Devarayanadurga bike ride was great, just like most of our bike trips earlier. For our weekend trip on Sunday 19th July, 2009 we decided to plan our trip for a change and Mekedaatu was the destination we came up with.
An early start as planned did not materialize and we started off at around 7.00 am in the morning. We hit Kankpura road and the Karnataka tourism department board declared Mekedaatu was 79 kms away.
As I was driving one of the buildings caught our eye and we decided to explore it a little. The board at the main gate said “Shankaraa… Yours for the arts”. Tailoring, embroidery, karate and a few other classes are held here what the elderly person at the security window told us. The compound wall itself caught our fancy. When we peeped inside Lord Ganesha was sitting pristinely under a lovely mantap. A few ducks waddling around on the lush green lawns inside the compound had me wishing I could be working in such a lovely place.
We had breakfast at Adiga’s and resumed our journey. Along the way we saw a pond filled with lotuses. It was a beautiful sight to watch. The lovely pink colored flowers dotting the green leaves compelled me to park my bike by the side and take a few pictures. A pleasant surprise was in store for us. A pheasant tailed jacana was stealthily walking around on the leaves. Alas!!! I could not manage to get a good shot of this beautiful bird.
It should not take more than 2 hours to cover about 80 kms. Ideally speaking that is. More than 5 hours might sound very difficult to explain but if you are crazy like us stopping at every possible opportunity to see the birds, butterflies, mountains, trees, flowers, passers by and the myriad interesting things around us then everything falls into place. How often do we stop to see a bird preen it’s feathers? When was the last time we stood still, afraid to even breathe, just to hear the lilting call of a bird? How often do we let the innocent radiant smile of a child captivate us? Have there been incidences where the sight of a mountain or a cloud invokes images of something else we have seen earlier? Ever wondered how that curious hollow in the trunk of a tree is formed?
Allowing our hearts to dictate the progress of our journey we moved along doing the things mentioned above. Just then the sight of a huge water body lured us into turning our bike towards it. A black shouldered kite perched on the electric cable grabbed our attention. We stood and watched. It rewarded us by taking off and flying around. And then… what we saw made us gasp in sheer admiration. The kite simply stopped in mid flight and stayed still, almost as if hanging in mid air. I had not seen something like this in south India. Only during one of my Himalayan treks had I seen a raptor do such a thing. If only I could have captured that moment on camera.
While walking towards the lake I stopped dead in my tracks. This grasshopper was the reason and it was gracious enough to pose for me before it decided to do the famous vanishing act of the Gods in Indian movies sans the sound effects (remember those TINGGGG sound effects?).
The lake was quite huge. Dark clouds majestically floated by in the sky. Mountain ranges sheathed in greenery where there were no huge boulders formed the background. A strong breeze created ripples in the water. These small ripples flowed towards the bank and back. They reminded me of a connoisseur of food lapping up a delicious dessert; slowly, gently, savoring it with all that he has.
The lake beckoned me with it’s soft gurgling sounds as it played with the stones on the bank. How could I not accept it’s invitation? Settling down on the edge of the lake I let it all soak in. The caress of the breeze let me know that it was happy with my taking time to sit there and be with them. I closed my eyes, content to just be there.
It was time to bid adieu to the lake and we slowly made our way back towards my bike. I picked up a dead dragonfly lying in our path. After taking a picture of it and putting it back down on the ground I looked back at the lake longingly.
Riding towards Mekedaatu we passed quite a few villages and we stopped at Aladahalli. It was already past noon and we were beginning to feel hungry. At one of the bakeries we had a quick bite and then started our journey again. It was a mistake that I did not ask for directions. Instead of taking a left turn we went straight ahead. A helpful villager thankfully gave us directions and we headed back. A curious arrangement of boulders halted our ride for a few minutes.
At one of the villages we saw a temple of Sri Mutturaya after whom the village was named.
Speeding towards Mekedaatu on a fairly good road I happened to notice a board which showed the direction for Chunchi falls. Yet again our hearts made the decision for us. Reaching the Chunchi colony we asked for directions and made our way towards the falls. There were a few cars and bikes parked announcing the presence of visitors. We made our way towards the falls and immediately realized that there was not much water. Instead of walking all the way down we decided to head back towards Mekedaatu.
Even before we could reach our bikes we found ourselves chasing birds and bees again. It was lovely to watch the birds and the bees suck the nectar from the flowers as they flew from one plant to another.
Here is a shot of the road we traveled on.
We finally reached Sangama and saw that the place was crowded as expected. The water level was much higher than during my previous visit. The garbage was also much more and I did not feel like venturing into the water. It is sad to see such a beautiful place being littered. Ahh… how many people have written this? And how many times??? Yet…
There was a huge crowd waiting to take the coracle to reach the other side. Looking at the number of people on the other side which leads to Mekedaatu we decided we will come back later when the crowd is likely to be smaller.
An early start as planned did not materialize and we started off at around 7.00 am in the morning. We hit Kankpura road and the Karnataka tourism department board declared Mekedaatu was 79 kms away.
As I was driving one of the buildings caught our eye and we decided to explore it a little. The board at the main gate said “Shankaraa… Yours for the arts”. Tailoring, embroidery, karate and a few other classes are held here what the elderly person at the security window told us. The compound wall itself caught our fancy. When we peeped inside Lord Ganesha was sitting pristinely under a lovely mantap. A few ducks waddling around on the lush green lawns inside the compound had me wishing I could be working in such a lovely place.
We had breakfast at Adiga’s and resumed our journey. Along the way we saw a pond filled with lotuses. It was a beautiful sight to watch. The lovely pink colored flowers dotting the green leaves compelled me to park my bike by the side and take a few pictures. A pleasant surprise was in store for us. A pheasant tailed jacana was stealthily walking around on the leaves. Alas!!! I could not manage to get a good shot of this beautiful bird.
It should not take more than 2 hours to cover about 80 kms. Ideally speaking that is. More than 5 hours might sound very difficult to explain but if you are crazy like us stopping at every possible opportunity to see the birds, butterflies, mountains, trees, flowers, passers by and the myriad interesting things around us then everything falls into place. How often do we stop to see a bird preen it’s feathers? When was the last time we stood still, afraid to even breathe, just to hear the lilting call of a bird? How often do we let the innocent radiant smile of a child captivate us? Have there been incidences where the sight of a mountain or a cloud invokes images of something else we have seen earlier? Ever wondered how that curious hollow in the trunk of a tree is formed?
Allowing our hearts to dictate the progress of our journey we moved along doing the things mentioned above. Just then the sight of a huge water body lured us into turning our bike towards it. A black shouldered kite perched on the electric cable grabbed our attention. We stood and watched. It rewarded us by taking off and flying around. And then… what we saw made us gasp in sheer admiration. The kite simply stopped in mid flight and stayed still, almost as if hanging in mid air. I had not seen something like this in south India. Only during one of my Himalayan treks had I seen a raptor do such a thing. If only I could have captured that moment on camera.
While walking towards the lake I stopped dead in my tracks. This grasshopper was the reason and it was gracious enough to pose for me before it decided to do the famous vanishing act of the Gods in Indian movies sans the sound effects (remember those TINGGGG sound effects?).
The lake was quite huge. Dark clouds majestically floated by in the sky. Mountain ranges sheathed in greenery where there were no huge boulders formed the background. A strong breeze created ripples in the water. These small ripples flowed towards the bank and back. They reminded me of a connoisseur of food lapping up a delicious dessert; slowly, gently, savoring it with all that he has.
The lake beckoned me with it’s soft gurgling sounds as it played with the stones on the bank. How could I not accept it’s invitation? Settling down on the edge of the lake I let it all soak in. The caress of the breeze let me know that it was happy with my taking time to sit there and be with them. I closed my eyes, content to just be there.
It was time to bid adieu to the lake and we slowly made our way back towards my bike. I picked up a dead dragonfly lying in our path. After taking a picture of it and putting it back down on the ground I looked back at the lake longingly.
Riding towards Mekedaatu we passed quite a few villages and we stopped at Aladahalli. It was already past noon and we were beginning to feel hungry. At one of the bakeries we had a quick bite and then started our journey again. It was a mistake that I did not ask for directions. Instead of taking a left turn we went straight ahead. A helpful villager thankfully gave us directions and we headed back. A curious arrangement of boulders halted our ride for a few minutes.
At one of the villages we saw a temple of Sri Mutturaya after whom the village was named.
Speeding towards Mekedaatu on a fairly good road I happened to notice a board which showed the direction for Chunchi falls. Yet again our hearts made the decision for us. Reaching the Chunchi colony we asked for directions and made our way towards the falls. There were a few cars and bikes parked announcing the presence of visitors. We made our way towards the falls and immediately realized that there was not much water. Instead of walking all the way down we decided to head back towards Mekedaatu.
Even before we could reach our bikes we found ourselves chasing birds and bees again. It was lovely to watch the birds and the bees suck the nectar from the flowers as they flew from one plant to another.
Here is a shot of the road we traveled on.
We finally reached Sangama and saw that the place was crowded as expected. The water level was much higher than during my previous visit. The garbage was also much more and I did not feel like venturing into the water. It is sad to see such a beautiful place being littered. Ahh… how many people have written this? And how many times??? Yet…
There was a huge crowd waiting to take the coracle to reach the other side. Looking at the number of people on the other side which leads to Mekedaatu we decided we will come back later when the crowd is likely to be smaller.
Our drive back was yet again dotted with lot of bird sightings. One more wonderful trip came to end. When we started Mekedaatu was our planned destination. We did not go there. But what we did see warmed our hearts and brought a smile on our faces.
To see rest of the photos from this trip Click here
Nice collections of cool snaps
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