Take out 10% of the highly cosmopolitan Bangalore crowd and build a new city for them in Hosur. Now hold that thought. I shall come back to it in a while.
The 1st Sunday of June, the weather is so darn amazing that it felt like a crime to stay indoors. Also, we wanted to go to some waterfalls, with the recent rains swelling up the water level.
I had heard a lot about Hogenakkal. The Cauvery River flows through it and divides Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The water flows into Chennai, providing the drinking water for the citizens. The added attraction of the falls is the shooting of a couple of famous songs from the movies Roja and Guru. So on Sunday, we set out around 9.30am, with the target to reach the location in 3&1/2 hours.
What really amazed me was the absolutely great road throughout the entire 180km. Even as we crossed the villages, we came across not a single crater or a bump. In fact, after we crossed into Tamil Nadu border, it was a biker’s paradise and a driver’s highway to hell! You just won’t feel like pressing on that brake lever.
With the green and serene surroundings, almost a trickle of traffic, and the perfect weather to match the excitement, I could have sat in the car the entire day without complaining.
Now to come back to the first sentence, I don’t intend to spoil the virgin beauty of Tamil Nadu, but trust me, the faction of people who love peace and quiet, and clean breathing, the idea of shifting them just beyond Hosur won’t be a bad idea – especially if it is voluntary. So we will have a reciprocal benefit, Bangalore can relieve some of its ever-increasing population and Tamil Nadu can welcome some urban development. And they won’t be far from Bangalore also; it is just 40km away.
Hogenakkal seemed like a mini-Niagara Falls to me. It gets even more beautiful after monsoon, since some of the bigger falls are dry now. The only activity here will be boat-rides and bathing, so be sure to carry an extra set of dry attire with you. The big circular shaped boats take you right under the waterfalls, which is an unforgettable experience. In fact, the view from top of the cliff takes your breath away!
One more fantastic thing that we got to see was rock holes made by whirlpools, which drilled the granites right till the top. The rock-faces are as smooth as a porcelain cup!
The waterway we had taken becomes inaccessible during monsoon and the boatmen have to take an alternate route for the rides. From what we saw, a three hours’ stay is enough to enjoy Hogenakkal and we were back home by 8pm.
I intend to go again after monsoon, when the water swells to its fullest and reaches its purest and frothiest white!
Note: I have uploaded some pictures in the following link http://picasaweb.google.com/sanjula.guha/Hogenakkal#
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