Thursday, July 12, 2007

Arthur Hailey, what a writer!!


Well, I am not a voracious reader, but do read some times. And some of the best books that I have read have been penned by one great novelist, Arthur Hailey. I would rather call him a tutor than an author because all his novels teach us the happenings in each and every field that we come across in our day-to-day life, be it about the airport and its functioning, or the electricity board, the hospitals etc..



Some of his famous titles include;
Airport
Hotel
Hospital
Surgeon
The Final Diagnosis

The Detective
Strong Medicine
Wheels
Overload
Money Changers

I have not read all his works yet. Am still to read Overload, strong medicine and Money changers. Of all these famous titles, the best according to me was the Detective. I guess because I am always interested in knowing how a particular case is solved, this was more gripping to me. He has really kept up the pace of the story from the beginning to the end so beautifully that you feel as if you are standing next to the person carrying out the investigations.

Each one is a masterpiece. We come to know in depth about the happenings in each of the specific field that book is concerned with. In Airport, he gives us an in depth a
nalysis of all that happens in an airport daily, which we are sure to remember when we take the next flight.

If Hospital deals with the daily routine of the hospital, The Final Diagnosis deals specifically with the pathology department whereas in Surgeon, he gives us an extensively detailed account of a Heart-Transplant, and this was written when probably most of the scientific world was still contemplating whether such a thing is possible at all!!


Another excellent book is Wheels, dealing with the automobile industry. This is another book I ilked very much as I am a Formula 1 buff. The saying "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" is simply amazing and quite the real fact!

The last, but by no means the least, is Hotel. Boy, this is another excellent book. Read this and you come to realise what all troubles you might cause when you stay in a hotel the next time and just remember this as you might avoid causing them.

It is reading works like these that make you educated and not just reading yout texts as these help you in all walks of life. Though the story content is purely fiction, the actual description is completely research based and is absolutely real.

Thank You Sir Arthur!!

Kodachadri, You little beauty!






This is one of the most memorable treks ever that i have done in my life. And, it also taught me how to go about a trek in the peak summer heat.

Kodachadri is one of the 3Ks of Karnataka. If you are a routine trekker, then, you have to have scaled the 3Ks viz., Kodachadri, Kudremukh and Kumara Parvatha. Well, though I do like trekking, I have done only one.

Kodachadri, a peak of about 5,545mts, is near Kollur, a night's journey from Bangalore. Me, my sister Sugandhi and our friend, Vedanth, were the only ones who went ahead on this expedition. We went by the KSRTC bus to Kollur.

Our Journey began on the 13th of May 2005, when we boarded the bus to Kollur. It started at about 10.30 in the night from the Bus Stand and was supposed to reach Kollur by 7am. But it reached by 8.45am on the 14th. There, we were told that a bus going towards the hills will arrive at the bus stand at about 9.30 and there will be one more about 15 mins later. those were the only ones going in that direction in the morning. Thus, having some time, we freshened ourselves up and went for some breakfast at the canteen in the bus stand. The food was ok.. but by the time he served, and we could eat something, it was 9.25. So, Vedanth ate faster and waited for the bus. It came at 9.35 but was not stopping for long. He asked them to wait for 2 mins and came to call us. But, by the time we went the bus had left. So, we neither ate properly, nor did we get our bus.

Anyway, we waited there for some more time and got another bus. We boarded it with all our luggage and asked the conductor to stop near the Hills. He wanted to know whether to stop near the mud track or the jeep track. We told him the mud track as this was through the hills and supposedly considerably a shorter distance. So, we finally reached our trek spot at about 10.30 in the morning and the sun was blazing already.

Thus, began our ardurous journey of the KODACHADRI. We started walking through the path. We were told that we would get a "Kaka Tea shop" about 2km from the highway and it was the indicator for us that we were on the right track and the trek was a further 10km or so from there. So, we thought we might reach the top by lunch time. Boy, were we wrong in our assumption.

The path was fully dry, due to peak summer. But we did find trees laden with lichens and also saw wierd green-coloured snakes too (which, we learned later, are supposed to be one of the dangerous ones in India). We also came across a school but after 2hrs of walking, where our initial pace had dropped considerably, there was no sign of the kaka tea shop. We were wondering whether we were on the right track. Just when we thought we had lost our way, we found it!! The kaka angadi. It was about 1pm by then. We decided to break there for sometime.

After refreshing ourselves there with some lime juice, (which took some time in getting because the person there was not fluent in Kannada. He was a malayali) we confirmed the fact that we were on the right track and started the actual climb. At this point, we got a glimpse of a house far far away from where we stood. We wondered in amazement whether that was our destination, and told ourselves that it was not to be.. well, well.. This is where the struggle began. The sun was high and blazing and we were stopping more and more as the higher we climbed. All of us were losing our stamina quite frequently. The kaka shop was at the base of one mountain while the actual destination was on another...howzzat?? Then, we met a few people who were climbing the hills as a part of an oath. There were some hefty ladies as well and we started wondering whether they will make it or not.

At about 2.30pm, we sat under a tree, on a narrow path, and hogged into our MTR ready-to-eat lunch. During this, we met two trekkers who were descending. on enquiring, they said they had climbed the previous day and were now returning down. They said it was another 2.5 to 3 hr climb. We were not surprised.


After lunch, we continued the climb, which became steeper and tougher as it went along, with one section wherein we were staring the valley below us, as we had to walk sideways for better support. Boy, was it scary!! But it was fun too.. Thus, we walked and walked, with stoppages in between, and finally at 4.30pm, we reached the top, and saw the same building that we had seen from the bottom of the hill. It was a sense of relief.

There, the house belongs to a brahmin. He also has some dormitories. We asked him for separate accomodation as some other group was already residing at his place and he gave us a dormitory for 125 per day. We took it. He asked whether we wanted dinner. Me and my sister decided to finish whatever MTR stuff we had carried to lessen the load from our baggage. Vedanth agreed.

After some relaxation, around 5.30, we started to climb further to a place called Shankaracharya Peetha, from where the view is dramatic and also to view the sunset. It was another 40 mins climb. On the way, a slight deviation led us to a shiva temple where we offered our prayers and continued the walk. By then, we were sloushed off. On the way, a slight deviation led us to a shiva temple where we offered our prayers and continued the walk. But still, we managed to get there. The weather by then was more pleasant, wiith a cool breeze blowing. The place was calm. We spent some time at the peetha, took some snaps, and relaxed until the sun set. It was about 6.50 by then. But it still was quite bright there. We decided to head back. on our way, we took some more snaps and by the time the actual walk began, it was 7.30. We had not carried our torches, though we did not need any with the moon lighting our path. It was one beautiful evening, except the body-ache. We reached our dorm by about 8.30pm. He went to the house for dinner. Me and my sis had it outside, though we dont know what all we ate along with the food, because the place had no light, not that we were in need of any and also there was the normal fauna of the area.

After dinner, we chatted for sometime. Then, we were discussing whether we climb down or ask some one to give us a lift as there were some jeeps around. Though I was reluctant to climb down initially, we finally decided we will climb down. And a sensible decision it was. We were told by the locals to start by 6.30 and not before that because the mist makes the root slippery and visibility is poor. Thus, we decided to start by 6.45 and so, slept by 9.30pm.

The next morning, we started getting up by 5.30, each one waiting for the other one to get up, but finally, all of us got up by 6am. Vedanth had a bath in the cold. We decided to skip it as it was quite chill outside. Instead, we enjoyed the mist and the sunrise. Then, we had coffee at the house and filled our water bottles and started our descent at 7am. Again, the initial pace was quite fast, but as the sun started beating down, it slowed us down. But as always, the climb down was faster than the climb up. We reached the kaka shop, "again", by about 9.30am. Till then, it was fast. There, we had some idli and coffee and started the walk back to the main road, on a considerably flat track, when you compare the rest of the path.

As we started getting tired, to our luck, we found some long branches of the trees. Each one held onto one and started walking. It was as if we had another leg and boy! was it useful!! The walk from the kaka shop was for another 2hrs and finally, at 11.30am on the 15th of May, 2005, we reached the spot where we had begun. We had done it!! We had scaled one of the 3K successfully. During this walk back, near the end, we met some people, where one of them asked us how long it took. I said about 6hrs climb and 4.5hrs descent, the look on his face summed up our achievement.

We took a bus from there to Shimoga, went to Vedanth's house, had a sumptuous lunch and the two of us headed home for some well deserved rest..

Thus, we had successfully scaled the little beauty of the western ghats, Kodachadri!!!!