Dharmasthala-Kukke Subramanya Trip-15th-16th Nov,2013

I did not know I would be back writing about something so soon. Well this time again its about another trip with my friends to Dharmasthala-Kukke Subramanya on 15th Nov. Actually my Suma and Roopa go every year and I have been accompanying them from last year. So this was my 2nd trip to Dharmasthala-Kukke with them. Though I am not that religious and neither I follow rituals religiously but my maximum number of trips has actually been to temples only. Why I still cannot figure out maybe, the historical background of the temple attracts me to it or perhaps the story/myth behind each deity . In fact this trip was being planned from a long time from the last 4-5 months but call it coincidence we went on the same date as last year. And this time Suma has booked sleeper coaches for us as last time we had booked usual Volvo KSRTC and sitting in one place continuously for 7 hours is extremely difficult. And that too there is no space to stretch your legs the the passenger seat in front would have stretched his seat backward leaving very little space for us to move. And the sleeper coach were extremely comfortable to sleep though I could not sleep that is another thing .But before that I would also want to tell which I still have not shared with even Suma and Roopa. It was basically the number of bus accidents that have been happening in the last 15 day, the first one being Blr-Hyd bus which had caught fire which is still fresh in our minds and the latest being the Bangalore –Mumbai bus which met with an accident and which I read on the day we went. It happened the previous day i.e Thursday 3 or 3:15 am and which really scared me. I was reading about it as to how some alert passenger broke open the bus window using his head and escaped unhurt. It also showed what the passengers should know before boarding the bus the exit doors ,emergency exits, how to open the doors which uses the air suspension technique, and that there is always a hammer to break open the door/window in case it still does not open. In fact the last point gave me this idea. But till that time I had actually been praying to God that we all should go and come back safely to Bangalore and give me a hint somehow or the other whether I should go or not go .Well anyways to be on the safer side I actually packed an iron rod in my luggage just in case it might be required to break open the bus door/window and I did not mention this to both Suma and Roopa fearing my leg being pulled . But there was definitely a fear factor in my mind. In fact Suma was not even aware of the bus accidents that had happened so there was no point in talking to her and I also did not want to scare her just because I was scared and spoil the travelling mood. Well I left everything to God and boarded the Bus .We started our journey at 9:30 Pm on 15th and reached early morning at 4:30 am to Dharmasthala. I had actually thought that the rooms had been booked like last time but not this time. In fact we went to at least some 6-7 lodges that were all booked .Finally we went to the same place where we had stayed last time and luckily got a room.Last time when we had come we had visited Adi Subramanya temple which is some 6 km from Kukke and Durga Parmeshwari Temple which is again within some 5 km range from Kukke. This time also we had planned to visit a new place like last time. We had shortlisted Surya Temple which is nearer to Dharmasthala which Suma had referred to me. So we had to plan our itenirary in such a way that we should leave Dharmasthals by 11-12 pm and reach Kukke by Lunch time ,finish Darshan , have lunch within temple premises ,take some rest and them visit temple once again in the evening and take the bus back to Bangalore which was at 10:30 pm. So we got ready by 7 am and left for darshana in Dharmasthala. There was not much queue as expected and we were able to finish by 8 am after clicking some pictures. We had booked a vehicle to Surya temple which was around 16-17 km from Dharmasthala so finished our breakfast soon and left at 8:30 am towards Surya. I really liked the temple which is a Shiva temple and people who have to make a wish go there and pray and once their wish gets fulfilled have to come back and offer to the deity a mud idol related to the wish you had made and offer prayers. So we prayed and while coming back to Dharmasthala the driver took us to another temple which is a famous Ram temple. Its a huge temple which houses all idols of Gods and Goddesses including Rahu, Ketu, Sai Baba etc. All the idols are made from marble .We clicked pictures there as well and came back to our hotel room at around 11 am .We packed our luggage and left for Kukke. We reached at around 12:30 -1 pm .This time room was booked and we rested for 30 minutes and left for Darshana .We finished our darshana and had lunch in the temple premises. I do not whether it was because we were all hungry or what the food was too too good .We were gobbling up fast everything that was being put in our plate, the rice, sambar, chutney, paisam. We ate to our stomach’s fill. We then went back to our rooms collapsed on the bed and slept off peacefully for an hour or so. Evening again by 5-5:30 pm we went for darshana once again roamed around for a couple of hours , had dinner again in the temple by 8:30 pm. We came back our rooms ,relaxed for some time and boarded the bus back to Bangalore by 10:30 pm. This time I must say, the fear of travelling in the bus was completely gone and I slept peacefully .

Kalasa Trip-25th-27th Oct, 2013

I had never imagined myself writing an article but here I am .In fact my friend Latha who has started writing her own blog gave me the idea.This article is about the recent trip that I went with my two close friends and I thought I should pen it down. The reasons for me writing are many. Firstly I went as i stated earlier with two good friends. Secondly the trip was planned all of a sudden . Thirdly I have never enjoyed so much in any other trip as this one as all the activities that we did during this trip was decisions that we took at the last minute and because of which we enjoyed the maximum. Well it started of with me and my friend Mushtaq , ex Getit whom I know from 11 years ,just talking 2 days before the trip about how everyone in my family had gone for a holiday except me and that we should also plan a trip with our old friends like good old days .And also it was a more than a decade of our friendship so it gives all the more a good reason for us to celebrate. Most important reason being though Mushtaq is my close friend I still had not met his wife and he was also avoiding to introduce me to his wife for good reasons .He He ! well I know all his dark secrets .He is always scared what if I spill out his dirty secrets. Jokes apart, well I thought this would be a good excuse to know his wife too and spend time together. But call it fate or what this time too I was unable to meet his wife but instead my another good friend Suma ,ex Spice whom I know from 7 years came along with us. Well we started on Friday 25th Oct morning at around 7:45 am. The plan was to leave Bangalore at 7 am so that we could reach our destination Kalasa, Chickmaglur District at around 12 pm , checkin and have lunch there. But we started late as I reached late and Suma was not able to locate the meeting point for all 3 of us near Majestic. Our Journey began. We took the Hassan highway which is an amazing road to drive and that to no traffic at all .It was as if we had the entire road to ourselves .Bangalore to Hassan is a 4 hour drive and another 2 hours to reach Kalasa. The entire journey was enjoyable with all 3 of talking about our old times and old friends teasing each other ,pulling each other’s legs. It was just like old times. We stopped at all places in between to take snaps some 400 snaps total –in the middle of the roads, farms, tea estates ,waterfalls till we reached Kalasa at around 2:30 Pm.We were famished by the time we reached the place and we were treated with Malanad speciality veg and non veg both. Our place is a homestay in Kalasa called Nammane. True to its name, which means “My House “it feels like and you are treated like one of the members. As the first day second half was almost over and it was almost 5 by the time we finished our lunch ,had tea and snacks and rested a little bit, the only place we could visit was sunset point called Mydadi, which is a beautiful place to see the sun going down. The person who took us to the place , Srinivas told us we would be lucky if the fog is not there so that we can see the beautiful sunset and also view Kudremukh from this point.Kudremukh which means Horse face can be made out from far .But as the weather was misty we were unable to see both. In fact within seconds the fog sets in so fast you cannot see the person standing next to you .But still the place has its own charm fog or no fog. It felt like we were walking in the clouds. After spending half an hour there we went back to our home stay where they were busy preparing a campfire for us. Though it was windy in the night the fire was taking its own time to start. After dinner we retired to our rooms which was in Swiss Tents. The tents have some 5-6 cots inside with very dim lighting and attached bath powered by solar. Good we made our decisions to stay in Swiss Tents rather than usual rooms. It was like we were camping out in the wilds.Though the tents were some 500 feet from the homestay but it was secluded and was surrounded by plantations of coffee,pepper and paddy .Also there was a small stream running in the plantation itself some 50 feet from the tents which was very soothing to hear.Though it was very peaceful and calm yet I could not sleep as I always find it difficult to sleep in a new place on the first day. Also I was just to excited to sleep but both my friends were fast asleep with Mushtaq snoring lightly. In fact I had sat in the night just after dinner and was making plans for the next day to visit as we were there only for two nights and wants to cover as many places as possible in those 2 days. The itenerary was to get up early by 6 am ,visit some couple of temples which were famous ,go white water rafting and then visit Kudremukh and come back. But the next day though we got up early we never followed the palns as scheduled.in fact I never slept except maybe a couple of hours in between .Though the place is famous for coffee we as usual preferred ginger tea. After that started for a small walk around the plantation .We could not resist once we saw the badminton rackets and started playing.Though it took all three of us some 10-15 minutes to warm up as it had been ages since we played but after that we went on and on forgetting our plans till our guide told us the time. It was already 10 am. We all got ready ,had breakfast at around 11 am and set off to the temples. First stop was at Horanadu, famous Annapoorneshwari temple .The owner of homestay has advised us that it is good to have food in the temple. So though we were not hungry having breakfast so late but still we had little .The food was really very good-rice, sambar, puliyogere, paisam. The other temple Kalaseshwara Temple-Shiva temple was on our way back,so we visited that as well but the temple had closed by 12 pm. As our plans had already gone haywire we dropped the idea of Kudremukh and proceeded for White Water rafting and it was a good decision. We would have missed a thrilling experience had we done so and opted for Kudremukh. We called up the Rafting guy who was waiting for us with all the gears .We changed ,clicked pictures and got into the raft. But much before that the instructor gave us a do’s and don’t’s instructons to follow while rafting.It was a 5 km ride from the starting point to the end and the instructor told us that Oct end they will be closing the rafting so we really felt lucky that we were there at the right time in the right place. I felt the same thing again when later I told my mom that we had been to Horanadu Annapoorneshwari temple. She said it’s a very famous temple and she had been planning to go but could not go. They say right when the time comes God will himself call you. That’s what happened here I feel because we had no plans to go there in the first place and Suma also asked in the morning –Do we really need to go there. In fact in was Mushtaq who said lets go if I want to go. Well coming back to the rafting it was all team work which was required .Though the rapids were not that much it was suitable for beginners and for all of us it was the first time. We started of following the instructions –front paddle and back paddle when required and stop when the instructor told us to .There was a rapid after every km or so and we faces around 6 small rapids which were definitely scary. We were all scared of falling out of raft every time we face a rapid .Suma was the one who was scared the most and in fact she was the only one who was also not listening to the instructions that were given. We all had to to paddle at the same time and with same speed but Suma was doing it slowly and as we both were sitting in the front we had to match our time. So finally I had to match her pace which was slow. Also every time the rapids came we were supposed to row fast to keep the raft in balance and supposed to hold the safety line in case we feel might fall out. But Suma was instead of rowing was holding the safety line in one hand and holding the paddle and my hand with the other hand .In between where the waters were calm the instructor, Hemanth who has 13 years of experience and belongs to Varanasi told all three of us to jump into the water. Leaving Suma both of us , me and Mushtaq jumped.I was very scared first as I did not know swimming but since we had life jackets on us I jumped. But since I did not know swimming it was very difficult for me to balance in the water but nevertheless it was a good experience for both of us. Hemanth was coaxing ,forcing Suma to jump into the water but she was just as stubborn about not jumping. Finally Hemanth unable to make Suma jump took out the helmet , filled water and poured it all on Suma’s head. It all happened in a fraction of seconds .We also did not realize what’s happening and also never expected Suma to react the way she did. She lost her cool and blasted the instructor .All of us were taken aback. But the situation was also take in control by Hemanth and later Suma apologized. Suma has a little health problem which made her react the way she did .Finally we completed our 5 km ride .We all joked with Hemanth that in all his 13 years experience this one was definitely challenging for him as he was unable to make Suma jump into the water.We all laughed heartily. We all thanked Hemath and his team and proceeded towards homestay. On the way back I also made a few purchases –coffee powder,pepper tea powder,ayurvedic oil. We reached by 6 pm had tea and thought we will visit sunset point once again and took off.But by the time we reached half way the the fog had enveloped the roads and we could not see in front. So we turned and came back as we dared not take a risk in the fog. We enjoyed the campfire the second night too and pulled Suma’s leg on the rafting experience. Finally after having dinner retired back to the tents. This time all three of us slept peacefully. The next day morning we thought of going once again to the sunset point as the place keeps beckoning us but were unable to make it this time also as we started our badminton match and continued late. I was sorry that I could not try archery but definitely next time. Yes I have plans to visit this place once again. Well we checkout out by 11 am after breakfast .We thanked our hosts and guides and promised them that we will come again .And we did not know that this come again would come so quickly because Mushtaq has already visited this place last week with his family to relive the experience once again but I am sure this time the experience was definitely different as we were not there this time.