Trip to Jog Falls

It was one of those trips where the enervated minds are completely rejuvenated by the beautiful nature, vast landscapes, sacred temple, magnificient water falls and what else, the beach..... indeed it was our trip to the jogfalls and murudeshawar.....

we planned for a weekend trip to the jog falls and murudeshwar, located in the shimoga district of karnataka. we started on the friday evening and by the time i reached the cab, my friend was already in an altercation with the cab driver which typically happens at the end of the trip. It subsided quickly and we are on

the way to pick the other friends. By the time we hit the main highway it was 11.30 pm

Apart from our regular friends we had some new ones on this trip. we had an intro from them and then "dumbsharades" began. It always surprises me, how these girls people pick up these tough filmi names with such ease... such as constantine, serendipity, and the others which i have not even heard of...
The next morning we got up and it was raining heavily. we crossed shimoga and we were on the way to sagar. There was lot of greenery and the sceneries were picturesque. we occasionally stopped and the cameras started clicking. Everybody was trying to get the best shot they could. Thanks to the viewpoints, they made the nature view more perfect. The digital camera clicking didnt stop even in the cab. Me and my friends were trying not to miss any good shot. We were like the papparazzi behind a georgeous girl (the nature here :))... any journey would be incomplete without the typical bollywood film. So we had our share of them and this continued till we reached murudehwar...

Murudeshwar has a history that dates back to a few centuries. The first sight that attracted me in murudeshwar is the idol of lord shiva. It is the tallest shiva idol in the world which towers 123 feet. Its the magestic shiva idol i had ever seen. The other sight that attracted was the beach... its not one of the best beaches, but complements well with the shiva temple and the idol. we reserved the rooms for the trip in the RNS guest house and the striking part was that every room had a beach view. The rooms were decent and the beach view made the best impression. Its no less than the best places shown on the "travel and living"... we had our lunch in the beach restaurant. Then we headed to have a closer view of the shiva idol. It looked superb and we all competed again to get the best shot...

The statues of ravana and the brahmin boy reminds us of the significance of the place and temple. Then we went to the temple. A journey to murudeshwar would be incomplete without visiting the temple. The temple looks renovated and has the sanctity. It didnt occur to me that it is so old and had so much history to it. But the vist to the temple was a fulfilment, one reason being i havent gone to a temple for a long time in bangalore. The rain which was causing spoil sport till then gave a respite. There was a confusion whether to hit the beach or to go to batkal (the rearest town) for shopping. Finally we decided to go to the beach. Inspite of being brought up in a town near to the beach, and graduating in Chennai, the site of the beach always makes me happier. we went to the beach and drenched totally. Sitting on the rocks and watching the vast expanse of the beach, with the shiva idol and the temple gopuram on the shore, brang calmness and some philosphical thoughts dawned on me. we spent the rest of the day roaming on the streets of the small town....

The next morning we satarted for jog falls. It was around 90Km from murudeshwar and because of the rain and the bad roads it took more time to reach that the usual. Before reaching the main falls we went to another view point of the jog falls. It became more famous after the famous kannada movie "Mungarumale" was shot there. The view was breath taking with the huge water flow. As it was the end of monsoon and there was heavy rain for the past 2 days there was much water in the falls. There is also the impression that the water is let out of the dam on weekends for the tourists to watch. On the whole the jog was in full flow and the splendid to watch. Then we went to the main view point of the falls. The falls was amazing to watch. The streams in the falls are named as Raja, Roared,Rocket and Rani.... which are apt... we had a view of the streams in full flow. The streams are occassional covered with fog like a beautiful women feeling shy at the attention and the adulation. Its a treat to watch the falls.

We started back to bangalore at around 6.00pm ... we stopped at shimoga for our dinner. Then the dumbsharades started again in the bus... this time i felt i am slightly getting used to it by the end of the trip...we reached bangalore by 3 am on monday and my friends started getting down at their respective stops. As i am one of them to get down at the last stop i felt a bit empty in the cab after a crowd filled one for the past 2 days...

At the end its a nice trip to remember and appreciate the good places in India....