This year, globally Covid changed the way people lived and brought “the new normal life”– especially in India, family gatherings, festivals, functions, social get-togethers being highly restricted, creating problems and pushing some into depression as well.
We badly wanted an outing with the close and “safe” friends😊. We knew all tourist spots were getting filled with people amid increasing number of Covid cases at Bengaluru. My friends at Chikkamagalur told Bengaluru registered vehicles are flooding during weekends just like pre-Covid times, same with places like Nandi hills, Shivanasamudra and others near Bengaluru.
We didn’t want to go to crowded places, in fact wanted to avoid tourist places but wanted to meet somewhere slightly away from Bengaluru at a secure place, within 50 kms or 1-2 hours drive. Finally we found a friend’s farm near Magadi, planned the drive on Oct 3rd since it was a long weekend. Kids and adults were super excited likewise.
Following precautions / ground rules were set:
• Only and only home cooked food, with fruits, water, milk, coffee/tea and snacks
• No stop on the way to see any tourist attractions
• All should wear masks
• Sanitizers are must + as much social distancing as possible
• No plastic, no smoking and no aerated drinks
• Drive in their own cars with their ‘own’ families
Rain was the only threat we had, fortunately we didn’t face problems till we were done.
We started at 11am from Bannerghatta road in my Duster, one family joined from JP Nager in Wagon-R and we drove to RR Nagar for joining the third family. There was a little surprise there, we joined by two families in Innova. All three vehicles reached Mysore road quickly. I was under the impression that roads will be somewhat empty due to Covid, but I was wrong, oh man, it was usual traffic jam on Mysore road and all was looking well like normal. We were also contributing to it, so I can’t complaint.
Duster eagerly waiting to hit the terrain:
Well made auto park near Vijaya Bank Layout RTO:
At the first break point:
We took diversion towards Big Banyan Tree (Doddaalada Mara), entry to Big Banyan Tree was open and we could see big crowd inside, vendors outside selling cut cucumber, groundnut, bhel puri etc and people thronging, I won’t complain again.
We just drove further without stopping, we reached near Manchinabele dam, we could see beautiful landscape and water body from the car. Here also fairly large crowd parking the cars wherever, taking pictures, selfies, also walking across the roads with faces hidden in mobiles - probably overexcited souls posting pics on WhatsApp while walking irresponsibly.
Near Manchinabele dam:
Finally we reached our destination, we opened the gates and parked our vehicles inside and closed the gates again. It was a small farm, calm and peaceful place, had enough to spend a day, a house was under construction.
The spot:
Nice parking space:
We opened the picnic table with a large umbrella, kept all food & other stuff there. Had good lunch with different varieties. We were meeting “in person” after a long time, so spent some time chit chatting, walked around the farm, played a bit, ate guava, kids climbed the tree. We had a very good and safe outing after a long gap.
Soon it became coffee time, we tried to lit fire to heat the milk, but rain god didn’t want that, so we had to rush to the shelter under construction, where we got proper gas stove. It was awesome sipping coffee in that shelter surrounded by greenery hit by heavy showers.
Barely we could warm it:
Few parting shots:
We returned through the rain struck traffic of Bengaluru, reached home and delighted to realize next day was Sunday for taking a good rest.
Overall it was much needed outing in such situation, re-energized to manage for few more months.
Wear seat belts and drive safe !!