Tag: #thoughts

Shivagange

Parinathi Group goes on its treks for brain storming and group building every quarter. This trek is the fall out of this resolution of the group.

Shivagange – a place known as a pilgrimage center by many is also an interesting trekking spot. Unlike the other treks where one has to put a lot of strain on the complete body, this trek is more of a step climbing pursuit.

Situated around 60 – 65 km from Bangalore, we chose this place for our brainstorming as most of the group members couldn’t spare two days for the trek. Our initial count for the trek was expected to be having around 10 members but turned out that only 4 could make it.

We moved out of Bangalore around 8:30 am (a delay of around 30 minutes) from Domlur where all of us had decided to meet up. The journey thorough the city was pretty not eventful. We reached Yeshwantpur and refueled ourself before continuing the journey. Once we reached the elevated road there was no stopping us, the group was in the discussion while I was busy driving the car.

It was a pleasant drive over the elevated track, and we were near the tollgate withing 5 minutes. The road was pretty clear and the speed limit prescribed was 80 kmph so that made it all the more easy. We bought the toll pass for the day (priced at Rs 25/-) and moved a head on the NH. The road was very good and we reached Nelamangala where we took the deviation towards the Bangalore-Mangalore Highway.

We reached gudemarana halli, from where we took a right to Shivagange. Shivagange is around 15 km from this point. The road is not the best nor is it the worst. It is pretty good ride down to the town.

We begin spotting the mountain from a distance, in some angles it resembles the holy Ox (Nandi) of Lord Shiva. We reach the entrance of the temple where we parked our car and had a small energizing tiffin before we began the trek.

We began the climb the first temple that you get on the left is the “Harake Ganapathi” You then climb up to the split. Take the right if you want to visit the temple and the left if you want to begin the trek immediately.

As you move towards the temple, you get a small passage, this passage take you to the Veerabhadra swami and the Patala gange. Besides the passage is a small temple entrance – that of Swarna gowri (aka Honnadevi).

Back on the track you get to the temple route, you enter into the temple which of lord Gangadhareshwara. In front of him stands the bronze idol of the founder of Bangalore – Kempe Gowda. There is supposed to be a tunnel that connects the temple with Bangalore, but people are forbidden from attempting to get through these.

All these temples are inside caves and give a very special feeling since we are away from the disturbance of the outer world. The feeling is so peaceful and gives happiness.

The shiva temple is also very special since we see an irreversible reaction (that of converting ghee into butter) take place right in front of your eyes. The priest applies Ghee that the devotees get on the shiva linga and it turns in some time to butter, which is then served as prasadam.

The temple is pretty old and I guess it dates back to the time of the Cholas, some of the Nandi carvings look to resemble them. The gopura etc resemble the Vijayanagara times.

Once you have visited the temple, you can begin the trek from the path adjacent to the temple. On the sides you see an old fort wall and numerous pillars all telling the story of apathy of he present and the glory of the past. One would easily get moved seeing these scenes. Something needs to be done quickly with these so that we preserve these for the future. With all these thoughts running in the mind, our next target was the famous Olakallu teertha.

Moving out of the fort premise, we being the ascent towards the peak. There is a door (dwara) to begin the journey. All along the path we find vendors offering one thing or the other to ear/drink. The consumers eat these and drop all waste around the path. This has lead to a big monkey menace; and the reactions of the people who climb have only made these monkeys more aggressive. There are warnings stating that monkeys could be aggressive, but this should definitely be controlled if we don’t mindlessly litter the environment.

There are steps all along the trek so there is no way any one could miss the route. There are many students and groups that were on their yearly trips and we found at least ten different such sets
. The students were bubbling with a lot of enthusiasm as the begun, but later on, as the ascent got steep there was absolutely little of their voice that was heard. Many returned from Olakal teertha.

There is a common belief that only the fortunate ones get water when (s)he attempts to catch water from the underground spring. Many test their fortune and get back!

We continues our journey further on the path and reached the place where larger than life size idols of Lord Shiv and Parvathi have been constructed. The path further from here have been infested by Monkeys.

The climb through the next phase is pretty steep. At some points you note the old step marks or the railing that have been replaced. Take sheer care of your luggage, the aggressive monkeys take away your belongings even if you have them along in your hand.

The climb through this exciting phase you reach the Nandi which is carved out of the rock there. And once down the Nandi, you get to climb to see two temples at the peak of the hillock.

There is one store at the peak which again showcases the power of monopoly there. There are two pillars there which seem to be dating back more than a millenia (that is my guess, given the architecture and carvings there)

The view of the surrounding is really mesmerizer. I couldn’t spot the Savandurga around from here thanks to the clouds and the sun which blocked my view.

We went to a bit off the general public and had our food there, surprisingly, we had no monkeys to bother us here. This is what got me to the realization that the monkeys thrive on the filth we throw away on the path to the peak. I guess if we have the discipline to handle these carefully they wouldnt bother us much.

We had rested at the peak for around 45 minutes before getting on to the return path. The journey to the base was rather non-eventful and we returned at our own pace.

The sun which was scorching in the afternoon had become more familiar as the day progressed and now looked very friendly.

The total journey from the base to the peak and then back to the base was around 3.5 hrs. We had gone barefoot to the peak and it felt really different all along the trek. We probably hadn’t got the blood circulation so effective for days.

This was a rater memorable trek for the reason that was done on bare foot, but what saddened the whole thing was the filth people put all along the way. I guess it is time we grew more responsible to the environment.

We drove back to Bangalore and reached Mantri Mall by 4:30 and had fun watching Upendra’s moview – Super.

It was complete fun filled day that was worth remembering.

January 2, 2011
Savan Durga Trek

It would have been just another Sunday morning if it was not for this trek. This was my first trek around Bangalore. Yes! being a Bangalorean and a trek enthusiast, it is a bit sad that I hadnt done any trek around Bangalore.

Savanadurga, is the largest monolith in Asia. It is around 60 kms from Bangalore towards Magadi. Drive towards Magadi is around 50 km. Once yo reach Magadi take the Left turn on to the Ramanagara road and drive for 8 km before you get an arch welcoming you to the Savandurga road.

Another 2 km drive along the almost non-existant road you reach an old temple of VeeraBhadra(Some believe an incarnation of Shiva, while others believe him to be one of his close associates). The Gopura of the temple has a “Nandi” (the vehicle of Lord Shiva). Just beside this temple is a small park where one could spot various birds and animals. This place is called Savanandi.

Further down this road, we reach the famous Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple at Savandurga. Large number of devotees throng the temple to seep the blessings of the Lord. There is also a medical herb plantation situated close to the temple. This is the starting point of the trek.

The Savandurga monolith is visible from the road much before Magadi, but one needs to almost circumvent the rock before being able to begin the ascent to the peak. At 4050 ft, this towers over most of the surrounding hillocks, or any man made structure – Normal human beings around 6 ft is negligible.

The best time to begin the trek is early morning when you could see the sunrise on the east and enjoy the serene beauty that could be associated with it. The whole feeling of the effort to make it to the peak, completely exhausted and then savor the divine feeling of the sunrise is definitely an occasion in the person’s life.

We began pretty late from Bangalore after our breakfast. We traveled by car to the base from were we decided to trek to the peak. It was almost 11 am when we reached the base.

After a quick sip of the tender coconut, we were ready to begin the trek to the peak. A quick walk through the shrubs along an established trail, we immediately reached the base of the monolith. The recent showers had left some watery trail along the sides of the monolith were the natural process of breaking stones into soil was in progress.

It is really amazing the patience nature has in breaking the large rocks into smaller one, then continuing to break them further. The hot sun heats the surface, the rain water then tries to cool it in one go, leading to formation of cracks, and then seeps in. The wind then continues to cool it further over time Widening the cracks further and then repeating the process. One can easily see these at Savandurga. The work of nature over millions of years is very visible. I could see some rock broken probably a few years or decades back.

The rock side close to the temple is very smooth and poses some good challenges initially. The trek begins on a pretty steep note. One needs to maintain the stamina and push consistently to get to the first level of the fort.

Many people tire up at this level and return. There are some vendors who sell fruit juice along the way adding to the pollution (inappropriate and inadequate disposal has the tetra packs hanging on the side of the monolith).

Continuing along the slope of the hillock, we find many stones and slippery patches. One needs to navigate these carefully to avoid any damage. If there is no cloud cover, this phase might get really hard.

There are numerous routes from here to get to the next level of the fort, where the watch tower is constructed. The climb is pretty manageable till one reaches the steep uphill just before the tower. This is the second challenge and many people give up at this point to return without visiting the peak. It is not really difficult, as there are number of small steps/grips that people have made to make it easy for their followers.

At this juncture it is a real test of character for many, do the embrace the uncertainty and move ahead by stretching themselves to realize a new self or do they just accept the complexity and stay with the status quo! The question is of the mind set and the toughness!

Once a person crosses the fort besides the watch tower, there is whole different world that one gets to see. The confidence of having tackled an almost seemingly tough task is a great booster. One could rest here for some time, watch the surrounding areas from the Watch Tower and then resume the trek. From this point onwards, the bubbling city of Bangalore can be seen – some high rise buildings also could be spotted.

The next part of the trek is pretty much at the top of the peak. A small climb uphill and we come to a Mantapa. The Mantapa was probably the resting place of the watchman of the fort. The watchman could see all the sides in the surrounding given the peak and inform the King who could then take appropriate action to handle the situation. There is also a small tank that is created here, this might have been used by the watchmen for their daily purpose.

The final peak which has a Nandi Mantapa is pretty is separated by a small cave-like formation. There is some thick vegetation here which provides a good shade from the scorching heat.

The final phase of the trek is a steep climb along the side of a rock and then an easy walk to the Nandi mantapa. We reached the peak around 1:30 pm. The clouds had moved in and gave a good cover from the sun’s hear. After spending around 20 minutes at the peak, we decided to get back to the base and on the way have some of the snacks that we had gotten along.

We rested near the Watchman’s pond and had our food, and then continues on the descent.

We could spot the another majestic hill the Shivagange at a distance, I could feel my hear call for another trek to that hill, I would be going there soon.

Continuing on the descent with some exciting and adventurous moments we reached the base around 3 pm. With another dose of tender coconut, we were ready to get back in our car and reach Home.

This trek was a memorable one for me given that it was my first trek around Bangalore. I began to appreciate the difference in trekking in the western ghats and the rocky mountains around Bangalore.

The trek wouldn’t be complete without a mention to the few typical characters I met along the way.

NCC Cadets:

The NCC cadets were on a trekking expedition with one of their group leaders. The enthusiastic people were in a hurry to climb leaving their not so able compatriots who were lacking the confidence. I guess they should have spent some time in encouraging the morale of those people who were on their own mental wars along the trek.

Another instance I saw was the rigidity in the mindset of some of the cadets to innovate and explore. There were alternate routes to a common path don’t be blinded by a single choice.

The fruit juice Vendor at the Nandi Mantapa:

This guy taught me a lot about economics (- monopoly and the like), Strategy (first mover advantage)

The Director’s son:

The talkitive boy got me to realize the power of dream; when one is young and how one pursues it in all (s)he does.

November 24, 2010
Gavi Betta

Trekking is probably the best I can expect on a weekend – it rejuvenates me. My excitement is always towards exploring new places – the places I have never heard of. It had been three months since my last exploration to Dedupe & Jamalabad, I was on the look out for an opportunity and Sampath from Sharavathi Valley had posted a trek for the weekend – I decided to join in primarily interested in exploring the “Gavi Betta”, associated activities though present didnt really interest me to begin with. It was 2 Day outing with a lot of itenary including rappelling, water sports in addition to Trek to Gavi Betta.

I know I am pretty delayed in writing this blog – almost 2 months since I trekked. The trek was on 21st and 22nd of the August.

Day 1: We began our journey from Bangalore early morning. Inspite of a delayed start from Bangalore, we reached Shanivara Sante by noon. Here we met our guide here who suggested an alternate route to the one planned through the coffee estates.

The guide took us to his relatives home were we received awesome hospitality! After a brief break and getting to know the hosts well, we continues our journey from the starting camp. I spent most of my trek time with the guide getting to know the specialties and the mindset of the person. He worked in Bangalore but returned tiered of the noise and the pollution to set up his own studio in Shanivara Sante.

The initial part of the trek was through a common jeep route, but since the road was blocked with a tree falls (thanks to the rains), we moved into the coffee estate. This was were some of our fellow trekkers had some trouble with the leeches.

Continuing the trek further, we reached another estate – there was an artificial lake created by building a dam. It was just beautiful. This water tank acted as the source of supply for the plantations downhill. A small distance further, our guide plucked a cardamom, and showed us how it looks before being processed and it reaches the store. The taste of the cardamom was sweet. He also showed us another fruit which they generally use instead of tamarind, this fruit is dried and then canned for storage.

Further on the route we reached an open area were we found granite pieces laying scattered. We climbed the hillock and were mesmerized by the panoramic view around. After a brief session of photography we continued our trek on another trail.

We crossed few valleys, stream and some beautiful scenery before getting to a fresh green opening besides a pristine lake. The weather this far was awesome with cool breeze, clouds on the horizon, clear view of the route ahead.

We rested beside the lake and I had all the time in the world to explore the small falls that the lake water made as it overflowed its boundary. The accessibility of the falls makes it a really good place for photography and probably cinematography too.

We then had our lunch before resuming the next phase of the trek. Mr Sampath of Sharavathy valley relies on his expert cook for the taste – Mr Dharmanna. He reached the peak via a different route and had prepared an awesome lunch for us to savor.

The “Vana Bhojana” (literally meaning forest meal), besides the lake and the clouds slowly moving closer created a very memorable lunch for me. We as a team had gelled well by this time and were in full flow with our jokes and comments. Post lunch, we got some wild berries as desserts which made the lunch even special.

Just as we resumed our phase two of the trek, the weather turned form pleasant to cloudy and really challenging. We couldn’t spot each other at
a distance more than 3 mts, the clouds were so dense. One of our trek companions had pulled her muscle and decided to stay back at the spot accompanied by Sampath. The remaining team continue the trek with our guide leading the way.

A 20 minute simple trek given the terrain, we reached an awesome clearing(actually a ridge) atop the hill. This was the peak – made completely of stone. If the clouds cleared up, we could get an awesome view of the Western Ghats and its thick vegetation from this point. We weren’t really luck and so we continue with the trek, moving along the boundary of the ridge, we reached a dense vegetation from where we had to get into a steep descent along the ridge to the Cave.

The clouds had now begun to pore and the descent was getting really messy. With some heavy weights (including me) the supporting shrubs were giving way and the sod had turned slippery. The light dimmed and visibility problems were high. The high moisture & rain was instrumental in avoiding us from any shots here.

After a 10 minutes descent we reached a cave formation. “Gavi” in Kannada stands for “Cave” and “Betta” for a “hill” – this the secret of the name this hill has. Getting to the last part of the cave is really hard; it requires us to creep through low and narrow opening between the rocks, move on slippery rock to finally get to the cave. This cave has a religious significance and villagers come here to offer their prayers to the deity here.

After a really hard photo shoot given the low light intensity, we resumed our trek to return to the lake. We reached the lake in around 40 minutes.

We then began our walk back to the Tempo Traveller, which had now been stationed at the main road were the jeep route ends. Continuing along the jeep road which had turned slippery post rains; we moved ahead to get to the TT.

The consistent rains had drenched every one of us, so we were quick to change and get seated in the Tempo. The tempo moved on, taking us back to Shanivara Sante – We had hot coffee and thanked the guide before leaving to a Camp Stay were we would spend the night.

We reached Camp Leapord Rock at night, had dinner and caught some really hard earned sound sleep.

Day 2:

After an hot cup of coffee in the morning, we went on an early morning safari through Nagarahole and then reached our rappelling spot.

We had an awesome Akki Rotti (rice pan cake) and Avalakki (pounded rice recipe) along with the famous Kashaya (herbal tea) which gave us a super bunch. We then completed our Rappeling activities and returned to our base camp.

Delicious Lunch was served and post which most of us spent time in the water sports facility available there.

I enjoy trekking a lot more than the other activities and thats one of the reasons for not having all the energy to write more about day 2, but none the less the second day too was equally exciting as the first one.

We began our journey back to Bangalore, and I got down at Mysore as I needed to get to Surthkal the next day for classes.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/sachidananda.bs/GaviBetta#

November 10, 2010
Dedupe & Jamalabad Trek

It had been over 6 months since I had gone on a trek, every time I would give a reason. This time I decided to break the routine. We decided this trek around a month back, but priorities are quick to change, and we landed up being only 5 people for the trek – Tyagraj, Naveen, Niranjan and Rajat.A team of 5 people decided to have a fun in the Western Ghats.

After a tiring work on Friday, we decided to catch up at Domlur and then leave for the trek. Excepting for Rajat who stays on the other side of KBS, all of us began our trek from Domlur.

Catching a bus to KBS on Friday evening from Domlur is never easy, there is always going to be people and you need to deal with the packed buses and traffic to reach on time. We reached there just 15 min before the bus was to leave! (thank God we had booked our bus in Advance)Rajat who came from the other part of the city was already there… it was the last seat an we though we wouldn’t have any sleep.

I was damn tiered and caught sleep quite early, didnt mind the road bumps that were there on the road. Its only when the bus stopped that I woke up. After a long journey we reached Dharmasthala at 5:30 am. Tyagraja our host was very courteous to give us his new house to sleep before we began our trek. All of us had a nice nap.

Day 1:

We woke up at our own convenience, there was an awesome breakfast and then with some packed up some food for our trek. We reached Dedupe by car to compensate for the delayed start. This was my second trek to Hanadka, while Tyagaraj had spent his early childhood at his Uncles home near the falls; and the other three were very watchful of the picturesque surrounding. The road was a jeep track for a long distance and so occasionally Naveen who was craving for some more variety would choose to use an alternate route to reach the same point thorough some shrubs, bushes and dried up streams.

After a simple walk in the steaming heat for around an hour we reached Tyagaraj’s uncles home. I was a very refreshing break from the heat, the cocum juice that was served was just awesome and I was shameless to ask for another one – it just tasted so good! Thanks for this one.

We also got to know that Hanadka was the last in a series of 7 falls (and one of the most beautiful and easily accessible ones). I made a mental note that, I would get to check all of these out sometime – this is for another time. The starting point of this trek it seems is from Samse – will do the checking and then start off some other time. We decided to resume our trek after a refreshing break.

All refreshed with a 30 minutes break, we moved through the plantations by the side of a pipe which provides good drinking water to the houses near by, we reached in 15 minutes to the very elegant Hanadka Falls. We spotted a waterfalls, at a distance – this was the 4th level of the falls (I for a moment thought i wish I could get there today).

I was taken aback, this time when I compared it with the first visit. It was very neat, undisturbed by the plastic & filth that careless people who come for an outing leave behind. I was feeling guilty, since my blogs might have given the access to this beautiful falls – my humble request to all the trekkers who read my blog and go to those places, please act responsibly. The ecosystem is very sensitive, do not leave behind any plastic or non-bio degradable material which might disturb the ecosystem.

Naveen, Niranjan and Rajat, were excited by the elegance of the falls and decided to have a shower in the falls. I generally retrain from having a bath in the falls that I visit. After some fun, we had a good packed lunch and decided to try out exploring some higher levels of the falls.

It was around 2 in the afternoon, and we had time till till 4:30 pm to try out some exploration. I detected a small path in the adjacent forest and followed it to reach the top of our falls. It was quite slippery and narrow and having reached the top, asked if we would really like to continue.

The enthusiasm was contagious, we reached the top of the falls and waited to refresh ourself. After a small break, we decided to follow the water on its trace and explore further. After 30 minutes of trekking we reached a split. It was a very silent and beautiful falls. This was the second level, a very neat one!

On the right we spotted another another stream joining this one. We couldn’t climb the 2nd falls so we decided to follow the other stream and began climbing trough the slippery slopes and leaves.

The slopes and leaves made the climb very treacherous. Towards the last section of this climb, we could see a nice falls (not exactly a falls but a small flow of water over the rock surface). The route was through slippery rocks, we didnt have any ropes to help us climb and so we decided against taking the risk of slipping and falling on the rocks.

We had some photo sessions all along the way, and finally reached the first falls – our base. The time was around 4:45 pm. After a refreshing break at the falls again, we began walking back at 5:30 pm. We reached the car at 6:20pm.

We drove back and had a nice dinner after a long day of trek in the hot sun. After dinner and catching up with some news we had a sound sleep.

Day 2:

We got up at 7 am, freshed up and decided to get going on the 2nd Phase of the trek before it would be hot!. The trek was to Jamalabad Fort.

This too was the 2nd time I was getting to Jamalabad, and I knew that the later we get started,the tougher it would be. Given the hot sun and the steep accent it would make it really hard.

We reached the base of the fort at 8:15 AM. After purchasing the ticket, we began our trek to the peak. Nirajan who wasn’t feeling comfortable – decided to stay back. The rest of us continue to the peak.

Trek was slow and challenging. The sun was raising higher, making the surrounding air hotter. We could spot a lot of mountains, houses, bridges, rivulets as we began but as we continued the distant objects dissolved into the bright light.

The climb is long and hard one when it gets hot it becomes harder. We had sufficient water and that helped us refresh ourself as we climbed. Lemon is another aid in these conditions.

After a climb of around 1:30 minutes we reached the peak. The last part of the trek was the hardest. Given the steep slope and the large steps – it gets us frightened. Slow but sure, we reached the peak. Lot of things have changed since the last time – where is the clean
liness gone!

After surveying the peak end to end, we began the descent. In 45 minutes we reached the base. After refreshing ourselves, we began back. We reached Tyagraja’s home, and got back to Dharmasthala.

Tyagraj decided to stay at home for some more time, while we decided to get back to Bangalore by night and take a nap. After lunch, we caught a Suvarna Sarige and reached Hassan.

After a tiffin at the bustand we continued our journey to Bangalore. We reached home at 1230 am.

It was one awesome trek!

May 10, 2010
Sharavati valley trek -1

Route:
Banglore -> Shimoga -> Sagara -> VageVaddi -> Basavanabaayi -> Padu beedu -> Belli gundi -> Godanagundi -> Padubeedu -> Jog -> Sagara -> Shimoga -> Bangalore

An awesome experience with people from different countries on the trek, a couple of people from Germany, Malta and people from different parts of the country itself – the locals, the bangaloreans, and the hydrabadis… all this was only to start off – we never realised when we got along to be a good team….For some this wes the first experience with leeches, for others a differnt terrain to trek…a nice mix of treks experiences for all of us.

I met up Mr Sampath on orkut, and was impressed by the trek pictures that were uploaded there… we shared some comments and then I decided to go on a trek to this awesome place, unperturbed by human habitation, still virgin forest… I had been waiting for a good break in my course during which I wanted to do this trek.

After a hectic schedule of exams and submission I decided I would join Sampath and group on the trek. Sampath had arranged a Tempo Traveller(TT) for us to get to the destination at the earliest, and save some time and use that effectively in trekking and getting to feel the nature…

The TT was parked at the railway station parking at Majestic, and it began its jouney at 10:30 pm, we picked up people on the way and started our jouney. A small break for Vinay to get his dinner packed and we moved further. As we crossed nelamangala, the rain God decided to shower his blessing on us and there was a constant down pour all along the journey.

The TT went slowly, partially due to the heavy rains and partially due to the bad roads, we reached kargal, a place some distance off Sagara at 745 am, where we got along with the 3 trekkers who had caught their bus to get to this place. The had come form Hydrabad the earlier night and had stayed in the hotel-lodge, visited Jog falls and had been waiting for us till then.

Day 1:

We had our first cup of tea at kargal, and then moved ahead towards vagevaDDi. The drive from kargal to VageVaDDi was around 45 minutes by the TT and we could see some lush green vegetation, some back waters of the lingan makki dam and so on. I caught up with some sleep in this 45 minutes as well.

We were to reach VagevaDDi at 830am, but given the bad roads and the weather we could only reach by 930. Mr Narayan was waiting there with the breakfast for us. He, Shridhar, and Mr Dharma were to be our guide cum cook for the next two days. They had prepared some akki rotti, badnekai chatni, and liquid jaggarey; they also cut a papaya for us; this spot were we had our breakfast was a nice place. The villagers had make a lake, which was to serve as the source of water for the fields, when the rains had died down – there had been no rains in the area for almost 10 days prior to our visit; for a moment I thought – “does this mean that most of the falls we visit wouldnt have water?’”

Just as everyone completed the breakfast we had a stand up meeting lead by Sampath to brief about the trek we were to begin, the route we were to follow, and some basic directions. Narayan was to lead the way for us and we would also have Shridhar to guide us along during the trek. We began our trek – I could see dence forest at a distance…my mind was already ready to move towards the direction, felt like running towards the lush green forest cover there and didnt want to spend too much time on the jeep route that we had begun.

My excitement was all put to a pause mode when, Sampath told me that there was a jeep route till Basavanbaayi. As we went from the green land into a more tree covered area; I found some company who looked very familiar…Yes!!! the leeches. “Ah! finally some fun this way” I thought… I would run through the dead and fallen leaves, the leeches would climb up and after some time I would halt to toss the climbing leeches off my shoes and socks… this was fun…after around 30 minutes walk from the starting point we reached the temple – Basavana baayi.

Most of the trekkers were busy getting the leeched off their shoes, some were already bleeding form the leech bites, some were jumping around not knowing what to do…They had applies eyucaliptus oil but that seems to have done little effect on the leeches. After completing this session of leech removal most of them set out to get to the falls.

In the mean time Philip who was now excited watching Narayan catch frogs began trying his luck. Philip seems to have an ability to attract animals towards him, earlier in the day he had cows running behind him and following him where ever he went, now he was trying to catch the frogs. Narayan was an expert at it and could catch the frogs with great ease; every time philip was to catch a frog it would jump off or get deeper into the water making it hard to find them…

Once all people were ready to get to the falls – actually to get to the place of fun and frolic for those who would like to get down in the falls for a shower. All those who had been bitten by the leeches took no time to get into the water and almost forgot that the were ever bitten by the leeches. We spent around 30 minutes at this falls and then got back to the temple to have our lunch.

The lunch was too good, the jackfruit pappad, the saambaar…humm… I can smell and taste the food…really well prepared… just as some of them were appreciating the lunch, the leeches which had been thrown out of the shoes and from the legs began their assult again…they bit quite a few of them and again the panic struck in the minds of the people. Sampat gave strick directions to follow the route which narayan and shridhar would show and not to wander off. We were a group of 18 people and keeping the tab on all would be a humongous task.

Just as we began the trek, shridhar leading from the front narayan in between and sampath towards the end. The leech count ouly increased as we began the trek upwards, the far off forest which I saw initially is where were trekking. We would walk some distance and then stand asking for salt and removing the leeches… while most of them were involved in removing the leeches, we had trekked for around an hour and had covered only a kilometer or just above it. Most of the team mates decided this wasnt what they were looking for.

Just as we continuted the trek, shridhar showed a small hole which was dug by the bear… using he expertise he could also tell this was just some time before we came and was a younger bear. It wouldnt be far off form the place were walking on. We stood there to have a look and just as most of the people were on our way we continued further… after some time narayan gave a call asking us to stop; I could see exitement in his eyes he came and explained how he has spotted a dear which ran across at lighting speed bisecting our line of trekkers.

Just as we continued our trek sampath could see the frustration on the face of the trekkers who didnt like the trek through the leech prone forest area. Sampath asked for the choise of path and most of the voted this time for a grassland with very few leeches. “So shall it be!!!” was the experession and we with shridhar leading the path walked towards the grassland to the left of the dense forest.

We walked through the grasslands, picking snaps of the distant mountains, the streams, the water holes on the way etc. the landscape reminded me of Poorna Chandra Tejaswi’s description of this hunting experiences. Shridhar guided us to his brother’s house were we rested for some time and clicked the pictures of a some gaint butterfly which were around their home. After a break of around 45 minutes we resumed our trek/journey through the grassland. We walked through the bunds bordering the fields and took pics of the muddy fields, people working in them etc… it was real fun clicking the snaps all over the place… we con
tinued our jounrney and took some rest at the vast grass land that was some distance away form the village and local inhabitation.

Shridhar had gone ahead and got the groceries which we would carry along with us to the final resting spot of the day – the tribal’s house. We had some small games amoungst ourself here. Philip was busy trying to see if the Dogs can get him the frisbee that he throws at them…think he is still trying to train them [;)].

We resumed our trek/walk through teh jeep route and finally reached the tribal’s home where we decided to rest for the night, the place is called PaDubeedu. Narayan was quick to get some dry wood that had fallen off in the forest…his ability to get the dry wood and that too quickly combustible ones is remarkable. Sampath was mentioning about the experience with narayan getting along the woods even in a very rainy climate and being able to get the wood which would keep them warm…. really a skill which I appreciate after the experice at tadiandmol trying to make a camp fire.

Just as the sun set, and the camp fire took the lime light, we got into discussion and got to know each other better. Some of the trek enthusiasts were asking sampath & me about my trek experience, any encounters I had with wild animals, etc… we narrated our stories…just as we were into the discussion the dinner got ready and it was time for us to get to the bed.

The hosts were kind enough to let us spend the night at their home. Shridhar and Dharma had cooked an awesome dinner with a local flavor to it. Ah! I need to mention this – the Germans viz Philip and Dominic were all fans of the tea, and were a all time sport to the tea that was prepared. Tea just too good – it remined me of the tea at Gowdar mane on the Bandaje abbi trek…

We all slept quite early that night…ya early by all standards; I think it was jsut 930pm when we slept.

Day 2

We were to get up early finish the next day’s trek with relative ease. I woke up at 6:00 am when I could spot some brightness in the visinity. The atmosphere was relatively chilly and sampath and I got into discussion of the days plans. Shridhar and Dharma had got up early to help us have our breakfast.
I brushed my teech with the the mango leaves which the host gave me, it was a nice experience. It makes the whole feel look more natural…more rustic in a sense. Just as every one were ready with the daily chores, we decided to continue on our trek for the day after the breakfast. The breakfast was a local special called kadubu and uppit. I liked it…so did many of our team members. Philip and Dominic were on the tea spree again….well only till the tea got over [:)]

We started off to the view point, which is a 45 minutes trek from the base camp…it was panaromic view. At one corner I could spot the Murudreshwara island, at the other end I could see the batkal town. There was the Arabian see at the horizon…There wasnt much clouc cover and it was great to get some nice pics. After a bried photography session we began a small trk towards the BelligunDi falls view point.

I was spell bound by the beauty of this falls. The backdrop of the falls has numerous mountain peaks, and dense forest cover. The water in the falls fell in only1 go from the top to the bottom. The vegetation around the falls was dense, I knew the whole trek was worth this one falls for me… I could have trekked any distance for this view…. I just am crazy of falls…

Just as all the trek group gathered there, the cloud decided to take control and not give the view to all of us. the winds played their game in moving the cloud from right to left and then from left to right, but there was no sign of clearning up to give the view of this falls again.

We decided to move ahead and spend some time at the Godana GunDi falls. Narayan lead the way till the falls, This time too we were through dense forest over and the leech prone area, but it seemed as though not many were really worried about the leeches now, they seemed to have accepted the reality of the leeches on the trek. We had real fun getting down the steep mountain to the base of the falls – slipping, skidding, jumping almost a stunt scene there…

The falls was a very neat one, not too high, not too small, it was ideal to have a bath…I too had a bath in the falls…I generally dont like having a bath in the falls inbetween a trek primarily becoz I believe that it saps a lot of energy which would be helpful in trekking long distances…may be I am wrong but I still believe in it 🙂

We had fun here, playing in the falls. The team from hydrabad had to leave early and so shridhar lead the 3 people to the tempo traveller which would take them to kargal from where they would be able to go to Hydbad…

Narayan took us to the top of the first level and no sooner had I taken a couple of snaps, it started raining. We were quick to get back to the path which leads us to the base camp. Another 30 minutes and we were at the base camp. We had an awesome lunch thanks once again to the cooking team….

We left the base camp, a walk for around 45 minuted down the jeep track, some photoshoots, some discussion with Sampth on his new water sports facility near honnemardu and we were on the main road, and then in the TT which would take us back to bangalore

We dicided to have a glimse of the world famous Jog Falls, but as our luck would have it… it was all misty, we could spot the traces of one of the 4 units, it was very hazy; and that didnt help. We got back into the TT and were on our way back to bangalore.

We reached Blore at 330 am, and went on our ways back home…

An awesome trek… will get back for more falls and more treks some time…

Some of the pics are at this link
http://picasaweb.google.com/sachidananda.bs/SharavathiValley1#

September 7, 2008
Meruti parvatha

Ah! finally a trek after a long time….The long wait after the trek it is worth it… A monsoon trek…how better can it get? wow a thrill of a life time… thatz exactly how it was…
After the ligament strain I had, which had put me off for more than 6 months from any strenuous work, this was a return debut for trekking that I was waiting for… and how better can it get? a monsoon trek…my first one officially….All these years I would go on a trek and it was incidental that it would rain…this time it was a planned one… it was an high anticipation trek…It was one I expected to be a full rain trek….I was geared to it…
This trek was again with Arun and company, Shrikanth, Subbu-1, Subbu-2, Tarsh matte Harsha… all with long trek experience…My anticipation for the trek and the precursor to the trek with the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, made the trek all the more memorable…
I reached the majestic bus stand much earlier, I was at 2015 in the bus stand and was waiting for the rest of them, at 9:30 Arun and company arrived at the station…a small intro to being with and then we were on our way to board the bus…We boarded the bus to HoranaDu at 2215… and we intended to get down at KaLasa…A long journey in the bus to Kalasa, and then we reached there at 7:45 pm.
The first bus to basrikatte which is on the way from HoranaDu to Shringeri reaches Kalasa at 730 am. We missed the bus and needed to wait for the next bus, we had some hot tea and were waiting for the next bus when the rain started pouring down. We got in to rain preparation mode, purchasing some polythene bags and using our creativity to design and apparel out of the bags…it was an experience in itself…didnt know that there was a fashion designer in all of us…or was it the necessity? some one once said – necessity is the mother of all invention…may be this is what he meant…
We got down at Basarikatte and then had tea at the hotel there…the bus stops there for some time and we had a nice breakfast there, with uppit, avlakki, idli humm all yummy…after our breakafast for half an hour we changed to the trek gear… track suit, shoes etc.. We then began our trek….
A small distance walk back on the route the bus had taken us would take us to Mertikhan estate entrance… we started our photography session on the way; the rain which had taken a breakfast break as well had started pouring again… it was nice… we were all thrilled by the way the rain would keep the excitement in our trek…
A walk through the tea estates on either side for around 30 minutes and we came to the entrance of the estate office… we asked for permission to get to the peak of the meruthi parvatha. The office people told us that the usual route which takes people to the peak is closed and we needed to go through a round about route…they tried to dissuade us by saying there would be lakhs of leeches down on the side, and getting through the forest would be really difficult.
While Arun and Shrikanth were busy getting the permission work, the remaining of us were busy with our photography sessions…the rain had stopped as thought to give us some nice view of the lad far off, the surrounding hills etc… we were in the middle of a lush green tea plantation, and we could spot the tea estate workers working at brisk pace in the estate… all a picturesque view to keep in our imagination… you need to live it to savor it…a image worth keeping for the rest of a life time.
Arun and Shrikanth had done their bit and got the permission… we started our photography cum trek ahead, the rain was pouring in periodic cycles…ya pouring…there is no other equivalent word to it… it was just too heavy… we had to keep our cameras in good care, else it would stop functioning…After around an hours walk we reached the estate guesthouse, and asked for directions again.
The lady in the house directed us to go through the estate plantations and then through the forest…you can get to peak that way!!! well we stared on our trek…Another walk of around 45 minutes through the estate and the forest, Shrikanth taking the lead as usual we reached a clearing above the forest over….
Subbu-2 the high enthu guy decided to see if there was any other way nearby, We only knew the direction of the peak, and didn’t know the actual peak…The rain had halted since we had asked for directions from the guest house lady. We took a break of around 15 minutes to see if any leeches had climbed on… fortunately there weren’t many till now…I followed another train not the one which subbu had chosen and spotted r peak on to the left of the clearing…subbu-2 came running down and wanted to climb the peak…we were busy clicking the pics… at the far end we could spot HoranaDu… the place where we wanted to go… it looked as if it would take eternity to reach the place…
Another 5 minutes and we were ready to leave to the peak… the weather got worse, it was just rain that we needed to face till now, and now almost at the peak it was the wind which was giving us more of a challenge than a rain… The wind made it look as though, the rain drops were bullets directed to us… A braved trek for another 45 minutes and we decided to take a break for lunch…for some time we thought the place where we sat was the peak – the meruti parvata…We couldnt see anything more than 5 meters away… it was that cloudy…
Just as we were done with our lunch half way through, as though to tell us – you people still have long way to go…We had some amazing fun there during the lunch break, and following which we decided to continue our trek to the peak… another 10 minutes trek and we were at the peak…
There is a ganesha temple at the peak…looks like there is some pooja done once an year, and not many people come there… we could see some cigarette butts at the peak…think these might be of some trek group that had come earlier….We spent around 15 minutes at the peak…the weather got worse again and we decided to get back…
We had to reach horanaDu by night and its only then that we could catch our busy and get to business the next day…With all the fun of a early monsoon rain, and a great trek we reached HoranaDu at 5:00 pm.
We booked a room at one of the lodges there and then took a hot water bath…The evening dinner was at the temple….We waited in the bus after checking out from the lodge, and then sat in the bus. The bus was to leave at 9:15pm but as the heavy rains had got the river overflowing, it was really hard to get over…this meant that we would not get to our business!!!
Another half an hour of intense prayers, and some fun filled memories being discussed, we got to know that the river had subsided, the bleak possibility of reaching Bangalore now looked to be a reality…
Another nights good sleep in the bus and we were in Bangalore at 6 am in the morning. All of us went on our own routes back to business… there was new set of friends to make, a new place to visit, lot new learning… and finally the memories… with every trek it only makes me appreciate the beauty of nature… not just the way the environment is, but the uncertainties the sudden twists and turns that emerge…all make it a course in itself…. a course for which the fees you pay is minimal, but the benefits are innumerable…well may be as a student at IIMB this is how I am looking at it…
And just to follow it up… I read in the news paper the next day that there was some naxal activity in the mertikhan estate, and the STF was searching for the naxals who had left some of their material and the sort there…What an experience!!! ya really… would be memorable..

August 23, 2008
In seach of bangADi falls

The film “Chigurida kansu” made a mention of the so called bangADi falls, a small look up for more information from my cousins and I came to know that it was near Dharmasthala. I decided to try out the falls.

After the summer placements and IIMB, its generally a time to cool of a bit for the junta here some of the sections going on a trip to some place some others it is a trip to the Wonder-La. I decided to do an exploratory trek and chose bangADi to be my destination.

I reached Dharmasthala at round 630 am in the morning and had my breakfast after some freshening up. Then reached beltandaDi…. There was the very old hotel to home I am a usual customer when on treks – “Hotel Samatha”. I got my lunch packed and asked them for directions. I told them I waned to go to bangADi falls; they were a bit confused but directed me towards somanDakda… I climbed the bus in the direction towards CharmaDi and got down at the place. I enquired about the falls with the local pan beeDa stall. The told me that there is nothing like bangADi Falls; if you want to see all the falls shown in the film you have to go to bandaje arbi and hAnaDka(AnaDka) fall I told him I have done that already could you tell me something more about the “bolle faLLs”. I was a bit skeptical about the information. I could not belive that such massive information could be manipulated just for a film. He told me a bus would come in another 15 min that would take me to deDupe… you can get down ant kAjur and then walk toward killor (which is around 2 km.) I decided to try my luck once again and once in the bus decided to take a ticket to deDupe. This was the last stop of the bus. Along the route, I could spot the banDaje falls, I for some time went into the recollection mode… about my trek to the falls and the night in the forest. Things have changed quite a bit… some murder of a foreigner who was doing some research on the herbs here had been done around 6 months prior and the people were still in shock. A bit later I found the way to the AnaDka falls. The simple elegant falls I had gone to more than a year ago. Finally I reached deDupe, had a couple co passengers at the last point.

I asked my co passengers for some more information in case they knew of any falls at bangADi. The answer was negative. I then asked them if there was a way to killoor for there. The asked me to enquire down the road and find direction. I reached the stream which was flowing and asked the residents of a house nearby if following the path beside the stream would take me to killor. The answer was positive. It was a nice trek experience the first of its kind for me to trek through and beside the river to a place. From the bridge is was photography time for me, all along the stream I could find some cranes some kingfishers and some other birds which would fly across fishing and posing occasionally for my camera.

The trek beside the stream is till we reach the broken/incomplete bridge downstream. Once we reached there we asked again for direction, not the trek beside the steam was over, it was time for trek beside the farm banks and plantations. Another half an hour of photography was there for me… J There was a villager who was on this way to some ones house, I decided to have his company and asked him questions like when it had rained last… all these was to ascertain that at least boLLe falls near killor would have some water to keep me happy for the effort. He then showed me a hillock and told me… look gets to be a complete falls on its own when it rains. You will find water running down allover the hill and making splendid falls worth a camera shot. I recollected that this might be the hill that was shown in the film, quite possible!!! Well let me get back sometime to see this hill during the rains and capture the falls… now I need to see the new falls I am in search of….

Ah some distance ahead I had a buffalo block my way. It seemed to be confused seeing a crazy creature like me some where down the with camera hanging down my neck, a towel to wipe off the sweat that might come, a track suite and a bag to carry my luggage… it must have thought… “Oh God!!! What do I do now…. He doesn’t seem to be one whom I like… seems to have come from some other land…” I had my own plans for him… while he turned his head away to think I took my camera out showed it and asked it to turn towards me… surprisingly it did turn and I had my snap… I told thanks you, can you please give me my way… it immediately walked off giving me the route for further journey… The villager who was accompanying me was surprised and told… “Seems as thought he understands your language…” I gave a broad grin… and continued walking. In about 5 minutes form there I was near the Kolli Durgaparameshwari temple. I had been there once in bike when I was on a search for a route to Bandage from Jamalabad fort… it was an unsuccessful attempt then. I asked the nearby tea shop how much time I had till the bus would come. He told around 20 min. I decided to go into the temple and have blessing from the deity.

I sat in the bus waiting for it to leave… another 10 min journey from there and I was in killor. I was asking for directions to boLLe falls. I could either have an auto which would take me for some distance or a jeep that would take me a bit further. I decided to go by Jeep. There I found my guide Praveen who was also on his way back home. He volunteered to take me to the falls as the shrubs had covered the path and there was no real route that you could spot. The Jeep dropped me 3 kms ahead on the route… I think I had made up for around 45 minutes of my walking time by a 20 minute jeep journey. I got down at the stop, thanked the driver and went ahead with Praveen.

The trak for the jeep was all a mud road and it was not sure if the track was ready to use after a steam on the road. So we decided to get walking. Praveen was telling me all about himself, some information about the place, his ancestry and stuff like it. His Grandma’s home was almost the last house on the way to the falls. We walked along the jeep track that was being made usable (the rains generally spoil the track and these people have to rework on them every year.) Praveen also told me that you can get to lobo house from the route, which then can take us to the Kudremukh peak.

We reached the last house after an uphill walk along he Jeep track, and from there it was a trek in the forest… Ah! Finally something worth a trek… looking at the moistness I understood there would be leeches and I was always on the look out. We walked thought the shrubs that had grown to cover the route and made our own path to the falls. We had some nice experiences climbing over some fallen trees and some thorny hanging creepers. We reached the falls after around 20 min of walk though the forest. It was now time to remove our shoes search for some leeches just in case some had climbed over without a hint.

I settled down and after a small relaxing time decided to go to the base of the falls. This falls is very reachable and we can get to the base of the falls, very easy. Praveen as telling we can go to yevala from here, he told it is a nice place and the flowers there are really famous. I told I would come back to that place some other time. I was busy picking snaps of the falls. Many of the regular reader of my blog would know that I have crush on falls I was just sooooooo happy to be there. We then got back got the place were we had kept our bags and decided
to have our lunch. We cleared all the plastic… put that back in to our bags… some more photo-shoot of the scenery and it was time for us to get back to killor. It was around 3:10 pm when we set out from the falls. On the way back the leeches seem to have woken up. The last time we went should have shaken them from the sleep they were in… we moved briskly and were able to get out of the dense shrub cover in some time. Then it was time for leech removal session. Praveen’s relatives were out with their set of medicine to kill the leeches… I removed my shoes and dropped the leeches. Now it was back to the jeep track. Praveen told he has a shorter route to his home from the place, and took leave from me. I thanked him for the help and guidance he had provided. I was on my way back picking snaps which I had missed due to the jeep journey… speaking to people on the way.. given them smiles and getting those in return….

After around 1 hour and 45 minutes of leisure walk thought he forest and then the jeep track I reached killor. I decided to get something to eat and sat in the bus that was destined to leave to beltangaDi. The bus started around 5:15 and I was in beltangaDi at 5:50. There I had my evening snacks and then reached Dharmasthala. I was tired and feeling too sleepy. I had my dinner and was waiting for the bus departure… Ah! The day has just passed…. I had not even for a moment thought of IIMB or the busy life of Bangalore… it was definitely going to come the next day… well why worry about all that is routine…I was with in search of my crush for the whole day and enjoyed every moment of it. As soon as I was in the bus it was bed time when I woke up I was near Nelamangala… Just another day… I had the whole day to rest and refresh myself for the course ahead.

Trek date: Nov 17^th 2007

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sachidananda.bs/DedupeBolleFalls

November 19, 2007
KoteBetta

Trekking for me is the first option given a chance, and I would have not liked to miss the term break @ IIMB. My association with RHM has been quite old… I like the group that RHM has…so decided I would not spend time deciding on the trek, would just go ahead with them.

RHM had planned trek to Kote betta. As usual Arun had done all the ticket booking and food arrangements. We just had to accompany him to enjoy. To accompany all that we had Dean, who is another master at his PJs. After Edakumeri this was my next trek with RHM, almost after a gap of 3 months.

Arun had asked us to meet at the reception counter of the KSRTC bus stand at 10 pm. I was pretty much jobless so decided to set out from IIMB at 8 pm itself. I knew I would be early, but did not expect to be as early as 8:45pm. I had over an hour to spend at the reception. I decided to do some rounds on the bus stand and watch passengers in their hurry to get to their destination. KSRC bus stand was at its usual best with a lot of buzzing discussions by passengers some of them arguing with the ticket collector and loud announcements (I don’t even know who many will actually listen to it, when involved in their routine discussion.). Then there was the usual jam of busses in a hurry to leave the platform and get set to their destination.

I then spent some time looking at the road map that was painted on the wall of the bus stand. Looking at the approximate distances to each district head quarters from Bangalore… I still had some time to call my friends and discuss some nonsense. Finally at around 9:55pm Arun appeared, and we found our trek mates in some time. We had a round of introduction and then climbed the bus. We expected to reach Madikeri around 5:00 am.

The bus left the stand in about 10 min after we climbed and we engaged ourselves in routine discussions… some related to our experiences some relating to our beliefs… just a process of getting to know each other better. As time elapsed we were into deep slumber.

We reached Madikeri before the first rays if sun could touch upon the city, we were joined by another trek mate of ours there from Udupi. Our bus from Madikeri towards Somavarpet was @ 6:45 am. So we had some time to freshen up ourselves. We finished our usual round of freshening up and went to have our breakfast. I was quite hungry and had some good amount of breakfast. We also packed some for our journey later on.

We sat in the bus at 6:40 am and the bus started off as expected on time. Another around 30 minutes of journey and we were at “Hatty HoLe” meaning Hatti river. Our stop was just after a bridge, the river was flowing underneath the bridge in all might. We could spot some of the tree trunks it had pulled downstream after the heavy rains some days before. We took some snaps; the sun had just about risen above the mountains in the horizon and was shining in all might.

We had some coorg coffee at the hotel there, and then Arun started off with a formal round of introduction and some basic funda / plan for the trek. We were to walk along the road for most of the trek. Though the scenic beauty was too good the only thing I hated was trekking / walking on the well tarred road. We were to take a break at a hanging bridge which was around a couple odd kilometers from the starting point. We reached the hanging bridge at our own pace, and then decided to break for official breakfast of the trek. A couple of us were interested in photography and the hanging bridge provided a good position for photo shooting. We found some estate workers speaking to themselves and enjoying us take pics of them… they were so pleased to pose for our cameras… he what innocence in their looks… it was just too good the excitement on seeing us strangers. J

We got back to the road after about an hours break… a small distance further we got to a fork in the road; one was leading upwards towards an estate and the other to don’t know where it takes us. The river was flowing besides the road all along. We chose the right turn, we lost track of the busy running river from here. It was much silent trek from here. The asphalted road slowly turned into a mud road… did not even realize it. There were no vehicles this way.

We had all the time in the world to get the pictures we wanted. We were amazed by the numerous falls on the way to the peak of kote betta. We could not spot the peak from the place we began this trek. We could spot a not of mountains and clouds in the distance. I was a bit early to a fall on the road side and so decided to try and get some better pics of the falls. I had a small fall in the falls and so decided against the effort. After some good snaps from were I was, we realized there were leeches along the route. One of my trek mates had a leech on his feet. It hadn’t begun its job of sucking blood, just trying to figure out a suitable location and we spotted it… we removed away the leech and were happy about the achievement.

Another couple of small falls and some resting for the rest of the group to catch up we reached a much flatter range of the trek. Till now we were on a continuous ascent and were warned by localites of a bullock which would chase strangers – well we did not find any such bullock chasing us… but every time we spotted one we were discussing about a possibility.

We made our calls to our relatives form this open plain area. At a distance we could spot the telephone tower near the Raja Seat. We had a panoramic view of the mountainous beauty Coorg. I was missing the panoramic mode in my camera… cribbing I had brought a camera that had one. Leeches were once again on duty, biting a couple of our mates. After the exercise of leech removal we waited to catch up once again with our trek mates who had slowed down once again. We in the mean time we took some time off to make our calls back to our relatives in Bangalore.

We could spot the peak of Kote Betta from here, wow!! Was the expression I came out with as I could understand the reason the mountain was named so. Kote in Kannada means Fort. We could spot the mountains in a fort wall format. This might have been the reason these mountains be christened this name. We walked towards the visible peak. Each time we reached a certain height we would wait and look back to see the beauty all over… we could spot domestic cows grazing on adjacent peaks, some paddy fields at a distance, the river we left far behind, some smoke raising up from a distant village. The clouds would cover some of our view of the peak some time while at other times it would clear up and give us the majestic view of the “fort walls” of the mountain.

We continued on our journey, we could spot a group of people who were moving towards the peak as well making loud shouts, and running all the way up. We thought they might be some other group of trekker. We reached another small resting place and took some snaps till our ever slow trek mated could catch up. This we had decided would be our last stop before the summit near the temple atop the peak. As we rested we found clouds take over from clarity and cover the peak again. It was back to photography time, the wind pulling the clouds;
it was such a great sight.

We started on our final stretch to the peak… it was quite a steep ascent and a short one too. We reached the temple area and just had enough time to click some pics of the valley below; the clouds were backing again to blur the view. There was a route beside the temple to another peak, but again the clouds would not let us explore that. So after having our lunch at the peak we decided to walk back. We spent around three fourth of an hour here. We could spot the first group of trekkers who were ahead of us coming down at a distance. They spoke to us and told they were localites and had come there just for fun.

We set back on our way once we found some drizzling. The stones get slippery and it would be difficult to get down. We started off and in no time we were facing all the slippery stones on our way… it was nice fun descending these stones. We could a big group of school students who were on a school trip to the peak on our way back.

We were out of the cloud and could spot the sun again. All of us decided to take a small nap on our way back. I wasn’t feeling sleepy and decided to try out some nice pictures of the scenery around. About an hours rest and we were ready to get back on the track. We took some nice group snaps before we could get back to the back journey. Dean who was on of our trek mates wanted to go on a Himalayan trek in December and so was preparing for the same. He was on complete run from the word go. I was the next in line and it was fun running the slopes.

We finally hit the asphalted road and were searching of a good spot to in the river where some of our enthusiasts could have a quick bath and relax. We found one, and it was just awesome place. The river was taking a small turn and it had estate on one side beside the road while on the other we had dense forest. We could find some small birds enjoying their moments of Joy and fly. We spent around a couple of hours beside the river. Our janata which was late decided to take its own sweet time to get back and join us. While we had couple of hours of joy beside the river they could manage only around 45 minutes of fun. The sun in the meantime decided to give me some awesome snaps, with its interplay with the flowing river. Ah like it… may be you got to check the pics to understand what I mean… any description would not match the sight.

Another 15 min trek beside the road and we were back to hatti hole…a cup of coffee to relax and some sharing of experiences we were all ready to get back to Bangalore after a days trek. We were waiting for a bus to somavarpet. We reached somavarpet around 7:30 pm, we decided to rent a room for some time and freshen up.

Our bus was at 10:00 pm. We climbed the bus and it was just a short time before all of us were in deep sleep. I woke up just a couple of kilometer from the KSRTC bus stop. Here I was back to the huzzle and buzzle of Bangalore… back to same life of routine ness… the same campus the same busy life

You can find the snaps here…
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sachidananda.bs/KoteBetta02

November 16, 2007
Jog Falls

The life at IIMB is one which keeps u really occupied. The usual quizzes (some surprise and some not), the assignments which we delay to the last minute for submission, the usual L^2 parties… all this just keep you really occupied. Being a trek enthusiast, I was missing trek and travel a lot here. On this particular Saturday, I just could not resist the temptation to go on a trek and decided to go on the trek. This was after the term one mid term exams, some time just after the heavy rains and the awesome flow of the Sharavathi at the jog.

As usual, I did no look for company and decided to go all alone on the trek/trip. I set out on Saturday evening and reached the Majestic Bus Stand from where the buses start off on their daily routine of plying passengers. I reached the stand at around 8:15 pm and as is the normal case is with me, I don’t book tickets. I began searching for a bus which could give me tickets to Jog; the destined bus was to leave at around 10:00 pm. I had a hard time and could not find a seat in the bus which would take me to Jog. Instead the conductor of the bus asked me to get into a Shirsi bus which would take me to Sagara and then climb their bus from there. I took the suggestion and decided to try my luck at any Shirsi bus which could take me to Sagara. The next bus to Shirsi was at 10:15pm. I could find a seat in the bus and so wasn’t a problem… 10min after I got into the bus I got a co passenger who sat in the seat beside me and we started speaking to each other, he told me that this bus might go till Jog, you can take the ticket till there if you want to… I thought Ah! What a co-incidence… well I will take this bus directly to jog then. I bought a ticket to Jog and it was a cool journey from then. I was quite tiered and went into deep slumber right form the moment the bus left the Bangalore station. I woke up only when my co-passenger decided to get down at Sagara and was getting his luggage ready. I thanked him for the suggestion and help that I received and began looking out of the window eagerly to get a glimpse of the awesome paddy fields which made a green sea beside the road the bus was moving on. Occasionally there was a mild drizzle… all this would just make me feel so very close to nature… I was waiting eagerly to get down form the bus and have a look at the falls.

Finally the bus decided to give a stop J just a couple of kilometers before the Falls. I got out of the bus, thanked the driver and the conductor, wished them a good morning and turned around. I was standing in front of a bridge and besides it was a board, which read… “Welcome to world famous Jog Falls”. World famous… hummm rt… really world famous… it reminded me of the wave that the recent Kannada movie “Mugaaru MaLe” had created. One of the dance-song sequences was picturised in this location and the photography had a chopper’s snap of the falls. This has really created the interest amongst a lot of people to visit the falls. The recent showers and the full flow of the falls – some videos wee already out showing Jog in its full glory. The first thought on seeing this Jog in full glory was – Now I understand the anecdote of Sir M V saying “What a waste of energy!!!”

A couple of minutes after the bus had dropped me the road was completely silent, all that I could here is the water fall at a distance, some birds chirping. The bus which I could not climb reached the spot a couple of minutes later. I did not want to climb it as there were a lot of scenic things which I could capture in my camera; I decided to do the walking. There was a mile stone which was to directing me to Jog saying… you have 2 km more dude… Just enjoy the scenery and the music… I did exactly that. I had the entire road for myself – some times some tourist van would come honking for space, there wasn’t anything else on the way that would stop me.

I started my road trek of 2 Km with the bridge, Far off I could see the Sharavathi river take a turn and come to the falls… there were a lot of stones which stood in its path not vertical but as though hit on the head and about to fall down. The river over years has make its own empire… which even the hard rocks could not challenge. I continued further, clicking snaps of the wet road, wetted by the drizzle that had occurred some time back. Around a kilometer and some distance ahead, I got to the first guest house. I could see some people standing just at the edge where the river is about to fall, I found some monkeys playing this early in the morning… They were at their usual best entertaining and troubling people.

After some snaps at the falls I walked further to the main reception of the Jog Falls. There is a big banner welcoming us to the falls. I met a few friends who had been to jog directly from Bangalore in their Sumo. I greeted them and went back to have my Breakfast. I wanted to get a glimpse of the falls before I start off with my breakfast. I went to the sight seeing point opposite the falls. The falls was visible, not flowing in its full glory but thanks to the dam Up-stream we still had some water. Occasionally the clouds would cover the falls and disappoint the on lookers.

After the first “darshan” of the falls, I walked towards the shopping complex where I could find some breakfast. I decided to get to the foot of the falls after my breakfast. I did not have a hat to cover my head from the rain, you don’t have to worry either, we can purchase plastic hats which are Rs. 5 (I know it wouldn’t even cost a couple of Rupees to make it… but still it serves the purpose which it has to do.) I wore the hat and started my trek to the base of the falls. The drizzle began again and this time there was no stopping me… I began my descent down the hill slope. The rocks that formed the hill slope were slippery; many people were finding it difficult. I could hear some one shouting out to some one else because some one else is missing. The ascenders were having a tough time as well. The steep climb had drained them out of energy and they were complaining about heaven, the hell, scolding God and some even remembering enemies. Well its nature of human to complain and scold anything and everything when it is just beyond their capacity to do things.

I reached the foot of the falls in some time… all along the route I had the pleasure of not having to wait for any one and the leisure of clicking as many snaps as I needed. When I reached the foot, of the falls, it was an awesome experience; for a moment I felt this is where I belong…. I just want to be here. I felt as though I was back into carefree childhood days. I could feel the falls spray water on us to wet us, the clouds provided a hiding to the people from the view above and the breeze created by the water fall. I stood there thinking how majestic it looks, how simple the principle that governs this falls. Yet what power it creates.

I spent around half an hour at the foot of the falls and decided to get back. I started the climb and reached the viewpoint without much effort. May be my regular tsepak games at IIMB had improved my stamina and this ascent was not so demanding. There I get
another realizations… regularity in what we do will improve our efficiency to levels which can marvel people.

The time was around 10 am. I had the whole day to get back to Bangalore. I decided to not worry too much about the travel time and just reach Bangalore. I reached back to Bangalore at 9:30 pm caught a bus to Jayanagar. A friend was there to pick me up reached the campus at 10:15pm..

I fell exhausted on the bed after the day long journey; I closed my eyes to relive the experience I had during the earlier half of the day. The 2 to 3 hours of pleasure I had spending at the falls, has given me enough enthusiasm for the remaining term. Wish I could have such experiences much more… well that is a trade off… I have to accept. My passion for treks and falls continue uninhibited at IIMB as well – I am happy about it.

some pics posted at
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sachidananda.bs/JogFalls02

November 15, 2007
Hanadka Falls – Simple, elegant, beautiful

Hanadka falls, some of my college juniors had explored this falls and informed me about it. At once I felt eager to see it, I called up a few friends to ask if they would like to join me on the trek. I was informed that this was a very simple trek, and even the falls was not all that dangerous. It was around March and so that would reduce the water in the falls, still it would be a good one -that’s what my juniors had told.
Finally only two of us Mahesh and myself decided to go on the trek. Both of stay near Indiranagar and by chance we got into the same us… till the KSRTC bus-stand we were discussing about the job/work and related thoughts.
We reached the bus-stand and then searched for a decent bus to board. We boarded a bus to Dharmasthala, which took got us there at 5:30am. We had our morning breakfast and then caught a bus to Ujire…. From Ujire we had a cab that would take us via Mundage to Kaddor. We reached kadoor before sunrise and, started our trek, we reached the junction where we have board that states… “Welcome to Kudremukh National park”. We asked a persona at this junction as to which was the direction of the falls, we followed instructions and reached the fork where a bridge had broken down. We asked the people who were hanging around the bridge the direction for the falls and they directed us to the left turn there. We followed the path and reached the last house on the route. We asked them for directions, and they told continue ahead and you will find a stream… walk through the stream and reach the falls.
When we were contemplating on the suggestion, we were encountered by an old lady whom we asked the same suggestion and she was kind enough to take us along the route to the falls. We reached the falls following the direction after she had left and relaxed. We reclined in the shadow of the falls for around 2 hours, nibbled away thesnacks which we had got along and then decided to try out some photography.
The falls was a simple elegant jump that the water collected upstream would do. Through years of erosion, some of the stones had chipped off and fallen on the ground. This was still an untouched paradise, we could see birds chirping around, carrying our their daily chores. People staying way from the falls and that is why wedon’t find much plastic accumulated around there. We could see the kudremukh range if we turned our back to the falls, some clouds that would try scaling them. All this combined making it a paradise. I just hope that peopledon’t spoil the natural balance here. Its just too good.
After the break we got back… nothing much to say about the journey back.. except that the jeep was too crowded…

May 3, 2007