Idagundi, Kavadikere, Magod and Jenukalgudda

February 2010

This particular trip was literally planned over months with a trial of discussions. Finally it was a seven member group- Yasmeen, Vidya, Shweta, Shilpa, Marina, Arshiya and me. We hired a Chevrolet Tavera for the trip. My first ride in Tavera. I just did not like the vehicle. Journey was not really comfortable with it's crammed seating and rolling ride. I'll never again hire this vehicle. Not a good start?

It was still dark when we picked Marina from Gokul Road, Hubli. We were moving towards Yellapur, all excited to see Lalguli Waterfalls, especially Vidya. We were glad to have left early but... few kilometers after Kalghatgi we saw a line of ore laden trucks parked on our left. It was light now. We seemed to be driving past an endless line of trucks. After about 3 kilometers the left lane was blocked. We drove on the right lane past between two parallel lines of trucks and finally we came to an halt. We were surrounded by trucks. We heard people saying they were stuck since 3AM and someone gave an expert opinion that this mess would take another 3 hours to clear.

I was praying silently, wishing to slip out of quickly. Yes, prayers answered. We drove past the damned ore transshipment center, the sole reason behind this jam. It seems this is a daily affair on this highway. Trucks from Bellary reach here early mornings queuing up to unload ore. Unloading would start at day-break. More and more trucks keep joining the line stretching up to 10 kilometers at times. This means mining businesses use national highways for their own needs.

Finally we were moving as we should be normally moving on a highway. About 10kms before Yellapur, we turned right- road to Haliyal. We asked for directions to Lalguli falls and we overshot the left turn by 6kms. However the road was good, running through thick jungle. We could see plenty of wild fowls. Anyway took a U-turn at a Forest Check Post. The road to Lalguli falls was narrow and in bad shape. We drove deeper into the jungle. On the way we stopped people and asked about water at the falls. No. This is the wrong time of the year. Anyway, we were hungry we stopped to have idlis cooked in jack fruit leaves.



Same info at Lalguli village. One of the locals described it would be a long trek to see nothing. We decided not to go.

Our next stop was Veena's place- Idagundi. The night before was Maha-Shivaratri and Veena was awake through the night. Veena looked tired but still she mustered energy to give us a tour of their family arecanut plantation. Veena had experimented with Vanilla plants and she explained the process of pollination. Back in the house Veena's mother had made avalakki and paanka.


That's Ramlingeswara temple which is quite popular in Yellapur area. Veena's cousin Mahesh accompanied me to the temple. He told me stories connected with this temple. One day I need to sit with him and listen. I remember during my last visit, I heard the Kannada word for wedding reception- mitrabhojana.


Our next destination- Kavdikere. We asked Veena to join us but she declined.


We trekked the trial along the lake's 2.5km perimeter. We stopped by to eat water melon. It was delicious.


Naaz could identify an insect eating plant on the moist lake bed. It was pretty warm even though we were walking in partial shade. By the time we came back to the Tavera the gang was exhausted. I wonder how many cursed my for coming up with this idea. No appetite for lunch but we did have. We fed rice and kalinapalya to few cows. We moved on to Magod waterfall.



We rested a while here. For few minutes I felt a peaceful feeling coming over me by watching the water cascading down the rocks and birds flying freely above this deep gorge. These birds seemed supremely confident.

Our final destination of our day- Jeukalgudda. We made tea. It turned out pretty good and refreshing after a tiring day. We could not see the sun set but we saw it fading into the mist on the horizon. EOD.


Does the sky look honey colored?
Jenukal = Jenu + Kal ~ Honey + Stone


We chatted most of the way back. I was busy watching the road and our cab driver. We dropped off Marina and we were back in Dharwad by 9-15PM. The outing was not really an ideal one but the moments would remain in our memories.

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