Skandagiri - The Kalavaralli betta ..

The idea of exploring skandagiri was initiated by our dynamic Project Manager Mr Raghu, this had come up in our company lalbagh(Its our company cafteria ).



Let me quickly introduce the place "skandagiri", it is green marshy hillock located in chikkaballapur district of karnataka,Hmmm... its around 60 KMs off Bangalore
Young @ heart, a team of 5 members finaly okeyed for the trek and the day was fixed. It was on september 2 2007 and the weather was cloudy. All of us ( Raghu, Yajneshwara, Naveen and Myself ) had gathered at 6.00 AM in Jaynagar 7th block.
I was a pillon rider to Raghu, later Shaik Joined us near hebbal. We had heavy breakfast at a darshini in yelahanka.



Journey to Chikkaballapur on the newly constructed 8 lane road was awesome, we never felt that we should stop in between for a break. We reached chikkaballapur around 8.0clock.
You might wonder what Skandagiri means to the local people. Actually skandagiri is called as kalavara betta. I believe Kalavara was the name of the local ruler in the past.

We had stuffed enough eatables and water bottle in our bags. Parking for two/four wheelers is avaliable in the foot of skandagiri, You can a find Papagni matt at the base of skandagiri. The road was muddy because of heavy downpour on the previous day.
One can see the mighty hillock at the base as an easy approachable way with spiral path. From the base, this hillock looks like an easy doable trek, but i have to eat my words back after reaching the top. All we have done that we had underestimated this hillock.

Initially we had met a villager and asked for the route, he just pointed his finger towards the hillock probably we misunderstood his directions or our bad luck, we started to ascend the nearby hillock to skandagiri.
This was our first mistake, because of our over confidence within ourself.
After climbing the bushy hillock for an hour we came to know we nowhere can reach skandagiri from this route. As we could see that a thick creamy cloud had already covered the western side of skandagiri. Man !!! the time was just 11 AM.

After much thinking we had to descend, to our luck we could see people still making towards the hillock luckily somehow we managed to get onto the right track.

It was getting more sunny and we finally reached the top at 2.00 PM. We knew that we had missed the early morning mists because of our misadventure. We could see bunch of trekkers enjoying the lovely scenery, We had our snacks and rested for a while capturing beautiful scenerys in our camera's meantime the weather was warm and bit cloudy.

Finally after resting for a while we decided to descend, and gradually weather turned into cloudy and the place turned out to be a totally dark. Ah...suddenly...it started to drizzle ...we ran for a cover, and all of a sudden there was a heavy downpour we were all drenched. The surface became more slippery and somehow we managed to grip the ground.
Alas !!! we were in the heaven, all of a sudden we could see the thick clouds surfacing gradually on us. It was dream come true for us. Minutes to pass, we were all covered by the thick cream of mist, it was unforgottable moment for all us. We danced, and merely enjoyed those those unforgetable moments for an hour.
It was getting darker and we decided to reach the base at the earlist.
Each one of us had rejuvented with this trek, We left skandagiri around 6.30PM. Back in bangalore we dozed off with the thoughts of creamy mist in our mind. Yeah, Kalavaralli betta is a place for the people who want to disappear in the creamy mist and be a part of the nature.

Poornachandra tejaswi research centre petition

Poornachandra Tejaswi the son of Rastra Kavi kuvempu was a prominent kannada writer and novelist. His contribution to kannada literature is immense. Please sign the petition for the Poornachandra tejaswi research centre. This is a novel method to remember one of the legendary kannada write and do please spread this message.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Tejasvi/petition.html

Savandurga on sunny afternoon

Life was standstill for me when Bangladesh beat India in the opening match of 2007 world cup cricket. I wanted a break and refresh my mind from the shock, so on sunday afternoon I decided to explore Savandurga, a rocky place situated in between Magadi and Ramanagaram of Karnataka. I had been there couple of years back with my Web Spectrum friends, however I couldn't’t make it to the peak. This time was alone, I took my two wheelers for a lazy afternoon ride. I had just tucked in 1 liter of water bottle and a pound of bread in my bag along with a handy camera.
I left at around 1.15pm, the road was pretty calm, however it was dry though scenic with a view of other rocks situated on the way. It could be around 60kms from Bangalore. I reached savandurga at 3.00pm, I could see couple of enthusiastic college goers gathered at the foothills of Savandurga. The sky was crystal clear, I parked my two wheelers under the shade and headed towards the foothill. Its hardly 500mts of walk till you reach the base of the mighty rock. Aaah...what a pleasant look from the down, It can make anyone nervous. I was staring at the rock, it was sun bathing and welcoming the rock climbers with a challenging smile.I started to ascend the rock, well I could feel my feet getting heavier and body breathing faster. I stopped after 30 Min's of stretch. I had to rest under the sun soaked rock.
In the second stretch you could find some shades, the beauty of Ramanagara rocks are real treat for the eyes from here. After few Min's of breaks ( Snacks & Snaps ) I proceeded further and finally mantap, I could see a lake with quite greenish water in it.
To reach the peak you need to crawl and move under the mighty rocks. It's quite chilling experience for me as I was alone On reaching top one could see a beautiful nandi, and a magnificent view of the nearby rocks and a warm breeze healing your tiredness. I enjoyed the view and stayed till 5.00 PM roughly around an hour in the top. I heard that when its getting darker wild animals like Bear's and foxes would make their presence at the top. I started to descend at 5.05 PM and reached the base at 5.50PM. A trip to Savandurga would make any one's day a memorbale one.

Moon light trek to Kumara Parvatha

Wow, Finaly the day had come for "Kumara Parvatha" Moonlight trek populary known as KP.
Luckily this time i was part of the moonlight trekking after missing the earlier ones. I was determined to make it this time and was phyiscally/mentally prepared, coz I knew that KP was one of the toughest trekking spots that i have ever seen or been.

KP is situated in kukke subramany of South kanara district and about 5000 ft from the sea level. It belongs to the western Ghat mountain range. It was summer and Our packed bags had "ready to eat MTR foods packets, bread &Jam, Torch, Sleeping bags & limited clothes.We ( Chandan@PHILIPS, Nagarag@TATAELXI, Sujeevan@PHLIPS, Avinash@TATAELXI, Ravishankar@AOL ) five of us boarded the bus from KSRTC bus station. We got the seats and unfortunately it was in the last row. The road was pretty bad and bumpy, however it was fun travelling in the bus seated in the last row. We reached kukke early morning at 7.00 AM.

As usual, we had our breakfast (without brushing) we started off at 8.00 AM from kukke. The total distance from kukke to KP is around 18 KM's. The first stretch is ascending the forest, is quite tough one, I was really felt fainting when I walked continusouly for 30 mins ...coz i was the last one trailing in our gang. I believe it took nearly 4 hrs to reach Bhattr'u mane after intermediate breaks etc etc. We reached bhatru mane at round 12.15 PM. We had good food and slept in bhatru thota for nearly 2 hrs. We left bhatru mane at 4.00 PM and started to ascend KP.
With new rules and regulations we had to pay Rs 70 per head to the forest officials . We reached Mantapa around 6.30PM. We nearly rested till 8.00PM when finally Moon came on top of us after escaping from the cluthes of the dark dusky clouds ... It was really a treat for my eyes. I could see the whole KP glistening by the moonlight.....We started to ascend further, It was cool breeze that soothed our sweating body. We reached shesha parvatha at 11.00PM, We dined with the MTR ready to eat food packets. We further climbed to reach the peak of KP. Finally we rested y over there and quietly tucked into our sleeping bags. It was the day of lunar eclipse, Around 3AM I could see Moon partially covered by Sun. I dozed quickly only to get up in morning to find the clear sky awaiting for the sun to start his day....It was awesome. After having bed tea, we started to descend KP at 8.30AM. Wow the sight from the KP top is just amazing, All I wanna say that KP is just amazing.

Movies -Mungaru Male

The above lines from the song could make any people to naturally bound to this film. Do people involve themselves in a character while watching the movie.? Well then watch Mungaru Male, i believe in recent years this is the only Kannada movie which provides good entertainment with lilting music, great lyrics, simple storyline, few funny moments, natural dialogue, awesome photography and gripping narration. Interestingly climax was quite interesting and made this movie a unique among the rest of them.
It revolves around the happy go lucky college drop out boy Preetham who accompanies his mother to the hilly area of Madikeri to attend a wedding. He falls for a girl without knowing who she is, and it is only after that he realises that what is he up to and how he is respected by the families and his sense of responsibilities makes him that he is trustworthy to the girls family members.
The film is shot in the rainy season of stunning Shakaleshpura, Madirkeri, Shimoga regions of karnataka. The photography really rocks especially the scene of Jog falls, which is breath taking and stunning.