0 Made in Photoshop

This is a picture I created by picking up photos from my collection.



Going clock wise, starting from the top left image;
1. Savandurga as seen from Bangalore
2. Rapids of river Cauvery at Mekedatu, 100km from Bangalore
3. Sunflower, somewhere between Badami and Jamkhandi
4. Bidar Fort
5. Three friends at Chikkasiddarabetta
6. Ramdevarabetta, Ramnagar near Bangalore

Before I was introduced to Blogspot, I organised my photos in folders. This image was one of the welcome images to my photo gallery.




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Detail: Made in Photoshop

0 Allwyn Nissan Cabstar

Sometime 1987.

The first visit to Mekedatu was with my parents, brother and PES College PUC-I classmates. Dad took us all in our truck- Allwyn Nissan Cabstar, the most advanced truck on the road for the times. On the day I was not keeping too well so I got to ride with my parents in the cab while Deepi and my friends rode in the cargo space. The diesel engine was smooth & powerful and inside the cab, with the windows rolled up, it was really silent. Much better than Ambassador cars.

The second visit to Mekedatu was with my SSMRV College PUC-II classmates. This time I drove. We were around 15 of us (Deepi, Praveen, Vijay, Jayant, Venkatesh, Jayanna, Srinivasmurthy… cannot recall few names) plus one BMX bike. Though I was an expert with this vehicle, I drove relatively slow… 70 to 80 kmph since it was the first time I was driving this vehicle on a highway. Yeah, I did not have a license to drive a LCV. We parked the truck at Sangama, I took the BMX while rest of the gang walked the 4km pebble-strewn dirt track to Mekedatu. Some smart ones came bare foot! We spend about an hour at the goat’s crossing.

On the way back the ground was really hot, some could barely walk towards the end. Anyway, we had plenty of time to cool off at the Sangama. I found a spot to dive into the water riding the BMX. It was fun!

On the way back to Bangalore, we raced with a FIAT car. FIAT was no match for Nissan. Further we raced with a Swaraj Mazda bus. The driver would not let us pass easily but I was determined. The gang was cheering me from the back. Nissan – Mazda abreast on the highway for nearly a kilometer. I pushed hard… touching 130 kmph and finally did it. The Mazda was behind the Nissan. There was a mini celebration at the back.

That was one of the craziest piece of driving I ever did but I was good at it. No questions about my control over the vehicle.

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Detail: Allwyn Nissan Cabstar

0 Rock climbing at Mekedatu

Sometime 1995 or 1996. Gulli and I.

We spent some time at Mekedatu admiring the beauty of the rocks and the power of the river Cauvery. It was time for us to head back. As we walked towards the steps that leads up to the dirt path to Sangama, I saw a vertical climb with rocks and dirt and quickly did few calculations and decided that we could climb the face. Gulli, agreed for the adventure. We climbed confidently, moving up from one rock to another till we got stuck at a point 30 feet above where we started. And just enough place for two us to stand. The next hold was evading us by few inches. We thought of climbing back down but one look down it was impossible to go down safely. We thought of jumping down into the sand below but to our luck there was a rock sticking out at the point of landing. All thoughts of going down were banished. Gulli strengthened his resolve to find a way up. He gave a hard try and I think I gave a small push up and he managed to get hold of a root which was sticking out of the dirt. That’s it Gulli managed to pull himself up and then lent me a hand. We had crossed the hurdle. Then on the climb was pretty much easy and we made it to the top. Relieved!

No matter how confident we feel while climbing, it’s a good idea to have a rope as a back-up.

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Detail: Rock climbing at Mekedatu

0 Mekedatu

River Cauvery before the Sangama, calm and smooth.


I shot these pictures during a visit with Satish, Shefali and Shobha. The 4km bus ride from Sangama to Mekedatu was a bumpy one. On the way back, I had walked almost half the distance when the bus caught up with me.



This is the narrowest part of the river, the speed of water is supposed to be around 80kms per hour. Probably this is where the goat jumped across the river.


This was a dry part of the year and hence less water. It's great to see when the river is full.


...the river appears to be calm again.


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Detail: Mekedatu