Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Zoom into the History of Bagalkote

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....

Zoom into the History of Bijapur

After a long time … yet another trip which gave me a hangover. Lost myself at the sight of Badami Caves, Gol Gumbaz and several other places around Bagalokot & Bijapur.
The idea of visiting Badami Caves & Golgumbaz had come to my mind when we were studying about these historical places back in our school.
Bijapur Express tickets till Badami got booked for 12 people. Only 10 of us finally boarded the train almost at the nth moment on Friday evening. Sindhu, our new member in the team had just made it to the train.  Train journeys are always fun. The team made noise even after being warned by a co-passenger. We were unstoppable. UNO, jalebi and a couple of small small stories from Suhas. Pooja joined our team in Gadag. She is this cute lil Jo’s cousin who became our fav by the end of the trip.
Trains as expected reached Bagalkot half an hour late.  We all sipped a nice cup of tea in Jo’s relative’s place. Reached our hotel Durga which was 12kms away from the city towards Hubli. After a quick round of changing, team was ready for a 70kms drive to Bijapur.
The first place we visited was Ibrahim Rosa. Very fantastic architecture adding to its beauty is the well maintained garden. The namaz read on of the tombs is very clearly audible on the other tomb. (Wow just when I am writing this… I can hear the Namaz. Yeah its 6PM & I am in my office …I love listening to it!!!) Rains dint spare us. Few enjoyed it.
Our next stop was in Barah Kaman. I was not convinced by the story behind stopping the construction of this monument. I was told that this monument after constructed would have been taller than Gol Gumbaz & hence its shadow might fall on Gumbaz. I wonder how can shadow of one building however huge can fall on another monument which are kms apart. When I tried googling around this reason… I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bara_Kaman
Back in my school, reading about thousands of kings who ruled our nation & their best gifts they have left behind for us… Monuments!!! Gol Gumbaz is one among those monuments which flaunts for being a structural triumph. Even after centuries, this monument mesmerises by its unique acoustics. The Whispering Gallery takes you aback when you hear the person on the oppsoite corner so clear. Suhas & Manoj  shared a nice converstion. I also heard manu telling “Hey what to speak I have no words!!!” Imagine the level of excitement… Of course there are these endless shouting crowd which made me feel like coming out of it as soon as possible. Adi was tired sticking the coin onto the wall… It just dint stick while all others cd do it at the same place… Adi….If you are wondering why, I am with you…
Hmmm… Lunch time.. This time it was not just tiny rats running in our stomach… Probably there were gaint dragons too.. Coz it was already 3:30. As soon as we reached Abhi’s sister’s place for lunch, all I remember we did was to load our plates with those endless items. Nobody waited for any introduction or any formality. Me & Suhas were the last ones to leave our plates down. Once in a while each one said WAH…Hmmmm..awesome…What a lunch!!!!!  Abhi, I am coming again. I am sure others will definitely join. Well Abhi Thanks is too small, you took care of the menu I wanted. BIG THANKS TO YOUR SISTER!!! Not just for the hospitality but also for the support she has given you through…
Our dear Radhika was ill by this time. She seemed very amused by the idea of taking an injection and getting well soon. I feel like running away from the very thought of tablets.. far is taking an injection. Hmm… Reaching back to Bagalkot by 7:15PM to watch the light show in Almati dam. I wish we could have gone during day, it had a really good garden as Suhas suggested. Atleast for few good snaps.
Dinner back in our hotel Durga. UNO was a YES!!! This was the best part of the trip. Now If I think about our Badami trip.. first thought that comes to my mind is this UNO night. And the hero of the night was ADI… +4 +4 and one more +4s…. This happened not once …. He was rich throughout. No Place no vastu helped him… LOL!!!! Lovely kannada songs kept playing on Manu’s HTC… Sometimes me & suma managed to clear the interview or even a direct job in a China Company… ROFL!!! Guys I can’t stop laughing at this one!!!!  We finally said good morning and went to catch bed. How can I forget this, Thanks for the room freshner Adi, I don’t think we could have slept with that sugar cane smell otherwise.  My next post writes the day 2...