A trip to MuLLayanagiri

I was working in office one day and my outlook suddenly popped up a message which was sent by my friend Girish asking if everybody was ready for a trip. We had a long weekend as the first national festival of the year was a Monday. The itinerary for the trip was planned by Shreyas and Girish after their meticulous research of the places; courtesy - Google.

Shreyas (Kaddi), Girish (Kerish), Anand (KaNNe), Prasanna (Pacchi), Santhosh (Tony), Pavan (Walla) and I - Sharath (Dumma) were the seven warriors all set to conquer the tallest peak of Karnataka, MuLLayanagiri near ChickamagaLur. The plan was to leave Bangalore on Saturday at 4:30 AM and reach ChickamagaLur by lunch time and then decide what to see.

Kaddi had booked for a Chevrolet Tavera as were leaving in the savera! ThammaNNa, the driver arrived at my place at 4 AM. We picked up everybody by around 5:30 AM, put all our luggage in the luggage carrier and left Bangalore. The first pit stop was to fill the diesel for the vehicle after which we stopped at a hotel named Mayura near KuNigal for breakfast.

As everybody was hungry, we ordered for a idly-vada and masala-dosa for everybody along with coffee without asking for the menu card. Though the taste was not extraordinary, the rates were out of the world. A plate of idly-vada, 40 Rupees; Single vada, 20 Rupees; Masala Dosa, 40 Rupees. The bill was a whopping 650 Rupees!

The plan was to search for a hotel to stay for night and then head to MuLLayanagiri for the trek. As it was a long weekend, almost all the hotels in ChickamagaLur were overbooked barring one hotel, Hotel Ramesh. To reach this lodge, one has to go through the MG Road of the city which looks no less than our Jayanagar 9th block. We passed through a dingy area and found ourselves in front of an old shabby building called Hotel Ramesh. Walla and Kerish gave the worst of the impressions of the hotel after having a look at the rooms. ThammaNNa suggested us to buy a sheet of tarpaulin and make a tent atop of the hill and stay there for the night. With that brilliant suggestion, we headed off in search of a plastic shop where we could find a tarpaulin sheet.

The owner of Kamal Plastic Industries laughed at us when we told him that we were planning to stay at the summit for the night in our make-shift tent. He said it would be impossible to bear the temperature; indeed we would not have survived! He called up Shiva Shankar who takes care of the small temple at the top of the hill. Shiva Shankar provides food and accommodation free of cost to the devotees of the deity. If people are satisfied with the prasada, they can give an offering which he accepts humbly.

So, with the accommodation also booked, we were all set to conquer the summit after lunch. ThammaNNa suggested us to have lunch near MuLLayanagiri and then start the trek. Unfortunately, we did not find any hotel or shop where we could buy something to eat. The trek trail is called Sarpadaari. There is a small arch at the starting point of the trek. We packed one backpack which had a few essential supplies for the trek and started the trek at 1:30 PM with a loud Jai Ho!

The initial few hundred metres of the trek was covered very quickly as all of us were brimming with energy. Slowly KaNNe, Kaddi and I started trailing behind the others in the group. We used to climb for 2 minutes and sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take rest. While resting, we were either ranting about the strenuous trek or were discussing the fantasies of married life! Soon enough, the 3 of us completely lost the rest and had a lot of distance to cover to catch up with them.

The trekking trail was a little hazy at one point and our Kaddi guessed a path which we could take and reach an intermediate resting point to continue with our fantasies. The path that he showed seemed to be a little steep but still do-able. I started the climb first and was followed by KaNNe who was followed by Kaddi. I climbed about 20 feet very easily and was waiting for the both of them to cover half the distance.

As soon as KaNNe came half the distance, I started looking for the next groove in the rock to put my feet and go up. I put my right leg into the new groove and reached for a ridge above me to take the grip for my right hand. As soon as I put my right hand, the grass near the ridge was completely wet and it just came off the rock into my hand. I lost my balance and the right leg slipped from the rock. I managed to find the groove again and put back my right leg and was searching for another groove for my right hand. Then I took a giant step and reached for the next spot where I found place only for one leg and another had to be hanging in air. Due to my size, balancing the whole weight on leg was next to impossible for me. KaNNe not able to see me in such a position came up to take the weight of one leg on himself but was not possible again due to my weight. For one moment, I thought I will have to give up and just have a free fall of about 30 feet. I might have had a few fractures but there was nothing that I could do.

My new digital SLR camera around my neck was a prized possession a few minutes ago; currently nothing seemed to be important to me other than my life. I was shit scared thinking about the next few minutes. With all the courage and strength, I lifted myself in my arms, took a big step, put my right leg somewhere and saw a place where I could sit! Thank god! I just managed to turn my body to the opposite side and landed on my back! Phew! I was alive!!

Not being able to see me in such a state, Kaddi was screaming for the others. Tony, Pacchi, Kerish and Walla came back to witness me climbing a very steep climb at the same time being worried what would happen if I fell down. As soon as I sat on the ground, Tony yelled at me not to move as Pacchi and he were coming near me to rescue. I sat there with my hands and legs totally shivering for a minute and then said I was okay.

Pacchi came beside me and helped me along with Tony to reach the "safe place" where the others were standing. All this drama lasted for about 20 to 30 minutes. I could not believe myself that I was so much tensed when it was unfolding for it was not a very difficult patch to climb. KaNNe and Kaddi went down till the hazy point and took the correct route and reached the safe place safely. All of us sat together for more than 15 minutes to take rest.

The only bottle of water that we had when we started the trek got over and there we were with no food, no water gazing at the burning sun over our heads. From that point onwards, the seven of us trekked together till we reached the summit at 5:00 PM. We just sat there for a while removing our shoes while Tony, THE MAN in our group, refilled the bottles with cold water for us and all of us just gulped it down in a few seconds.

The Sun was all set to retire for the day in some time. We spoke to Shiva Shankar and informed him that we had reached the place; he was kind enough to give us some hot coffee. ThammaNNa had reached the peak long back. We had to collect all our bags from the vehicle. The baaiz (boys) were kind enough to spare me from the exercise of climbing down and up 466 steps to reach the Tavera. Kaddi stayed back to give me company.

In the dark, all of us sat together gossipping about many things and at 8:30 we were called for dinner. Unpolished rice along with steaming hot rasam was served for all of us of which we had 2 servings each. Since all of us were tired, we just went into deep slumber at 9 PM. But the temperature would not let us to sleep peacefully. I woke up at 1:45 AM thinking it would be morning to find KaNNe and Tony awake beside me. I again tried to sleep only to get up at 4:30 AM. My head was aching a lot because of the temperature. Tony and KaNNe also woke up at 5 AM and the three of us answered mother nature in her arms.

Soon, everybody got up and all of us were tucked inside jackets, sweaters and bedsheets not being able to tolerate the wind outside. The water in the tap was so cold that our hands were going numb. In unision, we decided not to brush our teeth in the cold water. A pack of Wrigley's gums helped us fight away bad breath albeit temporarily. Kerish and Walla being the cleanliest of the boys, brushed their teeth no matter how cold the water was. We paid Shiva Shankar a 1000 Rupees, thanked him for the wonderful dinner and started climbing down the 466 steps as counted by Kaddi to greet ThammaNNa a very good morning.

We then headed towards KaLahatti water falls where we had decided to take bath. Upon reaching the place, we discovered that there was a Veerabhadra Swamy temple and the water was falling from a meagre height of about 6 feet. None of us were interested to see the temple or the water fall. We booked a room for an hour and freshned up ourselves brushing and downloading. We were all hungry again for the breakfast but there was no hotel serving a typical breakfast. All we could find was hot lemon rice, Chittranna. KaNNe, Pacchi, Tony and I took 6 plates of the rice and savoured it while the others being hygiene conscious had biscuits and cake.

After the breakfast, we headed towards Kemmanagundi to see the Z point. While everybody was busy talking, we missed the turn to be taken for Kemmanagundi and realized we had gone about 5 or 6 kms ahead. Since the next spot, Hebbe falls was nearer from where we were, we decided to see the falls first and then see Kemmanagundi. The water falls are situated inside a coffee estate where all the vehicles cannot go. Since the so-called road has obstructive rocks in between, only a vehicle with higher ground clearance can go in the road. Othewise, people have to reach the falls on foot which is more than 7 kms downhill. Kaddi, KaNNe and I were furious when we saw the others getting ready to walk. The hiring cost for the jeep was 700 Rupees to and fro which we found to be a bit costly.

Again ranting about the hopeless walk that we were about to take, KaNNe, Kaddi and I were again trailing behind the others. After about 2 and half hours of walking, we reached the place till where the jeeps stop. From there, everybody has to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the waterfalls. The 3 of us decided to take the jeep on the way back even if he charged a 1000 Rupees; we were tired, dog-tired. The water was so cold that while crossing a small stream, our feet went numb. I decided not to get into the water since I had to experiment a few techniques in my new camera.

With lot of bravery, Tony, Pacchi, Kerish and Walla got into the water only to come out of it in 10 minutes. KaNNe reluctantly got into the water and came out in a few minutes; Kaddi did not dare to bare in that temperature! The time was around 4:30 PM and none of us had had lunch that day also. We slowly marched towards the spot where the jeeps were parked and paid 500 Rupees to reach the top of the hill where our Tavera was parked.

Since all of us were hungry and were in no mood to walk/trek/get off from the vehicle, we decided not to see Kemmanagundi and headed straight to ChickamagaLur city to search for accommodation for the night. On our way, we accidentally found Hotel Vasanth Vihar that was a KSTDC lodge. Luckily, there were 2 rooms available at a good rate and we checked in ourselves into it. All of us quickly changed, freshned up and crossed the street to enter the restaurant Food Palace. We ate as if we had not eaten for ages and yet the bill amount was 950 Rupees.

Popping a paan into our mouths, we headed back to the lodge to start the most interesting thing to do when on a trip, playing a game called Bluff with a few pack of cards. After a few rounds of bluffing, we played Rummy and slept at around 2 AM. Getting up at around 8 and having our breakfast again at Food Palace, we checked out from our lodge and decided to visit either Belur or HaLebeedu on the way before reaching Bangalore; Belur was the chosen place.

What a marvel Belur is! We hired a guide for 200 Rupees who explained the most-complicated, unimaginable sculptures that I had ever seen. The sculpture is beyond words to be told. The HoysaLas had a set of highly imaginative sculptors who have done things that cannot be done by anybody else in this world. It was truly mesmerizing to see the work done by the people of our great country.

We had cool tender coconut once we came out of the temple and then headed towards Bangalore to finish the wonderful trip. We stopped at Hotel Suvarna Regency in Hassan for lunch and reached Bangalore by 5:30 PM so that we could get ample rest before we started the routine job of punching the keys of a keyboard.

Enchanting Devarayana Durga

Picture this:
Beautiful shades of green around you, the bright green leaves, the dark green leaves, the rain has just stopped and cleaned the environment thoroughly, absolutely no vehicles around, no people around... just you and mother nature. Just the way to spend a weekend, isn't it? Well, this place is just 75 kilometers from Bangalore, Devarayana Durga.

Maddy and I set off on a Saturday to explore Devarayana Durga, very near to Tumkur. We decided to have our breakfast on the way in Kyathsandra which is very famous for 'tatte' idly. We left Bangalore at around 8:30 AM from Maddy's place. The traffic was horrible in the so called 'National Highway' number 4 till we went past T Dasarahalli. The climate was just perfect for a long drive, no sun, no wind. I did the driving all the way till we reached the destination. Even without being serviced, my Pulsar cruised at 100kmph easily, what a bike! I just love it.

The first pit stop was at Kyathsandra's Ravi Darshan Hotel for the breakfast. Times have changed; so has the hotel. What used to be a very old looking hotel with typical wooden seats and tables now is a plush hotel on the highway serving the customers seated on cushion seats and a separate family room. I fail to understand the concept of these Family rooms. No A/c, no special ambiance, no better taste but the rates are high. The steaming bisi bisi tatte idlies were served within minutes. The taste of the chutney was very different from what the usual hotels serve. The big fat and flat idly had a ball of butter on it which started melting right away. The taste of the idly chutney along with the butter was the typical-Kyathsandra-taste. Ah! superb. Though we were somewhat full, our greed ordered a Masala Dose each. The crisp Masala Dose was smelling full of ghee and was loaded with the aalugadde palya inside. The idly and dose filled our stomach beyond the usual capacity.

We took a deviation from the NH4 just beside the hotel and proceeded towards Naamada Chilume, which is just about 20 kms from the hotel. The roads are really very good. There were absolutely no vehicles around us, full greenery on either side of the roads. We felt really close to mother nature. We in fact got so close to mother nature that we stopped the bike, got down and just walked towards the trees to relieve ourselves in the arms of Mother Nature! After hanging up the nature call, we spotted beautiful small birds atop the tree which were giving nice Bose (Pose) to be framed in his Olympus camera.

Naamada Chilume has an interesting story. It seems when Rama and Sita were on exile, they were passing through the forests in this area and it was time for Rama to pray for which he had to apply the naama (tilak). Since he could not find water around, he pulled out an arrow and shot it on a rock. This created a hole out of which water started flowing. Even to this day, the water has been flowing continuously. Many people have tried to find out the source of the water, all in vain.

The entrance fee to get inside this place is Rs 3. I wonder what purpose it serves for the government to collect just 3 rupees as the entrance fees. We were greeted by our ancestors, monkeys as soon as we entered the gates of Naamada Chilume. Seeing their antics for a while, we spotted the deers taking rest under the shade of the trees far away. A couple of photos of the monkeys were shot by the upcoming photographer, Maddy.


The hole from where the holy water flows out has been protected with grill around out so that no one can pollute the water or do something unwanted. The water that flows out is collected in another man made hole for people to sprinkle it on themselves and consume it as theertha. We sat on the rocks for a while when admiring the beauty when a few skinks (haavu raaNi) creeped up the rocks.

Maddy shot this beautiful photo of a big skink. It was really difficult to get this angle, a brilliant effort I must say.

We then started off towards Devarayana Durga which has 3 temples all near to each other. The uphill ride was truly an enchanting experience. We just saw green hills around us everywhere with very few vehicles passing by. There is a viewpoint on the way to the temple, we got down from the bike and spent about half an hour gazing at the beauty of Karnataka. Maddy shot another very good landscape even with the lighting not being photo friendly.


Both of us were not interested in going inside the temple and hence, we did not seek the darshan of the Lord. While climbing the stairs to the temple, Maddy spotted a very small bird lifting off from a wall adjacent to us. He also noticed that this small bird was the parent of 2 baby birds that were residing in their nests within the gap between the stones of the wall. Both of us wanted to watch the mother bird feed its children and waited for about an hour sitting near the wall. Though the mother bird came near the wall, it did not risk feeding its children fearing if people discover them.

We then moved away from the wall and let the parent bird feed its babies with small worms. Maddy climbed the wall till he got a clear view of the babies. It was really difficult to stand still with the little support that he got from the stones. I switched on the camera, took off the lens cover and gave it to him.

He stood there for about half a minute and this is what he could get. What a beauty to see these innocent ones which even haven't opened their eyes.

People passing by were giving suspicious looks at us wondering what we were doing standing by the wall and not going inside the temple. One gentleman asked us where the birds were, we said we did not know and that we were waiting to see if any.

It started to drizzle and we thought it was time for us to head back to Bangalore. Both of us not hungry, courtesy - Ravi Darshan Hotel. We ate a couple of sliced cucumbers and had tender coconut water and started the ride back to Bangalore. The ride back to Bangalore was pretty slow with both of us discussing all possible things and also singing a few of our favorite songs, praising the composers of the songs, the singers and we reached Peenya by 4:30 PM. I was tired of riding for about 150 kms and gave the charge to Maddy to complete the journey to his place which took about an hour because of the heavy traffic.

Expense wise, it was a real cheap outing and one of the best ways to spend a weekend.
Fuel : 250 Rupees
Breakfast at Kyathsandra : 70 Rupees
Cucumber and tender coconut : 20 Rupees
Entrance fees at Naamada Chilume : 6 Rupees
Admiration of nature : Priceless!

Route taken from Vidyaranya Pura : Tumkur Road - Kyathsandra - Siddalinga Mutt - Devarayana Durga - Tumkur Road - Vidyaranya Pura.