The Gudigar Employees and Entrepreneurs Trust (GEET) was
born in a gathering at Bangalore on 24th October 2010, and was
officially registered on 4th June 2011. The office bearers meet once
a month and plan the activities that are to be carried out. During one such
meeting this year, we planned that we would need a team building activity to
bring people together and to get out vision and message across. Being a big fan
of trekking, I suggested that the team building activity could be trekking. After
some discussion, we decided that we will do a trek on the Saturday, 21st
April 2012, as people can come back and rest on the Sunday. We chose Siddhara betta as many of us had not
been there, and it was also supposed to be an easy trek for a diverse group. We
publicized the event as much as possible and created a FB event. There were 22
ayes for the event, thus encouraging us to think that we might have a number
35-40. Thus we decided to book a bus so that it would be easy for people to
commute. To our disappointment, the final number that travelled was only 19.
Siddhara Betta, as the name suggests, is a place where Sages
used to frequent for mediation and picking medicinal herbs. They are also said
to have visited the hill to obtain Nirvana. There is also an aashrama at the
base. The climb as such is nothing great, but what we get to witness once we
reach the top is unbelievable. Siddara Betta is about 95kms from Bangalore and
belongs to Tumkur district. Way to Siddara Betta starts from Tumkur Road(NH-4)
take a deviation to the right towards Dobaspet which is about 45 kms from
Bangalore, another 32kms from there leads to Koratagere and 12kms from
Koratagere leads to Siddara Betta.
We had hired a KSRTC bus that started from Majastic at 7 am.
We reached the base around 9.45 via Dobaspet and Koratgere without any
problems. On the way, we had stopped for breakfast. We enquired at the office
at base and came to know that there is lunch available there. We started our
trek at 10 am from the base, going through an arch. The trek is for a distance
of 3kms, and takes 30 mins to one hour depending on the fitness of the trekker.
On there is a shelter, and outside the cave temple on top, there are shops that
sell snacks, books and other items. The route has steps carved out of the rock,
and also has a rod that runs all along to support. It was heartening to see
that the kids, the lady and elderly all enthusiastically climbed.
 |
| Meditation hall in the caves |
 |
| Sajeeva Samdhi (with a hole to breathe) |
 |
| Siddheshwara |
On top, there is a cave Siddeshwara temple, and there are wells that have medicated water. All of us got a hearty bucket full of this water poured on us by Vinod, the volunteer at the temple. This water took away any little discomfort or tiredness we had due to the accent. After this was the most interesting part of the visit to Siddhara Betta. Vinod volunteered to guide us through the caves behind the temple. Having a guide here is very important, as there are many misleading routes in the caves. There are many places where one has to crawl to get through, and there are many dark alleys. There are places which have proper platforms to sit and meditate. One such ‘hall’ could host all of us, where Vinod made us to sit and meditate for few minutes. We could also witness places where the saints took Sajeeva Samadhi. From this place, we came out crawling, passing through several clefts. This whole travel through the caves took about 90 minutes. We paid Vinod for his services and moved towards a banyan tree that made us to pose for photos for a while. We came down with the great memories of the caves and discussing about Mother Nature’s wonders. After reaching the base, we had simple, sumptuous lunch and the annadana place. Though the food was free, many of us contributed generously towards this noble cause. On the way back, we visited Shambhona halli where Mr. Subhash Mahajan runs his basketball school.
 |
| Subhash's Mahajan's basket ball school at Shambhonahalli |
Summing up, this was a wonderful trek, easy in terms of the climb, but amazing in terms of the marvels of the caves on top of the hill. I can only tell that those who missed the trek missed a wonderful experience.
