Devarayanadurga- First sunrise of the new year!

March 11, 2016

It is a belief that if we do good things on the first day of the new year we will do good things the entire year. Being a travel buff I wanted to start the year 2016 by travelling than do anything else!

It was still one of those good winter days of Bengaluru and I wanted to take advantage of it by visiting some hill or fort and see the first sun rise of the year. After seeing many places Devarayanadurga seemed perfect.

Distance from Bengaluru: Around 65 Kms

Time taken: 1.5 Hrs approximately

Route: Nearby to Tumkur. Google maps works flawlessly.

Though we wanted to start really early (as every travel plan goes!) I guess it was almost 5.15 or 20 by the time we left. After filling petrol near KR Puram and giving nasty look to a guy for cutting the line on the first day of the year (ya, I'm one of those people ;-) ) Finally we started off and were zooming on the ORR and bam! there is a huge jam on the railway crossing near MES in Gorguntepalya (as always, may be from last 10 years!) and we were stuck there for 15 minutes.

I was almost ready to burst out as nothing was going as planned on the first trip of the new year that too on the first day! Finally the jam cleared (some big lorry couldn't pass through in that narrow railway crossing) and we accelerated towards Tumkur road.

Drive was pleasant as it was still foggy with chilly air. But our concern was missing the sun rise as it was almost 7 and we hadn't reached yet and sky was slowly turning in to hues of orange.

We reached the tip of the hill and asked a few people about temple and they directed us further up (Google maps gets a little tricky at this point, better follow the sign boards though not difficult to find your way).

We reached the place and saw plenty of vehicles and small vendors for flowers and tea starting their day. Place was abuzz with activities. We were quite surprised but thought may be that's how it is daily! But turns out it was a special occasion that day (I do not remember - may be ಎಳ್ಳ ಅಮಾವಾಸ್ಯೆ or something) and a special pooja was going and that was the reason for the huge crowd.

We were happy and felt we sure were lucky that we got to visit the place on a good day. You need to climb may be some 80-100 steps but it was not very tiring as it there was a cool breeze. Sun was peeping through the clouds and there was a lot of fog.

We went around the place quickly and there was nothing much but we did see an almost closed way which looked well marked leading up. We sneaked through the bushes and climbed and there it was! the beauty!

Top of the hill, the view is just amazing and if you climb even further there is a mantapa. We did not go up till there and now I wonder why. We just sat there at the top enjoying the fog, serenity and the view. Sun was slowly coming up and giving hopes for a new year.

All of us, sitting there, did not even utter a word and might have just sat in silence looking at the view for almost an hour. We spotted birds and a train hooting somewhere far and vehicles slowly climbing the winding roads of the hill. That's when our tummies rumbled!

We got up and came near the edge and were seeing the people near the temple when someone from below started shouting at us to get down as they will close the gates soon. There is an iron gate near the temple entrance which when closed you will not be able to reach the top nor get down.

We took few pictures and slowly descended down to the temple. And the guy informed that he will close the gate now. Turned out the gates were opened so early in the morning for that special pooja only and they should have closed it by 8 but as there were many people he had prolonged it.

We really were lucky that day as they apparently don't open the gates till late in the morning and Devarayanadurga isn't a place where you can plan to see the sun rise from top. We went to the temple and had Darshana.

The place has a lot of monkeys and may even snatch things from your hand so beware. We came down and saw many vendors preparing hot coffee and tea. But we had a better idea for breakfast. Pavithra Tatte Idli hotel in Tumkur!

We reached the place in some 20 min but the hotel was buzzing with people. Ordered tatte idli, vada and masale dose. I'm not a big fan of tatte idli but I just loved the vada-chutney there. Dose was also mediocre.

After a good cup of filter coffee we bid adieu and headed back towards Bengaluru. It was a good start for the new year.