1991 July
Through with final year engineering exams, it was a relief and I was looking forward to a break. Anish, Deepak and I planned a trip to Kemmangundi… we decided to take Anish’s KB100, Deepak’s Hero Puch and my Kinetic Honda DX100. My scooter’s mileage was the worst… maximum I could expect was 35km per liter of petrol.
We started early morning. Took NH4 and turned off at Nelamangala towards Mangalore. Our first stop was next to a small pond. Deepak casually lit a cigarette and Anish shot him smoking. Deepak was just not bothered about it. We carried on with our journey stopping on and off… to see a lake, a flock of ducks walking on the highway, forest nursery, Yediyuru Siddalingeshwara… we reached Hassan late afternoon and checked into Hotel Apoorva. Evening we had a mini booze session. The following morning we headed towards the Halebidu and Belur. We saw Hoysaleshwara Devastana at Halebidu and Chennakesaava Devastana at Belur. By noon we started off towards our destination - Kemmaninagundi.
As we neared Chikkamagaluru, the roads were wet. Tt was raining lightly when we entered Chikkamaglur. We weren't prepared for rains. We bought a few bottles of rum and whisky. Chikkamagalur-Kemmangundi road was narrow & twisty and it was almost dark, windy & drizzling as we started climbing the Baba Budan Giri Range. We could make out coffee estates in the dim light. Clouds had blocked out every bit of light from the sky, it was pitch dark if not for our bikes' lights. We soon realized that middle of the road was slippery because of a thick layer of wet leaves. We had to keep our wheels in the tire-track made by four-wheelers. Also we had to concentrate not to go veer off tarred surface because the sides were muddy and slippery. As we climbed higher, the wind was strong, blowing rain drops into our eyes. Anish had trouble because of his spectacles. My Kinetic Honda had a powerful halogen headlamp which could blind oncoming drivers. It lit up the road pretty well even in rainy conditions. We were soaked, cold and hungry. To make things worse for us, mist joined the party with darkness, rain and wind. At times the visibility would be just few meters and my halogen lamp was not just useless but dangerous. The white screen of mist reflected the light back to us. I used to switch over my normal lights, which was like a parking lamp. Deepak was much better in misty conditions and we followed him closely. It was getting colder, I wished for some warm drink. Luckily we found a tea shop in a mountain hamlet. The shop keeper was asking us if we were crazy to do this journey on two-wheeler, in a rainy night like this one.
The hot tea helped immensely. We resumed our journey with Deepak leading. After a blind turn, he stopped suddenly, I braked hard stopping inches from his rear tire and it was the same for Anish. The reason for stopping was a stream across the road!! The stream was about 12 feet wide. There was a waterfall on our left which fell into the roadside trench, then flowed across the road and down the hill to our left. What a sight it was! Had we done this journey during day we could've got great pictures. We rode on; the effect of tea had worn off, we were cold again. When the going gets tough, the tough get going… we rode on and finally made it to Kemmangundi. We a got a place to stay, one of the ancient cottages. Since this wasn't tourist season we didn't get food but we let the booze flow.
Through with final year engineering exams, it was a relief and I was looking forward to a break. Anish, Deepak and I planned a trip to Kemmangundi… we decided to take Anish’s KB100, Deepak’s Hero Puch and my Kinetic Honda DX100. My scooter’s mileage was the worst… maximum I could expect was 35km per liter of petrol.
We started early morning. Took NH4 and turned off at Nelamangala towards Mangalore. Our first stop was next to a small pond. Deepak casually lit a cigarette and Anish shot him smoking. Deepak was just not bothered about it. We carried on with our journey stopping on and off… to see a lake, a flock of ducks walking on the highway, forest nursery, Yediyuru Siddalingeshwara… we reached Hassan late afternoon and checked into Hotel Apoorva. Evening we had a mini booze session. The following morning we headed towards the Halebidu and Belur. We saw Hoysaleshwara Devastana at Halebidu and Chennakesaava Devastana at Belur. By noon we started off towards our destination - Kemmaninagundi.
As we neared Chikkamagaluru, the roads were wet. Tt was raining lightly when we entered Chikkamaglur. We weren't prepared for rains. We bought a few bottles of rum and whisky. Chikkamagalur-Kemmangundi road was narrow & twisty and it was almost dark, windy & drizzling as we started climbing the Baba Budan Giri Range. We could make out coffee estates in the dim light. Clouds had blocked out every bit of light from the sky, it was pitch dark if not for our bikes' lights. We soon realized that middle of the road was slippery because of a thick layer of wet leaves. We had to keep our wheels in the tire-track made by four-wheelers. Also we had to concentrate not to go veer off tarred surface because the sides were muddy and slippery. As we climbed higher, the wind was strong, blowing rain drops into our eyes. Anish had trouble because of his spectacles. My Kinetic Honda had a powerful halogen headlamp which could blind oncoming drivers. It lit up the road pretty well even in rainy conditions. We were soaked, cold and hungry. To make things worse for us, mist joined the party with darkness, rain and wind. At times the visibility would be just few meters and my halogen lamp was not just useless but dangerous. The white screen of mist reflected the light back to us. I used to switch over my normal lights, which was like a parking lamp. Deepak was much better in misty conditions and we followed him closely. It was getting colder, I wished for some warm drink. Luckily we found a tea shop in a mountain hamlet. The shop keeper was asking us if we were crazy to do this journey on two-wheeler, in a rainy night like this one.
The hot tea helped immensely. We resumed our journey with Deepak leading. After a blind turn, he stopped suddenly, I braked hard stopping inches from his rear tire and it was the same for Anish. The reason for stopping was a stream across the road!! The stream was about 12 feet wide. There was a waterfall on our left which fell into the roadside trench, then flowed across the road and down the hill to our left. What a sight it was! Had we done this journey during day we could've got great pictures. We rode on; the effect of tea had worn off, we were cold again. When the going gets tough, the tough get going… we rode on and finally made it to Kemmangundi. We a got a place to stay, one of the ancient cottages. Since this wasn't tourist season we didn't get food but we let the booze flow.
Kemmangundi is a shortened version of the phrase "kempu mannina gundi" which means a red soil pit. Kemmangundi is an inactive iron ore mine. A few decades back it supplied iron ore to VISL via the ropeway system. In the 1970s when we used to live in Bhadravathi, we often saw ropeway trolleys laden with iron ore sail towards the steel mill. I would ask father how it worked, he would explain but I wouldn't get it. I loved Kemmangundi; it was green, cool & peaceful. I remember climbing up and down the steps connecting the cottages. Memories of the only eatery was fresh too. It was as though my childhood was just few days ago.
The following morning we had a good breakfast. Then we went sight-seeing. Deepak’s Hero Puch’s rear tire was flat. The nearest garage was 13km away, Lingadahalli. On the way down, we stopped at one the streams and spent some time in the cool mountain water… it was truly refreshing.
We located the garage, got the puncture fixed and returned to Kemmangundi. After lunch, we went towards Z-Point, the most popular spot for trekking freaks. We rode through the mountain foot path till a stream across the path. We parked our two-wheelers there and started walking. The path got narrower and wilder. It was drizzling continuously. We enjoyed the fresh cool air… What a feeling it was. One of us pointed out the tiny black earthworms on the pebbles and some on plants too.
We saw more and more and more… We came to a beautiful little water-fall, we spent some time there and took few pictures and moved towards Z-Point.
The ‘earthworms’ were thousands now. Well, those little black creatures weren't what we thought. They are leeches! Oh man!! We forgot about Z-Point and ran till we crossed the stream to the spot where we had left our bikes. We literally tore off our clothes and searched ourselves for leeches. We had been attacked badly. The little creatures were really slippery, they held on stubbornly, just couldn't pull them off our skins. So tried prying them off with sharp edged stones which worked to an extent. We made sure we were free from our enemies but the creepy feeling would not go away. Back at our lodge, if I felt ticklish I would check myself. Probably imagination was causing the ticklish feeling and not leeches. Our booze session started early with a pause for dinner and continued late into night. Anish was sloshed. We had to lift him up and put him put him to bed. Good night.
The next afternoon we decided to leave back to Bangalore. This time we took the less adventurous route down; Lingadahalli, Arasikere and then to Hassan. The ride between Arasikere and Hassan gave a creepy feeling, the terrain was ideal for robbery, felt as though bandits lurked around. We reached Hassan dead tired, checked back into Hotel Apoorva again, then a booze session followed by food. We slept better then the previous night. Morning, we woke up a bit late and then rode back to Bangalore.
This picture below was shot in 1997. This is one of the most popular photo spots around Kemmangundi. You can see this a number of Kannada movies.
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Fortunately one of those places that hasn't changed much - your photos look pretty much similar the place in your old photos looks very similar to what it is today.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the lack of "star" properties in the area..
Yeah, Kemmangundi is one place which hasn't changed much. My first few visits to kemmangundi were when I was five or six. I loved the place for its greenery, slopes and streams. I wish it remains like this...
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