My first solo trip : BR Hills – Sensational Scenery and Silent Beauty

BR Hills – I had absolutely no idea which bus to take when I boarded from Majestic – the Bangalore city bus stand. I accidentally spotted a name I had read and noted in my preparation-page and asked around the (very helpful) drivers, conductors and within a few minutes was on my way to Biligiri Rangaswamy Hills. After Channapatna, I chatted up a fellow passenger, who was a local fellow and a regular traveler on that route. Though he had a few difficulties with speaking English, we had a decent sketchy chat where I cam to know about where I should get down from the bus, where I could stay, where to go around in BR Hills and even where to sit in the bus so that I get a good view of the hills! He even introduced me to the bus conductor Mr. Ramanna, who seemed to be a good friend of my fellow passenger, who later helped me get the accommodation. The language barrier is much stronger in interior of Karnataka, and it can become slightly difficult for tourists to get good bargains. However, Ramanna, having declared me as his friend, did make sure that the only hotel in BR Hills (which had just two rooms) did let me stay without ripping me off, considering the tourist season was at its peak.

After a quick lunch, I set on foot to visit the BR Hills temple. There were two ways about – one via road and one via stairs. Using some logic, I decided that I’ll go up via stairs and come down via the road. As I started climbing the hundreds of stairs (or atleas it seemed hundreds!), I wondered why I decided to climb up via stairs. Considering the weight I was carrying, it wasn’t the smartest decision. After climbing halfway-up, I did take a photo of the stairs just to prove later that I did climb stairs, but somehow, it doesn’t look that high up in the photo. Must be some issue with the camera! 😉

I did visit Lord Ranganatha’s temple, but didn’t spend a lot of time there. Just outside the temple, there were two guys wearing some (supposedly) (holy?) tribal dress, and accosting everyone and saying some chant for the accosted. And ofcourse, expected a few rupees in return. I didn’t mind giving him Rs 5, but after that, the guy became super-friendly and we talked for 10-15 minutes about the place, the customs there, even places to visit. He also agreed to get photographed!

Clearly, Rs 5 weren’t enough to get him to smile 😛

Lord Ranganatha Temple

Jut behind the temple, there was a lovely footpath which took you to the other side of the hilltop, with some really breathtaking sceneries. Though I took a lot of photographs there (and almost everybody was doing that too), I later saw that I accidentally caught a very nice photo of a family trying to get their kids to pose for the photo. The funniest thing was that just before the photo was to be taken, one of the kids would always suddenly move away from the camers, just to tease the grownups 🙂

On the way downhill, this time via the road, a few more picturesque views.. (If you are reading this on a laptop, for the picture below, try tilting the screen away a little bit, somehow the darker picture looks even more amazing, where you can see each light ray separately – illuminating the scenery)

Just after sunsset, I set for a fresh walk in the other direction and soon realized my mistake – it was getting dark very fast, with almost no streetlights. Somebody called out to me, and enquired what the heck was I doing outside that late at night (it was just 6 pm) in the middle of the jungle – where tigers, bears walk freely at night. It turned out that this strict guy was actually a Forest Office and knew what he was talking about. As we got talking, I came to know he was from Agra/Delhi and we had a good long chat in Hindi, about everything from what I was doing in Bangalore to his kids to safari in BR Hills. After a few more minutes, the Forest Officer Singh said I was like a brother to him and told me I could always refer his name in the area to get some leverage, and contact him if I ever came back to BR Hills. I was touched.

Later, after dinner, there was a power cut at the hotel. Now, something about this ‘hotel’ : It was essentially a very small restaurant with two rooms on the upper floor, of which I had taken one room. The hotel was located on the main road, but there was absolutely nothing – not even street lights – on either side. So, when there was a power cut, I had nothing to do inside the room, I took a chair outside the room, and just sat there, looking at the silent jungle all around, the single lamp which was lit using a small generator – probably the only light source for miles around. It was very dark, very silent except for the sound of cricket and random bursts of jungle sounds. I felt like life was slowing down to a pace where one can relax, without any worries, any tension. I took this pic – with an aperture time of 15 seconds (so, imagine how dark it would have been out there!) – all the while holding the camera in my hand.

The photo is slightly blurred, but what you see are my feet perched up on the terrace, overlooking the road and the jungle.

The next morning, I woke up at 5, got ready and was off to Mysore by the 6.30 am bus to Bangalore.

My first solo trip : underprepared is an understatement

I went for my first solo-trip two weeks back, to BR Hills and Mysore. I hadn’t had any time to prepare for the trip, not even look at the wiki links that I have provided above.

So, just 15 minutes before taking off from home, I jotted down some random names and points from the internet on a page of paper to ‘guide‘ me in my travels. Clearly, as you can see below, the list was exhaustive, well-prepared and had the ability to challenge any guide book in its level of detail and explanation:

Now, you know why we call the place BR Hills instead of its full name.

Nevertheless, the trip was awesome! I didn’t mind traveling solo at all. Though there were a few learnings, especially in the context of how travel isn’t designed in India for solo travelers, I still loved the places and the freedom I had to go wherever I wanted. 🙂

Probably God also shone light on me for success in my travels.. 😛

En route to the temple at BR Hills

More stories and pics from this trip coming soon..