Jog - 2 Top view

Next stop was Jog again, this time it was from the top. There were so many people, it was more like a Jog Jatre, with lots of vendors lined up on the road to the top. Once we went to the view point, it was more like Majestic in Bangalore oops Bengaluru. My friends did not bother to some down. Well Down means to the top of the falls from the view point near British bungalow.

Oh! Boy people had gone crazy; men, women and kids were looking down from the edge of the falls. Men were holding the women and children to help them have a wonderful view. Yes from the edge of the falls looking down at 900 feet vertical drop. People were sitting, lying down, hanging and having a look down. It was like this all around the horseshoe shaped cliff. (One can’t make out from the front view that the falls is horseshoe shaped). Off course everybody wanted to have the Mungaru Male view of the falls. Infact people were talking about it.

To be honest even I got bitten by the looking down bug, I sat on the edge of the cliff and looked at the bottom of the falls, initially I was scared but once I looked down it was not so scary. I enjoyed the view of the water falling down into the emerald green pool formed by Sharavathi. It is a sight to be remembered. I shot it all with my handycam.

I was as irresponsible as everybody, looks like it needs couple of deaths to wake up the tourism department to stop people from looking down. But the view was worth the risk.

Back to Bengaluru

Drove from Sagar to Tarikere, Accent viva is a nice car to drive. The car is easy on driver, at 4 and 5 th gear the response of the engine is wonderful. Reaching 120 – 130 kmph is very easy. I thought the car had a bit of understeer or may be I was taking on the curves too fast. It doesn’t strain the driver much. After that Sridhar and Ramu drove rached home at 1 PM. We had covered 950 kms in 2 days

Unchalli falls aka Lushigton falls

After the Jogs disappointment, we planned to see the Unchalli falls. We made Siddapur as our base. Road from Jog to Siddapura is not very good. Siddapura to Unchalli road is pretty good.

Route to falls. Need to take a left after siddhapura town on Siddapura Sirsi road. Need to travel for about 20 Kms till one sees a board at a junction. Unchalli falls is 4.7 Kms from the junction.

One has to park the vehicle were the road ends near a small shop. The trek to view the falls is about ½ kms and is pretty steep at some points.

We came to the view point all we could see is white mist and lot of sound from the falls, felt were in cloud. Met an old school friend who came up from view point at a lower height, he was drenched. He told us to go down for the better view. We started climbing down the steps. It started raining. Soon we realized it wasn’t raining it was the spray from the falls. We were soon drenched from head to toe before we reached the view point. It is about 200 steps. Soon after we reached the second view point, the wind changed direction and the spray cleared for some time. The view was awesome. It was a really huge falls. Narrow at the head and becoming wider as it comes down. There is thick virgin forest on the either side of falls and the valley. In the raining season there was lots of water in river Aghanashini. It was a wonderful sight. It was like a Christian bride dressed in all white with a flowing skirt below the waist, covered in misty veil, who let us have a look at her once in a while when the veil lifted.

We had a look at it for few times. It was wonderful experience, especially after the Jog’s disappointment. The photos Unchalli falls on net were generally taken in summer and from the bottom. They don’t really do justice the Majestic falls.

There were visitors in about 4 cars, where as Jog had 1000 times the visitors. But this hidden beauty just 45 Kms from jog made our trip wonderful. Hope it doesn’t get commercialized too much.

The drive to and from Unchalli Siddapura itself is wonderful. There are lush green paddy fields on the flat land and a thick forest as we climb. There is a view point on the road where the river Aghanashini curves between mountains make a picturesque sight.

Jog -1 Front

What a disappointment awaited us. There was hardly any water falling, it was little more than what we normally saw in photos. But the setting of Jog is majestic, it is much bigger that the picture I had in mind, the sheer drop of over 900 feet itself is mind blowing. The dark rocks against the greenery made a very nice sight. Kp and me started to go down, well KP backed of at the start itself. Everybody was coming up and nobody going down. KP scared me saying it takes 3 hours to come up. I did not believe him. On the way down I saw 2 other guys also going down. We started to run down the huge steps. Half way through my thighs started shaking with strain. One lady had fallen on the path because of fatigue. People were trying to make her get up. I simply ran down. I felt the hole was bottomless. Even after seeing the foot of the falls, it took quite sometime for me to reach it.

When I reached the bottom, I was the only guy heading down; I had left behind the other 2. I relished the view, It was a wonderful sitting alone, well almost seeing the majestic falls. I saw to other falls apart from Raja, Rani, Rocket, Roarer. It has been quite sometime. I did not know whether they were new or I did not just remember. Took pictures in video and stills, washed my face and checked the time. It was 6:36 and was getting dark, Oops had I made a mistake going down alone? There were few people (including some drunks) and vendors who were going up almost in slow motion. I climbed a bit may be 20-30 feet. I ran out of breath, my legs were on verge of collapse. I pushed a bit, one the vendors saw me urged me not to hurry and take it easy. I drank a Maaza and slowly started off, could not climb much. I was on all fours, it gradient was pretty steep, It helped climbing on all fours. After going further, there were almost no people and was becoming dark by the minute. Made my mind not to stop would go at a steady pace. I was thinking of Tour de France riders for inspiration, soon I reached a family who were climbing slowly and reached a stream. I washed my self and my mouth. The sweetness of cool drink had made very tired. Felt refreshed, made up the remaining distance pretty quickly. I finally could see the view point check the watch, it was only 7:05. Wow I could not believe it. My climb was less than half an hour, wanted to reach the top in next one minute. I went up quickly, saw my friends waiting for me check the time. It was 7:06. I had made it to the top in ½ hour flat.

Drank some water, ate some pineapples which tasted like heaven. Then started for Siddhapura Inspection Banaglow. Siddhapura is about 16 kms. After 3-4 kms the roads are pretty bad.

Stay at Siddhapura

The person at IB Hegdekar took very good care of us. Nice dinner was served. Rooms and toilets were built well, but maintained badly. Didn’t feel sleeping on the bed. All 5 men slept on a single double cot. Well it was warm on cozy…. It was link old times before marriage.

Had breakfast in a hotel treated by Hegdekar, had Sira (Kesari bath) and a dish like puri made of banana, midha, etc. I was good. We left for Unchalli falls.

The trip 1st stop Chitradurga

When we friends met, three of us planned to go to Jog after seeing the pictures it overflowing in newspapers. But five of us (Sridhar, Kp, Ramu, Srinath, myself) went. Prasanna would have joined if he were here. It was 13 years since I went to Jog. Wanted to see it.

Going with friends without family was like old times pre marriage days. We were pretty much excited to go. When I told this to dear wifey, there was usual noise, but it was more of a formality. She actually did not complain as I much as I expected her to do so.

We went in Sridhar’s Accent Viva. We decided to take the Chitradurga-Shimoga route instead of Arisikere route. The Golden quadrilangle road is a wow. But the toll road to Tumkur is not as good but still have to pay for it, what an irony.

We had breakfast at Kamat upahara. The food was BAD, was very disappointed. While driving on the quadrilangle on the Sridhar hit 170 kmph. The vehicle was surprisingly stable. I was surprised that a diesel engine of 84 bhp could hit the speed with 5 people inside. On the way, we saw Karnataka tourism board mentioning about Chitradurga fort. We decided we wanted to see Obhavvana kindi, she always holds a special place in our hearts for her bravery.

We reached there not many tourists. It was surprisingly lack of tourist activity in the town for place with so many places to visit.

The fort seems to be pretty well maintained. We enlisted a guide, he said Rs 250/- we said ok without bargaining. Cursed ourselves later for behaving like IT people. He took as around, went through the 5 of the 7 doors of elu suithina kote. Remain 2 are in the town. Saw Ganesha temple carved out of a rock. Saw rocks in form of Elephants, rabbit, boat (Hence the name Chitra-Durga) Akka thangi kola, finally reached Obavva’s house. It was just a small space few sq feet below couple of big rocks. Thought the kingdom may not be rich, asked the guide what was the source of income for people, no convincing answers, went ahead. He showed us the Kindi where Hyder Ali’s troops entered. We also went around the boulder and entered through the kindi. We were acting like kids. It was fun.

We saw one tower dedicated to a pregnant lady who was buried alive to impress gods. Pathetic fellows these kings were.

Climbed the Gali gopuras?? Had a jolada roti oota and started. We then realized we were late we spent 3-3.5 hrs there. The road from CD to Holalkere was pretty bad. We got stuck at a railway crossing. Srinath was driving the vehicle. I really pushed hard to prevent him from stopping anywhere. Road from Shimoga to Jog was pretty good. We reached Jog at about 6 PM.

Chocolates without cacao

There is a report on some of the chocolate manufacturers wanting to make chocolates using vegetable oils and not cacao in US. Well, who is stopping them? But the problem is they want to call it chocolate. A trick to take consumers for a ride. They want to benefit from the cheaper inputs, but want to still call it chocolates and make money out of consumers by misleading them. The contents are generally in fine print where nobody reads it.

The other side of argument is as long as people like what they get and pay the price why not?

Well the brand chocolate brand has been build around cacao. The Cacao is from the equatorial countries, which are generally not well off. That’s whom these manufacturers want to hit. Lower the demand for cacao and push the prices down. Would they dare to do it if cacao was grown was grown in a developed country?

It is an outrageous plan. Why not call it vegolates? Where do they find buyers for that?

The Alchemist

Long time since I had read a good novel. It is very different from what I am used to, its probably because I don't read much of fantasy. It is about following ones dreams.
It is an inspiring fantasy novel. It is an entertainer with an interesting message. No wonder it is a terrific seller.
Message is follow your dream, there will be up and downs. It about the journey and not just the end. In the end one has lead a richer life with experience. What appeals is the simplicity and the
message it reinforces without being preachy.
Its about a Shepard who dreams of finding treasure near the Pyramids. It is about his journey, he loses everything thrice. He is tempted to stop because he finds love, money, but he still pursues his dream.
Hope to catch on Paulo Coelho more.