Also see: Riverside picnic places around Bangalore
If you are in and around Bangalore, have a half day at your disposal and would want to visit some nice waterfalls or a quite place near the town, head to Muthyala Madu(Muthyala Maduvu, and also sometimes awkwardly called pearl valley). But keep in mind that you can find water in the falls only for some days after it rains. As of writing this, there is good amount of water and I expect it might last for another month.
I was there yesterday and it was my first visit. I was not expecting much and presumed it could be no more than just a small stream. It actually is a small stream but very beautiful, nevertheless. There are a couple of waterfalls in a small narrow valley. The falling water hits the rocks and bounces up in droplets of water all through these waterfalls. And the bouncing and falling droplets in the backdrop of the sun are a visual treat, appear like drops of pearl which brings in the name for Muthyala Madu(Muthu is pearls in Kannada, Madu is a small water body).
If you have not seen the place yet, do not miss being there as early as possible since the amount water should be reducing by the day and you may not get to see much in winter. Of course the fall will come alive next rainy season.
Muthyala Madu Information
It is an hours drive from Bangalore and must be almost 40kms. Its in the periphery of Banneraghatta National Park. To reach the place, head out on Banneraghatta Road, continue beyond Banneraghatta National Park and reach Anekal. Take a right from Anekal and drive for an other 10 minutes to reach the valley. Don’t expect good roads, but you should be able to manage without much problems. An alternate, slightly longer road is to reach Anekal via Attibele by taking Hosur Road. Don’t expect to find any food or accomodation, but unfortunately you can find some one selling beer and soft drinks!! Start early and reach by 8 or 9am to enjoy the quiteness of the valley in early morning and also to avoid noisy day trippers who arrive later in the day.
You might not have heard what tubing is. It is not a popular sport and you have few adventure sports organizations that would offer to take you on tubing. It is a sport like rafting where you sail down the river, sitting in a tube. Tube as in, tubes like the ones you find in a truck’s tyres.
It must have been around 8 years ago. We were in early years of college with a mind for adventure and fun. We wanted to go out and do many many things but did not really have money for all that. One day, of my friends suggested the idea of tubing down the river Kaveri. It sounded like a good idea but we never thought we would actually do it. But we kept thinking of it anyway and decided to get working.
The dangers involved were plenty. We had no life jackets with us, and at that point of time, none of us were confident swimmers. The truck tubes being a very raw device not meant for such purposes, things could get bad easily. It could hit something and develop a hole, or just go out of balance and drown us. But the expectation of adventure out powered the dangers. And to make things better for us, we decided to do this in the peak of the monsoons when the river was running to the fullest.
It did not take us much to get ready. All we had to do was to get some old truck tubes and get going. We got into the bus to Mysore and got down at Srirangapattna. Soon we found a place where we inflated the tyres, tied the three tubes of three of us together, got into the river below the Poorvavahini bridge and started moving.
We were in the middle of the monsoon season and there was good rain in the days we went tubing. We did not encounter any rain on that day but plenty of water was flowing in the river. While in the bus, we had noticed Lokapavani – a rivulet that joins Kaveri a few kilometers ahead – was full and the water was moving down pretty fast. In Kaveri, there was just enough water for us to sail through. There was flow to keep us moving but it was not too fast to make us feel troubled.
We felt pretty elated when we started moving. We felt good and confident. A few minutes and we were at the Sangama where water from Paschimavahini merged in. A little later, water from Lokapavani also merged into the river and the water level became much higher. There was more water and we were moving faster and faster. In some occasions we could no longer control our tubes and we just kept moving as the river carried us. But it would slow down at times when the river was wider or deeper. We continued in this uncertainty for a few hours. There were times when we were bugged by mild panic attacks. We wondered about chances of tube getting a leak or that we could no longer manage to steer the tubes to the shores in the current. But it was more fun than panick. We went through fast and shallow regions, mild turbulences and wide and slow moving waters. All the time we noticed that the water level in the river seemed to be rising. We decided to pull over for lunch around noontime. It took us nearly 45 minutes to actually steer the tubes to the shores!
After eating the packed lunch, we decided to hear back to town instead of continuing. When we came back to Srirangapatna later, we realized that a lot more water was released from the dam(krs) and water level had actually rised almost 10 feet from the time we started! We went home with a feeling of having accomplished something. It was fun, but we never got back to doing it again.
While my friends went in to check out the temple in Hampi, I sat outside waiting for them. I had been inside a couple of times earlier and was in no mood to take out my footwear again.
There were people walking all around, unhurriedly and with no purpose. Some people entering the premise, some leaving, and some more like me sitting and whiling away their time. A few people who were watching Utsava programs till late and could not go home had settled down there itself for the night to recede.
Also see more about Hampi on paintedstork.com:
* A drive to Hampi.
* Hampi image gallery
A sadhu(hermit/saint) sitting below a tree nearby smiled at me. He raised his hands in blessing and I bowed slightly to him from where I was – a process that is usually done the other way round. After a few minutes of silence and indifference, I shifted places and sat next to him.
He was an old man, with a beard and saffron robe typical of any yogi. When he spoke, he spoke softly in an unhurried manner. There was an eternal slight smile on his face that never seemed to fade. And when he spoke, he spoke anything he wished to, with no inhibition of communication boundaries. Many people walked in and out of the temple with no regard for the Sadhu. A few people stopped, touched his feet with devotion and received his blessings. And some people looked at him, half minded and wondering whether to stop or not. The sadhu treated everyone in the same manner. He did not mind if people decided not to stop. And he was not elated when some one bowed in front of him. And his smile stayed all along. He spoke to them affectionately.
We struck a conversation. He said he was here to visit the place, and also inspect the cleanliness in the temple. He had travelled all over India, from far north to the South visiting holy places with the same intent. And he was not happy with what he saw. He talked about his birthplace and a little about his history – something that is traditionally not spoken by these people. I wanted to ask him about his journeys, but such questions are usually not asked.
A villager sitting nearby joined us in the conversation. The talk turned to yesterday’s programs in the Hampi Utsava(Also see – picture gallery, Hampi Utsava). They relished talking on a mythological play which I had missed. The villager seemed to go into a devotional trance as he described the play – “It felt as if Lord Krishna himself had come down to earth and appeared on the stage”. I pinched myself again for missing out on the play.
I asked the Sadhu’s permission and took some pictures. He was willing to pose but I asked him not to. A child walked in all by himself. The sadhu smiled and patted his back. As I came back to him and sat down silently, more and more people walked in. With his ever-present smile, he blessed them and applied a paste of Vibhooti(sacred ash) on their forehead.
Most people who walked in struck a conversation. They felt at home with the complete stranger. My friends were back from the temple by then. I bowed to him again and moved on.