Sunday, September 18, 2016

Mudigere, Karnataka, India

A three day weekend in Bangalore in the middle of the summer seemed like a good time to head to the hills. The particular hills we chose were located in Mudigere, in the Chikkamaguluru district. We had a home stay for a day and a half so spent the extra day driving around to random spots and staying overnight in a nearby town called Kadur. Kadur, not because it is a touristic destination but because that was only place that had availability in hotels that night. The only memory anyone in the group has of those few hours is of a large Bengali family sounding and acting Bengali in the guest house corridors.

Shetihalli Church

The Shetihalli church is quite a sight from the road. You can take your car off road and drive the 200 odd metres to get right to it. Some French junta built it way back, and later someone built a dam near it which now results in the structure getting partially submerged for a part of the year. Since the Bible doesn't carry the walk on water DIY guide, the devotees had no choice but to abandon it. A more enterprising person could have put up a wire fence between the church and the reservoir, purchased tubes and floats, put up a bar outside which serves drinks in coconut shells, and made it the funnest church in the world. The business model would be called congregators.

A sharp fall from being a magnificent, shining, Gothic structure, to looking like a stale frosted donut.