Mclarens: A quick romantic getaway to Ranganthittu & SriRangapatna!

[mclaren1885]

11-05-06: A certain mcl1885 asked mcl0111 out. Two & half years down the line, there have been a lot of things to look back upon. Some tough times, some really happy ones. Some unbelievable ones too...

But, life is too short. Isn't it? How long will all this last? Forever? No one knows! What if time takes us different ways?

Would you regret on all those times you lost out on? Can you make up for all of them? No one knows right?

One such 11th changed the way I look at life (that didn't go beyond late night drives and fast cars). Since then, every 11th I walk (god, when was the last time I actually walked for more than 100ft?) upto her and remind her that this was the day and thus the countdown began. We celebrate the 11th of every month. Yes, every month (ok, I admit I forgot twice ) since 11-05-06. We try to make each 11th special (than the rest of the days). Long drives, candle light dinners, shopping, pubbing, at times just sit at home and cook some of our favourite dishes.

This being the 30th 11th since then, it was special. We did celebrate this day in advance in Goa around a month back as I wasn't sure I would be in town this month. But, I think everything fell into place....

Most 11th's are complete chaos. Bunking college and going out. No advance plans, just to keep it exciting. Once I walked into her classroom, told her lecturer that she was wanted urgently (all at a time she never knew I had something in mind & I was supposed to be out of station) and surprised her. She loves these surprises (so does every women out there)...

This time however, we had a PLAN! We were to go and watch QOS at 11am. Have lunch at Portabella, drive down to Nandi Hills for a quiet celebration, head back home after a candle light dinner at one of our favourite restaurants in town. Sounds perfect doesn't it?

11-11-08, 00:00hrs : 0111 is busy snoring! Sent her a SMS wishing her, to which I got a call back around 1am. An hour later (or was it 2?) we say goodnight, eagerly awaiting to meet up the next day.

PS: You must be wondering what this has to do with the title right? Wait & watch!

[mclaren1885]

Date: 11-11-08, 8am.
Location: My room.

I feel a hand over my forehead. Someone is waking me up. I recognize that voice. Its her, its 0111. I am trying hard not to open my eyes, I don't want to wake up early. I try to imagine what time it would be, 7am? 8am?

That definitely cant be her. She never wakes up for college this early. Its a dream, I say to myself. Go back to sleep, its just a dream. Then I hear the words "Good morning, baby. Its wake up time" whispered into my ears.

Its not a dream! I quickly open my eyes, to find a cake lit with candles on my bed. She is looking at me, with this smile. I hadn't expected this. I was to meet her, pick her up for the movie from her place at 10am.

I rushed to freshen myself up, while she set aside the clothes she wanted me to wear that day. We cut the cake, it was chocolate cheese. My favorite. Then my parents joined in the celebrations, even our dog wanted to be a part of it.

An hour later, we were ready to go. QOS was what we had in mind, remember the plan? I start the car, look at her and say "Lets Go?". She says Yes, but not to QOS.

I want to go on a long long drive, really fast drive! Away from the city. Lets do lunch at Mysore. Look around places. But, I got to be back by 8:30pm sharp.

But, what about the plan?

The plan was to upset your plan! Its meant to be a surprise.

Oh OK! Mysore? Or you want to go elsewhere?

Anywhere is ok, all I want is a long nice drive!

We set off towards Mysore, not knowing what to do. We decide to make plans as we move! A tank up on Mysore Road, we are off. I have no clue what we are going to do, I try thinking but nothing works.

[mclaren1885]

The traffic is MAD. It takes us 1hr to get from IISC to Nice Road. From thereon, its a breeze. We are cruising around 120ish. Weather is perfect.

White lines on the road whizz past, the clouds in the horizon are slowly moving. And suddenly I hear "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" playing. I was startled for a moment, but then she puts her hand on mine, presses it slightly and starts singing the song. She sings very well, she has this look on her face. A very happy one!

We both start singing loudly! Windows down, singing aloud. It was fun, watching the bikers and the passers by. They were giving us weird stares, but we enjoyed and laughed everytime someone gave us that look. We sing some hindi, some english, even some Telugu & Kannada songs.

Meanwhile, we find this zen. Its looks pretty decent, nice paint job, nice alloys, pretty decent decals too. But look whats written on the rear windshield . We were in splits!



Now, I am hungry. So we decide to stop at Barista Lavazza @ Chennapatna. She loves Barista, and this place is really nice.



Rats are running around in my tummy, time to feed them now.


Loved this guitar they had on display. She finds out if she can use the guitar, picks it up and sings a few lines while playing the guitar. Impressive!


We spend about an hour sipping on some coffee, then still undecided where we were headed we moved on.

[mclaren1885]

We continue singing. This time its Teri Ore from SIK. I was to sing the female's part and she the guys. I sing horribly, even more so when I am trying to sound like a lady . But it was fun nonetheless.

All this loud singing was making me hungry once again. Yeah, yeah Jay must be reading this and wondering "when is he not hungry anyways?". We then decided to stop over at McDonalds near Maddur. Its a drive-thru thingy. We ask for a quick take away and get back on the road.




We decide to stop over a few kms before Mandya to grab a bite and my pitstop. The burgers (veg) are quite horrible I must say. Id prefer KFC anyday. Then the talk centres around which is better, KFC or McD. Both of us come to the conclusion that McD doesn't make anything that tastes like the crispy chicken or the Zinger.

We are still wondering where to go. Then I see the Karnataka State Tourism board. I remember having a chat with Tadu last night about going to Srirangapatna and surrounding places. I immediately called Riju and asked him too. We finally decided upon where we were going. We both had been there, but when we were small kids.

[nithinnarayanan]

Impressive . Waiting for the next part.
BTW the writing on the Zen is not clear

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan

Impressive . Waiting for the next part.
BTW the writing on the Zen is not clear

It says "Nemmadi". For those who don't understand Kannada,it means peace of mind, but some people often use it to indicate "be slow".

[mclaren1885]

We take the right off the highway to see the following places.


This pic is self explanatory.


We then visited the Ranganatha Swamy temple only to find it shut. So we decided to visit it on our way back home.

The temple.


The Gopura.


We then head off towards Daria Daulat Bagh. The place looks magnificent from outside. But there was too much rush inside, so we decided to skip it this time around. We were actually on a strict time schedule. Going in would mean atleast 30-45mins.

We then moved onto Sangam (where two rivers meet). The view here is spectacular. One has to sit here quietly to enjoy the serenity of the place.

Coracle rides are a must.


Also, Shiv Linaga's like these can be found everywhere in the river.


We also spotted this dog trying to wade through the river.

[TheOne®]

Very nice narrative! I wonder how the story will continue

[mclaren1885]

We then visit the Gumbaz. Its the resting place for Tippu, his dad and mom too. I must admit these places are quite well maintained. We started discussing what we knew about Tippu Sultan only to realize how bad our history was. I hated history in school.

The entrance.


These plants really added to the look.


The three tombs, Tippu's is the closest, then his dads, last is his moms.


The view from outside, since there were many people near the exit I have darkened that portion.




We got a guided tour of the whole place.

We then were to visit Gosai Ghat. But overshot the turn, so decided to carry on.

We are now off to the famous Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary.

[mclaren1885]

I was really looking forward to visiting the bird sanctuary. Was quite inspired by the pics in the non-auto image thread.

We had hardly gotten a chance to speak to each other since we left Sangam. We were struck between two worlds. Soaking in the beauty in front of our eyes and trying to remember our childhood days when we visited here. The place brought back some really good memories for both of us.

Talking about our childhood days, we reached the gate of the bird sanctuary.


The garden is very beautiful. The place is really well maintained. From a distance we could see some birds. I am not too good with the names of these birds, so members kindly feel free to chip in.






How is that for camouflage? We were nearly 15ft away from this when we spotted it. From far, it just looks like a rock.


I can swear it was DEAD. Didn't move a mm for over 5 mins.

[mclaren1885]

We were on a boat, 10ft away from this monstrous, scary looking croc that looked like it was dead. Its eyes were open. I asked the boatman to take the boat a little closer so that I could get a pick. I did.



By then the guide showed us another croc with its mouth wide open.


I was trying to capture it as it was at quite a distance away. While all 3 of us were concentrating at looking at that croc, the one who was just probably less than 5ft from us woke up from his sleep and sprung its head towards us and dived into the water heading towards the boat.

The croc hit the boat, there was a heavy thud. She shrieked! She was terrified. She held me tight. I put my arms around her and said it was ok with conviction (truth is I was a bit startled too), told her the croc got scared of me and scooted off .

She broke into a laughter. Those few moments looked like they were from a Bollywood film. Yet, this was no film. If the croc was domesticated, I would love to have patted him on the head and said "thank you". The boat ride continued till we came across a tree filled with bats.

The shrieks could make you deaf, so to speak.


The sanctuary has around 80 crocs I am told. If you look closely, you will find crocs everywhere. In the water, under trees, on rocks.

[mclaren1885]

Soon, all our eyes could see were crocs all around. The guide started telling us how normally they attack in groups, overturn the boat etc. He wasn't helping us feel better you know.

I tried some lame jokes to take her mind off the crocs and enjoy the beautiful birds around. It worked. She was very relaxed, even pointed out a few beautiful pics for me to click.

Look, look click that bird, its so beautiful.

Where?

There you blind bat. THERE (pointing at the bird). Click before it goes away.

Both birds must have been playing statue. They hardly even moved. We even thought they could be dummy birds.


A close-up.


Out fishing?






Look at him staring at us.


My favorite pic of the trip.


Boat, crocs all around, beautiful birds everywhere. I tell you the feeling you get when you face fear, amazement, natural splendour all together within seconds of each other is something you can't describe in words. It was worth coming this far. Every bit of it.

I was hooked! Didn't want to leave the place. The guide said the best time to come here was in Jan/Feb. I shall come back to this place I told myself.

We were getting off the boat, she says.

Look at these steps. Imagine if a crocodile mistook this as a rock and came to rest on it. What if someone doesn't look where they are walking and.....

Seriously! Scary to even imagine it.

We exit the sanctuary, visit the Ranganath Swamy "powerful" temple as Tadu calls it . We start driving back. Its 6pm. Its been a wonderful day. Really wonderful indeed.

[troy_aikman]

boy - things have changed so much. I remember driving there with nothing but coconut trees and paddy/sugarcane fields all the way thru Mandya district. We used to stop over for Maddur vadda - thats about it. I guess the next time I will have to stop over for my son's happy meal - with 4 chicken mcnuggets and the toy !

[TheOne®]

What a nice and spontaneous trip! The unplanned things in life are often the best!

I can imagine how it must have felt to be so close to those crocs, I have been in a few situations like this myself and the feelings and adrenaline going through your body at that moment are indeed indescribable.

Fantastic write-up and very nice pictures. I really enjoyed reading your travelogue!

[mclaren1885]

We reached her place by 8pm. The day was coming to an end. We had lots of fun, thanks to the no-planning funda we followed. It was time to see her off. My heart was feeling heavy, wished she never had to go back home. But, for some reason she seemed very happy to leave. Not the usual look she used to give when she had to go back home.

She gave me a quick hug, took my camera and left. I started to drive back home, she calls.

Where are you?

Reaching Flyover .

Come back, need to give you something!

Right now? Isn't it late? Are you sure? I can take it later na?

Bah! How many questions you ask. Just wait for 10mins I'll go home get it and come.

Many many hours later .........

She comes dressed up as if she is going to a party.

Going somewhere honey?

Yes! For dinner, with YOU. Where you taking me?

What? Dinner? I thought you had to go back home?

Yes, to pick up this (pulls out a green bottle from her big bag).


That made my day, she had actually gone and bought a champagne bottle the previous day. We decided to go to Ista (her favourite restaurant). But since I was not sure if they would let us take our own champagne, we decided to have dinner at Sanjay Dhaba near my place. The food was lovely, we had a small hut to ourselves with a single candle on the table.

It was just the two of us! No driving, no birds, no crocs, no camera. And the flowing champagne only made it special.

Finally dropped her home at 10:30pm and headed back home. It was the end of one of the most beautiful days of our life. Thank you all for bearing with us. Goodnight! Or is it Good morning?