Talkad

Talkad is an ancient town located 33 kms from Mysore. This city on the banks of Cauvery river in the ancient days had been the capital city of Chola and Ganga kingdoms. 

It was ruled by the Gangas before the 11th century and then Cholas from the 11th through the 12th centuries. It came under the control of Hoysala in the 12th century. It was then patronized by the Vijayanagar rulers and the Maharajas of Mysore. 

Apart from the temples, this place is known for its sand dunes. The sand dunes here have buried large number of monuments. The excavation work is in progress here to unearth these precious treasures. 

Some of such monuments are:

• Vaidyeshwara Temple
• Arkeshwara Temple
• Pataleshwara Temple
• Maruleshwara Temple 
• Mallikarjuna Temple
• Kirthinarayan Temple

Being the countryside you can get to see many birds here. On the way to this place there are several water ponds with birds in them.

Loknath Temple, Puri

Loknath Temple at Puri is on the western side of Jaganath Temple and just 1 km separating them. We visited this temple in the evening on our way back from Chilka lake to Puri. It is built between 10th and 11th century A.D. It is simple and does not have any sculptural work on it.

The sanctum is underneath the earth and it can be reached by climbing down the steps. Here Shiva lingam is immersed under stream of flowing water. As per the belief Shiva Lingam here is installed by Lord Ram. 

Just outside the temple is a big water pond used by the temple.

Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Madurai

Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple at Madurai is the most important place in the city and forms the lifeline of the city. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Parvati who is known here as Meenakshi and her consort, Shiva, better known as Sundareswarar.



This beautiful temple complex spread over 45 acres is the largest and is built between the years 1623 to 1655 CE. There are totally 14 gateway towers to the complex and 4 of them are in each direction. The average height of towers is 50 meters, and the the tallest in the Southern side of the complex is 51.9 meters in height. The tower of the main sanctum is covered with gold.


The temple has large number of beautiful sculptures and each one of them are better than the other.



There are several halls in the temple with 100 and 1000 pillars which are carved beautifully. The sacred temple tank measuring 165 ft by 120 ft has a beautiful golden lotus in it.

Mariamman Teppakulam, Madurai

Mariamman Teppakulam in Madurai is the biggest temple tank in Southern India. This is 5 kms east of the famous Meenakshi Temple and it is here annual float festival is organized.

The tank measuring 1100 ft by 950 ft is built by King Tirumalai Nayak in 17th century and is fed by water from Vagai river through an ingenious system of underground Channels.

At the center of the tank is a shrine of Lord Vinayaka.

Srimad Anantheshwar Temple Pond, Manjeshwar

The Srimad Anatheshwar Temple in Manjeshwar is most ancient temple in the area. To the right of the temple there is a pond enclosed within a compound wall.

The water of the pond is used only by the temple.

In the pond there are two ducklings having a good time.

Beat the Heat

Lot of resorts have mushroomed in and around Bangalore. This mainly serve corporate customers. Some of the companies take the employees to these places for a days outing once in a while. Apart from food they provide lot of facilities like games, swimming pool and host of other amenities.

These resorts have also started to cater to the family crowd.

With the temperature going as high as 36 degree centigrade in Bangalore, these places are ideal getaways for a fee. My family along with my friends family ventured to explore one such resort on a weekday.

Luckily on the day we were the only people in the resort. We had good fun with the kids spending more than 5 hours in the pool. The place had water slides, pools of various sizes, play area.