Trip to Nandhi Hills

For a long time I had wanted to see sunrise from a hill station. And on Saturday for some reason I decided to go to Nandhi Hills on Sunday morning to see sunrise. Generally, Sunday is meant to lazing around, but this time I was determined to start early and catch the first few rays of Sun from the top of Nandhi Hills. I roped in a friend who hadn’t been to Nandhi hills and he was only too happy to join even though the plan was to get up early on Sunday morning.

So, as per the plan the two of us got up around 4 am and by 4:30 had hit the road towards Nandhi Hills. Nandhi hill is around 75kms from Bangalore and is on the Hyderabad (NH 7) route. We reached Mekhri circle around 4:50am and by 5am were on the Yelahanka road. This road has been newly laid and is quite wonderful to ride except for a couple of things which I will address later. The last few times I had been to Nandhi Hills, I have climbed the mountain rather than take the car all the way up. The hill is about 1480mts above MSL and offers quite a picturesque view of the surroundings. And since the last couple of times I had taken public transport, I didn’t know the route too well.

So, as luck would have it I missed the proper route and had to go thru’ a bad road which cost me lot of time. And by the time we reached the top it was around 6:10am and the sun had already risen. But, the scenes which greeted us still made the trip worthwhile. The entire hill top was surrounded by fog and the visibility was hardly 10mts. This offered some good relief from the general kind of weather that I had been experiencing in Bangalore, even though Bangalore is lot cooler now. We reached the Yoga Nandhishwara temple around 6:30am and parked the car near the temple to take a nice walk.

Some Pictures: (These were shot with the camera in the mobile. So, the quality isn’t great)

The pictures show the fog that was present, but still the morning walk was refreshing. (Picture 5 was shot around 9am and the fog was still as thick as it was at 6:30am). It left me with some fever and cold which ensured that I didn’t get out of bed on Sunday, but the experience was worth it. Even though we didn’t catch the sunrise (I am certain that if we had made it to the top, then we would not have got even a glimpse of the sun when it was rising), we had a good time to make the Sunday better.

How to get there:

Go to Mekhri circle and from there take the route towards Yelahanka. Nandhi Hills is around 75kms from here. The road is a 6 lane highway and if the speed breakers weren’t there then you can do pretty decent speeds. I wouldn’t recommend anything above 80km/hr in the morning time as there are speed breakers at every possible crossing. Also, there are no signboards which tell you where to turn for Nandhi Hills (there is a remote chance that I missed them). So, be in the lookout for L&T Concrete Cement factory/Godown and take the left after this. You will see some Army related boards when you take the left. Also, Nandhi Hills is written in Kannada here. So, if you know Kannada then you shouldn’t miss it at all. If you still miss this turn, then another 5-6kms down the road you will see a big arch and the road there takes you directly to the village on the foothills of Nandhi Hills.

Have fun and please don’t litter the place. You can see so much litter around and cleaning that would be an arduous task. Hence, please don’t add to the problem.

Technorati tags: Nandi Hills, Nandhi Hills, Bangalore, Weekend

Jog Falls

Got a couple of pictures yesterday which showed the magnificence of Jog Falls. Copious amounts of water flowing on Sharavati river and the falls just looks gorgeous. This would be worth a weekend visit anytime this month or the beginning of the next month.

But, in this picture the area that I have circled below caught my attention.

First impression was that it is an optical illusion. But, I checked a couple of other pictures also and the same kind of impression were present. Looks like the skin of a tiger.

Technorati tags: Jog Falls, Sharavati

Trip to Shivasamudram

This is an ideal location for a day long outing from Bangalore. Shivasamudram is around 130kms from Bangalore and 5 of us set out to go here last Saturday. The drive to Shivasamudram was pretty smooth except for a 3km stretch of road after Malavalli which is still being laid.

River Cauvery falls majestically here and forms the Shivasamudram falls which is also referred to as Shivanasamudram falls. This is located in the Mandya district in Karnataka. There are two falls called Bharachukki and Gaganachukki. Both offer magnificent views though the experience of Bharachukki was far better than Gaganachukki.

Gaganachukki

Not many people know that Shivasamudram was the first place to have a hydroelectric plant in Asia which was built nearly a century ago. The power plant is called Bluff and this is the place where the first falls is located. It is called Gaganachukki.

We were fortunate to visit this place during monsoon time and the roar of the falls was deafening at some places. It was quite a spectacular site to watch the falls from the watch tower as for safety reasons we were not allowed to go near the falls. You can see the falls from two places. One is from the side of Bluff and the other point of view is near the dargah. It looked quite dangerous to get down.

Some pictures:

Bharachukki

This is around a distance of 10kms from Bluff and around 2kms from the dargah. You will have to cross a bridge before you reach Bharachukki and this is the place where the river branches to create two falls so close to each other. Don’t miss this place. If you have time for just one falls, then go here.

At Bharachukki a staircase has been made to get down near the falls. It is pretty steep but the pains of getting down there are worth the effort. Once you get down there are 2 places where you can go. Either you can just go down right to the end of the stairs and sit near the water for sometime or take a detour to reach the falls on one side. We took the detour and it helped us see some breathtaking views. Sometimes it is these kinds of things that make a trip wonderful. When the spray from the water falling hits us, it was beyond the normal thrill experienced when we see water. It was the first time that we were seeing a waterfall from such a close range and the 5 of us were just amazed. It was just wonderful to be there and we were happy that we had come there just after the rains and weren’t disappointed like we were in Tada.

Some Pictures:

 

                

How to get there:

There are two routes to reach Shivasamudram. You can take the Kanakapura route or the Mysore route. If you take the Kanakapura route, you will find enough signboards to help you. If you are taking the Mysore road, then just after Maddur, you need to take the left turn towards Malavalli. It is a straight road from here. We went on Mysore road and the total drive time was about 2:30 hours. Shivasamudram is about 40kms from Maddur.

There are no places to stay or eat. So, better pack your food or be prepared to stuff yourself with biscuits and ice creams.

For more pictures:

Thanks to Anand

Thanks to Raam

Technorati tags: Shivasamudram, Shivanasamudram, Gaganachukki, Bharachukki, Bluff, Bangalore, Waterfalls, Cauvery

Belur and Sravanabelagola

Went to Belur and Sravanabelagola last month on the second day of the visit to Chikmaglur. The first day we visited Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri. The initial plan was for another trek on the second day also, but since we had faced some treacherous conditions on the first day, we decided to take it easy on the second. So, we decided to visit the temples Belur and Sravanabelagola.

Belur is in Hassan district and is around 200kms from Bangalore. The road is pretty good and the drive shouldn’t take longer than 4 hours. The temple is really beautiful and it is must see if you are interested in architecture and sculptures. I am not going to describe the temple as it would be gross injustice for my writing skills to describe something really beautiful. So, I am just going to let the pictures do the talking. Thanks to Sindhu for these pictures.

Most of these statues are 3 dimensional. You can see the height and width and also feel the depth as they aren’t attached to the walls. You can actually put your fingers behind some of the statues. Nearly all the statues are locked to their places.

The Lion is the symbol of the Hoysala dynasty which built the temples at Belur, Halebid and Somnathpur.

   

Sravanabelagola

The Gomateshwar is around 80kms from Belur and we reached this place around 3:30pm. The temple is on top of a hill and the climb is about 600steps. It shouldn’t take more than 30mins if you are reasonably fit. This place is around 160kms from Bangalore. Some pictures:

Gomateshwar (The statue is around 50ft high)

 Kalyani (pushkarini) is see in this picture

Technorati tags: Sravanabelagola, Belur, Hoysala, Temple, Gomateshwar

Trip to Mahabalipuram

Maybe I should be writing Mamallapuram!!!!!

3 of us ventured to visit the biggest port of the Pallavas and also to catch a glimpse of their wonderful architectural creations. Actually, the place is only around 40kms from my house, but since I have stayed in Chennai for most of my life, this place has always been there to visit. So, I paid my first visit to this wonderful place last Saturday.

It was a nice scenic drive on ECR and it took us about an hour to reach Mahabalipuram. Once you reach the town you realize that it has all the ingredients of a proper tourist place and it starts with the parking fee demanded by the guys outside the town. Though I feel that the fees are reasonable, there are too many places where you have to pay them. 

We first visited the Shore temple and then the Five Rathas. We weren’t fortunate enough to even get a glimpse of the temples which had been submerged into the sea even though it was low tide. The Pancha Rathas represent the Pandavas and Draupadi and these are carved out of monolithic rocks. The weather was kind enough to allow us to visit these places properly.

The best time to visit this place would be between September – February. Also, sunrise near the shore temple would look great. I wanted to go there early in the morning, but after watching Harry Potter the previous night, I was in no mood to get up at 5am and move.

This is a good place to visit, if you are in Chennai and have a day to spare. Preferably start early in the morning so that you can catch the sunrise.

How to get there

Mahabalipuram is around 50kms from Chennai and the distance would vary depending on the place from where you start. The easiest way to get here would be to get there would be to ask someone how to get to the East Coast Road (ECR) and from there on it is a straight road. You will see signboards showing the route to Mahabalipuram. ECR is a toll road and you need to pay Rs.45 for the onwards and return journey for Mahabalipuram.

Some pictures

Murthy standing near the Shore temple

 The Shore temple

  About the Shore temple

The Five Rathas

  About the Five Rathas

Technorati tags: Mahabalipuram, Mammalapuram, Shore temple, Five Rathas, Pancha Rathas, ECR, Chennai

Drenched at Mullayanagiri and Bababudangiri

A trek on the magical Mullayanagiri, the highest peak in Karnataka and Bababudangiri.

Treks can be exciting in two ways. The place can be so captivating that you don’t speak while trekking or the people make all the difference. It was the first kind of trek that I expected when I landed at the foothills of Mullayanagiri hills on the morning of 23rd June 2007.

The weather was almost perfect with reasonable sunshine to ensure that the trek wasn’t too hot and also provide decent relief from the cold winds in the mountains. We reached a place called Sarpadhari (snake path), the place from where the climb for reaching the peak at Mullayanagiri starts. We reached here around 6:00am and there was a nice streak of sunshine coming out from the clouds.

The Ascent

The climb to Mullayanagiri isn’t too steep and if the weather is decent, as was the case on the 23rd, even a beginner can do it in about 2 hours. Just as we were climbing the sun we could see the dawn breaking over the valley. Even though we missed the Sunrise by about 30mins we were fortunate enough to see the changing colours of the morning sky. Since the entire Chikmaglur area is surrounded by hills, the scenery looked all the more beautiful. I had to stop at many places just to gaze around and enjoy nature at its pristine beauty. 

The climb was largely uneventful as the weather was perfect for a trek. Just enough cloud cover to ensure that you don’t feel drained out during the climb and just enough sunlight to ensure that the chilly winds don’t trouble you too much. It was as perfect as it could get. Just when I was thinking that everything was going perfectly fine, I suddenly heard a loud noise Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and the van had come to a nice halt near the foothills of the mountain. It woke me up from the nice slumber I had enjoyed for the last 30mins or so.

  What I had imagined….

I looked out thinking that my dream could come true but just one look outside convinced me that there wasn’t going to be an iota of resemblance between what I had imagined and what I was seeing outside. It was pouring cats and dogs at the place where we had stopped and we were going to start our trek at this exact place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 What it turned out to be….

 

20 of us got down from the van, gathered our backpacks (which weren’t waterproof) and started on our journey. It was pouring and the entire route was waterlogged and the route had actually become a mini waterfall at some places due to the amount of water that was flowing down from the top of the hill. It was also very windy with the wind pushing people off the trail at some places. The group had some amateur trekkers who had a slightly tougher time during the climb due to the conditions. All in all, we had to fight the elements mentally and physically to reach the top. If the conditions had been better it would take around 2 hours to reach the top, but in these conditions it took us nearly 3:30hrs to reach the top.And by the time we reached the top a few people were dragging their backpacks which by that time had become heavier than them. But, it was an enjoyable climb and the first one in which I had to face such weather.

Temple on the Hill

There is a small chatram on the top of the hill and adjacent to that is a temple. A few people stay there and we were served some hot coffee, which tasted heavenly. I think anything hot would have tasted great in those conditions. There is a small cat which isn’t afraid of people which stays at that chatram.

We rested at the chatram for an hour and then proceeded towards Bababudangiri. The trek is around 13kms and we were told that it would take about 6 hours to complete it. We started around 11:30am and proceeded towards BBgiri. We lost our way at one place, but thankfully didn’t go very far on that route to cause too much damage to our trek. At a couple of places we had to cross a few slippery rocks which was quite dangerous. But, apart from this it was a walk in the park compared to what we had endured in the morning.

During this descent we were able to see the roads and if you don’t observe carefully, they could be mistaken for waterfalls initially. The scenery during this time was pretty impressive even though the elements of nature hadn’t let us relax a bit. We continued on this path and on the way had a little bit of snacks to help us on the journey.

The valley on both the left and right side of the trail were beautiful. It is moments like this that make a trek eventful. The place was really beautiful even with all the mist and rain. Just imagine what it would have been if it was a little bit sunny!! Well, at this moment I can only imagine.

Around 2:30pm we reached the place from which we had to start for the trail to BBgiri. At this place people who want to take the road towards BBgiri can take the bus. We stopped here for about 30mins. Clicked a few group pictures and managed to demolish a few of the items that we had carried for eating.

  Entire group…..

Discussing the trail…..

At this point 8 people on the group decided that they would take the bus to BBgiri. The remaining 12 ventured out towards BBgiri and were about to meet some of the most exhilarating conditions.

Towards Bababudangiri

The initial phase of this part of the trek was similar to the conditions we had faced towards the end of the climb to the peak at Mullayanagiri. But, the conditions started getting worse once we had done about 200mts into the trek. This trek was on a ridge with both sides of the ridge being very steep. At some places it was a near vertical fall from the top.

The second picture shows the side of the mountain. It was a near vertical fall at some places. One wrong foot and I wouldn’t be writing this post. But, it was fun and at the time when we were trekking we never realized the danger. At that time confidence was sky high and we were proceeding without thinking about these things. We proceeded towards BBgiri on this route even though rain and wind had only got worse. The wind had got especially stronger as in some places we had to sit down to ensure that we didn’t fall down due to the force of the wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ensuring that the wind doesn’t push us down….

We proceeded on this trail or rather in the general direction towards BBgiri as we were unable to find a trail at some places. We were about 1:30hrs in this trail when one member suffered a dislocated shoulder. And it happened at the most inopportune time as we had just crossed one of the most difficult paths in the trek. And now we were wondering whether to continue with the trek forward or get back the same way we had come so far. After some deliberation we decided to get back to the road in the same way we had come so far. The logic was a known enemy is better than an unknown friend. It took us about 45mins to get back and during this time we had also asked the van driver to come and pick us up so that we can proceed towards BBgiri. It was around 7:00pm when we reached BBgiri and the conditions there were worse than what we had faced thus far. The Van was shaking at times due to the strength of the wind.

All in all, we were in BBgiri for around 45mins and in this time we had some nice tea and bajji. We changed our clothes and proceeded towards Chikmaglur to look for accommodation for the night and also to find a hospital.

It had been a wonderful day so far. Starting with perfectly imperfect conditions for a trek we had trekked for around 6kms. It was quite enjoyable as this was the first trek in which I had to face such treacherous conditions. Others in the group were also amazing which added to the fun.

The next day morning we proceeded towards Belur and Sravanabelagola. More on that later.

How to reach there

We had hired a van for our travel. I would recommend a Sumo or a Van if the group size is anything more than 6 people. It would work out cheaper than bus travel and you have the advantage of convenience.

Chikmaglur is about 240kms from Bangalore and Mullayanagiri is around 12kms from Chikmaglur. KSRTC buses towards Chikmaglur which start after 10:30pm should do fine for reaching Chikmaglur. To reach Sarpadhari from Chikmaglur, either you should be lucky to get a nice samaritan to drop you or find an autorickshaw for which you will pay more than the Bangalore-Chikmaglur travel. The trail from Sarpadhari to the peak is pretty well marked and the trek from the peak towards BBgiri is also well marked till you reach the road. Ask the local people for better directions and ask more than one person. We were misled into believing that the trek from the road to BBgiri was hardly 1:30hrs, but in that time we felt that we hadn’t even done 50% of the trek.

I don’t have too much information about BBgiri as we didn’t spend too much time there. But consult the locals about weather conditions before camping outside.

Pictures – Thanks to Jaya and Shalini.

For more pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jha.jaya/MullayangiriBababudangiri2324Jun07
http://picasaweb.google.com/sramchandran/InfosysTrek02
http://picasaweb.google.com/shaluG/Mullayanagiri_Bababudangiri

Technorati tags: Mullayanagiri, Bababudangiri, Chikmaglur, Trek

Trek to Mullayanagiri – Bababudangiri

Am off this weekend for a trek to Mullayanagiri – Bababudangiri. This place is around 260kms from Bangalore. It is in Chikmaglur district. Will update on the trek on Monday or Tuesday. Around these mountains the Kurinji flowers bloom once every 12 years. I won’t be seeing them this time around and the next time they will show their beauty is 11 years from now.

Have a look at these sites to know more about the place.

http://www.dreamroutes.org/western/mullainagiri.html

http://naanushande.blogspot.com/2006/10/mullayangiri.html

http://www.dreamroutes.org/western/bababudangiri.html

Pictures:

http://www6.flickr.com/photos/anita/tags/mullayangiri/

Kodakgallery - Sanshande

Technorati tags: Mullayanagiri, Bababudangiri, Chikmaglur, Bangalore, Trek

A Trip to Tada Falls

Tada falls is a good adventure spot which is located in Nellore District in Andhra Pradesh. Commercialization of this place hasn’t begun as on date. So, it is still a nice spot for trekking without the usual buzz of people and shops surrounding you. Locally the falls is called “Ubbalamadugu falls”. Remember this name as it can come in handy if you are lost. Actually, just saying “falls’ might do, but why take chances.

On the 26th of May 2007, ten of us set out on this journey to reach Tada falls. Girish, KR, Mani, Ramkey, Anand, Vikram, Raam, Ram, Priya and yours truly set out on this adventure on a hot Saturday morning. 4 of us were reaching Chennai on that Saturday morning and as our luck would have it the trains were nearly an hour late and this spilled over to the travel schedule. Nevertheless, we set out on the journey to Tada around 8:30am after having a nice breakfast at the Saravana Bhavan Hotel at Ashok Nagar.

The best time to visit Tada would be after the rainy season, which I feel would be sometime between December and February. (Remember it is the North East monsoon which brings rains to these parts of India.) Even a visit during the rainy season would be fun, but you would have to be extra careful during the trek as it will be slightly difficult to climb the rocks.

Once you have reached Basecamp 1 (the place where the cars are parked), the trek begins. (Believe me, it is called Base Camp). The total trek distance would be about 10kms to and fro with nearly 4kms in real rocky conditions. From here the mud road begins and if you are on SUV or two wheelers, you can go for another 1km. We stopped at Basecamp 1 and took out the stuff that we required to carry and set about on the trek at nearly 11am.

The Road Ahead..

At the beginning of the trek…..

Since we had already had our breakfast, we didn’t have to stop anywhere in the middle for food and this was a blessing in disguise as there were no breaks from the trekking. Any break would slow down the speed and to get back to normal speed would take some more time. Also, thankfully everyone was upto the task on that day.

Just after 20-25 minutes we reached another place where some vehicles were parked. This is Basecamp 2 and from here on the only way to move forward is on foot. Walk, Walk, Walk.

Just after 150mts or so, we reached the first place where we had to cross a water body. It was just a small stream, but still the crossing it without getting your shoes wet was a challenge.

Crossing the first stream…..

A small word of caution: Don’t get excited on seeing the water and get into it with your shoes on. It will become really tough to trek with wet soles. Also, carry at least 1 litre of water with you.

Once you cross this small stream the walk continues till you reach a mud-path. Just follow this mud-path and you will first go up the hill and then down the hill. It is quite tricky to follow the path as in some places only rocks are seen and there is absolutely nothing to indicate a path.

Going up the hill….. Waiting for directions….

Keep walking along the mud-path and you will cross another stream. We sat for about 10mins here as it was really hot.

Resting near the second stream…..

Continue walking on the mud-path and around 30mins later you will reach a Siva Temple. This is the last place where you can sit comfortably and have food, if you haven’t had any so far. You can call this BaseCamp 3, if you want to. If you don’t reach the Siva temple within an hour and half of starting the trek, then you have lost your way. Use the time tested method of following the stream and proceed.

The Rocks become bigger…

After this point there is no proper path and you have to rely on the direction shown by a few people who are around the Siva Temple. You have to cross the stream and then look for a path. You will find a small clearing and this might help you on the way forward. From here on, the trek starts to become difficult. You encounter rocks and millipedes on those rocks on the way forward. (Remember to listen for the stream from this point on. This would be very helpful.)

Some of the rocks are pretty big and it would help if someone who is a good trekker is around. You have to climb nearly 10ft at times and some of the formations are also difficult. This is where having a good group helps and you begin helping people who struggle slightly during these climbs. But, believe me it is worth the experience.

A small break…..

We reached Tada falls around 1:30pm and it was a good trek for around 2hours. There should have been two falls, but we found only one as it was peak summer and the rains hadn’t started. We should have seen something like the picture on the left, but the picture on the right shows what part of the falls we saw. Hmmmmm.

 

(Picture on the left belongs to Sriram Kalyanaraman)

You can still climb up from this point, but there isn’t much to see there. Raam and I climbed that part also, but all we saw was a stream of water. I don’t know swimming and didn’t bother to explore further, but if someone knows swimming then they can go slightly further upstream and see what is on the other side of these rocks. The climb to these rocks is around 60-70ft, but what is seen hardly justifies the effort required to get there.

What is seen at the top of the falls…

We wanted to have our lunch here, but the food which we had packed in the morning had gone stale by that time. Hence we were left with just chocolates (energy bars ) and some biscuits to take care of our appetite. So, the advise would be just to carry some bread and jam or dry chapathis.

We were at the falls for nearly 2 hours. Had a nice bath and we were inside the water for nearly 1:30hrs. We started out journey back around 3pm. The chances that you can get lost are higher during the journey back as I and Ram found out. But, we just walked along the stream for some distance before joining the other guys. Keep around 2:30hrs for the journey back. It will be tiring, so give yourself ample time and also take rest wherever needed. Drinking water becomes a luxury and we filled the bottles in the streams. The water tasted much better than the water available in Chennai. Thankfully on our way back the weathergods were smiling on us and there was a good cloud cover which kept the heat away.

On the way back….. (Vikram the photographer a.k.a clickie is missing)

We reached the Basecamp 1 around 4:30pm and started the journey back to Chennai. It was a pretty good trek and since we were a pretty large group we didn’t find the trek too tiring. This trek isn’t for someone who doesn’t enjoy walking on the rocks. (at least the portion after the Siva Temple).

Travel: Since our efforts to get a Tempo Traveller proved to be futile, we had arranged for 3 cars to take us to Tada. And if we had thought that the adventures were to begin only after reaching Tada, we were mistaken as the vehicles started their adventures much earlier. A small accident, getting caught by traffic cops for signal violation etc were part of the mini-adventures before we reached Tada. I would recommend taking a Tempo Traveller if the group size is more than 8. If it is anything lesser than that they preferably stick to bikes. Don’t take your own car as you will surely end up spending much more on repairs than you spent on the trek.

To reach Tada, Cross the Padi junction in Chennai and take the redhills route and join NH-5. Drive for about 60Kms and you will reach Tada town. Before you reach Tada you will cross the AP checkpost. If you are taking taxis, then you will have to shell out permit tax here (Rs.250 for Indica and Ambassador) and it is pretty high for a Tata Sumo or Tempo Traveller. It might be cost effective to take 2 Indica’s compared to a Tata Sumo.

Once you reach Tada, take the left which is right next to the bridge and you will reach Varadiah Palem. Ask the people for directions from here. You have to take a left turn to reach Tada falls and there are absolutely no indications at this point. You can reach this place from Kalahasti also. I don’t know of the exact directions from Kalahasti.

For more photos visit Vikram’s or Raam’s galleries.

Technorati tags: Tada, Tada Falls, Kalahasti

A trip to Melkote

Ever wondered where Mani Ratnam shot the famous dance sequence for the song “Rakkamma“  in the movie Thalapathi or the “Barso Re“(some parts) song in Guru? Well, if you are in and around Bangalore, then you needn’t look very far.

Welcome to Melkote. This is one of the four sacred places of Vaishnavism in Southern India. Still largely untouched by tourists the place offers a wonderful retreat from the traffic of Bangalore.

It is believed that Sri Ramanujacharya lived here for 14 years around the start of the 12th century and thus helped this place become one of the important centres for the Vaishnava sect.

Places to Visit:

The main temple here is called the Cheluvanarayanaswamy temple. The temple is built in Vijayanagar style and the granite walls provide natural coolness around the temple. Even in the scorching heat of May the premises around the temple were quite cool.

The gopuram of the temple is quite simple compared to the carvings on some of the granite pillars. Read more about this history of the temple here.

The other temple of importance is the Yoga Narasimha Swamy temple. This temple is situated on top of the hill and offers a magnificent view of the surroundings and the town of Melkote. The climb to this temple isn’t very difficult and is at max only around 400 steps. In case, even that is difficult then you can take your car and go up some distance by road. However, the last 200 steps have to be climbed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the board which describes the Yoga Narasimha Swamy temple. I have no idea what happened to the board on the left hand side.

The other place of historical and spiritual importance is the Pushkarani or Kalyani. This is a huge pond that is situated at the beginning of Melkote.

Now, the places which interested us most before reaching Melkote were the places I mentioned at the beginning of the post. What good lighting and camera work can do was experienced by us and we realized that not all places shown in movies need to be pretty. I am talking about the place where some shots of Thalapathi and Guru were shot. This place is a “Protected Monument” under Section 3 of the Karnataka Historical Monuments and Ancient sites and Remains Act of 1961. However, the state of the place and the board which mentions this leaves a lot to be desired.

This place is located inside the Library and Sanskrit college which is located at one end of Melkote. The library has a collection of palm leaf manuscripts and a huge rack of neatly labelled manuscripts. Most of the work is in Sanskrit but some Tamil and Kannada works are also available. 

You can still take some wonderful photographs from this place and also of Melkote from this place as this is situated at a decent height compared to the town. Maybe you will feel like dancing like Aishwarya Rai (or should I write Bachchan) if it rains, but it never did when we were there.

The small pond which is shown in the Thalapathi movie in which Shobhana keeps the lamp is right next to the Sanskrit college and is wonderful to watch from a height.

It is called the “Akka-tangiyara Kola” or the Pond of the twin sisters. The water in one of the ponds is supposedly clean while the other is dirty, though I couldn’t find too much difference between the two.

Food: The Puliogare which you get near the temple is really awesome and is a must if you visit Melkote. The Iyengars seem to have some unique formula for making Puliogare and it tasted divine when we had our share in the afternoon. Even the Puliogare which was available at a nearby stall tasted awesome.  But, beware that this is just about the only food option that is available. There aren’t any good restaurants though the small ones that are present should just enough suffice if travel is more important than food.

Thondanur Lake: This place is around 25Km from Melkote and is on the Pandavapura Road. We wanted to reach this lake before Sunset and just as luck would have it we reached it after Sunset. So, we were left disappointed, but it was nevertheless nice to sit next to a huge waterbody.

If you zoom into the first picture, the Yoga Narasimha Swamy temple of Melkote is visible.

How to Go: It was surprisingly easy to reach Melkote. It is around 150Km from Bangalore. Take the road towards Mysore and just after the town of Mandya, take the right turn towards Melkote. Just after you leave Mandya, there is a Bharat Petroleum Petrol Pump on the left hand side. The turn which has to be taken is within half a kilometre from this place. Once you take the turn just follow the directions on the boards. Effectively it is just a straight road with a single turn to be made when the Pandavapura road crosses the road to Melkote.

To reach Thondanur lake, take the Pandavapura Road on your way back. Just around 10Kms into the Pandavapura road you will reach “Chatra” (Am not too sure of the spelling). At this place you need to take a right to go to the lake. It is better to ask for directions than to search for place names while reaching the lake from this point. From Melkote the lake is around 28Kms.

I didn’t find any good options for staying at Melkote. Maybe the best option would be to stay in Mysore or Mandya.

And the best thing about visiting Melkote was that there wasn’t much trouble from beggars and the parking fees is only Rs.10. This is so different from the parking fees collected at SriRangapatnam and some places in Mysore which aren’t even maintained.

The four of us who went to Melkote sitting on top of the monument inside the Sanskrit College, with the Yoga Narasimha temple seen in the background.

 

 

 

 

Technorati tags: Melkote, Melkotae, Thondanur, Mysore, Cheluvanarayanaswamy, Yoga Narasimha, Kalyani, Pushkarani

Trip to Srirangapatnam and Mysore

Went to the two places mentioned above on the 8th of July 2006.

An detailed account of the trip is available at Ram’s blog. It is written in typical Megaserial style.

Part 1 – Srirangapatnam and Sangam

Part 2 – Ranganthitu

Part 3 – Mysore (Palace and Brindavan Gardens)