Having partaken the previous day it took some effort for me to clear the mists in my head and wake up at 4:30 A.M this day. This ride was a long time in the coming for me and it was a pretty special event. This was the first time I would be riding with B.K; a great friend and an avid tourer himself. It would also be a first for the both of us in that we’d be taking female pillion riders along. We had initially planned on going to Chikballapur and covering Jaramadagu waterfalls in the same trip but we found out that the waterfalls were best in the monsoon and decided to miss it this time. I didn’t want to repeat my Kuntala Waterfalls folly and end up looking at a thin stream of water falling off of a giant rock. Our rendezvous point was Christ University where we were to pick up the girls and start off at 6. I quickly got ready and went downstairs to find that it had rained heavily in the early hours of the morning. There was still a light drizzle falling and I rode to Christ and got there to find everyone geared up and ready to go. The girls in their helmets looked especially good. We eventually started off at 6:30 A.M and began enlisting the help of auto drivers to find Yeshwantpur from where we’d take the NH4 Tumkur road to Shivagange. The rain started to get pretty heavy by the time we reached the first toll gate and we braced ourselves and rode on. We were utterly drenched by the time we reached a Karnataka State Tourism Board signboard that indicated Shivagange was 18 km away. We were elated and experiencing a fresh burst of energy we finally got off the highway and headed left towards Shivagange. The road was absolutely beautiful and the lush green rain drenched landscapes dotted with hills were gorgeous to behold. We were fortunate enough to tackle two twisties before we finally arrived at the ‘villege’ limit of Shivagange.
A dense fog enveloped the top of the hill and the trails punctuated with temples and statues viewed from afar added to a sense of mystery about the hill. We parked our bikes outside the temple and deposited our helmets at a shop right next to the entrance and set off up the steps. We reached the door of the first temple and discovered that it would open at 9:30 A.M so we decided to take the trail leading upwards. We went up the steps and saw beautiful carvings on them.
I tried to step around them but ended up stepping on most of them and we continued up the trail. After the solid steps we came to our first surprise. The steps from here on were carved out of the rock-face and had two railings on either side to help support the climbers. The steps were thin and demanded utmost care from all of us to cross. The fact that they were wet didn’t help matters one bit. We made our way slowly with B.K and I leading the climb and the girls following in our wake. The walk turned into a full blown trek later on with no steps, and mud and wet rocks to contend with. Huffing and puffing we inched our way upwards on the trail taking frequent stops at little shelters that exist to provide the climbers with a well needed break. We came across many a Nandi Statue and stopped frequently to take a breather.
The girls lagged behind for most of the climb until B.K and I stopped at a place to let them catch up. We finally made it to a place where the statues of Shiva and Parvathi were visible and these egged us on to reach a landmark and inspire a sense of fulfilment within us. None of us were really fit but a kind of stubbornness descended upon us and we made it to the temple, gasping and sweating despite the cold weather.
We thought that this would be the end of it but I noticed a trail leading still higher up the hill and I pointed it out to them. The reaction was something to the effect of, “You’ve got to be kidding me” and all of us looked at each other uncertainly. I immediately expressed my desire to reach the summit and B.K voiced the same opinion. The girls were a little uncertain but decided to tag along eventually and all of us started off yet again. The real challenge was to begin now. We had reached high enough to see the fog begin to envelop us. We crossed the temple and headed to the next part of the trail and our jaws dropped. The steps were extremely narrow and slippery and the climb looked almost vertical. Completely consumed by our desire to reach the summit, B.K and I didn’t say a word and started climbing. To reduce the chance of any mishap we used the three-point hold at all times and edged up carefully with the girls lagging far behind us. Along the way, I wondered if it was such a good idea to let the girls climb and toyed with the idea of asking them to remain behind. I didn’t voice this concern however, because I didn’t want them to feel offense, so I focused on the climb and led the way. After many slippery narrow steps, vertical rock climbs, and heart-in-the-mouth moments we finally reached level ground with a shrine.
We were above the clouds now and the visibility was poor with the fog completely enveloping us. Here, we got a call from the girls informing us that they had turned back and that they would wait for us at the Shiva and Parvathi statues for us to return. This was good news for us and now we could go on with the climb, one worry removed. We made the final run to the top without stopping and reached a ladder leading up to a Nandi Statue which is also called the Shantala Point.
Legend has it that Shantala, queen of Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana, committed suicide from this point. The steps were merely slippery footholds leading up to the statue and I decided to climb up first to test the feasibility. Climbing up was not that difficult, albeit scary. Once I reached the statue I noticed that there was a trail leading up to the temples atop the hill and I decided to climb back down to proceed to the temples. I realized, however, that I couldn’t come back down the way I climbed up because the angle was very awkward and the steps were extremely slippery; one wrong step and I’d be tumbling down the hill. I realized that I needed to step around the statue to the other side where the steps were a little more distinct. I reached the back of the statue and saw that the only way to the other side of the statue was to walk on a piece of railing that was suspended off of solid rock and hanging in the air. I prayed fervently for the railing to hold against my weight and gingerly stepped on it and in a rush of terrified frenzy ran to the other side of the statue. In hindsight, the railing was pretty strong, but the fog and the slippery conditions made me fearful of falling off the hill. It was a pretty harrowing experience, but I made it down the statue and B.K and I continued onwards to the temples.
The visibility was very low at this height and the temples set against the background of dense grey fog made it seem like we were in a ghostly dream. We experienced a tremendous sense of accomplishment and spent some time just gazing around into nothingness. It was at this point of time that we heard voices coming from a distance and realized that there were other people around. We squinted and saw that there was another part of the hill a little distance away and we could barely make it out in the fog. We figured out the way to get there and a few minutes later we were finally at the summit of the hill. The summit of the hill had two pillars and a railing running around the edges.
The fog was at its thickest and we couldn’t see anything beyond a few meters at this point. We came upon a group of college kids who had climbed up before us and waited for them to leave before we finally stood and took in the beauty and the magnificence of the atmosphere. To be standing in that dense fog, in wet clothes, and shivering in the cold imparted a feeling to us that cannot be described. It was a consummate sense of satisfaction and fulfilment that we felt there and we basked in the glory of our subjectively grand achievement.
We eventually turned our attention to the pillars and saw that they were adorned with bangles. We deduced that this was some sort of a religious tradition and took some pictures. I told B.K that it was only right to leave some mark of our coming behind and he agreed wholeheartedly. We frantically searched our belongings to see what we could leave behind and all we could find was the visiting card of one of our previous professors at the university. We secured the card to a thin rope around the pillar with the help of safety pins and had a good chuckle at the thought of someone coming across a visiting card in this spot.
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We gazed at our handiwork for a little bit before deciding to head back. The climb back down was done with the same care and we steadily covered good ground. It was easier climbing back down than it was climbing up. As we descended lower we found the steps and the trail to be drying out and we slowly made our way down. There were a few scares when I slipped slightly a couple of times but all in all, the climb down was good.
We got back to the girls a good amount of time later and found them lazing about on a rock enjoying a mango. We spared no expense in telling them about the wonderful experience they had missed out on and then took some typical touristy pictures before starting the climb down. As we climbed down lower we started noticing crowds of people making their way up the hill. We also came across monkey-infested areas.
The sun was up by now and we were able to go into the temple to try and touch the Olakala Teertha. Legend has it that only the honest and good can touch it; by that logic, all people taller than 5’8” are honest and good. The girls couldn’t reach it and we managed to, and they had to contend with us accusing them of being sinners for the rest of the trip. We also looked at the Patala Gange and then it was time to trudge down the hill and ride back home. There were large groups of people walking up the hill and there were two files; one going up and one going down. Climbing back down was remarkably easy and we enjoyed watching the beautiful landscapes as we descended. We climbed back down all the way, collected our helmets from the shopkeeper (Rs. 5/helmet), and then rode off in the direction of Bangalore. We were starving at this point of time and decided to stop at the first decent dhaba we could find. We stopped at a place called Prakash Dreams Family Garden and had an excellent lunch at a very reasonable price. Our hunger satiated we left for Bangalore and reached a little while later. The total mileage of the trip was about 129 km. Although a short ride, I would count this to be one of the best rides I’ve ever been on. We were pretty unhappy with the rain but in hindsight it was fortuitous in that we got to witness Shivagange in a different light altogether. Although we missed out on clear views from Shantala point and higher, climbing in the rain and through the fog was an experience beautiful in its own way. I had excellent people for company and this is a trip that I’ll make again in the future sometime. I only hope that it rains that day too...
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