The Watch Tower...

I joined SDM-IMD on June 4th 2005. It is an architectural marvel right under the base of Chamundi Hills, the torch bearer of Mysore tourism. From our college campus we gt an amazing view of the eastern side of the hills. Especially the early morning view with the hill covered in mist is breath taking. It was only after a few days of my stay in the college that i happened to notice a small watch tower on top of the hills. It was used by the forest guards in the early years, only to be abandoned after a few years. I always felt that i should try and get to the top of the tower, trekking.

It took a long time of almost six months for that dream to materialize. It was some time in the second term end that we decided to to trek to the watch tower. yeah.. We, Me Mohit and Manjunath. :-) Winter season was just about to begin when we made our plans. On a lazy sunday morning, the three of us set off to conquer the watch tower at sharp 6.15am. From our campus the watch tower was a tiny speck and i was already having doubts about my stamina. But I didnt say a word fearing the comments passed by to other two.

We started the ascend by around 6.30am. It was a route filled with thick bushes and shrubs. The route was tricky and confusing. We were not sure as to weather we were moving in the right direction. But the gut feeling took us or rather dragged us all the way up.

We had let off hopes of seeing walkable or trekkable paths as the route was becomin tougher and tougher. Mohit, the most flexible and energetic among the three would go first and find an easy way up both me and Manja. I could still manage but it was Manja , with is out of shape build, who was a tough time. It was recentle that i had purchased my Samsung Mobile phone, and i was pretty excited about taking pics with it. The view from the hill side towards the city is just mind blowing. We even had the a chance to see some of the rarest species of Spiders. (Mohit is an expert with reptiles, Spiders and other creepy stuff... ). It was a demanding task. After almost an hor and half, we reached the watch tower, or that what we though!!! We had actually reached a place from where we could see the watch tower, but could not climb it, as it was surrounded bu thick thorny bushes from all the sides. I think it was deliberately done soon after it was abandoned, so that no body uses it for any other purpose. The three of us had put in a lot of effort to reach till here and were not ready to give up so easily.

We then decided to take a round about way to reach the opposite side, though we knew it would cost us atleast another 45 min. But we still went ahead with it. This was the most toughest part for the three of us. The path was covered with thorny bushes, slippery rocks. To add to our worries we had even seen 3 to 4 snakes making their way through the bushes. But some how we managed to reach the other end. But it was not over yet. Though we had found our way to the top of the watch tower, the entire way was covered by bushes. We had committed ourselves a bit too much to give up now. Mohit, taking advantage of his lean built, found his way by jumping on directly to the ladder. But both me and Manja had to crawl ourselves to the stairs.

Once we were on top, the feeling was totally different. None of us were feeling tired. The was a sense of accomplishment. We had done something that no SDMite would have dreamt to do. We trekked for 3hrs continuous;y to reach the watch tower. The view from atop the tower is just mindblowing. The entire Chamundi hills could be seen at a glance. We could also see our beautiful college campus from up there. It was so windy up there that we had to hold on real tight to the railings. Both me and Manja were worried about Mohit.. He he...

As soon as i got network on my cell i franctically called a few of my friends to let them know that by the time they were up in bed, I was up the watch tower!!! Manja then engraved our names on the door of the tower. We decided to take a small nap after all the hard work and trust me the experience is one of a kind. I took off my jacket,shoes and just closed my eyes. I could feel the winds rushing by my side. It was amazing.

After spending almost an hour on the tower, we decided to head bak to the college. I must admit that the old and rickety stairs scared the hell out of me. Some how i managed to fumble my way down.

Now comes the best part. All three of us forgot the way down!!! A little bit of confusion took us to the wrong direction. But we never gave up. We some how struggled, crawled our way through the forest and after nearly an hour we reached the road, almost at the top of the hill. The entire experience is beyond what words can convey. We started to walk. All of us were dead tired, but we never revealed our weakness. Finally to our luck a bus was coming our way and we hitched our way down.

This is one experience that i will never ever forget in my entire life. Plus this episode had also made the three of us the latest adventure heroes in college who conquered the watch tower!!!