Devarayanadurga - Our First Post

We are friends, two of us. Traveling on my bike to known and unknown places to be one with nature is one of the many interests we share. Though we have been traveling for quite some time this is our first attempt at blogging. So here goes......

Having watched two movies on the night of Saturday and going to bed only at 3.30 am it was inevitable that we would get up late on Sunday morning. It was the first Sunday of the month, 5th July, 2009. It was close to noon by the time we had our breakfast and headed out towards Tumkur road on the spur of the moment having thrown all mundane concerns of washing clothes, paying bills, groceries, cleaning etc., to the winds.

We had no specific place in mind and just as well. The Tumkur road was nothing like I remembered it. Ofcourse it had been quite some time since I had traveled in that part of the city. Once we managed to cross the Yeshwantpur junction the game of snake roads started. The ongoing Metro work meant we had to constantly move right and left. Right, there were no snakes on the road but the road itself had taken up a snake avatar.

By the time we left the snake road behind to hit the highway we saw some sheep grazing and the shepherd sitting a little distance away with an umbrella in his hand.
A little ahead we saw a board put up by the Karnataka tourism department. We had a choice of going to Shivagange, Siddaganga, Devarayanadurga, Madhugiri or Siddarabetta. After a little bit of you decide… no you decide between me and my partner the onus fell on me to pick a place to go to. What a slice of good luck it turned out to be that we decided to go to Devarayanadurga. Read on to find out why.

Though there were signboards which showed directions to Devarayanadurga there was a lingering doubt in my mind whether we were going in the right direction. At one of the toll booths we asked a policeman for the same. He was very helpful and gave us the directions.

Accordingly we continued till Kyathsandra and then turned towards the Siddaganga mutt. From the mutt we were directed towards the Urdigere road by two more very helpful policemen. Once on the Urdigere road we continued going straight. The drive all along gave us a treat of lush greenery all around. And then we saw something beautiful. Flowers… pink, white and purple embedded in green.
Namada chilume was just a few kilometers away when we decided to take a break to enjoy the trees and flowers all around us. Except for the occasional sound of vehicles passing by it was very quiet and peaceful.
It just got better when we noticed a few monkeys on the trees across the road. I wanted to shoot them and went across the road armed with my partner’s camera. It was a joy to watch them eat and play. There were a couple of very young ones clinging on to their mothers.
Pretty soon we reached Namada Chilume. I parked my bike and bought the entrance tickets. We had walked just a few steps past the gate when the rain Gods decided to show their pleasure (or was it their displeasure?). We ran towards the line of shops across the road and stood under the plastic sheet that was tied there. Churmuri and hot chilly bajjis kept us occupied till the rains abated.

It was a small walk to Namada chilume and I liked the sweet little place with some stone benches and a little pond.
The story goes that Lord Rama shot an arrow into the boulder to get water for preparing the tilak to apply to his forehead. Right next to the place from where water is spouting out of the boulder is the impression of Lord Rama’s feet (so they say).
There is a deer park within this compound. We watched the spotted deer and took some photographs. We left soon after for Devarayanadurga.
Though the drive was very short it was just beautiful. The view as we snaked up the road was, to say the least, breathtaking. The greenery, the mountains, the clouds……
The guard informed us that the temple on top was closed and only the other one was open. We decided to just look around and head back. As we were coming down the hill the Sun peeking out of the clouds was mesmerizing. We sighted a lot of birds too.
On our way back we decided not to go back towards Kyathsandra and took the road to the left which headed straight back to Bangalore. It turned out to be a good decision yet again as we passed a small water body. The lush green meadows, the serene waters, the rocks, the trees and just about everything was so beautiful that we decided we will visit this place again very soon.

After the late breakfast we had not eaten anything other than churmuri and chilly bajjis. So we decided to have an early dinner in one of the dhabas along the way. The law of averages had to catch up with us and it did. We saw a lot of dhabas on the other side of the road but none on the left. Finally we decided to take the Nice road instead of heading straight towards Yeshwantpur. It was kind of depressing because the Nice road, though good, is devoid of any shops and you can’t stop anywhere. By the time we got off the long Nice road we could not help but remember Saif Ali Khan’s dialogue in Dil Chahta Hai… “tumhe kya lagta hai? Main roz is takiye pe baithta hoon?”…….

P.S: For more pictures from this trip Click Here