Davangere – Chithradurga – Harihara - Sagara during mid Aug

It was long time demand that I should visit Suma’s hometown D’gere. The demand was mine, hers or her families I have no idea. But finally I made it to their place this August. I could’nt make my presence felt at their home as I was more on wheels than at home.

                Me  & Suma reached D’gere in the early morning. I fought for a sleep but it was soon disturbed to start to C’durga. Started around 7AM towards durga, masala dosa left its aroma on our hands on the way. Durga has lots of history – I wanted a guide to help but the crowd I guess dint bother much about it as they had heard of its stories from their parents or elders. So I heard their versions narrated for me. The story mostly linked not with the history but with the NagaraHaavu movie. Durga is believed to be more famous because of this super hit kannada movie. I am scared of heights. I realized it better here while climbing those almost erect rocks with no proper steps. All of us easily crawled through Obavana Kindi.

                We drove next to Vani Vilas Or Mari Kanive dam near by. This is constructed on the sharavathi water by one of the Mysore Rajas. From here we visited Chandravalli Caves where Ankali swami stayed long ago. This has a beautiful history you get to hear from a guide who charged Rs 20 per person to take us inside & take us back in history.

                By evening we decided to visit harihara temple. The temple is small & beautiful with pillars carved round in shape. These pillars are so prominently visible adding to the beauty of the temple. The temple is covered with houses facing the temple. You get to see children playing in the ground outside this temple. Close by this temple is the Harihara lake which has a bridge constructed across for the vehicular movement. People lay around fishing, washing clothes & others like us embracing the nature around.

                Reached home back at 7:30. A delicious dinner served by aunty forcing me to have a good sleep. The next day we had plans to visit Shimoga. The place which is so close to my heart for several reasons like its nature, food, people & for being my birth place.

                I must mention that for the first time ever of all my travels, I loved the journey more than the destination. The route D’gere - Honnali – Shikaripura – Sagara is amazingly beautiful. A fast drive of 2:30 hours took us to Sagar. After Breakfast, we left to Sigandur. This is back waters of Sharavathi with a Sigandeshwari temple on the other side of the river. Being a weekend there was huge crowd not letting us enjoy the launch ride to the other side of the river. By afternoon we reached Varadahalli sridhara mutt. I had been to this temple twice in the past. Things had changed after all this visit was after 9 long years. Prashad offered is excellent.

                Our next destination was jog falls. Around 30kms from sagara. Releashing few pineapples on the way, we reached the falls close to dusk and clouds played games hiding the falls from view. The last time I came here there was hardly any water so I never knew its splendor by myself. I had be happy listening to others explaining its grandeur when there are rains. This time it was a treat to see the falls.

                We had to force ourselves to turn around and walk back to our vehicle. Reached back by 10:15PM to catch train back to mysore at 11:15PM after yet another yummy dinner by aunty. Regret for not having D’gere benne dosa in this trip I promised for another visit just for it & to spend time with suma’s family.