Trip to BR hills

It has been more than a month since the trip. But it is only now that I have time to blog about it! Thanks to the hectic schedule of my life. Wake up at 5:30 or 6 am. Be at NCBS by 7:30. Leave to college. Get back to NCBS after college. Leave NCBS at 7:00 pm or sometimes 8:30 pm. Reach home by 8:00 or sometimes at 9:30 pm.... Hog... Check mail and comments on blog. If time permits, check SciThought and/or Slashdot. Simultaneously listen to some music. Doze off, to wake up to a simmilar routine!

Anyway, it was supposed to be a post on a trip to BR Hills and not on why I didnt post for so long! So here goes :

We were sitting in a park, bunking class, writing prac records. In the usual jib jab, Vinay told abt the calm waters of the Kapila river at Nanjangud. I hadnt travelled on a fun trip for a long time! I was excited, especially coz I didnr know how to swim, and calm waters were the only way I could step into a river! Achutha had collected some newspaper cuttings, carrying photos and info abt getaways near Bangalore. We just picked a few potential places, and decided to choose among them only after we reach Nanjangud. We decided, that we would leave that very night.

It was a quick decision. I was packed and ready early. Only one of our friends - Shivprakash, couldn't come, coz his parents thought that it was dangerous, due to heavy rains and floods. And that scared us a bit as well. But we still stuck to the decision to go. Six of us turned up. If the threat of weather wasnt a bad enough start, two of us got pickpocketed while boarding the train, and lost 1.3kB (kilo bucks (in indian rupees)) in total, forgetting about the value of the phone numbers, visiting cards, ID cards and buspasses, which were lost as well. We rethought abt whether we would go or not. We had already taken the tickets, so we decided to go.

We reached Mysore at 4:00 am, after sitting half the journey on the footboard. We dozed off at the railway station at Mysore, while Achutha and Srihari went to draw some cash from an ATM a few kms away. Waited for the train to Nanjangud until 6:20. The route from Mysore to Nanjangud was awesome, with greenery all around. On our way, from the train, we saw the Kapila river, it was turbulent as hell! We thought that we wouldnt be able to step into it. But at Nanjangud, when we arrived at the riverbank, we were glad to see calm waters. The current was slightly strong, but was no threat even to a non swimmer like me.

After an hour in the flooded river, we hurried to the station. Since there was no hint of rain around that day, we decided to go to BR hills (BiligiriRanga hills). On the train, we met a Rotary Club trek consultant who happened to board the same compartment as us. He later on introduced us to a localite legend called 'Snake Deepu', who happens to have appeared on Discovery a coupla times. Then we left on a KSRTC bus to a temple atop the BR Hills.

With the Ghats on either side of the road tempting us, we requested the bus driver to stop 5 kms before the temple, amidst the hills. We were told that there were Soliga tribals on these hills. And we saw some as soon as we got down. The soliga kids guided us atop one of the hills. It was only then that we realised that these were soligas currupted by civilization! They demanded 100 bucks or they wouldbnt take us back to the foot of the hill! Since we didnt have much choice, we bargained and we got away with Rs. 30. Then, after quite some time atop the temple walls, admiring the sounds of the raging winds, we got back right in time for the last bus to Bangalore