A letter.. from a daughter..

Hi people.....
This time it is not a travellogue or a poem or an imagination....
One day after watching MNIK movie, we friends, not so great fans of Shahrukh started discussing the movie as to what each one of us liked the best and disliked in the movie. Friendly discussion led to a heated up discussion about the movie being realistic or not. And this triggered one friend of mine to speak out about something which was deep in her heart. She’s now far off from her parents and you can call it as a letter of a Daughter about her Dad.

I thought it is a piece of thought everyone should know and should learn not to generalize everything and everyone. Go ahead to read it in her own words....

"Talking about relating the movie to our lives, I can relate this to my very own life...
They called Muslims as Terrorists,because of few people in the community who did such unforgivable crime. There are bad people in all communities. That does not mean everybody in that community needs to be treated the same way. There are good and bad people in all community, creed, caste, colour, religion or whatever types we have on this planet.
And I have heard people telling Police Department is the most corrupt department and to the core. Which department is not corrupt?? Bribery exists in all department. But its the police who gets all the blame just because they interact with people everyday.

I know how it feels when somebody says "ella police kalla nanna makkalu" and even worse words.

I know my dad very well.. He is not corrupt. I know many others who are struggling with their lives to bring up their families and put them in a better state, being honest in the department and bearing all this brunt from the people. At the same time I know people in the department, who have gone up and up just because of bribery and nothing else.
I have even heard it for myself too. About me getting a Driving License. I failed once in 2 wheeler driving test and twice for 4 wheeler. And I still don’t have a 4 wheeler DL. If my dad was corrupt, he could have got it done for me without me having to attend the tests.
He is in Traffic Department, but still I have paid fine for breaking traffic rules many times. But nobody believes this.
People complain that the police don’t manage the traffic well... And the traffic worsens in presence of a police constable. What the Hell !!
If people have some common sense, wait for a while when some accident happens so that the vehicle can be cleared off the road, traffic would be smooth and back to normal in sometime.
But everybody is in a hurry to reach their destination, trying to find out the easiest way possible out of it, making a mess out of the situation.
What can a constable alone do??? Can he lift the vehicle all by himself and clear the road???
He is a human being just like us... And not a Superman.....
You cant generalize anything and everything. To check whether the rice is cooked, they say its sufficient to check one rice. But the same logic cannot be applied on human beings. There are many good sayings and wise words from our ancestors based on their experiences, but its upto us to know which one to apply and when?

All logic cant be applied on everything.

I am sorry. Nothing here is intended to anyone in particular. Nor its general. Its what I have seen/heard in the little experience of my life and my mom too.
There are just 2 kind of people. Good ones who do good things and Bad ones who do bad things :)
It hurts when people laugh cursing the policeman. They work day and night to save and maintain discipline which is almost equal to the job of a Doctor or Military, which calls for 24hr services.
There are many cases when they are run over by vehicles while on-duty.
You will know the pain when you wait for the person to return home safe after his work, without a limped leg, or a fractured hand...
There are many nights where I was awake till 11 or 12 in the night during my school days when dad had not returned home where in he was supposed to be back by 10, and mom staying in a different place because of work, no mobiles to know the where abouts...
Waiting at the door, looking at the streets, praying that he is alright, he will be alright, he will reach home safe, with all the accident news on second sheet of TOI running in front of your eyes, no one to reach out at that hour....
At the end, I would be in tears as soon as I see him on the street :)
Trying to wipe the tears with a great relief, by the time he reaches the door and greet him with a smile, more than happy to see him back home safe at midnight, without any bruises on his legs or hands.
I know its not a thing to be compared with the movie.. But still felt like sharing my childhood days with you friends.
Ya, there were days where I have seen him with bruised hands, limping legs too.. Just because he tried to stop someone who was drunk or over speeding. I just thank God that it was just bruises and nothing more...
Love you papa... Miss you too........."

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

Its Just your smile

Its Just your smile, I wish to see,
In life's every mile, this is my plea.....

Let not the sea of sorrow surround you,
For life gifts each day fresh and new.
In dawn if you tire and wither,
Lets gaze the stars in the night- together

At any cost, this is my plea,
Its just your smile, I wanna see.....

You tease me and give out a chuckle,
All these moments I treasure to juggle.
My eyes must find you first thing in the morn,
For which the night dies and a day is born.

I know this journey is not path of roses,
Hold on to me, let it not bug us.
Years come by to see our relation ripe,
I turn back to find, your love complete my life

Shrug the struggles, never let yourself down,
Those are the pebbles, which shall drown...

All through it will be my plea,
Keep smiling, Cos I wish to see!!!

Chitradurga: More to know,more to explore!!

A view within the fort
Stambha
One of the 20 watch centers
One of the 7 concentric fortification
Dam Details
View point constructed near the dam
View of Maari kanive
The Dam itself

Wind mills spread all over in the district
3 musketers:Dinesh,Balaji and Murali :)
Happy team showing Ovbavvana Kindi after reaching the place in the rain!
Play time near the river

History is fascinating when you are able to relate to it.And so was it for me when I entered the fort of Chitradurga.
I had been to this wonderful place during my school days, dragged by our teachers to hurry up so that we dont miss other places....and couldnt collect much info.
Attending marriages out of Bangalore is fun, cos it gives me a chance to see a whole new world out there and to explore the nearby places.And which is why I geared up all my enthusiasm to attend my colleague's marriage in Davanagere.There was a bunch of my colleagues who were not so familiar with any of places in Karnataka and I had a promise to myself that I make them have a worthy time out....
Thanks to Google for its right in time help everytime.....

We started our journey on Saturday morning as the reception was in the evening same day followed by wedding on sunday. So we had just a day to visit place of our choice.
This was the route plan:
Bangalore > Tumkur > Hiriyur >Chitradurga >Davanagere

I had heard of plate idlis being famous in Kyathasandra and hence we headed to a hotel there to have the idlis there which were so yummy.Do not miss them as you need not deviate at all to savour them.
We headed towards Hiriyur to take a deviation to dam which was our first destination. Maarikanive or Vanivilasa sagar dam is 13 kms interior to the highway and you can enjoy the picturesque scene on either side of the road as you head towards the dam.The dam was built by the Mysore Maharajas pre-independence across the river Vedavathi. This dam is the source of domestic water for Hiriyur and Chitradurga.At the foot of the dam is a temple built for Goddess Maari who gaurds the place and as you walk up the stairs you get to see a whole different world.
The greenary on the other side of the dam and the water all over the stretch makes it look like a group of small islands all scattered.I had heard from the localites there that if you see the dam in a particular angle, it looks somewhat like our Indiia map and tats the beauty of the place.
Its not only the greenary and the water which draws the attention but the synchronisation of the wind mills as the wind blows too.

It was an order from our bride too tat I show my team the historic fort and so we had to head towards Chitradurga to get the glimpse of the place else which our trip wouldnt be complete.

By the time we were done with our lunch it was four in the evening and we had very less time to see the fort.We took our tickets to enter the old city and I had just started explaining about the fort and we had to halt near one of the 18 temples inside the fort.Well yes, there are 18 old temples inside the fort and Hidimbeshwara temple is the oldest temple among them.Since the rain didnt seem to stop, few of us who wanted to see atleast the obavvana kindi marched in the rain itself.I felt that the fort looked very beautiful in he rain as it washed away the dust and helped the rocks shine and highlighted the grass and whatever green was inside the fort.One could easily find many small ponds,pools,watch centers which were built through out the fort. It is known as the "stone fortress" (Kallina Kote) as it is completely built with huge stones and is known to be one of the strongest fort with 7 concentric fortifications.
My blog spot would not be enough to mention about this place as it speaks volumes about the place and once should visit this place to admire and appreciate the architecture once used to protect the land.
Since we were short of time and rain didnt show any mercy on us , we just had to return with a satisfaction of seeing only obavvana kindi promising to be back to see the rest of the fort again.....

The rest of our evening and sunday was spent for the marriage and enjoyed the butter dosa in davanagere and shopping in Channabasappa silks which is one of the oldest textiles showroom.
The back home journey was no less fun with a ride on top of the vehicle and a snack in Kamath Upachar.
Thanks to all the people who took great photographs which helped me upload them here...
Especially the one which was clicked in the rain, near obavvana kindi... Deepti Kudos to u!!!

So when is that you plan to take yourself closer to history and away from the city??

Team members:Aneesh,Dinesh,Edwin,Deepti,Balaji,Ramya,Akshata,Murali,Satheesh and Me!!
Trip Plans:
Maari Kanive/Vani Vilasa sagar dam:
Location: Near hiriyur
Bangalore to Hiriyur - 160 km (Before Hiriyur, take a left where you find an arch.You ll have to go in service lane to reach this place localites are of help!)

Chitradurga Fort:
Bangalore to Chitradurga - 200 km

Bangalore > Tumkur > Sira > Hiriyur > Chitradurga
Route:Via NH4

Have a Saying.....: Tanneerbhavi - a place worth a visit

Have a Saying.....: Tanneerbhavi - a place worth a visit

Tanneerbhavi - a place worth a visit

I guess the recession was hit on our trips too ... cos no planning was made; none of my friends spammed my mails with any topic with a trip plan.....
But it is for sure a peek time for all the people to get married for which my house is flooded with wedding invites....
One such was my friend Rushell's marriage which was to be held in Mangalore and the reception at Mysore.
Although the plan was to attend reception, Deepa my friend brought in a sudden change in plan by convincing everyone to head toward Mangalore which s very familiar to many of us in the group.
As per the plan we attended marriage on Sunday and had a gala time with all the friends....
Kudos to Deepa for her yapping all the while :)
Yet we had a Sunday to pass by and thought of going to panambur beach which was the known one to all of us and was the closest.
Deepa again insisted on going to another beach somewhere called Tanneerbhavi.


Tannerbhavi which in Kannada means a pond/well with cold water.... I was so very tired with the humidity in Mangalore that I accepted this plan immediately thinking tat, I would find a place where it would be cool....
Although, it was not a cool place it didn’t disappoint me much.
We went in a bus to Sultan bathery and saw no beach there and asked her where s the beach.
We had to cross the back waters to go to the other side which was nothing but the Tannerbhavi beach.
The view of sultan battery was no less and stood in competition with the beach.

We boarded a boat and crossed sultan battery and walked a distance to find a lengthy stretch of trees which adorned the beach.
The cool breeze made me relax and enjoy the serenity. Yes I say serenity cos there was not a crowd unlike in many other beaches.
We opened our play cards and sat under the trees and played a round of UNO and then everyone was hungry.

We looked on either side to find if there were any dhabas/hotels...
There were few localites who had converted a part of their house as hotel and were serving home made dishes/fishes.
We quenched our hunger and then went back to the beach and played till we got tired
You can stroll on the clean sand there and try building castles and also give sand bath to any of your friends just the way we did to our cool dude Charan...
Take a walk, play along or just bask in the sun or let yourself to be thrown to beach by the waves.....
But do take care not to get carried away by the roaring tides....


This trip not only gave a break from the routine but gave us friends to spend some time together after a long time and to re cherish the gone old good days and re discover each other.....
All the photos were shot by Sandy, who sat on the beach instead of getting into water (I wonder how people can resist playing in water!!!)
One last statement which Deeps kept forcing us to say through out the trip.... This is for you Deeps... "East or West... Deepa is the Best" for such a wonderful trip!!!


Place: Tanneerbhavi beach
District: Mangalore
Road route: You can board a bus directly to Tanneerbhavi (route no 1). Else you can opt to go to Sultan Bathery (route 16) and board a boat (I prefer this!)