A Random walk from Cubbon Park to KR Market-12 Dec10

These are some of the images that i captured one fine Sunday Morning on a random walk from Cubbon Park, Bangalore to KR Market in old bangalore area.



Town Hall of Bangalore












The UB City Mall viewed from Cubbon Park







At the gates of Cubbon Park










Sunlight filtering through the buildings of Bangalore onto Cubbon Park




Early Morning Vegetable Market Scene in KR Market



The smiles on the vendors faces are incredible! No matter how harsh the situation they are in, they were all more than happy to have their pictures taken















This was a chance discovery: Mysore Sugar Company Building- an old building with a name which said "Mysugar Building"



This was another chance discovery on JC Road- A statue of Shivaji on top of the Shivaji Cinema building or what used to be the Cinema Building







Bangalore Central Library


Vidhan Soudha Building, Bangalore

These were some of the things i discovered on a random walk down the lanes of Bangalore. I was pleasantly surprised!

Chitradurga Visit Nov 2010

Chitradurga  is a town in the southern part of the Indian state of Karnataka.  Chitradurga features bold rock hills and picturesque valleys, huge towering boulders in numerous shapes. It is known as the "stone fortress" (Kallina Kote). According to the epic Mahabharatha, a man-eating Rakshasa named Hidimba and his sister Hidimbi lived on the hill. Hidimba was a source of terror to everyone around while Hidimbi was a peace loving rakshasa . When the Pandavas came with their mother Kunti in the course of their exile, Bhima had a duel with Hidimba in which Hidimba was killed. Thereafter Bhima married Hidimbi and they had a son named Ghatotkacha who was gifted with magical powers. Legend has it the boulders were part of the arsenal used during that duel. In fact, the boulders on which major part of the city rests belong to the oldest rock formation in the country.

Legend of Onake Obavva- I had read about this legend of Onake Obave in a newspaper recently and it was interesting to visit the spot in the Chitradurga to see where the story was enacted.

During the reign of Madakari Nayaka, the city of Chitradurga was besieged by the troops of Hyder Ali. A chance sighting of a woman entering the Chitradurga fort through an opening in the rocks led to a clever plan by Hyder Ali to send his soldiers through the hole. The guard on duty near that hole had gone home for lunch. The wife of that guard, Obavva was passing by the hole to collect water, when she noticed soldiers emerging out of this opening. Obavva was not perturbed. She was carrying with her an Onake (a long wooden club meant for pounding paddy grains). She killed Hyder Ali's soldiers one by one as they attempted to enter the fort through the opening and quietly moved the dead. Over a short period of time hundreds of soldiers entered and fell, without raising any suspicion. Obavva's husband, upon his return from his lunch was shocked to see Obavva standing with a blood stained Onake and hundreds of dead bodies of the enemy around her. The opening in the rocks still remains as a historical witness for the story, beside the Tanniru doni a small water source which holds cold water all round the year. Though her sincere and brave attempt saved the fort on that occasion, Madakari Nayaka could not repel Hyder Ali's attack in 1779. In the ensuing battle, the fort of Chitradurga was lost to Hyder Ali. Obavva, like Kittur Rani Chennamma remains a legend, especially to the women of Karnataka.
The fort is a great place to spend a day and rest overnight in a nearby hotel.  It is about 200 kms from Bangalore on NH4.  The road is great and four laned and one can do it in a quick time.  Chitradurga can also be made a stop on the way to Hampi.

Its December-2010

Another weekend is on us...luckily its a bright sunny day here in Bangalore..the controversy on the treatment given to the Indian Ambassador in the US is on my mind today...i wrote about it on FB and my friends responded...why can't countries at least follow the written diplomatic protocol and why do they have to be reminded everytime?? And how long do we keep reminding the US about it and why shouldnt we reciprocate in kind? Not very diplomatic!! huh!!

Melkote-Thonnur Lake Trip-April 2010

It was a great experience going with the BWS members namely: Sukanto, Veeresh and Shaji. I started early around 5.40 am and picked up Veeresh, Shaji and Sukanto in that order. Stopped to have coffee and idlis at a restaurant on the Mysore road around 7 am. Reached the first temple around 9.45 am (we stopped frequently on the way to take random pictures). First stop was Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple, where we spent more than an hour and fifteen mins to take pictures of the amazing scuptures of gods and goddesses in the temple.
It was already getting hot and we then made our way to the next temple - about a couple of kms away by the name of Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple. This temple was situated on the top of a hill and we had to walk/climb barefoot for half hour to reach the top after parking the car at the base. The sculptures here were few but the surrounding views of the valley were amazing. Pushkarni pond with the steps leading to the waters were beautiful. On our way down the steps we caught hold of a buttermilk vendor and drank 25 glasses (small) of buttermilk! It was getting really hot and we quickly drove to Thonnur Kere (Lake) which was about 12 kms from the Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple. It is a beautiful lake and people were enjoying a swim in the cool waters on a very hot day. We spent some time walking around and clicking away to glory. We started our return journey around 1.30 pm and lost our way and took a different route to return to Bangalore. On the way we stopped at a roadside restaurant to have food and drinks. It was a really hot day but i can safely assume that all four of us thoroughly enjoyed it.
We reached Bangalore by around 6.30 pm and covered a good 330 kms round trip. I really enjoyed the trip and learnt a few tricks from the photographers in the group. Apologies for the late posting as i have been down with stomach problem and was catching up on sleep. I look forward to more such trips in the future.