Tour De' Mekadaatu

I was to Bangalore this weekend to meet college friends. Me, Veggie proteinaceous (muscular) Suresh and lipidacious obese) Selva (who struggles to get jean, shirt, shorts etc of his size) decided to go on a trekking kinda trip to Mekadaatu. Mekedaatu gets name from Goat's leap. Meke - (Goat) and Daatu - leap. It is claimed that the river shore are so close at places that even goat can cross by jump. It is situated 95 kms from Bangalore. We planned to start at 7 am on sunday the 12th and we did start at 7. Strange but true. Never done before. But history doesn't repeat every time.

As usual i got up first, woke up others and slept till others got ready. We took 8 am bus from majestic to Kannakapura, a small town situated 60 kms from Bangalore. The journey of 1:45 was smooth (or so we thought in sleep-deprived dormancy), once we crossed the always-jammed bangalore traffic, we took another bus to Sangam at 11.

Missed the 10 bus by whisker. All due to Selva's insistence to go to ATM though we had enough. There are very few buses to Sangam and no private buses ply there. If you miss one, dont worry. The public and their gripping antics will make the wait worthful.

The 1 hour bus drive to Sangam was bumpy (Spoilt our dormant state often). We passed through many villages and plain fields and mountains to reach the sangam of river cauveri, ankatasari and another mythical river which no longer exists. We crossed the river sangam on foot, folding our jeans and with shoes in hand. No bridges connect
the shore and only way to cross is by foot or risk your bike in 3 foot water or get a Hummer. On other side, there is a beverage seller at other side who charges exorbitantly. We got beer cans and lays.(60 Rs for 38 Rs 300 ml beer can) Wonder if we can sue him for monopoly. Anyways, We started the 4 km walk to mekadaatu in dusty road, snapping pics in between. BTW we got temperary tatoos near central mall the day before and to show it off, we bought sleeveless T shirts and wore it today. Ofcourse, we struggled to get T shirt for selva, finding it after an 2 hr long thorough search. Bangalore malls rock!

Anyways, we snapped some pics focussing on the temperary tatoos (some tribal signs which lil wayne would have envied) on our bulging biceps. After some 300 m walk, wedecide to do the dew. We decided to trek on big rocks near the river shore. The rock walk was so tough that it Could have detered Lance Armstrong and Gebrassaille but not us.

It did tire us and knew the resultant ache will be felt next day but didn't dampen our spirits. We are the non-steriodal version of WWE fighers. After 3 km tiring walk on the rocks (with no scotch on the rocks), selva could take it no longer. He claimed that Rockswere getting bigger and the rock walk is time consuming and i could miss
the bus to chennai if we didnt move to road but we knew he was more worried of missing office the next day of soreness or may be not lasting to see the next day.

Atlast, we did heed his advice and moved to dusty road for last km strech. We atlast reached Mekedaatu around 3:15. Its like a tiny grand canyon with brilliant rock patterns and white water gushing on the rocks. We took some pics, rested on
the rocks for some time, enjoying the beauty of the nature (read pretty gals). At 4:30, We took the bus to return to sangam. We could have walked back but then i could miss the bus to chennai or so said Selva. We had late lunch and returned bangalore around 8 and took the bus to chennai at 11 comfortably. Body was sore on monday but with contentment, serenity and bliss.