My hometown - Chikmagalur.
As a child, the moment i stepped out of my house, my eyes would fixate on those beautiful mountain ranges of mullayanagiri and baba budangiri. Backyard of my home offered a elegant view of the 'giris'. The festival seasons, especially deepavali, were still more exciting because the flame lighted a top the hill would be seen as a tiny little bulb glowing in the sky... I had always wanted to go see the beautiful place closely. Mullayanagiri... the highest point of Karnataka... is in my hometown of chikmagalur..The words used to be so thrilling... But actually, not as thrilling as the experience of visiting the place itself. I visited the 'giris' with my team recently. Here are a few snaps from the trip..
This is 'Devirammana betta' one of the three major hills in the range. The Hill is very steep and pointed. Hundreds of devotees climb the hill during first day of Deepavali to get the devi darushana.. More than seeing the god, its the beauty of nature that the people rejoice. This is the reason i think temples are built in places where nature reveals its vastness and beauty.. One can see a small white temple a top the hill..
Have a closer look at the photo you can actually see rainfall in the backdrop of the hill. It was a thrilling experience to see rain pouring down from the clouds at a certain place and other places being cloudy and sunny... This is the view of Devirammana betta from Manikyadhara, Baba budan giri...
This again is a view form Baba budan giri. In the lower half of the snap you can see small dried out plants. These plants are kurinji plants. Kurinji grows at an altitude of 1300 to 2400 metres, and they blossom only once in 12 years . The flower last blossomed in Aug-Sep 2006. I missed out a chance to see this wonder of nature and now i will have to wait till 2018 to see that happen again. The Nilgiris, which literally means the blue mountains, got its name from the purplish blue flowers of Neelakurinji that blossoms gregariously once in 12 years. The flower turns the entire mountain purple and makes the mountains a pleasure to watch. see the picture below to find out how the mountain looks during neelakuringi blossoms..
I got this pic from a website giving info exclusively on kurinjis http://kurinji.in
Anyways, find few of the pics taken from baba budan giri ...
Sitalayyana giri is a hilly place on the way to mullayanagiri. Our team first stopped in sitallayangiri, washed faces in chilling water and decide to have a walk within the mountains...
Then we reached mullayangiri. I stood there for a while looking at the beauty, trying to point where our chikmagalur is..
Just look at the shodow of clowds on the land.. how amazing...
After reaching mullayanagiri we have to climb a little distance by feet to reach the top point where there is a shiva temple.
Magfi and Sasi, my teammates can be seen in the above pic...
What i didn know about mullayanagiri is that there are beautiful caves in the mountain top. The caves run very deep ans skewed. we could not go deep inside because it was very dark, and we were afraid that we may get lost in the cave without finding the proper route back.
The above pic was taken inside one of the caves.The cellphones were not bright enough to illuminate the caves.
Within the cool breeze of wind and the shadow of clouds , we sat and relaxed for a while...
Basu and i went to take few snaps on a projected,pointed pinnacle.
At that point i was on top of the world.. i can say, on top of Karnataka,literally...
On the way to Baba budan giri from mullayan giri there are some eye catching views.
We stopped at a point called Kavigala gandi that gave view of mountains all around..
The day was so amazing. I had been looking at those mountains since my childhood and it took me 20 years to actually go see that place. And i am so happy that i also got an opportunity to take my team mates to my hometown and visit the wonderful place again with them....
This is 'Devirammana betta' one of the three major hills in the range. The Hill is very steep and pointed. Hundreds of devotees climb the hill during first day of Deepavali to get the devi darushana.. More than seeing the god, its the beauty of nature that the people rejoice. This is the reason i think temples are built in places where nature reveals its vastness and beauty.. One can see a small white temple a top the hill.. Have a closer look at the photo you can actually see rainfall in the backdrop of the hill. It was a thrilling experience to see rain pouring down from the clouds at a certain place and other places being cloudy and sunny... This is the view of Devirammana betta from Manikyadhara, Baba budan giri... This again is a view form Baba budan giri. In the lower half of the snap you can see small dried out plants. These plants are kurinji plants. Kurinji grows at an altitude of 1300 to 2400 metres, and they blossom only once in 12 years . The flower last blossomed in Aug-Sep 2006. I missed out a chance to see this wonder of nature and now i will have to wait till 2018 to see that happen again. The Nilgiris, which literally means the blue mountains, got its name from the purplish blue flowers of Neelakurinji that blossoms gregariously once in 12 years. The flower turns the entire mountain purple and makes the mountains a pleasure to watch. see the picture below to find out how the mountain looks during neelakuringi blossoms..I got this pic from a website giving info exclusively on kurinjis http://kurinji.inAnyways, find few of the pics taken from baba budan giri ...
Sitalayyana giri is a hilly place on the way to mullayanagiri. Our team first stopped in sitallayangiri, washed faces in chilling water and decide to have a walk within the mountains...
Then we reached mullayangiri. I stood there for a while looking at the beauty, trying to point where our chikmagalur is..
Just look at the shodow of clowds on the land.. how amazing...After reaching mullayanagiri we have to climb a little distance by feet to reach the top point where there is a shiva temple.
Magfi and Sasi, my teammates can be seen in the above pic...What i didn know about mullayanagiri is that there are beautiful caves in the mountain top. The caves run very deep ans skewed. we could not go deep inside because it was very dark, and we were afraid that we may get lost in the cave without finding the proper route back.
The above pic was taken inside one of the caves.The cellphones were not bright enough to illuminate the caves.
Within the cool breeze of wind and the shadow of clouds , we sat and relaxed for a while...
Basu and i went to take few snaps on a projected,pointed pinnacle.
At that point i was on top of the world.. i can say, on top of Karnataka,literally...
On the way to Baba budan giri from mullayan giri there are some eye catching views.
We stopped at a point called Kavigala gandi that gave view of mountains all around..
The day was so amazing. I had been looking at those mountains since my childhood and it took me 20 years to actually go see that place. And i am so happy that i also got an opportunity to take my team mates to my hometown and visit the wonderful place again with them....
posted by Manoj at
12:06 PM
4 Comments:
Hey,
After reading the first few lines, I remembered my childhood days in Chikamagalur. BTW have you read a comic book called 'Aushada Kumara'?
Good Pictures.
cool pics buddy and a good article
yeah, pictures from my home town
Hi Manoj,
Thanks for the blog.
I remember the days my father took me to Devirammana betta, when I was just 10-12 years, about 42-44 years back. (on Deepavali day)
We went inside the caves with proper helmet and lamp, as those were the asbestos mines. I heard mining is stopped after few years from then.
Like to be there at least, next Deepavali.
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