Tour Diaries: Shravanabelagola, Karnataka

Date: 26th Sept 2009
Time: 7:00 a.m.
Trip cost: Rs 230 per head


I had been thinking of going to Shravanabelagola since a long time but could never found an accomplice. My friend Sumit has already been to this place twice but he still agreed to join me. 


Journey:
There are direct buses to Shravanabelagola from Bangalore. So we reached Majestic Bus stand by 7:30 a.m. but realised that we have missed the direct KSRTC bus to Shravanabelagola at 7:15 a.m.  So we took the KSRTC bus till Channarayapatna. There are plenty of buses in transit from there till Shravanabelagola.  

It was a chilly Bangalore morning. The bus seating was quite comfortable.

The roads are clean with greenery all around. I have never seen such a huge spread of  coconut trees and rice plantation together - its was a mesmerizing view. You would just wish to halt there for a while, run into the fields , sing  a song or two and then continue on your journey again :)

Our first halt was at Kunigal. I guess all the KSRTC buses stop on this midway. The tea was not very great but the chikki improved our taste buds

We reached Channarayapatna by 11 a.m. and managed to reach Shravanabelagola by 12 p.m.

Facts:
It is in Hassan district, Karnataka and around 140 kms from Bangalore.  It is known for its Jain Pilgrimage Centre, where the 60 ft tall monolith statue of Lord Gomteshwara (Bahubali) stands atop 3347 ft Vindhyagiri (Indragiri) hill.  Every 12th year, a mahamastabhishek is held in which the whole statue of Lord Bahubali is anointed with milk, ghee, saffron, gold coins etc.  The town is situated between the two lofty hills Vindhyagiri Hills and Chandragiri Hills


Tourism:
We decided to tread Vindhyagiri first. The mountain is really steep and there are enough steps to tire you out by the time you reach to the top. But its worth it because what you would see from the top is simply awesome. For people in slightly decrepit condition, there are railings by the side to take support and climb up. It is essential for the readers to know that the governors of pilgrimage insist that you tread bare foot. 

If you are tired then you have an option to lie down on the rocky mountain on the sides and inhale the fresh air, they way we did.

You will forget about your aching toes once you have a view from the top. Trust me!!!!! 

Carved structures of 24 Jain Tirthankars are engraved on the stones inside. The monolith statue is an astounding sight which can be best described in pictures (I don't want to bore the readers with more facts, anyone can just Google it up!!!! )

On the back side of the main premises, there is a door which opens out to a cliff. The fresh air would refurbish your soul. 

We were hungry and warmer now. Our sweaters came off. We walked a bit to the Bhojanshaala close to another temple nearby where food is served for free. You can donate any amount with your will after you are done eating. 

Next was to tread Chandragiri Hills. This hill has the statue of Lord Bahubali's bro Bharata.

You can also see Vindhyagiri Hills from the top

Its comparatively low incline but there are lot of stone engravings of Tirthankars dating from 6th to 19th century. 

What I loved the most were the splurge of placid, unruffled whiff blowing constantly on your face. An ideal place where you can sit, relax and talk for hours.

We finally got down and headed towards the bus stand to catch the bus to Bangalore. We arrived in Bangalore by 6 p.m. 

Must Do's:  Inhale and exhale in long breaths at the mountain top

I do not have anything useless advice to share for this place. You won't be able to resist clicking pictures once you are there. 

Been there, done that!!!!!!

Tour Diaries: Cauvery Fishing Camp, Bheemeshwari

Date: 19th Dec 2009
Time: 7:30 a.m.

After the first successful bike trip (at least riding the bike to waterfalls was fun as mentioned in my last blog, leave the rest), Janit and I decided for our next location on bike. We googled many places which we can cover in a day. Going close to nature has been an on going phenomenon off late. We chose Cauvery Fishing Camp, Bheemeshwari near the banks of river Cauvery this time. It is primarily known for Mahaseer - the largest sporting fish known to man. This is a setup maintained by Jungle Lodges but more on that later but let me tell you that "it is unnecessarily expensive".

Kanakpura Road is the exit out of the city. The route for us was Bannerghatta Road -> J.P. Nagar (some phases which to be crossed which I don't recall) -> Kanakpura Road -> Kanakpura -> Sathnur -> Take a left towards Muthati -> Cauvery Fishing Camp. The distance is around 110 kms.


So I picked Janit from his home at 7:30 a.m. I had got an helmet for him from home just to be on the safer side but he chose not to wear it. Sometimes its all about style and tashan as we all call it ;)

The road till Kanakpura is awesome. Big wide NH-209 where you can easily touch 100 kmph. Although I did not find much of the green pastures but it was still worth halting at places to click pictures whereever we got a chance.

We also noticed lot of cyclists on the highway (don't know where they were heading to but we captured that as well)

After first halt was at a tea shop after crossing Kanakpura. The tea offered was really sweet (not to my taste)    I took out my tiffin box containing Veg Pulao and Moong Dal ( I owe this to my sister who made it for us which served as breakfast and lunch)

Janit decided to ride from here till the fishing camp. The travel from Sathnur to Muthati brings you closer to the nature, with a narrow curvy road cutting the mountain and at times too steep (downhill/uphill) but we truly enjoyed it.

Now the funny part, after a few kms, we saw the road being blocked by a herd of cows (out for a kittie :P) and Janit's reaction to that was worth listening to. He got scared to cross them and decided to wait till the ladies go out of the way. Being not the one to lose on time like this, I decided to scream out on them (I wish I could do that in real life :P) to clear the way.

 Just imagine, if we would have been stuck in the middle of such a huge bunch and the bike doesn't start.  This very thought made us laugh later (after we crossed the hurdle). These cows had really sharp horns  which can cause serious damage... you know what I mean, right? :)

We started seeing the Cauvery river after a while and decided to halt. Being in nature is so peaceful, breathing clean and fresh oxygen on the forest roads is surely a great relief to our souls.

We finally reached the camp and saw the nets. That was it. We took a decision to not invest Rs 1000 per person in Jungle Lodge rather relax on the nets and pass time.

It was time to eat again and my box was out again. That was our lunch. We thought of fishing as well but it was for Rs. 1750 per person ... so.... never mind!!!!  I guess we wanted to stick to our plans to save money and make the trip as cheap as possible :) The readers might also be thinking something like this "Tum kya itni door sone ke liye gaye thhe?" (I am a good mind reader or rather I know this is what the readers can expect from me :P)

The river is so calm and whole rocky look and feel was awe inspiring. Some photo shoot happened there as well.

At around 3 p.m., we decided to head back to Bangalore, stopped at Muthati - this name means Nose Ring in Kannada and gets its name from Ramayan. When Ram and Sita were in exile, Sita accidently dropped her nose ring at this place and Hanuman found it and gave it to Sita (too much for me :P) There is a Hanuman Temple at Muthati at that very location now. We reached Bangalore by 4:30 p.m.

Must Do's: Sleeping on the nets and forget the rest of the world

Beware  Of: Monkeys around the place. They won't do anything to you till you do something to them :P

Useless Advice: 1. Make a booking with Jungle Lodges and pay 1000 bucks.

                            2. Touch the speed limit of 100 kmph on NH-209 highway

                            3. Learn how to climb the net and not fall down (I fell twice before finally making it :P )

Tour Diaries: Muthyalamuduvu Waterfall

Date: 13th December 2009
Time: 8 a.m.

I was browsing through Bangalore Mirror and I read about Muthyalamuduvu Waterfall. I  couldn't even pronounce (I still can't) the name properly but the whole idea of going to Muthyalamuduvu sounded interesting for the following reasons:

• It is known as Pearl Valley with the waterfall surrounded by dense forests
• It is only 45 kms from Bangalore - A half day Bike Trip
• Both my friend Janit and me have been planning since long to go for a trip together
• Another way to break the monotony of a mundane weekend sitting at home

I had read that monsoon is the best time to visit this place. Bannerghatta Road is the exit out of the city. The road is decent but there are a lot of speed breakers on the way which stop you from catching a good speed at a stretch.

The first milestone we reached was Anekal Taluk. We made a halt there for a cup of tea - the weather gave us full support keeping a constant breeze throughout.

After Anekal, unless you are careful; you might miss out the signboard on the right that directs you to the resort near Muthyalamuduvu (Don't worry I will tell you). We found a freshly laid road and soon the landscape started changing and we knew we are close to our destination.

After paying Rs 10 for Tollgate and Rs 5 for parking, we started to make our way where the waterfall is. The term Waterfall is highly over-rated. What we saw was a tiny streak of water trickling down as if someone has opened the tap somewhere (Trust me, my bathroom shower throws more water than this) - a major disappointment. 

After a bit of cursing, we decided to limber around to the top of the mountain. We got our smiles back after looking at the mountains around us. We selected our rocky thrones and sat in silence for a while. I had got fried idlis and pulao from home, which we started hogging with immediate effect.

How often do you get to spend time like this with your close buddies? We decided to head back to Bangalore after a bit of relaxation and photo session near the falls (not that I am proud of it :P ) We reached Bangalore an hour and half later

Must Do's: Try the hillock up to the other side.
Beaware of: Monkeys around the place - their number is more than the tourists coming to see the falls (sample attached)

Useless Advice: Curse the rain-god if there isn't much rain
Must-Click: Mummy -Daddy Residential Laoyout

School teacher and eyeing students

I recall the days of my school. Having studied in an All Boys School for 14 years, friends and I never had much of the chance nor the courage to speak to a gal then. We were only known for our academic brilliance, sportspirit and cracking virile jokes. But one thing that never changed and stayed common across all my schoolmates was the way we used to gaze the new class teacher, Shruti. Actually her mom was already a teacher in our school (not teaching us). Now it was her daughter who had joined the school taking care of the kids in the primary section. I would justify myself by saying that it was my tender age in all angles and a kid is not grown much emotionally at this age :P ;)

Shruti must be around the same age then as I am right now. She was a clear example how beautiful and adult a woman could be. Lovely lips, dancing eyes and what not. Every early morning at 7:30 a.m., she used to drive a Sunny to school with her mom as riding pillion. The school prayer used to start at 7:50 a.m. so we were supposed to reach before that. We found a good reason now to reach early. Every morning we all used to rush to school to somehow reach by 7:25 a.m., put our school bags in our classes and queue in the verandah on the highest floor to see Shruti. Those wet hair flowing in the morning air. Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!! Haaaaaaaaayyyyyyyeeeeeeee!!!! There was a collective sigh from all of us together.

Things got better on Teacher's Day. This was our ultimate chance to show how much we like our teachers.
Arihant to Prakhar, "Just wishing won't be enough. We should do something so that she notices us"
Siddharth suggests, "We should give her a greeting card and write our names"
On this proposition, we both gave a stare to Siddharth which would be reserved only for gazing monkeys at a zoo. We had some more pudden-head discourses but finally agreed to what Siddharth had to offer. We took the law in our hands and went to Archies Gallery and bought a sugary, affectionate card to give her. In unison, we wrote our names on the card and finally gave it to Shruti.
Shruti to us (with our eyes fixed on hers and not heeding to our senses), "Thank you so much, thats so sweet of you all"
The next day, our class teacher (who has been teaching since 20 years) entered the class and announced, "Its been 20 years but never did I get such a lovely card from any of my students. I think I am too old fashioned and less lovable" Shit!! how did he come to know about it??? That hurt his sentiments and put us to shame at that moment. The same day we went to Archies Gallery and bought a greeting card for all the teachers who had taught us. The matter settled soon after that.

But still the word sweet kept reverberating in our ears and staying the hot topic till the time she left the school. We later came to know that she got married. Our caring classmates took us out and treated us for a glass of soda and samosa. And we moved on!!!!

Arihantism - Continued

After the wonderful opening song for the new religion Arihantism, I feel the need of defining some core values and principles around it so that my would-be followers could make more sense out of it.

One quick question for the readers, "Would it make sense to charge some membership fee to use and adopt it?" Too early to decide, eh? ..... Psssttt!!!! Leave it

Procrastination:

Doing things NOW is bad. Now is better when it is in the distant, unseeable future. Avoid doing work as much as possible. Push the deadlines as far as you can. Don't you feel the person who cares for it the most would eventually be doing it? Your goal should not be that person :)

Money precepts:

Heard of mind over matter? This is the next level - Money over matter. Be as much kanjoos as possible. Something like go away somewhere for a phone call saying Hello Hello when someone is paying for your movie tickets, look busy at restaurants and ask someone else to pay. Easier trick could be look other way when the waiter brings the cheque to the table.

Lesser Hard Work:

We are living in 21st century. There are already enough important things for us to remember around us. The lesser you know, more is the room in your head to remember your favorites.

Idol Worship:

I would really encourage this. Choose your own idols. My examples of good idols : Amrita Rao, Giselle Monteiro, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman. Bad idols could be anybody that works for a living.

Rituals and Festivals:

There would be festival starting every Friday night. Working on weekends would be considered intolerable. Taking baths is optional, especially on holidays. Daily rituals include watching TV & movies, reading senseless articles and discussing your personal idols.

Those who are somewhat impressed - I thank them. Since the making is in alpha phase, it surely needs some adjustments. You can send me an email if you are interested in knowing whats in store for the beta phase :)

P.S. I am also thinking of advertising strategies and some funky punchlines for my religion now. Credit again goes to the Aditya Kulkarni for bringing this up at first place

Of Speedbreakers and Potholes

I drive through the silent darkness, all alone,

If I don't see you on time, I am sure to break my bone!!!

Only God would know what was in the mind of your maker,

Above all, you are the mighty speed breaker!!!!!

Unmoving on the road, you lie in slumber,

At least ten on each road, the number of dogs you outnumber,

Instead of warning us to be careful and slowly tread,

You keep a sign telling us, "Careful!!! Bump Ahead"

Let me talk about your sibling, the pothole,

It seems you are an indispensable part of road's soul,

Whenever the rain comes, I hear you cheer,

Bcoz in myriad numbers now you can reappear

I want to ask you two, "Why do you exist at all?"

Slowing the traffic which is already a crawl,

Only bike guys with girlfriends would really love you,

They brake sharply and come little closer too :)