My Yatra to Falls and Sand.

A short two days holiday was being planned by me and my friends, Shruti, Roopa and Shreya, I knew the best place to venture upon. A twin waterfalls at the island town of Shivasamudra, 139 kms from Bangalore.

Cauvery falling down in mirth.

Without any other second thoughts, we immediately booked our flights and hotel from Mumbai, through Yatra.com.
Our motto was to have a spontaneous trip; hence, we hired two scooties for our adventurous fun.

The roadway itself is one beautiful memorable ride to the falls, the landscapes, the greenery add to one’s experience and the rocky terrains of a near by town gives a fascinating touch to your journey as it’s the spot where, Gabbar and Samba made their characters and the movie Sholay, one of the best celluloid creations of all times. 

Sholay spot.

Once you reach your destination, you are in for a divine experience. The Cauvery River curves its way from the rocks and ravines only to get segmented into two luscious waterfalls; the Gaganachukii waterfalls.

The magnificent twins at Ganchukki

Carrying few snacks and bottles filled with water we made sure, we keep our body energized. We were led to the watch tower from where the Gananachukki falls can be witnessed perfectly. It was dream to be in the presence of such water-bodies dropping off from the mouth of the mountains, roaring their way down.

Interestingly the Cauvery splits itself and creates another fall called Barachukki which is to the south-west of Gaganachukki. And sadly, many people aren’t aware of the place or they find it tiring to way their journey few kilometers more, hence, the place is still a virgin, with only few tourists taking in the beauty of this waterfall, which, BTW, had my heart the instant I stepped in its lap.
  

Stoned steps

Several fleets of stone steps lead our way to the bottom to witness the magnificent waterfall. With several vendors selling puffed rice mixed with pea-nuts, tomatoes, diced cucumber (another variety of sookha bhel) and slices of cucumber with a dash of salt and red chilli powder. I was told once, that these help in fueling your body with the required energy to climb up and down such heights; guess these village people are more aware of such things than us city-dwellers.

Once reaching the ground a rocky base welcomes you with hoards of tress standing firmly and the water from fall flowing in its own terms along side.

The Barachukki Falls

We had our lunch here which we had packed *smarties-that-we-are* and shared it generously with the monkey friends around, with keeping in mind not to litter.

Many people dared to step in the current and splash water at each other but we refrained as we didn’t carry spare clothes, a point we mentally sketched for our next trip. We stepped forward towards the coracle rides, which the locals had their sweet and obvious name-Katori. Frankly, I prefer calling it that.
  

Towards Barachukki Falls in Katori.

Our Katori-man who got conscious and didn't smile for photo :-|

A gentle ever smiling man took us for the Katori ride which took us to the base of the fall. Captivating is the way they approach the waterfall, they have ropes tied at the base of the fall with another end lactched somewhere in the middle of the bank and the base.  He pulled the rope and there we were almost the base, they had reminded us the danger of the fall during monsoon, so, we had to be happy with the a-little-more-than-a-foot distance. But we did get quite drenched, so much so for no extra clothes.

The Katori-man pulling the rope.

On our way back to the bank he gave us a natural water-park experience, by swirling the Katori thrice, making us scream our heart out. With all the adrenaline rush at its best, my friend asked for another swirl and he was generous to oblige. No guesses I had my heart in my mouth. 

Screaming with joy we were back on the stairs with our journey back to Bangalore.

Next day, we headed our way towards Talakad, a desert like town, 133 km from Bangalore. Again on our scooties we rode towards our destination. Again, we had packed some sandwiches and wafers and ample of water in case our tummy growls at a place where food refuses to exist.

Once we reached, our souls swelled with admiration. The temples, once which were 30 in number, are now buried under the sand and gave me a feeling of being a part of ancient India. With loads of history and mythology attached to this sand filled destination, it a paradise.

Temples buried under layers of sand.

My next trip to this place in future is a definite YES; I would plan it with my future hubby for a short two day trip, and with wonderfully taken care by Yatra.com this would make my trip to these awesome-st places a journey to remember. 

***This travel post is written exclusively for Yatra.com  Creating Happy Travellers- Contest***

[Please Note: The images are property of the author, if you like any of the photo and want to use them, please take the permission.]

Reliving Memories!

When Ambi Pur India presented us with a plot to tell them about the nostalgic memories we associate with different smells or fragrances in our home, I was already floating in those fragrances that always lead me to revisit the memories associate with them.

Some memories resurface with fragrances around us at home; memories that leave you with different emotions related to those moments.
And being no exception to this it happens to me quite often.

One of my nostalgic moments that come alive is when jasmine flowers are brought to offer to gods, at home. It takes me back to my childhood days at my nanihaal. I used to be with my naani most of the time especially in the mornings. Fascinatingly glued to her errands related to her daily poojas, I used to help her with my small hands in plucking flowers from the courtyard garden, something I was deprived from in Mumbai. My favorite tree was the one which had these tiny pretty white flowers called jasmine. The pleasure of plucking the flowers and collecting them in a beautiful metal basket meant for the floras only used to increase many folds along with the fragrance of jasmine that enveloped me. 

Hopping and jumping, I would follow naani into the room, which was our constructed for the gods to dwell, and the bliss would continue and increase, as I would get to decorate the temple with the flowers and then doll up the beautiful idols of gods. This used to be our routine every morning and these memories got etched so deeply within me that the jasmine fragrance at home makes me nostalgic and a smile creeps on my face and I look up knowing naani must be watching me from wherever she is and would be feeling reminiscent to those memoirs. 

Folding Hand-fan 

Another delicate scent that takes me back to a nostalgic period is that of the sandalwood paste that mom churns by rubbing the sandalwood stick on a peach hued stone. My only visit to Mysore palace resurrects whenever I smell the sandalwood paste. The magnificent palace is a neighbor to various vendors sitting outside the palace compound selling products shooting high claims about the products having been made from original sandalwood. From hand fans to incense sticks and various cosmetics; every product was associated with sandalwood. I was being targeted by various vendors who tried to sell anything and everything they had. Although my eyes had their full attention only for the wooden artifacts I ended up buying a pretty looking folding hand fan which had sandalwood scent and definitely not made out of the expensive sandalwood as claimed. It has been more than four years now and even today the sandalwood paste scent always makes my trip to Mysore palace and my experience with those interesting vendors and their products alive within me.

Ambi Pur Blossoms and Breeze

The other nostalgic moment that I have been experiencing for sometime is the one that Ambi Pur Home Freshner- Blossoms and Breeze gives me. Its fragrance reminds me of nature, spring and rain forest. Takes me to this world filled with unpolluted environment surrounded by Mother Nature and I relive my moments that I had with my family and friends in Lonavla-Khandala, many years ago.

That's the power of fragrances, they can take you back anywhere anytime you already had been to and relive those moments.

***This post is penned exclusively for Ambi Pur's Smelly to Smiley contest. To know more about their fabulous products and experience a dreamy aromatic world you may visit: Ambi Pur India Facebook***

[Images: google]