Angsana Oasis Spa & resort.
A couple of weeks ago (Feb 2009) I had been to Angsana Spa, on Doddaballapur road. This was no pleasure trip though… it was for an offsite training and team meeting. Angsana is located in a residential gated community called ‘Northwest Country’, a Prestige group property. There are a couple of villas in some of [...]
My brush with the ‘Yamdoot’ :-)
There are bikes that I love, there are bikes that I hate… and then there is a bike that I respect – The Yamaha RD350 aka the Rajdoot RD350; or the ‘Yamdoot’ as it was nicknamed in India. The RD350 is not something that you can buy off the shelf, it is a part of [...]
The Elephant & the Tiger – Hathi Bhata & Ranthambore trip.
It was the 19th of December 2011. We had just come back from the big trip around Rajasthan. Vani & Aish had taken the flight back to Bangalore the previous evening. Sangeetha & me still had a few more days of vacations left and we scanned through our list of ‘must see places in Rajasthan’. [...]
Abhaneri, Rajasthan – A Sunday Drive from Jaipur…
Step wells (Baoris) are fascinating. In the days past, not only were they sources of water; they were also used as rest houses by weary travelers, as temples and as community centers. Gujarat and Rajasthan have some of the best step wells in India. We had seen some amazing ones at Adalaj, Patan and Modhera [...]
Internet can be FUN !
Check out my small video first . . . Internet is FUN ! Especially if you are on a reliable and efficient network. A network that follows, wherever you go… Our story is from a few months ago; December 2011 to be precise. It was more than six months since we had [...]
Is this most haunted place in India ? – Bhangarh, Rajasthan.
Just Google for ‘the most haunted places in India’ and Bhangarh features on almost all the pages and lists that pop-up. There are all sorts of stories on the net about ghostly encounters, visitors who disappeared and other paranormal activity at Bhangarh. Bhangarh had been on our list of places to see from quite some [...]
Adalaj, Modhera, Patan & Sidhpur – Vav, vav – Wow!
* Vav = ‘Step-well’ in Gujarati. Once upon a time, when Doordarshan was the only channel on TV, I had seen a Gujarati movie on a Sunday afternoon. It was Ketan Mehta’s "Bhavni Bhavai"- starring Naseeruddin Shah & Smita Patil. Based on a Gujarati folk tale, some significant scenes from the movie were shot in [...]
Trekking in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Thoovanam Waterfalls.
One fine morning, opened my inbox to see our old friend Chandrashekar’s mail proposing a weekend trek for the 4th & 5th of July 09. This time the destination was the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS). Fired up the browser to check out what Chinnar was all about… I had heard about Chinnar sometime in the [...]
Belum Caves, 1 day , 700kms.
This is a trip from 2007, dug up from the archives. I lost quite a few pics and videos from this trip when my laptop hard-disk crashed and only a few pics could be retrieved. Going on to the travelogue: Ever since I moved to Bangalore in 2001, I have been doing the Bangalore-Hyderabad route [...]
Chennai and Kanchipuram
There was a wedding in the family and plans were made for a trip to Chennai. Not being much of a crowd person, I did have second thoughts about joining in for the trip… but the temptation of a long drive on the GQ was too irresistible and I opted in. We left on the [...]
Hampi – The city of victory…
Over the past couple of decades, both Sangeetha & me have been to Hampi several times – as part of our school trips, during our college days, with family and friends… But given the fact that there is so much to see, you can go there on multiple occasions and each time you’ll see something [...]
Weekend drive to Srikalahasti.
Looks like this is a season of weekend drives for me! Some pre-planned, some unexpected… On 8th & 9th Aug 09, we did a weekend trip to Srikalahasti near Tirupati. My in-laws had a pooja vow to complete there and had planned to go by train. But tickets were on the 3 digit WL even [...]
5 years with the Xing…
Our Santro ‘Xing’ completed 5 years and 1,00,000 kms in 2010. . . 5 really pleasurable years! I don’t think a very detailed ownership report is required since there are 100s of reports out there for the Xing. So just a small note on the experience so far. During all our trips, not once did [...]
Masinagudi, Ooty and Coonoor.
Map Source: Google maps. Just Google around and you’ll find 1000s of travelogues about Ooty. If you are in the southern part of India, Ooty is considered as one of the ‘must see’ places on the tourist circuit. Now, is Ooty actually worth visiting? Does it live up to all the hype?? These are questions [...]
Kadapa, Pushpagiri, Gurramkonda & Horsley hills.
We had just come back to Bangalore late on the night of 30th September 2009 after driving around for over a week in Tamilnadu and this trip was from the morning of 2nd Oct to the evening of 4th Oct… So two back to back trips. The main high-lights of this trip were visiting Pushpagiri [...]
Temples of Tamilnadu – 2009 Big trip – Part II
This is Part II of the 2009 Big trip where we covered the Temples of Tamilnadu. >>>Part I of the 2009 Big trip – covering Andaman & Nicobar, Port Blair & the Havelock Island trip is at this link The long drive part of the trip started from the 24th of Sep 09. The route [...]
7 days of driving around Karnataka – Temples, Hills, Forests, Caves, Ruins, Forts and Highways
The three of us returned on 2nd Jan after another wonderful road trip! [Sanjay, Sangeetha & Santro ] We started out at around 7.00am on the 27th of December and parked back at 10.30pm on 2nd Jan 09, making it a 7 day trip around Karnataka.. 7 days of sheer driving pleasure. Day 1 – [...]
Hathi Singh Temple, Sidi Saiyyed Mosque & a Haveli in Ahmedabad.
Ever since I landed on the IIMA campus in April 2010, life has been mostly following a regular pattern. A normal day revolves around the classroom, dining hall, syndicate-room and the hostel-room… An occasional ‘highlight’ in the routine would be a visit to the Big Bazaar @ Himalaya mall. After stumbling through yet another hectic [...]
The shore temples of Mahabalipuram
In early 2007, we had to go to Chennai over a weekend for a family function; this was the first time that me and Sangeetha were visiting Chennai together. After the function we had some time on hand and post lunch we headed out to Mahabalipuram, which is included in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage [...]
Flying High – Ballooning @ Jaipur.
26.10.2011, Jaipur was celebrating Diwali… and we celebrated it in a different way. We went Ballooning ! There are very few places in India where Ballooning happens regularly; luckily Jaipur is one of them. Since Ballooning requires favorable wind conditions and relatively plain land to operate safely, it is a seasonal activity and is conducted [...]
