Maklidurg (Makalidurga!) Trek

Situated 60 km away from Bangalore, Maklidurg is a nice location for one day trekking(moderate). The easiest way to reach there is by train(Guntur passenger from Yesvantpur Jn. at 8.15 am and the train back to Bangalore starts from Maklidurg around 3.30 pm). You can also travel by road and reach Maklidurg via Doddaballapur. Carry sufficient food and plenty of water.

Maklidurg is a tiny but tranquil railway station without any mad rush - not a single hawker, not a single porter, not a single beggar and all other craps that drive you crazy in any big Indian railway stations. As soon we got down from the train, we were welcomed by monkeys. If you do not tempt them by showing the food items you are carrying with, these creatures are quite harmless in general. We followed the railway track for another kilometer or so and reached a temple at the base of the hill. This place is not as famous as Skandagiri with trekkers, but still finding the way up in broad daylight should not be very difficult. Moreover, there are some yellowish arrows marked on the stones to help you. Once you find them, the rest is pretty straightforward. We started ascending with intermittent reposes and the whole thing went quiet eventless. After two tiring hours we were standing jubilantly on a dilapidated fort wall - mission accomplished :o) The landscape is dotted with several other hills, including Nandi Hill and Skandagiri, which we managed to identify! You can see a big lake not too far away from the foot of the hill (it seems from the top), the railway track lying like a giant metallic serpent and the moving trains remind you of your childhood toys. Everything looks so small from the top!

We spent some time exploring the top, which is a fairly large plane area protected by fort wall from all the sides and a temple of lord shiva roughly at the middle. We later came to know that twice a year devotees come to the temple to offer prayer. We rested our weary legs, took photos, consumed food and drinks and were ready for descending in an hour and half. And suddenly a queer idea struck our mind – lets try out some other route rather than walking down tried and tested one! This is a perfect example of what one should not do in a hot day with depleting stock of water. After an hour or so the track we followed suddenly disappeared and a very steep slope were lying ahead. All of us were very reluctant to go all the way up and take the right track. Stranded and desperately looking for some way that can take us all the way down, few of us scattered in different directions searching for it. After a brief survey, Soupi came up with an outrageous plan! He suggested that if we can manage to climb down around 50 mt, all along one branch of tree to another, we are out of the hell (heavenwards if we slip). We were prompt to vehemently oppose the proposed acrobatic adventure and after few more despairing moments, sense of practicality enlightened our mind (at last) - we decided to go all the way up in search of the good old route. It took a while (and a lot of energy) to find the right track and we totally ran out of water by then. Our voices gradually fell silent - no chitchats, no jokes; just the sound of footsteps going down. Battling extreme heat and dehydration for another hour, we somehow managed to trudge all the way back to the temple at the base of the hill. A few people were around and they offered us water (read life) to drink. No comments about the hygiene but the poor fellows drink this day after day for survival and so did we. The return train was gone by then and we took a bus to Doddaballapur and from there to Bangalore.

Team members: Anshu, Ankur, Bota, Pratap, Titas, Sukrit, Soupi, Somnath

Photographs taken by Anshu

Belur-Halebidu

Belur and Halebidu served as the capital of Hoysala empire, which ruled modern day Karnataka and part of Tamilnadu from 10^th to the middle of 14^th century. It is located at Hassan district in Karnataka, at a distance of 220 km from Bangalore. The ideal way to visit the place is to take KSTDC conducted tour, which covers Belur, Halebidu and Sravanabelagola. Otherwise the place is well connected to Bangalore by bus and train. There is regular train service between Bangalore and Arsikere. Belur and Halebidu is within 50 km of Arsikere. You can take a bus or hire a car from Arsikere. But you miss Sravanabelagola, which is 80 km away and in opposite direction. For return journey, you can take Jansatabdhi express from Arsikere at 6.30 pm. Being well developed tourist spots, availability of food and drink is not a problem here.

We took Chalukya express from Yesvantpur at 6.30 in the morning and reached Arsikere in two and half hours. The bus for Halebidu was to start around 11. So we (five of us) decided to hire a car(@700). Our first destination was Halebidu. The road was reasonably good, albeit narrow. The Hoysaleswara temple in Halebidu is dedicated to lord Shiva and was built in the 12^th century. Inside the temple there is a big, dark but refreshingly cool hall, supported by decorated pillars. The Shiva linga is situated in a well lit room. But the real beauty of the temple lies in it's outside walls. There are numerous sculptures carved to minute details – mythological stories, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. More astonishing – there is hardly any space left untouched by the sculptors. The only sad thing was, being weekend, there was too much crowd. Some shooting was going on inside, which added to our woes. But overall, it was a great experience. For nature lovers, there is a huge lake adjacent to the temple complex.

Our next destination was Chennakesava temple in Belur, 20

km away form Halebidu. This temple is dedicated to lord Vishnu.
This is actually a temple complex, where several temples were built over a period of time. The central one is Chennakesava temple. The hall inside, supported by decorated pillars, is dark. But there are guides with light to enlighten you at a nominal price. The main attraction inside are four sculptures of Shilabalika in various poses (“Beauty with the mirror”, “The lady with the parrot” etc). The outside walls are again full of minutely carved magnificent sculptures depicting the Hindu epics. Look for the statue of the man fighting the tiger. This was the symbol of Hoysala empire.

For more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belur and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halebidu

Team members: Ankur, Bratin, Rajdip, Supratim and Somnath

Photographs taken by: Bratin and Rajdip

Halebidu:

Belur:

Hilarious

It was very early days of railway in our country and toilets were not introduced in the compartments. Okhil Chandra Sen narrates the inconveniences caused in this letter, written in 1909 and now displayed in the Railway Museum in New Delhi -

“I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with ‘lotah’ in one hand and ‘dhoti’ in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers.”

Great ... now another material, that too has the potential to occupy a place in the same museum ... a ticket booked 100 years in advance !!!! The Times of India reports -

HOWRAH: Sixty-year-old Gopal Dey has a ticket to ride but nowhere to go. The tailor from Kadamtala in Howrah has a Kolkata-Jamshedpur train ticket — dated June 28, 2073. Dey has Indian Railways in a fix. Taking advantage of a rule that once allowed passengers to buy advance tickets without any time limit, Dey booked a ride on the Tata Express as a practical joke in 1973. Of course, Dey never expected to use the ticket. He plans to hand over the ticket to his daughter and hopes his grandson can use it. ........ The fare? A princely Rs 9.75.

Train ride or Time Machine ride !!!!!!
Read the full report ....

Skandagiri - revisited

We did it this time :o)
The place has changed a lot. The car parking is not dark like last time. Forest department has posted a few employees to collect Rs. 100/- as parking and forest entry charge (newly introduced) !!! And believe me, the number and varieties of cars and bikes can even put parking lot of some shopping complex to shame. The place has become too popular and do not be surprised if one of the Cafe Coffee Day outlets welcomes you next time. The only positive change is - way to hill is clearly marked at different places and there is very little chance of getting lost as we did last time. Trekking to top in two hours should not be very difficult for a reasonably fit person. If you follow some minimum safety norms like carrying sufficient lights etc. then Skandagiri is very safe for enjoying the adventure of night trek. We reached at the top around 5 am. Far away, Bangalore city was still shining bright. And there were countless people everywhere - lying of the flat stone, sitting of the round stone, standing on the roof of a small temple, resting on the floor of the temple, sleeping inside tents, sleeping outside under the open sky, eating, drinking, smoking, laughing, chatting, shouting ....... one can go on. Skandagiri is indeed one of the top favourites of weekend revelers!! As the sunrise approached, people grew restless – you have to guess the right spot, take a suitable place accordingly, be ready with cameras etc. Clouded sky was making the guess difficult and everyone around had their own views. And then came the clouds. Bangalore city, till now visible clearly, was fading fast from our view. Very soon Skandagiri and adjoining peaks were looking like islands in the middle of sea of clouds, rising upwards to engulf us. The visibility was dropping every moment and in between we manged to take a glimpse of the glorious sunrise. My writing skill is at it's worst while I try to describe sublime and some great fellow said that “one can only feel such heavenly things” --- so better to keep the description brief. In the beginning the cloud was not dense enough to hide the glory of the rising sun ... the sun was disappearing one moment and reappearing with full glory the next moment. The hide and seek game continued for some time, before it was mist everywhere. After a few moments of rest, we began to climb down amidst the cloud and mist, which gradually cleared as we trekked down. It took around one hour to reach the foot of the hill. I looked up for one last time --- the peak was still hiding behind a chunk of cloud.
Last but not the least – team members who made the trip memorable ---- Sukrit, Kaka, Bota, Titas, Ankur and Soupi.

Previous experience .......

Inconvenient Truth

She too is a citizen of SHINING India. The Telegraph reports the following about Suku Soren on the day Chidambaram rolled out a "progressive" budget:

Suku Soren

Age: 17

Where: Nadna, 10kmfrom IIT Kharagpur, in West Midnapore
Education: Never been to school
Occupation: Domestic chores
Family: Mother Saraswati, father Kanon and five siblings
Family annual income: Rs 2,800
House: Single-room mud house with thatched roof. Space inside not more than 200sqft and the entire family sleeps there
Vehicle: None
Most valuable possession: Utensils, Kanon’s black stone ring, and junk jewellery worn by his wife and Suku
Least valuable possession: Nothing
Most cherished dream fulfilled: The poor can’t afford dreams, says Kanon
Cherished dream yet to be fulfilled: Two square meals a day

Dismayed ? Hold on .... there is more ...

The tribal girl has grown up in Nadna, just 10km from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur — a symbol of India’s march in the knowledge economy — without ever going to school. Kharagpur has the world’s longest platform, too, but Suku has never seen a train. Or a movie ......
The report concludes saying,
India’s economic boom has passed Suku and Kanon by. “I am where I was 10-15 years ago, if not worse,” Kanon says.

And I am a great fan of Dr. Singh and his economic policies. My own life has improved so much in last 10-15 years !!!
Read the full report.