Channarayandurga

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.