Netravati & Valikunja: The Western Ghats Reality Show: Featuring Mud, Madness & Masterpieces
We rolled out of Intel SRR on Friday night around 8:30 PM, picking up a few folks along the way. Strangers at first, we slowly bonded over shared confusion, snacks, and the silent agreement that sleep was optional. As the bus cruised through the night, people began to drift off — not gracefully, but in that classic “head-bob-then-snap” sleep style. The vibe was calm, like the quiet before a jungle-themed storm. We reached the homestay around 4:30 AM, looking like survivors of a teleportation experiment. Everyone grabbed a power nap — the kind where your body sleeps but your soul is still buffering. By 6 AM, we were up, fed, packed our lunch, and ready to roll. The drive to the base was 2.5 hours of scenic nausea, with hairpin bends that turned stomachs into washing machines. Vali Kunja isn’t a trek — it’s a jungle bootcamp where grit meets gravity and leeches eat your whole legs. 🏔️ We started from the Udupi side, aka the “ let’s make this unnecessarily hard...