Hi Folks,
I had been on a road trip to shivagange betta on the outskirts of Bangalore with my Mphasis Friends on Saturday night- Sunday morning (10/11th Jan). Had a truly wonderful experience.
Here are few Photos..
http://picasaweb.google.com/pradeep.hoysal/ShivgangeTrek#
After watching Gajini Movie in Cauvery theater, Night show, Eight of us (Shankar, Pradeep, Divya, Pavan, Bahuguna, Badri, Prashanth and myself) left Bangalore by 2:30 am (Which was a great experience in itself.) on 4 bikes, took NH4 via Yeshwanthpur which was a bad idea… The road was bad for 25 km till Nelamangala.. There’s a construction goin on throughout the road for an elevated expressway and one cannot cross 50kmph. The Road is full of patch work which makes it even more bumpy. Instead I suggest people can take NICE road via Mysore road and reach Nelamangala. Though it may add an extra 10 kms, buts it’s worth it. We decided to take a pit stop in one of the road side dhaba. Unfortunately, the dhaba was closed and we had to drive another 5 kms where we got another dhaba… Ordered masala Tea and Omelet… Drinking tea at 3:30 am in a cold weather is an amazing experience J I have to whine about the price here… We had around 12 omelets and 8 masala tea, the bill was 350 bucks which I thought is a rip off in a dhaba… Anyways, we hit the road and after 30 minutes and reached the flyover near Dabaspet, took the left turn before the fly over and Took another 10 minutes break to capture photos in the moonlight… Believe me, the road in this town is far better than Bangalore.
It was a good idea to leave Bangalore that early cause if one needs to experience the twilight moment, it’s the right time, since Full moon was on Monday, we were experiencing the good moonlight. We drove without the vehicle’s headlight for 3-4 kms.
It’s just one road , you take a left turn from the NH-4 (Around 60 kms from Bangalore), we reached the base Shivagange betta is around 7 kms from the Highway. We were the first to reach the place It was about 4:45 am. We parked the vehicle next to the pond. The gate to the mountain was open, we spent a good 15 minutes at the base and started our trek by 5:15 am.. To my surprise, I was exhausted after 100 meters.. J
Reality check :
1. Need to build up stamina by next trek. I’m not as strong as I think I was.. I was in denial. J
2. When my wife said the mountain is steep, I had brushed it off saying it’s a cake walk for an ex- NCC cadet.. GOD, I was wrong. I don’t feel embarrassed to say I was the last guy to reach the half way point. After that it was another story.
Note to self :
1. NEVER wear Jeans with belt when climbing a mountain… I made an offer to shankar to swap his tracks with my jeans… he refused. J
2. Start Jogging everyday and reduce Tummy and build stamina.
3. Next trek, try to be half as bad as this one. J
4. Do not have 3 omelets in a dhaba before starting trek.
5. Woodlands shoes are good.
There are lots of temple on the way but we chose not to visit them cause they were closed and our sole purpose was just to trek. There is a place called as Olakallu Theertha situated at half way. The legend has it, that if a person who has not committed any sin throughout his life and has a pure heart and he/she puts a hand in a canal he/she finds water. I took no chance cause I know half of my life I spent cursing/blaming/whining/ranting J. Had I put my hand into the canal, there would be lack of water for the rest of the people J LOL….
I took several breaks to reach half way point .. Was totally exhausted and I was on the verge of collapsing. To add to the misery, it was dark and I could not see the steps properly. I felt that the gravitation is getting better of me and is not letting me to take another step ahead.. I thought I was done for the day. Once we reached the half way point, there was a gush of wind, pushing my exhausted body away. At this point the score was Nature : 1, Avinash : -1. …
There was a huge rock and it was still partly dark at 6:00 am. People started climbing the rock . I wanted to try it. I can’t explain what happened, when I stood on top of that rock which was around 8 ft tall and spread my arms, it was magic.. Cool wind gushing my body at around 50 kmph, cold making my body shiver even with a Jacket and a thick Jersey, felt like I was flying.. I was able to hear the nature humming the song “Dream On “ in my ear. I was energized at this point and was determined to reach the summit at any cost. After a shot of natural adrenalin provided by the gushing wind, we were off.
The railings for the rest of the way helped a lot. I wondered who had the guts to put the railing there in the first place. Just imagine the dilemma of the logistics.. Here I was struggling to walk, people had put Iron railing with Welding for the rest of the way.. Donno how they brought the Welding machine which will be around 100 kg transformer + 100’s of meters of Iron pipes and fixed them there … After this point I’m pleased to announce that I didn’t take any break… Nor did the rest of my crew. J Though the climb got steeper, it became easier. I guess it was the steps combined with jeans got me down initially.( At least that’s what I think but my friends agree to disagree)
Anyways , there were some places, the steps were too close and too steep . some were even 3-4 feet. Now Without any struggling, I was able to climb. To be honest, I’m not a religious person, but there was really something spiritual about this place. The cool breeze, the sound of wind, the first rays of the sun, the mist, the clouds travelling from nowhere to nowhere, the droplets of water formed on my hair, I truly felt that that there is a superior power which created all these beautiful things, the spirit of the earth. Nature’s gift to humans.
After an hour of climbing the terrain of rocks, we reached the summit by 7:00 am. We just missed the sunrise but the view was worth it. There is a nandi Statue near the summit and there is hardly 1 ft x 5 ft gap next to it. All of us climbed near the statue on either sides(with the railing support of course) and experienced the Clean air and wind gushing our hair. If it were not for the railings, we would fall 200 feet down. The drop is scary. One can see the cloud formation.. It’s as if u have a platform in the cloud and you can almost touch them.
We were the first people to reach the summit and the sun had just risen so we had good 2 hours with us before sun starts burning the rock. There is one temple next to nandi, about 50 meters above it. We didn’t care to visit the temple but had some photo sessions there. There is one dangerous drop across the temple called as Shantala Drop. I was scared shit to see beyond the drop. it must be somewhere around 1200 ft down. There are several stories behind this drop. They say that there was a queen called as shanthala who committed suicide by jumping off this clip. Other stories say that Queen shantala was supposedly killed by kings men upon his order.. Whatever it may be, Shantala must have been one gorgeous lady J and she would have been scared shit before jumping.
We spent some time on the summit enjoying the high-speed wind , ate chocolates , cashews , photo sessions J, discovering new routes.. Felt like Christopher Columbus cause we were the first to reach the summit... J
After an hour we heard some children shouting and I, for one was surprised to see a group of children , not more than 12 years , guys and gals, along with some teachers, not wearing any foot ware, racing towards the summit. At this point, I was embarrassed.. here I was struggled complained about jeans and what not, these children were lively as ever, made me feel like a sissy… J We had Woodlands shoes + Energy drink + chocolates + jacket + jersey + cool drinks and a bunch of 12 year olds beat us with bare foot and still going strong. It was about time that I buried my head in sand.. unfortunately we were on a summit and there was only rock J Huh, Jokes on you Nature.. J
The decent was considerably easier. Though we were attached by a bunch of fearless monkeys , we reached the half way point in 30-45 minutes. We saw few villagers carrying a load of 30 khs on their back and climbing the mountain. They are the locals who have set up shops on the summit… More embarrassment for me L.. This time we took another route. Pavan, Badri, Shankar had already reached the half way point and they were enjoying Cane Juice. Pavan insisted he wants to go and dip his hand in Olakallu Theertha. To everybody’s surprise, this guy got water. He bragged about it the whole way… He says he is the divine soul and has never committed a sin in his life. J people and their believes.. J Blah blah….
On the whole, the trip was awesome and totally worth one night’s sleep, in fact, totally worth a week’s sleep for a sleepy head like, yours truly J.
We took the NICE road back home… I can brag that I reached 110 kms/hour on my bike J
Though my legs and back pained initially, it was gone in no time.
I’ve learnt a lot form this trek. I’ll prepare myself and try to be half as bad in the next trek. J
