Worth a Drive

Traffic, smoke, noise; all these are the characteristics of any city; but Namma Bengaluru surely shows it all in abundance. Any weekend will beckon for a peaceful get-away; but the finances/time constraints will not support every other weekend. So this time we decided to explore the vicinity of Bengaluru, a reservoir called Kanava dam. A cool highway towards Mysore has a lot to offer; but this reservoir being least visited by the people, keeps it noiseless and green; rightly called the unlikely paradise!

Kanava dam is about 65km from Bengaluru; so our plan was to start at about 11:00hrs and stay till we could witness the sunset. After picking up the last man, iJag, we were cruising towards nature's treasury of silence. We stopped at Kamat Lok Ruchi at around 1PM, about 3km after Ramanagaram; to relish the very delicious "jolada rotti". A mere 2km from here is a deviation to the right that leads to the Kanava dam. The journey gets rough; but the last 8km drive cuts through a few lovely villages, mango and coconut groves; making it a memorable drive.

A glimpse of green pasture, herds of sheep and cows grazing at the grass, welcomed us to the peaceful and isolated Kanava Reservoir. There were couple of cars visitng; but only to depart soon, leaving us with the entire reservoir. We spent most of the time shooting pictures, lazing around, spotting birds and listening to the music of silence. It definitely delivered no nonsense; but clean peace.

We started the return drive at about 18:00hrs. We visited the Irrigation Department’s Inspection Bunglow to get contact information for stay; but failed to get any. But this bunglow is surely a cool place to stay given that one gets the booking done at their office in Channapatna. We did a pit stop again at the Kamat Lok Ruchi for snacks and coffee. We then cruised back to reach homes before 20:30hrs. Yes, we were back in the concrete jungle only to have spent less than a day's time in a NO nonsense Kanava dam. Surely worth a drive!

The squad: Vinay, Jagadeesh (iJag), Megha and Myself.

More pictures at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/thyagaraj.annaswamy/KanavaReservoir
Also visit http://www.deccanherald.com/Archives/jan292004/metro16.asp