Odontophobic, Me!

So what do you find the most scary? People? Ghost? Places? Animals? Trees? Terrorists? Mice? Flies? Caterpillars? Stock Market Crashes? Osama? Obama? LEHMANN BROTHERS?

Ever wished that you never get to have a date with your favorite creeps? Well I did too. The scariest thing I can vaguely remember having encountered are the packs of centipede you find in the jungles in monsoon. Given them a chance and they would crawl over everything. Your feet, your hands, face and when you think you’ve seen the worst, you'd find a big group partying on your back. Their crimson shade and a curly, curvy, glossy appearance ensure you want to faint the moment you see one on you. My feelings for a dentist hovers somewhere around there.

The phobia for dentists dates back to schooldays when I got my first real tooth pain. I remember the day when a shrill went down my spine as I chewed something with my decayed tooth. That was the worst pain I've ever had in my life.

The same week, I went to meet a dentist. I vaguely remember the day. She didn’t talk much; just asked me to sit on a reclining chair. I thought, why not? She inspected my mouth for a few seconds.

What happened next is something that is etched on my memory ever since. She switched ON a light and pulled it on my face. I'd only seen these in Mithunda movies when the bad-cop would question Mithunda, pour water on his face and do excruciating things to him.

So the spotlight was on me and I am no Mithunda. I am more of a terrified little wimp. The next thing I saw is the doctor trying out her drilling machine. Now I'd never seen a doctor with a drilling machine before. And I thought, if at all, it would be used on the very serious and complicated cases like mining for diamonds hidden underneath your medulla oblongata! I thought she'd devote some of her attention to me and cure me of this excruciating pain in my....teeth.

The next thing I remember, I saw the spot light, the drilling machine, the dentist...all closing in on me. But recline of the chair would take me lower and lower. I remember I was falling....weightless, clueless...the drills were badly trying to get me and they did. It hit a corner of my tooth and I could take it no longer: I simply fainted.

Normalcy was restored when I was given some water and the recline restored in such a manner that blood would run into my brain. I opened my eyes and saw the dentist giving me a condescending look.

I never visited a dentist again for the next few years till things turned out pretty bad. It was about 3-4 years later and the same tooth when mom took me to another dentist who promised a magic cure called RCT (Root Canal Treatment). They would remove all the damaged nerves of my teeth and replace it with synthetic ones. And with it would vanish the pain and the agony. I was ever so happy!

But this again was a painful exercise for me. I would be summoned every week and every time I'd go there hoping it’s the last. Since it never ceased, I decided that enough is enough and lived on with a hollow on my tooth. I avoided dentists ever since. I suspected I am odontophobic.

So 10 long years later, when I discovered a part of my teeth broken and coming off with a slice of sandwich, I was petrified about meeting Ms Frankenstein again. It was a different tooth and having past experience, I knew that RCT is the only way out. I made umpteen enquiries about good doctors around the park. Around the same time I started getting nightmares of the drilling machine.

On Isha's recommendation, I went to see her dentist. I was petrified to say the least. So I did all kinds of research online. I read a discussion on forum that if LA doesn't work the way it’s supposed to, the doctor would prick the nerve out and inject the anesthetic straight into it. This was supposedly the worst kind of pain mentioned and which everyone had invariably suffered once. I kicked myself for reading.

The day of appointment arrived and she said that I can start the process that very day and it would get over in a day or two. It was a catch-22 for me. Neither was I prepared for the game nor could I withstand the agony of the painful tooth. When she asked me whether I’ve had breakfast, I found a leeway and ran out of the clinic citing I am there with an empty stomach.

I took an appointment due 2 days hence and decided to call in Isha this time to give me some 'moral support' :P.

She was only interested in freaking me out even more. The doc gave me LA and asked me to wait for some time and then later, started drilling and cutting inroads. I felt a twinge and I screamed. I thought it would prompt her to go a bit slowly.

But it didn’t. I could see her reaching for the syringe again from the right corner of my eye. And then I thought of the forum discussion. I was scared. I dreaded that the most discussed process of injecting anesthetic into my nerve was about to begin. I waited with my fingers, hands, legs, shoulders; and everything crossed.

I screamed before she got the syringe into my mouth. She then asked me to be patient. And so I did; all patient, eyes shut - waiting for the needle to poke my nerve. When it did, I could feel a twinge. By Jove it was painful! My heart was racing. I could do nothing but persist and several agonizing seconds later, I sat there not feeling anything, heaving a sigh of relief.

I then lay there with my mouth wide open, needles of various kinds poking the teeth in contention. Broken pieces of teeth flying around like saw-dust. And an hour later, the ordeal was over. She said the RCT itself was over. Now I was scared again; how someone can wrap a month long process in a single sitting!

I asked her whether it’s going to pain anymore and she said that RCT is a surgical procedure and there would be traumatic pain. PAIN!!!! I suffered all this to get rid of my pain and here she was telling me that the pain has just started! I was furious and left for home feeling dejected, waiting for the pain to start all over again!
Thankfully, it didn’t ;)

She summoned me the next day; an appointment that I skipped just to test how my fractured tooth is keeping. It’s been a week since and I am yet to pay her a visit. The thought of going back to the drills still scares me and now I get that strange scary feeling again.

The next appointment is for the morrow. The drilling machine nightmares have made a comeback too. Wish me luck. Hope I make it ;)

Trek to Kothligad

Kothligad Fort

It was in late March that Vipul informed about this promising little adventure group called nature knights (www.natureknights.com). So after spending the week rumbling over where-to next, we went through their website and read about their plans of a night trek to Kothligad.

Kothligad Fort (2)

As usual, I was ready to chug along anywhere. Vipul was ready and Ganesh said he would come for sure. So the three of us planned of going along with this gang:

1. Of unknown people (The nature knights?)
2. To an unknown place (Kothligad, Peth?).
3. For an unknown activity (night trek???).

This is what I wanted to escape

The D-day arrived and Ganesh backed out. He was in full throttle celebrations for getting into IMT so I wouldnt blame him :-). It left me and Vipul going together.

Now I’ll be honest. We never bothered as to where we heading to as long as we were going somewhere. We boarded their bus which leaves from Andheri at Sion (Opp. Sion Lunch home). The bus got a bit delayed from the promised time of 9.20 PM. It reached the Sion Lunch Home at about 10 PM. Since we knew that it’s the knight’s bus, we got in and took our seats.

We realised that there were basically a few disparate groups of people busily gossiping amongst themselves. A few of them gave us sideways glances and we felt weird of being neophytes, in the company of seasoned trekkers, all looking well prepared for the ordeal.

For starters, I am not a trek and fitness sort of a guy. Given a choice, I would prefer a hike over a trek any given day.

The bus then slowly chugged in to the McDonalds drive-in at Panvel. We met a few of the folks. People we met were all friendly people and we realised it’s not going to be as boring as we had started to believe. Hehe.

On the way ahead, the knights (led by Asif, Dnyanesh and Nimesh) gave us a briefing on the task ahead. Now it was great to see that the group had its principles too.

They had a set of rules that everyone was supposed to follow. It felt even nice when Dnyanesh warned us not to litter around the place, consume alcohol during treks or smoke carelessly around the place (summers are also a time of wild fires). Now that would definitely curtail any rogue behaviour and people would just mean business (trek, that is).

Nimesh pitched in with his – Every one is supposed to carry minimum 3 liters of water with him/herself (Now this is funny since I called him up later asking for tips about the Shilonda trail and he said the same thing then - minimum 3 lits. I wonder why always three? nevermind! haha). Now this ensured that people got down at the next stop and fetch water to complete their quota of 3 liters).

And so we finally reached this obscure village called Ambivili (about 15 kms from Karjat). The place just had a tiny little shop/dhaba. We parked the bus next to it and got moving. There were rules here too. Dnyanesh would lead the trek and Asif would trail. People were not supposed to lead the leader or trail behind the trailer.

I don’t think it would have been possible to trail Asif anyway. He looked like he’s come there to get permanently settled. His gigantic bag was like a camel’s hump. It contained every bit of stationery you might consider taking with yourselves for a weeklong vacation. Btw, I still don’t know where Nimesh disappeared that night.

So thereby we went. The leader Dnyanesh first, followed by gang of novices and then the trailing Asif. The walk was one hell of an experience. I was entirely drenched in sweat. Lack of proper sleep the night before invited its own set of woes. But it felt great to release all the sweat and toxins from the body. If there was a shower atop, there would’ve been nothing like it!

Alas! There was nothing there except a hall which the knights booked in a place owned by a Patil (thats the name Dnyanesh kept on calling). The floor was wiped clean with - yes, Cow dung. I kicked my luck for not bringing enough change of clothes or even a bedsheet.

And it is then I understood Asif rationale behind bringing a sleeping mat. At about 2.30 AM, every one decided to call it a day. I was helped by the Patil who threw a big banner to us. It could accommodate 4 of us. We spread it out and I made my mind to sleep as if there were no tomorrow.

But that was all I would do. The people next to me kept on murmuring something throughout the night. I realized that I was awake even when it was 4 AM. To top it all, a rooster started sending its wake-up calls at 3 in the night.

I could get some sleep after it was 4. We all woke up by 6 in the morning looking for some place to wash our faces and attend to nature’s call. Again, there wasn’t any. Mr Patil gave us some water which we used to brush teeth and wash our faces clean. It was in the light of the morning sun that I realized that my feet were all drenched in red dust. And I realized how desperately I needed a shower now!!

But it was time for the next trek. We had to gather all our strengths and reach the inverted funnel atop. So be it!

Early morning at Peth. The fort is in the background

We all started slowly and after bucketfuls of sweat, we managed to reach atop! It was a great feeling to stand there amidst the clouds. Yes – there was a white cloud cover on the mountains amidst the mid-April heat and humidity. It was then we realized the sanity behind Nimesh’s rationale. Without ample water supply, things would’ve been extremely difficult. 

Clouds and the photographer :-D

Sun is shining

Lost in thoughts

Now that we were on top, I thought we’d wait there and soak in the fun. But that wasn’t the case. Asif ordered and we got ready for descend. It ascend was though, descend was even painful. My knees got twanged as I took each of the steps down. But we got back to Peth after all.

We had Kanda-Poha and tea for breakfast. The laziness in me wished this was the time when maybe the knights would sit and talk about the events and I’d sit lazily or maybe catch some sleep. But it was not to be. They asked us to get ready for the walk back to the village where our buses were parked.

Antlers'ish:-)

Asif and I had roughly calculated the distance to be about 7 Kms and I felt proud the night before; of being able to cover all the distance with a steep gradient. But all that was in the silence of the night. Now, just the very thought of going the distance in mid-afternoon sun made me give up.

It was about 11 and we all started walking on our way back. If people weren’t ready to, no one had the energy to complain. We started walking in the mid-April scorching heat of the sun along the dusty road. A few of us started suffering from sun-strokes; a few stumbled and fell but I kept my heads down and walked… and walked.... and walked….

The ordeal was over in about 2-2.5 hour’s time and we reached where it all started. It was then time to get back to our senses. We had loads of Kokam juice and mango juice. This was the most relaxing part of the journey for me. We assembled under the shade of the dhaba nearby and had lunch there. The food felt great.

We caught up with the other folks around and on hindsight; it felt great to meet a bunch of like-minded people. I would recommend a date with the knights for anyone keen on roughing it out on a weekend.

We then took the bus home. The bus was sizzling amidst the mid-afternoon heat. And when I got back home; I felt as I did throughout the journey - All drained but happy! 

The Gang (pic courtesy Asif )

Best companions for a hard day

At the fort

Never knew we got this far!

To be kids again!!

More pictures here: Kothligad

Shilonda Trail

Thereby concluded another week. After the skin burning, dusty, nature-knight assisted trek to Kothligad last week(blog for it WIP), I was sure I did not want another trek again in the near future.

The nature knights were having another lip smacking back-packing trip to Alibaug-Murud-Janjira this time around but since this one was a little highly priced (at 950 bucks), I decided to look for places by my own :-D

So then I went to IM (http://www.indiamike.com/) and specifically mailed asking for weekend "hikes" this time around :-). The response wasn't tremendous in volume, but as you can expect with IM, there was a detailed mail next day from a guru about various places in and around Mumbai. And I realized I can spend the entire summer weekends going somewhere and still the places wouldn’t end!

I'd almost made up my mind to go hiking around rainy Igatpuri belt but then I thought I’ll check out the good ole forest around our backyard instead - The Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Next step was to scout for people who wouldn't mind joining in. But as everyone had other plans, I made up my mind to go alone till Kunal announced his willingness to join in. Now with a partner in tow, I was sure that am going somewhere this time as I couldn't back track, act lazy and carry on with my early morning slumber :-)

About SGNP:
Being a jungle so close to human inhabitation, the SGNP had always amazed me. More so after Anish’s talk. It truly is a haven amidst the hell. Some people have even called it the lungs of Mumbai – by the virtue of it taking in all the pollution and giving fresh air back, breathing life to the city. Getting into the park itself was a metaphor for me. I got down at the extremely busy Borivali bus stand kept walking northwards for about a minute when the board at SGNP greeted me. I couldn’t believe the city co-exists with the amazing jungle at such a close proximity.
The place is home to tons of different species of birds, butter flies, insects and animals.

City seen from one of the dense mountains of SGNP

It was in news recently for the innumerable cases of man-animal conflict but we all know it’s a small price we pay for intruding into poor animals’ territory.
After getting in, we kept walking – looking and asking directions for the Shilonda trail.

Shilonda Trail:
The trail is about 2 Kms deep into the forest. Finding your way is simple. Keep walking towards the Lion-Tiger safari but instead of taking diversion to the left, keep walking straight till you leave the chaos and sea of people behind to come across the villages situated within. 200 meters down, you would come across a dilapidated gate beyond which you wouldn’t find a single soul moving. I guess the trail is flocked about only by nature lovers. Further in, you would come across a board announcing the Shilonda Trail.

Dilapidated gate

Shilonda Trail

We got there by 9.15 AM when the others were on their way back :-). I was saddening to see stray water bottles and gutkha pouches lying discarded all around. After walking for about 30 minutes, we came across what in the monsoons would’ve been a very good river bed. We decided to sit there for a while when we noticed a movement around the shrubs. A closer look and it was a herd of spotted deer.

Stone age cricket bat discovered ;)

After a while, we got walking again and heard ghostly cries of some animal repeated about 3 times. We thought we’d pause and wait for something to emanate from the bushes but sadly the ghostly cried ended where it started :-)
After walking a few more, we came across a man made water body, which had no hint of water anywhere. Green vegetation suggested that water may’ve disappeared only some time back. There were innumerable butterflies lurking around in there. We thought a leopard might drop in there hoping for water but sadly, no one bothered to turn up.

Venturing further, the trail ended about a bone-dry river bed at the foothill of a mountain.

After much contemplation, we finally decided to get to the top of the mountain. Thereby also ended the littering and we realized that not much people venture into that corner of the jungle. On the way Kunal saw a big bird with bald scalp. My guess is that it was a grey jungle fowl or maybe a peahen – am not sure.
Reaching atop the mountain there was the best part of the journey. We could hear the peaceful sound of the forest along with the chirping of birds and blabbering of the langurs. We could also see human habitation far across on one side while dense forest on the other.

Colors

After sitting there for a while, we decided to descend when there was a movement behind the bushes and a hare-like animal ran away deep into the forest. Then we also saw birds like the Racket Drongo, magpie robin etc.

Trees atop the mountain

Slowly we were on our way back and the rays of the sun got even more scorching. We sat on the river bed where we saw deer for even longer this time ;) but there was no sign of life this time around there.
With our water reserve dwindling we decided to move back quickly. We reached the SGNP gates around 2 and then took the next bus home.

And then the trail ends

It was another good, peaceful, cheap way to spend the weekend for sure ;)

Cost: Less than 200 Rs.
Caution: Do take minimum of 4 liters of water per person especially if you plan to go there during summer. Please ensure you don’t litter around the place. Bring back every bit of you junk you've carried.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/n.rajitr/SGNPApr1109#