Ascending Savandurga monolithic rock hill

It has been long time since we climbed the monolithic rock hill. Finally here are some ramblings from our experiences :-). Hope you enjoy the same!

23 Nov 2013,

Following our candid visit to Hogenakal waterfalls, this was another one. People in internet world were commenting about complexity of the hill climb and many of them had retreated. We were bit skeptical again as to go or not suspecting our own strength. However Rajesh was still confident of making it and we decided to give it try. Since distance from city was mere 50-60kms, we planned to commute by bike. Eventually it was climbing the one of largest monolithic rock hills of Asia this saturday. The Saturday morning was unusually cloudy. I believe it was effect of cyclone 'HELEN'. The calm snippy weather from past few days was masked by somewhat humid and gloomy weather all of sudden. We planned to reach early since the rocks get heated up as day prolongs to noon. However the cloudy weather provided some favorable conditions to climb during odd hours of day. Even this time, me and Rajesh were the only candidates for travel.

Myself and Rajesh started our journey towards Mysore road around 9AM. As expected, the city roads were already clogged with vehicular traffic and we had snail ride till Mysore road. Later on, the ride was very smooth and reached Macnhinbele Dam around 10:45AM. The reservoir did not seem to have water storage as compared to our last visit. I took some shots here and we moved on. The day was very hazy due to presence of clouds and consequently bad day for photo shoots. Despite having good CPL filter this time, the photos turned out to be too much hazy :-(.

MANCHINBELE RESERVOIR

From here Savandurga is 13kms. There is proper signboard which guides vehicles to divert along appropriate route. After manchinbele reservoir, keep watching for signboards installed by Tourism department. The last 13kms is ride along the forest. The forest is moderately dense with feeble civilization. This area is marked as reserved forest which mean no agricultural, plantation or human related activities are permitted. Some people have also spotted leopards and bears along this route. The road is tortured with humongous amount of potholes. It was not at all smooth ride till we reached Magadi main road. The road from Manchinbele dam meets Magadi Road 2kms just before Savandurga. From this junction, the diversion point is half a kilometer away. One can spot arch leading to Savandurga with many shops as landmark. From here 2kms along the muddy road, leads to foothill of Savanadurga. Around 11:30PM, we were in Savandurga and ready to climb!

FOREST ROUTE

WE ARE READY TO CLIMB

Savandurga is one of Asia's largest monolith rock hill. The peak is around 1200m above sea level. This is prominent among adventurous rock climbers. There are many paths leading to peak however we moved along designated trail where one can climb without any gears. The department has marked the trail on the rocks and boulders and hence no question of losing direction. As we started our climb, we could see many people climbing down. It means that people prefer early morning trek to avoid heating up of rocks by Sun. The cloudy weather provided conducive environment to climb the rocky hill. At times, I felt only two of us were climbing and others have already finished the trail :-). Just before the climb, we enquired the people who had already the finished the climb. On an average it was 90mins as we heard from people.

We started climbing slowly towards our destination. May be I started in hustle and consequently got tired at early stages itself. Rajesh suggested me to climb the grade comfortably so that I don't suffer early tiredness. That worked out as well. Within few moments I converged :-). Since Rajesh is experienced trekker, his heuristics had helped me here ;-). We were slowly climbing towards the peak. There is nothing on the way except for boulders and tiny protective walls. These structures were constructed early during Magadi Kempegowda regime to combat enemy lines. The structure is made of red stones and stones are bound using mixture of egg, limestone and other ingredients. It is really surprising to note as how materials were transported in olden days. We finished the first stage of climb and here comes toughest among all stretches! The gradient is bit steep here and authorities have carved small imprints of foot to allow smooth climb. Still I had to  crawl for some distance to reach the finishing line ;-). It does not end here :-). Later on, one has to careful walk through narrow lines to reach peak of second level! Do not dare to look behind. It will be too much intimidating and earth's gravity tends to pull you down ;-). Along the journey, we came across group of kids belonging to scouts and guides returning back from successful climb. Rajesh warned me not to compare ourselves with kids since they can easily climb up and down due to lesser weight :-). Even my nephew climbs these grades pretty easily :-).

GRASS ON ROCKS

CACTUS

We were toiling towards peak and sweating hard. Even in cloudy and bit cool weather, the river of sweat was all over body. By the time we reached second stage, entire shirt was under sweat. At times we felt like removing the shirt and progress further :-). The ridge before second stage was bit difficult to negotiate since it was very narrow. At last we managed to reach second stage. Our only concern was now the return journey. We were quite mystical about climbing down the steep grade. Eventually we threw our anxiety and decided to think about it during return journey.

The third stage is much easier than rest of two. The steep is around 60degree in slope and can be managed very easily. After you climb this stage, you will find abandoned structures and small pond. This is not the last point :D. From here one can view the Nandi temple. There is proper marking and trail to reach the place. This path not so straight forward too! We need to walk through the narrow boulder openings sometimes [bit hard for heavyweights like me ;-)]. There are also chances of sliding! Again a healthy 20 minutes walk+climb for short distance. Just before we reach the nandi, there is again small steep slope one has to cross and narrow passes.

GUARD WALL BEING USED DURING BATTLES

ONE OF THE STRUCTURE

POND WITH MANCHINBELE RESERVOIR VIEW

NARROW PASS

WE ARE ALMOST THRE!

At last here we are in peak and there were good number of people resting at this place. Rajesh checked the time and it was 12:50PM. Wow! We had reached finishing line in 80 minutes which was less time than normal person takes ;-). To be honest, we would have reached early if I had climbed sanely :-). My pit-stops added bit of delay ;-). Nevertheless, we were happy to reach the peak since many had retreated in middle ;-). The view from top is breathtaking with earth's gravity tempting you to jump ;-). But please do not jump or else you will end up in heaven :-). I took some pictures but again haze added too much noise to photographs. We also enjoyed the view of Manchinbele reservoir and Thippegondanahalli reservoir which are clearly visible from peak along with cool breeze. We had oranges and water after reaching peak. After some time, myself and Rajesh were the only people left in peak. We had healthy 60 minutes break in solitude and sky showed signs of downpour. 2:10PM sharp we started climbing down. It was slightly drizzling too! Even gentle drizzle will jeopardize down-hilling. There are also marshy regions along the way at some places. Beware of them and avoid since they tend to cause slippery. Good thing about the place is the rocks itself have so much grip on them. Unlike smooth rocks found in waterfall area, the asperity on rocks here adds much more grip to your footwear.

WE REACHED TOP :-)

NANDI TEMPLE

NANDI STATUE

While climbing down, huge boulders once again attracted us. Also there were marks of desperate lovers craving for attention :-). It is difficult to understand psychology of such stupid attention seekers spoiling beautiful nature. Moving on, climbing down was pretty much easy that we easily went past the steep grades. We never felt fatigue too! All our worries were rendered futile :D. A smooth crawl along steep slope will easily get through them. We had unnecessary apprehensions about the same and eventually nothing was complicated as predicted. I remembered sayings of my father to never regret past and not to worry much about future. Everything takes its own time to calm down! Even Rajesh is such calm and down-to-earth person who never hesitates to criticize even me :-). I have learned lot from him (and still learning) to be yourself than impressing others.

Enough of fable :D. There are so many lizards matching the texture and color of rocks and difficult to spot unless they are moving. Nothing to worry since they are harmless and run away seeing humans. The last stage of journey, we spotted monkeys looking out for food :-). They are fun to watch unless not attacking you ;-). Overall, a moderate trek altogether despite of above mentioned complications (do not compare with Kumara-Parvata or Kodachadri ranges). The only lamenting part was the haze which provided untidy atmosphere for photography. Not a good for photography at all since most of them were filled with tremendous amount of haze. End of day the climb, crawl and bend provided great workout for entire body and we were excited after returning successfully. Also we were thankful to mother nature for holding natural umbrella for us by covering sky with clouds without any rains.

Beneath the hills there are two temples. One is Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple situated right beneath while other is Veerabhadraswamy temple situated a few meters away. Most of the people usually visit Savandurga for temples than climbing. There are many petty shops nearby foothill selling tender coconut, liquid stuffs and light food items. Gift your body with refreshing tender coconut after completing the trek ;-) and we had it too! Myself gifted with churmuri as bonus item :-). There are no hotels nearby. If you finish the trek by 3PM, it is possible to have free meals in Veerabhadraswamy temple. We were slightly late around 3:15PM. Prior to that we had consumed good amount of season's fruit which was orange. Again it was Rajesh's suggestion to have season fruit. He was right when said, it is healthy to have particular season's fruit which grows in abundant naturally. Nature yields proper fruits for respective seasons to counter seasonal changes.

LAKSHMI NARASIMHASWAMY TEMPLE

VEERABHADRASWAMY TEMPLE

Some tips:

1) Rajesh had good grip shoes while I was wearing chappals. But do avoid chappals and get good grip shoes if you wish to climb. I did that mistake but got through smoothly but please do not commit that mistake.
2) Avoid rainy season and hot Sun. Rains transform the rock to marshy surface and it will be too mcuh slippery. Start as early as possible and target to finish by 11AM.
3) Many vendors sell glucose powder here. If you foresee energy drain, please carry one for you!
4) Carry your own lunch if you do not wish to have it in temple.
5) Last but not least, there is no trash bin atop hills or along the way. Please carry the garbage back and dump in the garbage area near foothill.

We started back towards Bangalore at 3:45PM along Magadi route to visit Tippegondanahalli Dam. Unfortunately, the place is closed for public visit and we had no choice to contiue our journey towards the city. The state highway is from Kunigal to Sunkadakatte which was very evenly laid. We use to take this road during the time of NH-4 6 lane construction near Nelamangala junction to avoid traffic. As expected we faced traffic snarls. It started raining near Nagashettihalli and took shelter for sometime nearby a shop. The rain gained intensity as we neared BEL circle and one more shelter under the underpass. Furthermore, we rode with the drizzle and it persisted till K R Puram. Later on, there was no rain at all. Next day was all history which was Bangalore's highest rain in Novemeber after 44 years recording 106mm. Fortunately for us, there was no rain past KR Puram and we reached niche pretty comfortably.

The blog turned out to be pretty quite lengthy. Even though I strive to trim it down, I cannot refrain from scribbling those unique moments of journey. Finally the integration of small things creates a lengthy writeup. Hope you enjoyed the write-up. Any constructive critiques are always welcome [images + literature]. Since the day was full of haze not much things could be done. Here is a HDR and panorama composed during the journey. Most of the part is covered with haze and nothing much to brag about! I did capture timelapse but went in vain due to presence of haze.

HDR ENROUTE

PANORAMIC VIEW FROM TOP OF HILL

Time taken for trek:
2hours (80minutes for ascend and 40minutes for descend)

Credits:

• One more time Rajesh for his thorough review and riding majority of distance.
• Also my beautiful and sturdy bike for bearing the journey despite not being overhauled for many months
• All those rural people who guided us to find the route.

Route:

To:

SilkBoard->Mysore-Road->Big-Banyan-Tree->Manchinbele->Savandurga (60 kms)

Fro: Savandurga->Magadi->Sunkadakatte->Gorugontepalya->Hebbala->Marathahalli->SilkBoard (80kms)
Total Distance covered: 140kms (80kms Rajesh + 60kms myself)

Skywatch Friday: Beyond The Horizon

Recently I had been to hometown. Whenever I get an opportunity, I love to visit beautiful shorelines of Kaup beach which is mere 6kms from my village. The light house, the dazzling sun, gorgeous backwaters, the distant horizon, compels me to visit as frequently as possible. Here are some pictures shot during the visit. There was colorful sunset in between strip of stratocumulous clouds which illuminated the atmosphere with spectacular patterns :-). Every beach visit has been unique for me with mother nature showing up with vivid patterns.

KAUP BEACH SHORE LINE WITH GORGEOUS BACKWATERS

THE MAJESTIC SHORE-LINE FROM TOP OF LIGHT HOUSE

LOOK INTO THE SKY!

Last but not the least, the visit is never completed without a dose of tasty churumuri :-). But as always there are candidates for it beyond human race :-(.

THE CURIOUS GUEST :D

This guy is owned by some beach worker was lethargically resting on dunes. As soon as he saw my churumuri, he slowly woke up and sat in front of me :-). Since everyone had finished their part and I was the last to finish, I was the only choice for him :-(. I had kept camera for short timelapse and had to drive him away from tripod so that he does not get lured by pole of tripod :D. Also, if I don't feed him, there was chances of taking revenge on me nearby tripod :-). Eventually we fed him with some snacks not because of revenge but his innocent face compelled us to feed some food.

Back to title, I was excited after seeing the dead straight horizon at far end. Looking at the panoramic view of Kaup beach, the title flashed on to my mind. We never know what is in store Beyond Horizon of our life. Just enjoy what is present and what is within the horizon. Don't confuse your life having expectations beyond horizon. Keep yourself busy (ex: nurturing your hobbies) so that you don't program your mind to have nasty expectations. What lies beyond horizon is only imagination and do not expect to happen your way. You can only hope for best. Whatever happens, accept it gracefully and  enjoy the journey. Yes, these things are difficult to follow yet we can achieve to certain extent. I am practicing it gradually :-) and as first step, I saw lot beauty in my backyard which I have shared above ;-). Beyond horizon, I don't know to swim and hence settled within horizon ;-).

Also within the horizon enjoy the beautiful composition of British musician Cymatics - Beyond Horizon. He is producing new songs with code name "Innersync". The exciting part of music is the orchestral breakdown. It has heart breaking melody with soothing sound of piano! 20% of blog posts arise out of such compelling music which communicate deep emotions in their chords. If you admire uplifting trance music do listen to music here.

Innersync - Beyond The Horizon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCikrEZ_QxY

If you wish to participate in weekly skywatch theme and join people beyond your horizon, create a blogpost with self-clicked picture containing sky and link blog URL here. Do not miss to visit other people's page and appreciate their efforts too!

Skywatch Friday: Boundless light

Nature always inspires me to take my camera, lens and finally the blogs :-). It is because of such beautiful setup by mother nature which inspired me to dwell into photography. As always been murmuring in blog posts, my main interests are in landscape and timelapse photography however nowadays I am also lured towards HDR and architecture photography. These were some of the HDR shots composed during my recent visit to Kaup beach. Nowadays I love composing HDR shots after I switched to RAW from JPEG. I even wish to capture normal shots in RAW but honestly hard disks are getting exhausted :-(. Consequently for single exposures, I shoot RAW which I find interesting.

One of my favorite hobby is to stare at the sky :D especially during monsoon season to understand the formation of clouds and the storm build ups. Others include watching those glorious rays of Sun sinking down the horizon during golden hour with vivid patterns. Consequently, whenever I travel to hometown, I don't miss a chance to visit Kaup beach or Kudremukh rainforests during monsoon season. While the seascape filled with yellow shines the lovely Kudremukh forests would be painted green with pristine water flowing along brimming streams and thundering waterfalls :-).

The day, there was beautiful golden hour Sun piercing through stratocumulous clouds illuminating the sky with dramatic patterns of orange-yellow colors. That tempted me to grab the HDR shots basically to have the land, sea, clouds and sky and sun exposed in image. The shots are blend of 5 RAW images with exposures from -2 to 2 (except for second one which is 7 [-3 to 3]). Since the SUN was less intense than usual, even shooting towards SUN with 5 expsoures were enough. Usually shooting towards SUN requires 7 exposures. The images were blended and tonemapped with Luminance HDR (Fatal operator) and final touch-up with dark table. For some images, beta value of fatal operator was reduced to expose the shadows well. For second image, I was just hoping for scooter boat to remain steady and fortunately it remained so :-). Later the mighty sea tides turned it 90 degrees towards right. By then, my HDR composition was completed :-). Especially I love the first two images :-). I can use them as wallpapers from now onwards with special tag as self composed ;-).

Boundless scattered light ;-)

Boundless light behind the rocks

Today's theme for Skywatch is boundless light. Now for title, after watching those glorious rays of Sun, this title flashed on to my mind. Boundless light with bountiful colors :D. It seems like the sky is spraying colorful light on earth :D. The SUN obviously has boundless light and energy. It is also star twinkling in distant world! Let our life be filled with bountiful of light amidst darkness. Even if darkness galore, lets make sure we find little light in there.

Finally hear one of beautiful Music from Mr.Gordon codenamed New World from US, "Boundless light". I describe him as musical genius. He was just 21 when he composed such an outstanding music :-). He is right example for enthusiasm and passion. His hard work and passion in musical instruments has drawn such magical talent in him at a tender age. His unique style of crafting uplifting music (especially a brief melody at end of music without bass) has elevated him to epitome of music.  Whenever new music roles out of his talent, he is champ! The melodious lead riffs, scintillating orchestral melody are his specials :D. They are absolutely stunning :-). I have to learn lot from this young guy's passion which helped him to achieve such musical loftiness. He has been one of my favorite music producers since introduction from "Rise Above". Even though I have not found like minded people who admire such music, I am inclined to this genre which are filled with boundless emotions and energy, despite the absence of vocal. It has been more than 3 years of journey into Uplifting trance music and chillout music for me and my interest towards it keeps elevating with introduction of such musical talents :-).

As far as this music, the emotions start at 1:50, later with boundless orchestral melody at 3:00, with outset of spectacular breakdown at 4:01 and finally the light arrives with blazing speed at 4:52 :-). 

Enough said, hear it here!

New World : Boundless Light(Emotional mix):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y95CW5KnlaI

Also do not miss equally beautiful remix of the same by TouchStone:

New World - Boundless Light (Touchstone Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uLfMrIHzRI 

Finally if you wish to participate in skywatch theme and share with boundless world, create a blog post with a picture (self-owned) inclusive of sky and link your blogpost here (skyle). Note that text is not mandatory! Also do not forget to visit related posts from other member's too!

Skywatch Friday: Into the Sky

Never knew there was a place to share common theme in a blogpost. Recently I stumbled upon this site which lets you to add your blog post pertaining to a theme each day. For Friday, it is Skywatch :-).

Skywatch should have blog post with a photograph inclusive of sky. For this theme for this Friday, here is HDR of Kaup beach light house shot few weeks back. I just love the colors :-). It seems like lighthouse is ready to launch itself to sky :D. The final image was brutally tweaked to obtain the desired effects (name it white-balance, shadows&highlight correction, sharpness, contrast, saturation, level etc.. etc..)

KAUP BEACH LIGHTHOUSE

Despite brutally tweaked, the image is devoid of any noise or distortion. Thats major advantage of shooting in RAW and compose HDR. I am enjoying the workflow right from start of Luminance HDR till the end of dark table. Dark table is too cool :-) gives fantastic results and its open source too!

Nowadays its difficult to find time for myself to elaborate a topic and hence nothing much detailed post. When I am free, will try to share my workflow so that people can comment on improvements.

Into the Sky, hear beautiful music by Afternova one of my favorite music producer and fly into the sky. It has one of the finest orchestral melody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbaz9eWw6i8

Arisen

Early morning around 5:30AM, we woke up to a snippy weather at Kodachadri with stormy breeze challenging the mighty hillocks and tall trees with powerful gusts. We refreshed ourselves and ready to start to Sunrise point which requires a hike of 800m along narrow ridge. Since the SUN was not yet out, we had to bank upon torch light to follow the trail properly. Half way along the hike, the trail gets very narrow and gusty winds tend to push us down to the valley. After cautiously passing along this path, we reached the Sunrise point. The powerful wind was pushing us very hard and cold weather requires everyone to cover body with winter wear.

The time was 6:50AM. We were foreseeing a dazzling sunrise in few moments shimmering the beautiful Sharavati river back waters. I had kept camera for sunrise timelapse and turned out be nice too ;-). Few minutes later, there goes the initial appearance of shy Sun piercing through clouds at the distant horizon sparkling the Sharavati river backwaters with orange spectacle. We cheered with enthusiasm and welcomed the Sun of the day :-). Of-course, the red carpet for the Sun's arrival was laid by Sun itself ;-). After few more minutes, the Sun was completely "Arisen" and it was time to take the picture of blazing Sun of golden hour! Here is the picture of "Arisen" Sun. Later on we stayed for some more time to garner Vitamin D.

ARISEN SUN!

Not to miss our lovely guide to Sunrise view point :D. He was little bit ahead of us and followed the trail providing us direction. Whenever we stopped to rest, he also rested and as we moved on, he was guiding us :-). For some more time, he enjoyed the Vitamin D before reaching base camp!

OUR GUIDE :-)

Do here magnificent music "Arisen" by British musician Laurence Rapaccioli codenamed Arksun on this occasion flavored with wonderful breakdown!

Arksun - Arisen (Original mix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIA2fFiy9ac


If you wish to hear only breakdown, hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKf7r6j5bwc

Also do not miss the beautiful chilldown remix of Magdelyana of the same

Arksun - Arisen (magdelyana Chill mix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQi3RO_znU

Sunset and Sunrise at Kodachadri Peak - A short timelapse

Here is one more timelapse from Kodachadri Peak. This is 12th timelapse video in my youtube channel :-).

It was 5:30PM on bright Saturday when we reached Kodachadri peak after trek from Santosh hotel for about 5kms. We were sweating vigorously following long hike. After seeking blessings of Lord Shiva at Sarvajna Peetha, it was time to rest on one of the rocks awaiting sunset. In between casual chat, Rajesh pestered me to start a timelapse. I was bit lethargic but he was persistent :D. Finally, I started the intervalometer for 2images a minute. As a result it turned out to be wonderful fast setting sun ;-). Since there was an hour of time for complete sunset, I kept interval for 30s capture. I did not use manual mode since wanted to grab bright Sun always. The problem with Manual mode is it turns out quite darker gradually as sun loses intensity. As you know, the disadvantage of using Av is variation in lighting which can be corrected with software approaches. I did not carry tripod and consequently mounted camera on rocky surface for interval shots.

Next is sunrise timelapse. I realised a bit late there was only few time left for sunrise and hence tuned intervalometer to grab a shot per 10 second. The mode is Av mode due to said reason as mentioned above. Even this capture was based on Rajesh's input. I was bit skeptical that heavy breeze would shake camera which may result in out of frame pictures. However, the camera stood upright ;-). This time also I placed it on one of the rocks in sunrise point. Once Sun was arisen with golden colors, I could not resist and turned off intervalometer :-). The timelapse of Sunrise was achieved though ;-) however with less interval. Combining both the timelapses, here is a video. I thought of combining these with the already pending ones to form a bigger one. However, demand from boys and draining disk space forced me to compose the video and share. Hope you enjoy the same.

Settings:

I do not remember exactly. Both scenes were shot in Av mode. The video is rendered in KDENLIVE 1080p 25fps and 2pass encoding MPEG4/MP3.

Music: After lot of internal tussle, I settled for the Simon O Shine's musical brilliance - Your Distant World. Other options considered were excerpts from Sunset-Beautiful Life (Vol Deeman Remix) and SoundLift - Horizonte (Andy Blueman Intro mix). All of them matched well for video however could not resist the fabulous orchestral breakdown and eventually applied for the timelapse. It did fit too ;-).

Composing timelapses makes me exhilarated. Ever since I stumbled upon timelapse photography from internet sources, it has been one of my favorite hobbies. I enjoy composing timelapse despite requiring longer time. From my experience, timelapse requires persistence, perception, a bit of intuition and lot of patience more than camera techniques. To some extent few video editing techniques help a lot too! In order to bring up my mood (when I am down) and also since my disk space is exhausting at faster pace, I hope to upload more pending timelapses in coming days :-)

Ashutosh also pulled a wonderful timelapse and here it is. He has also some collection of star trail timelapse which he might share in his channel.

The Wondrous Aghanaashini River, Kumta, UttaraKannada District

The stretch from Mangalore to Goa is great place for drive as well as Konkan Railway journey. The region is spectacular during monsoon season painted with lush greenery, brimming rivulets and of-course torrential monsoon rains. Recently during my visit to Yana, I stopped one of those beautiful river along this stretch which is one and only Aghanaashini river of Kumta for 15 minutes. It is exhilarating to feel this magnificent river and has been one of my hotspots from past 3 years along Mangalore-Karwar belt. Its breath-taking landscape decorated with tiny boats, hills, coconut trees and blue water makes me stunned every time I visit. I did hire an auto to visit Yana however if I had my own arrangements, I would have driven to Divgi where we can enjoy the river basin closely. Also this river is flows along many beautiful waterfalls nearby Siddapur before reaching Kumta and merging with Arabian sea. I took some shots and videos for my archive. Enjoy the pictures and a short video compilation shot from National Highway. During next visit, I hope to grab some footages from Divgi region.

RIVER WITH BEAUTIFUL HILLOCKS

FROM MIDDLE OF BRIDGE

WEST SIDE CAPTURE

And a short video!

Shri Vishwanatham Bhajeham

Shiva is sign of energy, simplicity and unpredictability. One needs energy to move on during unpredictable times and simplicity to lead peaceful life. These are  qualities which I learnt from the almighty. Today on auspicious day of Mahashivaratri I would like to share some of HDR and panoramic pictures from Yana visit known for surreal rocky landscapes. I wanted to write detailed blog on Yana but due to lack of time could not commit. This is the only day wherein devotees are allowed to enter sanctum sanctorum of temple. The place will be heavily crowded today with myriad of pilgrims visiting to have darshan of Lord Bhairaveshwara. The post is dedicated Lord Bhairaveshwara of Yana who is residing deity of the place.

Yana is one of those beautiful treasures of coastal Karnataka located in between spectacular rainforests of Uttara Kannada district. One needs to travel in order to feel region shrouded under dense canopy of western ghats. Amidst this magnificent nature lies Yana which has almost 61 limestone rocks stamped on its surface. Of them, the prominent are the two large peaks namely Mohini Shikara and Bhairaveshwara shikara. Lord shiva is self formed under Bhairaveshwara shikara and water drips from top of shivalinga all through year. Precisely the Lord is described as "Ganga Chandika Bhairaveshwara". The reason behind such a name will be described in my detailed blog (or you can google it!). The environment beneath the monolithic rock is natural AC :-). It is so cool under the natural air cooler of western ghats! There are plethora of streams which run besides thick tall woods finally merging with Aghanaashini river near Kumta. If you ever visit Gokarna or Kumta, don't ever miss to visit this alluring natural splendor. Here are pictures after boring narration ;-).

PANORAMIC GLOWING PICTURE :-)

CLOSE UP PANORAMA

 This one is not so well composed. Just posted for archive.

PANORAMA WITH TEMPLE

The below picture is not composed with RAW files. Nowadays I compose HDR in RAW and I can see difference from JPG files. One can tweak resulting image to vast extent without losing quality or infusing noise. Eventually I have corrected myself :-).

MOHINI SHIKARA IN HDR

Even though trajectory of Sun starts to change around Makara Sankranthi, Shivaratri signifies the end of winter and beginning of spring. Usually a week or two before Shivaratri, strong breeze pervade the region signifying end of winter. It is also period of sickness too due to significant transition in weather!

On this day, I would like to share one of my favorite composition "Sri Vishwanatham Bhajeham" by Shri Muthuswamy Deekshitar, a Sanskrit rendetion with blend of 14 raagas. The beauty of Shri Deekshitar composition is the aligning tint of raaga with song literature. He describes the majestic shiva in 14 raagas with fabulous literature. The song starts with "Shri" raaga and ends with "Bhoopala". The song is divided into two sections. The first section comprises of Shri, Aarabhi, Gowri, Gowla, Naata, Mohana and later follows the reverse path. The second section comprises of Saama, Lalita, Bhairava, Saranga, Shankarabharanam, Kambodhi, Devakriya, Bhoopalam and later goes all the way reverse path of 14 raagas with spectacular progression :-). The depth of Shri Deekshitar's scholarship is evident from this  masterpiece.

If you admire carnatic classical music, do hear this bautiful music sung in chorus in two parts.  The delightful rendition is of this song goes to Smt. M L Vasanthakumari however not finding link anywhere :-(.

1) Sri Vishwanatham Bhajeham Part-1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73BKPMkNWgg
2) Sri Vishwanatham Bhajeham Part-2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxS9uMP1T3g

Flying over bridge, cruising through tunnels: Sharavathi River Basin, Honavar, A splendid experience!

Konkan rail train journey one of beautiful train journeys to cherish in India. The mesmerizing landscape from Mangalore to Roha is just heaven to watch during monsoon season. The lush green paddy fields, the rivulets fancied by bent coconut trees, the distant western ghats, the breath taking tunnels and bridges transports you to into an exotic location. During my recent train journey from Udupi to Kumta, I shot those landscapes and safe in my camera ;-). The location which always excited me everytime along this route is the longest bridge constructed across mighty Sharavati river near Honavar along Konkan railway route. It has been one of my gretest desire too from many years to visit this place again. Here how it goes!

I was on my toes as train reached Murudeshwara station. The two dimensional view from distance rendered the Shiva statue and pinnacle adjacent to each other stamped to the sky. The train started chugging towards Manki station. Few minutes later we were in Manki. My excitement peaked as train departed from Manki station. The heart palpitated as the train pierced through Manki tunnel and was eagerly waiting for that moment to arrive. Few more minutes hear I see the Sharavathi river bridge  signboard and there she goes :-). The train rattled along this mighty bridge with high speed. The landscape is simply amazing sight to watch. One of the hot-spots along the Konkan  railway route which one should never miss during the itinerary.

I do want to visit during monsoon even! The river which has small width near Jog falls, widens to more broader landscape near Honavar adorns the region with intriguing nature. I did shoot the train journey video along this magnificent region during my itinerary. During my journey towards Kumta, I shot along the west side since the  shooting straight to sun spoils the footage. At this time of day, the west part had beautiful soft light of Sun which exposed the region with perfect colors. Similarly during my return journey, I shot from east side since it was evening. Again the same effect as described earlier. Had it been golden hour, I would have shot towards the Sun, to capture those beautiful golden sun sparkling the river. Enjoy the train journey along beautiful Sharavathi river basin. Dive into darkness with speeding loco passing through two tunnels further onwards. Also the video has footages from return journey too! So, do not miss to watch entire video ;-).

The majority of audio has noise of breeze but landscape has turned out to be pretty well in full HD ;-). Audio is corrected but still not so tidy. May be I should have sat on foot-board to grab better audio.

Whenever I find time, will try to compose entire train journey video. Stay tuned!

Bike ride to Hogenakkal Waterfalls

It's been quite long time since I posted something mainly because of shift in priority. Finally here is a post after long delay. It has been almost 3 months since we traveled to Hogenakkal waterfalls and eventually I found some time to compile experiences of the journey.

09-Nov-2013,

Never had this in mind till the last moment. There was a plan to visit waterfall but not by bike. At last moment some of them backed off and it was myself and Rajesh left over. Cab would be dearer to hire, buses would be late and eventually bike was the only option. We had almost dropped the plans but Rajesh asked if we can go for it. I was bit skeptical though since the shine was in dirt and its been long time being serviced :D. Finally the crave for travel made me to accept the proposal ;-) and the stage was set. It was only a day before we made this plan and were unaware of any details on route. Can be termed as candid plan. I had been to Shivansamudra alone last time in bike covering more than 300kms. That time the bike was in good shape and I was alone. This time we were two heavyweights and had to cover 300kms in unserviced bike :-). Despite of all the confusions, we decided to travel in bike. Apart from what was mentioned above, there was one more problem which was language. We both did not knew Tamil and travel after Hosur required some language exposure. To avoid language problems, Rajesh took prints of routes including the important junctions. Our first trust was on google maps and next the locals. Anyhow we were looking forward this unique candid journey with full enthusiasm. Hogenakkal is around 150kms from SilkBorad Junction and would be taking around 3hrs in bike under the assumption of having good roads. Remember bike is not car ;-) it is not enough to have good roads but evenly paved roads. Even the patches cut down bike speed but cars can negotiate well.

Early morning woke up with chilly weather outside. Seems like winter has finally started. Rajesh caught up with me at HSR BDA junction around 7:30AM.  We had breakfast at 7:30AM and ready to cruise around 8AM from silk board. There was not a single traffic hiccup in middle and we took elevated highway for quick exit from city mess. The city was enveloped with thick blanket of fog and could not take picture due to time constraints. Once we reached NH-6, everything was smooth until border area. Later on, the constructions are still under way at slackening pace. We reached Hosur and not sure whom to ask :-). People did not understand my half baked Tamil language :D. Fortunately a Kannada speaking person assisted us to find SH-17 towards Palacode. A km later, we saw signboards in English towards Palacode and were greatly relieved for achieving the first target successfully.

VACANT ROAD

AZURE SKY

Next hurdle was finding the Hogenakkal cross after Palacode. We successfully reached Palacode and took Palacode bypass. It never looked like bypass but we felt being inside city. The roads are good to excellent at some places while bad at remaining. Overall 75-25 (good-bad). The distance covered was around 60kms. After Palacode bypass, we spotted diversion towards right. I was bit doubtful whether we were on right track but Rajesh was confident. The signboards were only in Tamil. After riding for 2kms along this path, we spotted a clear signboard mentioning Hogenakal-70kms :-). Yes this was our second victory. Even roads were really very good along this path. But we were still unclear about as how to reach Hogenakkal-Dharmapuri road.

As our journey progressed, we came across confusing deviation towards Pennagram. Rajesh said that we have to follow Pennagram deviation as per map. But the signboards were showing other path for Hogenakkal. Since we were not sure, we decided to ride along the prescribed route. Few kms after, here we are at Hogenakal-Dharmapuri Road :-). We were really excited that finally we will reach falls without any further more complications. From this junction, distance is 28kms to waterfalls. Along the way there were few more deviations but signboards were crisp to lead us to waterfalls. Also all signboards were presented in English language too!

WE ARE ABOUT TO REACH :-)

THE SEMI-GHAT SECTION

10kms before falls site, we had to pay entrance fee of Rs.10/-. Once we did the payment, it was nice drive along the semi-ghat section. Especially 2-3kms were like proper ghat sections with steep curves and hairpin bends. Also there were many monkeys too :D. They were roaring even when we were riding bike, fearing threat :-). Along the route we came across a bridge but did not see ample water. I was bit suspicious if we could find considerable water in waterfall area. After beautiful journey for 10kms we entered Hogenakkal town. There is again parking fee here. We rode bike nearby waterfalls rather than parking in entrance.

As we neared our confusion was cleared and there was good amount of water to enjoy. The cauvery river is the source of waterfall. The geography is bit awkward. The water falls along multiple divisions with great velocity. Due to the presence of uneven rocks and height, the water gathers tremendous kinetic energy while reaching ground. The authorities have also constructed walls for proper head bath. People can make use to have thunderous head bath :-). This place is not risky at all and one can manage  even without knowing swimming. There are protective rails around the constructed walls. Initially we had glimpse of shorter plunge on hanging bridge. Even this place has entrance fee but nominal. Later we crossed one of the streams to get to main waterfalls. This place also has protective rails to cross. The biting fishes created tickling sensation in our leg :-). Rajesh was saying biting fishes are good since they clean dead cells from body (not shark or whales but small fishes :D). After crossing stream, we had good look of main waterfall area. There is also a view point where one can see panoramic view of waterfalls. It also has entrance fee ;-). There are many massage providers here :D and also fish curry cookers. The oil massager plead to you to feel massage. Many people were having nice massage and later on bathing in river. If you enjoy relishing river fish, there are many fish vendors here for you.

THEY ARE MANY :-)

FIRST GLIMPSE

HANGING BRIDGE

PARALLEL PLUNGE!

JUMPING FISHES

THE GUSH

NEED TO CROSS THIS SECTION

THE SILKY PLUNGE

We were curious to see the distant waterfall plunge which had multiple divisions placed in a curve. That was really great sight to watch. When inquired, people asked us to take coracle ride to reach the view point. The coracle costs around 960/- per trip. If you are 6, it costs 160 per head. We were only two and fortunately found 2 more and hence price reduced to 240/- per head. Still it was bit high price but left with no option. We were adamant to reach to the view point and also enjoy the ride on river. Having paid the amount, there is that thud, coracle being rolled into river and we were ready to start. As we were traveling we came across coracle shop which serves some chips and cool drinks :D. That was unique shop we had seen for first time.

CAUVERY RIVER VALLEY

FROM VIEW POINT

ONE MORE!

RAINBOW

CORACLE SHOP :D

We had small twiddle in middle of river which we enjoyed :-). After sometime, we reached the banks from where one needs to walk for 0.5kms towards view point. The coracle is carried in pickup vehicle till the other side of river bank. We had some oranges here before proceeding further. It seemed like we have path to reach this point via road. Did not inquire much about it. It was really mesmerizing sight from view point. The water plunges energetically with absolute beauty. The eye-catching part is the array of falls aligned along curve and falling towards common gorge. Some people were also seen nearby waterfalls to have closer look. After enjoying this wonderful sight we headed back towards the bank to resume our coracle ride towards the entrance. It seems during heavy outflow from KRS, the waterfall is not at all accessible and entire area looks unified. Even view point will be submerged in water!

THERE ARE NUMEROUS OF THESE ENROUTE

CAUVERY RIVER

THE DISTANT VIEW POINT

FULL VIEW

MAGNIFICENT NATURE

I was having friendly chat with the sailor since he knew Kannada. He was narrating many stories including people who were washed away due to galloping water. Also few people were rescued in helicopter during huge water inflow. He was also stating some things about slow down in IT. It seems some of his friends are also hit because of slow-down. So recession is something severely striking from top to bottom then ;-). The sailor does this job during the proper seasons and fishing during high torrents. He also said that water on the other side of valley is 80feet while it was only 3-4 feet nearby waterfall. But the velocity of water gives it fiery look despite being only 3-4 feet in depth. It is this velocity coupled with rocky landscape provides glory to waterfall. we also sailed along those gushing water. The sight of coracle sliding down along the torrent was bit intimidating :D. We also enjoyed the distant hills along with cauvery river landscape. After nearly 90 minutes of joy we reached the entrance again.

CORACLES IN FLIGHT

CAUVERY RIVER BASIN

GALLOPING WATER

It is time to have some fun in water. I did not have backup clothes but Rajesh had them. He enjoyed in the platform of thundering water from a height and had nice head bath. It is easy manage here since authorities have constructed safety structures. Also being flowing water, no need to worry about purity of water. Once Rajesh finished head bath and we were ready for lunch. We had lunch in one of the hotels maintained by TamilNadu tourism. They had only south Indian meals costing Rs.60/- which was OK to clear our hunger albeit being spicy. After resting briefly for sometime, we started back to Bangalore around 3:30PM. This time I rode since I enjoy up-hilling of ghats which involves frequent shifting of gears :D. Even while driving I prefer up-hilling to downhill since it requires frequent gear shifts :D. Pretty weird right ;-). Even father teases me hearing this weird joy ;-). We had smooth ride till Hosur which we reached around 6:30PM. The only problem along the rural route is villagers taking law unto themselves. People spread hay along the width of road to separate out grains from grass. This would lead to slippery of bike if not ridden consciously.

SUNSET BEAUTIFUL LIFE. CAUGHT ON THE WAY BACK

The ride from Hosur was bit cumbersome with heavy traffic and brisk crossing of people along the NH-6. There were lot wrong sider too :-(. It is not worth to pay toll to such highways with too many U turns and not much alternatives to human crossing. The U turns sometimes turned out be intimidating due to swift veering of  vehicles. We were riding very slowly around 40kmph most of the times and felt greatly relieved after reaching electronic city toll gate. 7:15PM, we reached Silk board junction and ending one more journey. We had tea in one of restaurant before dispersing.

I was exhilarated about journey and strength of my bike ;-). My shine truly shined :D. Despite being unserviced for many months and having capacity of 125cc, it was smooth ride altogether! This may be usual but I did not have prior records carrying two heavy weights :D for such long distance. Now I have full confidence on my bike but requires a overhaul before gearing it for one more long journey.

Total Distance covered: 145*2=290kms (170kms Rajesh + 120kms myself) from silkboard junction

Route:

Silk Board Junction->Hosur = 30kms (NH-6)
Hosur-> Palacode = 60kms (SH-17)
Palacode->(Hogenakkal-Dharmapuri road) = 25kms
Hogenakkal junction->Hogenakkal waterfalls = 28kms (SH-60)

Note state highway numbers belong to TamilNadu not Karnataka. If you follow SH-17 of Karnataka you will reach Mysore ;-)

Rely on google maps and you will reach the target!

Credits:

• My friend Rajesh for detailed review of writeup
• To all those people who helped us to take proper route
• Google maps
• Last but not the least, my bike ;-) for sustaining long journey!

Checklists:

• Water, preferably 2ltrs/person
• Energy bars like chocolates
• Fruits like apple, orange
• Glucose if required
• First Aid Box

Nothing much this time except for a panoramic shot and short Hogenakkal video. One of the reason to delay this post was the video rendering. Video editing (especially full HD) can be sometimes boring if your system is not equipped with royal processor (like i5) and GPU. Nevertheless, lack of disk space forced me to compile video finally :-).

PANORAMIC SHOT