Drive to Coorg

When it comes to drives, instant decisions work more than anything. Anirudh was very keen on driving down to Coorg, I was a bit skeptical about the time to start due to constraints at home. He was insisting on leaving on the Friday night, but he eventually ended up bowing to my pressure and decided to leave early morning on Saturday just before the dawn break. It was just the tow of us in a truck(Qualis). We set upon the journey and hit the Mysore road, the only stretch in Karnataka which is still in good condition, surprisingly. We cruised on the roads with hardly any traffic and pleasant music to keep our ears engaged so that neither of us fall asleep. As we were heading southwards, the Sunrise gave a respite to our gloomy eyes and woke us up completely. After an hour, we ended up taking a short break in Coffee Day near Maddur. Now we were entirely recharged and all geared up for the long drive to coorg.

We took the ring road of Mysore to avoid the city traffic and reached the Coorg Highway. The more distance we were covering, the more pleasant and green it was turning into. Never ending cultivated fields accompanied us throughout. With cool breeze brushing our faces from one side, the harmless sunrays fondling us on the other side it was indeed a drive in waiting. Kushalnagar was the next halt where we had yummy breakfast and then proceeded ahead. Now was the turn of the Ghat roads which crawl all over the Western Ghats cutting them across in length and breadth. There is nothing like driving on a ghat road, I just love it. With so many curves, variety of them in fact, ups and downs, it keeps you on tenterhooks. With two budding photographers, its difficult to just cruise along nonstop. We were in no hurry, so we stopped as many times as we wanted and took a number of pics en-route. Finally we made it to Madikeri and checked in a hotel.

Talacauvery is the birth place of the river Cauvery which is considered to be a holy place by the locals. People are often found taking bath here. A little ahead from here would take you to the top of a hill where you get a fabulous 360 Degree view of the entire range. It’s a whole set of Hill ranges covered with grasslands on top. The time of visit was May but even then it was lush green all around. The sun had turned nasty now, which made it difficult to open our eyes. We proceeded towards Bagamandala to visit the temple and then to the Fort in the hill town.

I had visited the Raja seat almost 10 years ago, I could hardly remember anything other than the Raja seat itself. It was a pleasant evening which added flavor to the place. The weather started to turn chill as the sun was setting down. Apart from us there were a lot of other people waiting for the sunset. We all got ready with the cameras and started our usual routine of taking pics. The sky gradually turned red and then the sun went down bringing darkness everywhere, but the locals had planned something different. A musical fountain started playing almost immediately which attracted and cheered the crowd as the curtains were downed for the day. Suddenly it struck to us about the sunrise. We decided to be here before dawn.

Early morning we started walking towards Raja seat. As we approached the view point, we were stunned by the view. It was jaw dropping. The mist had engulfed the hills all over, they resembled like floating islands, only this time it was a sea of clouds. I was so happy to look at the view, it was just spectacular. Quickly we got into shooting mode forgetting the chill weather which made us shiver. We couldn’t get a glimpse of the sun cause of heavy presence of clouds and mist, about which we never complained. Later in the day a visit to the Omkareshwara Temple reminded us of the spiritual life which we had amply forgotten in the abode of the nature. The blessings of the Almighty were sought and we set out to the next location, this time to a waterfall. Abbe falls is pretty close to the town. Here we were slightly disappointed cause of very less water. I am sure had we been here in Monsoon, it would have been a delight.

The rains were lashing while we drove down towards Nagarahole. Driving on a few stretches was indeed challenging cause of very poor visibility. Nagarahole is an island on the river. The forest department officials maintain a zoo here. We went around finding a lot of rabbits, deer, elephants and monkeys, of course. A walk in the area was very refreshing. It was time for us to leave as we had to visit Bylkuppe. Its pretty much close to Nagarahole towards Bangalore falling en-route our return journey.

Bylkuppe is a Tibetan Refugee Campsite. Thousands of Tibetans have settled here. A Golden Temple stands in the midst of this camp. Tourists throng this place quite often. Any direction you look around, you would spot a monk easily, there are that many. When we visited the temple, a mass prayer was going on which silenced us. We quietly moved around the temple and were trying to figure out what exactly these monks were doing but were not that successful. It was time for us to leave.We came via Mysore city to catch a glimpse of the lighted palace. The Authorities switch on all the lights on Sunday evenings. The illuminated palace was simply standing out of the darkness and projected its glory. I simply starred at the massive illuminated structure and admired the beauty of the Mysore Palace. That was the last stop of our Drive to Coorg and returned to BLR.

Ballala Rayana Durga

The first trek of the year 2008 was set for Ballala Rayana Durga(BRD) 30 odd kms from Dharmastala. We were longing to visit this place as it was dubbed as a sunrise and a sunset point. They say, it has its own unique features. I being a photo freak decided to go there the day I came to know about the place. A wait of 3 months fructified. The second week of January, 18 of us along with the organizer set out on our journey to BRD. We reached the bus stand and from there we hopped on an open top jeep. The ride on a jeep track was simply superb. I loved it. We were often thrown up in the air, thanks to the uneven track. Balancing on one’s feet was indeed an art which many of us happened to master after a while. We stopped near a house, freshened up, finished our breakfast (courtesy- the villager in the house) and then started on foot towards BRD. A walk of around a kilometer further on the jeep track was a warm up to our body. We couldn’t see much on either side as the track was covered with thick canopy of trees. Blindly we followed the people in the front.

A while later, we were stopped, the organizer, Mr. Shastri asked me to come along as I was the only one who was carrying a camera. The sight in front of my eyes kept me dumbstruck for a while. The scenic beauty of the entire range in front of me was simply outstanding. I just sat there, lost in thoughts until Mr. Shastri touched me to bring me back to the reality. The advantage of a digital camera was fully utilized, I just clicked and clicked. The rest of the team came in and all faces had the same expression as mine initially. We went around for sometime and then headed towards the top of the hill.The ridge on which we were walking had a slope on the left side and a deep cut which goes into the valley on the right side. Standing in the middle of the ridge we turned around to look at the ridge which formed a concave curve. The right end of it resembled a rock wall, almost 90 degree slope. It was a good pitch for rock climbing. We proceeded further and reached the top of the hill little after noon time. The rest of the evening we loitered around waiting for the sunset.
The weather started changing, it started turning chill. The view of the sunset was breathtaking. It was simply superb. Never had I seen such a beautiful sunset till then. With the sky turning entirely red and a glowing sun at the horizon, it was indeed a scene to watch. Till the sun was floating in the sky it took its own time to come down, but as he approached the horizon, he just went down in seconds leaving lasting impressions in our minds. I was starring at the horizon till I found it difficult to locate it. It turned completely dark. With only the dim light provided by the stars we started our fire to cook dinner. The light of the fire reached long distances as it was the only source of light (other than our torches) helping us to walk around. They say that the night life changes entirely in the jungle. All creepy creatures start coming out. It’s a kind of a different world in itself. We all geared up to meet the challenges if any aroused.
We continued to keep the fire lit as that was the only source of light. A team of 3 people were to stay awake for 2 hours as the others slept in order to stay alert, and this was to be done on rotational basis (in army style they call it sentry duty). When my turn came, I was woken up, I didn’t find it difficult as I had hardly caught any sleep. We were feeding the fire with dry wood and was simply looking at the fire. The fire danced around, with each flame trying to do something different. While one flame tried to reach as high as it could, one more tried to reach as wide as it could, another one twisted itself completely and tried to showcase its unique capability. Probably a little music would have made them compete even more effectively. I tried to capture the competition in a frame. I was trying out with different features in my camera. In one of the shots which I took I was taken aback looking at the picture of the fire. I could see a shape of a man dancing. This only proved the uniqueness of the fire.

It was time for dawn, the second part of the purpose of the trek was about to unbound. We all woke up before the sky was lit up with the sunshine. As the dawn approached, the horizon slowly started resurfacing out of the darkness. It became more and more evident as time passed. The sky in the East started glowing even more than the rest of the sky. It was time for the king to rise. The sky rolled out a red carpet, the birds hailed the king singing in chorus, the wind gave the background music as the trees bowed in uniform. With that the creepy creatures which ruled the world till then went into hiding. We all stood silent and watched the sun rise up from the horizon. The Sun rose with pride filling light all around us. The first sun rays are always the best. We two bowed looking at the scene which unfolded in front of our eyes.
We removed the tents, packed our bags and started our descent. We hardly took time, in an hour or so we were down. We freshened up in the same house where we had been the previous day. A relishing breakfast later, we hoped on in the jeep which was waiting. Amba Theertha was the next stop. An hour of travelling took us there. We all jumped into the water as soon as we saw it. The bath was very refreshing.
From here our next stop was at Horanadu which is a few kilometers away. We visited the temple of Goddess Annapoorneshwari and sought her blessings. Our programme ended there and we set out on our return to BLR.

Skandagiri alias Kalavara betta

Skandagiri was doing the rounds among the trekkers in BLR. I just had received an invitation to view the pictures in the picasa web albums belonging to my friend Raju. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the pics. They were standing on the edge of a cliff with a sea of never ending clouds below them. I decided then and there to make it to skandagiri. It is also known as kalavara betta. I spoke to my co-trekkers, Anirudh and Narayan to decide upon the dates. The next question was when to leave. There was no shelter on top of the hill to spend the night and none of us owned a tent. Anirudh and Narayan wanted to leave BLR in the middle of the night so that we could climb the hill in the night and reach the hilltop just before sunrise. Plan was sounding good. Only issue was I had never driven that early in the morning. We started at 3 in the morning on a Saturday/Sunday night. It just took an hour for us to reach Chikkaballapur. We saw a cop standing near a junction on the National Highway. We checked the route with him. We were exactly at the junction near the temple where we were supposed to take a left to head to the village. He gave us directions informing that when we hit a dead end, that would mean we are at the village. We headed in that direction on narrow roads. We travelled a few kilometers and saw a person directing us to the parking area. We were there. A forest guard was ready to collect entry fees and informed that we could utilize the guide services which we weren't keen of. Narayan checked for the start of the trail with him. He promptly gave us directions and asked us to go behind the temple where we will be able to spot the trail easily.

We started our walk, it was 4:30 AM in the morning. I looked up and to my surprise I saw a full moon. We thought it was a good co-incidence; a night trek and a full moon make a good combination. A while later we were behind the temple. The three of us started looking around for the trail. We were looking and looking but couldn't find the trail. Our torches didn't help us much. Every point we tried to move ahead we were at a dead end. Thick shrubs blocked our entry. Time was running out and we were nowhere near the track. We decided to make our own way. Locating a trail in the dead of the night is indeed a difficult task. We sneaked our way through the shrubs for a while and slowly climbed the hill inch by inch. Narayan who was leading the team finally found the path to the hilltop. We felt relieved. From there it was a cakewalk. We hardly made use of the torch. The full moon lit the surrounding enough for us to walk easily. The sky started turning red, which kept me in the doubt if we would make it before the sunrise. We still had a lot of distance to cover. We increased our pace gradually so was the sky, turning red gradually. It looked like we and the sun were competing against each other; who would appear first. The sky lit up completely, and I lost all hopes but maintained the pace. I saw a few people yelling on the top. I could hear their voices loud and clear; then I realized that we were almost there. Yes, we were on top and I looked at the East to find that the sun was yet to come out. We did beat him in the race. The sky was painted red, it made a good opportunity to take beautiful pictures. We weren't expecting company at all, but were unhappy when we found so many people on the hilltop, most of them who had camped in the night. I was expecting a silent sunrise, but we weren't that lucky.

As we got the first glimpse of the sun, I readied the camera to take the pictures. The sunrise was something very different, not found anywhere. As the sun started climbing, the reflection of it started appearing on the ground, mind you there was no water source anywhere in that direction. It was entirely fascinating, marvelous, spectacular and fabulous. Well too many adjectives I believe. But they aren't enough to describe the beauty of the sunrise. All of us enjoyed watching the sun climb up until its full size was visible. A few snaps were taken. Then we saw the moon on the other side still glowing in the clear sky. It wasn't an eclipse season to have them on the same side as the sun in the east; had it been on the same side of the sun, I would bet you that would have been the best sunrise witnessed by me in my entire life. It was time for the moon to pose with us. We took a couple of pics and suddenly found Narayan missing. We looked around and no where was he to be found. I saw him sitting on a boulder looking at the sunrise. Typical Narayan I thought. He was enjoying the sunrise in a spot where it was free of all the noise the other teams were making. We spent some more time on the hilltop and then started our descent from the East side which appears to be shorter than the North trail. We were back in our car and then headed towards BLR. It got over in less than 11 hours, but the sunrise would remain in memory for long.