Kabbaladurga - The short and sweet challenge

It was one another weekend and I wanted to do something productive rather than lying in bed all day. Then I saw a trek to Kabbaladurga and registered without giving any thought. The icing on this was it happened to be a woman only trek. However, any trek does not happen without convincing my over-thinking parents, this was no exception. The Kaveri issue happened to be a blocker, yet I sneakily escaped! 😃

With full enthusiasm, I got up by 5am on a Sunday morning. As the meeting point was Banashankari this time, I had to travel to another city from Indiranagar. Google maps gave an estimated time of 1 hour and I had to reach the bus station by 6.45am. The punctual angel in me made me to book the cab at 6am and the outcome is reaching much early than expected. I reached at an odd time of 6.20am. As I waited opposite to the bus stand, I noticed a restaurant open for breakfast. DAMN! I spent my morning hours in preparing dosa, just because it was mentioned that we had to get the breakfast. If only I had known the existence of a restaurant, I could have parcelled it. As my mind was fighting, an uncle walked to me and asked if I was going to the Kabbaladurga trek. No wonder he spotted me because of my attire and trekking shoes. Then he introduced me to his daughter who was a first-timer in trekking and I was able to see that excitement. I was so impressed with his dad that he had read blogs about this trek and motivated us telling that we are going at the right time. The situation would have been completely different in my case, if only my parents were in Bangalore.

Then we walked to the bus stand where we met a group of girls who looked like trekkers, and surprisingly many were first-timers. They were totally geared up without missing even a single item in the checklist. Meanwhile the group expanded and Raja Lakshmi decided that we could finish our breakfast in the restaurant as most of us were already there. Quickly gulped idlis and got into the bus to Kanakapura. That's when I found two of my juniors as well, who registered for the same trek. The enthusiasm paused during the travel as all of us were seated in any vacant seat that we got and I dozed off happily. In another 2.5 hours, we reached Satnur, a small village in Kanakapura and quickly packed our lunch. Got into two autos and in no time, we were on the base of the mighty Kabbaladurga. 

Kabbaladurga is famous among the local for the powerful Goddess Kabbalamma. Sunday was no exception to these localities that the temple at the base was so crowded. This is supposed to be the only temple for 28 villages around this area. The mountain also possessed a fort which was well positioned in a 250m high monolithic rock that was steep on all three sides and moderate on the fourth side, which will be the trekker's path. 

As the sun was scorching our skins, we decided to climb quickly without wasting our time. Since the group was mostly filled with first-timers, I got the privilege to lead the team with Raja Lakshmi at the end. The trek started off with a mild walk, crossing trees and bushes but suddenly there was a steep climb. Even though we had the support of rails here and there, the path was angled little crooked that it always felt like we were going to fall. Yet, if you focus on the steps without looking down, you could cross the small challenge quickly. 

Then there was a small obstacle where we had to climb without any support, yet you could always cling to the rocks. As the group was filled with first-timers, the leading group got multiple breaks where we tortured our beloved Kurkure Aunty (just got married 3 months back) to narrate her wedding stories. Once you cross the two obstacles, congrats! You'll reach the top even before you wonder where you are!

We sat on an open space and finished all the snacks, as many had brought so many things and wanted to reduce the weight of their luggage. While our photographer Rashmi was clicking many to-be-dps, we gulped a range of food items from healthy bananas and orange to homemade sweets. As we were getting fried under the mid noon sun, we quickly finished our lunch and wrapped up. The bonda helped in finishing the dabba full of rice. 

Then we explored the peak, visited the hidden fort and went to the other side of the hill which had the best view than any part of the mountain. A small slip would land us in the base, alive or dead would depend on the luck. After a couple of group pictures, we started to descend and the route was the same. Being a steep hill, there were few phases where we had to sit and crawl like a kid, yet most of us reached the base quickly. There was cold buttermilk waiting for us at the base by a couple, sold at 10rs per glass. Since we were devoid of water, the buttermilk was heaven to the group. As we waited for the final group, we sat near a water dump and gossips started. Then everyone came and we marched towards the Kabbalamma temple, yet didn't step in. Drank sugarcane juice and bid goodbye to the mighty beauty - Kabbaladurga.

Same as how we came, we took an auto to the bus stand and had our feedback session. As our eyes kept waiting for the bus to Bengaluru, patience was flying off and hence we boarded the next bus to Kanakapura. The bus journey was even more fun as Rashmi got into an argument with a localite for chasing her out of the seat, yet everything ended with laughter. An old lady was impressed by our kala chasma woman as she taught her how to pose for pictures and took selfies. Our next halt came quickly and we got into a private bus as the government buses were too crowded. Reached Bangalore by 6pm with lots and lots of memories.

A big salute to the lady who dared to take the ownership of 16 other women in the group, out of which many were first-timers. Good job, Raja lakshmi! You will always be an inspiration to all of us. Thank you everyone for an amazing day and see you soon!

No of people in the group : 17

Total Expense : 250

Wow trek with wow people to Siddarabetta

It was a rainy Sunday morning and who would wish to wake at 5 am, instead of wrapping yourself inside the blanket in that amazing weather. 17 girls had a tough fight with their beds and made it to the Shanthala silk house meeting point to enjoy their day at Siddarabetta. I took the 6.35 metro from Indiranagar, where I met Sandeep geared up for his run in Cubbon park. Reached Majestic at 6.50 and hurried to the meeting point.

The entire group was new to me other than the organiser Raksha whom I've met in a prior trek. Introducing myself to the entire group, I was excited to be in my first women only trek and waited eagerly for the next mission. Boarded our TT at 7.15 and started our journey. Tejaswini joined us in yeshvantpur and the van was filled with pretty women.

After a quick round of introduction, the ice was broken because we are surrounded by women and just women! The noise level increased as everyone started to chat with their fellow seatmates. That's when I started my conversation with an amazing woman Lakshmi, from whom I learnt how to lead my life confidently and follow what you love the most. At the first sight, she looked very smart and I was sure that she was married, but little did I expect that she would be a mother of 12 year old girl. Then we stopped at a restaurant near dabbaspet where we had idly, dosa and the best akki roti that I've ever had in my life.

Finished our breakfast and headed towards Siddarabetta from dabbaspet town. Since the journey time was going to take an another hour, Raksha initiated the food antaksharie game. Different varieties of dishes started to fly around from the entire nation, especially the south Indian items as the van was filled with majority of south Indians. For once, Hindi didn't dominate the group!

We reached Siddarabetta around 10.30am and started our ascend. There was a small temple at the base and all we saw later were multiple steep steps to the hill top. Started off with my prayer and managed to stay in the front of the group as always. It started to drizzle and we couldn't ask for a better weather. While local people were walking in barefoot including the little ones, we tried so hard to move forward despite wearing the expensive shoes. The only creature which disturbed us on our way were the monkeys. Indeed they pounced on a lady's bag but thank God it ran away.

The climb became even more interesting when we had to climb small steps carved in the rocks. Reached the peak and waited for the entire group in a clifftop to join us. With the monkeys entertaining us now and then, the view from the top was truly mesmerising. Meanwhile everyone completed their mission and we went to visit the cave temple in two groups as someone should be there to safeguard our shoes and bags from the monkeys.

The temple was completely different from what we expected. Lord Shiva was inside a cave with Nandi in front of him. Also we saw lot of people, including few girls from our group, who got themselves drenched completely in the water that started from the cave. It is a belief that this water would help ail your body pains and keep you healthy. After visiting the temple, we explored the mountain even further that we started to climb up. The weather started to change slowly and we didn't know if we should be happy or sad about it. It started to get dark and a heavy downpour was waiting for us. Even though we enjoyed the climate, we were worried about the descend after the rains.

After clicking lots and lots of pictures, we started our way back as it started to pour heavily. We were searching for a place to hide from the rains. Once the rain slowed down, the real adventure began. With few drops and crawls and jumps, we managed to finish our mission completely. Barefoot walk indeed really worked out in finishing our mission without slipping on the rocks.

It was 3pm when we reached the base and hunger panic began. We heard it from the local people that the temple arranges annadhanam everyday and we headed there to have dal rice and buttermilk. Got into the van and headed to Mahalakshmi  temple near dabbaspet. Flew back to Bengaluru as we were getting too late. With a quick round of feedback, our trek came to an end and became memories to be added to the future. Kudos to the organisers Raja Lakshmi and Raksha for organising it so well!