Operation SeineKumaarr!

Another success!

All the planning and effort didn’t go waste, after all.

Thanks for the post, sudhaam.

Here is the post.

Kumaarrs in Mullaingiri!

The Destination: Mullaingiri – Bababudangiri – Kemmangundi
The Date: 30th Nov, 2007.
The Boys: Anantha, Sandy, me, Rohit, Ranjan and Sudhaamshu

Mullaingiri had been explored by friends before and was highly recommended. Rogay took, or rather was asked to take initiative and find out details of how and where. We didn’t even book the bus, so the Plan, as one kumaarr put it, was not to have a plan! We met at the Bus Stand in Majestic at 10p.m on Friday, the 30th of November. We had a choice between the Volvo bus(Rs.260) which left at 11 and the red dabba bus(Rs.135/- only) which left a little later. We obviously choose the good ol’ Red bus. Found comfortable seats, chatted for some time, Sudhoom narrating his new found ‘passion’,(sumnirodu) and for the first time, Ranger was sleeping on the bus. We slept after a while, and woke up again in the middle of the night at a rest stop. We had hot ‘mensinkai bajji’(made Ranger’s taste buds singe) and some tea. We finally reached Chikmagalur at about 5.30 am, when we(Ranjan) realized that it was the birthday of K3 Zurich Kumaarr. Called him up and each one of us wished him on the phone. Then we got into a nearby lodge, and got ready by 7. The motel guy had already arranged for a taxi to take us to “Sarpandari” gate, which was where the trek was to begin. Anantha had brought a professional looking Canon Digicam with him. He practiced his 12x zooming skills as we alighted the taxi. After buying some water, frooti and bread, we were off along dusty bombed-out roads(was there a WAR here recently? ) , contrast that with the scenic landscape of the Western Ghats.

We reached the ‘Serpentine Gate’ by 8am. Thus began the great climb to Mullayanagiri, the highest peak in Karnataka. There were absolutely no leeches around, but only dry grass, which was quite prickly and got into my ‘running’ shoes. The climb was not too steep, the able guidance of our gang leader, Vasco da Dhaama, made us lose our way on more than one occasion. Some ‘cabaret’ by Ranger, and we would be on the right path again. We rested on the grass half way up, had some bread, with Jam too, thanks to Jam Dhaata kumaarr, and took some ‘Sandalwood’ poster type Pics, and started again. The incline got steeper now. There was a small idol of Basava and shade where we sat for a while again, when Dhaama went into Pro-wildlife-photographer mode, hoping that his ‘portfolio’ could add a bullet point in his resume. We also found some caves, where we found utensils used by the ‘cavemen’. I personally was hoping to take them with me and show them to the National Geographic, but others were thinking of making ‘maggi’ with it. Ahem. We left it alone instead and came to the top at 10 am, where there was a small temple. It didn’t seem much, being the highest point in Karnataka and all that. The view around was brilliant however. We spotted our destination, the BSNL tower at Bababudangiri. We visited the temple, asked people how long it would take to get there, transportation etc. , took some more pics, and started to our destination at 11.

The path from Mullayanagiri to Bababudangiri might seem like a simple route when you start out, but as we found out, the damn hill’s a mirage! We could see that there were a couple of hills in between, so we’d have to go up and down a coupla times, but damn! There are far more hills in between and far more distance to cover than what it looks like! Add to that the ‘estimate’ given by some dude at Mullaingiri that it would only take two hours! It took us four! But the trek was fun. We were walking right along the edge of the cliff! And there was no proper path, which added to the fun. But it was mid afternoon and very sunny and were were really tired at the end of it. We sat down next to the BSNL building in the shade(which is COLD though the sun is out!), ate banana chips, biscuits and finished all the frooti we had. We were really hungry by now, so went down to some tourist spot nearby where there was supposed to be a waterfall. There was no place to eat there. So, we got into an auto and went to a town called ‘Dattapeetha’. It was a shanty little town. Apart from one small temple, there were a few shops there. We went into a hotel, had not much of an option, had some rice and sambar and came out. We visited the temple/mosque, didn’t get the funda behind it. We negotiated the price for the taxi to take us to Kemmannugundi (Rs.700!). En route, we were blessed with the opportunity to see the shooting of some kannada film song! Bless whoever took these pics!

The road from Bababudangiri to Kemmannugundi is non-existent. What there is, seems to be a jungle path created by a stampede of mad elephants. The driver was chatting with his friend and was reluctant to apply brakes, and we got our heads banged against the ceiling! Funny how head banging isn’t fun during such times. We finally reached the guest house in Kemmangundi. It wasn’t easy finding the dorm we ended up in. (Thanks to Michael!) We freshened up, devoured dinner in the only hotel closeby. It was cold as the devils heart that night.(Always wanted to say that!) We curled up under the blankets as soon as we got back to the room, and started chatting. We chatted for a while (and thus The 2.25 funda was Invented!) and gave in to sleep(in mid-conversation) by 10. We went to shanthi falls/z-point the next day early morning, took a lot of pics (Indian Emblem shtyle apparently!)

Now Don’t ask me where the Lions are, ok?

and had some lousy breakfast at the forest guest house. After packing up, we caught the 10.30 bus from Kemmangundi to Kallathgiri falls. Kallathgiri falls isn’t big, there’s a temple right next to the waterfall, which was quite crowded, so we went behind the temple and found another place which was relatively secluded. The water was cold and the small waterfall there powerful though not high. We changed, discovered Sudhaam’s potential to become Ganesh of the Mungaru Male fame

Onde Ondu Saari…, Kanmunde Baare!

and caught the bus to Birur. We also got to watch a Ravichandran movie in the video coach on the way. We wanted to take the train back to Bangalore, so walked to the Birur Railway Station, booked tickets, ate idlis and drank Maa instead of Elneeru(how artificial! ) and found comfortable seats on the train. We chatted all the way back to Bangalore, about Vacheron Constantine and such new pseud aspirations of Sudhaam. We reached Bangalore at 8.30 and got down at Yeshwantpur station. The familiar sounds of Blaring horns and the stink of pollution welcomed us back once again into the ‘Desert’ of the Real. The “Quest for 2.25″ and “Sumnirodu” will forever remain ‘Etched in Memory’!