The Auto Ride

Well, if you folks arewondering about the title of the blog, I did not have a better name which comes to my mind…

Here you go….Around 2 weeks back, I had some shopping to be done in Forum, Kormanagala…As I did not have much work on that friday so I just made up my mind to leave a little early and go by the shuttle to SA, our office which is in close proximity to Forum…I waited for the 5.45 shuttle in the reception lobby but as luck would have it…I waited till 6.30 and the shuttle did not arrive..so I just decided to catch a auto from Brunton road, where my office is to the Forum…

I luckily got one auto willing to come on that rainy evening and we started off..as the auto made the diversion from richmond road onto hosur road..there were a large number of people waiting for bus at that place…the auto-driver slowed down near that place and picked up a girl who also happened to be going towards the same place…

The girl started talking in kannada with the auto driver…As I was wondering how to start the conversation, the girl asked me if i knew the fare to that place..i replied with a nonchalant remark….Boy, that seemed to open a pandora’s box as we started from discussing about our professions..and job profiles to the more interesting ones, like what both of us do on weekends ;-)….

If I have missed out on her name, apologies…her name is Tejaswini (as told by her) and she happened to be from mysore and working in a reputed MNC…She was in QA and had been working from last 6 months…

The Hosur road traffic which I used to dislike so much suddenly felt very comforting and I was literally hoping for some more jams..on the way…As we were talking, I could not prevent myself from staring right down her glistening eyes and wet hair…boy, she was a poet’s delight…(for those who don’t know me personally, I am the garibon ka surdas..)…

She talked about her family, her team and asked about my family, my team….

Well but as all good things come to an end, so was this one as we reached Forum..She gave her number and asked for my mail-id…and departed by saying good-bye…

I don’t know why I wrote a blog for this incident when I have more interesting ons up my sleeve, probably the glistening eyes and the wet long hair on a rainy evening in bangalore..inspired me to do so….

Dudh Sagar :

The love for nature unites everyone. None more exemplified than strangers meeting up on social networking sites and going on treks and hikes. 'Bangalore Trekkers' is one such community in orkut. I have made quite a few friends through that community. Lest I continue singing paens on the impact of social networking on the quotient of happiness in a person's life, let me stop myself from digressing on the topic further and come straight to our journey. Karthik, the trek-cordinator from Nisarga, a non-profit environmental organization, started the mail thread. Within a few days, the list got ready. Among them was a 10-member group of friends, which had 3 Madhus.

The trek plan was like this:

8th August evening : Board the Chennai-Vasco express from Yeshwantput.
9th August morning : Alight at Castle-Rock station, the last railway station on Karnataka side towards Goa, on the Hubli-Madgaon track.
9th August evening : Try not to do anything stupid and reach Dudhsagar falls, camp nearby. Try to get into the falls.
10th August morning : Start towards Molem. Try to reach by evening to board the Vasco-Bangalore express.

Trivia:

The Dudhsagar Falls are amongst the top 100 highest waterfalls in world. Situated on the border of Goa and Karnataka, the Dudhsagar Waterfalls takes a steep plunge 200(or more) feet down in the wooded mountains of the western Ghats. Believed to be amongst the highest falls in the country, these magnificent falls are located in a blissful tropical jungle with crisscrossing streams.

8th August:

Busy day, running after the kids from 4th standard of Boganahalli primary school, who came to Cisco campus for their annual sports day. Myself and Chinmoy were the guardians of 4th standard. Organized the games and then at the end had a tug-of-war with those kids, hopelessly outnumbered by 20-20( twenty young men on the right side of twenty). Events over by 1400 hours.

1600 hours: Office work done. Set out for home.

1900 hours: Set out for Yeshwantpur railway station, my first visit to that place.

2030 hours: Tried to find a eating joint. Could not. Thought of eating my dinner from railway pantry.

2045 hours: Watching passers-by. A major railway-station is the best way to capture a glimpse of India. Pesky tourists, entire family seeing off their lone child, eunuchs, beggars, pick-pocketers, touts etc. are a few species of the homospaien family to be found here.

2100 hours: Saw 3 girls approaching with wildcraft bags. But as is the case, the hottest girls are always in the other school/college/team or as in this case, trip!

2115 hours: Finally saw a man standing along side a bundle of bags. Thats Karthik. Along with him was Shiva. Got introduced to Madhu K, who told that the Madhu I was frequently interacting with was on his way.

2140 hours: Rest of the gang came in.

2145 hours: Train started from YPR.

2200 hours: Got bored. Listened to music and fell asleep.

9th August morning:

Woke up at 5 AM. It was drizzling and we were about to reach Hubli. Slowly, the other members came and sat in the compartment and had a healthy conversation going. I sat by the window.
It was drizzling outside. The overflowing lakes, the mind breeze and the fresh green everywhere reminded me of my travels in NE-India, notably my birth-place, Shillong & Cherrapunjee.

Had some Bhaji @ Londa(which is a major junction). We reached Castle rock at around
10.30 AM. It was drizzling outside. We distributed the sleepings bags, food-items and tents among ourselves and were set to start out trek by 11 AM.













About half-an-hour into the trek, Karthik , like a true team-leader listed out the do's and dont's of the trek. After a few group photos we set out on our way again.


I was at the front, as I was trying to balance my time between clicking and trekking.















In between we came across a few tunnels too.



Our break-fast stop came at Caranzol. The place has an abandoned railway gangmen's quarter and a dilapidated tea-stall. We had bread and jam here, along with some bhujias. This was a break of around half-an-hour. In between, we had a diesel engine passing by.





We started around 12.30 PM again. This trek section is a very scenic one, especially during the monsoons, where the monsoon works like a ghunghat over a newly-wed bride(in this case the green forest cover).







A few sample photos bear this testimony.
























































The trek was at a good pace. A few people were scared at the prospect of coming across a train while crossing a tunnel. We faced exactly that situation, but as the tunnels had enough side-space, there was nothing to worry. The only worry was regarding the bridges, they did not look too broad. One might have to scurry to the other side, if he or she hears the horn of the train. We missed a train by a whisker. The bridge was right after the tunnel.









Came across quite a few natural water springs(some like to call these waterfalls :-))
Our journey was interspersed with bouts of rain every now and then.

















In between, we had the minor excitement of crossing over to Goa.




1600 hours:

People were hungry. So, we had a late lunch about a mile from Dudhsagar station. The falls is a further mile from this station. The lunch comprised of Avalakki. I was tasting it for the first time and it was damn good.

We came across a railway gang-man, who gave valuable information on the arrival and departure of the trains. He also predicted about the weather after one glimpse at the sky(reminded me of the film 'Swades'). His words were a huge morale-booster to the folks who were tired of walking on the tracks.

After about half-an-hour, we started on our way. The rain intensified here. By the time, we reached Dudhsagar station, the rains were pouring. Its a small station for goods trains. Passenger trains don't stop here. We left our baggage and went towards the falls. We have to cross a small tunnel. The falls were in full glory. I thought about having a few good snaps, the next day, unaware of events that were about to unfold in the next 12 hours.














We went back to collect our baggage and by the time we set up our camps on one of the nearby elevated posts, it was already quite dark. The rains were quite heavy now. We had bread-jam as dinner and slept at around 9 PM. Myself, Prasanna, Jaggu and Madhu K were in one of the tents.







I woke up around 11.30PM to find that water was seeping into the tent. Even Prasanna woke up, and we both were idly trying to figure out whether the rains were being forced by the winds to blow in a obtuse angle. After a few minutes, it struck us that the outer cover had flown away. Even Jaggu woke up in the melee. But nothing could put an end to Madhu K's slumber.

We finally managed to woke up Karthik and got out of our tents to fix the issue. Boy, was it cold.
The rains were just too heavy and along with the winds, it was like water bullets being shot at you. We went again to our respective tents. I tossed and turned, but could not get any sleep.
I was missing the music :-(



Early morning around 5 AM, the rain had subsided , but the falls was just amazing. Droplets from the falls had overflown and now covered the entire bridge. Additionally, we came to know that landslides had blocked the track and the previous day's Vasco-Bangalore express was still stuck on the other side of the slide. We had special Black Tea(or was it coffee) prepared by Shilpa & Rashmi. Kudos to them!

After exploring our options, we decided to call off the trek to Molem and board the Vasco express. A particular railway officer helped us in getting accomodated on this train. Thanks , Sir!
Meanwhile a few of us explored the extent of the land slides and saw the workers clearing up the tracks.

Finally, around 11 AM, we boarded the train. Initially we planned to get down at Castle Rock. But since the TT stayed away, we managed to get a ride straight back to Bangalore.

The return train journey was pretty normal. Half the coach was empty. Peter & myself had an entire compartment to us. The others were chatting with a goan family in the nearby compartment. In between, Karthik had a few good real-life stories to tell about Black-Bucks, Elephants, Ranne-Bennur and Great Indian Bastard.

After exchanging contact numbers and pleasantries, we bade adieu as the train arrived at YPR around 2330 hours.

Participants:

Shilpa
Rashmi
Swetha
Madhu BR
Madhu K
Madhu Gopal
Rajesh
Prabhu
Saravanan
Prasanna
Peter
Jaggu
Karthik
Shiva
Myself

How to get there:

1. Trek from Castle Rock
2. Take a goods train to Dudhsagar
3. Goto Margaon. Board a goods train from there.
4. Hire a jeep from Margaon.

Accomodation Options:

Are you kidding?

Kuringal Gudda : Kudremukh

It was the second week of May, and two months since the debacle at Kumarparvatha, that the hills beckoned me once again. While looking for trek options, I came across the BMC post on the trek to Kuringal Gudda. I did not need to think twice before registering for this trek.

Kuringal Gudda is a trekking route in Kudremukh national park. The route is something like
Bhagavathi Nature Camp - Kuringal Gudda - Bhagavathi Nature Camp . The trek distance
is 14 kms with the difficulty level being moderate.

So, on friday night after having a quick dinner at Imperial, I was waiting outside Symphony theatre along with 15 other strangers, when the BMC bus came. Soon, all people got in and at around 10.45 PM, we started off, manouvering through the halogen lit empty streets of Bangalore. The exit from Bangalore was delayed by the customary traffic jam at Jalahalli cross, and the bus gained momentum only from Neelamangala. A brief stopover happened around 12.30 for people to have their dinner. After dinner, the people boarded the bus and as the bus started, a quick round of intoductions followed after waking up the sleepy folks. Mayuresh, in typical style, literally put the 'spotlight' on the tired folks :P

We reached Kalasa around 8 A.M. and had a brief stopover for tea & pee :D. At 9 A.M , we reached Kudremukh and we were waiting outside the DFO office. We had our breakast and after finishing the formalities at the forest office, we set off for Bhagavathi nature camp. The river "Bhadra" flows behind the camp.

After putting our rucksacks in the large dormitory, the guys rushed to the river to take a bath. The water was crystal clear. After an hour of frollicking around and pulling each other's legs, we had our lunch at around 12.30. The lunch was prepared by the local guard who doubles up as a cook. It tasted delicious for sure. Around 1.30 we set off for Hanuman Gundi falls, about 7 kms away for the Bhagavati nature camp. Around 2.30, we were at the falls and walking down the steps to the base. There most of the folks went down and enjoyed the cold water flowing from above. This went for quite sometime and by 4.30 almost everybody was tired and after drying themselves, they walked up the stairs and boarded the bus waiting outside. Now, Kudremukh seems to be full of forests and there was only one tea shop near KIOCL. So, again we went there for our cup of tea. This place also has a small marketplace, where once can buy local groceries and meat etc. The small, quaint market was located in the backdrop of the famed western ghats which added its own aura to that place.

Anyways, we started back towards Bhagavati nature camp and reached there by 6.00 PM. A few of us got down at the gate itself, from there it was another kilometre to the base camp. With the sun beating down and all eyes wide open looking our for wild-life, we did manage to come across some spotted dear.

But that was just about it. The rest of the evening was spent discussing about office, IT industry,
managers etc. A couple of guys stood out during these interactions. One was Roy, the guy from
Shillong, Anshul(who came from Chennai to join this trek) and Vaibhav.

Around 9 PM, we gathered around the fireplace thinking that dinner was ready, but truth was that dinner was still an hour away. To pass the time, jokes were cracked, attempts were made to sing some songs and finally everybody settled down on some light-hearted banter. Around 10, dinner came and everybody ate to their hearts' felt. There were quite a few dishes, veg and non-veg.

After dinner around midnight, everybody went for a walk to the front gate hoping to catch sight of some animals. But still no-luck, rather ill-luck as a forest department jeep came at that time and sternly asked us to move back to our dormitory , warning us about the dangers of the forest at night.

So everybody was back and people dozed off by 1 AM. I had a sound-sleep, but was awakened a couple of times briefly by the sound of water falling on the ground. At around 6.30 when I got up, I again heard the sound and thought that it was raining and was wondering how the famed Kudremukh leeches might be expecting a feast. But when I actually woke up and went outside, it was just the water tank leaking near the window :D .

Anyways by 8 AM, everybody was ready and set to go. We had a quick breakfast and then divided the supplies between us. Around 8.30 AM we started off by crossing the Bhadra river behind the camp. After 5 minutes of walk, there was the first cry of leeches. Thereafter everybody stated discovering leeches. Me being a past experience-holder of leeches continued moving forward. It was like rumble in the jungle as people started running uphill in the forests. I could barely manage a photo or two in the melee.

After 2 hours of running, pushing and shoving, we came out into the open from where we could see the peak of Kuringal Gudda. Now this was a steep climb and needed a good 45 minutes to over come it. Once at the peak, we spent the better part of 2 hours eating, clicking and just relaxing. Once can see the Kudremukh-mangalore road from this viewpoint. All were busy with something or the other. I just dozed off on a rock near the edge of the cliff after exhausting my hunger for photos.

Around 2 hours past noon, we finally got down from cliff and made our way to the Bhagavati nature camp via a seperate route which was almost fully a jeep track, devoid of any leeches. Had a few breaks in between and admired the Kudremukh grasslands. Also posed for quite a few photographs.

We were back at the base camp by 3.30 and after a quick dip in the Bhadra river, we had our much delayed lunch. The bus started off around 5.00 PM and we zipped past Kudremukh. In between we had a stopover at Kalasa for some quick coffee.

We stopped for dinner at Hassan and after finishing our dinner in half-an-hour, we started off for Bangalore and reached my home finally at around 3.30 AM.

Kumarparvatha - 1

Kumar Parvatha(translated in English, as the 'Virgin Mountain') is the third tallest peak in Karnataka. And most trekkers say, the toughest trail in Karnataka. It can be scaled from 2 sides. One side is from Kukke Subramanya and the other side is from Somwarpet in Coorg. We decided to take the Kukke route, which is about 10 kms to the peak.

So, on the 8th of March, five of us i.e. Arun, Roxana, Santosh, Vishal and I were waiting in the KBS platform no 23 for catching the bus to the temple town of Subramanya. The bus duly came around 10.45 PM and we were sitting on the last row of the Rajhamsa. Not sure about the others, but I was pretty happy to get the window seat(as I wanted to catch the fresh and cool night breeze), unmindful of what was to happen later in the night. The bus started fromKSRTC Bus Stand. I watched the bus meandering through the empty Bangalore roads illuminated by the halogen lamps, and was slowly drowsing away, wondering why the same streets look so messy in the day-time.

A little digression now to introduce my trek mates. Roxie was working in an aviation firm, had prior experience of trekking in Sar-ki pass. Vishal and Arun were doing their Bachelor's, and were on their first trek. Santosh was the leader of the trek, a veteran of many treks . As for myself, after Barai valley, I was just fully turned on :P

Around 1A.M the bus arrived at Channarayapatna. And after a 10 minute stop, we were soon past Hassan and going towards Sakleshpura. I was looking at the sky and admiring the star lit sky. At 3 A.M I got a very nasty jolt,which was the first among quite a few jolts to follow. Then I began to realize that last seat was not the best seat on these roads. For the next 3 hours, it was like playing a game of Russian Roulette. Never know when the next almost-back-breaking bump is going to come.I even tried standing for sometime. But this time my head used to knock the roof of the bus during every bump. And with the ghat roads, the KSRTC bus going at such a speed, nothing could be more approrpiate than the song "highway to hell" from AC.DC, which incidentally was playing on my mind continuously. To say that the bus journey was a torture, would be an understatement. Finally around, 6'o clock on the morning, dawn broke out and we were at the Subramanya bus stand at 6.30, unloading our rucksacks from the bus. This lack of sleep would prove to be dear to me later in the day :(

After finishing our daily ablutions at the public toilet offered by the temple authorities, we had a quick breakfast. After distributing the sleeping bags among each of us and checking up on our water stocks, soon we were on our way out to Kumara Parvatha. The initial road was a muddy one and went through some small lanes, typical of small towns in India. Soon we came across a signboard, which indicated the route upto Kumar Parvatha. That lightened up our spirits and soon we were trudging our way up the trail. In India, you will find people everywhere. KP was no exception. There were some 8-9 groups trekking on the same day. Arun and Vishal were at the lead of the pack in our group. I was huffing and puffing in the middle. I was followed by Santosh and Roxanna. That was pretty much the order till the end of the day.

I took a lot of breaks in between, stopping every 30 minutes to catch my breath. No wonder, dad asks me to goto the gym :) . We were covered by the shade of the forest for around 2 hours, the path being a little steep though. After that, we entered a huge open space, then it was just the hot blazing sun, beating upon us. I clicked quite a lot of photos in the meanwhile. Once we exited the forest, we could see the Subramanya temple in the main town.

We reached Bhatta Mane's place at around 12 for lunch. The place is known as GiriGade. Bhatta has his own farm and cows. I heard one of his relatives goes down to Subramanya town everyday to sell the milk. Bhatta's house was quite a welcome relief. For not only we found shade, but also some rather icy-cold water which was coming straight down from the mountains according to Santosh. I don't like having rice and sambar generally and that too complimented with butter milk. But that day was an exception. I was ready to eat anything which came my way. By 12.30 , I was fully loaded on the above mentioned items and even managed to
catch some sleep. By 1 PM, we were ready to start for the next leg of our journey.

After a 2min-walk from Bhatta Mane's place, we came across the forest department office, where we need to get the permission. After finishing the formalities we were on our way. But progress was slowed down quite a bit by the scorching sun. I was carrying two 4 litre bottles. One 2L bottle is enough, as you have the refilling option available at Bhatta Mane. 2 bottles add too much weight, which I realised later could hamper one's progress. The breaks became far more frequent now. All of us were losing breath. To add to my misery, whenever I stopped to take rest, I used to fell asleep only to be awakened by a passing trekker. At around 4 PM, we came across a waterhole, where we washed ourselves a bit. After around 10 minutes, we
reached the Mantapa, and carried on ahead with our journey. Soon it was 5, and sun was also lessening in intensity. We made a quick check of ourselves, and decided that going to peak in the dark was not feasible. So, we decided to return back to waterhole and find a camping place near it. Finally, at around 6, we set up camp near the waterhole.

Soon, all of us had freshened up and were ready for the dinner. A fire was setup with the help of petrol and some dead wood. We had quite a delicious helping of maggi for dinner. After some arbit chit-chat, we were inside our tents by 8 PM. The day being tiring as it was, I quickly fell asleep. At around 9, strong winds started blowing in KP and the tent was just flapping.
Initially I thought some animal might be near our tents and we were lighting our torches. But as the wind picked up, we knew that the famous winds of KP have come to welcome us. The other tent was under the greater threat of collapsing, so Santosh was doing some quick fix with that tent. I got out of our tent and came out to enjoy(?) the gutsy winds. First of all, the winds hardly allowed me to stand on the ground, and were continuously pushing me forward. So, I sat down on one of the rocks and admired the star-lit sky. There were zillions of stars. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out the constellations. I began to thought about the universe, the big-bang and all those shit. Finally , around 11, I again went back to our tent. The rest of the night was spent between sleeping and the weird dream of being pushed down the slope along with the tent by the gutsy winds.

At around 5 A.M, I got up, and busied myself in taking some sunrise snaps. At around 6 A.M , the other tent which Santosh had managed to keep it propped up for the entire night, collapsed, leaving in its wake the poor inhabitants, woken out of their slumber.

After a quick breakfast, all of us were on our way down towards Bhatta Maane. Around 10'o clock we reached his place. After having the breakfast , we set off for the final descent around 11. The journey down was painful with my shoe torn in the middle. However, taking rests in between on the way down, we managed to be at the Subramanya bus stand by around 1.15 PM, just enough time for a quick lunch and wash ourselves to board the bus to bangalore at 3.00 PM.

The return journey had its own share of bumps and yes, we were again on the final seat :) . To add to the excitement of the last 2 days, the bus got punctured , and we had to take another bus to bangalore. We arrived at Majestic around 12 and left for our respective homes.

PS: It took me a week to recover from the bruised and battered body that I ended up with post-KP. But whenever I think of KP, I get reminded of a wonderful adventure for 2 days. And yes, I have got some unfinished business up there in those hills.

Hasta La Vista, I will be back.

Nandi Hills

Nandi Hills? Where is it? That was the first question that comes to my mind. I have heard about it ever since I came to Bangalore. Amidst this concrete jungle and never-ending traffic chaos on the roads, I always wanted to get away to some place which was a little calm and serence amidst some natural greenery, reminiscent of my home town. I was very busy during the months from April to August mid. I was done with my share of the project work before 12 th August. So 15th being a monday and a national holiday, decided that the long weekend would be the ideal time to make my much awaited trip to Nandi hills along with my old friend, my back pack!!!

Jesus, its already 8.30. I overslept by an hour on 14th morning. The second bus to Nandi hills started from Majestic at 9.30 a.m. The first bus at 8.30 a.m. was way too early for a nocturnal guy like me. So, I took a quick shower and left the house along with my backpack to reach Majestic by 9.10 a.m. Then I dutifully bought a ticket , only to reach the platform 10( which used to launch the express buses to Nandi hills) and find that my express bus was a red colour smeared cranky old bus abound by noisy 2 legged creatures. I found to my dismay that my seat had already been taken over a family which included my seat number also. There were planning to take the tickets from the conductor unlike me who went through the proper process of reservation. I decided not to unseat them and instead decided to go the distance without a seat by standing. The bus started duly at 9.30 and mazed through all the city roads that came on its way.

We reached the Hebbal flyover around 11. At this time, the male member in the family got struck by the pin of conscience and offered me his seat. I refused initially but seeing him insisting, accepted it in the end. We reached Nandi hills around 11.45 a.m.

Nandi hills, 72 kms from Bangalore, was the summer retreat for Tipu Sultan, the erstwhile King of Mysore(now Karnataka). I got down from the bus and bought the entrance ticket and moved inside the fortificated structure. The first thing I saw was Tipu’s seat . It is like a pond only, so I am still perplexed why it is called seat. The area near it was abound with flora and fauna. Flora consisted of different varieities of botanical trees and flowers. Fauna consisted of monkeys, monkeys and oh God, more monkeys. There was a narrow way though the vegetation to the top. But I decided to take the paved road instead and moved along with a buch of people. Touts were hanging by masquerading as guides, looking for easy targets. I ignored them and continued to move ahead.

That day being a holiday, the place was abound by noise revellers. Even the monkeys made a quick disppearance from the places where the human population was more. I came across the parks and open spaces where kids were playing and their parents were keeping a close guard on them. Also along the way were some love-struck couples, holding hands. Difficult to surmise whether their love(?) extended beyond that 1 day.

I soon came near the commercial part of Nandi hills. Found the only hotel, Mayura pinetop choc-a-bloc with people. I selected one quiter alternative , a restaurant offering both North and South Indians dishes, the banner above the rooftop proclaiming it loudly. The food was not that great but was nevertheless edible for a soul who was yet to have his breakfast at 12.30 noon.

After the heavy lunch, I made my way for Tipu drop. The cliff above it gave a wonderful view of the vegetation around. It gave glimpses of the Bangalore highway, Tumkur-Hyderabad national highway as well as the circuitous route to the Nandi hills. The gale was blowing pretty strong at the top. That is when I laid down my backpack, made it as a pillow and decided to have a quick nap. I could see the white clouds blowing by the light blue sky . It was a refreshing sight indeed.

I do not know how long I slept till I was awoken by a substance hitting me. I open my eyes to see it was a flying disc. As I held it and was wondering whether the Martians have decided to hit back for the Rover expedition , a cute looking girl came up to me and awoke me from my wandering thoughts. The first thing I noticed was her silky long hair which was blowing away in the breeze. She apologised for the disc hitting me and asked whether I was hurt. I replied in the negative and said that it was ok. She asked me about my companions, I replied back by saying that I was alone. She said that she had come with her sis and brother-in-law and their 6 year old son.

I was still unable to keep my eyes away from her long hair. She introduced herself. Her name was Ria . Basically from Noida, she had come to visit her sister. She did her Bachelors of Engineering from a local college in Ambala and was preparing for MBA. She asked about me and I with a grin on my face replied with an answer which I reserve for the first question in HR rounds (Tell me about urself?).

Now it was becoming more difficult to keep my eyes from her long hair and I hesitatingly complimented her for the same. Boy, was she blushed? Her faced almost turned pink, literally and yes the same pink you find in our national flower , the LOTUS.

We chatted, she told about herself, wanted to know about my homeplace and said she was fascinated by the north-east and wanted to explore the mystical(?) land. I told her about the flora and fauna that nature has gifter us with. Of course, I made some of them up. She listened very intensely to what I said. I could see her face glowing with excitement and eagerness. I then brought up mu humour angle. She laughed at the same jokes which I hated and thought only idiots can laugh. She smiled, laughed, sometimes even pulled my leg.

I dont remember but I think we had talked for a pretty long time when her sister called her and she bade me adieu not before givin her cell number and promising that we will meet while she is still in Bangalore.

It was now 3 p.m. and after a quick visit to the temple decided to make my way down the slope to the bus stand. By the time I reached the bus stand, the 4.15 bus came and people rushed to board it . I managed to grab a window seat on the last row. And Goodness gracious, the entire row was occupied by a bunch of girls. Me being the only guy in that seat and 5 other girls. I made some passing glances at them. They were pretty but none as pretty as the long haired girl I met earlier today.

As the bus started to descend down the hill, I became entangled in a deep slumber only to be awoken by a loud honking of the buses. I woke up to find that we were nearing Majestic bus station. I looked at my watch. It was almost 6.30 in the evening. I got down from the KSRTC bus and took a auto to my house near IIMB.

At 9.30 I retired to my bed. Boy, it was one tiring day!!!

Adios, junta…

Karwar - the sleepy town by the Arabian Sea

While growing up in my teens, I used to read Enid Blyton books about sleepy little towns by the Scottish coast. Since then I have always dreamt about going to such a place. Unfortunately lady luck never favoured me. My first tryst with the sea(happened to be in early spring season in Santa Cruz, CA) was not a happy one. Next was in Goa. But Goa being Goa, sleepy is not a adjective to be used with a place high on partying.

So this fall, when the idea came to visit to karwar, I thought I was on the verge of living my dream.

A little trivia on Karwar:

Karwar is the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, India. It is a seaside town situated on the banks of the Kali river which is on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent. The town lies about 15 kilometres south of the Karnataka-Goa border and 519 km north-west of Bangalore.

Rabindra Nath Tagore once famously said about Karwar:

"The sea beach of Karwar is certainly a fit place in which to realise that the beauty of Nature is not a mirage of the imagination, but reflects the joy of the Infinite and thus draws us to lose ourselves in it. Where the universe is expressing itself in the magic of its laws it may not be strange if we miss its infinitude; but where the heart gets into immediate touch with immensity in the beauty of the meanest of things, is any room left for argument?"

Back to the trip:

On the 8th of november, we 3 roomies boarded a KSRTC Rajhamsa bus to Karwar. The journey as a whole was uneventful except for the experienced driver testing out the speed-limits on the potholed road...his swerves on the ghats section at dead of the night were a hair raising experience for me. Finally by 7.30 in the morning , we were in the Karwar bus-stand.

The bus-stand was next to the centre of the town (if I can call it that) and only a couple of hundred metres away from the Karwar beach(also known as Tagore beach, made famous by Rabindranath Tagore, who got inspired for his first play while seeing the beach). We first went to the beach and found a hotel near by. After freshening up and having our break-fast of idli-dosa in a road-side shop, we hired a cab for a tour of around karwar.

Our first destination was Devbagh beach , with its desolate surroundings and fishermen's boats cum nets. In the noon sun, the beach was damn hot. Certainly not a pleasant weather to sit down and watch the sea. Next we planned to goto til-matti, a supposedly desolate place used as a picnic spot by locals. The place can be reached only by climbing a hill. The beach is supposed to consist of black-soil. Considering the heat , we thought it to be a wiser decision to give it a skip :-) . So we turned back, and went to the bridge which goes over the river Kali. This bridge stands at the confluence of the river Kali and the Arabian Sea. Sadashivgad fort, a fort of historical importance, is located here.This was a lot pleasant experience and we end up frollicking for quite a while under the sun. Not to mention, we managed to get the soles of our feet cut by corals and ended up swearing on everything during the initial pain.

Soon we made our way back to Karwar and to the place where can have a view of India's largest naval base. But this being a security risk area, we could barely manage to wait for more than 5 minutes or so, and soon were going downhill, back to Karwar. Lunch time, we hogged on the local Karwar cuisine consisting of what else, but fish curry.

Post-Lunch, we managed to get ourselves the tetanus injections from a no-smiley doctor and went straight to hotel for a snooze so that we could catch the Karwar sunset. 5' o clock , and time to get up and make our way to the Karwar(Tagore) beach. In the evening time, the beach looked quite pleasant (the sun having lost much of its intensity). The sunset was a joy to watch. Had some chaat and juice by the beach. Evening/night time was spent in sitting by the beach , having a turf war with the crabs swept to shore by the sea. On being surrounded on two sides by the crabs, we had to fight back with our WMD(Weapons of Mass destruction) i.e carpet bombing with sand. The unsuspecting crabs had to beat retreat with our Shock-and-Awe policy.

9.00 PM, and time for dinner, we again went back to the town which was by now booming with the burst of bombs and crackers(did somebody say diwali is the festival of lights and not sounds?). The town itself comprised of mostly the market centre and houses encircling it. On the outskirts were villages. Karwar port was just outside the town.

After dinner, went to the hotel and again came for a night stroll on the beach. Around 12, we made our way back to the hotel and soon tiredness got the better of us and lights were off.

Around 9 in the morning we got up and after having our bath and breakfast, we made our way towards the bus stand to the party capital of the east "Goa" and bade adieu to Karwar.

Places of attraction:

1. Tagore Beach(forms the main beach of the town)
2. Naval museum(on Tagore beach)
3. Devbagh beach
4. Tilmatti Beach
5. Sadashivgad fort
6. The Bridge on the river Kali
7. Boat rides (starts from below the bridge)

Anshi National Park is a little distance away from Karwar. A must-see for flora and fauna addicts. For Trek enthusiasts , there are a few good routes here of easy-moderate grade.

Language compatibility for a backpacker:

No problem, Konkani is widely spoken. People understand Hindi/English.

Not to be missed:

The local fish dishes especially Bangada fry(Macarel fried in masala and something called Semolina).

How to get there(from Bangalore):

1. Bus (519 Kms from Bangalore, KSRTC Volvos, VRL sleeper buses etc.)
2. Train (Konkan railway from Mangalore, with a stoppage in Karwar).
3. Flight (nearest aiport is Dabolim, Vasco)

Miscellanous:

Beaches still seem to be devoid of noisy Indian families and booze-guzzling litterers.
Thumps up to Karwar.

Hajo - Land of pilgrimage

Hajo is an ancient pilgrimage centre for three religions: Hindus and Muslims. It lies on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, 24 km from the city of Guwahati in the Kamrup district of Assam, India. The area is dotted with a number of ancient temples as well as other sacred artifacts. The Hayagriva Madhava Mandir is the most famous temple of Hajo. "Puwa Mecca"(meaning Mecca of the East) is also located in Hajo on the top of a hill. Hajo is about an hours's drive from the main city centre, Paltan Bazar.

During the winter of 2006, I had been to my Guwahati, my hometown, for three weeks. Now 3 weeks is a long time, and with such an amount of time to kill, I decided to pass my time by making short trips to places nearby Guwahati. The first place which came to my mind was the small town of Hajo.

Now, I first heard about Hajo when I was in 2nd grade, in one of those school textbooks. The chapter was based on the plurality and religious camaderie prevalent in Hajo. Hajo is mainly famous for 3 landmarks: Madhav mandir, Kedarnath and Puwaa Mecca(translated in English as 'East Mecca', the holy shrine of the Muslims). The beauty of all this is Hindus used to serve on the board and participate in the activities of the Muslim shrine and vice-versa. I don't know if this still holds good in this polzarized world. Wish it does.

So, on a wintery morning, I set off for Hajo. First I took a mini-bus, which incidentally is the chief mode of public transportation in Guwahati, to ride upto Basistha Chariali and from there took a bus upto Jalukbari, via NH-37. I alighted from the bus in Jalukbari and waited for a bus or jeep(known as 'trekker') or anything that will take me to my destination. I was lucky in that I barely had to wait for 15 minutes or so. I felt lucky enough to get the last available seat in the trekker. After paying my fare, I made myself comfortable(or so I thought then) in the seat, preparing myself for a 90-minutes journey.

The trekker had a seating capacity for 11 -people excluding the driver. The trekker looked one straight out of a junkyard, with rusting windows providing crucial visible evidence. I had occupied my seat in the rear portion of the vehicle, which was occupied by 3 rather religious folks, singing hymns and rhyming verses. They had a first look at me, and seemed unanimous in their disapproval of my looks with my aviator sun-glasses and dangling ipod. Soon, the trekker started off from Jalukbari, but before it reached Saraighat bridge, it picked up 4 more persons on the way. 3 people standing on the footpedals and rods behind the jeep. The jeep soon picked up speed, and sped across the bridge , negotiating each twist and turn, both forced and unforced, with great dexterity(as the driver would like to put it) or sheer luck(as yours truly would like to put it). The vehicle already resounding with holy songs seemed on the way to hasten up our tryst with the almighty. Luckily, my experience came to an end about half-an-hour later
when the trekker stopped near Madhab Mandir. I alighted from the vehicle and made my way towards the temple.

Madhab mandir was built some centuries back in remembrance of Madhabdeb, one of the pioneers of Vasihnavite culture in Assam. The temple has a big pond, where huge turtles abound. Locals say that these turtles are very holy and all tourists/devotees who throng this temple, make it a point to feed these turtles, after or while washing their legs/hands. Nevertheless, I bought some Puja items from the local shop and offered Puja at Madhab temple seeking blessings for myself and near-dear ones. It took me 5 minutes which probably gives an indication of the size of my family :) . Had a chat with the local pujari, who went through the history and incidents of the temple. Like all tales of locals, this chat also had quite a fair-bot of interesting tit-bits. After bidding adieu to the Pujari, who quickly flaunted his visiting card along with his mobile number, I made my way towards Kedarnath temple.

Now Kedarnath was up a hillock kind of thing, and I had to make some ground before I reached that. On the way I stopped near 'Bhimor Kahi'(translated in English as "Bhim's plate"). It is rumoured to be the plate from where Bhim once had his lunch. It was almost noon before I reached Kedarnath. Being a weekday, the temple was devoid of any visitors, I being the lone one. After offering puja at the temple(there are 3 temples incidentally), I entered into a chat with the local pujari, to get another dose of histories and tales associated with this place. After coming down the steps at Kedarnath, I enquired with the puja-item seller regarding directions to Puwaa Mecca. He pointed me to a hilltop, it looked quite far away, and with no sign of any transport near Kedarnath or thereabouts, I decided to rely on bus no - 11 :)).

After coming out of Kedarnath premises, I saw a long winding path up the hills, which seemed to lead towards the hilltop, where Puwaa mecca is, and as usual it aroused my interest to climb up and see where the path leads to. It was a path made of red-soil which has both been cut from the hills and swept away a little by water gushing down from the top, during rainy season. I made up my way, and while I was halfway up I heard the sound of vehicles. Pleased at being on the right path, I took some rest and admired the Hajo landscape, dotted with a few hills and thick forests between them. In another 15 minutes, I was on the road. By this time, I was gasping for water. As luck would have it, some local wood-cutters were on their way down that road. Seeing me, they inquired about me, where I came from, maybe not used to a person coming solo to a town like Hajo, appearing out from the woods and yeah with a aviator sunglass and a banging ipod to boot...After being reasonably satisfied with my answers, they offered me water and soon they were on their way down the road.

Meanwhile I wondered aloud on whether to continue in the sweltering heat with my dwindling energy reserves or to beat retreat. I chose the latter and went back on the road. Crossed the wood-cutters in the middle and continued on my descent down the snaky path. It took me another 30 minutes to get down the hill, this time along the proper road. As soon as I came down the hill to the main road, a local ricksaw-wallah came along and was very keen on taking me wherever I wanted to. I mumbled "Guwahati" , and the ricksawallah sped fast away from me, quite possibly assuming me to be a mental case.

After a wait of about 15 minutes, the government bus came and I was back on the way to Guwahati. It was indeed a tiring day.

Places of Attraction:

1. Madhab Mandir
2. Kedar Nath
3. Puwa Mecca

For trek enthusiasts, don't take tar road. Climb hills and make your own way.

Other Advice:

Be wary of ricksaw-pullers doubling up as touts. They will charge a premium if they know somebody is not from Hajo.