An Odyssey

Sural Waterfall from the view point in the village of Sural I t was a search for Heaven that led us to Belgaum. The spark came from a set of  photos posted on FB . Temptation overcame us and a trip for the immediate weekend took shape. We wanted to hit the place before the end of  October. Lack of rains can change a landscape into something else altogether. Without enough time to plan, road blocks had good luck  finding us. We couldn't get reservations in a resort called Wildernest. Heaven was supposed to be en route to the resort. So the infinity pool plan sunk with it. It was  decided that  it should be a trekking + sight seeing trip instead. Trekking on Saturday and scouting on Sunday (armed with the  approximate location of the place from Vatsa's friend, who was the lucky soul who posted the photos). Bangalore was left behind for a weekend.   

Last weekend Mrs. Nair and me had visited  Bannerghatta national park . The place closest to Bangalore where you get to see animals other than humans, dogs, cows and crows. We decided to hit the place early to avoid traffic and the weekend picnic goers. And we were  spot on with our decision for when  we decided to return at around two in the afternoon the  crowd was bigger than the Anna campaign. At least  5 schools, two convents, teams from s/w companies and hundreds of nuclear families were fighting to find picnic spots around the park.

Photo By h-k-d T he night was new. I walked out of the air conditioned hotel lobby. A blast of hot air caught my face.The air was annoyingly warm. I ran a hand through my hair as I waited admist the shimmering lights of Chennai's traffic for an auto. Chennai - the city where you get ripped by the autowallah's, fried by the sun and interrogated by foriegners. But I was happy. The interrogation was a success and I had been granted a Visa to the USA.

This was taken in Bylekuppe [WIKI] It   is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet. Click To Subscribe Rate This Post

I thought I will write about this wonderful journey that we had, before I forget the details. The details may fade but the fun we had and the sights our eyes beheld will never ever fade away. It was on the third weekend of November 2008 that we finally went for the trek, the Sakleshpur - Yedakumari Train route. We had been wanting to go for this from the first time we heard about it. But then there were a certain number of uncertainties. Goods train had started plying on this route and there was one passenger train also. Apart from it being risky , we were unsure whether the railway authorities will agree for trekking. Finally everything turned out to be like nothing we had thought about. We were a group of 9 . We started late on a Friday night from Bangalore, reached Donigal very early in the morning. We had breakfast from Surabhi hotel just before Donigal and got fresh as well. Our starting point was a gate of Sethna Estate around a kilometer from Donigal on the right side of the...

Day 1 : The Golden Sands Beckoned..... The festive spirit of Christmas and New Year still lingering on... what better way to start a new year than the way a bunch of us did.The first weekend of new year and that too so truly amazing and memorable.It was a day when we decided to get the better of our New Year's "hangover" and do some exploration.It was a trek to Gokarna, a beach trek. What is so amazing in a stretch of sand with salt water all around???Well, read on. Finishing our Friday evening chores early enough for catching the bus ride to the destination, we assembled at MTV.We started our journey after 8:30 p.m. much unaware of what lies in wait for the next day. After a light dinner and picking up Chetan on the way we were all set. Heres when disaster struck us... No not a punctured tire , not a bus break down nor losing the way but by our Sleepy Driver... He had to get sleep man, and so he slept for one and a half hours...And so we were late by more than that...Hop...