Journey Date : 25 Oct, 2023 to 29th Oct, 2023
Mode of Transport : Train, bus and Auto
Day Four
Since two days we have been waking up early, so decided to wake up late at least by 1 or 2 hours. We woke up at around 7:30 a.m. Auto driver Mr. Parshuram called us and confirmed the timing, we told him to come at 9:30 a.m. at Hotel Amrutha Residency. We got ready and left the hotel room, auto was standing in front of the hotel gate, but Parshuram was not there. The auto driver told us that Mr. Parshuram was busy with some other work so he sent him. We sat in the auto and asked the auto driver to stop at the restaurant as we had to to breakfast. After having breakfast we moved ahead to Koppal.
Places we saw in Koppal
Shri Gavisiddheshwar Math
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| Showpiece stones at the entrance |
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| Panaromic view of Koppal village |
We came down to the 1st floor, and from there we went down towards the lake, there was one more temple of Swamiji constructed in the middle of the lake. Construction was still underway in some areas, so it was difficult for us to walk barefoot. While returning from the temple, we saw a kitchen which was the sign of a canteen or say a Lunch hall. We moved ahead and submitted the tickets at the counter, which was provided earlier in the temple. It was around 11:10 a.m., too early for lunch, so we had only sweet (Kheer) as a prasadam, after we had prasadam we washed the plates and kept them aside to dry and moved ahead for our next destination.
Koppal Fort
At around 11:25 a.m. we departed for Koppal fort. With the help of Google Maps, we reached the base of the Koppal fort at around 11:40 a.m. This fort has importance in Martha's history. Commander in chief of the Maratha army Hambirrao Mohite won the battle against the Miana brothers and captured the fort.
When we moved towards the gate and observed garbage spill all over, also at some places local public used the base area as a toilet. Very much disappointed by seeing all these things. Very important to spread awareness to local people about the importance of the fort and other ancient places. We moved ahead and reached the main gate of the fort. We were stunned to see the Gate is intact and in good condition. We happily entered the gate and started climbing the stairs.
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| Main Gate of Koppal Fort |
As expected stairs are made up of big rocks, climbing each step testing your stamina. We reached the second gate where in the exact opposite direction there was a small door and steps went downwards but the path was filled with grass and bushes, so avoid going there, later we came to know that the place was a big water tank. Thanks to the God that out of our three, no one tried to go there! We moved ahead through the second gate and came across the cave, having the support of two pillars. the cave is big at least 10 - 15 people can easily accommodate it, but the current condition is vulnerable, the cave is full of bats, and one can smell the odder of bats' waste.
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| Panorama view of Cave at Koppal fort |
After exploring the cave we moved ahead and reached the third gate, we went through the gate and reached the lake. We spent some time at the lake for photography. After spending 15 to 20 minutes, at around 12:30 moved ahead and within 20 to 30 steps we reached the fourth door and came across a building, where some sculptures were made, but missed those and while descending they grabbed our focus. We moved ahead and crossed the fifth gate and reached the other side of the building, and it was nothing but a temple where the deity is missing. On top of the door frame is the sculpture of Gaja Laxmi was there. Gaja Laxmi means Goddess Laxmi with two elephants on both sides.
We observed the path was covered with big grass and bushes, we kept our steps carefully and moved ahead, we observed one building which was painted with sky blue color, we thought it was a dargah, as usual illegally captured the land by Jihadis. We avoided that building and moved ahead and came across one more water tank, there was a way to go upward from beside the water tank, so we moved ahead carefully because our right side was open and if we slipped and fell then directly went into the water tank. We didn't know how deep the water tank was, even we didn't even know how to swim.
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| Water tank on the fort |
We went through the sixth gate and observed two rocks joined with the stone bridge. We moved and observed surface was carved with footstep shapes to get a grip and to avoid falling into the gap between two rocks, again we came across a water tank, this is the third water tank on the fort. We moved ahead upward and reached the 7th and the last gate of the fort as well as the top of the fort. We reached the topmost bastion from there entier Koppal district is visible. On the bastion, a big electric instrument was kept to make provision for light.
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| Bastion at top of the fort |
We came down from the bastion and took a rest for 15-20 minutes. It took One hour to reach the top from the base. At this point our water bottles got empty! At around 1:10 p.m. we decided to start descent the fort. While descending Vinayak saw a beautiful place for photography, both Vinayak and Kaushal went for photos. After spending 5 minutes we moved down and reached the water tanks, where my step slipped twice, I thought the surface was dry so I didn't keep my foot on the carved footstep shape for grip. I balanced myself, else high chance of falling into the gap between two rocks. Later I used those footstep carvings for grip.
We reached the building which was painted in sky blue color, as I said earlier we thought it was a dargah so we avoided going there, but somewhere inside we were curious to see what they did, so we decided to go and check. When we reached the front side of the building we observed two pillars similar to the Hindu temple, we observed door was painted yellow color and had Haldi and Kumkum on it also Mango leaves were hanging on the door, all these signs said this was a Hindu temple instead of dargah. Kaushal moved ahead towards the door, there were two holes in the door, and a Moon half ring and a Sun were carved on the door, using that hole I asked Kaushal to peep inside but the room was dark, I asked him to use mobile camera to see inside. We were surprised, there was an idol of Goddess Bhavani. We opened the door and went into the sanctum had a prayer and came out and closed the door.
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| Goddess Bhavani Temple |
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| Idol of Goddess Bhavani |
We continued to descend the fort and reached the building where the carving was, earlier I said while ascending we missed those carvings. Vinayak informed me about the carving, the carving of the imaginary animal named Sharab one more carving of Sharab was observed on the left top of the building and later we found many carvings of Parot, Ganesh, Prabhu Shree Ram and Shree Hanuman. We clicked the photos and continued to descend, now we didn't stop until we reached the base of the fort. We reached at the base at around 1:45 p.m.
At the main gate of the fort, we took a beautiful photo and moved ahead. When we came out of the entrance we saw villagers filling water from the tap, at some of the taps water is overflowing from the flask. We want to refill our water bottles, but the place is unknown and there is a language barrier. Some ladies were sitting outside the home, So we took out water bottles from the bag and in sign language asked them for water, She called his son and asked him to bring water. She asked in sign language where are you from, and we answered "From Mumbai". She saw a stick in hand and she thought it was a drone, we told her that it was a selfie stick, not a drone. We thanked them for the water and moved ahead. Note: in Kannada language Water is called Neer.
We reached the spot where the Auto driver dropped us off, but he was not there, so we called him on mobile, but he didn't respond after a few tries he answered the call and asked us to wait for 5 minutes as he went for lunch and no the way. We sat in the auto and asked him to take us to Hulikeri Lake.
Hulikeri Lake
Once again with the help of Google Maps, we reached the Lake viewpoint at around 2:05 p.m. The auto driver drops us at the gate. We moved around, where seating arrangements were made to see Lake View and sunset. When we stepped inside the park, we were disappointed to see dirt all over, local people had made this place a garbage dump area, everywhere red marks of spitting of pan and guthka. The area is beautiful, but local people made it garbage. We didn't wait much, clicked some photos, and left for Huligemma Temple at around 2:30 p.m.
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| Hulikeri Lake panorama view |
While returning from Hulikeri Lake, we decided to have lunch, as lunchtime had already passed. We asked the Auto driver to stop at a good restaurant for Lunch. He turned the auto in the opposite direction of Hosapete as there was no option for restaurants the way we came from Hosapete. We saw one family restaurant named Sukhibhava, The food quality, taste and service are good, recommend the restaurant if you visit Koppal. After having lunch we started our journey towards Huligemma Temple at around 3:20 p.m.
Huligemma Temple
Huligemma temple is 24 km from Koppal Fort and 14 km from Hosapete. The temple is located in Munirabad. One of the famous temples in the Karnataka. When we reached near the temple saw both side of the road was covered with big shops, and had a big parking area. We got off from auto around 100 - 200 meters away from the main gate at around 3:50 p.m. There was a provision for a shoe rack, so we handed over our shoes to the guard. and moved ahead. Before entering the holy place, we had to clean our feet, and for that, temple authority made a provision for a small canal where water flows continuously, we put our feet inside and moved ahead. This technique was followed in most of the temples in South India. The entrance gate is beautifully constructed, having various statues of gods on it. We entered into the temple premises, and stood in the queue. We seek blessing from Godess Huligmma and came out of the mandapam. We spent 15-20 minutes and came out of the premises. On left side of the gate there was a big wooden chariot kept inside bamboo shade. Spent some time in window shopping, as we didn't found any item as per our requirements. At around 4:30 p.m we departed for Tungabhadra Dam for sunset.
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| Huligemma Temple Premisses |
While going towards Tungabhadra Dam from Huligemma temple, We waited for around 10 - 15 minutes at railway crossing in Munirabad. Gate was closed as train about to pass, we though we will miss the sunset again, but guard opens the gate as train took long halt at Munirabad railway station.
Tungabhadra Dam
We reached Tungabhadra Dam at around 5:10 p.m. We took entry tickets at the counter and stood in the queue for the bus. Two buses arrived, but both were full by a group of senior citizens. We were continuously watching the sun, we didn't want to miss the sunset this time. Finally, the bus arrived after 10 minutes. We reached the top of the dam at around 5:25 p.m. We set up our selfie stand to capture the sunset. The sunset view was mesmerizing and the reflection of the sun on the water was amazing, but very soon an incident happened that stops our heartbeat for a second. A group of monkeys arrived and tried to steal the mobile and selfie stand, due to the alertness we picked up the selfie stand and mobile before time. After the monkies went away, we again set up the selfie stand and captured the sunset, but this time we were disappointed, as the sun set about earth line in the clouds😒
After sunset we boarded the bus and reached the gate, this time we didn't go to see a light show. We need some time to pack bags. We called the Auto driver, and he arrived along with Auto driver Parshuram, to whom we had done today's deal. He again started crying about additional charges as we had not mentioned Tungabhadra dam in the itinerary, we told him, we were on time, Tungabhadra dam was on the same way, and no extra distance we had traveled. We gave only 1800 Rupees which we have decided. At around 5:50 we reached the hotel.
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| Sunset at Tungabhadra Dam |
Return Journey to Mumbai
After reaching the room, we got fresh and started packing our bags, as our holidays were over 😂. At around 8:40 p.m. we went for dinner at Naivedyam restaurant. This was our last dinner in Karnataka so we decided to try some good restaurants. The ambiance, food taste, quality and service are very good. We completed our dinner and went for a walk at around 10:05 p.m. This was our last walk on the Hosepete bus stand road. Don't know whether we come here again or not in the future! We return to the room at around 10:30 p.m. We recharged our mobiles and powerbanks and at around 12:30 am on 29th October 2023, we checked out from Hotel Amrutha Residency. Though the train arrival time was 1:30 a.m., we decided to leave early as we were new to this area and didn't know about night conditions. Within 15 minutes, at around 12:45 we reached Hosapete Junction. We waited for a train in the AC retiring room.
As usual, the Indian Railway train came late by 10 minutes. We had AC 3Tier booking, we boarded the train, reached at seats and prepared our beds for sleep. We were about to sleep when TC arrived and asked for the seat number, I told him the seat number, but he said these seats were reserved for some other passengers. Then he checked the booking details in his TAB and said your seats were upgraded to AC 2 Tier and we had to go to another compartment which was 4 to 5 compartments away. We have not received any message from IRCTC about upgradation. We were disappointed as our sleep got disturbed, but on the other hand, we were happy as we got the chance to travel in 2Tier AC at the fare of 3Tier AC 😆.
We traveled from the B4 compartment to the A2 compartment, again prepared our beds for sleep and went to sleep. We woke up directly at 8:30 a.m. We got fresh and had breakfast and tea at around 9:30 a.m. The good thing was that the lower berth was empty, so we sat at the lower berth and spent time in gossip. On the train, a salesman was selling sweets, we purchased a sweet named Kunda from him, one of the famous swee of Belgav. At around 12:30 p.m., a pantry boy arrived to take lunch orders, we ordered Veg pulao. Lunch arrived at around 1:00 p.m, we had lunch and started discussing dinner plans, as the train was running late and tentatively reached Kalyan station at around 9:30 p.m. Kaushal and Vinayak decided to call their sister and maternal aunt respectively, as both stay in Pune and our train having halt at Pune junction. They both called and asked to bring dinner at Pune station. At around 2:30 p.m we went to sleep and got up at around 4:30 p.m. We had tea again and waited for Pune station to arrive. At around 6:00 p.m. train reached Pune station. Both Kaushal's Sister and Vinayak's maternal aunt were waiting on the platform. They handed over the food boxes and spent some time in the gossip and at around 6:20 p.m. train departed.
At around 8:00 pm we started dinner, first, we ate Tasty Thalipeeth brought by Vinayak's maternal aunt and after taking a break of 30 minutes at around 8:45 pm we had delicious Bhaji Chapati brought by Kaushal's sister. Thank to both for a tasty dinner. At around 9:00 p.m. train took a halt at Vtthalwadi railway station, which was two stations before Kalyan. We decided to get down at Vitthalwadi as the train was too slow and also taking halts anywhere. We got down at Vitthalwadi and purchased a ticket from the ticket counter. Vinayak got down at Dombiwali and we both got down at Dadar at around 10:10 a.m. In the morning I got the news that on the western line due to maintenance work trains were delayed. The indicator displayed the Bhayinder train arrival time at 10:30 p.m., but even after 10:40 p.m. train didn't arrive, because of that commuters were getting piled up and the platform got crowded. I am carrying two bags, hence it will be very difficult to board the train. Suddenly I received a call from Dad, I explained the situation; and he advised me to take a private cab, i dropped the call and immediately booked a private cab using OLA app. I reached (Goregaon) home at around 11:40 p.m.
This was our first picnic outside Maharashtra and the first experience was awesome, we enjoyed it a lot. Thank you to all who helped us on this trip. Thanks to Guide Suresh and Auto driver Narayanana and his brother Lucky also thanks to Auto driver Parshuram.
Here the end of Day four and the tour of Hampi.
Special thanks to both my loving friends, Kaushal and Vinayak, without their cooperation Hampi tour was impossible.
Spending summary Day 4
Over all spending summary
