Conquering Agasthyamala

It all begins with a dream. A dream to achieve something, a dream that shows you achieved something, a dream that keeps your passion burning to achieve something.

Five peaked mountain next to Agasthya (pic from net)

My tryst with the mighty Agasthyakoodam standing 6,129 feet began many years ago when I spotted the range of mountains that I knew to be the Western Ghats from my old school. On a clear morning, you could make out the outline of a picture perfect mountain flanked by his lesser siblings. The second highest peak in Kerala and home to the great saint Agasthya of the Sapthrishi who as instructed by Lord Shiva came down from the Himalayas to bring balance to the world. Renounced as the patron of medicine and healing, his blessings have enriched the pristine valley of this mountain with over 2000 herbs of immense medical value including the near mythical ‘arogyapacha’(Trichopus zeylanicus), the elixir of youth.  

Random pic from net to look cool

Seeing more than enough of NatGeo and Discovery in my childhood and being an ardent worshiper of things adventurous, I wanted to scale that peak since the day I left the couch. My buddies Sujith and Govind was in with me for the adventure while Mr Sinham Vijayaraj brought in his entire clan of a dozen men for the trek. I assured Govind that I will secure the online passes for the three of us and I screwed it up. Finally Simham & co got the passes for 23rd, myself for 24th while Govind managed to get one for him and Sujit on 25^th. My initial idea was to join the others by booking for another day but then my dear wife asked me not to be a cat (an unruly synonym was used there).

On a misty morning at 7.15AM, I rode into Bonacaud forest picket worried that I am late for the reporting time and ran to the desk. I completely overestimated the ability of government servants and waited till 8.30 for the morons to show up. Meanwhile I had a breakfast of cold porotta and packed our lunch which weighed a ton (big mistake).

Once His Highness the moronities of Forestry showed up they began the exercise of checking  the ID cards, our paperwork and finally our bags for things they like for banned and illegal things. In my bag they discovered a Swiss knife that had a blade just long enough to scrape off the dirt under your nails as a dangerous weapon and confiscated it with the promise to return it after the trek. Maybe my looks reminded them of Riddick !

This dude trekked all the 60KM barefoot and he
meditated like a log for almost an hour  

By 9.15 we as a batch of twenty guys lead by a guide Mr Thrupati left off the camp toward Athirumala base camp some 18km away. I befriended Mr Rajesh Ganesh, the hermit like publisher, Mr Manika Vasnanan, a veteran of the Himalayas, both from Chennai and Mr Chilapathy Kumar a startup business man from Andra. 

We quickly reached the first and second camps and at Karamanayar decided to halt for a dip. This is not the Karamanayar you know but the real deal. I being a bit scared of water decided to stay on shore while the rest had a blast in water; hours crept by and finally we had lunch at the bank of the river itself. By now the Sun was all guns blazing over our heads and I could feel it hammering down on me. 

The Grasslands and the death of my Bata sandal

The expansive grasslands was his playground where we had no shade to hide and no shadow to run, just walked and got roasted. The one recess that nature provides us is at the middle of the grassland a patch of forest like an oasis and the one recess the men provide us is a thatched shed atop a hill just before the plains ends and the true hills begins. My LifeStraw was indeed a life saver for me as it unburdened the need to carry water that weighs a kilo every liter and keeps increasing on every step I take. With the LifeStraw all I have to do is find a puddle of water, collect it and sip through the straw and it gives you water 99.9% pured of bacteria and protozoa (hope so).

Athirumala Basecamp

A series of tough technical climbs followed and Mr ManikaVasnan developed a snag in his knee and we slowed down to a crawl and by half past three we lumbered into the welcome sight of Athirumala camp. We settled into the allotted shed with our humble grass mat and ran out for the first proper view of the mountain peak. It looks monstrous with the cliff side facing us. A behemoth that had stood the elements for millions of years and would do so long after our ashes are scattered across by the wind. More than awe or terror, I felt a humility creep over me as I though how insignificant I am in the greater scheme of things.

‘Dude, how is it possible to climb this?’

I turned around to meet the Banglore trio of Ashtosh, Jeeva and Amithab who will soon be my team to scale the peak.

‘Right now there is someone at Everest basecamp staring at the Sagarmatha wondering the same thing’ I smiled.

Right then we decided to join forces for the rest of the expedition. Dead tired I went and had a nap till someone shaked me off my mat screaming the dinner is about to be over and I hurried to find my team mates. Mr Rajesh was on a veranda giving a small sermon to a cluster of  guys and I stopped listen. He talked in a calm, composed and self-assuring way in deep voice that resonated many things that I have read. But hearing them someone say  aloud filled me with a sense of tranquil that one seeks below banyan trees. A few minutes later, we had a dinner of rice porridge, payar, lemon pickle and went off to sleep.

Sometime in the night I was waked by an extreme chill that crept up my spine. I still don’t know if it was the cold night, the howling winds or was that the desolate soul of the place that woke me up in that ungodly hour. I twisted and turned for may hours listening to the torrent and the hurricane raging outside and sometime in between I drifted off to sleep.

Hike to the Summit

The plan for the next morning was to join the young guns from Banglore to ascent the peak as early as possible but the call of nature and the fact that only two working toilets were available spoiled my plan. The Banglore trio left by 7 am and myself scrambled off behind them by 7.30. In the walk – jog – run, I saw plants thrashed by boar/elephants, claw marks on the trees by bear/leopard/tiger ! and even the sight of a tree denuded of its bark presumably by a pachyderm. I crossed may streams and my biggest fear was that I might step on a hamadryad and that would be the end of my adventure. Finally an hour and half later, I reached a plateau called Pongalapara where the trio were taking a break. I had a quick bite of my breaklfast and stashed the rest for later and followed the guys up the peak.

The true technical ascent (for my standard) begins from here. We crossed couple rapids, went through the famed AC forest, named so due to its bone chilling temperature, Muttidichinala, the ruiner of your knees and finally the ropes. To our dismay, we found one of the ropes broken and had to spent quiet a while to figure out a way to climb up the rock. It was here my team mates learned that woodlands just make you look cool but are absolute trash on the rocks. They slipped, fell, bruised their knees and ditched off the shoes and from on then went barefoot. My trusty kalenji ekiden50, the 500RS running shoe held well even though I managed to find myself on my butt on couple occasions. Three ropes and lots of peeled palms later we struggled on to the summit of the roof of Trivandrum.

The first thing you notice is the wind that attempts to plunge you down the 2000 meter abyss, then there is the trees, all stunted to give appearance of a well manicured natural bonsai garden. And in the middle of all this, an ancient idol of the great saint Agasthya stood. Couple tribals offered prayers on our behalf and gifted us the sacred ashes while myself the self proclaimed atheist stood with folded hands and bowed head at the source of wisdom that dwarfs all that I have learned.

One great disappointment that I had was the five peak mountain next to Agasthyamala was completely shrouded in mist and could not be seen and I asked the tribal helper there if there is a chance that the weather may clear. I told him that it was something I wanted to see most desperately in this trip. He smiled and replied,

‘Then this mist will not clear today, Swami wants you to come again next year, he is still not done with you and when he is, your wish will be granted’

The Peak, its view and the bros back at the basecamp

The return journey was a much different story, we rushed back to the base camp in around half time it took to climb, packed our bags and grabbed the pass while running out of the camp by 2.45pm. Govind and Sujit had now reached the camp and greeted me. I followed the Banglorians as fast as I could but chasing guys a decade younger than you is not that easy. Couple hours later my left knee started paining like hell and my speed was dropping at an alarming rate. By then a tribal employee of the forestry joined me and urged me on, as he was on sweep duty on that day. His job is to get the last of the trekkers out of the forest before dark. I raced ahead and caught up with my team and we soon overtook two other crew trying to race against the approaching shadows. By around 6.30pm the sun dipped and then I understood what primeval fear is. Pitch dark with a plethora of noises and scents around us that puts a Hollywood horror to shame. We huddled together and moved as fast as possible and by 7pm, I could make out the distant lights of the Bonacaud camp. I climbed up the last ditches, hugged one of the Banglorians and sank to the floor. Its been two days, 60KM and in that 30KM nonstop hike including the brutal 8KM ascent to summit. 

‘Bro this is the life!’

Sri Rajesh Ganesh, one of the most illuminated men I have ever met

psss: remember the Swiss knife the forest guard took for safe keeping? Well the fucking moron stole it. I don’t know his name but he looks a bit dark, thick mustache, thick build and ~170cm high. If you see him on your trip to Agasthya remember he is a thief and don’t let him near your stuff.

pssss + : Planning to trek to Agathyamala? travel light, carry a potable water filter, one pair of dress is fine, a change of underwear preferable, blanket, painkillers, ORS, lightweight rubber shoes or sandals with ankle support. most importantly a couple of guys who is more sensible and stronger than you.

Spice Coast Run & Fun

I don't like to write about the same topic twice, especially in such a short gap. And that's what all the senior runners told me too -  'Don't run two half marathons in such short gap of a week'. 'But someone in the US did 50 marathons back to back according to Kiran Doc' 'But you moron he is an athlete not a dumb couch potato like you !' This was the conversation that was playing in my mind over the last few days. But being an idiot, I went on to run the Spice Coast HM and now have the OCD to sit down and write about it.

As always I was joined by my running company Sujit on my way to Kochi and picked up Simham Vijayaraj en route. We promptly jumped into carb loading exercise opening the innings at Mothers Kitchen somewhere past Karunagapally. If nine appams and three egg curry cost 300RS and is no were near the taste of what your Mother makes, you have chose the wrong hotel to dine at. Taking the wheel from me Sujit drove us till Allepy where we lavished up the Neera and continued onward to Oberon mall. With the tech savoy Singham around our conversation revolved around different gizmos for the runner and biker in us.

Bib collection

We reached the mall and collected our bibs, tees and bit adieu to Simham who crashed at his bro in law's place for the night. Sujit and self decided to go to Decathlon sport store, the Mecca of sports enthusiasts in Kerala. After much deliberation some how we convinced our self that we do not need an inflatable kayak, a camouflaged tent, angling rods or a bow right now, and after three hours of ogling at the sports accessories and emptying the wallet we emerged grinning like idiots. A hefty malabar briyani followed by directions to Thopumbady/Tevera by Dr Louis and Cubelio we found a dirty little hotel that was cheap but had the necessary amenities like car parking and an attached beer parlor. Freshed up, we downed a couple Elephant strongs and had a dinner of fried rice. In between Cubelio and his sis who were my running buddies in last years Spice Coast 5K payed us a visit. Reached back to the hotel and set our running gear in order so that we could wake up at 3.45, get ready in 30 minutes, drive to venue in another 15 to reach by 4.30. Warm up and wander around till 5 and begin in style.

Geared up

This is cliche at its best but 'The best set plans are the ones which fail most spectacularly'. We woke up, got ready and went down to the lobby according to the plan and then shit happened. The shutter at the lobby was down and locked and there was no one around. We tried the restaurant, the bar and every other possible exits in the building but everything was locked. With the level of panic raising faster than lactic acid on a climb I started to bang on the shutter rattling the entire street. After an eternity someone responded from the other side and told something which we could not make out. A few more tensed minutes later the security fellow emerged from one of the corridors. I showered him with the most choicest of adjectives and ran towards the car. We blasted to the venue,locked the car and started running towards the start line and just kept running. Mind you this is not the regular long distance run but a mad dash that leave you panting like a dog. At around the 500 meter marker I noticed that I was clenching my mobile phone and wallet in one hand and car keys on the other. Asking Sujit to go ahead, I tucked them into my pockets and secured them with a couple spare safety pins I had in my pocket thanks to the Tracs HM last Sunday.

As this is my second HM my plan was to finish it in a better time than what I did last time. A sub 3 hour run was my idea, but now starting 10 minutes late my new plan was to make sure that I am not the last one to finish. The second kilometer brought the welcome sight of the tail of the HM runners, I once again quickened my pace to catch them. Once the task of being not the tail was accomplished my next quest was to find and catch up with Sujit but could not reach him. Hydration points flashed by, the volunteers cheered and the band boys hammered their drums to boost us up. I always wondered why they had drummers in medieval war games but today it was clear. In war it causes blood lust, in a marathon it must be run lust, pretty awesome idea Soles. At the next way station there was this guy giving hi-fies to the runners and myself who was feeling the first signs of weariness decided to give him a hi-ten and he responded with a bear hug. I must confess that I am not a very touchy guy, but this dude just infused me with a magic mushroom that Mario had. Shaking off the tiredness, I took off through the aromatic spice market, Jew street and finally towards the turnaround point. The lead runners flashed back on their way back and soon the main body of the HM hit me. I saw may familiar faces in them cheering each other up. Singham and his bro in law rushed pass so did Vishwa and Abhay from Tracs. Sujit waved and ran on while I took the loop around the ground. The return run was mostly uneventful other than the beginning of a nagging pain in my left ankle. In between out of nowhere Paul Mathew on his bike appeared and cheered me on and there was this band guys lighting it up. I stopped for a minutes and broke into a small dance involuntary. Composing myself, continued the run. By the 20KM or so I was  running on fumes and it was a couple of co runners who coaxed me to keep up with them. With the finish line in sight I pumped up what was left and went for a sprint . The thing I loved the most about Spice Coast events is how they present you with a medal. A kid gifts it like you are an Olympic winner, it is the one moment that washes away all the fatigue in you.

Toiling hard :/

 I went directly to the food counter where Sujit joined me and I drowned six iddalies in sambar and ate them in minutes. A few photographs, congrads and smiles later we joined the bunch of guys to shake a leg to the tune of the band guys one more time. Simham joined us and we head back to the hotel to freshen up and leave for home. In the car it was decided unanimously that we would return for the FM next season. Three rapid pings in the car meant that our timing message had come and to our joy all three of us bettered our times from the last marathon. My self bettered by a huge 18 minutes !

Shake a leg

The return trip was enjoyable and relaxed with all three of us sharing the wheel and had an awesome meal from a Kuttanadu shop. I consider the karimeen pollichathu as the medal I gave myself for the most enjoyable run I had till date.

Kudos Soles, see you next year.

Simham, Sujit & Self

With Tracs

A Fried Medal

Run Fatty Run.

Running is the mere act of placement of ones legs subsequently one ahead of the other in order to propel himself forward; an action that can be distinguished from walking based on the pace of motion. I believe it is the basic action that leads to the survival of the mankind from cave dweller to the present day fatty sitting in from of a laptop. Back in the not so good old days, when you want to eat you need to run and catch that rabbit or run and pluck that pear before the neighbor gets there. More importantly you need to run faster and longer to avoid being eaten by a saber tooth. You need not have to run faster than the big cat but you just need to out race your neighbor. As time progressed, it was girlfriends, money, bus, prizes and fame that we were running towards and wives, responsibilities, Maneka's pets and insurance agents we were running from. Thought the stimuli changes, the one fact remained same, we were running, we are running and we will be running. Dusting off the philosophy, today I will share my experience on running my first half marathon. 

Dr Louis shaking conventional nutrition advice at Tracs Expo

I was always a fatty. I weighed a scale shattering 110Kg not far away and today i weigh a scale cracking 85Kg. To a BMI fanatic, I am an overweight moron, but dear expert can you run a half marathon? Well I can. I was that kid in school who was often picked after the sick and handicapped for any sporting event. I was the one who found solace in books, chess board, road rash (the game), TV and a bag of potato chips rather than haul my ass to the playground. This lethargic life continued all the way from my KG to my PG. It was then one of my friends bought a cycle. I was amused as how someone who could well be my twin possibly ride a bicycle? The damn thing will break when he sits on it. As I ridiculed him somewhere in my mind I wanted to ride it. So i subtly went and purchased one for me. One year, two new bikes and around 5000km later, ta-da, Me version 2. I dropped three dress sizes and was brimming with energy. 

During my rides, I have often seen the dudes running around the city and wondered why does someone run when he can bike? After all biking is much easier, more fun and it takes you places. Still out of curiosity I participated in a 5K event at Kochi last year, it was a cake walk. Then I started running little bit and managed a decent finish at another 10K event at Trivandrum. In between I had to change my job schedule and finding time for long rides became impossible. With despair I noticed my scale creep back to the nineties. Donning my running apparel, tighten the laces and took on the roads. I lumbered each mile while the fellow cyclists went far and wide. Slowly I stated to love running as I loved cycling. Incidentally Tracs 21K was open for registration then and I jumped in for it. 

I did more or less of a structured training program and was comfortably clocking 15K's with my buddy Sujit and was feeling confident about the HM. As always shit happens and I went down with a fever. Luckily the marathon was postponed for a week due to the local body elections and I had a week to recuperate. On the day of the event it was raining cats, dogs, pigs and cows.  I don't want to run for my life so strike that.  I was totally drenched by the time I reached the university stadium and found a bunch of miserable fellows shivering. Good, let them all suffer, it’s not just me. Found Sujit at the counter and manged to get his bib which he could not collect yesterday. Trying to shield us from the rain and the onslaught of the event anchors voice, we discussed the strategy for the race. It was simple; run when you can, walk then and finally crawl but make sure to finish the damn race. You will start at 5.30AM and the course is open till around 10AM, so ample time. We met the fellow runners, our fanatic cyclist turned runner Doc Kiran who was complaining a HM is too short; Mr Poland who conveniently opted for a corporate relay, bunch of soles from Kochi and a lot of Tracs runners. I saw myriad of people anticipating for the flag off. Fellows who competed in the event, people who wanted to complete the event, to prove or improve them, kids who wanted to experience the event and then there was us, grinning like idiots. 

 

Zumba session

Stretching session

Couple guys from the Talwalkers gym, who was one of the event spongers, took the stage for a session of Zumba dance to warm us up. No, I didn't dance, but i thoroughly enjoyed the event, way better than the warm up we had back in the PT class from school days. Then we had a few uber fit fellows showing up how to warm up with stretches and stuff. I wanted to do that but doing those feats may drain me off the juice which i needed to run so skipped that too, which later on I found was a huge mistake.

The event was flagged off by 5.45 after a 15 minute delay in the rain and Sujit took off ahead of me. In a few minutes I was among the tail. It was not because I was too slow but it was my master plan. I am a narcissistic guy and cannot bear the thought of someone overtaking me. So I will run as the last person so no one will overtake me. Duh ! The plan worked brilliantly for an hour or so, but then the fellows in the lead completed a loop and over took me in their second loop. So much for the plan! Just after a few KM, I made conversation to a co runner Parvathi. She too was a novice and it was her first HM. So was Ajith. From then on we mostly ran together, rested at the hydration points, chatted, joked and laughed harder than we ran. I saw many of my friends and acquaintances during the run, waved and high fived them and wished them all a strong finish. K7 & Kutty were on their bikes as pilots for lead runners and Santosh on his Enfield as a moving time board. I begged all these morons to lend me their rides so that I could finish in ease, but none obliged. During cycling when attacking a significant elevation I constantly chatted the mantra ‘low gear, high cadence, low gear high’ cadence under my breath; today my manthra was ‘Run fatty run; run fatty run’. Finally when I reached the final marker and lumbered my way into the stadium almost spent. Santosh out of nowhere joined me and stared urging to sprint, infusing some of his energy, I mad a last dash to the finish line and went horizontal on the track near to Sujit. Lying down there attempting some stretches, I waved at the other finishers who came jogging in and joining us. Few minutes later we went to collect the finisher’s medals and the race Tee's. It was a beautiful medal but unfortunately, there were no medium or large sized tees and i had to settle for a small sized one. Maybe they want me to lose my flab and get inside the small size as the Doc told. We went to the food pavilion and wolfed down idillies and omelets like there is no tomorrow. Later on took a few snaps and before we parted I said 'Well see you at Spice Coast Marathon next Sunday'.

The finishers medal

The running company

Running company with Parvathi

Last time when I did a 5K in Kochi, I got lucky as my photograph came in the TOI, this time a couple days after the race one of my friends sent me a watsapp image. Once again I featured in a TOI article. Looks like someone in TOI loves me a lot. 

Sometimes life reward you rather quickly. From SCM 2014

Trivandrum Times on Tracs 21k

Dr Louis elixir for recovery - Warm milk+Turmeric+pepper+ghee.
Before you cringe, know that it works, add a pinch of sugar for taste

Thanks for reading :)