Solitary Bike trip to Shivanasamudram

Panoramic view of Shivanasamudram

Shivanasamudram also know as Siva Samudram or Sivasamudram is 120 kms from Bangalore and around 60 kms from Mysore. River Cauvery splits and falls down through the rocky steep to create two magnificent waterfalls – Gagana chukki (A dot in the sky) (height – around 100 meters) & Bhara Chukki (height – around 80 meters). The two water falls are adjacent to each other, but to reach from one of them to the other location by vehicle, a distance of about 10 – 12 kms need to be covered. Asia’s first hydroelectric project is set up in 1905 very near to Shivanasamudram.

Shivanasamudram

I was eager to visit this place from the point of time I heard about these waterfalls from some of my colleagues who visited it during the monsoon time, when the waterfall was in it peak strength. It got postponed many times due to unexpected reasons, at last I made it on 17th of September 2006. Yes, I made the trip long back ago, but was not able to blog about it till now, since I lost the pictures, but I got it back after a long time, from the PC of one of my friend.

Paddy fields on the way to Shivanasamudram

I thought of having a long bike ride alone, and instead of taking the trivial route - Bangalore - Kanakpura - Malvalli – Shivanasamudram which accounts for 120 kms, I took the Bangalore Mysore Highway till Mandya (100kms) and from Mandya I took a left turn and reached Shivanasamudram by traveling another 55 kms. I started from Banashankari 3rd stage at 8:00 am, reached Mandya by 10:00 am and had my breakfast. It took another one hour for me to reach Shivanasamudram.

My companion for all picnic

I truly enjoyed a bump free 100 kms ride in Pulsar 150 cc through Bangalore – Mysore highway. But there after the road was not in that perfect condition, but still good. The sight scenes on both sides of the road were amazing. I am proud to say that my Bike never ditched me in any of the long rides I have done for the past two and half years.

Lotus seen on the way

Many a places there were ponds with lot of Lotus bloomed. I saw people of the locale plucking these flowers and arranging it in bunches ready to be sold and waving at on going vehicles for selling them. I felt a little bad about that, since it was something like reaping the harvest without any work. The only effort spent by these people were that of getting into the water and plucking the flowers, which was not grown by them and from the land of some one else. The funny thing is that the flower will be out of shape before returning from the trip, still travelers buy these flowers, instead of enjoying the natural beauty of thousands of lotus flowers bloomed pond.

1. Scene near the hydroelectric project. 2. An old tree near the water falls.

Even though I had traveled many times through the route, riding though the Bangalore-Mysore highway was very nice, especially in the morning when the sun rays are not scorching. When I took a left turn from Mandya towards Malvalli, the geography changed a lot. The road went in midst of lot of villages where both sides of the road were full of green fields, small lakes with lotus bloomed, and sugarcane plantations. Far away from the chaos of Bangalore city, the view of these villages reminds me about my child hood days in Payyampally.

Different views of Shivanasamudram

When I reached the Shivanasamudram, to my wonder I found a Malayalee tea shop, run by a Man from Kannur district. My experience in Karnataka taught me that where ever I go for a trip, even it is in Bangalore or outside Bangalore; I will find a bakery run by a Malayalee, or a tea shop by a Malayalee. Most probably he will be from Kannur district and in Kannur from Thalassery. To reinforce my observation, I met with the new security of the apartments where I am staying now. He is from Andhra Pradesh but he knows Malayalam. He said he learned Malayalam while working for eight years in the past for a Malayali in Andhra. I just asked whether the particular man was running a Bakery and is he from Kannur. I got a ‘yes’ from him as I expected.

Clouds formed by tiny water droplets from the splashing water fall

As I mentioned earlier, even though the two falls were pretty much close, it takes about 10-12 kilo meters to reach from one fall to the other. I advice all travelers to have packed lunch while you go to Shivanasamudram. You won’t find hotels nearby. The time which I went to Shivanasamudram was perfect, Cauvery River was flowing in full fledge, making the two falls so elegant and powerful. I was afraid to go near the fall; the water gushing down was so huge in volume creating a thunder voice and created a big cloud of water sprinkled in the surroundings. When the water fall is it in its full fledge, if somebody accidentally slips into the flow, then I think no parts can be collected back.

The blue sky over the waterfall

One of the warning boards was so funny and truly conveyed the message. It just said – “Don’t swim, this is not a swimming pool, this is a water fall”. Yes, nobody can imagine going into the fall. But locale people said that in summer, when the water flowing down is so little, one can actually cross the river through the valley and reach the other fall. One another interesting location for picnic – Talakkad is pretty close to Shivanasamudram. If I had started very early in the morning, I could have visited both the places.

Cloud Desings

I started back from the place around 3:00 pm; the returning journey was not that too good, since it rained occasionally and I had to stop riding three four times. When I was about to reach Bangalore, sun was about to set and created a magnificent red and yellow colored sky, but it lasted only a few minutes, the clouds put a curtain on the beautiful scenery.

The Bangalore Mysore Highway