"10 plate idli vada, 8 masala dosa and 2 plate poori" Shilpa is giving the breakfast order in a restaurant for twenty people. We twenty people from Bangalore Trekking Club (BTC) were on our way to Anthargange Caves.
It's been more than three months I went to a trek and was looking for one day trek (Becuase of work pressure was not ready to do two days trek). And when I saw BTC's one-day trekking to Antargange Caves, forwarded email immediately to Vidya as she was also looking for a one-day trek.
We started our journey from Majestic around 7am on 18th Jun 2016 and few other joined us at Tin Factory. Once everyone boarded the mini bus, organizer Vikram gave a brief description about the trek and asked everyone to give an introduction.
"Two more people can come now" Vikram shouted from inside water cave. After stopping for some time at the temple premises, we went to explore the first cave, water cave. We had to go through a small entrance through the rocks to this cave and take support from wooden stick placed to get down. It was a bit of struggle by holding rock which does not give proper grip. There is small water steam in this cave. Everyone got a chance to play / touch water for few seconds to minutes as only two or three people can go inside at a time.
"Girls and Boys..." Siddesh started to encourage everyone to walk faster. Siddesh is a local guide, who is from the village in Antargange helped us to explore caves. From the water caves, we hiked further through the path with a lot of boulders and rocks to our next cave. This part was much more fun as we had to go through multiple small paths between rocks. We took some break and group photos on our way.
"Haha haha haha hahaha" Ms. Gururaj started laughing while Vikram giving his introduction and everyone joined her.... For a minute or so we all continued to laugh (am I exaggerating it here? Nope, not all!!). Vikram's introduction was missed during our journey in the minibus, so we asked him to enact his first name, middle name, last name, girlfriend's name (kaunsi wali?) and what not. We continued to laugh along with Gururaj every now and then till we finish our lunch inside the cave. Organizer Vikram had promised us that there will a surprise if we are able to finish trek soon.
Imli ka achaar, lime pickle, nimbu paani, lime juice, lemonade, lemon chicken and so many other dishes made with lemon alone, in a similar way there was food from all over the globe including some finest hot drinks! Well, these are part of Vikram's surprise because we finished trek around 3 PM :) On our way to Kotilingeshwara Temple - which is around 35 km from Antagange - we played food antakshari and invented few new dishes as well.
After getting blessings from many Gods and Goddesses at Kotlingeshwra temple, its time to return to Bengaluru. On our way back, we have done feedback session and ragging (just for fun) to first-time trekkers. After reaching Bengaluru we bid adieu to each other...
As a common saying at the end of BTC trek, "we will see you when we see you in next trek". It was fun filled one-day hiking...
Bye Bye
Photo courtesy: Sandeep, Varun, Amol
It's been more than three months I went to a trek and was looking for one day trek (Becuase of work pressure was not ready to do two days trek). And when I saw BTC's one-day trekking to Antargange Caves, forwarded email immediately to Vidya as she was also looking for a one-day trek.
We started our journey from Majestic around 7am on 18th Jun 2016 and few other joined us at Tin Factory. Once everyone boarded the mini bus, organizer Vikram gave a brief description about the trek and asked everyone to give an introduction.
 |
| Typical Vikki style introduction begin - Dumb Charades introduction :) |
Antara Gange is a mountain situated in the Shathashrunga mountain range in the southeastern portion of the Indian state of Karnataka. Antara Gange literally means "Ganges from deep" in Kannada. It is about two miles from the town of Kolar and seventy kilometers from Bangalore. Antara Gange is famous for the temple situated on the mountain. In the temple is a pond which gets a continuous flow of underground water from the mouth of a Basava (stone bull) There is a steep, narrow path to the top of the mountain. The mountain consists of granite rocks and lot of caves around (Wikipedia).
 |
| Group pic at the entrance of Antargane |
"Two more people can come now" Vikram shouted from inside water cave. After stopping for some time at the temple premises, we went to explore the first cave, water cave. We had to go through a small entrance through the rocks to this cave and take support from wooden stick placed to get down. It was a bit of struggle by holding rock which does not give proper grip. There is small water steam in this cave. Everyone got a chance to play / touch water for few seconds to minutes as only two or three people can go inside at a time.
 |
| Water caves |
"Girls and Boys..." Siddesh started to encourage everyone to walk faster. Siddesh is a local guide, who is from the village in Antargange helped us to explore caves. From the water caves, we hiked further through the path with a lot of boulders and rocks to our next cave. This part was much more fun as we had to go through multiple small paths between rocks. We took some break and group photos on our way.
 |
| Narrow path between rocks |
 |
| We found some places for group pic inside cave |
"Haha haha haha hahaha" Ms. Gururaj started laughing while Vikram giving his introduction and everyone joined her.... For a minute or so we all continued to laugh (am I exaggerating it here? Nope, not all!!). Vikram's introduction was missed during our journey in the minibus, so we asked him to enact his first name, middle name, last name, girlfriend's name (kaunsi wali?) and what not. We continued to laugh along with Gururaj every now and then till we finish our lunch inside the cave. Organizer Vikram had promised us that there will a surprise if we are able to finish trek soon.
 |
| Rocky path on our way |
 |
| On our way back to base |
Imli ka achaar, lime pickle, nimbu paani, lime juice, lemonade, lemon chicken and so many other dishes made with lemon alone, in a similar way there was food from all over the globe including some finest hot drinks! Well, these are part of Vikram's surprise because we finished trek around 3 PM :) On our way to Kotilingeshwara Temple - which is around 35 km from Antagange - we played food antakshari and invented few new dishes as well.
 |
| Kotilingeshwara Temple |
Kotilingeshwara is the presiding deity of the temple of the same name in the village of Kammasandra in Kolar district of Karnataka. The main attraction is a huge Shivalinga. Measuring 108 ft (33 m), this shivalinga is tallest of its kind in the world and accompanying it is a 35 ft (11 m) tall Basava, surrounded by lakhs of small shivalingas spread over an area of 15 acres. So far, around 100 lakh shivalingas have been installed. The entire project involves the installation of one crore shivalingas of various sizes, hence the name ‘Kotilingeshwara’. (Wikipedia)
After getting blessings from many Gods and Goddesses at Kotlingeshwra temple, its time to return to Bengaluru. On our way back, we have done feedback session and ragging (just for fun) to first-time trekkers. After reaching Bengaluru we bid adieu to each other...
As a common saying at the end of BTC trek, "we will see you when we see you in next trek". It was fun filled one-day hiking...
Bye Bye
Photo courtesy: Sandeep, Varun, Amol
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