Panchapalli Reservoir - A mesmerising experience

"Sunrise spots in Bengaluru", I typed in Google Search, trying to find a special way to start the weekend. Nandi Hills popped up. Not Nandi again, I said to myself. A second spot was already in my mind - the lake opposite Narasapura CCD. But we've visited it innumerable times, seen many sunrises. This time I needed something different.

Scrolling down the search results, I discovered another place. Reading the few blogs that mentioned this place, Panchapalli Dam, located in Dharmapuri, seemed to be the perfect destination for me.

The planning and calculations were made, and I started from my place at 5 AM, planning to reach the dam by 7. The roads were surprisingly empty - maybe because of the Sankranthi weekend - and I reached Attibele junction in no time. I turned right on the road that would take me to Denkanikottai, and from there I'd follow the Denkanikottai-Palakadu road. It seemed that I would reach the dam much before the sunrise time of 6:45 AM.

But a surprise was waiting for me. As soon as I crossed the TVS factory, fog started to build up suddenly. In 10 minutes, visibility came down to a couple of meters. Luckily, the road seemed to be good, broken only in few places that I could make out in time. The only bother was the headlights of the trucks coming from the opposite direction.

But that was just the beginning. A couple of kilometres passed, and the fog engulfed us. The headlights could not pierce even a couple of feet ahead. Speed came down to the 30s. I switched to the high beam once to see if that would help, but the road completely vanished! That was a magical experience - I felt like floating amongst the clouds! I switched to low beams again, but the only things faintly visible were the road markings. The thought of waiting out the fog, or even turning back, came to me once. But I didn't come so far to miss the sunrise, I convinced myself.

After covering most of the remaining distance at slow speeds, finally the fog started to lift. But it was 7 already, I could see the sun peeping from behind the trees. In few more minutes, I entered forest limits.

Suddenly, I spotted water. The dam would be a couple of kilometres from here, but the scenery looked tempting. I parked my bike on the side of the road, and got down.

The view from the road was mesmerizing! On my left was this huge expanse of water, glittering in the morning sunshine. Dark hills rose behind it, and the light breeze blew fog and clouds across their tops. The sun shone faintly - it looked more like the moon. Few birds could be seen flying across the lake. It was very quiet - the only sounds that broke the silence were the calls of few birds, and the howl of wild dogs (probably). There were very few vehicles, and I sat on the roadside just taking in the peaceful surroundings. It felt unreal that such a serene place could exist within 100kms of the city, and so few people knew about it!

In 20 minutes, the fog started to get denser again. The sun disappeared. The lake vanished too!

Filled to the brim with the wonderful experience, and starting to feel hungry, I decided to give the dam a miss, and turned back towards the city.

A little too much rain

The heat was getting unbearable, and with a sight-seeing trip of Chalukyan architecture planned for the next day, it was only logical that we wished for some rainfall that would bring down the temperature. Nature responded wholeheartedly, and the evening was showered with light drizzle to heavy rainfall throughout Karnataka.

We got delayed in the road, and got little wet while changing buses. Not that we had anything to complain. Not until our bus from Hubli towards Belgaum suddenly stopped in pitch darkness, in the middle of nowhere. 

Initially, there was confusion about the cause, but as headlights from vehicles lining up behind us lighted up the road ahead, it became evident that our road has been blocked by raging storm water gushing across the road. Going ahead was dangerous, as the water was flowing with ferocity, and no one knew the depth of the deepest section. Turning back seemed to be a difficult option, as it was almost midnight, and the nearest town was quite some distance away. 

The drivers of the different vehicles got down to analyse the situation. Very soon, the cars turned back, realizing that it would be too much risk to try cross the 'river'. But finally, a truck from the other side gathered enough confidence to give it a try. After it reached our side safely, another truck and a bus followed. Our driver finally decided to try his hand and luck. 

With our heartbeats getting faster, we braced ourselves for any incident, as the driver put the bus to first gear and ventured into the rushing water. It increased in height and force rapidly as we moved in. We could see the furious current ahead, roaring across the road from left to right. Then suddenly, the headlights went out and there seemed to be a hesitation from the driver! What was going on? 

The headlights had become submerged in the water, which was now about 4 feet high and had even started entering the bus. The passengers at the front tried to light up the road ahead with the light from their cellphones, and guide the driver. "Keep to the left! To the left!" someone shouted. We could feel the force of the water that tried to move us off the road. The warmth in the muscles intensified. 

With a decisive push on the accelerator, and a steady, firm pull on the steering wheel, the driver urged the bus ahead. And after a few long seconds, the headlights emerged from under the water, and soon we were again on dry ground. 

There was applause all around, and we all heaved a sigh of relief. We thanked God and the driver, because a little twist of luck or a small mistake from the driver could have turned this into a completely different story. 

The rain stopped overnight, and gave us a chance to complete our sightseeing in a pleasant weather.