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Chikmagalur
  • Sridhar Kanakaraj
  • Sridhar Kanakaraj

Chikmagalur

A short but fine adventure by Sridhar Read more
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  • Trip start
    May 3, 2015
    Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    Yearning for an ETTA

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    The positives of this ETTA being the eradicated Uncertainty Chapter, but the MisSpent chapter still stays on the negative side. But Happy to have shown some improvement. Though the traveller in me was kept alive, wasn't able to give the full freedom to explore due to the limitations of one the ETTAquipment, My Punto. At the same time can't imagine to reach to such long distance without the Punto. Either the punto should be tweaked to beef up the capabilities or wait for FIAT to launch that capable vehicle. But all these would not stop me from doing the next ETTA.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA Goes Lil' Adventerous

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Having reached the resort, it is not just Pack up, but we have got one more interesting thing to do. GIFTS !!! Gifts to the Kids and Gifts to all the participants of the FiiG. For the kids it was a Musical key board and for the couples it is luggage organizers to encourage them to plan more trips like this.
    Gifts distributions happened with loads of laughter and happiness. Now it is time to load our cars and say good bye to the resort crew for their exceptional service. Had the final photo shoot and started back to Bangalore.    Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA Goes Lil' Adventerous

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    While I was busy finding food for my camera, mohan realized it is time to give food for our tummies. We already being sandwiched between those mountains, the Jam sandwiched between the breads for the breakfast, fulfilled my wish to have food on such a place with the people close to heart. We kept moving to and climbing on the hillocks like bunnies hurriedly searching for food before being spotted by eagles. Wondering what I compared to the eagles ? "Argh, Our daily routine to office." In no time it was 10 o clock. The driver started honking for us to return. " With no willingness to leave, we headed back to our resort. Do I have to say how the Massage parlour felt like in the return journey? I don't think so.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA Goes Lil' Adventerous

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The nature's art of those green wavy hills formation, though seemed awesome from a distance, when we climbed up the hillocks, it was all the same grasses through out. Like a painting, when zoomed in, it is all the strokes of colours but when zoomed out, it is an artwork. But the view from those mountains felt like being on top of the world. If this feels like top of the world then what would paragliding feel like ? top of the universe ? May be. This tempts me to do an ETTA in those lines. Well, time will have a chance for that. But as a child it was a mystery on what it feels like to be on the top of a hill so green and huge, and the mystery is resolved today. Sad for the kids, their mystery lasted only few hours.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA Goes Lil' Adventerous

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The feel of euphoria attained, the moment we set foot on those grassy slopes. It really feels special to be at a place where nothing else is present except for the nature. For the driver, driving through these roads every week caused weariness or might be he didn't take his eyes off the road or he doesn't had the defect we had in our eyes. For him, it felt funny and unusual to see us so delighted to be in such a place. He went under the vehicle, to adjust the rods, bolts and nuts and I went into adjusting the dials, buttons and rings in my camera. That is the difference.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA Goes Lil' Adventerous

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    May 4. Tat ta Tayn... It is 5AM and I was in sync with the clock. 5:30 AM we boarded the Bolero. Goes and goes the Bolero through those roads less travelled. All the pot holes filled with muddy water ensured that my decision of not driving my car to these places was the best of awesome ideas. But today the rocky and bumpy roads didn't feel painful... the Bone shuffler felt like a massage parlour. Same road and same vehicle, but the zeal to explore places, transmitted the antonyms of the previous day's impulses, into our nervous system. I was relishing even the splashes of muddy waters. Everything looked beautiful and photo worthy. And here comes the mountains and valleys, with a perfect match to my previous evening imaginations. Today the driver well interpreted with our expectations stopped the vehicle at the right places without even requesting for.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    This is where, my dedication persuaded the Rain God and I won his mercy. Yes ! It Rained, it rained donkeys and buffaloes. I started to believe the nature is always ready to serve the traveller in me. Rained enough to beautify the Mountains and Valleys for us to visit them next day. Happily had a negligible drink with Mani Bhai and slept.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    I didn't mind spending but I want to keep alive the traveller in me. Just to make sure nobody is accompanying me to the venture next day early morning, I asked Mohan and others if they would like to join me. Surprisingly mohan said , he will join too, with his family. My wife and Kid by default would join me. Mani Bhai and his wife Viji too showed willingness. The other two families with toddlers were not in for this. So negotiated the cost for a trip from 5AM to 10AM. 3 families, 1 vehicle and 2500 Rs. All done and decided. The driver guaranteed to wait for us in the resort by 5 AM. We went out to buy bread and jam for the next day breakfast incase kids and we feel hungry during the tripRead more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Anyways, Gone is good gone. Is there a way to make the memories of this trip indelible ? Yes ! there is one solution to this. Would everybody accept to this solution ? Even if they don't, I am gonna do it all alone, just like how I did it in munnar. A tourist is just a tourist and a traveller would never do a tourist. Either I should turn a traveller or not repent for being a tourist. Guess what I have decided ? .... No.. No... I am not gonna take my Punto. I decided, Once we reach the resort I will talk to the driver, to take me to those mountains and valleys early in the morning, and negotiate a cost for that.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    But even in that darkness, I was able to sense the beauty of the mountains and valleys and felt it is something special that we badly missed to witness. Those Sambar deer, which crossed our way in that darkness, added fuel to frustration. I was totally disappointed for such a non-event. If we had come through this forest route in the morning, who knows, we would have spent the whole day watching these beautiful mountains and valleys. It was so pleasing to imagine having a lunch amidst these valleys and kids playing around. Why didn't this happen to us ? Did the driver misunderstood our expectations and focused on taking us to tourist spots or our delay in boarding the vehicles caused all these ? We spent 9000 Rs as rent for the the vehicles to visit Mullayangiri Peak which we didn't climb up and spent another 4000 Rs for the safari and came back empty handed and missed the sunset. So much of spending just for nothing except for such a painful ride in those vehicles ? A Huge MisSpend. And the next day we have to pack up and go home. Go back home with a heap of disappointment ? Forget about having nothing to frame a story, but having nothing to cherish defines a bad trip. For the first and only time, I felt I shouldn't have bought a FIAT Punto because he cant get me to these places with his low ground clearance. But I just cant let down my Car for not being to able handle such a intractable need from me. If I had a suitable vehicle, I would not have relied on anybody and would have come in search of such a place.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    5PM. What now ? Still with those residue of hope we proclaimed "The Sunset" . Got back into the bone shuffler quickly so as not to miss the Sun Set. But the Sun didn't show any pity on us. Sun decided to go home quickly and before we are out of the forest, it was twilight. By the time we reached the sunset view point it was total darkness. So the ride through the forest route was useless.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The safari started, on a bolero modded nicely for a jungle safari. My family and Mohan family were seated in the rear open cargo deck fitted with jump seats and others inside. The forest gates opened, and we are into the real forest for real. Except for the diesel clatter, everything else was on mute. Now I hear a feeble voice saying "Appa Chucha Vardhu" (translation : "Dad, I want to take a leak".) Leopard being my favourite animal, I wanted my son to learn his life lessons from characteristic of a leopard. But didn't expect him to start his lessons from marking the territory. With no other option, standing from the cargo deck he attended his nature's call thus marking his territory in that jungle. Relieved, we diverted our eye balls back into the bushes to spot the Cat. After a short ride, the bolero stops. The driver pointed his finger in to the woods. I swiftly placed the camera view finder infront of my eyes and index finger on the trigger, so that I don't miss even a millisecond of the leopard hunting the deer. Positioned like a pro wildlife photographer, my ears fetched the low voice of the driver telling " That treeu, it isu 300 years Oldu". Ooofff! All our mind voice uttered the same words "We didnt spend all the money and travel all the distance to see a 300 year old tree. Move on you useless guide". Again the Gypsy stopped. This time it was for a peacock. Mani Bhai commented "We have peacocks roaming around freely in my farm land, why the heck should I see it here ?" The diesel clatter continued.... And continued till we reached the forest office. And the rush to get into the gypsy by the next batch continued as it had happened for all these years.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Regaining all hopes to have a worthy time in Muthodi Sanctuary, we even postponed the lunch time to 'when we reach Muthodi'. Again I would like to reiterate about visiting this place on the right time. Through out the way it was scenic and pleasing but those mountains were waiting for a rain to reveal their real beauty. If I had driven my car and had the intelligence to forecast about the flop show that we are about to face, I would have stopped the car and fed my camera with some beautiful photographs and got back to the resort. But I am a human and shouldn't think about a fiction. As we were traversing into the forest zone, the ambiance reassured and multiplied our expectations to a level where we are going to spot a leopard hunting a deer, a tiger grabs the kill from the leopard, gulp it all in front of us and bears and hyenas sniffing the left overs. When the bone shuffler stopped, been thrown out of a wildlife dream, I rubbed my eyes to see A huge crowd in the name of queue was already waiting at the closed ticket counter. I know dreams never come true. I shouldn't have dreamt. That is why a huge crowd is infront of the counter. I was at the peak of disappointment. Doesn't it sound similar to the Thekkady Flop show in ETTA @ Munnar ? But the Driver with a smile of a Forest higher official, said, " Finish your lunch quick and get back to the counter, they would start giving the tickets in 30 - 45 minutes". He sounded so positive I pushed the dream incidents back to the cache memory.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After all the hassle, we reached Mullayangiri peak at 1 PM. Now the driver drops a grenade. If we climb the peak, it might take another 1 hour, coming back we all will be hungry and if we have our lunch, we might miss the ticket timing (3 PM) at sanctuary. He sounded like, 'make up your mind to miss one of the spot'. We thought Missing a Wild life safari for a 'View from the peak' is the worst of poor decisions. So dropped the plan to climb the peak.
    Our decision reminds me of a joke, " In my english exam yesterday, for a Question "Write the past tense of Think", I thought, thought and finally answered Thunk."

    Had some quick photo shoot and got back in to the bone shufflers, "The Vehicles" I meant and set off to Muthodi National Park.    Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    "Why didn't it strike my thought that today is a long weekend and traffic is going to slow us down badly". Such a bad ride it was to the Mullayangiri peak mainly because of the senseless oncoming traffic. When I started driving car 17 Years back, it was a habit for all the drivers to give way for the up coming vehicles on ghat roads. I seldom see such a practice now-a-days. Now it has become a habit for the drivers going uphill to give way for the down hill vehicles. And it is infuriating, to see the down hill drivers' expression on their face when not given way for them. What the Hell ? If not given way, the down hill driver stops the Car and even bus, in the middle of the road and commands the uphill vehicle to reverse. Why the hell do we need Driving test and license for such a injudicious and thoughtless driving habits. And 75% of the drivers doing such senseless act are well educated and possibly IT guys, "eww". Our driver didn't look like he has done anything more than school but his driving was acceptably sensible. "Education ruins common sense".Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    A Day Well MisSpent

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    May 2. Woke up this morning with high hopes. The driver who took us to the Hebbe Falls is to be blamed here. Habitually we all got ready delayed and it was 10:30 AM when we boarded with the packed lunch for all, in one vehicle. Both the drivers were new faces and the previous day driver is no where to be seen. Assuming these new drivers are well informed about our expectations and to ensure that, I asked him if he is taking the forest route to go to the Mullayanagiri Peak, then taking us to the Muthodi sanctuary and then back in the forest route for the sunset. He said, "NO". He will take us in the usual state highway for Mullayangiri and Muthodi on which we could have driven our cars ourselves. He blamed on us for not being ready by 9 o clock, for his decision to change the route. By now only One vehicle is boarded and the two families for the other vehicle is still hurrying up. If we start by 11 o clock through forest route, then we will be late for the Safari at 3 PM in sanctuary and have to miss the Mullayangiri peak too. Just for the sake of travelling in forest and miss the tourist spots, we didn't want to over ride his decision. The other important reason was, the pack had 4 kids in which 2 were toddlers. We didn't want our plan to be irksome for the kids apart from missing the Safari and the peak visit. So we had to abide by the Driver's plan and set off at 11 AM. Still we didn't lose hope on having a nice time for the day.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj
    1

    ETTA For FUN

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    When we reached the Resorts, the other three families have arrived, filled their tummies and taken a siesta. A nice learning from them is, never start a trip on a national holiday, especially from bangalore or via bangalore. In the evening, obviously it was a sweet gathering, watching the kids playing around, some nice chats and the peautifull daay camed too han end vith dhe emptied Glenfiddich. Typo for the Sorry.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA For FUN

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Being over excited of visiting such a beautiful place, we relied on the driver to visit more such places. He assured us that he can take us to few spots all in forest roads which will give us some breath taking experiences, views and blah blah. Just because we were not cheated today we assumed he is reliable and trusted him. On the spot booked two vehicles for 10 members. We didn't even negotiate on the cost much. He ensured 2 vehicles would be waiting for us at 9 O clock next day morning.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA For FUN

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Such a beautiful place, I can sit and watch the beauty all day long but the driver waiting for us would not like that and would leave without us. Though we didn't want to move out, the kids would start feeling hungry and go crazy. We were already late as per the allotted time by the driver. We walked all the way back. As expected the driver didn't seem happy with our promptness. One the way back to resort, we came to know, he does 2 trips on this bumpy, rocky track every day. That is incredible. Also the waterfall, being situated inside a private estate, is not allowed for the public. These drivers somehow managed taking visitors to this waterfall as a temperoary arrangement with the help of the local MLA. The court could any time ban the public from visiting to this place. That is why we had to stop for sometime and wait for the forest officer to cross the main check-post. Happy to have visited the place in good time.Read more

  • Sridhar KanakarajChikmagalurSridhar Kanakaraj

    ETTA For FUN

    May 3, 2015 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    And today the Kids got a nod for a dip in to the water. Happily but uncontrollably they got into their swim suits and jumped in. Since it was summer, the flow was lesser. But had to keep watch for those slippery rocks. I was restless and panicked for the way Kavin was running around, shouting and yelling at him to be careful. More than he was immersed into the water he was immersed into joy and excitement. When I was a kid, I used to be the same way but was cautious without my knowledge. So realized, I should start learning to let him learn taking care of himself. Now since I have gone back to my childhood, didn't want to be a grown up for some more time. So Decided to jump in to the water, get close to the waterfall and try some clicks up close. Though it looked like a waterfall, it was actually a pinsfall. In such a hot weather how is it the water could be so cold. Enigmatic Nature !!!.Read more

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