[TaureanBull]

Great pics. I love that hammock thing. The boat looks like made of paper ..infact on second look looks like wrapped with polythene. Are more pics/ info coming?

[pramod]

@Ranjimso - Thanks! I always feel happier looking at a 5 or 10 year old snap, than a recent snap. You get to appreciate what has changed over time. It may be friends, family, the place, our attires .

@TaureanBull - Yeah, the coracle boat is usually made of Bamboo and tied together. And to make our bottoms feel slightly less uncomfortable, they add a lining of cement bag covers or as u said polythene sheet. Whenever i have gone on these coracle rides, first thing, we need to do is, forget about the state of our shorts/pant. There will always be some quantity of water seeping in! But its fun nevertheless.

[subs]

HI Pramod

I have been reading this post and must admit, its very good. You seem to have enjoyed the best that South India can offer!!

Sad to hear of your friend Anand's demise, my condolences with you, I know what losing a long term friend can mean...

Keep it going, truly enjoyable post this is.

Subs

[subs]

Pramod

It really takes helluva effort to keep all those pics safely like you have!!

I am sure, after reading your thread, a lot of BHPians would have gone through their old pictures and relived those glorious moments of their lives all over again.

Thanks to you.

Regarding me, I keep 'boring' my wife with my old pictures and videos that I have at home, to the point that as soon as I get an album out, she takes my little daughter and disappears into another room. Must admit, now being in the UK, these blogs keeps transporting me back to my country, back to the days I treasure the most...

Subs

[vamsi.kona]

Hey pramod why did you stop man. I was waiting for fresh pictures and posts. Keep them coming.

[mushy876]

Hey Pramod..you have got a lovely TL going here, sincere appreciations.
I hope you can take time out and continue to post some more of your travels here. Look forward to seeing them.
Cheers.

[pramod]

Hello People,

I am back with a 2010 Monsoon version of Sakleshpur's beauty!
No, it isnt the Shiradi drive. Even though i dont get bored of driving Shiradi, this time, it was a cousins' group camping at Rottikallu, a nature camp.

Rottikallu is basically a peak in the vicinity of Sakleshpur. This nature/adventure camp, situated 20 Kms from Sakleshpur town is named after the peak Rottikallu, even though Rottikallu reak is 16kms trek from this place.

I flew back to Namma Bengalooru from Vietnam on Aug 9th. I was waiting very eagerly to see Malnad in all her glory. Who doesnt want to?

Fellow Bhpians Anup and Arun had already arranged the booking et all at Rottikallu.

21st Aug morning
I decided not to take my Fiesta this time. We were 9 heads and we decided to take 3 cars. And we were 4 drivers and i opted out
Anup got his Silver SX4. Arun, in his Ritz VDi, running on 195 BFG!
And Mahesh, on his Ikon Tdci.
We started early and took the now favourite Magadi road to connect to Kunigal. We were informed by one of our friends about a Idli hotel on the other End of Kunigal town. We stopped there for some brilliant Idli Vada. Believe me, Vada was too good.
name of the hotel : S.L.Stores & Someshwara Hotel. (on the right side of the NH, at the far end of Kunigal town).

We reached Sakleshpur at 10.30 am. And we need to take the Hanbal road, which is a right deviation from NH48, 3 kms after Sakleshpur.
This road goes to Hanbal and further to Mudigere. At Hanbal town, we took a left turn at the circle. Rottikallu camp is 9 Kms from here.

We were given 2 4-bed cottages. There is also a 15 bed dorm available for larger groups.
A stream flows through the camp which is the main attraction.
They have a Tarzan swing, across the steam, with the rope tied to a tree.
You can also play volley ball in a water logged court --> pretty entertaining! And a few other adventures.

There are numerous peaks that u can climb. Food was not worth the money. 1750 per person per night.

Nect morning, we climbed a nearby hill for a view of the hills around. It was a simple 20 min climb.

Saw a black Earth Boa on the way back.

Snaps to follow:














































If you see some of the snaps of the cars above, you would guess what we were upto! We found a plain grassland next to the jeep track, on the way to the camp. It was perfect for trying some sliding and rally style turnings. Had a good time with the SX4 here! Alas, i missed my Fiesta 1.6 here :(

[ampere]

Those are real nice locales!
What about the Boa? No snaps?

[pramod]

Thanks ampere!
Some car stunts done on this stretch of grassland.







Here is the Black Earth Boa. Generally, it is called a 2 headed snake by the locales, as its tail is designed like a head, for defense.
It moved very slowly. It was about 1.5 feet long.

[MohsinRoadster]

The hills are clean and beautiful..
Nice clicks

[addyhemmige]

Lovely collection Pramod. This is the first time I saw the thread. I don't know how I missed it. I really know how you feel when you look at all your old pics and remember the times you spent. It is awesome.

The monsoon pics were the best. Keep it going man

Originally Posted by pramod

Here is the Black Earth Boa. Generally, it is called a 2 headed snake by the locales, as its tail is designed like a head, for defense.
It moved very slowly. It was about 1.5 feet long.

Attachment 417504

I thought that was called the sand boa. I found the same snake on my trek to Kudremukh last month, a little shorter than this one.

[nkrishnap]

Fantastic thread. You made me relive and recollect the visit to some of the places on this log.

I will try and collate all my trip logs and post a similar thread.

By the way thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures

[vamsi.kona]

@ Pramod. Good going. By the way I felt that the pictures posted above are not up to the mark of your previous ones. I am no expert here, just when I looked at them felt the difference. These look somewhat blurry or grainy (or whatever term), when compared to your previous snaps. Does any one feel the same or are my eyes acting up

Any way I can live with that, just keep them coming.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by MX6

Incidentally the first thing I cooked was Bhendi fry, with Dal, Rasam and rice. Top it with papads. I was 12 years old then.
I can proudly say that I taught my wife how to cook. Nowadays I'm damn lazy. But once in a blue moon, I do delight people with my culinary skills. I'm not a great cook though. But I can cook quite a lot of things. Being a pure vegetarian, I once cooked Chicken stuff over a barbecue for 3 of my friends (who were struggling to set up a fire). They couldn't believe that I'm a vegetarian.
Guess, IT pros have lost a sense of good taste that they claim I'm a good cook
Maggi to me is like pop corn for any movie buff! Doesn't interfere with regular cooking or food!
Sorry for all the OT. And yes, I don't customise maggi. For me, Maggi has to be prepared the original way.

We should plan on a Maggi meet in Kumaraparvata after monsoons.
Mandatory things to take.
Maggi noodles
Jagga
Mazhar and Unoczar's father's scorpio
Freakishly long hands of Smartcat to take photos
Addihemmige who will be our guide
Other appurtenances deemed requisite for a trek

Aha, now how did I miss this post. Of course, I will be your guide, but if and only if I get my special(I mean huge) portion of Maggi.

[ampere]

Pramod,

You said some of you friends had gone out to this place.
The people snap looks more like a family re-union!

On the Boa, where the revered MX?