We started our day 2 driving towards Kudalasangama. 49kms
from where we stayed. It was a sunny day. Kudalasangama is the place where
Basavana preached and more information is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudalasangama.
Rivers Krishna, Ghataprabha & Malaprabha merge at
this place. Hotel Kamat for breakfast where Suhas became busy reading out the
Vachana’s of Basavanna.
More exciting places waiting for us.. Here is the rough map we followed
Starting with School
of Carvings – Aihole. Place which boasts for having 125 different variety of
Chalukyan temples. There are stories behind each one of these temples. After
the kings rule, each of those 125 temples were occupied by the 125 different families
due to which each temple is named after those who stayed there. 
Patadakallu was our next destination. I remember taking guides
in every place visited this day as it otherwise would have been just the same
red rocks brought down into caves n temples or a creative structure built up to
delight ones eyes. Beauty of each carving can be enjoyed only by understanding
the story behind it. I personally liked every single structure which stood in
this region of north karnataka. The fort built surrounding the city, those
uniqueness in each temple and the wonderful story behind it. Worth travelling
all the way to explore our rich culture n heritage.
On the other hand, we were
busy playing UNO in the back seat of the vehicle. Sometimes wondered if the trip was to badami or to play UNO
. Again there were really melodious songs playing all time. I was forced to
stay in the vehicle till the songs got over even after reaching the
places. After Pattadakallu we visited Mahakoota temple which has a small kalyani. There was a small stream running
through this temple where people enjoyed a dip. The roads here were a lil bad
making life at the back seat difficult, never the less uno made way. Then
came my favorite place for which I was long waiting.... Badami supposed to be the
college for architecture in chalukyan empire. The very sight of this huge rock
both below &on top is like wow. Very picturesque. Red rocks, greyish blue
water catchment and those far hills
covered with greenery is a perfect pic. Endless number of photo shoots and very
good guide to explain the beauty of those four caves lining up, we dint want to
move from this place. I love all all the pics taken here...
One particular
carvings in one of these caves was the one with a beautiful lady on one side of
ShivaParvathi & a skeleton on the other side giving out a message needless to be
told. Similarly there was this Swasthik carving on the sealing which is superb.
The last cave has the Jain god Mahaveera statue.
It was almost close to dusk and we were left with our last
place to visit. The Banashankari temple. Beautiful temple i felt nice inside
this temple. Reason for this could be the AC inside... By this time we were
relishing a cup of hot tea n naturally the thought for the next jaunt had to
pop up. Hmmm .... We have a place in mind for November. Infact two places..
Jyothi was smart as she knew that these lazy souls would not gear up quickly
especially after visiting place like badami... She dint do the mistake of
giving us sweet time to recover from the hangover n pulled us to start our return
journey to gadag. Took us an hour to reach her relative Pooja's place. After a
quick freshing up we made a small visit to Panchakshari Matt. Where gavai guru
stayed. I had lil knowledge about this place. He was a great saint. We must thank
Jo for this opportunity. Back in Jo's place. Sat for a dinner ....yet Again
there was a plethora of dishes waiting to reach our tummy...
The special attraction was the spicy green chilly.... I
tired them for the first time in life.... What should i say... Spicy yummy ...
Obviously .... We said bye to her family in a hurry to catch the bus. Boarded the sleeper bus. Then started the stories again. It was Suhas again sharing a very much awaited story. Sindhu
was new to our group well not anymore.... She had lots to share about each of
us n herself.... Sleep acquired us.... Loud suprabatha which people thought my
s2 was singing woke all of us up. Manu hinted me stop that, promptly I switched
off my alarm but subhalakshmi madam went on.... Surprisingly the bus reached on
time to anand rao circle. Dispersed in
majestic.... The aftermath were not too much but yes the hangover was.... We
again met on Tuesday ... After rottikallu this one too hooked me in its memories for a long
time....
