Saturday, September 19, 2015

Monsoon Drive 2015 - A trip to discover, to rejuvnate ourselves!!





As  written by my Dear Friend Hareesha Prabhu


 
Prelude
Which has now become an annual ritual, we set out for our Monsoon Drive-2015 for the third year in a row. We started our initial thoughts on covering parts of Kerala and also had 3 draft versions of the plan/itinerary, but a visit to his father and a conversation with him made Pramod to come up with a suggestion/wish to see the Fort at Nagara. That changed the whole plan and the final version of the plan evolved.
 
Our itinerary
For unknown reasons, 15-Aug seems to be a pre-fixed date for this drive year after year.
We kept the plan completely floating since we were not sure about the time it would take to reach each of these places, the terrain, weather, road conditions, optimal sequence etc. So we said, we will decide based on the inputs we receive once we land there.

Routing
There are multiple routes to reach Thirthahalli as indicated in the map shot below.
Via NH4 & NH13 (388KM) OR via NH4 and SH24 (363KM) OR via NH48 (360KMs)
We chose the last option i.e. via NH48 (BLRà Nelamangalaà ChannarayapatnaàArasikere àKaduràBiruràTarikereàBhadravathi Bypass à Shimoga Bypass à Sakrebylu àThirthahalli)



The reason we chose this route are
-          Shorter distance
-          Familiar & predictable route atleast till Channarayapatna
-          Good road condition atleast till Channarayapatna
-          Good eateries for breakfast (Swathi J )
We started at 6.40am from Meenakshi Layout as planned. Instead of taking the usual NICE road from Gottigere, we took the ring road from JP Nagar, Padmanabha Nagar, PES College, Nayandahalli Junction and then the new ring road, which touches the Tumkur road near Goraguntepalya. It was a wise decision in the end since the crowd was huge to buy the toll tickets at the exit from NICE Road to join the Tumkur Road. The rest of the drive was a breeze and we reached Swathi at 8am for a good breakfast (as always). I have been visiting this place since the time it was inaugurated a few years ago and I must say, the quality of food has been exemplarily consistent, although service varies at times, depending on who comes to serve your table. This is one flip side of taking the NH4 (via Tumkur) since there are NO restaurants on that road (well, Kamat have slipped out of being called as a restaurant for some time now).

Google will show a couple of “shorter” routes to reach Arasikere as we move forward. However, in my opinion, the safest option is to take the C.R.Patna bypass and the signage is fairly bold on the right hand side to take the diversion to Arasikere. Although initially (as soon as I entered the road) it looked to be a narrow road, as we move forward, it becomes clear that the surface is very well maintained, although the road is a narrow one (compared to the Hassan Road). No complaints though since you don’t encounter any major bottlenecks nor do you have heavy traffic.

We stopped at Vinayaka Restaurant at Kadur for a bio-break and for a cup of tea at around 10.45am. We missed to take the bypass at Bhadravathi – but realized very quickly that we missed it and caught up with the bypass – one has to ensure that the 2 bypasses at Bhadravathi and Shimoga are NOT missed because they will easily add upto an hour to the journey time.
As we approached Shimoga, we did take a wrong turn on the left to go to Mattur, but were wise enough to ask some elderly villagers who were in an intense discussion over a cup of tea and they directed us back to the main road and a little ahead, we did get the left turn to Mattur.

Mattur
Well – yes, the town is a sleepy, small, traditional temple town with a lot of men wearing white Dhoti and flowing long hair – typical of a temple priest. We went straight to the temple, got the first glimpse of mighty river Thunga with her full blown majestic flow. To be frank, we were completely let down because when we spoke to a few women who were busy with their domestic chores, they clearly told us, everyone knows Sanskrit here, it is taught in schools as well – but we all talk either Kannada or Sanketi. We were still wanting to give it a shot and as we walked back (after a few clicks on the banks of the river), a priest on a 2-wheeler stopped by asking what are we upto. I spoke to him in Kannada and he invited us to his home. Pramod and Nitin had already moved ahead trying to capture some pictures and JP intelligently slipped away when we reached the entrance door of his house. The priest spoke to us in Kannada, was very hospitable, explained the brief history of the place and myself and Shalabh got out of the house in a jiffy. Some how, the feeling was not comfortable. Right after that, we decided it is time to move on from this place and in summary, as we rightly concluded, this is purely an Internet and Wikipedia made town. There is absolutely nothing worth a mention about this place, except the fact that every household knows the divine language – but definitely far away from the portrayal of an “exclusively Sanskrit Speaking” town as it is being “advertised”.



















Enroute
The route is extremely serene after we cross the Shimoga bypass – particularly the areas around Mandagadde, Sakrebylu are amazingly rich in flora, fauna. Parking on this road is not a good idea since the road is narrow and there is hardly any space on the roadside since the empty space is completely covered by grass and bushes – may be because it is the rainy season. Nevertheless, we did stop at a couple of places and took some nice pictures.


Our place of stay
Well, we were contemplating on a place to stay at Thirthahalli and Pramod again bumped into this highly rated homestay in a place called Gabadi, which is 17KMs before Thirthahalli when you drive from Shimoga. The ratings on tripadvisor were good. I spoke to the owner Mr.Krupal and created enough confusion for him as to who is Pramod and who is Hareesh since I used both the names to interact with him and tried to bargain using 2 different personas but from the same mobile number and without modulating my voice (well………….)
We booked this place well in advance, called him at regular intervals since the first time I called him to confirm that our rooms are booked etc. He charges Rs.2000/person/night which includes all food starting from Bed Tea till Dinner, including some short eats during the evenings.
We have seen a few homestays in the past, so we went with fair expectations of decent place, edible food etc.
You cant miss this place since there is a sign board on the left side after you cross Sakrebylu and when you are about 17KMs short of Thirthahalli.
Well, I will fall short of words and adjectives to explain this place. Hands down, worth the ratings on the tripadvisor, absolutely delightful couple, Mr.Krupal and his wife, Mrs.Shubha, amazing Malnad cuisine cooked by the land lady herself, very neat, clean rooms, modernized bathrooms.


Day-1
After a good lunch of Chicken Biryani, and a variety of local dishes, topping it with some Ice Cream – we had some rest. We discussed our plans with Mr.Krupal and he suggested we must see Kundadri (this was not part of our original agenda). From Gabadi, you have to go to Thirthahalli, take the Agumbe road and half way through (10KMs before Agumbe), you see a turn on your Left hand side, with clear marking towards Kundadri. We followed the signages and reached the entry gate to Kundadri and to our surprise, the gate was closed. While we were contemplating to return, another car came and the enterprising guys in that car had already come before us and had gone back to the town to get the keys of the gate. They opened the gate and after some sudden, steep, hairpin curve filled drive, we were at the top of Kundadri, where there is enough parking for about 10 cars. There is a small stair to the temple, and we reached the top and lo behold – what a scene it was – words cant express the serenity, bliss and the sheer magnanimity and enormity of nature – it simply takes your breath away…. Clouds gush at you from the bottom and make one realise how tiny are we in comparison to what nature has to offer us. The sage Kundakundacharya, has set up this temple a few centuries ago and the Jain temple of Parshwanath is a small temple, with a few ponds where
apparently, the water level is always constant irrespective of the season. We spent good amount of time there, took ample pictures. The clouds were literally playing hide and seek with us, giving us the view all the way till Udupi which is close to 50KMs away and the next moment, we could not see the person next to us….
The Sun was fast setting and we still had Agumbe to cover, so reluctantly we drove down and started towards Agumbe. We reached Agumbe in no time since the distance is short, took a good walk around the sleepy town, which is moving towards being a ghost town pretty soon… 
We could not find the place where we had Neer Dosa during our first trip in 2013. So out of desperation, I went into a shop and started explaining the “Old Man”, “Bald Head”, “Husband and Wife running a canteen” and the final clue was “Neer Dosa” – and the shop keeper immediately said, Nayak’s hotel, that is on Shringeri Road. The name of the shanty looking restaurant is Hotel Guruprasad and the Nayak Maam and  his wife serve you fresh Neer Dosa with piping hot sambhar, pickles, chutney powder… Talking to them in Konkani made it more livelier – the conversation went around his recent eye operation, less crowd in rainy season, no power owing to a tree falling on the cables, they serving lunch and finally his marketing talks – that “Like you, who ever comes once to my place, will definitely come back J”. After 3 neer dosa each (although we were fully aware that we are heading back to Dinner) – we started our trip back to Gabadi.
For dinner we had Neer Dosa again, although it was not as good as that of Nayak Mam’s.
Neer Dosa @ Agumbe

Beautiful evening @ Agumbe town with lots of Rains and thundering

Day-2
The destination was Kodachadri & Nagara. Again, you have to come to Thirthahalli and at the junction where there is a fork (one towards Agumbe and another to Udupi/Kundapur) – take the Kundapur road. Kodachadri is a good 66KMs from that place. Once you reach the bottom of the hill, you can park your vehicle there and hire a 4x4 Jeep. Thankfully, we asked the shop keeper there about lunch and he said, if we confirm, he can ask his mother to cook for us at Rs.50/- per head. We said, go ahead, had a tea, packed a water bottle and started… But our sincere advice is NOT to have any drink / food both while climbing and while returning. The Jeep charges Rs.1600 for one trip (both ways), Forest Dept charges Rs.100/- for one 4 wheeler (don’t know why) and Rs.25/- per head as the entry fee (again, don’t know why).
It is one hell of a ride of 9KMs which takes almost 1hr+. On the way, there are couple of photo op points and the driver keeps telling you that this is where Gaalipata movie was shot etc. However, Shalabh kept asking the driver “Eshtu Kilo meter” after every KM – and fully understandable since he was sitting in the front. In my opinion, the easiest way to beat all the scare is to simply close your eyes and completely ignore the terrain – because there is absolutely no road – the drivers simply ride on everyone’s luck, using the paths (if I may say so) created by flowing water.
After an entertaining 1hr, we reached the top. The driver told us that you have 2 hrs of time and there are 3 places to see. The temple at the bottom, the Ganesha temple in between and after a trek of 2KMs, the Sarvajna Peetha. There are 2 houses of the priests and they also serve hot tea, Dosa and Lunch if you are interested – but better to stay away from consuming anything considering the churn that gets generated while driving down.
This is the place where Shankaracharya meditated & got the divine blessings of Mookambika. There are 2 temples here, and also the weapon with which the Devi killed the demon Mookasura. The legend has it that the metal used for this weapon is still unknown and when some one tried to take it out, blood started to ooze and hence now it is concretised at the bottom.







Myself, Nitin and JP did start the treck upwards to see the Ganesha temple and the Peetha. But none of us were equipped with the right footwear and many people who were coming down discouraged us saying there is nothing further. Sadly, there are no signages nor any information saying how far what is there and the pathway is also not marked.
Further down the walk way, where there is a small plain, we saw that a bunch of hooligans were consuming liquor, breaking the bottles, throwing the left overs etc – and I decided to return from there, but Nitin and JP went a little ahead and came back after a while. The Poojaris at the temple below talk fluent Kannada and Malayalam. Sadly, like in many other temples, they come to their bottom line objective pretty quickly saying – for this, Rs.100, for this, Rs.250, for this Rs.350, for this Rs.500 – that really put me off… But cant help either.
To the surprise of our driver, Mr.Mahabaleshwar Bhat, who was busy chewing his pan, we were ready to take the ride back. We asked him to take a few pictures of the group and started the arduous trip back. Shalabh was overjoyed when he saw the forest check post because, the trip was finally over – it is not a trip – but an experience by itself.

We had a really sumptuous lunch – simple, home cooked Rice, Sambhar, Papad, Palya, Curds and Pickles – but it was heavenly after what we had endured J
After this unforgettable trip, we set out to see Nagara fort. This fort was built by the chieftain Shivappa Nayaka and is a protected monument. Sadly the upkeep is pathetic to say the least. We climbed to the highest point of the fort, took some nice pictures, discussed quite a bit about the forethought of our ancestors, business potential of setting up a restaurant on top J etc etc and soaked in the beauty of the surroundings. Incidentally, this is the place where we had some good network coverage as well – so Shalabh and Nitin could make a few calls.
We then visited Mithila’s father’s ancestoral house, saw the 100+ year old house and reached back Gabadi by around 7pm, just in time for some wine and dine.







Day-3




After some demanding day, the intention was to keep this day fairly light and we decided to visit the Thirthahalli town and Kuppalli. Also, we did not want to miss out on the speech of our PM Narendra Modi. So after that, we started post breakfast from Gabadi, visited the Rameshwara temple and then spent really long time on the banks of the river Tunga appreciating her majestic flow. The weather was pleasant and the flowing water had a soothing effect on the minds of all of us. We then visited Mithila’s uncle’s house, had some tea and decided to skip Kuppalli since we had little time and headed back to Gabadi for the lunch.
As expected, the lunch was sumptuous and to beat the crowd and the traffic since it was a holiday, we started to Kuppalli by around 2.45pm. We reached Kuppalli and to our surprise, it was a very well maintained, must visit place and gave a good insight into the life and times of the great poet Ku Vem Pu.


We wanted to visit Kundadri again since this was our last day of the trip – but then we quickly realized when we reached Thirthahalli that it will be too late by the time we hit the top – so after some bonda soup at Hotel Mayura in Thirthahalli, we made a wise decision of spending some more time on the banks of the river with the Golden Gate bridge in the backdrop J.






Day-4
Well, after one of the most memorable trips, we had to head back, though reluctantly. We left the Gabadi Homestay, our home for the last 3 days with another round of good breakfast of Akki Rotti and Brinjal Palya, took couple of snaps with the owners, who were busy feeding the large group that had swooped down the previous day in a bus (!!!) and started our journey back at 8.40am
We reached Sakrebylu Elephant Camp at 9.05, the gates were just opening and the majestic pachyderms were just walking in… The camp charges Rs.30 per head as entry fee for “Indians” J and apparently there are 22 elephants in the camp. But we could see some 8-10, some getting bathed in the pond nearby, and the rest “parked” on the side for visitors to see and get “blessed” !!! – may be the effect of heavy breakfast or the thought of getting back to Bangalore, there was not much interest in the group to spend time there – although Pramod did make the Sprint of his trip to catch a good shot of an elephant walking into the pond against the backdrop of a rising Sun – apparently he was disappointed because he could not get the right click…

We spent about half an hour there and headed back to Bangalore. Had a tea break at the same Vinayaka Hotel in Kadur where we had our tea during our onward journey. This joint appears to be on the right track to becoming a wanted place if they maintain the current standards of service, food quality and cleanliness.
As planned, we reached Swathi for lunch at 1pm, and reached back Meenakshi Layout by 2.45pm.




Conclusion
Well, there we go – we concluded yet another memorable trip, year after year, we seem to plan better, execute better and above all, enjoy the time even better…
Every experience teaches something new and there is no end to a human’s learning – this was yet another trip that taught us many more things, made us even more wiser J

Looking forward to the Monsoon Drive-2016, where Pramod has promised to take the lead and take us to his backyard – Kerala… Till then … So long…

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