The Eternal Truth...

There are only 3 ways to write a blog... The Right Way, The Wrong Way and MY Way :-)

Programming Myself....

If you want something you never had, you must do something you never have done!!! - That's meee!!! can't be better:-)

Belur and Halebid

After a 2 day hiatus at the resort, we were rejuvenated and it was time to leave the beautiful place. En route we decided to visit Halebid and Belur

Halebid is around 37 km from Chikmagalur. We went along the Chikmagalur highway towards the Capital of Hoysala empire. While travelling towards Bangalore, you might be likely to miss the Halebid turn. There are Karanataka tourism boards at a lot of places before, but just when you have to take the turn, the signboard is actually in the opposite direction – so that people coming from Bangalore can see it, but not the ones from Chikmagalur. We had seen this while going to Chikmagalur and were on the lookout for the turn. But for others, I would like to mention that make a note of the signboard which mentions Halebid 37 kms. The left turn comes at around 22 kms from the signboard. From the turn, Halebid is 15 kms on the inside and the view towards the place is magnificent. The road has gulmohar trees on both sides. This time of the year they were all flowering with the petals falling on the road giving it a divine look. The temple is still incomplete but you would not notice this in front of the beautiful carvings.
This shrine is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is the largest of Hoysala temples. The construction of this temple was during the 1121 – 1207 AD period, and is very similar to the Belur temple. The temple complex consists of two identical temples with shivalinga and nandi mantaps facing the lord. The nandi mantaps have huge nandis carved equally beautifully. Outside the shrine are intricately carved figures from mythological epics – Ramayan, Mahabharata and puranic legends of beasts. The carvings on the outside consist of – elephants, Hoysala royal emblem of a man killing a tiger,lions, charging horsemen, epics sculptures and mythical beasts (from bottom up).
Outside the shrine, locals sell stone sculptures and panchdhatu handiwork. They try to con you by selling the crafts work at huge prices. Beware of these, even though you would agree that the people are doing so much work for these sitting in the sun and polishing the stone to give them the required shape, shelling out your hard earned money and being conned is still not agreeable. Hence for these people – small Ganapati stone idol – 20 Rs, medium Buddha head piece – 50 Rs, Sitting lamps medium size – 10 Rs. Panchadhatu murtis – 40 Rs each. If you can bargain and get for less, well good luck….

Devigiri Estate

The night was so cold that i hardly got any sleep. I literally had 2 pairs of pants on. Damnn.. the whole night i was thinking about my warm cozy bed in bengaluru. Always an experience. I felt better when i started to think about wifey. Wifey cannot even sustain the bangalore cold.This very thought of wifey going through this cold made me warm ( ok, this is my alter ego) . So finally when the day dawned and i stepped outside the tent – i was flabbergasted. This place was awesome. When i can came in last night, there was nothing i could see, but now this was a beauty. The bold hills, the greenery, the estate , the house – simply fantastic. 

My lil one woke up and she was thrilled. All the open spaces and trees, made her jump in delight. There were lot of sports that we could play and boy my lil one never felt better.

The host also offered us some great traditional food which was very tasty. All we did was eat and play.

The uncle was kind enough to give us a tour of their 50 acre estate and showed us some beautiful viewpoints , including a 360 degree view point. He showed us all the trees and plants that were being grown in his estate. He showed plants that were of medicinal value and how eco- friendly his estate was. I must give full credit to thier family who have taken the extra effort for making this happen. Also all the food made here is organic.

SInce their family is already well off and this they were doing as a passion, they have no fixed check in and check out times. The food is prepared based on your liking which is very good. Devigiri estate definitely gives you the warmth which no other estate/homestay would give.

Pictures to follow

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Travelogue - Chikamagalur

It was quite some time I had been on an outing with my family. The last planned outing of December went for a toss because of my bad health. So this time when the opportunity presented in the form of a function in Hassan, wifey and myself were quick on planning this outing. We decided we make full use of this opportunity. I booked this homestay/resort in Chikamagalur called – Devigiri Estate which was located at the foothills of Bababudana giri hills

We left early in the morning and reached Hassan in time to attend the function there. My lil one got a little irritated and threw up a couple of times making my car smelly. I literally utilized my entire deo spray to get rid of the awful smell. But these are only small things that can happen when you have a lil one. So after a brief stop at Hassan, we left for chikmagalur the same evening. The idea was to reach the place for dinner. But boy, as we moved closer and closer to the hills, our cell phone service started waning. The lack of any street lights and people made the place so scary. All we could see was the big huge hills in the background. At times, i felt  i was going in straight into the hill. Luckily here and there, i could spot some localities who would always give me wrong directions. I still could not figure out why :-).

Eventually, we reached the place and the host – Mrs. Ramadevi was kind enough to offer us some hot coffee. The temperature had dipped and it was very cold. We opted for the tent house for our stay.

Just got cargasmed :-)

According to me people who buy car think of 2 things

1. To take you from point A to point B : This I think, any car should do :-)

2. To envy others : – Now this the factor that’s been keeping me going.

Which car satisfies # 2, be a good VFM and also not be too hot on my pocket.. Well, my search has just began…