By Pooja 

Kumara Parvatha (KP) is one of the most beautiful peaks in the Western Ghats at a height of 1719mtrs MSL. It is considered to be a trekker’s paradise and is graded as a tedious trek. KP is also known as Pushpagiri.There are 2 routes to KPFrom Kukke Subrahmanya.From SomvarpetWe started through Somvarpet route and completed the trek in Subrahmanya.As per the plan we left Bangalore on the 23rd of december’2006 it was a night journey n quiet a bumpy one with a pit stop at the café coffee day. We reached BIDAHALLI on 24th at around 5.30 am and unloaded our sacks from the tempo and had the second briefing about the trek. Each one had to introduce themselves and the team consisted of 16 members with our 2 captains Anand and Deepak totally 18 of us were heading towards KP. We started off at 6.30am and we reached a view point where we did little rock climbing to view the magnificent Mallalli Falls.Rock climbingThe view from the rock we climbedFrom here we descended to top of the falls to freshen up and to have our break fast being bread and jam and mainly to fill our water cans as this trek always has shown a deficit of water in the midst of the jungle and the trek. You have very few water points in this whole trek and this was our first and best water point. After refueling ourselves and never to forget the photo sessions, we resumed to the tracks and it was from here the actual trek started, we had to climb through the jungle and a patch of vegetation.

There’s a temple [shantha mallikarjuna] en route to KP but that’s a longer one, so we decided to take shorter route which bypasses the temple. After a continuous stretch of trekking my stomach began to grumble and so was others. We rested for a while at Lingada hole and took our next break for lunch at a small stream [which was our last water point]. We had rotti, chapatti and sabji. Due to exhaustion a few were napping and were forcibly awakened to continue our quest to rest at KP.But how much ever we had trekked was just a sample and the sample itself was making us see stars, something more was waiting for us. In other words u can say that what u trek till that stream is for the acclimatization and the route from there is the core of KP. It was steep climbing. It was no easy but was great fun.We had to climb over 3 rock patches to reach the peak of KP and this surely was very dog-tiring but it was condensed by Anand’s cigarette jokes and affable talks and pinky’s shoots mainly. We always would be the last ones to reach Deepak who would run away in the front and so would others. Only me, Pinky, Harish, Kiran, Kallesh and Anand would be at the back and a few paces in the front would be Satya, Umesh, Jagadeesh and Anand(2) and further would be Sujaya, Smitha, Rashmi and way ahead than us was Deepak, Harsha, Sweety, Preethi and Shyamala. I must say they would actually run.We reached the peak at 5 in the evening and all being buggered just leaned over our sacks and rested and silently viewed the setting of the sun which looked like a cherubicSun setting-view from the peak of KP. The twilight hourLater the tents were pitched and it was getting colder on the top so we got into our tents and set it right so that we could rest for a while before the dinner and since we had ran out of water and there’s just no availability of water on the top. Anand, Deepak, Kiran and Kallesh had to go down and fill our water cans. KP usually gets very foggy but unfortunately it was very clear that night and not that windy too. There were many other trekkers who had camped on KP for the night. A group from infosys was there to celebrate Christmas it was wonderful for having decorated a wild plant as the pine [Christmas tree] and the camp fire which we could not light as its against the association rules [ I suppose]

After equipping ourselves with the warm clothing we came out of our nests to feel the chill winds and the main topic of discussion was the food joints in bangalore I must say the group had quite a many foodies in it. While a few were fast asleep and they even missed their dinner. We were served with chapathi rotti and MTR’s ready to eat sabjis cooking there was a tough task as you have no water on top but we managed with whatever was available and we all slumbered, by midnight I virtually was comatose.

At 6 am Anand woke us all to have a look at the sun rise , as soon as I stepped out from the tent my mouth was agape and we moved a little downwards to have a better view of the rising it was simply mesmerizing. The clouds seemed like a fluffy bed of cotton and waves kind too.Sun rise on KP after seeing sunrise we came to south end of KP to see Parvathagiri. The view was awesome. Clouds were falling into deep valley seeming like waterfalls.After sun rise –clouds seeming like waterfalls after gaining our knocked out senses, we packed our sacks, cleared our tents and shot pictures and marched downwards towards Kukke Subrahmanya. We left the peak at 8.30am on the 25th and we stopped near a small stream for our breakfast which consisted of bread jam and buns and our chef cum captain Anand whipped up a wild burger for himself [he played safe as it would be risky if served to us]

 We just had to descend the whole day and I felt it difficult as it was straining my knees and my ankle and upon this I had to trek with slippers as my shoes gave up in the first day only and I had to desert it on KP.Our first destination was BATTARA mane [house] and you can say that his house serves like an oasis to all the trekkers we reached his place at 1.30. I never have had such a scrumptious food elsewhere it was simple and the regular rice, orange water [rasam] and butter milk but it was more than enough to satisfy the monster in us. We rested for a while and left towards Kukke.

While ascending you pant but while descending u need to watch your step. Its not tiring but your legs may give up. We had to pass the jungle to reach the jeep track and from there kukke subramanya was just a quarter of an hour away.Kukke was celebrating shashti festival and we celebrated our goodtime.Celebrating with kukke for completing the trekWe poured into us fruit juices and ice creams and we made a room to freshen up and to change over and we had nice dinner in one of the hotels and packed our sacks and fled to the tempo which was waiting for us rather which we were waiting to board and flee to Bangalore.
After boarding the tempo each one of us had to share their experiences about the trek, team and the captains. The food just about everything. It was a pleasant exchange of thoughts. And all of us snored in our seats and woke up only when we reached Bangalore early in the morning at 5 took everyone’s contact numbers and bid bye and cherished the thoughts.