A Trek to Remember- Embracing a Journey of Discovering Nature!!

 Life is an amazing one. Just like the sun rising and setting every day our life goes on sometimes full of highs and sometimes full of lows. In between these highs and lows, homo sapiens tend to get out of the mundane routine- breathing in the calmness to heal the soul, while breathing out the daily responsibilities of ordinary life.

Ramanagara trek was a desperate attempt to beat the humdrum and tedious office work and soak into the tranquility. All kudos to the VMware India Employee Engagement team for planning a trekking event to Ramanagara for the employees of VMware to peel away the layers of boredom and bond outside the workplace. There were around 800 colleagues who registered for the event within 2 days and around 130 were the lucky first batch to the wild freedom. And I was one of them!

1^st July, the day of the trek, I woke up bright and early and headed to the office. The excitement of the trek with office friends was giving me chills. We started at 7 and were handed out a bag of pre-breakfast munchies to satisfy our tummies. Once we reached the destination, we went straight to have our breakfast in an arty-crafty resort ‘The Village County’ surrounded by hills.

Do you all remember the famous dialogues of “Naach Basanti Naach” and “Kitney Aadmi the” and the massive rocky hilly region where Gabbar used to stay and terrify the villagers nearby? Then you should know that this famous movie was shot in Ramanagara, and the hills are also known as the “Sholay Hills”.

After having our breakfast, we headed to the base of the trek. We all stood in a big circle and did some basic warm up before the start of the hike. We were then divided into small groups according to our birth months- JD, Gabbar, Marco, JJ, and Flamingo. And the adventure amidst nature to the rocky hills started!

Walking hardly 50 steps we entered dense wood. This protected reserve is rich in flora, fauna, and some endangered species of birds like Long Billed Vultures, and Yellow Throated Bulbul. We spotted a few White Breasted Kingfishers, Vultures, and Egrets which we adored while walking.

The chirping sounds of birds from distant and nearest trees, and the wind blowing sounds on woods made me wonder that this small place is a world of its own and we are mere travelers going into their world just to appreciate and observe their simplicity. I could feel the ethereal aura surrounding me. The greens soothed my eyes. We paused there for a few minutes to soak into the enthralling experience and started climbing up the hills.

We went up the rocky hills pausing for a few minutes to capture the moments, our emotions, vibe, feeling and the surreal atmosphere surrounding us. On the way were small shrines dedicated to Deities Ganesha, Shiva, and Hanuman. The climb was a moderate one, neither too steep nor gentle. With some good exercise to our legs, we accomplished to reach the premises of the main temple which is dedicated to Lord Rama. Just next to Temple is a big boulder which adds to the beautiful view. Rameshwara Swamy Temple can also be seen from the premises which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

After a peaceful darshan, we started heading to the peak of Ramanagara hill. Few of the teammates were already exhausted thus decided to stay back while the rest of us went along the rocky path amidst the forest to have a picturesque trek to the top. There were few viewpoints on the way where we clicked pictures. These were open spaces guarded with railings that provided some breathtaking views. I got a sense of what was waiting for me at the top. After walking for 10 minutes, we came across a rock carving of Sugriva- the character of Ramayana who was from Vanar Kingdom.

Next, was the main hurdle – the steepest climb of the Sholay hills. Steps are cut into the boulders where one has to climb up taking one step at a time holding the handrail that is kind of a support on the two sides. For me this was no less than rock climbing. Conquering that, we emerged to the flat top that is the main peak of Ramanagara. From here we all experienced the panoramic views. Appreciating the bounties of nature, this magnificent universe I found myself flowing along in symphony to the sky, twittering sounds of the birds and nature around.

We spent an hour in Nature's arms enjoying the blissful beauty, embracing the picture postcard, inhaling the sweet smell of the gushes of air. We had some fun activities like singing and dancing, stayed there for a while chitchatting with each other, giggling with laughter, and creating memories. 

Finally, we started our return journey in the afternoon and this time we took a different route. We came down through the 350-400 steps that connects the Rama mandir to the base.

We came to the resort to have lunch. I was so hungry after the trek that I was able to gulp down the whole food within minutes. After lunch, in the arena we had few fun games. The ‘Chinese Whispers’ game is worth mentioning. It turned out to be a hilarious one.

We returned back in the evening cherishing the fantastic memories!

The trek at Ramanagara proved to be a beautiful surprise where we chanced witness the splendid nature. We crossed streams, forests, hills as cold winds caressed our hair!

This event turned out to be an amazing one, and a heartfelt thanks to the entire team who has made this a success. Be it the trek, the food, the games, the singing, and dancing - it was all full of energy. It’s a great way of team bonding and is a huge encouragement to get out of our comfortable cocoons to really enjoy everything.

Everyone has a point in their lives when they feel “I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now and live in it forever”. This was mine.