All posts by thelostlander

Experiences from the Indian roads

The railway adventure from Dudhsagar

September 19, 2012 thelostlander 2 Comments

< 16-Sept-12>

When you are back from a trek to Dudhsagar and talk about a “Railway adventure”- the usual things that strike anybody are train spotting, tunnels, wild encounters, the rail line that passes across the mighty waterfalls so on and so forth..!!! And there is ample information available all over the net about this walk along the railway tracks… So that’s the railway adventure…!!!

“NO…!!! ” I’m not here to speak about such a lame adventure- What if we did not come across any wildlife on our way..? There is always something even better that comes across as a compensation for not having any wild encounters..!!

We were all on our return part of our trip.. and were just happy that everything went on well so far.. And then began the actual adventure unfolding one by one..

Scene no.1:

We were mocked at, at Dudhsagar station when we enquired about the tickets. Why that? We had even requested the person at the ticket counter in Castle Rock to issue return tickets from Kulem to Londa as we did not want to take any chances. But, our requests were all turned down telling that it was not needed. Like every other tourist/trekker who comes to Dudhsagar, we too decided to travel ticket-less till Castle Rock station. There were more than 500 people who got into the Vasco-Nizamuddin express with us- all without a ticket..!! This is nothing unusual as each and every blog on the net speaks about ticket-less travel. In less than 5 minutes after the train had started, the TT came asking for our tickets. We honestly displayed our tickets(from Londa to Bangalore). He told us to show the tickets from Dudhsagar to Londa and we told him this was the only one we had. His voice sounded a little harsh this time. We explained all that we knew about the reason for this kind of travelling.. But now he told us to pay a fine of 500Rs per head. 17X500???? Noway..!!!! Finally.. he took us all to one end of the bogie and settled the scene for a total of Rs.460. That too- Till Londa 🙂 Now it calls for an adventure of travelling ticket-less right..??
But that’s not the case, everybody knows that there is no ticket issued from DDS, so this kind of checking is a major scam happening in these trains..

All ticket-less trekkers ready to jump into the Vasco-Nizamuddin exprs

Scene no.2:

Onboard Rani Chennamma Express:

Approx.9.00.p.m.: 17 of us are playing dumbcharades, all seated in the same compartment and the entire bogie looking at us in awe(some jealous of us for the fun we were having, some surprised of the size of the gang, some enjoying the game with us, and some definitely pissed with the loud noise we were making). 2 police men walk across the bogie without bothering to notice anybody in particular.

Approx.11.00.p.m.: We all decide to go to sleep as we were all pooped out of the long trek and most of us had to go to office the next morning. All are dispersed from the seats and preparing the bed.

Approx.11.30.p.m.: Less than 2 minutes before we turned the lights off.. The 2 policemen appear out of nowhere..

“What’s going on here? We have received a call from the control room that there is a lot of noise coming from this bogie. Other passengers have complained about it..!!”

“But, we are sorry Sir, We had stopped playing half an hour ago and were just about to hit the bed”

“What are you playing with all these girls I say? and You.. dressed up like Y*su Chr*sta….” pointing out at XYZ..

XYZ got pissed off and revolted, “Mind your tongue, how dare you talk like that……”

The rest of us dragged him away before the scene got worse..

“Oh not just causing public nuisance, now you are fighting with a cop huh? All of you get off the train at Davangere station and lets talk about it in the station” the Cop asserted..

“But Sir, We will keep quiet now on and take responsibility not to disturb others. We are sorry..!!”

“We don’t know all that, get down at the next station or else pay a fine of 1000Rs. per head”

“Please consider, girls are travelling with us. We can’t get down in the middle of the night and we are on our way back, we don’t have so much money either”

“Just get down and lets see at the station”

This went on till approx.1.30.a.m and the entire bogie was watching the fun with no one even bothering to support us considering that we were all kids(or something like that, atleast out of courtesy)

Finally we all pooled in all the ‘Tens’ we had and settled the matter with Rs.500. A toll for absolutely no mistake of ours..!!

“The Indian Police”..!!! They are more than wild and entertaining who could well give an excellent replacement for the Orangutans- which are critically endangered.!!

Anything for money….. There is NOTHING that can be done to eliminate corruption in our country..!! We all speak volumes about a corruption free nation but we ourselves promote it in absolute helplessness..!! And Ohh?? Safety and respect for women???? what does that mean? I don’t remember coming across any term like that during my journey…

Andhra Pradesh, Bangalore day trips

A corridor of the hanging pillar- Lepakshi

September 12, 2012 thelostlander 8 Comments

On a weekend, my family planned to go for a day trip from Bengaluru. Since my dad wanted to visit Lepakshi since long, that was our destination for the weekend. There are several other small and major historical landmarks in a 50-100kms radius from Lepakshi; hence we had an initial plan to cover a few other places during our return as well. A super awesome NH7 from Bengaluru took us till Bagepalli, from where, Lepakshi was a small deviation away…

The belief is that, Jataayu- The vulture King (mentioned in the Ramayana) fell here when he was shot by Ravana’s arrow. Later, Rama is said to have commanded the bird to rise- Le Pakshi, and hence the name of that town. But not just its name, this entire place turned out to be a storehouse of history. Be it from mythology or the recent past history of the Vijayanagar Empire, every stone at Lepakshi had a tale to tell… We walked carefully reading every story that unfolded at every step

Although, I might advice you to take a personal guide while at Lepakshi who will be able to better put up all the stories and facts to you, here I would like to enlist a few noteworthy stories and art representations from Lepakshi.

The main shrine of this architectural complex is the Virbhadra temple. The human figurines/ sculptures in its main hall are believed to be made up to the specifications to measure the beauty of a perfect man and a perfect woman.

Left: The perfect man; Right: The perfect woman

2. The idol of Nagalingesvara– Carved out of a natural boulder to the west of the shrine, is a seven-hooded Naga sheltering a black-polished lingam cradled in its ribbed coils. A saptamatrika panel is placed below to the right. History tells us that the sculptor had come home for lunch one day. His mother said she would be back soon with food for him. She was surprised with her son’s work when she returned and exclaimed “Oh my son..!! You have carved such a big and a beautiful statue in such a short interval.” Even before she completed, a big crack developed across the linga. This makes it un-worthy of any Pooja/ offerings at the temple.

3. The hanging pillar– Among the several ornate pillars that decorate the temple corridor, this one takes a special mention as an architectural marvel. The pillar doesn’t rest completely on the ground and hence a sheet of paper can be easily passed through the gap beneath it. The roofs of these corridors are also adorned with several ancient painting, however they are largely lost due to apathy. Another noticeable feature on these pillars are the certain designs engravings specific to this temple. These designs are said to be the inspiration for the traditional Lepakshi prints found on Sarees around this area.

4. Kalyana mantapa-This incomplete structure has been depicted as the site of the celestial wedding of Shiva and Parvati. Each pillar here is supposed to be installed in celebration of this event. Hence, one can notice that there are depictions of drummers and musicians, gods and goddesses among others engraved in these pillars. A similar place is believed to exist in Kailash and it was therefore pronounced that a place more beautiful shouldn’t exist on the earth. And hence, this Kalyana mantapa was left unfinished.

5. History says, the place could have got its name referring to the two brothers- Veeranna and Virupanna, under King Achutaraya of the Vijayanagar dynasty. Virupanna got this temple built as a tribute to the Lord as his mute son regained his speech while he was playing near the Udbhava Moorthy of Shiva on this hillock. It is said that Virupanna spared no expense while having this temple constructed. However, since he was the treasurer of Penukonda province (today’s Anantapur), the money he was splurging lead to suspicions from the king about embezzlement of money. It is said that, Virupanna plucked out his own eyes and threw them against the wall in grief and in anticipation of royal punishment. And thus, lepa-akshi (blinded eyes). Till date one can find those blood stains on that wall. The locals say that it has even test have proven that the blood stains are indeed real..!!

6. The Natya Mantapa– This is an arena where the celestial dances are believed to have been performed. Besdie it, one can see a large footprint embedded on the ground and beleived to be the footprint of Sita. It is so large that is hard to imagine what it could have been or imagined to be when it was made.

Clockwise from top left: The Natya Mantapa; The idol of Chowti Ganesha; The Sita Paada; The bloodstains of Virupanna’s eyes

7. The statue of Basava or the Nandi is the largest monolithic Nandi in India. It is built facing the Naga Linga within the temple complex. However, this is half a kilometer away from the main temple.

Basavanna- Guarding the entrance — The largest monolithic Nandi in the world- Facing the Veerabhadra temple

Jataayu is believed to have died at another place which is located at about 2 kms from the complex.This is quite sad that a place of such importance is not maintained or highlighted anywhere in the map. It didn’t have any walkable road to the exact spot. But, by this time we had already spent more than half a day at Lepakshi which we hadn’t anticipated. It was also very hot and dry and we were feeling all exhausted. Hence, decided to save all the other places for another day and returned to Bengaluru.

Conclusion: A wonderful place to visit if you are a history and art buff and looking for a place located at just about 120kms from Bangalore..!!

Time Travel

Across the brook- Bridging two Worlds

September 11, 2012 thelostlander 3 Comments

<Dated: Sometime when I was three or four>

Every girl has a Superman in her life.. For some it could be her father or in some case- a distant uncle.. And for me- it is “My Super Grandpa”.The wooden bridge layed across a brook in my hometown is one of the many reasons for which he is immortal in the memories of the nearby villagers even a decade after his departure. So, now I get down to how this happened:

Introduction:

There are three ways to reach Abbi falls:

A motor able asphalted road- about 8kms from Madikeri town. The most comfortable one if you have own transport from the town.(Lots of details are available on the net)
A partially adventurous one- about 8kms from Madikeri. One needs to take a private bus from Madikeri to Kootpole. And hike for about 4 kms to reach the falls.
The most adventurous route(difficult)- trek through thick jungle lined by deep valley on one side and thorny bushes on the other side.(Will write about this one some other day)

“There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I choose to write about the 2^nd route- The closest to my heart..!!

It is in this route, that one has to cross a brook in order to reach the waterfalls. When I say a brook- it is not a small stream that you can jump across; especially during the monsoons. One needs to walk over a carefully laid wooden bridge holding tightly onto nothing more than a thin steel wire..!!

This is a bridge which is not meant for the tourists and that is why it continues to remain unknown. This bridge is actually one single tree kept across the river carefully. It was laid across with a purpose of providing accessibility to the nearby villagers who could not afford a taxi for daily commutation.

And among these villagers, the one who stands out is “The Superman- My Grandpa”. He is the sole man behind the existence of this bridge. From selection of the finest tree(neeredithakai Mara- in Kodava Thakk), to gathering labourers to pull it all the way up from his estate to the river bank and putting it across the rivulet(about 60 feet wide)- he is the only mastermind behind it all..!!

I recollect faint memories of sitting by the side and watching all this action as a little girl… Some 25 odd men pulling the tree up the sloppy estate, I lending a squirrel’s help with my tiny hands to my grandpa in his mission, getting a pat on my back for my hard work.. And once the bridge was done, I remember the days when grandpa used to hold my hands tight and teach me how to cross the river.. It just fills my heart with coldness…

: Walking over the wooden bridge

This bridge stands strong till date- even after bearing all seasons for more than two decades now.. It is become a part of the villagers’ everyday life… Though it was built with the idea of having easy access for grandpa to reach his estates every day, he did not restrict it only for himself. It was open for the public too, helping all the villagers living around this area. This truly stands out as a symbol of his greatness… And I miss him so much every time I walk this way or I hear of people speak of this great man..!!

Update as on 10-July-20:

The wooden brooke that connected worlds for so many decades is now gone. A concrete walk bridge is underway. Thanks to the lockdown due to Covid19, the work on the bridge has stopped and there exists none at the moment.

Stay tuned for updates….

Karnataka, Nature & Wildlife

Monsoon retreat- Jog falls

September 7, 2012 thelostlander Leave a comment

‘Jog’ is a charmer on all Karnataka tourism promotions. Why not? It’s the second highest waterfall in India after all! A glimpse of the mighty Jog at least once in a lifetime is an unwritten rule for every person born or living in Karnataka. And why not see it take a plunge in all its might? This exclusive visit could happen in no better time than the monsoons. So, my mother, brother and I planned this weekend trip to see the Jog. such that we could reach Shimoga by 6.00.a.m.

Our itinerary:
Day 0: Leave Bangalore to Shimoga (Overnight bus)
Day 1: Shimoga to Sagara (local transport), visit Linganamakki dam and hydroelectric project, The Jog falls, Tyarekoppa Lion & tiger safari. Return from Shimoga to Bangalore (overnight bus)

The details:
When we reached Shimoga in the morning, it was pouring not just cats & dogs, but also cows & buffaloes. A jeep’s ride had been arranged by my mother’s colleague to take us from Shimoga to Sagara town. The rains were so heavy that we could barely see the road ahead. With that, we would fall into just every other pothole that was covered under the flooded roads. Finally, we had managed to reach Sagara, the nearest accessible town to Jog falls.

Once there, we thought to see the Linganamakki Hydroelectric project that falls on the way to Jog. There also used to be a cable car ride down the reservoir that we were interested to go on. Unfortunately for us, our visit was timed just about when permission to visit the project was cancelled for some security reasons. Nevertheless, the view of the Linganamakki dam and the scenery around almost evened up for the miss.

Views of the Sharavati project around Jog falls — Top: the view of Sharavati valley; Below: The Linganamakki dam

And then, with an uphill drive of about six kilometers, we reached the place which was the sole motive of our travel from Bangalore. “The Jog”!! But, there was more disappointment awaiting us on our arrival. It was something that caused us total dismay…!!! The clouds paired up with thick mist had enshrouded the waterfalls completely. And our entire surrounding had just blanked out with mist. There was absolutely nothing in front of us except the mist and more mist… To top it all, it was raining cats and dogs. There was no Jog, nothing. ‘What an unfortunate day for us’, we thought and decided to return after a futile wait.

We turned our backs and started to walk towards the jeep with a heavy heart. As we did, I just happened to turn back and check on our luck with the waterfalls. And yes…. we were LUCKY…!! The mist was slowly clearing out… And we could faintly spot the Sharavathi streaming down in full action.

As we stood for two minutes more, the view was then all clear: The Mighty King (Raja), the Graceful Queen (Rani), the Thunderous Roarer and the Storming Rocket – YES… We saw them! We felt a great sense of achievement, very contrary to what we had felt just a couple of minutes ago. While we got some nice clicks, the mist enclothed the falls, back again. We waited for it to clear out to capture a few more photos because this time, we knew that the action was repetitive.

Jog falls in monsoon — Jog, from different view points

After a while we walked around to get different views of the falls. We went to the top of the waterfalls, walked down closer to the bottom of the waterfall, locatiosn from where we got the side view of the Jog, and so on… It was quite an adventure in itself to get around these difficult spots, especially considering the heavy rains and the slippery path. But, the excitement of getting to these locations was all worth the risk! After having an eyeful and heart full of ‘The JOG falls’, we decided to say good-bye to the place.

On our way back to Shimoga, we visited ‘Tyarekoppa Lion & tiger safari’. Along with spotting a lot of deer, sambars and peacocks, we also counted on the big cats like the lion and tigers on a safari ride. It wasn’t a typical safari you would have in the wild, but it was more like taking a ride inside a fenced enclosure. But, it is a well maintained place and great if you are travelling with children.

Tiger safari near Shimoga — Roarrr, a tiger at the safari

And that was all the time we had with us. We had almost reached the end of a fun day-Sunday and we boarded the bus back to Bangalore at night. We had to gear up for the crazy week that was awaiting us…

Conclusion: An experience of the monsoon in the western ghats and a glimpse of the Jog in the monsoon are retreats that should go into the bucket list of everyone visiting India.

Bangalore day trips, Indian Architecture, Karnataka

A Weekend Drive to Belur and Halebeedu

September 6, 2012 thelostlander 3 Comments

It was a Sunday morning and our family outing was fixed. We decided to take a day trip to Belur, Halebeedu and Shravanabelagola. These are places that I can NEVER get bored of visiting and can go over and over and over again. I prefer to write less in this post because I choose the pictures to speak for themselves.

‘Karnataka- is One State, many Worlds’.
-KSTDC, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation

As a part of an endless list of things that Karnataka has to offer to every traveler, are its unending list of historical and architectural monuments. With several kingdoms ruling over Karnataka at different points in history, the temple architecture in Karnataka doesn’t fail to get a ‘WOW’ even from a person not interested in art and history. And one such place that has always and always mesmerized me are the temples built by the Hoysalas. These temples are not as big in size as the grand Chola temples but aesthetically BRILLIANT and I run short of adjectives to describe their grandeur.

With the Hoysala style of architecture evolving over centuries, I take it quite seriously to visit and explore as many of these structures as possible.The erstwhile capital towns (now located in Hassan district) of the Hoysala empire hold the finest surviving examples of the Hoysala style today. Out of 900+ temples built across Central and South Karnataka, only around 400+ remain now many of which still need restoration and maintenance. Most of the now inexistent temples are believed to be destructed by the Delhi Sultanates in the 14th century and the remaining smaller ones bit into the dust due to apathy and negligence.

Our first place of visit for the day was Belur, or Velapura as it was called back in the time when it was the capital city of the Hoysalas. The Chennakeshava temple complex is a group of temples and the epitome of this style of art. This complex is located inside a walled fortress and has a tall Gopura at the entrance. For someone visiting it for the first time, the first look of the Gopura from the outside is quite deceitful of what is in store inside.

The Belur Chennakeshava temple complex — Hoysala structures within the Chennakeshava temple premises at Belur

Salient features of the Hoysala temples:
• Although the earliest Hoysala temples were made with the local sandstone, their finest temples are made by carving one of the hardest materials for making stone sculptures- the granite stone.
• The ceilings of the Hoysala temples have extremely intricate and multi-tiered mural designs.
• The pillars are lathe machined and mirror finished.

Murals at Chennakeshava temple complex — Friezes and murals at Chennakeshava temple, Belur

Fun Facts about the Hoysalas:
• Jakanachari is the revered master craftsman behind most of the marvelous temples of this era. Legend has it that he was however challenged by his own son, Dankanacharya about a possible flaw in the sculpture made by his father. Jakanacharilost the challenge when a toad and water emerged out of an idol made by him after which he cut-off his right hand as a symbol of submission to his son’s skill.
• Shantala, the wife of King Vishnuvardhana (One of the most prominent Hoysala ruler) was so mesmerised by the Sculptures of the dancing ladies carved here in different postures, it is believed that she used to dance with these Madalikes or ShilaBalikas in her dreams.

The capital of the Hoysalas was shifted from Belur to Halebeedu, then called Dwarasamudra. The Hoysaleshwara temple is the most prominent among all. The monolithic statue of Nandi here, is the sixth largest in the world.

The Hoysaleshwara temple at Halebeedu — Hoysala sculptural Art at Halebidu

Although our next destination is not a Hoysala hotspot, we decided to include it in our itinerary as it was just around. We headed towards Shravanabelagola, one of the most important pilgrimage sites for the Jains. Shravanabelagola has two hills- Chandragiri and Vindhyagiri. The twin hills offer a panoramic view of the surrounding plains. Chandragiri hill gets its name from Chandragupta, one of the greatest emperors of India who converted to Jainism, gave up all his worldly pleasures and is believed to have passed away on this hill. The statue of Bahubali/ Gomateshwara located on the Vindhyagiri hill is the largest monolithic stone statue in the World.

The statue of Gomateshwara at Shravanabelagola — The Gomateshwara Monolith statue

With this, I wind up with Part 1: of visiting the Hoysala temples. To put it in my words, I survived an ‘Art attack’ at Belur and Halebeedu.

Please do find a day to visit these places and you will not regret, trust me!

Bangalore day trips, Karnataka

A day out at Kaiwara

September 4, 2012 thelostlander 1 Comment

Our company has recently changed its working calendar and now, we have our weekly off on Wednesdays instead of Sundays. When I woke up this Wednesday morning, a weekend for me and when the rest of the world is working their asses off, halfway through their week… I sat wondering how I was going to kill the rest of the day amidst the four walls of my house, all jobless.

Then suddenly, I remembered a place that a friend had told me about, long ago. She had done her internship at ‘Kaiwara’ during the final year of her MBBS course. I jumped out of my bed and began to google for it. With lot of information available online, I was able to jort down a list of places to see in and around Kaiwara and with a quick route map. I dragged my mum along, pulled the car out of the garage and zooommm we went…….

List of Places covered:
Narayanapa Mutt; Bheemeshwara temple; Bheema baana Betta or Kaiwara Betta; Tapovana; Vaikunta betta; MahaKailasaGiri Betta; ChenaKeshava Cave Temple; Alambagiri Venkateshwara temple

The details:
It was around 09.00.a.m. when we started from Bangalore. We reached Devanahalli from where we took the Vijayapura bypass road. At an average speed of 60kmph, a drive of a good 45min from the Bengaluru airport is what it took us to reach Kaiwara.

As soon as one enters the Kaiwara town, a small lane on the left leads you to the Narayanappa ģMutt. This is where Saint Narayanappa attained ‘Jeeva Samadhi’ and the mutt is currently being managed by the M.S.Ramaiah trust. Half a kilometer away from the Mutt is the ‘Bheemeshwara temple’. This is where the mythology has it that Bheema killed Bakasura while the Pandavas were in exile. There is a group of small temples there, each named after the Pandavas within the same premises. Overlooking the Mutt is the Bheema baana Betta or Kaiwara Betta. We thought of skipping our visit there, considering the number of steps we had to climb up. Maybe a hike that I can plan for some other day.

We drove for one kilometer further and reached ‘Tapovana’, the place where Saint Narayanappa used to meditate, back in the days. There is a small garden around there, which can be given a miss if you wish. Few yards uphill from there, we reached the ‘Vaikunta Betta’. At the base of the hill is the ‘Amaranareyana Temple’ dedicated to Lord Vishnu built by the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana. With our climb upstairs, we reached the ‘Yoga Narasimha Temple’. The structure seemed to be ignored by the visitors. But we enjoyed the calm in this cave temple, believed to be the place where the Lord appeared in front of Narayanappa. The temple terrace had an excellent view of the entire town. A word of caution though: With too many monkeys around there, it was no monkey business.!!

A view from The Vaikunta temple — A view from the Vaikunta temple

We then commenced the best stretch of the drive. After an uphill drive of 5kilometers, we wondered how beautiful Mount Kailash (in the Himalayas) could be if the lesser known ‘MahaKailasaGiri Betta’ in Kaiwara was this beautiful. Atop the hill, is a set of newly chiseled man-made caves that houses 3 temples.

Unlimited food is provided to every pilgrim/visitor at KailasaGiri temple and the Mutt between 12.30.p.m and 3.00.p.m. So, we decided to hog some yummy temple food at Kailasa Giri itself. By this time, we had covered all the places I had enlisted in Kaiwara. But it was still 2.30.p.m and we had a lot of time left. While coming downhill, we decided to follow a signboard which indicated the way to ‘ChenaKeshava Cave Temple’. But it was quite a disappointment after reaching there. We could’ve probably skipped the visit to this place.

I then remembered someone mentioning about ‘Venkateshwara Temple’ in Alambagiri, located about 10kms from Kaiwara. The place is supposedly famous for Paper made handicrafts. So, we decided to explore this place too. But some renovation work in this ancient temple was in progress and there were absolutely no shops in that place (forget handicrafts stores). We were disappointed again by the unfruitful drive until there.

Alambagiri Venkateshwara temple (1) — Alambagiri Venkateshwara temple

As per google, there was ‘Ambaji Durga Cave temple’ 7kms away from Kaiwara, and we tried to enquire with a few locals about the place. But nobody seemed to have heard of it and hence, we thought of giving it a miss too. With this, we thought it was time for us to return back to where we belong to- The Bengaluru city.

Conclusion:

Kaiwara alone is a nice place to plan a drive with family or a group of biking friends. Though it was a small trip, it was a pleasant one.
Kaiwara is famous for silk rearing & weaving. You will come across several houses stacking up the cocoon rearing trays for most of your way. Maybe you should try to pick up some silk stuffs while you are there or get hands-on working experience at silk rearing.

Random rants, Tamil Nadu

The baby steps to Isha foundation

August 28, 2012 thelostlander Leave a comment

< 02-July-2012>

On one of usual walks at Sankey Tank.. there was this guy at the gate giving away handouts.. the groundnut(kadale-kai) hanging down the handout caught my attention and I stretched my hand out to get one…

Sri Sri Sadhguru Baba (Sorry.. I hadn’t heard of this name before.. my bad..!!) had his program on “Inner Engineering” sometime it read.. All this spirituality stuff is too much to take into my peanut sized brain.. But this fancy handout is the only reason that has inspired me to post this 😛

“Spirituality is belief in an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live. Spiritual practices are intended to develop an individual’s inner life. Spiritual experiences include being connected to a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self; joining with other individuals or the human community; with nature or the cosmos; or with the divine realm. Spirituality is often experienced as a source of inspiration or orientation in life. It can encompass belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of the world.”

Whoa….. that’s an extract from Wikipedia..

“If you do not get out of your shell, you’re just a nut”- This definitely makes sense…

#Update as on 15-may-2020

Someone who started small with this peanut marketing, is now one of the most influential persons in India and the world: Sri Jaggi Vasudev or fondly called as ‘Sadhguru’, the founder of the ‘Isha foundation’. Big milestones are achieved with small baby steps, indeed!

An iconic statue of Adiyogi Shiva’s bust (it holds the guiness record for being the largest bust sculpture) near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu is a ‘must go’ place on the list of those seeking spiritual cleansing.

For the adventure seekers, you can trek up the Velliangiri hills in the neighborhood while your spiritual accompanice can get enlightened at the Shiva temple atop, considered to be one of the holiest places in South India.

Bangalore day trips, Karnataka

Devanahalli- The town within a Fort

August 24, 2012 thelostlander 3 Comments

On a casual weekday off, dad and I decided to take a train trip to some random place on the fringes of Bangalore. So, with tickets that costed us Rs.4 per head, we headed towards the platform. We boarded the Yeswantapur-Devanahalli Passenger train. What surprised us what this train with 5 bogies had just 5 passengers, for a round trip. That makes it 1 passenger per bogie 😛

Anyway, the journey towards Devanahalli began and considering that the train still plied well within Bangalore, it felt like we were riding through some unknown green route. We alighted at Devanahalli Railway Station, a small structure from the colonial era (Updated as on Yr.2019, the structure doesn’t exist any longer. It has been demolished making way for a newer station that now welcomes modern passengers who alight here to go to the Bengaluru International Airport) We decided to undertake some exploration and started to walk towards the main town area of Devanahalli.

Places of interest:

Birthplace of Tipu Sultan, Fort Devanahalli, a few ancient temples located within the fortress.

The Details:

Enroute, we came across a large stepwell (the only memoir of an once existent temple) which was all dried up now. As we continued to walk further from there, we came across several ancient temples along our way.

Things to see in Devanahalli — An Old temple pond

Before the Bengaluru Airport was shifted to the neighbourhood of this little village, Devanahalli was already popular as the hometown of Tippu Sultan, often referred as the ‘Tiger of Mysore’. We arrived at a small mantap like structure which has an engraved stone that mentions it as the Birth place of this controversial ruler in South India. With this structure lying right by the side of the main road, it didn’t seem very exciting to me to think of whether this famous ruler was born by the road side (or so it seemed).

Tippu's Birth place — Tippu’s Birth place

As we continued to walk further, we came across a large walled structure. With rain water stagnating by its side, excavation waste from the city dumped at the entrance, unpaved dusty roads and all that, it seemed to me like it was a neglected piece of history with a first glance. As we passed through the super narrow doorway in this wall, we realized that we were entering a fortress.

After entering it, we decided to walk on a raised platform along the inner side of the fortress wall. It was a walk longer than we expected it to be and we soon realized that it is one whole town that actually exists within the walls of the fort. The actual ‘Devanahalli’ from the history books existed within the walls and what one knows around the highway is just an extension of the town that overgrew the walls due to the boom in real estate that followed the commencement of the airport.

But after walking so much around this place, it felt like there was nothing much in this place that spoke about Tippu’s valour that is often spoken about in history books.Talking about back in the time in history and with my experience of visiting Srirangapatna (a stronghold of Tippu & his father), Devanahalli as a town lacked development.We walked around the place till evening and were able to cover one half of the Fort. But, with that we had already exited from the other end of the town. We boarded a BMTC bus back to the city from there.

Closing Remarks:
• A good day for a jobless person like me seeking for offbeat places around the city
• It isn’t an exclusive place, but if someone has couple of hours of transit at the airport and don’t know what to do, this is an option. It is the nearest place to venture out in a taxi from the airport as Bengaluru city is too far to reach.

Kerala, Time Travel

Snake boating in LOL- Kerala

August 14, 2012 thelostlander 3 Comments

<11-Aug-2012>

After a lot of last minute hiccups, the planning of more than 3 months had finally materialised.. And there we were… At Allapuzha.

At 10.a.m we were on the stands looking out for a nice place which would give us a good view of the river. The 60^th Annual Nehru Boat Race was scheduled to start at 2.30.p.m. ‘The crowd had started to pour in from as early as 6.a.m., to get a good seat’, we were told.

Pam and I were sitting in the last row (We considered ourselves fortunate enough for getting chairs to sit).. Sam had ventured out of our stands to get some good photographs and to find a better corner seat for all of us.

Just then, this gang of 6 huge Malayali men dressed in their white Lungis came in and stood behind us.. They pushed our chairs forward so that they could accommodate a few more chairs on the already crammed podium. We barely had space to keep our legs and we were wondering what they were upto. Without knowing the language, we only ended up giving them some wild stares. Pam belted out a few words in Kannada.

Next thing we saw was: Each of these men placing biiig hand bags in between their legs, covered by their lungis and each- pulling out a bottle of local brew (the tags on the bottle indicated that it was pure-strong-local). They pulled out a glass from their bag and poured the drink and gulped it all down RAW in the blink of an eye (It was faster than that of one drinking water). And then… One of them started to utter something to us- From the fact that he had just finished a bottoms up and the tone of his speech, we knew for sure that we were being verbally abused. Although with my little knowledge of the language, I managed to understand a few swears, I instructed Pam not to react. We would surely be outnumbered by men there, in God’s own country. Like a call from God himself- Sam called us to inform us that he had found a better place for all of us to sit. We vacated the spot in the very same minute.

On the way, Pam walked upto a cop and said, “Those men in the last row there, are boozing; Each man is carrying at least a bottle which they are not supposed to possess in a public gathering”. The cop replied an apologetic “OK, OK Sir, We will look into it” and walked off as if Pam had just spoken to deaf ears.

We met Sam and just as we were narrating the scene to him- We saw 2 more men carrying handbags and settling down right beside us. And soon they pulled out a bottle each, bottoms up, gobbled up some minced beef and then started cheering at the water in front of them, where the race was yet to begin. Even before we reacted, Sam pointed at the platform onto our left. More than 10 men were repeating the same procedure- handbags covered by lungis- bottoms up- cheer out loud. And then we looked behind at the gallery- and we were like “What the F***…??”. Every lungi fellow had a glass in his hand..!!! And then we knew, the exact reason for getting such a vague response from that cop. The Policemen were clearly outnumbered by those drunkards and that seemed like quite a normal phenomenon to the cops to take any action. And we too quickly learnt to live with it..!! Soon, the crowd of drunkards increased and also the excitement.

And.. The boat race had a roaring start with a lot of frenzy and madness.. We too were at the peak of our excitement.. And suddenly this scuffle started between 2 groups. The next thing we saw was random people being thrown into the river by random people… Typical to any Indian movie, the cops gave a late entry. They arrived in speed boats and pulled out a couple of them from the water and sped away..

The below picture shows:

A hard core fan who watched the match sitting on a coconut tree from 10.a.m to 7.00.p.m.
A drunk fan standing on a pole and cheering for his team whose limbs finally gave way into the water after 5hrs.
Another bunch of fans seated in the gallery who are supporting themselves by holding onto the electric lines.