Place: Kunti Betta TrekDistance: 125kms x 2 = 250kmsDirections: Bangalore > Bidadi > Ramnagara > Mandya > Kunti bettaKrew: Madhu (Howle) > Karthik (Sippy)Bikes: Pulsar Previous Visit: Kabbe hills trekBudget: Rs 325/headIN LESS THAN 50 WORDS: Alright, this was a kick ass trek which marked a start of a dominos of trips. Kunti betta even though a little commercial now, if visited on a weekday can be surprisingly calm and tranquil. Overall this chapter was fun, well-composed and old school like always! \m/INTRO & PLAN:I had/have taken sabbatical leave from office for 8-12 months. Was it a rash decision? Or was it cold blooded calculation? Or was it an experiment? Don’t ask me. Few things in life just has to be done, not all in pleasant manner. Now it was one of those times where I had center my life in-between things that I value the most. The red bloody streak begins!So, with no differentiation between weekends and weekdays, I almost felt I had figured out the fourth dimension of anything - time. Each day, feeling the same and sticking to a good yet flexible schedule consisting of reading, physical workout, meditation and hobby was paying off.
Freezing upon Kunti betta, I asked around to see if anybody’s up for the trek. Madhu responded saying he was forced to take a leave and had nothing to do that day haha! Game on fellas!TIME: 22:00 (21/2/2019)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few push ups & situps, had a cup of coffee and was all set to go. Taekwondo was given a day off. Left my home at 6AM, made it Madhu’s home (which btw, is not a straight one road from my home, I want to make this very clear :P) picked him up and we were out of Bangalore.TIME: 06:15RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Bidadi – Maddur – Mandya - KuntiBetta)Okay, this about a 125km stretch on the butter smooth Mysore road. As we left Bangalore, we were surprised by the icy cold weather on the outskirts of the city. Bangalore had basically become a boiling pot, guess the traffic was getting horrible. Anyway, we enjoyed what the icy cold weather as we cruised along at a slow pace and pulled over at Bidadi for some yummy breakfast. TIME: 06:45
After a yummy breakfast, we hopped onto the bike and took off once again. There was no hurry, so we cruised at about 60’s looking around and speaking all the way. As we crossed Mandya, we pulled over for a small tea stop. Post some tea and buying a liter of water, we proceeded further and took a right deviation near Up south correctly, and then got lost :P We ended up near some canal, and asking the ladies who were washing clothes for directions we rode amidst farms and cattle we made it to the base of the hill.TIME: 09:30
KUNTI BETTA TREK:Well, as we reached the base, we looked at the school kids who were roaming out the class. Giving them back strange looks as to why they were out of class and making monkey faces, we ran towards the hill.ASCENSION:Well, the ascension took us 30mins this time. Investing time on martial arts had always paid off! And this time we didn’t sweat it out much as well. Kunti betta trek is very similar to Skandagiri, a long walk on varying terrains. Ready for the trek? Okay, like always I have divided the trek into the following categories:i) Initial Stretch – 10 to 15minsiii) Wastelands – 10 to 15 minsiv) Uphill Run – 10 to 15minsSooo, these were the stretches, let me run you through each one. Keep up with me here!
i) Initial Stretch:To start things off, we had to make our way through few boulders. The path was quite clear on this one. But the background view is something not to be missed during this stretch. It offers a kickass view of a lake afar.
ii) Wastelands:Once we reached the peak of the first hillock. There lay vast landscape between us and the final ascent. I wanted to spot the final ascent which had a clear pillar on top. But I was not able to. I concluded that my memory of the route was bad. But roughly knowing the direction heading, we explored two alternate routes. Pushing through the shrubs me made out of the second phase as well.
iii) Uphill run:The final stretch is damn fun. It runs thorough the boulder terrain and we hopping from one boulder to another like knights on chess board. When a clear muddy path was in front we went running like kids with limitless energy. Finally about 30mins of climbing we reached the top of Kunti betta.TIME: 10:00
TOP:As we reached the top, I was disappointed to see the pillar pushed down and broken. Hoping the same would happen to the bones of the people responsible, we took out the water bottle and had a sip each. As I removed a complete packet of Mazello, Madhu burst into laughter. We had a few pieces each and began exploring the top. After finding a nice place for photography. We made into the shade amidst the rocks and rested for about an hour. TIME: 11:00
DESCENT:Well here’s the crazy part, the descension took us an hour. We left the top after resting for an hour. The climb down was smooth until we crossed the waste lands, then we decided to take an alternate route and explore some other route like last time. We ended up stranded and making our way down few steep phases we made it to the school to find the same old naughty kids outside. Cooling out heads at a water tank nearby, we filled up out water bottles and were about to leave. “Maga that’s some lunch they’ve got cooking for these kids, let’s go and ask if they will spare some for us too, smells yummy :P” i told madhu, he saw and thought for a while and then we decided to let the kids have it. We took off, with of course a nice trek in our bag.TIME: 12:00
RIDE 2: (Kunti Betta – Mandya – Bidadi - Bangalore)This was about a 150kms ride back to Bangalore. As we left Kunti Betta, I insisted that we take back the narrow mud route through the green fields and join back the road latter. As we rode at a slow pace and we pulled over. Standing on the ridge, staring at the bullocks plow the land, I realised I should be doing the same, but inside my head. Reach to depths and remove all the dirt & shit filled over the years. Make the mind fertile, innocent and wild once again. Madhu tapped my shoulder from behind and said “im hungry, if you don’t hop on back, I don’t mind leaving you here :P “ Howle!
The ride back was decent one, we took it easy as there was no hurry. We decided not to have lunch on the highways but instead go back near home have rolls like engineering days :) Reaching back RR nagar, we had some yummy rolls and lime soda near Madhu’s place and headed back to reach back my home.TIME: 15:00CONCLUSION:“Well, the mind flushing series has begun. And this was the perfect start. Kunti betta like always was reserved for special occasions. 100th trip saw it and now this. Last time I had twisted my knee at this place and was limping for weeks, this time, I was expecting something similar but guess all the elements wants the bloody streak to happen!”Until next time Cia \m/
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