Cross @ your own risk

I was on my bike and didn't really understand the meaning of this signal. We all know the traffic menace in Bangalore. It was red for vehicles yet probably the government wanted to warn pedestrians to cross the road at their own risk :-). Be alert while you cross a road , a green doesn't mean you can cross without any risk.

Chitradurga

It was a weekday and I was asked to go to Chitradurga for "Mahalaya". I am a person who is least interested in the concept of life after death , well when i see so many bad things about life when they are still alive, praying to either god or any activity for dead hardly interests me. However it was an oppurtunity to visit the Chitradurga Fort which had special memories as a child in my mind. As a kid I used to go to this fort everyday for morning jog, play a game of cricket inside the fort and come back by around 9am.

Had heard a lot that things have changed, lot had been done for the development and restoration of the fort, but couldn't visit the fort for a long time. I even planned with friends many times but again could never materialize the same. This was the oppurtunity, drove to Durga picking my cousin, chikappa and chikamma. Droped them at Doddappa's house at around 10.30pm and went to my uncle's place to take a break. I was asked to be there for the function at 7 in the morning. As I told you before, was least interested in sitting and watching each others face in function and I headed to Durga Fort @ 5.30am in the morning.

Wow.. it was not the same fort anymore, lots of sign boards, well laid footpaths, restored broken walls, good lighting, toilets, it had gilmpse of international standards. I really appreciate archelogical department's efforts in getting this done. It's amazing work executed perfectly.

The moment I entered the fort one thing which came to my mind was "Tuppada Kola", it's quite a big rock to climb. As a kid I remembered getting beaten by my uncles for climbing it up. Now after so many treks and scaling so many peaks this did look very tiny. Just wanted to try it again and yes it was fun. After reaching the peak realized that now no one can shout at me :-).

It was around 9am and I started getting calls from home :-), anyway I took my own time to roam around doing some photography and turned back towards home only when I was hungry. It was memorable trip these rocks have so much to say and just waits for an ear to listen to them.

Maidenahalli

Well if you are sick and tired of Bangalore traffic then this place is a very good weekend camping ground. Not very far from bangalore but very calm and scenic. Even though i did most of my schooling in Tumkur i was not aware of this place until very recently. Maidenahalli or Jayamangala Black buck Santuary gives a good feel of interaction b/w humans and animals. I heard from locals over there that they have to guard their fields all night in order to protect their groundnut yield from the protected black buks.

I wanted to do some photoshoot of the blackbucks but then even though the sighting was good, they were very shy to face my camera the moment they saw me they would just run. I just managed to get a couple of pics defnitely not the kind i wanted off. Any away beautiful calm place very relaxing you can just pitch a tent and enjoy the silence of this place watching black bucks moving around.

Visit this place if you are a nature lover, love watching birds. You can talk to local forest guards and also pitch a tent outside. But then you don't get anything to eat, you should prepare your own food. There are 2 rooms with toilets in the forest guest house probably you need to book in advance. Also you can go for a walk in the forest and if you are lucky you might see jackle or wolf. Since its pretty open grasslands i would say the best time to visit this place is during winter or else be prepared to feel the heat. Best time for sighting is early morning or evening so camp overnight and enjoy sighting.

Also there is very good temple, fort and huge rock for trekking and rock climbing in Madhugiri. Madhugiri is a decent small town to get some food.

Team : Poorna,Jyothi and Diwi

Route: Bangalore - Tumkur - From tumkur bipass ask any one and take a right to Koratgere/Madhugiri -- From Madhugiri take hindupura road (don't go towards chikbalapur or gowribidnoor) -- kodigeneahalli -- reach puruvara village --ID halli -- Maidenahalli/Jayamangali Blackbuck Reserve. Around 163kms one side. Road is very good until tumkur and from tumkur to Maidenahalli is bad due to recent rains.

Contact: Harish (RFO) -- 9448731686/ Ranganath -- 8105224893

Hogenkal

Hogenkal is the perfect example of how a so called civilized human spoils the beauty of nature. Just like shivanasamudra this place is badly littered, full of plastics all around, people take bath spoiling the sanity of the place, booze and then throw liquor bottles etc into river. Sorry to say but this is not the scene from a civilized society. Lots need to be done in many ways like banning of plastics and also educating and charging heavy fines for people who do not adhere to rules. I have been visiting this place again and again but then every time i visit, its worse then the last time. Its so expensive but not a penny is put for the development. Probably i will not visit here any more for a long time.

108 Emergency Service

I just started from my office today evening @5:15. A couple of guys
helped a person lying on ground to footpath. It was a minor accident
but person on bike had a broken leg probably either a ligament tear or
fracture with enormous pain. No one knew what next. I called 108 for
an ambulance. I was so impressed with the service
1) Is the patient bleeding? Can he talk? Don't panic give me the
adress and ambulance will be there in 5min
2) Immediately after that police gave me a call asking do I need any
assistance? Is there any jam or is it a major accident. At the end of
the call they said thank you "poorna prajna". I was so surprised that
they even tracked my name so fast.
Amazing service the ambulance was there in 7min that's something
really good with the kind of traffic in bangalore
Keep up the good work guys hats of to you :-).