Another Anecdote from Way-back!

 This time around, I am writing about our experience of a cycling expedition to Bannerghatta during the mid-1970s. In those days, with sparse vehicular traffic and even sparse population, this destination was quite far from the parts of the city where we all lived.

It all started with around 10-12 of us (pity, I can’t remember a few of their names) deciding to go on this biking trip to the nearby Bannerghatta, just under 20 km. Normally, in those days, we would reach Bannerghatta Main Road either via Tilak Nagar or Jayanagar 9^th Block East and reach the destination.

One of our friends, Prakash, started acting high and mighty as if he drew the map of Bengaluru and said he would take us through the shortest route.

The day before the trip, we all had our bikes checked, oiled, properly inflated, etc., and decided to get the food packed in the early hours of the morning.

To this end, he said he would assess the eatery from where we will pack the food and first off, we went to the restaurant in N R Colony – Kumara Bhavan (Also loosely called a Cholera Bhavan amongst us kids) and ordered 12 packets of Iddlies and insisted that it should be cleanly and hygienically packed. The owner of the restaurant blew his top and shouted, saying that his eatery is being mocked by such insistence on hygiene and cleanliness, as they give prominence to these qualities, and shooed us away.

We then came to the SLV of Subramanya Aital, where we ordered the food. In those days, a plate of idlis (2 pieces) cost around Re. 0.30 and a vada was around Re. 0.25.

Prakash also insisted that we get some sweet packets too, and he and a few others went to Bluebell Sweets in Jayanagar 4^th Block Shopping Complex to get these. Believe me, this sweet shop was the most expensive one those days, when Arya Bhavan or Kanti Sweets were still in an embryonic stage.

Before I forget, many of us didn’t have our own bicycles and we hired them in Muninagappa’s Cycle Shop for the full day. The hiring charges were a princely Rs. 1.50 for a full day.

The next morning, we collected the food packets, and as soon as we all gathered, we took off to Bannerghatta. The route Prakash suggested was via Kanakapura Road, and despite many of us protesting that it was the wrong route, he insisted that we take that route. Not to argue much, we decided to teach him a lesson once he realised his folly and grudgingly pedalled on.

We must have come a couple of km after Banashankari temple when he showed his ignorance of the route and started to enquire from bystanders and the makeshift shop owners on the route. There were no buildings around, and we could hardly see any structures, and even less human life. The sides of the road showcased nothing more than agricultural fields.

Most of those whom he enquired about the route scoffed at him for taking the wrong route. One of the guys was very helpful, and he opened the gate to his farm and suggested that we pedal through his fields and come out on the other end, which would lead to a dirt road connecting the Bannerghatta Main Road. Prakash had his face blackened figuratively, as he was red with shame. As we took this route through the fields, in a single file as the road was a narrow pedestrian pathway, we enjoyed the beautiful guavas and other fruit plants and shrubs. We dared not stop to pick a few as we were focused on reaching our destination. We also negotiated a big and open well on the way, taking care not to lose our balance and fall into it.

At the end of this pathway, as the guy indicated, we hit another makeshift gate which opened onto a dirt road connecting us to Bannerghatta Main Road. By now, Prakash had gotten back most of his lost composure and started to boss over again. The rest of us almost gheraoed him to just listen to what the majority decides, and he whimpered and kept quiet.

Thereafter, it was a breeze, and we reached Main Road and turned right towards Bannerghatta. En route, we came to a village called Gottegere, where we had a pit stop and ordered coffee at one of the small roadside eateries. The taste of this coffee was so good that most of us had a second dose of it. We also made this a compulsory coffee stop for all our future trips. We were almost two-thirds of our way to the destination. From here, we lazily biked to the destination and reached a good 2½ hours from the start.

We visited the hillock temple and saw the famed Bannerghatta Zoo before unpacking the food. Hungry that we were, we gobbled up the food in no time and drank water copiously from the nearby source of potable water. Mind you, in those days, we grew up in tough, rugged environs and were not so sensitive to the source of water or food. Maybe that is one of the reasons for our enviable immunity system.

After spending some good time there in the National Park area, we started pedalling towards Bengaluru. After a customary stop at Gottegere, where we had a double dose of the excellent coffee that we had savoured earlier, we came all the way up to the junction of Tilak Nagar Main Road, turned left, and reached home by late afternoon.

Those who had hired cycles returned them, and we all gathered at SLV for an evening snack and coffee before dispersing.

Most of us decided to boycott Prakash for any future trips, though a few of us felt sorry for him. We had a few more cycle trips, the farthest one to Mysuru. More on these later.

Bottom line, we had a great outing and a terrific experience that we kept mulling over for a long time!

Incidents Surrounding The Cricket Match, Worth Remembering!

Prologue:

We had a huge ground for ourselves during our middle school days. The ground was full of children playing various games, and we had a dedicated place for our cricket. Though it was chaotic, the players were focused on the game, and nothing bothered them except the ringing of the bell for the start of morning and afternoon sessions.

We used to bother the neighbouring houses whenever we hit the ball into their places and were oblivious to the shouting that followed.

The Story:

Circa 1971-72, and it happened during my 6^th standard. 

We had a classmate, Raja, who came from as far as Subramanyapura (presently this has become a suburb of Bengaluru as the city has grown at least 10 km to the South-West, beyond this point). He had been watching us play cricket at the school and proposed that our team from school play a match with his local team. He added that arrangements for transport and food would be made.

In those days, Subramanyapura was at the ‘back of beyond’ for us hailing from the Basavanagudi and Jayanagar areas, as our periphery was restricted to Banashankari Temple on one side and Chennamma Kere (Lake) on the other side and Bannerughatta Road on the South-East side.

We knew that the reputed Gopalakrishna Mills was a major industrial unit and had their own buses to transport their workmen from the city. Excited that we were, we readily agreed to this adventurous cricket match.

Come D-Day, we gathered at South-end Circle from where the GK Mills’ bus picked us up in the morning and took us to Subramanyapura. The playground was just behind the Mills. Our team (I am still trying to remember who all went – Murali, Badari, Sathyathirtha, TL Srinivasa Murthy, Babu Reddy, Prabhakar, Shivakumar, yours truly, etc.) was very eager as we met with the other team members and went for the toss.

I request my classmates (who came on that day) to fill in with the details that they remember, so that this article can be a complete one.

I don’t remember much of the game, except that our team won the match, while the losing team created a ruckus and tried their best to cheat and win the match. In those days, we played for Pencils as a princely bet, and if I remember it right, we won 11 pencils – one each for the opponent team member.

The game was done and dusted, and we were very hungry and tired. The losing team members went back on their word of providing food, and there we were, in an alien place with no food and dog tired after the match.

Someone suggested that we could have Prasada at the Subramanya Swamy temple, and we hurried to have our fill of the Mosaranna (Curd Rice). We breathed easy after this, and then it suddenly dawned on us that there was no transport to take us back to our part of the civilisation! The shift timing of the mills was to end at 5:00 pm, and till then, we had to wait in a hostile environment (remember we had won the match, much to the dislike of the local boys).

In those days, Subramanyapura and Kanakapura Road were connected by a single-lane road with no traffic at all. An occasional chugging lorry carrying bricks or sand was the only telltale sign of civilisation. Nevertheless, we enquired from a few roadside shops and dragged our feet towards Banashankari. Somewhere in between, we made our way through agricultural fields and even through a graveyard. BK (Sathyathirtha) was scared and almost started to cry as Murali coaxed him with his encouraging words and chanting some mantras to quell his fear. That BK went on to become a decorated Police Officer is a story for another day!

We must have walked quite a distance, and our legs were almost on resisting mode to any further torture of walking. With no sight of a single soul other than us, we dragged our feet, cursing Raja and his team for our plight under the harsh scorching sun.

Soon we came up to the asphalted single-lane road and as luck would have it, we managed to stop a lorry that had just disposed of its load of bricks (this I still remember as the residue of bricks was still in the lorry) and got on to its load-bin. Some small mercies in life!

Soon we reached Kanakapura Road, got down from the lorry, and thanked the driver and the cleaner profusely.

Our only way to reach Banashankari was to hitch-hike again, on a lorry, as the frequency of buses to Kanakapura and other places beyond Banashankari was far and few in between.

Thus fated, we waited for our next hike on a lorry again. We didn’t have to wait for long as a merciful lorry driver stopped and asked us to jump onto the load bin. We chugged along and soon our joy knew no bounds as we could see the familiar Banashankari Temple on the horizon.

With a huge sigh of relief, we got off the lorry, thanking the driver and the cleaner profusely, as we made our way to the bus stand, waiting for the buses to take us home.  

I noticed one thing here; despite all of us, not yet into our teens, being left high and dry at an unfamiliar place and having to go through an ordeal of trekking our way back, none complained about what happened back at Subramanyapura. Perhaps, the thrill of an outing and winning the match was quite overwhelming, and the bits of inconvenience were too trifle to bother our exuberant minds.

We had just come out of our houses on the pretext of playing a cricket match, but hid the details of the venue from our family members. This instance, at a place unfamiliar to the family members, was never discussed in the open, and we had kept it a secret for a long time.

Epilogue:

We never discussed the happenings of this event in the open. Raja continued to study, and he was never picked on. Probably, our young minds were not polluted as the later generations, since we rarely saw any movies and there was no TV to contaminate our behaviour with mindless and meaningless soapies. Also, if matters had precipitated, we would have been hauled up by our parents for daring to get into such a predicament.

This experience made us strengthen our bonds with our classmates. Our concerted efforts in dispelling fears of a few of our friends while exploring unknown areas and encountering obstacles hitherto not experienced boosted our confidence and perhaps laid a foundation for our character going forward.

I am really indebted to HIM for providing me with a chance to experience this outing! 

My First Visit to Melukote.

During September last year, I had an opportunity to visit Melukote, a temple town steeped in history (a great deal of barbaric incidents too), around 150 odd kms away from my place, and my first visit to this revered place that hosts a few famous temples.

I posted this article on my Facebook Page on September 12^th last year but had forgotten to post it on my blog.

What an outing I had with my old childhood friend, Kishan, and his siblings!

I got a call from him last weekend when he invited me to join his family for an outing to Melukote, a holy place for the Iyengar community.

The traveller in me quickly said YES, without even blinking my eyes.

Off we went early this morning, all eight of us, huddled in two cars.

After the breakfast of Iddli, Pongal, and a still-cooked Vade at Kadambas on Mysuru Highway, we drove to Melukote, arriving there around 9:30 am.

We had a very good Darshana of the presiding deity Lord Cheluva Narayana Swamy and His consort, Goddess Lakshmi. Since Kishan and his family had special pooja, we were somewhat privileged devotees to have a ringside view and behold the beautiful idol of the deity. One look at the Lord, and you can understand why He is called Cheluva Narayana Swamy!

The temple has so many rich carvings on the pillars that normally, visitors overlook to appreciate either due to lack of time or otherwise. 

A few of the pics below show the rich carvings. Pics inside this temple, courtesy - Suma Rao.

      

            

   

      

    

             

        

     

         

        

Well, I could have posted a few more dozen pictures of this amazingly beautiful temple and its precincts.

A pit stop later, we proceeded to climb the hill (around 300 asymmetrical steps from where we parked our cars) to reach Lord Narasimha Swamy Temple on the top of the hill.

The abhisheka was special in the sense that only a limited number of sevakartas will be allowed to perform this seva on any given day and we were fortunate to have prebooked the seva. This idol of the Lord, too, is a magnificent one and one can feel the presence of the divine, inexplicable energy as the eyes behold the Lord.

Forgot to add - just before the start of Abhisheka, we started to chant Shri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra as we had about 20-30 minutes before the priests prepared for the ritual. It was an unbelievable experience to chant this sacred stotra in a group and in the sanctum sanctorum in the divine presence of the Lord!!

We were blessed indeed to witness the Abhisheka to the Lord in such close quarters.

I could capture this only in my terapixel camera (eyes) and could store it on my petabyte harddisk (brain) for anytime recall!!

Once the Abhisheka concluded, the sanctum was closed for Alankaara and in this interval, we were offered a sumptuous prasada of banana rasayana and waited for the Lord's Darshana, post Alankaara.

Having filled our eyes with the image of the Lord post Alankaara, we had our second innings of the fill of prasada that consisted of Kadamba (a la Bise Bele Bath), Puliyogare, Ksheerannam and Curd Rice.

Our stomachs full of the tasty prasada, I proceeded to the rooftop of the temple for some pics and panoramic views captured both on my camera and my terapixel camera and stored it for posterity on my petabyte hard disk, for my anytime recall!

        

            

   

                                                                            A look at the crysanthemum flowers ready for harvest.

After this, we climbed down to our cars and went to see a few other famous sites in the town. Akka Thangi koLa (water tanks), which is famous, like the other main pushkarani in the town, for shooting movies of all languages and Soapies too!

     

Before we started our return journey, a few of us couldn't resist the visit to the famous Subbanna's Canteen for various types of ready-mixes, condiments, etc.

Somewhere in between, we stopped for a coffee break that was very much needed as we were feeling a bit down from the heavy lunch, what with such a filling lunch!

Thereafter, we hit the road for our return journey and reached home just after 5:00 pm. 

On the whole, it was a day well spent. Many thanks to Kishan, Harish, Meera, Jyothi, Jaisimha, Ranjini and Balaji for the excellent company and for hosting me!!

Looking forward to more such short visits with them in the future!!!