Nandi Hills

This past weekend, a few of us decided to visit Nandi Hills. Because of its steep sides, it was an ideal fortress for Mysore sultans for hundreds of years. The site is named for the ancient Nandi temple that is located there (in which a thousand year old sculpture of Nandi is housed).

To make the trip from Bangalore, it takes about three hours by bus. We had to make a stop in the town of Chickballapur to transfer buses. Our second bus (pictured here) was quite a bit smaller than the first. This didn't seem to be any cause for concern, however, because the Indians are accustomed to packing like sardines into absolutely anything; I'm not kidding, seeing 8 people in a small four-door car or 3 people on a motorcycle or bike is not uncommon. This particular bus had seats for about 20 people with some standing room in the front. We piled in, but because it was so full, two of us ended up on some make-shift seats in the front window next to the driver.

As the bus headed up the steep, windy hills, more and more people continued to pile in with each successive stop. Before long, every cubic inch was was occupied, and people were overflowing into the door well. One guy was fortunate enough to find a seat straddling the gear box, but he soon discovered he wasn't going to be able to relax, considering each shift into 1st, 3rd, or 5th gear put his testicles in considerable peril. As we drove, Joey, who had fallen asleep near the window, awakened to find that he could no longer raise his drooping head because several people were using the space above him to brace themselves. Consequently, he spent the rest of the trip with his spine curled like a slice of onion.

Due to our considerable overload, the bus could only do about 10 mph up the hill. It sounded pretty stressed, and the guy on the gear box had to stand up because his bum was getting burned. When we eventually arrived, I made a point to count how many people actually got off the bus. In addition to the 10 people I later discovered had been riding ON TOP, 49 passengers got out.

The return trip was a bit more fun because it was all downhill, and we asked if we could sit on top of the bus. Besides the occasional power line or tree branch that we ducked for, it was fairly reminiscent of a roller coaster. The whole "I might die right now" aspect was pretty exhilarating.