Brahmagiri Revisted

Brahmagiri has always been close to my heart, maybe because it’s in my homeland. The last time I attempted this climb one of my friends got bitten by a snake. We had to return from Narimalla.

This time I was keeping my fingers crossed and hoping I would reach the peak. Based on the driver’s suggestion we decided to drive through Nagarhole Reserve Forset. This meant that we had to wait till 6 am for the forest gates to open. Since we reached there at 3, most of us caught up on our 40 winks. As it neared 6 vehicles started piling up.

Since we were the second vehicle to pass, we hoped to spot some wildlife.Unfortunately the only wildlife we saw other than cheetals

were some wild boars and a fox. The next stop was at the forest office in Srimangala to get permission. This took a while as we had to wait for the officers to come by. Our first meal for the day was supposed to be at this tiny restaurant/schack, but by the time we reached there we were told that all breakfast items were over. We had to make do with bread and coffee.

At Irrupu Falls our guide was waiting. He was the same person who was with us the last time we attempted the climb and remembered us only too well. We filled our water bottles at the falls and started the trek.

The initial 3 kms was through the forest and we didn’t feel the harsh rays of the sun on us. Since I was out of form, the climb was tiring and I took multiple breaks. Most of the streams along the way had dried, an indication of the summer creeping in. Once in the grassland, fortunately there was cloud cover and we didn’t get burnt.

By the time we reached the camp site (Narimalla, forest guest house) it was 12:30 pm. We decided to take an hour’s break for lunch and then head out again. Lunch was some yummy gojju and chappati. 30 mins of rest and we were on the move. Most of the trek was supposed to be through flat grassland from here. Midway we spotted a bunch of Nilgiri Langur and spent time taking pictures and observing them.

After about an hour of walking, we were at the base of Brahmagiri. The climb looked steep and once we started our ascend we realized how steep it was.

I had to use my hands as well to climb. This stretch of 1 kms took about 45 mins to climb. The view from the peak was breathtaking. How I wished that the hills were green instead of the brown though.

After some photo sessions we headed back. The descent was as tough as the climb, with some of us sliding down to avoid major fall.

As we neared narimalla, there was a sound of hoofs, before anyone could react we saw a Sambar running in fear. Excited we waited for a while to see what had caused the animal to run like that, but there were no signs of anything. Disappointed we continue walking.

By about 6 pm we were back at the campsite.

Some of us went to the stream nearby to freshen up, while I heard dogs bark, lucky few saw a pack wild dogs run across the stream. This was topic of discussion for sometime and kept us occupied.

Soon the boys went about cooking dinner, while the girls learnt how to Jive from Abhi. It was 9 when we started the campfire and ate dinner (Upma and Payasm). We sat around for a while chatting and then decided to sleep. The other group, which was awake for longer, was noisy and at some point few from our gang had to go out and warn them. Other than that the night was uneventful.

The plan next day was to trek Narimalla, but by the time we got up and had breakfast, most of us didn’t want to climb, so we decided that we would head to the waterfall near by and spend some time there. After that we headed back to Irrupu Falls and from there to Bangalore.

As we drove through the national park again we saw, langurs, Gaur, cheetals and Malabar Squirrels. We stopped at Hunsur for a late lunch and reached Bangalore by 8 pm. With that my dream trek to Brahmagiri could be ticked off my list.

More Pics in the link below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/BrahmagiriRevisted?authkey=Gv1sRgCJDpxrCdlPCKzgE#

List of Birds seen

White Cheeked Barbet

Black Bulbul

Jungle Myna

Jungle Crow

Sunbird

Spotted Dove

Laughing Dove

Woodpecker

Rose Ringed Parakeet

Plum Headed Parakeet

Flacon

2 kinds of BOP (unable to ID)

Whistling Thrush

Asian Blue Fairy Bird

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Red Vented Bulbul

Pond Heron

Cattle Egret

Ballakallu and Kodekallu

Spending few minutes the middle of a forest fire was not my idea of a relaxed weekend trek, but that is how the weekend turned out to be.

The trek to Kanoor Kote had rekindled my love for long walks in the forest, so when this trek was proposed I was all set to go.

This trek was to 2 hills in Charmadi Ghats, Ballekallu and Kodekallu. Aravind had done some research about the place and had all the details that were required. We packed food at Kotigehara and after 15 minutes bus ride we were at Bidurtala village deviation the start point of our trek.

The deviation was blocked by 2 jeeps. We first thought they belonged to the forest guards but on closer look they looked like estate jeeps. When we spoke to them they mentioned that Bidurtala was attacked by elephants and they were waiting for forest guards to come by. They suggested we turned back and trekked elsewhere. After some discussion with-in the group, we decided to carry on and access situation once we got to the village.

The slightest sound as we walked had us jumping out of our skins; we approached each curve in the road with caution as we didn’t know what it had in stored. And then suddenly we heard the jeep. We thought it was the forest guards; imagine our surprise when we saw the jeep from earlier drive past with tourists in them. Our guess of the whole situation after that was maybe the guys we met earlier had promised an exclusive trek to these guys and didn’t want us there. Hence they tried scaring us off. The truth we will never know.

Once we realized there was no threat of elephants attacking us our pace was relaxed, we stopped every now and then to take pictures

and soon reached Bidurtala Village. We stopped by a stream to eat breakfast. The village had 5 houses, upon enquiry one of the villagers agreed to take us to the hills. The person was really old and could not hear well, but turned out that he knew the route pretty well.

The trek to Kodekallu was a short one, within 45 mins of walking we were there.

The scenery all through was beautiful. Kodekallu offered us respite from the heat and had enough place around to camp over night if one wished. Since none of us were tired we decided to carry on towards Ballekallu.

The walk to Ballekallu was mostly through open grassland.

The sun was merciless and some of us stopped constantly to drink water and rest

. When we were about a kilometer from the peak we stopped for a break and suddenly after about 5 mins we could hear crackling sounds. We looked up to see that our guide had set fire to the dry grass;

it took us a minute to realize that we were in the middle of man made forest fire. The fire was spreading fast but our guide didn’t seem bothered, he wanted to walk through it. After some argument, we decided to follow him. So we walked through the burnt section and crossed it to reach the peak. While we monitored the progress of the fire, we managed to rest for some time on the peak.

As it was getting hot and the fire was still spreading we decided to head back to the village.

Once at the village Aravind enquired about a waterfall he had heard about, the guide took us there. Since it was hot we decided to spend the afternoon by the waterfalls. At 3:30 pm we decided to head back to the main road and hitch a ride from there. It turned out none of the KSRTC buses stop; finally a kind-hearted jeep driver stopped and took us all the way to Kottigehara

From there we took a bus to Chikamagalur. Since our bus to Bangalore was only at 11pm we walked around the town, visted a local fair, played games and sat in giant wheel. Finally when we got into the Bangalore bus we were exhausted and within minutes fallen asleep.

More Pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/BallakalluAndKodekallu?authkey=Gv1sRgCJnAu7eu85WhjQE&feat=email#

Route Map- Horanadu Bus to Kottigehara – Bidurtala village stop (on route Dharmasthala) – 4 Kms hike to the village and then trek to the hills.

Kanoor Kote Conquered

The plan to trek upto Kanoor Kote was made because my manager from Geneva was coming down and I had promised to show him the unexplored, little known parts of India.

After some discussion with my friends, we decided to do the trek with Sharavathi Valley Group.

As always we left on a Friday night and headed out towards Jog Falls. How could one visit the region and not stop at Jog.

While I didn’t expect Jog to be overflowing with water, the sight that I saw was disappointing. There was hardly any water and one could hardly hear the falls. The only thing in abundance here was tourists. After some hot cup of coffee we headed out to Kanoor.

When we reached there a hot breakfast of Idly , sambar and kasaya awaited us. We quickly freshened up and attacked the food.

Once satisfied, we were ready to scale the hills. The plan was to cover some waterfalls on day one and then do Kanoor Kote the next day.

We had to go through a steep descent to get to the falls. Some of the first time trekkers found it really hard and took a lot of time getting down. Once down, it’s a treat to all the five senses: sound of flowing water and birds singing, breathtaking waterfalls (Haaragere), sweet tasting water. Most of us were ready to spend the whole day there. While the swimmers took a dip here, some of us climbed to the next level of the falls and cooled our feet; this was supposed to be the place where we stopped for lunch.

The best thing about going with this group is the fact that you get freshly cooked, hot food. Eating rice and sambar with papad in between a dense forest is an awesome experience.

Post lunch, we walked along the stream towards Vasugatti Waterfalls.

Most of the walk involved hopping and skipping on rocks. The final climb was at an 80 degree angle from Vasugatti Falls and was the toughest. By the time we were done, we were hungry and could eat anything. Luckily for us we were serve hot bajjis and tea. The day ended with Hot bisibele bath, Chapati and Palya and Payasam.

Though the plan was to start early the next day, since we asked for Rice Rotis it took longer to make and we started at about 9 am. Though the trek upto Kanoor Kote was not a difficult one, it was mainly through flat road, paddy fields and small stretch of forest; it was a long one.

The fort suddenly appears out of now where and has creepers and plants growing all over. The complex has been looted by treasure hunters and is in a bad state.

With all this the fort and the temples in it still had a charm. It talks of an era thats bygone. There are some very pretty carvings around.

While some of us walked around the fort, the guide went looking for water to start cooking. Since the water source had dried up it was decided that we would head to a tribal hut close by and cook there. It was heavenly to eat freshly cooked food in the middle of a forest.

Soon after lunch we started off again as the walk back was long. Since we had some first time trekkers we were taking twice the amount of time to cover the distance. As the shadows got longer we started getting worried as the region was known for sloth bears. It was decided that Mike and the guide would walk ahead and bring the TT into the forest. When this happened it saved us walking 5 kms of the trek in the dark. By the time we reached back it was well past our departure time. After quickly freshening up we headed back to Bangalore.

Pictures in the link below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/KanoorKoteTrek?authkey=Gv1sRgCITBl9b68N3cHg

Lesser Know Hoysala Temple – Nuggehalli

When visiting the famous Belur and Halebidu temples, I was told that there were other lesser known Hoysala Temples around Hassan and Bangalore. Then in 2010 a friend of mine visited about 17 of those and after looking at the pictures I was waiting for a chance to visit those places.So when Nuggehalli was suggested for a day trip, I was eager to go.

We decided to take the Magadi road to avoid traffic on the National Highway. This turned out to be a scenic drive and Sachin kept narrating interesting pieces of history as we passed couple of old temples and Magadi Fort. I spent time spotting birds and requesting for stops every time I saw some bird close enough to be photograph.

All the birding stops and 2 stops to eat meant that we took 5 hours to reach a destination that would ideally take max of 3 hours.

We reached Nuggehalli by 1 and headed straight to the Laxmi Narayana Temple. The first look of the temple was not impressive.

It looked just like other temples from more recent times but once you walk in you realise it beautiful. While we waited for the priest to come and open the main temple, we started exploring the sculptures on the outer walls. The carvings were similar to other Hoysala temples, with different rows of elephants, horses, people, mythological creatures and creepers.

Most of the bigger sculptures were of Lord Vishu in different forms, depicting stories associated with that form.

When the priest came we went in to take a look. Ceiling of the temple was beautifully decorated with different designs of lotus. The Idols inside was of Krishna, Narashima and Lakshmi. On the whole the temple was worth the visit.

Next stop was Sadashiva Temple.

Though this is a Hoysala Temple, the outer walls is not decorated with carvings like the others. The pillars are quite plain.

I felt the grandeur of Hoysala was missing. Since we could not find the priest we could not enter the main temple.

On talking to a local at the temple, he mentioned that we could try and visit other Hoysala Temples closed by. As we drove around looking for the temples, we spotted on top of the hill that looked promising.

After being misguided for sometime we finally managed to reach the foothill. From here it was a 20 mins climb to reach the temple. After we reached there we realized though the scenic view was good, there was not much of the old temple left. The village authority was renovating the temple. Disappointed we headed back.

By the time we descended the sun had set and our tummies had started making rumbling noise since we had missed lunch. The focus shifted to getting food. Stopped at Mayur for a quick dinner and headed back to Bangalore. We stopped on the way to look at the stars and Sachin pointed out the constellations. We decided to drive via Nellamangala this time and the new elevated flyover was a joy to drive through and provided a perfect end to the day.

Route Taken

In order to reach Nuggehalli one has to take the Hassan Road from Bangalore and take a right at Hiresave (near the Telephone Exchange).

More Picture

http://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/Nuggehalli?authkey=Gv1sRgCLDKysX9st_k7AE#

Lepakshi – A Place Lost in time

Lepakshi was on my to-do list sincefor a long time. Since this place was only 175 kms from Bangalore, it was an ideal get away. Spur of the moment decision on a Friday was how this trip was planned.

Except the last 10 Kms the roads to Lepakshi is well laid and we were driving at a constant 100 kms/hr most of the time. The only drawback is that other than one Kamat Restaurant, there is no other place to stop for a quick bite.

Once we reached the temple each of us took our camera and walked in different directions. While I looked around for a guide, I found a group discussing about the temple and decided to join them. It was fun because along with history and details about the temple, they discussed mythological stories related to the sculptures.

The fascinating thing about the temple is the wall paintings on the ceilings. Each section depicted a different story, some mythological and some related to the people who built the temple. After I got back I realised I didnt have a single picture of the paintings

The other interesting bit is about the wall with blood stains from Virupaksha (the temple builder) gorging his eye out and throwing it on that wall to prove his innocence .

If one had a day to spare this definitely is a place to visit.

As we headed back, since we had time to spare, we decided to stop by at the birth place of Vishweshavraiah . There is a museum built here with collection of things like his Bharath Ratan and other awards, his pass book, his dairy etc. It is amazing to see the simple life style the great man lived and remember the great work he did for India.

We spent about an hour there and then we were ready to head back. The drive back was uneventful except for the slow moving traffic as we entered Bangalore.

The pictures are in the link below
http://picasaweb.google.com/aishwarya.belliappa/Lepakshi?locked=true#

Birding in My Backyard

When my parents were contemplating the idea of travelling to North India for 2 weeks, I opted to work from home during that period so that I could keep an eye on things there.

While I was not working I was hoping to experiment with my newly purchased camera. After the initial bit of resting I was ready to explore. Having attended NTP and actively followed the posting by the group, my knowledge about birds was slightly better. Its been a week since I arrived and this my account of what I noticed.

The first day when I managed to get up early I was greeted by the cries/calls of woodpeckers. Though at that time I didn’t know the call, I followed the direction it cam from and was glad to find 2 pairs of Common Golden Backed Woodpecker

After I chased them for a while, I gave up and was walking back when I found a Rufos-Backed Shrike sitting close by

At a distance I noticed some jungle Myna

The evening had some more surprises stored for me. As I walked around the property,

calling continuously was an Indian Rufos Babbler.

As I went closer I also caught sight of spotted dove

During the week in between my calls I managed to catch a glimpse of the following among the flowers and fruit trees

While I spotted a lot of birds, I was at loss when I had to identify them. I had left my field guide back in Bangalore, and from experience know that my sketches weren’t of any use in some cases. Luckily mom had a copy of Feathered Jewels of Coorg by Dr. S.V Narashiman and this proved handy in most situations

While I am extremely excited about all this, I can’t help but wonder why I took so long to uncover the beautiful of the place I grew up in

More Pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/aishwarya.belliappa/MyBackyard#

List of Birds so far

House Crow

Jungle Crow

Red Cheeked Bulbul

Red Vent Bulbul

White Breasted Kingfisher

Jungle Myna

Indian Rufos Babbler

Rofus Backed Shrike

Large Egret

Twany Eagle

Large Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Purple Sunbird

Black-Lored Yellow Tit

Great Tit

Pied Bush Chat

Indian Robin

Oriental Magpie Robin

Greenish Leaf Warbler

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Jerdon's Chloropsis

Black Drongo

Common Swallow

Common Golden Backed Woodpecker

Brown Headed Barbet

White Cheeked Barbet

Greater Coucal

Spotted Dove

Plum Headed Parakeet

Blue-winged Parakeet

Indian Pond Heron

Hanging Parrot

Velvet Throated Nuthatch

Eurasian Blackbird

Ashy Woodswallow

Chestnut Tailed Starling

Scarlet Minivet

Scimitar-Babbler

Scaly Thrush

Loten's Sunbird

Pale Billed Flowerpecker

Fleeting Glimpses of New York

This was going to be my first trip out side of Asia and I was excited. Since the whole thing got finalized in the last minute I didn’t have much time to do research on places to see and had absolutely, no idea what I was going to do once I got to New York except seeing Statue of Liberty.

A colleague and long time friend of mine (Tylsley) offered to take me around and I was glad that I was seen the city with someone I knew.

Let me start off with the area where my office is. It is in the Heart of Time Squares. I was apprehensive about how I would find it and when I walked on to 7th Avenue 45th Street, amongst all the signage there it was the orange (Thomson Reuters Color). All I had to do was walk under it and I found the office. To know that my company is among the ones on Time Square make me feel proud

As for the evening there was no fixed plan I was going to take it as it came. By the time I finished work and wound up it was about 7 and so Tylsley suggested we started with the areas around office.

The first places that we walked by was Radio City, NBC Studios and Rockfeller Building (a tall building with a little history). A stop for peace and serenity at the St. Patrick Church; the walk then took us through Diamond District, Trump building, Tiffiny’s diamond store, Plaza Hotel and Central Park. We then took the a subway to Broadway, peeked in to the WTC site, walk by St Paul Church, past city hall, that bought us to Brooklyn Bridge. The walk on the Brooklyn Bridge was beautiful. It was amazing the see the city whiz past was we walked by enjoying the view. By then I was tired and since it was late I headed back for some sleep.

The next free evening I had I wanted to see Statue of Liberty, at least from a distance. The plan was to take the Stain Island Ferry. But before the ferry, Tylsley took me to the Pier 17. The place gave us a awesome view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the waterway. We spent great deal of time walking around and getting pictures. And then we walked to the ferry. This is a free ferry that gave a great view of Manhattan and New Jersey city line. The ferry took 10 mins and went right past the Statue. The view is breath taking and cameras clicked non stop.

Then we walked to Wall Street, I could not leave New York without seeing the Big Bull. So the path took us there and then to the Stock Exchange and Trinity Church. After that Tylsley had a surprise planned. We walked past the WTC, New Jersey Station and then a Shopping Mall and we were at a Dock. From this place we could see New Jersey and since it was not crowded it had a calming feel to it. Since it was late, that had to be the last place I visited in NY for site seeing.

The good thing about going with Tylsley was that he told me lot of the town. He was open to answering stupid questions about the lifestyles and habits. He knew the place for the best cheese cakes (Juniors, wish I ate more of that), the place that had awesome Mexican Food, the little Italian place. The Other thing was that he knew these small tucked away places that gave the best view of the city line. If it hadn’t been for him I think I would have covered about 10% of what I did.