Talks of Employee Motivation set a BUZZ in our department. A break from the tight schedules, deadlines and Project Delivery on every mind and this brought the thought of a trip to all minds.

With varied ideas on place of visit, number of days for the trip etc. there were too many dates decided and dropped, finally a decision was taken on a 2 days trip to 'Kemmannagundi'.

On 5th Jan'07 we set off on the much-awaited trip around 3 pm. It took us 8 hours to reach the Guesthouse we booked. Everybody were pretty tired after playing "dumb charades " and many other games inside the bus.

We all slept early dreaming about the big day ahead. To my surprise my mobile network was available even in this remote hill station.

Kemmanagundi is 55 Kms from Chickmagalur town which is 215 Kms from Bangalore .

Kemmanagundi, a scenic hill station on the Baba Budan range of hills is also known as K.R. Hills after Wodeyar King, Krishnaraja Wodeyar who had made it his favorite summer camp.

Kemmanagundi, at a height of 1,434 meters, is surrounded by thick forests and a salubrious climate the year. It has beautifully laid out ornamental gardens and panoramic view of the mountains.

Day 1:

Everybody woke up even before the alarm clock because of the chill morning temperature .The temperature must be quite close to zero. After a hot 'IDLI Sambar & VADA 'breakfast, we all set off for trekking towards Hebbe Falls .

We came across a signboard showing Hebbe Falls to be 8 kms but our Guide took us through several shortcuts uphill and downhills. It was quite a peaceful serene, nesting amidst lush green forests. It reminds me of "Baruni ching Kaba".

After trekking for almost 3.5 hrs we finally saw the mind blowing 100% natural, Hebbe Falls - water gushes down from a height of 250 ft in two stages. We could feel a sudden decrease in temperature, as the water from the fall seems to vaporize and make the entire surrounding chill.

Hebbe Falls rushes down a height of 250 ft in two stages to form Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and Chikka Hebbe (Small Falls). We all took a refreshing dip in this herb-infused water. It must be true that the water has herb medicinal value as everyone got revived & rejuvenated physically, mentally & spiritually after the hectic and tiring trekking in hot sun.

We all came back to Guesthouse by jeep, as everyone wanted to save energy for the campfire. The jeep driver charged 450 bucks for just 8 kms drive to the amazing hilly terrain.

Nobody will forget the amazing "twin driver jeep" as one driver managing the steering wheel and the other clinging on to the steering shaft to avoid the steering from falling off the jeep. The campfire was fun-filled with everybody actively participating the dance showing off their dancing skills.

Day 2 :

Everybody got up early as usual. We planned to go to Kalhatti Falls which is 10 kms away from our guesthouse but we headed for Baba Budangiri Betta instead.

Baba Budangiri Betta is at the height of 1434 m, a scenic hill station. Here both Muslim Community as well as Hindus worship Baba Budan Dharga & DattatarayaSwamy Temple respectively.

The Temple & the Dharga are situated as caves in the Baba Budan Range of Hills. The drive towards Baba Budangiri was very memorable one as we could witness steep hill slopes and greenery around. It was very much similar to NH 39 between imphal and Guwahati .

The most memorable event was walk through the clouds at Baba Budangiri as we could feel the clouds passing by.We were told that this was the highest peak in Karnataka .

The next stop was at the famous Chennakesava Temple at Beluru . A star-shaped temple with hand-lathe-turned filigreed pillars and sculptures was amazing to watch.

The winged figure of Garuda, Lord Vishnu's carrier, stands at the entrance, facing the temple, palms touching in homage. The most marvelous specimens of Hoysala architecture found exclusively at Belur are the angled bracket figures depicting celestial nymphs singing, dancing or executing daily chores.

Finally we were back to the traffic filled concrete jungle after fun-filled 2 days trip.

But the bottomline is that our motherland is far more beautiful than these landscapes.

Hope someday Imphal will be developed like Bangalore with proper infrastructure and exposure so that we have lots of tourist to show our surrounding hills and landscapes.