Badravati - The Steel city (April15th,16th 2006)
The only reason I went to Badravati was to meet my cousins, uncle and aunty... And it being a two day (inclusive of journey time) trip ... obviously, I didn't have time to explore the place...
The how to...
Badravati is a small town, taluk HQ, 274 kms north west off Bangalore. To get here (from Bangalore), one must proceed towards Tumkur (via Yeshwantpur, Dasarahalli, Nellamangala) on NH-4. Tumkur is around 60 odd kms from Bangalore, the highway is clogged till Nellamangala, but frees up considerably on the 4-lane toll way to Tumkur. The travel time to Tumkur should be approximately 1hr. At Tumkur, take the Tumkur bypass. Follow this bypass (a little bumpy) and proceed towards Gubbi. This should put you onto NH-206. The next big town is Tiptur (again a relatives infested area for me... luckily, I know none of them... hehehe...). This should be approximately 180 kms from Bangalore. Thre are a few good hotels, in case you wish to take a break. From there proceed towards Arsikere (You need to take a right at a fork in the middle of Tiptur). Arsikere is around 40 kms from Tiptur. Arsikere is, again, a taluk HQ by a lake, hence the suffix kere. Next in line is Birur (70 kms from Arsikere). My Great-Great-grandpa was a native of this town. Anyways, from Birur proceed towards Tarikere (20 kms) and then to Badravati (36 kms). After Tarikere, there is a fork (again!) One takes you towards Shimoga and the other towards Badravati. The Badravati road is a state highway, and hence is in bad shape. There are a few railway crossing on this route, with the railways and the road laid almost parallel to each other on most sectors. You'll be quite lucky to spot a train, or maybe even chase it :-)))
As for me...
I rode (RE Thunderbird) non-stop, well... almost, from Blr to Badravati. The two stops were...
1) to take a picture of a tractor and
2) to answer the stupid cell phone.
The luxuries of travelling solo.
The Tumkur road was a treat :-). But NH-206 was better! The roads were narrow, empty and well maintained. I found a lot of street side vendors selling enormous grapes, tasty tender coconut water and a lot of mallige huva. As I approached Birur, the roads were lined with beautiful homes, colourful boganvillas and flowering trees. Spring was in the air. I left Blr at 7:45 am and reached Badravati at 12:15pm. The next day I left Badravati at 2pm, with ominous black clouds on the horizon. I raced the clouds till Arsikere, and then all hell broke loose!
It poured and poured and poured all the way till Tumkur. I couldn't turn back, nor could I proceed. I had to ride on, come what may, to make it back to Blr before nightfall, since, I abhor riding at night, and am quite capable of falling asleep!
I changed clothes at the outskirts of Ghandinagar, yes a village by that name in Karnataka! And yes, I did strip on the highway... luckily it was an isolated spot :-) (figure out, who is lucky... me or the potential witnesses) Put on a jacket (not water proof) changed into dry socks, (my boots had more water than Kadakwasla and KRS combined) and set out in the light drizzle, which was, as always, a mirrage. I was soon engulfed in a wall of water droplets, hurting whereever and whenever they made contact with my "protected" body. I was shivering, cold, wet, needed to pee badly and riding at a minimum of 70 kmph. I stopped the bike at some isolated spot after Tiptur and before Gubbi. Gingerly relieved myself at some stump, in full view of any passing vehicle. By this time, I did not care. The thought of Bangalore (100 kms away) was as distant as the last rays of sunhine. It was almost 5 pm.
I just kept riding from that moment, almost mechanical, with my brain switched off. Quite a wierd feeling. I was happy when I reached Tumkur! The thought of having the option of halting the night, and sleeping in a dry bed was extremly tempting. Don't know what came over me, perhaps it was the abrupt dry spell, or the sight of a realtively lesser shade of gray (that seemed to hover over a distant Bangalore), but I puttered on forward. That, I was riding a RE, gave a large doze of confidence. After all Bangalore, was only 60kms away, and it was just 6 pm. I still needed to wear some dry clothing, if I were to aviod falling sick. And so with all frontal lobe activity comming to a halt, I stripped, yet again, by the road side (NH-4 this time) and changed into some dry cloths. I wonder, why I was carrying 5 sets of clothes in the first place for a three day trip (that got cut down to two)
My initial baravdo was soon watered down, with another doze of rain. I had stopped caring a long time back. I reached Nellamangala by 6:30 pm... and subsequently did the rest of the 20 odd kms (to home) in the next two hours. By 9 pm I was back home, taking a hot shower and was off to la-la land by 9:30... What a weekend it had been...
Addu-ella saku bladeu... Badravati mein kya karaun???
Good question... A few options...
1) Go to Jog falls (200kms)
2) There is some Tiger park some where... quite like Bannergatta I hear...
3) Visit the steel plant.
4) There is lot of good green grass in this part of town. Nah... like Lendel once said, "Grass is ment for cows".
5) Halebelur is quite close (60kms) from Birur
6) Hosadurga is also quite close (compared to Jog)
Where do I stay???
There must be some lodge, somewhere in Badravati... nothing spectacular, but surely some place to sleep... It isn't as if people don't live here...
No comments:
Post a Comment