[addyhemmige]

Oops!! I had actually seen those pics and had forgot all about it. Thanks for reminding. Good thing you didn't post it on this thread, else it would have taken the sheen of the other beautiful pictures.

Regarding the roads, yes even though Mysore receives very less rainfall (lesser than Chennai???), the roads around it are pathetic (except for some major roads). This situation is all over the state and not limited to Mysore alone.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Good start Jeev, there is actually a pattern with regard to all of these roads in and around the old "Veerappan haunts" - the road conditions are decent to good until you reach the TN - Karnataka border post which it becomes bad, you name it whether its the NH209 or the road to Kollegal from the Dimbam ghats or the MM Hills road from Mettur, though I don't have first hand information on the Anthiyur - Kollegal road I suspect that to be also of the same category.

[MX6]

@Jeev.

There were some discussions which I stated in someone's thread regarding Pazhassi Raja. It was about how Tipu looted Malabar, the Varmas getting the help of Brits to fight him back. And finally with the fall of Tipu, whole of Mysore state (seringapatom) is annexed by the British.

Many rulers paid huge tax amounts to British to rule their lands in Kerala. Travancore Kings had autonomy over their region.

Interestingly, Tipu couldn't cross down south beyond Palghat.

The Brits annexed most parts of India mostly because, they helped fight the Hindu kings against the Muslim kings. Enter in to a treaty with the Hindu kings, defeat the muslim king, hand over reigns of the hindu kingdom to the hindu kings, annexe a major part under their administration (east india company) and ask the hindu kings to pay royalty.

And Pazhassi realised this and retaliated and he joined forces with the Malabar muslims along with tribals to fight the British.

When our guys fought, we made the mistake of going for third party mediation, a fact that continues even today in Kashmir issue. And this led to the famous term - Divide and Rule.

It's time we as a country actually practice religious tolerance.

Eeshwar Allah Tero naam
Sabko Sanmati de Bhagwan

Anyway, let me stop my rants here and will wait for more photos from your end which will bring forth lost bits of history.

[jeevmenon]

Thanks people.

Sorry to disappoint resident historian MX6 but there is no historical bits I am going to bring forward here lest it might create a political fight over inter-state territorial authority. We already have enough of them, current and past. I love the way the borders are today. My title is of the light-humor category.

Indeed there is the Tipu fort in Palakkad. Btw, MX6 what about Sultan's Battery - Tipu connection? Btw the Mannarkad-Kongad road is named Tipu-Sultan-road! Hm...

[jeevmenon]

Third snap below: Kannada translations needed please. I guess there is road to Mystery trails - trekking group if one took the diversion at this point.

Somewhere I did see directions to Hoggenekkal as well. If I remember it was just after crossing the TN-KA border at Palar. So the next question: Is this the only way to get to Hogenekkal falls? Because long time back when I had been to Hogenekkal falls I did see KA cars on the other side of the water body. How did they reach there?

Sixth snap below: Kowdahalli town.

Ninth snap: Neha - my lil one snapped this from the rear seat.

Tenth snap: Sugarcanes being transferred by blocking the entire road. We saw such scenes a couple of more times during our trip. Coming up in the next section are the falls as of Sept 10th 2010.

[jeevmenon]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Regarding the roads, yes even though Mysore receives very less rainfall (lesser than Chennai???), the roads around it are pathetic (except for some major roads). This situation is all over the state and not limited to Mysore alone.

Just to break the rainfall myth:

In cm since June 1 in increasing order:

Mysore - 36
Bangalore - 41
Chennai - 63
Hyderabad - 80
New Delhi - 89
Kolkata - 116
Madikere - 207
Mumbai - 316
Karwar - 330
Mangalore - 365
Agumbe - 607

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by MX6

@Jeev.

There were some discussions which I stated in someone's thread regarding Pazhassi Raja. It was about how Tipu looted Malabar, the Varmas getting the help of Brits to fight him back. And finally with the fall of Tipu, whole of Mysore state (seringapatom) is annexed by the British.
.........
......
Anyway, let me stop my rants here and will wait for more photos from your end which will bring forth lost bits of history.

MX6, if you are interested to know more on the 'Tipu looted Malabar' please refer the 'Malabar Manual' by William Logan. There are still many evidences exists in north malabar area. One of the temple (Vadukunda Siva Temple, Madaippara)which was looted by Tipu was rennovated recently only (~10-15years back). Tipu's military tried to loot the famous Talipparamba Rajarajeswara Temple, but they were unsuccessful in breaking the high compound wall. The half broken wall was re-constructed in the recently past.

Thanks
Rajesh

[addyhemmige]

[quote=jeevmenon;2076994]Third snap below: Kannada translations needed please. I guess there is road to Mystery trails - trekking group if one took the diversion at this point. [quote/]

The boards on the left are of the 'Pradhana Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana'. Mystery Trails is an eco-tourism initiative taken by the Forest Department, Chamrajnagar Division. They have several trekking routes in MM Hills region and BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. Ponnachi (the board shows direction to the left) lies on one of the routes. You can check out Mystery Trails - Home page of the Eco trek programme initiative of Chamarajanagar Forest Department for more info.

The big board (on the right) shows direction to Ponnachi and Asturu to the left and MM Hills Temple, Palar and Mettur to the right.

The milestone shows distance to Taalabetta Cross road. The place you have taken the pic is Taalabetta Cross road. The arch in pic 5 is at Taalabetta.

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

Somewhere I did see directions to Hoggenekkal as well. If I remember it was just after crossing the TN-KA border at Palar. So the next question: Is this the only way to get to Hogenekkal falls? Because long time back when I had been to Hogenekkal falls I did see KA cars on the other side of the water body. How did they reach there?

You must have seen it after the Palar border checkpost. The road to Hogenakkal is immediately after the border. You have to take a right turn. The road passes through Gopinatham (birthplace of Veerappan) and reaches Hogenakkal. If you take this road, you will enter Hogenakkal from the Karnataka side. To enter Hogenakkal from TN side, you have to reach from Dharmapuri or Pennagaram.

[ampere]

Addy,

I dont see a route from Gopinattam to Hogenakkal in Google maps.
There has to be a bridge, which needs be crossed. Where is the bridge?

EDIT: Or is it that you will be taken the other end of the river only and need to cross by a boat.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by ampere

Addy,

I dont see a route from Gopinattam to Hogenakkal in Google maps.
There has to be a bridge, which needs be crossed. Where is the bridge?

EDIT: Or is it that you will be taken the other end of the river only and need to cross by a boat.

This road does not reach Hogenakkal town. This is on the other bank i.e. Karnataka side. There are just a couple of shops here. You have to take a boat (teppa) to reach the other side and to view the falls. You have to take a boat ride to view the falls.

This place is around 40 kms from MM Hills.

[jeevmenon]

Its there in Google maps. However, is this the only way to reach for KA folks? Its a tough route. From the TN side it is a breeze. Maybe Bangalore folks should take the Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Pennagaram road for better/quicker/pleasure drives to reach the falls.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

Its there in Google maps. However, is this the only way to reach for KA folks? Its a tough route. From the TN side it is a breeze. Maybe Bangalore folks should take the Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Pennagaram road for better/quicker/pleasure drives to reach the falls.

Attachment 427275

This route is not well known and it is tough as you have said. Most people visit from Dharmapuri side only.

[ampere]

The third route through Anchetty.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...nchetti-2.html

[jeevmenon]

Back at home watching the RCB fight out for a place in the semis of the CLT20 and back to continuing this TL. Had wanted this to end quickly and crisp, but alas. I come home and wifey says your travelogue is becoming a Hogenekkal one. There is a parallel thread on that.

Anyway back to the TL:

We reached the Sivasamudra and we did not know where the falls were. How many of them? There was the mosque and people in small shops (frying some non-veg stuff) around it. As we were asking about the fall, we saw an elderly person getting off a Indica taxi and approaching me with a map. He said he was coming from Coorg (from Bangalore) and wanted to head to Yercaud. We warned them off the Mettur road and asked them to take the Chamrajnagar-Sathy-Bhavani-Salem-Yercaud (after what I had heard HVK mention to my queries.) But he was amazing - wanted to go up till Madurai/Rameswaram etc, at that age that enthu. Wow! I could see myself in his shoes a few years later.

The shop keeper pointed to the falls behind his shop. There is not much hype around this place and not many people even. There was nothing by KTDC there as well. Strange, we felt! This is the Gaganchukki falls. Just marvellous.






There were loads of people on the other side of the falls with lots of cars parked. You can see a resort building in the snap. I heard from a taxi driver who was enjoying the view that there is a way to go to the river from the other side. What is the mystery?

It was 2:30 pm and we were getting hungry. We thought lets see the other falls as well. I knew there was one more - Barachukki close by. As we got out there is a left road and 1.6 km down that lane is the second falls. Thats a X kind of formation. Water like milk. A different kind. We really enjoyed these falls. There were lots of people here, some coconut vendors, bhaji sellers etc. There is a road to go to the bottom. I spotted two locations where youngsters were having shower. We just clicked a few snaps. And we were at the car. Thanks to wifey we had a good lunch - thayar-sadham/potato-fry. Cool/non-heavy food, good for the second consecutive meal in a car. The ODO showed 499 KM from home.









We made our way to Malavalli to get to Mysore. The road was good mostly in this section and so was the Malavalli-Mysore road.






Just after Malavalli at 4:14 PM.



We hit the ring-road. Wow! KRS is right. It was 5:09 PM. Maybe we can make it to KRS for the 7 p.m. We were getting tired and the hair and face all unkempt and wary. Took a radial road inwards for 100m. Took out the large can of water, freshened ourselves. And went for the jugular. We had a brief thought of quickly checking into a hotel, but dropped it since if we hit the bed to stretch it would be very very tough to get on our feet again.

[jeevmenon]

5:09 PM - From the Malavalli-Mysore road take a right on the ring road. It would take 26.2 km from here till the Brindavan Garden Car Park.



5:20 PM - 5:35 PM - Face wash break.

5:40 PM - Turn Right from Ring Road signal on the KRS Road.




Here is the interesting part. Just two guys collecting money for the toll-bridge and parking. All the cars are double-laned before the bridge. There is up traffic as well. What a chaos? We had to suffer the next day as well, also "Welcome to 10x-Rupee-Town" - more about these as we move. . So, pay up and go towards the car-park. Its a nice huge car park. Good one, nice arrangement. Parallel Parking! Hm! Used to Angular at home, Perpendicular at work.





There is a sudden rush, people are rushing for tickets. Its just under 45 min for the dancing-light-show. We get our tickets. There are loads of people. I had in mind that maybe a Day/Night visit would be the best to catch a glimpse of the gardens in natural/artificial lights. Wifey was excited - it was going to be her first visit. Neha also loves gardens/parks. So we buy the tickets, good 3/4 lanes for tickets - no issues. We enter.


We see at the entry all the stalls with all kinds of eating stuff and the boat-house announcing on the PA - 10 rupees, 10 rupees - we will leave you to the north (?) side of the park, there are others who are walking over the bridge to get to the other side. People are helter-skelter. Everyone looked liked wanting to do something quickly, do everything within a short time and run to the next destination. We took a few snaps, toilet-break and walked over the bridge. Wifey was not too impressed and the whole gardens did not meet her expectations. Neither day nor night. For me it was when could we get out of that mess! Neha was sorta ok - just running around. It was just another open space for her.





As we were walking over the bridge the lights came on.




We came to know that the show is going to be at that end. We arrived at the arena and found that there were circular concrete step stands and it was jam-packed. Night had fallen in earnest.

There was an air of expectancy. Security staff standing close to the falls - his two minutes of glory before the show. People start sitting on the floor. We follow them. 7 pm sharp the Kannada song - the first of a series starts. People are all excited and the buzz turns into loud noises. Next song - a Hindi song - "Hare Ram Hare Ram Hare Krishna Hare Ram" and the decible level increases manifold - not from the song but from the vocal chord of the multitude. Everyone wanted their beautiful voice to be heard lest they new too many cooks errr... too many voices incoherently is called cacophony. More noise as it appealed to tourists who could associate themselves with the song better rather than the better performance of the dancing water spring to that song than to the earlier song.

Question: Do they change the tapes of the songs played out?
Question: I did not find the colored water move according to the song. Did you?

7:04: We get up and get ready to move out amidst the sea of people. Remember: People standing at the exit door of a theatre hall and blocking the sitting viewer for the last section of the movie (the humorous happy-ending scene) and then just getting out when the "The End" is shown, so that he can beat the traffic. These days your car is parked rather packed amidst other cars that you have to wait till the owner of the car ahead of you takes it out.

Anyway, we were at the car park at 7:15. But still we could see people on the bridge on the return and also at the car park. Uff! Krrrrrr - Vrooom. Good lord we are in the confines of our Sparky and just the three of us. What a relief! Darkness and bad roads. 3 km towards Mysore city and on the left side we hit upon

7:40 pm - At the Hotel MMK. Boarding and Lodging. 08236-290434. hotelmmk@aol.in. Robin: 9343331401. "A home in the garden for a pleasant stay."

Rs 700/- for a basic room. There is an in-house restaurant. Good tawa-paratha, chappati with North-Indian curry (the type of curry - which is mixed in the last minute using brown/green/yellow base curry and all taste the same.) Anyway, we were hungry and this was an Oasis. We were glad that we got a good deal and did not have to run for a hotel room on that Eid day.



8:30 pm - We are in our rooms. Watching some TV for a while. Copying snaps to our laptop, writing logs of the day... Ccccccrash! All and all a great day out. Two more exciting days coming up. Did I hear my wife say - "I am already missing home"?

Here are the short-logs from the falls to KRS: