carried all the way! It was chilling up there and thanked ourselves to have carried the pullovers with us and not left them behind in the car.

The sunrise we all went there for! 

The freezing winds had got us shivering! 

After spending some time in the cold winds and having another bout of conversation, we headed downhill. The same slippery mud and the rocks awaited us. If the ascend was going against gravity, the descend was a challenge to resist the same! Maintaining the right balance on the same rocks, setting the foot in the right place and making sure that we neither fell off the rocks nor fall into the camouflaged ditches! This time the feet were tired and the excitement had worn off a little. None of us had had anything to eat since dinner and it was way past breakfast time! Slipping and tripping and carefully treading our steps, we reached the base. To answer the question in your mind, yes, I was the last one again, but this time, I had sent my roommate ahead as I didn't want him to lag behind yet again because of me. Panting and catching for breath, I finally reached the foothill where my lovely batch mates were patiently waiting for me. I boarded the car with a cramped foot, took the window seat and dozed off, only to wake up when we had reached the college campus.

Yep! That's the mountain we just scaled up and down!

It was one of those spontaneous plans and all the people joined in, without any questions. They were all quick, yet they never complained about how I delayed their walk by slowing them down. No one was indignant when the navigator in the car got the directions wrong and the three cars got lost in the Airport road. It was an experience to cherish for life, a scenery to keep in mind forever and a trip to tell the world about for days and months to come!