Beautiful weekend.
4:46 PM on Wednesday, February 23, 2005
200 odd pairs of eyes, gazing at a fountain that is synchronized to the tunes coming from a public address system.... waiting to see the fountain react to each rise and fall in the musical note, gasping when it does happen, and applauding when the show culminates in 'Saare jahaan se accha....'. Nice experience. One that you can have at Brindavan Garden (obligatory wikipedia reference) near Mysore. I, Vrushali and Parag Dada (her brother) were there huddled in one corner.... Such was the show that for those 15 minutes that it lasted, we were oblivious of the surroundings.... of the other pairs of eyes.... and of the ache in our legs, typical at the end of a tiring day. I came out grinning at this thought as the show drew to a close.
The day starts with a big banyan tree
The day began early as we made our way out of Bangalore at 6:30 AM. Our first stop, the grand old Banyan tree near Kengeri. The official Karnataka Goverment website says that the tree covers 4 acres of land. I thought that tree is not that huge, but then I am not too good with dimensions, so that is for you to find out on your own. All I can say is that it is pretty. Not the kind you see on the streets of Bangalore.... bigger, greener and.... pretty (for the lack of better words). The caretaker at the spot told us that the trunk of the tree was struck by lightning a little while ago, so there is a small temple at the spot where the trunk used to stand.
Next, the dam
We moved on from the tree to another lesser known tourist destination called Manchanabele Dam. The dam is close (nearly 7 kms) from the Banyan tree and hosts the occasional picnic (as far as I know). It was pretty much deserted on this Sunday. The big reservoir behind the dam allows for some pretty clicking avenues. With a nice breeze blowing and large rocks in the background, it allows one to feel the contrast from the crowded city life even more. We spent a good half an hour there.
Breakfast!
Our favourite haunt on the Bangalore-Mysore highway is the 'Kamat Lokaruchi' restaurant. Situated next to Janapadaloka; you reach this beautiful place after crossing the Ramanagaram town. I couldn't help but notice that the greenery has reduced considerably since my first trip to the restaurant (most likely this was to make space for additional tables and the like). But it still is a good place.... Also, the variety of South Indian cuisine that it serves is priced very nicely. Last time that we went, we saw several ducks in the Janapadaloka premises that were very happy to be in our company. This time around, we reached a little late for the regular breakfast; so the ducks probably had moved to more shaded areas. I had my favourite 'idli wrapped in banana leaf' and 'Ragi dosa'. Yum! This was followed by a short trip to Janapadaloka, which I and Parag Dada enjoyed thoroughly as we got enough 'subjects' to click away.
A small diversion into history
Next, we moved towards the historical town of Srirangapattana (another wikipedia link). This town was the capital of the royal state of Mysore under Tipu Sultan. It houses his picturesque summer palace along with the fort where Tipu breathed his last during the fourth anglo-mysore war. This was a small detour since Parag Dada and Vrushali had not seen the place earlier. Unfortunately, the Ranganathaswamy Temple was closed for the afternoon (it closes from around 1 PM to 4 PM, if I remember correctly). But in any case, we got to see the Colonel Bailey's dungeon and the palace, which in themselves are worth watching.
Onwards to do some bird watching
After Srirangapattana, we made our way to the bird sanctuary at Ranganathittu (yet another wikipedia link). We saw painted storks, open billed storks and the great stone plovers. Spent an awesome hour there. The only regrets were that we did not have more time to walk around and that our boat rower was not keen to extend our time in the lake by even 5-10 minutes more than the stipulated 20 minutes he has to take us out for. A thumbs up recommendation for people wondering if they should go there. The only tricky bit is to go in the 'season' when birds migrate.
From Ranganathittu, it was off to the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam (which hosts the beautiful Brindavan Gardens by its side). That culimated the trip.... and it was a nice climax, as I started with.
More pics of this trip are available here. Many of them are taken by Parag Dada.
The day starts with a big banyan tree
The day began early as we made our way out of Bangalore at 6:30 AM. Our first stop, the grand old Banyan tree near Kengeri. The official Karnataka Goverment website says that the tree covers 4 acres of land. I thought that tree is not that huge, but then I am not too good with dimensions, so that is for you to find out on your own. All I can say is that it is pretty. Not the kind you see on the streets of Bangalore.... bigger, greener and.... pretty (for the lack of better words). The caretaker at the spot told us that the trunk of the tree was struck by lightning a little while ago, so there is a small temple at the spot where the trunk used to stand.Next, the dam
We moved on from the tree to another lesser known tourist destination called Manchanabele Dam. The dam is close (nearly 7 kms) from the Banyan tree and hosts the occasional picnic (as far as I know). It was pretty much deserted on this Sunday. The big reservoir behind the dam allows for some pretty clicking avenues. With a nice breeze blowing and large rocks in the background, it allows one to feel the contrast from the crowded city life even more. We spent a good half an hour there.Breakfast!
Our favourite haunt on the Bangalore-Mysore highway is the 'Kamat Lokaruchi' restaurant. Situated next to Janapadaloka; you reach this beautiful place after crossing the Ramanagaram town. I couldn't help but notice that the greenery has reduced considerably since my first trip to the restaurant (most likely this was to make space for additional tables and the like). But it still is a good place.... Also, the variety of South Indian cuisine that it serves is priced very nicely. Last time that we went, we saw several ducks in the Janapadaloka premises that were very happy to be in our company. This time around, we reached a little late for the regular breakfast; so the ducks probably had moved to more shaded areas. I had my favourite 'idli wrapped in banana leaf' and 'Ragi dosa'. Yum! This was followed by a short trip to Janapadaloka, which I and Parag Dada enjoyed thoroughly as we got enough 'subjects' to click away.A small diversion into history
Next, we moved towards the historical town of Srirangapattana (another wikipedia link). This town was the capital of the royal state of Mysore under Tipu Sultan. It houses his picturesque summer palace along with the fort where Tipu breathed his last during the fourth anglo-mysore war. This was a small detour since Parag Dada and Vrushali had not seen the place earlier. Unfortunately, the Ranganathaswamy Temple was closed for the afternoon (it closes from around 1 PM to 4 PM, if I remember correctly). But in any case, we got to see the Colonel Bailey's dungeon and the palace, which in themselves are worth watching.Onwards to do some bird watching
After Srirangapattana, we made our way to the bird sanctuary at Ranganathittu (yet another wikipedia link). We saw painted storks, open billed storks and the great stone plovers. Spent an awesome hour there. The only regrets were that we did not have more time to walk around and that our boat rower was not keen to extend our time in the lake by even 5-10 minutes more than the stipulated 20 minutes he has to take us out for. A thumbs up recommendation for people wondering if they should go there. The only tricky bit is to go in the 'season' when birds migrate.
From Ranganathittu, it was off to the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam (which hosts the beautiful Brindavan Gardens by its side). That culimated the trip.... and it was a nice climax, as I started with.
More pics of this trip are available here. Many of them are taken by Parag Dada.