As we woke up in the morning the clouds from the previous night’s rain were still lingering around, and the air being a bit nippy made the morning seem perfect for a hike. Armed with our umbrellas just incase of any showers and carrying our backpack packed with goodies for the kids we drove off to toward the college just to be greeted by numerous other enthusiastic hikers at the Somnath foiar, who all wanted to be a part of the closing hike.
After the quick formal briefing by the officer in charge, we quickly scrambled into the awaiting buses , which were to drive us to the hike start point on Kotagiri road. The hike was to start at this point on Kotagiri road and end at the officers mess to be followed by the traditional Beer and Biryani. With spirits really high as this being the last hike for the 66th course across the beautiful Niligiri hills I guess the weather too decided to cheer up a bit and we had the warm sun streaming down on us. The walk from the dropping point to Ralia dam was a familiar path for many of us and left us craving for more challenging paths. Little did we know what was yet to follow. We had been briefed that we would be going up to the much heard about Toda village. Those fellow members who had been a part of the hunt club had already had us going green with envy every time they had narrated their tails of cantering through inaccessible and picturesque pastured while crossing the Toda villages during their hunt sessions. And this time it would be us would be venturing into such territories. The thought itself was quite exciting . Though I must admit the levels of excitement were further elevated when we heard we would be able to shop some Toda handy crafts too. A woman’s prospective after all!!
The 2 km walk up from the dam to the village was an adventure on its own as we walked though the dense woods .At the village we were greeted with a familiar site of cakes and tea and the ever refreshing ‘Nimbu Pani’ and ofcourse the curious glances of the shy Toda tribal villagers . The ladies had already laid out the beautifully hand embroidered shawls and bags for display and to be bought by those willing to and men folk were escorting the officers and the ladies to show them the tribal huts and the Toda temple. The entertainment session began with an unusual competition of picking up a huge rock by the men folk on their shoulders. As the legend goes in this village, to prove his manhood and win a girl’s hand , the guy had to lift this huge bolder on his shoulder without any external help. We were amazed at the swiftness and ease with which they lifted it up. I guess hearts within hearts most of the officers were counting their blessings that they were already married. Though we did have a few takers of this challenge from our end and surprisingly a few were victorious too. This was followed by a small dance performance first by the men folk and the by ladies wherein the our ladies and children from the DSSC too joined in. After thanking the villagers for their hospitality and giving them our token of appreciation we moved on to our next and final lap of the hike.
I must say I actually felt like a character out of one the Enid Blyton books as we walked through the dense woods in a single file, almost expecting pixies to be jumping out from no where .The tuffed moss carpet seem so soft as we trampled over them and the dense growth over our heads wouldn’t even allow the sun’s rays to slide through. We caught sight of some rare and beautiful flowers as we crossed a jungle style log bridge over a little steam. Everyone had surprisingly quietened down as though we were scared to frighten some thing . The carrot of beer and biryani always does its trick and so did it this time and we had everyone wanting to hurry back to the mess and chill out there.
The last hike for the 66th course was beyond doubt a memorable experience and for all those involved in painstakingly making this experience worth while , your efforts are truely appreciated.
