Pearl Valley

I normally don’t write any blogs, but something inside me just ticked on the way back from Pearl Valley and I gotta write this one.

Well its 15^th Aug, 2008 today , India’s 61^st Independence Day and it coming up on a Friday happened to conjure up a THREE DAY weekend for the software folk, leading to put that immense pressure on me and my friends to do something “useful” in these three God gifted days. So we planned a one day trip to a place called “Pearl Valley” which happens to be just 40 odd kms. from Bangalore ( 37kms from BTM to be precise).

So here we have , eight guys with four bikes looking for that one day non-alcoholic high.Lazy as we are, we started 2 hours late than planned – around noon and reached crisply by 1.30 . The map is utterly simple , just follow the Bannerghatta road till you reach Bannerghatta National Park , and after that follow the instructions from the lovely people staying in the outskirts . They will lead you and they will lead you right. Best way to go is riding your bike or car, believe me – half the fun is cruising through the green country-like outskirts of Bangalore, with the wind in your hair and your leg on the throttle. The road leading you is generously smooth , with lots of strategically placed potholes and speed breakers reminding you : “Buddy, you are in India !!“.

The bike ride was made a pleasure by the awesome “Bangalore Weather” and picturesque outskirts. Though one cannot miss luxury townships, nature retreats and farmhouses mushrooming along the way. Also there is one very-Main Hoon Na-like exatravagent school coming up : Sarladevi Birla Vidyalaya (I hope I got the name right) - Worth a gasp. All these developments gently reminding you that the silicon valley is spreading its arms. Its green all through the way though. Towards the end we came across two barricades demanding rather forceful donations for some Ganesh Festival. We ended up giving in some generous bucks saying “Ganapathi Bappa , Morya”. Pure example of the immaculate Indian Spirit – Looting money in the name of God.

You will know you have reached Pearl Valley when you drive up to a restaurant called “Mayura”. Yes that’s all that meets your eye at first, but let me tell you this small restaurant has its own charm. It has an open portion on the edge of the cliff , onlooking the valley and the view is great. The place could cater to most of your needs , as long as they are feasible considering the place ; a good collection of spirits is also available. We ended up having a heavy snack before our trek. Surprisingly the heavy snack turned to cost us more than a full lunch afterwards. But then , we do have the ability to have inhuman portions of food sometimes.

Coming to the Pearly Valley itself, well there is a lot of disappointment for the non-adventurous folk here. Some 50 Stairs lead you down to a Water fall which is supposed to be the main attraction here. Now , we went in middle of monsoon and anyone would expect a good waterfall with some “Water”. All we got was an abysmal stream , which most of us did bet could be powered by the restroom from the Mayura restaurant above. For many people , Pearl Valley ends here as they sit around the rocks stuffing themselves with rice and beer.

The young and adventurous few , like us , go ahead into the green, finding roads to nowhere. All we did was select a hill and then find a way to get up there through the greens. One goal leads to another one and you could go on for as long you have the muscle. Lots of thorny plants could be only the possible spoilsport , also it does get a little damp at some places so mind

your steps. We really did enjoy basking in the euphoria of our conquest when we got up there. Also the fresh cool breeze was sure a great treat for our traffic jam affected lungs. The only wildlife we came across was a two meter long snake skin and some very interesting insects.

We returned to base camp – Mayura Restaurant after a Three hour exhilarating trek. Lunch was again a treat , food being nothing exceptional, just that the place and hungry tummys made it what it was. Also , there were some hungry

monkeys ( I am not referring to me and my friends) waiting to be fed by us. A very basic experiment led us to derive that monkeys are in-fact vegetarians. Yes, as lame as it sounds, its real fun t

o rediscover basic laws of nature – try remembering the first time you lit a matchstick.

Post lunch we started our ride back home , fearing the rains. The ride back was a bit quicker. The speed was same , the time taken was almost same , just that the excitement had died down. All through our trip , the weather was like it was going to rain any minute. Thankfully all day it didn’t. But then just when were about to reach home, It rained.

Another special thing I saw was, that all through our way all the cabs, rickshaws, trucks and busses kept us reminding that it was 15^th August that day. The Independence day had almost all vehicles on our way here sporting The Tricolour with pride and that

led us to do some innovative Flag Hoisting ourself. For the record,

I would like to admit that though I loathe the people of south India to be so fanatic about several things, be it their language or the film stars, I was really inspired by the amazing display of zest for celebrating this day. This was our small attempt to level the people here.

Overall , Pearl Valley was a really memorable experience. Its close , its simple ,

its natural and the best thing about it is, its your little outing, make it what you wanna make it.