Walk ‘o trek at Gopalaswamy Betta!

 
A break I was seeking for, since long...I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Gopalaswamy Betta was the place in mind, ‘betta’ meaning hill in Kannada. Situated about 240 kms from Bangalore, in the State of Karnataka, this is the highest peak in the Bandipur National Park.

Friends making all the difference...We were all picked from our places and our journey towards the destination in mind was flagged off. All the fun talks and the tots of music kept us away from realizing how early that Sunday had begun for us...Which would have otherwise been spent under a blanket all cozy(read lazy and boring).


 
We had the first pit stop to fill our empty tummies. My tummy was creating a racket, I tell you.
Learning no. 1: It’s not just the empty ‘vessels’ (can be considered literally in this case) that make the most noise. :)


The second pit stop was for having a refreshing drink. What can beat tender coconut water here?!! Technically known to be one of the most nutritious wholesome beverage that nature has given us…This was uplifting! Something we really needed after a not-so-good breakfast.


In the process, my eyes were caught by a sight that moved me a great deal. It was that of two trees on either side of the road...There was a specific branch of each of these trees that were so well coupled with each other, like they were shaking their hands and coming close to each other for a warm hug.


Nature has so much to offer...The cool morning breeze and the green fields around were magnifying the splendor. Even before I reached the destined place, I had already started feeling blessed!


We were all keyed up! On the way uphill, the excitement seemed escalating. I knew my eyes would get a scenic beauty to witness which added on to my zest of being there. But, little did I know that I would get to view the shades of Mother Nature like never before...


The first thing I got to see when I got down the vehicle was a temple. A small & simple temple of Lord Krishna, believed to be a very powerful one though, popularly known as the temple of ‘Venugopalaswamy’ (Lord Krishna). That’s how this place got its name ‘Gopalaswamy’.


We could see a long trail. I must say a real long one if I got to do justice to the path showing trail. We made a move on the trail to explore the place. It was pleasantly cool, with mild sun rays hitting us every now and then.


Far away in the top of one of the cliffs, was a house standing all alone surrounded by trees. It wasn’t really big or with any great architectural work, but there was something about it that was really inviting…Well, I had no choice but to perk up with its limited access (read only access being the limited visual access). :)


Walkin’ the walk, we now saw ourselves surrounded by green all around and light baby blue on the natural ceiling, so vast. Eyes felt relaxed with these light (read naturally comforting) colors around. We could just sit there for hours together. Luckily, we had loads of time in our pots to comfortably feel and relish the natural ambience!!


We reached this rocky and bumpy area with long grasses. There was the ‘stony wall of Gopalaswamy’ as I would love to call it.


It was small in size but mighty long, made of black colored stones. All credit to Mother Nature, beautifully raw was the look it bore...Reminding me of a few stoned structures in Goa.

We were surrounded by hills all around. All I could see were shades of green and blue so pleasing. There were layers of cliffs all around. The layering itself was a beauty to witness. To top that, was the look of vivid variety of carpets laid on them making them so uniquely elegant..!

The cliff we were on was carpeted with a mix of short and long, fresh and dried grasses in light green and greenish brown.


A few hills around seemed to have a carpet of medium sized trees unevenly distributed.


A few seemed covered with a blanket having various tints of green uniformly spread over, making it exquisitely picturesque...! 


The cliffs had shadows falling onto them. They seemed crazily amazing to me! They were so picture perfect that at first, I just couldn’t believe they were actually shadows cast by the clouds. Every shadow cast, appeared to speak for itself.

To me, it was as if Sun was playing with the clouds, ‘the shadow act’.  Let us have a look at a few of those.


It looked as if the shadow intended to say “Hey you! I own you!”…Doesn’t it?!!


Does this look like a ghostly hand?!! This was the question I had in mind…


This looked like a kingfisher to me, what do you think?!!

Well it’s all in our minds...The beauty lies in the fact that we are blessed to be a part of Her (read Moth Nature’s) games, as spectators.


A request from the bottom of my heart:
“Let us always remain the spectators She created us to be, enjoying every color, every shade of Hers, rejuvenating ourselves with every spectacle She has in store for us...Let us take an oath of not destroying any element of Hers, ever.”

Learning no. 2: We call Her Mother Nature! It’s time we mean what we say…!!!
-  Ahi (a humble spectator)