Mes Secrets Inconnus

I wanted to plan a trip and keep it as a complete surprise for my family.My wife’s cousin was getting married in Hassan, and the hectic work schedule kept me away from attending his engagement and marriage. This was his wedding reception and I thought that I can utilize this for an weekend outing. A week before the trip, the whole scene was uncovered. There goes my surprise through the drain, its very tough to keep surprises under wraps when you are married and live under the same roof. I am sure the married folks can second me.

Well, the plan was simple – visit as many places as possible and catch up with old college memoirs. Turned out that, the surprise surprised me, Dad dropped out as he had an important out station business meeting and was out for  the whole week. Mom had other plans and she said she would be free only after lunch on Saturday. I did not want to ruin the plan. So myself and wifey decided to carry on as her brother would also join us.

So we were all set now,

Day 1 : My BIL, Wifey , lil Niyanthri and myself decided to go ahead

Route planned : Bangalore – Nelamangala – Kunigal – Yediyur – Sravanabelagola—Hassan—Belur –Halebid

Am sure most of you know this route and the condition of the roads too well.

Left bangalore only at 8.30am as against the planned 6.30 am, credit to wifey. As usual , i had no qualms, i silently caught up with the high lights of T20 world cup cricket. After zipping through the bangalore traffic,  I tanked up the car and while there asked the lads as to what was the best hotel on the way to have our break fast. The guys suggested “Food court” on the way to Kunigal and right after that i pushed the pedal. On the nelamangala road, we had a chance to catch “Jai Hanuman” .. Looks like its Hanuman by the wires.

After that we headed straight, We were all now hungry for food and apparently because of the road widening activity, we could hardly locate a good hotel. And finally when the food court came by, i over sped that stretch, only to return back for the  fear of having no breakfast. Sometimes miles don’t matter when you stomach growls. We stopped at this place called “Shark Food court” and noticed a bunch of gora’s & gori’s , they were happily eating masala dosa like it was pancake. I must confess the weather was awesome this time around. We relished the famous “thatte idly” there.

We hurriedly had our break fast and left for Yediyur. We visited the Yediyur temple, it was a nice pleasant place and after we spent some time there, BIL suggested we go to the Yediyur lake. Yediyur lake was right behind the temple. We slowly made our way in the narrow lanes and what lay ahead of me was a surprise. The Yediyur lake was awesome and it looked very turbulent. The weather, the wind, the water – the combination was something i feel everyone should experience. Well the villagers had taken to the lake and were using it for daily chores, the legend has it  that whenever this lake goes dry, that signals a famine. We spent some time there and moved ahead

While we were moving ahead, the temple elephant came very close to us for blessing. Lil Niyanthri was amused, but it scared  wifey a lot. I think i now know her weakness :-)

After that we heeded straight to Sravanabelogola – The largest monolithic statue of Bahubali. Enroute it rained for a few mins and overall it was a good drive. I packed Lil Niyanthri in a carry bag and started on the expedition of 600 odd steps. Yeah, its real tiresome. I think if i was all alone and no extra baggage i would have made it to the top without halts. But Lil Niyanthri was thrilled and i did not want to dissapoint her. So i back packed her and was on climbing when we realized that the weather had other plans, it started to rain and i did not want the lil one to catch a cold. So i decided to get back to the base while i coaxed wifey & BIL to continue their expedition and catch a glimpse of great Bahubali. The scene from top was spectacular.

After hitting the base , we were running out of time and so we thought we would reach hassan, have our lunch and then proceed to Belur & Halebid. But nature played a cruel trick on us and it rained incessantly and were forced to shelve our trip. So we could achieve only 2 out of 4 places.

Later in the evening, I tool my wife to MCE to show the college where her great husband managed to get degree in this sleepy town. After that we went to MCF. Please make sure that you don’t pull out your cam there. If they ever spot you with a cam, before you realize you will have someone pointing a gun at your face.