Paadooru is my native village situated near Kaup, Udupi District of Karnataka. The blog is dedicated to beautiful landscape of KAUP Beach and my village Paadooru
This is one of my old write-ups being published now. Almost 4 years since I visited beautiful Melukote. Just sharing those few moments of tranquility in serene environment. I documented very less during the journey and content is relatively less. I admire this place for those eye-catching landscapes and lakes. Apart from this I do enjoy savoring those tasty puliyogare (tamarind rice), mirchi bajji and curd rice with mango pickle :D which is quite popular and unique here. I have been twice here, once alone and another time with my parents. I have also plans to visit this place in future too ;).
01 Nov 2009
I frequently travel to Mysore to my elder sister's house and have fun time with my nephew. He was just a 2-3 years old those days and playing with infants is very much exhilarating. Their cute smiles, wicked acts, naughty deeds and more prominently their enthusiasm and energy have great lessons embedded in them [He used to pull my hair and spectacles too ;-)]. After spending few days in Mysore, during my return journey, I used to get lured by the signboards towards Melukote nearby Mandya. Did hear about the place very long time and was also impressed seeing wikipedia entry. On a fine day, I inquired in KSRTC bus station regarding the bus availability from Bangalore. As usual the staff were irish and I did not get proper response from them. One of the staff angrily asked me to inquire in Mandya Bus Stand. I was bit annoyed but can't help. Nowadays things have far improved though.
It was on 01 Nov 2009, I started my journey towards Melukote. Unaware of route to destination, my first target was Mandya and later seek help in bus stand. I caught up with early morning train to Mysore and in matter of 90 minutes I was in Mandya. Later I walked towards bus stand which is few hundred meters from Railway Station. As I reached the bus stop, a bus destined to Melukote was about to start. When inquired, the conductor informed it will be 15 mins more to start. Also the bus was empty and I had tasty breakfast in bus stand hotel itself. Later the bus started moving towards Melukote slowly. Since it was local bus, the movement was at snail's pace. It was fabulous journey though. The lush green meadows, the coconut plantations, the fragrance of Jaggery houses, the flowing canals, the magnificent hillocks and lakes and paddy/sugarcane fields made sure that I never get bored. Also the roads were very well paved. As we neared Melukote, the hills of Yoganarasimha temple caught my eyes. The last few kms were of semi ghat type with hair pin bends. At last 9:45PM, I was in Melukote and it was time to explore.
Apparently Melukote is a hamlet with antique look. It is surrounded by beautiful nature especially numerous water bodies. As I was not aware of this place much, my primary intention was to visit the prominent temples for which the place is known for. The beneath temple deity is Cheluvanarayana swamy while the hillock one is Yoganarasimha swamy. The annual car festival attracts thousands of pilgrims to this place. One has to walk for few distance to reach Cheluvanarayana swamy temple if you are arriving by bus. The private vehicles can drive till temple premises. The first impression of temple was it is ancient temple made entirely of stone. The temples were constructed during Hoysala Empire in respect of Sri Ramanujacharya who is propagator of Vishishtadwaita. Few renovation work was under progress. There were lot of debris inside the temple cluttered all along. The interior was filled with darkness with only few lights. Apparently felt filthy inside. The sanctum sanitarium was closed when I went inside. Few minutes later it opened for public visit. There was small pale bulb which lights up the sanctum sanitarium which people felt like its almost dusk. Nevertheless the deity's idol was beautiful to watch. Since the photography was prohibited inside, I could only enjoy from my eyes. After having darshan of lord, I roamed around the temple premises for a while. The array of pillars were looking magnificent too! There is also free lunch home where devotees are fed with free meals every afternoon. After being satisfied with stroll, I departed towards the Yoganarasimha hill.
CHELUVANARAYANASWAMY TEMPLE
BEAUTIFUL SIDE LOOK
CORRIDOR
I really had to rush to temple since it would be closed for public visit by 12PM. I checked time and it was already 11AM. It is required to climb 300 steps bare foot to reach the temple. There is shoe stand just before stepping up where we need to leave our footwears. One can also take vehicles till mid of hill from where the steps are only around hundred. I had no option other than climbing entire stretch. The pestering of beggars for money all along the steps is an irritating sight altogether. If you lend one, others will throng you begging! Most of the travelers do not owe even single penny to beggars to avoid their embarrassment. These beggars used to curse people who did not lend them money but that was manageable :). The next problem creators were as usual monkeys. There are gazillion of them. Their courage is kind of intimidating for us. Fortunately I did not have any food item and hence nowhere near me. However, I could see them aggressively snatching the eatables from pilgrims.
CLOSE-UP LOOK OF YOGANARASIMHA
DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR ME
WILL I GET SOME SHARE :-?
AFTER FOOD, IT'S TIME TO CHILL :)
THERE ARE MANY CONTENDERS :)
ONE MORE VIEW OF YOGANARASIMHA HILLOCK
There were good things to enjoy here too ;-). The landscape from mid of ascension was breath taking. The hillocks and lakes were ravishing to watch. I took many pictures to satisfy my photography thirst. Those were the days, I knew very little about photography relatively. No HDR, timelapse and very few manual mode experiments. Also I had basic manual mode camera and no DSLR. After toiling for nearly 45mins, I reached the temple. There was huge rush for the darshan and had to wait for some time to enter the sanctum sanatorium. I found more people here than in the temple beneath. The idol is marvelous describing the divine anger of Narasimha with sharp nails and teeth. After finishing my darshan, I enjoyed some beautiful landscapes surrounding the temple. Landscapes are well captured at an altitude and consequently some more pictures snapped here. Sometimes I felt precarious due to gravity pull :D.
KALYANI FROM TOP
BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE
WATER BODY FROM HILLOCK
I stepped down the hill and had local dishes in one of mobile hotel. Puliyogare and curd rice are simply the best here :-). It was nominal Rs.10/- per leaf cup. You can even buy puliyogare paste or powder if you wish but the paste doesn't last long. After lunch it was time to relish the locally grown tender coconut. Once done, I moved towards Bangalore. Caught a bus to Mandya and from there to Bangalore and thus ending one of my enchanting journeys.
KALYANI
MAYAGOPURA
Few years later, I visited this place with my parents and spotted few more attractions nearby. I did miss them during my last itinerary. Prominently Akka-Tangi Kola and Rayagopura. That time I had the best mirchi bajji in my lifetime and still the best till date :). Never miss to savor the tasty Puliyogare, curd rice and mirchi bajji with pickle if you are visiting (No photographs though). Overall a great place to visit for a day and refresh in natural air along with serene environment. I suggest to visit during Jan-Feb timeframe.
More info can be found in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melukote
Here are two panoramic pictures composed during my second visit
Hot summer day, thought of visiting some
beach nearby to inhale breeze from the ocean. They are natural tranquilizers
and mood bringers. This time, I chose to visit Maravanthe Beach near
Kundapur. I had to bank upon the public transport for my plan. I ended
up catching 3 buses for mere 70kms :(. My plan was primarily for
photoshoot and rest for rejoicing.
The expansive sea
shore of Maravanthe does not fail lure anyone in my humble opinion. It
has a partner along the other side of the highway which is Souparnika
River :). Driving along this sea shoreline is one of the wonderful
experiences of lifetime especially during monsoon season during which
place looks intimidating. Sometimes, the waves strike highway during peak
monsoon season. During monsoon season, both river and sea brims and it
feels like sea wants to take revenge against the river for not merging
here. However the river keeps teasing the sea everytime :). Emotions
apart, here are some of the HDR shots composed during my visit.
Hope you enjoy the same.
As the sun slides down the horizon during last day Hindu calendar year, he will shine us for a new beautiful next day. I watched the sinking SUN hoping for "A beautiful Tomorrow". Whatever happens at this moment, be happy and enjoy the small things in life and hope for A Beautiful Tomorrow everyday :). Nature provides curation through simple means. Be it sunrise, sunshine, sunset, monsoon clouds & rains, summer breeze along sea shore, western ghats, sound of sea tides, roaring streams in forest, thundering sound of waterfalls, the striking downpour, rejoice every moment of nature which provides immense bliss to our souls which is enough to combat morbid city life.
Finally hear one
of perfect musical melody from Imperfection "A Beautiful Tomorrow". What
a work by imperfection absolutely gorgeous melody :)
For
me life is like Uplifting Trance music :D. Many people feel it to be
esoteric with sequence of monotonic beats. Some people have even
criticized me as show-off listening to such music. But who cares! Music is for self-healing and not to impress foreign souls. At the outset, the sounds seems to be harsh, lacking in melody, naive and
somewhat boring. You feel like switching off the music at very much
early stage. However actual rythm starts past 2 minutes in most of cases
during which many instruments line up and make up for symphonic chords.
Once the rythm outsets, you never feel like tuning off ;). The music
at its peak during the heart of breakdown and also breakdown :) and the
melody prolongs. The last part again seems to boring however the prior
influence of harmonic tunes makes it interesting too :D.
Even
our life can be analogous to above case. Initially tough, boring and
feel like cursing ourselves. Only those people who have patience to hear
past 2 minutes will hear the actual melody and enjoy life and this
symphony continues :). Few wicked thoughts may arise as if we can skip
initial part and seek past 2 mins in music player. Remember life is like
radio station ;) you cannot seek the way you want as in music player
;). Either you have to switch off or tune into other stations or have
patience to listen to entire song :). Phew man.. enough of fable :D.
Its time to hear beautiful music. Hope you listen past 2 mins and you
have an option of seeking to position you want ;)
Imperfection - A Beautiful Tomorrow: http://vbox7.com/play:b0c856f639
I did pull up a video for one of monsoon videos compiled last year here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ce2S3AGBpE
Last Note: The beautiful images does not arise without complications. It was difficult to focus on a hot scorching evening. Also there were many people staring (some inquisitive while some teasers) at my camera setup. I had to overcome all those distractions/obstacles to continue with whatever I was planning for. Also few suggestions on perceptions arouse out of thoughtful truck drivers too B-) and believe me, they were good suggestions too! All those difficulties finally lead to beautiful images of tomorrow ;). More than that, I broke my shackles shooting in public without hesitation.
Before saying goodbye, here is short video compiled during my stay at Maravanthe beach. The steady video is mainly due to the usage of tripod.
I was skimming my CRDi motor between the bitumen trail of Kaup and my village on a relatively less overcast day.
On the way, I stopped nearby paddy fields to enjoy the greenery for
sometime. This is first time I am taking photographs of the paddy fields
nearby my village :). Especially monsoon season adds more glory to the
landscape. People of this area harvest twice a year due to ample
availability of water (a stream runs nearby). These are few HDR and
normal images captured during my journey. Never thought they look so
beautiful.
Finally
here are some HDR images from my village itself. The first one was
captured during morning hours while the rest was during sunset.
I
was wandering around village on a clear evening day. As I was roaming,
this scene caught my eyes and my camera's too which tempted me to grab a
HDR shot. It turned out to be beautiful too ;). The enjoyment could not
be sustained for long time since ants had ascended the leg and started
biting :(. I love the starburst reflection of Sun on the watery field.
The field was prepared for slush race organized recently. The water
presence is still persisting due to the diversion of stream water
towards the field. Also monsoon season is keeping this temporary water
body alive! The monsoon is backpacking for this year and consequently
there was beautiful sunset during fine evening. I used GND filter to
compose bracketed shots. The advantage is reduced luminosity of orange
hot balloon which reduced bracketed shots from 7 to 5 ;). Hope you enjoy
the pictures. My mother was excited after seeing final image and asked
if it is was captured from any rivers along highway. When I explained
that it was the nearby water body, she was astonished to see the
beautiful scenery :D. My father taunted the excitement stating inept scenes looks beautiful in cameras X(.
Music Time B-):
This time its once again beautiful music by New-World named Fields of La Tourette.
This guy is amazing man. He is just 24 and creates stunning music! The
way he blends high and low pitch notes is mesmerizing. His music is
always flavored with ecstatic orchestral melody.
Here are few of my feelings from music
0:31 --> Build up of beautiful atmosphere (gentle breeze over paddy field)
0:34 --> birds flying over field
1:46 --> slow moving clouds over the field
2:15 --> the orchestral + guitar melody
2:41 --> profound orchestral melody (rising sun over field)
3:10 --> the fantastic breakdown outset (fast moving clouds with running deers)
3:39 --> The combination of high + low pitch notes again
4:03 --> Time to fly over the field :)
I
don't have the privilege of visiting the place and have a feel but his
music truly reveals the the emotions of the La Tourette. I felt in paddy
fields of my village :). This post is dedicated to the beautiful music
of New World and hope you enjoy the same. Fly over the field relishing
the melodious music from Gordon.
New World - Fields of La Tourette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7gghnlmbE
Be his fan: https://www.facebook.com/NewWorldTrance
Not to miss equally wonderful remix from Ahmed Romel once again with stunning orchestral melody and beautiful video from Simon.
Ahmed Romel Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POoJEBriuL4
Here I shared a short blog on Kudremukh Ghats. That was on winter season. The attraction of western ghats is during monsoon season with leeches :). Here are some pictures captured during our journey towards coast last week.
As we know, the monsoon started with lame note and later gained
fierce momentum during month of July. The deficit as of now in Karnataka
has drastically reduced and at some places it has recorded excess. Mere
two months of torrential rain has transformed the dry lands to lush
greenery. The western ghats were no exception too! There is never dearth
of rain in these regions however threat of El-nino was looming over the
region fearing drought like situation. Now everything is washed out
by ferocious monsoon season :).
Enough of story! This
Ganesh chaturthi, I had been to hometown to drop parents back. How can I
miss the lush green rainforests. I drove 220kms in 2:30hrs to enjoy
more time in Shiraadi ghat and I was well satisfied to capture those
water spots and enjoy the roaring Gundya river for sometime. There were
many tiny gleaming waterfalls which I could not capture due to lack of time. Sometimes due to fog/rain, mother forced me not to expose camera out. Also
intermittent rains hampered my program but that is how rainforests get
their name! I am satisfied with whatever opportunity I could gain. After
final prayer to goddess chowdeshwari, it was time to drive towards the
coast to reach niche. Many occasions I had desire to halt here for maximum
amount of duration to spend quality time in between woods. It is difficult
to manage while we have set goals and pathetic road conditions :(.
Nevertheless, this time it was not so much bad :). May be it is better
to ride two wheeler along the stretch to fully enjoy nature (ofcourse with a puncture kit to save from disastrous highway). Hope you
enjoy pictures. No HDRs this time and most of them captured using 2stop
GND filter. Using GND filter along with CPLs creates near HDR images
(not all times). I did not use CPL this time (not sure why), hence had
to reduce highlights on images to reduce white patches on silky flow of
water.
ONE OF SMALL WATERFALL
CLOSER LOOK
THE HEART OF RAINFOREST
STREAM SNEAKING FROM CANOPY
This time I waded through small stream to capture full glimpse of galloping Gundya River near Chowdeshwari Temple. On top of it, I drank little bit of water from the pristine river and it was tasty too :).
GALLOPING GUNDYA RIVER
ONE MORE SEASONAL WATERFALL
MAGNIFIQUE GUNDYA RIVER
Options used in darktable:
1) Shadows and Highlights
2) Vibrance
3) Saturation and brightness
4) Local contrast
5) High pass filter with overlay as mask
6) Luminosity curve (manual) to increase Green and Yellow color appearance
7) Color zones (for few images)
8) Color temperature
I usually make use of soft GND filter 2 stops, half way down. Since I had actual GND this time, soft GND was not required.
Here is the short compilation of clips shot during our journey. Hope you enjoy it!
Do tune to Andy Blueman's rainforest.
A perfect combination of soft bass and synths creating rainforest
ambience. The music on an entirity reveals perfect rainforest
environment comprising of thundering waterfalls, roaring streams, clanky
insects, flying birds, heavy rains and wilderness. He has promised to
complete this tune soon which is good news. I love this music very much
and remembered when I was in between dense jungle and thundering Gundya
river. You may need to use headphones to hear the full set of instruments used to create rainforest environment. Absolutely stunning! Just perfect music!
With this post, I am introducing actual smileys which I believe conveys impacting emotions than textual ones. I made some changes to blogger HTML template and as a result smileys are here for you. It slows down loading of posts slightly but there is nothing deterministic hard real time requirement ;). Hope you enjoy :D.
After a day long stay in Yana, it is time to immerse myself in musical world. It has been long time since I attended carnatic concert. This was organized on eve of Sode Paryaya completion at Sri Krishna Math, Udupi. It was worth attending too! Sri Menon with his clear saahithya, bhakti and melodious tone, mesmerized the audience. It was equally supported by the accompanies providing full honesty to the concert.
Violin: Sri Ajitkumar
Mridangam: Sri Arun
Ghatam: Sri Krishnakumar
Saadinchene - Aarabhi - Tyagaraja (small neraval and swara prastaara)
Sangeetha Jnanamu - Dhanyaasi - Tyagaraja
Jnanamosagaraada - PoorviKalyani - Tyagaraja
Balagopala - Bhairavi - Mutthuswamy Deekshitar. (One of my favorites. Sung with enoromous devotion and bhaava. Made full honesty to Bhairavi). This was followed by dexterous tani avartanam which vibrated the soul of audience
This new year, I had been to Yana. Here are some scribbling from my itinerary. One of the beautiful places of UttaraKannada covered with dense rainforests. I did write a brief note on this place during MahaShivaratri here. This is an expanded view of the previous post. Hope you enjoy the same. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. 03 Jan 2014,
Yana is popular tourist attraction situated near Kumta Taluk of Uttara Kannada District. It is known for the surreal rocky landscape amidst beautiful thick western ghats. This region is also home to wide variety of medicinal plants as well as King Cobras. From many years, I have been planning to visit this exotic destination but everything in vain despite being hardly 200kms from hometown. This time I made up my mind to visit the beautiful place and spend few hours in middle of western ghats. My first travel in new year turned out to be quite exciting too! I do not have to venture into distant locations to feel nature. Within 200km radius of my hometown, I have lot of glorious spots to visit during leisure. I have plans to cover still more locations nearby my place before venturing outside region.
The plan was executed just a day back. My parents were running on ill-health and I decided to travel alone. Travelling alone is not a new experience for me nowadays. I enjoy travelling alone as well as with friends. Father wanted car for specific purpose. Hence I decided to drop the drive. The other option was none other than wonderful Konkan Rail route. Wow! thats a cute decision. Eventually plan turned out to be travel to Kumta in Konkan railway and hire an auto to Yaana. Everything was set now except for waking up early. The train departs from Udupi station around 7:45AM and I had to start by 6:30AM from my village to reach 20km distant station.
Early morning, the village woke up to slight chilly weather (bit unusual in coast) and dancing fog. I packed essentials and ready to start by 6:30AM. My father joined me till railway station. Enroute, I enjoyed colorful sunrise reflecting on beautiful Udyavara river sneaking through coconut trees. It was easy drive till railway station and reached within 20minutes due to feeble traffic. There was not much crowd too! My father left the station and I collected the ticket which was costing only Rs.35/- for 191kms. There was hardly any person in ticket queue too! The train is Mangalore-Madgaon passenger which runs to and fro on same day. It requires 6hours to reach Madgaon along Konkan railway route. Few minutes later, a dissappointing announcement was aired stating the train would arrive by 8:15AM :-(. The railways never improve in time :-(. Finally our train arrived at 8:20AM and we were set to go. I could easily grab a seat inside relatively empty bogie.
The train started chugging towards north and our first station was Barkur. I missed shooting beautiful swarna river however was foreseeing a colorful journey past Kundapur. Mere 30 minutes of journey, here we are at Kundapur station. I grabbed the footboard and managed easily since there were less crowd on board. Here starts my shooting too! Those memsmerizing hillocks, mighty rivulets, swaying coconut trees teasing river, the beautiful fields makes journey an enduring experience to cherish. The route is best visited during peak monsoon season during which one can see water and greenery everywhere. Not to miss those kissing clouds towards hillocks too! The stretch between Kundapur to Gokarna receives very heavy rainfall during monsoon season (averaging 4000mm) due to the fact that western ghats are relatively closer to coast. I shot good videos of rivulets all along with paddy fields. One can see majestic shiva statue of Murudeshwara too from railway line. Excitement increased as we reached breath taking sharavati river basin of honavar followed by 3 tunnels. Sharavati river has the longest built bridge along the Konkan route and train journey along the stretch is simply mind blowing. From Honavar station, kumta is 15 mins journey. Around 11:20AM, we reached Kumta station which was an hour of delay from usual schedule.
Lack of morning breakfast was eagerly driving famished soul to a decent lunchhome as early as possible. I hired an auto to Yaana from here and asked him to stop at decent hotel for lunch before resuming journey. He took me to a very good hotel along highway (Panduranga hotel) and meals here was perfect for me (less spice and salt). It was tasty too! We resumed journey after lunch and I had first distant glimpse of beautiful aghanaashini river of Kumta. What a great landscape it has. Those blue waters coupled with serial coconut trees swayed all along banks makes it perfect place for nature lovers. This place has been one of my favorite spots ever since I came across. One can enjoy landscape from highway bridge provided the traffic is less. If you have your own arrangements, you can reach divgi to have broader look of the river.
From Kumta, Yaana is around 30kms in distance. We crossed NH-66 to reach SH-69 which is Kumta-Sirsi highway. The roads are well laid and still in good condition. Few kms later, here starts beautiful stretch of lush green rainforests. Uttara Kannada has dense and wide cover of rain forests barring few kms of coastline. 12kms after, we reached Aanegundi cross. From here, Yaana is around 16kms. One has to drive through very thick rain forests to reach Yaana. The rainforests are very dense which shrouds the region with sheer darkness even during scorching mid-day Sun. The region was decorated with lush greenery by these tall woods. Also the stretch is home to wide variety of medicinal plants and wild animals. The road leading to yaana is average (some times well paved and few stretches have nasty pot holes). There are numerous streams along this stretch which finally meet aghanaashini river. The interesting fact was that despite many months after monsoon retreat, the streams had considerable amount of water. The first 6kms is somewhat straight road while remaining 9kms is ghat section road with steep hairpin bends. The road is also narrow and difficult for a bus and a car to negotiate simultaneously. Our journey was delayed mainly because of such incidents. After enjoying the journey along the beautiful forests, we reached Yaana gate around 1:30PM. From here onwards, one needs to trek for 1.5kms to reach the Yaana.
INTO THE SKY - THE TALL WOODS
MAIN ENTRANCE
ONE OF THE HUGE LIMESTONE ROCK
THE DENSE CANOPY OF RAINFOREST
The trail is not straight but not much steep either. There are numerous streams nearby the place. The tiny streams cascade to form a larger stream which eventually meets aghanaashini river near Kumta. The trail is easy to manage. We did cross 2-3 streams enroute before reaching the monolithoc rocks. The last few steps can be covered either with steps or the trail. Due to my recent treks, I managed the 1.5kms in matter of 15 minutes comfortably however with prolific sweating :-). Being well known tourist spot, the place was crowded especially with school children. It was joyous to watch those intermittent streams with pure and sweet water (I tasted from one of the stream too!). The entire trail is covered with brown soil which is unusual in coastal Karnataka being predominently covered with red soil.
THERE ARE MANY ENROUTE
SPECIAL BOULDER STRUCTURE
WE NEED TO CROSS THESE
There are around 61 limestone rocks around Yana. Out of which, two are largest. One is Bhairaveshwara shikara and other mohini shikara. They have mythological importance too. The place is mentioned in 'Skanda Purana' and 'Shaiva siddhanta' The Bhiaraveshwara is dedicated to Lord Shiva and has a temple beneath the rocky hill. The shiva linga inside the hill is self-originated (udbhava). The temple is called as Ganga Chandika Bhairaveshwara temple. The name Ganga signifies the water dripping on shivalinga all through the year while the chandika signifies the Paravathi bronze idol inside temple. It is believed that Shiva-Parvathi resided beneath the hill to repress demons. The complex look of the cave temple gives feeling that it is not man made but naturally evolved. The daily offerings is done to the shivalinga originated on the boulder. The visitors are not allowed to enter sanctum sanatorium of temple except during Mahashivaratri when the place gets heavily crowded. Some enthusiasts even visit during peak monsoon season. The shop keeper mentioned that it is not easily manageable due to presence of leeches.
WE ARE ALMOST THERE
SILHOUETTE OF MOHINI SHIKARA
ONE MORE VIEW
THE PLACARD DESCRIBING YANA
Fable:
The priest narrated the above fable to everyone who visit the temple, gently and crisp. The fable is narrated only in Kannada though. There is intention behind narrating fable to everyone. People visit the place as excursion spot rather than having sacred feeling disturbing the peace of temple. The priest narrates the mythology in an attempt to make people aware of the place. He also requested us to cascade the information to people who are willing to visit the place. The narration was crisp, clear and prudent.
The name Yana:
Earlier during British era, the pilgrims had tough times to reach this place. They were toiling towards Yana through deep dense jungles. When Britishers enquired these people trudging towards this holy place, the people responded saying they were on "Yana" (Yana is Kannada means travel or pilgrimage). This habitual response over years, named this place as Yana :-). This story was also narrated by priest of temple.
Once we finished the darshan, we went to circumambulate temple which is around the rocky hill itself. One has to leave footwear before proceeding to circumambulate. We entered inside the rocky hill and it was natural AC :-). Due to our trek, we were profusely sweating and the region under this rock provided great relief. What an experience :-). The boulders inside have weird alignment. The trail at some places is too narrow. Watch out for flying bats :D. There are no steps to climb down instead rely on the natural rocks. After finishing the circle, we came across vast honeycombs engraved on the rocky hill. Do not pelt stones at them to grab some honey ;-). Once we finished the circle, it was time to rest in nearby shops and have some liquid.
THE CONTINUOUS FLOW OF WATER FROM BOULDER
ENTERING AC ROOM :)
BENEATH THE BOULDER
THE EXIT
EXIT PATH
We had brief friendly chat with local shopkeepers before concluding the journey. In matter of few minutes we were at the entrance gate. Along the descent, I stopped at few places to have deep breaths to enjoy those pristine air arising out of healthy rainforests and drank water from flowing streams. All along, people were seen toiling upwards desperately wanting to reach culmination. They were inquiring us the difference distance from relative point :-). During my ascension, I was ahead of many travelers who started along with me, however the auto driver was quicker than me :-). This was because he had lot of experience climbing hills. Once we reached the gate, we started back to Kumta. In matter of 30minutes we were back in Kumta. The main attraction point driving down along Kumta-Sirsi highway towards Kumta is the gorgeous Aghanashini River. It has breath-taking landscape. I enjoyed the place for around 15 mins before proceeding further. I could have shot better glimpses if I had my arrangements which would have enabled me to travel towards Divgi area to have much broader look. As of now, I was happy to spend atleast few moments of bliss here. It was 4PM when I reached Kumta Railway Station. Since the train arrived an hour late during my to journey it was expected to arrive with same delay. The scheduled time of depart from Kumta was 3:50PM. Consequently due to delay, I could get ticket to Udupi. I handed over money to auto driver Sri Ganesh and thanked him for support. We exchanged phone numbers in case if required during my next itinerary. After brief talk, we bid adieu and myself entered the station platform. Wherever I hired auto, the drivers were kind to me. Be it in Kolar, Devarayanadurga or now in Kumta, I never faced problem of cranky auto drivers. May be it's my luck :-).
Uttara Kannada is great place for nature lovers. The region is blessed with exotic waterfalls, shimmering hilly beaches, exhilarating landscapes, vast cover of rainforests, heavy monsoon season, beautiful temples and rivulets. I have been exploring this region from quite sometime and each time I find new places around it. The Kumta-Siddapur and Kumta-Yellapur stretch is home to myriad of splendorous waterfalls with vivid landscapes (especially the magnificent 5 stage burude waterfall). I still do have lots of places on paper to visit here but not sure when will it get materialized. This time I could not visit Vibhuti Waterfalls since we did not take Gokarna-Sirsi route. Please do not miss the Vibhuti Waterfalls if you plan for Yana. Also there is house self-constructed by an enthusiast nearby Yana which is environment friendly and designed for energy efficiency and maximize ventilation. I once thought of staying in Kumta to visit Vibhuti waterfalls and Apsarakonda beach. Later I decided to defer the waterfall visit to peak monsoon season and beach to sometime during summer.
The scorching sun at west was waiting for its time to sink down the horizon. The weather was warm and slightly humid. I love warm weather of coast which keeps me away from sluggishness. The train arrived honking gently to Kumta station at 4:45PM. It was relatively empty too! I enjoyed the Sharavati river basin during my return journey too! This is third time I am enjoying the mighty river and willing to enjoy it forever. As train neared Murudeshwara, I enjoyed the golden hour Sun shimmering the Arabian Sea with beautiful yellow spectacle. You can have glimpse of Arabian sea from train near Murudeshwara. Nearby Bhatkal, I enjoyed those ecstatic sunset of winter with bright red-orange rays. I could just hope if at all train stopped right now but that did not happen :-). My eyes enjoyed to the fullest though ;-). The entire stretch is perfect place for monsoon timelapses with beautiful landscapes! Previous new year, my journey was special traveling along Subramanya ghats in train. This time it was the magnificent Konkan railway journey for the new year. I reached Udupi at 7:20PM and thus ending one more memorable journey. I boarded a city bus to Sri Krishna Math and later enjoyed wonderful carnatic concert by Dr.Srivatsa Menon.
The route:
From Kumta, there are two routes to reach Yana. One from Kumta via Anegundi cross along Kumta-Sirsi highway. The trek distance is 1.5kms if you approach via this route. The other route is via the same highway but deviate along Gokarna-Sirsi road. From this route trek distance is mere 500mts. I strongly recommend the second route not because of smaller trek distance but due to presence of Vibhuti Waterfalls. One of the beautiful waterfalls of western ghats which can be visited during monsoon season, as well as 2-3 months after monsoon season.
Food:
Kumta is nearby and hence no problem for food. The shopkeeper at the gate informed that they would prepare on request. The shops nearby Yana sell only snacks and beverages. There are no churumuri shops though :-(.
A humble request:
Yana is brutally littered with plastic and other non decomposable wastes which is eyesore sight to watch. It is propensity of Indians to garbage unprecedently without knowing consequences. If you are visiting the place, please do not garbage this beautiful nature. Authorities have placed sufficient garbage bins to dump the waste. Please make use of them. Understand and respect the habitat of wild animals and have a heart for lovely rainforests of India. Kindly do not visit this place if you want to celebrate and make merry. The place is sacred and maintain the sanctity of this unique temple.
The mistake this time:
I shot many pictures and videos during my travel. I was quite unaware why the videos were bit unsteady and pictures required bit more trial to stabilize. As I reached home, Alas! I realized IS was off on my lens :-(. This was done during my star trails experiment the previous day and I forgot to switch it ON :-(. Last time during my train journey I did the mistake of inserting earphone to microphone jack. This time no grinning. I am utterly dissappointed with my dismal show. There is something wrong with me since this cannot be perpertual. I am trying to work out strategy before getting started. After few hours of contemplation, I realized the need to be attentive, patient and neatly prepared before starting travel :-(. Fortunately, since the shutter speed was moving beyond 1/100s, the IS was not required but videos turned out bit unsteady. There are software approaches to correct such mistakes but they are never close to on board approaches. I corrected the few shaky videos with KDENLIVE but deeply dissappointed with my frivolousness :-(.
The related blogs of Sharavati and Aghanaashini River are here:
