The Drowning Church of Karnataka

Last monsoon around August I had gone exploring Karnataka as it's blissfully best during monsoon. The very picturesque locations, that at times makes it all so unreal. And not to mention travel by road from Bangalore to Mysore to Hassan and return for the unexpected adventure and fun.

So soon after reaching Hassan from Mysore, I had little time to either relax at the hotel or go explore the famous Drowning Church in Shettyhalli located 13 kms from Hassan. Of-course I decided to explore and glad I did it.

I discovered this church mentioned in Lonely planet, so I decided to check it out. It was close to the evening and the clouds had started to gather but that did not deter me or my friend, Inderjit Nagi, from going ahead. Luckily we had hired a cab from the hotel with a driver who was well versed with the location of this church.

The cabbie took us to the near by bridge from where we could see the church. Not very satisfied i asked him to take us for a closer look. He was quiet sporty. Brushing the muggy and slippery off track road where we almost missed the narrow mud track that takes you close to the church. There was no one around to ask for directions. We parked at a spot and walked through the high bushes along the mud track until we reached an open area from where we could see the submerged church. And the view was breathtaking!

It was built by the French over a hundred years ago and is now submerged under Hemavathy reservoir. From what I understand, the church is not always submerged under the water, but it was hard to imagine it that way as it looked like it was frozen in time. The dark clouds, the still waters and the eerie silence around added to the spookiness. We were the only ones around. It was convincing that there must be hundreds of stories lying buried within its walls – stories of hope, belief, pain, destruction and fraternity. Stories that beckoned travelers like me, but left us unsettled looking for answers.

And i went click, click, click……