Weekend escapade to Gandikota!

Crew Members: Intel Mallus (9 members).

Duration: 1 day.

Date: 27th September 2014.

Terrain: Rocky.

Expense: 1800 Rs per head.

Vehicle: Tempo Traveller.

Abstract: Exploration in hot sun!

Mallus group of Intel used to plan a trip every once in a while. But lately the group had been slogging when it come to trips. Last trip that we executed was cave exploration at Sidharabetta during Jan 1st! It has been a year almost!! 

Fortunately, we had a good number of people available for the weekend and we started a trip discussion with Shivanasamudram falls in mind on Friday. Arun suggested Gandikota. I was a bit reluctant initially considering the distance and the time window we would get to spend there. As the group had girls as well, we never had an option to extend the trip beyond a day. Gandikota is ~300 Kms one side journey from Bangalore and since everyone was okay with it, we decided we'll accept the challenge.

Since the strength of the group was 9, we decided to take up a Tempo Traveller and tried contacting our office shuttle vendor. They proposed a package with 13 Rs per Km for non-AC vehicle and 300 Rs bata for the driver if we are to return before 10PM or else bata would rise to 600. We were okay with it. When they learned the destination is in AP, they said none of their vehicles have permit in AP and we'll have to take one from AP border RTO office and that will cost us additional 3500 Rs. We thought of trying to get some other vendors who have All India permit vehicles. We failed in finding alternate options. We had to take a fast decision as it was already Friday evening. When we all met, everyone started throwing their opinions and few were not very interested in doing such a strenuous journey, which made Arun pissed and he decided to stay off the trip. None of us could convince him and thus we decided to go ahead with the plan to Gandikota. We asked one of our drivers to reach Bellandur and make the first pick at 5 AM on Saturday and then come towards Old Airport Road where remaining 8 of us would board.

Unlike normal trips, this time, all 9 of us were ready by 5 AM and guess who came late! By the time driver reached Bellandur, it was 5:55 AM and I was pissed. I rose my voice at him when he reached our pick up point. He said some lame reasons and thus he costed us one hour!

We soon started our trip and I asked to him to drive straight to Chikaballapur. He didn't know the route beyond Chikkaballapur and Google was all we could bank on. We reached Chikkaballapur by 8 AM and there is this hotel Sandarshini which is our regular place during treks around Chikaballapur. I just love the Kesari Bath they make there. We didn't waste much time there as we still had 220 Kms to cover. I checked for the route to Kadiri with the cashier and we soon got the the engine running.

We had a fun filled journey from there with long sessions of Dumb charades and Anthakashari. In between, by 10:15 AM, we saw a direction board pointing right deviation to Kadiri from highway. But the driver said, RTO office is in the highway still ahead from where we'll have to take the permit and then come back. He added AP RTO checking is extremely strict and thus skipping permit payment would be a great risk. 

In another 45 mins, we reached RTO office. I collected 3500 Rs from the group and I asked driver to go with me. He said 'You need not come sir. The RTO is a very short tempered person and he might shout at you'! I replied 'Why would anyone shout at the public just like that'! We started walking towards the office and the driver repeated again, 'RTO would shout at you sir and you may opt to skip that' and I said, 'If that is the case, I'll better opt to hear what he has to say' and we reached RTO. I could sense what really was happening there and got it confirmed when the RTO said the permit fee! It was 2850 Rs! Remaining 650 Rs would have went to driver's pocket if I had believed his words! While walking back to the vehicle, he said this extra money is generally taken by the drivers and that's a common way of earning money followed across the vehicle renting agencies. I told him, 'If you had told me that the bata was 500 instead of 300 and told the truth that permit fee is 2850, we would have given you the amount. But you are not going to get anything out of this as you opted to lie about it'.

Our route was supposed to be Chikaballapur -> Kadiri -> Pulivendula -> Jammalamadugu -> Gandikota. We checked Google maps and saw an alternate route via Anantapur. This route through Anantapur would help us avoid the drive back till the deviation to Kadiri and thus decided to take that up. Antakshari sessions continued. I am not a big fan of Antakashari, because of which I was sitting in front, monitoring the maps and directing our driver. 

By 12:30 PM, when we were very close to the destination, we missed a turn and travelled ~20Kms ahead and we had to take a U-turn and come back. The deviation that Google showed us was a muddy road and we checked with the locals around. They said our deviation would take us to the reservoir project there and not to fort! They suggested to drive to Muddanur and from there to take the road to Jammalamadugu and take a left deviation that comes just before the bridge over Pennar river! And that was like another 60Kms! Another hour of drive in that heat was unbearable! We had no option left! By 1:30 PM, we reached the bridge and just before the bridge started we could see a board asking tourists to take left deviation to Gandikota. The road was narrow and either sides were vast and barren. 18 Kms of that stretch finally, took us to the Haritha APTDC motel which marked the end of our one side journey! None of us cared about the destination for a moment as our stomachs were rumbling with hunger! They offered us fried rice, chapathi, fulka, dal and onion-tomato masala! We had enough of drinks as well. Note, the hotel is a vegetarian one. 

By 3 PM, 3 hours off from our plan, we started walking towards the fort! A 500m of would from the motel would take one to the fort. Sun was at its peak and we all had a layer of sun screen applied hoping it would help us retain our fair complexion! :D

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Fort entrance had couple of tuck shops run by villagers that had drinks and biscuits and stuff. We entered the fort through the massive rusted gates.

Sky was very clear and I love clicking pics of architectures in such a background.

Apart from monuments, the fort premises host huts for lot of villagers. There were lot of goats grazing in the fort. We walked and could see a small school where the kids of the village go. There was a tomb kind of structure as soon as we entered and it was named Charminar.

We walked ahead along the lanes between the huts. A board saying "Madhavaraya Temple" was placed on the lane pointing to the left deviation. We walked towards the temple. The gopura of the temple was massive and was mostly ruined! But the color contrast it showcased was awesome!

There was a shrine inside well maintained in the middle of a lawn. We moved around clicking more pics. We had to cover as much as possible in the short time that we had left.

While leaving the temple, another board saying 'Great Bath' was pointing towards right. We had to walk some 15 mins and found high fort walls and lot of structures around. There were villagers cultivating plantains directing us. We walked around and we could see the walls ending at a point which appeared like a cliff. We thought that could be the Grand Canyon look alike view point. The only easy way to reach till there was to climb the stairs to the fort walls and walk over it. We managed to cover some distance over the wall and noticed a bunch of Lion Tailed Macaques seated at a distant point and the girls were reluctant to go forward. So, myself, Jerry, Melroy and Renju decided to go ahead and explore the place leaving the girls and couple of boys behind. We walked till the cliff jumping couple of walls blocking the passage and found the cliff is not actually the cliff that we were after. But still the place looked beautiful.

We walked back and joined the group. We decided to walk back to the Charminar point and ask some one the route to the Canyon view point. By the time we reached Charminar point, we were very tired and our throats were craving for water. We hydrated ourselves from there and we were told the view point is straight down the lane from where we took the deviation towards the temple. We went past a mosque and granary. After the granary, there are a couple of stairs on the ride side which will take you to the Gorge! It was 4:30 PM already and we walked as fast as we could to reach the point! The view there was breathtaking! We had enough photo sessions there and decided to sit there enjoying the silence and wind till 5:30 PM. One could trek down to the Pennar River along the pipe way. We didn't want to try it out though.

By 5:30 PM, we started our walk back to the fort gates and sun was on the way to disappear. Charminar looked awesome with sunset.

We walked towards the motel dragging ourselves! Sunset view along the hills with windmills was mind blowing and I couldn't resist myself from clicking a pic!

We reached the motel soon and ordered cool drinks and tea. By mistake, we ordered Onion Pakodas and that costed us almost 45 mins there. It tasted good and we left the plates clean wiping it out! :D

We started our journey back to Bangalore by 7 PM and we decided to take the route that we were actually supposed to take. All were tired and dozed off. Verdict on the case with TN CM Jayalalitha's came out on this day and we were getting news from our friends about the riots and happenings in Bangalore. We were a bit worried and finally discovered our routes are unaffected. We reached Kadiri by 9 PM and decided to have dinner from there. I had no clue how we reached back in Banglore from there as I was sound asleep! Melroy and Renju were the ones who were guiding the driver and guess what by the time we reached Bangalore it was 2 AM!! 

It was a wonderful and very tiring journey!

Things to remember:

1. Try not to get fooled by the driver if you are planning to rent a vehicle.

2. APTDC Motel have AC/Non-AC rooms and Dormitory facility.

3. There are no other food options around but this APTDC motel.

4. There is no entry fee and the fort is open 24x7!

5. Plan and execute in such a way that you'll have at least 3-4 hours to spend there. I would recommend to stay at the motel for a day and explore the place in the evening and early in the morning.

Dos:

1. Take Bangalore -> Chikkaballapur -> Kadiri -> Pulivendula -> Muddanur -> Gandikota route.

2. Have enough water if you are planning for a single day trip. No matter how early you start, by the time you reach there, sun will be ready to suck every bit of fluid out of you!

3. Carry sun screen lotions, caps, goggles.

Don't:

1. Place is very well maintained with little plastic garbage around! So, carry your wastage to the nearest bin.

Yet another conquer - Makalidurga!

Crew Member: Dilip, Deepesh, Shravan. Krushi and myself.
Duration: 1 hour climb, 1 night stay and half an hour of descend.
Expense: Just the snacks and dinner expense.
Date: 24th and 25th of May.
Terrain: Rocky.
Abstract: An escape from hot Bangalore!

We actually were planning for Bananthimari betta (or Mari betta) in Kanakpura for the weekend. But since one of our group mate dropped out on Friday, we moved to our second preferred location - Makalidurga. Generally, people take a train from Bangalore to Makalidurga station and reach there around 8:30 PM and walk to base of the hill and start the climb. But we thought of doing something different!
Our crew member Dilip is a resident of Doddaballapur. So, we thought of driving to Doddaballapur, leave our bikes there at his house, get a drop till start of the trail and then do our job. We decided to meetup at Marathahalli at around 1:30 PM on Saturday. By the time I reached Marathahalli it was 2:10 PM as I had a birthday function to attend at Sarjapur road. Deepesh came to rendezvous point soon. We had to wait for another 20 mins for Shravan to turn up. We left Marathahalli at around 2:30 PM. Krushi wasn't very sure of joining us as he was working on that day. I had told him, once we reach Hebbal, I'll call him and if he is done with his work, he can join us from office directly. So I did and Krushi, even though not done with his work, raised a middle finger to the work and decided to join us! :D
We started our ride to DBpur at 3:30 PM from Hebbal. Royal Enfiled Electra, Royal Enfield Classic and Yamaha FZ-R took us to DBpur in 45 mins. We met Dilip and headed straight to his house. Had his mom's delicious Avalakki Chitranna. This is not the first time I'm having it and I actually wanted him to get it packed for the trek. But I was a bit reluctant to have his mom sweat over our craziness. But he actually saw it and had his mom prepare it for the trek already. We left our helmets and bikes in his place and his brother, Kiran offered us a drop till the trail in his car. We left Dilip's house around 4:50 PM.
The spot is located on DBpur - Hindupur road. After Makalidurga railway station, another 2-2.5 Kms on the highway would take you to a mud road on the left side. You'll see the hill from the road anyway. Remember it is not the hill you see beside Makalidurga railway station. If you can zoom your eyes to the peak, you'll see remnants of a fort on top of Makalidurga betta. Car could go through the mud road till the rail. Rail is barred with metal bars on either sides.

We bided adieu to Kiran and we started our hike. Immediately after the rail crossing, there is a Krishna temple.

Trail actually starts behind the temple, but we went ahead passing the temple.

Krushi had been here almost a year ago and I had consulted my friend Arun Jose who had been here couple of weeks ago. We got to stick to the left side and take a half circle around the hill to get a proper hike. There is a big rock that stays almost 90 degree and stays a hindrance to the climb straight up. We started our gradual circling along with climbing. We stopped after 15 mins to change to shorts. We could hear human voice up the hill. We thought there were other trekkers already there. But it turned out to be local shepherds. After another 15-20 mins of climb, we sat at a place and this shepherd boy came near us and stood staring at us. We offered him water and he rejected it. He gave us a warning. He told there was murder that happened at the peak to weeks ago. 4 Bangaloreans like us had been there and only 3 returned it seems! We didn't buy the story anyway but kept on asking him for details! We asked him if it is ghost who did it and all! Just had some time pass there! :D
After 10 mins of that fun session, we resumed our hike. In another 5 mins, we decided to stop circling and decided to head straight up. We hit the rock very soon, we could find some passable ways through the rocks and bit of rock climbing helped us climb almost 70 degree slanting rocks.

Myself and Deepesh headed up first. Dilip and Krushi were behind us and Shravan was way behind. Once we climbed all the rocks, we could see the fort walls a distance and that was a relief! Rock climbing was really fun and tiring. We thought of waiting for others to turn up. But seeing the peak at a distance and sun going down, we couldn't resist the urge of watching Sunset from the peak.

We moved as fast as we could and we reached the first layer of the wall right for sunset. Clicked couple of pictures and waited for others to turn up. After 10 mins we could see Dilip's and Krushi's heads. In another 20-30 mins all reached the peak. I was told about two layers of wall and a temple inside it. We decided to find the temple and camp somewhere close to it just in case of rain in the night. We found the second layer of wall and the entrance to the temple. That was just awesome! Seeing the entrance, first thing that came to my mind was the game Tomb Raider! :D

We moved close to the temple and decided to set our camp fire down next to it. Dilip had carried an awesome machete with which I could collect enough wood for the night. With the kerosne we carried, we could soon we had set up the camp fire. We had a flat rock beside on which we decided to sit around and relax. We opened our snacks packets one by one and guess what we were talking about! Modi government! Talks went on and on! Night was very dark and windy. Some where around 10-10:30 PM I dozed off! I was very tired and damn sleepy that I don't even remember myself opening the sleeping bag and going inside it! Next day morning I found myself inside sleeping bag nicely tucked in fighting the cold. Unfortunately, there was no sunrise view! Sky was all cloudy and weather was awesome! We decided to walk around the fort and click some pics.

Around 7:30 AM, we decided to start our descend. There were lot of wood and almost a full bottle of kerosene left there at the peak! Any one who is planning to visit Makalidurga next weekend, its our gift to you!
Descending was easy and we hit the base in 30 mins. And then we realized, the trail actually started behind the Krishna temple. We found an old shepherd who were amused to see us climbing down and he asked us if we stayed there over night. We gave away our left over snacks and juice bottle to him. We reached the rail and we could hear a train from a distance. Shravan placed a coin on the track and waited for the train to run over it. Only one tire of the train went over it and it got toppled in to the tracks. But the coin was flat and nothing engraved on it was visible anymore! :D

We walked back towards the road and guess who we met there! The same shepherd boy who narrated the murder story the previous day. Dilip told him, 'See we were 5 yesterday and we are returning with the same number! So don't worry about any murder this time'! Boy was embarrassed and laughing!
We tried hitching a hike in some vehicles and finally a KSRTC bus stopped for us. We got down at DBpur and went to Dilip's. Had upma and left as soon as we could since myself and Shravan had engagements for lunch. We left DBpur around 10:20 AM and by 11:30 AM, I was at Marathahalli. This was a much needed trek after a pretty long adventure less days.

Things to remember:
1. One can actually walk along the rails from Makalidurga railway station to the trail staring point. But the railway authorities appeared to ban that. So take the road way till the mud road on the left side.
2. Go around the hill to find a less steeper rock and take that route up.

Do's:
1. Keep the area clean and carry all your wastes back.

Dont's:
1. Don't believe any of this false stories from the localities.

Our group pic:

Crazy late evening trek and night camp at Brahmagiri!

Crew Members: Dilip, Deepesh, Arun, Geo, Rithin and myself.
Duration: 1.5 hours hike, 1 hour climb down and night stay.
Expense: ~500 per head
Date: 5th and 6th of April 2014.
Terrain Info: Rocky.
Abstract: A trek with crazy and difficult to find trail.

Let me make this clear. Brahmagiri referred here in this blog isn't the one in Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in Coorg. This is one among the 5 peaks of the Nandi Hills range near Chikkaballapur.
This should be one trek for which we did least planning and best execution. Never a thought crossed my mind about a trek for the weekend until Friday the 4th of April evening when I asked Arun for the weekend plans. Destination was ready in Arun's and Geo's mind - Brahmagiri! My self and Arun had planned once to nail Brahmagiri but that ended ourselves hiking the adjacent peak - Kaurav Kunta which is a go to trek as far as we are concerned! The moment I let Deepesh and Dilip know about the plan and the crew, they were turned all excited. The team was suppose to be 8 including three friends of Geo out of which two didn't turn up in the last moment.
We decided to start from the Marathahalli at 2 PM on Saturday and was of the plan to start the hike by 4 PM. As planned, myself, Deepesh, Arun, Geo and Rithin met at Marathahalli and boarded a Hebbal bus by 2:15 PM. We reached Hebbal in 45 mins and soon a Chikkaballapur bus stopped before us and we took tickets till Devanahalli. By 4 PM, we reached Devenahalli Bus stand and we took another as the conductor promised to drop us at Nandi Cross. By then, Dilip who is a resident of Doddaballapur had already reached a junction named Karahalli Cross. From Nandi Cross, we took a rick to Nandigrama. Then we realized, Dilip is 5 Kms away from us and we told him take a rick and reach us. Even though, Geo and Arun had done this trek before, both of them were quite certain about the starting point of the trail. Geo had called up couple of his friends and learned, trail actually starts beside Sri Nandhi Abhinandana Hotel in Karahalli Cross! Immediately, I called Dilip to stop him but by then we was already in front of us. We asked the same rick guy to take us back to the place from where he started!
In short, to reach the trail, board bus towards Devanahalli from Majestic or Hebbal and then get down at the first board that shows right deviation towards Nandi Hills in the highway. And then take a rick to the dead end of the road. Dead end is a the T-junction named Karahalli Cross with the hotel I mentioned above.
We had coffee and packed all our hydration needs from the hotel, bought tea powder, sugar, snacks, and believe me, two watermelons as well! :D We started our walk in the trail by 5:30 PM. The mud road you see beside the hotel in the pic below is the starting trail to the peak.

There was this plane walk till the base of the hill which lasted for nearly 10-15 mins. Sun started glowing red by then and we were in a hurry. The trouble with this hill is that, one can very easily get lost from the trail.

We moved and we got in touch with the jeep trail which we ignored and crossed through it over the rocks. And reached our first check point. Deepesh and Geo changed their attire to suit the weather. Myself, Dilip and Deepesh decided to move ahead and Geo advised us about the jeep trail which we should be following. We walked hastily and we came across a narrow trail and we followed it. We moved with a serious discussions on recent movies and series watched by each of us and it went on. I was keep track of the trail and I was sure this isn't the trail which Geo recommended us to follow. But since geographically, it appeared convincing, we didn't want to waste time searching for the actual trail. We weren't seeing any trace of our second group. A little ahead, we could see only ashes every where! The entire forest was burnt! But in a way, that was a boon to us. The trail appeared even clearer. After the burnt forest, it was steep rock. It was tiring and it was getting dark very fast. We climbed half way through and from there we could see the jeep trail about which Geo told when we took the lead.
We tried ignoring our panting with the Floyd, Nirvana, Cold Play and we climbed with myself and Deepesh in the lead and Dilip's knee was troubling him which dragged us a bit slow. By 6:45 PM, we reached the Saniswara Temple which is suppose to be the last checkpoint before reaching the peak. We were relieved that we reached the temple by the time it was dark. Close to the temple, there is a stairs which would take us to the peak. We had to turn-on our torches and we finally nailed the hill in 1.5 hours. It was cold and torrential wind was blowing in all directions! As I said in the my previous blogs, this is the best part I love about a trek! That cold breeze, that relief, that sanctity! Its priceless! One experience of this pleasure will mute the mouths of any one who call trekkers crazy! We could see the entire base lighted up. We could even see the airport at a distance. There were flights going to and fro in the sky.
We waited for 20 mins and our second group was no where to be seen! I started worrying! All our food packed for the night were with them! :P :D We walked around the peak with torched to see if they had climbed through some other trail and reached some other corner of the peak. In another 10 minutes, they showed up and we decided to get settled. Geo walked around and found a place behind a tree which weakened the force of the wind and was flat enough to camp and there present was remains of campfire setup prepared by some trekkers before. There were ample dried wood available and with the machete that Geo carried, we collected a good amount of wood and Geo succeeded lighting up our bonfire with one single match stick. We little effort from our side, camp fire grew in to a full fledged one. We grouped ourselves around it and started our usual sessions. Our master chef Arun cooked maggi in the campfire and he had our tummies full! We had endless chats, with psychedelic songs playing in background. Weather was too good and we had such an awesome time spent there. Arun decided to doze off by 9:30 PM and we continued with out chats. Topics went on with traditions, languages, human values and so on. I would like to share an experience Geo had while he traveled across North India. He was in a train to Jhansi and the train was jam-packed with passengers it seems. People were sitting at every possible place. Geo was jammed to one corner even though he had a reserved ticket. Some where in between, he opened his water bottle to quench his thirst and one person who was sitting right opposite to him was eyeing on the bottle and Geo was kind enough to share his portion with him. That guy passed it on to his adjacent guy and so it went on to the whole block until it was emptied. During night time, these people opened their packed dinner and Geo was sitting idle in their middle. One person took initiative to ask Geo to taste his dinner. Even though Geo refused at first, he decided to take up the offer. With in a matter of no time, there were more than 10-15 dinner packs offered in front of him from every one there. They all wanted him take a portion and so he did. He informed them of his destination being Jhansi and they agreed to let him once the train arrives the station. When the train was at his destination, this whole bunch of people, woke him up and waved him good bye from the train. Language helps you speak but true communication happens with heart for which there isn't a language nor is required.
We were all of the notion to remain awake the whole night. And as usual, eventually all of us dozed off by 12:30 AM. As always, I had trouble with sleeping inside sleeping bag and had to struggle a bit get some sleep.
I woke with a startle at 5:30 AM out of some random dream and sunlight had started lighting up the sky. I took my camera and was ready for sunrise. Within some time, Rithin and Arun woke up and they started preparing tea. I moved to the corner of the peak that was close to Nandi hills and I could see countless vehicles rushing to the peak for the sunrise view. I could hear royal enfields rumbling uphill. Sunrise was spectacular and so was the hill lock!

Tea was all ready by then and believe me, a shot of black tea on a peak in a cold morning with sunrise rising slowly is heavenly!

We packed our luggage and started our way down by 7 AM. Again, myself, Dilip and Deepesh were in the lead. Not so far from the temple, there were three middle aged gents and two ladies. They must have walked from Nandi hills. We decided to take up the Jeep trail that we couldn't take up while hiking up. Nandi hills looked spectacular with in the fog!

We turned off our common sense and blindly followed the jeep trail and finally, we ended up in the tarred road to Nandi hills and that's of no use for a trekker. We walked back and decided to cross the forest and search for the trail we used the previous day. It took some 10-15 mins and we were back in track. We were back at the hotel by 8:30 AM. To our surprise, BTC organisers Chaitanya and Vireender were at the hotel! They had come for a ride on Vireender's new Harley.
Actual fun began post that! Nobody had enough cash! I had 100 Rs with me, Deepesh had some 50 bucks and Rithin had 100 bucks. We had breakfast from the landmark hotel and that left us with 30 bucks. Bus to devanahalli would cost 13 bucks per person and we were 6 people and that amounts to 78 bucks. All of searched our bags and collected all the coins we could! :D Believe me or not, we had 77 bucks with us! We boarded the bus, gave conductor a bunch of coins and told him its only 77! He accepted with out any complaint!

In another 30 mins we were at Devanahalli town and we rushed to the nearest ATM counter and boarded bus to Hebbal. By 1 AM, we reached Marathahalli and it was all hot climate and boring traffic all over again!

Things to remember:
1. Take bus till Nandi board and go to Karahalli cross and you'll see the trail start in front of you.

Do's:
1. There is a dried pond at the peak which is ideal for setting up campfire which we saw only in the morning.

Dont's:
1. I advise not to try this trek with out at least one person who is experienced.
2. The peak is little polluted. So please carry back all you garbage.


Our group pic:

Never before trekking experience at Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta!

Crew Members: Arun, Geo, Karthik, Shravan, Deepesh, Manoj and myself.
Duration: 2 hours hike, 2 hours of climb down and one night stay.
Expense: ~600 (Per head)
Date: 1st March 2014.
Terrain Info: Mostly forest.
Abstract: A never before trekking experience!

First things first. Let me make this clear to you. Biligiri Rangaswamy Betta and BR Hills are different. The one described below is in Kanakpura and the BR Hills which stands for Biligiriranga Hills is situated in Chamarajanagar beyond Mysore.

It all began when Geo put up a post asking weekend plans in our trekkers group in FB. Arun was of the opinion to head for Mullayangiri. I had a small trek around Bangalore in my mind and so was Geo and Deepesh. Mullayangiri is a pretty big trek and it requires quite a big plan the way we did for Kumaraparvatha and this is not just the right climate to go for such a trek. So we decided to take up a trek within Bangalore. We never run out of options! :D Options Geo put forward contained Kuntibetta, Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta, Brahmagiri, Savana Durga and Makali Durga. Apart from we four, my roomie Karthik wanted to join us this time. He told me, where ever you guys are planning for this weekend, count him and his friend Shravan also in. So we already had 6 members. Geo wanted to bring his friend Manoj as well. More the trekkers, better it is! Among the options Geo came up with, Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta was the most dangerous one and is recommended only if you are in a big group.

Bilikal literally means white rock and stands tall at 3780 feet as per what Wikipedia says. Hill is infested with elephants. Lot of blogs said about encounter with elephants while hiking and such stuff about which I had read long back. Seeing the strength of our group, I decided to pick Bilikal Betta as of our destination and we started planning accordingly. 3 days passed with great difficulty and finally God bestowed us with the anticipated Saturday. We decided to meet up at Banashankari Bus stand as Kanakpura Buses pass start from K.R. Market and cross Banashankari Bus stand to exit Bangalore city. Because of the rumors about elephants, we decided to do an evening trek and stay at the peak for the night. As per our plan, we were supposed to meet up at Banashanakri bus depot by 12 PM and this time, it was me and my roomie who delayed and by the time we reached it was 1 hour late and soon we got into a KSRTC bus plying to Kanakpura. I quoted this trek as a never before kind of experience because of three reasons and you'll encounter those as you proceed with blog.

We all got down at Harohalli Bus stand at 2 PM, the major bus stand that come just before Kanakpura. We were hungry as none of us expect me had breakfast! :D We spotted three 'Militry' Hotels and none of us wanted to get into one. I asked around for a veg hotel and found some Upahara and we went and had tummy full of meals. Meals costed just 30 bucks there!

As per our plan, we were suppose to take a bus to Dodda Maralavadi and from there, a rick to Konal Doddi and from there walk till the Anjaneya Temple, where the trail starts. I asked a rick driver about the bus boarding point and he asked of our complete plan. Once described, he said he can take all 7 us and our bags in the same rick till the destination for 450 bucks. I used my Kannada skills and bargained it down to 350 bucks and we had a deal there. Our rick driver consulted another one of his team and that guy made him clear of our destination which appeared farther from what he thought! :D Now that we have a deal he just drove and at every turn he asked for directions. We started seeing hills around and spotted one big beautiful hill and Geo told, if this is one, its gonna be awesome. But the rick just went past it and he kept driving and finally reached one village where the people convinced him of the wrong route he took and directed of the right one, Roads where pathetic and we were jam packed! Finally, he dropped us at the right spot near the Anjaneya Swamy temple just to learn that the hill we were commenting earlier is our actual destination! There was this electric fence saying the land belongs to Bannerghatta National Park reserve forest.

Auto driver was all curious asking us about what we'll do in the night. He told us, 'Sir you should be coming during the festival, only then there will people at the peak.' and I replied 'That's exactly why we came now. We want the peak to be deserted' and gave him a wink! ;)

We tied our sleeping bags on our back pack and took our cameras out and started our walk straight through the vehicle trail we saw and in another 10 mins we crossed a drained river and some beautiful looking trees.

Just to be sure, we consulted the construction workers about the route we took and realized it is a wrong route. We should have taken the immediate right turn after entering the fence it seems and we walked back and then noticed the trail there. There was man picking tamarind and he gave us a go with this new route and 5 minutes of walk took us to the hiking point.

It was pretty hot and all us started sweating profusely. Deepesh and Karthik wanted to switch to their shorts. Mean while I switched to my full sleeve t-shirt. We started our hike at 4 PM. Myself and Deepesh walked ahead and we walked non-stop till a wide boulder showed up and we decided to take our first halt there. Deepesh dropped his phone, Galaxy core there and shattered its display. In another 5 mins Arun showed up and so did Karthik. We had our red bull shots there and by the time remaining crew showed up it was 25 minuted past. I took some shots of the clouds there.

When we started feeling like we got our wings (Redbull gives you wings! Their ad tagline! :P), myself and Deepesh started off. We pretty much didn't take any halts since then expect for a very short one just to catch some breath. We saw a wild rabbit running across our trail and that's the first reason I quoted this a never before experience. I was like, jumping with joy inside spotting a wild animal! :P

We walked as fast as we could sucking in as much oxygen as possible. Climb was pretty much steep and tiring. Just minutes before sunset, myself and Deepesh reached the peak, it was 6 PM by then and we rushed to the west side of the peak to take pictures of the sunset. That sanctity, that silence, that ambiance after all that tiring effort is all a trekker seeks. Nothing can replace the satisfaction you earn. I just sat there admiring the beauty and hearing nothing but my own heart beating!

In another 10 minute Arun came up, it took 30 minutes for Karthik to show up and by 6:45 PM, all of were at the peak. Karthik and Manoj were very new to trekking in Bangalore, Shravan had been to couple of treks and it is second trek for Deepesh. Every one thoroughly enjoyed! The peak of this hill, unlike other hills is very broad one.There is this temple, a shelter, lot of lamps around, one artificial pond with lot of monkeys around. There is a roadway which will take vehicles directly up the peak. We knew of that earlier and we opted to use our feet. We found a corner near the pond decided to settle down there for the time being. There were 3 water tank with water available there! In fact, we had all possible luxury we could imagine at a peak. We fetched wood for bon fire and water for washing purpose. It was slightly drizzling and in a while, an old lady and a kid showed up and they switched on the lights. I asked them what to do in case if it rains. They told us to get into the shelter opposite to the temple. We sat in round and started off with our snacks and namkeens and infinite talks. I just love that. After a while, we decided to light up fire and we tried that we a lighter. Lighter broke off in 5-6 clicks and we were all doomed! We had nothing but the lighter. But then with great difficulty, Geo and Arun lighted up wood with just the bit of fire coming from the lighter. We cooked maggi noodles in the fire and placed it in a plastic box.

I could see my friends' messages in whatsapp saying its drizzling in Bangalore and we could see lighting at very long distance. We literally mocked at Bangalore from there - Traffic plus rain! Majja Madi Bangaloreans! :D

We had sound of tiny frogs in the pond and we were playing music. Awesome time spent there and suddenly torrential wind started blowing at us! Our sixth sense told us about the rain that's imminent. We packed up our stuff and were ready to run to the shelter in case it rains. We could see the lighting and clouds approaching us and clouds were all rumbling. We started our run and in no time heavy downpour started. We got ourselves into the shelter just in time and the power was completely off in the area! We could see lighting flashing so severely and violent showers outside. We were all thinking what would have happened if this shelter was't there. What if this happened if we were in Kauran Kunta or Kumaraparvatha! It was beyond what we could imagine! This is the second reason why the trek was quoted never before experience. Even the shelter had couple of deities inside and we removed our shoes and payed our respect.

We had our share of maggi and decided to spread our sleeping bags. It was pretty cozy inside the shelter and it was 11 PM by then. Deepesh and Manoj dozed off the moment their back touched ground. Myself, Geo and Arun were discussing on various trek experiences and watch struck 12 AM and I was waiting for it. It was Karthik's birthday and I had managed to carry a trekking friendly cake (small one with out cream inside a plastic case). Unfortunately, we didn't have lighter or matches to light up candles.

So we all wished the birthday boy who was all surprised seeing the cake, played birthday songs and had a nice time. This being the third and last one making the trek experience a never before one, we decided to call it a day and every one went back to their sleeping bags.

I didn't see sleep coming. Mean while Arun and Geo were having quite a discussion on Atheism, communism, their previous trek and such stuff which I was listening to. In some time, they also went to sleep. I laid awake till our alarms rang at 6 AM. That's right! Not a minute of sleep and no chance of going out because of rain. By 6, rains had stopped and we packed our bags and went for the sunrise view. Sun took its time rendering the beautiful scene and we took as much pictures we wanted. There were two cars parked in front of the temple. Two groups had come to view sunrise in the morning driving all the way.

I walked around the place with my camera.

Finally, at 8 AM, we decided to start our walk back. You know we never run out of crazy ideas. We decided to take up the route that vehicles take up to reach the peak. Roads were wide and better in a sense than the route we took to hike. But the road was very lengthy.

We walked 3 Kms and at last reached a village named Sunghatta. There was this temple at the very entrance of the village.

As usual, myself and Deepesh reached first and we asked the first house for water and they gave us warm water. I fetched information from the guy that there is no chance we'll get a rick from there and next bus to Kanakpura from there was at 11AM. It was only 9 by then and he suggested us to walk till next village named Chakkanahalli and its 3 Kms from there. We started our walk by 9:30 AM when our remaining crew joined us. We walked and walked and walked. In the red hot sun over the tar roads we walked endlessly. Myself and Deepesh moved ahead recollecting all our school memories as classmates. We plucked tamarind from the road side and ate with all the childhood memories rewinding in mind. We finally reached a junction with a small tuck shop in last two hours. We took couple of cool drinks and suddenly Arun showed up in a rick. He got a share auto enroute and we sent a rick to pick the others. In another 20 mins rick returned with them and we boarded the same and told the driver to head for Kanakpura. I was talking casually with the rick driver and he told many people come for the Bilikal betta but not many go on foot. He dropped us in another 20 minutes and he walked like zombies to the nearest hotel. I knew of a hotel named Ratna Upahar from where I had breakfast and lunch during my ride to Muthathi couple of months ago. We quenched our hunger with Masala Dosa and Chitranna(Lemon Rice) and boarded bus to Bangalore. Next thing I remember is Deepesh waking me up at Banashankari. We all boarded a 500C bus and got down at our respective stops. Reached room by 2 PM and took a cold shower! Cold long shower - the second thing I love about the treks!

Our group pic:

Do's:

1. Take up the trekking route if you are planning to hike and keep watch on the route to Anjaneya temple as it is pretty confusing.

2. You can carry charger for you phones as there is plug point available in the shelter. I am not sure if it will work though! We didn't have a charger to try it out! :P

3. We didn't encounter any elephants because of the climate. If you are planning for September-December better watch out for elephants.

Don'ts:

1. Place is already polluted enough with festival happening every year. Pick you plastic belongings and drop it some where else.

2. Don't dare walk on the driving route unless you are as crazy as us! :D

3. If you are planning to set up campfire, never rely on lighters. Always carry match box with you.

Things to remember:

1. If you are going by walk take the route: Harohalli -> Dodda Maralavadi -> Konal Doddi -> Anjaneya Temple -> Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta.

2. If you are opting for driving route: Kanakpura -> Chakanahalli -> Sunghatta -> Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta.

Solo ride to Somnatpur Kesava Temple!

Crew Members: Just me! ;)
Duration: 8 hours.
Expense: Fuel cost + 5 Rs entrance fee at the monument.
Date: 23rd February 2014
Round Trip: 307 Kms
Bike: Royal Enfield Electra.
Abstract: Deep dive into self and ancient heritage!

I had returned to Bangalore the very morning 5:45 AM of Sunday the 23rd. It was a three days stay at Hyderabad in conjunction with marriage of a friend of mine. As soon as I reached my room, I crashed for a two hours of deep sleep. Not that I was sleep deprived in the bus! The moment I boarded the bus, I had slept and I wouldn't have got down if my friends hadn't woke me up. :D

I woke up around 10 AM and I just sat thinking what to do! After such dynamic and colorful 3 days, I didn't want to lye at my room making the day a useless one. I had this idea to go for a ride with no destination in mind. It was too late to call any of my fellow riders. Moreover, it was a Sunday and most my friends prefer for such adventures for Saturday as the next day is going to be at office. But I ain't that type! I do what comes to my mind with little second thoughts! :D

I grabbed my goggles, helmet, buff mask and my camera. Rushed to Anand Bhavan, Marathahalli and had a chow chow bath. I was all charged up! Now I should making up my mind to take up the direction. 

Somnathpur was one place that was beckoning me ever since I saw a picture of it in some tourism promotion website. I never could plan a trip to Somnathpura as it was 140+ Kms of one way drive. So all of us sudden my craziness got multiplied and decided to drive to Somnathpur! I normally take NICE road to go to enter Mysore road. But considering the position of sun (right on top of my head! ;)) at the time I decided to drive, I felt NICE road isn't going to be a very good option. I decided to take up the City market - Kengeri - Bidadi road. Traffic wasn't very troublesome. Except at the corporation circle. And by 12 PM, I had crossed city market flyover and entered Bangalore-Mysore road.

There were lot of vehicles on the road, which is generally not the scene when I start with a ride. I drove through the traffic and could maintain only a consistent 40 Kmph untill I crosses Satellite bus depot. Bangalore mysore road is not as good a highway as Bangalore - Hyderabad or Bangalore - Tumkur or Bangalore - Salem, not just considering the condition of the road, but also of the occassional traffic. But I somehow love this road very much. I was just driving at consistent 70Kmph enjoying the scenes around. After Kengeri, one can see the place where the NICE road meet Mysore road, another 4-5 Kms ahead there is this Rajrajeshwari Medical college on the right side and the adjacent road to the college compound is the one that one should be taking to go to Manachanabele Dam, Dodda Aalada Mara (Big Banyan Tree) and Savanadurga. I had visited the first two places some time ago. I could see the yellow boards on the side of the road displaying the tourist attractions in the way one is headed and the distance towards the same. That's one thing I appreciate Karnataka Govt for. It was displaying Ramdevara Betta, Shivanasamudra, Talakadu and my destination, Somanthpur. I saw the deviation to be taken towards Ramdevara Betta (a.k.a Sholay Betta as the shot were Basanthi dances in Sholay movie was shot there) which I had visited couple of months ago. Its an easy climb and couple of hours of time pass. It was burning hot but I hardly got annoyed. I was deep into driving and gazing at every thing around. Immediatly after Ramnagara, I took a pit stop and had a glass of Sugarcane juice for 10 Rs. In no time, I was on the road and kept driving. I then realised, one should spend some time with ones self. It is an amazning experience. You sit idle in the room, you get bored and will want to go hang out with some one. But this kind of experience is awesome. I didn't realise I drove so long since I started. I came back to senses when I entered Chennapatna and both sides of the roads were showacsing the colourful wooden toys. I simply loved the wooden horse when I was a child and that is the main highlight of the place. Soon, I reached Kokkarebellur deviation. Kokkarebelllur is a birds sanctuary where I was taken by my parents when I was a kid. I have a very blurred recollection of the place. This place is definitely on my charter and will be doing a trip some other time. I kept driving and as per the maps I was refering I was supposed to drive till Mandya and then take a deviation on the left. But much before reaching Mandya, the yellow boards told me take a left turn and drive 70Kms to Somnatpur. Then I relised, I'll better trust the yellow boards than Google maps. I took the turn and the ride got even better. Both sides of the roads had cultivation - mainly sugarcane, tomato and some grain which looked like rice! There were lot of lorries loading sugarcane along the roads. I took another pit stop and had a tender coconut shot for 20 Rs. In another 40 Kms, I could see a gate way to enter Malavalli town. Little ahead, there was signal! A signal after 120Kms! I drove straight 5 Kms ahead and then saw the yellow boards again. But this time, Somnatpur was missing among the list! I could smell something fishy and I decided to refer Google one and realized from the signal I should have taken the right turn. Took a U-turn and go back on the right track.

Next town I should be hitting is Banur. Roads were a bit patched and rugged. I didn't notice couple of humps on the road and had to fly over them! :D

I saw the yellow board displaying the left deviation for Somnatpur and it said 7 more Kms. In 7.5 Kms, there was a board showing a right deviation and I could see the gates to Somnatpur. And finally, I am at the destination. It took me exact 3 hours for the ride. Parked my bike and took entrance fee of 5 Rs. There is no fee for camera. Entrance to the premises of temple is restricted between 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. I walked in and I admired the neatness with which the place is maintained. There were a group of foreigners at the entrance and there were roaming around with cameras. I entered the temple and then I realized actual name of the place is Somnatpur Keshava temple. I took a picture of the board the described the temple.

As I moved in, I was dumbstruck seeing the beauty of the place. The temple as such looked like a piece of cake.

Carvings on the temple were so perfect and detailed. I have never seen such a detailed carvings anywhere else. Such beauty! Such majesty! I roamed around through the outer corridor with lot of pillars.

There were couple of foreigners sitting at the corridor and admiring the beauty of the craftsmanship. 

I stepped out of the corridor and went close to the outer walls of the temple. I was deeply immersed into the details of the skills men possessed in the past. I tried to make out the idols in the carvings but wasn't very successful! I could see all the incarnations of lord Vishnu. Bottom most part of the carvings were a group of elephants in line. It looked like they meant the elephants supporting the whole temple on their back.

There were lot of dragons and I just love the dragons in the Indian carvings.

I almost forgot that there is an interior for the temple and grabhagriha that is still to be seen. I clicked as many pictures as I wanted and walked into the final layer of the architecture.

It was dark inside and there was a notice saying visitors shouldn't be touching the monument. It was very cool inside. And I wanted take a picture of the entrance to the garbhagriha with out other visitors in the frame. This was the best I could manage though.

I went outside and sat in the outer corridor and browsed at the every detail on the walls and the gopura of the temple.

Spending almost 1.5 Hours there, I decided to start my drive back. It was 4:30 PM already and I decided to take road to Mandya and joining the Mysore - Bangalore road there. I drove with my my mind still pondering at the details of the temple. In between I felt like, I should be going back and looking out few more details of the place. But time was a constraint and I decided to drive ahead. I joined highway in 45 mins. I realized I didn't eat anything after the breakfast and decided to take a pit stop at the empire hotel before Chennapatna. That was a big mistake! The food was tasteless and costly! I will never ever visit the hotel next time I drive on this road. Sun had set by then and it stared getting dark. Drive almost became monotonous and all of us sudden a group of Royal Enfield bikers came in to the picture! They were all in proper RE costumes and looked like it was an organised trip. I drove with them unofficially! ;)

We all went together till Bidadi and some where in the traffic I overtook and them and they fell behind. Road was brimming with vehicles and it was all dusty! Thank God I had my buff mask on! Again the traffic didn't give me much trouble! By 7:30 PM, I was back in my room with lots of memory.

Do's:

1. Reach the place with in the entry permitted time of 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM.

2. Plan accordingly so that you can club couple more of places to make the best out of a day.

3. You can as well take up Kanakpura Road for one side and thus avoid the same road to and fro.

Things do remember:

1. Don't carry any eatables thinking you can take rest and eat inside the temple premises as there is a board at the entrance saying eating inside is not allowed.

There is no group pic this time as it was just me! And you wouldn't wanna see just me in a frame! :P