Penukonda. A fort that could have been...

Waking up early on a Sunday morning can be difficult. All the more difficult when the air is nippy, the sky is black, roads wet and warm blanket is on. So the plans to get up at 5 and leave by 5:45 were never going to materialize. And it never did. By the time we left, it was 7:30, a good 100 minutes behind schedule.

The plan was a bike expedition to Penukonda Fort in Andhra Pradesh, some 170 km from Bangalore. We were 3 bikes and 5 riders. On Bajaj Avenger were Neelabh and Jayant, on Black Pulsar 150 were Kunal and Mithun and on my Sliver Pulsar… it was me and only me. It started with a tea at the Silk Board Junction, where all riders were supposed to assemble. Wearing a riders jacket, holding your helmet in one hand and cup of tea in other, in a early morning sprinkle of retreating monsoon… there are few things more blissful you can do in a metropolitan city. Kunal, one of the riders was not in best of health, so riding in rains was ruled out from the outset. At 7:30 when the rains finally made way for us, our bikes’ engines roared to life. Few standing throttle revs to get the sleeping giants awake and declare to the highway… “Here we come”. Trip meters set to zero, punching knuckles with each other, we set free…

We decided to take the outer ring road to reach Hebbal to avoid the city traffic. Though the route was some 8-10 km longer, but straight roads make better sense than traffic lights. Still, however straight, first 25 km were essentially city ride, until we reached Hebbal Flyover. Right blinkers blinked on every bike and we touched the tail of the snake that we plan to pat the head of, the Nation Highway 7. Our destination is some 150 km straight on NH7. The upcoming of Bangalore International airport at Devanhalli on NH7 has made the stretch till the airport busy. The roads have been rev-upped, broadened and well lit but still till you actually cross the airport, the real feel of Highway doesn’t seeps thought the tires to your adrenaline. So another 20 km were spent waiting for real highway to start. And as the luck would have it, some 5 km into the real highway and the rain gods were furious again. We had planned a stop after 60 km or 1 hour, whichever was later. But rain stopped us before we could achieve any of those deadlines.

At 55 km was out first pit stop. On a highway tours, what petrol is to bikes, Chai is to riders. You need your dose every 100 km at least. It was our first stop, so chai was accompanied by breakfast. Road side dhabas make such memorable Idly, cooked on wood fire, not in the huge steamers in your regular city restaurants. We were 5 and they had only 4 stools. The cook picked up a huge container, probably containing the Idly batter, off one stool and offered it to us. He could speak and understand only Kannada, but he didn’t need to speak the feeling of hospitality he was willing to offer, neither did we speak to express our gratitude. Some emotions are best talked through eyes.

4 Idly, 2 cup tea and some 35 photographs later, we left. Again measuring the NH7. 25 km more and we were in the city of Chikkaballapur, probably the last place before our destination, where we could find an ATM. We stopped, stretched and withdrew cash. We thought of chai, then though otherwise. We counted this as stretching break and decide to stop 60 km from there for next chai break. At 140 km we took another chai break. But real pleasure was waiting some 15 km ahead.

On the banks of highway, the rocks were being blown to make concrete. A tiny steam of water sprouted from the top of the rocky terrain and the crater created by the blown away rocks was filled with water. An oasis…! Did I hear…?? Disk brakes almost automatically jammed the front wheels of all 3 bikes. All three bikers looked into each other’s eyes; a faint nod from all 3 and the bikes left the tarmac behind and embraced the rocks. “Into the waters…!” screamed one of us. Without knowing who it was, 3 front tires were wetting heels in the water next moment. The land ahead was soggy and venturing further didn’t seem to be the wisest of decisions. Bouncing stones on the water surface, trekking to the top of the rock, slashing big rocks into the water and clicking everything from every angle, 30 minutes had passed before we looked to the watches.

We were 155 km from the tea stall at Silk Board. The Penukonda was another 15 km. This was the first bike expedition to a fort, first time my lil devil was about to conquer a fort. The first view of the Fort Entry Gate, through the bustling bazaar, was encouraging. But the fort was conquered already, before we reached. The Penukonda Fort, for starters is not a protected monument. And hence was encroached. Or should I say, was not evacuated. Maybe these people didn’t encroach; maybe they were there since the day fort was built. At first we felt disappointed and a little cheated. But when you enter the fort city, when you see people living in the fort, when you drive pass houses with gigantic gates with stone engraved pillars in the courtyard, when you get your first Goosebumps of driving IN a fort, it all starts to seem worth.

171 km and we are at a lake, used for public bathing in the times of king. Today, it’s used for fishing. There’s no official boat ride available. We offered the fisherman a hundred rupees for a 20 minute ride. The other bank of the lake looked un-naturally manicured. In the backdrop, a U shaped hillock, with a temple like structure in the middle of U. It was too mysterious to let go. We asked the boatman to leave us at the other bank. First plan was to explore the temple like structure. With no defined route, we had to trek through the bushes and rocks. After trekking for more than half an hour, we could see the lake was left far behind, but the temple in the U hill was still looking as far as it was from the lake. It was like a mirage in the desert.

Nothing for the tummy after that wood-fire cooked idly, no water to drink for last 2 hours, sun starting to tear down the clouds, the path not treaded before, rocks a bit too huge to climb and about half hour of trek giving apparently no results… should be go ahead with the trek to the unknown temple or return to the refuge of city, have something for the burning tummy and droughty throats… it was not a difficult decision to make. Walking along the sides of the lake, we came back to the starting point. The engines of the bikes had become lazy in the mid noon sun. it took more than usual efforts to get the lazy bums to life again. The bikes were ready with retaliation plan, the seats were pepping hot.

If you are at Penukonda, not eating at Friends Dhaba is a sin. Not for the delicacies they offer but the sheer presence they have made in the minds of localites. Ask anyone, just about anyone a good place to eat and they speak in chorus “Friends Dhaba”. Honestly though, don’t expect any mouth watering food, but not bad by any standards. The Daal Fry is a must try.

While we were filling appetite, the rains outside were washing of the roads. And we both were done almost simultaneously. But the village roads were not prepared for such a wash… water logging obstructed our way ample number of times to be called as obstruction.

It was 3.30 pm already. We had to travel about 170 km, so to everybody’s disliking we decided to cut on number of chai breaks. Only one it was. After some 70 km. it was also the place for last set of photos. Thankfully the NH7 is never too crowded, and we could speed through it at will. we had decided not to take any more chai breaks, but once we crossed the airport, once the city light were visible, once the NH7 was busy and jammed at every signal, we were already feeling at home. We stopped, this time not at a highway dhaba, but more urbane version, a CCD. Its was time to cool off the tiring muscles and settle all the finances we incurred in the trip.

The snake was caged. Finances settled. Promise to meet soon, another punches of the knuckles and adios till next time…

Lepakshi Temple. Andhra Pradesh.

When you are living away from home, spending weekends at home can be a daunting task. It was becoming daunting for me at least. I searched the internet to find anything close to Bangalore that was still untouched by me. Being here for about 4 years now, most of the (I can’t say all) places that could be have been visited in one day or over a weekend, have been already covered. Then in some site, in fine prints, with stamp size photos, I read about the place. Lepakshi. It said some 150 km from Bangalore.

A little more digging of the internet revealed the route, some more photos and little more information. As the place is little know, convincing friends to come along can be tedious. Having a bike comes handy in these times. One more guy with bike, both willing to explore, both willing to ride and that’s all we needed.

We left early morning, well… 7 am is not too early a morning, but we call it early morning. We followed what we read on the map. From Bangalore, we took NH7 > Yashwantpur > Doddabalapur > Gauribidnaur > Hindupur > Lepakshi route. For the first 100 km the route is scenic. Driving on a smooth, 2 lanes state highway, covered from both sides by red blossoming gulmohar trees, can be an experience of its own. You enjoy the journey so much that you cease to worry about the destination. Some 70 km into the journey and we spotted a lake on the right side. As reaching destination was already a second priority, we plunged into this unknown water body, with our grunting bikes. There was not a single soul in at least 2 km of vicinity. Lush green, golf course like grass, with small hills in the backdrop and a lake in between. I am pleased that we stopped. Had we not stopped, in view to reaching to the destination, we would have missed this pleasure journey, probably the best part of the whole trip.

How many times do we do it… miss the pleasures of the journey, the small locales in between, in race to reach the destination. Without realizing that maybe we missed the best part of the trip. If we could take time and relish the journey, reaching or not reaching the destination would not really matter. Some people might spot this on the way back, but by then it would be dark and they may not be able to enjoy it as much as they would have, while the sun was shining. Or who knows, maybe again they won’t stop as they have to reach home, again reaching a destination may dominate over journey… and remain untouched by the real pleasures of the trip.

Boy…! Enough philosophy. Let’s get back. Our bike also got a wash in the lake. A first for our bike. After all the fun with water we left the lake. Some 40 km more into the journey and roads started to deteriorate. Finally some 4 hours (thanks to the stay at lake) and 140 km later, we saw a 15 feet tall and some 10 feet long Nandi, carved out of a single huge rock. Bikes started to come in lower gears and came to halt at the gates. Before entering we decided to have a coconut water as it was getting hotter as the sun was getting aggressive. We entered the premise. The huge, astounding Nandi… I was not able to take a good photo which could do justice to its majesty. I was even able to capture it on my lense, I don’t know how would have they carved it out of single rock. Next to it was LEPAKSHI written of concrete on the ground. Though not matching the aura of the bull, it still made a statement.

Some 50 m away was the main Lepakshi Temple, localy called the Devalaya. Legends have it that in Ramayana, when Jatayu (the big bird) was killed by Ravan, this was the place he fell. There is another gem of stone art, a 15 feet high, 5 headed cobra. Again made from a single rock. These old people had a knack of pulling one marvel after other and invariably, most of them from a single piece of rock. Other finer details, like who built the temples, whom are they dedicated to and likes are easily available on internet quite easily. I would neither act smart by copy pasting it here, nor would I act intellectual by writing it all again and showing the world, see I know everything. And moreover, history lessons is not what I went there for. I went there for watching some really stunning old world architecture and that much I did. It’s amazing how these structures made without modern day cement, without cranes, computer generated 3d models and all, stand tall for 500 years. And still as impeccable as ever. Every minute details taken care of. Every symmetrical precision intact. I wonder if any of the modern structures would still be there 500 from now.

There are few restaurant type structure nearby. Though they are not tempting, its highly recommended that either you eat in these or carry your food from home. Because once you leave these behind, for another 60 odd kilometers, you would be lucky to find even a chai shop, forget a restaurant. We learnt this the hard way.

We went a bit adventurous on our way back. We didn’t came back following the same route we came from. Instead of turning back from Lepakshi, we went ahead. We had no idea where that road would lead. But there was a biker’s instinct that said this road would lead us somewhere. Well not the biker’s instinct alone. We had seen a car with Karnataka number plate going in that direction. We followed the car’s tires and our instincts. Some 30 km and we hit the NH7. The same highway we left at Doddabalpur coming upstream. The highway at places was under construction, but largely broad and empty. We tested our bike’s peak performances. We found some eating places on the way, but the deserted highway was too tempting to let go for not so inviting food. Finally when the civilization started appear on the banks of the highway, when city was visible and when traffic signal started to obstruct every few kilometers, we knew it was time to end the bike testing and also the 5 hour long fast. After crossing Devanahalli, we stopped at a restaurant. Had something to munch, and came back. It was 5pm when we reached home.

Seeing and showing photographs took rest of the day… and a weekend was well spent.

Lepakshi Temple. Andhra Pradesh.

Distance from Bangalore: 145 km

Route Taken: Hebbal > Yelahanka > Doddabalpur > Gauribidnaur > Hindupur > Lepakshi

Destination rating: * * * (3 out of 5)

Route Rating: * * * * (4 out of 5)

Belum Caves. Andhra Pradesh.

Thogh I've not read the Jules Verne's Classic Sci-fi, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, but now I can somewhat relate to what the character of the novel must have gone through.

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Belum Caves, in Anantapur Distt of Andhra Pradesh is an experience of its own kind. India's second longest caves, longest in India's planes, are experience of a life time. The caves take you 120 feet below the earth. The caves, formed by the water stream running through it hundreds of thousands of years ago, are still growing. There are new paths, new caves that are being explored/discovered and if all goes well, in some time tourists would have much more to explore.

The APTDC guide would tell you all the technical stuffs... the chemical composition of the rocks, why the rocks are porus what the different kinds of rocks are called... but what I was interested in was the sheer magnigicance of nature. There were areas where you cannot stand upright and then there were areas where you can arrange a party for 50 people. There were rocks so soft that will dissolve in water and there were rocks that were not lit as lightmen were not able to sneak a nail into them. The rocks were so porus that water could be seen dripping at various point. The water sneaks in, in rains. And this porus nature of rocks make the the caves extremely humid. Its not too hot in there, but its so humid, you'll sweat like a melting ice. Do carry drinking water in the caves. Its a MUST. The guide tells you before you begin your journey that you'll loose at least 1kg after the trip. And believe me he is right. This is nature's very own sauna bath. This is natural beauty at it mystical best.

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And for a change human intervention helped on enhance the brilliance. That too, intervention from a government body. Not being a cynic, but generally you dont associate a great job in beautification and maintainance of spots, too well with government agencies. But come here and you'll made to sit up and take notice. APTDC has done, hands down, a mind blowing job of lighting the caves. The light, never too over the top to overshadow the marvel of the cave, never too little to hide any detail, was just perfect. The lights take the awe of the gigantic cave a few notches higher. APTDC have done a good job in maintaining the caves and surrounding as well. There's a neat restaurant and the locality in all was clean. The toilets were let down with taps running out of water. Also there were very few road signs on the way. Local people are only tools to navigate.

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And then there is a huge Buddha statue, signifying that Buddhist monks used to maditate in the caves. In the backdrop, a hilltop declares the authority of the place with "Belum Caves" written in extra large fonts.

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AP can be really hot in summers... try to be there in monsoons or winters (unlike me, I was there in 40 degree). But even in that heat, I guess its worth every drop of sweat. Go for it...!!

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Belum Caves. Aanatapur Distt. AP.

330 km from Bangalore. From BTM Layout its 330 km. About 6-6.5 hrs.

BTM to Hebbal (25 km) From Hebbal, take the NH7 to Aanantpur (210 km) . Ananatpur to Tadapatri (60 km). Tadapatri to Belum (35 km).

Road on majority of the route was good. Construction of broader highway, though make a pleasant picture for future, are a little eye-sore and obstacles currently.