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  • Kadambi, Sutanabbe(Hanumanagundi), Shringeri, Sirimane and Chatnamane falls

    Kadambi, Sutanabbe(Hanumanagundi), Shringeri, Sirimane and Chatnamane falls

    After Virasat-2004 we were all in a mood to enjoy and so planned a trip to Sirimane and Shringeri. The places for this trek were common spots for the class trips and so the population of our members was minimal. We were around 30 members.

    As usual we chose to start out around 6 am and left NITK in a luxury bus (2+1 seater). Our first destination after the breakfast was Hanumanagundi. We had our breakfast at a hotel in Padubidre were we spent around 45-50 minutes and then headed towards Hanumanagundi. We received the information that the falls would open at 9 am at the forest check post.

    The Kudremukh range has a splendid view of the South Canara district while we were climbing the winding roads, till we reached S.K. Border where we have a sight seeing spot. We could not get down here as parking vehicles there was prohibited(you can always do if you have a 2 wheeler). We then took the path which leads us towards Kudremukh to go to Hanumanagundi. When we reached there we were early, so decided to go a little further (approx 7 km) from here where we had a road side falls namely Kadambi. Here no one got down to enjoy at the falls, all of us stood on the bridge picking up photos to keep this road side falls in memory for longer time. The bus in the mean time went a little further and came back having changed its direction. Kadambi falls is used by people for trick photography and few of us gave a try at it. Meanwhile, one of our members had got along with him a special invitee who was too hungry (leech). This leech is a parasite which sucks in blood and then slowly falls off, but its saliva prevents blood clot immediately and the person looses a lot more blood. Then after spending a total of 35 minutes here we got into the bus and went towards Hanumanagundi. The entry fee here is Rs 30/- per head. A few of us did not get down here as they had already seen the falls. The others got down here. The people who got down enjoyed themselves for about 45 minutes without realizing the leeches trying to feed on them and finally when they came up to the bus they had got along with them a lot of leeches. The people who remained back took a stroll of about 2 km down the road and reached a place with very good scenic beauty. They did not have a camera with them and hence could not get any snaps. The bus took off from Hanumanagundi at around 11 am and on the way back we tried taking the scenic snaps from within the bus. We reached Shringeri around 12:15 pm. We spent some time around Shringeri before we had our lunch at the temple. We were joined here by our guide who would lead a few of our interested members to a new falls (Chatnamane) for the NITK trek freaks. After having our lunch at the temple, we left Shringeri towards Kigga (around 10 km from here) from there we would trek 4.5 km to reach Sirimane falls. We reached Kigga around 2 pm and started our trek. When we reached Sirimane it was around 3:15 pm and a lot of batches came even later. Almost all of them got into the water to refresh themselves after this long and tiring trek. Few of us even tried climbing the steep walls of the falls to reach towards the top of this falls. Another family had also come in to enjoy the falls. We played along with the tiny kids who had come with them. Few of us had nasty falls trying various pranks and stunts. We had nice photography club member using a camera with improperly loaded photography film. This proved most of our stunts a waste of time. We took snaps before trekking back to the old temple at Kigga (of Ramayana fame). Some of us took a break with cool drinks, tender coconuts before getting all the members to climb the bus.

    Two of our members who had seen Sirimane earlier and interested in finding the new falls went along with the guide towards the Chatnamane falls (around 4 km from Sirimane). The remaining people enjoyed themselves at the Sirimane falls taking snaps, playing in water, fighting with leeches. The two members and their guide spent another 1 hour searching for the falls which they finally reached by great difficulty (thanks to the marshyness of the forest and almost a galaxy of leeches). They reached this new falls around 4:15 pm. This new falls is used by locals for their drinking water supply. The falls is about 1.5 times the height of Sirimane and is narrower than Sirimane by say 50%. They took snaps and started there trek backwards. We reached Kigga at about 5:45 pm with day light fading and a majority of the trip people being bitten by atleast 2-3 leeches. We then set on our journey backwards. Two of our members got down as one of them had to go to Bangalore and the other accompanied him to the bus stand. The remaining of us came back to Padubidre where we had our usual Sonu Dhaba dinner.

  • Dondole and Alekan falls

    Dondole and Alekan falls

    This was the second time in our experience of three and a half years with Spicmacay and its trips that 7 girls had come for the trip. The second years after a successful Aradhana-05 where very enthusiastic to go for a trip.

    Trips are not just a means for enjoyment, they mean much more. Trips work essentially as a team building factor. It helps us understand each other in much informal way and removes out any misunderstandings. It helps the new members to understand the way the senior members coordinate (with each member taking up a special responsibility and performing it so as to make any event a success) among themselves be it interacting with people or searching for something new or even guiding people. Our main aim in organizing this trip was a better 2nd year and 3rd year interaction.

    The Aradhana josh of the second years made around 30-35 people raise their hands when initially the idea of the trip was proposed. This made us organize a second trip in the same academic year. When most of the ground work was done for the trip we found a much lower crowd, probably because of improper communication of the information among the second years. But we later had around 13 boys of second years coming up for the trip. Totally for the trip we were 37 people. Our initial plan was Kemmanagundi but due to administrative problems of the GB warden we had to change our destination to Dondole falls, Charmudighats and Alekan falls.

    We set out from our college at 5:45 am (amazingly with a delay of just 10 minutes). We had a long bus(54 seater, the one out of fashion) with a higly experienced aged driver not willing to go at a speed greater than 40kmph. We had planned our breakfast at Belthangady (at 7:30 am), but thanks to our driver we reached there at 8:15 am where we had breakfast at Hotel Samatha. In the meantime during our journey we were desperately trying to get the cassette player to work fine which finally came true in the hands of a psycho (electrical engineer). Then he was put into complete incharge of that 1942 modelled cassette player. After about one hour we set out towards Dondole falls, along the Ujire-Shimoga highway. At a place called Kakkinje we took a deviation and went in for about 12 km. The remaining approximately 8 km had to be trekked (could have also used a jeep which didn’t strike us initially). We set out on the trek which would last for about 2 hours before finally reaching the stream which made the falls. As soon as people found the water and a little falls sort of thing they started getting into the water and enjoying, till one of our senior member ran all the way and found the actual Dondole falls. Then the other members were lead till this falls via trechorously slippery rocks and sharp boulders. Some of our members were reluctant to go to the main falls considering the danger involved in moving over the rocks (thanks to some handsome suggestions by another member). But most of our members not just reached the falls but also went to its top. Few of our members had nasty falls along the way thanks to the high erosion by the fast currents of the stream during the rainy season. The falls is a splendid one if it was seen during early winter. One sad fact about the falls is that more than 80 percent of the water is deviated by the estate owners against the government rules to utilize it for their individual needs. We picked up snaps of the falls and its surroundings. It was around 12:30pm when we decided to walk back to our initial enjoyment spot where we planned to have our light snacks carried along. We rested after snacks for a while before a quick group photography session. Then decided to walk back and reached the bus it was around 3 pm after a long trek with the midday sun staring from above. When the last group reached the bus it was around 3:30pm. We set out from there without any further delay towards Charmadi. Charmadi range is one of the most scenic in the whole of the Western Ghats. We picked up snaps from the bus of these scenic spots all along the way. Our destination was basically the Alekhan falls. This is a road side falls. It was 4:45 pm when we reached the falls. The driver was very upset for having brought him this long. He was also not willing to let the members get down to the base of the falls, sighting the delay to get down the ghats as a reason. This brought in a difference of opinion between among the senior members and finally a few members (highly interested) got down to view the falls from its base. Finally when we set out from Alekhan it was 5:30 pm. We reached Charmadi at 6:15 pm when we took a small break for tea. We finally set out to Mulki at 6:45 pm. When we reached Bittu it was 8:30 pm.

    All along the way (though with initial delay) we enjoyed the trip, some of us cracking PJs, doing stunts, playing antakshari, overacting.

    The main motive of the trip namely, interaction between the meager count of the 3rd year members and the highly enthusiastic 2nd year members so as to let them function in a better manner during the next academic year was successful to about 80 percent (in a final year members perspective). We final years had a lot of interaction informally with the participating members.

  • Trip to Yana, Murudeshwara and Unchalli falls

    Trip to Yana, Murudeshwara and Unchalli falls

    We had this trip after Aradhana-03. We were very enthusiastic to go for a trip after working as a unit during Aradhana-03 to make it a memorable one.

    We began the trip to Yana around 2:30am in a luxury bus. We were around 30 people including 6 girls for the trip. This was our first trip with SPICMACAY (we were in the 2nd year at that time). We went to Murudeshwara at around 6:00am, our first destination which is an island in the Arabian Sea. It has beautiful temple and large Siva idol along with a few others. This island it has a road connecting it to the mainland and sea elsewhere. After spending about an hour here, around the temple clicking photos and enjoying the scenery. We left Murudeshwar around 7:00am – 7:15am towards Kumta, where we had our breakfast at the Kamat Hotel. We packed the food for out trip here and around 6 members stayed back to carry it when it was ready. The rest were guided to the bus stop from where they went towards Yana in a KSRTC bus which would take them to the point around 4km before Yana. The 6 people got the food packed and left to Yana in the same luxury bus, the bus being too big had to stop around 8kms before Yana. We had to then trek the remaining distance, which took around 2 hours. We reached the temple at Yana in various units depending on our speed. It was then around 11:45am. We went into the temple and the cave behind it.We could not shout around because of the wild bees around the temple. We then picked up snapshots while few others were told the story about the temple’s past. We had our lunch brought along by the food committee which was sufficient to satisfy a small part of our massive hunger.

    We took rest for around half an hour and then started walking back. All along the way we had a tiny stream of water flowing by the road. The nearest hospital was 30kms away so we had to be very careful in playing around. The walking back seem to be more tiring than the earlier one thanks to the sun above our head. Finally we walked back the 8kms (no KSRTC bus at this time) and reached the bus around 2:30pm. After a long walk we refreshed ourself at a small shop near the spot where our bus was parked. We finally left Yana around 3:00pm.

    Our next destination was the Unchalli falls(lushington falls) from here which was around 2 and a half hour journey from here. In the mean time some of us fell asleep after the long trek. We reached the falls around 5:45pm and so could not get down into the water, as it would take a lot of time and the place being isolated had to be left off early. We viewed the falls from the sight seeing spot near the falls, picked the snaps and left the falls unwilling to the bus. Then we came back to the bus and resumed our fun.

    We had our dinner at Kamat Restaurant in Sirsi at around 9:00pm. Resuming our journey after dinner we reached our College around 1:00am with some of us feeling uncomfortable due to the winding roads.

    We had enough fun in the entire bus journey. We were playing antakshari and dancing. We had some mimickries of Upendra, mimickries of some of our lecturers and some famous actors. We tried linking some couples and had fun of it. The josh was everywhere.

  • JamalaBad Fort

    Jamalabad fort also called GadiKal kote (more polular amongst the locals) is a old ruins of a fort located off Beltangadi. This fort is around 10 kms from Beltangadi town. The fort is atop a hill, and the trek is all about getting to the peak of the hill.

    We were four people for this trip/trek. It was the first time Anand Pai had decided to try himself for a trek. The other two people for the trek/trip were Naveen and Kotresh. Naveen was an experienced campaigner while Kotresh was a novice not his first trip/trek though.
    We started off as usual from our beloved college (Which is ideally located for a lot of treks) early after “jugad” of 2 bikes.. We left early from college at around 5:45 am with the intension of reaching BeltangaDi for our morning breakfast. Our usual route for treks near BeltangaDi was via HaleangaDi, and then the route to go to MooduBidre then to BeltangaDi. It is a route though some winding roads some nice scenery.. not much of traffic, mostly though villages. A pleasant ride through the road will take us to the main town. Some places the road gets bad due to heavy rains but still a nice journey.

    We reached BeltangaDi around 730 am then had our Tiffin in a hotel – I think the name is “Hotel Samatha” then spent around 1 hr there with some food packing, some fruit juice.. and then back we were on the bikes to continue our journey.

    The fort is around a drive of 20 min or even less, from the town of BeltangaDi. We reach the base of the hill where we have to pay a minimum amount of Rs 30/- to the forest dept who are maintaining the fort… maintain I don’t know what is there to maintain!!!!
    Well the trek is more of a climb on steps rather than any serious climb. The total number of steps is around 1000, but you won’t realize all the steps you just think its ruins or its just rock. Humm… leave that aside… all that matters is the climb.

    The climb starts off with some well maintained steps, and then we slowly start climbing steeper and steeper domains. We see a rock face after some time; we get a nice view of the Kudremukh mountain range from this open rock face. We took some rest here. Anand who was doing his first trek was almost worn out and was making it very slowly this early. Kotresh was also in a similar state. We had some lemons along with us, just gave one each to Anand and Kotresh (Lemons help us conserve our energy…. I don’t know what exactly it does). Kotresh having received the lemon and tasting it was on his feet and running to the top!!! You now know what energy it gives ha ha!!! He did not stop till he reached the peak. After some rest here we enter into a shrub laden region where we just climb following on some foot trails that were left by earlier trekkers. This trail follows though some fort walls, we have to look carefully to realize these things. Some places the rock walls are on the edge of this hill.. you can peep down and you see some place nearly 500ft deep.. If you have vertigo be careful this is just the starting point for you, there are many more to come down the lane. Just don’t worry about the taking pics for now… you will have many more nice spots to take on the peak. Continue on the trail it opens up into another set of steps.. which will take you to the peak. The height of these individual steps is much more than you can expect. On one side you have the rock surface of the fort while on the other you have nothing except a small cut out of the same rock surface… well you see on to you left in the climb and you will have your vertigo no doubt. It’s just that thrilling to go out there. Just imagine what if I slip!! Oh it’s going to be a fall of nearly 900ft to the base of the hill… That thought is surely going to come.

    The specialty of this hill is its isolated from other ranges stands tall and dominant even from a distance. It gives a good view of all the villages in the surrounding. This is the reason why Tippu would have like to build his fort on such a strategic location. On once side you see the Western Ghats, on another you see the vast plains of South Canara. It’s a very panoramic view.

    Continue on with this steps and you will get into the “fort palace” I think this what it is. At the peak you have a small shelter I think served as the palace for Tippu. You also find a have a small pond…guess for storing water from the rains for the palace in olden days.. You can’t get water from the pains no doubt about it. You have an antenna I don’t know which service provider it belongs to… nice thing to have at the top. We had been to this fort just a few days after the rainy season… so the grass had grown to be tall and it was really hard to find any path to look around the fort. We just had some open space and shorter grass at a place so it was mostly there that we spent our time.

    The place is really nice and am sure is a paradise for photographers in case you want some real nice views. Guess the sunset would just be too good. But you have to have nice lights to get down. Early morning gives another nice view with the Sun rise behind the Western Ghats… all this will only make any photographer happy. The Clouds generally kiss this hill and that would give some more nice scenes for them. The white clouds that try to scale the Kudhremukh peak also are a sight to watch. Just too many snaps to click with your camera….. I love it.

    We spent some time at the peak, we had taken nearly 1 and a half hour to climb it… it can be much faster if you have people who have the stamina to climb it in one go. Anand Pai considered this an achievement, this is the first time he had done something like that and still remembers it to this day. He was all high the whole day. We took another 45 min to get down and were at the base of the hill.

    We had completed a nice trek a memorable one for the photographer in me.. I will go back at least for the photos…. Don’t miss it if you are a photographer.
    With all these in memory we set back to college.. it was a fun day out for we four. We came back to our hostels and had a nice nap.. the day’s trek/trip was over and now it was in our memories that all this remains.. Cherish it when I think about it.. Just cherish it……

  • Trip to Karkala, Sita falls, Vonakeabbi falls and Agumbe

    Trip to Karkala, Sita falls, Vonakeabbi falls and Agumbe

    This was a unique trip with the 3rd years pleading the second years to come to the trip with a lot of members giving a lot of insensible reasons. We had booked a mini bus for the trip as the numbers were less. We were around 24 members without even a single girl.

    The planned takeoff of the trip was at 5:45, in which case we would have got a good sunrise at Karkala. Unfortunately, the day being Shivarathri we had to wait for two members (almost infinitely) for about 1 hour and finally began the journey without them at 6:45 am. We then set out towards Karkala on the way we saw the sunrising near the bridge at Mulky. We reached Karkala around 7:50. We visited the Gommateshwara Statue there, picked some snaps had a nice view of the Western
    Ghats     and surrounding villages. We then had our breakfast at Sagar Hotel.

    We left Karkala around 9:00 towards our next destination viz Sita falls(Koodluthirtha). We had to take a deviation from the Hebri Someshwara road and from here go around 8kms to the last house before the falls. A large bus would have made us walk around 12kms up and down but the minibus left us having to walk only 2kms up and down. Just before getting into the forest to walk through Sita falls we see a splendid falls far away in the forest(ie not our destination). We walked through the forest and reached Sita falls in 20 minutes. The water there was shivering cold and all the members had a dip in the water and played in it. People enjoyed for around 45 minutes in the water and then started walking back reluctantly. It was around 12:00pm when we reached the bus.

    We then went to a small hotel were we had booked our lunch before itself(a day earlier). It was around 1:15pm when we reached the hotel. We had our lunch there and few of us went around Hebri drinking cool drinks, eating sweet pan etc. Then we started moving to Someshwara for our next destination from where we had to trek to Vonakeabbi falls (relatively new falls to NITK considering we were the second team to visit this, this is a very popular destination for trips now). The falls is around 3kms into the forest from Someshwara. We asked for a guide from a shop near the temple who would lead us to the falls. We started our trip from here at 3pm with strict guidelines to everyone who was coming along who walked back from where ever he was at 4pm (so that we do not miss the sunset scenery from Agumbe). The trek to the falls was a real tiring one with people having to climb steep hills of around 60 degree(approx) from the ground level. While climbing we met a few trek enthusiasts who had taken a full day for the trek. We continued our trek and a few of us lost our way in between while few others decided against climbing (seeing the steepness) and the remaining reaching the stream. We get a very beautiful first glance of this falls which is along the Udupi Chickmagalur border from here. Then we started climbing, walking through the rocks along the stream to reach the base of this divine falls(gives you the divine happiness). Again we reached here in various groups depending on speed. It was around 4:15pm by then. We started walking back after taking a few snaps towards our bus. We reached our bus around 5:10pm.

    We had a small tea break before resuming our trip to Agumbe sunset point. On reaching Agumbe sunset point we were greeted by clouds covering the sun, monkeys and few other tourists. It was 6:00pm by then. The journey atop the Agumbe ghats is itself an experience. We get around 14 hairpin curves along while climbing. We get a breath taking view of Vonakeabbi falls(the one just visited) from 2 points along the road. On the other side all along the road we get a splendid view of the plains of Udupi district covered with a majority of forests and paddy fields. The clouds covering the Sun seem to have decided not to let us have a view of the sun setting. So we waited for around 15 minutes and then started moving down in the bus. Just as we had negotiated the second hair pin curve from the top, the sun came out of the clouds. All of us started shouting and asking the bus driver to stop the bus, who agreed reluctantly. He stopped a little further after the third hair pin curve. We got down took snaps had a view of the sun setting down and then got back into the bus to resume our journey back to the college. We had our dinner at Sonu dhaba and returned to college at 9.30pm.

    The amazing part of this trip was time maintenance.

    The enjoyment was as usual with Antakshari, Cassette Player, dances.