North India Tour – Day 1, Delhi

So finally I got some time to write about my recent trip to North India for 5 days…….am always bit late in posting my  travelogue’s :(….hope it will change in this new year……

Why North India- Being an south Indian,  me and my family haven’t explored much in Northern India. So we have decided this time, either trip to North India or no where. It’s a completely new place for us, So whats the best time to visit ? Season : Non-Season. As per my past experiences in other places,  I will never plan anything in Season(especially during public holidays) , it will be damn crowded everywhere. You will not really feel the vacation during that time. So I planned it in mid-november (no public holidays) and as planned everything went well accordingly except few blocking’s. Being a 5 day tour that too completely unknown places we need to plan/book everything in well advance. No matter how advance you plan there will be always some hidden things come into picture in the last minute and what to do we need to dealt with it.  I work in Bangalore but my parents live Vizag so we started from there. unfortunately I didn’t get much deals in flights this time so we need to adjust train journey.

Places Covered : Delhi, Haridwar,Risikesh,Binsar, Nainital, Jageshwar – Other alternative’s as per my experience Delhi-Mussoorie-Haridwar, Risikesh. You can even get so many tour packages for these places. These regular group tours will be operated mostly in season, So beware before of booking in non-season as it may cancel anytime if tourist count is less in non-season. It it is an individual we can book it any time but with more price.

Day 1…..

Ok we landed in Delhi on very early morning of Monday, It’s too cold out there with full of fog everywhere and suddenly there is a sudden rush from Taxi drivers asking for pickup/drop to hotel and it’s bit difficult to handle them patiently. Luckily we have our own pickup arranged by Hotel guys itself. So we checked into hotel. After having breakfast we just inquired about 1 day city tour itinerary which we booked in advance. But thing is we booked individual cab though there is group tour with guide available. Due to less count in group tour they asked us to join in group tour at same price. We are even fine with it. Coming to itinerary, its Monday and few important places(lotus temple, Red Fort) will remain close on Monday in Delhi and we don’t know that earlier , but wat to do, we need to live with that.  Places covered in Delhi are India gate, Birla Temple, Humayun’s tomb, Qutub Minar, Rajghat and some other temples as well. Overall everything went well though we missed Redfort which we covered on our last day of tour. …..All these places below may have different entrance fee’s which will not be covered by tour operators mostly.Here are few clicks from day 1 in Delhi….hope you like it

Shravanabelagola and Hoysala Temples

One day trip to Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebidu. Recently my cousin visited me in Bangalore after a long time during his semester break. His main intention is to explore the Bangalore city but since he is new to city he didn’t roamed much without me and I have got time only in weekend. So that’s why we decided to go to some surrounding tourist places around Bangalore in weekend. We did a lot of research on places but none of it worth in a short span, because most of the places requires a more days and people to have fun like trekking. Luckily through one of the travelogue we found about this one day trip to Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halibeedu.

I heard about these places but never visited, that’s it we fixed on it. And I was quite amazed that we can cover all those 3 places in 1 day with the help of KSTDC(a state tourism board). If you don’t have proper time to plan and travel, this is best one for you .Trip is simple no need to plan anything from your side rather booking a ticket, rest all they will take care. we booked it for Sunday through online, though it was showing Normal, AC, Volvo buses. Currently they are operating only 2 types of buses that is normal Deluxe in weekdays and Deluxe AC on weekend Sunday. Don’t expect much from the bus as it is not a Volvo. And one draw back here is they don’t have any other pickup points anywhere in city and we need to reach Badam house by early morning 6:30 AM. If you have vehicle its fine or else you should start bit early to reach on time. They are also having some other 1 day trips like Mysore, Hogennikal and all. I never expected those many people for these trips. Bus is full and we started to Shravanabelagola as starting place. In between around 8:30 AM they will give you a 1/2 hour break for breakfast in one of their KSTDC hotels.

Since its mid of monsoon the route is picturesque fully surrounding with coconut trees and other plantation. It’s bit cloudy and we enjoyed the drive like anything. Just in 1 hour we reached the small village called Shravanabelagola where you will see all these huge Jain Constructions of Bahubali and other few Jain rulers.

After reaching the main spot the bus conductor came gave us a small info like where to start and how to come back and also he gave us 1hr time to cover that entire place which is very less for that place. And here is few pics from the place….

 

 

After Shravanabelagola we started back to Belur which comes under Hassan district. In between we had a break about 1 hour for having lunch in one of their hotels in Belur.After having food we visited one of the Hoysala Temple is Belur.

This temple is one of the finest example of Hoysala architecture which is completely dedicated to Lord Chennakesava(Vishnu). And this entire construction is not done separately with any material separately rather it was completely rock-cut into those shapes. Means they will take a big stone and carve that into those shapes.The two main persons who contributed most in this construction are Amarashilpi Jakana and his son Dakana. As per the guide it took nearly 100 years to complete this temple. And it was said that Belur Temple is treated as a complete finished temple where as Halebidu which is 15 KM away from Belur is not fully complete one.

Belur is more good from inside where as Halebidu was more good at outside. Our guide explained each and every design/carvings in and out of the temple. Due to 1 day trip we have only 1 hour for that temple which is very less.Most of the time went for that explanation it-self. We hardly have some time to take pictures. My advice is if you want to know the complete history of both the temples better allocate 1 complete day for these 2 places.

Halebidu which is 15 km away from Belur is another example of Hoysala Architecture where this temple is dedicated to Lord Hoysaleshawara and Kedareshwara(Shiva).You will see lot more architecture in these temples compared to Belur but so many are destroyed during 14th century by Muslim rulers and local vandalism. Here also guide will explain you the complete history of Halebidu. Better take a guide to know completely about the temples. Without knowing the history of those 2 places it’s really waste of going there . At last we started back to Bangalore by evening 6 PM and we reached by night 9:30. Here is the few snaps from those 2 places

Why We Need To Appreciate Our Own Aloneness

Really exceptional one….hope you guys like it..

Weekend fun in my Home town-Visakhapatnam

Last weekend I visited my home town that is Visakhapatnam to visit my sister,came from her in-laws quite a time after. So just on this occasion we planned a short trip to Puri, Konark which is around 6 Hrs from my place. But unfortunately it’s festival time in Puri and it will be fully crowded with many restrictions. So we cancelled it and decided to go for local sight-seeing.

Viskhapatnam a coastal region located in Eastern India surrounding by Eastern ghats and it is often called as Vizag- A city of Destiny..Vizag is already well-developed city with its so many industrial establishments and also it is one of the Major Tourist destination in India because of its natural harbour, beaches, Caves and Eastern ghats. We visited all these places from my child hood we are in search of a new places out skirts of city. At last we decided to go to Kialashgiri and Ramanaidu Hill top studio’s, though these are not new to us but these are less visited compared to other places in my city. Its summer in Vizag and sun is burning like anything but luckily its cloudy on that day and we are so happy for that. We had a nice time in both the places and I bet you would really love this place in all aspects and best time is visit is September-Feb…and here is the few clicks from my place…

 

 

 

Weekend Trip to Pondicherry…..

Its been a long time,We haven’t been to any outing…So we decided to go some place in the coming weekend and at last its Pondicherry we decided to go…We are not exactly sure about this place but just wanna try any coastal region like this. We are a group of 7 members so we decided to book a TT rather than Innova or something else to have some comfortable sleep in the night. Pondicherry is about 6 hours from Bangalore according to G-maps but it will take around 7 hrs if you prefer standard route Krishnagiri-Vellore. Luckily we got our own company Tempo traveller. We started around night 12 AM here from E-City Bangalore…and in between we stopped once near Ambur for refreshment after that no breaks and finally we reached Pondicherry by morning 9. So much of time wasted for this State border checks and some other tolls in between. We checked into hotel Lotus Bay which we booked a week before through online. We took 3 rooms on 3 sharing. But after reaching there we found 6 sharing rooms are much more comfortable and had a better sea view.

Any ways we have 2 days to cover the city. To be frank this is not the right season to go there, its mid March and sun is shining like anything. It’s so hot that we were unable to roam in the city except evening. But what to do everything is booked in advance and we need to pass the time for 2 days for sure :(. So after refreshment we just started the day with a walk on beach right in front of our hotel.

 

 

We were completely drained after walking for around 30 min and we immediately came back to hotel. After short break evening we started to Auroville again which is some what 15 KM before Pondicherry. It’s a very silent place with so many private beaches. Matrimandir, another main attraction in Pondicherry is located there only. Unfortunately we missed out to take pictures in this location. Later we visited Auribindo Ashram where you will get some peace of mind by doing meditation. You will really auspicious after visiting this place. I strongly recommend this place everyone who visits pondy.

Next day we visited Chunnabur Boat house..where you can do some boating and all but we were late there also and there are long queues for it already.So we just tried a normal boat just for namesake and left to Paradise beach right away. This is an ultimate place out of my entire trip I can say. Few clicks from this location

 

 

 

 

So that’s it. Second day is almost over and we heard that there is big footpath market available on Sunday. So we just visited that place and finished our day. We started back to Bangalore. Just a tip don’t carry any alcohol while leaving Pondy because border checking is waiting for that ;). Happy reading.

Long Drive to Nandi Hills

After a long time me and my Team have decided to go for a  long drive….since one of my colleague took a new vehicle…we decided to  go to Nandi Hills, which is just around 76 KM away from Bangalore south. It’s a common spot for so many trekkers who usually goes there in the early morning to see the  Sun raise. Because of altitude may be, the view is awesome from that point. Even our main intention was the same, So keeping that in mind we started early morning at around 3:30 AM from Electronic City.

Though we have decided to go there, but without thinking that there will be a very less chance of Sun raise when it’s raining…..Yes it’s raining like hell in Bangalore from past few days. Still I don’t know how we made this plan ;). Whatever may be we have started 🙂 . Everything is going fine until 1/2 hour. Then it started a small drizzle…i thought it’s OK we can manage it. But it’s not as expected..it started raining like anything. So we have took small tea break at Hebbal. At one point we have decided to cancel  this ride but again after passing some time there rain was stopped. And we resumed our ride to nandi hills again. We are already late due to rain and we missed out the sun raise already so we decided to take in between before going to the spot….the view is awesome. Here is the few clicks from the trip…

Greek island of Santorini

Love this pictures..hope you like it..:)

Think Globally: At least save your Home

Daily Prompt : “Think global, act local.” Write a post connecting a global issue to a personal one.

I know most of the people  give wonderful lectures, speeches and even do their thesis on Global Issues and when it comes to their own Home(local) they don’t act normal.

Out of entire lifetime of Earth it has been drastically changed in the last 50 years itself.

We are not understanding that we itself depleting what nature provides to us….and we know it’s all about this Carbon(pocket of energy) entire world is fighting with each other.

It’s too late to be a pessimist.

Let’s be a responsible consumer’s. Think about what we buy.

Yes it’s too late to be a pessimist. Give more importance to renewable products which can be recycled.

Everything on Earth is linked and Earth itself is linked to Sun, it’s original energy source. As long as Earth exist’s sun’s energy will be inexhaustible. So stop drilling the Earth and start looking at the Sun. All we have to do start cultivating the sun.

It’s time to come together and act immediately. What’s important is not what we lost but what still remains.

For more details watch this video….

Weekly Writing Challenge : 1000 Words

At last I have started writing down to this weekly post…..whoo. This is the first time I am participating in this weekly or daily post challenge though i used to see these alerts so many times….So this time challenge was to write around 1000 words describing the below picture….wow 1000 words sounds more….but you know I am very good at creating stories( of course un-related ). Will try to give my best to suit the picture..hmm let start

it’s been a long time David and Sara are talking to each other due to difference and even living apart from long time. Ok who is David and Sara shown in picture and what happened to them and why they are so happy now. let’s go to their past like who are they, what they were doing then and how they met each other…

David used to work in some company in Paris which is somewhat near to the college where Sara is also doing her Graduation. Sara is living with her parents and Dave is living alone.As Sara needs to submit her project this year she was in search of summer interns. So while she is searching,luckily she found the same company where our hero Dave is working. Basing on her educational track record she was selected easily as a summer intern in that company and that too reporting to Dave again. What a coincidence right. Yes…Dave is a bit shy guy he usually don’t speak much the girls but this time after seeing the Sara.He changed his mind :). He started asking hell lot of questions to sara…initially she was frustrated by Dave’s behaviour and moving further she was adjusted with him and boring lectures. Even Dave is also helping her in out in most of her task’s. Day by day they were getting more closer….and how much close is that they even started going out individually without informing to anybody in the office. And finally the day has come to our Dave to propose to Sara. He was bit tensed as usual about the response like how she will react and all….

The day started normally like the other day….and Dave is bit early to office and he is preparing his dialogues in proposing her. At last he prepared something which he decided to say before Sara :). And sara came to office as usual in her daily time saying  Dave morning whats up ?. As we Dave is having something in his mind but he replied Good morning nothing much :(….He just don’t want to say it right away. He is looking for a right time when her mood is good.  At last he came to Sara and proposed her. She not surprised surprisingly since they are already close up to share secrets..so she said yes with smile 🙂 blushing. No words for him he was on cloud 9. He felt that was his Happiest moment  ever in his life time at that time(may be). Like that they both met each other and became together. life is going very smoothly until few moths where these differences between them because of so many reasons.Due to some misunderstandings distance has increased between both of them and gradually one day she left the house with out even informing to Dave. She left to her parents house. Though they were divided physically they some what they have little bit feelings left in their mind for each other…..but not showing it up….Both are waiting for the other’s call. Ego is the one which stops them in talking to each other.

Sara became literally dead not talking to anybody left the job and sitting ideally in the room. By seeing all this things her parents were bit worried about her.  So even wishes both of them to be together as soon as possible. So they have decided to make them unite them again. They sent a small message to Dave pretending as Sara saying that I am sorry for the things what happened till date…if possible can we meet once again to talk a bit.  They even posted the same letter to Sara pretending as Dave. Nice idea :). They both the location where they are going to meet. Both are happy unknowingly the sender of the msg. Sara wants to go meet Dave now without letting reason behind this to her parents. So she has planned like to go to outing in this weekend. She has selected the same spot what her parents told them in their letters.

Next day morning Sara and her parents took the local tramp and started to  that location somewhere in Paris. Dave is already waiting for her in that location from long time….tramp has reached the place where they were made to meet.

Sara saw the Dave from the window..though is she is happy inside after seeing her but she put her face as if she is looking a stranger…..even same was maintained by the Dave also..
Finally they met and Dave said like tell me why you called me now after all happening till now and Sara was surprised by even asked the same question…they both started arguing again on this at last Dave itself said sorry for some things which made to differ….and finally she was also happy with tears in her eyes and hugged him tightly saying you idiot why didn’t you called me till now. :). Sara parents were bit late to come out of late and they were so happy so see delightful moment of daughter’s.  People around this situation  are as usual busy in daily routine works….not caring about what happening in the road.This is how David and Sara met each finally. So this is nothing but life is
It’s a mixture of both love and hatred….Without these fights and mixed up reactions it will so boring and routine. And the moment right after the break up and when you become together again that will more merrier than ever and from that moment you will be bonded for ever. And that’s why it is called life…:)

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/writing-challenge-1000-words/#more-13580

Shivanasamudra and Mysore Trip

hmm this is an unexpected trip to Mysore and Shivanasamudra….. As usual I was bit free and alone last weekend and suddenly my friend  called me saying that he is also free. So quickly we both decided to go some where. But going some where without proper plan in a short span is a bad idea. So we decided to cut it short and make the journey cool and relaxing. Once I visited my friend…he told me hey we got a one more company..my friend will be joining us in tomorrow’s trip..And finally we booked a vehicle.  Initially we planned to go to Udipi to enjoy beach but again to cut it short we changed it to Mysore..though we are going I am not that much interested to visit just Mysore one more time 😦 .  So i told my friend we will also go to ShivanaSamudra a near by place to Mysore where we can see beautiful water falls.

Next day morning we started at around 6 AM…and we reached the water falls at around 9…and our bad luck is there is no water over there :(. This is not the right time to go anyways here is the few snaps which I clicked from the trip..

Tried a different view of Mysore Palace

View point at Shivanasamudra