It was a decision taken on the spur of the moment. My elder sister was on one of her visits to my house. I wanted to treat her to some good programme to take away the grey monotony of the rainy season. So, when she came, I thought I’d take her the next day to one of the falls of river Cauvery which was running in spate, thanks to the copious monsoon showers we had this year.
I decided on Gaganachukki and Bharachukki falls near Shivanasamudram. My sister concurred with my choice. I immediately rang up my sister-in-law who lives on the next road and asked if she were willing to join us. She not only agreed to join us wholeheartedly but also offered to contribute fresh “bele-holiges” for the lunch basket which already had my thair-sadam (curd rice) with pickle and the savouries planned.
Next step was to ring up the cab company. I preferred to hire a cab so the trip could be totally ‘bindaas’ (carefree). The cab man promised to send the vehicle the next morning at 6.30 am. Belonging as all three of us were to the older generation, we had no hassles about early hours. We were smartly ready to leave when the cab, a well maintained Etios came to pick us up. We set off at 6.45 am with packed lunch and ‘palya’ buns (buns stuffed with spicy potato mash) purchased the previous day from the nearby bakery.
The day, bright and cloudless, was really made for an outing like ours. The journey on the good roads with greenery on both sides was very pleasant. On the way, we had the ‘palya’ buns for breakfast. By 9.10 am, we were at Gaganachukki falls. As the traffic cops were yet to start duty, we could take the cab quite close to the viewing area. Ah, there it was, in two parts, the white waters cascading down in all its glory, a sight for gods. We took deep breaths of pure, fresh, early morning air, a commodity rare in congested Bengaluru.
We walked down the long flight of steps provided for a closer view of the falls. The water was gushing down, sending up clouds of vapour and tiny droplets of water. After spending an hour and a half, we left for Bharachukki falls on the other side of the hill. Here, unlike the other falls though, the total body of water had divided itself into smaller falls and spread over a wider area but it was spectacular nevertheless.
After spending an hour there, we concluded our trip rather reluctantly and left the place after refreshing ourselves with a glass of fresh sugarcane juice. We reached home at 2.30 pm after a lunch break at Marehalli temple lawns.
When I sent our selfies and pictures on WhatsApp, the family members were all appreciation for the unique escapade independently undertaken by three jolly, single ladies — all in their early 80’s.