Rocky Shivagange

Restless Ramblers D.1- Rocky Shivagange

1 fine morning, 3 cool bikes, 5 adventurous minds, Endless Roads, Same mission: We are the Restless Ramblers.

We left home on 12th April at 6:00 from BTM,Bangalore with macho Thunderbirds, colorful Bandanas, sturdy bagpacks and protective gears. Little did we know what nature has in store for us and what HE gifted was truly a lifetime experience. Bowing down to Hanuman and revolving thrice on Sumit's advice , we quickly zoomed to Tumkur Road and the adventure started pretty early then what we anticipated.

Leading the trip requires one to be well-versed with the route map and failing to do so provides you familiarity with few petrol pumps, tea stalls, autoriders and local villagers who act as makeshift GPS. Somehow we managed to catch the NH4 with heavy traffic congestion. Here, we tried to beat the boredom of moving inch by inch by opting for the service road and soon we ended up in a spot of bother. We're required to gear down a steep inclination of 45 degrees and it took a Herculean effort from rest 4 of us to prevent 90-kg Sujan gliding together with his Pulsar-180 from the top. A few meters away, on seeing few wheelers stuck up in dampened soil, we dropped the idea of following that route and diverted to main route only to queue up with other vehicles.

We continued the voyage with a tea-break, few unavoidable stoppages and clicking picturesque landscapes. The route was pretty smooth & straight and so while Keyur at my back demanded to click a gigantic Hanuman idol, I was reckless and Thunderbird lost its balance only to brush up with a jogger on the side. If was nice to escape unhurt. Soon we reached Dobbespet flyover where taking left and biking for 8kms took us to the doors of Shivagange temple. Ours being the only bikes over there, villagers queued up demanding parking fare, charity,etc. But my advice is be generous to them as tourism is the only livelihood provider, it seemed to have over there.

Initial few steps to the first temple were tiring and as we were fasting it added fuel to the fire. Targetting the cliff's pinnacle was sheer optimism for us, but then there was Darshan-The overenthusiastic guy among us who always targeted few miles further and he was the one who made us feel on the top of the world once we reached the peak. Scorching sun tried to beat us down & huge rocks with cool shadow lured us for a nap but passion to succeed didn't allow us to surrender. Although disfunctional lungs and dehydrated system forced us to dump our bags behind one of the rocks but cane-juice and few snakes in the bushes preserved our momentum. Finally we made it to the apex and emotions made their way out in various ways. The calm and gentle breeze flowing over the drenched body gave us sense of satisfaction and cave-like rocky structures provided us bundle of joy. But more than anything, its the feel of being at the crest and clicking the tiny world below gives you augustine pleasure.

But as it's said 'There's no Adventure without Agonies', Keyur in trying to imitate few reflexes of mine damaged his ligaments and was lamed for the rest of our trip. That prompted us to start our unlikely descending leaving behind utmost pleasure and preparing for next venture, and on the way there were few who started their journey upwards by then and to my astonishment few with barefoot. Finally it was the cool green cucumber and my favorite raw mango that provided the finishing touch. That's how we conquered Shivagange by 12:00 and left for our next destinations.

Route: Bangalore --> Yeshwantpur-- > Peenya -- > Dasarahalli -- > Nelamangala --> Dobbespet --> Shivagange.

Distance: Approximately 75kms from BTM,Bangalore.

Best Time to Ascend: 06:00 hrs or early hours to escape Sun. It takes on average around 2 to 2.5 hrs to and fro.

Tips: Apply sunscreen else tanning will take your toll, Preserve Water else hardly any chance to get water over the top, Cap/Bandanas/Shades to prevent dry hair and red eyes.
---Rambler Ravish (next is Siddarabetta)