I went to Mekedaatu in 2006-07 and all of a sudden after so many years I went back in the memory lane and revisited Mekedaatu. Mekedaatu is a very nice weekend gateway along Kaveri river in Kanakapura.
Mekedaatu is about 90 km from Bangalore. Its close to another lovely spot called Sangama. Sangama is the place where Arkavati river meets Kaveri river.
One can go to Sangama in car or there are many buses available too. From Sangama, you need to cross the river either on coracle or by walking if the water level is low, followed by a 4 Km trail to Mekedaatu. There is a ferry bus from the river side to Mekedaatu or you can walk through the nice greenery.
When we went to Mekedaatu, we took a nice walk after crossing the river by foot. Its a very beautiful stretch. There are many versions of why this place is called Mekedaatu.
Mekedata in Kannada means Goat’s Leap. After few Kms from Sangama the river Kaveri flows through a deep gorge. The gorge is so narrow that one would think that a goat can leap across it. The reality is that no goat can cross the gorge in one leap. The name comes from an incident that a goat crossed the gorge and managed to cross the river in order to save its life from a tiger. It seems the gorge was too wide for the tiger to cross and the tiger backed off. The point where the goat leapt has widened since then from erosion caused by the river Cauvery.
This story has a mythological significance as well. The goat (meke in kannada) that is believed to have crossed the gorge is supposed to be Lord Shiva. On both the sides of the gorge, one can find strange holes, whose shapes resemble goats’ hooves.
The current at the gorge is ferocious and one has to be careful as the rocks can be slippery. There are many accidents reported here.
While we went to Mekedatu it was summer and the water was less. We after crossing Sangama we walked for 4 Km to reach Mekedatu and had some very peaceful time there. While coming back we took the bus as all of us were too exhausted due to heat to come back on our own. Since the bus was full inside, we sat on the roof of the bus which was good fun. After coming back to Sangama we spent some nice time in the river rejuvenating ourselves.
There are many places on the way to have breakfast and dinner, but carry enough food and water with you as you may not find anything once you cross Sangama.
Although there are many tourist spots on Kaveri river, Mekedaatu is worth visiting and is a nice one day trip from Bangalore.
Hampi is a village in a southern state of India- Karnataka. It is situated within the ruins of Vijaynagar. If you are a history person and looking for this kind of adventure in Bangalore, then you must visit Hampi. The ruins of Hampi are a UNESCO world heritage site. Even in this ruined condition, Hampi is a great tourist place. Archeological department of India still excavates temples and other artifacts around this site. It is 353 km from Bangalore.
It is situated on the banks of River Tungbhadra. The main profession of this village people is agriculture. They get some help from temples and tourism too. Due to mineral deposit like iron-ore, manganese in this area; mining is going on here for a long time. And this heritage site is under threat now.
Temples of Hampi
There are so many Hindu temples in Hampi which are still open for worship. Among those are…
The Malayavanta Raghunathswamy temple is constructed in Dravid style architecture. It has different marine creature motifs crafted on its inner wall.
Virupaksha temple predates back to Vijaynagar Empire. It is a Shiva temple but has idols of other deities too. It is situated in Hampi bazaar.
The Hazard Rama Temple Complex is well known for its carvings and inscriptions telling the stories of Ramayan. This ruined temple has a big courtyard with a garden in the middle.
The Krishna Temple Complex has been recently excavated and work is still in progress.
Vittalla temple is the most popular among all temples of Hampi. It has musical pillars. The Karnataka government has put the lights in the temple, which makes it illuminate at dusk. Adding more charm to architecture.
Hampi – a tourist attraction
Hampi being a ruin city of ancient India attracts many local and foreign tourists. Before the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire, diamonds were sold on the streets. Surprisingly, the place used to be called Pan-Supari-bazaar. At Hampi market there is still a place marked by Archeology Department of India, where they used to sell diamonds and precious stones, and visitors can spot that bazaar.
But above all that, Hampi has extraordinary landscape, granite rocks, lush green paddies, banana plantation. One can spend so much time looking at weirdly balancing granite rock , and get amazed how erosion of million years have made that formation. December to March is the peak season for tourists to come to Hampi.
Hampi is worth seeing if you are into adventure around Bangalore, you will be stunned to see heaps of granite boulders everywhere. It is worthwhile to visit Hampi at least once in your lifetime, spend some time wandering around, and see the ruins of ancient India and feel the wealth and richness of Indian heritage.
Anna Hazare is in the heart of every Indian and even in the people living abroad now. As the time passing, Anna is on his strong will, with firm decision, maintaining the belief and respect in the mind of every supporters that, “hum honge kamiyab”.
Today, being the eight day of this movement, every day, thousands of Bangalorians gather in the freedom park and as a regular routine event, out on a candle march on the both side of the road, in front of Freedom park. This sends a clear message to the government of this country that we are united and not tired at all. We will not go back home until we make an arrangement to send all the corrupt people behind bars and clean the dirt from our nation.
Symbolizing, unity is the power.
Thousands of people with candle lighted in hand to protest against corruption.
All loud voice together, “Bharat mata ki…..jai”
No violence, not even disturbing the traffic, number of people without any gap on both sides of the road.
For people who are always looking for ways to get out of the city and enjoy some of the scenic landscapes our country has to offer.This is an attempt to provide some weekend drive informationfor all those Bangaloreans, who would want to take weekend drive.
Below is an itenary, which was not planned but just happened, typical Bangalore style!! . If you find any mistakes in the description of places or surroundings, please post them in the comments section, and I will promptly correct them
Below is what I and my friend had done a couple of weeks back, and I think anyone planning for a weekend trip can use this as a guide. This is part 1 of the travelogue.
Places covered in this drive. The below trail shows the destinations and the routes taken.
Day 3 Hassan — > Manjarabad Fort (Sakleshpura) –> Hassan –> Bangalore
It just so happened that my friend was planning to visit his parents in Hassan, and I had called him hoping we could go for a photo shoot, he promptly replies, why dont you just come over to Hassan, we’ll try landscape photography this time. So i thought for a sec, and told him sure why not.
I and my friend met near Mantri mall, Malleshwaram at 3:30 PM on a Friday, and started our journey and 3:45 PM.
Drive to yeshwanthapur, make sure you take the fly over and drive towards nelamangala,the 15 Rs you pay for the toll road is worth it.
Take the exit near nelamangala, and once you take the left turn you should be greeted with the below signboard
From here on this road is fantastic till Bellur, gives you a feel of driving on Bangalore Mysore highway, minus the traffic. Driving on this road, you see several nurseries, if possible, get off the highway, and try to take some snaps if you like.
The landscape is very green and scenic, and you can definitely pull over to take some more shots if you want, but for us,we had to reach my friend’s parents house, so we couldn’t afford to capture the scenic drive. If you’re not in a hurry to reach Hassan, you can even visit Shravanabelagola on the way to Hassan.
There are several toll booth’s on the way, but currently they’re not collecting the fees, as the road work is still in progress. The road till Bellur is very good, beyond that the roads are good, but not great, and in some places it becomes narrow and potholed, and in places become a single lane 2 way traffic (or whatever it is called ) But the roads are generally good overall, with some small stretches which require you to take some extra care.
We reached Hassan at 7:15, i guess this should give you an indication of the road conditions . Here you can stay over in some hotel for the night. Hassan being a commercial area, you are not into the woods yet, so finding good food and accomodation is not a problem.
Day 2:
Next day we left Hassan at 7:00 in the morning, drove to Shettyhalli, which is about 30 KM’s from Hassan. The drive to Shettyhalli again is very scenic, and the rains made the drive surreal. Some of the very memorable things about the drive is the folk around Shettyhalli, this place can give you a glimpse of the lifestyle in places away from the city, particularly kids walking or cycling to school, people waiting for the occasional bus to arrive etc.
The place Shettyhalli is famous for an historic church which was built by the Britishers, the church carries a very European look and feel to it, and it’s a site not to miss, in the Monsoon the Church gets overrun by water, and only a part of the Church is visible and is not approachable. This is because this area serves as the catchment area for a near by dam (dont remember the Dam name , pun intended
Drive a little bit ahead and you get a bridge, from here your get a 360 degree view around the catchment area, and the view from here is out of this world, here you also get to see the cloud cover over the vast and beautiful Western Ghats!
Since our primary intention was to do landscape photography here, we couldn’t get any bird photos, but we chanced upon, sunbirds, hornbills, shikra, Oriental white ibis etc.
Next, from Shettyhalli we next drove to the historic city of Halebidu. It’s about an hours drive from Shettyhalli at about 60 KM’s. You basically have to drive back to Hassan, and from there to Halebidu. You can read more abou Halebidu here. Wiki
The guide’s here are very helpful, and they speak Kannada, English , Hindi, Tamil, Telugu , so no one would feel left out here. They charge 200 Rs, irrespective of whether your a group or an individual.
The tour is quiet informative, and shows the brilliance of the temple sculptors.
If you go off-season that is around July, it is not crowded, and you tend to enjoy and appreciate the place better.
Below are some shots from the temple.
It was around 12:30, when we were about to leave Halebidu, so we decided to have lunch and from there drive directly to Chikkamagalur. You should not have trouble finding a decent place to eat in Halbidu, or you can drive directly to Chikkamagalur, being a commercial area, you have better options for food, but then seriously what is the fun in eating in a chaotic city when you can eat some of the delicacies prepared by the Village folk, trust me it’s worth it, we did it, and it was cheap!! [Do it at your own risk though]
We drove from Halebidu — > Chikkamagalur –> Mullayanagiri (Highest point in Karnataka at 1,930 metres)
It takes about 90 minutes to reach Mullayanagiri from Halebidu, we decided to skip Belur. Once you reach Chikkamagalur, your greeted with the city chaos, try to find your way out of there, ask people for direction to Mullayanagiri, and people should start pointing you towards the foot of the Western Ghats.
Once you enter the Ghat section, take extreme care while driving, it is definitely fun, but dont drive recklessly, respect the place and the conditions and other drivers, you will enjoy the place.
The drive to Mullayanagiri, is quiet an exhillarating experience, the place goes from good visibility to zero visibility, there were instances when I couldnt see anything beyond 5ft and we had to drive watching the road which was lit by our Car’s headlights, and hoping that the road doesnt end with a cliff in another 5 feet. Since we were being extra careful, we had kept our camera gears aside, and we were making sure we were safe.
A view from inside the car, while driving.
This shot was taken when we were approaching the peak, as you can see, there are no barricades on the side, and the visibility can get very low.
Couple of points to keep in mind while driving near Mullayanagiri, keep your head lights ON. This was also my first time driving in Ghat section, and people usually are courteous (unlike what you find in City traffic), because of the nature of the drive. People are willing to give you the right of way, in case they feel it is safer to let you go.
Mullayanagiri is usually foggy, irrespective of what time you go, so dont hurry in planning to get there early in the morning. We were also planning to go there early in the morning :p , until a local suggested otherwise.
Once you reach Mullayanagiri, there’s man made stairs which will take you to the highest point, we couldn’t get there because the weather was really bad, and the low visibility wasn’t helping either.
Below is a video from the top.
As you can see, we couldnt get to the the top, as it was very windy, you can see that I had to grab my iPhone towards the end, as the wind was too strong and it was blowing it away
From Mullayanagiri, we decided to return to Chikkamagalur, as we drove back and reached the fork, where you take a left to reach Baba Budan Giri and right to Chikkamagalur, we thought what the heck let’s go to Baba Budan Giri also, it takes about 45 mins to reach Baba Budan Giri, the drive is similar to what it’s like driving to Mullayanagiri, only that the roads were a bit bumpy here.
Below is the footage of the drive to baba budan giri, and of Baba budan giri itself. The entrance to the cave was blocked due to maintenance.
To be honest, I had never visited places like Mullayanagiri and Baba budan giri in my life, what I mean to say is the low visibility and the incessant rains in these places, this is something that i had experienced for the first time in my life. And i am sure even experienced guyz would continue to be left in awe of the beauty of these places.
From here, we returned to Hassan, and decided to call it a day
Day 3
On Day 3, we decided to go to Manjarabad fort, this place is about 65 KM’s from Hassan, and is situtated in Sakleshpura.
Manjarabad fort was supposed to have been built by Tipu Sultan, as a strategic defensive point.
The road to Manjarabad fort is again good, some roads are twisty, and require you to be careful while overtaking. Ask for directions to reach Manjarabad fort, it shouldn’t be very difficult to find the place. Once you reach Manjarabad fort, park your vehicle, get some junk food if you want in the local shops around here , as you’re going to hike for about 10 to 15 mins to reach the Fort. The hike is safe and easy, if you can even call it a hike that is , there are also stairs at the base of the fort, so be ready to get tired on your way to the top, again this shouldn’t be very tough.
Below are some photos from Majarabad fort.
We spent around 2 hrs here, and decided to get back to Hassan, at Hassan we had our lunch at 5:30 PM, in a Dhaba relaxed for some time, and decided to start for Bangalore at 6:30.
On our way back our tyre rim had been damaged due to which the Tyre had lost all the air, so we had to stop in the highway, and change the tyre, we lost a good 40 mins because of this. We reached Bangalore at 10:30 PM.
Next day we got back to work
This was a very pleasant and happening trip, nothing was planned, everything was decided on the go, so it was even more fun.
For the people living in Bangalore, its almost rare that someone has not passed by Cubbon park. A wide spreaded forest area, located in the heart of the city. There are small big trees all around, contributing to the name of the city as Garden City. Roads running all around and across the park. There are 5 entrances to this big forest area.
During night, its gets a beautiful look with lights on. Intentionally or unintentionally I always try to divert my route through this place to have some cool fresh air.
In the central part, there is a round shaped grass land, roads running around. Especially Sunday evening is a good time to see a huge crowd there. Mostly the families with kids, spending time together, sitting, relaxing on the grass, playing some games etc.
District Library:
The red color building is a good attraction obviously for the people landing there for the first time. I never got a chance to go inside this District Library. Needless to menton, the building draws attention for its rich architecture. In the night, the red color of the building gets more brighter with the focusing of bright light on it.
I went to attend a wildlife photography workshop by Rathika Ramaswamy, for Pixetra…but that’s not what this post is about. As I walked to the venue, I saw this old house…
I mused on when the house was built, how proud the owner (Mr Vaz) must have been to see this bungalow coming up in the beautiful city of Bangalore….here, you can see his name in the gate-post, and the name of the present owner…
I can say, “It Vas a nice house, once!”
Today, the house is taken over by weeds, and in the grip of Strangler Figs:
The old order changeth, yielding place to new….I wonder what has kept this house from disappearing, too, with a multi-storied glass-and-chrome building taking its place…litigation, is the most likely answer.
A little torn page out of Bangalore’s history; no doubt, it will soon flutter into oblivion.
NTACH Bangalore invites you to the next Parichay, which will take place on 26 June 2011, at Nandi and Sultanpet, near Nandi Hills. A heritage walk here gives you the chance to walk through 1000 years of history and architecture! There is plenty to see including a temple dating back to the 9th century, a tiny 200-year-old cemetery from the days of the Raj, and a ruined but beautiful mosque attributed to Tipu Sultan. There will also be a visit to a potters’ community.
There is a fee of Rs. 120/- for this Parichay. There are limited seats so please email ahead to register. INTACH will respond to you.
This morning, as I walked in Forest Park, I inhaled the heady scent of the magnolia blossoms, and though I am not a nostalgic person usually, the scent evoked memories of what I call the “pre-IT Bangalore”…the sleepy, lovely city that we moved into, in 1988. One of the loveliest memories from those days is that of inhaling the scent of the Sampige trees as I walked, and cycled, in Cubbon Park…
Then, there were not too many apartments around; it was we, who lived in such apartments, who were the newly-arrived interlopers. At many parties, I would hear the complaints about “these flat-living people” from the old, established, bungalow-owners of the city. Those who owned bungalows had not yet had the phenomenon of their children emigrating, and then, their own aging and being unable to maintain their properties. But it had already begun; as I cycled through the leafy lanes of Richmond Town in the early nineties, I could already see bungalows being demolished and apartments coming up in their place. Bangalore Club was a lovely, serene place, not overlooked by any badly-designed flyover that needed traffic signals on top of it!
The Outer Ring Road did not exist; towns/villages such as Bellandur, Sarjapura, and Whitefield were not a part of Bangalore then. Traffic, obviously, was a tenth of what it is now, and I had no “green guilt” in those days, though I was a keen cyclist; I would also drive far and wide, visiting friends in Sadashiva Nagar or Koramanagala….enjoy going to Russell Market to buy the vegetables (and the wonderful cut flowers!) once a week, and browsing around the picturesque Adams Square area, too, often finding antiques, sometimes at bargain prices.
Brigade Road had already become a one-way street, but neither Richmond Road nor Residency Road were; since we lived in a tiny lane that connected both, it was lovely to go as I wished.
Johnson Market (even then, it was one of the most expensive markets in the city!) was a tree-shaded arcade of shops and I was soon good friends with most of the shopkeepers there. I’d stop by at Koshy’s kiosk on the way back, and buy some pastries and (my favourite) lemon tarts from there. (I recently bought some there, for nostalgia’s sake, and they were frozen ones, and not half as good.)
Richmond Circle, and Ashirwadam Circle WERE real “circles”. Cubbon Park didn’t have that awful, huge fencing all around it. Vikasa Soudha didn’t exist.
The minuses were there, too. The bus system was abysmal, and one could (I did) wait an hour or more at a bus stop for a bus that never materialized. But certainly, the roads were in better condition, and the Government did not have this craze for cutting down the trees and building roads, roads, roads, for motorized transport, at the cost of the cyclists and pedestrians. I’d cycle to Commercial Street often…and browse around the bylanes there. Most of the shops would open at a leisurely 10 am, and shut again at 1pm…reopen at 4 or 4.30pm…and by 8.30pm, were all shut again. Commercial Street was…certainly less commercial! I remember a strong presence of ladies of easy virtue in Grant Road (now Vittal Mallya road)….and their even soliciting auto drivers who came to pick up the children from the four schools in the Good Shepherd complex on Convent Road.
We had neighbours who had just sold their huge house on Brigade Road and moved in opposite our flat, and their house still existed then. Alas, I was not interested in birds at that time, but certainly, the trees of Bangalore fascinated me. I used to contribute small write-ups to the recently-launched Bangalore edition of the Times of India, and to the Deccan Herald too..and could walk up to both offices on M G Road. I was able to use the excellent reference library at the Times of India, and remember spending hours leafing through lovely books like T P Issar’s
“Trees of Bangalore” and also looking at the various bungalows he’d photographed and listed…and finding that some of them were coming down.
We didn’t need Heritage Walks to discover our city; we just went to Basavanagudi, to the various temples around the Cavalry Road area in Ulsoor, and walked in Lalbagh. I taught my young daughter to drive in front of the Attara Kacheri building…it would be deserted in the mornings! I wrote a whimsical piece about the High Court and the Vidhana Soudha buildings facing each other. When one of the constables, He of the Mighty Moustache, died trying to save a child in a traffic accident, he was someone I knew, and wrote about, and the centre-page middle was published in the Deccan Herald.
There were NO malls…we had shopping at Brigade Road, Commercial Street, and perhaps Jayanagar Shopping Complex. They gave their own unique character to a city that did not find the need to imitate Singapore or any other city.
Going to Chowdiah, or to Fort High School, was not the impossible chore that it is today, and I started enjoying theatre in Bangalore quite early. I also went to a lot of art exhbitions at what was then Sakshi Gallery, and I still remember Balan Nambiar’s metal sculpture on Lavelle Road….and getting to meet him and know him.
This sense of the city being large enough to accomodate a lot of people, and yet being small enough for me to know the people I wanted to, was one of the things I loved about Bangalore.
Certainly, I do feel that “development” in Bangalore has been quite a disaster; we are now paying more and more for less and less. Perhaps, if Bangalore had not become such a “wealth-creating” city, with one politician constructing an airport to the north-east of the city, and the IT czars demanding high-speed access to it by razing broader roads through the greenery that the city was fortunate enough to possess, I feel that our quality of life would have been far better.
But what’s happened is over; Bangalore today is a burgeoning city, its infrastructure creaking at every turn, with corruption and inefficiency dealing a double whammy to our dreams of a “world-class city”. A strong underworld community has come into being, along with the wealth, and most of us are lucky not to come into contact with it, most of the time.
Oh, my goodness…what a lot of memories just one whiff of a floral scent can bring!
TBannerghatta Zoo area always lets us see a lot of interesting stuff Here’s one from this morning:
Isn’t that really beautiful…and doesn’t it look like the prismatic effect of an oil slick on the puddle? Well…it does, and though it IS an oil slick in a way, it’s far more complex than that.
are a type of phytoplankton, which originated during the Jurassic period. Now, they ooze out on to the rock, and the debris forms a slick upon the water…and that’s what I’ve photopgraphed.
Remember, the sheet rock in and around Bangalore (Peninsular Gneiss) is among the oldest exposed sheet rock in the world, at about 3 billion years….so we were standing on the ancient past, and looking at the light reflecting on something from the Jurassic period…enough to awe anyone into wonder, awe…and silence!
Vaibhav has posted his pictures of the birds…I thought I’ll feature the people and the scenery!
Having had to postpone our trip to Nandi Hills due to torrential rains on Saturday, we decided to make the trip on Sunday morning, and Anand, Kannan, Priyanka, Sushil, Vaibhav, and I left at 4.30am on Sunday morning.
I rarely post black-and-white photos, but this view of the ramparts of the Nandi Hills wall, the trees and the clouds…and that monkey sitting there…needs bnw!
Here’s one of the things that’s special about Nandi Hills:
Here we are, having stopped on the road up, to see what we could sight:
I used the little Fuji camera to capture the beautiful view of the hills rising out of the mist:
I tried to get the spectacular effect of the sun’s rays through the clouds:
We walked down the sheet rock:
and enjoyed the view:
The villages below smiled in the slowly emerging sunshine:
But most of the time, we were avidly looking into the trees, spotting and observing birds!
By the afternoon, the tourists had started arriving (I think the prospect of heavy rain kept them away in the morning, which was good for our birdwatching!) Some of them, obviously, had their hearts flying!
I cannot take enough pictures of this old pavilion, shaded by the timeless, majestic trees:
Have posted some of the birds we saw to my Facebook album,
[Do it at your own risk though]
, there are also stairs at the base of the fort, so be ready to get tired on your way to the top, again this shouldn’t be very tough.
