Drivearound Bengaluru - A photoblog

A photoblog of a drivearound Bengaluru during the Dasara festival in Oct,2010.

Sanky tank on a cloudy evening where we had gone to meet up with a passionate travel blogger Lakshmi who blogs at A travel blog of an Indian Backpacker Cormorants nesting on the tree on the periphery of Sanky Lake Ducks chilling in the lake Chowdiah Memorial Hall - a violin shaped auditorium for musical concerts, opposite the Sanky Lake. A statue of the Maratha warrior King Shivaji, outside the Sanky Lake

Vidhan Soudha - the seat of power in Bengaluru! The lofty ideals to be upheld in the Vidhan Soudha

Vikas Soudha - the new extension of Vidhan Soudha

The impressive entrance to the High Court of Karnataka, opposite the Vidhan Soudha

The High Court of Karnataka

Cubbon Park - a beautiful place to spend quality time walking around amidst all the greenery

and also pick up a couple of books to read from the library there!

The Golf links with high nets all around to prevent the ball from getting onto the street!

The General Post Office St.Josephs College The Dasara celebrations of the Bengali Goldsmiths in Bengaluru One of the many similar temples in Bengaluru

Another temple with a parrot!

One of the oldest and world famous MTR - Mavalli Tiffin Rooms - the place for South Indian food! Lalbagh Botanical Gardens - Heavenly! Ticket counters to get in the Lalbagh Park Unique! Creative! Glasshouse Japanese garden entrance in the Lalbagh Park Floral clock but time stands still :) A tower marking the southern boundary of Bengaluru built by Kempe Gowda in 1500s on a 3million year old rock. A view from the rock UB city - an iconic landmark Dropped in here for an Italian bite and had Ravioli Italiana. Was good but their toilets were stinking with the urinal overflowing.

8th Cross in Malleshwaram - a hotspot for traditional shopping The City Toilet House selling toiletries! Almost all the streets are nicely treelined like the one above! Canara Union in the evening all lit up for the Durga Puja The entrance to the pandal The object of celebration! The decoration at the Palace Grounds Puja Pandal The Indian rope trick in the pandal Thank you folks! Hope you enjoyed the virtual Bengaluru tour as much as I enjoyed presenting!

Mumbai - Hubbali - Bengaluru - A road trip

Drove down to Bengaluru last week and no this is not about a boring drive down the superb NH4, part of the Golden Quadrilateral. Am aware that everyone and his dog have been there and done that. Hence i decided to do this drive slightly differently. Since the rains were around till quite late this time, the greenery on both sides of the highway was soothing. Added to that was the burst of colour in the median. Just before reaching Satara there was this beautiful sight. No idea which flower this is but it did brighten up a cloudy day! Had heard about a lot of unexplored temples near Hubbali so decided to stop over at Hubbali before continuing ahead.

Hotel Swathi in Hubli - we stayed here. and ate 'Rava idli' and 'Palak Dosa' in Swathi restaurant

Did a bit of walking around in Hubbali in the evening and captured some interesting sights.

Durga Mata Mandir There are 2 idols in the temple - Dhammamma(left) and Durga Mata(right) A bylane Mishra Pedha - The most famous and trusted sweetmeat shop in Hubbali The array of sweets on sale Hubbali florists Shiva Krishna Mandir in Hubbali ShreeKrishna idol in the temple The Hubli Dharwad Municipal Corporation office The Hubbali skyline at dusk viewed from the Hotel Swathi

Early next morning left for Bengaluru via Gadag. Saw two beautiful temples on the way. The first one, Amruteshwar, was 35kms from Hubbali in Annegiri. The Amruteshwara Temple was built in the Dharwad District in 1050 CE with Dravida articulation, and was the first temple made of soapstone. Built in the Kalyani Chalukyas style, the temple has a roof supported by 76 pillars and carvings of mythological figures on its walls. Next was the Someshwar temple in Lakshmeshwar which is another hour’s drive from Annigeri. The temple complex with three main entrances and surrounded by high walls looks like a fort. It is a splendid specimen of Chalukya architecture. In middle of the Temple complex, there is a Someshwara temple, surrounded by many small temples mainly dedicated to Shiva, along the compound wall, built with granite, some Halls in the complex meant for resting devotees. The Nandi and Shiva Parvati idols in the temple are exquisitely sculpted. These idols are referred to as Saurashtra Someshwara because these idols were brought by a Shiva devotee from Saurashtra and installed at Lakshmeshwara. There were some more temples that needed to be visited but due paucity of time we moved on to the glorious NH4 onward to Bengaluru. On the way had to meet up with a budding novelist, a great story teller and a fellow blogger – Karthik, in Davangere. We had scheduled to have some Davangere special ‘Benne Doasas’ in a restaurant that he had written about in one of his stories but unfortunately there was some strike on in town, hence just met up with him for a short while before continuing onward to our destination. Karthik blogs at Eloquence Redefined In quite a few places along the highway there was corn spread out to dry. We reached the outskirts of Bengaluru at six in the evening but it took us another hour and a half to crawl through the congested streets before reaching Malleshwaram, a beautiful laid back area in Bengaluru.