Barack Obama - Jews, Muslims, Christians and Atheists can claim him!

I was reading about Barack Obama's family today. What really confused me was the sheer number of religious combinations in his immediate family.

Buraq. Source: Wiki

First of all Barack sounds very much like the Arabic Buraq, the al-Buraq horse which carried Prophet Mohammed. It is an unmistakably Muslim name.

Barack could also be derived from Barak, the son of Abinoam, a military commander in the Book of Judges of the Bible. So very easily this can be termed as a Jewish or Christian name.

Barack Obama's paternal grandfather Onyango had converted from African tribal religion to Catholic Christianity first. Then he converted to Islam. He had at least three wives. Barack senior was the son of his second wife Akumu.

Barack Obama Senior. Pic: History

Barack Obama's paternal grandmother Akumu had to convert to Islam, and took the name Habiba upon her conversion. She was Onyango's second wife. Later she left him and remarried in Tanzania. 


Barack's father, Barack Obama senior, was raised a Muslim. His name was Baraka. He rejected Islam soon and converted Anglican Christianity. Had 3 wives in his life.

Barack Obama's mother, step father and step sister. Pic: Barackobama.net

Kezia Aoko was his first wife. Kezia had many children. One of them, Bernard, which she claims was from Barack senior, converted to Islam as an adult. So Bernard, Barack's alleged half brother, raised a Christian, but later became Muslim. Later in life Barack Senior rejected Christianity and became an atheist. Sarah Onyango Obama, Barack senior's sister, is still a practicing Muslim and terms herself as a strong believer in Islam.

Grandpa Stanley, Barack's mother and step sister. Pic: Wiki

Obama's mother Ann Dunham was from a family of Baptist and Methodist Christian combination. She was supposedly an atheist or at least a skeptic non-practicing Christian. Later in life, Ann married Lolo Soetoro, a Muslim from Indonesia. They had a daughter named Maya, a Hindu name going to Advaita school of philosophy of Vedic Hinduism!

Barack Obama's maternal side was Jewish? Pic: henrymakow

Obama's step mother (his dad's third wife) was a Jewish woman Ruth Beatrice Baker. She's not the only Jew in Obama's close family circles. Barack's wife Michelle's first cousin Capers Funnye, Jr also converted to Judaism after feeling that Christianity was imposed on his ancestors who were slaves from Africa.

There's a lot written on the internet about Barack's maternal grandfather Stanley Dunham. Even though by most accounts his family is described as Unitarian Christian (they kind of don't believe that God is three different entities, which Christians usually believe in), there are many which suspect that his family was secretly Jewish. 

There are many who secretly brag that Barack Obama is in fact America's first Jewish President, as Jews trace religion from mother's side.

Mark Ndesandjo, Barack's half brother - Jewish. Pic: Blogspot

Barack's step brothers Mark and David were born to this Jewish woman Ruth Beatrice Baker. She is from a Lithuanian Jewish descent. After Barack Obama senior, she married a Tanzanian Christian. Mark Ndesandjo, Barack's half brother married a Chinese woman later. You can guess what would be her religion addition into this family from China - Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism etc.

Coming to the big man now.. Obama - Lists himself as a Christian. He says that he was not raised in a religious environment as a child. He claims his father at the time of his birth was a confirmed atheist and his mother was a non-practicing Methodist+Baptist Christian.He also says that his step father, though from Indonesian Muslim family, was a man who did not find religion that useful. But as an adult Obama picked up Christianity. By the time he became the President of the most powerful country of the world, he was claiming - "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."

The latest is that Barack Obama prays at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Methodists are historically linked the Protestant form of Christianity.

Now here is the real confusion and conflict:

1. Obama has links to Islam, Christianity and Judaism in his immediate family. All three Abrahamic religions kind of claim him in some way or another. He also has links to those who reject religion like Atheists directly from his father.
2. In strict Islamic terminology, Barack's father is an apostate. Born Muslim family, but rejected Islam and converted to Christianity. Forget medieval times, this warrants death penalty in many countries even today!
3. In strict Christian terminology, Barack's father rejected Christianity too to become an atheist, which would anger fundamentalist Christians. Barack's mother too was a non practicing Christian when Barack was born. Also, Barack's paternal grandfather had converted to Catholic Christianity first, but later rejected it in favor of Islam. Catholics would not be happy at all. During medieval times, this warranted death penalty! More so, Christians would be unhappy that Barack's mother Ann married an Indonesian Muslim later. Barack's half brother Bernard converted to Islam from Christianity.
4. To make both fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians, Barack Obama's father married a Jewish woman as his third wife! Now her son is married to a Chinese woman of unknown religion. Also, Barack's wife's cousin is a convert to Judaism now. Muslims would be more unhappy knowing that Barack's step father did not really practice Islam when Barack was young. 
5. And to make strict Jews unhappy, Barack's step mother married a man who had rejected Islam and Christianity both, but did not accept Judaism. They would also feel unhappy, Barack's maternal grand father is rumored to have Jewish connections, which was never publicly announced (Maybe world war time?).
6. So we have many forms of Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the mix. We also have Chinese unknown ideology and atheism involved. And the name Barack itself can be claimed by Muslims, Christians and Jews.. all together for different reasons.
7. To make it even more spicy, I mean really spicy as in the historic land of spices, Barack Obama's grandfather Onyango had traveled to India during British rule. Who knows, what Hindu, Jain, Buddhist or Sikh connection he might have picked up there! Barack's step sister Maya already has a Hindu name :)

Barack family's religion topic is surely a controversial issue. Isn't it?

How to win election with Lies, Fraud and BrainWash: The AAP Style.

Yes, you read it right.. this article is about how to win election with Lies, Fraud and BrainWash, following the immensely successful model of AAP in Dilli-2015.

At the same time, I understand democracy, respecting the verdict of people, work done on the ground by AAP volunteers etc. I have nothing to speak negatively about those. Those who supported AAP can certainly celebrate and rejoice.

This is only to highlight how shady methods were employed and how they succeeded. Throughout this writeup, a series of social media posts would be used. All credits to the original posters. The reason they are cited here is only to prove some points. Also, I hope all the pointers posted by them are accurate and done with due diligence. If anything is inaccurate, please point out in the comments for the benefit of myself and other readers.

1: Pre-emptive strike on your opponent with rumour-mongering:
Of course a blatant rumour. AAP started putting Jagdish Mukhi as BJP's CM candidate long before the election. One this was a clear rumour as BJP never declared him as the BJP CM candidate. Second, this was unethical as you don't put your opponent party people's pictures on your posters, without their permission. Maybe illegal too. 

Image: India Today

This was followed by a series of such speculations about a dozen possible "CM Candidates" of BJP. Finally they settled down with Kiran Bedi when she was announced officially by BJP. That too, using her picture without her permission, calling her "opportunist", when Kejriwal himself had betrayed Anna Hazare with opportunism.

Image: Dailmail.uk

The idea was to create massive confusion in the minds of voters about your opponent. A guerilla tactic.. Highly unethical, but who can tell that to AAP? They did succeed in creating confusion within BJP camp that showed up in results later.

2: Fooling Modi supporters about Modi for PM, Arvind for CM:
Let's face it. Everyone knows what a massive wave was there in 2014 for Narendra Modi. Dilli gave 7 out of 7 MP seats to BJP. So AAP had to reinvent. They started a fraud campaign on their website and Youtube/Facebook/WhatsApp videos about Modi for PM and Arvind for CM.

They were exposed on Twitter, and had to roll this back. But the subtle impression was built on Modi supporters who were undecided on the Dilli government part. Hey, this does not sound like a bad idea, coming straight from AAP website.. that's how a first time voter might think.

Again, an unethical and blatant fraud. You don't put such things without taking permission from BJP to use Modi's pictures.

3: Blatant misinformation about the sensitive Black Money topic:
Not just AAP, but their partners in crime, Congress too used this extensively.

Lies were planted in an organized way in social media, mainstream media, political circles, and even all the way to the parliament sessions. What were those lies?
> Modi has promised to deposit Rs.15 lakhs per person after retrieving black money.
> Modi has promised that within 100 days of coming to power, this would be done.

Watch this video and decide for yourself. It clearly exposes the lies propagated by highly iresponsible leadership of Congress and AAP against Modi. I have watched a few more of Modi's 2014 campaign videos and from what I know, nowhere he made the 100 days kind of promises.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOa04NN1M_Q

This particular topic made a huge impact in the minds of the middle class that had voted for BJP or sympathetic to BJP. It confused them to come extent about BJP govt's intentions and lured them towards AAP which promised a very "clean" government. BJP did not do a good job in telling people that Modi government had done its work before June 2014, submitting to Supreme Court monitored SIT, all the necessary documents. It is a court matter now which the government is actively pursuing.

4: Fooling people about "clean" politics and candidates being really "aam aadmi".
After confusing people about BJP (NDA) government at the center, AAP kept on repeating that they are very clean. Unfortunately, educated voters did not do fact checks.

Here are some that they should have checked.

They should have asked AAP - How clean are your candidates?
The reality was that, when the "bad" Sheila was CM, Dilli assembly had 43% MLAs with criminal cases. When "good" Kejriwal becomes CM now, it would be just 34%. Nothing to be proud of. AAP fooled Dilli on this front.

They should have asked Arvind Kejriwal.. how clean is your criminal record sir? 
This "very clean" Yug purush has 4 serious IPC cases and 43 other IPC cases against him as per Delhi Election Watch website. Is that a very "clean" politician profile? 

If you don't trust me that's OK. At least find out what Prashant Bhushan did internally at AAP side about the dubious money and muscle power that was being given ticket in the name of "aam aadmi". Read why Bhushan was furious about 12 candidates in particular -> http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-prashant-bhushan-questions-arvind-kejriwal-on-candidate-selection-2055256

They should have asked how "aam" are your aam aadmi candidates?
They didn't. So now Dilli has some extremely rich people as MLAs, while the drama was all along about being "aam aadmi" or common people.

• Parmila Tokas declared assets of just Rs. 88 crores! 
• Naresh Balyan - 58 crores. 
• Kailash Gahlot - 38 crores. 
• Naresh Yadav - 27 crores.
• ....... and so on.

In comparison, India's per capita income is still well below Rs.1 lakh per year. How many years does it take for an "aam aadmi" to earn 1 crore at that rate?

BTW, the same Naresh Balyan was quizzed by police for the large scale illegal liquor distribution allegations.

They should have asked how qualified your candidate are?
Remember when Om Puri was launching scathing attack on the educational qualification of MPs when Arvind Kejriwal was with Anna Hazare movement? Now, we have an assembly in Dilli, wherein 34% of the MLAs have not gone to college!!

So 1 in 3 MLAs is an "anpadh" and "ganwar" as Om Puri screamed with same gang! How hypocritical.

See how easy it is to fool the gullible, even in the capital of India! In contrast to these super rich "aam aadmi" MLAs, the "pro-rich" Narendra Modi is 52 times poorer than AAP MLA Parmila Tokas.

5:  Character assassination of India's Prime Minister over a suit.
There were many different ways PM Modi was targeted throughout the campaign. I would not get into the subtle social media attacks on his child marriage's wife which was construed as "disrespecting women". There were very derogatory images circulated which are better left out here. But one thing I must speak about is the controversy created over Modi's "10 lakh or 15 lakh Rupees suit" during US President Obama's visit to India.

It all started with the discredited Times of India running a story in late January about the so called "Nine Lakh Rupees" suit that Modi wore while Obama was here, which had his name embroidered. AAP and Congress picked up on this, along with some discredited media houses. They ran a full fledged campaign everywhere, including social media trends about this suit. 9 lakh suit.. 10 lakh suit.. 15 lakh suit.. Some irresponsible speeches were also given like that of Rahul Gandhi where these lies were repeated in a Goebbels method.

When all was done and dusted, the same Times of India brought in a small paragraph of "clarification" and "regretted" for the false news.

So in reality, the suit material was a gift given to Modi by a fan. He did not pay any lakhs from his pocket or using government money. He had it stitched in Gujarat. I doubt if he even knew that it had his name as embroidery, but that's a separate topic. It is NOT a crime for a world respected head of state to wear good cloths, that too when gifted by a fan. But this AAP campaign threw so much muck into the campaign painting him as an "agent of rich", completely obscuring the track record of a man from very poor background who rose one step at a time in his life. Highly negative and immoral campaign was launched against Modi, that fooled lakhs of voters.

The same Modi had donated most of his savings and gifts in Gujarat as CM, for the education of daughters of poor people of India. Read more on that here -> http://www.narendramodi.in/narendra-modi-donates-the-gifts-he-has-received-in-2012-towards-girl-child-education/

There was a brilliant and emotional post on the social media today, that exposes the blatant character assasination method of AAP in Hindi. My apologies for not translating it, but if anyone wants, you can do it in comments.

In summary, a poor man who sold tea as a child, who spent 3 decades with nothing more than 2 or 3 sets of cloths traveling across India, who slept wherever nature offered space for him, who ate at places wherever food was available, a very humble and down-to-earth man, was projected via negative campaign as an arrogant rich man who wears 10 lakh rupees suit using a phony news paper article of Times of India. And, this is not the first time Times of India did hit jobs on Modi. They had done it with "Rambo act" during Uttarakhand floods too. To his credit, Modi has never sued these hit jobs of media. 


6: Negative campaign against a very successful NDA government's first 9 months:

An extensive campaign was launched that Modi government has not done anything in the first 8 to  9 months. And many lakh voters believed it due to the poor countering mechanism of BJP. There was a systematic misinformation launched at slums about land acquisition bill, about the government spending a lot, whereas it was actually saving expenditure. False information was spread on inflation and GDP, when they were actually being corrected well. Last but not the least, the Jan Dhan Yojna which has brought financial inclusion to over 11.5 crore poor Indians in 4 months (a record in human history in terms of numbers for 4 months), was painted as negative!

So, Modi did not do anything substantial in 9 months as claimed by AAP and Congress? Read this impressive list shared by @rajji3351 user on Twitter. (the last 2 words are not in good taste, but I am just using what was shared)

If you have more time, read through how Modi changed the global perspective of India in a very short time. Here is my blog written a few months ago -> http://kiranasis.blogspot.in/2014/12/how-modi-is-changing-global-perspective.html

7: Allegedly receiving dubious funds while screaming that other parties have shady funds:
Social media was abuzz with #AAPFundingScam a few days before the election. Of course, this was brushed aside by the self-professed "honest" AAP with a bravado to "arrest me". When you screamed for years that BJP and Congress gets shady funding, how come you ran a campaign with shady funds too? Social media was abuzz for months with very dubious transactions shown on AAP website. Just search around and you can find 100s of such examples.

But this one about 2 crore of dubious fund was important. Not surprisingly now AAP has received an IT notice.

And @nayanchandra who shared this, claims that not only that they had this notice before the results, but also deliberately leaked it after results, to cry foul about "vendetta politic".

Very concerning matter as a whole which Dilli voters completely missed. 

8: Scaring people with rumours about EVM tampering:

This was again a well thought out dirty trick of AAP. Throughout the campaign, even during prior elections, they kept on saying BJP and Congress are giving money and liquor. This time, Kejriwal got chided by the election commission. But rumour mongering did not stop. Kejriwal himself lead the rumour mongering about electronic voting machines (EVM) being tampered by BJP!

 So all those who screamed about EVM tampering, would accept that they were tampered in favour of AAP, after the massive 67 seats result?

Dirty politics at its lowest level by AAP.

9:  #KejriMaths - The dubious mathematics that fooled voters:

2015 Dilli election was primarily won with a barrage of promises of free things and subsidies. Water, Electricity, Wi-Fi, homes, VAT.. you name it and AAP claimed it would give either free or at a high subsidy. Unfortunately, the voters of Dilli did not scrutinize the claims. 

They did not ask.. Boss, where would you get money?

For starters, the most latest annual budget of Dilli is only Rs. 36,766 crores. This is a semi-state that lives up for most part on the money of Indian union, contributed by all states, including some of the poorest states like Odisha and Bihar. Being the capital region, the roads, trains, airports and pretty much every form of infrastructure is built mostly using the Union of India's money, unlike Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai etc. who have to build mostly using their local tax money. No one in Dilli loudly asked.. even at basic Rs.10,000 per CCTV, Kejriwal has to find Rs.15,000 cr just for his CCTV promise. Mumbai spent over 900 crores just for 6000 odd CCTVs. Where would you get that money?

Here is a well analyzed article from Business Standard that exposes the highly dubious freebie plan of Kejriwal and company. You can see, late of course after the damage is done, that most promises in the manifesto of AAP were camouflaged or with poor mathematics.

Now many news outlets are doing post-mortem. Here is one such post mortem. Five crazy promises of Kejriwal that are next to impossible to implement -> http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/5-points-from-the-aap-manifesto-that-bjp-fans-might-find-hard-to-believe-230125.html

Nothing explains the impractical nature of these over ambitious promises, as this small writeup that made rounds extensively on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. 

Good luck Dilli, trying to find money for this #KejriMaths!

Reading the @ramaraoKP shared news paper link, it is amply clear that the Santa Claus Kejriwal has promised the sky, but didn't tell that his account has no money!

Expecting lots of Dharmacracy now about how "Modi is not giving money"? Light.. sound.. action!

And, a lot of young folks voted AAP for the "free WiFi". But the fine print is emerging now after the election. This is shared by @vickymackdown.

Only 30 minutes free.. Not for any house, office, mall etc. Even when available, Facebook, WhatsApp, Email, Twitter would be restricted. I am sure these fine prints were not in the manifesto or public ads before the election.

After reading all these.. I am reminded me of that famous ad.. No Ullu banaoing :)

But too late for Dilli public.

10: Unholy partnership with a single minded greed for power:

To get into power in Dilli, AAP pretty much used every possible corner available.Who cares if Mamata Banerjee herself is in a serious mess with Saradha scam running into 1000s of crores? We will take her support! Interestingly, her party MP was in forefront talking against Church attacks, that were mysteriously hapening right before the election. Who cares is communist ideology is opposite to Mamata, for power in Dilli we will take CPM support too. Who cares if Owaisi family is highly controversial with anti Hindu communal speeches? We are all same here fighting "communal BJP". Who cares if Nitish Kumar has a dubious record of backstab politics and caste politics in Bihar, we want their support.

Importantly.. who cares if we said we have nothing to do with religion. Our people will visit Church priests and openly tweet their support. We also got support from the controversial Imam Bukhari, but for publicity, we want to stay away.

What was that again? Secularism means separation of church and state (politics). But for power, we will go with anyone as long as they are against BJP :)

And AAP even gave tickets to highly controvesial people like Amanatullah Khan, who did not hesitate to insult Ashok Chakra awardee, Martyr Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma within hours of getting elected!

As long we are keeping  BJP out, everything else is fine! Who cares about ideology, religion-mix and other factors. "We" would even play caste politics twisting an ad of BJP that talked about a gotra.

In summary:

AAP tried every trick available - whether it was unethical, immoral, illegal, outright impractical.. doesn't matter. As long as BJP is defeated. And they succeeded.

But it was not as bad as media projected for BJP. As @durgaramdas computed:

BJP in 2013 assembly elections of Dilli got 26,75,857 votes which resulted in 32 seats.
BJP in 2015 Dilli assembly elections got 29,36,390 votes, but only 3 seats.

That's because BJP retained it's assembly vote share. What really happened was the ganging up of everyone else against BJP, particularly the Congress voters who deserted Rahul Gandhi fully. 

That's only a consolation for BJP. But the real failure of BJP was in not being able to counter the long list of lies, frauds and outright misinformation braiwash campaign that was launched in 2015 Dilli elections. Hope they learn. Goebbles method has been used extensively against BJP here and the same can be replicated in the upcoming state elections if BJP is not careful.

I also hope AAP learns from the mistakes and compromises they did during this election. The trust of youth power of Dilli on them is quite huge. They should deliver now. How they deliver is up to them, without blaming Modi or BJP!

Kumara Parvata - A dream trekking experience!!

I got a message from friend Bharath in early January that he is planning for a trekking trip to Kumara Parvata, near Kukke Subrahmanya in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. After initial shock hearing 10 hours of travel overnight, and then trekking 20 to 30 KM, then returning another 10 hours overnight, I said.. sorry boss.. I don't think my body can take that now.

Then he insisted after a couple of days. Change in plans.. Only 7 hours of trip. He ended up making me sign up for this. And I should really thank him for this wonderful attempt. Because, this was one of the best treks of my life!!

See the pics and watch the videos.. you will know what I mean!

In a nut shell, we had to travel from Bengaluru to Somwarpete in Kodagu district, and then to Beeda Halli where the forest office's gate is there for trekking the Pushpagiri mountain range. Kumara Parvata is the highest peak in the Pushpagiri forest range. There are two ways to climb to Kumara Parvata (Kumara, is the name of Lord Shiva's second son Subrahmanya or Murugan or Kartikeya - Parvata means Mountain or peak). One from the popular temple destination of Kukke Subrahmanya which is in the Dakshina Kannada district. The other, the easier option is what we took, from Kodagu district. Most importantly, don't try all by yourself. Take someone who has done this before. This is NOT for beginners or even mid level trekkers. Take my suggestion very seriously, as we had 3 in our team who had climbed among themselves, a total of 25 times!

Indicative route map - image courtesy coorg.xyz

Once we reached the area near Beeda Halli by 4.30 AM, we had nice Uppittu at a home stay. After freshening up and eating plenty of carbohydrates, we prayed at the age old Shiva temple near the forest office gate. Our enthusiasm and energy levels at a peak level just before the start.

Thanks to Lokesh Raju for this excellent pic

Then carefully analyzing the path of our trek. Playing with nice puppies at the gate. Sending our TT driver away by road to get to Subrahmanya while we reach there either in the night, or next day.

The highest peak Kumara Parvata is about 5617 feet above sea level. Shesha Parvata is at 5086 feet. With two massive peaks above 5000 feet to conquer, the biggest advantage of climbing up from Kodagu district (Beedara Halli) is that we only have to climb 712 meters or about 2336 feet. The distance is approximately 7 KM. If you try the climb from Kukke Subrahmanya, which is in Dakshina Kannada district, your climb would be at least 15 KM in distance and 1600 Meters (5250 feet) of climb. So you are talking about half the elevation to climb if you go from east to west, instead of the other way, as the steep descent of the mighty western ghats is visible on the western side. Send your vehicle with driver to the other side (3 hours by road). Either way, without fail carry a sleeping bag, at least 5 liters of water per person, good carbohydrate food and a tent to stay overnight in chilly windy peaks. Do NOT try a single day trekathon (2 of our guys did it) from sun rise to sun set, unless you are a very experienced climber with very little weight to carry on your back. Stay overnight at one of the marked peaks or areas.

Image courtesy: vishwanaths.wordpress.com

The first hour was lots of fun. Singing, photographing and loving the early morning stay in some of the thickest rain forest ranges of the planet. Bliss.

After another hour, it started getting tiring. Here is some video commentary from that position.

After 3 hours, we were really cursing, why did we take such heavy tents.. But the scenery was amazing.. rest and watch after every few minutes.

The climb from the east is essentially 3 hours through thick forests, then 2 big boulders to climb (you have to crawl, if you are not experienced), and then just 10 minutes from the peak, you will see this saffron flag welcoming you to the holy peak!

Here is how you climb one of the two big boulders. It's not for beginners, I repeat! And also, no children allowed on this trekking trail. So only adults in good health, who can climb for hours, in good mountain climbing shoes should get here. There is absolutely no help anywhere in sight, if you need it during emergencies. Try to avoid rainy seasons as it rains very heavily here. These are some of the tallest and wettest peaks in India outside the Himalayan range.

After 4.5 hours, 2100+ feet of climb across 7 KM, we finally made it before noon to the great Kumara Parvata peak. Lots of joy there.. Jai Shri Ram slogans, pooja at the small Shiva temples, photographs, discussions and fun time. In short, YES WE DID IT moments :) We ended up showing the small forest office 7 KM away, from where we made it to this majestic point.

With all euphoria of conquering the sacred Kumara Parvata's peak, we headed west now. Next stop Shesha Parvata, just 45 minutes away. On the peak of Shesha Parvata, with Kumara Parvata (KP) and Siddhara Betta (un-conquerable) backdrop, we had our lunch.

Isn't this a dream spot for the packed chapati and dry subzi lunch?

And my heart close to my mouth when some of our guys are trying things too risky with over 4000 feet of steep fall at the edges!

Along with height, this was also the peak of our energy levels.. From now on-wards, the real difficulty starts. Climbing down over 15 KM, finding a place to camp and rest for the night, and managing the steep climb down amidst some of the harshest conditions.. It is REALLY tough!

From a distance, things look easy.

But as you climb down, every step is challenging. It is slippery sand.. odd shaped pebbles and tightly packed odd shaped stones. Every step has to be careful or else you can fall or twist your ankle. Heavy on your knees and this is where you need lots of fluid consumption to keep up your energy and focus.

This was our original camping destination. The Kallu Mantapa (stone structure). But we moved on as water source was not good considering the nearing summer season.

At every few 100 feet, we see a person climbing up from the Kukke side. We ask them.. how far is Bhattara Mane (Bhatta's house, which is the ONLY place where we can get food, water, sleeping place and toilets during the entire trekking stretch). We were told, see that green area after the dry spots.. That's where it is. We were less than "one hour" away each time..

But it took a grueling 4 hours of climb down from the Shesha parvata to get near Bhattara Mane.

With all energy out.. stomach crying for a decent meal.. we set up the camps that we carried with so much difficulty all along. But it was WORTH it! I wouldn't describe much.. but we got at least 10 other tents as company near Bhattara Mane in the night. Talks, games, watching the bright stars from the camp during midnight, enjoying the gossip in a rain forest area.. it was heavenly!!

While waiting for dinner at Bhatta's home, we enjoyed the magnificent sun set.

Then the 90 minutes of wait for dinner was the longest in my life.. it felt like that. But the hot rice, saaru, butter milk and pickle seemed like heaven!!! After a whole day of climb and descent, after conquering nearly 20 KM of a tough stretch across the western ghats, this dinner along with 100 other folks was so tasty and so fulfilling.

Then the night at the camp till 5.30 AM wake up calls. Oh.. did I tell you that we slept not far from the elephant corridor in Karnataka, the state with the largest number of wild elephants in India? :)

All we had to do was trek down another 2 to 3 hours to reach Kukke Subrahmanya temple. Two of our friends already did the trekathon and reached in the evening itself. And the pleasant January chilly morning was ideal for us to trek down. We were well fed in the evening. Our knee pains had vanished with some good sleep.

But climbing down from Bhattara Mane is really scenic. It's tough. It's slippery and steep small rocks with each step, but really enjoyable. (Or maybe we had rest, so it was enjoyable).

After nearly 2 hours, reached the "Bheemana Bande" (Bhima's boulder). It's so awesome that I slept there for a few minutes. Took selfies from all sides. Even if someone charges me a few 1000 Rupees to sleep on it for 20 minutes, I would do that :)

And after a grueling 27 hours and over 25 KM of walking.. and most importantly after climbing up 2500 feet and climbing down nearly 5000 feet, we had done it! We reached the Kukke Subrahmanya side of the trekking path. The end!

Then some nice refreshing time.. Swimming and bathing in Kumara Dhara river.. It's considered a sacred river where your skin gets purified of all diseases.

Then a nice darshan of Subrahmanya Bhagawan at the temple. Tasty food and...

heading back fully refreshed, relaxed in spite of a grueling trek, and thoroughly excited :)

Go do this trek. You have 4 ways to capture Kumara Parvata.
Start from near Somwarpete like we did and end trekking down to Kukke (for this you need someone to take your vehicle on road while you trek).
Start from Kukke and do the trek till Somwarpete area. Again someone needs to drive your vehicle.
Start from Somwarapete and get back the same way. The easiest way!
Start from Kukke and get back to Kukke. This would be the most difficult way. You might need 2 full days, unless you are really a pro in trekking.

No matter which way you pick, carry lots of water, very light luggage, preferably individual tents and not heavy ones like we did, someone experienced with you, some pain killers/ muscle sprays, a small first aid kit, fully charged mobile phones (some areas you get signal) and a refreshed & well hydrated body! Have lots of fun.


160+ Pictures here if you want to browse through. Most have comments detailing the situation:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110981894709471519856/albums/6107115113582064705

Some videos if you have time or planning to conquer this really tough mountain range!

After 2 hours of climb, this is where we were:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slvHJqHq-4E

You can hear me huffing and puffing after a big boulder climb. But I can assure you, if you reach this spot, your adrenaline kick would be so high, you would immediately decide to go back again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWrrkFUg8CI

Do you plan on carrying a big camp? Watch this and then decide for yourself :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZs3NR4MSsk

And how can our friends miss the opportunity to loudly chant "Jai Shriram" after conquering one of the most difficult peaks in India?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti6pXhRYPlo

Two small Shiva temples exists on the top of Kumara Parvata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WUBwYNaHZo

Commentary from the top of Kumara Parvata.. while enjoying breath taking greenery and peaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNChvO2Mwbk

And, me video taping our ace photographer clicking from top of Kumara Parvata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1SdXAFZKkI

And a view of Kumara Parvata and Siddhara betta (impossible to climb), from the top of Shesha Parvata where we had lunch. This Shesha Parvata is visible from the Kukke Subrahmanya temple!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy04N1Bvi5M

Go for it.. Climb up the Kumara Parvata.. Jai Subrahmanya!!