Happy Kannada Rajyotsava 2011

Image via WikipediaI am from Karnataka the most beautiful state in India. The southern state offers everything for the visitor or the resident or the immigrant. It is home for lush green forests, towering wooded hills of the western ghats, rocky boulders, amazingly beautiful sculptures and art, and the best of all the most wonderful and accommodating people. Today the state celebrates its formation day and naturally I am pleased.

I wish I were back home in Bengaluru to celebrate the Rajyotsava in the homeland. But then I remember the state, its people, culture and most importantly the beautiful Kannada language, which has been ignored by the native speakers themselves. I have come across several Kannadigas who prefer to speak in English rather than their mother tongue. Anyway this post is not about that.

Wish you all a Happy Kannada Rajyotsava 2011.

Generation Gap

I captured this picture during my travels in rural Karnataka. I visited a small tomb shrine of Siddis and came across this mendicant with a young visitor. The lifestyle and age of these two men are widely different and they clearly belong to different worlds, but the shrine brings them together and makes them stand shoulder to shoulder. I believe this kind of phenomenon where tradition meets modernity can happen only in India.

Views of Mysore and Nanjangud

I recently had the opportunity to visit the ancient Nanjundeswara temple at Nanjangud, Karnataka, India. The temple was undergoing renovation and hence looks a little odd, with newly painted upper part and ramshackle lower portion. Nevertheless the temple presents an impressive vista and evokes devotion and respect from the devout visitors.

Mysore city Road

Street scene in downtown Mysore

View of the Entrance to Nanjangud temple

A view of the pillars that support the entrance to the Nanjangud temple

Attractive temple frescoes

Sculptures inside the temple

More Vistas of Rural Karnataka

I am still on a nostalgic trip remembering my outings in rural Karnataka out of the noise and pollution of the city. Those were times when I was footloose and fancyfree and totally focused on filling fuel and riding on my motorcycle to far off exotic locations and learn about the history, culture and geography of the diverse nation I was born in. It is ironical that living in America this is one element that is totally missing: unique, vibrant and interesting humanistic tradition. All that is here is glitzy malls, shopping, technology, rock and roll, and artificially created gardens, parks, lakes, etc. For the people here these things are exotic and beautiful, to me it seems very superficial and on the surface.

Elephant in Bandipur national park, Karnataka

Typical rural scene in Karnataka

Rural Bangalore Vistas

Don't be misled by the title of the post that I am in Bangalore or Bengaluru. I am still in the US with no indications of returning to India in the near future. I was just feeling nostalgic and going through my zip drive, where I found these pictures shot during my travels in Bangalore. Unfortunately I don't see such sights in the US.

Wildflowers of rural Bangalore

I have blogged extensively about the wild flowers in Texas and Oklahoma. These are flowers planted by the authorities by the sides of highways and in public spaces. I was going through one of my photo albums online and found that I had captured some images of wildflowers in my home zone too. These were shot not besides the road, but along hiking trails, in the wilderness around Bangalore aka Silicon Valley of India.

These pictures were shot while on a hike to an old fortress near Bangalore. One of the few locations where we fought the invading British armies formidably till some traitor betrayed our armies. Anyway today these forts are wilderness and outdoor adventure areas. Here are two pictures of a beautiful cactus flower captured during one of the hikes.

Some Coastal Pilgrimage Centers in Karnataka

One of the major reasons people travel in India is for pilgrimage. People visit exotic locations such as mountain tops, forests, river sides, beaches etc not for to enjoy the natural beauty but to pay respects to the God or goddess that resides at the location. Local cities have evolved to include massive constructions to cater to the beliefs of these pilgrims. Here are two examples I found in my travels across coastal Karnataka.

The above image is a picture of the entrance arch to the temple town of Udupi, famous for its ancient Krishna temple. This is particularly famous regional deity of the state I belong to.

In Murudeshwar a few kilometers north of Udupi is Murudeshwar famous for its rugged rocky beaches and the ancient temple of Lord Shiva. In a bid to make the rocky hill more accessible and tourist friendly, local authorities decided to commission the construction of this massive sculpture of Lord Shiva.

Introducing Heggunda - A Rock Climber's Eden

One of the fascinating features of my home town Bengaluru, India is the numerous rocky and wooded hills sited within an hours drive. Living in flat-as-pancake Dallas area I miss these hills and climbing the rocky massifs. There is history which dates back to 1000s of years, natural beauty of the hillocks and there are wild animals. Overall this makes it an interesting place to visit. Heggunda offers an array of rejuvenating activity options: trekking, rock climbing, cave exploration, bird watching etc. For those with a special interest in history and antiquities, there are herostones, ancient temples and inscriptions to admire and analyse.

The most interesting feature of Heggunda is the massive rocky hill — Ramadevara Betta — crowned by a Rama temple. The hill towers behind the village and its main face has been peculiarly sculpted and shaped by the elements. But beware of the several large beehives on the rockface disturbing even one of them might cause an army of soldier bees to chase you.

Memorial stones.
The village has about seven attractively carved memorial stones in various states of neglect. Two installed near the Anjaneya temple are being used as post to tie up cattle and one more is lying in the middle of a field nearby. The remaining four – including two depicting heroes wielding guns – are installed in the middle of the village amidst houses and they are being used as platforms to dry washed clothes.

My latest writing venture!!!

Couple of days ago while browsing through my old articles and pictures I decided to put everything together in a thematic fashion and make it some sort of a book. I started off with my home state of Karnataka and I compiled only a few articles I had written for EducationWorld and the result is a 54 page book. Having done that I decided that I must share the information with others who might be interested in visiting the various tourist attractions of my home state. I have put up the guide for sale as a PDF download on Guidegekco an online travel site which helps travellers become writers.


Here is an image of the coverpage if any of my blog readers are interested I'd be glad to share the guide with you all. If you are feeling generous you could buy it online at Guidegecko.
If there is suitable number of requests I might even consider offering a print version of the book.

Karnataka - One State... Many Worlds

Karnataka Tourism says that ours is one state which offers several worlds for the discerning traveler. Karnataka offers high mountains, lush green forests, historical monuments, hundreds of miles of golden beaches, fast flowing rivers, dance, music and drama, and a lot more...
I was going through some pictures of my travels in Karnataka and thought it would be a great idea to share them all on youtube in the form of a video presentation. Here is the result....

Gokarna: Land of my favourite beaches

Continuing my memory series blogs I am going to write about some of my most favourite beaches in my homeland. Before I talk about my favourite beaches I'd like to give a little physical geographical information about India. With a coastline of over 7,600 km India is richly endowed with thousands of kms of golden beaches. And unlike in several other countries, all the seaside towns enjoy great sunny weather and one can easily get into the water and enjoy a cool swim in the azure waters of the ocean.

Predictably my favourite beaches are located in my home state of Karnataka, though I like Goan beaches, they are too crowded for my comfort. I haven't been to Kerala's beaches and the beaches in Tamil Nadu (at least the ones I have been to) were very dirty and full of dead fish. I have been to Mumbai's beaches but they were dirtier than the TN ones. In Andhra Pradesh and Orissa the beaches were so hot that I couldn't enjoy being there and to my bad luck I visited these states in the peak of summer so I don't have particularly fond memories of these locations.

Anyway now cutting the chatter here are some of my most favourite beaches in Karnataka.

The holy beach behind the main temple in Gokarna, crowded but it is so long that one can find some secluded places

Om Beach, used to be my favourite when it was inaccessible and virtually empty. But now it is in the list only because of its development, there are throngs of tourists crowding the beach

Rugged rock formations off the Om Beach, we used to swim upto them and enjoy climbing

Sunset at Gokarna, captivating and colourful

Om Beach - another view

One of my favourite Biking Roads

I have travelled across India by road several times on different modes of transport, bicycle, scooter, car and motorcycle. The road infrastructure is not so great but the scenery, the life on road, friendliness of the people, divergent vistas and vibrancy of the experience continues to lure me. This picture was shot at Sadashivgad just off Karwar enroute Goa during the first leg of the South Asian Motorcycle Odyssey in 2006-07.