Getting out of the car, I saw sand everywhere!!! At least I did not expect sand at this place... I had imagined greens all the way. This place was arid, dusty, sandy region with Eucalyptus and cashew trees all around.... Never mind... Now, we had to explore this place and we had a lot of people vying to be guides. :) We asked one of them to show us around the place and the boy did a good job. Talakaadu has a history and a long story as to why it became sandy and arid.... I'll not go into those details. We'll keep it short... Talakaadu has five Shiva temples spread over an area of approximately 4-5 sq. km, of which the main temple is above the ground and the rest have been excavated from beneath the sand. It is believed that the Chola kings constructed the main temple, and the architecture is great. Apart from the super-hot sand, and some excavated stones there was nothing else :) I forgot... There is the river Cauvery, which flows adjacent to Talakaadu. Vedu, Madan and Chandrakanth went into the water and had a good view of the area :), but all of us were not satisfied by the place and wanted something more! We needed some greens and good clean water to play in...
1 pm.
And as I said, there were many vendors (with tented eateries and push-carts) ready to serve food. I had not seen such competition in selling lunch!!! We had food in one of those and started towards Shivanasamudra (Bharachukki and Gaganachukki). We asked for directions all along the road... The road was again horrible... The roller coaster ride would seem comfortable in comparison :) We beat the max speed of the bullock cart and finally reached Bharachukki at about 4pm.
The first look at the glorious Bharachukki falls would make any one spellbound. The height of the water fall is not much, it might be around 250-300 feet, but the grandeur is too hot to ignore! The river Cauvery branches into 4-5 big streams and in numerous small ones before falling off and merging again. The milky white water forming small pearls in water is amazing :). Time to enjoy! :) All of us changed into shorts or "water-costumes" (Except me - because I am different :) ) and started our descent along the steps towards the bottom of the waterfall. All along the way, we could see the water fall's fascinating views and once at the bottom, we saw a number of people having a great time. We looked around and saw number of small round boats, inquiring about which we came to know that the charges were Rs100 per boat and he would take no more than 4 persons at a time.... Hmmm... We were six... What to do? Go 3X2? No way, said Harisha applying his "Maximize benefit theory" :) So, we finalized on going 4X2, Harish and me went twice... The boat had one oarsman with a small, wide oar. We started from almost stagnant water and proceeded in a direction opposite to the water flow... We went almost below the main water fall.... small water droplets splashing all around, it was awesome... a really good feeling.
After the boat ride, was the turn of a bit of adventure. We crossed a small stream (the currents were strong, but there were some bald bushes which made the crossing a lot easier) and reached the rocky bottom of one of the branches of the waterfall. The stream was forming a virtual water cave and the water was cool and soothing. The loud hum of water was adding music to the ambiance, and all of us enjoyed a lot. Chandrakanth had a free "Water Massage" :) and we took photographs all along :). It took us lot of doing to keep the camera and phones dry though... Harish has a good sense of Photography :) But luck was not with him and all the good shots that he took were either blur or unrecognizable :)
Tired and satisfied, we started the ascent along the stairs, chewing on a cucumber which was on sale at the falls. We took some more magnificent sunset photos with the Bharachukki waterfall in the background. All of us changed into fresh clothes and started our journey back to Bangalore. It was already dark and the dreadful road... We managed somehow and joined the Mysore road again :)
9.30pm
We stopped again ath the Kamath Lokaruchi for the dinner. The north-karnataka meal is the specialty of the place, so we ordered the same. The Jowar-roti unlimited meal was a boon in disguise for Chandrakanth (He had vowed to make the restaurant change either price of the meal or limit the quantity of the meal ). It was a good meal :)
We hit the road again and reached home at about 11.45. No one was in the mood to clean up the damp clothes :) so we dumped them at Harish and vedu's house and came home satisfied with our one-day venture :).
Bharachukki - a must go place :)
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