Eagleton, the golf resort

8, May 2009

The summer of May could not dampen our spirit of Going out and having a fun filled day.

Eagleton, the golf resort, is located around 25 km. We have to take a detour after the famous kaadumane hotel, Mysore road to reach the resort, which in my guess, is the largest resort that I have visited (Even bigger than the Club Cabana, Yalahanka). As the name suggests the the main attraction of the resort is the big golf course.
I caught the company bus at Satelite bustand at 8:00am. Onboard, bus is already bustling with fun and froll. Our original plan of having breakfast at Kaadumane was cancelled and we headed straight to resort. 8:45am we were at the resort. We passed the large lobby at the resort to head to the food court, facing the golf course, to have breakfast. The variety of food and view was just impressing.

A few team activities,in a nearby hall, was the last this that we did according to plan. After which we were free birds!! Till lunch we could taste all the games that was provided for us. TT, badminton, cricket, squash, Foosball, carom and of course cricket. But, I spent most of time playing squash and mastered a bit of Foosball. The resort has good swimming pool near to the play area. Some of friends even tried golf, which was Rs.400 per basket.
We were back at food court at 1pm for the lunch. Nice delicious food served, and had our food at a nearby air conditioned dining room to beat the heat. The lunch is followed by some fun team activities like collage, dumshadarts. After a cup of coffee we were back at bus to head back to Namma Bengaluru.

We reached Satellite bus-stand at around 6pm.

We: whole team at atyati
Distance: around 50km
Transport : My Pulsar, Bus.

Nandi betta and ghaaTi subramanya.

8.15am 4, April 2009

The hot summer cross country bike ride!! The BW3Rocks came together once again to finish the unfinished terrain, the Nandi Hills.

After much postponement and lots of fight :) , we packed our bag on a Saturday morning to head on Hyderabad road. The ride began at 8:15am after a quick breakfast at Upahara Sagar. We exited the city on the new airport road. To our surprise the road is widened to accommodate airport traffic. With a bit of confusion we made a quick visit to the new Airport. A neat infrastructure project to see from outside. We just made a fly-by visit and joined the Hyderabad road to head to Nandi Hills. The heat just started to rise and taking a toll on our skin!!

We reached Nandi Hills at 11am (84km). There is provision to park the bike inside, bu we thought it better to keep the bike outside. After taking a entry ticket we headed on barefoot to reach the top of the Hill. A temple dedicated to lord Narasimha is located at the center. After the divine darshan we spent some time on the edge of the hill that is facing the B'lore city(i suppose so). We also visited the Tippu drop, where the thief were pushed to death, in Tippus time!! We almost reached the edge, where according to guide it is up to 1000ft. There is a guest house of Tippu Sultan at the entrance of Nandi Hills.

We left the Hills at 12:30pm. We headed to to Ghati Subrahmanya. We choose a interior road to save the distance. We reached Ghati Subrahmanya temple at 2:15pm (29km from Nandi) Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Narasimha are carved on the same stone back to back, Subrahmanya being on the front. A mirror is used to see the Lord Narasimha. After spending few time we headed back to B'lore via Doddaballapur. We stopped at a hotel near Yalahanka to have lunch. Finally, reached Namma Bengaluru at 6:15pm with tanned skin!!

We : Me, Bhatta, RV, Jaanesha, Putta, Mote, Santhya, Cherry
Bike : Bajaj Pulsar, Discoverer, Yamaha FZ, Honda Activa
Distance : 180km

Bangara Tirupathi and Kotilingeshwara Temple

6:30pm 9, March 2009

What better way to spend a leave of Holi on a trip nearby Kolar Gold Field?

On a visit to my relatives place at KGF, I had the opportunity to visit few places namely koTi Lingeshwara and Bangara Tirupathi.
I caught the evening train to KGF from Byappanahally at 6:30pm, directly from office. Surprisingly ticket price is still only Rs.13! bit more than a plat of bhelpuri outside!! The train was full with people returning from their work to KGF. It seems more than 10,000 people commute between Kolar, KGF daily on these trains. I alighted the train at Oorgaum station, which is inside the KGF at 8:45pm. The small town, which was once the gold capital of British empire has three station. Electricity(Shimsha) and train were first came to here before it reached other parts of Modern India. But now after the mining stopped the town looks silent.

My visit co-insided with the KGF Jaathre, the annual rath festival of the Venkateshwara temple. The town was decorated with all kinds of light to welcome the God. After having our dinner we went for a stroll around to see the festivities on a lightly drizzling night.

4:30pm 10th March 2009
Evening we went on bike ride to Bangaru thirupathi(also called Guttally) (via Kotilinga, Betha Mangala on Mulbagalu-V.Kota route. 16km from KGF). Mythologically, God Venkateshwara gave darshan to Rishabha Muni at this place. It is a replica of original Thirupathi and since it is near to Kolar Gold Field, they named it Bangara Thirupathi. A temple dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara is present on top of the hill.The granite temple has small window to see the main deity. A nearby temple is dedicated to Goddess Padmavathi. We could see the papanaashanam just like the one in Tirumala. After spending few time, we started our jorney back.

We could see the Kotilinga on the main road. As we had already visited the place earlier, horage kai mugidu continued our journey. It has many lingas placed across a large area. The main Linga is visible from outside. They have placed the lingas on both sides of the road to make the count to 1 Crore :)

Evening 6.30pm we were back in KGF. The outskirt is lined with mud piles of mines. The remainig sledge from the ore is piled up across the town, after the gold is extracted. It is so well planned that it looks like a fort across the town. Next day morning I caught the bus to B'lore at 6:30am reached at 8:30am.

We : Myself and Prasanna
Bike : Bajaj CT100
Distance : 32km

Melukote (ಮೇಲುಕೋಟೆ)

೨೫, ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ ೨೦೦೮ 25, Dec 2008

The Bajaj bike family came together to explore one more place. This time, it was Melukote.

The chilly winter weather with cool breeze, the warm sunlight added the glitz to the ride. The trip started at 8:30am on Christmas day with morning tiffin planned at Shivapura(Maddur) at our friend Giri's hotel. We reached Maddur at 10:00am(87km from B'lore). After bitti oota(free food), we took a butti too for lunch!! One quick pit-stop at his house we started our onward journey to Mandya. We visited a jaggery processing unit(ಆಲೆ ಮನೆ) on way. They will show the whole process from sugar cane crushing - mixing of sunna - heating to make it solid jaggery. (You can taste it too but it comes at a price!)

We reached the Melukote at noon (around 150km from B'lore) and had a quick darshan of the main deity Cheluvanarayana Swamy, which is in the middle of the town.(closing time - 1:00pm) The granite stone structure is in resemblance to the hoysala architecture, with some fine carvings. We visited the ruins of a Gopura (Gopal Raya gate - In movie Guru, the song Barso Re, is picturized here), Akka-Thangi kola, Heritage house of famous Kannada poet Pu Ti Narasimhachar.

Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple was next in the list. It is located on hill top, which we can climb on the granite stone steps. As the temple was about to close (closing time - 2:00pm) we had a quick darshan of this deity as well. We spent some time looking at the panoramic view from the top of the hill. The whole Melukote still dotted with red-tiled houses unspoiled by the new RCC buildings. We had our lunch at the pushkarni which is near the hill. As far as I can recollect it is one of the largest water ponds that I have seen(Many Rajnikanths movies are shot here). It is completely covered with mantapas all corners. We had our lunch at Bhuvaneshwari Mantapa at the right side of the entrance. It is having 8 sides with some nice carvings.

We started our journey back at around 3pm.(We dropped our plans of visiting Shravana Belagola - 30km from Melukote- as it was getting late). Had a second round of tiffin at Giri's hotel and left for B'lore. It was a night ride for the first time and reached room at 8:00pm.

Even though it was a bit long journey it was good to see few new places after a long time. The country side, the nature, few temples, the ride and friends are just refreshing.

Click Here to get more info about Melukote.

ಮತ್ತೆ ಕಂಡಳು ಅವಳು, ಕಾಡುವ ಕಣ್ಣಿನವಳು*

We: Me, Shashi, Giri, Santhya, Cherri.
Bikes: Bajaj XCD, Discoverer 135, Pulsar 150.
Distance Covered 300km
* Thanks to Anoop Chandrachar for writing such beautiful quotes!

Trekking @ ಶಿವಗಂಗೆ (Shivagange)

9:00am 11, October 2008

The quick planning on Friday night and we were heading north this time on the Tumkur Road.

Vidyarthi Bhavan
Our schedule got changed on Saturday morning as we woke up late ;) We planned a breakfast at Vidyarthi Bhavan on Gandhi Bazaar, a typical Udupi style hotel, the morning crowd was showing its popularity! It was a hotel of its kind, in the way the waiters bring the masala dosa. Stomach full we were on our bike and started the journey forward at 9:00am. The speciality of this trip was addition of a Honda Activa to our riding club and it was comparable in performance to our Bikes!! After a lazy start on the Bangalore traffic we were off to the Nelamangala(10:30am 42km). The toll road between Nelamangala and Tumkur is the drivers delight. My pulsar touched 95kmph without much effort!! We reached Dabaspet(53km) and finally Shivagange (60km) at 11:30am.

Lets the Trekking begin

Small gopura welcomes you to Shivagange, a small sleepy village with few houses. There are few temples on the way as you start climbing the hill. Honnadevi temple, Olakal Theertha (Where you have to put your hands inside a small hole and if you are lucky enough, you will be able to touch the water!! Strange Myth). Till here it was very easy climbing. Our trekking started from here. Halfway it is mud and granite hill and the other half is only large granite boulders. A mother carrying her small son on her shoulders, inspired us to complete the climb. The final ascent is really mind blowing with a 90° climb on small granite carved steps. At around 1:00pm we were on ground zero. There is a small temple of Giri Gangadhareshwara. There is another single stone Nandhi carved out of the granite. It looks like it is being placed on a granite pillar :) People of all age groups could be seen climbing the hill. You will be accompanied by monkeys on the whole trekking. Juices(water) and snacks available en route in many spots. The cool breeze on the top made us to forget the tiredness of the climb. The descent was quick and we were at the base camp in half an hour. Bidding adieu to Shivagange at 2:00pm we were on our journey back and had lunch at a roadside Daba.

The NICE road...

We wanted to avoid the traffic on Tumkur road and took the NICE road instead. The newly constructed 4 lane road took our breath away. The drizzling rain multiplied the riding experience on the express way. Highlight was my Pulsar touching 100kmph. We had to criss cross Magadi Road, Mysore Road, and finally the Kanakapura road(Total distance 30km). We got off at the Kanakapura road and joined the melee called B'lore traffic. We reached room at 5:30pm

ನಮ್ಮೂರ ನೊಡಲು ಚಂದ.....

We: Avinash, Girish, Naveen, Santhosh, Sathish, Shashidhar
Transport: Activa, Pulsar, XCD
Distance Covered - 150km

Tirumala Tirupathi Venkatesha...

13, July 2008

On the back drop of my cousins marriage we had the chance to visit Tirupathi.
It was my second trip to Tirupathi, but first in train. The Tirupathi passenger reached Tirupathi at 6:00am (Left Majestic, b'lore at 8:30pm - One of the longest journey :( route to Tirupathi ) And went to Tirumala engaing a maxi cab(Tirupathi - Tirumala 22km). After getting fresh we engaged the same cab to visit places around Tirupathi. We visited Hanuman Statue, Kapila theertha, ISCKON temple, Srinivasa Mangapuram, Padmavathi Ammam, Sri Kalahasthi(Pictures down in order. Tirupathi - Kalahasti 33km). It was good fun to tour around with cousins and relatives.

14, July 2008
The next day early morning we had Timmappa Darshan (AAD- Archana Anantha Darshanam 6:00am). The remaining day was spent on attending the marriage. We left Tirumala amid heavy rain to catch the Mysore Passenger train at 9:30pm, which will take us back to Bangalore.

Kaaveriya Madilalli...

6:30am 27, October 2007

On a chilly winter morning of October our Sumo was zipping on the majestic Mysore road. The following two days were memorable as we went off to see the most beautiful places on the banks of river Kaveri. The rain god was playing hide and seek through-out the trip, though never came in our way!!

The planning was done my chikkappa and one more chikki & Co. joined the trip. The small crowd of two family and my cousin added glitter to the trip. First place to visit was the Dodda Aladamara about 10-15 km from Kengeri off Mysore road. The road had gone completely bad and the driver had to virtually drive on water clogged road because of rain. It was 7:15am when we reached there. A tree of 400 years history and a temple was quite interesting to watch. After spending some time we were off to next place via Chennapattana, Madduru and Mandya.

Srirangapatna
After having small break at Madduru to pack Madduru vaDa, we reached SrirangapaTTaNa at around 9:30am. After cleaning our self :) in the river Kaveri (Anjaneya Temple) we went to the Bailey's Dungeon, a place where prisoners were held in the time Tipu Sultan. The Temple: The abode of Ranganatha Swamy has a history of several centuries. The hoysala architecture is festival to eye. The Ranganatha swamy in shesha shayana form brought the memories of my visit to SriRangam in Trichy (Apr 2003). Then we headed to the Daria Daulat, the summer palace of Tipu Sultan. A well maintained small palace in the center of a big garden (called Daria Daulat Bhaugh). We could see the Jumma Masjid and the place where Tipu was killed on the way to Daria Daulat. We missed Tipu sulthan tomb (Which I covered later when I visited the same place with my Team a month later: Mausoleum Of Tipu Sulthan and his family members in the middle of a lush green garden)

Ranganathittu
11:00 am -12:00 noon
Protected bird Sanctuary with boating facility at 12km from Srirangapatna. We had to be satisfied with watching only a few birds, as it was not a breading season.(Breading season is Jan-March something). The boating was fun with constant fear of alligator!! The few bird varieties were White Ibis (Japan), Red Wittled Livington, river turn, stone plower, spoon bill. Having enjoyed the boat ride, we were off to our next part of the journey.

Mysore - Zoo, Palace and KRS
Reached Mysore at 12:15pm and headed straight to Zoo (12:30 to 2:30). Quick lunch at nearby hotel and we were next to the majestic Mysore palace. My cousin, who is studying in Mysore too joined us. For our luck, we had the chance to see the Chair of Mysore Kings, Simhasana and the Golden Houda, on which idol of the goddess chamundeswari is carried during dasara. We also visited the museum nearby. Evening we headed Brindavan garden and the KRS dam (6:30pm - 7:45pm). The highlight of the evening was music fountain watched by thousands at Brindavan garden. We booked a dormitary at Royale Lodge near to St. Philomena's church and I went to have a quick look at the Shashi's hostel in Mysore. Finishing dinner there, I headed back to lodge. The day came to an end at 10:00pm

Mysore - Chamundi Betta
8:00am 28, October 2007
Before the starting of the second day, saw the the St. Philomena's church, one of the oldest church in Southern India. Next, on the outskirts of the city (6km) we headed for the Chamundi betta and had the divine darshan of Goddess Chanmundeshwari and the biggest Nandi statue. We had our breakfast at a roadside hotel on way to Nanjanagudu.

Nanjanagudu

10:00am-11:00am
Another beautiful place 25km away from Mysore, is the temple dedicated to the Lord Nanjundeshwara. The Brown colored gopura was the start attraction.

Talakkad
12:30pm
On a rugged road we reached Talakkad via T. Narasipur and engaged a guide to show the place. It was a place with great historic and mythological importance. The remains of a old Temple, acres of sand dunes in the middle of fertile land, a number of temples , the story associated with, all were all very exciting. Having lunch at the "house-cum-hotel" we headed for the Sangama at around 2:30pm. It is the confluence of river Kaveri and another river. River Kaveri flows very shallow here and is ideal to take bath and play around.
Shivanasamudram
Last leg of our tour included the visit to the falls formed by river Kaveri. 30 km from Talakkad on the way to Kollegala, we reached first of the two falls. It is called the Bharachukki (3:30pm). We had to walk down to reach the bottom of the fall, where river was falling with all its might. It is one of the widest falls that I had ever seen. There were theppa's available for a stroll, but we did not have time to experience it :(Nearby we have the Gaganachukki falls(4:30pm) which falls from a very high point. It has two views, one behind a Mosque and another near man made viewing point. We preferred the former, which had the choice of getting down to the water. Spending some time in the water we headed back to our Sumo(5:00pm), which will take us back to Bangalore. Final journey was around 125 km and we passed Malavalli (6:00pm) Madduru (7:15pm) and reached bangalore at 8:15pm. Having dinner at a hotel on the Ring Road, we reached home at 8:45pm.
It was coincidence that we visited many places which were associated with river Kaveri: Srirangapatna and Ranganthittu gloried on the river Kaveri, Mysore where it is in the stagnant form, in Dam. Talakkad, it just disappears and again come back in Sangama, in Peaceful form. In Shivana Samudra it falls in two different places. Finally in B'lore where it comes in Tap :)

The smell of the paddy fields and scenic mountains in the distance, the cloudy weather and the cool breeze, small villages, the cattles ,was appearing as if it was calling us...ಮರಳಿ ಬಾ ಕಾವೇರಿಯ ಮಡಿಲಿಗೆ.... (maraLi Baa.... Kaveriya Madilige)