Travelogue

It was an early Friday morning in the last week of June. The weather was not that chill, so I was able to wakeup at 4:15 am as planned. The reason being we had planned for a trip. [But at the end, it was not just a trip, it turned out to be a discovery by Nandini, but still there are unidentified underlying things. Offcourse, my wishes with her, in her attempt in identifying a suitable match. “All the Best”]

I was the first to board the cab as usual. I mean every day I am the first person to take the office cab in our route and that day as a matter of coincidence we had scheduled the trip in the same cab and the same driver Mr. Kumar. But the pickup was at 5:00 am instead of the regular 7:00 am.

After me it was Surekha, Vishwas & Tanuja, Ram Prasad, Karthik, Nandini, Vidyamba, and Netravathi and finally Shiv a very down to earth person. I mean, I really mean Lord Shiv on earth, in simplicity.


It was around 6 am we took the uttaralli road to connect to Mysore road near kengeri. Near Uttarahalli we stopped the cab to perform puja. Our official company purohit (Vishwas) did the honors and prayed for a safe journey.


Then we headed towards Bidadi which was our first pit stop where we had our breakfast, the famous ‘BiDadi taTTe Idli with beNNe’. ULTIMATE what else can I say, a breakfast I had with out the tension of getting late to the office cab.

After breakfast we headed towards “Ambegal Krishna” a historical temple which has a history of around 1500 years. The temple is just next to Bangalore-Mysore highway near Chennapattana. This is the only temple where lord Krishna is sculptured as a 9 month old baby crawling (Ambegal) on the floor.

With lord Krishna’s blessings we headed towards another historical temple ‘Vydyanatheshwara’ in ‘Vydyanathapura’, on the banks of the river shimsha. They say, the god here Lord Dr. Eshwara cures the diseases of his devotee’s. Believing in this saying I put forth a request. We spent around 15 minutes and started off for our next destination “Tannur Kere”.

On route to Tannur Kere we started ‘Antakshari’. The eye catchers are, the song ‘kolumande jangamadevaru guruve kwaaranyake …’ sung by Vishwas was one of the best. It’s a kamsale pada (a kind of folk song) with the lyrics being very difficult, but he made it to perfection. Guys it’s a brilliant composition. Just listen to the lyrics. [Movie Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APyKcwK6ewk&NR=1 , Sung by one of our colleague, Akshay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mxpYVN1KQ8&NR=1]

When Netravathi sung the song ‘Hayagi kuLithiri ninu Raniya haGe…’made everyone laugh as it depicted the way she was sitting there. Also there was a situation when Karthik and Surekha started singing the same song at the same time, to which Vishwas commented saying probably they have purchased the same CD at the same shop & at the same time.


THANNUR KERE a mighty lake, whose depth has not yet been ascertained, was roaring with waves, due to the windy climate. We all spent some time on the steps of the lake just immersing our feet in water, enjoying the beauty of nature and climate and cracking good jokes and some snaps.


Then we decided to leave the place, and climbed the steps that lead to the parking lot. Some were ready to get into the cab, but at the same time Karthik said some thing in my ears. So we decided to walk to the other corner where there was a shop, just beside the entrance to the hill. Of course I went to the shop to purchase some chewing gum, but Karthik went behind the shop to accomplish his mission. But everyone thought that we were heading towards the hill for a trek and followed us instantly. Obviously Karthik had to give up his current mission and join the others in the new mission.

Ascending the hill which was a bit tricky and steep at places, and easy at other made a perfect trek. Everyone was adventurous and climbing fast. But I could see Mr. Karthik climbing last with a grim face, because of his uncompleted mission. So I thought that he wanted somebody to accompany him in his mission. I went down to him and we stayed there, until all others climbed up and disappeared from our sight. This gave him a suitable opportunity to turn “mission impossible” to “mission possible”. Guys this mission is quite contagious, I guess you all understand, so I joined him (though was not absolutely necessary), but we accomplished independently.

He was now having a relaxed look on his face and with added josh we made it to the top. There I saw some people towards the edge of the hill. I saw Vishwas and Vidyamba, trying to climb a huge rock and get to the top of it. From the tip it was a steep cliff of around 300 meters above the lake. Guys believe it or not Vishwas climbed, Vidyamba made it next followed by myself and Ram Prasad. We sat there for 5 minutes; I was really surprised that Vidyamba climbed it. So I could not stop myself from admiring her, for her braveness and adventure’. This is not just my opinion, later it was certified by Nandini, when I saw her touching vidyamba’s feet to get her blessings. [Remember, how Nandini played the throw ball match. Both of them hail from Mysore, no doubt Goddess Chamundeshwari’s grace]. Many thanks to Mr. Shiv Murthy, who made this memorable by taking snaps with his SLR.


Meanwhile, Karthik had started meditating on top of a pedestal, and was disturbed only when Nandini danced in front of him. Guys stop relating…come back, journey is not yet over. Then we all descended, which took around 10 minutes and got in to the cab. Before leaving, I again looked at the lake. I have never seen such a huge lake. We traveled for a kilometer and reached Tannur village where we saw an old temple. Pleased by its view we went to see it. It’s an ancient temple of lord Gopalswamy. Inside Ms NNN gave few poses of her dance which were again captured by Mr. Shiv’s third eye. After darshan we headed to our next destination “Kari GhaTTa”.

We reached ‘Kari GhaTTa’ by noon. The weather was cloudy. So instead of taking the road to the hill, we started to climb the steps. As we reached the heights, we were able to spot important monuments and historic places of SriRangapattana and Mysore. “Really great view”. While climbing it started pouring, but didn’t bother us much as it continued just for a minute. It just took around ten minutes to climb and when we reached the top there was a real surprise awaiting us.
On the premises of the temple the shooting of the new Kannada movie “Namma Yejamanaru” was on full swing, starring Dr. Vishnuvardhan and directed by Mr. Nagabharana. The shot was a fighting seen, where Dr. Vishnuvardhan was made to kick a chair. As soon as we saw him, we all went to him and exchanged wishes and took some snaps. We watched some shots and then realized the actual purpose of being there and went inside the temple, to obtain the blessing of Lord Venkateshwara. The temple was deserted as it was the closing hours. We completed our prayers and returned back. Then we had a chat we the director Mr. Nagabharana. He was delighted to see all kannadiga software engineers and asked us to start attending Kannada plays held at Rangashankara, town hall, chowdaiah memorial hall and at other places. It was really inspiring. Then again we had one more round of photo session with Vishvardhan and wished him goodbye. It was really a successful meet, as Nandini was offered a chance in Vishnu’s next movie, but she rejected as she did earlier, with offer of director Mr. Seetharam, reason, she is happy with the work she is doing now. Karthik has already signed the deal. Ms Vidyamba got a personal offer form Vishnuvardhan; I guess she is seriously thinking of it. Even Vishwas was offered a chance but he has decided not to act opposite to any other actress except for that one special person. I wish that time comes very soon in his life.



Guys don’t take things seriously, do all the required hard and smart work, we all will be recognized.

As soon as we drove down the hill we noticed an “ALe Mane” (Jaggery preparing unit), interested in knowing the process of preparing Jaggery and hoping to get some we entered the unit. The process is very simple, which requires heating the sugarcane juice for about two hours, then adding some flavors towards the end and finally pour the semi-solid content in to suitable size/shaped container’s and allow it to cool down. Unluckily we were not able to get any jaggery as they were still preparing and we didn’t had more time to wait for it. Here Nandini realized that she had left her slipper in the temple. Unable to go back, she continued the journey on bare foot.

Our next place was ‘Gosai ghat’ another noted place on the banks of river Kaveri. The marriage of sheela with shiv kumar was organized in that place. Please don’t ask me who are they, I really don’t know. The place was also in news as the popular Kannada tele-serial ‘Mukta’ was shot there. We spent around 15-20 minutes playing with Kaveri then all of a sudden we felt hungry and planned to move towards hotel ‘Mayura Riverview’.

‘Hotel Mayura Riverview’ is about 1.5 km from Bangalore-Mysore highway and we have to take this deviation in SriRangapattana. The hotel is situated again on the banks of Kaveri. The ambience was great, as the place was very clean and well maintained. We ordered our lunch and it took them around 45 minutes to cook. This time was utilized by each one of us in our own ways.

Vishwas & Tanuja were probably planning their future. Surekha very silent, but this time with Nandini, so has to bear.


I guess Vidyamba had already accepted (not disclosed to others) Dr. Vishnuvardhan’s offer as she had made herself occupied in a photo session. Mr. Shiv Murthy, very much professional with his SLR camera. Then Ram dreaming of the whereabouts of his Sita.


Netravathi totally lost, I guess she was very hungry, finally slept on the dining table. Finally it was me, what else enjoying the beauty of Mother Nature. Ohhhh…I am extremely sorry, I missed Karthik what not to say, I think he was unhappy as we had not planned Lord Ranganathaswamy darshan in our trip. So first half he spent some time with prayers, half immersed in water which resulted in the incarnation of the deity with in Karthik during the second half.







Karthik was very fond of photography. He didn’t leave this dog either. It was captured from all possible angles.


At last our lunch was served, it was good. Then what, we took the cab and headed to our next destination ‘Balmuri’.

On the way to ‘Balmuri’ it started drizzling. This really worried Ram Prasad as he said it will be difficult to get in to the river and enjoy. But Nandini came up with an analogy saying it will be like a bath tub and shower at the same time.
Nandini’s grand mother had sent sweet lime to each of us, which she distributed to all. I kept it aside, but later in the day I realized that I was sitting on a sweet lime which was pealed and half cut. Looking at this Vishwas said ‘hemanth has made Mari (offspring) from moTTe (egg, in this case it’s a sweet lime)’. From there on everyone started commenting on it. So, nice to listen to those comments.

When we reached Balmuri it was 3:30 pm. The place was not crowded as it was a Friday afternoon. Also there was less water in the river, probably covering up to knee. But we really enjoyed as we always did to any kind of the situation. We held a competition as to who will spend the maximum time under water, where ultimately Mr. Shiv Murthy emerged from water as the winner. After all the leg pulling and childish enjoyment, it was time for some serious meditation under the guidance of Mr. Shiv. To be honest it’s really so much relaxing and peaceful to meditate in water with your body immersed till neck. This was my first experience and to many others, really superb.

The lack of a change room forced everyone change there cloths in the cab. Then it was Nandini’s turn to convince all those important people in her life saying she didn’t get in to water. She convinced them all, I mean she acted well. I don’t know, with such good acting skills, why she rejected the offers of Mr Seetharam and Dr. Vishnuvardhan.
Then we filled our stomach with pineapple masala, churmuri and coffee, really Pleasing to the sense of taste.


Savoring the same taste, we took the cab. I was feeling very sad as we had come to the end of our journey. But this sadness didn’t last long as it was burnt away by an explosive discovery by Nandini, where she clarified the doubts in our mind by revealing an important object. But as I mentioned in the beginning there are many unidentified underlying things which identifies the whereabouts of this object. We all shall wish her in resolving this mystery. While writing this, I discussed this issue with our Vinod, he seemed very much interested, and so I guess Nandini and Vinod could work on this project and bring out the REAL SECRETS.