Series: Into the wild. Chapter 1. Goa : Beaches and Forests

        I have been to many treks, but Goa trek organised by YHAI is a special one. It is a different kind of adventure for me. Trek itself was not an adventure, but reaching the base camp was. I have never travelled alone to any place on my first visit. I always had company. I have never been to Goa. So, reaching base camp in Goa has become an adventure for me. Venturing into a new territory has always been my biggest fear. New territory can be anything; work, art, fun activity, hobby, place, etc.

        I had to travel in three trains to reach Madgao. First train is from Chennai to Bangalore. I reached Bangalore by 5am and went to Anudeep's place. We met after a long time. We had some, as usual, personal conversations. Our work life didnt let us meet frequently. But nothing changed between us. Situations like these make me realise how lucky I am to have such friends. I boarded the train to Hubli at 2 PM and reached by 10PM. By far, Hubli is the most beautiful railway station I have seen. It is clean, spacious and has less human presence.

        My train to Madgao was supposed to depart at 11PM, but departed only after 12AM. I reached my destination after 8 AM - three hours late. Train moved through dense forest like any toy train in a hill station. The scenic beauty was worth getting lost in. For the first time, I didnt curse the train for being late. For a moment, I forgot my fears too. Madgao to basecamp is 40kms. In this journey I found that Goa is green and peaceful. I wondered why this part of Goa is not covered in movies. "Finding Fanny" did it to an extent. The bus I boarded dropped me at the entrance of the street that leads to base camp. But I didnt know that. Google Maps showed youth hostel is 1.5kms away. Moreover, I had to wait for my friend, Abhilash. He would arrive only after 11am. I was skeptical if I will be allowed to go out of the camp once I report at the camp. As the place looked serene, I decided to take a walk. I came across Barista and had coffee. The shop owner was decorating the shop for Christmas and New Year. Whole Goa was in festive mood. 

        I followed Google Maps and ended up in a deserted area. I enquired one of the passers by. He said I have to go back to the place where I came from. I was lucky to get lift in the hot climate. I kept my luggage at reception and roamed around. I, along with Abhilash, reported at the base camp at 12:30PM.

        Inside the tent - allotted to us - there is a mini India. People from Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Jammu were there. The guy from Jammu is Anwar ( Special mention because, he is the first person I am meeting who is from J & K). After lunch, me and Abhilash rented a bike and went around the city. Later Anwar bhai joined us. We asked a petrol bunk guy for his advice on what to do if police caught us driving triples. He said " Dont Stop the bike. Shout Happy New Year and keep going". And we did the same!!

       On day 1, we had an early morning warmup followed by rock climbing and Rappelling classes. Though I climbed small rocks during treks, I never tried rock climbing. I was afraid that I might not be able to do it. But the atmosphere was so energetic that I couldn't stop trying. And I did it successfully.

        Trek started with two day walk along the beaches of Goa. Though beaches are filled with tourists and shacks, they are cleaner than beaches in Chennai. I always find ocean to be a serene place to sit and wander in my thoughts. Sitting in the beach at sunset and watch kids playing is the best experience beach can give me. May be a candle light dinner with the loved one in the beach will also be equally blissful. Since it was festival season, our search for fish - at reasonable price - went in vain as the prices were up by more than 10 times . On the second night we stayed at a - supposed to be - haunted house and that is the only night in the whole trip where I had good sleep. 

        Most of the second day of trek I spent in the company of a differently-abled person. I was apprehensive of my ease to communicate with him. But we began to express each other in such a clear manner that the communication was like any other normal conversation. He is an athlete. So I had to put effort to keep pace with him. Eventually, even after taking long breaks in between, we ended up reaching the camp 2 hrs earlier than other participants. 

        Next day we started our journey into the forest - place where I find solitude and inner peace. We began playing music from our phones for some time. "Manali trance" has almost become the theme song of the trek. When I came across the first stream of the day, I changed from shoes to floaters. Water in the stream was crystal clear and cold. Sitting on the bank with bare foot in those waters is called experiencing bliss. If you sit for enough time without disturbing the water flow, you might end up getting a fish spa too. On the whole we came across 5 streams that day and each one was a treat for  both - tired legs and a desperate heart that is in search of some peaceful place to get lost in random thoughts. Once we reached the camp we went for a shower in the stream nearby - the only shower I ( most of the others too) took during the whole trek. I went into the stream and laid myself on the stony water bed resting my head on a stone.Chilly water,  added to a low temperature made it more challenging to lie down. 

        I always thought that I could never come across someone who is like me. People around me find me abnormal. Most of the times what appears normal behaviour to others seems absurd to me, what seems normal to me is weird to others. What other find as fun turns out to be a boring or purposeless task to me. In this trek, I came across someone who thinks like me and more importantly, who experiences things the way I experience. All the treks I have been to, I have not found anyone who tries to experience things the way I experience. I agree, everyone's experience is unique. What was an awesome experience to me turns out to be a trivial experience for others. In a campfire, people talk to each other, play games, etc.. but I prefer to lie back and gaze at the night sky. While most of the people socialise and click pics during trek, I prefer to stay silent and if possible, sit in silence and look at the vast stretch of land spread infront of me. It doesnt mean that I dont socialise, but I prefer silence at some places where most of the people find it apt to socialise. So most of the times people found me weird or a calm personality. In this trek, I find someone else who feels the same. I was happy to find someone to whom I can express my thoughts without speaking. We knew what was going on in each other's mind. We spent lot of time together in silence. But we knew about each other a lot by the end of the trek.

        Another rule we strictly followed was " What happens in the tent, stays in the tent". Trek can take a break at the end of the day, but not fun. There were times when we laughed for no reason. We spent most nights blabbering some useless stuff. It was fun. No, lets speak truth now. Most of us didnt sleep because rest of them were snoring. :P

       Everyday, during the trek, we used to take small breaks. But the last day was worse. We trekked in a dense forest where we couldnt find any place to sit. The trail was so thin that two people couldnt walk side by side. So after straight 9 km walk when we reached the end of trek, people threw their bags and slept on the road. Later, we boarded the bus to base camp.

There are experiences in this trek which I fail to articulate. There are experiences which I can try to articulate. But, this blog is already due for a long time. So, I end it here. 

Notable things in trek: This is a very big list. But I will list only some .

1. shooting stars: Even in thick fog, we didnt give up. He stretched our neck and kept staring at sky until we found a shooting star. And we did.

2.The day after we finished trek, we went in search of pizza. This time google maps didnt ditch me. We really looked like a bunch of people who were starving.

3. Two days of walk along the beaches in GOA. We covered almost 25kms of coastline .

4. lying -almost naked- on stone bed of a stream with cold water. Your body becomes numb, but you still enjoy the pleasure.

5. KFC on the last of trek. Expression of bliss on Hemant's face is priceless.

6. People are amazing. I mean people we have not met before. Special mention to anwar, hemant, harsh(amazing ppl)

7. another special mention to pppunnnnjjjaaaabbbbbiiii akanksha (How Ruuuuudeeee!!!)

8. One more special mention to aanchal, abhilash, praveen, pawan,aditya,bhawna,daksh ( u see i have to give special mention to most of them)

9. I dont want to give any special mention to kiran anna. (spend with him for 30 mins. later every conversation seems dirty )

10. Our Team leader Sudhir ji.. He is wikipedia of old songs.

11. Popli sir and mahesh. Awesome people these two are.
12. Hot gulab jamuns on a cold night in deep forest.

Some visuals from the trek: