Avani Betta (Hills) hike, Kolar

The renowned mythological Avani hills was in our list for this year. Since we lived in Bangalore East, it was easy to cross city traffic towards Kolar road to reach Avani hills. Initially confused about outset of trail. Then we asked locals to reach the hike start location. There are no sign boards that leads to the entrance. The narrow village streets may also be clouding the signboards.

The trail is mix of mud path and etched steps over boulder. Nothing tedious though!

Avani means "Earth" in Sanskrit. SitaDevi was daughter of Mother Earth. Hence the hills would have been named as "Avani Hills". The hill has also connection to Ramayana era. The Avani hill echoes tale of Sita's unfortunate exile. It is believed that Sita mata stayed during exile. The hill involves moderate hike of 2-3kms. Not much steep anywhere. The gradient is smooth and at times straight walk. At times, you feel the hike has culminated but not. Until you reach the Sitadevi temple, the hike is incomplete!

AQI was great, the weather was benevolent, the azure skies glistened the vibrant greener landscape. As we soared up the hill, the views turned much more glorious. The panoramic views with lush green landscape with intermittent ponds were eye catching. The thunderstorm season makes these regions vibrant with greenery.

Throughout the journey,  artistic rock formation captivated us. Their edge balances is surreal to watch.

Many resting areas can be found throughout the trek. Some are like temple Mandapa where you can sit for a while before resuming hike.

Numerous small shrines of Shiva en-route to summit. Installed by both Rama and  Pandavas.  There is also Valmiki Ashrama where Sita spent her exile era. Reminds lot about Ramayana era.

Plenty of pictograph to be seen throughout the hike majorly depicting Ramayana characters

Midway of hike, you spot Dhanuskhoti is water spring amidst the boulder. A beautiful spot with plenty of fishes. Probably created from bow?

You spot many such water springs throughout the hike

At times, the hike can seem marginally steep. But there is nothing strenuous throughout the trail!

We are almost there!

After nearly an hour of hike, we finally reached the summit and had darshan of Sitadevi. It was mesmerising sight to behold the nature from summit. We had blessings of SitaDevi before leaving the temple.

A little lotus pond nearby temple.

We quickly descended post a joyous hike. It was smooth and nothing like steep anywhere. The intermittent clouds provided shelter from scorching sun. A final glimpse of mesmerizing nature as we descend the sacred hill. The nature scenes are unforgettable

Thats end. Not much scribbling since the hike was executed almost 2yrs back. The indolence dragged  the write-up for years. The image editing was the lengthiest part. I hope you like the journey.  The priest of temple explained the idols of sanctum beside the SitaDevi. Unfortunately, the information erased from my memory due to delay in writing. Perhaps I need to look up my old notes for any archived notes :-). Last but not least, a humble request to keep cleanliness and maintain sanctity of the place.

Here is brief video round up of our her hike

Here is a short of SeetaDevi Pooja

ಅವಿಯಲ್ ಪುಲಾವ್!

ಭರ್ಜರಿ ನಿಶ್ಚಿತಾರ್ಥ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಗುಂಡ ಮತ್ತು ಕುಟುಂಬ ಕೂಡಾ ಹಾಜರಿದ್ದರು. ಬಹಳ ಗ್ರ್ಯಾಂಡ್ ಅಲಂಕಾರ, ಜಗಮಗದ ದೀಪಗಳು, ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ಆಭರಣಗಳು ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಅಪೇಕ್ಷಿಸುವ ಭೋಜನ. ಭೋಜನಕ್ಕೆ ಬಹಳ ಜನಸಂದಣಿ ಕೂಡಾ ಇತ್ತು. ಹೇಗೂ ಗುಂಡನ ಕುಟುಂಬಕ್ಕೆ ಜಾಗ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತ್ತು. ಅದರ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಗುಂಡ ಇರುವ ಪದಾರ್ಥಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕಣ್ಣು ಹಾಯಿಸಿದನು.

ಭೋಜನ ಶುರು ವಾಗುವ ಮುಂಚೆ, "ಮಕ್ಕಳೇ ಪುಲಾವ್ ಇದೆ, ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಎಷ್ಟು ಬೇಕು ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಹಾಕೋಳಿ. ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ತಿನ್ನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಡಿ ಅನ್ನೋ ಸಲಹೆ ನೀಡಿದನು! ನಿನಗೂ ತಿಳಿತು ಅಲ್ವೇನೇ?" ಎಂದು ಮದಡಿಯನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿದನು.

"ಆಯ್ತು ಕಣ್ರೀ. ಆದರೆ ನಾನು ನೋಡಿದ ಹಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ನೀವೇ ಕ್ಯಾಟರಿಂಗ್ ವಹಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವಂತೆ ಮಾತನಾಡ್ತಾ ಇದೀರಾ?!" ಎಂದು ಸಂದೇಹ ಪಟ್ಟಳು.

"ಆದಿಕ್ಕೆ ಕಣೆ! ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಡೆ ನೋಡಬೇಕು ಅನ್ನೋದು. ಶಾರ್ಪ್ ಇರಬೇಕು ತಲೆ!" ಎಂದು ಗುಂಡ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆ ಪಟ್ಟನು.

ಊಟ ಶುರು ಆಯ್ತು. ಸಾರು ಮುಗೀತು, ಸಿಹಿತಿಂಡಿಗಳು ಬಂತು ಆದರೆ ಪಲಾವಿನ ಸುದ್ಧಿಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲ!

"ಅಲ್ರೀ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಶಾರ್ಪ್ ತಲೆ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ನೋಡಿದೆ ಅಲ್ವಾ? ಸಾರನ್ನ ಅರೆಬರೆ ತಿಂದೆ, ಇಷ್ಟವಾದ ಮಾವಿನಕಾಯಿ ಗೊಜ್ಜು ಬಿಟ್ಟೆ. ಇನ್ನೂ ಏನೇನು ಬಿಡಬೇಕೋ?!  " ಎಂದು ಮಡದಿ ಕುಟುಕಿದಳು. 

"ಯಾಕೆ ಗೇಲಿ ಮಾಡ್ತೀಯಾ? ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಈ ಕಡೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಊಟದ ಕ್ರಮ ಬೇರೆ ಇರಬೇಕು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ತಾಳು" ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಸಂದೇಹ ಆಯಿತು. 

"ಹೂ ಅಪ್ಪಾ. ಪಿಸ್ತಾ ಹೋಳಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಧನೇ ಹಾಕೋಂಡ್ವಿ. ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿತ್ತು ಬೇರೆ! ಎರಡನೇ ಬರಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ.. ಪಲಾವ್ ಬರುತ್ತೆ ಅಲ್ವಾಪ್ಪ " ಎಂದು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಕೂಡಾ ಸಂದೇಹದಿಂದ ಕೇಳಿದರು. 

"ಬರುತ್ತೆ ಕಣ್ರೋ! ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ತಾಳಿ" ಎಂದು ಅಪ್ಪ ಧೈರ್ಯ ತುಂಬಿದರು. 

ಇನ್ನೇನು ಪಾಯಸಕ್ಕೆ ಮುನ್ನ, ದೂರದಿಂದ ಹಸಿರು ಪದಾರ್ಥ ಇರುವ ಪಾತ್ರೆ ಕಾಣಿಸಿತು.

"ನೋಡೇ ಬಂದೆ ಬಿಡ್ತು. ಹೇಳಿಲ್ವಾ ನಾನು!" ಮತ್ತೆ ಗುಂಡ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯಿಂದ ಮಡದಿಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದನು. 

ಪಾತ್ರೆ ಹತ್ತಿರ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೆ ತಡ, ಆ ಹಸಿರು ಪದಾರ್ಥ ಪುಲಾವ್ ಆಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಬದಲಾಗಿ ಅವಿಯಲ್ ಆಗಿತ್ತು. 

ಗುಂಡನ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆ ಪೇಚಿಗೆ ಬದಲಾಯಿತು.

"ಏನು! ರಾಯರ ಪಲಾವ್ ಗೆ ನೀರು ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ಆಗಿದೀಯ ಅಥವಾ ತಮ್ಮ ಶಾರ್ಪ್ ಕಣ್ಣು ಡ್ರೈ ಆಗೀತ್ತೊ ಅವಿಯಲ್ ನೋಡಿದಾಗ? ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಊಟ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಹಾಳು ಮಾಡಿದ್ರಿ ನೋಡಿ! ಪುಲಾವ್ ಬದಲು ಅವಿಯಲ್ ತಯಾರಿಸಿ ಆಳೋ ತರ ಮಾಡಿದ್ರಿ. ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಊಟ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಮಿಸ್ ಆಯ್ತು. ಏನ್ ಗ್ರಹಚಾರನೋ. ಅನ್ನಕ್ಕೆ ಅವಿಯಲ್ ಹಾಕಿದರೆ ಅದೇ ಪುಲಾವ್ ಹೇಳೋದು ಬಾಕಿ ನೀವು. ಹೇಗೂ ಒಂದೇ ಮಸಾಲೆ ತರ ಟೆಸ್ಟ್ ಇದೆ ನೋಡಿ" ಎಂದು ಮಡದಿ ಕೊಂಕು ನುಡಿದಳು.

ನಿನ್ ಮಾತು ಕೇಳಿ ಅಪ್ಪಾ, ಸ್ವೀಟ್ ಕೂಡ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪನೆ ತಿಂದ್ವಿ :-( ಈಗ ಮತ್ತೆ ತರ್ಸಿ ಕೊಡು ಎಂದು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಕೂಡಾ ಅಪ್ಪನನ್ನು ಗೋಳು ಹೊಯ್ದುಕೊಂಡರು. 

ಎಲ್ಲರನ್ನೂ ತಣ್ಣಗೆ ಮಾಡಲು ಗುಂಡನು ಐಸ್-ಕ್ರೀಮ್ ಪಾರ್ಲರ್ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಿ ತಂಪು ಮಾಡಿದನು. ಇನ್ನೆಂದೂ ಇಂತಹ ತಪ್ಪು ಮಾಡದಿರಲು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿದನು. 

Shri Kshetra Gunavanteshwara Temple, Honnavara, UttaraKannada

The temple was in my list since the time I observed the welcome gate towards Gunavanteshwara temple on the way to Idagunji temple. This time during our break in Honnavara, we decided to visit this sacred place which is one of the "Panchalinga Kshetra" often visited alongside other AtmaLinga kshetras Murudeshwara, Sajjeshwara, Dhareshwara and Gokarna. While Sajjeshwara was far from our location, Gunavanteshwara was nearby and en-route to native. It was surprising when I located the temple in navigation. This place was proximate to main National Highway. It was exciting moment as well painful moment. Painful because I failed to notice the revered place even though it was close to highway.

After departing from Honnavara post a successful break, we first headed towards Gunavanteshwara temple. It was just 1-2kms from main highway and we reached the temple. Gunavanthe is village situated in Honnavara-Nagarabasthikere road. The temple had huge area and large lake in front of it. Unfortunately, the temple was under renovation and we could not much rejoice the visit. The snactum door was also shut. People of village mentioned that temple would open post 3PM. However, we couldn't find anyone opening the door. Fortunately, the deity was seen through narrow gap of sanctum door. We had brief darshan of deity "Lord Shiva" and sought his blessings. Perhaps, the deity expects us to have another visit once renovation concludes. The renovation work is 70% done as per my estimate. It may consume another year to conclude the renovation subject to sufficient funding.

Bounded by lush fields and beautiful nature, Gunavanthe is truly blessed pilgrimage location. I didn't capture much images since the debris dominated the temple. Here is a short video from our visit which mostly from sanctum. Hope to capture more pictures during my next visit post renovation

Renovated Hemavathy River Ugama Sthana, Javalli, Chikmagaluru

Our last visit to Hemavathy river Ugama Sthana (Birth place) was disappointing except for spotting of chestnut headed bee eater. The sacred place was under renovation. 

My uncle who recently visited our house warned me not to drive via Shirady Ghat until work is completely done. Otherwise, there was high risk of breaking my car suspension. The car left front suspension is already making noises and travel along this route with partially broken legs of car would be edgy. Hence we decided to drive via Charmadi Ghat during return to Bengaluru. That was wise decision as well. En-route, we recalled the completion of Hemavathy origin point renovation and whimsically decided to steer towards the holy place to seek blessings. The car took deviation from Kottigehara towards Javali village which would cost us additional 1hour which was worth every second.

The google maps shows a long route, but 1.5 kms from Balur deviation, the welcome arch greets you to entrance of Hemavathy Ugama sthana. From here, it is 1.5kms of drive through dense jungle over neatly paved concrete road. A large tree had fallen on road during our last visit which faintly paused our drive. Since it was negotiable, we moved forward. This time, it was nice and smooth till the river originating point. As we parked car nearby the holy place, it was experience of true divinity . The thick forests are major contributor to divinity The renovation is clean and rubbles were cleared. Once we got down, we headed straight to take blessings from sacred place.

The place consists of small temple of Lord ganesha followed by the originating point of river Hemavathy located adjacent to the temple. A large pond welcomes the visitors where the water from birth place accumulates before flowing as river. The river originates from surrounding hills and flows through mouth of Nandi and gathers with larger volume at the larger pond nearby. The area where river originates is locked to maintain sanctity of the place. Being festival day of Hindu calendar new year, the temple was open till evening. On other days, the priest would perform religious rituals by 10AM before closing the temple. The priest stays in Balur which cuts the temple timings. There is facility for priest at this place but seems to be ill-maintained which forces them to stay at nearby villages. We were fortunate to visit on this auspicious day which permitted us to seek blessings of Lord Ganesha.

A short pond situated at the birth place of river. The larger pond where river water accumulates, is open to anyone. Please make the area clean. We sprinkled holy water on to us and took blessings of Goddess Hemavathy. Local feed the holy fishes swimming in the pond with puffed rice. Puffed rice need to be provisioned from nearby towns or villages. No stores are located nearby the place.

It was healthy 30mins stay and invaluable one. Here is a short from visit!

Photo Blog - Behind bars of city

This is view from balcony of our current rented house. The nets are installed to prevent pigeons entering balcony. Their rampant defecation is unbearable. Hence nets are inevitable

Ironically it feels like, we are behind the bars of city. Struggling to avoid the feral pigeons, facing water crisis, squandering time in traffic, eating unhealthy fastfood, guzzling the city pollutants resulting in various diseases. We are literally jailed in city with native visit becoming rarity. The high cost of living makes it difficult to leave the city easily unless you are born rich. The narrow aisles of city streets, the tightly knit houses, the encroached roads and what not the daily race to office will make you feel like literally jailed in city mess. Consequently, these nets apparently are not to prevent from pigeons but prevent ourselves from invasion. They still fly freely in the sky but we can't even get a natural glimpse from our balcony. It looks like we are gazing the cityscape behind the bars of net.

Vibrant Burude Falls (aka Ilimane Falls), Siddapura, Uttara Kannada district

Burude falls was once a trekkers paradise. Tough to reach, treacherous trails, biting leeches and dense jungles. It was impossible to view this falls during monsoon season due to tough terrains. I had aspirations to visit the falls while trekking was active, but now clean approach exists till falls. Hence this was just a visit than trekking. However, my long dream of visiting falls finally fulfilled!

We drove along Kumta-Siddapura highway as instructed by google maps. The roads are half great, half worn out. The dense jungle starts at mid way which is outset of Sharavati Wildlife sanctuary. The roads are way too curvy with less visibility. River Aghanashini runs almost parallel to the highway and can be sighted intermittently throughout the drive. Once the steep ghat section road is over, you reach the junction which shows deviation towards burude falls. The government has constructed 7kms of approach road from kumta-siddapura highway to reach waterfalls. It is well laid but single lane. Two car crossing is also difficult. Fortunately, hardly any visitor during our arrival. With ample time left and less crowd, it was easy to explore the waterfall.

The authorities have constructed resting platform as well at the arrival point as well at view point. The view point is around 200-300 steps in length. Once can beautifully watch the energetic waterfalls plunging from deep dense jungles of Western ghats.

It is possible to reach the base by trekking for 200mts along tough terrain. The trail consists of long boulders, stream paths, slippery muddy tracks. Few boulders are so high that one needs to crawl to cross. At times, the trail is narrow and slippery. Somehow I managed to reach with kids with hefty sweating. I would say, it is worth visiting the base of waterfall to view the beauty!

Burude is cascade falls which has 6 stages I guess. Only 3 stages are visible from the location. The waterfall merges with Aghanashini river at terminal point. Many death incidents have been reported here and please stop being heroic with nature. Despite the foggy mind, I decided to go for it. This was not adventure but an experience. The reason I decided to trek down despite ordeals is because of foreseeing such incidents by mischievous people. If incidents of death is frequent, then authorities would be forced to close the trail to waterfalls. It is also rarity to visit the waterfalls considering the distance. Hence it is better to complete every activity as visitor than restraining ourselves.

The waterfall is also known as Ilimane falls due to village Ilimane where it is located. Burude means skull in Kannada. Not sure why such name is given to waterfall. I will update the blog when I gather information. The waterfall was energetic despite the monsoon exit more than 2 months ago. Its sound was vibrating and reverberating through the dense rainforest from significant distance. Also the native rainforest birds were chirping amidst the dense jungle. Some of our relatives who were with us experienced leech bites too! We enjoyed for nearly 90 mins at this location. The down-hike and return hike in total might consume more time depending on person. If you are skeptical, do not hike and just enjoy from distance. Gently play in water, do not go for adventure. Your life is precious or just enjoy the beauty of roaring waterfall. 

The waterfall is easy to reach via road. Follow google maps and drive further 1.5kms. The location pinned in google maps is not accurate since mobile signal is not available exactly at burude falls. Hence drive needs to continue for at least 1.5kms to reach the falls parking area. One feels lost once google indicates on arrival of location because of absence of signboards. But do not panic! Follow the road further to reach destination. The last 500m is muddy road through dense jungles. So don't be boggled and intimidated! Follow the path and enjoy the magnificent nature. We were too anxious once navigation ended. But signboard after few mtrs distance enhanced our confidence. Anyway, skepticism ends only once you reach final destination :-). The roar of waterfall is only the confident factor once you loose navigation. Additionally, download offline maps when you have network (Siddapura or Kumta).

Here is short from our 90 mins visit.  Mathighatta and Bennehole falls are planned during next visit to Uttarakannada