Thattekad To Hosur

Anchetti

Post by Nagabhushan | Bangalore | Oct 7, 2008

We rode on for a couple of kilometers more before abandoning our plans to look for a tea shack. Sat down by a compost heap and took a few sepia-toned photographs with the mobile. Started back and halted midway on the climb, though we had read caution notices that passengers should not alight at these places. We reasoned that it made more sense during nights, especially when the vegetation was lush and water was plenty, which draw out the elephants from their daytime retreat. Then we heard the sound of water flowing, spotted the muddy brown stream gushing amongst boulders way below, noticed there were some young fellas who had probably been swimming somewhere nearby. It was a typically non-threatening stretch of forest with the winding road acting like a lifeline! Only when you spend enough time off the road do you appreciate the existence of a road however humble!! Then we continued up to the outskirts of Denkanikota, stopped for some grub as we felt ravenously hungry, proceeded to Sudhir's ancestral home which I was visiting after many, many years. There was absolutely no disrepair as I feared - in fact, it had been improved in patches and was absolutely comfortable as we stepped in from the sun. We gobbled up some jackfruit that grew in the backyard, chit-chatted some more and hit the road again. This time we managed to take the road towards TVS Motors and then linked up to NH4. Our journey home was halted briefly as the rain lashed out, and, more hot food awaited us when we reached home. We did not ask for anything else!! The romance with Anchetti had concluded, promising to resurface on some unsuspecting rainy day! One thing however had changed: Anchetti was no longer just a name, a destination or a possibility - it had entered the long list of places that have suffered a visit by us!! Long live Anchetti!