Visit to Nandagokula

 My visit to this place on 23/9/2020 was quite an adventure as the road to this place was really bad as it was the road of stones and not tar road where car can be driven easily. We went from Pandavpura to this place which is located near Hunase Thopu, Kadenahalli, Melukote. You can get the contact details on google for this place. It is open all 7 days. The place is on a small hill top so it is not maintained well and you may also feel lost around when you drive to this place. But it is a worth a visit at least once if you are a Krishna Bhakth!.

Lord Krishna is very beautiful to see and it is made of black stone. The best part of this place i liked was that the priest was an old lady who did the aarti to the Lord. There is also lord Jagannatha present here. It is a  small place which is still developing but surrounded by lush greenery and mountains around it. It is a very quiet and peaceful place to be. They have also maintained a Goshala with mostly Indian breed of cows and bulls and they are very domestic and friendly too. You can find all cows and bulls left freely in the open space to grace and move around but with a boundary to it. The calves were kept separate in another place very cute calves were there.

The people were very friendly here and they also served us prasadam which was very tasty. It was made purely from the cow’s milk which was too good. Though they have  a huge acres of land around the temple they said that they have many plans to develop the place. I hope that this place is developed well soon as it can become a good tourist spot if managed well. Since not many know about this place the surrounding of the temple was really really clean and no garbage at all!. Hope to see this place some day in the future and am sure it would have developed a lot by then.

32 feet Sai Baba Cave Temple

 32 feet Sai Baba Cave Temple

 

This is one of the tallest and a unique Sai Mandir which is of 32 feet height, located at Hirisave which is 17 Kilometers from Shravanabelagola. This temple is located on the side of the Highway Road NH 75.  My wish to travel to this place was fulfilled yesterday, when I suddenly planned to travel to see Sai. I was very happy to be there as Sai is very nice to see so peaceful and quite place to be around. The entrance of the temple is in the shape of a cave which is quite dark inside but when you enter the temple its quite a bright place.  You will feel that you are entering  a cave itself. The 32 feet Sai is sitting on the top of the cave in the entrance and you can see the statue while you are driving on the road. 

The temple also provides food to the devotees in the afternoon everyday. You can even donate for annadaanam here as per your capacity. The temple has also maintained few cows in their backyard which is of Gir breed. The Sai inside the temple is made out of white marble stone, so pure so peaceful face. You have to visit this place to feel the divine grace on you. The premises inside the temple is quite spacious. Backyard of the main temple is very beautifully maintained with many different vines grown which bloom lovely flowers. Very beautifully maintained place, you can do very nice photo shoot here, I loved the vines that they have grown here.

There is also Shani god residing inside the temple which you can find it after you pass through the vines in the backyard. This is made out of blackstone and quite huge too. Then there is statue of Lord Dattatreya which is also made in white marble very beautiful statue of the lord. Then there is Lord Hanuman who is residing on the ground under a tree. They have also kept a floating stone in a big pot which does not sink at all. It is the same kind of stone that was used in Ramayana to built Ram Setu. The priest there informed the same to us. I would personally recommend it that you MUST visit this place at least once if you are travelling towards Shravanabelagola. You can spend at least 2 to 3 hours here peacefully meditating. I wish to visit it again some day soon!

A visit to Planet Earth Museum at Mysore

 A visit to Planet Earth Museum at Mysore

Today my son and me visited Planet Earth Museum near Hebbal Industrial Area, Kuppedada which was just 5 kilometers away from Hootagalli. The road to the museum is very good from here as it is KRS Road and its very broad road and no traffic at all! This place can be easily located online on google maps and the contact number of this place is also found online. The aquarium has an entrance fee of 100 Rs for elders and below 10 years it is 75 rs. It is quite a decent place located on the main road itself not so difficult to find it.

The place is a huge campus which is neatly maintained and decorated very well with the aquatic creatures. The entrance itself is very interesting thing to watch, which has the mouth of a shark. You feel that you are entering into the shark’s body J. My son was quite happy seeing the place as it has so many different kinds of fishes and miniature art works too. I am sure kids will love their visit if they come down here, and you can spend 3 to 4 hours in a day here with your kids. You can also organise a birthday party here.

I liked the collection of fishes here though not a very much like a big aquariums in international level but it is a decent place to visit in Mysore you cannot compare it with the big cities. I am sure your little ones will like to be here with the animals and fishes around. The variety of fishes are so many that you have to visit it personally to see along with the kids. Schools around this place can arrange a day’s trip to this place too and they can get the knowledge about the different kinds of fishes. My son was very happy to be here and he was so excited to see so many huge and so tiny fishes too.

This place has a small collection of animals like rabbits, pigeons, guinea pigs, python, hens, ducks, dogs, Persian cats, pony, sugar gliders, parrots, turkeys, iguanas etc. There is a small park for kids to play around for some-time it is a well maintained place.  Yes, you can also take lots of pictures with your kids here as they have so many different kind of aquatic statues too. Hope you will also enjoy the short visit here as I did with my son!

 

 

 Break to Sri Ravirameshwara temple

It is around 4pm and I am travelling towards H D Kote near Mysore. I had decided to take a break from being lockdown since so many months at home due to COVID-19 so was eagerly looking forward to this trip. The road to the village Bidarahalli is okay but the road to the temple is not so good it is not at all maintained. This is a very ancient temple built by Gautama Rishi which is more than 2000 years old. Temple is located on the banks of River Kabini backwaters and the temple is dedicated to Lord Siva.  The priest was quite good and he explained in detail to us about the temple and how it is being maintained by the village elders and now they also have temple trust which looks after everything about the temple.

The priest took us on the top of the temple and showed us the magnificent view of the river surrounding the temple. It looks just like a necklace around the temple as the temple is surrounded by 3 sides water and one side land. It is very beautiful sight to watch. The temple is open only for few hours in the morning and evening as not many people know about it and there are no many visitors. The temple premises is kept very clean and maintained well. It is a must visit to all those who love to be around nature and peaceful environment. I am adding the Priest contact number for anyone who wishes to visit the place. Ph: 9945616044

                               Veerabhadraswamy and Bhadrakali Amma Temple

This temple is located at Devarahosahalli near Dabbaspet, if you travel via Tumkur.  It is 62 kilometers from Bangalore. This is a hill top temple and you can travel via two wheeler or a car or you can even walk to the top of the hill (if you are strong enough! J). Even if you come by vehicle you will have to walk few steps (did not count), to reach the main temple. You do not get anything on top of the hill to eat, so carry your food or eat and travel to this place.

This is an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Veerabhadraswamy and Bhadrakali Amma. It is a very old temple and the carvings of the main deities are really very beautiful. General pooja takes place from morning 6.00 am to2.00 pm and then from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm evening. It is open all the days of the week from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm. This temple is actually carved out of a cave, but due to renovations it does not look like ancient temple. If you visit the temple you can see that the main deity is inside a cave carving but it has all been painted and look colourful. I basically felt if it had its original look, it would have been better and more spiritual! If you climb further from the main temple there is a small pond, which is on top of the hill and the view from that place is very breathtaking.

We visited this place in the morning and, as it was a Tuesday (main day of Veerabhadraswamy Swamy), the priest asked us to wait for some time, as they were doing maha mangalarti, so we waited for some time and took darshan of Lord Veerabhadraswamy and Bhadrakali. It was not so crowded.  There are a lot of monkeys near the temple who were waiting to snatch the covers that people had bought. Be careful if you are travelling with kids they may pounce on them J. We climbed till the top of the hill where a small pond is located and it was a very tiring climb for me but I was excited to see the view from the top of the hill. I just had no words to express when I reached the top. It was very windy and I wished I had wings to fly J.

This is quite a peaceful and calm place with lot of greenery around you. It’s a very good one day trip with the family. Do visit it and I am sure kids will love climbing this hill top temple. Enjoy your drive into the woods! J You can also contact this number for details of the temple 9739805044 (temple authority).

Trip to Hatyal Narasimha Swamy Temple

My trips are always unplanned and sudden decisions. This trip was also very much unplanned but I did a bit of my homework as to how to go and the distance on Google and started my trip with my little one (My SonJ, always my travel companion). We planned for few places and this was also in the list which is close to Gubbi. If you come from Tiptur it is around 28 kilometers and very close to KB Cross which is around 8 kilometers to the temple. It is nearly 119 kilometers away from Bangalore and the road is also good as its via Tumkur with lot of tolls though!. (Be ready to spend on toll fees if you are travelling to this place).

We reached the place around 12.00 in the noon and it is a small hill top temple which is located at Yagachikatte near Harenahalli village. The road to the temple is also good you can have a smooth ride to the top of the hill. The view from the top is breathtaking. Am sure if you visit it you will love the sight and the place too.  It is a small temple dedicated to Lord Narasimhaswamy.  You can travel via two wheeler and four wheeler also the road is fine and have good space to park your vehicle. If you visit here early morning it is very awesome view, you will be mesmerized with the clouds covering the space around the temple.  There are no hotels on top of the temple but only 2 – 3 shops on top of the temple who sell few things to eat (snacks generally but no food). So if you are travelling try to carry your food, if not you can have your food in a hotel at Tiptur or Tumkur.

The Lord of this temple is Narasimhaswamy, the statue of Narasimhaswamy is very beautifully carved. The people living in surrounding villages believe in this god and they come here to pray to the lord with lot of belief in him. It is very quiet and peaceful place, if you are nature lover am sure you will love this place. Wish you a great journey if you are travelling to this place soon. Hope I can visit this again sooooooooooneeeeerrrrr! J

A Visit to 5000 yr old Hanuman Temple

It was a short trip that we had planned to go to Goravanahalli Mahalaxmi Temple few months back, but as we finished our darshan soon, we had lot of time, so we decided to visit another temple nearby to this temple. It was in a village called Kyathenahalli, 4 kms drive from entrance of Goravanahalli Mahalaxmi temple. The road is very bad but I didn’t find it stressful as my brother drove quite well and we reached this Anjaneya temple in Kyathenahalli. It is a very huge campus surrounded by lot of trees and it is a 5000 yrs old temple.

Once inside the temple, we saw this huge Anjaneya’s stone statue in garbha gruha. The specialty of this temple is, as told by the temple priest, that Lord Anjaneya faces directly opposite to Devarayana Durga’s Laxmi Narasimha Swamy. He also told us that it was built by Janamejaya at the beginning of Kaliyuga.

Next time, if you are planning to visit Laxmi Temple, then I would suggest try visiting this Anjaneya temple also! Here is a glimpse of the lord Hanuman of this temple for you.

Sush