gathering at Aroha's Eco Hill resort - 3

..continued from gathering at Aroha's Eco Hill resort - 2.

It was around 5-15 when I woke up. Freshened up and stepped to get closer to the jungle air. I wandered around and decided to go out for a walk. After a short stroll, I came back to the resort, found quite a few guys up. Govind, Anil and Vijay went out for a walk before the rest of them get up. We came out of the resort, turned right and followed the road going deeper into the jungle. We must've walked a kilometer or so, saw couple of other resorts. One of them was Rotti Kallu. We turned back and once again back at the resort. 

Collage of few shots taken during the short walk. Dry fern, bougainvillea, a canine from our resort and some kind of wild flower found quite commonly here.

After coffee, the resort team announced guests to assemble for the trek. Of 22 boys, just 7 of us were in for a trek, rest of the group preferred to stay back, some weren't awake yet. This is the mixed group from our resort led by Vikas a sixteen year boy from a nearby village. He's a college student, he works at resorts during vacations. Nice of him trying to support his family. At the resort, boys carry out multiple tasks, right from trek guides to waiting tables, cleaning rooms, anything to keep the resort running, guests happy. I guess the resort owner Mr. N M Satish treats his staff well.

Our route went past Rotti Kallu resort and some home stay. A pleasant surprise.. a stream in our path. Water looked so clear and no odor whatsoever. I din't have to take off my shoes, thanks to the bridge of stones. Some guys preferred to wade through.

Half a kilometer further, there was another stream, as wide as the previous one. As we paused to take a few snaps our group continued trekking. A SUV from Saalu Gudda resort was ferrying its guests from the resort to the trekking summit and back.

I waited for the jeep to splash through the stream. Once it passed by the water wasn't really muddy for long which means the stream bed is sandy.

We decided to move on lest we lost track of our group. On the right is the Stone Valley resort. Behind us, the valley we just crossed was shrouded in mist, getting denser every minute. Anil and Srini are in their sweat-shirt carrying our school name, souvenir from the previous gathering.

After a stretch of steep path, we reached a plateau. We are in level with clouds now. I guess these are mist clouds. I was sweating like crazy, feels good when pores are opening up.

This is the final steep stretch to the summit which is known as Kallumetlu view point. I could see several groups from other resorts as well. This place can get crowded during weekends and holidays.

I think Nagaraj was tired, the climb must've taken his breath away. He finds a nice spot looking into the valley in the direction of our resort. Our boys wanted to get some midair shots. They jumped to a count of three but the jumps were out of sync. Here's one shot with all off the ground.

We requested one of the vacationer for a picture.. the magnificent seven.

A shot by Srini.

As we looked around and took pictures, Srini did something different. He was reciting a poem to Vijay and Vikas, our guide. I got curious, went close to hear it. It was a poem composed by Srini himself, a poem dedicated to this gathering of friends. Such a sweet poem it was, never knew the poetic side of Srini. Srini had posted the poem in Whatspp group on May-10, just a handful had acknowledged. I too had missed it. requested for a re-post.

Here are lines of a poem, which belong to our chuddi-buddies..

​​ಈ ಕವನಗಳ ಸಾಲು..
ಚಡ್ಡಿ ಬಡ್ಡಿಯರ ಪಾಲು..

ಸ್ನೇಹದ ಕಡಲಲ್ಲಿ,
ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ಮಡಿಲಲ್ಲಿ..

ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿ ಗುಡ್ಡದಲ್ಲಿ,
ಶಾಲಾದಿನಗಳ ಗುಂಗಿನಲ್ಲಿ..

ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರ ಕೂಟದಲ್ಲಿ,
ಮುಳುಗಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರ ಮನ!

ಆಗೇವು ನಾವು ತಯಾರಿ,
ಹೋಂಟೇವು ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಸವಾರಿ..

ಸೇರೇವು ಸಕಲೇಶಪುರದಲ್ಲಿ,
ತಂಗೇವು ನಾಳಿ
ಆರೋಹ ರೆಸಾರ್ಟ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ..

ಆಗೇವು ನಾವು ರಾಯಭಾರಿ,
ಸ್ನೇಹ ಮಿಲನದ ಚಾರಣ ಕೂಟದಲ್ಲಿ!!

ಬಂದಾನೋ ಸಂಜಯ್ ದುಬೈನಿಂದ ಸಮುದ್ರವ ಹಾರಿ...
ತಂದಾನೊ ನಮಗೆಲ್ಲ ಉಡುಗೋರೆಯ ತನ್ನ ಜೊತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ!!

ಬರುವನು ರಾಜುಮುಂಬೈನಿಂದ ವಿಮಾನ ಏರಿ..
ತರುವನು ನಮಗೆ ಬಾಕಲ್ವಾಡಿಯ ಹಲ್ವ-ಚಿಟ್ಳಿ!!
 
ಬಾರದಿದ್ದರೇನಂತೆ ಪ್ರಕಾಶ ಹುಬ್ಳಳ್ಳಿಯಿಂದ,
ಕಳಿಸಿದರೆ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟೇ ನಮಗೆ ರುಚಿಕರ ತಿಂಡಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ!!

ಬರುವನು ನಮ್ಮನೆಲ್ಲ
ಹುರಿದುಂಬಿಸಲು ಪ್ರೇಮಾ,
ಹರಸೋಣ ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಆರೋಗ್ಯಕರ  ಜೀವನ ಆನಂದ
#ಪ್ರೇಮಾನಂದ

ಶಾಲಾದಿನಗಳಿಂದಲೂ
ಕಾಕ ಸ್ಲಲ್ಪ ನಾಟಿ...
ಟಾಂಗನ ಸಹವಾಸ
ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಯ್ತ ನೋಡಿ,
ಆಗಿರುವನು ಈಗ
ಬಲೂ ಡರ್ಟೀ!!
#DeadlyCombination

2ನೇ ಕ್ಲಾಸ್ ನಾಗ ಜಾತ್ರೀಲಿ ಕಳೆದುಹೋದವ ಈ ಪ್ರಸಾದ..
ಮೊನ್ನಿ ಮುಗಿದ ಕುಂಭಮೇಳದಾಗ ಸಿಕೌನೇ ನೋಡಿ, ಸಿದ್ದೆಶ್ವರನ ವರಪ್ರಸಾದ!! 🙏
#ಸಿದ್ದೇಶ್ವರ_ಪ್ರಸಾದ

ನಾಚಿಕೆ ಸ್ವಭಾವದವ
ಡಾ// ವಿಜಯ...
ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸಲುಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟು
ನೋಡಿ ಅವನು ಪಡುವ ಆನಂದ ವ
#ವಿಜಯ_ಆನಂದ
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ನನಸಾಗಲಿದೆ ಬಹಳ ದಿನಗಳ
ಕನಸ್ಸು ನಗುವಿನಂದದೀ..
ಮೊಳಗಲಿದೆ ಮೆರವಣಿಗೆಯು ಸಂತೋಷದೀ..
ಸಾಗಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ರಥವು ಸಂಭ್ರಮದೀ..
ಬೆಸೆಯೋಣ ನಮ್ಮೀ
ಸ್ನೇಹವ ಆನಂದದೀ...
ಆಚರಿಸೋಣ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರ ಹಬ್ಬವ ಸಡಗರದೀ...
ಕಣಿದು ಕುಪ್ಪಳಿಸೋಣ ಹರುಷದೀ..
ಕಳೆಯೋಣ ವೀಕೆಂಡು ಉಲ್ಲಾಸದೀ..

ಹೋಂಟೇವು ನಾವು ಇಪ್ಪತೆರಡು ಮಂದೀ..
ಆಚರಿಸೋಣ ಈ ಹಬ್ಬವ ಸಂತೋಷದೀ!!

#ceeniಮನ
#FriendsForever
#ClassMates@86
#Reunion19
#NostalgicMoments

Darshan had offered to compose music for this poem. Wow, we have a composer in this group, great!

The sun was getting bright and warm, time to leave. As we turned back, the jeep we saw earlier was back here. We wanted to check out the beast. It's an oversize four-wheel drive jeep. I'm suspecting there's a tractor engine under its hood.

On the way up I happened to capture some beautiful things. Here's a collage of those beauties. A leaf with serrated edges, mist clouds playing hide-n-seek, a black rock covered in rusty scales and date palm. There's a special quality to these date palm. Guess what. They were barely three feet yet they bore fruits. Either they are the type of plant which bear fruits early or they are the short variety. Amazing aren't they.

Srini posing Balle Ho! In the background is Aroha's Eco resort. You can see few yellow patches next a larger blue patch.. those our boys hanging around the pool. We caught them lazing around!

Back at the resort, a nice long warm bath made me really hungry. Breakfast was typically south Indian.. uppit and dosa. Bread and omelette were kind of rationed. Our gathering was coming to its end but there was one important activity left. That would be to plant 'pannerale gida' i.e. rose-apple saplings within this resort. Claps to whoever thought of this idea. Pits were dug by few workers of this resort and helped us water them after planting.

The first one was planted by Srini, second by Anil and there were few more remaining. Srini entrusted the task of planting the remaining saplings to Pradeep, the friendly resort manager.

Few more groupies before we checked out. What a vibrant color! Wondering if golden yellow was chosen to mark our approaching 50th birthdays. On a personal note, my better-half has a dress of the same color. I used to tease her that she would be noticeable from a kilometer away. Well, I'd to wear that color here. What goes around, comes around.

The group on a bridge across a small stream. There's a cottage on the left which sits across the stream and its called honeymoon cottage.

The checkout formalities took some time, some of the boys utilized that time to clear off some remaining stock. By noon we vacated the place and started or return journeys. At Sakaleshpura, we regrouped at a restaurant for lunch. It was quarter to three by the time we finished. Once a return journey starts, I kind of become impatient to get over with it. Vijay left and then I too left while the group still hung around.

On the way back, I looked around and thought of the past 24 hours. What a time it was! I would cherish the nice feeling for a long time- the ambiance of Aroha's Eco Resort and the liveliness of St. Charles Borromeo friends.

Some where near Kunigal, dark clouds covered the sky. Sunlight shone through a gap in the cloud, something caused the light to disperse and the spectrum projected on the clouds. Here's  that amazing sight which lasted several minutes.

 .........