What started as a slow trickle... soon turned into a melee during the assembly time... CAT AP was pleasently surprised to bump into his University mate after donkey years... Wondering if CATS should start a 'Find Your Friends' service too?!!
Some very cheerful first timers on the trek, courtesy CAT Sandeep... This noisy lot played Antakshari on the bus without missing a single tick to respond with the appropriate song! ..Can you guess which two would be married soon from this gang?
CATS soon walked into choppy waters... with three falls to testify ;-)
This batch of new comers under Meenakshi was comparatively subdued and kept up with their pace, whilst taking our little CAT Ustat under their wings, who had come without her parents... Just the kind of spirit which embodies CATS... Meow :-)
First dam being carefully crossed by first timers - The Red Stars... CAT Anil brought his son Achintya for the first time for trekking with us and has promised to bring the rest of the family in future...
Though Kapoor family came for the first time butwhat memories they have gone back with! Even a fall in the choe and having to carry little Ana on her back for most part of the trek and walking barefeet towards the finishing stages of the trek due to wet boots causing blisters in her feet did not dampen the spirits of our exuberant CAT Puneet.. Hats off to The Girl Power :-)
The experienced CATS leading the freshers on a short cut to the first Hawa Mahal...
Team Leader par excellence, Sahil putting his paws up with the rest of his pack to enjoy the breeze and enjoy the views of The Sukhna Lake and The Capitol Complex!
Forget the view... just take a picture, will you?!!!
Back on the trek.... some freshers chose to walk over...
CAT Kapil chose to play it safe along with other old timers ;-)
Our CAT Rima on the look out for birds... the feathered variety that is !!
Our older CATS resting a while at Bollianwala Dam...
A refreshing cuppa hot cha was served to all at Bollianwala... courtsey Mr Ishwar Singh :-)
Children getting a helping hand to fetch potable water from the village well, which was dry till a couple of years ago... Thanks to the water conservation practices carried out under the guidance of Mr Ishwar Singh, there are over 150 dams and choes at Nepli Forest now... Three MEOWS to Mr Ishwar Singh..
Our first timer CAT Neeraj sharing something interesting with our old timer little CAT Aman... That indeed is the beauty of CATS... We learn while having fun... Knowledge is not limited to mugging the books.. 
Girls chilling out in the solitude Nepli had to offer... Or are these two sharing a lesson or two about boys??!!
Our little poser Ana with her prized plume took the honour of being the youngest CAT on the trek this time.. Our elusive CAT Charanjeet was on the other end of the scale :-)
Childhood and fun really go hand in hand... would you believe me if I told you that our beautiful CAT Aarzoo is blowing bubbles AFTER finishing a 13kms trek?
But where is their share of fun?? ...just a thought... Can we do something to ensure some parity atleast for our children?
CATS are taking a small initiative towards this end.. We have started a corpus fund to mentor and sponsor the education of atleast 5 deserving children this year... One 10year old son of a Dhobi (washerman) and a 5year old girl of a peon have already been identified.
Would you want to be part of 'eduCATe'?
Hand in hand.... Kapoor family crossing a hurdle on the way... I have to admit that CATS had quite a few challenging obstructions caused by The Mother Nature this time at Nepli... But we conquered them all :-)
Though maintaining the balance itself became a challenge at times.. there was not a paw which did not stumble here ;-)
...and this the stunning destination which awaited CATS after their arduous trek... but there was still a slip between the cup and the lip... err - a kilometer to be precise!
Arduous our journey might have been... but it was certainly interesting since we did not just have the 2-legged variety to give us company along the way... Can anyone name this beauty? 
At first it seems that a butterfly has gone capput with legs up in the air... but look again and you see that its very much alive and kicking! ...Can CAT Rima (or anyone else) tell us more about this one?
No... I have not gone insane with the heatstroke... this indeed is a complete snake skin which was found on the trek by CAT Arun... Life is full of surprised with CATS!
Last batch of the tired CATS resting their paws at the pretty Log Hut...- Saathi hath baraana -
CAT Fang also conquered pain and discomfort by rejoining CATS after exactly a year...
Yeh kya kaano ko haath lagaaye jaa rahe hain??!!! CAT Neeraj trekked for the very first time in her life... an experience she looks back at fondly, despite the discomfort she felt whilst on the trek... I still get the coffee at her home you see :-)
This literally was the state of most of the CATS on the way back :-)
Here's one which flummoxed each one of us - Both the pairs of boots finished exactly the same trek, stumbled through each one of the choes/dams, walked through the mud along the way to catch the bus back... but look at their disperate state?? The brown ones are all muddy whilst the white ones (YES the WHITE ones) look as if they have just been taken out of their packaging!Do we have someone to analyse this picture by any chance??!!! Do the boots reveal something about the personalities wearing them? ...I can provide a clue - both are characters ;-)
- CAT Supreet
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