Anything that fluctuates does not remain stationary. Wherever there is fluctuation, there are ups and downs. How many ups and down we would have in a roller coaster ride? Is there any melody in a music if there is no up and down either in sound or voice? 2007 was a prosperous year. Sensex was scaling everyday a new height. There was boom in the stock markets world over. However,up trend always does not continue in a stock market or any market for ever. Peak is not end of the world. There is a world even beyond a peak . On 21 st January 2008, stock market crashed and downward trend in stock market began. Similarly, we find an ebb and a flow in a river which flows into a sea. Life is not at all a straight line. Even in life ,we come across ups and downs. One who climbs a hill also cannot remain at the summit for a long time , they have to scale down. Whether it is a stock market movement or an ebb and a flow in a river or ups and downs in a life, or up and down a hill, everywhere up and down is an experience. Up and down is a process in every sphere. Of course, experience differs from sphere to sphere. A balloon goes up and up in the sky and bursts. A ship goes down and down and sinks. Everything has a limit.
Ups and downs are always not similar in everybody's life.They differ from individual to individual. If ups and downs were not there , a man would have been carefree. It is ups and downs mold a man.What is important-in a man's life is whether it is thumbs up or thumbs down ultimately. Nothing happens to a hill even if any number of people go up and down it any number of times. It remains as it is. Whereas, as far as human beings are concerned, whenever they are up in their life they are happy and whenever they are down in their life they feel depressed. It is always better in life if one continue their efforts without bothering much about ups and downs. It is also true that it is not so easy to develop that tendency also. Here , I am trying to narrate my experiences up and down a hill called Savanadurga. Savanadurga is also known as Fort of Death. I was 69 years old at that time. I was unaware at that time of the fact that there were three blocks inside my heart . I had no symptoms of a heart ailment whatsoever at that time or earlier. My friends had been to Kailas Mansarovar via Nepal. They had to return from there without doing parikrama because there were more people and less number of ponies. However, their tour operator promised them parikrama in 2008 without extra charges. In order to undertake parikrama without much hardship, they planned trekking of hills in and around Bangalore. In this context, they planned a trekking expedition every month . They were less than a dozen people in number. They included both men and women. Moreover, majority of them were more than forty years of age. They were engaging a small vehicle for the purpose. Sometimes, they needed people to fill the vacant spots in the hired vehicle. That was how I joined their trip to Savandurga. When the trip was undertaken , it was not either summer or rainy season and the weather was moderate. We wanted to begin our climbing as early as possible in the morning. Before,noon we wanted to be at the peak because it would be hard to climb a hill when scorching sun is up. Morning breakfast afternoon dinner and chats were arranged by organizers of trip. Expenses were shared equally between all the participants. All participants were not from one place. Some of the participants were from south Bangalore and some were from north Bangalore.
A trekking no doubt is generally a very tough job to majority of people. Yet, it is pastime of many people. Nobody can deny the fact that it is a good exercise that makes one more confident, bolder and stronger. Going up a hill is strenuous and coming down a hill is also equally strenuous many times .That is also what one finds at Savandurga too. Up and down a steep and rocky hill is a heart-thumping adventure which gives one immense pleasure, satisfaction and happiness. Nature is so powerful, beautiful and wonderful at Savandurga that it makes one forget all their worries and become one amidst it. Whether one is young or old Savanadurga hill is a challenge to everybody. Savanadurga hill is a place which one can really enjoy too. Of course, it is needless to say that enthusiasm is always quite essential for the purpose.
Savanadurga is 60 Km west of Bangalore off the Magadi Road. It is about 60 minutes drive from Bangalore. Savanadurga hill rises to 1226 m above mean sea level and forms a part of the Deccan plateau. At most places the slope is 70-80 degree, which makes it a challenging trek. The dry deciduous forest surrounding the hills is home to the endangered Yellow-throated Bulbuls, Sloth bears, Leopards, etc. Even the flora of the Savandurga Hills is quite varied, comprising of over 59 tree and 119 shrub species. Savandurga Hill embodies nature’s power and magnificence. When one looks at Savandurga hill, it is awe inspiring. It is a big monolithic rock . Several questions like Is it possible to climb it ? Whether it is a trekking or a rock climbing ? definitely arise in any individual. Even after ascending and descending Savandurga hill,one would wonder, how they were able to climb such a gigantic rock. Not only ascending of Savandurga hill is thrilling but also descending it is also equally thrilling too . Even for sightseeing Savandurga is an excellent spot. Savandi Veerabhadreshwara Swamy temple and Narasimha Swamy temple are at the foot of the hill. The temples are also quite popular amongst rock-climbers, cave-explorers and adventurers. Savandurga was the secondary capital of the Magadi rulers such as Kempegowda. from 1638 to 1728. Subsequently, Mysore rulers took over this place and Dalavayi Devaraja occupied this place with the palace at Nelapattana. In 1791 Lord Cornwallis captured it from Tipu Sultan's forces during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Savandurga is formed by two hills known locally as Karigudda (black hill) and Biliguda (white hill)
What we heard, what we read and what pictures we saw were all from others only. We get a true and real picture only when we see with our eyes and get all the details. Going up an down hill is object of everyone who visits Savandurga. Though the purpose is one, everyone does not think alike and their attitude differ from person to person . Some think while climbing up they should not look up at all because they are afraid that if they look up and realize that they have yet to climb a lot they would get intimidated. Some think that they have to look around and enjoy whatever they come across and climb leisurely. Some do not look here and there they simply look up and hurry up to reach the target. In order to go up Savandurga hill, undoubtedly one has to know very well the route. Unfortunately , one would not notice a proper route which would lead them to the top of the hill there. There were no steps to reach the hill top. There were no supporting rails either for ascending or descending there. One could make use of a hard stick at the most in some places only. It was an uneven sloppy steep surface. It was a rough terrain. At many places one would be compelled to crawl even . There was every chance of our treading a wrong path. Moreover,we came-across on our way people who returned after half way through because they lacked adequate stamina. Taking a wrong path and falling seemed very common on Savandurga hill. We came-across indeed many who got themselves hurt during their traverse. We realized that utmost caution had to be exercised. To-day, we find at Savandurga hill, remnants of an old fort . We do not find a guide from Archaeological Department who could brief us about ruins that we come across there. That was why we engaged a local boy for our guidance. He was Kariya . Kariya was son of a laborer. Majority of laborers are uneducated. They work from morning to evening and in the evening they spend whatever they earned for drinking. As such they remain poor. Kariya was studying in seventh standard. He wanted to utilize money that he earned for his education.
In life one tries to go up as easily as possible. Similarly, here also one tries to go up as easily as possible. There were arrow marks with white paint, visible on the rock, all along and that made our task quite easier. After 15 minutes of climb from base level , we came across a small broken fort wall. Half an hour later we reached a small cave on the way. The surface was slippery initially due to water coming from top of the hill. The initial part of the climb was much harder than the rest of the climb. It was when we crossed some parts of hill which were really very steep and difficult to climb. Of course , we came across foot holds to make our climb easier. But latter on we felt that our efforts were indeed worthwhile.
Going ahead we saw a wall of a fort. It was just before which the climb was really steep. That was about half way up the hill. There afterwards , we walked on wall of the fort. After the fort wall there was not much climbing. We came across a small pond with weeds in it. Soon we found ourselves in the middle of some huge boulders. We reached what most probably was a watch tower once upon a time. We rested there for sometime. Our next destination was a small plateau. Here we could see a hut like shelter made of stone and in the back side of it there’s a small pond. We saw some trees and shrubs adjacent to it and there was narrow passage to enter in . As we entered , we could see a figure of Hanuman, carved on a rock with red color. There was a tree to climb there also.
Everywhere at the top or middle of the hill, while climbing , picture was not the same. When we moved in different directions , we had different scenery. The scenes evoked different feelings in us. Some scenery were horrifying and some were beautiful .We came across various faces of nature. Everything was spectacular. We came to know through our guide that scenes would be different in different seasons. To one who moves up and up in an helicopter everything below appears smaller and smaller. Similarly, as we moved up and up , everything below started appearing smaller and smaller on one hand . On the other hand , we were nearer to Bull Tower at the zenith. One would not be aware of stress, strain and distance that they cover if they are in discussion and are in company of somebody. As we had climbed together in a group, majority of us did not feel stress and strain. Of course, our progress was a bit slow. On our way , many youths congratulated me over my endeavor at the age of 69.
Ultimately, after 3 hours of climb, we reached the top. Whenever one gets to a summit, they must look down and see the path our goal. The joy that we had at that time had no bounds. We stationed ourselves at the Bull Tower. There was a flag post, an electrical pole and a boulder at the site. We prostrated before "Bull" which was in the tower. We ate our dinner there. We were dam tired due to the steep climb.Hence, we relaxed there for sometime. However, an aerial view of surroundings didn't allow us to relax more .View of Arkavati River, Thippagondanahalli --- Reservoir, Manchanabele dam, the greenery, small tiny village houses below, and temples at the basement was really amazing . It was breath taking. One who is good at photography can have countless photographs at Savandurga.
Descending was relatively less strenuous but our knees started paining half-way down. In life nobody tries to go down easily. Here also, we should never be in a hurry and try to descend as early as possible. Surface was sloppy and slippery and chances of getting hurt were more while descending . At times, we felt like sliding down the hill. But we did not give room to our emotions and played with our life. We tread cautiously and were at the bottom of hill safe and sound. It was a memorable trip. It is not enough if we climb a hill , we have to remember that there is still another hill which is tougher to climb.We needn't climb Mount Everest. Life itself is a mountain . Successfully completing a life is in fact is as good as climbing successfully a mountain. If one is in agreement with views mentioned herein , it is thumbs up and if one is in disagreement with views mentioned herein it is thumbs down.