Traveller Hoots

It was almost 3pm in the noon. Departing from the scenic views of Varanga , we set out to drive through the Western Ghats. The deadly journey of Western Ghats is known to be the Agumbe ghat section. I had just heard about it and was super excited to drive through these ghats :) Brief on the place : Agumbe is a small village in Shimoga district with approximately 500 people. It is one of the cores of Western Ghats and is a bliss for nature lovers.  It's called as the Cherrapunji of South India - recording the average rainfall of 1000cm in the rainy season. The beauty of Agumbe is ultimately magical in the monsoon . It is famous for the spectacular sunsets during the summer. Another attraction is the Agumbe Rain Research Forests (ARRS) , which is the only rainforest research station in India. It was founded by Indian herpetologist Romulus Whitaker in 2005 when he saw his very first King cobra here in 1971. ARRS managed the world’s first radio-telemetry project on the King Cobra

With Udupi Sri Krishna Temple behind us, it was onward onto Kere Basadi - Varanga, Karkala . This place was on my bucket list for two years. I was impressed by the aerial view of this Jain temple posted on social media. I always felt "That's the place to live amidst nature". The greenery and an outstanding structure in the center of the lake always fascinated me. With the setback of Jomlu theertha falls, my friends somehow reluctantly agreed to visit this place on my words, and hence we were looking forward to exploring this unexplored place in Varanga, Karkala. A brief note on Kere Basadi Kere Basadi is located in Varanga , a small village 26kms from Karkala, Udupi. Varanga is a popular Jain pilgrim center. The village is a home for many centuries old ancient Basadis. The word Varanga is also closely associated with Varangacharita, a novel on fictional prince Varanga to preach principles of Jainism . The main Basadis here are Neminatha Basadi (Here Basadi), Chandranath

" Unplanned Trips are the BEST !!! " The sudden plan Last Thursday, Pradeep pinged me to plan for a trip as Rocky was leaving to Germany. On the other hand, Rocky had to visit Udupi to meet his relatives. So I just popped an idea that how about all of us visiting Udupi, which would be like hitting two birds with one stone :P A quick call to the group, soon  Pradeep, Rocky, Tharun, Shwetha were ready for this last minute trip. Rocky booked 5 tickets to Udupi the same night. We just had 24 hours of time with office errands, nobody had a clue what we would be exploring in Udupi. The Journey Friday night, Bangalore drenched with heavy rains and huge traffic. The bus arrived two hours late. We boarded the bus at 12:30am in midnight. We were happy to see each other. After talking for a while, we were all tired and soon we fell asleep. Next morning, a beam of sunlight through the bus window woke me up. A sense of curiosity, I peeped through the window. It was 6:15am early morning. T