Shivagange

THis weekend after a lot of past ditched plans, me and Chi decided to get our lazy butts to shivagange. It was a fantastic ride on tumkur road and I finally felt like having streached my bike's legs. Ofcorse, before we got to get on my bike and leave, my and her mom had a lot of gyan to impart AND sulk despite the knowledge transfer session. After a 'blasting' ride of 20 minutes we reached Dabaspet where we had to wait a good 40 minutes before the other couple came trotting along. Then on we took to the village road, and naturally the speed became an idle pace, the helmet came off, and the smell of fresh earth was so inviting, almost to the point of wanting to bury onself in it. We parked our bikes at the foot of the hills and started our climb. We went to the two temples on the way and as we we climbed upwards, my stength gave up and every thing went bright and blank. I had to rest awhile and let the blankness clear. When we looked up, it was a long climb and we decided to cut it short to about midway where there was is varalkal thirtha, a small temple with a water hole in it.

When we stopped next, near a small stall for some fresh lime and butter milk, we realised that we had gone beyond the point and that the top was almost near by. What we didnt realise though was that this was the best and most challenging part of the climb. With a dog for company we started off towards the rest of the climb. The inclination is almost 80 degrees and thankfully there is a iron railing all along. It was a thrilling climb till we reached the top. The top is like a plateau with a temple. THere is also a carved bull at one of the corners with just a few centimeters of space for us to go around it. After going around the basava (bull) we sat on the plateau with the wind in our face and enjoying the majestic view from the top and the dog keeping watch over the monkeys. Trust you me, these monkeys are a BIG threat. After an hour or so, we started our descent. The dog parted with us at the stall and in a few minutes we were attached by a monkey. Fortunately, another bunch of guys came along and its attention, rather attack, was shifted on them.

We came to varalkal thirtha. Its hidden in a deep cave and going around the god is quite an adventure with slipping and falling being a very likely possibility. Behind the god is this small deep hole into which you can reach down for water. The belief is that only the pure at heart can reach the water as the water level constantly varies. Well...only the 2 of us guys could reach it, and I shall let you make the conclusions. :-)

From the temple, a few minutes down hill and we were back on flat land. After a visit to a kolaku kola (dirty pond) nearby we headed back to banglore, bidding good by to our slower counterparts. We soon were zipping back home and in an hour or so were back.
One place down, many more to go...