To Hogenakkal and back

The plan:

It all happened during a boys' night out. Ashok, Babu, Reetu and I were having a few drinks on a late Friday night, when we started talking about our road trips. And we talked about where we hadn't been. And where to go. And when to go. And the plan was made. To go to Hogenakkal Falls for a day long trip on Sunday. Just like that.

We called up a few people to see if they'd like to join us - and everyone declined owing to various reasons. We understood. At the end, there were eight of us for the trip.

As in the last road trip, we needed a second car. This time, we avoided Autoriders and went to Thrifty car rentals (0091-80-23613941,44). We took a new Chevrolet Spark for INR 1,250/- for 24 hours, no charges for the first 150 kms. After that, it was INR 5/- per km travelled. We needed it only for a day so it was ok.

Reaching Hogenakkal:

Early Sunday morning, 12 July 2009, we set off from my place in Cox Town, Bangalore. The distance was estimated at about 150 kms, one way.

The route to take was pretty straight-forward. Take the Hosur road (NH7) all the way to Krishnagiri, and then to Dharampuri. From there, you will need to move to a state highway to reach Hogenakkal, about 30 odd kms further. One can find a lot of sign boards (in English!) leading you to the falls. The roads, including the state highway, are good to drive on. Just before you reach Hogenakkal there's about a 5 km stretch of hilly road - and a lot of monkeys! :) By the time we reached Hogenakkal, we had clocked 185 kms.

When you reach Hogenakkal, it tells you just how thriving this little town is. It's crowded, with vendors everywhere hawking their trades. The only problem is language - we couldn't speak Tamil and they knew little English and no Hindi. So we depended entirely on a rich mixture of Hinglish with sign language. And it worked - well, most of the times. A word of caution: it is thoroughly advised to visit this place in slippers (or at least carry them), take a change of clothes, and of course, carry towels. A lot of us didn't since it was our first time, and this was one important lesson we learnt from this trip. So please pay heed!

We parked our cars in the huge parking lot built especially for road trippers. And being a Sunday, it was packed. Took us a while to find two spots for our cars, and once done, we headed to the nearest restaurant to eat something. We ended up in a small restaurant where only rice was available. Being close to our lunch time, we decided it was ok to have rice so we settled in. What we didn't expect was for the food to be served in authentic Tamil style - banana leaves and all. We figured we might as well be tourists and indulge ourselves. The food was good, and for the price, not bad at all.

In Hogenakkal, the coracle ride (the little, circular boats) is what the entire place is mostly about. Besides the Cauvery river and its falls of course. And you can see the boatsmen hunker around you, bargaining for prices. And they quote huge amounts, trust me! We wanted two boats for a 3 hour trip, with the falls and the "island" included in it. They quoted about INR 1000/- for it, per boat. We finally negotiated, waited, and got two boats for INR 1,400/-. Welcome to India!

It's amazing to see just how much these boatsmen spend their energy lugging

these coracles on their shoulders - yes, they carry it themselves. And these boats weigh about 40 kilos - I asked so I know. The ride is nice, to say the least. And the boatsmen distribute the weight so that their part of the boat is slightly tipped - aerodynamics! And they love to give their passengers a spin in their coracles, and spin they do! Actually makes you dizzy, spinning in a boat made of bamboo and plastered with tar for buoyancy with no real modern technology to save you in case of an emergency, so to speak.

The Falls:

When you head for the falls, you need to walk a bit and then get aboard your coracle from a superbly overcrowded, narrow boarding point. In the meantime, your boatsman would've carried his coracle and brought it to the boarding point. You will need to identify him (or he will!), get onboard, and set off. You are advised to put all your valuables, especially digital ones like cameras and cellphones, in good plastic protection because if you are going to get drenched in the falls, you better save your goods!

The coracle boatsmen take you close to the falls, stop under a few of the smaller ones, then spin their coracles so that each of the passengers get drenched in turn. It was an experience I've never had before, and it was so much fun! Of course, if you don't want to get drenched you can always say no and the boatsmen will steer clear of the falls. In any case, they will not venture near the really big falls where you can actually see the terribly strong undercurrent. The coracles then venture out to the next stop in the itinerary: The Island.

The Island:

The stretch of the Cauvery from the falls to the island is a narrow gorge, with two of India's states forming the two banks of the river: Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This stretch of the river is calm, quiet and peaceful. And a coracle ride here is soothing to say the least. Save for the drunk bunch of urchins who climb high on the rocks, leer at women and then jump off those rocks in to the river. The good part is they can be ignored, although God alone knows how alcohol can make its way to the park when it is officially banned. Again, welcome to India!

As you reach the much hyped island, you find that it is a mini version of the Hogenakkal market. Crowded, with a lot of small huts frying fish caught fresh from the river. One can find a lot of families gathered together for picnics, too. It isn't until you trudge to the little river bay that you find the real "action".

What one will find in the bay is a huge, natural swimming pool teeming

with people - some fully clothed but enjoying their time in the river nonetheless! The river that flows there is shallow, with only a slight hint of a current. So it's safe. But how one can swim alongside people who bathe there with full soap and all was out of my mind. I didn't even venture into the water, although the more adventurous ones from our group did, and actually enjoyed themselves while we waited on the banks for them. There are places in the island which sell food (again rice, and fish), people who come up to you and ask if you'd like an oil massage, and of course the cigarette vendors. Thank God for them!

After spending about an hour or so there, we got ready to head back. We found our boatsmen, and again took the narrow gorge route back to the mainland. Once there, we paid them and headed back to Hogenakkal market - Ashok as usual couldn't live without beer, even in this trip! So whilst Ashok and Babu (who was suffering from cold and had his nose blocked) sipped on some cool beer, the rest of us drank some coconut water and waited for them. Once all were in, we set off for our trip back to Bangalore.

Back to Bangalore:

On our way back, Ashok and Babu were still thirsty for more beer. After crossing a lot of small villages on our way back, we failed to spot even one bar. That was a time when we definitely missed Karnataka! Finally, we stopped at one dhaba in the middle of nowhere, and chanced upon some beer. It was not what the boys, who are ardent Kingfisher fans, would've liked. What we got was some "Vorion 6000", but they accepted it gladly! We stopped at the dhaba for an hour or so, while the boys sipped some more beer and everyone had a light snack. I was a good boy throughout for I didn't take even a sip of the beer - no drinking while driving! :P

We reached Bangalore at around 8pm and as usual, had to navigate our way in the bursting traffic of the city outskirts. Anyway, the trip had been good. The coracle ride was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that everyone should do - it's just so much fun. Finally, an eventful Sunday was over and we were all glad that the weekend had been productive and had not been whiled away just by sleeping or watching movies. Now it was time for Monday, and another week at work. Life!

For my Flickr set on Hogenakkal, click here.