Saturday, 10 September 2011
Its been a long time since I ventured out and also my swift
was waiting for a road trip. With my parents arrival I planned a quick trip to
Hoggenakal.
With different routes available, my colleague advised me to
take Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri route to reach hoggenakal. Indeed it was a
fabulous route. We started, albeit delayed, at 9am, through the slow
Saturday Bangalore traffic. But from Bommanahalli we got pace through, elevated
road, Hosur road and the not stop toll road till Dharmapuri. @Dharmapuri, we
avoided entering city, instead proceeded further and took the next deviation,
which is the exit for Hoggenakal. From here the falls is 45km. It is indeed
worth mentioning, class roads of Tamilnadu, even the interior roads are wider
and well maintained. After a drive of 196km, we reached Hoggenakal to a scorching
sunny day. Everywhere you have to pay for parking, entry fee. We parked the car
in Govt. parking and went on to see the falls at 12 noon!
Hoggenakal is famous for three things: oil massage, fresh
fish fry and booze. And we had to forgo all three things because of unique
combination of people in the trip :(
We walked till the main falls, passing through the Hanging Bridge, small water fall. Snacks, fruits
and cool drinks are available every where. The fall is Majestic to the core,
Kaveri at its splendor best. The water flow was full stream because of the
monsoon, because of which we missed the boat ride in the lower stream. When we
returned back to have the lunch it was almost 4. Mom’s delicious lunch with
fine packing was, as usual, the highlight.
After finishing lunch we were off to have coracle ride. The
entire package includes rickshaw drop, ride to other side of river (Karnataka
side), watch tower, time to get into water and ride back, with close view of
main falls comes to Rs.950, for six people for an hour and half. Muthu was our
savior for the next one hour. It was great to see the falls from Karnataka
side, and getting close to water fall was just electrifying. Got few boating
lesson from Muthu during ride.
It was 6 o'clock when we got down from coracle. We started
our journey back in the evening sunlight. The next 5 hours of night driving
filled with heavy rain fall added to the party. We finally reached home at
11:30pm.
A day well spent with my second love, Swift, and the loved
ones!
Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal
rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Nazar mein khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal
rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehna seekho
Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna seekho
Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein
Har ek pal ek naya samaa dekhiye
Jo apni aankhon mein hayraniyan leke chal
rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal
rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
-Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
We : Dad, Mom, Pachchu, Sudee and Me.
Transport : Maruthi Swift VXi.
Distance : 392km
