Trip to Sirsi: Aarankusamittodam Nenevudenna Manam Banvaasi Deshamam

Rains… Clouds… Greenery… 3 words kept buzzing in our minds when we started from Bangalore at 9.40 pm after a hectic week. I took no time and crashed in our pleasant overnight KSRTC sleeper coach bus to Sirsi. Next morning, sleepy town that had unique 5-road circle welcomed us with phone network. Why is it so unique? We went on to discover that our phone networks only when we are this

Yana

circle!

Sirsi is in the middle of Malnad, which is famous for its natural beauty and various other treasures of nature. Monsoon was just wrapping up, waterfalls were overflowing and greenery was all over, we could not have asked for more. We had booked not-so-great Bakula homestay, 9 kms from Sirsi. Although the homestay was in good landscapes, bad food and poor hospitality killed it all- we had a memorable fight with the homestay owner who happens to be related to local MLA! Nevertheless, we had good time by making up with great games of Carom & a long night around campfire!

#Sirsi town is centrally located to all waterfalls, temples, beaches and viewpoints. Town has a famous 16th century Marikamba Temple. We also made sure to get a taste of gobi machurian & gudbud at Hotel Satkar, which was strongly recommended by our taxi driver, Rajeev!

# Yaana , 32 kms from Sirsi, is known for the wonderful rock formation. There are 2 sanctorum: dedicated to Ganga Chandika Bairaveshwara and Parvathi. Priest welcomed us and narrated to us the glorious history that included Sage Ashwattama, Pushpaka

Unchalli Falls

Vimana and Pandavas. We had to trek to go round the temple that displayed the beauty of mammoth tall rocks. Local shops here served very good snacks like bhoti, shankara pole, mirchi mandakki, little hearts & punarpuli juice.

# Manjuguni Venkataramana temple, known as Tirupati of Karnataka, was a special inclusion in our schedule to accommodate lunch. It was one of the best foods we had during our entire trip consisting of typical malnad culinary items like boiled rice, tambuli, kayi payasa and appe mango pickle. Old lady was serving and her enthu was unmatchable. We missed having locally prepared “Attirasa” here.

#Unchalli Falls was classic example of prosperity monsoon boaster’s. It was just amazing with water

Banavasi

hitting the face and those who went close to get better view were drenched. I remember enacting Modi for Swatchh Bharat Andolan by picking up lays packets after wonderful chai here!

#Bheemanvare gudda or Bheeman gudda had best visuals of Western Ghats but not much visibility! Amazing trail of a km that led to top of the hill was the best part. For a moment Sun appeared but we mistook it moon! This explains the God level serenity!

# Magod Falls was the best of all! It had rained a lot on the 50km drive and mood was perfectly set. We arrived to learn that clouds had not opened up since last 3 hours and nobody had caught glimpse of waterfalls. We took round in this zero-visibility park and hoped for luck! Finally the moment

Magod Falls

arrived! Royally following L-shaped fall and then a u-turn, describing this waterfall was beyond words and I got into free anchoring for video makers who had come there! Homemade mandakki and chai was like icing on the cake!

#Banavasi temple, 22 kms from Sirsi, is the oldest town and first capital of ancient Karnataka state and has Madhukeshwara Temple built starting from 2nd century. Tales on how it survived Muslim emperors attacks (havali shivalinga story), shiva linga’s from various parts of India, parallels to Varanasi, amazingly carved 2 eyes of Nandi looking at different directions at Shiv & Parvathi, nritya mantapam with convex concave pillar and architectural marvel wooden bed made up 10 pieces are the best part of this temple. I was carried away. Mind was remembering poem of Adikavi Pampa written when he visited Banavasi in 9th century: “aarankusamittodam nenevudenna manam banvaasi deshamam” “puttidirdode maridumbiyaagi men kogileyaagi nandanavanadol banavaasideshadol” {If to be born, one should take birth in Banavasi. It is a virtue to be born in Banavasi as a human being. If by

Bheeman Gudda Walk

any chance, one cannot take birth as a human being, at least he should be born as a bee or a bird in the garden of Banavasi.}

We left Sirsi refreshed & rejuvenated on an early Sunday morning. We stopped at Shivamogga to watch blockbuster Kannada movie, Bahaddur, and for a heavy lunch at hotel Mathura, before we headed back to Bangalore to reach before 11pm! Sirsi, a must visit! Glorious small town with history, fun and knowledge packaged together!

Here is me describing the beauty of the waterfalls in typical TV9 Kannada channel style:{Shot by Srinivasa, photo-traveller, stranger to me, who was doing photography here!}

[Thanks to Manu D K, Akhilesh, Yashu & Sushma for making this trip memorable! Photo credits: Akhilesh & Yashu]

Bengaluru Diaries: a Hill and a Tree and a Dam in Half a Day...

After residing in Bengaluru (or Bangalore) for 2 years, I had tried exploring it as much I can. Since it is blessed to be in midst of hills on all 4 directions, it enjoys probably “the best” metro climate. And ofcourse, gives away lot of hills and rivers and viewpoints to explore. I have finally

Omkar Hills

decided to put down- “Places to visit in Bengaluru” and will start with the most recent visited ones from Bangalore Southà

#1. Omkar hills

This place is said to be the highest point in Bangalore. It is in RajaRajeshwari Nagar. When driving on Mysore Road from Bangalore, take the left at Uttarahalli Main Road, drive past the BGS Apollo hospital and then take the right next to JSS College. This road goes to the top of Omkar Hills. Omkar Hills has a dwadasha jyothirlinga (caution: elders are bound to get more & more devotional/emotional/sentimental!) temple and Ashram which was founded by Shri Shivapuri Mahaswamiji.

You’ll enjoy the strong breeze here and the panoramically view of the city is super awesome. Just behind the temple is world's second largest clock, said to be bigger than the Big Ben, the clock

Dodda Alada Mara

tower in London, and its making took two years.

Upon climbing a few steps you can see an old banyan tree surrounded by statues (Ramanujacharya, Shankaracharya, Madhwacharya, Jesus, Koran, Buddha, Mahaveera and the Guru Granth Sahib) representing various faiths/religions and singing aloud strong message of unity in equally strong blowing wind.

#2. Dodda Alada Mara or Big Banyan Tree

This tree is a giant 400 year old located in the village of Kettohalli. Before you google this village, it is really easy to access the place if you can identify a small road next to Rajarajeshwari Dental college (near Kumbalagod junction)! This single plant covers 3 acres.  In the 2000s, the main root

Manchinbele Dam

of the tree succumbed to natural disease, and thus the tree now looks like many different trees with over thousand aerial roots.

The tree has fenced boundaries, and benches for people to sit. There is a small shrine, many monkeys, some lays and soothing shades- good picnic place indeed!

#3. Manchinbele Dam

This beautiful dam is constructed by Sir M  Visvesvaraya which is around 9 km s further ahead from Big Banyan tree (don't miss the left at Chandrappa Circle). River Arkavathi forms the back waters of the Manchinbele Dam. You’ll find a couple or two government appointed watchman’s eating your head and money! This place suffers from govt.’s poor tourism showcasing- not much publicity, no maintenance, lack of connectivity, lack of proper security and lifeguards. Apart from that, really wonderful place to be!

On Top of Dam

#4. Ruppi’s Hotel & Resort

This is a place run and owned by Kannada film industries famous Real Star, Upendra. I visited this place for a short snack after visiting Dodda Alada Mara and Manchinbele Dam. This is just a km away from Dodda Alada Mara. Onion pakoda and onion rings that we ordered along with the chai were just delicious. Interiors, cottages, playgrounds and restaurants- all have looked good to me in my first impression. I have promised myself to visit this place again to explore!

Ruppi's Hotel & Resort

I recommend you to cover all 4 places mentioned above in the order- 2,3,4,1! Will take less than half a day and to be at Omkar hills at around 7.30pm will be the best thing to do! It’ll energize you for the rest of the coming week, guaranteed!

No greens,
Cloudy & Chirpy,
I set out to search,
White flowers... 

Bangalore had Blossomed,
Red flowers...
Green flowers...
Blue flowers...

[Photo Credit: Sharath P R, Thanks to Chikkappa [Ramesh], Chikkamma[Ratna], Doddappa[Karunakar] and Munna[Sharath] for being the part of this trip!]

Trip to Lepakshi: Place where Jatayu fought Ravan

After living through serious back aches and period of illness, caused mainly due to my massive two week north India trip, I was back to what I insanely love doing, travelling! And what a way to start, the experience just couldn't get better. Here is my travelogue- visit to beautiful Lepakshi.

“Ley Pakshi” translates to “Rise bird” and is believed to be uttered by Lord Rama to the bird Jatayu, who had fought Ravan in order to release Seetha, in the process incurring life threatening injuries, losing his wings, counting his final moments at this very particular place and waiting for Lord to arrive. Jatayu was cremated here and Lord Ram established a “Shiva linga” on top of it, one among atleast 4 of Shiva linga’s I saw here(I recall- some of them are established by Hanuman, Sage Agastya and Constructor Virupanna). This place has a massive footstep of Seetha (Locals believe that Seetha was 25 feet tall) on a rock and is filled with water all-round the year!

Lepakshi is located at a distance of 120kms from Bangalore and driving becomes pleasure in this AH 47 once you cross new Bangalore Airport at Devanhalli. We started at 8am and stopped for breakfast at “Kamath Upachar”, 4 kms away from Chikballapur, at 9.45am. Route was pretty simple after that- cross Bagepalli, enter AP (it is till AP!), you’ll see a signboard to Lepakshi soon after Konikonda, and then, 15kms of drive in a state highway (that goes to Hindupur, which houses thousands of weavers and you get silk sari’s for half price!) to the destination.

The Veerabadhra Temple is built on a rocky hill called Kurmasailam and today is spread over 2 acres. India’s biggest monolithic “Nandi” is the prime attraction (2nd biggest is in Tanjore and 4th is in Basavangudi of Bengaluru). The temple has over 4000 designs, many sculptural illusions and 80 pillars, out of which one is the mysterious hanging pillar that actually balances the complete stone structure. Hire a guide and you’ll enjoy the architecture and no doubt, you will end up praising our 8 feet tall (again a local belief!) ancestors! You get a feeling of entering a cave and the calm and cool weather inside is very enjoyable.

Built in 1538, rooftop of which is painted with herbal colors- stories depicting Shiva’s marriage, Ganesh and Ravan’s “Athmalinga” encounter, pictures of nobles of Virupanna who built this temple is mesmerizing. There is incomplete portion of a “mantapam” dedicated to Shiva’s marriage to

Parvathi in Kailasa. Virupanna, constructor of this temple, was a cashier of this province ruled by Achyutaraya, brother of great Krishnadevaraya. Due to unstable government and dirty politics, Virupanna removed his eyes off before the King would order to do so, and our guide claimed/showed that there were blood stains in the wall (I still don’t digest this!).

“Mantapam” remained unfinished as great Vijayanagar empire fell off to Bahamani rulers, who also damaged some idols. The “Halagannada” (mother of modern Kannada) inscriptions are also notable. Here, every pillar tells a story, every idol is artistic, the way the stones are carved out is just astonishing, beautiful paintings are breath-taking (Painting of Veerabhadra on the ceiling before the main sanctum sanctorum is the largest in India of any single figure), architecture at it’s best, peace and serene, less

than 2 hours to tour entire place, beautiful folk tales those are associated, spiritual bells ringing in the heart, indeed, what a place to be!

Every truth becomes justice,
Before it’s not too late…
We turned them into morals,
Immortalized in our sculptures… 

Today, I am staring at them,
Waiting for a story to unfold…
Staring at the antic glory untold…
Before it’s not too late…

[Photo Credit: Sharath P R, Thanks to Chikkappa [Ramesh], Chikkamma[Ratna], Doddappa[Karunakar] and Munna[Sharath] for being the part of this trip!]

Pearls from Crown of Karnataka...

We can spend days together arguing on- “Location” vs. “Place”. I say, every location may not be beautiful. But, every place is always beautiful. This time around, when monsoon was about to set, I enjoyed a two day vacation in one such place, exploring Gulbarga, chest of Red grams, and Bidar, crown of Karnataka (Trust me, both place looked more to be in Maharashtra!), and also visiting Mantralayam, in Andhra Pradesh (Trust me, it looked more like a place in Karnataka!)

Gurudwara Nanak Jhira Saheb

That Saturday was legendary, interviewing two achievers for KnowYourStar.com and attending a family function. Train was scheduled at 9pm from Yeshwantpur. 8pm around, 6 of our friends were waiting for me and my cousin, who was in a hospital consulting with a doctor for the sudden health upset of his mother. We ended up missing the train, for the first time! When situation got under control, we searched for tickets and luckily, were able to book last 2 seats of an Airavat travelling to Mantralayam, starting in less than an hour. I took a deep breath after catching the bus, 5 min prior to its departure!

Bidar Fort Entrance

Sunday, 6.30am, we arrived in Mantralayam, to visit Guru Raghavendra Swami Vrindavanam. It’s built somewhere in 18th century, interestingly, while entering the Vrindavana, Guru Raghavendra Swami stated that he would be there (in the Vrindavana) for 700 years! It was heartening to see the wall pictures (around 30) depicting life of Guru Raghavendra Swami and his previous incarnations tracing back to Bhakta Prahlada and Madvacharya(known for Dwaitha philosophy). River Tungabhadra looked dry but the cloud filled sky made sure that we didn’t encounter the heat this place is known for!

After a heavy breakfast in “Pannaga Udupi Hotel”, we set off to Gulbarga- via Raichur. An hour of bus journey took us to Raichur and to reach Gulbarga, it was a train journey of 4 hours. This is where I penned down…

I see blue horizon kissing soil,

Arch in Bidar Fort

Glittering black fertile soil…
Those scarcely flowing waters,
Midst occasional tall single trees…
I saw an immensely blessed soul,
Toiling under the Sun for our life…
Ensuring us a square of meal,
Forming backbone with his torn attire…
I saw an immensely blessed soul…

Monday morning, after catching well deserved 4 hours of sleep; we were ready for Bidar, couple of hours away from Gulbarga. Bidar indeed had lot to give. We first visited Gurudwara Nanak Jhira Saheb, built by none other than Guru Nanak, around 500 years ago. Pond of never drying clear water, Punjabi neighborhoods and surprisingly, green landscapes. Peaceful delight!

Then we went to the highlight of this trip, a Narasimha temple in a cave. We were in our regular jeans and t-shirt. Guards stopped us when we entered, advising us to change our clothes for better. We found a locker room and just wore a towel to cover our lower half. We entered a cave which was at least 8 feet below the ground. Bats were flying and this cave of approx. 500mtr length, took us by surprise as soon we entered with its water level- almost close to my chest (say 5ft. from ground!). After making our way, we saw the Lord Narasimha at the end of the cave. Storyline goes like this- a demon named Jalasura was killed by Lord Narasimha and for his salvation, Jalasura exists in the form of water in this cave of the Lord.

Narasimha Temple

After changing the clothes, we visited Bidar fort, built by Bahamani rulers and later altered by Aurangzeb of Mughals. Master piece with limited premises open for public. Museum here is really astonishing, with guns to barrels to wooden works to Stone Age utensils to craft works, delight for any art lover. Once we found that it’s too big, even to explore limited premises, we gave up and left to last place for the day in our list, Papanashini Shiva Temple, believed to be worshipped by Lord Rama after his victory over Raavan and Sita Parityaga, to overcome the wrath he gained. This place had serene lake and we decided to trek to the main road, and it was very enjoyable.

Bidar Palace

All the places in Bidar were in radius of 5kms and we (7 of us) travelled in a single auto rickshaw, unbelievable but true! Once we returned to Gulbarga, we visited Market area for special Paani Puris and delicious snacks. Later in the night we caught the train back to Bangalore.

If you are pondering over the missing Sunday night, here it is- it was a jovial occasion of Nikah of our dear friend, colleague at KnowYourStar.com. Special mention for the ambience of hall, KBN guest house, Saath tombs, tasty dinner, amazing weather and loads of fun together, indeed, it was definitely great place to be!

[Wishing Iqlas Ameen and Roohina a happy married life. Thanks to Sharath P R, Kiran E, Vinod B, Basanth S, Ravinder A, Ambarish, Jaikrishna for being part of it. Photo Credits: Sharath P R]

Flying to the Fort of Imagination...

Some places are just frozen, their hidden eternal beauty try to tell those tales that can mesmerise anyone. I was on one such trip this time. Main motive of attending a wedding, constantly kept us helping- to get back to the reality. Yes, I was constantly pulled by those ancient times, a privilege of visiting those places that were built way back in 9th, 11th, 13th and 19th century! An attempt to go back, from where we come, to who we are!

Vanivilasa Sagar

Early Sunday morning, I pulled out my old hat from the cupboard and set off to Davangere, 300 Kms away from Bengaluru, on a car. Once we arrived at Yeshwantpur, outskirts of city, Asian Highway-47 welcomed us. I personally haven’t seen any better road than this- imagine a road- with 4 lanes, no humps, scientific deviations, beautiful landscapes, and fertile fields with crops, ornamental flowers in the divider, clouds, drizzles and very insignificant traffic- this is how AH-47 treated us!

Here goes the Eight places that I visited, in visited order-->

#1. Vanvilasa Sagar or Mari Kanive, built by Mysore Maharaja, is a dam constructed over Vedavathi River. It’s 12kms off Hiriyuru, a major town in AH. We first visited Mariamma Temple, local deity, and started climbing the steps which was carved out in a unique zig zag fashion from a locally available big stones. We were awestruck when we reached the top. This dam was artistically built, which clearly showed out the great taste Mysore Maharajas had for building classic monuments! Long walk on the top of this dam between 2 mantapas (which were at the ends of dam), amazingly carved out 100 odd years back, will definitely make you think- why are we so incapable of building wonders now?!

#2. Halurameshwara Temple is 40 kms from Vanvilasa Sagar, towards Hosadurga. No doubt, was the highlight of this trip. As far as I know- this is neither historic nor beautiful, but it has stories to tell everyone. It has an astonishing well (Ugamagange) in front of Goddess Gange, were you sit and make a wish, and you are sure of getting Prasada in the form of things like- jaggery, grains, dates, bananas, coconut,etc.. The priest interprets the Prasada that you receive and predicts if your wish will come true or not. I laughed my gut off before I went to this place, and just to be a rebellion- made 4 wishes instead of only one that I was supposed to. I received “jaggery with curd”- which comes very rarely, and priest told me that my wishes will come true and that I had made multiple wishes!

Chandravalli Caves

#3. Chandravalli Caves is 40 kms from Halurameshwara temple or 3 kms from Chitradurga (again in AH). History dates back to 9th century here and a meeting room at a depth of 80 foot down from the entrance of caves took me by surprise. Initially a pious saint chose this place for his meditation and later, it stored a treasure chest. The dressing room, bath room, place to keep the treasure and ways they employed to keep it secure- is the reflection of the intellectual capacity back then. Also, serenity here is defined by- dense forest in one side, caves that are enthralling, river that is shining blue, waterfalls roaring down the rocks and gardens with pleasant colors!

#4. Chitradurga Fort is 3 kms from Chandravalli caves, or very close to AH itself, was built in

13th century and it took 211 years to build. It is heartening to see the Rainwater harvesting system being adapted here. A fort that is strategically built in a shape of a rippling snake has 7 mighty doors, surveillance (battheries) centers for soldiers and provisions for them to use rifels and canons, a palace built from mud to keep it cooler in the hot summers, 14 temples, vast ground over 3 kms radius, caves for soldiers and very famous, “Vanake Obbavva Kindi” makes this place special. For around 800 years this fort was safe from invaders. Haider Ali attacked this fort thrice and succeeded in the last. First and second attempts failed only because of the extremely secure architecture of fort. Here we got a chance to catch “Kothi Rama” live, India’s very own Spiderman, he climbed the walls without any help in less than a minute!

P.S: “Durga” means fort and this place is blessed with stones that can be imagined (mentally) to be a frog, elephant, human face, lion, etc. (any shapes, forms- chitra). Hence the name Chitradurga! Modern Chitradurga has Asia’s second largest windmill power generating stations and city looks like as if it has arranged for table fans around it!

#5. Guru Kottureshwara Benne Dose Hotel, 60 kms from Chitradurga, is in Davangere. This is located in Gundi Chowltry road of extremely delightful city of Davangere (formerly known as Devanagari). Crowded place, no money for ambience, but priceless Benne Dosa!

HariHareshwara Temple

#6. Harihareshwara temple is 15 kms from Davangere and is off AH again. This was built in 11th century by Hoysala’s and has their signature star-shaped architecture. Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva being worshipped together, beautiful carvings, majestic pillars, recreational chess board like structure in verandas, gigantic stones consisting of whereabouts in clear Halagannada (mother of modern Kannada) will uplift your mood!

Siddaganga Matha

#7. Siddaganga Matha is in Tumkur, around 70kms from Bengaluru. Has schools and hostels, provides education with no or minimal fees. Completely conceptualized and executed by the pontiff, who is 106 years old, known as “Nadedaduva Devaru”, Dr. Shivakumar Swamiji. Here we finished mangoes that we had bought in Davangere, delicious!

Last, but extremely important and reason behind this trip-

#8. SS wedding hall of Davangere and Silverline guest house (inside Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology) where we spent a night. We enjoyed dumb charades and some new innovative games before we signed off for the day at Silverline. Bapuji institutions are all over in this city and herds of sheep that pass by your car will definitely teach you a lesson or two!

[Photo Courtesy: Pranitha K S. Thanks to Rakesh, Vinu, Manju, Sanjay and Siva for being part of it. Also wishing a Happy Married Life to Santhosh and Soumya. Cheers!]

ಜೀವನೋತ್ಸವ

ಅದೆಲ್ಲೋ ಕಳೆದು ಹೋದ ದಿನಗಳ

ಅರಸುತ್ತ ಹೊರಟೆ ನಾ

ಕುವೆಂಪು ಹೆಣೆದ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ಚಿತ್ತಾರ

ಗರಿಗೆದರಿತು ಕಣ್ಮುಂದೆ

ಮೊಗದ ಪ್ರತಿಬಿಂಬ ಕೊಳದಲಿ

ತಣ್ಣನೆ ಗಾಳಿಯು ಬೀಸಲು

ಅಲೆಯಲಿ ಕಳೆದುಹೋದ ಚಂದ್ರನ

ಕೆಣಕಲು ಮನಸು ನಿರ್ಮಲ

ಕಡಲದಡಿಯಲಿ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಯ ಗುರುತುಗಳ

ರಮಿಸಲು ನಿಯೋಜಿತ ಕಾರಂತರ ಅಲೆಗಳು

ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಪದಗಳು ಚಂದಗಾಣಲು

ನನ್ನೊಳಗಿನ ಮುತ್ತು ಚಿಪ್ಪೊಳಗೆ

ಗಗನಚುಂಬಿ ಕನಸುಗಳ ತೆಂಗು ಮರಗಳು

ಭೋರ್ಗರೆವ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಂಪಿನ ಹಿಮ್ಮೇಳ

ಮತ್ತೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿ ಬರುವ ನನ್ನಯ ಕವನ

ಜೀವನೋತ್ಸವ ಅದುವೇ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ

This is a poem (written in Kannada) that won me the 2nd Prize, in the Poetry competition held as part of Karnataka Rajyotsava Celebration at SAP.