20th July’07, Friday 5:30 p.m.
Sas: We have to fix up the cab guy and then we are set
Priya: I’ll see to it Vishnu gets it done.We shall sit at 6:30 again
Sas: I’ll speak with Niri in the meanwhile and get the directions
8:00 p.m.
Sas: We have a change in plans, Hogenekkal is canceled… too much of rains… no coracle rides.Come over to my desk…
Priya: ummm…Muthuthi looks good…
8:30 p.m.
Sas: Saju says there is nothing we can do at Muthuthi, suggested Talakad…
Vishnu: Why not Yercaud then, Talakad is 180 and this place is another 50kms more… (his mysterious grin followed)
Priya & Sas: Yercaud needs at least a couple of days… lets call Niri and ask how good is this place Talakad and then freeze…
Frantic call to Niri at 9:00 p.m.
Talakad- you stand and watch the overflowing river!
Muthuthi- Similar stand and watch scene…
Srirangapatnam- Sas had already been there…
Himavad Gopalswamy-bang on!
Niri asked Priya and Sas to check out the pics he took at Himavad Gopalswamy and then decide on it.Up popped Niri’s folder and pics were run through and liked as well.But 240kms was daunting on them so they decided to take it up over the dinner as it was already getting late.Himavad Gopalswamy was finally agreed upon over Dominoes’ bread sticks( they are yummy by the way!) and Calzone.
Saturday was spent on getting hold of and fixing up the cab guy and by evening The four Vagabonds were ready to rock!(as Nurul would put)
22nd July’07 Sunday
The cab guy was at Sas’s door at 6:30 a.m. and she reached office by 6:45 a.m., giving Nurul a call on the way to reach at the pick up point. However Sas’s prolonged Nurul’s wait by almost 30 mins and they finally embarked upon their “expedition” at 7:30 ish.Well luck was certainly not on their side as the car developed some snags after going for about 20 mins and the Vagabonds were still stuck in the city! It was only after some good forty five minutes, the car finally started purring again with occasional screeches now on then.
Pic courtesy: Priya
The Vagabonds were back on the road for the next one hour or so before they decided to break their fast at Maddur.Idlis and Maddur Vadas were consumed along with coffee. Their next stop was amidst sunflower fields where Priya had a great time shooting the flowers while others sipped tender coconuts on the highway. Oh! Priya was the official photographer of this expedition and she clicked at everything-well almost!
The Vagabonds’ wagon stopped again at Gundlepet to take directions and realized they had to go another 8 Kms from there to take the right turn towards Gopalswamy Betta. The scenery changed almost dramatically on taking the turn and they found themselves driving through an array of flower beds.The breeze became cooler and the green hills beckoned them to hurry “up”.
They reached the “summit of their trek” at around 1p.m. and walked through the narrow trenches gaping at the picture perfect greenery around.
They finally came to a halt at the second adjoining range only to be mesmerized by the approaching mist.Vishnu then pointed to the “dark green” hill and urged them to move on.But nature had other plans for them and the fast approaching mist soon soaked them all up. The visibility was around 10 meters then and therefore the Vagabonds decided to take a break to gobble some snacks they bought along.By the time the mist cleared they were treated with another spell of nature-rains!This finally made them take a U-Turn and going to Bandipur National park was contemplated on the way back.
Heavy rains greeted them as they reached their car and got ready for their “descend”.Pictures clicked -chatting with local children-more clicks followed on the way.
On speaking to the guard at the check post on the foothills, the Vagabonds were informed that this being the breeding season, the National Park is closed for public. This time the decision to head towards Mysore was pretty quick and the rest of the journey was taken care by a heavy duty debate between the four.(details shall be provided on request and is subjected to Vagabonds’ discretion-hope this sounds mysterious enough!)
Pic courtesy:Basavraj(our driver)
A leisurely coffee break at Dashaprakash in Mysore was followed by a visit to the Mysore to view the lighting of the palace.
Pic courtesy:Nurul
Thus came to a close a day long adventure of the foursome.Hoping to write Part 3 soon…
To further enjoy the pictorial bliss you can surely go here
Very very nice location……
You will soon qualify as the destinations guide for Karnataka! Maybe they should give you some commission
By the way nice pics and write-up. I can relate to all the last-minute planning and changing destinations 
Neatly put! was like going thru the conversations again and for the Dory that I am it was like recollecting the conversations
And yes for the place it was like greenery everywhere, welcomed with a bed of sunflowers..For me, one of the best view was the approaching mist..Just felt like opening my arms and feeling it go past me!
And I realised one fact, that its not an easy job being an official photographer…esp with two boys as company….with time this was the comment “hey Priya! you missed that goat” ofcourse followed by ha ha ha!
Couldnt get the fact through to them that you dont see cows and goats on open fields every day :S
Anyways we had fun….Not to forget the debate we had on the way back
…I hope Nurul will have a few or more words on this..
But guess for people who want to go to this place, they can easily couple the same with another place to visit by the evening. Even if the two hills are covered, one would have a good amount of time left to explore..
Hope there are more wander notes coming up! Happy journeying Sas!!
Very well organized content and the flow was just perfect… the pics made it so lively.. specially with thelush green back ground…. [:)] greattttttttt going babe
three cheers to the vagabonds 
Indranil: Indeed it was beautiful!
Prachi: Not really, there are probably much more places I have missed!:)
Priya: Do you really need a reply to this… you probably know whats in store
Sanj: Thanks a lot!