Saturday, July 20, 2013

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Since long I have been planning a day’s trip to Kolar and the nearby places like  Kurudumale and Avani along with my family. So with this delightful vision, we started early in the morning at 8 am to Kolar by our car. We knew that the roads are good and expected to cover the distance comfortably in a reasonable time. But we had not accounted for the rain that would have interrupted our pleasant drive and disrupted our travel a bit.  Hence, we can say it was like “Sunshine on a cloudy day”. 



After a drive of around 2 hours, we reached Kurudumale where there are a few ancient temples of great craftsmanship. We first visited Shree Ganesha Temple built by one of the rulers of Vijayanagara kingdom. Then we visited another temple dedicated to Lord Shiva called the Someshwara Temple. Both these temples are architectural marvels in their own right.



After spending about an hour devouring the architectural splendour of these ancient temples, we proceeded to Kolar. On the way, it occurred to us that the temples in the Kolar city may not be open at this time of the day and we decided to first visit Avani.  By this time, our two little ones started to complain about being hungry and from my experience; I knew that I’ll not be able to drive an inch further without appeasing their hunger. My wife had already packed some snacks and fruits and she was ready to meet their needs. We spent a little time by the roadside and as usual I clicked one or two snaps of the nearby hills. Along with the kids we also had little food and we were ready to proceed further. 



Hence we drove down for another hour and reached Avani. Here we drowned ourselves in the beauty of Ramalingeshwara group of temples. These groups of ancient temples are also adorned with rich intricate carvings.



After seeing this temple, we decided to visit the abode of Goddess Sita on the hilltop. But we had no idea on how to proceed as plenty of unfamiliar and alien to us monuments were scattered all over the hill on our way up. We took the help of a local villager to reach the top. But when we began to climb, we had no idea that the trek is nearly 3 to 4kms.




So 4 of us started our upward journey. It is a simple temple with a small idol of Goddess Sita. After visiting the temple, we came down and we had company of various creatures on the hill on our downward journey. There were lizards of various sizes and colours. Our kids were enchanted by these colourful creatures and we could feel their excitement. They were not ready to leave the place. But as it was getting late and the climate was windy, I prompted them to get back to the car fast. 



By the time we reached down, all of us were very hungry and thought of going to a restaurant on the highway. At this juncture, we had company of heavy downpour and we all got little bit drenched in rain. Even though we were worried that the kids may catch cold by wetting in the rain, they were really enjoying the same. It was really hard to pull them back in the car.



We moved back to Bangalore after lunch. This trip had everything in it; peak into the history, fun, adventure over the hills, rain. I am not sure if this is a perfect trip, but we will remember it forever. The combination of the ancient monuments in their silent ambience and the family enjoyment etched an everlasting memory in our minds and eggs us on to undertake such trips now and then whenever the time permits.  

23 comments:

Lowell said...

That sounds like a wonderful family trip. Too bad about the rain, but you made the best of it. I can imagine all the fun the kids had. But that trek up the hill was tough, I'd guess. 4km is a long way and going up makes it even more difficult. The temples are gorgeous but I also appreciated the view of the highway.

TexWisGirl said...

beautiful temples and wonderful hike. glad you enjoyed the rain that came that day. cute lizard fellow!

Misty DawnS said...

I'm a lizard fan :-)

Magia da Inês said...

.·°°。♡♡

Super lindo! Bela série de fotos!
O que me encanta na arquitetura é a quantidade e a preciosidade de cada escultura desses templos. A natureza também é muito bonita.

Bom fim de semana!°°。❤
❤⊱ Beijinhos°°。°✿
°。✿✿。Brasil
°✿✿⊱彡

Anonymous said...

It sounds like it was a wonderful family outing. The temples are beautiful.

DeniseinVA said...

I enjoy these wonderful trips in India you take, always very interesting. Great photos! Thank you!

eileeninmd said...

Sounds like a wonderful family trip. Thanks for sharing your photos. The lizard is cute! Have a happy weekend!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

It sounds pretty perfect to me Rajesh..I would love to see the temples and would have enjoyed the climb to the top of the hill..even getting drenched in the rain sounds like it would have been a lot of fun :)

Lea said...

It is amazing what ancient civilizations could do - wonderful craftsmen and artists!
Have a great week-end!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie

NatureFootstep said...

loved the little lizrd. :)

Al said...

What an amazing day. Those temples do have fantastic craftsmanship, and I love those huge boulders.

Phil Slade said...

Fine shots of your day in the hill country Rajesh. India is such a beautiful historic country.

Gerald (SK14) said...

sounds like quite an epic journey - great that the kids enjoyed it

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Of all your photos, I like the lizard and his soft shadow the best!

Ecstatic Shadows

Teamgsquare said...

interesting .

Jeevan said...

This sounds like a wonderful shot trip... esp. the trek to Sita temple seems exciting sighting different kind of species and the cloudy weather adds pleasure along an rock gardens like of landscape.

R Niranjan Das said...

Excellent article. Kotilingeshwara is a wonderful temple in Kolar.

http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

aspiritofsimplicity said...

What a great trip. You packed a lot in.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photo tour you are providing of India ~ beautiful!

Sylvia K said...

What a wonderful trip indeed and such terrific captures!! And as always, so much beauty, Rajesh! Thanks for sharing!! Enjoy your weekend!

'Tsuki said...

Visiting India in your compagny is always such a pleasure... Thanks for the sharing.

Indrani said...

This is wonderful. A great trip!

Arti said...

Sounds very exciting, I would love to have a road trip like this one. All the best.