On the Eve
of Independence day. The planning of bike ride had taken a very good progress.
Actually it was my first bike ride of my life but as a pillion. Since it was
one day ride we had decided to visit
Gaganachukkki and Barachukki falls and Talakad. The map was clear to us since
it was 300 km to plus fro!
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| Riders r Ready! |
But as
always initially we struggled for the exact road. Planned to start at 5 AM but
we managed to start before 6AM. While going we choose mysore road and took
kankapura high way while coming back. Mysore road as we all know traffic also
wondered whether “Road main gadda hain or Gadda main Road hain”!!. We stopped
at bidadi for breakfast, we were served
bidadi special tatte idli with butter vow vow. Resuming our journey very soon
as we had not reached planned distance for time taken. After maddur we had to
take a left diversion for shivanasamudra.
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| Bidadi Tatte Idli |
After a diversion there was a good
greenery around with atmosphere was very pleasant. Reached shvanasamudra paused
for some time. Later went to Barachukki falls. The magical scene of river Cauvery
made us to feel a worth visit. We had
some trouble to carry our riding gears. But we had to manage all those. At
Barachukki we had to descend around 150 – 200 steps to reach the falls in the
midst of woods. After reaching the base area, one has to be careful as our pre
– historic friends will be waiting to pounce on your bag. Then, we went on a
coracle boat (teppa) ride on the pool of water in front of the waterfall.
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| Barachukki Falls |
The
boat charges are something like 50rs per head for a 20 minutes ride.
it was most startling experience could
feel the force of the water and scary though none of knew how to swim. We
rested in piece for some time in the banks of falls. Resumed our journey to Gaganachukki
falls. The speciality of these falls is due to the Kaveri river itself
splitting a few kilometers to the south into western and eastern branches. The
western branch results in the twin waterfalls of Gaganachukki, whereas the
eastern branch results in the Bharachukki falls.
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| Gaganachukki Falls |
The sparkling blue waters of the Cauvery River wind through
rocks and ravines and fall 75m off the Deccan Plateau to form the twin falls of
Barachukki and Gaganachukki. Monsoon season makes this waterfall swell to
enormous proportion, creating a waterfall perhaps a thousand feet wide. When
the Cauvery is in madness, watching the river crash into a cloud of foaming
spray can be an awesome and unforgetful experience. Gaganachukki especially is
a steep fall where water gushes down with great velocity. Actually, it is believed
to host first hydroelectric project in India.
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| Teppa Ride |
The next destination was to “Buried Beauty” The Talakadu (Talakad).
It is the classical Indian story. A tale told by gods and demons, filled with
kings and queens, replete with curses and boons. There is a little bit of
history here, blended with some geology and topped with legends and myths. Set
on the banks of the river Cauvery, this saga dates back to the 4th century and
has certain intriguing elements, defying the very laws of nature. Talakadu is
famous for the Panchalingas – the temples dedicated to Lord Shiva called
Pathaleshwara, Maruleshwara, Arkeshwara, Vaidyanatheeshwara and Mallikarjuna
.Of these, the first two are the oldest, built by the Ganga kings. We paused to
give our feet a bit of rest and heard the story of Tala and Kada, the two
hunters, after whom the town is named as per guide information. The detailed
stories is interesting but I don’t want to reveal because there should be
curiousity once anybody will visit.
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| Talakadu |
A curse of a woman he says is the cause of this sand blown
town, an erstwhile fertile capital of several dynasties that ruled over
Karnataka. A tale filled with greed and lust for power. It was the time when
Talakadu and Srirangapatna were under the Vijayanagar empire. The death of the
last Viceroy, Srirangaraya provoked the Wodeyars of Mysore to declare war. As
Srirangapatna fell, the Wodeyar ruler sent his soldiers to covet the jewels of
the late Viceroy’s widow, Alamelamma. As she fled from her pursuers, she is
supposed to have jumped into the Cauvery, uttering the curses. My guide gets
all dramatic as he proclaims the curse…
“Talkādu
Maralaāgi, Mālingi maduvaāgi, Mysuru dhorege Makkalagade hōgali”
We had walked for more than a hour, deeply engrossed in the continuous
banter of our guide. Our feet caved in many a time, as we scaled the steep sand
dunes. In the last two hours, we had traveled back to several centuries. We
paused for a moment, taking in the sight. The silence was devastating. The
voices of the past were buried under the layers of sand. We sat there, trying
to build castles, but the wings gently swept them down. This, we realized was
the destiny of Talakadu -the confluence of the historic and the holy spirit,
where myths and legends merged, but were all completely swept away by the
blasts from the past.
Now coming back from history to real world, it was 3.30PM
we had our lunch than we went to history. The fervor to say about the history I
had forgotten about our lunch!!. Starting our journey towards kaveri river
which is point of tourist attraction, nowadays crowded as it is a low water
level.
As planed while
coming back we too highway which was very neat and less traffic had to fight closely
with rain other than it was easy ride and we reached back home by 8.30pm.
This was a lovely blog post
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