Finally Made it in 3 years...

Cross-posted here

I am the last person to sit and jot down whatever I ve been upto on weekends, but this is one of an exception. Its been 3 weeks since the trip to Hassan, but let me give it a shot. The memories are fresh and beautiful.
It was a long pending trip in fact. A Wipro friend had been inviting us over to her place in Hassan since 3 years, and for reasons best known to us the trip happened only 3 weeks ago. Chaitra had almost given up on ever seeing us in Hassan, till she finally challenged me to get all the girls to the Kempe Gowda bus stand and that she would take over from there. With some last minute ticket booking (thanks to KSRTC online booking) we managed to get the tickets on a wed night. Bus was to start at 820 pm on friday, and most of us wouldn't be surprised if I told you, we kept the bus waiting, cause we reached there at 830.
So there we go, chaitra takes over from here. She is our tour guide cum host for the weekend. Total 7 of us off to hassan - chaitra (kannadiga n wiproite), shivashankari (tamilian & wiproite), Tina (malyali and wiproite) and the engicos, Reema, Elizabeth, Dechen and Myself. Reached at 2 am and headed straight for chaitras home. Ate upma at 3 am and went to bed. We knew the driver was going to pick us up again at 9. But all of us including chaitra knew it well that 9 was an impossible target. I Went to Hassan with minimum expectations, cause all I had heard of hassan so far was that it has a satellite control centre (ISRO). As luck would have it, we ended up seeing everything in and around Hassan and only the gates of the ISRO centre.

To our surprise we were ready by 9am on Saturday, but the driver wasn’t there. He arrived at 930 odd and we headed straight out on the highway to Chickmaglur. A pleasant drive, with beautiful sunflower and marigold fields on either sides awaits you. First stop was at Yagachi Dam (excuse me if got the names wrong, actually most engicos who know me, surely know my habit of confusing names). Clicked some nice pictures and got back into the car. Next stop was Kalhitgiri falls. A small but surely magnificient falls to see. Did a small trek through the mucky path to see the falls from a height. Next winding up the curvy road the vehicle drove us to Kemmanagundi hills. A beautiful hill station at a height of bout 5000ft above sea level. A much deserved break from the dust and pollution of Bangalore. Walking through the clouds to the topmost point of the hill (as reema puts it) was awesomeeeeeeeeee. Then we thought we were heading downhill for a good grub, as we couldn’t find a decent place to eat uphill at Kemmanagundi. Luckily our host had packed loads of fruits n snacks for us, and we finished it off in no time. Inspite of all the munchies we were too hungry to think of another place to see, but the driver insisted that we see Baba Budangiri hills while we are already there. Kemmanagundi and Baba Budangiri are adjacent hills, not sure which one is higher than the other. Baba’s Shrine is a famous pilgrimage spot for hindus and muslims. When we reached the Baba’s shrine, the thermometer would have surely read a single digit, and the clouds covering the hill restricted the visibility to barely 4-5 metres. But all the hunger and the biting cold was forgotten when we saw this amazing shrine carved inside a rock. (brought back memories of the college trip to Manali). Inside the shrine people offered locks to the saint (a Baba who is believed to have spiritually disappeared while lost in meditation. Hindus believe he went to Kashi and muslims say he went to Mecca). The locks were opened once your wish was fulfilled. And yes we all prayed to baba for some food, and surely enough he gave us the most delicious bread omlet, I ve ever eaten. That was the last spot for the evening and it was already 7, so we started our 2 hours journey down the hill to Chickmagalur. Ate dinner in Hassan and went to bed at 11, dreaming of the heavenly places we had visited.

Sunday morning start was much hurried as we knew we had a lot to cover and just a few hours to start back for Bangalore. As we didn’t want to miss out anything, we arranged for the return ksrtc bus to pick us up from Shravanabelogola, as it was enroute to Bangalore. In the morning visited two temples belonging to the Hoysala rule (Belur and Halebid). Both temples were so similar in their architecture, that I can hardly differentiate when I look back at the pictures now. One of them was famous for the statue of a perfect woman sculptured to the last detail of perfection. (For all those who will ask me now for the vital stats of this perfect woman go google.). After the temple visits we headed for chaitras home and her mom had prepared the most amazing curd rice I ve ever eaten. (being in south India for 3 years now, I still cannot stand curd rice, but this was again an exception). The best part of our trip was yet to come. The icing on the cake was the visit to Shravanabelagola, a must see for all, the largest monolithic statue in the world. Up a hill again but this time climbing 800 odd steps, to see the statue of the Jain God – Lord Bahubali. Reema, tina, chaitra and Karthik (he joined us on day 2 of our trip) was the first to reach up hill while dechen, Elizabeth, shiva and myself crawled up 15 mins later. From up the hill you get a exhilarating view of the entire district of hassan and the surrounding places. We spend some peaceful moments up the hill taking pictures of the beautiful scenery and started down hill. Sitting in the bus back to Bangalore, I m sure all of us were pondering over the same questions - Will I ever come back to hassan again? Why didn’t this happen 3 years ago? Would this have been possible if not for our wonderful host? Would we ever know so much bout ancient India and its cultures and religions – if not for this most unplanned and yet so wonderful trip to Hassan.