Kukke Davanagere Trip

21/12/2012 Friday

We left home at 8:30 AM in shashi's brand new innova (Perhaps first long trip) and made a stop at "New Agarwal Bhavan" @ Dasanapura on Tumkur Road and had sumptuous breakfast of idly and aloo biryani (agarwal version of vegetable pulav..).

For most part the restaurant had an air of typical south indian foodie joint except for an UPish agarwal name and a single bhaiyya server( can smell them with thier thick hair gel --> chuchundhar ka thel ).

After breaking the fast,We pressed east wards onto mangalore toll way (NH-48) built and operated by LANCO Infra. Now it is hell of a ride on this stretch almost till hassan and wont sight kunigal nor channarayapatna on the way.

Road is relatively easier on you till you reach half a stretch of shiradi ghat and wonder why this concretized curve technology wasn't adopted long ago. We didn't have to wonder too long as we hit pot holed stretch of ghat now, though there's tardy patching work in progress.

We found ourselves in Dharmasthala at around 2.15pm just in time when temple closed with due thanks to brief and wondorous stretch of ghat section.

After stomach filling temple lunch,we headed back on ghat section towards kukke subramanya and straight checked into krishna residency. We had an evening and next day morning darshan at subramanya temple and there ended our temple sojourn. Now we had reservation at sai international in davangere for next day and canceled earlier reservation at a different hotel.

22/12/2012 Saturday

We left kukke around 10 AM and after a brief stop near sakaleshpur to buy spices/coffee and dry fruits at a road side shop, we decided to have an early lunch (1pm) at our regular restaurant (Shri Krishna hotel) @ Hassan. We feared finding good hotels in arasikere and too on empty stomach !!. Below is rough map we had figured to reach davangere from hassan.

It is roughly about 205 km route and had decent hope that roads will be easier on us. But pretty much knew the state of our state highways (SH) when entered the immediate stretch on arasikere road. I can safely vouch that there is no civilized (can call as modern also) road here and wondered how an ex-PM's constituency can be in such apathy. It wont be exaggeration if i say these roads are an insult to the people!. We passed through dudda(queerly named..ದುದ್ದ),haranahalli(ಹಾರನಹಳ್ಳಿ..ever heard of haranahalli ramaswamy ? it's his birth place) and reached arasikere with pain. We had brief respite in smoother roads till we reached birur and again found us in mercy of nearly non-existent roads (state HIGHWAY 71). We passed dusky towns & hamlets ajjampura,bukkambudhi(another queer..ಬುಕ್ಕಾಂಬುದಿ) and reached channagiri at around 5pm.


SH-65 from Channagiri to Davanagere is a pleasant drive passing through shanthisagara (old name.ಸೂಳೆಕೆರೆ ), asia's second largest irrigation tank.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanti_Sagara). We reached davanagere via hadadi at 7PM and showed our college campus to all while passing in front of it. We checked into sai international hotel on harihar road and after brief lull(aby) & rest, myself and shashi checked into poolside restaurant for some pegged relaxation (actually loosening our nerves after fretful journey). Rest of family joined us sooner for dinner and would rate as excellent the food fare at this place. After dinner, we strolled through davanagere passing Ram & Co circle,Chigateri hospital,Gundi chowltry,JJM medical college,BDT college and hostel,MCC B block etc and returning back to hotel via Vinoba nagar and PB road.

23/12/2012 Sunday

After morning coffee and newsread, we planned to visit one of famous davanagere benne dose (ದಾವಣಗೆರೆ ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ದೋಸೆ) joints for breakfast. As a coincidence on same day, there was an article in Hindu News paper magazine about same topic (" In Search of Davanagere Benne Dose") (see photo). We headed straight to Sri Guru Kottureshwara Benne Dose Hotel (quoted in article) opposite Bapuji Dental college and ordered around 10 plates of benne dose for 5+2(kids) of us. After much smelling of roast butter aroma for around 30-40 min (15 min wait for seats), got our promised plates. Though i am mildly cholesterol conscious these days, i didn't mind this once in a long while fare which was absolutely marvelous in taste added with mashed potato and chutney. Mashed potato adds its own punch to the taste. Also i noticed that the main cook making dosa was the same guy whose picture came in the news paper article.(wow.what a coincidence !). I think its first time that Abhi completed whole plate of dosa in a jiff sans tantrums. anyways so far so much about our dosa rendezvous. 


My college (good ol' BDT engineering college) is stones throw(smaller stone..ok) from this dosa joint and we headed straight into front entrace of the college. The entire front portion has been renovated (it seems college got 5CR funds from central govt) and looks majestic. We clicked we snaps on outset and also few inside the campus near the stage in garden area. I showed different sections of college including principal office, our final year class room

electronics/computer lab, electrical lab and our spacious library building etc. I thought of reminiscing ol' days in our campus canteen and checked if coffee/tea is available.(being Sunday, canteen was open that day). Hotel guy was gracious enough to make coffee for us (less and with). We again passed through our old block hostel (i couldn't notice ananthram hotel in the corner some how..new developments i fear),JJM hostel, MCC B block anjaneya temple and finally BIET college road. We again checked back to hotel at around 11:45 AM and all wanted to take a quick nap except abhi. Abhi and eventually shreya (one of the them is trigger always !) pestered to have a swim at hotel pool. We forgot to carry any costumes and to justify that hotel staff said that pool water is not clean for swim due to adjacent civil works. So abhi had to be cooled down by letting him to get down in water for quick splash.

 We left town at 3 PM after having lunch at a restaurant (Veg. only since it was vaikunta ekadashi. ವೈಕುಂಟ ಏಕಾದಶಿ) and straight on NH-4 towards chitradurga. We proceeded towards fort passing through durga town (though it is district center, it is not well developed as davanagere). Incidentally the road to fort was named after kannada author ta.ra.su (who wrote durga centric stories incuding famed naagarahavu). 
We hired a guide after much bargaining and felt worth after it. He gave us bit of historical context for every nook and turn of fort (Actually it is seven walled fort with 2 walls already lost in town with remaining bits/pieces).You can browse through few snaps of important spots in the fort.

‌‌‍ above pic>>@ Kasturi Rangappa Nayakana Baagilu (Note its mix of hindu and muslim architecture). 

>> @ background is Hidimbeshwari Temple (ಹಿಡಿಂಬಾ ದೇವಾಲಯ)

<< @ Eknaatheswara Temple (ಏಕನಾಥೇಶ್ವರ ದೇವಾಲಯ)

>> cliff where climax scene in naagara haavu was shot (where chamaiyya mestru climbs the hillock)







So far so good...We left durga at 6.30pm and back in den at 10pm. In between,We stopped for quick snacks at kamath upachar near sira. I expected the NH-4 ride to be much  smoother and far more straighter but was not to be. NHAI (National High Authority Of India) is again into building bridge pass through at important junctions on road (probably to save innocent villagers who come in one ways due to lack of pass through). Due to this, we need to enter/exit into service road many a times breaking the cruise mode(i meant figurative, dont have cruise mode in innova..).

Hope i didn't dwell much too details and kept your interest. See ya..signin' off