Jaaga’s Thirteen
Activity: Madhugiri Fort Hill Trek
Date: January 26, 2017
As if it was to happen exactly the way it did, January 26 will go down our memory lane a long, long way. Simply brilliant day, it was! We nerdy looking entrepreneurs have a wild side! And it showed itself.
We started at 6.45 am from Jaaga and picked up Sridhar and Puneet on the way. En route we had breakfast. The vehicle was comfortable and the driver friendly. After a couple of hours, we reached the base of Madhugiri. We had a round of introductions and found out each others’ names, quite literally. Packed snacks, basic safety instructions and off we went.
To our surprise, the trek had way too many visitors than we had anticipated. Lots of young school and college kids were running up and down the hill. The hill is a monolith, the second largest in Asia. It is a fort hill built by one of Tipu Sultan’s chieftains. Madhugiri is a Navadurga or vantage point along the border of Tipu’s then kingdom to look out for possible invasions from the north.
It’s sad that the Archaeological Survey of India has been repeatedly trying to maintain this monumental hill as Madhugiri gets vandalized right after it’s been restored.
A clear path climbs to the top of the hill. One comes across storage granaries and barracks for the then soldiers. You see a huge pond while on the way as well.
Once we got past the easy part, a few of us climbed the road not taken. We had to scramble up the bare rock, use every bit of our strength, be there for each other, fight our fears, focus on the next step, let the world go by watching what we do and finally become spectacular not just for our friends, but for ourselves as well. I bet Sunil, Puneet, Kumar and Shekar will have more to say on this.
On the other hand, Kapil was a riot. Holy mother of God! He is unbelievable. Comedy is his middle name! All along our stomachs hurt as we incessantly laughed at his jokes, drama, selfies, hilarious poses and a huge fan following he had all over the trek. Lots of pictures ensued all along the trek.
Up top on the hill, the view was nothing short of grandiose. The weather was just about right. A faint drizzle threatened but quietened down. We had a dose of refreshments and another round of Kapil’s entertainment up top. Our descent was quick as we now mastered the climb, but the hill had a pound of our flesh. Sunil had a bit of a bruise and we were all super hungry.
Madhugiri, over the years, has become commercial from quaint. We landed at a local restaurant that served local food. Our famished mouths tore into anything that came our way. This sumptuous meal, a good work out, another dose of Kapil’s antics made our travel drowsy this time, however. We had a brief stop for chai and off we were on our way home. Reached Jaaga at about 7 pm, tired yet happy with a phenomenal experience January 26, 2017, gave us.
The trek certainly made us come closer to each other as we yet recollect the events in the fondest of our memories. We now eagerly look forward to more such trips.
Cheers!
