Updates
Live interaction with BASC Team & Members - 2nd May 2020

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Every 3 seconds someone needs blood, yet less than 5% of the eligible population donates blood which isn’t enough.

Blood Donors Save Lives:
Healthy donors are needed every day to ensure blood and blood component11-1s are available for the patients who need them. Children and adults undergoing surgery, victims of trauma, newborn infants, persons  with cancer and leukemia, transplant recipients – these are just a few of the patients who may need blood or blood components to survive. These patients depend on healthy blood donors every day to provide life-giving blood and blood components. Donate blood and save lives.
Blood donation is a gesture of goodwill and care for the fellow human beings. There is no gift more valuable than a Gift of Blood, as it is actually a Gift of Life for the person who receives it.A safe blood is the one that does not harm the donor, is free from infection or other harmful agents, that9-1 does no harm to the recipient and that is used for the benefit of the patients health and well being.The slogan Safe Blood Starts With Me denotes that it is me who is the donor of safe blood. One unit of your blood will save life of more than one patient. As a member of the society it is your responsibility to donate blood.You can go to the nearest government approved blood centre, which is based on voluntary non/remunerated blood donation and make your significant contribution to saving life of a patient by donating blood. Your contribution is extremely valuable.
Blood donation 
Words of appreciation...
"Kudos for this noble cause. I am a new member in this group . I happen to see this post and I wanted to be part of it  as well but I didn't register as  I was out of station and my return wasn't confirmed.Thankfully enough I came back yesterday and  went ahead and donated the blood."       Swaroop Bhandary

Blood Banks...
Indian Blood Donors
Bharat Blood Bank
e-Blood Donors
Friends 2 Support
India Blood Bank

"96% of us rely on the other 4% to give blood. Please don't leave it up to someone else" - National Blood Service.

Compiled by: Mudassar
Event co-ordinated by: Mudassar
Image Gallery:
Jayloknath and Mudassar

Monday, April 19, 2010

Destination - Ombattu Gudda (OG), the reverse way (Lakshmi estate to Gundya village)
Gang - Mudassar, Sumon, Vishal, Karthik, Karthikeyan, Rajiv, Srinidhi & Mithun
Equipment - Food, water, sleeping bag/mat, toiletries

Highlights -
* Srinidhi almost ended up not coming for the trek. We had to plead with the bus driver to wait a while. We finally left Rajajinagar, Bangalore 20 mts late.DSC04557-1
* Reached Mudigere town around 5 am & ended up spending 90 mts in the bus stand looking for a loo - unsuccessfully.
* Because of no jeep availability, bargained with an auto chap for dropping us off at Lakshmi estate gate. The bumpy auto ride with 8 of us crammed inside along with our big rucksacks remains one of the memorable points of this trip.
* We got off at the gate itself & walked the remaining 2 kms to the estate. Negotiating the bumpy uneven 'road' in an overloaded auto was deemed way too risky - even for OG trekkers!
* Freshened up & had breakfast at the small waterfall inside Lakshmi estate & started the trek towards Saraswati estate on the jeep track around 11 am.
* Reached Saraswati estate aroun25603_426964504528_718749528_5305657_3804422_n-1d 1pm. The sun beat down hard & it was very hot. There is no water source between these 2 places. Recommend trekkers to carry 2 ltrs at the very minimum.
* Cooled off at Saraswati estate , finished lunch & had a short nap.Few took bath to cool the temperature.
* Re trekked around 1.5 kms for the diversion to OG. Had to literally squat our way through some thick brushwood.
* Finally reached the grasslands near OG around 4 pm.
* Scaled all peaks (I could count only 7 though) of OG. The view was good but nothing spectacular. In other words, not worth the trouble.
* Because of a darken ing sky & clouds drifting in, decided to abandon hopes of catching the sunset on peak. Started descending towards the smaller peaks & the campsite.
* Reached the campsite & could start a camp fire,which went down when it started raining.
* Lightning at first n then got steadily heavier. Light ning & thunderstorms followed.
* We were sitting under the tallest tree in the vicinity. Science told us to move to more open ground but the legs disagreed.
* Lightning struck three or four times somewhere very close to where we sat huddled. A few of us in fact felt some electricity!   trust me it wasn't funny, but was scary. This remains the high/low point of the trek depending on which way you look at it.DSC04124-1
* Darkness fell & the rain showed no signs of abating. The only sounds were raindrops on dry leaves, thunderclaps & Mudassar's vomiting.
* It finally reduced to a drizzle. We had the cold MTR packets n hit the sack. Only to be woken up in a couple of hours for another heavy drizzle. Add wet sleeping bags, wet forest floor & invisible insects & the misery seemed complete. The only good part then were the fireflies which were all over the place.
* Got up early next day to a bright sun shine. Started descending towards the rivulet by 7am. The ground was very slippery owing to the rain. The descent was very steep at places n we finally made it after many cuts, gashes n twisted ankles around 9 am.
* Mudassar continued vomiting :)
* Spent a good 1 hr by the stream. Refilled the water bottles & spirits & started off around 10 am.
* The next 4 hours were aDSC04647-1long the stream, over n around the rocks n partly through the f orest.
* Negotiating the for est path was a little tricky. To the naked eye, there appeared no path at all. All credit to Mudassar & Rajiv for spotting a beer can, a pair of shoes etc that they recalled from previous treks.
* The heat was brutal & the humidity was unforgiving. We took periodic breaks by the stream. We had to.
* Finally hit the jeep track around 3. Came across Kabbinale river crossing within an hour. Rested for a while.
* Post this final pit stop, it still took us almost 2 hours to negotiate our way to the village.
* First sighting of areca nut plantations breathed new life into our bodies. It was good seeing civilization after more than 28 hours.
* Jumped into Addahole river right beside the bridge n spent a good length of time scrubbing ourselves clean. This was the 3rd highlight of the trek. Changed into IMG_5413-1a fres h dry pair of clothes n went to the shack next to the bridge. Downed tea, omelets, dosas, biscuits n bananas n what not.
* Mudassar stopped vomiting.
* It started raining.
* Caught an auto to Gundya check-post & caught the 9 pm bus to Bangalore.
* The return leg was worse than the auto ride. The bus driver accelerated n braked like a maniac. Finally, it took a backseat guy to issue a death threat - 'bevarsi, saaysbidtini' to ensure an uneventful journey back to B’lore.

Wildlife sightings: Nothing more than a scorpion, a tortoise & lots of elephant dung.
Mobile coverage: Very good on/near the peak. Zilch inside the forest, by the river & in Gundya town.

Verdict: Mudassar said Reverse OG would be moderate n even first timers could join. Having gone through the grind, I can emphatically state that it wasn't moderate at all. It was as difficult n took as much time as the traditional route.

PS: Mudassar vomited whatever he ate & survived for the next 30 hours on half an apple, an orange, some glucose n lots of water. He still managed to be among the first few to finish the trek. How on earth???????

Visit our Group @ CLICK HERE
Join Bangalore ASCENDers @ CLICK HERE

Written by: Mithun hegde
Event organized by: Mudassar
Image Gallery:
Sumon, Srinidhi, Vishal, Karthik