Bus no 15B arrived at the railway station bus stand. It was around 6 in the morning. I had to struggle to communicate in Tamil + Hindi + English to finally reach that bus stand from railway platform. My personal trip was to Koyambedu(Practiced almost two days to get the name right!). I reached Koyambedu in just 4 Rs! Being from Bangalore, a 4 Rs journey from first stop to the last stop was something amusing. As I had heard, I could feel the humidity in the air bringing out the salt water in my body when I reached the hotel. To our surprise, the auto guy who dropped us from the bus stand to the hotel was from karnataka and I was able to strike conversation in Kannada that helped us reach the right hotel.
It seemed that it had rained the previous day and the area was not looking that clean to my eyes. Somehow managed to have breakfast in a local hotel, that almost resembled a village side hotel in Bangalore. Best part - the people at hotel were so kind, that all I had to do was to shake my head with right gesture :-)
Though it was a short duration trip, I had to visit T Nagar to visit my friend. A place famous for shopping in Chennai. Some shops there resembled the Bazaars in Bangalore Majestic. So, I got convinced after an auto guy told me that the bus frequency is very low to T nagar from that place. After around 15-20 min journey in the auto, the place was reached. And guess what! the auto charge is Rs 100!! I couldn't even argue as I knew very little Tamil but gave him a clean shining Ghandhi currency. It looked like its the same story everywhere with the auto guys.
The window in my hotel room(second hotel) at T.nagar was overlooking at a railway station. And to my surprise, the local trains would cross that station almost every 5 min! By then, I could imagine why the auto rickshaws were so costly. Trains carry most of the commuters in Chennai leaving few people to travel on roads. Thats the main reason, the road traffic in Chennai is lot better than that of Bangalore. One more unique I observed in Chennai traffic is that the traffic rules. People travel against in one ways, always a race between the drivers & the pedestrians and interestingly no traffic signal or police at a junction where four roads meet! With all these happening on roads, people still manage to get through the traffic. Amazing skill indeed!
Nothing much but had to start my return journey to Bangalore. I had tough time finding a hotel near the private bus terminus while returning but managed with a road side plain dosa and a tea.
When I returned back home, I could sense a need to have better transport system in Bangalore. Though BMTC over here is considered to be top in India, the roads or the people(politicians/citizens) are not helping the transport facility here. The metro project has begun in Bangalore but will it really improve the transport system here, nobody knows! Another significant finding was the kind of vehicles on road. I think Bangalore has too many vehicles (especially cars) on the roads. Its not only the government that should bring in a change but we being responsible bangaloreans can do something for betterment our city. Hope so.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Rafting at SitaNadi and the Jog Falls
No better place than the Majestic (Near Shantala Silk House) in Bangalore to start our long-planned trip. It was indeed a trip that went flooding all our mailboxes before it was finalized. It was Naveen(alias Thode, don't ask me what it means please) who started this mail thread and was successful in organizing the trip. May be the bitter experiences has made him a better organizer now!
The agreement was to assemble at 8:00pm on Friday, 10th Aug 2007 at Shantala Silk House. No special reason for choosing this place to start except the parking is free there! It was Rohit Rao(alias "simply" Rao) and me(alias Hesaraghatta) were the first to reach the place at around 8:05 pm. So, one can guess how we would have felt after reaching the place 5 min late and also being the first to reach! Within 15 min Naveen arrived at the spot. And later, as expected we called almost everyone (11 Guys in total) to know, where they were and it took almost 9:30pm to start from Majestic. So, when we started from Majestic, we were 9 +1 (including the "mystery" driver). Let me introduce these 9. So far, we know Naveen, Rao and myself. The others in the TT(Tempo traveller) were Anand(alias *%$#^ - censored), Santosh (alias Market), Yeshwant(alias putta), Venkatesh(alias gowdru), Anil Thovi(alias "simply" thovi) and Sandeep(alias Shande).
Near Agarwal hotel in T.Dasarahalli our Anil (alias "Anil anna") and Suhas (alias Rao) got into the vehicle and thus the team was complete. As usual when friends meet, the TT was noisy in the beginning with lot P.Js being cut. Our driver didn't spare from cutting jokes (I'm not sure to call them jokes. The driver used to make statements that one would have never heard. For instance, "Sir, naanu maathu kotre, t***a kottange"). After having dinner at a dhaba on NH4, we continued our journey. Again, it continued, some more non-veg jokes and in a short time, all our "software engineers" were lost in their dreams. Some of us did dare to remain awake and watched the latest movie of Mr.Bean.
Then it was surprise of my life. The TT is stopped on the roadside and our beloved driver is enjoying a good sleep. He had asked to wake him up after around 1 hr. So, it was 1:15hr approximately when he woke up and went to a nearby tea shop. He was there at the tea shop for almost 30min (after 1:15 hr sleep) that scared all of us in missing our trip plan. So, Yeshwant and I went to the driver and put some awaaz's about he delaying our journey. From then on, it was a smooth trip and the driver turned out to be a mystery with his dialogues but quite good at driving and zipping through in the ghat sections.
We reached the Rafting spot at around 10 a.m(Saturday) after a disappointing search to book a hotel near Hebri. We reached the farm house provided by the rafting organization. And to our luck, the morning slot for rafting was occupied by some other team. So our rafting slot was scheduled at 2:00pm. So, what to do until 2? What not did we do during this time? Just have a look at pics - this is called time pass OR the priceless time with friends :-)
Time. We travelled to the rafting starting point and our guides Sanjeev and Vishnu were ready with raft. We carefully listened to the instructions and got ready to finally experience the adventure that had been in discussion from few weeks. We started in two rafts. Unfortunately, carrying camera was discouraged as the water could splash any where!
Then, it's just the experience. Amazing! Huge river and humans are nothing for that flowing life.
Our guides commands were simple - forward, backward, left front-right back, left back-right front, watch-out and stop. It was an amazing experience whenever the raft would get into a upstream and the water would rush into the raft splashing on us. Since we were in two raft, that increased the fun! Whenever our rafts would come across, it would be a holi celebration with everyone(including the guides) splashing water on each other. At some point during the 12-13km rafting, we were allowed to jump in
to the river and float along with the raft. Aaah! what a feeling! You floating in a river that is around 20-30feet deep and one can find anything underneath. And to add spice, the rain also joined us - making us feeling great about the designs of nature. It was a thrilling experience - having an experience that you watch in Nat Geo or some extreme sports programmes!
And let me tell you very clearly that rafting with professionals is safe and adventurous. But yes, lot depends on the guides, their experience and the natural calamities. One need not know swimming to do rafting. All it requires is the will to do.
So, our goal is achieved. We had our first experience of rafting (However, for people like putta, anil anna and gowdru, it was their second time). We went back to the farm house and got refreshed and it was time for us find a hotel to spend the night. After a discussion, we all started to Kundhapur (famous for pretty women) for our night stay. We were lucky to find a hotel there with a rate of around 400 per room - clean and hygenic. Again, after another discussion we all decided to have dinner at the beach nearby.
Beauty! The sound of waves piercing the silence of night. Though there was no moon light, we did go near to the beach to feel by its roaring voice. Then we returned back to a beach-side hut for dinner. And the weather inside the hut was extraordinary. All the stories/feelings were uncovered in that hut! It was the time when we least cared about our past and future but just enjoy the present time. I would be doing injustice by trying to frame sentences for such an experience. Its just the time with friends! Unmatchable!
The next morning(Sunday) we all started to the Jog Falls in Shimoga district. That day's Deccan herald newspaper had Jog falls in their main page stating its in full steam. It increased our curiosity and made us feel satisfied about our trip plan. On the way to Jog Falls, we got down at a roadside beach. It was humid, ofcourse and to add that road was completely blocked. Finally we reached the Jog Falls at around 3 pm!
What a sight that was! Water rushing through the rocks, don't know to where? Just splendid! Amazing! Due to lot of visitors, the roads were blocked and we had to walk a lot to have a look from all the three view-points. Thanks to the recent superhit kannada movie "Mungaaru Male" that brought Jog Falls into limelight!
If you are planning to do rafting, then I suggest you to go sometime after the rainy season, so that one need not worry about the possible flood situation!
Contact Details:
Adreno
98454 0767, 94481 66970
www.adreno.org
Images: Courtesy Shande
Link 1 : http://naanushande.blogspot.com/
Link 2: http://picasaweb.google.com/sandeep.shande/SitanadiJogFalls/
The agreement was to assemble at 8:00pm on Friday, 10th Aug 2007 at Shantala Silk House. No special reason for choosing this place to start except the parking is free there! It was Rohit Rao(alias "simply" Rao) and me(alias Hesaraghatta) were the first to reach the place at around 8:05 pm. So, one can guess how we would have felt after reaching the place 5 min late and also being the first to reach! Within 15 min Naveen arrived at the spot. And later, as expected we called almost everyone (11 Guys in total) to know, where they were and it took almost 9:30pm to start from Majestic. So, when we started from Majestic, we were 9 +1 (including the "mystery" driver). Let me introduce these 9. So far, we know Naveen, Rao and myself. The others in the TT(Tempo traveller) were Anand(alias *%$#^ - censored), Santosh (alias Market), Yeshwant(alias putta), Venkatesh(alias gowdru), Anil Thovi(alias "simply" thovi) and Sandeep(alias Shande).
Near Agarwal hotel in T.Dasarahalli our Anil (alias "Anil anna") and Suhas (alias Rao) got into the vehicle and thus the team was complete. As usual when friends meet, the TT was noisy in the beginning with lot P.Js being cut. Our driver didn't spare from cutting jokes (I'm not sure to call them jokes. The driver used to make statements that one would have never heard. For instance, "Sir, naanu maathu kotre, t***a kottange"). After having dinner at a dhaba on NH4, we continued our journey. Again, it continued, some more non-veg jokes and in a short time, all our "software engineers" were lost in their dreams. Some of us did dare to remain awake and watched the latest movie of Mr.Bean.
Then it was surprise of my life. The TT is stopped on the roadside and our beloved driver is enjoying a good sleep. He had asked to wake him up after around 1 hr. So, it was 1:15hr approximately when he woke up and went to a nearby tea shop. He was there at the tea shop for almost 30min (after 1:15 hr sleep) that scared all of us in missing our trip plan. So, Yeshwant and I went to the driver and put some awaaz's about he delaying our journey. From then on, it was a smooth trip and the driver turned out to be a mystery with his dialogues but quite good at driving and zipping through in the ghat sections.
We reached the Rafting spot at around 10 a.m(Saturday) after a disappointing search to book a hotel near Hebri. We reached the farm house provided by the rafting organization. And to our luck, the morning slot for rafting was occupied by some other team. So our rafting slot was scheduled at 2:00pm. So, what to do until 2? What not did we do during this time? Just have a look at pics - this is called time pass OR the priceless time with friends :-)
Time. We travelled to the rafting starting point and our guides Sanjeev and Vishnu were ready with raft. We carefully listened to the instructions and got ready to finally experience the adventure that had been in discussion from few weeks. We started in two rafts. Unfortunately, carrying camera was discouraged as the water could splash any where!
Then, it's just the experience. Amazing! Huge river and humans are nothing for that flowing life.
Our guides commands were simple - forward, backward, left front-right back, left back-right front, watch-out and stop. It was an amazing experience whenever the raft would get into a upstream and the water would rush into the raft splashing on us. Since we were in two raft, that increased the fun! Whenever our rafts would come across, it would be a holi celebration with everyone(including the guides) splashing water on each other. At some point during the 12-13km rafting, we were allowed to jump in
to the river and float along with the raft. Aaah! what a feeling! You floating in a river that is around 20-30feet deep and one can find anything underneath. And to add spice, the rain also joined us - making us feeling great about the designs of nature. It was a thrilling experience - having an experience that you watch in Nat Geo or some extreme sports programmes!And let me tell you very clearly that rafting with professionals is safe and adventurous. But yes, lot depends on the guides, their experience and the natural calamities. One need not know swimming to do rafting. All it requires is the will to do.
So, our goal is achieved. We had our first experience of rafting (However, for people like putta, anil anna and gowdru, it was their second time). We went back to the farm house and got refreshed and it was time for us find a hotel to spend the night. After a discussion, we all started to Kundhapur (famous for pretty women) for our night stay. We were lucky to find a hotel there with a rate of around 400 per room - clean and hygenic. Again, after another discussion we all decided to have dinner at the beach nearby.
Beauty! The sound of waves piercing the silence of night. Though there was no moon light, we did go near to the beach to feel by its roaring voice. Then we returned back to a beach-side hut for dinner. And the weather inside the hut was extraordinary. All the stories/feelings were uncovered in that hut! It was the time when we least cared about our past and future but just enjoy the present time. I would be doing injustice by trying to frame sentences for such an experience. Its just the time with friends! Unmatchable!
The next morning(Sunday) we all started to the Jog Falls in Shimoga district. That day's Deccan herald newspaper had Jog falls in their main page stating its in full steam. It increased our curiosity and made us feel satisfied about our trip plan. On the way to Jog Falls, we got down at a roadside beach. It was humid, ofcourse and to add that road was completely blocked. Finally we reached the Jog Falls at around 3 pm!
What a sight that was! Water rushing through the rocks, don't know to where? Just splendid! Amazing! Due to lot of visitors, the roads were blocked and we had to walk a lot to have a look from all the three view-points. Thanks to the recent superhit kannada movie "Mungaaru Male" that brought Jog Falls into limelight!
It was 7 in the evening. The trip was over :-( Our dear organizer Naveen was absconding and had tough time finding him as there was
no network coverage. Finally our Thode turned up at a roadside hotel where we were fighting for food on a single plate. Then we started our return journey to Bangalore. The final moments of the trip were filled with flashback of the last two days and the awesome time we spent together. We did miss other friends of our group who made to so many trips in the past!
We are getting busy in a race of achieving something called "social" life. Such kind of experiences will always remain within us and will cherish for ever.
If you are planning to do rafting, then I suggest you to go sometime after the rainy season, so that one need not worry about the possible flood situation!
Contact Details:
Adreno
98454 0767, 94481 66970
www.adreno.org
Images: Courtesy Shande
Link 1 : http://naanushande.blogspot.com/
Link 2: http://picasaweb.google.com/sandeep.shande/SitanadiJogFalls/
Lets get it started!
It's always been my passion to visit places and people. I have visited some of the exotic and most famous destinations of South India in the past few years. I think it's a great feeling to share the experience and provide information about these places for people who are aspiring to visit. So, you know why I'm here!
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