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| From View Point |
“Which is the biggest water fall in India?”
“Jog”
“Jog is on which river?”
“Hmmm... Sharavati”
When I was in school, these questions used to appear in
history question paper or asked in quiz programs (People now consider ‘Nohkalikai Falls’ of Meghalaya as the tallest plunge
waterfall in India).
My journey to Jog was
postponed multiple times due to unprecedented heavy rain falls in Western Ghats
during the beginning of this monsoon. Because of this I missed a chance to get
a glimpse of Jog during those precious months when Sharavati furiously falls in
to those gorges. On the other side, because of the same reason, I was able to
go all the way to the bottom. If the amount of water is high, then one need to view
Jog from a distance.
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| Dam |
It was a Friday night;
I boarded a BMTC bus to KSRTC’s Magestic bus stand in Bangalore. Traffic was
very heavy- travelling each kilometer felt like an eternal wait for the next
world. I reached majestic in time and boarded the bus to Jog. After a while,
conductor came and verified tickets from a couple of people sitting behind me –
interestingly neither he asked me nor did I give my tickets to him. After a
while, I got call from an unknown number. I attended the call nothing was audible.
After couple of minutes, I got another call from the same number, this time I
was not even able to pick that call.
Finally bus started
moving, her wipers were working non-stop to clear water from the front glass. Conductor
came back and started verifying tickets from all. This time he saw my ticket,
hold it for some time, look towards me and told “we called you twice, but you
were disconnecting the calls’!!!
Rain was gaining
strength.
From Majestic, you
will get a lot of buses to Shimoga and some to Sagara as well. However there
are only one or two KSRTC buses directly Jog (from Bangalore). In case you are
travelling in train you can get down at Shimoga, Sagara, Talaguppa (this one is
the closest) and catch a bus.
Close to morning we
reached Shimoga, and then Jog. I got down at a stop close to Jog view point.
From bus stop view point is hardly 2-3 minutes away. After paying 5 INR for
entry (no separate charge for camera) I walked towards the view point.
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| Close up |
In front
of me Sharavati was falling down to great depths, forming one of the biggest
waterfalls in India. It was like, a name which I saw only in school text books
acquired flesh and blood and standing in front of me. The sad point was, amount
of water falling down looked like a skeleton of what it supposed to be. It
looked like a poverty stricken kid who was eating only twice in a day for the past
three years.
Problem here is the
dams, which controls the water flow to the river. In short, if shutters are
down then there won’t be much water to fall down in the first place. Moreover,
other than monsoon there aren’t many factors which compels the authorities to
open the dam.
At this point, waters
from Sharavati are falling down to a depth of 290m (or 960ft) in the form of
four distinct segments called - Raja, Roarer (which meets Raja on its way
down), Rocket and Rani. One can reach the bottom of these falls using steps –
1389 or so – built by authorities. During early monsoons, when Jog is on its
majestic shape, this path will be closed.
Here I met a guy
called Mathew. He is originally from Thrissur district of Kerala and works here
as a guide cum driver for tourists. Along with him, in his taxi, I went to see the
power station, Dam, Rani, Raja, Rocket and Roarer falls more closely. After a
while we came back and he dropped me at Jog view point.
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| With Mathew on the way to another view point |
Next step was walking
to the bottom of the falls through labyrinths of steps, that also with a
backpack. People – even the very young and kids coming opposite to me– were struggling
to climb the steps. It took a lot of time for me to reach the bottom.
After the steps, it’s
river plane. A lot of boulders were blocking the way to go further close to the
falls. I walked and jumped over many of them to get a better view.
960ft long gigantic
wall was standing on my both sides; water was falling down from the top of it
in an animated fashion. That sound and various other sounds produced by river
were indeed music to ears. However, other than water, a number of common trees
and a group of fearless butterflies there was nothing much to say about flora
or fauna. I tried to walk closer to the falls over those slippery boulders and finally
sat down over a rock on the river level to see the falls.
I don’t remember how
much time I sat there. Finally it was time to leave Jog, hence woke up and turned
around. The next thing I remember is waking up from water. Camera was on my one
hand, and phone fortunately inside a sealed hand bag. I did the only thing I
can do – remove the droplets from it as fast as possible.
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| Various segments of Jog - from different view points |
Finally it’s the time
to go up. After seeing the big backpack one guy even wished me good luck. It
was really a hard and tiresome journey... At some points numbers of steps are
engraved on the stone, to encourage or to discourage? I was completely drenched
in sweat by the time I reached the top.
Suddenly two police
personal called me from a nearby outpost located close to the view point. They
opened my backpack and checked all the items.
“From where you are
coming?” (Question was in Kannada)
I didn’t get the
meaning at first; second one repeated the question - “From where you are coming?”
(in Kannada itself).
I simply told them “Kannada
gothilva” (I don’t know Kannada)
By this time I made it
out what they were asking, they repeated the question again in English –
“Native?”
“Bangalore”
“You are from
Bangalore and don’t know Kannada?”
Well for a moment I
cursed myself. I could have say – ‘Kerala’ - and there won’t be any unnecessary
comments.
In fact what happened
was, they saw me sweating and panting that too in an early morning. So they
were very much eager to know how I reached there? After hearing that I am
coming from the bottom of falls there were no further questions.
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| Me in Jog |
After standing idle in
the bus stop for half an hour I got a local bus to Shimoga. My plan was to get
down at Sagara and visit ‘Sigandur
Chowdeshwari Temple’ if time permits; otherwise go straight to Shimoga. However
the bus went very slow, stopping every now and then till I reach
Sagara.
Jog – Sagar – Shimoga bus
route pass through some scenic areas. Light rain added a different flavour to
those agri fields and forests.
Sajeev.
How to Reach Jog?
By Train:
Talaguppa
station (closest one)
Sagar (SRF):
For Sagar 30 km
By Bus:
Direct KSRTC
buses are available to Jog from Bangalore etc.
Alternately
you can take a bus to Shimoga/ Sagara and collect another one to Jog from
there.
By Air:
Hubli Domestic
Airport (HBX) 130 km.
Mangalore Domestic
Airport (IXE): 200 km
Bengaluru
International Airport(BLR): 340 km
Goa International
Airport(GOI): 246 km
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| 1391 Steps? |
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| This is not a tree |
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| Is this a picture? |
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| Eternal Beauty |
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| Pure water |
On the way to Sagara - Captured from a running bus
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