Castle Rock to Dudhsagar Falls Railroad trek - 3

This is in continuation of Part - 1 and Part - 2 of the trek.

Morning: 4:30 AM | Date: 3 July | Place: Our Base Camp / Room / Enclosure.

Riyaaz was incessantly hooting the bugle to wake up the lazy and sleepy bums J. So, because of his relentless efforts, I give up and finally get up dreary eyed. Am I feeling groggy? Oh yes.

So people who have the habit of freshening up in the morning, no matter where you are took up the challenge and went for the early morning rituals. Being a seasoned constipated guy, I was sure that I would be able to manage at least till I board the train.

So we quickly pack up our belongings and it was time to bid adieu to this wonderful place. Alas, we couldn’t go down to the lower tract of the falls. So, we did some quick photo-shoot. And trust me; Dudhsagar falls looked more mesmerizing at the break of the dawn. Have a look.

That was our Base Camp

So we start trekking again, with usual gusto.  Luckily the weather was clear this time around. So it gave RK ample opportunity to show his photography skills and I didn’t mind being subject of his photography at all. The pictures below tell the story.

The Track ahead

Falls is easily more than 1.5 Kms away from this station.

Approaching Engine

Huh! Engine abhi door hai mere dost

Can you spot the approaching loco?

Gigantic

And we assumed this to be Dudhsagar falls the other day :)

Balancing act

En route we were again greeted by diesel engines quite often, but this time they were also ferrying possible Dudhsagar tourists, who didn’t want to take the Dandi March way of reaching there.

So gradually and steadily we reached Caranzol station, exactly midway. 

Now here is some twist in the tale. As we were taking a much deserved break, somebody tried their luck and enquired with the station master, if there were any chances of train going towards Londa, since we had a train to catch at 1:20 PM and it was almost 9:00 AM. And it turned out that indeed there was a train, Howrah bound Amravathi Express.

Already one of our members was limping. So was it feasible for her to walk all the way through or wait for the train. So we had two schools of thoughts playing there. One was supporting trekking all the way back to Castle Rock from where we started trekking a day before and then take a tempo / jeep / whatever to Londa station. Another school of thought was quite simplistic in its approach. Wait for the train. Board the train and disembark at Londa J.  I chose to enroll with latter school, although I would like to put a little disclaimer that I was still not bereft of energy / stamina / will-power J. So we bid adieu to the disciples of former school of thought and decided to stretch our self at the picturesque station. Since this was not looking like a passenger station, there was no ticket counter at sight. So unwillingly, we were going to board the train without ticket.

Here comes the savior J, being pulled by one of the WDMs.

So we were 5 of us and as the train approached, we were split into two groups, not by choice though. At the end of it, however both the groups boarded the same compartment.  The moment we step our feet inside the compartment, to find for ourselves as well as the heavy luggage, some decent place, we were greeted by the sight of Man in Black, commonly known as TTE J. Bad timing! But every cloud has a silver lining. MIB was going in opposite direction, towards the other group J. So it was gonna be a Hide n Seek time for the other group. Anyways, gradually we (First group, second group being nowhere in sight) settled in and had some tea and chips. We even crossed our other mates, who chose to trek their way through. We salute their level of enthusiasm. Hopefully, one fine day, we match their enthusiasm levels.

Eventually the train chugged its way into Castle Rock station. However, this was not our stop. RK, as usual, hopped on to the door and clicked some real beauties J.

Here we started the other day.

And hey who joins us here. Our Second Group! Yayyyy! So our skilful duo managed to dodge the gimlet eyed MIB. So we continue with our usual gup-shups and finally it was time to bid adieu to our savior. Welcome to Londa Junction.

And we were greeted by another group, from GHAC, whom we met earlier. Apparently, the train stopped at Dudhsagar falls station and they boarded it there only.

So it was time to get rid of wet clothes and have something REAL to eat. And the best part was the waiting rooms. Man! It was so clean. So after spending close to an hour in refurbishing ourselves we were ready to gobble anything that comes our way. Luckily we spotted one Veg Refreshment room, which was also serving Veg meals. So we ordered Veg meals for ourselves and for rest of the group, we got it parceled. 

It feels good to be DRY someday

Proper Lunch after aeons

Eventually, everybody makes it in time and well, PAS was addressing the arrival of Hyderabad Express and with lot of memories for rest of our life, we get up, haul our back packs and get into the train. Bye Bye Dudhsagar, Castle Rock and Londa Junction.

See you soon, some other day, some other time. Till then au revoir.

Castle Rock to Dudhsagar Falls Railroad trek - 2

This is in continuation of Part - 1 of the trek.

Morning: 7 AM | Date: 2 July | Place: Some station enroute.

Eventually it turned out to be Hospet station. In future if you wish to visit famous ruins of Hampi, don’t forget to get down here :) Gradually, we crossed Hubli, Dharwad and Londa stations enroute. Don’t forget to savor some really delicious but sweet Dharwad pedas, a sweetmeat characteristic of this town. Small pack would cost you approximately Rs. 60.

At Londa junction, we were joined by three more people (Shobhon, his wife and Poorvi) from Bengaluru. Weather was pleasant from the morning itself, but gradually weather started metamorphosing from pleasant to overcast and finally downpour to our delight. This trek is meaningless, if there is no rain :)

Time: 12:30 PM

We arrive at Castle Rock station. The train was delayed by an hour, thus throwing our initial plan into a tizzy. Ok, so let me give a brief about our initial plans. We intended to trek 14 KMs to reach Dudhsagar falls by 4 PM. Now the railway tracks lead us to uppers half of the falls. Our objective was to go to the lower half of the fall, the route to which passed through some dense forests :) But the delay ensured that our plans were already in doldrums.

So after getting down from the train, it was time to do some rain proofing. My bandobast was a major goof up, as I found out later to my horror. So we covered ourselves as well as our bag with whatever we had that resembled plastic to prevent us as well as our belongings from what we know as getting DRENCHED.

So the wait is over. Having ample Daylight, cameras in tow, only thing that remains is ACTION. So we had Gourav as lead (nobody should overtake him, which ultimately got translated as nobody could overtake him; amazing fitness.) and Jiddu / Shobhon as sweep (to keep laggards pushing with songs of motivation :)).

VK discovered some sort of a sign-post just outside Castle Rock station, that had 25.0 inscribed on it. So we took that as a benchmark, to start our trek, to keep a tab on our distance covered. Initially I was finding it pretty difficult walking in the rain with gusty winds blowing, being a bespectacled guy. But then, fortuitously I was carrying a cap. So cap + hood of my jerkin kept rain away from my eyes at least, so that I could gorge the beauty of the nature around with a clear 6/6 vision :)

Although it’s an altogether new feeling trekking in the rains, however there is an unfortunate part to it as well. We just can’t take out our cameras to capture the beauty around, since our first objective is to Walk. So most of the pictures uploaded were actually taken on Day 2, when it was relatively dry.

Pretty soon, RK came under the direct line of fire of Leech Attack. Well, howsoever nonchalant you are, once you see an alien creature creeping up your skin, trying to draw blood, you freak out for the first time. So RK’s reaction was no different. And Jiddu proved to be the savior of RK, bravely dismantling it from the lanky legs of my dear friend :) And later we found, that Jiddu himself was home to 2-3 leeches, but being a seasoned player, he knew. No need to panic, leeches won’t draw liters of blood and they are not greedy. Once they are done, they would happily disengage themselves.

So the trek resumes and march continues on concrete sleepers, ballast. You have to be extra careful, while walking on ballast, since it is very easy to sprain your ankle if it happens to be your bad foot day :) So we reach Caranzol station, our first major pit stop. It is strategically located midway between Castle Rock and Dudhsagar. So we just loosen ourselves up and do some free-hand exercises and have some snacks in between, mostly RiteBites, 5 Star and Nutribar with some Bhujia interspersed in between. So we start again in pursuit of our destination. And yes, we did encounter trains enroute, being a rail road trek with gigantic engines hauling up the goods train mostly, flanked by not one or two engines, but a fiver (two at front and three bankers at the rear). Essentially we were going downhill. So while Castle Rock has an approximate elevation of 525 MSL, Dudhsagar falls had an elevation of approximately 225 MSL. So a negative delta of 300 MSL :) Boy! Next day, we have a positive delta :(

So we had tunnels, waterfalls, railway bridges (either side of the bridge there is a gaping gorge) and trains along our way. In all there would be close to 9-10 tunnels, longest being some 400+ meters. Most of them are in the range of 100 odd meters. Having a torch is paramount.

At around 10 KMs from Castle Rock, we encounter a small but beautiful waterfall just next to a tunnel. So once we cross the tunnel, we see our rest of our group engaged in some serious discussions. So when we reached there, we understood what the subject of their discussion was.

Person 1: Guys, we are probably on the wrong direction.

Person 2: What makes you think so?

Person 1: Nobody from the other group is even remotely visible.

Person 3: I think the waterfall, we just crossed was the mighty Dudhsagar falls.

Person 4: I second Person 3. I have seen the pictures also. It looks the same.

Person 5: No, I think it is still a while away. Dudhsagar falls is on the right hand side of the railway track and the bridge has shapes of arches on it.

Person 6 (yours truly): 50 % of what person 5 has just said is right. Bridge has arches, but falls is on the left side only and moreover we have a station Dudhsagar falls approximately 2 KMs before the falls.

So we decided to trek again and we eventually reached Dudhsagar falls station, thus reaffirming our faith that we are on the right track as well as trek :) So we continue and as we were approaching 39.0 milestone, suddenly we hear the gurgling sound of the falls. And then we catch a glimpse of the falls. It was enormous. Even a slight glimpse made me gape at it like I have never seen a waterfall before. But the fact is I have never seen such a waterfall before. So, with extra kick in our strides, we march ahead and there comes Goa express challenging us on its own territory. So we were listening to the oooohs and aaaahs of the passengers, who were absolutely left dumbstruck at the enormity of the falls. Who won’t be, for that matter :)

So, we finally reach the falls. DUDHSAGAR Falls. Yes, we made it, braving not so easy terrain. And when we do reach, we were left dumbstruck. It took some time for the feeling to sink in. It actually gives you a high. Nature’s fury at its best accompanied by a light drizzle, what else you want! May be a cup of coffee and some hot pakodas would have worked wonders. But then who is complaining :)

So we spent some time acknowledging the beauty if the falls trying to capture the beauty through respective point-n-shoots as well as DSLRs. Then we thought we should explore this area a little more and went ahead and found a trail going down. Gourav got super-excited and wanted one of us to accompany him to the lower half of the falls. Now it was already getting dark and expectedly we developed cold feet and somehow managed to convince that bunch of energy and vigor, to abort his ambitious plan :) So we beat a hasty retreat and rejoin the group. This gave RK a chance to take a dig at Gourav, whenever possible: “Neeche chale kya” (Shall we go down?) Amidst this friendly banter, soon we realized that now it was time to camp.

Now it was a real challenge. So basically we had three options.

Option 1: A small concrete hut (I would call it) was right there beside the falls. So, the option was to put two tents inside that hut and one tent with waterproofing, outside the hut. But the only deterrent was that it was in a filthy state.

Option 2: There was some structure, albeit a two-storied one, diagonally opposite across the rail track. Floor comprised of wooden plans. There was another group from GHAC (Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club), who were doing a recce of that place. Only deterrent and what a DETERRENT, was that the planks were loose and were falling off. So there was always a chance that you sleep at first floor and wake up at ground floor :)

Option 3: All would camp in the open. But rains proved to be the dampener.

So we decided to go with option 1. So we gradually erected 3 tents, 2 inside and one with waterproofing outside. But the weather was still inclement outside. Suddenly, there was an Akaashvaani. Well, it was Debarati (Shobhon’s wife) who came up with a great idea. I wonder why it didn’t strike her or anyone else earlier. Idea was to dismantle all tents and use the tent material as a bed sheet and sleep on top of that. That way all 14 of us could be accommodated in that room. So after a brief demo of how to erect a tent, another demo followed - How to dismantle a tent :)

So after finally arranging the tents in bed-sheet format, it was time to change and get ourselves into a set of dry clothes. Afterwards, we had Theplas, Masala bread (what was so masaledaar about it, by the way), Bread-Jam, Haldiraam Bhujia and trust me it felt so heavenly, considering the fact that I was at the verge of going crazy, after having gobbled those Nutribars and chocolates all the way. So after that, it was time to get some sleep (whatever little we could manage). Although I must confess that, I didn’t sleep properly for the second night in a row.

Good night folks. 

Events of next day would be captured in a later post.

Attaching some of the pictures taken on July 2 (Not many because of the fact that it was continuously pouring).

No matter how hard it rains, Walk Walk Walk.

Jiddu taking a breather at the mouth of the tunnel

Me and RK. Pitch dark it is

Why VK is so delirious...

2 Khilaadi (Jiddu and Shobhon) and me Anaadi :)

Whenever rain god relented, our cameras got out :)

About to resume our journey

On top of a bridge.

Railway line flanked by hills on both sides

H. Nizamuddin bound Goa Express thundering its way across

That's our destination

Mesmerized

A portion of our Option-1 has been captured :)

That's our Gang except Riyaz, the man behind the lens.

Murder 2 (2011) Review

Courtesy: www. santabanta.com

Wikipedia says Murder 2 is an erotic thriller film :). In fact, it even goes to the extent of saying it is more erotic than its prequel that released in 2004. I will come to this point later. Just a foreword, this movie is another one in the list of dark movies and you won’t come out happy (unless of course your testosterone levels are at all time high watching Jacque in action :)).

To begin with, what should be the expectations of aam aadmi with this movie? Nobody expects it to be an intricate thriller. The kind of equity, its prequel has earned for itself, is effectively deciding its image in the minds of consumer, in this case a cinema goer like you and me. So, I expected the on-screen erotic couple to literally light the screen on fire.

So does it or does it not? First let’s delve into this question, and then we will touch upon other details associated with any movie. So the answer is Yes. It does, but very briefly. Obviously, it’s only an A rated movie, not a porn movie or even a B grade movie. Mohit suri, the director, has given some real nice movies like Kalyug and Woh Lamhe. But the oomph factor fizzles out within 15 minutes. So those audience, who went in to theatres, expecting Murder 2 to be only an erotica were left asking for more. In fact, the expectation was set may be because of multiple interviews given prior to the release of the movie to up the ante. And going by the opening this movie has got, somehow I feel that may be Neha Dhupia (the affable lady dacoit from Phas gaye re Obama) was right when she infamously said that in Bollywood Only Sex or Shahrukh Khan sells.

So what this movie is all about? Before you read further, there is a disclaimer that the blog down under consist of spoilers :).

Murder 2 is a psychotic thriller (not a typical whodunit type though), where the thrill doesn’t lie in discovering who is the killer. I think well before interval, we are introduced to our Murderer – a character that goes by the name of Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan). Thrill (so called) actually lies in whether the hero would be able to prevent the murder of one of his victim. To give a brief context, the film starts with an erotic number – Aa zara – featuring sensuous Yana, who is doing all sorts of tricks to lure a transvestite (since it is very obvious that it is a guy in the garb of a woman). But eventually, Yana meets bludgeon. Then enters Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi), who is an ex-cop, devoid of Vitamin M (Morality) and is in a relationship with Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez). So Priya is neither his chaahat (love) nor his zaroorat (need / want); rather she is his aadat (habit). :)

So Arjun is approached by some Goan gangster, Sameer, who is concerned about sudden disappearance of his hookers. He is suspecting them to have fled. During the course of investigation, he accidently gets hold of mobile phone of one of the victim. Arjun then hatches a plan, in which he asks Sameer to provide bait, in order to reach that culprit. And that bait turns out to be Reshma, a new kid on the block, who has jumped on the bandwagon to feed her family. Unfortunately, her first day at job (let’s call this thing a job), and she lands up in trouble. But things go awry and Dheeraj has to leave in between to attend to the injury he contracts. And there, our hero does some neat tricks to catch hold of the culprit.

In front of everyone, Dheeraj claims that he is a serial killer and has killed umpteen number of women. Ergo, for Arjun, there are couple of challenges that are staring at his face. One, he needs to find out Reshma, because indirectly he only pushed her to such kind of situation. Two, he needs to obtain proofs that indeed Dheeraj is unstable and has killed so many people. Three, he needs to do all this surreptitiously, since the commissioner of police wants to keep it that way.

Does he succeed or not, I leave it to the reader’s imagination. Can go to Wikipedia, to read rest of the story or go to the nearest Box Office to book tickets :).

Talking about the performances, only Prashant Narayanan has stood out with his portrayal of a psychotic killer. Emraan Hashmi hasn’t done anything extraordinary. Jacqueline has done justice to her role :).

Story wise nothing novel about it. We have seen similar psychotic drama in Sangharsh. And as per Wikipedia, this movie has been lifted from South Korean movie, Chaser. Nothing official about it, though and I am no way endorsing this view.

Songs are definitely a plus point. Hale dil, Phir Mohabbat, Aye Khuda and Aa zara are a definite chartbusters. Although, Murder 2 had a benchmark in the form of Bheege honth tere and Kaho na Kaho, it has done well in the 

songs department. These 20 minutes are definitely the best moment of this movie.

So what is the verdict like? Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama fame has given it a 4 * while Nikhat Kazmi from TOI has given it a healthy 3.5 stars. One thing that augurs well for this movie is its pace. However, despite that I will go with a modest 2.5 * on the whole.

Story: **

Screenplay: ***

Music: ****

Performance: ***

Castle Rock to Dudhsagar Falls Railroad trek - 1

Onward Journey Origin: Kacheguda (Hyderabad)

Onward Journey Destination: Castle Rock (Karnataka)

Trekking Origin: Castle Rock

Trekking Destination: Dudhsagar Falls

Things to carry from my experience in the decreasing order of importance:

Necessary:

1. Rucksack/ Backpack, with Rain Cover

2. Lots of plastic to prevent belongings from rain. (Being monsoon time)

3. Sleeping bag (Planning to stay overnight)

4. Plastic Ground Sheet (In case, you are planning to stay there and you don’t have tent)

5. Hunter Shoe / Trekking Shoe with Extra Socks.

6. Floaters as a backup, after the trek.\

7. Torch. Also, 1 or 2 candles and matches (inside a waterproof cover). Having a torch is of paramount importance. Again candles would be required if planning to stay overnight. (Where to stay would be dealt later.)

8. Water Bottle (Preferably 2 Litres)

9. Toilet kit

10. First – Aid kit, any specific medicines you need.

11. A small packet of salt might come in handy after you decide the leeches have had enough.

12. Nutritional snacks like RiteBite, Nutribar, Dry-Fruits, and Glucose etc.

Optional:

1. Light Rain coat (In case you have issues getting drenched in rain)

2. Mosquito repellent cream like Odomos or Good Knight.

3. Pain relieving creams / sprays like Relispray / Volini etc.


Just a word of caution: Travel light, if possible do not wear Jeans, travel together and do not spoil the beauty of nature by littering. Be a Responsible trekker.


So it was not Friday the Thirteenth. Rather it was Friday the First of this month that we were eagerly awaiting for. What makes that day special is the fact that it marks a watershed in my Trekking history, being my first of this kind. Till now, I have been more or less like a regular tourist types, going to happening / not so happening tourism destinations and capturing various “Photo-Points”, giving zillions of poses.


So our destination was Dudhsagar falls, in the state of unparalleled fun, Goa. Apparently, it is India’s 6th tallest waterfall. More information about Dudhsagar falls could be found at Wikipedia and likes.


I would start giving a brief about our gang. It was a mix of seasoned trekkers as well as a newbie like me. There were 14 of us, 11 from Hyderabad and 3 from Bengaluru. The trek was organized by HydVentura, a club within my organization, comprised of adventure freaks. And before I start, let me thank them from bottom of my heart (if there is indeed any such thing like bottom of heart :)), to let me break shackles. Out of 13 fellow trekkers, I knew only Rohit (RK) and Vaibhav (VK), who could be labeled as newbie only just like me. It always gives you a good feeling when you are not the odd one out :).


So it’s 5:45 in the evening and we are already out of the organization campus, fully pepped up at the prospect of imminent challenges :). So we hire an auto and reach the local station to catch a local to Kacheguda station, our onward journey origin station. We were 6 of us, traveling in that local. Barring few initial confusion about the local timings, the journey was smooth and provided us with a first chance to break ice. So eventually we reached Kacheguda station and boarded the train. Meanwhile, for dinner, people got KeemaBiryani packed from a small vendor in Kacheguda. To the best of my knowledge, that place is called Handi Biryani. Those who had it were singing hymns of praise about it. So you can put that in your bucket list :).


The train journey was eventful in its own way. First we had a verbose co-traveler, who was travelling with his better-half to Goa and was continuously ranting and wondering what keeps this train full even in off-seasons. Eventually, he did what he was trying for; a swap, albeit of a different kind :). Then we had all kinds of people boarding the train, our compartment being next to the door was exposed to the vagaries of Indian Railways :). And to spice up matters, we even had a burglary in a nearby compartment and trust me; your images of a thief would have shattered if you had a chance to catch a glimpse of the perpetrator.

So the next day's actions would be covered in a later post.

Attaching some of the pictures taken on 1st July 2011 (Nothing scenic about it).

VK and Yours truly at Lingampally station

RK and Yours truly, again at Lingampally

The Train

Safar ka saathi :)