Thursday, September 25, 2008

The hill in my backyard

Karnala used to be a favorite for the school picnics, the age when a shaded spot in the trees with a few caged birds seemed like a good idea. One time I remember going there and wondering why it was called a "bird sanctuary" when the only bird I saw was in a picture pinned to a tree! Age tells me now that most animals usually stay away from predators (which we very well qualify to be ... considering that we've put the birds in cages just to protect them from ourselves!).

I live 40 kms from this place, and have never been to the fort up there!

I always thought it quite a shame that I (being this avid trekker) never got around to climbing this hill! And for the last 3 weekends, I've been trying to get Shantanu and Sukesh to get off their asses and go there with me. Last weekend, after all these years, I finally got to the fort of Karnala with Shantanu.


It's a smallish fort bang in the middle of the sanctuary, only about 450 meters above MSL. The trail from the sanctuary entrance to the fort takes about 1.5 hours to do, and is a nice walk, gently sloped and mostly shaded. A rock pinnacle about 40 meters tall (a favorite with climbers) is the most striking feature of this place.

The beauty of Karnala is that it is so close to home ... practically in my backyard. It's the perfect place to head for half a day, get a fair bit of exercise, and an awesome spot to relax and chill. I'm expecting to be there more ofen now!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Celluloid dreams

I wanna be that man on celluloid
Wanna be that man on stage
And when he woos those ladies
Wanna do it just like him

They sell you aspiration,
They sell you dreams ...
Gotta aim for all that glory
Why not? When you got no aim

They drive those mean machines
Wreck them and walk away
Even kung fu is passe
All I gotta do is take aim! BANG!

They sell you aspiration,
They sell you dreams ...
Why wake up from my slumber
When the morning's still away

I wanna be that man on celluloid
Wanna be that man on film
6 billion and counting still ...
Do we need one more like him?

Royal Deccan Odyssey

That we wanted to take time off was certain ... where we wanted to go was the question. The prospective destinations were many, including the 'Valley of flowers' in Uttarakhand, and Khajuraho and Pench in middle India. We finally chose North Karnataka, on account of it being drivable distance, doable in 5 days, and the charm of it's not-very-touristy historical places of Hampi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal. Hidden agenda - my new Nikon D60 would surely have enough subjects here!

Morning of 15-Aug, Sukesh, Shantanu, The-Atif-possessed-CD-player, and me took off from Mumbai in Sukesh's Hyundai Santro. After picking up Darshan from Pune, we hit the road south on NH4. It was perfect ... beautiful weather, good music, Haywards black stout (although warm), awesome roads, green vistas, and then BANG ... a dead dog and leaking radiator fluid. With the tremendous increase in the average speed of driving on these roads, what has gone up even more is the number of dead dogs on the road. It does not help that the roads are beautifully lined with hedge bushes down the middle, so the dogs can conveniently sneak up on you!

The good fallout of this unfortunate incident was the chance to go once more to Shetkari hotel in Kolhapur to try out the mutton there. The place was recommended to us last time we were in the town, but it was the wrong time of day and the place was closed! Fate was cruel though, and no Shetkari this time either! We did get a lead on Hotel Nilesh, but that was out because they served no vegetarian fare (for Darshan). We finally ended up in Hotel Opal based on yet another recommendation, and were finally served some awesome authentic Kolhapuri food. One thing while I'm on the subject ... Kolhapuri food in Kolhapur - going by my experience till today - is not really the super spicy stuff it is made out to be. The alleged spiciness is a myth, and that title is still retained by Andhra food ... by a huge margin!

Day 2 saw us stopping at Hidkal dam and Gokak falls on our way to Badami. At Bagalkot, the four of us had a full lunch with cold drinks and it cost us 157 rupees in all ... it's amazing, the difference in the costs between our cities and our rural hinterland!

Badami was the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of the area currently in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh between the 6th and 8th centuries. There are sandstone rock cut caves here along with some historical temples, and also a mosque (More recently, Badami was the setting for some parts of Mani Ratnam's 2007 movie Guru). The caves did make excellent subjects for my pictures, and I used the chance to get familiar with the art of taking good photographs. Just to clarify ... most the pictures I took are only good enough to adorn the deeper corners of my hard drive, but I'm more concerned with the learning here.


Hospet, the nearest significant town to Hampi, is a good 150 odd km drive from Badami, and we headed straight to Hotel Malligi where we shacked up for the night after a good beer in the restaurant. Malligi might seem a little out of place for an industrial town like Hospet, but it has the right mix of rooms to serve anyone from the budget to the luxury (The term is used in a relative manner here ... do not expect the Taj!) traveler.

We hit Hampi first thing in the morning, and immediately set out for breakfast. The main Hampi bazaar in front of the Virupaksha temple is full of restaurants dishing out stuff for the western tourist - meat free though, courtesy the temple. The place is a favorite with Israelis, and along with Goa and Manali, is part of the Hippie circle. Last time I was here, I had some Israeli stuff called shakshuka, and was really looking forward to getting some of that again. Only hitch, Israelis weren't in season this time!


If you do not mind the physical effort and the frustration caused by the occasional tyre puncture, the best way to go around Hampi is bicycles. We picked ours up for 50 rupees each a day, and set about exploring the capital of the Vijayanagara kingdom. Hampi is a world heritage site now, and with all the funds available on that account, the ASI seems to be doing a really good job of restoring the ruins to it's past glory!
The most breathtaking of all the monuments in Hampi is the Vithala temple. There is a sublime beauty to the temple complex, and once you spend some time on the carvings and the design of the temple, you realise the depth of the culture and learning of the kings and artisans who built the place. The most awesome aspect of the temple is the pillars in the main dance hall that, when struck, reverberate to the tone of different musical instruments!


Sunset in Hampi is best viewed from the top of Mathanga hill. The view is a beautiful expanse of boulders and hills, paddy and banana plantations, and the Tungabhadra river winding across the landscape. We were a little late getting here, but even without the sunset, the cool breeze and the twilight work wonders on tired human bodies ... every bit worth the effort of climbing the hill.

For some reason, we decided to spend the night at Vikki guest house in Hampi instead of heading back to trusted Malligi. In retrospect, the only great thing about staying there was the idlis we had for breakfast. There is no questioning the wisdom of choosing the local food joint over the one directed at the tourist, but this time we hit pay dirt. This joint-without-a-name served up, without doubt, the best idli sambar I have ever had in my 30 years of existence! The perfect end to our stay in Hampi ... and a good feeling to take us through a long day of driving!

Despite occasional patches of bad road, NH63 is a decent drive. The land in this season is fertile black soil either just harvested or ready for sowing! It's the expanse of the deccan plateau on either side all the way to the horizon, with only the occasional hill standing out starkly against the landscape! I was reminded of something I read earlier ... That the entire human population on the earth standing shoulder to shoulder could be accommodated in an area as small as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The statement actually endorses the enormity of the canyon, but I saw a different perspective right then! The highway bears straight west through Koppal, Gadag, and finally Hubli (or Hubballi, if you prefer). We made the distance in 4 hours to give Darshan enough time to get a bus that reached Pune before it was too late in the night. Plans though, are flexible ...


Even as the bus was docking at the platform, we decided to drive Darshan upto Kolhapur, so he could get home sooner. In any case, we had too little time to go to Amboli / Dandeli as originally planned! So the day finished in Kolhapur with a nice lunch in between, a beautiful sunset on the highway, another awesome dinner at Opal, and the last show of Bachna Ae Haseeno, a thoroughly forgettable movie that followed the lines of any other Yashraj banner movie. The movie did bring out one perceptible change in our car though. The-Atif-possessed-CD-player was now the Bacha-Ae-Haseeno-possessed-CD-player!

The revised plan for our last day on the road was to go to Wai and spend some pensive time on the famous ghats on the banks of the Krishna. We got to Wai, but not to the ghats. The morning was spent skipping stones on the lake of Dhom dam, till we decided to drive upto Mahabaleshwar. Mahabaleshwar is now overrun with ugly tourist developments, but it can still be nice in pockets. Being a Tuesday, there were few tourists around; I dont think I would make the same favorable judgements on a weekend! Lunch at the bazaar was a disaster, courtesy the Lonely Planet guide to India which recommended (what I hope is) another restaurant of the same name!

Finally, Kate's point provided us the pensive time we were looking for - A bird's eye view of 2 lakes and beautiful green covered hills ... now covered in mist, and now clear - the perfect way to end the trip. The drive back home was a breeze with that image in my head ...

Resurrected ...

I've been off for a while now ... Not enough enthusiasm / inspiration to write. But this is the resurrection ... Starting off fresh with a post on my Independence day 2008 trip!