A two hour journey , I could see the drynessall around and as we left the city , there was this distinct presence of Banyan trees on both sides of the road. Had seen this sight too many whenever I had gone to TamilNadu. We were on the Bangalore-Pune stretch and reached our destination in atmost two hours. An auto ride to the foot of the hill. Had tender coconuts , our energy drink....it was a hot hot day after all....
The first climb over the hill seemed moderate. We reached 'Patala Ganga' and went into a narrow slit in the rocks where there was a stream flowing. Lot many stories were told about the stream and its origin by the people around. The water was cool compared to the heat outside. Had to remove the shoes and now I could feel the steaming hot rocks. But then, in a few minutes got used to it and thought it better to walk barefoot. Jumping around for a shade in between to cool my feet , the walk among the hotbed of rocks was a different experience indeed. There was this carving of a goddess on the rocks and a small temple in between the rocks.No lights inside, coudnt see anything. We had to crawl inside.Even the mobile lights were of no use. Pitch dark , but then we did see the lamps burning and a priest came as if out of nowhere and gave the prasadam. We did a pradakshinam, crawling in the dark , using our hands to see where to take the next move. In another ten minutes we were outside again.
Kept climbing and could see many smaller rock cut temples, definitely old, scattered all over the hill. Many were in ruins and lay undisturbed, monkeys clamouring around waiting to snatch a food pack or bottle from tired unwary passersby. Another small climb uphill, we had our prasadam with us; saw this loner monkey coming down at us from uphill. And soon we were watching the loner go off with all the sweets and bottle of water we had with us. Left with no water, we took off for the next half of the journey, occasionally stopping by whenever questioned by the primate pack; just wave your hands out and prove to them there is nothing you have to offer them and they will be gone. Moved on and reached another small spring in between the rocks with numerous beliefs and stories renting the air. We got the theertham from a spring supposed to clear one of all his sins.
Relieved of all my sins, left happily for the next and final leg of the climb. It had turned very steep by now, the rusted iron railings never gave any more confidence to us amidst the strong winds making us feel as though the railings had turned to ropes! We could see lot many Nandi statues of various sizes scattered around , some magnificently laid out on huge rocks, others hidden away from site. There were also these housing areas , could have been where the soldiers used to rest. Scorching heat, we were happy to find an old man selling buttermilk. Never counted how many we had, but am sure he was certainly happy with us spending money over there.
Way on top is the temple , a pillar and lot many engravings all along the rocks. It was told to us that the soldiers had carved their names all over and it had remained there upto this day. The priests here were at war with the primate group, there would have been at least fifty of them.Spoke to the priest there and it surprised me when he said he was unaware of Infosys, the IT boom and how Bangalore had changed.
It was five in the evening then , rested there, slept for a while enjoyed the strong breeze and finally started our descent down. Took an entirely different path downhill, someone had put arrow marks to show the path. We came upon a footprint preserved on a rock, dunno if anyone had ever noticed it. How I wished I had a camera then! Was completely drained off, it was a hot day after all. Bought some grapes from the roadside and gulped them down during the bus trip back to Bangalore city. Was too tired to care about whether the grapes were clean or not!This was definitely one of the best short treks I ever had....
