Serendipity in Barguru

Compiled and posted to the blog on 28 July 2026 from old Instagram posts.

I rode home from Bengaluru and back in February 2018, for a family function. I started for Shornur at 6am on 2nd February. Although my one goal then was to get out of the notorious city limits, I just had to stop and capture the scene of the beautiful morning sky.

Tread lightly, for a thousand hearts unseen
Might now be beating in this misty green

I got to travel down one of my favourite stretches from the December ride once again: Kalale, after Mysuru and before Gundlupete Although, this time it seemed to last much shorter than it did the first time. It always is that way. Unsurprisingly, I got to hear the usual chirpy bulbul as well as the annoyingly mysterious warbler calling. Not to mention the numerous Globe Skimmers everywhere.

On the 4th, I started back for Bengaluru, originally planning to beeline it on the Salem–Kochi highway. But after covering almost half of the distance back in 3 hours, I decided to ditch this plan. Instead, I took a detour from near Erode towards Bhavani. I didn’t know where exactly it was gonna go. I thought I’d be going to BR hills. But this decision ended up making it one of my most wonderful rides.

A 30-minute break at this lake showed me a Plain Tiger pupa right about to eclose, a planthopper which shone brown in the sun, and lots of ducks and coots. Sunbirds and tailorbirds were chirping around my spot of waiting as well. There was a kid with his mom, shepherding right where I was. I asked the kid the name of the lake and he said Yeri.

I eventually reached a mountain range. I asked around and found out that it was the Tattakarai Hills. Even though it was midday, the place was beautiful. Riding through the silent and empty, seemingly never-ending forest roads was exhilarating! I saw two kinds of Peacock butterflies: Common Banded and Paris.

Towards the end of the Tattakarai range, I stopped for a photo op, and spotted a signboard saying Bargur Cattle Research Station. Now, I had no acquaintance with research stations other than Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (which was an amazing one at that), and I was extremely curious as to what sort of research could possibly be going on on cattle, that too, in the middle of what was seemingly nowhere.

I looked down at the valley and saw this really humble white painted building with a blue patch of paint announcing the name. On searching for the way to get down there, I found a solitary dirt track full peppered with rocks of various shapes and sizes, and of course, very slippery pale soil. At this point in time, Rogue was still relatively young (new I mean), so I hesitated on whether or not to try going down. I finally reached the building and caught sight of two men who were watching over the cattle but on my arrival had turned to me and my bike with a completely perplexed look on their faces.

I initiated conversation and soon realised they only knew Tamil, which, to the dismay of all my fellow Palakkadans, I didn’t know. I did know Malayalam though, and our rocky conversation still ended up being very enriching. I learnt that there was one other such station around 50 km away. They bred the cattle in Barguru and once the bulls came of age, took them to the second station for artificial insemination. Together they housed around 60 cattle and 20 bulls, they said.

The cattle over here were allowed to wander freely and apparently roamed the entire valley. The station was near the TN–KA border, and Shivamurthy and Madhavan pointed far off into one of the hills in the background saying that’s where Karnataka starts. Presently a Bolero arrived with some supplies and with it, two more people. I was beginning to leave when they hollered again, inviting me for some tea. But since I’m not particularly fond of tea and I had a long way to go, I declined their offer, even though I would have loved to spend some more time with them.

Bidding farewell to Shivamurthy and Madhavan, I ascended the ~250 m dirt track back to the road and set off. That little track honed my off-road skills to a great extent, and gave me an enormously rewarding experience.

The rest of my journey from the Ghats to the plains of south Karnataka was spent in quiet thought. One of my peaceful rest stops before I approached the noisy Kanakapura Road, which would eventually take me back to Bengaluru, taunted me with another mystery dirt track branching off in front of me. The temptation was strong, but I also knew I needed to brave the 2 hours of city traffic that was sure to greet me before I could rest. Plus, I had had enough serendipity to hold me down for a good while. One always needs a reason to come back!