Open Spaces, Once More - A Senior Citizen's Trek!

I travel quite often from Goa to Bengaluru by train. The train, which leaves Goa at night, usually reaches a stretch between two stations, Davanagere and Birur  by sunrise. It  would be running north to south and if you look out of the window to the east, you would see a long stretch of green fields beginning almost next to  the railway track, running up to the hills at a distance. Many a times I have seen one particular hill with a small white temple at the top and the sky just turning red beyond it. It is an enchanting sight. I have always felt an urge to just get off the train and start walking towards the hills, but have been forced to contain the urge and sit tight to reach Bengaluru.

During my last visit to Bengaluru I happened to mention this to a cousine of mine, who I knew was as crazy as I am about the open spaces and he said “Why contain the urge? Let us go there during your next visit"!. Since I was to visit Bengaluru again shortly, we fixed a date and he promised to keep himself free that day.

During my recent trip to Bengaluru, we started looking at the logistics of our madness, and we found that the place I had in mind was about two hundred and fifty kilometers from Bengaluru. Not easy to carry it off in a day. Since both of us were mentally prepared for a trek, we looked for places closer to Bengaluru and found a place called “Sidhdhara betta” ('Betta' is kannada for a hill) near Tumkur, at a distance of about ninety kilometers.

We decided to start early the next morning and drive towards “Sidhdhara betta” but to keep our options open to stop wherever we felt like and start walking in whichever direction we found appealing. He got his car checked while I purchased some provisions and we set off the next morning at six from Bengaluru in the direction of “Sidhdhara betta”.

We had passed Tumkur and had travelled some distance in the direction of Sidhdhara Betta when we reached a small village called Doddavaadi and found a hill close to the stretch of road we were in. There was a tree next to the road providing ample shade and we decided to park the car in the shade and climb the hill. We had to go through some agricultural fields to reach the hill and were hesitating to trespass a private land when we found an old man coming towards us. We asked him if we could go through the fields and climb the hill. He looked at us as if we were nuts and asked "what do you want to climb that hill for?".

“Oh just like that." We said "For fun”. His looks said 'there are all sorts in this world', but he actually said "please yourselves” and pointed vaguely towards the fields “that way”.  

Obviously not many people went there to climb the hill and no one from the village did it just for pleasure! May be people used to go there years back to collect firewood but with cooking gas and power available in the village, nobody went to there anymore.

 We reached the base of the hill in about fifteen minutes and started our climb. We had to find our own way looking closely at the ground for the hint of a path. We had to avoid obstacles like ditches, boulders and overgrown shrubbery but we could move in the general direction of the summit. The weather was not hot yet and we were in the shade of the hill itself. Going up was not easy but it was most enjoyable! 

I have gone on many treks. Except for the one to Virdi falls in Goa, almost all of them have been reasonably well known places and the path leading to them have been invariably littered with discarded plastic waste. Here, we had found a place which was not a known picnic/trekking destination, nothing spectacular around, no temple at the top, no man made path and no facilities available. No one went there for anything. It was too difficult a walk just to go there to dump garbage and hence the place was entirely garbage and litter free! It was a pleasure just on that one account!

I will stop my narration here and allow the pictures to tell the rest.

Walking next to the green field to reach the base of the hill

Beginning the climb hoping that the path we were making  lead to the top. 

In a sort of clearing about one third up the hill. Took time to sip some water, look around and enjoy the serenity and the scene. Can see the fields that we had crossed, the coconut grove and the hills of the 'Devaraayanadurga' Range.

Since we were climbing the western face of the hill, we were in the shadow of the hill itself and it was pleasant. By now, we had found that the climb was not as easy as it looked and we broke out two stout bamboo sticks to act as an aid for climbing as well as clearing the overgrown bramble in our path.

The picture gives a general idea of the terrain we were in. Here, my cousine took some time off to contemplate ( though a bit too late) whether it was a sensible pass time for two new senior citizens! Since all we have had till then were only a few pricks and scratches and no broken bones, we decided to proceed higher. 

When we were halfway up the hill the sun  appeared at the top 

We had thought (with out any logic, just with hope)  that the climb further up would be easier but it turned out to be worse. With huge boulders impossible for us to climb over and narrow passages difficult to pass through. But we were lucky not to have had the pleasure of meeting a  nursing bear or a leopard, supposed to be normal residents of the hill (as we learnt after coming down) on the other side of the boulder!

We are at the top! But for one last boulder. Since we wanted our legs attached to our bodies for climbing down, we decided to let the boulder win and were happy taking pictures, resting and refreshing ourselves. 

If you look closely, in the center you will find the road where our car was parked and the Devaraayana durga hill in the back ground. The white spot seen on top, we assume, is the Sri Narasimhaswamy temple.

 A panoramic view of the area. It is a hilly terrain and we could count about twenty peaks around us.  

Climbing down was uneventful except for the fact that we had missed our path entirely but reached down safely about a hundred meters away from where we had started. It was a pleasure to find this 'Step well' with clear, cool water next to the fields.

The village 'tea shop' which sells tea and petrol, (in different containers. fortunately!) provided  a cup of much needed hot, sweet tea and a few instant friends. 

We were lucky to have befriended few village folks since my senior citizen cousine (so as to prove his senior citizenhood) had forgotten to switch off the head lights of the car at day break  and the battery had drained out. Our friends gladly gave a hand to push start the car and we were on our way to Sidhdhara betta, after a three and a half hours detour.

The sun was directly above and in front of us when we started climbing "Sidhdharabetta", the uneven steps making the climb troublrsome. 

Sidhdharabetta is quite steep and takes about an hour to climb, if climbed with out taking a break. There is a shrine of some saint or a small temple of a deity at the top and also a pond (as we heard, we did not see them). Hundreds of people visit the hill as a pilgrimage and hence it has small shacks next to the steps selling water, bottled drinks, flowers, puffed rice etc etc and the inevitable share of garbage lining the steps. It was not a pleasure to climb the hill and we decided to return after climbing about two thirds of the hill.  

The scene from the top most point we reached 

The hill is home to hundreds of monkeys - experts in snatching things from the climbers. This monkey took away our water bottle and had a nice drink sitting comfortably in the fork of the tree!

There are quite a few shops and small eateries at the base of the hills which is a part of a village and we were on our way back after eating our packed lunch and another cup of tea.

 Relics of another era. An arrangement made by the roadside, using stone slabs, for people to rest their head loads and  rest themselves.

 A lake next to the road which made us take another detour. Apart from some migratory birds, possibly Storks, we could spot a Cormorant, a Curlew, many Parrots, a Kingfisher and a very beautiful white Paradise fly catcher in the surroundings. Sadly none of them flew into our camera frame. 

 It must have been five in the evening when we headed homewards.

 One last stop for a well earned coffee break and we were on the Tumkur - Bengaluru highway.

 The sun was just about to go down at the horizon when we reached Bengaluru. A beautiful end for a wonderful day.