To begin
with, I’d say that some walks are just about…
…coming
face-to-face with timeless beauty,
… watching the power of standing strong even in times of destruction,
…treading
those roads which men of strength have walked, but are now, just in our hearts…
Well, I had been longing since a
while – to have a peaceful walk straight down the Historical Heritages. And
AihoLe (pronounce : ayi-Ho-Ley) / Badami was on the top of my List (mainly for
Line number 3 mentioned above). Hadn’t shared
this thought with anyone though (rather, left it on time to play it), but when one
fine day, in between those tangled thread of mails (on Organizers’ trip-locations),
when I read : ‘Location finalized to Badami’ – I was like – woaaaah! Life does throw surprises at you…
Train journey:
Gang-of-bhukkads
Golgumbaaz express: (16535)
: A troupe of 10 bhukkads: Even
before the introduction round (ow..we had 2 ex-organizers – Shruthi n Dinesh;
and a new one – Raja - too!), we started the ritual of hogging (this time, with
a break of 5-minutes after finishing each snack – that went on for an hour
and a half, until it was time for dinner). Chaitanya and Shubhroto tried
playing the ‘gentlemen’ initially (by pretending as if they weren’t a part of
us, the gluttons); but later gave up. Shubhroto joined openly by confessing – ‘I was
not hungry, but after watching you guys I am also feeling like eating something’.
While our silent-killer Chaits went a step ahead by quietly snatching the popcorn
pack from my hand; when Hiren & I were busy digging into chips.
The night went by – with the game
of UNO (that awakened the strategist
out of Subbu, and the Babaji out of
Hiren); and then some gossips – and finally we wished each other a Good night
and slipped into our dreamworld…
Day 1: Pattadakallu, AihoLe:
Our Day 1 trip started with settling down at a lodge in
Badami (we had planned caves visit for Day 2). After a quick refreshment and
breakfast, we started out in the auto that Chaits n Channa had hired for the
day. First destination was the Banashankari Temple. This temple’s
existence is dated back to 7th Century AD, and is an abode to a form
of the ‘Goddess of Forest’. After
finishing our ‘darshan’ and a brief
photo session near a lake opposite to our temple, we headed out for our next
destination, in the same auto. Our Biker guy Subbu seemed so overwhelmed with
the temple darshan, that he could not stop asking for his ‘Arati’, ‘Aradhana’,
‘Pooja’ and finally ‘Prarthana’ throughout our travel to the next destination.
The next visit was to an Ashrama.
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| Banashankari Temple |
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| Team at Banashankari temple |
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| Maharatha - at the Ashrama |
The village of Badami, in itself turned out to be a
mesmerizing place. When you are travelling from one sight-seeing spot to
another, it gives you a feel as if you yourself have entered inside some scenic
artwork [reminded me of the regular sceneries we used to paint in school days –
with hills, birds flying across the hills, bore wells, women carrying piles of
hay (jowar in real), and squirrels and trees around :P].
Our next visit was at an Ashrama near Banashankari temple.
This had a Maharatha – that is built
splendidly; and a Samadhi of a Jain priest of those ages. Another round of
randomn photography and amazing comments at the Trucks-with-dhinkchak-music-systems; we headed out for
Pattadakallu. And Our Real Trip began…
…And our photographers got equipped with their DSLR’s and
tripods.
Pattadakallu – This place has a group of quaint temple
monuments built during the Chalukyan ages – the main gopuras of which have been strategically destroyed in wars. It also
has a number shrines of Shivalingas – each having a nandi facing it – again
heads of which have been destroyed. Despite the destructions, the place offered
picturesque display of the intricately designed structures, murals and sculptures
carved on the columns and walls – that have still stood strong and still stay
beautiful. These are basically craft-works on tales picked from Hindu mythology
(some of which are known – loads of which are lost down the ages). Pattadakallu
is listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
While the photographers got busy capturing shots; I had a
nice time looking around and feeling amazed at the fact that I was face-to-face
with something that was existing even centuries ago – timelessness! [Sculptures,
Ancient architecture, Mythology and History had always been a fascination!]. We
had loads of time to bask into the place, but suddenly our organizer Chaits
started getting a bit restless. After spending sufficient time – we packed up
to leave Pattadakallu – on instructions by a bit-restless Chaitanya (we later
know why :P)
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| Pattadakallu-1 |
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| Pattadakallu |
.JPG)
It was afternoon (close to 1:00pm). Our next spot was
AihoLe. In the morning, it was decided that we would be skipping lunch; however
our plans was suddenly changed by Chaits – reasons still unknown. We would be
going to a dhaba nearby AihoLe for lunch and then visit the Heritage site. Nevertheless, we agreed and continued our
travel full-on fun with ‘Ae-Raja’; Subrata-turned
Shubhroto-turned Subbu-turned Subbanna’s
quest for his Prarthana (phew!); some
leg pulling session to Shruthi and so on and so forth. We took 2 tables and
ordered dry and soft jowar rottis (speciality of the place); along with some
other dishes. While we were waiting for the food to arrive and casually
chit-chatting; the sound of a very familiar bike caught our attention – and Lo!
Here arrives Captain Virander proudly in his Harley, along with Deepthy.
We howled and clapped at the surprise entry (and now understood all that
restlessness and sudden-plan-changes made by Chaitanya – hummm..so he was aware of if, and was
co-ordinating secretly with him all this while). With the two joining us, there was no
derth of the already fun-environment (just that there were more number of PJs
now :P). We were still waiting for our food, when again Captain Viru surprised
me by handing over the BTC pull over that I had ordered. [Well, this was again
a surprise because of the confusion that I had created, over my pullover’s
delivery; in the group chat the previous evening. Chaits had forgotten to get
it, and poor Viru had to bear the consequences : of dramatically riding all the
way some 500 kms on his Harley and
delivering it :P]
Post lunch – we headed out for AihoLe. And it
started pouring heavily. After an hour’s wait inside a lone temple right
opposite to our destination spot; we entered the temple complex when the
downpour reduced a bit. This place, again, had a group of temples built in
Chalukyan era; with Inscriptions and sculptures of the Mythological tales.
Inside the same complex, we made a visit to the museum that have preserved some
of the sculptures of gods and goddesses; and provides information on the
excavated site.
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| AihoLe excavated site |
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| The sculpted columns - AihoLe. |
It started to rain again. The heavy downpour did not show
any signs of stopping or slowing down since then; hence we cancelled our
further visit plans (that was a bit of disappointment to our photographers) –
and decided to get back to our lodge at Badami – now some 30 kms away. The journey on the way turned out to be
out-and-out hilarious: the take-of-the-hour
being ‘the cover’ comment that Ritu had made on me! [Hiren and Raja couldnot
control falling and laughing about it!]
After returning to our lodge, we refreshed ourselves; had
dinner; and then gathered to play our savior game of UNO. And with the game –
all the true colors of the group appeared :P. Chaitanya’s conspiracy to corner
me in the game (I had to ensure I did not sit beside him in future rounds :P);
our Advocate Shruthi madam’s Liar’ing; Channa and Shubhroto – the strategists
(read cheaters); and Hiren’s Babaji avatar with his rut ‘Bhagwan sabka hota hai’ - all this ensured the fun was on till the
end. After pathetically losing all the rounds of the game, I finally won one
last round – and then we all decided to crash down our respective beds; and get
prepared for the next day’s trip.
Day 2: Badami Caves:
Day 2 was quite a dry and sunny
day. It again, began our day with breakfast’n’chai – and then a walk up to the Badami
Fort. Our BTC cameramen and women were all in action again with full
enthu. Hard core climber Hiren now was little happy that he got to ‘Climb’ at
least somewhere :P The Badami hill is an absolutely stunning region to tread
into! What makes the place more beautiful is the red soiled region that makes
the entire region naturally colored and attractive.
I immediately immersed
myself into the ambience of the place – my thoughts revolved around a lot of
things, as I made my way peacefully through the alleys and steps: people, human efforts, Nature’s way of
showing us examples of strength etc etc. With not much public around, we
had a great time admiring the grandeur work; and also cracking stupid jokes;
clicking loads of pictures and having fun. Ritz and I started our punar-janmon ki katha related to the
place, when Shruthi and Viru suddenly realized that they too had been with us
in that previous birth (yeah..so some of us BTCians are previous-birth-se-mile-hue jaani dushman hain :P)! The view from
the top was vividly attractive; as we could see the entire Bhootnath Cave
temple (our next destination) from the top. Our photographers continued hopping
and clicking pics (when some of us non-photographers happily posed for them along
with the sculptures :P)
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| Badami - entrance |
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| Walking into the alley between the fort rocks |
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| Some of the BTC Marvels - standing on top of Badami Marvels ;) |
Bhootnath Cave Temples:
Located right opposite to the fort, the Bhootnath Cave
temple is a perfect epitome of Beauty. Some of our guys – Channa, Hiren and
Viru chose to take a dive in the lake, before heading out towards the caves.
This is a group of 4 caves, each having a sanctum sanctorum, a mandapa, a
verandah and pillars. The cave temples also bear exquisite carvings, sculptures
and beautiful murals – a perfect treat for the lenses of both - photographers’ and story-seekers like me J
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| Inside Badami cave temple |
The walk specifically to this cave temple felt peaceful and soothing – I could not believe I was actually right here – to one of my dream destinations (that was still - just with me!) To add to the feeling was the magnificent surrounding that we couldn’t stop appreciating. Our photographers went zoom with their Visual talents, capturing all that they could out of the place. We spent a couple of hours soaking into these marvels; and it was time for us to push off for lunch.
Walked down a hotel for lunch, again had a blast of
fun-round with the group – sharing previous trek stories, cracking some doubly-meaningful
jokes, and digging into each others’
plates. Back there in our room at the lodge, we did our final packing (some of
the folks rested in the time that was left, and the rest again tuned into the
game of UNO). Had a small meeting where we discussed stuff, and then headed out
for our return journey, calling it a peaceful-weekend-Getaway. So, if you are someone who loves to bask into timeless pieces of beauty, or a passionate Photographer - AihoLe / Badami / Pattadakallu ought to be in your 'must-visit' list - and your quest for that peace and creative urges will certainly be fulfilled ;) :P
Well, the entire trip was fully-loaded with surprises, yet again fun with people; while accomplishing my personal quest. In the end it was just a : 'some-things-just-happen-perfectly-for-you'...Finding all that we were seeking out of the trip, and loads of memories; we bid each other adieu and continued with our tasks on Monday morning...
Some of the after-effects of the trip:
1. Shubhroto is still addicted to the ‘sounds like’
rule of Dumb charades (this was during return journey)
2. Hiren & Raja still imagine things when they
think of the ‘cover’ story and burst out..
3. Photographers: Channa, Ritz, Chaitanya still
admire their photographic skills; and are making plans for the next appetite
for their creative juices..
4. Dinesh is still waiting with his ‘Application-pending’ status :P [would
not like to mention anything further for ‘peace’ sake :P]
Ahh..yes…and adding to my souvenir collection (be
it from our History-making 2-day WOW trip; or the unexpected events at this
Badami trip) - my BTC pullover’s gonna bear the special stamp of this : ‘Delivered via harleydavidson courier services: C & V’… ;)
Cheers!
A traveller...
Theme song of the trip: With no doubt, a beautiful number by my icon Dr. Rajkumar - 'huttidare...' that talks of these marvels of Karnataka :)
Photo credits: Channa, Chaitanya, Ritu
Photo credits: Channa, Chaitanya, Ritu
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