Monday trip to Bhoganandishwara

Sorry for a very big story,but could not vomit anything as I wanted to share every piece of info with you folks out there....

There s always a ray of hope to apply for a leave, whenever you have a holiday lined up either on a thursday or a tuesday,which will give you the ebnefit of relaxing for four continuous days..And me being one lazy person to wake up early morning, find it a luxury to relax till mid day in the bed unlike the usual 'wake up at 6' routine.No major relaxations,no interesting job at work place,no gossips,no events etc etc had made my life very boring and it is then I decided to spend a day out with a good novel, somewhere in outskirts of Bangalore.But when I shared this idea with my friend Smitha, she found it interesting and wanted to join me ( I infact felt like saying a NO and asked her to get a book for herself, so tat I would get freedom I longed for)

I had decided the venue as Sai Temple near Devanahalli as the best fitting to my mood, that day and conveyed it to her and she was all set.We started from our place by 10.30 in the morning and took the govt bus which gave us a freedom from being on the driver s seat and we could sit and chat.Thanks to the new airport due to which the roads were swift adn we reached the

destination(?) quite early.I have been going to this temple from couple of years and yet this place never stops me from being lost in my own world and I feel this is the best place to meditate,to retrospect on your actions in life.It is situated on the bellary road, few kilometers away from Devanahalli, towards chikkaballapur.

Its remoteness to the city noise and crowd is what fascinates me and makes me wanting more.It never fails me in getting the college days fun which we used to have and the way we used to bunk our college and come oever to this place,pray and jump over the yummy prasadam served there.Memories came rushing to me as I saw each place, where we sat,walked and roamed around the fields around the temple.There is one more thing which I liked it the most about not letting a person operate his mobile phone.Leave your phone and watch behind, Go sit there closing your eyes to listen to the repeatative chanting which reverberates in your ears and I clal this a real pleasure.

No I am definetely not a very spiritual kinda person, but there is something about this place which gives serenity and I preferred to go a monday expecting no crowd and I got what I wanted.Visit the place once, to feel it by yourself.But I would request you to maintain the same silnce which prevails over there.

By 12.30 we were out of the temple and I was not sure if we should continue with plans of reading novel and suddenly I remembered my colleague Mohan's trip to Chikkaballapur where he had mentioned of a place called Bhoga Nandishwara.I called him up again and enquired about the details and we both decided on the go and caught a bus to the place.This temple is situated in a village called Nandigarama which at the base of the very famous Nandi Hills.

I was in Chikkaballapur for 4 years studying Engineering adn was a fool to not have discovered this beautiful place then and any of my friends who see the pics here would feel the same.It is now taken care by Tourism department but,still needs more to be done over here.

The photo on the right is a view of the temple premises

I don't have too much of historical knowledge on this place but yeah was successful in collecting few info from the priest there.

He mentioned that the whole temple was built partially by 5 different dynasties and was never completed.He mentioned the names of four dynasties as Cholas,Hoysalas,Gangas adn Vijayanagara empire and you can witness that it has the sculptures in all these styles. You can see that it has the bangles in the pillars like the one in Belur and the kalyana mantapas in Hampi style.

There are 3 main temples - Uma Maheshwara,Bhoga Nandishwara adn Arunachaleshwara, last one being present even in Tamil Nadu.One can see that the Kalyana Mantapa in front of Uma Maheshwara is made by Krishna Shile, which once dug has to be moulded within 60 days of its removal as it will be very soft and minute art forms can be carved on it.This stone gives out a metallic sound when striked at the sculpture's end, just the way you can find the musical pillars in Hampi.The priest mentioned that there are 7 different notes which are emitted by this ,but here you can here only 1 kind. There is a Shringi Kalyani which was real clean and neat when I had seen a photo a year back, but now it has been emptied for clea up purpose.

I guess this place has lots of hidden details about it which can be known to the world, if the government takes up some intiatives to shed soem light and appoints some local guides for the same.Well, there is one more thing I have to mention ...we were not supposed to click pics but was not able to resist seeing the beauty of the place.It is a very small place but with lots of details in it,which cannot be composed in a small blog and I would suggest you to witness it and ofcourse request who ever visits the place to let the place in its neat form it exists.

Place: Bhoga Nandishwara

District: CHikkaballapur - 50 kms from Bangalore.

Directions: Reach Chikkaballapur Junior College > Take a bus which goes towards Doddaballapur >Get down at Nandi grama. The temple is opposite to the bus stand.(Taking an auto is also an easy option, if you get on time.They charge Rs 5 per person

from Junior college)

Alternative: If you are going by your own conveyance, stop near Nandi cross, much before you reach Chikkaballapur, Take a right within and drive towards the village.

Nearby places you can visit:

Nandi Hills - You can trek from the village.(The photo on the left shows Nandi Hills in backdrop and in the next photo you can see Kalavarahalli betta/skandagiri - trekking spot

Papagni - another temple situated on a small hill

Muddenahalli - Vishveshwarayya memorial.

Sai Temple - near Devanahalli

Finally Thanks to Mohan for the wonderful suggestion and Smitha for her comapany and her photography :)

Have a Saying.....: Sankranti with some kranti :)

Have a Saying.....: Sankranti with some kranti :)

Sankranti with some kranti :)

Sankranti had some kranti.... ;) - blog unedited!

Yes this is really a kranti(revolution) in my house , a family where my parents dont miss upon any of the rituals on any

auspicious days, atleast a day like sankranti.....This year was a different one where rather than staying back at home and

offering prayers to god and cooking, my parents had come to a consent for a trip to Talakadu( not to mention that it was supposed to be a piligrimage;) )
Well, I am not here to give you details on What s meant by sankranti or the importance of the festival.....
I just wanted to share some pics and experiences about the place and what I witnessed, as a part of sankranti...

Our family and Anusha s faamily set to go to Talakadu in the morning after one round of pooja at home and nearby temples (you see the regular clients should not be forgotten, when you get big onsite clients ! ;) )
We thought of having breakfast on the way and let me again quote about tatte idlis(which I had quoted in one of my previous blog) which were really soft and yummy.... Yes, there s a place very famous for it near Bidadi where you get them and I bet if you don go for the second plate:)

After fuelling our tummy, we then reached Talakadu and hired a local guide to take us around.This was not the first time I visited Talakadu as I had been there once just 5- 6 years back during my engineering days....
What looked like a very small,remote,serene place looked completely different this time...... Back then, I had seen only Vaidyanatheshwara temple(I think so... cos am so confused after these many years as to what is what).

But now the central Govt's archealogical dept has taken the onus and are doing the excavation and have found out many temples which were buried under layers of sand.They still are in the process of finding many such around the place.

The place is now famous for panchalinga, which they have found out and are now open for the visitors through out the year, prior to which it was opened once in 12 years.The linga s found out are pataleshwara,maraleshwara,vaidyanatheswara and two
other which are, a bit for off from all these three...
Since am not too aware of the place much, I would not go into giving the details of the place but ofcourse will share some pics with you all.....





There s one temple (Keerti Narayana) whose foundation looks great but the main temple(garbhagudi,place where the idols are placed) was damaged due to the time as it was built around 850 years ago (some say 850 and some 1200 years). It is supposed
to be built by late king , Vishnuvardhana as a reminder of his success during his reign.



The guide said that pataleshwara was installed there by vasuki who was meditating there and the maraleshwara by Brahma.




Do not forget to see the Choudeshwari temple which looks great. I had clicked photos to share with you all, but the priest there scared us saying,its not good to have her photo at home as she took birth only to kill rakhtabeejeshwara and she should
not be kept at home. I don know how I am connected to that guy but all of the elders and even the buddies asked me to delete the photos for which I had to delete them off.

I know that many wouldnt be knowing story about this guy called Rakthabeejeshwara. He was the brother of Mahishasura,who was killed by Goddess CHamundeshwari.He had a boon from the almighty that he will be eternal. He could not be killed by any as he
had the power of reviving again once his blood droplet fell on earth. Hence Goddess Choudeshwari, had spread her toungue to the extent of covering the earth,when she killed him,so that no droplet of his blood touched earth.I wonder how all these
asuras got such wonderful boons from gods and Gods came up with ideas to overcome the problems :) Isnt it interesting.....
Just like the dodging between Developers and testers, teachers and students,elders and youngsters ;) ;)



After a round trip to all these temples , we gotta chance to take a dip in Holy Kaveri river where we played for a while.We were reminded of the global warming yet another time , when we saw that water level had dropped in the very place where it
was supposed to be to the brim. After this wonderful day,we set off to return and on the way gotta chance to see the sankranti celebrations in the villages.




I recall from my memories of my childhood that they decorate the cattle on this day and have some celbrations around in the village.I was lucky to see it again after so many years and wish to share the pics I clicked of the hopping of the cattle and
the proud owner over the fire. This is a matter of prestige for each of the owner to get his bulls cross the fire and as one does it, the whole crowd gave out cheers and enjoyed it so well......







They live in small world full of their beautifl being and enjoy teh life to the core.... They are the ones who are faced with all sorts of challens during drought and floods, yet they stand up , face everything and make it a point to celebrate life as well..... Isnt it a lesson for all of us to celebrate,live in harmony not only with humans but with the nature....





Happy Sankranti!!!

Cartoon drift

Hi,
I wrote this just few days back, but found it very funny(the way i have written, it doesn't qualify to be anywhere :D ) to blog it up or to show anyone......

But few of my frenz mentioned it as funny and nice( dunno funny in what way!!) so thought of sharing it across..... I know its stupid..... and am announcing my stupidity in this forum :d

grew up watching Tom & Jerry
My heart was warm and merry.

Reading laughing with vibrant hopes,
mind relaxed with Calvin & Hobbes.

There opened up a new world with Alice,
Where I had my own world and palace.

Oh! Not to forget Aladdin & his jenie,
with whom, I hoped miracles tiny winy.

Now all I see is lines of code,
which has made me and life so bored.

I hope to sit beside a friend like Hobbes,
or to fight biggest problems like Jerry.

I long to disappear with my Aladdin,
to a land of love, like his Jasmine.

Then suddenly Jenie disappeared,
'Appraisal Time', as someone whispered.

Reconnecting..........

Hi All,
I have been thinking a lot as to what to write from pas couple of days.....
I have tried to sit in front of a paper and tried to write many times but words have failed me.....
And more over, I had kept myself occupied for couple of months with my dance and so hardly visited my blog.....
So here again, i try to bring back some articles/poems or what ever i feel like sharing with you all...
I will try my best to keep writing, even if its silly ;)

Cheers,
So