KRS Backwaters

Date: 17-May-15

Rajath was there with us in Mysore this time. My SIL’s family had planned to take us all to KRS Backwaters. Thilak told me that there is an ancient Venu Gopala Swamy temple which gets buried in the backwaters during rainy season and when the water level reduces, it resurfaces. But, Bhava told us that this famous temple has been relocated to a safer place simply to save the ancient culture. I was very excited when I heard this.

The Blue Lagoon

Bhava told us that one of the gardeners by the name Siddaraju from his office is from a village near KRS backwaters and he wanted to show the place to us. We were all set for this trip at 2.30 PM on Sunday. Siddaraju joined us at 3 PM near Hebbalu. From Hebbalu, he led us to KRS backwaters. The road was highly scenic and Siddaraju became the absolutely expert guide for us that day. When we saw the glimpse of backwaters, I was stunned. This place is also known as the blue lagoon. I was seeing the KRS dam for the first time. It was huge and the reservoir was gigantic. The place was very calm and clean.

Ayush got into the water and played for some time. The rest of us enjoyed nature silently. The little kid Avyukth was absolutely the happy child I have ever seen. He was also enjoying the silence just like us. There was a small temple-like structure in front of us which was surrounded by water on all the sides. That’s where the old Venugopala Swamy temple was there a few years before. The guide showed the newly relocated huge temple complex which we could see from far, which was around 1 km north from the original temple. When we took the photo and zoomed in, we realized that the temple is huge and beautiful. We spent around half an hour near the backwaters chit-chatting and taking photos of each other.

It was raining heavily in the evenings from past three days in Mysore. Today also it did not show mercy on us. The weather became dangerously cloudy at around 5 PM and we decided to leave the place.

The Hospitality

Our next destination was the newly relocated Venu Gopala Swamy temple (which was around 9 km by road from Brindavan Gardens), but on the way, the simple and humble man Siddaraju invited us to come to his home. He felt very happy when Bhava agreed for his invitation. Visiting his home is one of my most wonderful experiences. His home was in a small village called Chikkana Halli which was very near to KRS backwaters. The village was beautiful and was very neatly maintained.

Thilak and I always wanted to visit such villages and spend some time in those old houses. Finally, our dream came true today in Siddaraju’s house. Almost everyone in that small village knew Siddaraju. When we went inside his house, all of us were very happy to see such a beautiful old house. His family members spoke to us very nicely and offered us fruits which they had at their home. They were all very nice, simple, down-to-earth people. The hospitality shown by them was unexplainable. After spending some time in his home, we decided to leave. When we were about to reach the car, it started to pour. So we went inside one of the empty houses as suggested by Siddaraju. The rain did not stop at all even after 20 minutes. Nature was at its best at that time in that village.

We waited for some more time and when the rain slightly reduced, we left from the place. Since it was already 6.30 PM and was raining heavily, we could not go to Venu Gopala Swamy temple. We came in the route suggested by Siddaraju and reached home at 7.30 PM.

It was an amazing trip. Though we did not go to the places which we had planned, neither of us did not feel bad even a bit because of the awesome village visit. A big thanks to Siddaraju for giving us such an amazing experience.

Route Travelled

• Onward: Mysore Home (Vijayanagar) > Hebbal > KRS Backwaters > Chikkanahalli Return: Chikkanahalli > Ilavala > Mysore Home (Vijayanagar)
• Total Distance (To & Fro): 35 km
• Photos: KRS Backwaters Photos

Route Map: