Chitradurga Vihaara

"Chitradurga Vihara"... This was the name of our WhatsApp group when we planned Our club picnic to Chitradurga on the 10th and 11th February, 2024. What a trip it was! Five members of our club (KEBT, Kannada English bilingual toastmasters) booked rooms at Hotel Mayura Durg, a KSTDC hotel which is hardly 100 meters away from the main entrance to Chitradurga fort.

I took the train from Hyderabad to CTA (code for Chitradurga rly stn). After a horrible journey where the train was 3 hrs late, I staggered on to the platform. It was a good sign, I felt. It could only get better from here on. I reached too late for breakfast, but could not be bothered. The hotel was splendid! It was made of stone, the rooms were spacious, and there were pomegranate trees all around. State fruit of Karnataka... Dalimbe. I was thrilled.

Stepped out into the small town and had some puri bhaji in a tiny restaurant, then awaited my friends who came by taxi from Bangalore. On the first day, we went to. Chandravalli, an archeological site, where the Pandavas had purportedly offered prayers to Lord Shiva. It was an interesting descent down into dark caves. All of us came out. We then went to a sprawling monastery, Murugha Matha... It was peaceful and beautiful, and the museum had antique LP players, old radios, ancient type writers and cameras... And of course paintings etc. Very interesting indeed, and time well spent. Following this we made the mandatory trip to Lakshmi tiffins and had Khali dosa. It (the dosa) lived up to it's reputation, though I felt the restaurant could do with an upgrade.

We went back to the hotel and after a quick Moments of Truth (that's right!), we had the most amazing Karaoke session. TM Umanath had brought his complete JBL Karaoke system, and we had a blast singing duets and solos. I sang "nagu nagu tha" with TM Shylaja, "Saara Zamana" with TM Arun and "Yeh Dosti" with TM Umanath. The Karaoke session lasted just 1 hr, bec we needed to have dinner before the restaurant closed. We planned for an early morning trek to Chitradurga fort the next day.

The plan was to leave at 6 am, but we eventually started the trek at 7 am, after having tea. TM Marutesh who resides close to Chitradurga joined us. We employed a tour guide, who redeemed himself as much by his photography skills as through his explanations of various aspects of the fort.

Around 9am, we reached the historical and famous point where the lady warrior Obbava held the fort by single-handedly fighting Hyder Ali's soldiers who were attempting a secret entry via a tunnel. We tried to re-enact the scene which has been portrayed in movies. I did a fair job as one of Hyder Ali's soldiers, but my club member Madhura was eminently unsuited to the role of Obbava. In the actual event, Obbava is supposed to have dealt resounding blows with a pestle to the heads poking out of the tunnel. In our case, TM Madhura refused to even tap me with the stick, though I was pleading to be struck (... mildly, for the sake of our video clip; I'm no masochist). After the film "shooting", to my surprise, I found myself stuck in the tunnel... There was no rough stone for my shoe to find a grip, and so I had to be ignominiously pulled out. We had a good laugh.

Shortly after the trek, we returned to the hotel, and checked out. My friends from KEBT returned to Bangalore, while I spent some time in a movie theater watching a telugu movie with Ravi Teja as 'Eagle'. Then it was time for my return journey. It proved to be far more comfortable. The train came on time, and reached Hyderabad on time. All's well that ends well. A memorable vihara (vacation) indeed.