From the concrete jungle of South Karnataka to the lush green North Karnataka!!!

15th-17th August 2008

Who: Anju, Aparna, Archana, Shaonli, Aditya and Me!

Let me begin, this time from the date of journey… We (Shaonli and me) managed to leave office by 1600. Then suddenly a weird idea of doing window shopping struck us which took us to Shoppers Stop, but it ended up, in me doing some “Actual” shopping … reached home at 1800 packed our backpacks…went to Tasty Bites and packed some stuffed paraanthas and then left home at 1915 for the bus stand. Our bus from Majestic was at 2130.

We encountered horrible rain on the way to the bus stand… good thing was due to this rain, there wasn’t much traffic jams and hence we managed to reach Majestic at around 2030. We were hungry so went to a restaurant to check out if anything was good…one more reason for going there was that atleast there we could get a place to sit, coz at the bus stand there wasn’t even an inch free to put a foot…reason…well…one was that it was a long weekend…ppl thriving to go home…second since it was raining, everyone wanted to be in shade… third, since the rains stopped, it increased the traffic on the roads resulting in huge traffic jams which resulted in delayed buses and thereby increasing the crowd at the bus stop… Anyways, with some hope we entered the restaurant. There was hardly any veg thing available except for meals (which obviously was out of question)…we ordered some Dosa (thinking that would be the safest option) BUT GOK what was it that was served to us…I couldn’t have more than 2 bites! In the mean while we called up the other gang members and here was the first shock of our trip…3 of the ppl were still stuck in a bad traffic jam near forum…NEAR FORUM!!! Now the stress level rose, it was already 2030…crossed our fingers. Met Aditya at around 2045…wahaan se jo bhagwaan ka naam japna shuru kiya….itna toh shaayad bhagwaan ko CA k results k time par bhi yaad nahi kiya hoga!! The bus was late because of traffic jams and finally came at 10 pm. The driver said that he will leave in another 15 minutes…after that phone calls started, every two minutes as to where were these people…At 2220 the bus driver started the bus….Shaonli went to the driver and pleaded to wait for another 10 minutes…these ppl were still stuck in a traffic jam around 1 km from the bus stand…after 15 minutes I went to the driver and begged to wait for another 10 minutes…next was mine and Shaonli’s to go begging (since none of us were ready to go to him alone…woh kachcha chaba jaata ). Meanwhile, Archana, Aparna and Anju got down the auto and in the pouring rain, ran to the bus stop (with heavy luggage!)…and finally managed to reach the bus at 11 pm! The driver was just mumbling and am sure must be cursing us…but who cares…we are “in” now!! I had given hope 2 hours back and after two hours we were cheering….yipppeee!! after around one hour of chatting we decided to call it a day, partially because of tiredness (aka bhaag-daud), and more because of other passengers cribbing.

Next morning when I woke up and peeped out of the window, I saw the first glimpse of fresh, green North Karnataka. The scenic beauty of this place just left me gaping. It was when Aparna said that we need to get down I realized we were in this heaven for the next THREE days!!
The hotel was nice. We reached there at around 730 in the morning and were ready by around 930. Had breakfast, in the mean-time our cab came and the driver briefed us about the POA. So first we went to the famous Jog falls which is more than 800 ft in height and is on river Sharavathi. This is supposed to be the highest waterfalls in India. When the dam gates are open, they are awesome, it’s a splendid sight. We were told that on 15th August the gate will be opened and were very excited to view the historic event. The pictures on the internet made us all the more exciting to visit this place.

But this is what we got to see…

So first we went to the back side of the falls. After a small walk, we reached the place and had the opportunity to see the first glimpse of the fall. We were a bit disappointed since that day, the dam door wasn’t opened…then we went to the front side of the falls from where after a one hour trek you could reach the base of the falls. But since the majority didn’t want to trek down and waste 3 hours, we decided not to go there…I was very SAD :-(. One, because I loved trekking and Two because the falls at the base was really very tempting…me and Aditya tried to convince others but…

Our driver told us that he will take us to a better falls than this. I had my doubts but agreed…had no other options! From there we went back to Sagar, had lunch (here I realized that it isn’t a bad idea to order a baby corn Manchurian at this part of the world!!) and then went to Sikandoor. This was again on river Sharavathi. From here, we were to take a ferry (wherein one round trip costed only Rs. 2 per head!) and reach an island where there was a goddess Chowdeshwari temple. When we started the ferry ride, it started drizzling and soon started pouring heavily. We were enjoying the ferry ride. Beautiful place…only river and greenery around. To Shaonli, the tree barks coming out from the river base seemed to be a sight so close to Periyar lake!

Earlier we had decided not to get down on the island, but once there, God knows what happened, everyone agreed to get down and go to the temple. For that we decided to take a jeep (khatara jeep is actually a very modest word to describe that vehicle). He took Rs. 100 from us from the banks to the temple and back. The way he drove, the three km stretch, made me pray continuously!! It rained horribly and I was wondering how we will reach back to our cab safely! This temple is supposed to have a great relevance to the localities’ there. After visiting the same, we returned to the banks, took snaps and then took the ferry back to our shore…rain had decided to start again and I decided to get wet. I was wearing the raincoat and was having an umbrella also…I was sure that after getting drenched I will catch cold but still that didn’t deter me from getting drenched! The ferry journey was really dangerous coz the river was in full flow plus it was raining. It reminded me of the headlines which we sometimes hear on news or read in the newspapers… “A ferry carrying devoties capsized in the overflowing river”!! I know I would be sounding very depressing, but that’s the truth! We reached our shore safely and took the cab back to our hotel. Had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. It was good. The best thing I realized that unlike the southern part of Karnataka aka Blr and Mysore, the coastal Karnataka served delicious North Indian food. After dinner, all the six of us played our very own Shanghai!! Guess what!!! For a change, I won the game which lasted for around 3 hours! Yippiee!!

The next day we checked out of the hotel and stuffed our bags in the cab and started our journey to Murudeshwara. We saw some lush green fields on the way and couldnt manage to control our temptation to get down and do some hiking!!!

On the way, our first stop was Unchalli waterfalls aka Lushington falls…. After around 15 minutes of trek and amidst the fear of leaches and snakes, and after crossing series of fallen trees, we were able to see the water falls…it was just awesome. Jog falls was nothing in front of this…just wow…amazing…there was mist all around, created by the gushing waterfalls, there were clouds and after some time it rained…rained like mad. It was so misty that we were not able to see the falls also.
The first glimpse....only mist

and then the falls...

After spending around 15-20 minutes there, we started our trek back to the cab. There was a small “chai-ki-tapri” where we had cold drinks and tea… it was a really nice experience… sitting drenched in the middle of a jungle, at a chai ki tapri where you can hear the sound of the waterfalls. The best thing was, that since this area wasn’t commercialized, there weren’t any people around, except for around 3-4 people apart from us…from there we went to Sirsi where we had lunch. And then headed straight to Murudeshwara. We reached there at around 5 pm.

The place was no doubt beautiful. Murudeshwara is also the name of Hindu God Shiva and the world’s tallest Shiva statue is here… it was beautiful.The serene and awesome Shiva statue just overseeing the mighty Arabian Sea was a delight to watch.

We checked into our hotel. Our room’s balcony was overlooking the sea. Dumped our bags there and went to the beach. Enjoyed for a couple of hours there and then headed back to our hotel and then went out for dinner after going to the Shiva temple. Here we had dinner at the most luxurious restaurants of the trip. Again, the food was amazing. We had a 5-couse meal and then reached back to our hotel. Me and Aditya had decided to get up early in the morning at 5 and then go for a walk to the beach…so with that in mind I hit the bed!
Next day morning, I got up at around 4.30 but it was raining heavily. Also didn’t have the guts to get out of the couch in such a pleasant and cool weather. So I slept again… somehow managed to push myself out of the bed at 5!( we were to check out of the room by 7, which meant I had to get up). Opened the balcony door and was mystified…didn’t move for one whole minute…the sea looked amazing…don’t have words to speak…the pictures say it all! The fishermen were out in the sea to start there day, the little boats in the dark blue sea looked picturesque!

Got ready, had breakfast at Kamat and then started for Udupi…on the way, we first went to Shri Mookambika temple, in Kollur. This is a very famous Parvati temple. So we went there and did the darshan. Just outside the temple, there was this huge elephant. If you give him offerings, like maybe a coin or bananas etc, then he will give his blessings by touching your head with his trunk…it was such nice and a different experience, especially after the dog incident which made me scared of all the animals!!!

After Mookambika temple, we went to Malwante beach. This was quite near to Udupi and was along the village Padukone (Prakash padukone hails from here)…there is this specialty about this place. There is river (River Soupernika) on one side of the road and sea on the other side. I tried to caputure both of them in one photo…

the rock beach here reminded me of Pondy's rock beach which was a wonderful experience! From here we headed to the sand beach.

Here on the beach we spent some 15-20 minutes. The sea was very rough and the beach was very small…after that we did boating in the river…only for the sake of clicking photos! From here we headed to the ShriKrishna temple in Udupi. A beautiful idol was there in the temple, which could be seen only through a small window. It was looking beautiful and mystic with the diamond studded mukut and the chest gear…From here we headed to a restaurant for lunch…since we were in Udupi, we wanted to taste the authentic Udupi cuisine and so we ordered Udupi special Thali. Frankly speaking, I donno what was special about this thaali, coz it was similar to all the South Indian thaali’s and I can safely say, it was the worst meal of the trip!

Then we went to Manipal…of Manipal University fame. We weren’t very keen on going there, as we were thinking ki kya hoga wahaan. Ek university hee toh hai..use dekh kar kyon time waste karna…but I was wrong..The place was so good, that it tempted me to again start preparing for MBA entrance exam! There was a garden nearby which was awesome. It was on a hill and the view from the cliff was just amazing…you could see the River Soupernika and her bends and curls from a height…it seemed as if we were watching it on TV on some discovery or National Geography channel!!

Then we went to Agumbe which is a beautiful sunset point (the catch-point was that there wasn’t any sun that day). On the way to Agumbe there was this beautiful cute little waterfall on the side of the road. So we got down there for 10 minutes and it really refreshed us.

After 14 u-pin bends, we reached the Agumbe sunset point.


There was mist and clouds all around and the visibility was hardly few feet (it reminded me the trek of Vaishnodevi). Spent around 10 minutes there and then headed to Sagar after stopping for 15 minutes at Agumbe village for tea.

The trip from Agumbe to Sagar was fun. A portion of the area was supposed to be inhibited by Naxalites. Then we started our conversations as to what was it that scared each one of us, what were the “shaitaanies” we did in our school( Aditya won this unanimously…his deeds made us bow in front of him).

At around 8.30 pm, we reached Sagar, had dinner. The bus was SUPPOSED to be at 9:45 pm….now the silver-lining… we waited and waited and waited….9.45…then 10…then 1030…then 11!! Finally at around 11.30, the bus came, n we boarded…wait wait…it isn’t over yet. The bus was supposed to be air-conditioned, but due to some reason, the AC wasn’t working and it was really very very suffocating! Then the conductor broke open the sun-roof of the bus. It helped a bit but not much. We had no other option but to bear that…

By the time we got up the next day, we were on the outskirts of Bangalore. This was around 6.30 am… however, due to the world famous Bangalore traffic, we reached Majestic bus stand at 9 am and then home at around 10. Within half an hour, managed to get ready for office…now the most difficult and important task awaited….to clean all the dirty, muddy clothes and shoes. The shoes still await their fate to be cleaned!!!