Every Saturday morning, I get an adrenaline pump which takes me out of my cozy bed and that pump is the call of my Harley Street 750. And it was again another Saturday where my Harley named "Leo" wanted me to take him to a ride - not so long not so short.
I called up my riding buddies around 1 AM morning and because of last minute decision, I had only one partner joining on his Harley Sportster. The place decided was "Sharavanabelagola" which was about 150 kms from Bangalore. We started at 6:30 am in the morning and had a roadside morning tea near ParleG tollgate. Nothing helps more than a tea to tear your sleep apart. We decided to go slower than usual, somewhere around 100kmph. Once decided and best route checked, we rolled.
Read everything about Shravanabelagola here.
The early morning ride, cool breeze, the Harley sound and the engine heat were mesmerising. I would prefer this combination anytime over a poolside wine party. Also, the Bangalore - Hassan highway is just a delight to ride on - wider roads, less trucks and the best thing - lots of superbikers.
After about an hour's ride, we pulled over at a restaurant for breakfast. The sun was up and shining now and its gentle warmth groomed our cold skin. The breakfast took about 30 mins and then we continued without any further stops to the destination.
The last 20 kms are off the highway and goes through a village. If you are on a bike, you have to be really careful with the animals besides the road. One fine day and any of those innocent creatures can clash with your vehicle. We reached the destination at 10 AM. The place has a parking space and also has proper cloak rooms and toilets. We locked our helmets and riding gears in the cloak room and started the climb to the hilltop. The peak of the hill has a beautiful and really ancient temple of the Jains. The height is anywhere around 1500 mts and the climb uphill is easy with proper steps and railings. We took about 30 mins to climb up and it did test our lungs on the climb.
The temple was really beautiful and maintained. The main attraction of the temple is the 17 mts tall monolith statue of "Bahubali".
Take a trip around the temple and you would fall in love with the sculptures on the pillars and walls. The beauty of these ancient wonders makes you realise what man was capable of doing even a thousand years back. The walls and the carvings on them have a story of themselves which they want everybody to know. People see them and keep praising, but very few try and understand what they want to tell us. Everything existing there made me proud of the history of our country and hats off to the Archeological Survey of India for making sure that it still stands tall.
The view from the top is amazing. I stood there and tried to revisit the time when it would have been just the hill and the temple and a lake on the foothills. The imagination itself was a time travel for me and this is what happens when you visit a place like this.
We took our sweet time up on the hill and came down after 2 hours of exploring Shravanabelagola. The place has a lot of food options, however its recommended to have authentic jain food. And we did the same. You would never regret having anything categorised as Jain food.
We had a proper stomach filling lunch and left the place around 1 PM. We rode at low speeds of around 100 kmph when coming and I wanted to slow down even more while returning as I was heavy with lots of thoughts and inspiration. Leo agreed on that and we took multiple brakes while returning and reached Bangalore around 3:30 PM.
That marked the end of the trip, an awesome one. This ride gave me some satisfaction, as if I did something for my own good. Be it the pleasure of riding the Harley or something which I perceived at the heritage site, I took it and will make sure that it remains with me forever.