Nandi hills, Savanadurga, Devarayana Durga: Corporate treks

Nandi Hills:

Lot of people might see Nandi Hills as a picnic spot that is nice and cool. But it is also a very good trekking place, particularly for beginners. So when Anu (Anasuya Elisha, Our safety manager) asked me to suggest a trekking spot, I didn’t have any hesitation in suggesting Nandi hills. This was keeping in mind the different ages, fitness levels and experiences of the participants.  I call the three treks that are listed here as Corporate treks because they were sponsored by AstraZeneca India (AZI). Office provided transport to and fro, packed food and T shirts.

Nandi Hills was the first one. For those who are not very familiar, Nandi hill (Nandi Durg) is a hill station near Chikballapur 60 kms from Bangalore. The peak is at 4861 feet above sea level. It holds a fort, two major temples - Bhoga Nadishwara and Yoga Nandishwara, Tippu’s summer palace and the Tippu drop.

Our trek happened on Saturday, 29^th March 2008. Though larger number had registered, the number of people trekked was only about 30. We traveled by a bus that started from office and reached the start of the trail around 9 am. The trail is actually a stone stairway that curls as you go up and has may stone mantaps for resting. While the trek should take around 45 minutes, as we had a very diverse crowd, it took ~ 3 hours for some. The climb, like in any other trek, was getting more scenic as we went up, and the cool breeze was making it really nice. We rested at a nice spot, played some fun games and had the delicious sandwich, fruit, juice lunch that was packed by our cafeteria staff. There are many monkeys there and one has to be watchful with the food.  As the number of participants was much less that that anticipated, we distributed some food to local villagers on our way back. We started climbing down around 3.30 pm and had refreshing tea at the village down.

The vehicle developed some problems on the way back and we caught a BMTC bus to reach the office where our vehicles were parked .

While the trek was not a strenuous one, it certainly gave us an opportunity to enjoy nature and make some new friends from across different parts of the company.

Devarayana durga: The second of the office sponsored trek happened after about one and a half years from the first one. This was on a Saturday, 21^st November 2009. The turnout was much bigger this time with ~ 60 people participating. We also had T shirts for all the trekkers sponsored by the office. As usual Anu and Roy (Swapan Roy Choudhury, from our infirmary)  had made all the arrangements nicely.

Devarayana Durga is a hill station near Tumkur, about 70 kms from Bangalore. The height is 3940 feet. There are two major temples, Bhoga Narasimha and Yoga Narasimha (we can see a Vaishnavite parallel to Nandi Hills). The hill is also famous for the natural water spring called Namada Chilume. The name Devarayana Durga was given in 1696 by the king of Mysore Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar. It was known by the name Anebiddajari before Devarayana Durga.

The trek at Devarayana Durga is actually an uphill climb between the two beautiful temples. The trek is only for 20-30 minutes. One common theme between Nandi Hills and Devarayana Durga is the two temples at two levels. At Nandi, one starts the trek from Bhoganadishwara and reach to top where there is Yoganandishwara. Here one starts from Bhoganarasimha and climbs to the Yoganarasimha. In a way, I feel it signifies attaining salvation as you leave worldly pleasures and climb up. There is “namada chilume” on top. This is a natural fresh water spring. Mythology says that Rama rested here on his way backto Ayodhya and created this spring by shooting an arrow into the ground to fetch water for Sita to apply nama. There is also a deer park nearby.

Devarayanadurga certainly left sweet memories in all of us. It was a very scenic and easy trail.

Savanadurga: This was the third in the AZI sponsored treks and the number of participants was also much higher (~85). This was once again on a Saturday, 13^th November 2010.

Savandurga is a hill 60 km west of Bangalore off the Magadi road. The hill is considered to be among the largest monolith hills in Asia. The hill rises to 4022 feet above mean sea level and forms a part of the Deccan plateau. The Arkavathi river passes nearby through the Thippagondanahalli reservoir and on towards Manchanabele dam. Once again, the teams from AZI left from the office by buses after packing the lunch. Breakfast was on the bus.

By 9.30 am, we were near the start point. The trail here is tough and requires careful climb. There are clear arrows marking the route to the top, and any drifting can lead to problems. There are two temples: Savandi Veerabhadreshwara Swamy and Narasimha Swamy at the foothills. One gets to see Kempegouda’s fort during the ascent. Compared to the two earlier treks, I had a new SLR camera with me. As we were climbing, I got interested in couple of kites that were flying around and playing. Engrossed in capturing them, I didn't realize when I lost the way. When I was finished, I found myself in the middle of a large rock that is not easy to access from any side. This gave chills as I also couldn't see anybody around. Somehow I sat there for some time to regain my confidence and crawled to the nearest bush that was also not near! I had to jump across a wall to reach the path.  Some of the team members were there.

The kites that made me lose my way!

Kempegouda fort

Lot of photography was happening on hill top. We were already given food packets. We sat in our own groups and finished it making sure we didn’t litter the place. We started back for Bangalore around 4.30 pm.

While the three places mentioned here cannot be compared to some of the earlier ones in terms of difficulty, they were all unique, scenic and historic. I am thankful to AZI for having provided us these opportunities and the safety health and environment (SHE) team that managed things so well.