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My recent visit to Bangalore & around, Oct 2007

I had a splendid break in the last week starting in the late evening of Friday, 5 Oct 2007. We returned back on Monday morning 15 Oct, 2007.

The journey took off by first visiting our family here in this city itself, had dinner with them. Then to Delhi and Gurgaon where we met some more close family people. There we had the leisure and time to see India Gate in the evening as I had never really seen it in person before. There was some celebration going on where these army personnel were playing the hand pipe and wearing something like the scottish skirt.

After a 2-day stay in Delhi we headed towards our destination-Bangalore by Jet Airways (it is a good flight-good service in all).

Once in Bangalore, the weather was not much different from Delhi (perhaps because this year we haven't yet had the usual chilly October; surprisingly and a sorry state that it appears May in the month of Sept-Oct). Our accomodation was booked at the hotel-Hoysala near Shivananda Circle Road. This is indeed a good hotel with nice spacious room with attached bathroom. Beside there is also a nice restaurant-Sunman in the front. I had terrific breakfast here- masala dosa with chilli paste rubbed inside all over, yum, yum!

First day activity was indecisive at first as Ashish was attending Conference in B'glore, and I wasn't sure whether I would like to join him at the venue or meet up with one of my friends in IISc. Incidently, Ashish found about a day-tour of B'glore and got me a ticket of this. Well, I definitely do not regret the tour, as I soon found out that the tour guide had a good sense of humour (indeed a rarity these days) and above all very professional (kept timing, explained things wherever needed and was responsive to each of the passengers in the mini-bus). His name was Aslam. He aptly told us that the tour starts at 9:30 am and that we should be back at our place by 7:00 pm.

The trip included visit to the following:

1. ISKONtemple: Completed in 1998, this is a complex of temples. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was initially raised as a spiritual society in New York to Propagate the message of the Bhagwad Gita. It was founded by Swami Prabhupada.

2. Bull temple: It faces the Shiva temple.

A statue of Nandi the bull of Shiva is in side flanked at the back with statues of God Surya and Goddess Candra on their chariots drawn by horses. Kempe Gowda built this temple in the 16th century. The magnificent Nandi, 15 feet tall and over 20 feet long has been carved out of single granite rock.

3. Lalbagh: nice place to spend a day with family and/or friends.

http://www.horticulture.kar.nic.in/lalbagh.htm

4. Tipu's Palace: Haider Ali started the construction at this place which was completed by Tipu Sultan in 1791. It was used as a summer retreat and was known as the "Abode of Peace". Currently the settings evoke memories of a two storied ornate wooden structure with pillars, arches and balconies.





5. Ksiec Art and Craft Emporium: for window shopping & shopping ;-)


6. Vishweshwaraiah museum: nice place for school children especially.

http://images.kuruvila.net/v/vishweshwaraiah_museum/?g2_page=3

7. Vidhana Soudha: The majestic looking Vidhana Soudha houses the State Legislature, and is the largest Secretariat in India. Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Chief Minister of the then Mysore State between 1951-1956 was responsible for the concept, the structure and the setting of this magnificent building. Built entirely from Bangalore granite in the Dravidian style, it has floral motifs on stone carvings drawn from the celebrated temple craft of South India.

8. Finally, return journey via Gandhi road.

It was not long before Ashish also arrived at the hotel. We then went to a friends place in his 'Reva' car- perfect pollution free solution on the roads. Absolutely enjoyed and a pleasure to meet his spouse.

Next day, I paid a visit to IISc and caught up with a friend (warm welcoming person always ready to accommodate friends, even on busy days). Had fun chatting and ate my full desire of the tasty 'gobhi manchurian' at a place within campus with this lovely friend.

The following days were full of excitement and fun in places around B'glore. We left B'glore in a Deluxe bus and arrived in Madikeri early morning. Ashish's friend had booked us a lodge there- Green Haven. After resting for sometime, the day started a bit late near noontime, and so after freshening up, we enquired from the lodge's master about the popular tourist places. He gave us a good list, out of which we went to the following in the same order:-

On 10 Oct

Dubare : We got an autorickshaw to take us to this place. It was a little disappointing at first when we arrived at this place, because the people around this place told us that we could think about rafting (which was pretty hefty thing to do and that too in low water), or otherwise we could go boating (Rs. 20). The latter was very uninteresting as the boatman just took us to the other side of the river which was not much wide at all!! Once we were there, we strolled around to find an interesting camp; there was a winding small wooden bridge which led to a few well constructed one roomer-cum-bathroom cottages (besides which was Hammock against each cottage). Perfect relaxation and tranquility for an ideal holiday.

(http://www.junglelodges.com/resort_accommodation.asp?resort=Dubare)-

Nisargadama: This was a clean place set aside in a serene atmosphere. We saw sambhar, deer, lot of bamboo trees, and rode on elephant back. Entry fee was Rs 15 and Rs. 10 for the elephant ride. A small government shop was at the entrance which I (of course) remembered to browse and also shop for souvenir.

Bylakuppe (Golden Temple): simply awesome! We happened to speak to a monk (age 23) and enquired after his occupation there. He said that he is from Burma and was there to study Buddhism (which takes up to 9 years in total). By the time we could take a full round of all the temples there appreciating the artwork on the walls of the temple and majestic statues within the temple, it was getting dark, so we rounded off the day's travel with a quick browse of the stalls nearby and I got myself a beaded bracelet (simple and beautiful).

On 11 Oct, we hired a taxi for the day:

Iruppu Falls(entry fee is Rs. 10): Nice for sure!...Ashish is always very excited and energetic in these places (not to say that I was not equally excited)-took lots-n-lots of pictures of the place and walked beyond the usual track, to explore a little more. In this process, got a leech tucked away snuggly in his socks sucking on his warm juicy blood, until he realised so after a while. After coming away from the Fall, we had lunch prepared by the localite who run a mini-shop. Coffee there was great.

Nagarahole National Park: very disappointing! I thought we were to go on a safari within the Park by jeep, but we landed up going by bus (noisey and pretty fast driving in the context of spotting wild animals), and realised that the park was actually a deer park than anything else (except for one-or-two elephants, wild boar and monkeys). So we thought it obligatory to report our concern with the forest officer in charge who was rather ostrich about the whole affair.





Coffee Estate (in Kothur) of Mr. Prakash and family: this was 'the best' part of our travel and it certainly overshadowed the gloomy feeling we had since our experience at the national park mentioned above. We met a very generous man who owns a very big coffee estate in ? This was unexpected and a very delightful surprise when we asked a man standing near the roads if we could see his coffee garden, only to find out that he was a well-bred well-educated, humble man owning a huge coffee estate. He invited us eagerly to his home, introduced us to his wife and son, and overwhelmed us with home-made delicacies. His wife had cooked a particular sweet so tasty that I could not resist but ask her for the recipe. Then the guy, Mr. Prakash took us around and showed us his farm which had the two varieties of coffee's most prominently grown in those parts- Robusta and Arabica:

(http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/coffeeplant.htm).

The former grows and yields more in light, whereas the latter is more productive in the shade, as told by Mr. Prakash. He also took pains to show us how to differentiate between the two plants in response to my curiosity to know so. He told us that he had three separate lands (around 70-80 acres, 60 acres and one around 40 acres, WOW!) devoted to coffee, coconut, paddy, oranges and pepper. Also, we saw vanilla plant amongst these other crops. To add they also harvest honey. He said that he was going to experiment growing beetlenut, but lets see. What I gathered from our conversation with Mr. Prakash is that people like him, infact all farmers have to work extremely hard and be disciplined throughout their lives, which most of us lack to appreciate and understand. Bravo to Mr and Mrs. Prakash.

On 12 Oct, Ashish asked for a motorcycle for the day and rode it himself with me at the back. Both of us wore helmets :-) This definitely gave us much freedom and time to explore things at our own pace and choice. The mountain range with trees an all was an absolute picturesque sight to indulge in all the way.

Talacauvery: birth place of Cauvery. A great temple was being constructed with Lord Shiva's idol placed inside the main one. Surrounding area was amazing with the cloud mist giving it an even more mystical experience. There was a huge flight of stairs (sometimes felt steep) leading to the top peak of the mountain where one can sit for ages and contemplate the best things of life and become mesmerised at the scenic beauty.You are not allowed to wear shoes, so once you reach this flat peak you walk over pebbles, and scanty grass here and there. Initially this is painful but gradually you get used to it surprisingly. I saw a brown ladybird (or something else?) on my way back down the stairs.

Bhagamandala: At this place, the Kauvery is joined by two tributaries, the Kannika and Sujyoti rivers.

Abbi Falls: This was not as pleasant as Iruppu Falls, considering the poor maintenance. There is a swinging bridge like that present at the Iruppu Falls. Plastic wrappers etc. strewn hither-thither is all repulsive at this place and was a cause of disappointment. After taking few shots, we pulled off towards Madikeri to head to the Fort.










Fort: Minimum maintenance. I felt there isn't really any attraction to come to this place. However, we missed seeing the museum here, about which we were told by people once we reached the Raja's Seat.






Omkareshwara Temple: We reached this place by late evening around dusk, and the bhajan was playing in the background giving the tranquil feeling of a religious spot. All-in-all, this is a nice place with a small pond (with fishes, I guess) in front of the temple.






Raja's Seat and park: Towards the end, we finally settled in the Park with Raja's Seat. This small Park had a small musical fountain. I sat quietly for a while to hear the popular songs played in the background with multi-colour lighting at the fountain. I wished to stay a while longer but it was already getting very dark and the music stopped playing for an intermission of half an hour before the next slot.

On our way from the Omkareshwar temple to Raja's seat, we were curious to see something which looked like an exhibition. It turned out that members of few affluent family were giving their charitable time to serve some good cause for school children nearby, and that they were selling various items from clothings, to things made by children (like candles, cards, bags etc.) to raise money. I thought I might as well participate in some small (perhaps with the aim of gratifying my personal shoppoholic instinct somewhere, as well) way to the noble cause and ended up buying a light yellow top (the best part is that this was done with Ashish in confidence and affirmation, yeeppeeeee!).

Overall, I would say that Madikeri is a small town, not so clean, but is sweet in its own way. We had our breakfast for the three consecutive days in a moderately neat place there- Popular restaurant, with the owner serving us with a personal touch. The guy was chatty and amiable who knew quite a number of regional languages, particularly South Indian. Otherwise, for lunch and dinner we resorted to different restaurants to check out the menu's and dishes if varied. We'd been to Kannika (ok, vegetable curry was bad; although grilled fish was eatable), Rajdarshan (very good), Red Fern (bad timing and perhaps bad choice of food, as people hold this place quite highly) and our last dinner there was at a purely vegetarian outlet 'Athithi'-very nice concept, a hybrid approach-South Indian food as a buffet served on plate and North Indian dishes on banana leaves-authentic style and eco-friendly ofcourse.

We left Madikeri by the Deluxe bus at around 11:30 pm and arrived in B'glore at 5 am sharp. Rested for a while in our hotel room, before we had our last breakfast in B'glore at Sunman. Later Ashish left for his last day Conference whilst I went to IISc to see my friend before leaving. She had pleasant surprises for me. We loitered around the campus, saw some amazing craftmanship of nature, browsed the book store and could not resist but buy two good books and a pen (all attractive especially if a new model type). Soon, we took an autorickshaw to the city where this amusing friend took me to a Punjabi parantha shop, chutney's were mouth-watering, and I loved it. The fun didn't end here, but she also took me to a shop with economical and most importantly good trendy stuff. There she got me and other lab people some pretty dresses. Once we were back in the campus, I had little time left but enough so that I could also fortunately meet my friend's brother. perfect timing, but started getting a bit panicky when the autorickshaw people started their tantrum -unreasonable money for the distance. Anyways, I got one soon, and was dropped off a little further away from our hotel. So I rang Ashish for his help. We intersected at some point near walking distance to the hotel and briefly took rest on the way for fresh fruit juice. A splendid conclusion to a wonderful holiday I spent for the last couple of days. ..Wait!...this is not all to B'glore, we had also to meet some relative of ours whose place we were to go to for the first time. Instructions from them about the direction to their place was pretty clear and straightforward, so it was a matter of traffic and distance that we would reach soon so that we would spend sometime with them before leaving for the airport. However, incidentally, it did take a lot of time, and we were barely left enough time to stay at their place for long. It was a pleasure meeting them, and I look forward to seeing them again, as I also have one of their books with me. God bless them!

We were back by Jet Airways. We reached Delhi in the usual two hours and 20 mins or so. Took prepaid taxi to reach our family member's place late in the night around 10:00-10:30 pm. Next morning was yet again a short and amicable trip to Mathura to see our relatives. This was by road and Ashish was driving. It surprisingly took us precisely two an half hours from house to house. We arrived back in Delhi by around 7 pm to have enough time to relax and have dinner before our journey back home by train.