T.N.-> Ooty, Pykara, Coonoor

OOCTAMUND (Tamil Nadu, India), popularly known as Ooty, is South India's most beloved hill-station, Bollywood's busy-bees' hive and visited by 12 lakh people every year. It lies nestled in the world-famous biosphere of Nilgiri Hills.

That morning on 1st October 2005, next to the verdant gardens inside Infosys, Mysore City Campus, packed in a 12-seater and a 22-seater buses were 19 boys and 11 girls waiting patiently … for what? What else - but me and my room partner - we both had missed the alarm as usual.

Around 30-40 kms later, we reached ShriVenkatswamy temple - one of the holiest temples of Karnataka, it was built during the Ganga dynasty (9th C) and improved upon by Hoysalas (13th C). It was also revered by Tipu Sultan, and later by the Wadeyar dynasty till this date. The temple is devoted mainly to Lord Shiva but has idols of all other Gods as well. We also had a rare and delicious flat circular idlis - soft, fresh with excellent chatni - and cheap at 2 idlis for Rs 5

Mid-way to Ooty, at 80 km, came Bandipur National Park. This place is known for its tigers, sambhars, bisons, leopards and elephants - but the timings of safari are from 6 -9 am and 4 -6 pm only. So we had missed it! Never mind that, and we did get to see many sambhars idling by the road-side. State of Tamil Nadu begins where Bandipur ends, followed by another wildlife sanctuary (though of no particular significance) and from here onwards, the forests are never-ending - spread like a vast green blanket over the undulating terra and ever-ascending higher in the direction of Ooty.

After encountered 36 hair-pin bends on the way, Ooty obliged with a glimpse. Ooty has indeed become like a huge town in itself and spread itself large. Today it is mostly used as a base for visiting neighboring scenic locales.

PYKARA:

Pykara Dam along with boating and waterfalls, is a complete getaway package and a well-kept secret. All this is cached away 30 kms from Ooty on one of the roads to Mysore. The falls are 1 km from the road and though there are a few tea-shops in the beginning, the actual spot is uninhabited and pristine. Lush forests giving way to a soft-grass covered valley at the centre of which there are a series of gentle falls - stuff dreams are made of.

REGENCY VILLA:
Initially I had misgivings about a place charging us Rs 1000 per double-room, that too, at 3.5 kms from Ooty when hotel-rooms are still vacant in the city at Rs 300. But, this is accounted by history, for this is no ordinary place, but a series of beautiful cottages and the property of the Wadiyar Maharajah, who still frequent his summer palace, next to the cottages along with the members of his royal family.

The villa is scenic and atop a hill with splendid view of the valleys below. In the night, we lit up a bonfire and had a buffet. There was wine and music and some bit of dancing and merry-making. Then, the villa's guide showed us the sacred tree, and a disputed mansion of Nizam in the nearby estate. Finally we entered the palace. The central dance floor was the most charming, with balconies above from king's and queen's side. In the days gone by, the foreigners would perform the western dances below while the royalty overlooked from these balconies.

Ooty was where Billiards had originated!! The oldest Billiards Table in the world with crystal balls is in the Ooty Club. The second oldest table, complete with an old fashionable score-board, is at this very Regency Villa Palace and is 100 years old. Many of the Bollywood’s shootings have taken place right here at the Palace – “Raaz” (where Bipasha Basu encounters the ghost in the bungalow and in the jungle), "Ek aur ek Gyarah" (Sanjay Dutt and Govinda), "Saajan" are a few noteworthy examples.

COONOOR :
Coonoor is another hill-station connected to Ooty by a steam-driven toy-train, a rarity in the world today. The toy-train's tickets are to be bought in the morning as advance reservations are not permitted. Minutes before the 9:00 am departure, the counter re-opens and the tickets are sold-out at once especially if it is a Sunday.

Painted blue and carried forward by a steam-engine, the toy-train passes 3 tunnels and lush valleys on its way to Coonor in some 45 minutes. The right-side provides a more scenic view. This hill-station has nothing grand but a few panormic sun rise/set - spots and a botanical garden.

9th MILE:
This spot is a few kms from Ooty and ideal for long or short trekking - We did a 3 hour short trek up to Tiger Hill and back through a Toda tribal village. These tribals are pastoral and agricultural-based in work and worship Buffalo God. They alone are allowed to live here as all other areas belong to Forest Department. Many a film-shootings have taken place here and one can see why it is called “Scotland of East”.

KAR.-> Mysore -> Shivasamudram & Talakkad

SHIVASAMUDRAM & TALAKKAD (Karnataka, India)

These are two different sites along Kaveri (Cauvery) River: Shivasamudram offers two great waterfalls and Asia's first Hydroelectric plant. Talakkad is a sluggish phase of river with a great cluster of ancient temples buried underneath the sand deposited by the river on its banks and how the archaelogical digging is bringing their splendour back to life!

11th September 2005: I and Nishant undertook this trip.

Mysore city's Govt. Bus Terminal/07:15 hours
We arrived early to catch the one and only Mysore – Malvaddi - Kollegal Bus at 0745 hr which direct connects Shivasamudram on the way. The other option is a bus-change through Malvaddi town. The bus arrived Just-in-Time and we easily got seats. (Rs.32 per head.)

The bus took the straight road to Barnur and futher till Malavaddi. Hereafter, it took the Kollegal Road and reached Shivasamudram Power Plant (10:00). After momentarily entering this campus, it halted at the Hospital Bus stop and retracted back to Kollegal Road.

SHIVASAMUDRAM Village/10:10 hours

Shivasamudram holds the distinction of being the site of India's first hydro-electric power station built in 1902. It was set up mainly to supply power to the Kolar goldmines 147 km away, making the 78 kv transmission line the longest in the world at the time. The place where the power station is located is called the 'Bluff', literally meaning a cliff with a broad, perpendicular face. The 135-m high bluff was ideal for laying the hydraulic pipes feeding the turbines in the generator. The station itself is named after K. Seshadri Iyer, the Dewan of Mysore from 1883-1901, during whose tenure the hydel project was implemented.

The village is reached after crossing over Kaveri river through a narrow bridge.
However, all the beauty of the rapids and cascades of the river disappears when confronted by the auto- rickshaw thugs of the village. The falls being 11 kms from the village, these thugs have a monopoly of sorts. They demanded Rs.180 but haggling and a chance meeting with another two young men resulted in Rs. 160 for us four.
The falls are reached by crossing over a bridge which is adjacent to the 150 year-old arched Lushington stone bridge – motorable but not used.

Badachukki waterfall– spread over a 300 metres, it falls for 70 metres. The crest has a beautiful pond which can be reached by a flight of carved stairs. Down below, we witnessed several college teams in frolic and monkeys waiting for the opportune time. We immediately went in for boating in the local round boat (Rs.40). The experience to have the falls directly overhead gushing out the spray out on us was incredible. We returned back and headed for Gaganchukki waterfall.

Gaganchukki waterfall – this is a 90 m. long fall and bellows out huge clouds of water-sprays all around. Best viewed from behind the green-colored tomb of a savant . The descent is possible but not evident for the itinerant tourist so one must contend with the sight from a distance. The Muslim fraternity here, dishes out kababs. We returned back to village and then waited for the to Talakkad bus till 13:00 hrs, even as the buses to capital city of Bangalore kept a steady procession of sorts.

TALAKKAD/0530 hrs

The river-side is 2 kms from village bus-stand. At the river, we had lunch (Rs.30) from local vendors, watching several college teams playing on the river-beach. The Kaveri river is sluggish here and the sand deposited over the centuries has submerged a whole cluster of ancient temples, of which the three temples dug-out show the splendor of an era gone by.

The main temple is more or less intact. It is a large wall-enclosed square-complex 30 meters to one side, built of light brown stone, and is devoted to Lord Shiva. The temple-door’s two guards statue’s are identical but for the canines of one statue which differentiates them into mythological worlds of Devlok (World of Gods) and Asurlok (World of Demons) respectively – Lord Shiva being supreme over both sects. Their bellies also resemble the face of (holy bull and carrier of Lord Shiva) Nandi – a lithographic illusion. The imaginative sculptors even had Lord Ganesha sitting over a horse-faced mouse!!

We returned back to catch a bus to T.N.Narsipur town(20 kms, Rs.10) and from there, to Mysore (25 kms, Rs.12) where we reached back by 18:20 hrs. The six-bus trip cost us Rs.200( inclusive of food) per head.

KAR.-> Mysore -> Somnathpura Temple

SOMNATHPURA Temple is a rock-cut architectural masterpiece and was built in 13th Century. It is the finest specimen of Hoysala dynasty's architecture and grandeur. It lies 35 kms from Mysore city.

How To Reach: I took one of the hourly buses to Bannur town (Rs. 12, 40 mins.) from the KSRTC Govt. Bus stand in Mysore city and then from Bannur, a ( every quarter-hourly) private bus to Somnathpura(Rs. 4, 10 mins.)

Somnathpura is just a hamlet comprising of a few cottages beyond which lies this surprisingly intact and well managed architectural site. (Entry Rs. 5). Amidst manicured lawns, and pointed by the tall stone minaret at its entrance, the temple compound is protected by a 15 ft. stone wall all around the 60 m. square-shaped complex. The temple is built of black stone and in the Hoysala architectural style is still in all its glory and the finest specimen left in its league. Built by King Narsimha's General named Somnathpura in late 13th Century, it was indeed built to military precision. There are many small chambers throughout its periphery on the inside-featuring the statues of many deities. The central high-rise pagoda-styled temple has 3 main statues inside. But it is the ceiling that holds your breath - intricate geometrical patterns carved into the stone represent the cultural advancement of the era gone by.
This central Pagoda in appearance is like a cluster of several star-shaped conical high-rises with fine mytholigical stone statues of gods and goddesses, their postures and strange facial expressions halting your steps - some defaced by the attack of swords.

The place is well-frequented by foreigners as well which explains the unlikely presence of a Tibetan curio-shop.

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20 August, 2005: My Observations on the Return Journey:
The condition of the road from Bannur to Somnathpura suggests that either the govt. seems to be unaware of this road's existence, or perhaps their brainwave included to keep the road in its primitive 13th Century condition as well. I observed that some artisans worked on large metallic bowls - upto 2 metres in diameter. Perhaps these are sold to showrooms later.

Bannur Bus Stand is straight out of famous writer R.K. Narayan's fictitious town Malgudi - a large Banyan tree and in its umbrage, sits a mix of populance - school-children: the smaller ones having to tow the heaviest bags while the elder ones sport a mere pen and a notebook of their favourite heroine; shop-keeper and artisans with their help-boys loading and unloading cartfuls of baggages of their produce or requirements; farmers in their lungis and plows, school teachers with fragrant gajras, the time-keeper in his brown overalls and a ledger, and vendors of coconuts and cucumbers and many others. As one of the local private buses arrive, the non-chalance of the gathered and the dozing, storms into a frenzy and they hug it like a child to a mother. I just manage to squeeze in or so I thought, for the next stop in Main Bannur had another dozen people waiting for this bus!!

Bannur was about to witness a sea-change as BSNL's telecom poles were being erected throughout the area and cementing material was being laid down near the road - hopefully this place will have a better road and telecom connectivity soon enough.

KAR.-> Mysore

MYSORE city is in state of Karnataka, India and has been the capital of Central South India since medieval times, before Bangalore took over a few decades back. The warriors: Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan waged war against Britain’s East India Co. from nearby Srirangapatnam township in 19th C and a long line of Wadeyar kings to this date have been based in Mysore. The city is known for silk, metallic and leather handicrafts and chandan (sandal) based toiletries and cosmetics. The city has the ideal blend for swarming tourists – palaces, temples, forts, museums, galleries and nearby bountiful avenues into nature.

14 August 2005 : The six of us - Ashish, Hitesh, Nishant, Rajat, Sarvadaman and myself - Mohit, could not have chosen a more crowded week-end (Monday being the Independence Day) and yet could have had a more eventful day perhaps. We boarded the Bus-116 from our Infosys Mysore campus at 07:50 and reached the city at 08:40. Despite most taxis already booked, we managed to arrange a taxi with an agent. The driver Jamaluddin knew English, Hindi and Kannada but the taxi did not have a stereo system. The deal was fixed for Rs. 800 .

Chamundi (Goddess Kali) Hill Temple - 8 km
This revered hill-temple majestically overlooks the Mysore city. It is usually over-crowded in mornings and this week-end being what it was.... .... well, we parked 1.5 km away and had decided to do with only the temple’s parikrama (circumambulation), when the idol of Chamundi Devi seated on a small chariot was brought out of temple just as we stood there. Blessed that we had this unique darshan (divine glimpse), we took the snaps and proceeded back. A beautiful colorful statue of demon Mahishasura (was slained by the goddess, and after which the city is named - Mysore) is there in front of the Temple. Snap. A packet of ripened 50 ripened red berries was timely.

Nandi (Carrier of Lord Shiva) Bull Statue – 0.5 km down the slope


The return-trip is invariably via the Nandi Bull - A huge 4 m. high and 5 m. long black Monolithic structure. There is also a flight of 1000-step stairs from the base of the hill up to the temple via the Nandi Bull statue. Of this size, there are only 5 or 6 Bulls in South India and I had seen one at Bangalore as well.

Maharajah's Palace : Amba Vilas Durbar - 0 km.
Belonging to the Wadeyar Rajahs, the Amba Vilas Durbar is the crowning glory of Central South India. The murals are richly decorated and every inch of the wall is colored or gilded. Doors and roof-tops are of carved wood and western colored glasses and mosaics adorn the palace throughout its two storeys accessible to public view. The building built by a western architect in early 20th Century is all stone, with several tall minarets featuring Roman Arches, gilded panels and bright red domes. It features the portraits of many of its rajahs, paintings of foreign dukes and ceremonial processions and events like the coronations, wedding and world-famous famous Dushera festival of Mysore.

The museum, I could not visit - but contains the armaments and attires and the furniture of Ranis and Rajahs. There are also camel and elephant rides to be enjoyed. Outside there are curio-handicraft shops.

Sri Jaichamrajendra Art Gallery: 2 km
This palace-turned-Art gallery contains beautiful clocks esp. The French Musical Clock, Japanese Paper-craft painting, painted bone china cutlery, musical instruments (3rd floor), royal paintings of Tipu Sulatn and Wadeyars rajahs, landscapes of Tibet, Ladakh and Himalayas by several artists, Mughal & Rajasthani miniature paintings, and as always the portraits of mythical feminine subjects. India’s most well-known artist Raja Ravi Verma's paintings rivet you: Lord Rama & Lankan Sea; Lady in moonlight, Wadeyar portraits and above all the masterpiece - the mystical "Lady with the Lamp"!
There is also a government sandal shop - Cauvery, inside the gallery containing incensed sticks, powders, oils, scents etc. The private ones outside with similar names sell thestuff at a discount but the quality is doubtable.

Zooligical Park: 2 km. The best in South India
The variety of animal kingdom is awe-inspiring:
Lions, Royal Bengal and White Tigers, panthers, and leopards;
Giraffes, hippopotamus, Asian & African bisons, bears, zebras, deers and blackbucks;
Lemurs, macaques, chimps; Various types of snakes - cobra, rattle, rat and vipers;

Various pheasants, flamingoes, peacocks; Giant Squirrel;

Alligators and crocodiles, and aquarium and what not.

This zoo feature certain animals not featured elsewhere in India: African elephants, Gorillas and Tapis! It is clear that despite all the affectations of security and enclosures, it is the fact that animals have become habituated and 'territorially reserved' which prevents them from venturing out of their enclosure and shutting Mysore down.
Lunch was a fantastic North Indian (Dishes 60, Rotis 20 each) affair in Hotel Viceroy (Rs.500)

St. Philomena's Church
It was seen on the way and it is a huge stone Roman structure and one of the largest in the region.

SRIRANGAPATNAM township: 15- 18 km from Mysore

Daria Daulat Bagh: Royal gardens of Tipu Sultan
There is a small museum at the centre of the manicured lawns. The mundane outside appearance belies the eye-popping mural paintings inside, depicting the defeat of the East India Company’s army by Tipu Sultan, the warrior king in First Anglo-Mysore War (late 19th C).

There are also the royal sofas, maps, landscapes of forts, burials, peaks and valleys by British painters published in London papers way back in 18th C. Also are the pencil sketches of Tipu's seven sons and his closest warriors and personal aides - again by foreign painters. Photography is prohibited.

Tipu and his father Haider Ali (late 18th C) consolidated the State of Mysore, checked the Nizams and Marathas both and using the latest French technology, made Britisher's existence dreadful across Central South India. Even the Wadeyars owed allegiance to them till Tipu was defeated by the treachery of his minister Mir Qasim, and killed in 1799.

Tipu's Fall – the place where Tipu Sulatn’s dead body was found.
Gumbaj – is a large white tomb where Tipu Sultan and his parents are buried. The structure has a big onion-shaped dome. There are also the graves of the clansmen and close aides.
Sangam (Confluence): 2 km from Gumbaj, is a serene spot where Kaveri meets another river. Nice cheap coconuts and their butters to be relished here and boating to be done in local round-pan boats made of thatched leaves and wood.
Sri Ranganathswamy temple, fortress and Dungeon of Srirangapatnam are other worthwhile places to be seen but we were in hurry.

Krishnasagar (KRS) Dam: Detour from Srirangapatnam and 19 km from Mysore.
Built as a small masonry structure by Tipu on Cauvery River, it was greatly improved by Sir Vishvesharaiyya, the renowned Bharat Ratna recipient engineer. It is to be reached by stopping the car 3 km from famous Brindavan garden on the KRS Road and traveling a rural road straight for half a km. to the dam. Once there, we along with a crowd of over a 500 people (growing with the evening) witnessed the scene of release of Cauvery River and of its large reservoir behind it where annually on Dushera Festival, the water sports take place.

Brindavan garden : Series of musical fountains: 2 km from KRS Dam
The Brindavan garden’s musical fountains come alive in the evening (and in this extended weekend, large crowds had gathered from far away towns and certain unruly scenes occurred too.)
At the entrance of the garden, there is a 400 m. narrow bridge over an artificial lake.The Garden has many small and big, illuminated and synchronized fountains and waterfalls and on the summit of the hillock, there is a grand musical fountain.

We returned to the Infosys Mysore campus contented at 22:20, all for Rs. 320 per head.
The Layout for six: Car 800; Breakfast 100; Lunch 500; Juices 90; Parking 120 and Tickets 300

Manali and Beyond ..

Manali and Beyond:


12 April 2005, Monday
Class meets at Science Block – HOD was angry for class bunk on Friday
HOD in Allahabad - blessing in disguise
All teachers decline, jeopardizing our co-masti trip.
R.C.Sharma Sir to our Rescue.
Mr. Srivastava obliges with family to Shravan and Yatish

13 April 2005, Tuesday

Room’s Reservation at HTTDC, Janpath
Sanjay’s Lunch at my place + Packup
Run to campus + Sanjay needs bank
Bus arrives and so do the rest.
Shimla’s ankle-strain
Deepak calls
Bhupesh and Meena are interested
Last pickup at M2K Multiplex of Mrs Saroj Bala mam.
Balloons
Grands please!!
Chungi at Haryana Border
Dinner at Murthal + triple sum-breakup
Late Night songs
Short bumpy Detour
Hooch’s in and Sharma’s smokes behind the curtain.
Sanjay & Priyanka’s tate-a-tate.

14 April 2005, Wednesday
Baby awakens many of us.
Nobody sleeps like Karan – I should know.
Mandi and Kullu
Tea- Break at riverside restaurant
Triple Gaurav Incident, Part – I
Rohtang Manalsu – We check in & Room Allotment and Scramble

Sumit, Karan, Nipun check out
Lunch
Hidimba and Ghatotkach Temple
Manu Temple
Splash - Sanjay & Baby incident and I hurt G1’s feelings
Chanchal and me at Club
Shooting at Manali
G1 and Shravan arrange for tommorow’s trip
Dinner from Gaurav Singh’s restaurant in Mall
Tommorow’s Provisions by NAPN: Bread, butter and jam
Early sleep
What did Triple Gauravs do in Night, Part -II

15 April 2005, Thursday
Bravely into bathrooms to bathe with cold water and wash clothes with hot water.
Leave in 2 qualis
I am driving here after 1 year (at 70 kmph on road- winds!!)
Rented Snow outfits
Shooting of Akshay Kumar’s Kashmir-based Movie
Army check-post and first snow –line crossed
How car skids in snow? Tyre Technology
Rohtang Pass
Anupama and Neetu not well
Ash and Karan on Snow bike from the word go….
Me and Shravan-follow them.
Glad I am alive..- Dhasohar lake is aptly named
The race to the top leaving Ash below
Fun with snowmen and tyres
Small T-Break and price negotiation with snow-bike wallah
Halt at Army Check-post
Arrival at Hotel and the teachers now start for the trip in the bus.
Group – I to Hidimba Temple, Shopping and Trekking
Group-II to Aqua and Rope games
We hurry back for aslept Anupama – this lady can shame a polar bear.
Triple Gaurav Incident – Part – III: Others fall for Vyas’s fall
Me and Shravan to Monastry and Price Comparision.
G1 arranges for the fire.
We have dinner down at the mall road.
Song and Dance by fire.


16 April 2005, Friday
The great bathroom Crunch
Triple Gaurav Incident: Part-IV: Main Aisa Kyoon Hun
Walk for battery and Camera Reel, and Nehru statue
We all check out.
Spend time playing ONO. Thanks due to Priyanka Anand.
Manikaran and Gurudwara
Does water – splash burn? Ask Sanjay
Dinner at a small road-side dhaba
Kabab mein Haddi, But how was I to know?
Late Night halt

17 April 2005, Saturday
Arrival in Delhi and most leave at Madhuban Chowk
Vomit King
Breakfast for the driver – I knew he was a Pahari (close to my village!!)
A valuable camera Reel is lost. But it is like ‘gore mukh pe kala tilka’.