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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Increase in GHAC Fee and Addition of Service Tax

As you are aware GHAC charges a nominal 10% Fee for all its events.
This amount goes to pay for salaries of the support staff, rent for
GHAC office, repair and renewal of equipment, purchase of equipment
and other administrative expenses. Over the last two years, the cost
of everything has gone up and we were still charging 10% only. As a
result, we have not been able to buy new equipment or replace our worn
out equipment. We have instead taken loans from senior organizers to
buy and repair equipment. At best, this is a short term measure and we
cannot continue like this.

The GHAC Committee in the meetings held on 12 June and subsequently on
19th June has decided that the GHAC margin will be hiked to 15 % on
all events that will be put up from 1st July 2013. There will be no
change in events that have already been announced and posted.

We also want to communicate that as a registered adventure club we are
now in the service tax bracket. Going forward, all meetups will have a
3.09 % service tax on the total trek amount, per head. This amount
will be paid to
the Department of Customs and Central Excise, Govt of India and will
contribute to the nations growth.

There will be no increase in cost for local events and they will
continue to be Rs 50 inclusive of service tax.

We are committed to promote adventure and will continue to strive to
provide better events and rich experience for all our members.

For questions please reach us on feedback@ghac.in or call on 040-23350008

regards

Diyanat Ali
Founder and Director
Great Hyderabad Adventure Club
www.ghac.in
040-23350008

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

How To Help Uttarakhand


We are all aware of the massive tragedy that has happened in the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal in North India. The floods have devastated whole villages, towns and washed away roads, bridges and all infrastructure is in mayhem. With thousands of pilgrims and locals still being evacuated by our armed forces it is a tragedy for all humanity. While we sure needs to do introspection on our policies towards tourism and construction of dams etc.  in hills, and analyze what caused the floods in Uttarakhand and understand that we are all in some way responsible not only for the floods but also for providing help to the pilgrims and locals alive.

At this stage it is more important to get together and help in every possible way to the people stranded and help their friends and families to help find them.

So the first thing we can do is spread information about the relief efforts and refrain from spreading or paying heed to any rumors.

Given below are some useful numbers that you can share on your social networks for people to use them:

Here are helpline nos for relief efforts for Uttarakhand floods
Flood helpline numbers : 0135-2710334 , 0135-2710335 , 0135-2710233.
Nainital & around: 05946-250138.
Uttarkashi: 01374-226126, 226161
Chamoli: 01372-251437
Tehri: 01376-233433
Rudraprayag: 01732-1077
ITBP helpline and control room, Uttrakhand: 011-24362892 and 9968383478
Uttarakhand govt helpline: 0135-2716201, 2710925
Besides spreading information about the help line numbers here is a searchable database that is about the people who were found/rescued by various agencies


But search is only one part of the equation. The economy and the people of Uttarakhand have suffered heavy losses and need to be built again. You can provide help in both monetary and non-monetary ways to help the people.

Goonj is one such organization that is making efforts to collect materials and money to help the people in Uttarakhand.

You can contribute Clothes, medicine, food, utensils and also money so that it reaches the people who need it today. This is the link of Goonj website to take some action and help in a way only you can.

You can also contribute to the Prime Minister  National Relief fund or to any other organization that you trust and feel will help the people in Uttarakhand.

The important thing is that we all need to contribute in whatever form to help our friends in Uttarakhand.




Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Treks To Outstation Locations

Traveling and Trekking to Far off Locations 


With the onset of Monsoons we will start planning a lot more outstation treks to places where one needs to travel overnight to reach the starting point.

But outstation travel brings a few of its own challenges. As most of the outstation treks specially to far off places like Maharashtra, Kerala, and Coastal Karnataka requires overnight travel, every body prefers to travel by train. But getting tickets on train is  not easy and a lot of members respond only at last minute. This leads to non availability of tickets in train.

Once the train tickets are not available the organizers try to book the buses, now here also the earlier we book the more economical the tickets we can buy, as at last minute the tickets are either not available or one needs to book the most costly tour operator as the normal seats are all gone. This leads to increase in the cost. Some time people will respond at the last minute, when the tickets for others have already been booked in train, so they try to book tickets in tatkal for the train. But it is sometimes very tough to  get confirmed tickets in taktal. So the best option for a smooth journey is to make the payment as well as your confirmation the very first day the RSVP for an outstation trek opens.

This will have many advantages
  • The biggest advantage is the organizers will be able to keep the cost of the trek low, as the train is the cheapest option to travel
  • You will arrive at the starting point of trek, fresh as train travel is very comfortable compared to bus or self driving long distance
  • This will help the organizer to know how many people are coming well in advance and negotiate better rates with hotel etc. at the trek location if stay in hotel or dormitory is needed.
  • An early booking will ensure that all seats are together in same coach leading to more fun in the journey as people can talk, play antrakshi etc.
So in everybody's interest it is a good idea to RSVP as well as make payment the day an outstation trek opens on Ghac meetup site. Also please add the email address of Meetup in your mail box as this will prevent it from going to your spam box.

We would love to hear your inputs on GHAC treks and this blog. Please use this link on GHAC feedback link to give your feedback confidentially.

Happy Trekking and Safe Travels  :)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Chimney Caving and Zig Zag Passages at ZTS Grounds


Practicing for Chimney and Caving in Zig Zag Passages at ZTS Grounds

Caving and chimney requires special skills and agility

  • You need to be highly flexible
  • Not afraid of dark
  • Not scared of insects
  • Willing to crawl in little space
  • Great team work is needed to coordinate movement in small spaces
One of our groups practiced Caving and Chimney at ZTS grounds recently. They had a lot of fun and went through some pretty steep, and narrow paths. Check the pictures below:

Climbing Narrow Spaces in Rocks

Resting Between Rocks


Rocks and Rock Climbers

The View From Top



Most of Hyderabad area from the top was visible with the waters of a lake nearby shining like a jewel in distance.

Do check  GHAC  meetup site for future events. 

These city based events help you prepare for the longer treks in nature. Remember practice makes a man or woman perfect. 


Monday, June 10, 2013

Cleanup Activity At Khajaguda Hyderabad by GHAC Volunteers


Celebrating World Environment Day- The GHAC Way


5th June is world environment day, world over people try to do some thing or other for mother earth. A lot of these activities are not sustained and end up more as media hype or photo opportunities. Not with GHAC, on this world environment day a group of GHAC volunteers visited the hilly area of Khajaguda in Hyderabad and decided to take things in their own hands.

Khajaguda is close to the Hitech city in Hyderabad and  popular among active Hyderabadis for hiking and rock climbing activities. Unfortunately the area is also very littered with plastic bags, bottles and other non biodegradable items.

So this environment day GHAC volunteers aggregated in large numbers at Khajaguda to clean the area. 
They came armed with gloves, bags to collect garbage and of-course with cameras to click pictures and  spread the message. 

Both Young and Old GHAC Volunteers Came to clean Khajaguda



Garbage Collected From Khajaguda




Cleaning Khajaguda 

Breakfast after cleaning Khajaguda


The volunteers collected many bags of plastic bottles, polythene, chocolate wrappers, chips packs etc. Every body was very hungry after the activity and stopped by for some yummy breakfast close by.

GHAC regularly conducts cleanup drives in and around Hyderabad to make our city better. Click here to know more about GHAC and its activities.

About Author: Prasad Np is a GHAC volunteer and heads GHAC Nature, he writes family travel blog from India-desi Traveler


Sunday, June 9, 2013

GHAC Outdoor Leadership Workshop


GHAC Outdoor Leadership Workshop


While outdoors are fun, you are also with nature, that can be unpredictable and one needs to be prepared all the times. A lot of preparation needs to go to go out in wild to take full advantage of the bounty of nature, unlike in Bollywood movies like Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani where you just show up without any preparation.
Participants Arriving for GHAC Outdoor Workshop


All GHAC trek leaders are trained in both theory and practical aspects of outdoors so that all treks are safe, nature friendly and no negative impact is left on mother nature.
As part of preparing GHAC trek leaders for future leadership roles, a 2 day residential workshop was organized in outskirts of Hyderabad in pristine surroundings to impart various outdoor skills like

  • Using a compass
  • Map reading
  • Finding direction and your location in  the outdoors
  • Creating a shelter in outdoors
  • Making a fire using minimum resources and without damaging nature
  • How to choose a campsite
  • How to pitch tent 
  • Survival Skills
  • How to find and use water in jungle
  • Ropes and knots
Tents were pitched for night

From GHAC leadership team Keku talked about how to prepare and survive outdoors in nature, Diyanat conducted workshops and activities on leadership and Manish from accounts team talked about how to manage the financial aspect of  a trek.
Manish Giving Presentation on Financial aspects of a trek


Group Photo of GHAC Leadership Workshop



The workshop was not just work we  had lots of fun too!

The workshop concluded with the participants receiving their certificates and GHAC caps.
GHAC conducts these workshops every few months and if you are interested please get in touch with GHAC though our website.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Organic Food Workshop By GHAC Nature

Grow your own organic food in your own home


GHAC Nature has started a new initiative to encourage Hyderabadis to grow organic food in their own homes in limited space like balcony or terrace.

The first workshop was organized today at GHAC office in Banjara  Hills. Arun Raj who is a key memeber of GHAC core team and Mr. Venugopal Reddy an avid Gardner and nature lover gave a demo and  explained to the participants

  • Types of Soils
  • Preparing compost
  • Difference between vermicompost and normal compost
  • Type of plants that do well in pots
  • Plants to grow in Hyderabad
  • How to take care of pests and disease using organic, nature friendly means
Mr. Venugopal explaining about pots and plants


Participants to the Grow Organic Food Workshop


Arun Raj Talking to Participants


The participants actively asked a lot of questions and are all very keen to start their own gardens. Keep watching this space for  updates. 

Monday, June 3, 2013

GHAC Feedback System is Launched

Dear GHACians,

In a continuous effort to improve the adventure activities at GHAC, we bring to you a Feedback System comprising various modes.  If you don’t like something about us, tell us.  And, if we are doing well, let us know.

We would like to hear from you. Please feel free to share your experiences during a meetup and suggestions for improvement, if any, through the following appropriate channels. 

1. Suggestions & Ideas

If you have suggestions & ideas and wish to engage the GHAC community in a discussion, please do so at

http://meetup.ghac.in/messages/boards/forum/1132684

We would appreciate your effort in keeping the forum clean and relevant to adventure.

2. Report a problem or a negative experience

Email details to feedback@ghac.in for any of the following:

Report behavior that is not in accordance with the club guidelines (by members or organizers). To acquaint yourself with the guidelines, visit http://meetup.ghac.in/pages/Club_Guidelines/

To know the status of a refund (in case you have not received a satisfactory response from the organizer) Anything else that you would like to bring to the notice of the GHAC Feedback Team

Our Resolution Team will try to respond to you within 48 hours and resolve the issue at the earliest.

3. Anonymous Feedback   

If you want to share your opinion anonymously, post it at http://www.whatiswrongwith.me/ghac

You are always welcome to visit us from 0930 to 1830 hours, Monday through Saturday at

Great Hyderabad Adventure Club
8-2-350/B/B, A.K. Enclave,
Lane adjacent to Pizza Corner,
Road No. 3, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad 500 034
Ph: 040-2335 0008

Stay updated

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ghac.in to receive the latest updates

you can access this information online at www.ghac.in/feedback.html

Let’s make things better, together!

Regards,
GHAC Feedback Team