Trip to Savandurga

Planning for this trip happened immediately after the previous trip to Muthaya Maduvu. Met Nimish the same evening, and while plying him with the details, found out he was very interested in doing this sort of thing as well. I'd always wanted to go on another ride to Savandurga, after the fun we'd had on the first trip, so suggested it and he was game.

Decided to make it next Saturday, 14th Jan 2006, as I had a rare Saturday off for Sankranti. Landed up outside Koshy's at 9am. Decided to fuel the bike while waiting for Nimish. While at the petrol bunk, noticed a Royal Enfield zooming past, thump-thumping away to glory. Resolved for the 100th time to get me one of those, no matter what. By the way, not sure which model it was. Looked like a Thunderbird but was bigger...and noisier, as well. Anyways, drooled all over my li'l Splendor and filled it up (with fuel, not my drool). We started out after a great breakfast of bacon omelette and ham and egg sandwiches.

P.S : Personal opinion - Koshy's breakfasts are great, but not as good as Lakeview on M.G.Road. Lakeview is cheaper as well, so more paisa vasool.

To reach Savandurga, you need to get onto the Mysore Highway, then take a right to Magadi Road, and continue straight down for 65 km, past the Thippagondanahalli reservoir at 30km.

Easier said than done. I wasn't sure how to get to Mysore Highway, so followed Nimish's instructions and went down South Bangalore, took a right turn at Silk Board flyover and proceeded further. Well, thats the WRONG way to go. We covered half the city on the ring road, asked for directions a hundred times, before finding the turn to Magadi road near the Tumkur road. (If anyone has chanced on this blog and is looking for directions to Savandurga....there's no worse site you could have found. I'm the most confused bloke on the planet when it comes to directions. I totally lose my bearings when I take a U-turn on a straight road)

Anyways, after 25km of going around the ring road, got onto the right road and ventured forth. Somehow remembered from my earlier trip that it was a great ride, was disappointed to find it was not so entirely. Either the road had gotten worse, or memory was deceiving me. The first 10-12 km were just ok, passing through small towns, which by the way were very crowded as it was Sankranti...with sugarcane stalks strewn across the road.

Once we crossed those, though, the going really got good. Smooth roads, with picturesque scenery on both sides. Tried to rev up the bike, to find it wouldn't cross 70 unless there was a decline. Not bad, actually, for a 7 year old splendor...but again enticing thoughts of a Thunderbird rose to my head. One of these days ...........

We stopped a little further to take a few snaps of the Savandurga peak in the distance. Further on, the road turns to something like a ghat section, with an uphill drive over twists and turns. You can see the reservoir down on your right....a glimpse of azure blue waters between the trees and grassy slopes. Ok....so I'm not too great at describing nature, but it was truly good scenery, plus its a great feel to go at top speed across those twists and turns....it just takes a li'l bit of imagination to feel like you're driving to Ooty or Coorg or some other such place.

Reached the T.G.Halli dam a few minutes later and tried to get in, only to be confronted by a cranky old man who kept shaking his head and hand and saying "nahi, nahi, beda, beda"...or something like that. Turns out you had to take a ticket somewhere in the city to visit the place.

Pretty disappointing, considering the previous time we were there, we got through quite easily and had a good time at the dam. Really can't understand the way the government functions (assuming, of course, that it functions at all). What prevents them from setting up a counter there to sell tickets? Imagine folks coming up all the way there, only to be turned back because they didn't know about some obscure, unheard of department in the city that sells tickets! On one hand, there's all the talk of promoting tourism in the state, and instead of doing something constructive, like improving the condition of the roads, they go to great lengths to turn away folks who do brave the lousy roads to get to the so-called tourist spot.

Anyways, we carried on to Savandurga. Crossed a quaint little bridge a little after the reservoir, went past a few more winding roads, 30 km on to reach the outskirts of Magadi.

One interesting incident on the way. Was driving underneath a tree, when an insect dropped down from the tree, fell through my helmet visor, beneath my glasses and got wedged right against my left eye! Of all the odds! But as Nimish mentioned...there was some probability that it would happen. Thankfully wasn't going too fast, so managed to stop and pull it out quickly. Some kind of black insect with yellow stripes. Eye was hurting a lot, could barely open it for a few minutes. Considered letting Nimish drive for a while, but figured I'd drive for a few minutes to see if I could manage, and it started to get better.

Reached the Magadi town about 20 min later, where we had to take a left off the main road to reach Savandurga. Stopped for a few min to have some tea and pick up biscuits etc for lunch (apart from a small dhaba a little way ahead, there's no place nearby for a meal). Drove a little further down the road to pick up a couple of cans of beer, then went on to Savandurga.

Pleasantly surprised to find it was fairly deserted. I suppose most of villagers and the tourist crowd only come in on Sundays. So, with a look to the heavens for inspiration, started climbing.

Savandurga isn't like a typical hill, its more like one massive rock jutting out from the ground. So, atleast for the first half, its more like walking up a steep rocky slope than actual rock-climbing. Can get dangerous if you dont know the correct way up, as the slope gets almost vertical at places, and it being one smooth rock, its very easy to go sliding all the way down. Thankfully the government took this into consideration, and has marked out the path to take with white arrows drawn on the rock. Follow these and its fairly easy. Of course, this started us thinking about getting some chalks of our own and making wrong arrows, or ...being the city-slickers we are...signs for a U-turn, or perhaps 'one-way', 'no right-turn' etc...just to give a more Bangalorean feel to it.

The climb is probably the most difficult for the first 15% or so, and then gets a bit easier. We took one long break on the way up to finish one can of beer....probably that was what made the rest of the climb seem easy! We tried to find some hidden place so we wouldn't offend the religious types climbing up, and thought we succeded, until halfway through the drink, looked up to find people above having a clear unobstructed view of us. Anyways, soldiered on after that to reach the top.

The scenery, of course, is totally awe-inspiring. One interesting aspect is that views on different sides of the rock get revealed as you go higher, until finally at the top you can see everything around you. As my colleague Raahul remarked on the previous trip, "You just need to see this sort of thing to get an idea of God's handiwork". The view from the top is obviously the best. You can see a series of hills in the distance, that sort of go on continuously, layer after layer, to disappear behind the horizon. A river flowing around on all four sides adds to the splendour of the scenery.

So there's another attempt at describing Nature's majesty. As they say, try, try again until you bore the wits out of your readers. Well, sat down at the top for another refreshing snack of beer accompanied by biscuits (first-time combo for Nimish - biscuits with beer. To be honest....I'd prefer beer n' kababs any day, as well)

In case I neglected to mention (which I did) there's a nice little mandap at the top with a Nandi sitting in it. So great place to pray as well, if your religiously inclined.

Anyways, after a long rest at the top and having our fill of the view, started the descent to the bottom (and no, I do not mean that metaphorically). The climb down is fairly easy, although your knees do start to ache by the time you reach the bottom. After a few refreshments at the bottom (of the non-alcoholic variety), there was the ride back to Bangalore. Pretty uneventful, except for the fact that we again lost our bearings at Majestic and had to do a couple of rounds of the place before heading to M.G.Road. We were rather starved with no substantial meal the entire day, so had a sinful meal of Cornerhouse ice-creams and beef rolls at Fanoos. Then dropped Nimish off, and the last leg of the journey back home, through the usual Bangalore traffic, with an aching back and dreams of - you guessed it - a Royal Enfield.

Next trip....I dunno, yet. Been thinking of attempting to drive down to Bandipur, or perhaps even Bangalore-Chennai (maybe Pondy??), which I may be able to do if I take the train down to Chennai and start the ride there. But those are just thoughts as yet....lets see what works out.

Muthyala Maduvu - Pearl Valley

It had been a while since our last outing, and I was itching to get out of the city for a while, probably go off on a small road trip. So when my colleague Venu approached me asking if we could organize something, jumped at the idea.

My first idea was to go rafting, but was unable to find something that didn't involve a 2-day trip atleast ( travails of a a 6-day working week! ). We'd practically settled on going to Tipu's Summer Palace, approx 60km away, when Venu heard of this place called Muthyala Maduvu, 40km from Bangalore, a sort of tourist spot with woods and a waterfall.

Planned to meet up at 8.30am Sunday, 8th Jan, so in true Indian style, left home at 8.30 and reached Venu's place by 9.00. Turned out none of the guys were ready yet, with most of them watching TV, and a couple of them fussing over a huge bowl of lime rice. Turned out they had news there was no food available at the place, so decided to take adequate precautions.

5 of us finally left, after breakfast at a local tiffin center, around 10.30 am, and after meeting with a 6th guy enroute, proceeded to the place.

The ride is nothing to write home about. We had to take Bannerghatta road and proceed further after crossing Bannerghatta park, via Anekal (I guess....am bad with names). Actually one of the worst roads I'd seen, potholes and loose stones the entire way. Wasn't like a highway drive at all, with us going in 2nd or 3rd gear most of the time. There were stretches where the road would suddenly become smooth, and we'd think the rough part was over and rev the bikes up, only to be confronted with the potholes a few metres later. Thank God it was only 40km!

The place itself is decent. There's a restaurant run by the Karnataka Tourism Board, with a couple of balconies that give you a good view of the woods. Found a couple of families playing soccer and chess there. After a refreshing cup of coffee, proceeded to the falls.

Tip: if you like a sense of adventure, don't take the well-trodden path. They have steps laid out down upto the falls, but Venu and me decided to skip those, and climb down the rocks instead. A bit slippery, but great fun! We landed up at a stream leading out from the falls, and went up-river for a while, clambering over rocks in the stream. When the stream thinned out and disappeared into the ground, clambered back to the falls.

The waterfall is actually quite small.The river (stream, actually) apparently originates from some underground source nearby, and falls down a cliff creating a small pool at the bottom. Meanders again away from the pool and disappears somewhere. None of the loud roaring noise or foam you associate with a typical waterfall. On the good side, you can wade into the pool and have a shower right under the fall. (I couldn't do it as I didn't bring a change of clothes)

Got bored after a while of sitting around, so decided to try and climb up the cliff, along the waterfall. Again, advantage of a small waterfall; none of the rocks was slippery, and there seemed to be sufficient hand and footholds. So Venu, one of his friends and I started up, but the friend (Ramesh...or Praveen??) soon felt it was risky and stopped.

Venu and I continued up, and turned out to be one of the most fun things I'd done in a while. Felt a bit like Stallone in Cliffhanger at times ;-) . Not really dangerous, especially with V along. The guy seemed an expert climber, probably was a mountain goat in his previous avatar! He' d go jumping up the rocks ahead, and pointing out the easiest routes while I followed at a more sedate pace. Great views along the top, plus I always feel a thrill when I see everybody down there looking like ants. No feeling like being alone in a scenic spot, being one with nature, with city life far behind you...plus of course the adrenaline rush of doing something dangerous and physically demanding. Would've been perfect if I had some beer, ofcourse (tip: beer tastes best when had under a waterfall) but had forgotten to bring any. We climbed upto the very top, upto the path leading up to the restaurant, and then came back down. Getting down was a tad more difficult, with me slipping down at a couple of places, but again with V to help me out, reached the bottom in one piece.

On the way down, noticed a girl bathing under the falls. Turned out most of our guys were suddenly feeling extremely sweaty, and had this urge to bathe as well. Not that I'm suggesting anything...pure coincidence, of course! So after they did that, shooting lot of snaps along the way (of themselves, of course) we sat down to a good lunch of lime rice and curds, with feet dangling in the water, surrounded by a lot of monkeys eyeing our food. After that, walked up to another place where there was supposed to be a second falls...but turned out to be nothing, plus there was a guy there who'd gotten drunk and was puking his guts out, so turned away quickly.

Wound up after that. There was a small road leading up from the restaurant, so drove there, and came up to a grassy plain, with a few trees scattered around. Sat there chit-chatting for a while, and then there was the bone-jarring ride back to Bangalore.

All in all, Muthyala maduvu is a decent place, (notwithstanding the road) although I expected something more, going by the name. Quiet peaceful little place, and not too many tourists around. Kind of sedate, though, so may be a let-down if one is the adventure-loving kinds. Unless of course, you're enterprising and create your own adventure, the way we did :-)

Next post - My ride to Savandurga with Nimish.