Racing the monsoon...

7:30pm 2, July 2008

The day just went by finishing all the paper work, in my new office. Evening, I started off to my room and the rain started pouring with all its might. Knowing very well the B'lore rain, which stops in half an hour, I just stopped by at a Bus Stop. To my surprise, it continued raining for more than an hour or two. The crowd at the bus stop got bigger as time passed.

A bunch of students who joined crowd and the evening rain, brought the memories of my MTech days. The ultimate part of every ones life, to be a student. The sheer enjoyment, the exams, the results, the assignments, the lecturers, the internals, the copying, the GFs, the girls at the CSE classes, the breaks, the free times, the commuting, burning midnight oils...... The list just goes bigger and bigger...

My Batch
It was my privilege to have some of good people around me at the time of my Masters. Few (many!) were just out of BE, some who have passed many milestones in life and some who are just enjoying their life!! People from different corners of India: Kashmir to Kerala, Manipur to Andhra. And many from my own ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡು. Also it was good to have our lecturers, who were just like our friends.

The unforgettable experience of trekking to Kumara parvatha, the friends visit to my home, [not to forget the 1st sem result :( ],VTU fest [not so good experience], the marriage of my friend, the campus interviews and the big *$&@( thing! Still miss some of these memories, (Some have gone very far), but life has to go on. Chalthi ka naam gaaDi!!

I'm sure, the ever green memories will haunt me, time to time.

9:30pm
With the rain stopping, I started my Pulsar and started roaring on the traffic less road.

ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯೇ.. ಏನು ನಿನ್ನ ಹನಿಗಳ ಲೀಲೆ..

We can not define happiness or for that sake it can not be transferred from one to other. It has to be felt by heart. It comes from the people around you. Sometimes just the memory of few good people, will bring that happiness.

Mekedatu, Chunchi falls.....

21, June 2008

The sky was bright and the weather was good, the ideal setting for a trip to Mekedatu and Chunchi falls.

A week of discussions with friends as to go by bike or a car, and few people dropping out, we finally decided on a two wheeler ride to the falls and the Sangama.

Having breakfast at Vaishali (Jayanagar 9th block) we were off to a flying start at 8:45am. Except in the city limit the traffic was relatively low on the Kanakapura road. It was fun to ride with all five bikes together. By 10am we were nearing the Kanakapura (53km from B'lore). We had to take left turn at a junction after Kanakapura town. Except for a small patch of bad road, the entire stretch was relatively good. We reached the Sangama at 11:30am (88km from B'lore and 35km from Kanakapura).

The Sangama is the confluence of river Kaveri and river Arkavathy. As we had to cross the river to go to Mekedatu we parked our bikes on the river bank and walked in the knee deep water. Some cars (not all it was a Pajero!!) and some other bike raiders indeed crossed the flowing river. All ten of us boarded a jeep to reach Mekedatu (4 km from Sangama: both way journey they charge 40/head).

After a bumpy ride on the dakota jeep and the welcome party from the Monkeys, we were at Mekedatu at 12 noon. The natures beauty just left us spell bound. The calm looking river on the Sangama, suddenly started gushing through the narrow granite ridge. Is it the same river that we just passed on our bare foot? The nature is very tricky!!

There we could see all types of rock formation, the water has craved the granite at its will. There is only one stone that might be a part of a bridge like structure which goat might have used for jumping. (So the name Mekedatu - Goats Leap). But there was no sign of any goat nearby :)

The only spoiler of this natures creation is man: We could see all plastic bottles, liquor bottles across all the places. After spending some time there, we were back to board the bus. They have built a small gazebo for resting. Having snacks we boarded the dakota bus to reach the Sangama. Spent some time playing in silent river water.

1:30pm Chunchi falls

We were off to visit another place: Chunchi falls.It is 16 km f rom Sangama. (Take a right deviation after riding for 10km from Sangama-on the same route. Travel another 6 km of interior road). When we reached, there was no signs of falls to be seen for distance away. We took the help of two small boys(child labour!!) who guided us to the small water fall(2:00pm). The place was just hair raising: the deep crater, the small stream of water rushing down the boulders, the granite formation. Thanks to those kids, without whom we could not have reached this place :)

Final trekking to reach the bike was most tiresome, as there was no food or no water. When we returned to top it was 3:00pm. We reached Kanakapura at 4 and had lunch at a road side restaurant(Suchee).

As it rained in B'lore, weather turned cool and appeared as if the city was welcoming the heroes of Mekedatu!! The roaring engines came to silence at 6:00pm.

ನೆನೆದಿದೆ ಮೈಯೆಲ್ಲ ಸುರಿಯುವ ಮಳೆಯಲಿ

ನೆನೆದಿದೆ ನನ್ನೆದೆ ನಿನ್ನೊಲವಿನ ಸುಧೆಯಲಿ*

We the people : Myself, MoTe, Shashi, Avi,BhaTTa, PuTTa, Manja, Saithi, Gauthu, Chetu
Transport : Pulsar, XCD, Discover, Victor, RX135
Total journey 190km
* Thanks to my friend Girish Shetty for writing such beautiful quotes!