Monday, December 3, 2012

ESCAPADE-Ganeshgudi-Castle rock-Part 2

Click the following link for the 1st part GANESHGUDI - PART I


We played in the water for sometime keeping in mind about our safety and not doing anything stupid. Then we settled down for a fantastic lunch which was packed for us from the resort, which Rajya carried all along the trek. The lunch along with tea and biscuits gave us the energy to trek further 2 KMS downhill to reach a railway station where we had to board H.Nizamuddin train to reach Castle rock. Miss the train and we had to walk another 5 KMS on the railway track.

This is the view of Doodhsagar which we saw!!!!!



We could see the railway bridge from the top and kept discussing that we had to trek downhill and reach that bridge to board the train to castle rock.

The trek now was very difficult since we had to get downhill. Our legs were aching and we had to hurry since we didn’t want to miss the train. Finally when we reached the railway track we were exhausted and totally drenched in our sweat.
The view of the bridge from the top

Our guide told us that to our left was the railway station where we could sit and wait for the train.Or walk for 10 minutes on the railway track to our right and get the regular tourist view of Doodh sagar. My wife voted against that trek but finally agreed after I pleaded her. We passed through a tunnel and reached the bridge. We were extremely tired and didn’t have any patience to take any photographs literally. Still we took some pictures and we looked in the photos like as if we have been digging gutters all day to lay BSNL cables.
 

 
   So now we were standing on the bridge which we had seen from the top, but then women are women. When we were about to walk back to the station, pat comes a question from Divya.”Where is the bridge which we saw from top????” We were so tired that we didn’t have the patience to pull her leg.. With loads of patience Deepu told her that you are standing on the same bridge.
View of Doodh sagar falls from the bridge


We reached the railway station and waited for the train. The train finally arrived after a 20 minute delay. The last passenger bogie stopped in front of us. It was crowded and we had just 2 minutes to get in. The people near the door were not co-operative and didn’t give us enough space to get in.

Amidst this melee my wife pulled 2 women who were in front of her and then got into a verbal fight with them. I heard the lady got so scared of my wife that she moved ahead in the bogie away from my wife.
The railway station

Mr.Avinash was waiting for us at castle rock station to pick us. The trek was difficult, tiring and left us exhausted. But the view we got to see of Doodhsagar is to die for and all the trouble was worth it.
Saw this effigy being burnt in the Castle rock village on the occasion of Diwali. Its written "Brastachar Garibi" i.e Poverty due to corruption. Nice to see that the awareness about the corrupt government has reached even a tiny village like Castle rock

 
We bid goodbye to Mr.Avinash and left to Ganeshgudi in the evening back to IB.

Next morning as planned we had to leave for Bangalore. Whole of the morning we kept discussing if we wait for rafting for sometime or we leave. Timothy informed us that water was released yesterday and he tried calling us without any success, but it’s unlikely that water would be released today. None of us wanted to return to Bangalore and were thinking of an alternate plan to extend the trip when Shivu came up with an idea of visiting his hometown and celebrating diwali with his family. 

We dropped the idea of waiting for rafting and immediately left for Yelburga which is in Koppal district. It was almost 8 in the evening when we reached there.
A sunflower field along the highway

We were greeted there by Shivu’s parents and various other relatives who used to give a guest appearance like in a Sooraj Barjhatya movie (Theirs is a sixty member joint family). Now this family controls most of the business in that town ranging from petrol bunk, theaters, provision stores, medical stores, bar and restaurants, finance, transportation etc. All the business is run by the younger members of the family with guidance from the elders. The family is worth crores but their living style is so down to earth. They stay in 2 houses located adjacent and share the same kitchen. Family members have their food in shift wise and am not sure how women divide the work among them.

I kept thinking in my mind that if a Kodava family had such a business, by this time only 6 members of the family would have been alive with the rest being shot and killed over property dispute. One thing that keeps this family going is that none of the member tries and competes with each other. End of the day everybody works and earns for the family and not for any individual.

The theater was located within the premises (Actually half the town is their premise) and my wife wanted to watch a movie for free. Shivu promised to let us watch a movie only once we finish our dinner. The dinner was holige oota. We were stuffed with food by our hosts. Most of the time we had to cover our plates as our hosts wanted fill our stomach with so much food until it blasted off. I guess looking at our faces; they felt like we had just landed from Somalia.

After the dinner we went into the theater and for the first time watched a movie from the projector room. (Since my childhood I was always fascinated by this room written “ No admission” on its door.) The movie was pathetic and threatened to destroy our evening. The girls ran off to the house within five minutes of watching the movie while we had our time on the theater terrace.

The family owned theater
Next morning the same thing repeated at breakfast as well. Only this time along with covering our plates, we ran around the hall requesting our hosts to stop force feeding us. Deepak was the only guy who took on the challenge and finished off everything the hosts had to offer.

We left around 10 o clock in the morning and mid way stopped to have a look of Tunga Badra dam.
 
Tunga Badra dam
Then somewhere in between Hospet and Chitradurga we took some food parceled from a Punjabi dhabha. While the food was being parceled Ravi and Shivu went to a village called Kudalagi to meet a friend of his. While coming back his friend sent a packet full of mutton curry which was so mouth watering, one could drink a peg of whiskey without water since we had enough water in our mouth.

We stopped by a farm field owned by Ravi’s friend along the highway and sat down to have lunch over there. Somehow magically couple of beer bottles pop out from the car and we had a grand lunch. The lunch was so grand that everyone (Except the drivers) slept off as we left from there. Till Shira I happened to open my eyes once or twice in between like I was having amnesia.

Finally we reached Bangalore around 8 in the evening safe and sound (Thanks to Ravi & Pramod) and had dinner at Pramod’s place. Somehow since the last 2 days we have been living on free food and accommodation which we are happy about, since it reduces the overall budget of the trip.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”
 

11 comments:

  1. It was a wonderful journey, though u were the guys who traveled it was giving an effect like, i am a part of the journey while reading ur blog. keep writing keep travelling all the best

    ReplyDelete
  2. "One could drink a peg of whiskey without water, since we had enough water in our mouth". Good comparison.
    One of your friend had mentioned u write like Chetan Bhagat. I dont know that, but i am definitely your Bhagat(Bhakt) when it comes to reading your blog. U continue to impress..:-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Liked the second part two ma fren... ek dum badiya description. Mahine main ek blog tho mangtha hain..tag me whenever u blog..I am just checking if i can sunscribe he he he

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Chetan... Now u can subscribe to my stories. There is an option for that on the blog.. Enjoy!!!!

      Delete
  4. Would you tell me how you got on top of the fall so that you could see the railway bridge far down at dudhsagar. When I went we walked 13 kms on the rail tracks from castle rock railway station to the bridge. Camped there for the night. We did not however attempt to climb to the top for fear of safety. Please do tell me and how is road from ganeshgudi to castle rock?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loved reading both part 1 and 2. You write so well, I got totally hooked. And great sense of humour, I must say!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for your comments Sangeeta..:)

      Delete
  6. Superb photographs and wonderful narration of the adventure.As you have said, the top view of the Dudhsagar falls is definitely worth it.I hope to be there this winter.Thanks for sharing your valuable memories and in turn enlightening others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comments Vikas... Winter would be the best time to visit that place...

      Delete
  7. Wonderful post,I loved reading it and your blog has wonderful images.Thank you for sharing the post.Book tickets in leading travel operators like Paulo Travels ,SVR Travels and SRM Travels and enjoy your trip.

    ReplyDelete