The Wild

Chicago

2011-04-23T16:47:00.013+05:30

After a hiatus ,i hope to keep this blog more frequent ,seen here are some snaps on my recent visit to Chicago

Chicago is known as the windy city,due to the very high skyscrapers which creates a tunneling effect for the wind.Thankfully i was able to catch up with some decent weather when i was there.Do hope you like the snaps.

Kurinjal gudda and Gangatikal gudda-Part 1

2010-07-22T11:35:00.023+05:30

After planning for many treks ,we finally zeroed in on Kudremukha range.I had good memories of my trek to the Kudremukha peak a few years ago with my good friend Gopalakrishna

So the two of us finally decided to embark on this trek.We took the Rajahamsa bus got down at Kalasa and from there we hitchhiked a tea lorry to take us towards Kudremukha.The distance between kalasa and kudremukha is 20 kms.As we enjoyed the early morning ,the lorry stopped with a glitch.

Above : The tent at the Bhagavati nature camp

The lorry driver took about 10minutes to restart the lorry ,we soon stopped at a tea garden-a new ganesha devasthana was built there and the lorry driver wanted to check it out.Soon we were on our way towards Kudremukha.We thanked the lorry driver for dropping us at Kudremukha.

We saw employees of KIOCL some of them rushing,some walking towards their office.We went to the forest office .There was a person who told us that the concerned person would come only at 8:45am.The procedure was to obtain the trek permission and they would assign us a guide for the same.

After having a quick breakfast,we could still spot employees getting into the campus ,a good one hour after the siren had rang.Finally we headed towards Bhagavati Guest house.One has to walk a good one kilometer from the gate to the place where the actual tents is there.

Above: The walk from the entrance to the nature camp

After freshening up ,we relaxed a bit as i dozed of a bit in the room.I was woken up by Gopal who had finished his bath and breakfast and was ready to leave.I quickly gobbled up the delicious Chitranna and we headed for the day 1 trek to Kurinjal Gudda

Above: Stream beside the Bhagavati Nature camp

Our guide for the day was Raghavendra ,who was quite friendly.It hadnt rained for 2 days -a very strange thing since it was peak monsoon season.We took a bus -the start point for the trek is about 4 kms off the highway.As we boarded the bus ,it was simply a treat to watch the green coloured mountains on either side of the highway.

Soon the bus stopped at a small temple of the highway,the bus conductor offered some fresh flowers to the Lord Ganesha.The interesting thing was that he picked up vermillon on the way back gave it to all the bus commuters ,this is something very unique that i have seen.We soon got down at the starting point of the trek just of the highway.

As you walk along the grassland one soon hits the bhadra river flowing,there is a old bridge here ,we spent some time filling our water bottles since there is no other water source on this route.

Above: Bhadra river

The route to Kurinjal peak is actually a jeep track which has been abandoned for more than 5 years and hence there is pretty much no route visible.As we walked along ,we did come across some amazing grassland views.

Above :Sambhar -rapt attention

We soon came across a bunch of sambhars,it was indeed a delight to watch the sambhars-they gave a loud grunt before they scurried into the thick shola forest cover nearby.As we moved on from the grasslands ,we hit the leach terriotory -thick giant tress raising in excess of 400 feet ,dense jungles with only the abandoned jeep track to walk.

Since the jeep track has been abandoned ,the forest has started taking over the jeep track :).There are fallen trees all over the place and plants growing all over - a good sign that the forest is wresting its full might post the human onslaught.After a 2 hour leach soaked trek we finally hit a grassland patch.From here on can view the amazing thick forests and grasslands till far of places.We rested for a while getting rid of the leaches at this point.

Above: Kurinjal Peak

From here it is about 10 minutes walk to the abandoned station of the erstwhile KIOCL.It is very slippery from here on and one has to be really careful .Finally we made it ,we decided not to climb on the boulders from the station since it was really slippery and it had started raining steadily by now.We rested for a while at the station and then started back ,the return was uneventful,peppered with some very heavy rain.We walked back from the road to the bhagavathi nature camp.I decided to take a bath and relax.We had a early dinner which consisted of yummy rasam,chapathi,beans palya and hit the bed by 7:45pm.

To be continued.

Moorkannu Gudda

2010-07-01T20:30:00.018+05:30

After reaching Vikram's place ,we quickly got ready to start our journey.It was raining heavily by now.

Basavaraj and Mallesh accompanied us to the Gudda.We walked along some pretty densly leach infested area ,making slowly progress.The journey was uneventful.Enroute we spotted the wild goat.

landscape is quite mesmerizing with rain adding fizz to the amazing hills and mountains.The clouds and the mist just clear for a moment ,just enough for us to catch a glimpse of the mountains.One has to be careful while treading in this area since there are small gorges and landslides.The climb was a bit challenging with the rain lashing all through.

As we approached Moorkannugudda ,we were in for some surprise .Very heavy winds and rain made our ascent to the peak slightly tough.Finally we made it in one piece.The peak was covered fully with mist .Me and Manju clicked away some snaps and relaxed a bit.We decided to get back through the slopes behind the Gudda ,which was really tricky.Thick grass ,very slippery terrain.

For a while we were lost.One has to be careful in these ranges since with rain and fog there is very little you can make out in terms of direction and routes.It is better to take a local guide however good you are ,since even local people with years of experience are known to get lost in these ranges.

some careful rework of the strategy ,Basavaraj figured out the route but that meant we had to pass through 3 thick shola forests.This journey was very challenging with slippery terrain.I was vary of snakes since it was virgin forests,almost no route ,we literally made the route.

Each shola forest was full of thorns and plants ,we had to cut through the thick undergrowth.On the penulimate shola forest ,we encountered a small falls -its almost the birth of river is what i heard-we rested for a while tasting the sweet water here.In these ranges ,about 4 rivers take birth.

We came out of the 3rd and the final shola forest ,the weather cleared a bit,giving us a good glimpse of the landscapes.We slowed down a bit after the rapid progress we made in the last hour.

We reached a small check dam and took a few snaps before it started raining very heavily,we made back in one piece to Vikrams place.

Moorkannu gudda can be reached by Kadumane estate

Some of the photos belong to my friend Manju

Moorkannu Gudda-the journey part 1

2010-06-29T19:57:00.004+05:30

After booking ourselves on the 22:47 Kukke Volvo ,we reached the busstand about 22:00 hours.After waiting endlessly ,the volvo arrived -looked like brand new.

As i queued up to enter the bus ,a brief glance by the driver and the door opened.As i walked past ,it was a strange feeling indeed.I could smell the fresh paint.It was great to see the fresh linen.

I quickly got down to meet the driver and wanted to confirm the news ,he did confirm with glee that it was indeed brand new and was going to Kukke for Pooje and this driver is one of the lucky few to inagurate 4 brand new vehicles in the past fortnight.

There is something about brand new stuff that attracts me ,i was indeed fortunate to be the first passenger on board the brand new airavata.The ride was very comfortable to say the least.We reached Sakleshpura at around 3:30 am to be promptly woken up by the conductor.After thanking the conductor ,me and manju headed for a place to sit ,it was drizzling slightly .Manju grabbed some sleep .A quick check and we were told that the bus to hanbal leaves only at 6:30 am.After a quick chat ,we decided to take an auto towards Hanbal and beyond.

As we sat in the auto ,he started driving like a F1 driver and the road towards Hanbal is full of curves.I was really scared since he was driving fast and breaking abruptly ,to add to the fizz there was lots of mud on the road ,thankfully we landed in one piece

To be continued

Pyramid Society

2010-06-22T19:38:00.012+05:30

On a normal saturday i got a call from my uncle to visit the Pyramid situated on Kanakapura road.

It was a lovely ride all the way to the pyramid with some rains as well.The trees situated on either side of the road soothes the eye for a urban animal like me.

We spent close to an hour.One has to be quiet since the place inside the pyramid is strictly for meditation ,no one is allowed to talk.Below are some snaps taken from my mobile

The Pyramid is located Kanakapura road ,about 40kms from Bangalore,and about 18 kms from the Art of living at a place called Kebbedodddi village

More information can be found at : -
http://www.pyramidvalley.org/pyramid/Home/contactus.htm

Mahimapura and Heggunda

2010-06-05T19:50:00.014+05:30

This post has been on the blog queue for a while ,since i havent been keeping too well.

On a lazy summer morning i decided to check out some places around Bangalore,a quick breakfast on the way and i landed at Mahimapura -the abode of Lord Venkateshwara.It was rocky mountain ,very quiet and peaceful-around 300 steps takes you to the summit.One can spot Shivaganga ,the direct line of sight from here.

Since i reached the summit pretty early i decided to head to my second desination Heggunda nearby and visit this temple on my return journey.As i was getting down the stairs i was stopped on the way by the Brahminy Kite. :)

The next destination for the day was Heggunda abode of Lord Rama.This place was a real surprise for me as i bumped into one of the rare birds -The egyptian vulture.As it sat patiently for more than 20 minutes i was able to capture it on my camera ,i was delighted-little did i know that more surprises awaited me for the day.

As i went up the hill i was stopped by Lord hanuman,as the path branched i took the wrong one only to end up on a dead end with some amazing plains greeting me.The path i had taken was wrong and i ended up at a place where the temple was on the other hill ,seperating me was a deep ravine.After i retraced my path ,i was climbing uphill ,the sun was shining brightly by now.After climbing about 50 steep steps i was on top of the rocky mountain.

A bolt from the blue i was taken by surprise by the egyptian vulture.It was the same vulture that i had seen below.It gave me a brilliant display of acrobatics.This was something that i have never experienced and i was simply overjoyed seeing this .All the while it was surveying the intruder into its rocky hill keeping a close eye on me all through its flight.Heggunda has had lot of political activity in its hay days ,more information can be found in this link

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/06/10/stories/2006061002590100.htm

After 10 minutes it made a safe landing on the plains nearby.As i spent my next 30minutes relaxing i decided to head down the hill.I was stopped by the priest who was making his way to the top.A breif pooja and i headed down along the priest.It was quite sunny by now and i headed straight back to Mahimapura.

Climbing the 300 steps i was greeted by a lot of people on top.A brief pooja ,i headed back to bangalore.Another day ,another rocky mountain,another day of silence and peace.

Idu Bhavya Suvarna Karnataka,ondu punyabhumi

Bheemeshwari

2010-05-16T12:50:00.006+05:30

This was supposed to be a trek which later had to be abandoned due to some poor planning.Started of late from bangalare in a TT.Had breakfast at kanakpura and headed towards muthathi.This trek was organized by Yhai-bangalore.

The intial trek was towards a viewpoint,the views from here are worth watching.The Cauvery river which is the lifeline of our state ,flows along.The forests here are shrub jungles.This stretch of forests is contagious ,and further runs along the anchetty and rasimanal forests that i had recently been to.

Post viewpoint we treaded downhill to have a dip.After spending sometime clicking away snaps we headed towards our trek point.It was a disaster in making with the sun peaking around noon,the progress was very poor .Finally around 2:30pm we had to abandon the trek.

We headed back towards the cauvery river to have a dip.I had not taken to the water in the morning and was just waiting to hit the water.It was really soothing to have a bath in the river.After spending about 2 hours we decided to head back to bangalore.

Note : If one heads towards the river near muthathi -it is really very dirty with hoards of tourists from bangalore and local people having dirtied the place to the hilt.Also in case you are travelling alone ,it is suggested to leave early from this place since a lot of people come here only to booze.

Narayanswamy betta

2010-05-10T20:56:00.008+05:30

With very little information i set out to explore this little known destination.Set out early in the morning around 6 am on a saturday morning.Soon i was zipping past on the mysore highway.There is something which really eggs me on in a car,although it is only a maruti 800 :)

Soon i reached bidadi ,had thatte idli for breakfast.After making a few enquiries i headed towards Chikkakuntanahalli.I was stopped abruptly my Lord Hanuman at this point!!!.

After a few enquiries about Naraynaswamy betta i was directed towards the place.The countryside is very nice to view.One can see the village is buzzing with activity.The oxes are getting ready,the women are busy with rangoli infront of the house.The small kids look in awe as a car passes through the village waving at me.Rich fields soothes my eyes on both sides of the road

An enquiry about the temple is met with a detailed reply about the place.It gives me great pleasure to travel in my state.Finally as i came near to the place,the road turned into a mud road,finally reaching the base of the temple.

After praying to Lord Venkateshwara,i decided to explore the rocky hill.Spent my time exploring the place.Relaxed on top of a boulder overlooking the valley from where one can see plain lands far away.There is a huge jackfruit tree ,the surprising thing i found is it is very cool below this tree than under any other tree in the vicinity.

Relaxing in this serene place with some amazing breeze and silence is a moment i will cherish for a long time to come.

Anchetty-Rasimanal Biodiversity survey

2010-05-02T17:52:00.015+05:30

Above : The forest guesthouse at Anchetty

I was a member of KANS for a while but somehow due to one reason or the other couldnt make it to any of their past surveys.

This was one of the final surveys mainly aimed at finding out what kind of flora and fauna existed in the areas of Anchetty and Rasimanal.Getting here was a bit of a adventure since i havent been to these areas before.Anchetty can be reached via Hosur-mathigiri-denkanikotta-anchetty.It is about 140 kms from bangalore.

Thanks to Mahesh i got a drop from Denkanikotta to Anchetty,reached the forest guest house by 10pm.Sanjeev from KANS briefed me about the program.

Day 1 : Anchetty to Doddahalla trek to look for flora /fauna ,scat and pug marks on the way
Day 2 : Brief survey at Rasimanal on the banks of the river cauvery

Above : On the way to Anchetty forests
Woke up early and after a quick ,hot,yummy breakfast we headed towards our start point.As we started along the shrub jungle ,slowly one group consiting of Laxmeesha,karthik,aparna and me got lost along the way.The forest watcher venkatappa gave a mouthful for straying away from the team ,we was concerned since it was elephant area.

Above : An interesting velvet bug on the way

We were divided to 2 teams of 5 each going into two seperate trek routes.Our trek route turned out to be slightly longer but worth the effort.We trekked along the river bed of one of the tributaires of doddahalla which later joins cauvery.Much of it was dry,but gave us some interesting leads into some new shrub jungles for me.We spotted wild dogs,leopards ,wild boarspug marks along the way .Therer was a bit of confusion with venkatappa not able to correctly judge the distance for todays trek ,which lead us to being on the move always.
We briefly took a break .Everybody in the team -Mani,mahesh,karthik,george and me took a break to quench our thirst.It was a stagnant pool,but good enough to consume Venkatappa declared.We all had good gulps and rested for a whle before.

As we moved along from this place venkatappa sensed that there was a elephant and its cub in the vicinity,this was confirmed by the pug marks and the rich odour of the elephants that i could pick up.Elephants are always dangerous not matter what time of the day it is ,more so if it is with a little one ,always better to be on guard.We finally ended day 1 by hitting the road at around 12pm ,a good four hour trek.It was a nice experience in another kind of forest which
was an eye opener for me.

Above: On the banks of cauvery

We later headed for lunch where in a surprise waited for us ,curds :).We quickly headed towards Rasimanal to be joined by Thillai who had driven all the way from krishnagiri for this.There was some confusion in terms of the keys of the forest APC,we decied to give it a skip.It rained heavily towards late evening and these were welcome showers .The darker side of it was it meant about 14 people had to cram inside the watch tower .For veggies it was only idli+sauce -for others it was fish curry,fish fry and idlis.

Since there was space only for few ,some of decided to sleep inside the cars.The next day morning after finishing the morning ablutions ,we decided to head towards the place where the camera trap was set.Another interesting thing about these calm waters is that it is home to some fresh water crocodiles,hence i was always wary of going near the water.Couple of them even spotted them on the opposite banks.Also spotted were the rare river otters.

What is a camera trap :
A camera trap is motion sensor camera which is installed generally at a place frequented by animals,this time it was on the banks of the cauvery river.Unfortunately we didnt have any didnt have any animals sighted in the camera trap.Nevertheless it was a nice experience in knowing some techniques of tracking animals scientifically.

Above : A camera trap

After checking out some birds we decided to head back.A quick breakfast consisted of noodles thanks to guru and aparna ,post breakfast we decided to head back to bangalore.We decided to have a quick lunch,again it was simply delicious lunch.After a quick round of byes we decided to head back to bangalore

A good writeup by Aparna on how KANS plans to make Melagiris as a sanctuary,this would be an ideal soak up area to the present forests on the cauvery banks

http://highonwilderness.blogspot.com/2010/04/melagiri-sanctuary-proposal.html

Malakonda

2010-04-28T19:07:00.037+05:30

My father spent his initial years at this place and he wanted to see the place very badly.We planned to visit -Malakonda-the abode of Lord Narasimha.The route to reach Malakonda is via Singarayakonda,kandukur,malakonda.

Above : View from below the temple

Above: On the way to the temple

Above: Govardhanagiri -near the kalyani

Above : Another view from the top of the temple

Again since it was summer ,that was something which always keeps me on my toes.We booked a garuda on the bangalore ongole route.As we woke up early morning we were surprised to see the highway was covered with dense fog with very low visibilty.After a tense 2 hour drive manovering heavy lorries on the way ,we finally managed to get down at Singarayakonda.From here we took a bus to Kandukur where we got a room.After a quick breakfast ,we headed towards the busstand to catch a bus toward Malakonda.

Above : View from the top of the hill

Above : Mica deposits in Malakonda

Malakonda is about an hour journey from Kandukur -about 30 kms.We reached around 9:30 am and took an shared auto to climb the hill.The temple is open only on saturdays.We then had darshan of the lord.After that we visited the laxmi-narasimha devasthana had darshan.After the Archana we were given the prasadam which we had and decided to climb down hill.It was really hot day and the sun was out in full blast touching close to 40 degrees.Another interesing feature of Malakonda is that it is situated in a shrub jungle .The vegetation here is very unique -the flora variety here is not found in any of the neighbouring areas apart from malakonda which makes it interesting.Even the rocks found here have many unique minerals not found elsewhere in the nearby areas.

We came back to Kandukur ,had lunch and slept like a log till 5pm.Evening was much cooler,we decided to check out the local market.

Above:Interesting display of food!!

Above : Chillies at the market

Above : The tobacco crop in the fields

Kandukur is the largest producer of Tobacco in the world,there is also a central tobacco research institute in the city.It is a matter with matter of pride that i can say that my grandfather ran one of the most successful hotels for about 18 years in this town,before returning back to our native in Karkala.To this day no other hotel has come anywhere near to breaking this record.As we moved along the market there was an old man -dad recognized him,so did the man -it was a break from the past.

Above : Old man selling tobacco leaves at the market

Above :Downtown Kandukur

Above : An old well dotted with many sculptures in its walls

Above : A temple in the town

We later visited an old temple where one of dad's friend is a priest and offered pooja to lord hanuman.We visited another old friend -spent about an hour .

A day well spent with dad enjoying his childhood memories brought back.We headed back to take the volvo back from
Singarayakonda to Bangalore.

Fort Penukonda

2010-04-27T21:06:00.047+05:30

I was down with cold and fever for sometime.More than a month without exploring a place was running at the back of my mind,finally made up my mind on exploring Penukonda fort

Nevertheless i made all the necessary enquiries about Penukonda before hand.Got up early and headed towards Chikkaballapur at around 5am.A brief stop at the kamat hotel beyond Chikkaballapur with some crisp idli and vada was indeed a good start for the day :).Reached Penukonda at around 8am,parked my car near the fort entrance and walked along only to be stopped at the temple of Lord Venkateshwara.It was the first pooja for the day and indeed i was blessed.After the pooja ,prasad was given ,thanking the lord for the blessing and the good beginning for the day i went ahead only to see a giant hanuman statue.

It then dawned on me ,Penukonda is one of the holiest places in south India.It has 365 temples of Lord Hanuman alone.Right through this post i will bring out some facts which might be a bit disturbing ,but it has be taken at face value since these are facts and well documented.

Above : An erstwhile temple which was converted into a mosque post the conquest of the vijayanagar empire by the adilshah king

King krishnadevaraya was a staunch disciple of Lord Venkateshwara.He also believed in Lord
hanuman -the god of strength.He has installed hanuman vigraha in most places to make sure
that he gets to pray before ,before he sets out to do any work.

He also installed shiva linga which was brought from kashi.The shiva temple has very beautiful sculptures comparable to the hoysala architecture.One can imagine the granduer of the huge homa mantapa with all the hymns in full throttle -what a sight it must have been-sadly the homa mantapa is today a cattle stable.

Above : Shiva temple

Above : Homa mantapa

Above : Aymukteshwara temple

That is when i met my guide venkatesh,who intitally promised me to take me to the fort atop the hill but later backtracked sadly.As i climbed on it was a difficult to climb on since the heat was starting to beat me,there was little or no track visible all along,made my way along the rocky hills of the fort.Unfortunately there is very little of the fort which is remaining but the sheer joy of climbing the fort where once king krishnadevaraya ruled is indeed a joy in itself. After exploring the fort until a certain level where it overlooks a huge lake below,the path ahead was either non-existant or ended with a path full of thorns,it would have been a better idea to take a local along.Rested for a while before i started my descent to meet my guide at the Gagan mahal palace.

Venkatesh was sitting in the cosy halls of the Gagan mahal palace.The palace is in itself not a huge one.The ground floor has a elaborate halls which is said to have been used for king meeting the common people.The first floor has the durbar hall which is said to have housed the king's throne along with his son thimmaraya and his queen.A little ahead of this durbar hall is a small personal natya mandira where the king krishnadevaraya is said to have enjoyed the company of his misstresses.A small cozy place where there were dance performances personally for him.A fact to be known here is that the king was a sex maniac.He was known for his insatiable thirst for sex.It is said the king used to keep himself fit with a strict regimen of excercises daily.He became a king at the age of 20 and died at the prime age of 40-establishing on of the most flourishing kingdoms in south india.

Above : Durbar hall where the king used to sit on the throne

Above : The king's gym -it is said that he used to lift these heavy stones with ease as a part of his gym regimen

Above: A kalyani near the Vajramushti Hanuman devasthana
After exploring Gagan mahal palace i headed for lunch ,where i bumped into the raghavendra
swami brindavana -the priest there gave a brief of history.It is said the one of the disciples of raghavendra swami found a lot of hidden wealth ,since he was a sanyasi he offered it to the king .The king meantime welcomed the swami ,sought his blessings for the kingdom from the disciple.In spiritual acitivities the king sought a lot of guidance from them.After the fall of the vijayanagara empire ,vyasaraya again a raghvendra swami disciple came back after the fall of the vijayanagara empire.In a bid to stop the onslaught of the jains who were flourishing he took an initiative to establish his philosophy.He took on the jains in a spiritual and intellectual debate defeating the jains in each of them.It is said that he installed one hanuman for each win against the jains .In one year alone he installed 365 hanuman idols-establishing his philosophy and giving a new turn in the religious history of Penukonda.The heat was a bit too much to take ,after taking the blessing of Raghavendra swami ,i had lunch at the matha-thanking the priest ,i decided to conintue my journey of exploring penukonda.We later visited the vedavyasa theerthara brindavana-a nice calm place followed it by shree laxmi-kanta theerthara brindavana.A small abandoned hanuman temple near this brindavana is worth seeing.

After this we headed to the hanuman which is at the edge of the city in a ram temple which is again very famous.Each of these temples is different and has an aura of its own.Beside it is a giant statue of Kumbhakarana which was established recently as a tourist attraction.It is a welcome spot for kids to be shown about the hindu mythology,a place that the kids are sure to enjoy.

Later we entered back to the town checking out the prison of thimmaraya the son of Krishnadevaraya.Some interesting information about Krishnadevaraya can be found in this link

http://de-guide-offbeat.blogspot.com/2009/10/iconi-king-krishnadevaraya.html.

After checking out the sripadaraja matha at the edge of the town ,headed back after a memorable day out in the summer.

Hosaholalu and Kikkeri Bramheswara

2010-02-13T13:37:00.013+05:30

Hosaholalu has an ancient Venkteshwara temple.Dissapointment once again for me since the priest had gone to Tirupati to invite them.Spending a few moments in the garden which is quite well maintained since it is under the ASI.

I decided to head towards Kikkeri.When i reached the place,the place was locked.A person there suggested that i go and request the priest who stays in the next lane.I walked down through the village to find the priest.When i knocked on his door ,he was having his lunch ,i patiently waited for him to complete.

He came along in his cycle about 15 minutes.During our interaction i came to know that he was from Shringeri and we both were pretty much from the same place.He showed me around the place.This has to be one of the best temples i have visited till date.The carvings are pretty much intact right through the temple ,it was a delight to the eyes.

Godess Chamundeshwari

Intricately carved pillars

Lord Channakeshava

Some parts of the temple are still incomplete indicating a war or some other kind of instablity leading to the incomplete sculptures.After a brief prayer he showed me around the temple.The huge nandi is simply amazing.Besides Nandi it also houses some very intricately carved sculptures of Lord Ganesha,Godess Chamundeshwari,Lord Channakeshava besides the main idol of Shiva linga.

The dateline dates back to ,when apparently the queen wanted to build a temple for lord Brahma,apparently was later advised by the courtiers not to do so.The queen then had a dream where Lord Shiva appeared and asked her to build a temple for him.Hence the name Brameshwara.

There is also a temple of Godess Parvathy which is set to have been built about 500 years later.The location of this temple is behind a huge lake .I can only wonder the granduer of this peaceful ,amazing temple in its hay days .

Today it is just a mute witness to the past.The temple has gone through some tumultous times with it being closed for almost 2 years inbetween for want of priests.The local MLA has spent about 2 lakhs to get some repairs done.I do hope the temple is preserved for the days to come

Varahanatha Kalahalli

2010-02-12T19:21:00.014+05:30

One has to travel from Pandavapura-Bookanekere-Varahanatha Kalahalli
to reach this place.I was impressed by this place after seeing a fellow blogger Aravind who has a knack to exploring ancient temples.

It was quite a dissapointment for me since the temple was being broken into
pieces to build a new structure.I am certainly not sure what was the need for it.Generally as a matter of rule ,one is not supposed to see the vigraha when it is under renovation.It is as a rule that they move it to a neigbouring area and offer pooja when the renovation work is being done.

But i am glad that this was not done since that would mean taking a chance with the 18 feet idol of Lord Varahanatha.I am pretty sure they would have screwed the idol for sure.The renovation work is going to take another year i was told my the priest.The vigraha is packed with sand bags and now lays among the ruins of the structure being dismantled

After paying respect at the makeshift temple which has a quite a decent picture of the main idol,i decided to have some lunch on the banks of the kabini backwaters.It was heartening to see some lovely birds on which i spent some time clicking away their pictures.I then decided that it was time to head for Hosaholalu from here.

I was in for more surprises.I also found some lovely flamingoes in one of
the small lake a little ahead.It was certainly a treat for the eyes.I would certainly love to come back to this place once again to see the vigraha of Lord Varahanatha in full splendour

Gargeshwari Ganesha,Eshwara devasthana

2010-02-09T18:29:00.007+05:30

My main target when i set out was Gargeshwari devasthana near T-narsipura

I set out early at 5:45 am ,a quick pit-stop to fill the fuel and i was off to mysore road.I broke at bidadi for a quick breakfast consisting of thatte idli and vade.

Gargeshwari is a small village about 26 kms from mysore on the way to T-Narsipura.It is supposed to be quite old temple.The main deity is Lord shiva in the form of ardhanareshwara. The temple is known to have some divine powers

A small ganesha vigraha is kept near the main deity.A small brief about the ganesha.

On the first go ,you can lift the ganesha vigraha after making a brief prayer effortlessly
Then you can think of some work aka harike ,then you try to lift the same ganesha vigraha-this time if you are work will succeed ,the ganesha will not move from there .if it does then your work will not be done.It does have some strange power ,something which cant be explained by science and logic.Besides this there is nothing much ,except for a few more sculptures.

After spending some time i headed back.On the way back i also saw a huge lake with a small tower depicting the logo of a the erstwhile hosyala dynasty.

From here i headed towards Varahanatha Kalahalli

Shani Shingnapur ,Ranjangaon Asthavinayak and Shirdi

2010-02-09T17:59:00.010+05:30

After an invitation from my former professor i planned to visit Pune.That is when he suggested about Shani Shignapur that i decided to visit the place

Shani Shignapur is about 250 kms from Pune.It is the oldest and most unique of Shani temples.We started at 9:30 am.At about 11 am ,we reached Ranjangaon ,one of the Ashtavinayaks.The idol is worth seeing ,although it is painted by flouroscent orange.After paying our repects to Lord Ganesha we headed towards Shani Shingnapur

As we entered Shani Shingnapur ,we noticed that none of the houses had any sort of doors.That is the unique thing about this place ,it is believed that Lord Shani guards the entire place.A person who steals is known not to have survived in this holy place.

Photography is not allowed inside the temple.The main vigraha ,is nothing but a granite stone in open air which is another unique thing about this place.Pilgrims offer gingely oil,flowers,coconut and flowers at this place.

Women are allowed inside the temple but are not allowed to climb the small pedastal where Lord Shani is installed.One has to take a bath and walk with the dhoti(no other clothes are allowed) to climb this small pedastal.After offering the oil,flowers at this place we finished the darshan of Lord Shani

True incident: A team of rationlists who apparently didnt believe that this place is guarded by Lord Shani had challenged that they would steal in this place and had even announced there stay for about 3 days in a bid to do so.However on the second day of the challenge the team mysteriously dissappered never to return back to Shani Shingnapur

There are some things that i certainly believe that Science cant explain comprehensively.From here Shirdi is about 60 kms .After paying our respect to Shirdi Sai baba,we returned back.Although this was only a 500 kms journey from pune-ranjangaon-Shanishingnapur-Shirdi-Pune,it was certainly more challenging since i had to travel as soon as i came to pune by bus and the next day evening i had to return to bangalore.

A small trip over the weekend ,a cool 2600kms journey was a bit taxing ,but was certainly satisfying

Trivial: Just love this Bajaj Advt on Shani Shingnapur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GEHPZbtb-I

Ethina Bhuja to Ombattugudda

2010-01-05T10:32:00.000+05:30

The weather report was not so inviting ,with incessant rain lashing in the past few days in the shiradi ghat.

After constant monitoring for the final 3 days ,me and my friend Aravind finally decided to take the chance come what to may.We set out in a volvo ,got down at Kokkada and proceeded towards Shishila.After a quick breakfast at the gokhale's house ,we decided to head towards ethina bhuja

Above : Hornbills @Shishila

Above : Wooedpecker @shishila

Our guide was ready by that time and we took an auto to the start point.The initial stretch is similar to that of amedikallu.We first hit a small stream which we had to cross.We found another group taking their breakfast at this point.

Soon we were on our way ,the path getting steeper as we moved along.I was feeling the heat as we moved ahead.After every steep ascent in our path ,i had to take a break.Water was one thing i was glad i carried in abundance.The weather was slightly overcast yet the journey was getting harder as we moved ahead.The first break was when we view the ethina bhuja peak for the first time.We decided to break at this point and had some gulps of water.

View : Amedikallu as seen from enroute to Ethina bhuja peak @Lunch point

Channappa our guide kept prodding me to move on after each stop.We decided to break after we saw the peak was very near.We emptied the packed lunch that we that we had got.One of the reasons for our slow ascent was that both of us had quite heavy backpacks.We soon hit the final grassland at 1:15 pm.We decided to keep our bags here and headed towards to the peak.Reaching the peak is a bit tricky since the final path is a bit slippery and steep.

Above : Final reach to the peak

Above : Views from the peak

As we reached the peak ,we could have views of only one side since the the peak was slowly getting engulfed by the clouds.Ten minutes later we were totally engulfed by the clouds.After spending about 25 minutes on the peak we decided that it was time to head downhill.We reached the based of the peak at about 2:15 pm.The gang we had left behind soon joined us.After a few customary exchanges ,we decided to head towards the temple ,our resting point for the day.

Above : Temple where we stayed for the night

Above : Rainbow after a brief shower at a place nearby

I was sapped and the previous treks and i was feeling exhausted after the days trek.Both of us decided to sleep.After i got up,it was time to have tea.The weather suddenly changed and it looked like it will rain anytime now.We soon decided to cook rice.After rice was done ,it was time for the recipe of the day "bendakai-alugadde huli" .Aravind overlooked the cooking of the rice.I cut the vegetables and put them to boil.Channappa as always was curious as to what was cooking for dinner.Channappa and aravind overlooked the cooking of the sambhar .Soon it was time for garnishing :) .The sambhar was now ready.Having successfully evaded the monsoon for quite a while before we had finally completed cooking dinner ,just after sunset.

We soon sat and enjoyed the moonlight.At around 7:15 pm ,we finally decided it was time for dinner.The sambhar was indeed yummy.The menu looked like -Rice-samabhar,papad and pickle.It was simply amazing having dinner in the moonlit night.

We talked for a while in front of the campfire.We heard loud noises of crackers and villagers screaming from the village nearby.We immediately knew that it was elephant on the prowl.Elephants are one thing that i am a bit wary about.We decided to be a bit more cautious on the next day.We then decided that it was time to hit the bed.We hit the bed at 8pm and i was snoring away into the night.We got up early at around 6:15 am and started getting ready.Aravind oversaw the cooking of the breakfast cum lunch -Upittu and soon we decided to hit the trail at about 8:15 am.We hit the trail which took us through some dense forests initially.

Above : Sizzling display of morning sun
Finally we hit the grasslands at about 10 am .We took a good break of about 10 minutes here savouring the dense forests of kabbinale around us.A missed oppurtunity of ombattu gudda once again reminded me that the trek was still incomplete.

We walked along the peaks and finally hit the ridge from where we could see the ombattu gudda peak.Walking along this ridge is a wonderful experience with splendid views all around us.

We soon hit the estate road in about 30 minutes and moved on towards our quest for ombattu gudda.Finally we hit the forest patch which is the final hurdle before ascending ombattu gudda.We took one final break after we hit the grassland.The views as we start ascending ombattu gudda is worth seeing.We soon were criss-crossing the hills finally making it to the Ninth and the final peak.It was a moment to cherish -finally ombattu gudda had been conquered.We relaxed a bit taking a few snaps.

The weather was a bit cloudy and we decided to bid adieu to Ombattu gudda.The walk back was a bit sapping since it was really sunny now.We finally crossed over the forest patch and hit the estate road by 1 pm.

Above : View from the final peak

We decided to have lunch .We were soon worried about getting de-hydrated since we had a good 10-12 kms from here to the end of the estate.In the next 10 minutes the weather changed dramatically it was likely that it will rain,we quickly completed our lunch.

The next couple of hours was uneventful while we walked through the jeep track ,the weather playing hide and seek.It was a lot cooler which really saved our day for both of us.Soon it started drizzling .We finally hit hosakere at 2:45 pm,our guide bid adieu ,we thanked him for accompanying us through the trek

Another interesting incident was as we walked through the estate a number of people kept asking us if we were the two guys who were lost in Ombattu gudda.We kept denying the same and had to give a patient hearing to all.Personally i have seen some dumb people from bangalore -first time trekkers attempting and getting lost in ombattu gudda.I dont have any sympathy for such people who attempt such tough treks which has a history of people getting lost.I will not be surprised if we soon hear that this route might be closed for trekkers -all due to some mindless idiotic trekkers!!!.

We finally took the bus at 4pm from hosakere and headed towards mudigere.The bus from mudigere to chikmagalur was a real pain since there was some problem in the bus .It took us 1.5 hours to cover 32 kms.We booked our tickets and lazed around at the bus stand.We had dinner and set out for bangalore by the 11 pm bus.

Valikunju peak

2010-01-05T10:04:00.000+05:30

I was keeping in touch for a long time with dinesh holla and finally had the oppurtunity to meet the yhai mangalore folks.After completing the Aramane gadde trek i headed towards Karkala.

I reached Karkala at about 6:30 pm and headed towards Ajakaru.I was picked up at Ajakaru by the Yhai team and headed towards Andaru village our base camp for the day.Badly needing a bath i first had a open air bath behind the school.We camped at a school in andaru village,it was a wonderful experience.Dinner was arranged at a local person's place,it was hot rice and sambhar for dinner.

Above : Adike thota @Andaru village

Soon we cozied up at the school and there was some good entertainment from kamath sir ,we chatted for about 1 hour before we decied to hit the bed at 10:30 pm.Somewhere in between when i got up ,it was raining very heavily.Got up early and freshened up.We had idli for breakfast and headed towards the valikunju peak.We parked our vehicles near the forest office.basavaraj would be our guide for the day.

The trek started with steep ascent at 8:30 am.It took me a while getting adjusted to the steep ascent ,coming from a tough aramane gadde trek.At about 9:30 am we hit the first break point ,a small rock platform.An interesing anecdote was narrated at one point by our guide Basavaraj.

Above : First break point

Sometime in 1994-One foreign couple was attacked by a huge python(this forest is known to have them in plenty).The male was attacked and was eaten up almost till the hips.His companion should very good presence of mind ,hurrying down to the base where she met basavaraj and managed to take him along with a sickle.All this is 30 minutes flat from the intial attack which basavaraj says is simply a miracle considering this path up and down takes atleast an hour in the best case.She soon slit the python and freed her companion ,all the while basavaraj was just a stunned and mute spectator!!!.The man survived the attack with some very deep wounds from the python sharp teeth.

Above : Spot of the python attack

As we moved along in the next hour we deviated towards our only water stream point for the day.After filling up the water bottles we moved along further.10 minutes from here we hit the first grassland.We stopped here for sometime cleaning up the leaches which had got onto our legs.

Above : First view of Valikunju peak

Above : View on the ascent to Valikunju peppered with some excellent weather

Above : View of the shola forests enroute to Valikunju peak

From here it was a 3 peak hike ,steeper than our intial path.As we moved along we spotted fresh bear droppings.Each break meant we were greeted by some amazing landscapes allround.The weather was ideal for trekking with clouds covering ,sometimes threatening with a huge downpour but later vanishing giving us some amazing landscapes.Finally we reached the peak at 12:30 pm ,a good 4 hour trek from the base.

Above : Views from the peak Valikunju

Everyone relaxed ,munching on some titbits that they had bought along.I rested for a while.Then it was photo time with people busy clicking snaps.Soon sudhir had got some gojju which was mixed with avalakki and distributed to all.It was a good munch on.Then everybody started dozing off.By 1:30 pm it was time for descent

The descent is a bit tricky ,very very slippery.One slip might and twist an ankle or tumble down ,which one has to be quite careful.Although as intially everybody thought that the descent would be quick ,it took us about 3 hours and we were back at the base by
4:30 pm.

Soon we all went to Andaru village.A pleasant surprise was waiting for us .Idlis and alu bajjis where waiting for us :).Everybody was glad and munched on to the surprise snack.I bid goodbye to everybody and Rakesh dropped me to Ajakaru from where i took a bus to Karkala.I then took a bus to dharmasthala.I bumped into a sea of people in dharmasthala :( .Quickly ate some dosa and returned to bangalore by the 11 pm volvo.

The team of yhai mangalore is really a great team to trek with,excellent team work and great camaradarie to see.It is one of the few teams where everybody pitches in.Special thanks to Dinesh holla for this oppurtunity to trek with team Yhai.

I am waiting for my next trek with Yhai Mangalore team.

Aramane gadde -part 3

2010-01-05T09:50:00.001+05:30

We started a wee bit late on day 3 by 10 am after packing up the stuff at our camp site.We reached a point from where we planned to visit choudeshwari devasthana deep inside the forest.

It is a small rock which vikram believes has some mystic powers.We trekked along and thanked the godess choudeshwari for having a safe trek in this dense forest and thanked her for blessings bestowed on us.

Enroute to Choudeshwari devasthana on day 3

Above : Another view of Aramane gadde

View on our final descent to the highway

The trek to and back from this place was again through grasslands which took us close to an hour.We started back our journey and reached the peak from where we had to descent.The look of the steep path which was about 70 degrees or more made me into a tizzy.

This has to be the trickiest descent that i have made till date.Loose gravel all along with ravines dropping to more than 4000 feet both sides is quite a task.The sun coming out blazing which only made things more tricky.The views on all the sides of the shiradi ghats is simply amazing.One can view the gundya dam being built from here.On the descent we came across some semi -precious stones-rubies

Above : We descended from the peak that can be seen above

Above : On our descent we found some semi precious stones,seen here is ruby

We broke only once in between on this descent ,finally making it to the shola forest ,where we had our lunch.I decided to give it a break since i was feeling uneasy due to the heat.We finally reached the highway at 2:30 pm bringing to an end a memorable trek.

I was dropped in a jeep till the choudeshwari devasthana of the highway from where i took a bus to dharmasthala enroute to Valikunju trek.

Aramane gadde part 2

2010-01-05T09:36:00.000+05:30

Day 2 woke up early and had tea.Went up a small peak nearby.Came back and freshened up.By now the breakfast was ready-avalakki

Above : View from where i slept :)

Had avalakki and off we were ready to go for the hike.We started at 9:15 am.We walked along some steep peaks and bypassing some of them in between.This period was quite tricky since all of the peaks has small rocks most of which have been displaced -the handiwork of wild boars which have been looking for some roots and starch berries below the ground.

Each step is tricky with valley on on side and nothing to hold on to the other side.After 2 hours of tough trekking we came along to a small peak which would further lead us to the highest peak in the area -Peak 6960.We took a small here just before the ascent below a small tree.We enjoyed the gentle breeze here and had some water.Somewhere as we crossed on this path we are separated by dense tropical evergreen forest on one side and small shola patches on the other side.This area is a bear path and both of us tredged cautiously and vikram stopped by on hearing the slightest sound in the noiseless forest that we were trekking along.

Above : View enroute to peak 6960

View from peak 6960

Above : Undulating hills on the descent from peak 6960

Above : Enroute to basecamp from peak 6960

Off we started on a animal track from here.Again the final ascent to peak 6960 was a real tricky one with lots of small rocks displaced making climbing very difficult.

Finally we reached the peak 6960 at around 11:30.We rested here and chatted along exchanging ideas about nature.The view from this peak will blow anyone of his feet.Some very very dense forest can be viewed from here ,thick canopy of evergreen forests going as far as the eye can see.This is one of the moments that i will cherish for a long time,some very dense core forests peppered with some great grasslands.

We started from peak 6960 ,taking a different route as we started back taking a couple of breaks inbetween.The return journey was again from some amazing grasslands undulating humps ,we came back to the basecamp by 2pm and we had lunch and relaxed.

I dozed off after lunch.Woke up and caught up with faint sunset.The gang had tea together and chatted for sometime.The day ended and i hit the bed at around 10pm.Somewhere around 11:30 pm the folks spurred up the fireplace which had gone dull ,leading do a loud growl in the valley ,there was a silence at the camp.At midnight i was awakened to a drizzle ,i was quick to safeguard my camera.

The next morning chat confirmed that it was a tiger which had growled the previous night.One of the guys also showed some old tiger dropping near our camping place.This place is one of the closest i have come to the big cat-truly a great experience

To be continued...

Aramane gadde -Day 1

2010-01-04T09:26:00.000+05:30

Aramane gadde

Well Aramane gadde is where the 3 trekkers got lost and died on one tragic rainy July evening.
Shiradi ghats was one area that i hadnt explored for long and i was glad to explore one of the key areas.Vikram who is a nature lover along with his gang of 3-4 local boys accompanied me on this trip.

Started from bangalore by the 22:47 Kukke volvo which was unfortunately late which left me like waiting for over 2 hours in the bus stand waiting for it.Finally the volvo arrived at 11:30pm and i got into it.I arrived at around 4am in sakleshpura.

With no place to go i managed to get a sole bed in one of the lodges where i had to sleep with the caretaker of the lodge.I got up by 6:30 am and got ready and had breakfast.By 8 am i was on my way with Vikram and gang moving towards Kadumane estate.

The jeep dropped us a bit inside into our jeep track near a stream.We quickly munched onto some yummy puliyogare and started our trek by 9:30 am.The intial path is through grasslands and some amazing landscapes.The ridges and the paths make way for some beautiful landscapes.Vikram showed around some peculiar plants and trees as we moved along.

Above : Views as we trekked along enroute to Aramanegadde

We soon stopped at a one rocky place where a small stream flowed.We quenched our thirst and relaxed here.There is a small temple believed to be of the maharaja era ,we went there and prayed there -it is a custom here ,we had coconut and bananna as the prasada.We were soon on our way from here trekking through some grasslands,the sun was slowly coming out making the trek through the grasslands slightly tougher.

We soon came across the place were the 3 trekkers lost their lives and the crash site of the navy helicopters.It is just plain grassland and no trees anywhere near this place ,yet navigational equipment dont work at this spot.We saw some faint remains of the helicopters at this spot.

Above : 1)Helicopter crash site 2)Lunch site on day 1

We then entered some very small patches of trees where small streams flowed.Soon we entered a dense patch of forest where we found some very huge trees some as tall as 400 to 500 feet in height.Then we hit one of the bigger streams and it was decided that it will be time for lunch.Time was 12:30pm.Lunch was simple with ganji and mosaru,nevertheless very tasty and yummy.

We started from here by about 1:45 pm .Vikram had warned me of a very steep patch here ,but surprisingly to it wasnt as steep as he had told me.Only later did we realize that we took a new route created by deers and sambhars and hence it was manageable :).We soon hit a grassland where we rested for about 15 minutes.

Above : Aramanegadde

About 45 minutes from here we hit Aramane gadde-a plain flat in the middle of nowhere.It is believed this is the place where once mysore maharaja cultivated paddy for sometime ,evidence of two small check dams can be seen in the shola forests near the aramane gadde.Apparently the raja had also planned to build a palace at this place which didnt materialize due to some reason.It is a nice view of plain flat grassland at this place

Above : A weird looking insect

Above : Campsite
The next couple of hours was uneventful and we reached a cave which was initially planned to be our destination for the day but we later decided to abandon it and camp at small stream and waterfall area.It was about 5 pm now and i was exhausted after the hard days trek,i decided to rest for a while.This place is very scenic with a several stage waterfall a little below our camping place.The intial path of the stream was a natural pool :)

All of us had tea by 5:30 pm and enjoyed the sunset as we ended day 1 on an amazing scenic day in aramane gadde.Dinner was at 8:30 pm with rice,sambhar and radish raita.I was tired and retired for the day by 9:30 pm .Sometime in the night i woke up,it was an amazing moonlit night ,i was also looking out for some wild animals since we had camped at a waterhole.

End of a memorable day.Continued

Basic tenets of trekking

2010-01-01T06:33:00.000+05:30

I have been hearing about this for a while and i thought that this deserves a post for sure

1)I have heard from a lot of guides and people who offer their place/food for trekkers being left high and dry since folks from "bangalore" dont turn up

It is a shame that people dont care about time and effort .Most of these guides live on daily wages,so if you are cancelling your trip ,inform him by calling him up,that stands true for people who painstakingly prepare food and folks dont turn up

Remember all it takes is 1 phone call ,please do it

2)Another interesting thing that i find is the so called first time trekkers go in for tough treks like ombattu gudda and the like and get lost

Well it is high time the so called trekkers have some sanity and think before making such blunders.It is suggested that trekkers take guides and have done some amount of trekking before heading for such tough treks

Amedikal Part-2

2009-12-07T15:43:00.001+05:30

One of the family members Gopu Gokhale had come to pick me up in his scooter .I reached there place ,got ready by 7:30 am.They served me breakfast-hot and steaming idlies with some delectable chatni.I wanted to start as early as possible.By the time the packed lunch was ready it was about 8:00 am.Again he went out to check with the guide and arrange for the auto.I headed to the nearby bus stand by which time -my man friday was waiting for me-Channappa gowda.He parcelled some sugar and tea powder for the trip.We took the auto to the starting point.So by around 8:45 am we started on our trek.

Below : View of Gokhale's house
The intial part was through some bamboo forest,there was forest cover which made the trek easier.We soon made some quick ground.At around 10 am we took a small break ,had some oranges at this point.The sun was coming out and it was getting very sunny.The forest cover had vanished and we were into the grasslands by now.The sun was really harsh on us .The next couple of hours was uneventful with channappa prodding me to keep moving along.The sun was getting really tough on me ,finally we were running out of water by now.We soon reached the water point at 12:30 pm.I was totally exhausted by now.I was sweating profusely now and was dead tired now.I told channappa that we shall rest here for sometime before we start again.By the time i had finished having some water,the whole scene changed in just about 10 minutes flat.Clouds were hovering around and we could hear the thunder of the clouds.We both looked at each other.I told channappa ,we are moving now to the next place where could have some shade and probably rest for the day.

Above : A strange looking mushroom

First view of Amedikallu peak

He agreed instantly.As we were approaching the next point a rock cave,i vomitted.I was down and out completely.The heat and the exhaustion was taking its toll on me.Channappa also reminded me that the lack of sleep the day before could be the cause .Channappa was now worried ,but the good part of it we were very close to the rock cave ,so in the next 10 minutes we reached the cave.It started raining once we reached the place.Channappa was glad we made it.This was a big relief for me since i was pushed to the limit and we had to beat the rain somehow,and we did it.Channappa soon began collecting firewood for the night.The place was quite cozy.

Above :The giant tree infront of our cave

Soon the rain started getting heavy and i was too exhauste and i had slept for about 3 hours now.I got up at around 4pm and saw that by now it was raining very heavily all around.I checked with the guide if he had his lunch and he said that he was waiting for me -i was touched.Soon we opened our packets and had the idlies with the pickles.

Above : The huge cave where we stayed for the night

Channappa was a tea freak,he soon prepared some hot black tea,it was soothing.I checked with him if could now go up the peak since it had stopped raining for a while now.He told that there is no way we can stop inbetween if we started now.Also i had rained heavily and slippery now.The peak was not visible and i told him that considering all this we should put of the ascent to the peak for the morrow.Within 30 minutes it started pouring heavily and we just cozied up in the cave.

Above : The view infront of our cave when it rained :)

The only place where we could have had a safe place to be dry and cozy was this cave.Channappa and me were really glad now.All through the noon we had enjoyed some amazing display of entertainment of the rain god.It was just like sitting in a auditorium and watching a movie.

Above : The fireplace is ready :)

By around 5:15 pm it had stopped raining briefly,we went out a little to check out the place.Took a few snaps and we were back once the sunset.

Above: Just after it had briefly stopped raining

We couldnt catch the sunet due to the clouds.Channappa was sad that we couldnt make it to the peak on this day.I kept reminding him that there are somethings we dont have a hold on.We soon headed back since it was getting dark now.He lit up the fire ,soon both of us cozied near the fireplace and it started raining heavily again.

At around 7pm ,i suggested that we have a early dinner.Channappa agreed.This was another icing on the cake which was waiting to unfold.I opened up the MTR and heated it in the vessle which channappa had bought,i added some water to it (that is my way of doing it :) ).Channappa was curious to know why ? :).I just asked him to wait and watch.Meanwhile i had got some chapatis ,so it was chapati with pickle along with MTR which was getting heated.Channappa was curious as to what i was upto.It is not over yet,i opened up the lijjat pappad and roasted it in the fire.And lo the dinner for the maharaja was ready ;).

This is one of my best dinners i have had.The MTR was hot,yummy ,had some pickles to it.With chapati and pappad,it was simply an awesome dinner.To add to this nature was continuing to entertain me with the rain :) .With me and channappa we chatted through,this has to be one my best dinners i had :).

I decided to hit the bed early ,channappa was not sleepy ,suggested that he put a small fire on the other entrance ,just to ward out any wild animals just in case.Soon i had slept and it was pouring heavily even i headed for sleep.Fortunately the cave gave us very good protection.

Channappa had warned me that there might be some bandicoots.Somewhere in between i woke up to some sound around me.It was just one of the plastic cover moving around.Channappa was still awake since he told me he wasnt sleepy,turned around to see that the rain had stopped and i could see the stars clearly now.The got up couple of more times in between.Soon i woke up in the morning and saw the time it was 6:30 am.I saw that channappa was asleep,woke him up ,he was stunned as to how he was asleep since he had promised me that he would wake me up at 5:30 am.I told him not worry much.A tea freak he soon began making tea religiously.Told him i shall skip tea since i wanted to reach the peak soon.He suggested that i start heading up the hill and soon he will join me in a moment.

I started heading up capturing some amazing landscapes with clouds all around.Although the sunrise couldnt be seen due the clouds which were still clearing,it was setting some amazing displays hiding behind the clouds.Started of the climb with my hawai chappals,which is one of the wackiest things i have done on treks.The ascent was tough,climbing through was difficult.The sun climbing up quickly by now.Somewhere in between we spotted civet cat droppings.Channapa told me the previous night that we was woken up twice when there was a fierce fight between 2 civet cats as he could hear the noises very well very near from our place.

We reached the peak finally.The sky was clear and the views from the peak was simply out of this world.Spent some time clicking snaps.One can view Ethina Bhuja,Gadaikallu,minchukallu and ombattu gudda from this peak.After clicking a few snaps ,we rested for a while enjoying the nice breeze.After spending almost 45 minutes to an hour we decied to head down.The decent was a bit tricky and i slipped at two spots.Soon we reached our cave at 9am spending about 40 minutes in the descent.

Above : View towards dharmasthala side

Above : View of Minchukallu as seen from Amedikallu peak

Above: Amedikallu peak

Channappa soon decided to make some tea,i just didnt want to say no :).We both had chappatis and pickles.We had hardly had the breakfast and tea when he checked the time,it was 9:30 am .Both of us were surprised since we just couldnt understand how half an hour had gone by.We soon packed things in no time and started the descent.

The descent was quite quick since i wanted to make it to the forest cover part .The sun today was really harsh and was getting hotter than the day before quickly.We soon reached the first forest cover by 10:30am,channappa told that the descent was really fast and it this place we could reach the base by 11:30 am.We decided to slow down a bit after we entered the forest cover clicking some snaps on the way down.We reached the base by 11:45am.A cool 2:45 minutes was the climbdown.Sun was very harsh,we reached the bridge where we started in 10 minutes back.Channappa ran and called the auto ,while i freshened up and drank some water.I decied to give Ethina bhuja a skip since i was drained out completely and will come back again to cover the peak :).

I was eager to make it to the shishila temple which i was told would close at 1pm.I reached Gokhale's place at around 12:10 pm and told them that i would take bath and head to the temple and then have lunch once i am back from the temple.Again i must mention the kind nature of the gokhale's.The grandmother in the house gave me water as soon as i came .When i told that i would have lunch later,she got me butter milk and told me there is nothing stopping you from having this :).Gulped down about 4 glasses of buttermilk in notime :).Had bath and again i must mention the kind nature of the gokhale's ,he dropped me till the temple.

I forgot to take my camera :(.The place is very peaceful and it was arati time at 12:45 pm , the pooje was very good and soothing.The murthi is taken around in procession inside the temple which is another interesting part of the pooje.I came out to see the fishes in the river ,they were amazing.Spent some time on the hanging bridge,then headed back to gokhales house.Got a drop in the bike from a guy,was glad since it was very hot.

Had lunch when i was reminded that there is a bus at 2:45 pm,i had intially planned to leave at 4:30 pm bus and had decided to change the plans with this piece of information.

Reached kokkada at 3:20pm .Was lucky to get a rajahamse heading towards bangalore at 3:30 pm.I hoped to reach bangalore by 10 pm.Soon shiradi ghat started.This was the first time i was covering this place in the broad daylight.I was in for a surprise ,there was a huge tusker blocking the road.Quickly took out the camera and was trying to take the snap.The driver seeing me with the camera ,asked me to get down and take the snap .I was delighted with what i heard.Quickly captured some shots.There were about 10-15 vehicles piled up on either side.The elephant had strayed out from the kempu hole nearby which flows nearby.

But one thing which i was glad to see was that all vehicles were atleast 400-500 meteres away and nobody were teasing it in anyway.The tusker saw both ways crossed the road and headed back to the kempuhole much to the relief of all of us.

The rest of the journey was uneventful,reached bangalore by 10:30 pm

Amedikal-Part1

2009-12-07T15:40:00.000+05:30

This trek has been by far the most eventful,a tough ,sweet and one of my best treks yet.

The intial plan was to trek to Amedikal and then to Ethina Bhuja.I started of from bangalore on a thursday night.The bus had only about 6 people and by the time it departed had about 20 people onboard,thanks to some indegenious marketing by the driver cum conductor of the KSRTC bus!!!.Soon the trouble started with a small baby started crying.I was concerned when the baby didnt stop crying even after an hour.

I was getting really impatient by then since i couldnt sleep,time was around 11pm.The worst part of it was the child was sitting the same row as mine and it was like a surround sound.But i couldnt say anything.I realised that nothing much could be done,it was after all a kid and really felt sorry for the baby.The guy then later told that it was a 10 month old baby and it was travelling for the first time.

The nice part of it was at around 1am everybody started started trying to help out the couple in giving ideas of put the kid to sleep,the lights were on all through now.At around that time the guy decided to head towards the cabin .Lights went off at around that time.I decided to sleep ,but somehow couldn't sleep.The ride was getting bumpier now .Somewhere at around that time the bus stopped for dinner.The bus started again.Just when the bus had left sakleshpura and just when i was catching with some sleep,i was woken up once again!!!.This time an old man -(a part of a family with his wife and daughter both of whom were asleep) had got down without informing the driver!!!.This was realized by some person who had now cozied up in the cabin-again some 6 people in the cabin- i dont know what was the reason.And the stranger part of it was he informed the driver after about 20kms from sakleshpura!!!.There was commotion and driver was angry as to why folks get down without informing him.There was no signal -finally they managed to contact that old man ,he told that he is in another bus and would join the family at dharmasthala .And then it was the famous shiradi ghat -the bumpy road made sure that i couldnt sleep.

Meanwhile i had by now told the driver about my intention of getting down at Kokkada 3 times lest he forgets in this commotion and i know the pain of not getting down at the right spot.Soon i arrived at Kokkoda.time was 4:30am ,was surprised to see a shop was open at that time!!!.I had nothing to do ,so was chatting up with guy.He confirmed that there would be a milk van which would take me to shishila and it would arrive at 6am.Spent my time idling away.The milk van arrived at 6:20 am and he took me shishila by around 6:55 am.

Kaidala Temple

2009-11-30T10:08:00.000+05:30

I decided to head to Kaidala after completing Fort Madhugiri.From Madhugiri Kaidala is about 50 kms.The roads leading to this place was under repair,so had a tough time navigating to this place.
The main vigraha of Lord Channakeshava is quite impressive.Legend has it that famous sculptor -Jakkanachari had built this impressive vigraha in his left hand.

Apart from the main vigraha ,there are a few sculptures worth seeing.I asked the poojari if i could take a snap.I was waiting for almost 30 minutes to pop this question to him.

He said -"just dont ask-you may click the snaps".I was just delighted at this and went ahead to click couple of snaps. :)

Another hoysala temple of Sri Gangadhareshwara Temple is just right beside it.I clicked a few snaps here as well.The priest here seemed to be quite rude.A small kid 7- 8 years was just holding the pillar and he admonished him badly for that.I was sad and left the place after praying to Lord shiva.Headed back to bangalore.Had lunch on the way back @Kamat and reached home by 4pm.

Another fort,another temple ,another day,i am just loving it :)

Fort Madhugiri

2009-11-30T09:36:00.000+05:30

Well i had been covering forts in the tumkur district and one major fort eluded me in my quest -Madhugiri fort.After Nijagal, Devarayandurga, Channarayandurga, Midigeshi and Madakasira,finally Madhugiri is conquered :)

I parked my vehicle in front of the fort which coincidentally also houses a court complex.Started the trek @ 8:30 am.The climb is relatively easy and made good ground.
At the first level of the fort,one can spot a huge kalyani which is now dry unfortunately.There are some interesting rooms -the entry to which is dificult since there is some thick undergrowth.However i managed to check out these places.They seems to be massive granaries -since the there were no doors to these places ,except for a small opening for one person to enter.

The huge watchtower near the granary is simply majestic.As one climbs this watch tower ,one feels like a king literally :).Proceeding from here ,one has to climb a series of steps carved out of the rocks.The iron railings are missings/worn out and there are none now.The steep climb from here ,leads to a place which is the trickiest part of the fort.
One has to be very careful,since this climb to the entrance to the next level of the fort ,might be fatal if one slips from here.Meanwhile i noticed a few abonded footwear and i assumed somebody should be on the fort.While climbing this stretch it is advised that one climbs with barefoot.
After reaching level 2,the steps vanish,all that remains is faint carved steps in the rocks which again is very slippery.Thinking that i might be very near to the summit i reached the next level 3.Again the entrance to the place is a bit tricky and slippery.I reached this place thinking that i had reached the summit when i heard some voices,it turned out some local people had climbed the fort ahead of me and they were returning back.They posed for the snaps and i carried on.From here it becomes even tricker where one has to climb only on steep rockface.Due to rains recently there was some algae around and i had my heart in my mouth.

Finally i managed to reach the level 4 and the topmost level of the fort.Spent about half an hour clicking snaps and resting which is when i realised that during my climb i hadnt drank any water :) .Quickly had some water since i was very thirsty by then.I had delayed drinking water thinking everytime that the summit was just around the corner.

I climbed down slowly by around 11:30 am ,on the way i saw many people climbing up the fort.The climbdown-i enjoyed the gentle breeze blowing and took multiple breaks to enjoy the view from the fort.

I also liked the court complex below,which also houses a watch tower :).One the way back i decided to visit Kaidala

To be continued..

Charmadi ghat trek

2009-11-23T09:39:00.000+05:30

Alekan falls-Balekalgudda-Kodekalgudda-Anadka falls

To start with i havent trekked much in the charmadi ghat ranges and was wondering about it.Thats when my friend Aravind GJ's blog caught my attention.After making all the enquiries me and my friend Mahantesh decided to go for this trek

I booked a Rajahamsa thinking that i will get down at Kottigehara in the charmadi ghats but my plans were squashed when the conductor mocked at me saying that rajahamsa dont go via the charmadi ghat.Nevertheless we reached dharmasthala at 5:15 am in the morning which was a blessing in disguise for us.As soon as we got down we got a bus headed towards shimoga via the charmadi ghat.

Checked with the conductor and the driver and they didnt know where the falls come ,i decided that we will get down before kottigehara and walk downhill instead of uphill.The morning was very pleasant and the walk was too good.We met a guy who scared us telling us not to venture into the gudda.He guided us to Alekan falls.We finished our morning ablutions and had breakfast which we had got.

We came to the road and we met a guy who told us that he was from the estate nearby and told us that there would be a auto which would bring labourers and we could take the same auto towards bidurutala village.Soon enough the Auto came by and we took it to reach bidurutale @Rs 30 :) .We started climbing the place which was quite steep.It took us about an hour to cover the steep 3km stretch with our heavy backpacks.We managed to reach the village when one guy was heading out and he was in a hurry .We dumped bags at his house and told him that we will return back for the evening.
He asked us to stick to the "kal-dari" and we did so,but after about 3 kms,the the path abruptly ended with thick shola jungle.It was impossible to move ahead since the undergrowth was full and we even couldnt see anything due to such thick growth.We took a left turn and climbed a small peak.I checked all the peaks and managed to pin-point Balekalgudda-the tallest of them all.Next was to figure out the route.Small calculation of going over the small hillocks would lead us to the peak.But i was worried since i thought there might be a valley which i would not be able to see and i was sure that if there is a valley there would be a shola forest there.Luckily we managed to reach Balekalgudda.The weather was very pleasant .We took a few snaps and decided to rest for a while atop the peak.

After spending about an hour on the peak,it began to get very windy,we decided to get down and check out Kodekalgudda which is right opposite to Balakalgudda,but again one has to climb down and go through a circuituos route since there is cliff and a valley between the peak and kodekalgudda.We slowly trekked along and reached kodekalgudda in about 45 minutes.By now the sun was playing hide and seek.We were exhausted by now and decided to rest for a while.I was wary since the place looked like an ideal habitat of bear.Didnt want to take any chances.Besides it was getting overcast and hence we decided to head towards bidurutale village ,our basecamp for the day.

After loosing our way a bit ,we managed to reach the village by 4pm .There were some tense moments when we ran out of water for a while ,thankfully we made it in one-piece to the village.We headed out to dharmasthala the next day ,dumped our bags in a room and we decided to hire a jeep to anadka falls.The return trip cost us about Rs600 which was well worth it since the driver also came with us a guide to show the falls.From didupe village one has to walk for about 3 kms through the village ,mountains and the cross the stream in between to reach the falls.The falls is simply amazing and one of the best i have seen till date.We both had a bath for about 45 mintues ,before decided to head back.

Came back had lunch at guruprasad hotel in ujire ,before heading back to dharmasthala .We had a bath ,had darshan and then headed back to bangalore by the 11pm bus

Fort Madakasira

2009-11-19T18:48:00.000+05:30

After a 3 week jinx ,i finally decided to break the shackles and was on tender hooks as to when will i get out of bangalore

Started early by 5:20 am and headed to dobaspet via the nice road.Had a quick breakfast at the now usual hotel at madhugiri and moved on.Even as i was heading towards madakasira as fast as i could ,i couldnt resist the photo oppurtunity with plenty of birds on this route

Spent almost 30-40 minutes enroute in clicking snaps of the kingfishers and the parrots.Finally reached madakasira at around 9:30 am ,quickly started climbing the fort.

The small town has grown inside the walls of the fort and one has to wade through the street before entering the fort.After a brief period of about 20 mintues climb ,reached the amazing staircase which is surrounded by two huge rocks which are very tall.There is a lot of shade here and the one can enjoy the cool breeze blowing over the rock face.

Relaxed at this point for a while before heading for more ahead.The next stop was at the the viewpoint where one can find the amazing vistas of the madakasira town.

After clicking numerous snaps ,finally moved ahead.Here one can see two huge towers ,one of the biggest in the forts that i have come across in my visit to the forts.Relaxed a bit ,enjoying the the huge towers and sinking in the moment-had some oranges.It was getting sunny and decided to move ahead to explore the temple and the fort ahead.There is a small kalyani here and temple of lord shiva.

There is a open space with rock boulders just behind this ,meandered through this place which finally leads to a flight of steps to the top of the fort,decided to give it a miss since there was a gang of monkeys and i have had bad experiences once before in shivagange.

There are no decent places to eat in madakasira ,i had packed mosaranna ,so managed to survive the scare.I had my food just outside hemavathy .It was simply blazing hot ,rested for a while under some tree shade.Hemavathy is about 35 kms from Madakasira and is home to panchaligeshwara built by Nolumbas in the 10 century.

The temple complex also has a ASI musuem.The temple has some intricately carved sculptures.One unique thing about this place is Lord shiva can be seen in the Manava Akara which is unique.Apart from this the giant Nandi in front of each of the temple complexes is another unique thing about this place.Headed back to bangalore,which was uneventful this time around

3 Day trip Agumbe-shringeri-mulyanagiri

2009-10-15T09:58:00.000+05:30

Oct 2-3-4

This trek was organized by Yhai-chandru.As usual set out in the TT,we arrived early morning at Doddamane -a homestay.The place is said to be about 120 years old ,it is looked after by Kasturamma The place is quite huge ,has got a tiled roof,lots of wooden pillars.We quickly got freshed up .By then breakfast was ready-Ricebath.Had them and we were ready to head towards our first point - Barkana falls view-point.

As we reached the point it started raining heavily,it was indeed a sight to be enjoyed.the whole place was green.We initially had to cross a waist high stream which was flowing in full throttle.Enroute we encountered several small and big streams.the water in the streams is worth drinking and had quite a few gulps enroute. It took us a little over an hour to cover the 6km stretch.The entire valley was covered with mist and we couldnt see anything,but
the walk through this decent stretch was quite a good experience.We returned back and then headed towards Jogi-gundi-another water falls.This was just about 2 kms of walk and the falls was just awesome in the monsoon.The water increased by almost 30% in the 15 minutes we stayed there.There was no way we could enter the falls area ,we soaked in the moment and started back.

We walked backed to the homestay.i bought myself a new umbrella nearby since the umbrella i bought was leaking due the heavy rain.We had lunch and rested for a while .We then headed to the Agumbe rainforest research station.Vipul gave us quite a bit of information about the research they undertake and what sort of work they are into.We decided to head toward the famous sunset point -again we were dissapointed due to the heavy fog-but all the while
enjoying the rain in Agumbe.

The next day we headed towards Kundadri betta-a jain shrine is said to be atop this scenic hill.The trek was along the winding road and the vistas as we walked ahead to the summit was worth watching.The summit has a jain shrine which remains locked.For a brief moment we
got a view of the plains from here since the entire area was covered by fog till then.The scenary from here will just blow you off your feet.Contended we headed to Sirimane falls-A good shallow
place for people to enjoy bathing in the falls.Even this falls was overflowing with heavy water output.I had a bath since the next destination was shringeri.Visited the temple ,had a fanstastic
darshan of sharadadevi and then headed for lunch at the temple.

Next destination was Mulyangiri ,we decided to halt at the sethalyanagiri devasthana.Travelling under heavy fog with zero visibility was quite a task.We hit the bit and it was raining heavily.The next morning was no better ,covered by thick fog.We decided to trek through the hills for a bit before we realized it would be futile ,we ended up trekking on the road.Soon after we again hit the grasslands up a decent hill.Here we were caught with winds of over 60 kmph and it was raining as well.People couldnt stand their ground.Finally we reached the summit with great
difficulty.The return back was uneventful -peppered with heavy rain and wind.We decided that it was time to head back home.Enroute we managed to stop at Belur-any number of visits to this place does not bore me at all.

The best part of this trip was rain-my favourite season.One has to experience the rains in the malnad region to know what monsoon really is.Hospitality of Kasturamma makes the homestay a really good experience

Fort Midigeshi

2009-10-13T20:20:00.000+05:30

Date : 9/10/2009
History : The name Midigeshi is made up of 2 words Midi or himmadi-which means ankle in english and keshi means Hair. So there was once a queen who ruled this place who had long hair till her ankles and hence the name Midikeshi or Midigeshi.This place was steaming with political activity in its hey days and also has seen lot of bloodshed.History dates back to 9th century but Midigeshi gained prominence in the 16th century.

Source : My guide to history- Mr M.R Vijayashankar Metikurke

Started the day a little late and i was the culprit this time,i was late by about 25 minutes on this trip.Packed breakfast,fuel stop @shell and headed towards the nice road.I was joined by Pratibha and her friend Kiran on this trek.At about 8:30 am ,we were slighlty ahead of Devarayandurga when we decided to have breakfast,stopped the car and hogged on the
idlies that we had got.It was pleasant morning with lots of birds around the place.

We reached Midigeshi at around 10 am.An old man was curious to know as to why we were there ,he suspected as a part of the central govt employees who have come to assess the place :) .We convinced him that we had come there to see the fort,he insisted that we take a guide to show us the place.

Puttaraju would be our guide for the day,he said that he would join us in 10 minutes since he had to have his food,till then we decided to explore the ancient venkateshware temple at the base of the fort ,a small yet beautiful temple ,we finished clicking pictures by then Puttaraju -our guide was waiting for us show us around.Initial climb is a easy ,though one encounters loose gravel at certain places.

This fort can only be climbed from one side,after the intial easy clime,one encounters a steep cliff,one has to be careful while climbing this part of the fort.After this is there are is a fleet of steps.The steps slide towards one side and are very smooth in some areas ,one has to very careful here.Also one has to be careful not to look down from this place ,one can see the steep ascent made which can be hair-raising to say the least.We enter the the main entrance gate of the fort here.One can see the majestic strong walls of the fort with the the gun-slots and the canon points

As we moved further ,we could spot the ammunition storage area,we decided to explore it ,a 3 roomed area which was once the house of several types of ammunition.It is slightly tricky to approach this area since this place is lower than the ground level except for the roof ,there was dense undergrowth all around ,so we had to walk over the doom of the roof to enter this place.Finally we headed towards the summit -were one can spot the Minaret which is basically a tomb of erstwhile ruler

One can also checkout the rooms to stay one of which has a bathing area as well.Another important aspect of the rooms is that they have a small opening on the roof which was meant to be a natural ventilation opening ,a latch to this seems to be missing according to me.

Two huge ragi storage areas can also be spotted here.At the other end ,a little downhill is another living area with a water storage area.This water storage area has never dried till date apparently according to Puttaraju.We decided against exploring this place since the route was quite a steep climb down .

We took a deep breath sinked in the moment ,sun was blazing down ,puttaraju suggested that we start back since it is going to get more hot by the time we go down.We slowly started our trek downhill.Downhill was easy ,Puttaraju suggested we remove our footwear since it might be very slippery.We reached the base of the fort by around 1 pm.We drank water from the borewell
nearby and decided to rest as the sun was just blazing down.As soon as we settled down we spotted quite a few birds there -the priced catch was the woodpecker

According to Puttaraju,wildlife spotted by him include Bears,civet cat,fox,leopard-which has also killed livesstock

We also checked out an old jain temple -Bhagawan Suparshwanatha in the kayotsarga posture,renovation is underway at this temple now ,the folks where more than keen to show us the idol which was kept in a adjacent building.By now we were exhausted ,we headed to the nearest shop and gulped down some cold drinks which was when the body came back to normalcy :)

We had some lunch @ madhugiri and headed back .On the way back we decided to check out Goruvanahalli Lakshmi devasthana ,had darshan there.There is a dam called teetha ,relaxed there and headed back to bangalore .All in all a good day spent.

Acknowledgement : This place was first written by Srinidhi Raghavendra in deccan herald.

Aiyur

2009-09-27T12:46:00.000+05:30

I was wondering what to do on the weekend when sid told me about aiyur reserveforest.So
i decided to join him and two other folks from his office who were coming for this trip. We were to join ashish-sids friend at electronic city,luckily i got a direct bus to electronic city ,reached there by 9am,had to wait for a while before sid and his friends joined us.

We headed towards hosur,passing through country side enjoying spotting birds,some amazing pleasant weather.We reached a small hamlet where we decided to have lunch.The lunch was simply amazing to say the least.Hot sambhar and rice -it just made my day :)

We headed towards the aiyur forest,spent some time at the water hole,nice cool atmosphere with gentle breeze blowing.shortly thereafter we visited the spider valley home to some unqiue spiders which is why the name.

Spent some time at the valley,then on the way back we visited the watch tower.Headed back by 5pm ,had coffee on the way back,reached back home by 8pm,all in all it was a good relaxing ಡೇ

Fort Pavagada

2009-09-12T12:38:00.000+05:30

Fort pavagada is situated right inside -in the heart of the city.There is a small rock cut anjaneya swamy temple also called kote anjaneya swami at the bottom of the fort ,we prayed to lord anjaneya and started our trek by about 10:30 am

We started climbly slowly as the heat was simply too much -this place is mostly plains with a few mountains here and there.We were soon joined by a bunch of kids and we enjoyed a lot by talking to them and climbing up the fort.

This fort is well kept inspite of its non maintenance .We hardly found anybody in the fort on that day.A local guy called sadanand soon began showing us around the fort.

Once we reached the top of the fort,one can see a massive well which is supposed to be very deep.one can see the place of the simhasana with 2 elephants at the entrance in the open air.There are numerous watch towers at the top one can explore.We checked out the underground entrance which is supposed to run to a place somewhere in the city,one can explore this underground route if one comes prepared.

We then headed to a place which is supposed to be the coolest place on the fort,this place is apparently the place where the fort stored its milk products in two huge mud mounds.this place is surprisingly cooler even to this day.

By now we could see rains approaching and decided to check out the bheemna donne.We checked out this natural water storage place -the water here is supposed to be very sweet-also called bheemana donne.By now it started pouring heavily and we took shelter at one of the shelters at the corner of the fort .

My friend prashanth had got something to eat and we all shared the eatables. We then checked out the shelter areas for the soldiers.The kid was about to throw the wrapper of the chips ,when i told him not to do so and to dispose all rubbish at dustbins only,impressing upon them to conserve nature and how it could degrade nature.Meekly he told that nobody ever told this to me.I dont hold the kid responsible -but it is high time the schools inculcate such small things which can go a long way in preserving nature.
Being the month of ramzan some kids headed straight to the small mosque in the fort.The pouring rain brought the temperature down much to my delight.This is one of my best experiences of a fort till date.

By now the kids and the guy who showed us around wanted to take our leave and we thanked them for showing us around and giving us some very good company.The rain showed no signs of reducing.thankfully after about 15 minutes rain stopped and we decided to head to the topmost part of the fort.Just as we were moving ahead ,the natural swimming pool caught out attention-the really was impressed by the way they made best use of the natural areas around the fort.

We then headed to the topmost tier of the fort-the view from this place will just sweep you of your feet.We then started our descent from the fort.The sun came came out blazing and i had a tough time in the heat.We soon headed for bangalore in my maruti 800.

One can also visit the shani temple which again is very near to the fort.Also just on the outskirts of the city is kanive lakshmi narasimhaswamy devasthana ,although it was locked we prayed from outside and headed back to bangalore.

Pavagada is 180 kms from bangalore and i am glad i made it in 3 hours on the way back :)

ps: the approach to the fort in the beginning is slightly dirty ,so please watch out

Kalahatty jungle camp

2009-09-08T19:06:00.000+05:30

Location : 20 kms from mudhumalai checkpost
The location is excellent,when we had been there,there was nobody else at the place.It is a huge place with excellent backdrops of the forest.The incharge Srinivas is very courteous.

A trek to the nearby phantom peak was excellent.Just relaxing in the lap of nature is one of the best things you can do here.

Food served is also excellent ,both vegetarian and non-vegetarian ,an ideal weekend ಗೆತವಿ

Channarayandurga

2009-08-15T20:14:00.000+05:30

Not knowing what to expect ,i started out from Bangalore in my Airavata-maruti 800.

I headed straight to the brahmins cafe bar where i got some idlis parcelled for the day and headed towards tumkur and bump i was caught in one of the worst traffic jams-it was Aug 15 and i could school children in their parents vehicles in a hurry to get to the school

Soon i hit a place where i had to drive my 800 through an uneven mud surface which was kind of tricky since it would hit the oil sump,just took a chance i gave it a try and lo with a small hit i was through ,there was a short cut which was waiting for me which took me through small villages and leading right infront of the Nice Tumkur road exit.

So i was back on track and headed straight to devarayana durga,being the last shravana shanivara the place was abuzz with people,by the time i had the darshan and checked out the vistas from the top of the temple ,it was around 11 am and headed straight to the other temple at the foothills and there was a kilometer long queue seeing which i decided to give a break.On the way back took a quick break and munced some idlies near a a lake and headed towards channarayanadurga

In about an hour i was at the base of the fort.I asked a elderly man if somebody could show me around the fort and lo mohd hussain -my guide no 1 for the day arrived.We soon headed for the fort which is just behind the small village,in no time mohd hussain climbed up and went ahead by quite a distance.

I was taking a break every now and then -since it was quite sunny by now.i could see thick smoke coming out on the top tier of the fort ,was wondering who would be there .Anyways i entered the fort and soon i entered the first level which has a huge kalyani.I was greeted by my men friday chitappa and chitappa ,who decided to show me around the place for the day.

I was really impressed by the natural landscaping done on this front,there are umpteen water storage areas and the huge main kalyani has never gone dry till date.Other key areas of the fort include the grain storage areas which are like huge 100 x 100 feet chambers with a single window -shows that food storage was also well planned for.

The view from different levels of the fort is indeed a sight to remember.All in all a good exploration ,i thanked the father and son duo who knew much more than mohd hussain

ps: the traffic jam i got know in the next days papers was due to the protest of the death of the school girl who was crossing the highway by a lorry,my condolences to the young girl and i hope there are some underpasses built and people use them once they are built.

A tribute to a good friend

2009-05-02T13:03:00.000+05:30

We first met Boraiah as a rookie straight out of the IFS exam on his first assignment.He was a mild mannered gentleman who was indeed very friendly.

It was a fun trek to Nagamalai on which he accompanied us as a guide and never during this trek did he cease an oppurtunity to interact with the locals to check on the movements of elephants and other wildlife in the area.Speaking chaste kannada we were certainly impressed by his knowledge of the local wildlife as well the different flora in the jungles.The trek went to smoothly at the end of which we found a good friend for life.

It is said that all good things start with a small dream and as a small boy in his school,he was enamoured by the forests.It was one such dream on a visit to BR hills as a school kid that he had dreamt of being a forest officer.Today we can proudly say that he has achieved some remarkable things which could not be achieved by previous officers

It was dream come true for him as was posted to BR hills on his first assignment.Since then he has solved numerous problems of wildlife and the local tribals .These are not just mere words ,they are true in every sense.The high point in his career has to be the fact that in his jusridiction last year not a single elephant death was reported whereas elephant deaths are mounting in the entire state.

We as a part of our trek team of Subbu,Raghu,Chandru,Hemanth,Pavan,Santosh and Arjun wish Boraiah a great and successful life ahead on the occasion of his marriage.May Boraiah achieve many more laurels in future as well.

Belligundi Falls

2009-03-18T20:41:00.000+05:30

Well i wasnt so well and that was when i was still undecided whether to make it or not for the Belligundi trek

After a lot of thinking i finally decided to go ahead with the trek.

Location : Belligundi falls
Route : Deep inside the forest -Sharavathy valley
Rating : Tough

Team members : Shivakumar,Rajesh,Sachin,Prasanna,Jovin,Karyn,Parag,Arjun,Mohan and Shashidhara

We all reached Kargal by the sleeper bus at around 8 am.We were joined by Karyn.So in total we were 10 people ,had breakfast at the resturant and started our journey to Kaarni which is about 45 kms from Kargal.From here we enter the forest ,some real dense forest.

This area is somewhat peculiar ,has some strange razor sharp climbers that one has to be careful with ,else it will just make a cut on your skin ,i experienced it :( .

We then trek along the river bed for quite sometime ,we are enveloped on both sides by very dense forest.Each of us are in our own world ,by now our friend Rajesh shows that he is real guy who has a flair for water :).We stop over for little over an hour for lunch at one such beautiful place in the middle of nowhere .Some nice hot and inviting sambar rice.To our surprise our cooks have estimated the correct amount of food for the entire group ,since only very little was left over after all of us had sufficient helps.
Then we trek along the stream bed.Sometimes it becomes really tricky to cross over the stream bed since it tends to be slippery one has to be careful.Around 3:30 pm we reach the water fall,the entire team go down to enjoy except me,Mohan and sachin since we were all dead tired by now and we still had not reached our destination.

After the boys had a splash at the waterfalls we decided to head to padubeedu ,again this starts with a slight ascent,I was damn tired by now ,we reached the sunset point near padubeedu and relaxed with a cup of tea.i was damn tired and decided to sleep now .The entire team where enjoying a great round of antakshari .I woke up around 9pm and joined them.Soon it was time for dinner and we retired for the day.

The night was colder than i expected and managed to get sleep in batches .Narayana though he was kinder to us ,intially he told that he would wake us up at 5 am ,woke us up at 6am .We got up and finished our ablutions and we had breakfast -upittu ,we started at 7:30 am to our destination -Belligundi falls.

In an hour or so we reached the day 1 waterfalls ,from where we need to trek further into the jungle.We started our long and ardous trek.This trek was interspersed by walking on the boulders as well as walking in the jungle.Some of it was ascent and some of it was plain trek.And then we all reached the starting point of the descent.This is the most treacherous part of the trek.We need to trek about 1.5-2kms down hill with a rate of angle of almost 80 degrees.Most of the forest is covered with falling leaves below which might be one or two loose stones.so one had to be careful.

I still remember the faces of my fellow trekkers when we started the descent ,how would be trek back such a steep ascent on our way back.Behind me was sachin and both of us exchanged glances on more than a few occassions when we saw that huge stones rolled down the hill when narayana was climbing down ahead of us.

Finally at around 10 am we reached the bottom of the falls of Belligundi.Hold on,if you think the trek is over there is more ,lots more.We had to climb up hill through the rocks.Water flows down from the waterfalls.It is quite tricky to climb up this rocky streambed.I took my own time and one of the last to reach the falls.Since it is summer water was less ,but it was ideal to have a bath.I couldnt resist myself and soon i joined the gang below the falls.The experience of standing under the falls is just awesome ,really enjoyed it to the hilt.We were there near the falls for about half an hour before we decided to head back.We decided to have lunch at an upstream on the way .So we all headed to a small stream ahead.We soon had our lunch.I must mention the dog here which followed us right through our trek.We made sure that the dog had lunch as well,since it was going to be a tough uphill trek on the way back.

The uphill was really steep.Huffing and puffing ,i was one of the last person to climb up :).At about 3pm we had a break to rest for a while.Narayana was kind enough to take us in a shorter route on the way back.We reached our destination at about 4pm after taking sufficient breaks enroute to padubeedu.Finally on the back ,when we were just about 3kms away he dropped the bombshell when i asked him the distance,he revealed that todays trek was only 24kms :).But i enjoyed the trek to the hilt for the following reasons :

1)Dense forest cover(we hardly encountered any sunshine on the way)
2)Wonderful co-operative team
3)Excellent time management by our guide Narayana
4)Above all the awesome Belligundi falls made it all worthwhile :)

Maakuta -Pattimalai

2009-03-07T22:44:00.000+05:30

Maakuta is a small place which is not known to many people and getting permission here is quite a task.Getting here in monsoon is just out of question due to the army of leeches found in these dense jungles

This trek was organized by Yhai.We were about 9 people in total,we set out in the rajahamsa bus to Virajpet our interim destination before heading towards maakuta.We reached Virajpet at 4:30 am .All of us were sleepy .Some of us freshened up by brushing our teeth and going to the loo.We had tea and coffee as well in the only shop that was opened right in front of the bus-stand.We were also joined by a trek gang who later left towards tadiyandamol.

We took permission from the range officer and had breakfast.We all then had to wait for sometime before a jeep was arranged to move towards Maakuta.It is about 30 kms from virajpet and soon we had a ride to the hell.The road here is pathetic and would shake up all the bones we had in our body.By the time we arrived at the destination we were all covered in dust totally.

We had a quick wash and soon set out for our destination on day 1 which was about 6 kms.It was about 10:30 am when we started the trek.We had a decent tree cover and but one could defintely feel the heat when we met sunshine in between.Soon we met some people who were repairing a small bridge ,who were greatful enough to offer us food .We thanked them and moved forward.We reached the APC at about 12 pm and soon started our cooking .The guides here were really helpful.After a quick lunch we headed towards the hanging bridge one side of which is in karnataka and the other side is situated in kerala.

It was quite humid when we started at around 1:30 after our lunch.Soon we reached the hanging bridge.Most of the people decided to take a plunge and relax in the Barampole river which flows below the hanging bridge.I was damn sleepy since i hadnt had a good sleep since we had reached Virajpet at 4:30 am in the morning.Soon we headed to the kerala side which is very little forest cover and most of it is cashew plantations.We helped ourselves to be some delicious ripe cashew fruits.We then headed to a village nearby where we had tea and coffee.After relaxing our muscles due to the steep climb we had just had ,we decided to head back this time crossing the barampole river at another location and once again head back to the forest

The forest here is quite dense and one cant even dream of coming in these jungles in the moonsoon season since the forest floor will be covered by leeches .We soon reached our APC -our base camp for the day

Some of them including me decided to head for a stream since i was just feeling very uneasy due to the humidity and the heat.Soon our team decided to head downstream and i found a cozy spot for myself a little upstream.I spent about one hour in the stream and boy was it relaxing.These are the moments i cherish where one can be with nature and listen to its silence ,it was a truly a heaven and i thank god that i have born in a heaven called "Karnataka"

We headed back to the APC a small distance away from the stream and soon we had coffee.Then cooking for dinner started and it was sambhar and rice.I must really thank my co-trekker Priyanka since she was the one who prepared the sambhar and it was just awesome :).Total distance trekked on day 1 is 13 kms

Remember there is no current in this APC,so after dinner we decided to sleep since we had got up early on that day.We decided to sleep outside ,but before we slept our guide prem added once more that elephants had been here at the APC,and even leapords ,tigers have been spotted near the APC.With the water hole pretty near the APC it was just at the back of my mind when i slept.

At around 3 am it became very cold and i decided to sleep inside the room in the APC,the guides let me in to sleep and soon i was snoring away peacefully.The next day we decided to head early since the peak was a long distance away .We started the trek at 8am and after a decent start of 2 kms ,was when the actual ascent starts.Soon we started the climb.I had made sure that i was fully loaded with water -2 lts since there is no water untill 3 kms downhill from the peak at that is atleast 4-5 hours away.This climb to the peak is one of the toughest i have ever had in my short trekking career.The ascent never stops ,we did take enough breaks and finally at 12:45 pm we hit the peak,there is nothing much on the peak except that there is a watch tower ,one can see the beautful ranges all around.And it was only much later that i came to know that the steep climb that we had climbed was 10kms!!!!!

I hadnt worn a cap and the sun was just blazing away ,i decided to protect my head with my towel,which i think was a good decision.While climbing downhill we saw many elephant excreta and soon we hit a water stream.The guides didnt allow us to stop here and have lunch since they were wary of the elephants around.So we headed a little further around 2kms .Then it was time to relax ,i washed by face and poured water to the boiling body of mine which needed some rest.I had mtr ready to eat and soon we headed to our destination which was a coffee estate nearby.We finally reached the coffee estate at around 3pm.Total distance trekked on day 2 -18kms

A couple who lived there who were generous enough to allow us to rest while our guides went to the nearby village to arrange for vehicles to reach virajpet.So i will remember this trek to be special since this trek has exceeded all my expectation in terms of personal satisfaction of climbing the peak successfully fully loaded with a bag of 4kg :)

The journey to Rameshwaram was something out of this world

2008-03-22T09:29:00.000+05:30

On an invitation from my lecturer i decided to join him on this spiritual journey.I booked my tickets well in advance and was lucky to get the tickets since it was not a busy weekend.The journey started on a sad note when the KSRTC Volvo bus arrived an hour late,to be standing in the rain was a bit of a dampner indeed

I reached Madurai at around 8:15 am and headed to the Royal Court Hotel ,my lecturer joined me there ,he flew down to Madurai.We quickly took a bath,after a savouring some hot idlis at Murugan Idli shop we headed straight to Rameshwaram.

The weather was one of the best i have ever witnessed,it had rained all night and a cool breeze was the icing on the cake.We went via Paramakudi which is the native of the famous south indian actor Kamal Hassan.The driver breezed past the curvy roads in excess of 100 ms/hour which is why we reached quite fast.As we enter Rameshwaram we find the famous Pamban bridge and the view from here will blow one of its feet

We had lunch and then headed straight to the sea for a bath.One can see the main gopura from the sea.Inside the temple we again took bath in the 21 kundas which is suppose to purify one's sins.The remarkable thing about the whole thing was that each of the water where we took bath,we encountered a different feel,temperature,which is quite surprising.

Even more startling is the fact that all these water sources are natural and except for two kundas all the others are sweet water.

We then prayed to god and spent some time at the temple.We then headed to the Kodanda Rama temple.The unique thing about this place is that it is surrounded by water on all the 3 sides and it is about 3 kms into the sea.The view of this place is absolutely mind blowing.

We then visited the Rama pada temple where Rama is supposed to have kept his first foot in India .It was 5:45 pm by now,we decided to head back to Madurai.Our brilliant driver Mr Kalai literally flew back to Madurai in 2 hours and 10 mins flat.I arrived in time for my bus back to Bangalore :)

All in all this was a very refreshing and divine experience for me to visit a holy place and I thank GOD for making this trip of mine a success.