Ride to Kailashagiri and Unisey Thopu

Wanted to do a short ride on a lazy Sunday. Had left the planning to professor, but with a condition that this time the route and place should be new. Trust the professor for routes and as usual the ride plan was in place with Professor in lead. As usual there were last minute drop outs and four of us ended up doing this short ride. Professor had east ward plans towards chintamani (AP) route, I hadn’t ventured towards that route so I readily agreed.

Riders and Bikes:

1. Professor – Unicorn
2. Vasanth – Karizma
3. Balaji – Thunderbird
4. Santoosh – Pulsar 180/200 :P

Route:
Bangalore>Hoskote>Chitamani Road>Kaivara>kailashagiri>Devanahalli>Bangalore

Pics:
My Pics: Click here

Ride Log:

Met up with Santoosh first near ulsoor and waited for my colleague :P Balaji. Then we three proceeded towards the hanging bridge where professor was waiting for us. The road towards hoskote from there was full of traffic and with odd potholes and humps. It was frustrating initially to ride, later got in to the groove. Just after hoskote, the tarmac improved and traffic dwindled. Santoosh and Balaji were ahead of me and professor was tailing me, so I proceeded further, happy that I could raise the throttle after a long time. Then I could see Balaji behind me honking! I had over shot the deviation and went straight seeing the good roads! So took a U turn and joined the junction were the other 2 were waiting. This was chintamani road and it was fabulous to ride on. No potholes, no traffic and no road humps! Good smooth tarmac and some good short curves. We stopped at a curve to take a butt break.



I started taking pics. I wanted to try out the bull, so off I went for a short spin on it. On my return, all were suggesting that I dump my zma and get a bull as it was suiting my profile! Balaji was using all his convincing skills to make me a bulleteer :P But, iam not a bull type person, it’s fun for me to take a bull for a spin once in a while, but a bull cannot replace my zma’s practicality and ease of use. Santoosh felt the bull pangs :P Off he went with the bull, while we tried to take few “bull riding” shots of his :P



He had another point of view, that of vibes! Well bull and vibes are part of it’s character, but he seemed to have hard time accepting it :P Next it was professor’s turn to take the bull for a spin! Bull’s seating was higher than professor’s unicorn, so it was difficult for professor to keep his foot on ground. After the initial discomfort, professor took off with the bull roaring while we took a few pics of professor with bull :P



Professor was excited about bull’s different feel, but the practical problem of seating height made his reconsider bull as his next choice. Even we felt that it would be difficult for professor to manage a bike with high seating height. We all suggest professor to try out Avenger 200. It was time to move. Balaji wanted few orkut profile snaps, so we obliged :P It was already 8.30 Am and we were feeling hunger pangs, so we moved from there towards Kaivara. We reached Kaivara by 9 Am and found a local hotel there. Had tasty Dosa, lemon rice, bondas and all munchable stuff. We decided to hit a park cum zoo in the outskirts there. The Zoo is maintained by forest department and has monuments galore. Ranging from 9 planets to astrological signs to gods to even streets named after seasons! Few Monuments had old poetry written on them.



After walking for a while, we found few interesting monkeys under a tree and Balaji was trying to get a close up pic of the primate :P



Then we found a Crocodile resting in it’s enclosure followed by a peacock enclosure.



Later we found couple of wolves in their enclosure, it was difficult to get a good pic of these fellows as they were restless and running all around.



Next up was porcupine! I had never seen one, it was difficult initially to see it as I mistook it for shade and broom :P and also make out whether I was clicking it’s ass or face :P both looked the same :P thankfully the fellow was eating and I could click!



Next up was a huge open enclosure for deers. I had only seen two variety of deers during my outing to kerala and bandipur. Those were spotted deer and sambar deer. Here, there were close to 5 different species.



One young deer was very friendly and Balaji was feeding grass to it through the fence.



After that we saw few Cobras coiled up in their enclosure. The python was not to be seen at it’s enclose so dropped by a lazy bear in it’s enclosure.



We had completed one huge round of the zoo and it was time to move on to kailashagiri. After a cool drinks break at a shop near by, we moved on. The approach road towards kailashagiri was mini ghat road, it was fun taking corners. Soon we approached the entrance. We had to park the bikes and walk for a km or so. We dumped our stuff at a near by temple office and we climbed the steps towards the cave temple. Kailashagiri is a series of temples inside a monolith cave. The huge rock has been carved out using some high tech equipments. I forgot how many years they took to drill such a huge hole inside the monolith rock! But the entrance was deceptive, once inside the carved out space was as big as a huge hall!



Work is still in progress in cave and they are still digging and drilling. The completed portions are open for public. We came out after the visit and rested for a while, the scenery outside was good too.



We moved on and on our way down from there, found a small dam. We parked for a while there, but had to move on as there was no shade. We hit chintamani main road after sometime and hit a dhaba for lunch. After heavy lunch and chat sessions, we moved on towards Unisey thopu or tamarind groove. Professor was telling that the trees were very old, prolly some centuries together. Before moving out after lunch, I swapped my zma with Balaji for his bull. It was fun riding a bull for close to 30 kms. The riding posture, feel etc were exact opposite of my zma.

We stopped midway to enquire routes, this time santoosh wanted to try the bull, so I hopped on to his torquey pulsar. I was surprised seeing the direction boards pointing to devanahalli as it led towards the new international airport. It turned out that this tamarind groove is situated near the new airport! We found the first of trees by the road side and went in for snaps.



The trees were huge and old, but had strange formations. Each had number stapled on them. We moved on and we towards the number 1 tree, it is the oldest of the lot there. We parked the bikes underneath the tree.



Few trees were dying out due to old age, but their offsprings were hale and healthy. I was glad that atleast this part of greenery escaped from the airport work. The scenery was good, calm and cool with birds chirping, interrupted frequently by planes taking off or landing.



After whiling time there, it was time to move on. While Santoosh and me felt that going via new airport highway would be nearer, Balaji and professor had to go via KR Puram hanging bridge. After a final tea break, we parted ways. Santoosh wanted to check out the new Airport, so he ventured towards airport while I headed home and reached by 6 pm. Over all it was a short sweet weekend ride. Thanks to professor for this discovery!