This was sometime in the middle of august and the First ever trip in the Ford Figo had to be done so that it could run some miles in time for the first service.
So Friday the 13th of Aug was the date set after long discussions and unwanted postponements. The original plan was to leave around 4pm and reach the farm by dinner time. Thanks to the IST(Indian Stretchable Time) and Santosh and Noor by the time we were on our way it was nearly 8pm. We picked up some bevys for the trip and set off.
The first stop after a real bad stretch of road the cans cracked open, I had to keep in mind that I was sole driver for the trip and had to drive at night with not so good village roads I wanted to get going and reach the destination. This was a weekend break so we had very little time.
After a few cans of bevy crash landing under the front passenger seat and leaking all over the floor we managed to reach the point where we had to call Mr Anand for exact directions. Mr Anand poor thing was waiting for us and met us near the farm. By this time Santosh had enough and went in search of divine energy which he manged as well.
So we quietly settled down and slept as we were tired by this time thanks to santosh and Amoghs Cocktail mixing.
Morning dawned and guess what it was a bit chilly and to begin with and We had to brave the great outdoors to answer the Morning call as the farmhouse never had anything resembling to a toilet and it still doesn't. The actual damage to the interior of the car was to be assessed and My god it did stink of Stale Beer and no amount of deodorant or car freshener helped.
Breakfast was to happen at the other farm house(The Red Soil one) and we were treated to a nice awesome breakfast which was amazing and I could not eat anymore else I would have burst open ...it was that good...the Sajje rotti...the GADIGI curds and Gurellu Pudi with sunsla ....oh! beautiful.... After a small discussion about the days plan we managed to pack some food for lunch and headed out to do some touristy things.....The first stop was the Mahakoota....Well at first glance we never wanted to get in to the HONDA and then visit the temple so we headed out in search of the river thinking that the water might be more conducive for a relaxed swim. But at the Shiv Yoga Mandir next to the river the water was mucky and we decided to head back to Mahakoota and swim there. By the way the Shic Yoga Mandir is where all the swamijis are trained...more like a school and guess what it had deer running about in the campus.
After an exhausting swim and the brief visit to the shrine we sat down for lunch and again awesome food happened.
We reached the Town of Badami and I must thank the weather gods as we were blessed with some pleasant weather. Many photographs later we decide to shop for the night and head to the Farm house at Halduur(The Black Soil one). we shopped for booze and food was ordered and time for the bonfire.
The breakfast table welcomed us with a nice bucket of sambar near missing Anand.
Morning we decided visit Pattadkal and Aihole and this was the 15th of august the Independence day for our country.
At around 12 we headed back and decided to start the return journey.
This trip was a much welcomed and relaxing trip with some amazing food and nice weather all the way. The trip was so much fun that we decided to redo the same trip with more people,few more places we missed the first trip, with another car and the second trip was a longer more fun filled and a laughter riot.
I must thank Mr Anand (and The care takers at both the Farmhouses) for the hospitality and arrangements made for both the trips and the Gang which made this trip a memorable one.
Special thanks to Doc Vinay who made it all the way from Belgaum for the second trip and Special Thanks to Shiv Anna and family for the warm hospitality at their house.
More detailed blog about the Second trip will be up soon.
