Freezing early morning drive to Hesarghatta Lake, Grasslands and Nrityagram!

Crew members: Melroy, Jatheesh, Deepesh and myself.

Duration: 7 hours (In total!)

Expense: Fuel cost for the bike + 50Rs for entrance to Nrityagram.

Date: 8th February 2014.

Terrain Info: Grasslands.

Bikes: Royal Enfield Electra, Yamaha FZ, Yamaha FZS

Abstract: Simply amazing short ride!

Hesarghatta lake is a vast man-made fresh water lake located off Yelahanka. I had read about this place before and was in my list for some time.

We got a Saturday gifted as our plans to go for one of friends marriage one day prior got cancelled. So we had one day and we were suppose board a train to Kerala on the same night. So I thought, why not a short ride in the morning. Melroy was ready and so was Jatheesh. Deepesh pinged me on Friday evening asking if we have any riding plans for Saturday morning. Bingo! We had 3 bikes and 4 people. I asked around my other rider friends as well. So finally it was just four of us! We decided to meet up at Marathahalli at 5:30 AM.

All of us woke up at 4:45 AM. I armed myself with my riding gadgets and camera and reached our rendezvous point at 5:25 AM. Deepesh was already there and in another 5 minutes Melroy also reached the place. Just as I was about to conclude this as a trip with perfect start, I got to know from Jatheesh that he is about to start from Madiwala and I erased my thought! :D It was damn chilly out there!

We started our ride by 5:50 AM. We fixed the time 5:30 AM in order to reach the destination by sunrise time. Since we started 20 minutes late, we didn't care to stop until we crossed Hebbal flyover. Beyond Hebbal flyover, I was not very sure of the route. I assigned Deepesh as my navigator and drove in front. In another 5-6 Kms we took a right deviation that took us through Air force camp. The ride was awesome as the roads were broad and in very good condition. I was racing against time as sky started getting lit up. Since, temperature was so low and we were speeding, we were literally getting frozen! I couldn't feel my arms in-spite of wearing riding half gloves! Little ahead, we took a halt and all three riders were trying to ease their arms. Even though I had ridden through roads with so covered with fog with just 3-4 feets of visibility (to Horsely Hiils), this was the coldest ride I have ever done! Arms had gone numb! Soon we started and we reach the horticulture institute and there were lot of farming happening on either sides of the road. Lips of the horizon started turning red and I could see the crown of the red sun rising. I drove as fast I could through the roads and finally the reached the point which Google map said to be Hesarghatta Lake! And we were wondering where the lake is! And I spotted a mud road on our left side and realized that it is going to be some off-road drive to the lake. Couple minutes of drive through the road took us to the lake and it was pretty big! There was this off road going along the circumference of the lake. We drove till a point where sunrise is clearly visible. It was 6:50 AM then.

I just love clicking photos of sunrise and sunset! I clicked as enough pictures to quench my thirst! We took snaps of our bikes as well! 

We climbed up the bund that was built on one side and took a short walk to warm ourselves up. Place was such scenic! There were lot of birds flying around. We could see the fog flowing over the surface of the lake.

There was a group of small ducks swimming in the lake.

There were two other groups like ours who came by bicycle. They were also roaming around the way we were. It was 7:45 AM and we decided to to move on to the grasslands which is supposed to be 4Kms away from lake. We referred Google maps and we couldn’t get a clear route as it suggested to take ride along the circumference of the lake. We decided to get back to road and then tried searching again. We ended up finding a longer route but that appeared promising. So we rode the new route and in another 20 minutes we reached grasslands. I am out of words in describing the place. I have never seen such empty and calm place else where! This is supposed to be one among the last few surviving grasslands of Bangalore. The place had trees along the border and the center was covered with grass and loose red soil.

We drove till a high lying area and clicked couple of shots. There were two other photographers walking with heavy DSLRs. In no time, we decided to drive till the other end of the landscape. We parked our bikes near to the workers shed and walked to the shades. Clicked few more photos from the place.

There were lot of white cranes there at the spot.

But during the ride so far, we didn’t come across any decent appearing hotels. This place is apt for portfolio shoot or vehicle stunts shoot. We spent time till 9:20 AM there and decided to drive to Nrityagram as it will be open to public by 10 AM. But we didn't know that Nrityagram was not even 5 minutes of drive from there! We reached half an hours early at the gates of Nrityagram to find out the gates were locked.

Two foreign ladies walked out of Taj Kuteera resorts opposite to Nrityagram and they were also of the same intention as us.We waited till 10 AM outside the gates and each minutes appeared like hours because of hunger. Out of hunger, Deepesh happened to go inside and check the breakfast tariff at Taj and learned its 300 bucks per head that helped us deal with our hunger for some more time! :D
By 10:10 AM, the gates were opened and we rushed in. We directly went to the office as the board outside said.

We paid an entrance fee of 50Rs per head and got license to walk around til 2 PM. The whole compound was 10 acres of land. They gave us restrictions not to take pictures of the dancers and private residences. They also said by 10:30 AM, dance classes would start which we can view in the hall. We walked around and reached the amphitheatre which is suppose to be the last attraction in there.

It was already damn sunny and I hate the timings they open the gates for public. I some how didn't like the place much. So was with the other three. The place would have looked incredible early in the morning or late in the evenings during which the visitors aren't allowed inside. But still there were quite a lot of visitors coming in by the time we were leaving the place. We walked around till 10:30 AM clicking more pics.

It was 10:40 AM and there were no signs of dance classes. We happened to see couple of dancers walking down the ally and I just can't stop complimenting their beauty! We decided to leave soon and have something to eat. We also decided to have our lunch from Maria, a famous Kerala hotel near Marathahalli bridge. We rode back taking another route that Google suggested that would take us to Yelahanka. The roads were good but were monotonous. We reached Yelahanka by 11:15 AM. Yeah! We didn't stop in between for food as we didn't find any hotels good enough. Very thought of Kerala meals from Mariya kept us driving. We crossed Hebbal flyover and entered outer ring road. It had become damn hot by then. Unbearably scorching sun! Deepesh's head was hitting my helmet and third time it hit, I realised, he was sleeping sitting behind my bike! :D
I woke him up and gave him hope that we'll reach Maria in 5 minutes! :P We reached hotel by 12 PM and lunch wasn't ready. We ordered for 7 snacks and asked our stomachs to be satisfied with that for another 15 more minutes! By 12:30 PM, meals were served and whoa! that feeling, when you get a full meals! We ate till tummies were full!

Our group picture:

Do's:
1. Reach the lake or grasslands by the time of sunrise. Believe me, its amazing view.

Don't:
1. Place isn't very polluted at the moment. Please don't take an initiative to make it happen! ;)

Things to remember:
1. Try avoiding the Yelhanka road and take up the Jalahalli Air force camp route.
2. Grasslands are one excellent picnic spot. Carry some eatables if you are planning to spend some good amount of time at the grasslands.
3. Lake is very open with little shade giving trees around. So its better to get out of there before it gets sunny.