One Fine Saturday Morning

It was a pleasant Saturday morning and I decided that I wont waste this one lying around at home. So I woke up long before sunrise and decided to drive away someplace not so far away from Bangalore city. My good friend Sunil's always eager to give me good company, provided that he's in India.

He said knew a hillock just after the international airport, which was used by my old manager(from my previous company) for his previous photoshoot. Itseems he was so impressed with the place that he spent a couple of hours in that place, taking pictures of this boulder in every angle that he could.


But being the simple person that I am, the esoteric is always far beyond my grasp.After walking a few hundred steps, I found this place which was in ruins.


That's when we chanced upon a milestone which said, "Nandi - 23 kms". So we decided, "Nandi door nahi". The moment I took the smaller road that branched off the national highway, we were pretty much convinced that we had made the right decision. Our first sight was that the first rays of the sun had still not melted the mist that covered the mountains. For both of us who are used to all the smoke and polluted air of Bangalore city at rush hour, this seemed like heaven.

The climb up Nandi hills seemed no competition to the scary climb that I had done six months ago on the western ghats region of Agumbe.The roads were also seemed a lot better asphalted making this climb up seem like a mere sprint.

Most of Nandi Hills was developed during Tipu Sultan's rule, when he used this as a summer paradise. And the entrance to the place gave ample example of the type of architecture that existed during that time.



If the entrance was about all about architecture, what was inside was about nature's beauty at its best. I could say a thousand words about it. But then I would finally give up saying that I simply dont have the vocabulary to match it. Thats why I decided against boring everyone including myself into writing so much and chose to post these photos instead.




There were quite a few people there already, who I surmise were there to view the sunrise which Nandi is so famous for. A few random clicks were taken here and there, when I realised that the sun's rays were at it melting down the mist slowly, but surely. We spent the next one hour or so just walking around aimlessly and trying to capture some images. Then it was time to get back. Our initial plan was to drive to BIAL and check out the place. But then our empty stomachs commanded us to get back straight home. We then figured out,"CTR ka signal mil raha hain!!!"


On the way back, we chanced to see a few Fauji bhai log who had come all the way from Bihar for some kind of training. They seemed to be taking a break, I mean breakfast. And I didnt miss the oppurtunity to take some pictures.



And in return two of their senior officers didnt miss the oppurtunity to ask for a lift in my car to the foot of Nandi hills, which was the starting point for their trek.

We encountered a lot more traffic on our way back. But that didnt deter me from driving in the range of 100-120 kmph consistently. This, to me gives a heady feeling, similar to what a sadhu feels when he has had his puff of opium. The hunger of the empty stomachs was such that we would have stopped at the next chai ki dukaan and have something to eat there. But then, the prospect of having tasty CTR masala dosas made us decide against it.

If the trip to Nandi was one thing, then the taste of CTR's masala dosas was quite entirely another. As the old Lays that goes like this, "No one can eat just one", we never could stop at just 1 dosa. Sunil and I gulped down two each. Knowing our voracity to devour good food, we could have easily gone on to eat a few more, but then sanity got the better of us.

Some points of note from the short trip which started at 6 AM and got over at 10 AM.
1. The serene quietness of Bangalore city in the wee hours of the morning. Drive on the same roads at 9 AM, and you'll feel its at the other end of the spectrum.
2. A great drive back and forth to Nandi proved me that exhilaration is not always due to acceleration(pardon me for this Joshi-ism).
3.Nandi hills, simply amazing and reminds me yet again, "Nandi door nahin".
4. CTR masala dosas. No one can eat just one.
5. Getting to catch up with a very good friend and talk about life and its travails. Only after I reached back home I realised that the car stereo was never switched on for the entire duration. A rare occurence in my car.

Signing off with hope that this is the first of many such drives and saying,"Life's a journey, enjoy the drive."