Antharagange - an adventure trip with kids

A Report on Antharagange Adventure Trip
The trip to Antharagange via Hoskote was undertaken by 13 Interactors and Rtns.Ranganath and Purnimaa on Nov.21st Saturday 2009. Departure from Rotary House was at 7.45am, with all Interactors reporting in punctually at 7.15am. A boxed breakfast in the bus of Idlis and Vadas and a brief stop at Hoskote for some soft drinks and we were climbing up the hills at Antharagange.
A brief silence fell over the group when it was announced that parsailing was not possible as the ground had turned slushy due to continuous rain over the last few days, but our Interactors can't be down for long, so a session of rapelling instead was welcomed with a loud cheer! After some limbering up and getting their muscles loosened, Trekking up the mountains, crawling through cracks in the rocks, slithering through barely a few inches of space between boulders, hoping and praying that no bears would come say hi!, the 13 Interactors were in their elements...laughing, talking and thoroughly enjoying themselves. A huffing and puffing Rtn.Ranganath joined them till he was confronted with a narrow opening in the rocks which put paid to his enthusiastic attempt. Some 3 hours later, the entire group came out flushed with sweat but yet talking nineteen to the dozen! The coordinators, Chetan and Harsha's plea that if they could keep silent, they would hear the sounds of nature...went, what else, unheeded! A simple but sumptuous lunch amidst, monkeys, wild dogs, village children, balancing plates, spoons, napkins and managing to connect hands to mouths amidst, guess what, continued talking was a feat accomplished with great aplomb!
After lunch the rapelling on the sheer rock surface after trekking up to it, by all save Sanaya, who baulked at the sheer drop and no amount of coaxing could get her to attempt it, was a thrilling finale to a super day of fun and activity.The Never Say Die attitude of Ranganath was visible again and off he was to help the Interactors and his enthusiasm was infectious.We left Antharaganage at 4pm, stopped for about 25min for some hot bajjis and soft drinks/hot coffee at Hoskote and then headed back to Bangalore, which thanks to heavy traffic near KR Puram took us a complete 2 1/2 hours.
A tired beaming group were already planning their next outing when parents pulled up at Rotary House at 7pm to pick up their wards.A day well spent in physical activity and building stronger bonds to make lifelong friends.
Viva Interact Club of Bangalore!