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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Bird Watcher's Paradise: Ranganathittu

Ranganathittu- a beautiful bird sanctury situated in cosy little town of Srirangapatna.


Ride to Ranganathittu was a surprise one. I saw a posting from Vasanth on BN announcing this ride. I immediately joined in. I had heard so much about this place that I could not resist it.

There were 4-5 riders planned. I knew Vasanth from the Munnar ride and had read a lot of posts by Sachin. Rest were unknown to me.

Meeting point Raj-Rajeshwari nagar Arch on Mysore Road at 6:00 AM. On reaching there, a pleasant surprise, Venkat. Venkat and Sachin were waiting for us. After waiting for sometime, Vasanth and his pillion Santosh arrived. We started off and rode coolly till Cafe Coffee day. We had some delicious tumbler idlis and kesari bath for breakfast.

The ride was very peaceful and soon we were at Srirangapatna. We have to take a right there to go to the bird sanctury. It is only 5-10 km from this point. The sanctury reminded me of the picnic spots from childhood days. But I could not see any birds other than crows and sparrows!

Then we took a ride on a boat in the lake. And yes, there we could see so many species of birds. Open bill storks, white ibis, err I don't remember other names now :) but the place was amazing though a bit stinky. Organic stink from water and bird droppings(?) and maybe some dead bodies of birds also. There were few crocodiles also in the lake but could not shoot them (I mean with my camers:D).


It was almost lunchtime, when we left the place. We went to Venkat's native place which happens to be in Srirangapatna only. That was an old mansion and his cousin treated us very well with delicious food. The curd-rice was the best I ever ate. Do consider the fact that I do not like curd rice very much. Venkat narrated some very interesting stories about Bajaj and Lambertta and Fiat Padmini of older days. How Padminis were transported to Madras and how scooters were booked in advance. It looks like we have evolved in leaps and bounds since those days. We started off early in the evening for Bangalore.

We took a break at Maddur CCD and again back to Venkat and his amazing experiences. This time all technical. I seriously get so amused at times knowing this man's knowledge. Hats off to him! This was a real long break and we headed back to bangalore. After 2 hours and 90 km, I was at my home. Content with the short beautiful and informative ride.


Here is a link to more info on Venkat's Auto Service.

Summary:
-------------

Date:
16th June' 2007

Riders:
1. Ashish on Bajaj Avenger
2. Venkat on Kawasaki Eliminator
3. Sachin Koppikar on Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTSI
4. Vasanth on Hero Honda Karizma
5. Santosh pillion with Vasanth

Route: Bangalore - Maddur - Srirangapatna - Ranganathittu

Total Distance covered: 280 km

More pics can be seen here.


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