Jmahishi's Travel Memoirs

1200kms of Bangalore -> Sirsi -> Gokarna -> Kumta -> Sirsi -> Bangalore

2016-01-04T20:10:00.001+05:30

I didn't spend my time partying on the last day of the year. I spent the night planning and packing for my next road trip on the first day of 2016. It was wedding invite from a colleague which prompted this trip. The wedding was at Kumta, a coastal city in Karnataka. This part of Karnataka is dotted with many places which suit up everyone's liking. There are many temples, water falls, rock structures and beautiful beaches.
We had only 2.5 days to move around and no idea what we wanted to see. So, we decided to go where ever the road takes us. There are two routes that can take you to Kumta. One via Shimoga and the other via Haveri (NH4). I had tried both the routes during my trip to Goa in 2009. Shimoga route was mostly single lane then (not sure how it is now). So, we decided to take the NH4 (Bangalore -> Haveri -> Sirsi (halt at Sirsi) -> Kumta.).
On 1st of Jan (Friday) at 2:30 pm, we started in a Volkswagen Polo and headed to Nice (Kanakapura Road). We came across roughly 6 toll booths and spent close to Rs. 400. It took us roughly about 6 hrs to reach Sirsi and we stayed at Samrat Lodge and Restaurant. It was a pretty descent place to crash for the night.
We started towards Kumta after paying visit to Marikamba Temple. The temple is dedicated to a form of Goddess Durga.

The temple has a history of its own. Wikipedia will give more details :)
We took the Sirsi-Yellapur Road to reach Kumta, however, roughly after 5-7kms, we saw a deviation towards Yana and made a quick decision to go there. It is roughly about 37kms from there. The roads are neat and winding single lane.
Yana is famous for two Crystaline Limestone stones/caves emerging in the middle of the forest. From the parking area, you have to walk about 1km to reach the structure. A small temple dots the foot hills. A well made path leads your way through the caves.

The pace is a popular picnic spot for families and school kids. There is a small temple. It was made more popular after a Kannada movie "Namm Oora Mandara Huve" was shot here. Beware of the honey bees all year round and leaches during the rains.

We were told about a water fall, roughly 7-10kms from Yana, called Vibhuti Falls and there would be water all year round. Pretty excited we started towards the falls. You have to stop at the Police Aid Unit and enter the details such as Name, Phone#, Car# and number of people traveling.
The water fall is situated about 2.5 kms from the Police Aid Unit.
From the parking area, you have to walk about 1km to reach the falls.
But all along, a stream from the water fall flows alongside.
The walk might be a little tiring after visiting Yana, but the waterfall makes you forget the fatigue and you immerse into the arms of the nature.

A budding photographer would thoroughly appreciate the beauty of nature around the waterfall.

Gokarna was our next destination, which is about 66 kms from the water fall. Gokarna is a coastal time, with beautiful beaches and temples. Offlate many tourists from aboard, are finding their way to Gokarna because of growing restrictions in Goa. The route to the beach is pretty scenic

The most popular beach is Om Beach, but its over crowded because of the popularity. It gets the name due to the shape of the beach, which looks like Om.

You might feel suffocated by looking at the number of people thronging to this beach. Car parking is a major headache near the beach. There is only one Cafe on the beach and they give priority to people staying in their resort.
Just next to Om Beach is Kudle beach. The area is big, so the place doesn't feel crowded. There are many shacks where one can sit down for a quite beer or a meal. We saw people playing volley ball, football, Frisbee, expressing art etc...

People were trying to sell jewellery, bongo etc..

We waited for the sun to set. It was a pleasant experience as we don't even get to see the night sky in Bangalore.

We started towards Kumta at 7:30 pm. Its about 10kms from Gokarna. We had reservations at Hotel Panduranga International at Kumta. It was a descent place and also has a veg-restaurant attached.
The next morning, we visited Idagunji which has a popular Ganapti Temple. The place is about 37 kms from Kumta and took us 45 mins to reach.

There are quite a lot of shops trying to sell artifacts, idols to the tourists.

The next stop was the wedding hall. We wished the newly wed, had lunch and started back to Bangalore at 1:30 pm from Kumta. Thanks to long weekend rush and a pit stop for Davengere Benne Dosa we reached Bangalore at 11pm.
Planning to travel more and write more in 2016. Happy New Year!!!

A weekend at Puducherry

2016-01-04T12:03:00.001+05:30

I visited Pondy in the first week of August 2015. Puducherry or erstwhile Pondicherry (Pondy) is a Union Territory in South India. It was a French colony and the town still holds on to its French Heritage. One part of the town has all buildings built in French architecture, with neat and clean roads and we didn't want to see the other part. Well, we were there for a weekend and didn't really have much time to explore all of the town. So, decided on visiting only the popular tourist destinations.

We (I,wife&son) left for Puducherry in my good old Alto from Bangalore, at around 6am. Its roughly about 400kms. Since it was early in the morning, we decided to ditch the Hosur Flyover and drove on the service roads. As thought, we didn't face much traffic and in about 30 mins or so, we hit the Hosur Toll Booth. After going through many blogs, team-bhp forums etc... the plan was to take the Chennai Highway till Arcot Junction and then head towards Tindivanam. All went as per the plan, except Google Maps stopped working when we entered Tindivanam. After driving around the town for 20mins, I took help from the locals and we were back on track. We reached Puducherry at about 12pm. It was a good 6 hr drive with couple of 10-15mins breaks to relax the legs.

We paid about Rs. 274 of toll at the following places:
Attibele
Krishnagiri
Veniyambadi
Pallikonda
Pondicherry. Yes, there is a toll booth just at the entrance of the town and is inbetween Auroville and Puducherry. If you are visiting Auroville, its best to visit before entering the town or buy a toll day pass and plan your trip accordingly.

As soon as we entered the town, we were greeted by the CM of the place. Huge hoardings have been put up all across the town. A Google search for the CM images, would show up many of those hoardings which are actually put up.
There are many good hotels in the city. However, we had booked a place at The Windflower Resort and Spa, just outside the city. The best part of this place was the beach was just 500 meters away without much of a crowd.

The best part of this place was the food and the beach.

We visited Auroville, Aurbindo Ashram, Promenade etc... The image on the right is the War Memorial. It was built to honor the soldiers who laid their lives during World War I.

We started back from Puducherry on Sunday at noon. However, we missed a turn at Tindivanam and headed towards Tiruvannamalai. This was the most horrifying experience. The road is in pathetic condition. After driving for almost an hour on the pot holes, we saw a deviation towards to Arcot and decided to take a detour. Ended up driving 100+ kms to reach the highway. All in all, it was a good trip and looking forward to visiting Puducherry again.

Weekend getaway to Shivansamudra and Somnathpura

2014-10-05T20:43:00.002+05:30

It was a long weekend and after 2 days of festivities, we decided to cut a day trip to nearby places. We zeroed on Shivansamudra or Shravanabelagola. But ended up choosing the waterfall.

Shivansamudra is home for one of the first hydro electric project and is fueled via two water falls, Gaganchukki and Bharachukki. More details can be found online.

The place is roughly about 110 kms and can be reached via Mysore Road or Kanakpura Road. The roads are well maintained. You are advised to visit here during the rainy season to view both the falls in their full glory.

We took the Kanakpura Road and had to enter via the hydro electric project. Mysore road takes you to a different view. A flight of 250 steps take you to the bottom, where you can hire a coracle and ride close to the water fall. There is a small restaurant "Hotel Mayura", which provides a descent meal or snack. Plus there are other vendors, selling tender coconut, watermelon, cucumber etc... Do be wary of the monkeys around, which try to steal/snatch anything in a plastic cover.

The next part of the journey was to Somnathpura. The place houses a 13th century temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is roughly about 56kms from Shivansamudra. The roads are well maintained, but a part of the stretch is being repaired and is rough.

The temple was commissioned by a General in Hoysala army named Somnatha. It took 58years to complete temple.

The entrance fee is priced modestly at Rs. 5 for Indians and Rs.100 for other nationals (Still unable to understand this disparity), Videography would cost Rs.25 more. The site is well maintained by the ASI.
The board at the entrance gives in more details on the history. But it would be good know a little history of the Hoysala dynasty. A quick search on google is advised.

As soon as you enter the premise, a shasana (kannada inscriptions) dating back to 12th century is placed on the left. It is said, over 25000 shasana's have been found all across Karnataka belonging to Kadamba, Ganga, Chalukya, Hoysala & Vijayanagara empires.

The temple architecture is beautifully designed, you ponder on the creativity of the architects and workers. Ekakuta, Dvikuta, Trikuta are types of temple design, which represent one, two, three deities respectively in a single temple complex. Belur is designed in Ekakuta style for Channakeshava, Halebidu is Dvikuta having Hoysaleshwara and Kedareshwara temples and Somanathpura is Trikuta, having VenuGopala, Janardhana, Keshava temples.

Only Somanathpura has all the three gopura intact, whereas at Belur and Halebidu they were destroyed build invasions. Slate stone was used during the construction of the temple. Slate stone is soft and its easy to carve out intricate designs.

There are 18 pillars supporting the temple structure. Each pillar has different design and make you wonder if something similar can be done with modern day tools.
The roof is another spectacular piece of work. Each ceiling has a different design, one has a lotus, the other is that of a banana flower and another one depicts the moti when the banana flower blooms.

Let me introduce you the main deities, since the idols were defaced during the raids, puja isn't performed and they allow you to take photographs inside the premises.
VenuGopala:

Janardhana:

Observe the portion of the torso, from chest to navel. This temple was constructed in the name of Lord Keshava but the sculptor was a devotee of Lord Shiva and wanted to leave a mark of Lord Shiva in his sculpture. The torso resembles Nandi, animal used by Lord Shiva.

Keshava:

The original deity is now in British museum. However, while it was replaced by an idol found during one of the excavations in a nearby village. No words can describe the beautiful designs inside the temple complex. Its a visual treat. Few images clicked inside the complex:

Now to the temple exteriors. A lot of thought process went in while constructing the temple. The first three layers are elephants, horses and art forms

The elephants denote the strength of the empire, horses define the speed of progress and art forms depict the prosperity of art and culture in the Hoysala empire. The next three layers are:

The fourth layers shows the solders protecting the empire, fifth layer describes the spiritual aspect, then comes the lions which depict the royals. After this, are the windows and so on...
There are various carvings showing Gods, Goddesses mythological heros, creatures etc...

This image is of Lord Narasimha killing King Hiranyakashapu and using his intestines as a garland.

This image is of Lord Vishnu sitting on a throne coiled by the king of serpents (Sheshnag).

Goddess Saraswati playing veena in the left. On the right is Lord Vishnu. Gods are depicted with 4 or more hands. The maximum being 36 hands.

The picture on the right is of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi, if you observe the object on her left hand, it appears to be Corn. Controversial topic, as we have heard Corn originated in Mexico. This carving was done in 13th century and Indians had grown corn already. On the left, idol is of Lord Vishnu.

On the left is the idol of Lord Bhramha. God of Ayurveda, Dhanavantri is on the right, with Medicine in one hand and elixir in the other.

The cravings below depict the avatars from Lord Vishnu's dashavatra. First is Matsya, Kurma and Varaha.

Observe the face of the idols, first is fish, then turtle and then of a boar. In the next image, look at the hands. Its the mother earth. People knew earth was oval in shape. Amazing right?

Observe very closely the below image, it shows Goddess Lakshmi sitting on Lord Vishnu's lap and has kept her feet on a lotus, which is bending due to her wait. Note the elephant, which trying to keep the lotus intact. Also, at the bottom of the carving, the sculptor has carved his name.

Idol on the left is of Lakshmi Narasimha.

There are some carvings from Ramayana and Mahabharata. The temple complex is surrounded by 64 smaller temples. The idols were taken away or destroyed by raiders. Its a visual treat and an exciting place for a photographer.

On the way back to Bangalore, we took a deviation from Malavalli to reach Maddur. There are a lot of eateries on the Mysore road. It was a day well spent.

Elephanta: Island of Caves...

2011-03-28T19:57:00.000+05:30

27th Mar 2011 was a usual "lazy" sunday morning before we planned the visit to Elephanta Caves. We gobbled our breakfast and started off at 11:10 AM from Thane station, reached CST at 12:15 PM, it was burning hot. Nevertheless, I wanted to cover the places in Mumbai asap, as the D-day was near.

We took to the subway after coming out of CST. Standing opposite the Azad Maidan, the first thing to catch my eye was the Griffin, a winged Lion on the Muncipal Corporation Building. The building was commissioned in the year 1865 and its first Commissioner was Arthur Crawford. The main dome of the structure is being renovated. The bronze statue in front of the building is of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, a politician, an activist and a successful lawyer. We was Municipal commissioner of Bombay Municipality in 1873 and it's President four times and still looking upon on Mumbai.

One of the most beautiful structures built by the Brits in Mumbai is The Victoria Terminus or the CST. It serves as the HQ for Central Railways. It was designed by Fredrick William Stevens and he was paid 1,614,000 rupees for his services in 1887-88. The station was operational in 1887 and had taken 10 years to complete.

VT draws inspirations from Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival architecture, traditional Indian architecture and has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We took a taxi to the Gateway of India and were charged Rs. 50. They do have sharing system, which costs Rs.15 per head. Just near the security gates, there are counters selling tickets to Elephanta. The return ticket costs Rs.130 per head. We bought the tickets and ran to counter# 4 as our boat was about to leave. There are nearly 140 such boats doing rounds at Gateway of India.

A view from the Sea:

The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay, in December 1911 and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel opened in December 1903. It is said that Jamshedji Tata built this hotel after he was denied entry to city's elite hotel, The Watson's, which was restricted to the whites. Another tale indicates that the then editor of Times of India suggested Mr. Tata that a hotel worthy of Bombay needs to be built. Well, in any case, Hotel Taj has made its mark on the map.

The ride in the sea was pleasant. We could see many boats, yatch and sail boats around the Gateway of India. Mumbai certainly has a growing number of water sports enthusiasts as we could spot many speed boats.

You can spot the Naval dockyard and the Navy Nagar and if lucky then a couple of battle ships. The ship on the left looks like as aircraft carrier.

Then there are other ships, passenger ships, merchant vessels. The one on the left is OceanLife and the one right is Greatship Anjali.

On the boat, they sell cold water, aerated drinks and wafers. The prices are higher if you compare them to the prices on land. After about an hour of journey, you can spot the Elephanta Island or the Gharapuri, as it was known earlier.

The Island was used as a center for trade and later on given to the Brahmins for performing Vedic rituals. For a Kanndiga, it gives me immense pleasure to know that Gharapuri was given to Brahmins by Chalukya King, Pulakeshi II. Chalukyas defeated the Kokan Mayuras and won this place. Later it was ruled by the Rashtrakutas.

The Island has 5 caves dedicated to Lord Shiva. The entrance to the Island is through a long jetty. After getting down, you either choose to walk long distance to the footsteps of the hill or you can take a toy train run by Maharashtra Tourism.

Gharapuri was renamed Elephanta by the Portuguese. They named it so because of the monolithic basalt sculpture of an elephant found here near the entrance. They decided to take it home but ended up dropping it into the sea because their chains were not strong enough. This Elephant can now be seen at the Jijamata Udyan in Mumbai.

The boat stops at the Jetty and sometimes the boat are positioned next to each other and you walk your way out on the Jetty. Maharashtra Tourism runs a narrow gauge train till the footsteps of the hill. The track is roughly about a kilometer. You have buy tickets for entering Elephanta after getting down from the train (Rs. 5 for adults and Rs.3 for kids).

As you reach the steps of the hills, there is a flea market all the way till the top, selling artifacts, necklaces, chimes, t-shirts etc... There are restaurants and eateries alongside too.

You might strike a good deal if you bargain well.

To enter the caves, you need to pay Rs.10 per head and you might hire a guide for free. There is also a small museum with photographs of the caves and couple of other places. Not quite impressive, but worth a visit.

CAVE# 1, the one and only complete Cave complex. It has the figurines of Lord Shiva all over the walls and a Shivalinga with no doors.

This image is on the right side, as we enter the cave complex. It has the image of Lord Shiva performing the Tandav Nritya. The sculptors have depicted all other gods around the dancing lord.

On the opposite wall (image on the right) is the depiction of Lord Shiva meditating on a lotus flower. The stem of the flower is being held firmly by the SheshNag. On the right of the Cave Entrance is the Shiva Linga. The temple door is open on all 4 sides. There are dwarapalaks(image on the left) surrounding on all the doors.

Opposite to the linga is the depiction of Lord Shiva is Bhairava. Shiva donned this avatar to kill a demon Andhaka. Andhaka had boon, that he couldn't be killed neither during the day nor during night and if his blood spilled over the earth, then there would be a 1000 demons born like him. Here Lord Shiva is shown covering an elephant skin over him and a blow to collect the blood of the demon.

Moving further inside the complex, the next depiction is of Lord Shiva's Wedding with Parvati. In the bottom right corner is Lord Bramha, performing the wedding rituals and on top are the various Gods arriving for the wedding.

The sculpture below is the most important of all in the Cave Complex, the Trimurti or MaheshMurti. This idol is the face of almost all journals, publications, and websites on Elephanta. It is a three faced idol of Lord Shiva.

The idol is considered to be of Panchamukha Shiva. The visible three heads are said to represent three essential aspects of Shiva — creation, protection, and destruction.

The right half-face (west face) shows him as a young person with sensuous lips, embodying life and its vitality. In his hand he holds something an object resembling a rosebud, depicting the promise of life and creativity.

The left half-face (east face) is that of a mustached young man, displaying anger. This is Shiva as the terrifying Aghora or Bhairava. This is also known as Rudra-Shiva, the Destroyer.

The central face, is the Tatpurusha, "master of positive and negative principles of existence and preserver of their harmony" or Shiva as the yogi Yogeshwar in deep meditation.

The aspects Sadyojata and Ishana faces are considered to be at the back and top of the sculpture.

There two more idols on each side of the MaheshMurti or Trimurti. The one on the right depicts the scene where Ganga flows down the hair of Lord Shiva and this is being watched by other gods.

The carving on the left is Ardhanarishwara, where Lord Shiva is depicted as half and the other half is Parvati.

Near the exit of the Cave Complex, there are two more idols dedicated to Lord Shiva, The one on the right is of Shiva playing a game with his wife Parvati and are surrounding by maids and others. Opposite to this carving, is the idol which depicts Ravana trying to lift Mount Kailasha and all other Gods are running to Lord Shiva for refuge and help.

The Cave complex# 1 has a very large hall supported by many pillars. These pillars where restored by ASI as most of them were destroyed by the Portuguese. It is the only complete structure in the entire Elephanta cave complex. It has a water storage area at one end and has two Shiva Lingas installed. The walls of the complex have beautiful carved depictions of Lord Shiva in various forms. The complex is supposed to be built in authentic temple vastu. But the existence of two Shiva Linga raises eye brows as to why two Lingas and which direction the nandi was placed.

We moved on to visit the next Cave Complex(image on the right). This complex is incomplete and has no significant structures in it. It has a small room for a deity to be placed and still smaller openings next to it.

The Cave Complex# 3 is just a hall with no Idols. It has two huge rooms on each side at the entrance and a room in the middle, possibly for a deity, but has no linga or idol in it. This photograph on the left was taken from that room.

The Cave complex#5 is complete and has Shiva Lings installed. It has 4 smaller rooms, 2 on each side of the room holding the ShivaLinga. Prayers are offered during Shiva Ratri. Rest of the days, no pooja or prayers are performed.

The Cave Complex# 5 is not complete. I wouldn't say its a Cave Complex but its just a Cave. A small Shiva Linga has been instated which draws a bit of attraction. I didn't bother clicking it. This completes the tale of caves in Elephanta.

By the time we finished, we were hungry and wanted a quick lunch or snack. We headed towards the entrance of the Cave Complex. There is Hotel Chalukya, which is looked after by MTDC. The location is beautiful and cool breeze around, but there weren't many people to serve or even take orders. By the way, if you want to sip a beer, then this is the place to be. Just couple of steps below this hotel, there is a small eatery, which serves sandwiches and lunch. We had a quick lunch and moved on to the Canon Hill.

Its at a height of 10 mts (so says the sign) but a long walk in the sun, makes it more. There two huge canons strategically located on top of the hill and are cleverly camouflaged by the surrounding greenery. Not sure, who set them up over there, either the Portuguese or the Indians. But it might have been quite effective then. The canons have a round platform, which enables them to rotate, possibly up to an angle of 270 degrees. But most of the dais is rusty and poses a threat to those climb on top to click photographs.

Thus we concluded our trip and headed home. We spent approx. 4 to 5 hours at Elephanta and had done lot of walking after a long long time. The last boat to Gateway of India is at 5:30 PM. We reached Mumbai at about 6:00 PM and hogged sandwiches at the Aery Center. We decided to walk our way till fort as wife planned to pick up some books. Thanks to the walk, I could click Flora Fountain. It was built in the year, 1864 at a cost of Rs. 47,000.

Until the next trip... Take Care

A day off to Matheran

2011-02-20T21:19:00.001+05:30

Its been almost 10 months since i moved to Mumbai and i had not ventured anywhere out exploring new places. It was a weekend activity when i was in Bangalore. God i miss my alto here :(.

So decided to cut a day's trip to Matheran. Matheran is the worlds tinest hill station. Sitting pretty amidst the Sahyadri (Western Ghats) range of mountains at the height of 800m above sea level. On the way to the hill station i was trying to decipher the meaning of the name. Matheran, in marathi "Mathe" stands for forehead and "Ran" stands for forest. So it would mean Forest on the forehead... of a mountain.

However, as with most of the hill stations, even this hill station was found by a district collector of Thane named Hugh Poyntz Malet in May 1850. Hugh laid the foundation for developing the hill station. Between 1901 to 1907 a narrow guage rail road was built at the cost of 16 Lacs from Neral to Matheran. It is about 20 kms. If i am not wrong the only heritage railway line in Maharashtra.

All along the railway line you can see the beautiful valley and lush green moutain tops. The train makes short three stops on way to the top and snakes around the mountains while making its way to the top. It takes nearly 2 hours to reach Matheran railway station.

Another interesting point in this train is it doesn't have a normal breaking system. There are two men from the railways sitting in the train carriage where breaks are installed. If something goes wrong, they get down and hit the lock at the back of the carriage.

On the way up, you come across a temple. Amazing thing to see how creative human's can be.

When you reach Matheran, you have to pay Rs. 25 for adults and Rs.10 for kids. A bit of commercialized. And dont forget to carry change, as the man incharge isn't that helpful.

You come across lots of resorts, hotels and lodges. There is Rugby, Gulmohar probably owned by Ambanis, Byke resort (built by Hugh), Regal and couple of others. Food is fairly good.

There are 28 points to visit at Matheran. Well from points that are closer to each other, the view looks the same. We walked to Heart point from railway station and after a quick snack, we took a horse ride.

The guide showed us 7 points for Rs. 250 per person. There are about 460 horses in Matheran. Motor vehicles are not allowed on Matheran. We have to either walk, ride a horse or have a person pull a little charriot. Charlotte Lake, Lords Point and Cecil Point are close by.

From there we headed to King George, Edward and Echo point. The view looks the same from all these points. We rode the horse for about two hours and headed back to the market. From there we went to see Khandala point where i tried my hand at the air gun. There are couple of games that are offered around, but winning seems to be a little difficult. They seem to be rigged :(. But anyways, it was fun.

We headed to market area, picked up a pair of shoes (not very cheap though) and some chikki. We decided to reach Neral early so decided to ride back by Taxi. The taxi stand is about 3 kms from Rly. Station. You can either ride horse/charriot or walk. We decided to walk and it took us about 30 mins to reach the place. They charge Rs. 60 per person to drive back.

It was end of a beautiful day away from the routine city life, the noise, the television but worth it.

My Recent Trips

2010-04-19T20:55:00.000+05:30

Its been quite some since i updated this blog. So today i am going summarize all my recent trip.
After Avati, i had been to Chitradurga, Nanjengud, Mysore.

Chitradurga is a historical place. It was ruled by the Palegars. An amazing fort still stands tall, which narrates the heroic deeds of not only the Rulers but the common people too. The most popular being a lady named Obavva who bravely confronted Hyder Ali's men before the main army entered the battle scene.

Next trip was to a small village near Nanjengud. Nak aka Ramanujam Sundarajan had seen a tv serial which telecasts supernatural places, people and things. He wanted to visit the place badly and i joined in as i wanted a long ride. So me, nak and dj aka Dilip M K decided to hit the road.

If i remember correctly, the name of the temple was Huccha Gopalswamy temple. Its because a king prayed for a son and he was blessed with a daughter initially and then she turned into a boy over night. Folk stories!!!

The temple draws a huge crowd. We had push our way to get the darshana. Another fascinating thing here is the staff of a Saint which possesses mystical powers. It is said that if you are devoted then your wishes will all come true and when touched upon by the staff, you'll be hit by a light electric shock. We didn't feel anything. But we decided not to enquire much about it.

On the way back we decided to stop at Nanjengud. Another magnificent temple.

A lot of renovation is going on. But most of the early architecture can been seen. The temple is built around the Hoysala architecture, as most of the temples here. You can see the yalis in the right picture.
The main entrance of the temple to the left.

We stopped at another temple, which was mostly in ruins. But had a nice old charm. Felt good to see after visiting modernization.

It had been a long time since i had cut a trip with Naresh. Fortunately, we both got a day-off from office and decided to drive.We hit the Mysore road late afternoon, without knowing where to go. Then decided to go to Chamundi Hills. A gigantic monolithic bull greets you as to climb a steep hillock.

People can take rest for a while before climbing on top to reach the main temple. There are couple of shops selling flowers, tea and sugarcane juice. We took some time to click few photographs. The view of Mysore was wonderful from there.

The Demon Mahishasura greets you as you reach the top of the hill. The temple is built to commemorate the victory of Good over Evil. Goddess Chamundi or Kali killed the Demon King Mahishasura, so the temple is dedicated to her.

Looking at the crowd, we decided not to enter the temple and returned back to Bengaluru.

Avati ka chakkar

2010-01-25T19:58:00.000+05:30

A friend's friend hails from a small village near Bangalore called Avati. When i was told we would be visiting the place, i thought fields, tiled houses, bullock carts in short a typical Indian country side, but i was in for a treat. On entering it looked like a normal village. Bakra as he is lovingly called took us to a temple on top of a hillock. Amazing place for a day's picnic.

The temple is of Lord Vishnu called as Timmapparaya Temple. Didn't get to know much about the origins, but its been renovated recently and amenities have been provided to devotees. Daily offerings are offered and draw pretty huge crowds on Saturdays. We all performed a small sankalpa initially in our names and then in the name of Shreeramgovinda ;). The temple also has nice images on top.

Garuda
Anjaneya

After the pooja we headed towards the hill behind the temple. There was awesome cool breeze on top. Never experienced this for quite some time. Clicked few good snaps. Few of them here below:

I took some time to do some meditation, and Sharanu clicked the snap. It feels good to be on the other side of the lens sometimes :).

Well, after some rest or chit chat. Time to click some pics again, tried to capture an Eagle in flight and a long distance shot of cattle grazing below:

After strolling around the hilltop for a while we headed towards Anjaneya temple. This was the main attraction of our visit to Avati. There is a stone pillar near the temple, and it said that if you throw a stone on the pillar and it sits on top, then your wish will definitely come true. Its pretty correct in my case also.

This well has been discovered up to a depth of 51 feet.

There are a lot of folklore surrounding the hills here. It is said that there is a tunnel in the nearby Nandi hill that leads to a place in K R Market in Bangalore. A similar tunnel exists here too. Dj tried his hand getting in and out of a cave.

The team that made the trip to Avati is below, well i am missing as i was taking the photo

From Left: Sharanu, Dilip (Dj), Raghu (Bakra), Rama (Othla)

A beautiful sunset to end the Trip

Finally to HAMPI

2009-12-13T09:38:00.000+05:30

I dont know why i was attracted to this place, though i have been there couple of times when i was a child. But off late i was getting restless about it. I made it to Bellary two weeks back, for a friends wedding which about 50-60kms from Hampi, but couldn't visit Hampi. Finally when my Boss asked me to exhaust 2 of my casual leave, i booked the tickets to Hampi. Btw, i didnt take my car this time as i was not sure about the road conditions. Well, lets start with HAMPI now...

People from Karnataka know Hampi from their textbooks, as we definately had a chapter on the Vijayanagar Empire and the infamous kannada movie Sri Krishna Deva Raya (1969), where Dr.Rajkumar played the lead role.
But Hampi is not limited to the Vijayanagara Empire, it is also identified with the historical Kishkindha from Ramayana. The kingdom of monkeys. We have couple of places which point out to this settlement, like the Anjandri Hill, where the monkey God Hanuman is belived to born and the Sugriva cave where Sugriva hid the jewels thrown by Sita on route to Lanka. Belive it or not, the first historical settlements in Hampi date back to 1 CE.
Vijayanagara Empire came into existence after the downfall of the Hoysala dynasty or rather the Hoysala kingdom merged into the growing Vijayanagara Empire after the death of Veera Ballala in 1343 during a war against the Sultan of Madurai. The Vijayanagar Empire was started off by two brothers Harihara and Bukka raya. The origins of these two leaders is still under debate, some say they were the relatives of the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal and few say they were commanders in the Hoysala Army stationed at Tungabhadra to check the Muslim invasion from North (probably Allauddin Khilji and Mhmd.bin Tughlaq). You can find more details on the Empire on Wikipedia. Lets talk about places to visit.
1. Virupaksha Temple.
As soon as you get down at the Hampi bus stand, the hordes of auto rickshaw drivers surround you. Few talk about getting you the best guest house in the town and few talk about the places to visit. A half-closed gate leads to the Hampi bazaar. The only active bazaar in Hampi. The modern concrete walls have taken over the old stone pillars, which are still visible. A huge 9 storied tower/gopura forms the enterence to the Virupaksha temple. The temple is said to belong to the 7th century, and thus is one of the oldest functioning temples in India. The major attractions here are the shivalinga (but covered with the silver face of Shiva), the triple headed nandi sculpture, colored paintings on the ceiling of the ranga mandira and the inverted image of the main gopura (no lenses or mirrors are used).

2. Hemkuta Hills.

On the right side of the Virupaksha temple complex are the Hemkuta Hills.The hills are a host to many temples and buildings, but there are three major temples built in the Rashtrakuta style. The temples might belong to pre-vijayanagara or early-vijayanagara period.The hills also host two huge monolithic Ganesha idols named Kadlekalu Ganesha & Sasvekalu Ganesha.emju
Kadalekalu Ganesha - The belly of this statue resembles a Bengal gram (Kadalekalu, in local language) and hence the name.

Sasvekalu Ganesha - The statue resembles a Mustard seed (Sasvekalu, in local language) and hence the name.

3. Krishna Temple.

This temple was built by the king (Krishnadevaraya) in 1513 AD to celebrate the conquest of the eastern kingdom of Udayagiri or Utkala (in the present day Orissa state). The main idol installed in the temple was the figure of Balakrishna (Lord Krishna as infant). This idol is now displayed in the state museum at Chennai. A huge slab installed inside the courtyard of the temple states the story of this temple and the conquest of Utkala.

4. Lakshmi Narasimha.

This is the largest statue in Hampi. Narasimha is sitting on the coil of a giant seven-headed snake called Sesha. The heads of the snake acts as the hood above his head. The god sits in a cross-legged Yoga position with a belt supporting the knees.
Narasimha (means half-man’half-lion in local the languages) is on of the ten incarnations (avatar) of Lord Vishnu.

5. Badavi Linga.

Located next to the Narasimha statue the Linga is housed inside a chamber with an opening in the front.
A close look on this icon can reveal three eyes (depicting the three eyes of Siva) carved on it. Legend has it that this was commissioned by a peasant woman and hence the name (Badva means poor in local tongue). The sanctum in which the Linga is installed is always filled with water as a water channel is made to flow through it.

6. Palace Complex.
The palace complex is vast area, ASI is still excavting the place. The main attractions are the Zanana enclosure, elephant stable, Mahanvami dibba, Stepped tank, Underground Virupaksha temple, Queens bath, Octagonal bath, hazararama temple etc...

7. Monolith Bull.

At the end of the Hampi Bazaar stands tall a monolithic Bull. Its a Hindu tradition where a Bull is placed directly infornt of the Shiva linga. Bull happens to be Lord Shiva's vahana/vehicle.

8. Sugriva's Cave.

One of places which relates Hampi to the Ramayana. The cave is said to have belonged to the Monkey King Sugriva. He helped Lord Rama (one of Vishnu's 10 Avatars) in his fight against Ravana of Lanka.

9. Vitthala Temple.
Vitthala Temple is the most extravagant architectural showpiece of Hampi. No amount of words can explain this spectacle. The temple is built in the form of a sprawling campus with compound wall and gateway towers. There are many halls, pavilions and temples located inside this campus. The temple was originally built in the 15th century AD. Many successive kings have enhanced the temple campus during their regimes to the present form. Yon can even see the remains of a township called Vittalapura that existed around this temple complex. The highlight of Vittala temple is its impressive pillared halls and the stone chariot. The halls are carved with an overwhelming array of sculptures on the giant granite pillars. The stone chariot located inside the campus is almost an iconic structure of Hampi.

The musicians hall is notable for sculptures of musicians on the pillars. Each of the pillars surrounding this hall is sculptured with musicians, drummers and dancers. A closer look at the stone pillar, which rings a musical notes.
The image at the right is of the passage way around the garbha gudi of Vitthala temple, for pradakshana or parikrama meant only for the royals.

Garbha Gudi of Vitthala Temple - It is said the idols from this temple were taken to Pandharpur before the 1565 AD war began.

The Vitthala temple is built according to the temple vastu. It has 5 peethas: ratha peetha, deep/dvaja stambha peetha, bali peetha, ashta dikpalaka peetha and brindavan peetha.

Now, let me get to the accomodation and food. Two aspects:

Going with Family:
KSTDC has a guest house at Kamalapura about 4 kms from Hampi. Neat and well maintained rooms, available in suite, deluxe, semi-deluxe. The current charges are Rs. 3500, Rs. 1700, Rs. 1300 respectively. The buffet is also delicious, not sure if they serve non-veg or not. But its tasty and not pricey (Rs. 76/-). Also this is the only place near Hampi, where Beer is served (Rs. 130/-). They also have ample parking space.

Going not with Family:
Hampi town has too many small Guest houses with rents ranging from Rs 50 to Rs. 1000+. However, in the town the average rent is about Rs. 300, but across the river you get the Rs. 300 kind room for Rs. 150. Most of the foreigners stay across the river and their is a dedicated ferry service running from 7:00 AM till 6:00 PM everyday. Btw, you do get Beer and lots of other stuff across the river (its only KingFisher(mild/strong) at Hampi). Food is really good but a bit expensive.

Getting to Hampi:
Hampi is about 350 Kms from Bangalore.
By Car: Drive down to Chitradurga on NH4 and from there take a deviation towards Hospet on NH13. The NH13 is crowded with mine lorries, and its a bit rough. From Hospet, Hampi is approx. 30 mins drive.
By Bus: KSRTC has overnight bus services to Hospet and only one bus directly to Hampi at 11:30 PM every day and on way back, its at 8:00 PM.
By Train:Take the Hampi Express which starts from Bangalore at 10:00 PM everyday. Get down at Hospet and take a bus or an autorickshaw to Hampi.
Around Hampi:You can hire a bicycle for Rs. 50 and ride the entire day around the town. Else you can hire a rick for Rs. 400 and the driver will show you around. If you have your own vehicle, you can hire a guide for Rs. 400+ (depends on the no.of people) and he will show you around.

Enjoy HAMPI. Ofcourse, i am going back there. There are so many places still left to visit like the Cave Paintings at Anegundi, the 11 brindavans etc...