The Gates of Heaven - Part 1

The Gates of Heaven and My Close Encounters with Peter

(These chronicles are dated May 2011)

My Legal battle with the Bank came to an end by way of a One Time Settlement in the month of April 2011; a victory which called for a massive celebration. I found that whatever event I plan would still look minute before such humungous victory. I needed an event that suited the occasion. I needed a celebration which would release the stress mounted since almost five years of my battle. It was then I remembered that way back in June 2010 that I had come across some faint information on Chennai Trekking Club and I immediately subscribed for its membership. Adventure in raw nature has been a part of my school days and trekking during that time was the most unforgettable activity that I had cherished all along since then.

I received my first mail from Chennai Trekking Club on 1st of June 2010 requesting my confirmation if I was interested to join the club. I confirmed immediately. Since then I have been receiving many mails of different dimensions and activities. Chennai Trekking Club was founded by one Mr.Peter Van Geit and I had no other information about him other than his Himalayan passion for trekking expeditions and motivating the club members to participate in social welfare programs such as cleaning the beaches and sponsoring the child orphanage homes. He seemed to be an inspiring personality and I only waited for the right opportunity to meet him. There were calls for trekking trips, reports of post-trekking trips, social service programs, charity programs to orphan children and many other affiliated trekking programs that were long distance giving access and opportunity to interested people locally. I have been also reading some articles in the Hindu and other newspapers recently. He is the pied piper inspiring all youth of Chennai in many social service activities such as cleaning up of Marina Beach frequently removing tonnes of waste, donating basic requirements and coconut saplings to cyclone stricken areas, supporting orphanages, an many more. He deserves more than any Padma Vibhushan or any other higher Civilian Awards. Peter is a Saint.

All along I was a little apprehensive of one main issue which was whether I would be able to merge and mingle with all those young trekkers and the other was whether I would be fit enough to return in one piece from those expeditions. The summer arrived and I was waiting for the right opportunity. I kept myself fit enough but was not successful in reducing the excess weight I had gained since past two years due to the long hours in front of my inseparable laptop which I treat it as nothing less than my partner in profession and not as an electronic machine. I was one of the early students who got admitted in the Loyola Public School at Guntur in the year 1963-64. The school was built along the Perecherla Reserve Forest and its mountain range is a maximum of 300 mts or so in altitude. The Sunday was special for us and students like me anxiously waited for the Sunday itinerary. Apart from free-games extended to an hour more on Sunday, it was the day we had the programme of ‘trekking’. The Perecherla mountain range consisted of medium sized hills and mountains which were wonderful and it was just a 2km walk from our school campus. We usually started after 12pm and returned by 7pm. It being a notified ‘Reserved forest’, wildlife like rabbits, foxes, porcupine, snakes, mongoose, wild cats, etc was the usual sight for us. I used to love this activity and I along with my close friends was always among the first to reach the ‘top’ of the mountains which we proudly considered as a sort of victory. Since those school days I always admired mountains. Their shapes and size always thrill me and even now I just look at them in awe. All these years I longed to go for trekking but our professional life springs immense excuses for not going for one. It was only during some trips to ‘Kaveri Fishing Camp’ near Mysore, and the ‘Kali River Camp’ near Hospet, both in Karnataka that I cherished some minor trekking exercises along with my children, but not a real one which could challenge my fitness in the present age of 55 years. I needed this trekking trip badly for a real celebration.

On 1st of May 2011 the perfect invitation came for the Nagala East Combo trekking program that is planned for 7th & 8th of the month, and I should have been the first person to send the confirmation as early as 4.30 am in the morning on the very same day. The excitement that enveloped me was exactly what I experienced in my school days 45 years ago. I started my shopping spree organising all those mandatory items prescribed by the club and stressed myself on the treadmill in our Gym at the apartments during the entire week as a preparation.Peter called for volunteers to organise the food items, for accounting, for leading groups as guides during the expedition. There was some confusion in the finalisation of the interested members. Due to shortage of experienced volunteers and organisers only thirty members were shortlisted initially and shockingly my name did not find place in the list. I immediately sent a mail to Peter that it should have been a terrible mistake not including my name in the list. I thrust the argument that I should have been the 1st person to have filled and submitted the form for enrolment. Within an hour Peter replied, “No issues Prem, you can jump in”. I was back to my excited mood once again and started to prepare my backpack. Incidentally the next day Peter notified that two of the CTC organisers, Brijesh and Naveen, sent their willingness to join and accordingly he opened the gates to whoever showed interest. The number which was initially 30 was now doubled to 60.

The day arrived and I reported at 3am early morning at Guindy in my Accent Viva. There were a few guys waiting at the Toyota showroom and I introduced myself ‘Hi, I am Prem’ and everyone greeted me and introduced themselves. I continued ‘you must be wondering what an old guy is doing here!!’ I joked intending to instil an air of ease. Within minutes Peter arrived in his grey Fortuner with some members along with him. He instructed all to sign the Disclaimer forms and then we all proceed to Koyembedu for a final pool of the members. The indicated amount of Rs 500 for expenses was also paid to the guy who volunteered to maintain the accounts. .I introduced myself to Peter apprehensive that he may raise a doubt about my fitness on assessing my age, but he just did not mind it even after observing me at close quarters. I was relaxed and proceeded to the next rendezvous taking a few along with me in my car.

At Koyembedu, a count of the total pool of members was taken and the participants were comfortably accommodated in all the vehicles. They had hired two tempo vans which also accommodated some motorcyclists who did not prefer to travel by two wheelers. From there we were instructed to follow Peter’s vehicle and not to get lost especially at places where the roads deviated. Despite which there was some confusion at midway and Peter had to track the Maruthi 800 which had taken the wrong route and immediately assigned some members to go back and realign the lost car back to the convoy. The rest restarted the journey to the destined location and the lost car too joined the convoy a few minutes later.

Before we reached the final destination, we stopped at the roadside tea-shop for tea or coffee as per the preference, and it was almost 6.30am. At the tea shop I could see the faces and study for acquaintance sake. I could spot only three females among the whole bunch and the rest were male. Most of the participants were in their twenties. There were a few foreigners; one pair Eric and his friend Christine and there were two more young guys I do not know their origin but could be French or Spanish. All of them were along with Peter except for one Indian girl who was sitting in the front along with Peter in his car. Peter made sure that none were lost henceforth and then gave the signal for resuming the final drive to the starting point.

On nearing the destination, I could visualize the Mountain range as we headed for the eastern entry of the range. As soon we arrived at a clearing after crossing Nagalapuram, a small silent village, we were asked to disembark our vehicles and Peter instructed all to pick their portion of eatables which consisted of Oranges, Cream Buns of different flavours, usual dry Chapatti packets, Teplas which looked like chapatti, , Flavoured Glucose packets, Etc. My fears began to rise, for my backpack gained more weight now. I strictly followed the instructions and packed as advised but the biggest blunder was that I purchased a 50 ltr backpack which I eventually found that it was for much bigger treks. Comparing the luggage others were carrying, my bag was definitely bigger and heavier; and considering my age I had doubts whether this would work. I quickly unloaded all my belonging to see if there was anything that I could leave behind in the car to reduce the weight, but I was utterly confused what to discard and what not to. Peter was repeatedly instructing all in a raised voice to unload the excess baggage. I finally unloaded my second water bottle which reduced a meagre one kilo maximum.

All the vehicle owners and the van drivers were instructed to park the vehicles way back near the end of the village at a clearing. I parked my car along with others, Peter was giving some instructions to the Tempo drivers, and I slowly lifted my backpack and buckled it at the waist. I felt the heavy weight and the apprehension grew whether I would make it. Two doctors who also parked their car along with us advised me to buckle the front main belt just below the navel to avoid back pain. After parking the vehicles, one of the Tempos was asked to drop us back at the starting point where the rest of the members started off. In the van, I asked Peter whether my bag was heavier and he confirmed it saying that it was actually a few kilos more than what it should be. I tried once again to search for something to unload and I could only spill the water in my additional ½ litre bottle. I had no choice and I proceeded to walk briskly once we got off the Tempo.

I started without much effort trying to keep at pace with the others ignoring whatever I was carrying. A determination to be at par with the youngsters possessed me and I progressed as per plan to join the rest of the batch at the 1st pool. We climbed up a bund which I was told was a sort of mini-dam erected to hold the stream that flowed from the Nagala range continuously throughout the year. The water from the catchment was in return released through canals for irrigation. For a moment we had a panoramic view of the path we were going to take and then we started to climb down the bund slowly.

After the mini-dam we passed through a temple where some local families were in a festive mood waiting to start some sort of ceremony or a celebration and the children cheered us innocently as we passed by. Peter picked up fast and sped away to the first assembly point which was the first pool. I strode in the company of a few who started late. I walked briskly along with Siva shanker and after observing me carefully he enquired if I had any wheezing problem for which I immediately replied that I had no health problem and my heavy breath could be because of my weight which I have added in last two years. I explained him that it was it was my passion since my school days and I was ready to go the extra mile to cherish this experience after a long gap. He might have had doubts on assessing my age but he was kind enough to volunteer any help if required. I thanked him and managed with ease; and in half hour we reached the first pool.

The Adventure Continues...