Day 3 : An overdose of the hills

7:00 : The day starts. Today we have hired a sumo to take us to Kemmanagudi and other places.

8:30 : We get ready and are served breakfast. I had the biggest king size breakfast which made me ashamed at how much I was eating but I couldn't stop. We devoured 6 dosas, 2 omlettes, and an entire loaf of bread, butter, jam and tea between the two of us.

9:00 : We start for our day in the sumo.

11:00 : We reach chikmagalur. Buy a new backpack. And start for Mullayangiri. We start the climb through the narrow winding roads around the hills. The last patch to Mullayangiri was very narrow and it was a mud road. That was scary. We had to climb around 250 steps to the top. It was difficult for me to even walk so climbing those stairs was getting increasingly difficult. But with Anurag providing the motivation, we managed to reach the top. There is a small temple at the top. This is the highest peak in Karnataka. We captured some good views from the top. The climb down was very easy. After this we started for BabaBudanGiri.
Mullayangiri

1:30 : BabaBudan Giri was a unique experience. Two shrines - one Hindu and one Muslim stand side by side and they are visited by both Hindus and Muslims. 3 kms from there is Manikyadhara. Whoever calls it a waterfall must be joking. It is nothing bigger than a shower. It was a disappointing place with disappointing scenes like people throwing their clothes after bathing under that stream. It is supposedly a part of a legend to leave an item of their clothing behind. We left from there.

2:30 : Drive to Kemmanagudi starts. The roads get worse with potholes and flowing water on the narrow roads. The drive seems never ending with the same views and the same winding roads. We are hoping we reach Kemmanagudi as early as possible. But alas, the road seemed never ending.

4:15 : We finally reach Kemmanagudi. There was a canteen there. The only thing they could offer us as lunch was a bowl of rice, black channa, papad. After that we went to the garden on top of Kemmanagudi. We take a quick walk around it and start back to the estate.

5:00 : Drive back to the estate starts. By now I am fed up of the hilly roads and the coffee plants. Those are the only things we have seen the entire day. I am just counting the minutes to reach to the estate again.

7:00 : Reached chikmagalur. We had got cans with us from the estate. We filled petrol in them for the bike and started our climb back to the estate. Again those ghats and hill roads. I am nauseous now. But thankfully a while later I am in deep sleep. I wake up only once we reach the estate.

8:45 : Back at the Eagle eye estate. Freshen up and have dinner and sleep. That was a long day. Maybe we tried to see too many things in the same day.

Day 2 : A day at Eagle Eye

6:45 : The lizard's sound wakes us up more effectively than any alarm. We get up and hurry to get ready for the forest trek which is supposed to start at 7. After tea, the trek starts at 7:30. Within minutes from the start of the trek, we had to cross a stream of flowing water. One man tries to cross along with his kids but they slip and fall quite hard. That family aborts the trek and only 4 of us are now left for the trek. We follow our guide through the thick vegetation. I realize my fitness levels are the lowest as I am panting the hardest while the others are barely panting. We finally reach the top of a rock and great views greeted us. We sat there for a while taking in the views. And then we started our way back. I was glad I could complete the trek without falling and that feat was possible due to Anurag's support :)

8:40 : We are back at the cottage. We take bath and go to the dining area for breakfast. After a hearty breakfast, we get ready for the plantation walk

11:00 : We begin the plantation walk through the coffee estate. This time it was a larger and livelier group. We saw the two types of coffee plants: Arabica and Robusta. The guide told us that Arabica is costlier and more difficult to grow than Robusta. We had so go down a slippery slope. That was difficult. We saw the other plants which they had grown like pepper, cardamom, soapnut, cocoa, Jaiphal etc. It was pretty interesting. On the way we also saw centipedes, small crabs in the stream and a yellow frog.
Takeaways from the plantation walk

Can you see the frog?

After climbing back up the slope, we walk some more to reach the paddy fields. There is a lake behind it which is supposed to have a crocodile. We walk around the lake but no crok in sight. And we walk back up to the cottages.

1:15 : We reach the estate and to our cottage and just lie on the bed too exhausted to move. After a while, we go to the dining area for lunch. There was a waterfall nearby which we would have gone to, if the estate vehicle was free. But it wasn't and so a siesta was what came our way.

4:45 : We hurry down to the pond below for coracle riding and fishing. We wore the life jackets and got into the coracle with the oars. I was not able to get the rowing technique right and so my hands and shoulders also joined the other leg muscles in the list of aches in my body. There were water snakes in the pond. One of the snakes was right next to the coracle on my side, staring at me and Anurag had to warn me not to drop the oar in fear :) Then we were given the fishing rope and after a few attempts we managed to catch two fish. They of course throw the fish back into the water.

6:30 : Back to the estate reception area. After tea and snacks, we sit out there for a while. As it starts getting dark, I go back to the cottage to catch up with my book while Anurag plays badminton. In the cottage, I see a big lizard in the bathroom. I just close the bathroom door and lie on the bed and read. That was brave for a lizard fearing person like me. :) After a while I go out to watch the badminton match.

7:30 : There is a bonfire lit up and some music. Drinks were being served. We created our own drink by mixing strawberry juice with sprite. Not bad! After the bonfire and dinner, we check the cottage again. This time there are two lizards, two large hairy spiders and numerous butterflies in the cottage. We ask the manager to help. She sends a girl with a large broom who drives the lizards and spiders away and also gets us a mosquito coil.
Now I can sleep relatively peacefully. I guess this was the best day of our four day trip.

Day 1 : Reaching Eagle Eye Holidays

4:45 : The alarm goes off. I switch it off and we finally wake up at 5:45.

7:00 : It already 7 by the time we leave home. We reach Tumkur Road via Yeshwantpur at 8. It has lot of traffic mainly trucks. We finally get past Neelamangala.

9:00 : I am hungry and there is no restaurant in sight. We stop to eat biscuits and notice that the bags which we had hung on the bike were not holding well. So we tie the bag to the saree guard and hang the second bag on the other side. All of this takes around an hour. We decide aganist stopping at Shravanbelegola or Belur because we wanted to reach the estate before dark.

11:00 : We reach Kamat near CR Patna. The first thing we notice after reaching is that the bag which was hanging on the silencer side has burnt from the bottom. If we hadn't stopped here, things would have started falling out of the hole burnt in the bag. We access the damage. Our mobile chargers, camera cell charger, our sunglasses everything is burnt. It is a good thing that we had removed the camera from the bag. We eat idlis and dosas there and then use newspapers to line the bag so that things don't start falling out. Now Anurag hangs the bag around his shoulders towards the front so that it rests on the fuel tank.

12:30 : We reach Hassan and try to buy a new back pack but do not find anything good. Hassan is such a dusty, dry and hot city. And the roads are little patches between potholes. It was a pain stopping at Hassan.

1:15 : We finally leave Hassan and decide to move on without a new backpack. Belur to Chikmagalur was the best part of the route according to me.

3:00 : We are at Chikmagalur. The estate is 50 kms from here. We stop and call Eagle Eye for directions. We are on the hilly roads now. The roads have more and more bends and curves as we move ahead. At one stretch there was the hill slope on one side and a little bit of careless riding could land us into the valley below. Crossing some villages and coffee estates on the way, we reach a forest gate and the road after that was even worse. The final stretch was a mud road climbing up. All of this was keeping up our adrenaline and we thought to ourselves 'the estate better be good. The last patch was really steep and I decide to get down and walk to give Anurag and the bike a little less trouble. (Maybe to save my life too ;) )



5:00 : We are at Eagle Eye. Phew! Finally. I am in no mood to appreciate the scenic views greeting us. I am busy panting from the climb. We are offered the welcome drink. It was a strawberry drink and never before had strawberry juice tasted so good.



5:15 : We are shown our cottage. It was pretty good and neat. Anurag spotted a black lizard on one of the windows. I want it out of the cottage. The attendant says "It is ok. No problem". I have a problem. Please get it out. I say. The attendant seems to be more than half blind but thankfully with Anurag's help the lizard is out. After the much needed bath we feel better. As luck would have it, there was a problem with electricity at the estate. We sit outside in the open near the reception area. We are given snacks and tea. Some people are playing badminton and Anurag joins them while I sit with the cool breeze and the views.

8:30 : Dinner time and thankfully they had solved the electricity problem. After dinner we retire to our cottage. It was getting difficult for me to sleep between 12:30 to 3:30. I was surprised because I was one of the people who could sleep without any problem anytime. Some sleep is better than no sleep especially after all that happened that day.

Happy Diwali

Hope all of you had a great Diwali and enjoyed your time with family and friends. I had a different diwali this time. I and Anurag had gone to Chikmagalur on a four day holiday. Details on that coming up next. So watch this space.

Ras malai

I tried the ras malai recipe from this blog.
http://snackorama.blogspot.com/2007/10/paneer-with-saffron-two-ways-low.html

I added MTR badam fest to the milk. It is excellent stuff. Also added some milk powder. And finally some pistachios.

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary and KRS dam

Yesterday was a holiday! yay!! And it has been a long time since we went for a ride, isn’t it? So there, we went to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary and KRS dam. But this time, we didn’t go alone. Wondering how two people go alone? Well, Its not about people, its about their bikes. ;) 2 bikes, 4 people and lovely roads. It doesn't get better than this. Let me introduce you to the characters involved (in the ride).
2 bikes - our beloved Royal Enfield Electra and Yamaha RD350
4 people - Anurag, yours truly and Savita, Jai
Lovely roads - Bangalore-Mysore highway

The story (ride) begins with our meeting point on the highway. We thought of meeting at 7:30 but we finally met at 8:30. There is a marked difference in weekday mornings and holiday mornings. On a weekday at 8 o'clock, there is a lot of hustle bustle. But on a holiday at 8 o'clock, hardly a soul on the road. Within half an hour after meeting, we stop for breakfast at Kadu Mane. Super soft idlies and chai. Good food but costly. Tummies and fuel tanks get filled and we proceed. Jai's bike has new engine parts which impose a speed restriction. So our speeds are limited to around 50-60. I am not sure if we would have done better in terms of time without the speed restriction because we like going slow. Speed does have its thrill but slow is good too. At Mandya, the farmers had blocked the road by spreading sugarcanes on the road. Thankfully, we had only two wheels and could maneuver our way out. ;) We reached the Bird Sanctuary at about 12:15.
Took a personal boat for 250 Rs. The good thing about it was the roof on the boat protecting us from the sun. This apparently is the season of White Ibis and we saw a lot of them. One or two other kinds of birds here and there. And of course, the crocodiles. They looked like they were having their afternoon nap.
1:30 to 2:30 is lunch time at the Sanctuary. We reached in good time to catch the pre-lunch boat. After that, we had lunch at the restaurant on the premises. Food was quite ok. Most importantly, the place looked clean.



We decided to go and see the KRS dam as it is further down the road. According to http://www.mysoretourism.org/krs.htm, it was built in 1924, and is India's first irrigation dam. I like visiting dams because of the contrast you see on either side of the dam wall. This dam had still and calm water on one side and water flowing down rocks at great speeds on the other side. I wonder why we couldn't see the Brindavan Gardens because it supposedly is adjacent to the dam. Maybe we had to go further down but we wanted to reach back home around 6:30 so we didn’t think of exploring. And it is a good thing because it is really not fun riding in the dark. Dark after sunset that is. Dark before sun rise is a pleasure because watching the sun rise is so beautiful.



It is 3 o'clock when we leave KRS dam. Stop on the way at Coffee Day near Channapatna. Back home at 7:15. Savita and Jai still had to brave some more city traffic before they reached home.
Good trip especially if you are enthusiastic about biking because most of the time was spent sitting on the bike.

Directions :
Keep going on Bangalore-Mysore highway till you reach Srirangapatnam. Keep going till you see a sign on the right announcing the right turn for Ranganathittu bird Sanctuary. Take that turn and keep going till you see another sign on your right. Take that right turn and you will reach the Sanctuary. It is around 3-4 kms after you take the diversion from the highway.
To reach KRS dam, do not take the second right turn for Ranganathittu. Instead keep going straight till you reach a forked road. Take the road on the right and keep going straight. The dam was around 5 kms from the bird sanctuary.

Every city has a character of its own

It’s been two weeks since we had to go on an urgent visit to Mumbai. I had thought of writing about it but many times I just do not feel like writing. Now I have gathered up enough motivation to write. Just a week before we went to Mumbai, I was telling Anurag that I have really started liking Bangalore. Mumbai was never on my list of favorite cities. But another visit to the city and a week later, it miraculously appears on the list and that too very close to the top. It is not that this is my first visit but some things were different this time.
The experience started from the airport itself. We take a pre-paid taxi. The person escorts us to the taxi and we are in an air conditioned Honda city. Compare this with Bangalore airport where we take the pre-paid taxi slip and one of the cab drivers takes it from us and asks us to wait till he gets his cab. This takes 10 mins easily. Maybe the Mumbai cabs take more money but seemed ok to me considering the distances there.

I also got to travel in public transport systems. I used the famed local train, buses, and auto rickshaws. The local train was not a first experience. Maybe I was in a better position to compare it with other road transport systems. The thing that struck me most was that life would be impossible without local trains in Mumbai, for people who travel large distances daily. Yes, I had heard this before but this was the first time I experienced it. The journey which took an hour by car was done in 20 mins by a local train. To me, that was amazing. If you are just a little bit ready to accept the local train, you can be very impressed with it, like I am. Yes, you have to stand during the journey and if you are lucky, you will find a comfortable place to stand. I was lucky. It was afternoon and I was in the ladies coach. But to me, standing in the local train is far better than sitting in the bus. One, it is amazingly fast. Two, it is quite entertaining. People getting down, climbing the train and keeping track of when and on which side their station is going to come. I was looking at the other women in the coach. Some of them catching up on their sleep, some cutting vegetables. Most of them dressed with impeccable fashion sense. On my previous local train journey, I saw people selling things ranging from hair pins, earrings, fruits, vegetables and what not, on the trains. And people were buying them.

The bus and autos also deserve a mention. The bus conductors were very helpful. Anurag also told me an incident where a passenger had to get down before the conductor could give him ticket. So he just gave the money to the conductor and got down the bus. The conductor threw the tickets out of the window while he was in view of the passenger. The auto drivers, neither do they say no to you nor do they ask for more money. Both these things need major improvement in Bangalore.

Overall, it was the energy of the city which struck me more than anything else. I could just feel the energy and pride the people of Mumbai felt. Anurag rightly said you should always be aware if you are in Mumbai. Also, their attention to detail and their motivation to do their work the best they can. Well, this might not be true but I deduced this from seeing the shop keepers. The shopping complex next to our apartment had a single vegetable and fruits shop. That guy need not worry whether his shop is looking good or not. People will come to him anyway. But he had taken pains to arrange the fruits and vegetables in an appeleaing manner. All people are very courteous unless you do something wrong. I have heard tales of how people get beaten up if caught with slightest misbehaviour towards females. Another thing I noticed that people stand up for what they believe is their right. Compare it to the 'adjust madi' attitude in Bangalore where most things are tolerated.
It is true that every city has a life and character of its own. I am not trying to say that one city is better than the other. Every city is unique.