The year 2007....All the best people...hope its a super duper year...May you break your resoltions before the week is out...:-)
I hope to keep some of mine ( I can hear the snickers already...bah!!)
Been ages since I wrote something...the last post was written a while ago and posted recently...
For those of you who read my blog to know what I am upto..well here it is..
Mysore
Went to Mysore for a weekend to attend a colleague's wedding...actually they are both my colleagues..and I hardly know either of them..but the promise of good-looking Coorgi and Rai boys made the offer hard to resist!! Besides, had super company..Anu, Ganesh and JP...Ideal people for anything...never a moment of boredom with those madcaps around...
Left on Saturday afternoon....Brilliant roads (Anu's "Freshly laid virgin road" quote comes to mind :-))...reached Mysore in no time...Nitin had booked us all rooms at Ginger which is this budget hotel by the Taj Group...not too expensive...decent luxury...
Set out for the pre-wedding bash on Saturday night...damp squib..it turned to be a completely formal affair...we pretty much stuck out like sore thumbs..and left at the earliest...
Woke up late the next morning(:-))...went for the wedding...no cute Coorgi boys...but liked the Coorgi costumes..very intimidating...the fact that some of them were built like bouncers made it all the more so!
Had oota..pit-stop at Chamundi Hills and we were on the way back...took a loooooooooooong break at Kamat Lokaruchi...and reached Blr by 7...super weekend...lazed around...watched TV..managed to get some reading done too...
Karnataka..One State...Many Worlds...
None with good food in them!!
Went on a North Karanataka trip organised by KSTDC...saw a lot of nice places...
First stop was at Hampi (technically Hospet..coz our accomodation was booked there!)..Went to the Virupaksha Temple...saw the Tungabhadra River, an elephant and an odd-looking sadhu! In a foreigners eyes, this was probably the India they come looking for...at least most of them..
Then moved on to the KadaleKalu(channa gram) Ganesha Temple..its huge belly (lambodara :-)) destroyed by invading Muslims who thought it was filled with gold! Then moved on to the SasiveKalu (mustard) Ganesha Temple..this had a saraswathi imposed on the other side..very interesting...A number of other pit-stops on the way which included the UgraNarasimha Temple , BadavaLinga temple and Lalith Mahal. This beautiful summer palace has been maintained really well by the Archaeological Society of India (ASI). The elephant stables are worth a dekho. Saw a group of school kids who had come there for a picnic. We took a pic of them and thanked them for which we got ( a very prompted "No Mention"). Next stop was the Hazaara Raama Temple which has some amazing carvings depicting the Ramayan and Mahabharata. Then, one of the most beautiful sights of Hampi and the most amazing Pushkarni ever!! It was stepped uniformly..I cant explain it very well..maybe a pic could speak the 1000 words..shall put up one soon!
Lunch ( the less I say about it the better!) and then on to the Vittala Temple which is undoubtedly the best that Hampi has to offer. Amazing musical pillars, beautiful carvings..really well maintained..kudos again to the ASI..
Back to Hospet...rested for a while and then went to see the Tungabhadra dam and the musical fountains it offered as entertainment. Belted out the Dhoom and then a slew of kannada songs, one of which I recognised thanks to the performance on our annual day. Think the crowd went berserk over a RajKumar song but we left before the exit got too crowded.
The next day we set off to the Badami cave temples making a brief stop at a nearby Banashankari Devi Temple. The view from the cave temples is just breath taking...really phenomenal..Then lunch followed by the temples at Pattadakal and Aihole. These were interesting too...but since I am running out of new adjectives, shall refrain from describing them in too much detail! Pit Stop at Bijapur!
The next day we saw the Gol Gumbaz. Huge monument..thoroughly enjoyed the Whispering Chambers in the dome...Also saw the Jumma Masjid and Ibrahim Roza. Rest of the day was pretty uneventful..Returned fairly well rested to Bangalore the next day...
While the historical monuments have been maintained really well, facilities like clean toilets etc are far from adequate especially on the highways. Even restaurants that serve good food are non-existent..I am not asking for MacD's every 100 miles but even a decent darshini that churns out quick fast food would be welcome!
Thats it for now folks!
