Btw, yet another mini-travel happened this weekend to Nandhi Hills on our way to a Colleague’s engagement. It had rained the previous night and Nandhi Hills was magnificent.
Last Saturday, I was part of a 15 member gang heading towards Shivanasamudra and Talakad. The gang was none other than my office mates. The trip kicked off with me pulling a argument with my office security for not allowing me park my cycle because I was wearing shorts and he did not allow me in. What the hell!! I have worked in office with shorts many times in the past 2 years and where did this *new* rule come from??? After some quarrel, he then allowed us to park the cycle inside. Somebody tell this moron “Security” that this is not a firm that has “Dress Code”!!! Actually the trip started a bit on the dull side (atleast for me); may be because I had passed the same place on Bikes during the Independence trip or may be my body was begging for rest from the excess work and traveling that I have been doing for quite sometime. To top it, Shivanasamudram was kinda disappointing. The falls is amazing and all, but where is that excitement????
Yeah, the trip’s mood changed. We had lunch and then headed to explore the temples of the nearby forest area. The architectures and sculptures are really worth mentioning here. Returned back to Bengalooru at around 10 PM.August 15th, 1947 - India became free!! August 15th - 2007 - 5:00 AM; the mobile starts singing the lovely “Nare Nare..” song. I pick up the call and the person at the other end shouts “Abey, Ut jah. Paanch baje” (Translation: Dude, get up, its 5 already!!). There we were on the bikes outside our homes at around 5:45 AM ready to start the journey which everyone of us were waiting for. Its the Independence day and we are off to Bheemeshwari (A nice Fishing, nature camp on the river banks of Cauvery) naming our trip as the Independence trip - “Express your freedom and relax, Have fun”. We were joined by 4 other friends and off we all rode away from the concrete jungle; Away from any signs of software. We stopped for breakfast at Kanakpura (40Kms from Bangalore), after which we rode like crazy “Wild Hogs” enjoying the beauty of mother nature combined with the wonderful cloudy, cool weather.
We reached the camp only to find out that people without booking were not allowed inside. “What the fscking hell!!! WE had called up and this rule was not mentioned!!!” The last thing we wanted was to just return back. Thanks to Nagendra, who somehow convinced the manager and guess what we were on our way to experience “White water rafting”. Yay yay!! Its a lot of fun and very relaxing. After the amazing 8 Km rafting we relaxed on the hammocks, ate lunch and wandered around for sometime. We started our journey back to Bangalore at around 3:30 PM and reached Bangalore at around 6PM. We had made several pit stops while returning. I repeat and will keep repeating - It is fun! It is fun!!!
Outcome: I am going to try the grade 2-3 rapids near Dandeli (North Karnataka) and then head to Rishikesh to rock on the Grade 4-5 rapids of Mother Ganga!! Its fun. Its fun!
Complete flickr Photo set here