It was a fine,
pleasant Sunday morning—not too sunny, not too hot, but just perfect! The
entrance to MacRitchie Reservoir was abuzz with activity, as always. There were
flocks of people getting in at 8am and then there were the early birds who were
done with their exercise routine and all set to leave the place. All of us,
from, the centre, who were present at that point of time, formed a circle and
started off with our warming-up exercises. After a quick round of warming up
and stretching, we chanted OM 3 times. During
this activity of chanting the OM, while
closing our eyes, we could soak in the wholesome environment of the MacRitchie
reservoir, complete with the smell of the flowers on the trees, climbers and
bushes around, and the chirping of the morning birds, not to forget the buzz
caused by the human activity around.
Once done, we
set out on our walk. Since we had done the board walk quite a few times in the
past, we decided to take the path less travelled. We walked towards the kayak
rental point and headed off towards the path that led to the Tree Top trail. As
we walked past, we saw several enthusiastic kayakers cutting though the water
as if they were on a motor boat! The coordination required while rowing is
definitely a challenging task, and we were in awe at the balance and the
coordination exhibited by all those who were kayaking. Soon, we went past the
path around the water and headed off on a trail behind the board walk, running
parallel to it at the start, and then eventually diverting towards the Tree Top
trail. This trail had a thick canopy on top, thanks to all the giant trees
lining the trail on either side. It was a muddy trail, with a lot of ups and
downs. There were a lot of dry leaves lying on our path. The trail was quite
narrow and could not accommodate more than 3 people simultaneously. We had to
walk in 2s, keeping in mind the steady line of joggers coming in from the
opposite side. As mentioned earlier, it was not sunny, but the air was heavy
with moisture and we could feel it weighing on us heavily. As we briskly walked
along, a few of us walked in silence while there were some of us catching up with
one another. After walking for about half an hour, we took a U-turn and
retraced our path. We were back near the water at the end of the trail. There
were many more kayakers now, all of them enthusiastically wading through the
water. We assembled near the Car Park and were all set to go to Jayanthy and
Rama Uncle’s place. A quick drive later, we were all at their serene and
beautiful house, which always has an air of calm around it. After the
meditation and the cake cutting and the delicious brunch, we all felt fortunate
that yet another lovely walk and brunch had come to a close, leaving us all
waiting for the next one next month.
- Preethi
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