Mother Nature

Mukurthi Peak Ascent – Day 2

by Prakash Rangarajan January 6, 2008
Mukurthy Peak

Retiring early for the day doesn’t guarantee a good sleep as we found out the next day. The biting chillness was the sole culprit and as much as we struggled to get going at the earliest, it was finally close to 7am before the pack set out. A short prayer to Mother Nature as a preamble before hitting the woody trails in fast mode helped us find clear perspective on the task on hand.

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Mukurthi National Park – Confessions of a Nature Evangelist

by Prakash Rangarajan January 1, 2008
Mukurthi National Park

The plan was a patented dream. The dream was a driving force. The objective was not subjective though. Simply put, it was a trek to the Radcliffe Fishing hut at the Mukurthi National Park and an attempt to scale the Mukurthi peak. Enclosed among rarefied air and closeted with misty winds at the altitude of 2554 meters, the mangy peak held no invite.

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Bangithapal Trek – Day 2

by Ganesh Mahadevan December 30, 2007
Firelines in the forest

I stir out of bed by 5 a.m. and complete my morning ablutions in the icy cold water. Soon, our group stirs one by one. I am out to catch the early morning pre-sunrise view from the rest house. It is ethereal. Hills in front rolling away to both sides. A stream gurgles below. Faint light from behind the hills gives a dull orangish tinge to the sky above. Wisps of mist float past me.

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Bangithapal Trek – Crystal streams and misty peaks

by Ganesh Mahadevan December 19, 2007
Woody Forest Trail

No trek in the Nilgiris can kick off without experiencing the winding road journey up the ghat to Ooty. The three of us roused ourselves in the wee hours of the morning with some difficulty and got onto the Ooty bus at 5.45 a.m. The fact that we were seated directly over the back tyre did not help our cause of trying to catch up on lost sleep. Somehow defying its rundown appearance, our bus managed to reach Ooty by a quarter past nine.

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The Birth of Love

by Ishrath November 13, 2007
Green Canopy

Like most of us, I also had the usual image of the forest as picturized by the media in those days – as a dark, scary place that is dangerous for human beings. As a lover of flora, I could never comprehend how trees and wild growth could be so formidable to the general human sensibilities. Added to this sub-conscious intrigue was element of ‘danger’ that added that necessary fuel to my vivid imagination.

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