CTC's Extreme Difficult Trek Story - Emperors Express Trek 2

February 3, 2014, 2:29 am

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Awesome Write up from Shyam Durairaj:

Emperor’s Style Express 2 – We Re-Written the History of 43.60 km in 14 hrs with 2200 M total climb up and climb down.

It was a dream plan comes true when people start discussing about Hardcore challenge on hiking….. Smart Plug received by our Lead PREM saying, “NAMBA Yae express trek Repeat Pannakudhadhu???”(Why don’t we initiate a repeat Express Trek???)……..

Plan drifted, trail decided and team?????

Then stumbling upon whom to carry away along with is a real question provoked within us…. So, Prem Decided and phrased saying, “Eva Vandalu Kotikittu povo, Empleror Stylea EXPRESS TREK…”(Whoever comes, we ll lead this Express Trek in Emperor’s fashion…). So the invitation thrown in CTC page….

There were few BRAVE souls who signed for this trip despite of knowing the TITLE and selecting criteria was based on trek frequency by individual…. After looking on few interested people, Prem took few New people as well comprising mixture of Newbiee’s & Tough nuts. That’s how we got groomed, so day arrived 4r preparation with loading things….

Starting our Journey by Prayed to almighty 4r success trip, Triggered by bike ignition & reached NADAN’s Coffee Shop(CTC’S ASSMEBLE Point). Made few calls 4r people’s Arrival, Met Patrick @ koyembed(Who was 4rm Bangalore), Siva & IIT waala’s Stepped in followed Akilan & Prem’s car with our Ponnu & Mageshji . Ultimately Senthil’s Car was Jam Packed with people, So we requested one of our Fellow Ranger  to Carry his bike along. Sollin & his gang joined 4rm Thiruvallur, So do our journey started following 2 cars patrolled by bikers….

Suchha chill breeze enrolled our journey with energetic momentum, Followed by few bikers tricks in road made travel enjoyable one… We reached our destination by mid-Night & parked vehicles in Village. We took Small Chat & took place for small Nap near Dam, So people went in for fast Asleep…. Buzzing 4r Wakeup Call 4rm Few people made us to organize 4r gr8 start, un-usual Discussion within crew people taunted Mageshji  4r chanting,”Aiyayoo, Alla Savadika poranae”(Oh God, This guy gonna Kill me alive)….

After settling down, hassling up things to be carried among us made easy job…. Few Newbiee’s Made slow beginning made us to take a small dip 4r rest to witness Beautiful Sunrise… Prem was pushing us not to hold initially, so he asked wrap up the Speed which aint happening with few people…. We pulled hard to climb up to reach to southern water point…. While Moving fast, I got stuck 4r loosing something on rested point…. Checking Carefully, WAT??? BRITELITE TORCH!!!! 2000 bucks MANN!!! Left my bag down & ran down like Hell, Collected the same & caught team in Same speed…. Prem was @ high tone 2 push Fast…. Long March took us to Water point @ Southern point, Picking up energizers & refreshing Prem insisting few Slow Pacers 2 take rest holding all our Bags….

Marching Fast ahead, running parallel among bushes & thorns made good pass on to Everyone for keepup average speed  towards destination…. U wanna know how fast we ran??? We Were running atmost speed without even NOTICING my LENS COVER flipped away!!!! Oh Gosh, terrible Stuff it was during such rush. Few instances later, we climbed our 1^st peak in designated time interval, we took small rest, Refreshment, Photographs, fun & Discussion…

So next we need to reach the water point & proceed west side of Nagala, So do we flown away in air keeping timing at control. I didn’t expect we could downstream people, we reached our water point later and Prem Conveyed that we may push hard Further to catchup 4r quick coverage. Mid-Way our Fellow Trekker got Cramps which was Unexpected…. Treating them & picking up, We took our stuffs & marched towards Westside of Nagala….

Enjoying the path & Rushing up, we reached the spot with few hiccups and Prem insisted 4r people to pickup speed which made few people to stay behind 4r Discontinue their trip with us….. After Hugs & Handshakes, we rushed in left behind people towards our western peak… After Having Sweet Swim @ 2^nd Pool, we pushed very fast towards our goal. We witnessed COUPLE TREKKERS Near 3^rd pool & Prem saying,”Dei Edathavadu Sapida Usarpanughada… COUPLE’S TREK VERAA”(Try to steal their food), After seeing new faces we backed off & Proceeded towards peak…

While Crossing Mini-Courtellam, Our Patrick got Stuck & Wished not 2 continue further…  So, we had hard leftover & conveyed our wishes to him. We pulled up 4r destination, on trail we witnessed our Gr8 SHUMON & SUCHI…. They were so adorable helping everyone around & claiming us like TERROR GUYS… Prem was like THNX 4r de Compliments Guys & rushed further towards Western Peak. All of Sudden, we saw Arun Prabhkar taking good Nap at 4.5 Pool. Closing Silently towards him, we had good chat with him & stole his food too.... Fierce comment 4rm Arun saying, “Dei Thirutu pasangala….”(Thiefs)

Without Further delay, we rushed with our left behind Souls proceeded towards peak. On the way, Myself got bit tired & I took small rest by taking good air meanwhile Prem, Sollin, IIT’s, Ponnu & Magesh crew went peak leaving me behind. So, I waited 4r their return. I couldn’t hold 4r longtym waiting thought people would have slept out there @ peak. I planned 2 reach down to 4.5 pool, While climbing down un-noticeably I flipped from the rock and fell down 4rm the top of the west Peak towards the stream…. I Didn’t Expect a Hollywood Stunt effect 4r me!!!! Ma bad, ROLLING Down, ROLLING DOWN!!!! Was like HELL….. I was mesmerized with DOWNHILL FALL!!!!

Last thing I remembered was, I was stuck in a tree just close to deep fall near Stream…. I was like LOOKING UP & Saying, “GOD’S GREAT”. Managing myself towards getting up & scrambling towards our meet point looking 4r people….. I Saw people after few distance of walking gave me a Self-Belief that I could do better. After narrating story, Laughter, Refreshment & Small Nap we decided 2 proceed further towards central Peak…. I wasn’t that bad walking, But I was crawling towards middle between the crew…. After covering distance, we reached a spot where Prem decided to take us 4r Central Peak….. We climbed towards Peak & Accomplished distance in sooner Time Lapse…..

All Set 4r Final Course of Reaching down to base, downhill wasn’t that tough…. Pulling things together we reached at Villagers Resting place close 2 Base…. I was segregating my Complete Threshold to get down with my own potential & I made it despite of obstacles reaching base…. Prem was happie with our Team & TIMINGS we concluded…. Hurray guys!!! We Re-Written the History of 44 km in 14 hrs…. We should Thank PREM, Nithin, Vara, Ponnuraj, Magesh, Sollin, Siva, Patrick, Akilan, Manoj, Vicky, Yuvi & Senthil.

Switching our phones 4r celebrations with friends, Prem was awaited with BAD NEWS abt Peter’s TREK Mishap!!!! After come 2 know the situation, I was worried abt Injured NOBAL(One of our Best person in CTC) & Other People stung by Bee’s. Prem made few calls & Contacted ERT for further Prep,  we went to village with Vehicle fetching Food 4r People. There comes our Gr8 Sankarji to carry forward things towards Incident place. Prem insisted us to Stay behind with Car, Prem declined Nithin request to join Prem 4r Visit injured people inside forest. They got only Co-ordinates abt their location, wrapping few things journey of two people scheduled AFTER EXPRESS TREK(Dedication Towards People Well-Being)…. They were Climbing towards North west part of Nagala, All of sudden sankarji Spotted MOVING OBJECTS beneath the dry Stream…. After having better LOOK, Sankarji & Prem had a better glance on TWO BEARs approaching them…. /?’!1@#4$*%.... Holyyy God Screamed both, Slashing towards opposite directions they ran outta way leaving MOTHER BEAR & its YOUNG to pass away.

Once things were settling down, myself decided to move towards Chennai 4r Next day work….. It was wonderful Day RUSH overall…. Stamina is all about to be tested yet…..

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This isn't a trek. You better stop this

February 3, 2014, 2:33 am

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I have been on treks; with friends, friends of friends, with a bunch of strangers; only to find out that most of us and the community is fighting a deception which grows slowly unnoticed.

Now, before jumping to conclusions, Read further.

Last week, when my friends planned to go on a trek to Tada (a small range in the Eastern Ghats, suitable for one day treks) I was elated and very much excited to have an adventurous experience. But it didn’t last long.  The plan failed to meet the basic requirements of a trek, not just failed by a mark, but in epic variations.

Here is why the plan failed massively;

In spite of my constant texts and calling up my friends, we started at 8 am while most people sported a jean for the trek, with the blazing sun above their heads. Our first stop was a tea shop where most of them had a smoke and bought cigarettes to survive the trek (Seriously, I opposed this idea totally but they didn’t give a shit about that)  thereby leading to the next pit stop; a liquor store, to buy some stocks to refuel some people on the group.  Then it was time for the much-needed breakfast. After devouring all the entities in a nearby hotel, we reached the base of the range around 12 pm, which the group considered as early and I have lost my enthusiasm by then and it was it was just seconds from totally dying  out.

But we were in front of  the invisible gates of wild, my energy was still burning in my mind only to be shooed off. We slowly made our way to the first pool, which was so damn easily accessible, had a refreshing bath without a lot of swimming but with an exhaustive amount of flashing cameras.

A clogged stream at Tada

Now comes the most annoying part.

Some started to venture out further as we have not yet started to trek but a majority of people found some nice shady place to sit down, not because of the exhaustion (as if they are tired) but to start boozing, doing all the nasty stuff that shouldn’t be done on a trek and once the supplies are deplete, it’s time to return back home. And who says I don’t trek? will be their story next day across various social media platforms.

To some people in India, a trek is a place to booze, litter and to make noise which they strongly call it as “having fun.” Unfortunately, this is what many think about and do, when they get their asses in the wild under the pretext of trekking.

And this isn’t a trek!
In fact, when I first told my parents about my eagerness to take part in a trek, they tried to call it off under these claims though I made them understood but still it is a huge hindrance for many willing souls who are waiting for these shackles to be removed.

Ah !! Women! I don’t even want to talk about their problems.Many equally willing and spirited women suffer a lot due to many reasons including the one aforesaid and there are many others as like say,

• Safety; due to the ill practices carried out in the name of trek, women and their parents are not willing or shocked to take part in a trek, I should say.
• Society; people accept men to go anywhere they wish but due to our social safety, women themselves and society are worried on going to many places; a definite no, to a trek with a bunch of strangers.

This wouldn’t change unless our parents, friends and others are educated that those who go on a trek (especially in India) do not go there for drinking, littering or to do any such obscene stuff. Because they are deceiving the society and make a false impression on those who trek in a true sense.

Being said that, many fresh souls who want to be a part of the outdoor fraternity are confused about a trek. 

I have seen many of my friends and colleagues when called for a trek, simply opt out of it for a movie or a beer and that’s ABSURD.

Okay see it this way,

You go on a journey in the wild where you will be experiencing a whole new emotion which you have longed your entire life. Yes, THAT MAY SOUND EXAGGERATED but you will be tested, trained, ruined, tear down, fall apart not by others but by yourself; only to find out the true nature of your being.

If you understand this quote the you know what is  Trekking and you don’t have to read more ELSE RE-READ THE ENTIRE THING THRICE!

In life, you are only happy when you cross boundaries, destroy your limits and keep pushing them always. Once you stop doing that, you are dead.

It is true that everyone is concerned about nature, but very few act about it. When I come from a trek, people ask me the about the experience and express their interest in joining me next time. Unfortunately that next time never arrives.

Words won’t suffice if I tried to explain Trekking and it will be boring but this is what you can experience from a trek;

You will be Tested

Once you go out in the wild, you will be tested for all qualities, be it your self behavior or with your companions. Your abilities and responsibilities will be compelled to break. You will feel like a mere matter who has met his maker.

You will be Transformed

Many have been beautifully transformed in a trek. Your facilities won’t matter there. Your richness is incomparable. Your dedication and humility will be enriched.

You will be Devastated

The energies in yourself will be unleashed until it has been devastated, only to be one with your body and soul, to be happy and to exist along nature.

You will be Grateful

You will be having the richest experience you ever had till now. You would have heard the term “nature at its best”, for you, it will be always the best. NO CONDITIONS APPLY

The best thing about a trek or being out in the wild or to volunteer for such stuffs are that you could carry the glee wherever you go and that’s awesome.

You will be Amazed

Yes, at the intensity, at its calmness, at its condition, at its serenity above all, at its entirety.

You will be Thoughtful

On seeing NATURES true form  and with what we have done here in our localities, will make you think, will urge you to act, will make you join with nature to realize your own intensity.

You will Want More!

I have to tell you nothing more, you will be wanting for more on what you have felt.

A trek is something else, where we should be enthralled by nature and to protect it from ourselves and definitely not a place to dump our unwanted belongings, where one could see broken bottles, enormous quantity of garbage and plastic.

A trek is not about walking long distances in the wild, enjoying beautiful views on peaks and valleys, dipping ourselves in many clear and fresh water pools. It is something exquisite.

This is not about having fun in the wild without our daily pressures and commitments but it is much more than our life itself. This is not about going with a group of strangers or venturing out alone, it is the strength and determination that we have in ourselves.

It is not like you are following someone in the wild, it is you following the footsteps of nature.

I’m a proud member of the Chennai Trekking Club, a hardcore trekking fraternity which mainly operates in South India. You can check out CTC’s activities here

If You could relate to this theme in any way then you should support my Facebook page, else check out some other topics here!

Image Courtesy: CTC

Rajkumar Mahendran
See Everything, Be Nothing

Post Trek Write-up - Aahtam, Pattam, Kondatam

February 3, 2014, 2:43 am

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Wonderful Write-Up By Srinivasa Raghav

The Homecoming

It was three years to the day since I last trekked. Urban conditioning had taken over. Unhealthy and unscrupulous habits had become second nature. Littering was again a part of my life. The knees were weak. The waistline had gradually inched outwards and beckoned an effervescence of heart diseases. I longed for a shot in the arm and Rajasekaran did me good by announcing a Nagala East trek. 

The trek itself was an easy one. Nagala East was a place I had scaled many times. It was far from challenging at the outset. However, the urban habits I had assimilated had become an attitude. And that made this trek far more challenging. Mentally.

Before embarking on the journey, I thought I had all the eggs in the basket. A lightweight backpack. Check. Sleeping Mat. Check. Maggi Bowl. Check. Sleep early. Check. The morning of was excitement in anticipation. The journey to base camp was nostalgic. But all the feel good sensation ended before I reached the first pool. 

To have trekked in the past and come back after a hiatus of three years is a revelation of sorts. My body felt fatigued. My feet sore. I already felt like taking a nap. "Is this for real?", I wondered. I was supposed to be someone in great physical shape. But the walk to the dead-end pool made me reflect on my own inadequacies. That walk is akin to prison. Time. You have a lot of it. You have nothing to do except walk. Two hours of introspection. 

What had happened to me was conditioning. The most basic evil of human condition is inertia. If you are lazy, you want to be more lazy. If you are a glutton, you want to eat more. If you are a smoker, you crave for more cigarettes. And by design, by definition, the human conditioning can also be used for positive effects. If you a runner, you want to run more. If you like the gym, you want to workout more. If you are a trekker, you want to trek more.

In those two hours, all the lessons I had learnt in my earlier treks came to fruition. As Peter elequontly put it to me in my first trek, "Mind over Body". I started enjoying the trek. The climb. The boulders. The walk. Where there was pain, there was energy. Where there was uncertainty, there was eagerness. For those of us who hold this activity dear to our hearts, we'll never forget it no matter the hiatus. It will always come screaming back. The bad habits we gain in city life will vanish within moments of this realization.

And soon, the reasons dawned on me as well.

There is a fundamental serenity about raw nature. It makes you feel small amidst the awe of splendor. Barring the few trails that one can witness owing to tens of thousands of CTC trekker footpaths, Nagala is pristine nature. Some sing. Some play an instrument. Some paint. We trek. It is the artist in us that makes us trek. And the process is it's own reward. Not the destination. There is no magic waiting at the magic pool. The magic is in the 6 hour walk. The adulation arises from the physical exhaustion.

What I learnt was very fundamental. Trekking is an art. There is no artist in the world who does it for the result. Or for the paycheck. The trek is it's own reward. We love it for what it is. 

The night that I lay on the magic pool, albeit after a million visits to natural restrooms, I was gazing at the night stars. Listening to the sound of the waterfall trickling down. Feeling the chillness of 10 degree winds. I was wondering if I would do this again. And the artist in me expounded with a resounding yes. If trekking is what drives away the madness of city life, then trekking it is. I'd go for that art any number of times for that's my cure for Inertia. 

And that's why I trek.

Post trek write up - Emperors presents Nagala Northeast

February 3, 2014, 2:49 am

≫ Next: CTC Turns 6: 26 Social, Kids/Family, Environment, Sanke Walks, Workshops, Sports events this Feb and March

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Excellent write up from Hari Prasad

Hi everyone, I am Hari Prasad, a final year student from BITS Pilani. I have been a resident of Chennai from birth till i joined college. This was my first trek with CTC, and also my first "real" trekking experience. My introduction was through my friend posting on facebook about CTC. I was really interested to participate in such events, but since my college was in Pilani, i never got to take part in any of them. Recently, while discussing how to do something exciting during the vacation, one of my friends suggested a CTC trek which rekindled the old spark. So, with high spirits i registered for this trek and luckily got selected for it. After reading past writeups and seeing pictures on the CTC site, i was all set for the trip with very high enthusiasm.






Pre-Trek:

Trip preparations started with an enthusiastic preparation mail thread (including a discussion on the legitimacy of vettiver sarbath). Different members quickly volunteered to procure the required items.  On Friday, the 20th of December, 2013 at around 6:00 PM, 16 of us joined the roadtrip at different pickup points (Tidel, Guindy and Koyambedu) in four cars. All the cars met up at the KFC in Poonamalle on the Chennai Bangalore highway.









Here, we had a round of basic introductions, trek costs were collected and head count was verified. After this, we continued our roadtrip. The car i was on (Nissan Micra commandeered by Kishore) went at a smooth pace on the dark highway road, at the rear of our 4 car contingent. We stopped for dinner at a south-style dhabba, suggested by Magesh, just outside the Andhra border where we hogged the almost endless supply of Parottas, Kal Dosas, Chappatis, Idlies, Salna, Sambhar, Coconut Chutney, Half-Boiled Eggs (the most famous item which had huge popularity and demand), Omlettes and the lone Chicken Biriyani. We complete the rest of our voyage to the base of the hill with melodious songs playing on the car FM and the beautiful nagala hills engulfing us on three sides.







Camping at the base hill:
We reach the base of the hill at around 10:30 PM and decide to set up camp on the outskirts of the nearby village. The camp site was enveloped by huge trees and surrounded by pastures on one side and a forest on the other. Using our LED torches, all of us set out to gather firewood, drift wood and dry leaves to make a campfire. We all gathered around the fire and the more experienced trekkers shared their experiences from past treks strung along with humour about encounters with bears, snakes and the such.

 






After a while, we spread out tarpaulin sheets around the fire, and lay down underneath blankets and sleeping bags facing the star spangled sky trying to contain excitement of the trek ahead. With great difficulty i catch a few winks of sleep till waking up at 4:30 in the morning.








The Trek:

Phase 1 - Journey to the first pool:
We wake up at 4:30 in the morning. The cars are taken to the village for safekeeping in a house. Then, we gather all the supplies and divide it up amongst all of us. After checks on backpack weight, we start out on our trek right at sunrise.




We start moving at a good pace with experienced trekkers Masu,  leading the way using GPS to make sure we are on the right track,  Magesh and Vimal Raj taking the rear to ensure nobody is left behind or facing difficulties. The initial trail is pretty easy to traverse with most of it being sand and rock with little stream crossings. Seeing some experienced trekkers take wooden sticks, i too fashion one out of a long stick lying on the way. This helped a lot in clearing out thorny bushes and maintaining balance while crossing the stream on rocks. We reach the first pool around 10:30 AMwhere we have some breakfast - bread, milkmaid and rusk by the stream. Here, one of our members, Mr. Sundar, cut his thumb while opening a milkmaid can. This led to a flurry of “Maid” jokes.



Then i jump into the pool, which with its cold water provided much needed freshening and respite from the sun.

Phase 2 - The Waterfall and Silver Pool:
After breakfast, we resume our trek. The path now gets more rocky and stream crossings start coming more often. Initially, i face problems moving quickly across the new terrain but soon learn the tricks to maintain good footing and balance and start to move across the rocks without much effort.



 We move across this phase of the trek slowly as compared to other phases, stopping and waiting once in a while for everyone to catch up. Our efforts are finally rewarded by the scenic waterfall. We all plunge into the pool adjoining the waterfall, swim around and click pictures here.





Soon, nobody could resist the allure of the waterfall and no photographer is left. After a while, we climb up a little more and reach the Silver Pool. This pool is deeper as compared to the other ones till now. Having swum in swimming pools all my life, this pool provided a much different experience with its base containing cracks and the pressure of being at a higher elevation as well as at a greater depth making it tough to stay underwater for long periods of time. Also, this pool witnessed a lot of enthusiastic diving and jumping.




Phase 3 - Reaching near the peak:
A short distance from the pool, we stop at a spot for preparing lunch. While some of the trekkers decide to stay and prepare lunch, others decide to embark on the more treacherous journey to the peak. I decide to try and reach the peak. At a point pretty close to the peak, there was a bit of free rock climbing involved. After slipping a little bit and being saved by an experienced trekker Manickam, i decide not to continue forward (Maybe next time when i am more confident, i will finish this part) and we both return back to the cooking spot. Here, i learnt how to cook rice using a vessel, ladle, wood and stream water. By the time the rice finished cooking, the other trekkers returned from the peak and the ravished lot of us combined the rice with the various mixes (such as vathakozhambu, pudina, tomato etc. ) and potato chips and consumed huge quantities of this.




Phase 4 - Return journey to the base:
After lunch, we started back on the way down. Me, Manickam and Narayanan started in front and travelled halfway to the breakfast spot by following the stream. We had just two stops on the way down to wait for everyone to catch up. On one, we prepared lemon juice in the cooking pot with sugar and salt, then consuming the tasty beverage in eating bowls and bottles. And the other one was in the breakfast spot, where we stopped for a group pic. We moved at a very good pace and the return was pretty much uneventful.




Phase 5 - Post trek:
We reached the spot where we camped the previous night, having completed our trek of 26.46 Kms. Here, expenses were settled super-fast by our super-efficient accountant Krishna, we split into different cars and we said our final goodbyes and cheers to future treks. Half of us decided to return via the same dhaba and have dinner there. After repeating the same dinner routine as before (minus the biriyani), we exchanged another round of goodbyes and cheers and split into different routes back home.





Thanks a lot to the organizers and all the trekkers for making this trek a really enjoyable experience. Looking forward to embarking on more such adventures in the future.

CTC Turns 6: 26 Social, Kids/Family, Environment, Sanke Walks, Workshops, Sports events this Feb and March

February 7, 2014, 10:47 am

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Those interested to give less privileged children a day to remember, take out the family and kids on an outdoor experience, participate in tree plantations, organic farming or cleaning up nature, experience a snake or turtle walk, initiations on rock climbing, rappelling, slacklining, learn about GPS and navigation or get in shape through running and triathlons, this Feb and Mar CTC brings you 26 events on these diverse outdoor experiences. 

CTC Turns 6: 18 Cycle, Bike, Photography outdoor events during this Feb and March

February 7, 2014, 10:49 am

≫ Next: TREK POLAMA V - SPEAKER PROFILES

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Love to go cycling through enchanting nature among the company of like minded souls, passionate about that long bike ride and camping experience to exotic locations in South, waiting to capture that illusive still on your lens? Wait no more. 18 outdoor cycle/bike/photography experiences are coming your way in Feb and Mar as part of CTC's 6th birthday. 

TREK POLAMA V - SPEAKER PROFILES

March 9, 2014, 10:15 am

≫ Next: Post Trip Mail - Parent & Child - Bird Photography Trip - Vedanthangal - 19th January, 2014

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Registrations will open shortly...

Speaker Profiles, Trek Polamaa V, March 8-9

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King Cobra and Western Ghats

by Gowrishankar

 

What started as curiosity and love for reptiles became the forte of this herpetologist. Gowri Shankar started handling snakes at the age of 13 and now uses this skill to explore the undiscovered grounds of the reptilian world. With over a decade long experience studying king cobras in captivity and wild, Gowri Shankar, is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate at the North Orissa University and a visiting student at Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc. 

His primary interest and passion are snakes especially king cobras. He was instrumental in initiating the pioneering radio telemetry study on king cobras and was able to discover the secret life of king cobras. This was also filmed under the same title by National Geographic Channel in 2008. As part of the Kālinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology, Agumbe he conducts workshops and camps targeted at diverse audiences to initiate, substantiate and facilitate environmental education.  

'Change' is constant and so is the 'struggle for survival' of our forests. The Western Ghats, a biodiversity ‘hottest’ hot spot is home to a wide array of endemic species. With these pristine forests now only a mere strand on the Western Coast and fast depleting, one can imagine the plight of its denizens.

King cobras, apex predators among reptiles are indicators of the richness of the forests. King cobras are snake eaters, are the longest venomous snakes in the world and are the only snakes that are known to build nests for their eggs. Through this talk he will take you on a journey into their majestic lives, help understand their struggle with us humans, research already underway and what action is needed of you!

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Leopards - 21st Century

by Sara

Sara freelances as a wildlife and documentary cameraman, shooting documentaries for channels like National Geographic and the BBC. When not traveling on assignments he loves to get back to his still-photography.He enjoys working with lights and it gives him more and more satisfaction to make images, rather than just take them. 

He also love to teach. Whenever he finds the time he tries to conduct  workshops, especially for beginners.  All his photography and cinematography is self -taught. 

He has his photo studio in Chennai and is slowly being drawn into fine-art nature photography. His work can be seen at http://saravanakumar.co.in 

He will be screening his film "Leopards- 21st century" and will share his experiences about the shoot.

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The Third Curve 

by Mansoor H Khan

 "Sunday, March 9th - 12 Noon"

An alumnus of IIT Mumbai, Cornell University, and M.I.T, Boston, Mansoor Khan began his career as a film-maker and went on to make feature films that won several national awards. In 2003, he moved to Coonoor, to realize his life’s aspiration of starting a self-supporting, organic farm. Spread over 22 acres, the farm, Acres Wild, plays host to those seeking an alternative life-style experience.

‘The Third Curve – The End of Growth as we know it’ is the outcome of Mansoor’s own journey, an extensively researched piece of work that examines the co-relation between the compulsions of economic growth and the limits imposed on us by Nature. Questioning the efficacy of the modern industrial world, The Third Curve unfolds truths that civilization might perforce have to accept not merely as a possibility but as a way of life.

Mansoor has delivered lectures on various aspects of The Third Curve at institutions like the CEO Club, Bangalore; Indian School of Business, Hyderabad; Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; The Energy & Resource Institute, New Delhi; and The Foreign Services Institute, New Delhi. The Third Curve is part one of a trilogy that includes a second work of non-fiction which examines the pathogenic nature of civilization. The trilogy culminates into a fictional novel that shares this understanding with a wider audience.

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Documenting outdoor experience & Writing on Nature

by S. Theodore Baskaran

S.Theodore Baskaran is a trustee of WWF India.

He was an Honorary Wildlife warden for Chennai and the South India representative of the International Primate Protection League.  He was involved in Wildlife Education through camps and nature-related activities. His book The Dance of the Sarus: Essays of a Wandering Naturalist (Oxford University Press) was published in 1999.  Last year he edited the book The Sprint of the Blackbuck published by Penguin. He writes on conservation in The Hindu and Frontline.

He writes in Tamil in magazines like Uyirmmai and Kalachuvadu. He has written two Tamil books on conservation. He believes that to make conservation a people’s movement you have to have that discourse in Tamil.

Baskaran was a Former Chief Postmaster General, Tamilnadu and he lives in Bangalore.

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The Person or the Challenge

by S. Vaidyanathan

 Saturday - March 8th - 3.00 pm

S Vaidyanathan is the co-founder of The Ganga Trust, which supports rehabilitation of physically challenged, Spinal Care India and Running For Ability. He is a Peer Counselor at the outstanding Mary Verghese Institute of Rehabilitation, a part of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and has worked with The Hindu and Sundaram Finance groups. Aaghavendiyatha Paaru - look ahead - is his life mantra. His interests are M S Subbulakhsmi, music, sports, movies, positive news, social media and marathons. He is now working on setting up a National Spinal Cord Injury Organisation.

Mr Vaidyanathan will speak on the topic - "The Person or The Challenge", looking back at society attitudes in 20-plus years of living with a spinal cord injury.

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Ethics and Wildlife Photography

by T Murugavel

     

T Murugavel is Professor and Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, at SVCE. He is associated with several organisations related to nature and  wildlife conservation. He volunteers his services to EMAI as its Project coordinator. He has been involved in photo  documentation of flora and fauna of India for several years now. He is a columnists and writer of popular articles on nature. He is also a Bio philatelist whose collections on snakes and conservation of nature have won national awards. 

Murugavel will speak on the topic - "Ethics and Wildlife Photography". Wildlife photography involves constant interaction with nature and its components It demands a lot a patience and understanding of nature from the photographer. No or minimal disturbance to the subject is expected.This presentation aims to highlight the importanance of ethics  and gives some basics dos and dont's in wildlife photography and filmaking.

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Garbage is Nobody’s business

How to make it as Everybody’s Business

       by Dr.(Ms.) Mangalam

Founder and managing trustee of Exnora Green Pammal, Ms. Mangalam Balasubramanian holds master's degrees in nutrition, sociology and Hindi, and a doctorate in nutrition. From 1971 to 1984 she worked as chief nutritionist for USAID in India, coordinating 3500 maternal and child health Centres (MCH) nationwide programme, converting PL480 programme into Nutrition Education Centres. In 1984, she joined Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, as director of their women's development programme. From 1985 to 2003, she worked for DANIDA, under Danish Embassy as a senior programme officer for primary health care projects, and as chief advisor to the Tamil Nadu Women in Agriculture Programme which trained 6,00,000 women marginal farmers. From 2003 to 2005, she served as a resource person for the Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction Project, and as an agricultural consultant for the Tamil Nadu Corporation for the Development of Women, responsible for designing and implementing agricultural training for 25,000 women farmers. She is also an approved and empanel member for conducting Environment Impact Assessment for Ministry of Environment and Forests approved projects.

Under Ms. Balasubramanian's pioneering leadership, Exnora Green Pammal has become a widely-recognized role model for solid waste management, and an award-winning example of public private partnership. Exnora Green Pammal has replicated its waste management practices in over a dozen Indian localities in partnership with local administrations and residents, improving public health, protecting the environment, and demonstrating that the government's municipal solid waste management regulations are workable, relevant and effective. For her achievements she has earned several awards including "Sutru Suzha Kavalar" award in June 2013 from TNPCB, "Servant of the Poor" from the Confederation of NGOs of Rural India and several others.

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Species Identification, Recovery and Reintroduction. Loss of Actual Biodiversity

by Arun Krishnamurthy

  

Arun is an Environmentalist and Communication Professional who runs The Environmentalist Foundation of India and Krish Info Media. EFI is an environmental conservation group focusing on wildlife conservation and habitat restoration. EFI is spread across 9 cities Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Vishakapatnam, Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Chennai. 

Current and Upcoming Projects of  EFI & KIM:

Lake Restoration
Bio Diversity Parks
Sparrow Reintroduction
Zoo Volunteering
EFI has a mobile animal ambulance in Chennai and is currently building an animal rescue center one each in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Environment Documentary Films made by EFI & KIM include the award winning “Elixir Poisoned” & “Kurma”
EFI & KIM are also a stage/street theater group
360 Degree creative communication for businesses through KIM.

Awards:

Rolex Award For Enterprise - 2012

Youth ActionNet Global Fellow - 2012

Google Social Impact Award – 2011

British Council Active Citizens - 2011

British Council Climate Champion Excellence Award – 2011

The Jane Goodall Institute International Youth Leadership Award – 2010

International Visitor Leadership (IVLP – 2010) – U.S State department

Rotary Vocational Service Excellence Award (Eco Conservation.)

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Getting Started with Birding

by Sagar

  "Sunday- March 9th"

Sagar is an avid birdwatcher and outdoor enthusiast. He has been observing birds about 10 years now, predominantly by himself. Most of what he knows about birds is by observing them with the help of field guides. He tries to learn & gather snippets whenever he gets the chance to go bird watching with professionals. He hates the camera, and loves running & sleeping.

He will enlighten us about choosing bird watching as a hobby, the common birds that we can sight and go into some details about these birds, and finally about bird watching equipment & field guides.

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Nature & Wilderness in art form

by Dr Srinivasan

 "Saturday - Mar 9 - 10.00 am"

Dr. Srinivasan Periathiruvadi, Chairman of the not for profit Jeevan Blood Bank and Jeevan Stem Cell Bank is a self taught nature photographer. His pictures are certainly story telling and makes you feel in the zone of wild and most importantly aesthetically very much appealing. He is been more than passionate over the last 25 years in this incredible genre of nature photography. His images can be seen at http://www.natureimages.in/

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Sevai Karangal, in service of the less privileged

by Thilak Raj

Service has always been my passion, from young hood till now. Initially I collected old clothes and rice, gave it to the homes .I have visited home to help the kids with their ablutions and have taken classes for underprivileged home and students.

Sevaai karangal:
    

Wanted to start an orphanage, So I started visiting many orphanages and found that few orphanages are lacking capital and infrastructure to provide efficient service to the underprivileged society. Like a side of a coin ,There were orphanages which had surplus fund and on the other side,Some orphanages were out of fund to cater the inmate’s appetite.I Wanted to channelize this. So dropped the plan of starting an orphanage and started ‘Sevai Karangal’, an organization to uplift the homes which receive less funds.

Practicing mediation from ‘94. Completed the master’s course and also teaching it. Have conducted classes for students, govt. Staff and corporate employers. Conducted sessions on various captions like Goal setting, Time management, leadership qualities etc.  Later I composed these topics into a personality development program.Have provided training to corporate employees and students.

Participated, co-organized, organized many cleanup, awareness wildlife campaigns. ‘Save Tada’ a clean up drive at Tada falls, couples of Mega beach cleanup program  covering 15 km of Chennai coast, starting from the marina and till Injambakkam by CTC where more than 2400 volunteers participated.  The motto of beach cleanups and awareness campaigns were the main is to create awareness among the public not to litter.

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Roof Gardening, Vermi-composting, Tree plantation

by S. Indra Kumar

Indra's life objective is to serve the community by providing guidance for better environment. He serves as a Senator, Exnora International and is President of Exnora Home. 

He has been passionate for the past 20 years on tree plantations, harvesting vermi-compost at home through garbage bin and pots. He has conducted seminars on better living conditions in corporates, NGO's, public sector, schools and colleges. He conducts workshops with HOME Exnora and guides individuals to implement the process in their homes for better environment.

Indra completed a certification courses on gardening, water harvesting and workshop on decentralized composting in India.

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Observing nature from behind the fence

by Erode Nagaraj

Erode Nagaraj, a well known mrudangam artiste (performer-teacher) in India and abroad is a prime disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Padmavibhushan Umayalpuram Sri K.Sivaraman. Nagaraj is an A Grade artiste and works as lecturer in The Music Academy.Nagaraj is a wheel chair user. Affected by Polio in the early 70’s he learnt not to fight his disability but to accept the package that was offered to him by nature. He loves mountains, valleys, river, sea, woods, wild life, birds and every element of the universe.In any concert tour, he looks for places of nature and tries to converse with the woods, wild life, birds from the boundaries where the access is denied in many places and he has a special love for elephants. Nagaraj, apart from a performing artist, is an avid reader and writer and strongly opinionated regarding disability access and issues. 

Post Trip Mail - Parent & Child - Bird Photography Trip - Vedanthangal - 19th January, 2014

February 16, 2014, 11:39 am

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This trip was exclusively for kids and it turned out to be a great day with so many little photographers lined up to take photographs of every action of the birds and also became more interesting for them to know about biodiversity. Enjoy the photographs from the little souls of CTC.

From Nithya - the budding photographer

I am learning to take pictures.. I know, I have a long way to go in photography like Nivya Aunty, Muthu Uncle, Punitha Aunty and Nandan uncle.. here is my first attempt with my new camera

Photos by little Jyotsna

The trip ended with a session on bio-diversity and its importance by Dr. Ashok who had taken efforts to draw it on a chart and explain about the importance of environment and the various species that are dependent on the same. Here are the snapshots:

Special thanks to all the parents for waking the children so early in the morning and making them to participate in this trip. We were all able to see the little photographer bubbling out of every kid.  Hats off to all of you!

Special thanks to Dr.Ashok for giving us a session on biodiversity and it's importance, Punitha, Muthu and Nandan for helping to co-ordinate and organize this trip. 

Please post your comments and feedback in the following nabble link:

http://chennai-trekking-club.32436.n3.nabble.com/Parent-Child-Bird-Photography-Trip-Vedanthangal-19th-January-2014-tp4025576.html

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Post walk Write up - IIT Photowalk - Feb 2nd

February 16, 2014, 11:55 am

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A brilliant write up by Mr.Rangarathanam 

        What do early birds eat? If it is worms, do those poor things have to pay a penalty for getting up early? A group of us, numbering around 27, decided to find out the answer to the above question by making first-hand observations. The venue we chose for the exercise was IIT-M which, with a campus cordoned off from city's chaos, has a sufficiently large acreage to support nature's life-forms alongside ambitious attempts that seek to tame technologies.

          On 2^nd February 2014 at 5AM, my cab having duly deposited me at the IN-gate of the IIT campus, I found that the first-person to arrive was already assiduously aiming his camera at the gate, using available light and aperture values. Within 15 minutes most of the group arrived and the neat row of parked vehicles was a sight to behold. Noel Prashant, the facilitator arrived to help us with getting the valid passes without which we would have been trespassers.

Photograph by Gowtham.

          Formalities at the gate completed, we drove down to the Central Lecture Theatre, in a slow and majestic cavalcade. Parking our vehicles, we set out on foot towards the action spots. As I walked down the wooded grounds and jogged down the memory lane at the same time, a pleasant surprise was in store for me in the form of an all night/all day cafeteria, a facility I sorely missed during my excursions into the campus in the distant past. While we, the early watchers of early birds refreshed ourselves with a cup that warmed our gullet, we noticed that the place was populated with late night book-worms with an intellect larger than bird-brains and sharper than their beaks that would enjoy the cocoon of campus life till the interviews that would give them wings.

          We got into position on the very edge of the marshy expanse even before the first rays of the Sun shot up in the sky. Squatting, standing, strolling hither and thither, striving to cut through the thicket of bushes one and all became busy straining their eyes through the viewfinder to systematically sample and captureimages of life-forms. One and all except one, as Muthukumaran simply sauntered around delivering hispunchlines with a flourish! Small and speedy birds, charming butterflies, interesting insects all kept the photographers busy for what was a fairly long session.

Photograph by Gowtham. 

Moving towards the lake area, which was the other region marked for our visit, we came across an open clearing that was the preserve of deers. A few spotted deers and a graceful black buck grazing on grass provided us with photographic fodder. We passed on and soon entered the walkway to the lake. While the security there busied himself with calling his superiors to ascertain our bonafides, a couple of his seniors presented themselves and informed him that we had the requisite permissions. Upon which he gave us helpful tips on how not to drown ourselves and allowed us to move on. Not much clearing around the lake that would enable one to walk all along its bank, so we made good of whatever opportunity was there, before winding up.

Photograph by Ashok N Puliyerengi

          Breakfast at canteen, a much improved fare from what I had seen in my previous visits long ago, and we were back to our vehicles. An attempt at head count, to ensure we weren't leaving any new specimen behind, saw more than one member vying for the same number. We reinvented the ring counter to resolve that conflict and moved on to the introductions routine. The bio-data diversity was as interesting as any biodiversity model and Hasan Ali competed with Muthukumaran to provide the punch lines. Next it was time for a group photograph with Senthil doing the honors. I suppose that while our group picture presents us as birds of a feather, our individual pictures would showcase that we don't share a herd mentality. Though it was a brief window of opportunity, I am sure it did a lot in helping us hone our skills.

 

Photograph by Gowtham. 

  Thanks a lot Navaneeth, a man of seasoned skills, Dinesh who walked lot of kilometers to cover the extra mile, Noel of indefatigable energies, Muthukumaran in-charge of punchlines and munch lines, Dr.Bipasha who waded through the crazy Luz traffic to drop me near my home and all the other group members who made it an enjoyable event. On the way back home, just about to exit Adyar bridge we noticed a group of unfamiliar birds hovering in and out of sight above the parapet wall. Hmm... any photo-walk the set of memories of missed opportunities outnumber the pictures procured with dint of one's effort!

 Photograph by Dinesh kumar

          So what is the answer to question we asked in the beginning? We still don't have one, but in the interests of poetic justice let us believe that it is the worms fattened too much with late-night revelry that get eaten!

Another write up by Shyamantak Chatterjee

This being only my third trip with CTC overall, I was still not used to waking up early on a Sunday morning. Three sets of alarms helped in that regard. With half-open eyes, I reached the IIT entrance at 5 pm. It was dark and the street lights were trying their best to eke out a path for the infrequent visitors to the campus, so early in the morning.

Photograph by Shyamantak.

The numbers started rising as the clock neared the hour mark. As soon as the group looked large enough, we proceeded to the canteen to start the day with a cup of tea or coffee (sponsored by Dinesh, many thanks!) before we headed off to work our lenses. As we were walking towards the marsh, our first spot for the day, dawn was breaking and the birds were starting to make themselves heard. A huge expanse of trees rising silently out of the water gave the location an eerie appearance, and the soft morning light gave it an impressive touch.

Having made new friends, or having met up with old ones, everyone cheerily looked for a spot to get some good shots. Tripods were unraveled and lenses were mounted. Then followed a couple of hours of bending, crouching and stretching to make a perfect frame followed by numerous clicks of the silver button. Birds started making appearances and so did out-of-place objects on the marsh. Scouting for a location wasn't very difficult, and with a few tips from the seasoned people out there, it was a wonderful experience of creating photos.

Photograph by Shyamantak.

After the marsh, we were to head out to a lake that was a short walk away from the marsh. Many a stranger turned a curious eye to the horde of people who were chatting cheerfully among themselves, and stopping to shoot whatever that took their fancy, so early on a Sunday morning. The sun was now beating down and the environment became bright, lined with carefree black bucks, tiny squirrels, energetic birds and lazy bugs, among others.

Once everyone was sure they'd covered almost all possible opportunities, we decided to head back and satisfy our shrinking stomachs.

Photograph by Shyamantak.

People gelled further over a quick breakfast; and a short walk later, everyone gathered in a circle to introduce themselves. This one never goes down straight and quite obviously, the introductions were interleaved with comments and quips from the rest of the gathering. We also got an insight into the trials and pitfalls of organizing something like this on this grand a scale. The campus was pristine, the people were fun and the walk brought a sense of energy geared both towards photography and well being, as this location was indeed poles apart from the madness of the beating city outside those walls.

Special thanks to Navanee, Noel and everyone else for making this a wonderful experience. Hoping to see you guys soon!

The complete list of sightings inside the campus by Mr.Gowtham is below.

Birds

1.     Purple Swamp hen(Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio))

2.     Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) )

3.     Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi)

4.     Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus)

5.     Crimson-breasted  Barbet or Coppersmith (Megalaima haemacephala)

6.     Asian Koel(Eudynamys scolopaceus)

7.     Greater Coucal or Crow Pheasant (Centropus sinensis)

8.     Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis) 

9.     Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)

10.   Pond Heron or Paddybird (Ardeola grayii)

11.   Bronze-winged Jacana (Metopidius indicus) 

12.   Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

13.   Asian Palm Swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis)

14.   Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)

15.  White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)

16.  Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus)

17.  Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

18.  Eurasian Golden oriole (Oriolus Oriolus)

19.  Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) Immature

20.  Black-Rumped Flameback (Dinopium bengalense)

21.  Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

22.  Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striata)

23.   Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)

24.  Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) 

25.  Little Cormorant (Microcarbo niger)

Bugs and butterflies

1.     Striped Tiger (Danaus genutia)

2.     Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace)

3.     Brown Damselfly(to be identified)

4.     Blue Damselfy (to be identified)

5.     Coromandel marsh dart Ceriagrion coromandelianum

6.     Hand Maiden Moth

7.     Jewel Bug

Mammals

1.     Black Buck

2.     Spotted Deer

3.     Mongoose

His work from the walk can be found below.

https://www.facebook.com/Gowthamscape/media_set?set=a.10202143626004683.1073741835.1009397179&type=1

Trek Polamaa V - March 8-9 - registration

March 7, 2014, 12:34 pm

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Trek Polamaa V - March 8-9 - registration

Trek Polamaa V is the 5th edition of Chennai Trekking Club's yearly symposium on outdoors, sports, adventure, nature, wildlife and conservation. Prominent guest speakers from across South India are coming down to Chennai, Tirunvanmyur for 2 days to share their passion and life through inspirational talks and presentations on the above areas. This year we have put together a great cast of renowned speakers.

Speakers, Topics & Schedule =======================*** Saturday10am - Vinoth - Environmental impact of Plastics 11am - Arun Krishnamurthy - Species Identification, Recovery and Reintroduction. Loss of Actual Biodiversity 12pm - Gowri Sankar - King Cobra & Western Ghats 1pm - lunch (not provided) 2pm - Indra Kumar - Roof Gardening, Vermi-composting, Tree plantation 3pm - Vaidyanathan Singararaman - The Person or The Challenge 4pm - Dr. Srinivasan - Nature & Wilderness in art form 5pm - Thilak - Sevai Karangal, a social organization 5:30pm - Sagar - Getting Started with Birding *** Sunday10am - Dr. Mangalam - Garbage, nobody's business? How to make it everybody's business! 11am - S. Theodore Baskaran - Documenting outdoor experience & Writing on Nature 12pm - Mansoor H Khan - The Third Curve 1pm - lunch (not provided) 2pm - T Murugavel - Ethics and Wildlife Photography 3pm - Nagaraj - Observing nature from behind the fence 4pm - Sara - Leopards - 21st century 5pm - Manick - Trek to Heritage Places in South India Both days 9am-3pm a blood donation camp will be coordinated by VHS and Hindu Mission Hospitals. We request participants to donate and save lives. Full Speaker profiles can be found over here: http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/p/trek-polama-speaker-profiles.html

Venue ===== Epagemaker 4, Bharathi Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600041 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=epagemaker,+Bharathi+Nagar,+Thiruvanmiyur,+Chennai,+Tamil+Nadu,+India&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.630055,93.076172&oq=epagema&t=m&z=17&iwloc=ARegistration ========== We request a non-profit contribution of 200 Rs to be paid at the venue (valid for both days) to cover part of the expenses of the event including travel of our out station guest speakers, audio & video, snacks & refreshments and interior. Help us in spreading awareness on Trek Polamaa V among your friends: Sharing our event poster on your wall - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203040131345232&set=a.2880805780265.2150241.1263683300&type=1&theaterUpdating your FB wall cover - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202689273215640&set=a.2741609502087.139241.1312929832&type=1&theater

Sponsorship ========== Trek Polamaa is an non-profit event to spread awareness on outdoors, adventure, nature and conservation organized entirely by volunteers. We are looking for sponsors to help us cover (part of) the expenses to organize this symposium. Sponsors will be given visibility within our 20.000 member group, one of the largest and most active outdoor communities in South India.

Previous editions ============== 2013 - http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2013/03/trek-polamaa-iv-march-9-10-post-event.html2012 - http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2012/03/trek-polamaa-3-march-10-11.html2011 - http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2011/03/trek-polama-trekking-symposium-iit.html2010 - http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2010/03/trek-polamaa-march-6-explore-discover.html Trek Polamaa is organized as part of the 6th birthday of our group. 75 outdoor events are organized in the 4 surrounding weekends including trekking, cycling, biking, photography, sports, green events and social initiatives.

Participant details

Name *Peter Van Geit

Email *peter.vangeit@gmail.com

I wish to attend *Indicate your likely attendance so we can make the necessary arrangements

•  Sat Morning
•  Sat Afternoon
•  Sun Morning
•  Sun Afternoon

Ideas, suggestions, doubts

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Post ride writeup: Emperor's On & Offroad Cycling (Jan 25 &26,2014 )

February 26, 2014, 12:43 am

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Writeup from Dinesh :

This is how I realized, how much fun cycling can be.

We bunch of five kids (Dinesh, Pavan, Suraj, Gp and most importantly Manu) started our journey from IIT Madras at 5:30 and headed to Sholinganallur. The real fun started at Sholinganallur. A bunch of guys were waiting for us at a tea shop at Sholinganallur junction. With all hope that they were our CTC gang we parked the cycles and wondered how to start the conversation. Within no time the group leader (the organizer) approached us and said “hello boss I am siddharth, have some snacks; we shall start once everyone arrives”. Soon the silent star Vivek arrived and we started our journey. On the way we got introduced to each other, picked up some vegetables and fruits and headed towards Navallur. On the way Sid found a well and said “let’s get fresh”. Everyone without objection went there and some of us swam, on the lure of swimmers swimming the non-swimmers also wanted to join in, but there was only one tube. Well aware of the situation Sid mentioned there was a rescue swimmer, who had registered so now non swimmers could join us. After all this only Push had the courage to come in, after a while push asked “yaarupa andha rescue swimmer??”, no one answered and again asked Sid “ machi yaarra adhu, andha rescue swimmer??”, Sid replied “ Yaara da athu ?? (Silence for few seconds)therila push “. Here began our quest to search for the rescue swimmer!! Soon we finished our swim, but for us kids wells were something we studied in hydraulics and underground space technology, but we never knew the jumps from the top could be so much fun. Our first well experience was insane fun. Once we had got ready, our photographer (Aravind) came in and went on with his snaps.

All set to ride, we started again towards Mambakkam, but in no time we reached our breakfast shop. Famished and tired the combination of typical south Indian breakfast, idli,dosa,vada, poori, and not to forget the omelet and half-boils came to our rescue. Obviously the food tasted really good, but I don’t know whether it was because we were very hungry. Arvind somehow managed to calculate the bill and pay it off, ya he was our accountant too!! Sorry folks, am compelled to say about his smartness, Arvind will need three calculators, two assistants to do  the calculations, and since so many people were involved in the transaction, he would definitely get the calculations wrong, then Suraj would come in and do all the calculations for us (Pun intended). Now we seriously moved towards Mambakkam, but there was a twist. GP and Pavan, anxiously were trying to finish off the sunscreen bottle as the expiry date was approaching and thus forgot to notice where the rest of us headed. Instead of taking a U turn they moved on straight, and realizing that none of us are in front of them they speeded up to catch up, however our best cycler Manu did everything he could and caught them. Now that everything was ready we moved on, after the U turn the city landscape also took a U turn to green pleasant fields.

 All of us happily moved on and the scenery was so amazing. After cycling for an hour or so we got to our second well on plan. This was cleaner than the one before and so we could see the water clearly, someone murmured there was a snake but his repetitive warnings went in vain as the excitement to jump had overwhelmed everyone. Even the non-swimmers had braced themselves and joined us. Opposite to the entry stairs of the well there was a block, that was best suited for sitting. Somehow Push and Arvind managed to swim across to block and sat there. To get a firm grip Sid asked Push and Arvind to hold on to the holes in the block. Now everyone settled and the well was calm, and there was a splash suddenly. It wasn’t the snake but Thangavel’s jump and we well noticed that he had landed badly. After he came to the surface Arvind asked “Thambi kai valikumae” and Thangavel in this sweet voice ”Illainga unmaiya valikala”. Meanwhile Vivek, suraj and me were having a blast. Once we were up on the land we saw a snake that popped out exactly from the holes which our heroes were gripping. 

We then soon dressed up and were set to go, but were forced to wait for the couple “ Gp and Manu”.  Gp is an aspiring photographer and Manu a wannabe model, so now I guess you get the gravity of the situation. Somehow we managed to move forward. While we cycled, we could notice the landscape changing, and it was so beautiful; the photographers were on it. After an hour or so we stopped for photos and now again Manu was up for up for something!! He stoppe’ed and drifted till he gained our attraction and then..!! Nothing just got photos for his DP. We headed towards our off road track and once we were in it, the scene if shot would have surely made a block buster DHOOM 4!! Farther we moved in; the roads got tougher and hit the dead end where only Arvind and Manu could manage to cycle.

 We tried to figure out how far this stretch was and noticed it was indefinite and shifted to route B.  Route B didn’t deceive us; and it was a brilliant ride along the paddy fields. On the way we noticed a well that was really big (10m in radius), and we got down for lunch. We decided to wash the vegetables/fruits and cook, but on seeing the well the plans changed completely. The well was a paradise, water can never get better and with the fishes around it was the best snorkeling exercise. Soon non swimmers washed the goods and set it for cooking; meanwhile rest of us swam in the paradise to the full of our hearts with a couple of snakes and turtles. Once we were tired we moved up for our lunch.

Fruit salad was ready and Gongura aval was in its making. Push had made it well under Sid’s guidance and delivered it to all of us. Next milk maid aval was prepared by me and once it was prepared, it vanished into our stomachs. We finished the fruit salads and left for our next stop. This was the fun part, we were hoping for a well paved road but we got into a road that was just terrible, but it was the perfect off road experience. We were heading to a village near Thiruporur, and on the way there was a brilliant hillock with a temple at the top. Now it’s obvious we would go there right?? Yes, we drove up the hill; it would be approximately 300 meters above the ground level. We chilled in the hill for a while and left. Not to surprise our couples were up in the hill still taking photos even when we reached the foothills!! Finally by eve we neared the campsite and split into two groups one went to prepare the camp site and other to purchase the ingredients for dinner. Somewhere near Thiruporur we got all materials we needed and drove back with the help of torch lights.

Me and Sasi, after struggling for an hour prepared much awaited the biryani and curd rice; courtesy to all others for the prep help. The feast began!! Kara sev and potato chips had made the meal even better!! After all this we managed to sleep. Next morning Sid woke us up at 5:30 and said get up if you want to swim!! Some of us managed to get up and go to the well. This well was just made for diving, stone diving boards were installed!! We dived and dived and dived, because we believed this was the last well for the trip. Thangavel the most charming character, all you need to ask him is “boss gudhikalama??”  And reply would be “am always ready” irrespective of what your question would be!! After we returned we made cold ragivita and had biryani with it. By 8:30 all set to leave the camp site we moved to Kayar. From now on it was serious cycling we moved fast, till we spotted a black buck, and then we came across a lake en-route and crossed with our cycles. After the tiresome journey we had our ice cream mama to rescue, it was mango and grape flavored ice creams that we enjoyed. After this we hit ECR and cycled downwards. I must mention this, Sasi’s cycle pedal was broken last eve but this guy never gave up, he was always with us!! Bravo Sasi!! He cycled the longest of all 140km in total. 

Now back to the story, we were passing the 2^nd well but decided, there could always be another well in the plan!! And as excited as we could get we jumped into the well!! This time we were even more concerned about the snake! I was diving on and on so much that Sid got scared, but still I had Thangavel for company. All I needed to ask him was “Boss gudhikalama” and the reply would be “am always ready” after getting cramps I had to stop. Soon we got ready and headed back to Chennai. On the way were beautiful paddy fields. The stocks (birds) were all over the fields once a passing car zips across, they would fly away. It was beautiful. We passed through sipcot and entered ECR again. After the lime juice there we went straight into kerala mess. Sat, ate and relaxed!! Arvind was getting the final financials correct!! Am sure you can guess what happened now, however I shall have my pleasure of stating it. 3 calculators + 2 assistants and yet accounts went off track, this time it was Sid to rescue (pun intended). After this we left to Sholinganallur, Sasi was still on, the epitome of a true warrior!! We gathered at sholinganallur and left to our respective places. On the way back, all that was in my mind was “when will I get this chance again….”

 

P.S: Guys you were brilliant, one of my best weekends ever!! I never knew cycling could be this fun!! The way you guys were there for all of us during the trip was brilliant. I love you guys. Arvind really nice nature photographs, you have a bright future!! We shall meet again whenever possible. Sid and Push thanks a lot for the trip, you guys were the soul of our journey.

More Pics  @ 

https://www.facebook.com/siddharth.ramana/media_set?set=a.10202328859436289.1073741838.1035984796&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/aravindhakshan.ramakrishnan/media_set?set=a.645559802167752.1073741843.100001412138417&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/DINESH.SOUNDAPPA/media_set?set=a.10202175344677824.1073741826.1015205197&type=3

CTC's 6th year in review - A complete overview

March 12, 2014, 4:24 am

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Trek Polamaa V - March 8-9 - photos, videos & presentations

March 13, 2014, 11:36 am

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Photo Links

Gowtham -
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.596658543756325.1073741843.266115326810650&type=1

Karthick -
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.640952825941966.1073741826.132054820165105&type=1

Noel -
https://plus.google.com/photos/105425190959627629682/albums/5989040439380294849?authkey=CLOB9LKETZX2PGE
https://plus.google.com/photos/105425190959627629682/albums/5989028491604668129?authkey=CJG1WEHVWP6PCG

Bharathy -

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202553441630678.1073741829.1635231127&type=1&l=e15a70b883

Trek Polamaa V innauguration DFO

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3GBFszItlk&feature=youtu.be

Vinoth - Impact of Plastics

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzg7TpHG9E0&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14I-05aV9SyGp2vIZIZKI10lucQMs0bZap27lp1P8fpU/edit?usp=sharing

Arun - Species Identification-Recovery and Reintroduction. Loss of Actual Biodiversity.

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG39tEq_sdU&feature=youtu.be

Gowri - King Cobras and Western Ghats

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWi81_Q_VGw&feature=youtu.be

Murugavel - Ethics in wildlife photography

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVK8Ck9_x1w&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xWPbemo-1s7k_kDUpvdb8ZBE2gnMvbyPb-FGIifbsII/edit?usp=sharing

Indira Kumar - Roof Gardening, Composting, Planting Trees

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWTG-narGxU&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_o7QtZJaW3qNDNZSVhVRzJyMjQ/edit?usp=sharing

Mansoor - The Third Curve

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYYMozTaBDY&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17gaRSVvsz4TW2p1ed5JgNBSqz18RwmTMvKn2RAAr8iI/edit?usp=sharing

Dr Mangalam - Garbage-nobody's business?How to make it everybody's business!

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCnP1jzoCOc&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1t0po6CVrUs1gf_fLwXaeh_FHb60PFxd0H53CbPGvVEs/edit?usp=sharing

Manick - Trekking to Preserve our Heritage

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25SMQHFTda0&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14-Ny4mXOxpFN34W2gUedv5jC74h4P7D_3K2HC2g997o/edit?usp=sharing

Srinivasan - Nature and Wilderness in Art Form

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMF0deWOtFQ&feature=youtu.be

Nagaraj - Observing Nature from behind the fence

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzgFNh_4f3U&feature=youtu.be

Thilak - Sevai Karangal, a social organization

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zq8L1YGA_I&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cPXehf4gWmoLZCFzjXhLvoVYK5XhKKI9S74HlAbOy4M/edit?usp=sharing

Sagar - Bird Watching

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYUJwPWg83E&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NW7EMHI_Wh-WFNDLZOquT4FFYkIB-nbLVs5uJo2_f8A/edit?usp=sharing

Vaidhya - The Person or the Challenge

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDOvSS1wxdU&feature=youtu.be

Sara - Leopards in the 21st century

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgXcR3wTITw&feature=youtu.be

Peter- CTC 6th year review & Organizer Awards

Video -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXaxb-1BL6E&feature=youtu.be

PPT -https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_o7QtZJaW3qWkNhYTY1d2sxRms/edit?usp=sharing

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMiXldZr7_I&feature=youtu.be

PPT - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_o7QtZJaW3qWkNhYTY1d2sxRms/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks to our Sponsors who made Trek Polamaa V possible

A BIG thanks to all volunteers who helped out realizing this years' Trek Polamaa V!

-- 

Chennai Enticer, Sprint & Olympic Triathlon - March 29th

March 28, 2014, 11:08 pm

≫ Next: Post trek write up - Nagala one day western peak climb - Feb 22nd 2014

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This is the 8th edition of CTC's Triathlon, focusing on entry levels - Enticer, Sprint and Olympic

Registrations - http://chennaitriathlonmar14.doattend.com/

Link to our last June entry-level Triathlon - http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2013/07/chennai-triathlon-july-13th-event.html

Event details

A triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events.[1] While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall course completion time, including timed "transitions" between the individual swim, bike, and run components.

This Triathlon includes 3 levels:

• Enticer - 300m swim, 10km cycling, 2km run
• Sprint - 750m swim, 20km cycling, 5km run
• Olympic - 1.5km swim, 40km cycling, 10km run

Fees

600Rs. (All Categories, includes entrace fees swimming pool)

Includes medal, refreshments, sandwich

Venue

Anna Swimming Pool at Marina beach

Reporting time: 5:30am (warm-up, briefing, change clothes)

Starting time: 6am sharp

Agenda

Swimming will happen inside the Anna Swimming Pool

Cycling will start from Anna Pool - Marina beach - Adyar - Latice Bridge Road - ECR

Running will happen in semi-shady residential area at Neelankarai off the ECR

CTC will provide refreshments near the swimming and running venue. Our volunteers will make note of the swim/cycle/run timing of the participants. Participants will receive a Triathlon medal upon completion of the endurance. Participants luggages will be transported from Marina to Neelankarai.

Previous Triathlons organized by CTC

• Olympic Jungle Triathlon in Nagala
• http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2012/09/introducing-ctcs-first-15-olympic.html
• Half Iron distance Triathlon at Nagala
• http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2012/11/half-iron-distance-triathlon-nagala-nov.html
• Swim like a Fish, Pedal like a Jockey, Run like a Stallion
• http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2012/11/swim-like-fish-pedal-like-jockey-run.html

• Enticer, Sprint, Olympic, Half Iron in Chennai
• http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2013/03/chennai-triathlon-march-23-24.html
• Entricer,Sprint, Olympic Triathlon at Chennai
• http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2013/07/chennai-triathlon-july-13th-event.html
• Full Iron Distance Triathlon
• http://www.chennaitrekkers.org/2014/01/chennai-iron-triathlon-photo-links.html

Contacts

Prabakar - pramypn@gmail.com

Peter - peter.vangeit@gmail.com

Post trek write up - Nagala one day western peak climb - Feb 22nd 2014

March 18, 2014, 5:00 am

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After a two month hiatus, I was itching to go on a trek when the mail for western peak single day trek came. And being the only day free for a couple of weeks, I signed up instantly. My previous visits to Nagala have all been a combination of trekking and picnics in the eastern range so this was my first time trekking up the western peak. 

On 23^rd Feb at 3:45 AM, the 16 member sleep deprived group started from Koyumbedu. After a refreshing stop for tea near Nagalapuram bus stop, we reached the Western side at 7 AM just as dawn was creeping up behind the hills. After a quick bite, full of energy and enthusiasm we set out with a goal of reaching the western peak by 10:30 AM and having breakfast on the peak. Very soon, we came across the western stream and followed it. Pools came and went as we made good time. By 8:15 we had reached mini-Kuttralam and waited for a couple of people to catch up with Ela and Karthik bringing up the rear. After a long time, we decided to have breakfast there instead of wasting time. What started out as a 10 min halt stretched to more than 30min. The four hour goal seemed to slip away. Finally at 9PM, started ascending up the hill and spent the next half hour cursing the bloody thorns that plagued our path (or the lack of one). After a quick and steep descend, we came by the stream and followed it to Pool 5. It was already 10 AM. Here the slow trekkers decided to stay back while the rest climbed the peak. So 14 of us set out in earnest with just water and some snacks. We made really good time and after a while decided to ditch the trail and make straight for the western ridge. By 11 AM we reached the peak and relaxed. Spent a good hour taking photos and talking about various arbitrary topics.

We made it and the only thing remaining was the descent back. It was a perfect trek till then. Everything went according to plan. And then we started our descent back at noon. A group of 7 started quickly headed by Nachi while the rest came a bit leisurely. We didn’t catch the trail, but weren’t concerned as our GPS showed us we should catch up to it eventually. And then suddenly we came up against a rock face in front of us. None of us expected it and we had run out of water and food at the peak itself. We spent a good half hour trying to find some way other than climbing back up to the trail. But there was no other way other than backtracking for over two kilometers. After cursing the contour data, we had only one option remaining, rapidly gain altitude and get back to the trail. Only problem was, the trail was atleast a 100m above us and the climb was almost 80° steep. In some places, it was almost vertical. Full of dry sand and loose rocks, we took at almost an hour to climb that face and exit the valley. And to make matters worse, my hands were not free as I had a bottle and my GPS too. 

Finally, at around 1:30PM we reached the trail and let out a huge sigh of relief. By the time we got back, the rest were about to send out a search party to look for us. Starving, we attacked our lunches with gusto. Dried idlies never tasted better. After lunch, we dived into pool 5. The pools are the best part of Nagala. In all other places, especially the Western Ghats, they are freezing cold and can give you a bad case of sniffles after swimming in them. But the clear, deep pools of Nagala are just right. Cool enough to feel relaxed, refreshed and energized. At pool 5 we met Raj Jacob’s group who were on a two day moderate trek. Nachi decided to leave early with the slow hikers while Ela would bring the rest later. Most however left with Nachi to take a dip in Pool 3. We started our descent and soon reached mini- Kuttrallam, when we had our next problem. Kamal and Anitha, who were lagging behind were lost. Kamal got a signal and called Nachi, who went to look for them. After about 30mins, Nachi came back with the two in tow and we started our descent to Pool 3. A corporate group picnic with lots of soupy noodles was having a picnic there. After gulping down some of their noodles we dived into the pool again (this is Nagala) before continuing our descent down to the van. We reached the Dam just as the last rays of the sun were receding by 6 PM and waited for the rest. Again, Kamal and Anitha took the longest and we waited for over an hour for them to reach us. The corporate team, who we had passed long ago had already left while we waited. Finally at 7 30 PM we started back to Koyembedu. Hungry and tired, we had to skip our dinner at the usual stop as a couple of people (including me) had a train to catch. Finally at 10 PM we had reached Koyembedu bus stand and while the rest went to AAB, Arjun and I rushed to catch our train back to Bangalore.

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Post trek write up - Freshers trek to Munnar. March 1st-2nd, 2014

March 18, 2014, 5:01 am

≫ Next: Post Trip Write up - ECR Photography trip Part II

≪ Previous: Post trek write up - Nagala one day western peak climb - Feb 22nd 2014

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[Written by Aarthi]

Trekking with CTC has been on my bucket list for quite some time now and when I saw a posting for a fresher's hike from Kurangini to Top station, I immediately registered for it. A couple of days later, I was thrilled to receive a mail confirming that I will be doing my first ever backpacking hike with seventeen other CTCians.

I am a novice hiker who is just about five to six hikes old. I've heard a lot of experienced hikers say, that one should take with them on a hike only those things that one REALLY needs. If you ask me,I would say, one should take with them on a hike only those things that one can carry. So I decided to take my small day pack with a two litre hydration pack, one set of spare clothes, torch light, tooth brush/paste,sun block, bowl/spoon, digital camera, cell phone and some spare change with my sleeping bag and sleeping pad tied to it.

On Friday evening , we loaded our gears and bags  on the bus and started our 12 hour ride to Bodi. The following morning, we divided the food rations among the eighteen of us, followed by a quick breakfast and got started with the climb. It was a 7 Km well paved uphill climb with a gradual elevation gain. Though this was a fresher's hike, if this was the first time you decided to get up from your couch to  climb up a trail, you're in for a ride.  Each of us started the ascend at our own pace striking some interesting conversations on our way up. We took a break at Central station which was the midpoint of our ascend. We took some time off to soak in the view of the majestic mountains -not something you get to do everyday. I would easily rate the Nanari sarbath  that we had at Central station as one  the highlights of this weekend trek. Just awesome! We continued with our climb and reached top station in another hour or so.

There is always a certain point in a trek, where the individual in you disappears and you become one with everything around you. Everything you see simply becomes a part of you. The experience is so intense, that you don't want to let go of it.  For many of us, that is what drives us to come back to the trail over and over again.

When we reached Top station, to our surprise (and to our disappointment), there were quite a few restaurants. We kept our food supplies aside , and had a king-size meal at one of the restaurants. Bread omelet, dosai, Kerala meals,Tamil Nadu meals,bajji/sojji,coffee,lemon tea....it was quite a treat! After the heavy meal, a few of us decided to go on RP's ambitious 35 Km walk to Munnar. As you would expect, the plan got changed to a 1 Km stroll. We stopped by at one of the view points. The sight of the mountains with Illayaraja songs at the background ..it was an out of the world experience. Something that I will remember in the last forty seconds of my life.



We got back to the camp ground to pitch the tarp tent and cook dinner. In  all the camping trips I've been to, I've always been forced to have lousy food. This one is an exception. Guess what we had for dinner? Russian salad (with crunchy carrots ) and kesaribath with just the perfect amount of sweetness. Bliss.

After dinner, we sat around the camp fire where fellow CTCians shared their adventurous hiking experiences. A little while later, it was time to sleep. While a few restless souls such as myself found it really hard to get some sleep, the others snored away to glory!

The next day morning, we cleaned up the camp ground and grabbed some quick breakfast before heading downhill on a scenic trail. Walking downhill, though takes less effort could be a little tricky-at least for me. So, I was walking at a slower pace- learning more about foot placement and centre of gravity balancing from the 'sweeper' team. I would have given up hiking long back if not for sweepers. It takes a big heart and a mature mind to be a sweeper in a hike. The biggest fear for any person beginning to hike is that of being let alone in wilderness simply because they have a pace that is slower than the group's pace. The role of a sweeper then is to motivate the beginner and help them find their natural pace keeping the humour alive. And that's exactly what Ela,RP,Srikanth and Captain did. A big kudos to you sweepers!

On our way down, we stopped at the falls to take a dip when it started pouring cats and dogs. We had no option but to continue walking in the rain.  We reached the Bodi bus stop, completely drenched. One of the villagers let us use her house where we cleaned up and changed into dry clothes. I definitely owe her one. We then boarded the bus back to civilisation- end to a beautiful weekend.

It always amazes me how a group of strangers from different walks of life bond in such a deep way over a weekend. To me, this weekend was all about bonding with some amazing people in wilderness. Each one of you will always hold a special place in my memory.Last but not the least, special thanks to Nachi and Ela for creating such a beautiful experience and RP,RC and Ponraj for capturing them .Cheers!

Post Trip Write up - ECR Photography trip Part II

March 18, 2014, 5:04 am

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ECR Photography trip Part II - Collection of wonderful write ups.

 Write Up by Mr.Rangarathnam.

A pair of straight lines, an ellipse, a parabola or even a hyperbola? For those of us who have grappled with such objects while getting introduced to the elements of analytical geometry, Dhanushkodi offered a tantalizing variety of shapes and forms for the horizon leaving us completely bewitched. On the bumpy ride to the very land's end it looked like a pair of straight lines running alongside on to our left as well as to our right apparently converging at an as yet invisible point beyond the cluster of small bushes and shrubbery on the landscape ahead of us. Once we reached the point from whence further excursion could be only on foot, the thin strip of land played hide and seek with the sea, and every few steps we took the horizon changed its shape magically and even mystically, presenting optical puzzles and visual feast. Under a steel-gray vault of a sky, with only a few whitish wisps of clouds floating high above, some of us touched the very tip of the land's end, some stopped just short of doing so, some of us shuttled in between the two shorelines avidly drinking in the geo-topological spectacle. The sea was a beautiful bluish green in color, the waves gentle and caressing and the clouds setting up myriads of light and shade patterns on the surface of the sea. For once, I should say that our attention was wrenched away from a search of exotic wild life and held riveted on to the manifestations of the more universal forms underlying nature.

 

Photograph by Ms.Rajalakshmi.

It was in search of exotic biological wild life that we planned this trip, covering Vedaranyam, Kodiakkarai, Dhanushkodi and Rameshwaram. Seventeen of us gathered at the Thiruvanmiur boarding point for the onward bus journey well before the appointed time, 10PM. The journey started slightly past 11PM and reached Vedaranyam early next morning. The bus itself was extra comfortable, but the ride was not smooth and too many curves were negotiated at high speed. A decent lodge near the Vedaranyam bus terminus offered shelter for about an hour for us to brush, bathe and band up for breakfast. While we were getting ready, I spotted two birds in the backyard, one was identified by Johny as the Asian fly catcher. A stall opposite offered us breakfast, much above average fare. After munching pooris with the least trace of oil and tasty dosa, we moved on to the bus stand and boarded the bus to Kodiakkarai.

The sanctuary guest house was a short hop from where the bus dropped us and we repaired thereby to wait for the vehicle to take us on a tour inside the sanctuary. We browsed through the display panels put by the information center and also took some pictures of the birds and butterflies that flitted across the grounds around the place. The chartered vehicle with its driver ready, we got into it and started the tour of the sanctuary.

Photograph by Mr.Rangarathnam

Once inside the sanctuary we drove along the beaten track and we saw some blackbucks which were pretty shy and kept a very safe distance. Soon we started spotting small birds and that meant we got down from the vehicle to get closer. It was a delicate and demanding exercise to the chase the birds without chasing them away to get some redeeming snaps. Butterflies also provided some excitement and thus traveling partly on foot and partly by the vehicle, we reached the Point Calimere Beach. The coastal line takes a smooth ninety degrees turn here and the exactly circular horizon spanning almost 240 degrees was a sight to behold. We spent our time wandering on the beach to the mellifluous tones of the sea waves, gently lapping up to the shore. The sea itself looked like a basin and a lone kite and a few crabs were the targets of photographic exercise. Some of the more enterprising team members set out scouting for seagulls at a distance. Satiated we sauntered back to our vehicle to retrace the path inside the sanctuary. We spotted some different birds on our return path and needless to say, we put the vehicle on the hold, till we got some good pictures.

 

Photograph by Mr.Rangarathnam.

Lunch was taken at a stall near the guest house and once again it was a much above average offering. We split into two batches to take the lunch as space was a constraint and then we kept our cameras busy shooting at the birds and butterflies that were to be seen around. A couple of bee catchers doing their acrobatic meal making was exciting and fun. The question, 'Which came first – chicken or egg' seemed passe. It should have been, 'Which came first – flowers, bees or bee-catchers'? Quite well rested and refreshed our next destination was the bird sanctuary.

We covered the short distance to the bird sanctuary by our chartered vehicle, which we parked at the entrance, to traverse the sanctuary itself on foot. The backwaters provide good hunting ground for the water birds. We walked through the sanctuary and soon spotted some flamingos and inched closer to them. Eventually they drifted away and we walked back to our vehicle, snapping up all the opportunities provided.

Our vehicle then dropped us off at Ramar Patham and we bid good bye to our competent driver and guide thus far. Ramar Patham is a raised dais on which you have the markings of a pair of human feet. Reputedly this place was fossilized and immortalized by Sri Rama who searching for his lost wife used this spot to survey and plan an onslaught of Sri Lanka, but finally executed it from Dhanushkodi. The place is an easy climb of about forty/fifty steps, standing all by itself. A host of monkeys dotting all over the place don't give much leeway to the visitors to indulge in monkey business themselves and obliged to clutch one's possessions firmly, one makes a short tour of the place. Climbing down back to the main road, we walked the short distance to where the salt pans are worked. Most of the members got down into the pans and got an understanding of the process from the people working there. Then it was time to get into the bus back to Vedaranyam.

The tea-stall vendor at Vedaranyam was pleasantly surprised to see us offering repeat custom and did not bother to ascertain the total number upfront this time and decided to keep the coffee/tea 'coming'. Some members went for a quick visit to the nearby temple and all of us boarded the 6.30PM shuttle to Pattukkottai. It was full rush hour and the bus was filled schoolchildren returning from Vedaranyam to their hometowns after some kind of an one-off exercise. The person sitting next to me was a headmaster and he showed considerable interest and curiosity at the composition of our team and was of the firm opinion we were on a study tour. We reached Pattukkottai around 9PM and walked the main streets looking for dinner. We spotted two restaurants, one completely crowded and other totally empty. We plumped for the latter and though we had to wipe off the dust from chairs and tables, the food itself was pretty good and service excellent. After dinner, we moved on to the bus stand to wait for the direct bus to Rameshwaram, politely declining suggestions from onlookers that we complete the journey in two hops. This was the time slot that should be used for the customary introduction round, or so decided Navaneeth and so it happened that everybody was talking about him/herself. Usually the first person sets the tenor and a perfunctory performance by him ensures that others project only a precis. But this time, the first person was high on volume and volubility and others were obliged to be more expansive in their output. Finally it was Navaneeth's turn and he started off by highlighting the Trek Polama event, but the bus rolled in just then. So Navaneeth couldn't complete his bit and we all boarded the bus to Rameshwaram.

A wonderful ribbon top road, a golden goblet of a just-risen moon cantering alongside, excellent driving were the hallmarks of our journey to Rameshwaram which we reached pretty fast, well before 4AM. The streets were busy with devotees even at this early hour. We got a place to refresh ourselves, though it had no bedsteads it had fixtures to help us freshen up. Thus it was that well before 5.30AM, we were on the shores of Rameshwaram sea, just a few paces away from where the devotees congregate to welcome the sunrise. With the moon and the Venus now fairly high in the sky, we roughly surmised where the sun would pop its head up and unpacked our gear and waited. Not completely sure of the local time of sunrise, a bit of despair was creeping in on us, but before 6.30AM we were treated to the glory of sunrise. Heavy smog on the horizon meant that there was no cent percent visibility at the line of the horizon, but still it was a glorious sunrise with the sun's disc slowly emerging from the sea. We then had a trip on the boat on the sea, which lasted about an hour and moved back to the main street for breakfast.

 Photograph by Mr.Ram

Breakfast items were pretty enjoyable, with vada being one of the crispiest ever tasted. Everybody had a second helping of vada and we were ready to board the bus to Dhanushkodi. After completing the bus journey a final 5km or so run has to done either on foot or by a van. We hired a van exclusively for us and proceeded to reach the tip at Dhanushkodi. The van ride was very bumpy across the marshland and the waterbirds found there gave us opportunities to stop and shoot. Alighting from the van when it could proceed no further, we walked around sinking our feet in soft sands, enjoying the play of the horizon's forms as outlined in the beginning of this write-up. Some people got to look at a strange swordfish, though dead and managed to take pictures of it. On the return journey by the van, some of us spent some time visiting the old Dhanushkodi town devastated by cyclone some years back, while others busied themselves shooting a couple of kites that were perched almost at ground level.

 

Photograph by Mr.Rangarathnam

Time for lunch, as soon as we got back from Dhanushkodi and once again the food was pretty decent. We then took shelter in a nearby choultry to pass the afternoon. It was a nice experience to slip into a siesta on the mat spread on the floor in the forecourt, looking at the tiled ceiling high above and wondering at the extent of ventilation provided. Engaging the services of share autos, we went to Pamban Bridge. Sun falling away rapidly in the west, provided a resplendent lighting to the scenic panorama that we were witness to from the vantage point offered by the road bridge that connects the mainland and the Rameshwaram island. It was a beautiful sight that assailed us from all directions, a heady mixture of heritage buildings, fishing wharfs, shorelines and blue sea. A train entering and crossing the railway bridge completed our cup of joy to the brim. We waited for the last few minutes of the sunset happening over landscape jutting into the sea and then it was back to the railway station. We had a quick dinner just near railway station and boarded the train that would safely deposit us back in Chennai, early next morning.

Photograph by Mr.Dinesh

Yet another wonderful trip, well operationalized by the organizers who had to handle lot of issues on the fly and with a team that gelled well with an amazing sense of camaraderie. Thank you one and all, for this trip with many memories and pictures to savor.

 Another write up by Ram

It has been 4 years since I have done any outing with CTC for various reasons. So when I saw the mail about a Photography Trip to Kodiyakarai and Dhanushkodai, I thought it was too good to miss. So I registered for it and was all set for the day.

If all goes well, then it is certainly not interesting! A week before the trip, I went for a photoshoot on my own near Chennai. A couple of days later charger of my camera stopped working! What good is a photography trip without a camera?

I checked for any availability of the charger, but I won’t be getting anything before the trip. Checked with a couple of friends if they can lend me their camera. My friend Saravanan helped me with him camera a 3 lenses. Cannot be more thankful to anyone, I guess.

On the day of the trip, I reached the bus stand quite early just to make sure I don’t get stuck in the traffic, and excitement of making a trip to a place which I have been thinking of for a long time. Navaneethan and Dinesh were already there and got introduced to them. So the other participants also gathered and the team was ready to go.

The bus started from Chennai around 11:30pm on Friday. Thanks to Dinesh and Navanee for booking a very comfortable bus. We reached Vedaranyam at 7:00 AM in the morning. We had enough time to freshen up and start for the day. Had breakfast at a local shop across the lodge and started out to Kodiyakarai. After visiting the photo exhibition in the forest office we headed over to the sanctuary.

We spent the entire morning in the Black Buck sanctuary, but the bucks and birds weren’t much. The weather was also not helping much. It was really hot and dry we spotted a few black bucks, a rabbit, a horse and a few birds.

Photograph by Mr.Arnab chakraborty

We returned back to the forest office in the afternoon, had our lunch and clicked a few pictures in the backyard of the office while we waited for the vehicle to take us to the bird sanctuary.

We reached the sanctuary around 3:30pm and ventured along the shore hoping to get some good clicks of the flamingos. Unfortunately there were only a handful of them and that too drifted far off from where we were. So no good close-up photos of the great pink beauties. When everybody returned back, I fell back for a few more minutes and was rewarded with about a hundred flamingos flying towards me. I am really not sure how many had the opportunity to view this beauty in this trip. I clicked a couple fo photographs and stood fixed at the sheer beauty of the pink Greater Flamingos against the blue sky!

We took few photographs of some of the birds there and then headed back to the vehicle around 4:30. We got on the bus back to Vedaranyam, but on the way we stopped to visit the Rama’s pada. It is believed that from this place Lord Rama was viewing the route to Lanka before they proceeded to Dhanushkodi to build the bridge.

Photograph by Madhavi Natarajan

We spent a few minutes there and proceeded to Vedaranyam. We boarded the public transport from Vedaranyam around 6:30 and proceeded to our next stop at Pattukottai. We had a good dinner, freshened up and took another public transport to Rameshawaram.

We reached Rameshwaram very early the next morning, around 3:30pm. Dinesh and Navaneethan managed to find a lodge where we can freshen up. We were really quick to finish off and I and a few others started ahead of the others to the sea shore to catch the sunrise with our lens.

But the sun waited for everyone to arrive and then showed up its beautiful emergence from the horizon. It was definitely a delight to watch. We clicked some photographs of the rising sun and then on-boarded the boat to take a ride in the sea. I personally did not feel this was a very useful ride, except that we got a good view of the temple from the sea. Other than that there wasn’t anything interesting about the boat ride.

After returning back, we finished our breakfast quickly and proceeded over to Dhanushkodi in public transport. After reaching the town, we had to take a van operated by the local group to reach to the tip of the land. We can also walk the entire stretch. But given the weather and time constraint we decided to take the van.

Photograph by Mr.Selwyn

One should be there to know the beauty of the place. White sands and emerald waters with lots of waders and pelagic birds along with some raptors, was a beauty to watch. We again got busy clicking some photographs even though the lighting was not very apt for photography! On the way back to the town we also saw the ruined remains of the place which was hit by a hurricane / tsunami sometime during the 1960s. We spent time till midday and proceeded back to Rameshwaram.

Photograph by Mr.Johny

After lunch some of us wanted to visit the temple. So we rested in a local rest house “chatram”. Once the temple was open around 3:30pm we visited the temple and were back around 4:30pm. We then headed over to the Pamban Bridge and took another round of photographs of the old engineering marvel – the railway bridge across the sea. We also took a glimpse of the setting sun.

We headed over to the railway station, had a light dinner before boarding the train. We reached back Chennai around8:30am the next morning with wonderful memories of the trip and few very good friends.

Following are some of the highlights of the trip.

1.       Public transports to almost all the places
2.       The Great Flamingoes flying towards to in Kodiyakarai
3.       A visit to the historical place from where Lord Rama was reviewing his route with his army
4.       The beautiful sunrise at Rameshwaram
5.       Dhanushkodi
6.       Pamban Bridge and most importantly the time spent with new friends.

I am really looking forward to visit Kodiyakarai sometime during December. Hoping that will happen.

 Another write up by Ms.Sandhya

  As the trip members gathered on Feb 21 at the Rathimeena bus stand in Thiruvanmiyur around 10 PM as communicated by our organizers, we realized that everyone had gathered except 3 people – our two organizers and one more team member – somehow our enthusiastic organizers get a sponsor for their dinner each time :). And once they arrived, they rushed us up to cross the road and get ready to board the bus, which we later realized was to start from Koyambedu at 10:30 PM and not Thiruvanmiyur :(. And finally after some waiting, our bus arrived at 11:30 PM  and we all got settled and it was a comfortable journey to Vedaranyam. 
    We reached Vedaranyam at about 7 and after breakfast, we headed towards Kodiyakkarai for wildlife/Bird sanctuary. We were asked to wait in the guest house for sometime as we reached Kodiyakkari, so we checked out the museum, which proved to be very useful for getting to know about the birds/wildlife/butterflies in that area. After our van arrived, we started off to the wildlife sanctuary. In the wildlife sanctuary, we were able to catch the glimpse of several blackbucks and spotted deers running at their top speed. As we stopped on the way at a few points for wildlife watch/bird watch, our van driver showed us the Kodiyakkarai light house and the British light house. As the van stopped each time, the shutterbugs got into action right away clicking snaps of birds, deers and of course – not to miss the beetle :).

    After some snaps, the van moved towards the shore and as we walked from the van till the shore, we could see multiple small crabs moving in and out of their holes,few Brahminy kites and black kites, the ruins of Chola lighthouse and few other birds which made sure that the shutterbugs were all engrossed through the morning. Then, we headed back to the guest house and had a great lunch in a nearby mess. After lunch, some of them settled for a nap while few people in the group went for a second round of photography and their discussion on cameras/lighting/photography in the guest house, and some of us started for a small walk in the town up to the shore. And as the sun mellowed down a bit by 4, we all met and started to the Bird sanctuary. As we reached near the shallow waters, we were greeted by atleast a hundred gulls, though it was hard to make out if they were any terns too in flight. And we walked further right, there were more and more birds. We were told that the number of birds were less in number this time as compared to the usual number the same time last year wherein each year at least a thousand migratory birds would arrive in Kodikarai during the season. It was indeed a treat to watch birds from the binoculars with the herons/egrets slowly lifting their legs and walking over the waters, numerous sand plovers and stints pecking their food, the bigger one trying to snatch the fish from the smaller one, the birds slowly extending their wings for flight, the sounds of birds calling to each other and of course the flamingoes/gulls flocking together. 

Birds spotted in Kodiyakkari Wildlife and Bird sanctuary include - Little green bee eater, Black headed Ibis, Brahminy Kites, Crested Lark, Paddyfield Pipit, Black Drongo, Slender billed gull, Black/Brown headed gulls, Little and Intermediate egret, White heron, Little stint, Indian Pond Heron, Common sand piper and many more small birds.

    After our bird watching/photography session, we made a quick visit to a heritage site - Ramar Padam with a shrine having the footprints of Lord Rama before he headed towards Lanka. As we climbed steps, we could see that the monkeys were more in the number in that area than the number of people :), and as we climbed the steps, there were all ready and curios to grab the plastic covers of the passer by. After Ramar Padam,we walked up to the nearby salt pans and the locals there explained the salt extraction process to us. We carefully walked through the salt pans so as not to step in the pathways with water and after a few more clicks there, we moved to the bus stop and boarded a bus back to Vedaranyam. After tea and snacks, we managed to squeeze in Vedaranyam temple too for that day and about 6-7 of us made a quick visit to the temple with Bala guiding us and explaining some facts about the age old temple. After darshan, we boarded the bus to Pattukottai and after a nice dinner there, we took the bus to Rameshwaram islands. 

We woke up on Sunday morning to the calls of the bus conductor, who asked us all that to get down as we had reached Rameshwaram. As we got down, we could see the tall gopuram of the Ramanathasamy temple, adorned with colourful lights. The lights of the temple shone in the early morning as we waited for things to get settled and watched people arriving to temple as early as 3:45 AM. After sometime, we moved off to the rooms taken on rent and after getting freshed up, started with a morning walk to the shore for the sunrise at 5:30 AM. The sun did take some time to show itself off as our group patiently waited for the sunrise. Until sunrise, we took off the binocular and observed the serene sea and the boats in water and the bustling crowd outside the temple as people took a dip in the sea (the agni theertham) before darshan while the photographers in the group set their tripods ready for capturing the sun. As the sky turned deep orange, there was no sign of the sun yet and some of us did play a prank the sun was hidden beneath the clouds giving the sky the orange colour and no use waiting for the sun anymore. The undeterred photographers ignored our pranks and their patience did pay off with a magnificently golden sun rising finally at 7 AM and all of us were glued to the cameras. The sun did look like a massive golden ball slowly rising up when we checked it with the binocular. After sunrise, we went for boating in Bay of Bengal for half an hour where we got a chance to check the landscape of Rameshwaram with coconut trees surrounding the two huge temple towers and well past them, the TV tower. Then after another round of photography from the boat and some group snaps, we all had our breakfast in the nearby hotel and took the bus to Dhanushkodi. As we were travelling to Dhanuskodi, we could see a flamboyance of flamingoes resting in the shallow waters. It was really nice to see a huge flock at regular intervals on both sides of the road as we had not seen such number of flamingoes even in Kodikarai. As we reached the Dhanuskodi town, we got into one van and headed further to see the local places there. We stopped at a few spots for watching/capturing the birds on the way. As the van zoomed through the shore, we could get a closer view of the egrets (Little egrets, Western reef egrets) wherein we could see their plumes even with our naked eye. After our round 2 of bird photography/bird watching, the van moved on till we reached our first stop, the tip of the island. 

Photograph by Mr.Arnab

    The tip of Rameshwaram island is a must visit place for anyone visiting Dhanushkodi/Rameshwaram. Few of us walked on the shore braving the sun in our eagerness to see if Sri Lanka is visible from the tip. And as we moved closer to the shoal, we could spot a patch of land possibly Sri Lanka even with our naked eye, and when we tried to get a better view of it with the binocular, the birds lined up in the sea coast could be visible in smaller images. It was indeed an wonderful experience to stand at the southernmost tip of the island where one could feel the waves of Indian ocean at one side , and waves from Bay of Bengal at the other. It was a breath taking view with two great water bodies from different directions getting mixed at one point and a patch of small land visible in the frame. Due to the time limit set by our organizers, we had to take a quick glimpse of it and head back to the van with a heavy heart though Naveen and Bala did go into the waters and enjoyed to the fullest while I had to be content capturing their snaps. Then our next stop was the ruins of the Dhanuskodi railway station that got collapsed in the cyclones. Just a few meters from it, there was a temple, and inside it, the floating stone was kept on display -  one among the historic set of stones believed to be a part of the Ram sethu. The mention of floating stone does rake up a number of questions for which science is still exploring the answers. The old lady in the temple informed us the floating stone weighed about 15-16 kgs and as we pushed it into the water, it zoomed up and floated to our amazement. And after capturing a few snaps of the place, we headed back to Dhanushkodi and from there took a bus back to Rameshwaram. 

    We had a great lunch in the hotel near the Ramanathsamy temple and after lunch we waited for the clock to tick 3’o clock and for the temple to open up for visitors as the next place in our agenda was the Ramanathasamy temple - one out of the 12 Jyothirlinga temples. This is historical place with a corridor of over a thousand pillars (the longest multi-paralled corridor in Asia). This temple also happens to be one of the bustling pilgrimage/heritage site with devotees starting with a dip in Bay of Bengal and proceeding towards the 22 temple tanks before the darshan. We were awestruck by the impeccable carvings on the pillars and the walls. One more unique observation in the temple was a special shriune for Lord Nataraja decorated with rudraksha, which has never been seen in other temples across South India. This is one of the must visit places for people interested in visiting the Heritage sites and the carvings all over the temple are definitely a visual treat. After the darshan, we joined Dinesh who had been patiently waiting for us and then headed to our last stop in the journey, the Pamban bridge – one of the longest bridges in India which is 100 years old and still going strong :). This link connects the Rameshwaram islands to the Mainland India and is said to open up when large ships pass through the path. The aerial view from the road link was amazing with each one of us capturing the view to our heart's content. We waited for some more time there and we also got a chance to capture the rail link as the train passed through it. Then with the rail link in our frame, the tripod was set for a group pic and after the group pics, we dispersed to the railways station. 

Photograph by Mr.Arnab

    We had our dinner in a shop/stall near the railway station and after some chit chats/discussions/snacks/tea, we moved to our platform and got into the train. We settled down in our berths as the train started moving after changing the places to have our group together. Few minutes into the journey, the train passed through the Pamban bridge, an engineering marvel indeed to be standing strong for the past 100 years in the rough sea. We were observing the springs in the sea as we passed through the second longest link in India and after some more chit chats, it was sleep time and the area was all snoring sounds after a few hours. In the morning, as the train had just crossed Chengalpattu, Dinesh came to our cabin from the other compartment and woke us all up. A special mention to our morning alarm - Dinesh who took special care in waking up all of us in these 3 days as early as he could of course, once he successfully wakes up everyone, he would start his second round of sleeping. Then all 17 of us gathered in a cabin and started our conversation. As the tradition goes in CTC, the introduction usually happens at the end of the trip/day :) and our introduction session which had started at the Pattukottai bus stand resumed and we all did manage to complete our introductions well on time and continue our discussions on trip experiences. With Monday blues dawning on us, we departed off from Tambaram bidding good bye to the rest in train to get down at Mambalam and Egmore. 

    And the way it goes in every CTC trip, you never know when you meet the trip mates as strangers as the weekend starts and get to know each one of them after a wonderful trip. It was indeed a great weekend with a lot of bird watching/ heritage walk, and a very special thanks to Navaneeth, Dinesh and all other trip mates for their great company and for this trip a memorable one.

Post trek write up - Star trail photography trek on March 1st 2014

March 18, 2014, 5:16 am

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Stargazing and fun trip to Nagala

A write up by Mr.Santhosh

The pleasure of sleeping under the stars was never better. I occasionally star gaze but most of the time I'll be like, "look how bright that one is, look that looks reddish in colour, look there are three stars in a straight line...". Now I realize how unaware I was with respect to our night sky.

Photograph by Mr.Sreedharan

                I am a photographer by interest and a student by compulsion. So I get off with my camera whenever I want to get away from my routine life. Trust me that am more often than you might think but, this was just my second photo-trip with CTC. I have wanted to try and shoot star trails from the moment I came to know about them. I wanted to shoot one in Hampi photo-trip (Which was my first with CTC) but couldn't do due to certain reasons, mainly I was warned that bears roam the ruins during the nights. After that I was so eager to make a trip and was making a few failed-plans. Then Navanee was talking about taking a trip just to shoot the stars and I got excited. I even suggested a few places like Alamparai fort, Pulicat etc. and he was doing a much intense search for an apt place. Every option that came into consideration was either not socially safe or had the probability of having too much light pollution in the night.  Finally, he took a decision of going to Nagala owing to its social safety and for the sky clear from light pollution. I signed up and was waiting for the day.

Photograph by Mr.Sahasranaman.

                I was so excited that I wanted to do some research about star trail photography and I had about 20 tabs of info on different aspects of photography. But I kept procrastinating till last minute and eventually didn't even finish 4 tabs. So I started my journey with more excitement and very less knowledge of the star trail photography techniques. It was initially planned as we would go by car to Nagala but since 2 car owners dropped out Navanee booked a Van for us. It picked up everyone en route to koyambedu and we finished the initial procedures there. Then we left for Nagala around6:30PM delayed by about an hour and a half than what was planned. So it was decided that we set Camp at a clear spot on the bunds of the reservoir and not near the pool as it was planned originally. I was a bit bummed that there were not so much interesting foreground which owes to the depth and dynamism in star trail photography.

Photograph by Mr.Sahasranaman and In the picture the author of this write up Mr.Santhosh

                After instructing everyone to setup camp and distribute the fruits which were our food for the day after, 5 of us went to gather firewood for the cooking and camp fire. After about half an hour we returned, by then the camp was set-up and people were getting comfortable and some have already started stargazing. A few people were photographing the activities that were going on. A girl-kid who accompanied us narrated excitingly as to how she spotted a snake near our camp. Well hearing that, I was a little bummed that I didn't get to see it.

                Then we all gathered around the camp-fire and had the introduction session. It was as fun as always. Each one had an interesting personality. Particularly Shalaka and family.  Then after the introduction session, started the cooking session. It's more of trying to heat than a cooking. We were heating the pre-cooked chapatti that we brought for dinner in the camp fire by suspending them in a V shaped twig. Sometimes the chapatti got burned and sometimes it even caught on fire. It was so much fun and challenging to do it. Around 5 of us were trying to do that when others already started stargazing and sharing their knowledge about the stars. Thanks a lot to Thribhuvan and Ranga Sir for shedding some light on the subject. After that we gathered to have dinner. - Chapatti, Jam and Pickle. It was as fulfilling as a 5 star buffet. Finishing the dinner, we all set up our cameras to shoot the stars. All of us were hunting for a good location and I ended up getting one. With a stream flowing from a valley with stars above the valley between the mountains, I was standing right above the stream on the shutter bund. I got one good shot as I intended. It was too cloudy above the mountains so I just had a tiny window to shoot it. Each of us had set-up our studio in different places, mostly trying to get a good frame and less interference of flashlights and people. After getting the shot I wanted, I set my camera for a really long exposure with my wired shutter-release intending to get a long trail in a single shot and went off to see what others were upto. I spent some time talking to Mr.Sahas who seemed to be a very interesting person and he is. We almost spoke for about 20 minutes and then I got back to check on my shot. It got overexposed. Then giving up on it I decided to do a multi-shot trail and changed my location. After taking about 30 shots I decided to go to sleep mainly because it was getting cloudier by every moment and the stars were moving beyond the mountains and above all also it was already 2:00 am. By that time most of them were asleep.

                I was woken up in the morning by Navanee. I was the last person to wake up. This was the best sleep I had in weeks. Damn refreshing it was. Then we spotted a beautiful white tailed bird which I was told the 'Asian Flycatcher', and it is a rare bird to spot. I felt lucky. After unloading some of our stuff to the van and finishing our tea, we started the trek as planned to take a dip in the Magic Pool. It was a pretty hard trek for me since I am overweight, wore Jean and heavy shoes and haven't really trekked for the past three years. On our way to magic pool, mid-way in a stream some people decided to stay-back. The rest of us proceeded and eventually there it was, the magic Pool. Truly magical. I just changed as fast as possible and plunged into the water from a 25-feet cliff. I was drinking the water like a madman. I have never tasted such sweet refreshing water in my life and never have dived in a natural pool so clear. Several times I swam to the bottom of the 20-feet pool just to experience the clarity and picked stones and even a pair of goggles which Thribuvan dropped by mistake. And the best of all, the fish pedicure. What an amazing experience! This made my day. After spending more than 3 hours in the pool, we started our trek back to base camp. It was a hard goodbye for me. Then we gathered in the reservoir for a group photo and then started back to our van. Just then we spotted a snake that was lying in the stream. It has just shed its skin. I was really excited to see a snake in wild this close. Then we started back to our Van and then to Chennai.

Photograph by Mr.Dinesh, co-organiser and In the picture Navaneethan, Organiser playing with the cute little girl Shalakka.

                On the way we stopped at a Dhaba to have Dinner around 6:00 PM. All most of us had from morning were a couple of apples, a couple of orange and a couple of bar chocolates. Apparently we had lost a baked food to a dog which was supposed to be the only solid food for the day, but the dhaba food made us forget all about the outside world for a moment. It was extremely good and fulfilling. Such an amazing end to an awesome trip. Then we made our way back to Chennai and parted way with each one in the group. An exciting and fun filled trip it was with some really awesome people. Waiting for the next-trip .......!!!

 A Write up by Mr.Rangarathnam

        'All I ask, the heaven above; And the road below me' so wrote R.L.Stevenson. To spend the night gazing at a star-studded sky and complete the experience with an early morning trek we decide to go to Nagala hills. A small group of us traveling by a van and a car started on March 1^st at 01.45PM from Tidel Park, picking up other members en route and the final bunch at Koyambedu bus station. Everybody had tea at Koyambedu, while some who had not yet taken their lunch did so, before starting.

 

Photograph by Mr.Sahasranaman

          We had a stop at Oothukottai to have tea and pick up some supplies and a break just before that to get the requisite transport permit, and we reached the hills as the sun was just setting. We parked our vehicles at the base of a reservoir there and clambered up the thirty feet or so ascent on to the bund, to set up for the night. By that time it was already getting dark and Jupiter almost at the zenith was the first heavenly object to become visible. Soon other stars followed lighting up the nocturnal sky. A thin haze prevented the milky way itself from being properly visible, which was a bit of disappointment. A few jets passing high in the sky added some color to the sky.

          Soon we built a campfire and sat around that to perform the customary round of self-introductions. It may be noted that the youngest participant was just 2yrs and 3months old and she had accompanied her parents and school-going elder sister. With introductions over, everybody unpacked their gear and set it up to capture pictures of the sky, as caught their fancy. I had about a dozen printouts of the night sky charts and distributed some to those who were interested. Only stars nearer to the zenith were visible and a haze/light pollution combination prevented us from seeing the stars nearer to the horizon. I managed to get a picture of Jupiter's moons using my 50x zoom bridge camera. It was a hand held shot though at a shutter speed of 1/3s. Orion at a more comfortable elevation captured everybody's imagination and a decent picture of the constellation could be obtained with a wide-angle lens. Soon people set their cameras to capture star trails, light painting and other stuff that interested them. Ursa Major rising after some time, gave us an opportunity to get a picture of it in full glory. In the meantime some members of the group were mastering the art of preparing chappathis in direct flame without the use of a tawa. All of us were treated to a sumptuous meal of chappathis with jam and pickles and we went back to more shooting. Eventually, by midnight all the activities thinned out and everybody was ensconced in their sleeping bags for a sound slumber.

 Photograph by Mr.Girish

          Dawn on the next day, a glorious Venus dazzling the eastern sky, we woke up and watched a beautiful sunrise. Teapot was set boiling and soon tasty tea hit our tongues. Leaving the inessential things behind in the van and packing only the food rations/cameras/change clothes, we readied for the trek upwards. Sumeeta spotted an Asian fly catcher at a distance and it kept us totally absorbed for some time with its undulating tail movements as it went about collecting its meal items.

Photograph by Mr. Sahasranaman

          Starting around 8AM, we trekked for about 2 hours non-stop to reach the first pool. It was plain surface till we crossed the mango pool and from then on it was a winding maze of twists, turns, ups and downs through thickets, shrubbery and rock faces. With Rakesh, a seasoned trekker leading the way, we made it to the pool. The place was absolutely enchanting with clear, limpid water and a cool breeze was blowing all the time. Just before reaching the pool, I had a transient sensation of nausea and decided to stay put at the pool, rather than push on and go to the second pool. The father and the kid pair also decided to stay back and so it was time for others to move on to trek for another 45mins and rejoin us after about 3hours. This time gap was well spent at the first pool, as there were quite a few specimen of butterflies, dragonflies, moths, damselflies, spiders and other insects all of which were a wonder to watch.

          Our sojourn over, we retraced the path back to the base, where we had a group picture of ourselves taken and then moved on to the van to begin our return journey. All of us being ravenously hungry, we stopped at a wayside dhaba. It was still early hours for the restaurant, the cook was overwhelmed by the numbers also and could not restrain himself when adding salt/pepper to the dishes. But finish we did our meal, even though the service was slow and completed the journey back to Chennai, well before 10PM. I got dropped off near Adyar bus terminus and a most friendly auto driver who insisted on going strictly by meter reached me to the gates of my abode.

 

Photograph by Mr.Sreedharan

          It was a wonderful two days well spent. Thanks a lot to the organizers Navaneeth, Dinesh and Rakesh who led the way. Thanks to all others who helped me and each other in so many innumerable ways to ensure that there was no dearth of mirth.

Click here to watch A time lapse video by Mr. Sreedharan

CTC Organizer Awards 2013

March 24, 2014, 11:16 am

≫ Next: Chennai Triathlon - Powered By Montra - March 29th - Photo links & Stats

≪ Previous: Post trek write up - Star trail photography trek on March 1st 2014

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Dear All,

Let's take a moment to reflect and recognize the men and women who have been instrumental in driving CTC during its 6th year as one of South India's largest and most active outdoor groups. The selfless volunteers who lead by example, having spent significant personal time and efforts driven by their passion for the outdoors and organized more then 200 events in the past one year taking out an approximate 16.000 people into the outdoors and sports. In this email I wish to recognize our most activeorganizers (top 25, having organized 5 or more events) along with their past year organizing record. In addition to the individual events listed below, they have contributed in significant ways to many of CTC's larger yearly events and other key aspects of this group. This list of course does not include many of our other active volunteers behind CTC's major monthly events and the many other selfless organizers who organized a smaller number of weekly outdoor events.

Prem

Emperor's Rappelling in South Chennai on 2nd March-2014

Express Trek 7 - One Night One Day Difficult Trek on 16th March – 2014

Emperor's SUV/Car Trip on 21st, 22nd & 23rd March 2014

Express Trek 6 - One Night One Day Difficult Trek on 23rd February -2014

Express Trek 5 - Difficult Trek on 12,13 and 14th January-2014

Emperors One Night and One Day Trek to TADA Top - Difficult Level : Medium on 21,22th September 13

SUV/Car Trip and Trek to North Kerala, Center Kerala and South Karnataka on 20, 21 and 22nd September-2013

CTC Swimming Camp 15,16,17,18,19 – Beginners Level/Advance Level

Emperors Cycle Trip to Jog Falls, Yana Caves and Vibhuti Falls on 4,5 and 6th October-2013

Emperors Easy Cycle Trip to Dudhsagar Water Falls and Water Rafting in Dandeli on 25,26 and 27th October-2013

Emperors Cycle Trip - Easy, Medium, Difficult - Dates: 6,7 and 8th September -13

Emperors TH-3 Inspiring Winning Story

Emperors Nagala Combo Medium/Difficult Trek - 6,7th July-13

Emperor SUV/Car Trip and Trek to Jog Falls, Dandeli White Water Rafting, Dudhsagar Falls and Goa on 15,16,17 and 18th August-13

Cycle Trip to Kodaikanal - Easy, Medium, Difficult - Dates:18 and 19th May-13

Treasure Hunt III, April 13-14 - Introducing the Teams

Emperors Summer Cycle Trip - Easy, Medium, Difficult Cycle Trip to Ooty on Dates: 24,25,26th May-13

Express Trek 4 - Difficult Trek - 29, 30 and 31st March-2013

Emperors 3 days Cycle Trip to Ooty - Easy, Medium, Difficult - Dates: 1,2,3rd March-13

Masu

(person on right)

Emperors presents Nagala northeast ( One night,One day) trek on 22nd Feb

Emperors Diamond Jubilee Difficult Trek Invitation - Date: 8th and 9th February-2014

Emperors presents Nagala Northeast (One night,One day) trek on 21st December

"CTC + Waste Warriors" Cleanup Activity in Wipro Chennai Marathon on 1st December

Back to our roots - II on Nov 23,24th 2013 [ 1 night,1 day ]

Emperors trek to Kumara Parvatha

LGOOO - First Anniversary Plantation Drive, 29-Jun-2013, Kanchipuram

Back to our roots - I on June 1,2

CTC-EFI-Tree Plantation & Scientific Restoration Of Arasankazhani Lake

CTC-LGOOO-First Year Anniversary Plantation Drive, Ayyangarkulam

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam Temple

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam Park

Rajasekar

Social Trekking - "Balashram" - 02 March 2014.

Only Kondatam & Nothing More - Two day & One Ni8 Camping(Moderate Trek) - 22-23 Mar 2014.

Difficult Trek fr Moderate Trekkers(fr Experienced only) - 15 & 16th Mar 2014.

OFF Road Cycling to Heavenly Place "CHOLAVARAM" - 01 Mar 2014.

Aahtam, Pattam, Kondatam.. A Fun Filled Two days and One Ni8 Camping..: ) Jan 11 & 12.

Nagala 300 "OFF ROAD" Cycling Nov 23 & 24.

"Blue Mountains" Water Sports & Camping - Dec 21 & 22.

Difficult Trek fr Moderate Trekkers (fr Experienced only)

Exclusively fr FRESHERS, Two day and One Night Trek to Nagala East, Oct 26 & 27.

Moderate Trek to Nagala North East Sep 14 & 15(My Silver jubilee)

Moderate Trek To Nagala North East - July 20&21.

Two day One Night Moderate Trek To Nagala East - May 11-12.

Durga

Tree Plantation Drive at Arumbakkam Phase I

Tree Plantation Arumbakkam Phase III

Tree Plantation Drive at Alsa Green Park, Chrompet

Tree Plantation Drive at Perungulathur High School

Tree Plantation Drive at Friend's Farms - Pondy and Madhuranthagam

Tree Plantation Drive at Kandanchavadi Govt School

Tree Plantation Kamaraj Nagar

Tree Plantation Kamaraj Nagar (with tree guard assembling)

Saplings Maintenance at Royal Garden

Farm Visit & Sapling maintenance,Kanchipuram

Kandanchavadi Saplings Maintenance

CTC Mass Seed sowing in Perungudi Lake

CTC- Mass Seed sowing in Thiruneermalai

Nivya

Parent & Child - Understanding biodiversity & Camping - 1st March, 2014

Parent & Child - Bird Photography Trip - Vedanthangal - 19th January, 2014

ECR Photography Trip Part II - 22nd & 23rd February, 2014

Bird Photography Trip - Pulicat - 1st December, 2013

Walk with your camera in Western Ghats from Dec 27 to Dec 31

Heritage Photography Trip - ECR - 12th & 13th October, 2013

Hampi on Wheels - 14th & 15th September, 2013

Heritage Photography Trip 7 - Kancheepuram - June 23rd, 2013

Ladies Trek - Kumbakarai to Kodaikanal - 13th & 14th April, 2013

Heritage Photography Trip - Gingee Fort - March 03,2013

Photo coverage many CTC events

Nachi

A difficult trek, March 15th and 16th, 2014.

Kurangini to Top Station March 1-2,2014.

One day western peak trek. February 23rd, 2014.

A difficult trek for those who think they are tough enough, Jan 11th-15th, 2014.

Nagala East to Southern Peak. Nov 30th-Dec 1st, 2013.

Kumbakaarai to Kodaikanal - Dec 14th-15th, 2013.

Nagala East to Southern Peak, Nov 30th-Dec 1st 2013.

Nagala South East, September 28th and 29th, Mod trek

Treasure Hunt III - April 13-14.

A moderate trek to Kolli hills. March 2nd & 3rd, 2013.

Return to Gundar - 16th-17th March, 2013.

Balaji Mohan

Full Moon Beach Trek - Gokarna to Honnavar - March 15 & 16

Emperors Bikers - Nagari OffRoading - Feb 22 & 23

Bike Workshop and Boot camp for Bikers and Pillions - Feb 16th

Emperors Namma Bengaluru - Ride to Badami, Aihole & Pattadakal - Feb 22 & 23

Diamond Jubilee Bike Trip Invitation - Date: 8th and 9th February- 2014

Emperors Ride to the City of Ruins - Hampi - Jan 25 & 26

Emperors LIVE WITH YOUR BIKE III - Tour Of Karnataka December 20th to 29th

Emperors - Summer Bike Ride To Yercaud and Kolli Hill's ,May / 25,26/2013

Sunrise and Bird Photography at Kovalam ,Apr 21,2013

Treasure Hunt III, April 13-14

Arun Prasath

(left person)

Waste Mgmt – CCC/3, TWCM, D2D

CTC-LGOOO-First Year Anniversary Plantation Drive, Ayyangarkulam

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam Temple

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam ABCO Drive

CTC-LGOOO-Nursery maintenance ,Seed sowing & Plastic recycling plant visit –Madambakkam

CTC-LGOOO-Seed sowing at Chennai South Lakes

Back to Our Roots 2

Back to Our Roots 1

Ramjan

Namma Bangalore: One Night One Day Moderate Trek on 1-2nd March 

NB Cruise 4 >> Lets Cruise to Ooty and Waynad on 1-3rd Nov 2013

NB Cruise III >> Lets Cruise to Jog Falls on 4-6th Oct 2013

NB Cruise 2 >> Let's Cruise to Chickballapur on 22nd Sep 2013

Namma Bangalore >> Biking to Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta on 8th Sep 2013

Treasure Hunt III, April 13-14 - Introducing the Teams

Namma Bangalore: One Night One Day Moderate Trek on 23-24 th March

Namma Bangalore: Post Trek: 3rd March 2013

Navanee

Wildlife Observatory trip to Agumbe - March 28-31, 2014

Birthday celebration "Heritage Photography ride by Scooter to Sadras on Mar 16th 2014

Star trail photography & Fun trip to Nowhere on Mar 1st

Photo walk in IIT Chennai Campus - 2nd Feb, 2014

ECR Photography Trip Part II - 22nd & 23rd February, 2014

Walk with your camera in Western Ghats from Dec 27 to Dec 31

Heritage Photography Trip - ECR - 12th & 13th October, 2013.

Photo coverage CTC events

Raj Jacob

Javadhu hills ride - March 22nd & 23rd

A difficult trek, March 15th and 16th, 2014

Ladies Trek, March 1-2 trek plan

Kumbakaarai to Kodaikanal - Dec 14th-15th, 2013

Nagala East to Southern Peak. Nov 30th-Dec 1st, 2013

Nagala South East, September 28th and 29th, Moderate + trek

Perumal Malai and PX-1 Repeat

Return to Gundar - 16th-17th March, 2013

Prasanna

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Teynampet Railway Quarters   

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Govt Women’s College,Walajapet   

CTC-LGOOO-Farm Visit & Sapling maintenance,Kanchipuram   

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam Temple

CTC-LGOOO-Nursery maintenance ,Seed sowing & Plastic recycling plant visit Madambakkam

CTC-LGOOO-First Year Anniversary Plantation Drive, Ayyangarkulam

CTC + Waste Warriors" Cleanup Activity in Wipro Chennai Marathon on 1st

Prabakar

Mar Triathlon

Chennai Coastal Cleanup/4

Jul Triathlon

Chennai Trail Marathon/2

Chennai Iron Triathlon

Dawn To Dusk/3

Trek Polamaa/5

Harish

Tree Plantation Arumbakkam Phase III

Tree Plantation Drive at Alsa Green Park, Chrompet

Tree Plantation Drive at Perungulathur High School

Tree Plantation Drive at Kandanchavadi Govt School

Tree Plantation Kamaraj Nagar (with tree guard assembling)

Kandanchavadi Saplings Maintenance

CTC Mass Seed sowing in Perungudi Lake

Elanchezhiyan

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Walk  

Approached Forest department to get support on saplings

Visited the Ayyankarkulam, Kanchipuram project and interacted with villages

Waste mgmt major CTC events, TWCM

CCC/4 green lead

Research on environmentally friendly pet bottles

Praveen

Emperors Foodie Special 3 (Organized along with Balaji Gunasekaran)

Emperors trek to Kumara Parvatha (Organized along with Masanamuthu)

Emperors Call of the Wild (Organized along with Bharanidharan) 4. Emperors trek to Nagala North East (Organized along with Masanamuthu)

Emperors Diamond Jubilee Trek (Organized along with 17 other Emperor Organizers)

Emperors X-Mas ride 2 (Organized along with Balaji Gunasekaran)

Saba

Emperors Nature& Cultural Photo Walk on western ghats - Feb 22 & 23, 2014

Emperors ~Shoot at Sight~ Morning Photo Walk on Sunday, 24th November 2013

Emperors --->Get...Wet...Go ---->Monsoon Bike Ride On Western Ghats

Emperors 10 Day’s “Live with your Bike’’ Season - 2 - Ride to land of Thunder dragons

Emperors - Summer Bike Ride To Yercaud and Kolli Hill's ,May / 25,26/2013

Emperors -Sunrise and Bird Photography at Kovalam ,Apr 21,2013

Vinoth

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam Park on 11-Aug-13

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation At Madambakkam on 14-Dec-13

Back to Our Roots 1 on 1,2-Jun-2013

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Ayyangar Kulam, Kanchipuram on 23,24-Mar-2013

CTC-LGOOO-Nursery maintenance ,Seed sowing & Plastic recycling plant visit -Madambakkam on 30-Nov-13

CTC-LGOOO-Saplings Maintenance at SMK FOMRA College on 21-Apr-13

Malan

Emperors: Saplings Maintenance @ Pondicherry on Feb 22-23, 2014

Emperors - Cleanup trek to Nagala West - August 15, 2013

Emperors - Monsoon trek- August 9-11, 2013

Emperors Trek to Chase the Nature - July 6-7, 2013

ECR Bike Ride cum Green Event at Pondicherry, June 22-23, 2013

Emperor's fun ride to Pondy + Tree maintenance on 23rd,24th March

Nobal

Treasure Hunt III

Mar Triathlon

E-cert website

Chennai MTB Ride

Bangalore Triathlon

Malnad Cycling

Malnad Cycling/2

Karthik

Wildlife & Photography Workshop 08 Dec 2013

CTC Basic Photography Workshop Sunday 17th Nov 2013.

CTC's Photography Workshop - Beyond the Basics - 04th August 2013 (Sunday- Afternoon)

Shoot like a Pro !!! - 27 April 2013.

Photo & video coverage of CTC events

Arun Prabakar

Emperors 10 Day's “Live with your Bike'' Season - 2 - Ride to land of Thunder dragons

Emperors --->Get...Wet...Go ---->Monsoon Bike Ride On Western Ghats

Emperors One night one day Trek to Nagala -Foodie Special on June 22nd & 23rd- 2013

Emperors Trek to Nagala SouthEast With Medium + Difficulty on June 1st and 2nd -2013

Emperor's fun ride to Pondy + Tree maintenance on 23rd,24th March

Mentoring many new CTC organizers

Siva

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Ayyangar Kulam, Kanchipuram

CTC-LGOOO-Tree Plantation Drive at Madambakkam ABCO Drive

CTC-LGOOO-Sapling Maintenance Activity, Kaatupakkam

CTC-LGOOO-Saplings Maintenance at Vijayalakshmi Nagar

Back to Our Roots 3

Waste Mangament CTC events

Sankar

Welcome to the frying pan - 1, 2 & 3 Mar 2014

Pongal bike ride - Jog falls - 11-14 Jan 2014

Life is calling series - mission 3 - 15, 16, 17 & 18 August 2013

Life is calling series - mission 2 - 26,27 & 28, July 2013

Organizer/lead in many CTC events - Triathlons, CCC/4, CTM/2

Vibin

Emperors Moderate Trek to Nagala East - March 22,23

Emperors Trek to Nagala - East to West - March 15,16

Emperors Diamond Jubilee Moderate Trek Invitation - Date: 8th and 9th February-2014

Emperors Trek Into the Green Meadows - Emperors Trek to Munnar and deep Jungle Safari

Emperors presents Moderate Trek through 7obstacles of Nagala on Aug31&Sep01

Mahesh

Emperors One Night and One Day Trek to TADA Top - Difficult Level : Medium on 21,22th September 13

Emperors presents Nagala Northeast (One night,One day) trek on 21st December

Emperors One Night and One Day Moderate trek to Nagala East Oct 5th,6th - 2013

Emperors Diamond Jubilee Moderate Trek Invitation - Date: 8th and 9th February-2014.

Emperors Express Trek 6

Saba

Mar + Jul Triathlons

Chennai Coastal Cleanup

Chennai Trail Marathon

TWCM

Chennai Iron Triathlon

Dawn To Dusk

Trek Polmaa V

RA Arvind

Tree Plantation Drive at Ayyangar Kulam, Kanchipuram

Tree Plantation Drive at Arumbakkam Phase II

Tree Plantation Drive at Govt Women’s College,Walajapet

Saplings Maintenance at Royal Garden

Participated in may other green events

Thilak

(right person)

Behind all social initiatives in CTC

Instrumental in obtaining permission for large CTC events (CCC, CTM…)

Durai

Chennai Trail Marathon

Dawn To Dusk Kids Run

CTC’s Wildernews Newsletter

CTC's Creative Designers - Rajiv, Yazar, Ganesh

CTC Turns 5

Trek Polamaa IV

Chennai Triathlons

Chennai Coastal Cleanup

Chennai Trail Marathon

Dawn To Dusk

CTC Turns 6

Trek Polamaa V

Wildernews

Chennai Triathlon - Powered By Montra - March 29th - Photo links & Stats

March 30, 2014, 9:12 pm

≫ Next: Post Trip Writeup - Parent & Child - Understanding Biodiversity & Camping - 1st March

≪ Previous: CTC Organizer Awards 2013

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Overall 145 participants successfully completed CTC's 8th Triathlon, youngest participant was 7 (Enticer), most senior finisher 67 (Olympic) - a participation age span of 60 years! 

12 participants where younger then 16 years. 1 out of 7 participants were female.

Photo Links

Chennai Trekking Club - https://www.facebook.com/groups/chennaitrekkingclub/

Chennai Triathlon - https://www.facebook.com/groups/281087932019841/

Gowri - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.749116418466330.1073741831.439732522738056&type=1

Manoj - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203129214582457.1073741833.1569671255&type=1&l=0a65d56343

Nivya - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.837424602950246.1073741845.100000481423696&type=1&l=cf2b171704

Shreya - https://www.facebook.com/shreya.daga.7/media_set?set=a.10152362645223478.1073741834.582953477&type=1

Vinodh - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.667119750013376.1073741826.100001460717362&type=1&l=7dfad31095

Muthu - https://www.facebook.com/kumaranmuthu/media_set?set=a.702934779770627.1073741832.100001623342023&type=1

Timing & Statistics

Find below detailed timing statistics within and across Triathlon categories. You can compare your individual timing with the average/min/max swim/cycle/run timings to see where you stand individually and which areas you can improve upon in order to finish better or step up to the next level in our upcoming July Triathlon.

Overall Statistics

Average swim/cycle/run timings across all categories - these timings give a good representation given the large population in each category:

Enticer Stats

Sprint Stats

Olympic Stats

Enticer Rankings

Rank	BIB#	Name	Swim	Cycle	Run	Total
1	E015	ABHISHEK D NADIGER	0:09	0:41	0:06	0:56
2	E006	Krishnakumar Raman	0:07	0:45	0:07	0:59
3	E031	PRANAV K NARAYAN	0:10	0:35	0:15	1:00
4	E007	A.N. Yuvaraj	0:07	0:42	0:13	1:02
5	E013	Yethish kumar	0:07	0:53	0:15	1:15
6	E001	Manimala Vijayakumar	0:15	0:54	0:07	1:16
7	E053	Vikash Khater	0:18	0:47	0:12	1:17
8	E011	Mohan Babu	0:23	0:48	0:06	1:17
9	E054	Sachin Mehta	0:18	0:53	0:07	1:18
10	E012	Renuka Srinivasan	0:07	1:04	0:07	1:18
11	E010	Suresh	0:14	0:57	0:07	1:18
12	E009	sirajuddin umar sanghar	0:17	0:48	0:14	1:19
13	E046	Dr Gautam prajapati	0:14	0:51	0:15	1:20
14	E008	ANAND SANTHANAM	0:11	1:00	0:10	1:21
15	E023	Subash Chandra Bose	0:10	1:02	0:12	1:24
16	E056	P.A. Rajarajan	0:06	1:13	0:05	1:24
17	E024	Dhanya P	0:17	0:55	0:13	1:25
18	E052	Sanjay Kumar Nanam	0:24	0:52	0:09	1:25
19	E029	Vipuna Vijayan	0:18	0:56	0:13	1:27
20	E036	Sidharth Laxminarayan	0:10	1:06	0:11	1:27
21	E022	rajarajan	0:23	0:55	0:10	1:28
22	E030	Gautham Chelladurai	0:28	0:48	0:12	1:28
23	E042	DHANESH VAID	0:16	1:02	0:14	1:32
24	E062	Vichar R Lochan	0:08	1:08	0:16	1:32
25	E051	SATHISH. N	0:22	0:59	0:12	1:33
26	E039	Brinda Aiyar	0:18	1:07	0:10	1:35
27	E032	Velmurugan Palanikumar	0:25	0:57	0:14	1:36
28	E068	Rekha	0:21	0:56	0:19	1:36
29	E004	R Venkatachalam	0:10	1:04	0:23	1:37
30	E069	Rajaganapathy A	0:20	0:56	0:21	1:37
31	E025	Sowmya Chabala	0:23	1:01	0:17	1:41
32	E045	Barathram Krishnamoorthy	0:14	1:09	0:19	1:42
33	E067	Gopinath.S	0:24	0:59	0:19	1:42
34	E034	Pranav Ravivenkatesh	0:14	1:11	0:18	1:43
35	E044	Krishnamoorthy Pattabiraman	0:19	1:04	0:20	1:43
36	E019	Aravind Krishnamoorthy	0:31	0:54	0:19	1:44
37	E041	YASHWANT VAID	0:29	0:52	0:26	1:47
38	S 31	arun ramanathan	0:33	1:00	0:15	1:48
39	E061	Nanda Kumar	0:24	1:08	0:18	1:50
40	E049	C.E.Arunachala Krishna	0:18	1:07	0:26	1:51
41	E002	T S Niveda	0:19	1:17	0:18	1:54
42	E003	R Harini	0:19	1:18	0:17	1:54
43	E070	Kumar Mathivanan.	0:23	1:09	0:22	1:54
44	E063	Harikumar Subhiah	0:35	1:06	0:14	1:55
45	E050	Anay Bharat Kumar	0:16	1:24	0:18	1:58
46	E060	Harshavardhan	0:16	1:20	0:23	1:59
47	E035	Sneha Laxminarayan	0:18	1:21	0:25	2:04
48	E026	Arvindh	0:26	1:25	0:17	2:08
49	E027	Pallavi	0:21	1:31	0:16	2:08
50	E033	ravivenkatesh s	0:21	1:23	0:24	2:08
51	E065	Karthik R	0:35	1:17	0:21	2:13
52	E020	V.D.Sathvik	0:17	1:42	0:17	2:16
53	S 10	Ramachandran	0:32	1:32	0:23	2:27

Sprint Rankings

Rank	BIB#	Name	Swim	Cycle	Run	Total
1	S 11	Arvind Sivdas	0:14	0:52	0:17	1:23
2	S 30	Divagaran	0:29	0:41	0:20	1:30
3	S 02	Amarjeet Singh	0:25	0:52	0:14	1:31
4	S 51	Abhishek Sareen	0:31	0:48	0:13	1:32
5	S 03	DINESH S SOUNDAPPA	0:21	1:00	0:16	1:37
6	S 48	Jiro Suwa	0:24	0:50	0:29	1:43
7	S 38	Nithin Sebastian	0:35	0:49	0:25	1:49
8	S 01	TOMOTERU KOSHIKAWA	0:32	0:51	0:32	1:55
9	S 12	Sumesh R	0:25	1:03	0:28	1:56
10	S 08	Takashi Sekiguchi	0:18	0:51	0:48	1:57
11	S 52	M. Boobalan	0:36	0:48	0:33	1:57
12	S 19	NITHYA SRINIVASAN	0:25	1:00	0:34	1:59
13	S 15	Toshihiko Hirano	0:23	1:15	0:28	2:06
14	S 14	santhosh	0:33	1:03	0:31	2:07
15	S 33	Shyaam Sundar G	0:27	0:58	0:42	2:07
16	S 21	Divya Vivek	0:28	1:08	0:32	2:08
17	S 22	Prasanna Surendran	0:31	1:06	0:36	2:13
18	S 36	Ashokkumar S	0:29	1:04	0:43	2:16
19	S 42	DR RADHA KUMAR	0:42	1:02	0:32	2:16
20	S 44	Naveen Chowdary Tummala	0:25	0:59	0:52	2:16
21	S 43	Ramakrishnan	0:28	1:09	0:41	2:18
22	S 34	Jayaprakash	0:27	1:16	0:36	2:19
23	S 18	Gautam Sambhare	0:23	0:58	0:59	2:20
24	S 27	Parthasarathy Srinivasan	0:21	1:23	0:36	2:20
25	S 09	S Muthuraman	0:33	1:16	0:34	2:23
26	S 29	Thilesh	0:34	1:07	0:42	2:23
27	S 46	Praveen Kumar	0:53	1:04	0:29	2:26
28	S 41	Vidya Krishna	0:26	1:25	0:38	2:29
29	S 28	Senthilnathan	0:38	1:27	0:26	2:31
30	S 06	Mukul Moholkar	0:24	1:19	0:50	2:33
31	S 17	Sangeeta Shankaran Sumesh	0:45	1:14	0:35	2:34
32	S 24	Sathya Narayanan	0:38	1:11	0:47	2:36
33	S 53	Arun Kumar	0:35	1:24	0:41	2:40
34	S 25	Karthik Arumugam	0:53	1:17	0:33	2:43
35	S 47	Manoj B	0:51	1:14	0:43	2:48
36	S 45	Munuswamy Sivakumaran	0:54	1:13	0:49	2:56
37	S 35	KAUSTHUBARAMAN NEELAKANTAN	0:53	1:38	0:47	3:18
38	O 05	Venkateswaran Sekar	1:17	1:30	0:41	3:28
39	S 23	Akhil Subramoney	0:56	1:34	1:07	3:37
40	S 13	ASHISH SINGH	1:35	1:31	0:39	3:45
41	S 37	Ashwanth Gnanavelu	0:35	2:16	1:02	3:53
42	S 16	HARIRAM	1:02	2:09	0:50	4:01
43	S 39	Ranjan	0:56	4:26	0:46	6:08

Olympic Rankings

Rank	BIB#	Name	Swim	Cycle	Run	Total
1	O 07	CHIRAG B KUNDGOL	0:26	1:27	1:09	3:02
2	O 42	Ashwin Bala	0:38	1:29	1:06	3:13
3	O 12	Norihiko Nishio	0:40	1:51	0:45	3:16
4	O 19	KOJI KITA	0:41	1:27	1:16	3:24
5	O 30	Vinay Sekar	0:35	1:34	1:20	3:29
6	O 28	Christopher	0:49	1:40	1:10	3:39
7	O 43	Sanjeev R	1:01	1:56	0:57	3:54
8	O 54	P.Yuvaraj	1:08	1:41	1:10	3:59
9	O 47	Murali	0:46	1:57	1:18	4:01
10	O 36	Suresh Subramanian	1:11	2:04	0:59	4:14
11	O 18	Kim, Ye Hwan	0:48	2:08	1:21	4:17
12	O 29	Ramasamy Jeyaram	0:47	2:10	1:20	4:17
13	O 41	Avinash Bala	0:40	1:39	2:02	4:21
14	O 15	karthik ramakrishnan	0:57	2:04	1:23	4:24
15	O 24	Mahesh Awati	0:54	2:08	1:23	4:25
16	O 56	Gokul Raju	0:58	2:04	1:23	4:25
17	O 49	V.SIVAKUMAR	1:00	2:04	1:23	4:27
18	O 22	Rohit Kumar	0:59	2:07	1:21	4:27
19	O 57	Sathish	0:58	1:56	1:35	4:29
20	O 20	A C ELAVARASAN	0:58	1:59	1:35	4:32
21	O 52	SUNDRAARAMA RAVICHANDRAN	0:51	2:20	1:23	4:34
22	O 11	Alberto Galvan	0:32	2:30	1:49	4:51
23	O 39	NAVUKKARASU S S	1:12	2:04	1:36	4:52
24	O 44	Ponraj	0:59	2:15	1:38	4:52
25	O 53	V Ramachandran	0:51	2:22	1:42	4:55
26	O 37	Porkodiyal CT	1:02	2:13	1:41	4:56
27	O 46	Masanamoorthy	0:51	2:34	1:35	5:00
28	O 10	Durai Murugan	1:06	2:10	1:46	5:02
29	O 21	Aditya Sivakumar	0:55	2:33	1:38	5:06
30	O 58	Nagarajulu Aerakoni	0:46	2:58	1:26	5:10
31	O 16	Ravikumar K	1:07	2:52	1:14	5:13
32	O 40	Manoj Kumar P	0:55	2:36	1:42	5:13
33	O 32	S SATHISH KUMAR	1:30	2:30	1:13	5:13
34	O 26	Nachiappan Chockalingam	1:11	2:01	2:02	5:14
35	O 14	Manas Chandran	1:25	2:20	1:30	5:15
36	O 25	ARUN JOHN	1:10	2:47	1:18	5:15
37	O 01	Vijay Kalpathi Ramanathan	1:34	2:08	1:35	5:17
38	O 38	Rohit Ramachandran	0:52	2:23	2:02	5:17
39	O 03	Rohith Saikrishna	0:59	2:31	1:50	5:20
40	O 35	Vibin Dhamodharan	1:05	3:04	1:20	5:29
41	O 04	SRIGANESH	1:10	2:35	1:52	5:37
42	O 33	Enock Prince	1:09	2:49	1:44	5:42
43	O 51	Raja Ashok Sinha	1:34	2:16	1:54	5:44
44	O 55	Aravindh Raman	1:29	2:23	1:52	5:44
45	O 45	Velmurugan	1:21	2:42	1:47	5:50
46	O 13	Hari Shankar	1:19	2:45	1:47	5:51
47	O 31	senthil murugan k	1:17	2:44	1:52	5:53
48	O 23	Chandra Shekhar A K	1:12	2:37	2:05	5:54
49	O 50	satheeshkumar	1:00	3:13	1:42	5:55

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Peter Van Geit
Life starts at the end of our comfort zone

http://www.facebook.com/PeterVanGeit