Amidst the clouds! - Mullayangiri

At Mullayangiri Hills

Being IITians we'd got used to the process of making impromptu plans. It was not long before one night we made a decision to go to Chikmagalur for the next couple of days. It was a long weekend owing to Eid and that came as a blessing. Of course, there was no plan as of on paper; just that we would drive down to Chikmagalur, visit a couple of places around (read Mullayangiri) , stay around for the night and leave the next evening after exploring nearby places. As the saying goes "nothing ever happens according to a plan"; so followed suit.

The group consisted of 4 people (Anirudh, Kushaal, Radhey and me); all of us from the same department at college.  

The four of us, on the way to Mullayangiri Hills!

Day - 1

The plan of leaving Bangalore by 4 30 am didn't work owing to factors like sleeping at 3 am and not being early risers. So eventually left Bangalore by 7 am and picked up Radhey along. Reaching the first toll gate, we were greeted with the sight of hundreds of vehicles desperately trying to get out of Bangalore. The road was a paltry one, until we reached Nelamangala. It was then that we got on to the Bangalore-Mangalore highway and not long before we are already cruising away at the speeds of 100-120 kmph. 

The highway was extremely nice. The roads were laid out beautifully, there were no humps whatsoever and it was a wonderful drive. Google Maps did try to throw us off the road once or twice, but we adhered to our judgments in the end. At around 11 am, we stopped by at a state run bus station and we let ourselves dwelve in the south indian delicacies. We'd loads of Idlis, Wada's and Sambar (Anirudh drank up to 1 litre almost :D). That was our breakfast!

Stretch of the highway

We then decided to take a detour and then head towards Shravanabelagola. We reached Shravanabelagola in around 2.5 hrs from Bangalore. The scenery all around the road was filled with fields (rice, sugarcane etc) and somehow this felt serene and it was lovely. We stopped by for sometime to indulge in the peace that was all around :)

Shravanabelagola  is famous for housing a giant monolith carving of Gommateshvara Bahubali. He's also referred to as "The Naked Man". Reaching this place takes ones toll. The climb initially is very step and it might be difficult to climb in rainy season. There is a Dholi service for old people who find it difficult to climb up and down. We spent around 2 hours here learning the history behind the statue, going around the place and trying to take snaps (esp the part where the focus was on the penis of the statue :P). There were many inscriptions dated back to the 1500 era. The view below from the hilltop was pretty amazing too.

The steep climb

The view from the top

It was not long before we were on the road again and we wanted to reach Chikmagalur fast. For the night was dawning upon us (it was around 2 PM) and we had almost more than 2 hours of journey before us. 

We reached Chikamagalur pretty fast (thanks to my over speeding :P) by around 4 PM. And then we'd to expect something which we didn't come prepared for. ACCOMMODATION! We underestimated the very prime factor in a journey and were callous in booking in front for the same. We made numerous calls, and none of them seemed reasonable. Rs. 2000 per night, Rs. 3000 per night, Rs. 2500 with bonfire, some with breakfast, others with dinner and what not. This was for one person. Our budget was Rs 1000 max. Time was running out, as it was almost dark. Around 5:30 PM and this parts of the state, the night descends quickly.

Then a thought crossed our minds. Let's camp in the Car! This was not a bad idea at all. We had music, we shopped for some food, some toilet paper, tissues, some medicines, lots of water and lots of food (junk mostly). We decided, two of us would sleep and two would keep guard. Then we fixed on - one of us will keep guard, others sleep and we take turns. Good enough. Next major thing - Find a place to camp the Car! We asked around, but we were disappointed to not find anything. We got to know why, the next day. 

Luckily, one of the phone calls clicked and we found ourselves with a roof with a dinner :D. We had few scares in the dark night after following a wrong guy and being lost but were soon found. All for 850 bucks and it was situated on the hill amongst good greenery. Well within our budget and good place as well. I soon dozed off as I was very tired after driving the entire day. I heard the next morning that the dinner wasn't that great and it was as if someone dropped an entire bowl of chilly powder into the rasam. I was fortunate to skip it ;).


Day -2 

We were all ready and geared up for the interesting thing. We were going to trek the Mullayangiri hill. So what's the big thing about trekking a hill, anyone can do it.

Right, It was interesting and risk taking as it was the following:

• Consisted of drive uphill and then trek on foot. (So what?!)
• The width of the road hardly fits 2 cars at one go. This reminded us of the 2 goats one bridge scenario. (Hmm.. Go on!)
• The visibility was less than 10 mts (You said what?)
• It was drizzling and muddy (For fucks sake!)
• And lastly, one side of your road is thin air without any bottom. So don't bother turning even an extra inch as that will take you down to the bottom of the hill. (Phew!)

Owing to all the challenges above, we decided that the best driver amongst us take the responsibility of keeping us alive. So Kushaal, undeterred took the mantle. We even posted my phone as a video recorder to record the entire journey (or bits of it) and also serve as evidence in case something happened. (luckily it didn't as I'm writing this post). The video came out pretty well.

Happy faces on the way up hill :)

The video below will tell you how the road and surroundings.  

Radhey was scared all along. He was cursing us left right center for doing this to him :P. But eventually, we reached the parking area pretty safely. We had a scare or two but then we moved on. 

The trek was absolutely amazing. We were high up in the clouds and there were water droplets everywhere. It was cold, it was windy, it was not easy but above all it was Happiness! It was so much windy that we couldn't even dare open the shutters of our cameras. Meanwhile Radhey took the opportunity to dance around topless :). We were in such a place, where one would leave behind everything. It felt like heaven.

Source of food at the top

We climbed even further to a small temple on the cliff and I that is where I felt the true effect of breathing as the altitude increased. This was something which I'd always studied but never experienced it. 

Highest point of Mullayangiri Hill. (Notice the use of umbrella
to shield ourselves from the heavy dose of water droplets)

Eventually, we came down the hill after a long time and were still surprised to see sunlight below. It was almost dark at the top. It took us a while to get down as we heeded to random directions (Google doesn't work there as there is no signal) and got headed the dreadful way which would have broken the poor car. 

So it was almost evening by when we reached Belur. This town is famous for its temples. They all pre-date to the Hoysala Empire. And trust me when I say this - I have never seen such brilliant piece of workmanship in all the parts that I've roamed yet. We spent some time here and started the drive back home.

We reached Bangalore around 10:30 PM and had a quick dinner to end it all and then take a deep sigh of relief and fade away into the darkness of the night.

In all, an impromptu trip turned out to be one of the most memorable ones. One that I will cherish for years to come. 

A candid moment at Belur ;)