The legend of the Golden Garland – Gandi Kshetram
Route map: " Sri Anjaneya at Gandi Kshetra … On the right bank is the temple of Veera Anjaneya situated in serine atmosphere presenting a picturesque scene. The legend of how the temple of Lord Anjaneya had come to being here is very interesting. During the Ramayana period Sri Vayudeva was on mediation here. Sri [...]
Chembra Peak, Meenmutty waterfalls, Himavad Gopalaswamy betta.
This is a trip from March 1st & 2nd 2008, which I dug up from the archives. Infact the main reason why I started to write these travelogues is that within a few months of a trip, the memories slowly begin to fade and the story behind each pic gets fuzzier and fuzzier. I also [...]
A Tra’Village’ – Farmhouse visit.
This is not a full-fledged travelogue, but a small collection of photos from a weekend trip. Put up to capture some memories from a recent village visit. Last Sunday (24th Jan 2010) we visited a farm-house owned by a relative of one of Sangeetha’s colleagues. We were accompanied by another colleague of her’s from the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 – [...]
5am to 5am – Uchangidurga, Santhebennur, Shantisagara, Koolahalli, Bagali
Synopsis of the trip: Started from BLR at 5am on 2nd Aug 09. Returned to BLR at around 5am on 3rd Aug 09. Total distance covered on the Odo: 823kms Main places visited: Huchangidurga, Santhebennur, Shantisagara, Hallimallapura, Davanagere, Kulahalli & Bagali. With Sangeetha off to Chennai for a couple of days, I had planned to [...]
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 [...]
Havelis & Mosques – Ahmedabad old city
Sangeetha was in Ahmedabad during the weekend of 26th & 27th June 2010. That weekend, we took some time off to visit a couple of places in and around Ahmedabad. After covering Adalaj, Modhera, Patan and Sidhpur on the 26th (That is a seperate travelogue), we went around to see a few places in Ahmedabad [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Bhoot bungalow trip – ACMCC Trip II
The last time around I had a Bhoot Bungalow experience was in June 2009 when Sangeetha and I went for a trek into the core area of the Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary in Tamilnadu. Since it was right in the middle of the monsoons, camping in the open was ruled out and we had to spend [...]
HAL Aerospace Museum & Heritage Center. Bangalore.
Gave the Xing for service. After a ‘not so good’ experience with my regular service center last time, I decided to head over to the Advaith service center in Whitefield for this service. Left home post breakfast and reached Whitefield by around 10.00am. Gave the service rep a list of stuff that needed to be [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Shivaganga, a sunday in the sun.
First the basics: [1] This is a good one-day weekend trip from Bangalore. Total distance from Airport road to Shivaganga and back was 142kms on the odo. [2] Only equipment needed will be a pair of sneakers for a comfortable walk [people even climb up barefoot or in normal footwear], caps, sun-glasses and a liter [...]
Little Rann of Kutch Wild Ass Sanctuary & Rann Riders resort – Dasada.
IIMA had organized a Leadership Development workshop for the PGPX students over the weekend of 3rd and 4th October 2010. The venue was the Rann Riders resort in Dasada village, Gujarat. The village of Dasada is a few minutes drive from the entrance of the Little Rann of Kutch Wild Ass Sanctuary. The Rann Riders [...]
A DIY (Damp It Yourself) story: DynaMat, FonoMat…Yoga-Mat ????
Normally I listen to music in my car with the volume set at ‘sane’ levels. But once in a while I get this urge to crank up the volume towards the ‘are you deaf?’ mark for a song or two. I don’t use a sub-woofer, but with a custom amp set-up and good speaker boxes, [...]
Tirumala, Tiruchanoor, Vellore and Sripuram.
Parkinson’s Law goes something like "Work expands to fill up all available time" and so it had been for the last couple of months. With work often spilling over into the weekends, we had not gone out for any serious long drive after our Hoysala Temple trip in March 09. It was also around two [...]
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 [...]
