KRAZZY day out

I am crazy. Also, I take immense pride in the fact that I know some of the craziest folks in the world. But amongst all the crazy folks that I have had the misfortune to meet, rJ is on the very top. So when she called me up and said

“Magaleeee…….lets go out somewhere..sikkapatee boar hodithide” I was more than willing to accept . Calls went to all our friends and finally me, rJ,sJ,vR, rN,nM,pL agreed to go to Gopala swamy betta. Knowing how my friends are I had a strong suspicion that this is going to be one of the craziest trips ever.

But I was wrong!!!!!!!!!!

I had not counted upon the fact of rJ’s friend sW joining in or rather I did not know that she is in the same league as me and rJ, so as a result the entire trip actually turned out to be OUTRAGEOUSLY CCRRAAZZYYY……………
July 5th, 2008
6.15 A.M
Received a pleasant good morning message from vR (goobe, phone ette)
Left for silk board to join the already josh filled caravan.6.20 A.MI boarded the qualis. Soon after began the ceremony of sJ handing over her cannon S3 camera to me and saying it’s all yours (how I wish she had not taken it back towards the end of the day). So thus began the photography session. We took photos, photos and more photos.

8.15 A.MWe reached Kamath lokaruchi. Had a hearty breakfast of neerdosa, akki rotti, chow chow bath, idli , masala dosa etc etc. Believe me everything here is delicious. After the shopping (which ended up in rJ screaming at all of us) we left the hotel and headed towards our destination. (I would like to thank nM, vR, sJ for their generous gifts :-) :-))

9.00 A.M
Now that all our stomachs were full we were bursting with energy. So we sang, sang and sang. We started with antakshari and played till we ran out of songs. Then we started rapid fire antakshari (picking a word from the song and singing another song beginning from that word) and repeated all the songs once again. The driver was probably flabbergasted by our singing coz he went so slowly that rJ started insisting that she will drive the quails herself. But we all became silent as we started climbing uphill and were mesmerized by the scenic views all around. The sunflower fields were a feast to our eyes.
We finally reached the top of the mountain at 12.30 P.M12.30 P.M
After a short visit to the temple, we all looked around and said “Wow” in unison. There it was the most beautiful view of green hills all around us. We were all glad that we had chosen this place for the weekend getaway. There couldn’t have been a better place to escape from our monotonous life and forget it completely.

So we hopped, jumped, danced, trekked, and shouted to our hearts content. It was fun taking photos at every step. We laughed heartily, rejoiced at the breath taking view and bugged each other to take photos. rJ took the lead and trekked the farthest and I soon followed, but we were chased out shortly as a herd of elephants was sighted at a short distance. Undeterred we came back and took more photos in every pose we could think of. By the end of the photo session (which took a long time) we were all hungry and feasted on loads of junk food that we had got along.

Soon it was time to leave and I did not wish to leave the place at all. But nonetheless we all left the place with a heavy heart.
3.30 P.M
We started our journey back and this time we stopped at a sunflower field. The sunflowers stood in their glory and we all took photos amidst them. All of us were dejected to leave the place but no one as much as rJ. She decided to vent her feelings singing along or rather braying along with the song that was playing in the radio that all of us were forced to cover our ears. We pleaded with her to stop singing which she did not. Finally pL had to threaten her saying that she will record her “wonderful” singing and upload it on “you tube”. That shut rJ up for a while.
5.00 P.M
Reached sangama. We went for a around on the “theppa” (round boat) which all of us enjoyed thoroughly (except sW).6.00 P.M
Statred back towards Bangalore. We had a delicious meal again in kamath lokaruchi. Again the meal had put energy back into us. We had immense fun translating the kannada songs to English and continued to do so till we reached our homes.


Thus ended a wonderful one-day trip. It was one of the best trips that I have been to and I am sure that the memories will remain fresh in my mind for a very very long time.

About the place.
Gopal Swamy betta is around 70 kms (takes around 2 hours) from mysore. Head towards nanjangud and then towards gundlupete. There is a gopalswamy(Krishna) temple on the top of the mountain. Busses can go till the top. The specialty of the place is that the Lord Krishna is always covered in mist. That’s why the place is known as “Himavad gopalswamy betta” (hima in kannada means snow). The best time to visit the place is early mornings or late evenings. They say that the whole place is covered by mist and we can actually touch the clouds at this time. There are no hotels or accommodation available on top of the mounatian. It is best to carry food and water.

All in all its one of the most, forgive me romantic places there can ever be.


Here’s a few of the 500 and odd photos that we took. Put on your headphones.