New Year Resolution

I never understand the concept of waiting for new year to make a new resolution. If you really want to change something in your life or make change in your society you live in, why the hell do you need to wait for this particular day for making a resolution. I feel these resolution are made more to provide an update on FB or some other social network & wait for your friends to react to it & feel good. If this is what is expected then you are not making any resolution but just seeking for attention from other just to feel good.

Anyways I wish you all good luck for this new year 2011 & if it's not too much to ask then please avoid or reduce use of plastic.

A tribute to Sangolli Rayanna

I am sure most of you staying in Bangalore have seen a statue covered with a colorful plastic sheet in Khoday circle. Ever wondered whose statue it is? Yes, it of Sangolli Rayanna. Before I proceed further let me give you a brief history of Sangolli Rayanna.

Sangolli Rayanna born on 15-Aug-1798 was a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka. He fought the British till his death. Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the Kuruba Gowda / Dhangar caste and a warrior in his time. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma.

When the British wanted to secede the kingdom to their empire by putting forward the doctrine of lapse as Rani Chennamma’s son was adopted, the queen refused to secede her kingdom after her husband’s death. She was aided by Rayanna and fought British bravely but was defeated and imprisoned.

Sangolli Rayanna continued to fight the British. His land was confiscated, and of what remained of it was heavily taxed. He taxed the landlords and built up an army from the masses. He used guerrilla tactics to attack government property; burnt land records and extracted huge sums of money from notorious landlords and bureaucrats. Rayanna is considered by many historians as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare in India. He continued this warfare till 1829.

The landlords along with the British forced his father in law Laxman to cheat Sangolli Rayanna. When Rayanna was having a bath, the British army attacked. By that time Rayanna's sword was in Laxman's hand. When Rayanna asked him to give the sword, Laxman gave it to British army and they arrested Rayanna. Finally, he was captured by treachery and hanged in Nandagad in Belgaum district. His last wish was to be born again to fight against British & drive they away from our sacred soil.

Today, Sangolli Rayanna is fighting to get rid of this plastic sheet wrapped completely from top to bottom since more than a year at Khoday Circle. I guess he is still fighting these bureaucrats who cut the ribbon & garland the his statue.

Captured on Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 in one of the leading News paper
Addressing press persons, the former minister and adviser to Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Pratishthana H.M. Revanna said that the journey of installing statues of Sangolli Rayanna would begin at Kolhapur. The statue would be taken to Nippani, Belgaum, Kittur, Dharwad, Hubli, Haveri, Ranebennur, Harihar, Davangere, Chitradurga, Hiriyur, Shira, Tumkur and Nelamangala before reaching Bangalore.

This statue which would cost Rs. 70 lakh, will be installed at Khoday Circle near Bangalore Railway Station at a cost of Rs. 1.5 crore. It will be taken to the venue in a colourful procession. Mr. Revanna said that the statue was being installed to commemorate Sangolli Rayanna’s sacrifice. The statue will be unveiled in August (which year?)

Bureaucrats!!! What are you waiting for? Release the plastic sheet & let every Kannadiga see their hero & pay respect to the great Sangolli Rayanna.

Jai Hind Jai Karnataka...

Shivagange: Awesome Bike Journey On The Republic Day 2010

It all started with Karthik throwing up this idea when he called me on 23rd Jan to check what I am doing on Republic day 26th Jan. Sarvesh (common friend) was keen on going to Shivagange to check out, if his stamina has improved or not for this trek. How were we supposed to go there? Obviously it had to be on our Bullet. Another friend of ours Anup owns a Bullet Machismo & I ride a Bullet Electra. So, it was decided that all 4 of us will head to Shivagange on 26th Jan on our Bullets.

Anup, Karthik & Sarvesh were to come to my place early morning 6am on 26th Jan & from there we were to head in 2 bullets. Guess what, Sarvesh had a party previous night & bunked at Karthik’s place & woke up “early morning” 7 or 7.15am ;). I woke up early morning & my bullet is ready to roar. Could not wait any longer so I decided to head to Karthik’s house at Malleshwaram & take NH4 from there. Now Mr. Sarvesh says we will not take NH4 instead will take Magadi road. Magadi road stretch till Sunkadakatte is bad but Sarvesh insisted that we take this route & not NH4.

8 O clock it is & we kick start our bullets & head to the Shell petrol pump to fill in fuel which took about 10 mins & we were back on road again. All the way till Sunkadakatte I kept feeling that why did we take this route. The journey actually started just after Sunkadakatte, NICE road junction, believe me it was a wise call to take this route all thanks to Sarvesh. The road is wonderful & is almost empty; we could clear hear the rhythm of the thump & feel the fresh air. We were in no rush & were enjoying our ride each mile. Well it was time for our next pit stop, yes to fill in our stomach. Unlike Mysore road you have very few food joints on Magadi road so we had to search for a decent place. We found a darshni, Anup & Sarvesh ordered for Idli Wada & Karthik & I ordered for Masala Dosa. Take my word Idli & wada is the safest bet in south India when you are not sure of the place where you eat. Both Karthik & me ate half of our masala dosa & left it ordering idli wada for us too :) . It was about 9.30 or 10 & we started again. The scenic beauty was getting better & better with big mountains on either sides & blanket of green trees. Maintaining a good speed & a few stops to capture the scenic beauty in our cameras we reached Shivagange at 11.30. Parked the bikes in shade & we brought few water bottles from a stores before we started to trek up the hill.

Shivagange is one of the most well visited tourist attractions in Bangalore. The temple is located on the top of a hill & the view from an altitude of approximately 4500ft is mind blowing. This hill has four faces, and it looks like Nandi from the east, Ganesh from the west, Linga from the south and hood spread Cobra from the north. It has two famous shrines dedicated to Lord Gangadeshwara and Goddess Honnadevi. There is also a fresh water spring called Pathala Ganga between two monolithic rocks. On top of that there is a small Nandi and a small spring which is like Ganga coming out of it. The temple, Shivagange is a combination of two names, Shiva and gange. That’s how the place named Shivagange. The water which is found here is considered to be as holy as the River Ganga from Kashi. It is located on the top of a hill. You will find a statue of Nandi at the top of the temple. Tourists from all over come to this point to worship Lord Shiva.




The trek was nice & tiring too as it is sharp 12 in the noon when we started to trek & it was a very sunny day. Off course you will have to watch out & be careful of the monkeys who are really smart to take away your food effortlessly. The hill top view is awesome & you can relax for some time & eat the junk food if your appetite is good. The only thing that I felt bad was about how irresponsible people are about keeping the place clean & not litter, every step you take & walk up the hill you will find plastic. Why can’t we pay respect to Mother Nature & do our little bit in keeping the place clean? All said & done this place is a good visit & more so coz of the company & the ride on our bullet.

We walked down the hill & reached at 4 in the evening tired & hungry. The sugarcane juice & cucumber sold is just superb. Washed our faces & attended natures call at the rest room at the bottom of the hill.

4.30 It is & we kick started our bullets & head back to the road again. Other than a small stretch of 4 to 5 kms the road is peaceful & very less traffic in this route. The other route that you can take to reach Shivagange is through NH4 & a deviation after 8 kilometers from Dabas Pet. The whether in the evening was nice & was getting cooler. We did quite a few distance & reached a dhaba to refuel :P. I don’t recollect the name of the dhaba but the food was pretty decent. Karthik & Sarvesh had one mug of beer each as they were riding pillion. Anup & I were to ride the bike so no drinking & driving/ride. Before we head back on road we were served butter milk which was good, I just had a sip though.


It was about 5.45 or 6pm & we started our journey back. Anup who was ride fairly slow the whole day suddenly was in full josh & was ride at a decent speed, I guess it was butter milk :). Yes, it was getting darking as the day was passing & night catching up. The journey back was even better coz the roads were smooth & our bikes were happy with the ride. We came back to Karthik’s house at 7pm & I reach my home at 7.30 near Vijaynagar. In all we did about 200Kms & all of us had good time.

All I can say is, the ingredient for this great trip was good place, good roads, great bike “The Royal Enfield Bullet”& last but not the least a superb company :)