Melusunka:

This village lies in the middle of forest in the region of backwaters of river Vaarahi(yellow highlighted marked as 1 in the map below). All that it has now is a small temple. Priest and his wife are the only people who live there during the summer months as during rainy season, the way to the outer world will be cut.

Mark 2 in the above map is the place by name Muttuga where during Monsoon time water comes of the road and part of the land will not be accessible. This is a nice place for picnic. Mark 3 is the place where my village Kadagodu used to be.

When my cousin first took me to that place I had no idea where I was going. But I am so glad he took me there. This time, again we planned a small outing to nearby areas. There is a Dam by name “Mani Dam” which has to be crossed to enter this region. One needs permission to go over the Dam and at times it is difficult to get permission. As we had planned to visit this just a day before independence day, it was not sure if we would get permission. But my cousin thought at least we could visit the areas nearby and even if we are not allowed to visit the Dam, it is fine. But when we reached there, he decided to take a chance and went and asked giving my introduction being grand daughter of Kadagodu Narayana Bhatta who lived in Kadagodu which is submerged in the Varahi backwaters and that we wanted to visit the Melusunka temple which is supposed to be near Kadagodu. My grandfather has passed away almost 25 years back and I did not know that this introduction would work. But for my surprise it did work and they allowed us to go over the Dam.

A funny thing happened here. As usual, I started taking photographs of backwaters as my cousin went to take permission. There were couple of more people who had entered the gate of the Dam and were looking at backwaters from the Dam. There was a man with bald head, who objected me taking photographs and he said, “Madam, do you see the CCTV here. you are not supposed to take photographs. Did not you see the board”. I looked around trying to find the board which was not visible anywhere. I told him, “CCTV is inside the Gate and only inside the Gate it is prohibited to take photos, not outside” thinking that he is a tourist. Later he went inside the office where my cousin had been to take permission and it seemed this person himself was the authority to give permission. Luckily we got the permission as my Cousin is a Dentist in Tirthahalli and that person was his patient.

On the way to Mani Dam…

I have to write something about the above picture. Though it is not clearly visible here, there was a person who was driving the cows towards his home running in the fields and almost falling down. I got out of the car and started taking photographs. Car was parked on the bridge and this was the scenary on one side of the bridge. Scenery on the other side was beautiful too. After few clicks, I hear someone calling me “Madam, madam”… I look around and I see a person standing around 300 mts away from me and trying to talk to me.

He said, “Madam, come this side and look. This is the life of farmers in Malenadu. See how beautiful it is. See how he is driving his cows in this rain towards the shed”. I thought, he is a nature love like me and walked 50 mts towards his side and took few more pictures. He introduces himself with some name which I don’t remember anymore and asks for my name. I told him my real name. And he starts reciting some poem about the nature and I started feeling he is a nut case. (“mande pettu” in my language). I tried to wrap up my photosession and run towards the other side of the bridge for some more clicks and I see him coming towards our car. And I just before he is around 50 mts from our car, I finished my clicks and got into the car in a hurry and asked the driver to start off. And that person was still calling, “Madam, wait..please …wait..” and we ended up laughing for a while as the car moved on. I am glad there was no one in the car who was authoritative enough to scold me for taking so long for taking photographs or for communicating with some stranger. Below are some pictures taken on the way.

Below picture was taken from outside the bridge of Mani Dam, before being objected by the KPC Officer. Same location during my previous visit.

This is how it looks as we pass across the Mani dam and travel towards the Melusunka temple.

Here are some pictures from my first visit to Melusunka temple.

Every time I talk about my native, I say proudly that this is a place where no one can walk out from a strangers house without eating and drinking the best what they can afford to offer. And that generosity is still remaining in most parts of region Malenadu even though things are changing gradually and people have less time for others. I had never seen the doors of my house being shut during day time till 23 years of my life, which reminds me of the song “teredide mane o baa atithi ” meaning doors are open, oh guest please come. If you ever get to visit this region, just stop over in front of a stranger’s house and ask for water and I am sure you would surprised with something more than water. If you go to villages, you may even be asked to stay overnight and go next day.

Modes of Commute:

Bangalore to Shimoga:  Distance 301 km.

KSRTC Bus ( http://ksrtc.in/oprs-web/)  Duration: 5-6 hrs

Private Buses: SRS, Durgamba etc. Night buses.

Railway: (http://indiarailinfo.com/search/ksr-bengaluru-city-bangalore-sbc-to-shivamogga-town-shimoga-smet/136/0/2754)   Duration: 5-6 hrs

Bangalore to Tirthahalli: Distance 346 km.

KSRTC Bus ( http://ksrtc.in/oprs-web/)   Duration:6-8 hrs.

Private Buses: SRS, Durgamba etc.

Car:  Duration 6.5 hrs 

Accommodation:

Tirthahalli: http://www.vihangamaholidayretreat.com

http://www.kolavaraheritage.com/

Places worth visiting around Tirthahalli:

Kavaledurga Fort: 18 km from Tirthahalli.

Kundadri Hill: 20km from Tirthahalli. 17th Century Jain temple is there on top of the hill which is around 826 mt.

Kuppalli:  Famous for being the Birthplace and childhood home of the renowned Kannada poet Jnanapeeta Awardee Kuvempu.

Chippalagudde: Ganesha temple on the bank of river Tunga.

Sringeri: 48 km from Tirthahalli. Famous Sri sharadamba temple & Sri Vidyashankara temple on the banks of river tunga.

Mandagadde: 30 km from shimoga. Known for Bird Sanctuary.  Time to visit – July to September.

Gajanur/Sakkarebailu : 13km from Shimoga. Known for Elephant training camp run by Govt. of India.  15km from Mandagadde Bird sanctuary.

Tyavarekoppa  Tiger and Lion Safari: 9.4km from Shimoga. Timings: 10:00 am to 17:00