Kunal Singh Speaks

Recently I drove from Bangalore to Delhi through Golden Quadrilateral.

Day : Bangalore->Kolhapur

Day 2: Kolhapur->Surat

Day 3: Surat->Nathdwara (Rajsamand)

Day 4: Nathdwara->Delhi

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I drove only during the day time to minimize the probability of falling asleep while driving Roads were pretty good in most stretches except in Karnatka.

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If traffic police guys see an out of state registration on any car they have a tendency to stop it. If they stop you once, it is hard to get away without loosing some money. The situation is worst if you are not traveling as a large group. I had all the essential documents for my Car, but at most places they will argue that the documents are fake, an argument hard to beat. If your time is really valuable (as mine is) you will yourself try to get out of the situation by paying some money. You will encounter the cops only while passing through the major cities. A couple of tips which might come handy

- Avoid eye contacts with traffic police (so that they can’t signal you to stop)

- Drive in the middle lane or the right most lane (they are always standing on the left )

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I wish to finish the remaining part of golden quadrilateral “Delhi->Calcutta->Chennai” in the coming year. Ping me if any one is interested to join.

Pulpit Rock, Norway

Awesome Norway!!!

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We had a wonderful trip to Pulpit Rock yesterday.

Took a ferry from Stavanger to Tau & then a bus from Tau to Pulpit Rock Cabin. Trek to Pulpit rock took about 1.5 hours. As soon as we reached the rock, the entire area got covered with clouds. After a while, clouds cleared up for few minutes and we got a wonderful view of the Lysefjord. There were intermittent sessions of heavy rains. We had not carried and rain coats or umbrellas. So, we spent all day with wet clothes. Trekking down to pulpit rock cabin took about 45 minutes.

It was a beautiful trek. Different stretches reminded me of different places of India: Hampi, Tungbhadra Dam, Mussorie, Mekedatu.

Wish to visit this place again very soon.

The Viking Swords at Madla

Awesome Norway

I visited Taj during my recent trip to Delhi. It was disappointed to see the great Taj in a helpless state. Marbel shine is fading away and river Yamuna is drying up … Touts & Brokers add up to the visitor’s woes. Not to mention Plastics, and more Plastic chocking up the environment …

The river Yamuna has dried up … Plastic is flourishing

A view of Taj from the Red Fort … Once Yamuna lived here

Another view from Red Fort

See the Plastics … Where is ASI?

Last weekend we decided to visit Sri Savan Belagola. Sravan Belagola is a place of great religous significance for Jains. It is famous amongst tourists for giant monolith of Gommateswara. I had always known Sri Savan Belagola mainly for this Monolith. But, after visiting the place, I realised that there is a lot more to see.

A Brief History - Sravan Belagola is the place where great Mauryan emperor Chandragupta had spent last years of his life. He had arrived here with other Jain monks. Monk Bhadrabahu had led the group. This event dates back to 300 BC. The place was a center of religious activities from then on. The 57 feet tall monolith of Gommatta was installed here in 980 A.D.

Sravan Belagola as of Today: There are two rocky hills - Vindhyagiri and Chandragiri. These hills are separated by a beautiful pond - Kalyani. The place is named “Bela Gola” (means “white lake” in kannada) after this pond.

Vindhyagiri hill is known for its giant monolith of Gommata. There are a few other structures on the hill. The height of the hill is appx 450 feet.

Chandragiri is the place where “Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta” had arrived and lived for years. There is a temple complex on the hill which houses twelve jain temples. Inside the temple complex there is a monolith of Bharata (Bahubali’s younger brother). There is a cave (Bhadrabahu cave) where Bhadrabahu lived and gave away his body (took samadhi). This hill was then on being used by Monks to take samadhis. There are ninety inscriptions which record the act of Samadhi by different people. It is claimed that about seven hundred people took samadhi on this hill. Chandragiri also has stone carved footprints of - Chandragupta and Bhadrabahu (did not look like of the real size). The footprints are at the peak of the hill. You can get a great view of Vindhyagiri, temple Complex and the city from here.

Inscriptions: Both the hills have stone inscriptions dating back to different periods. Most inscriptions are in Kannada. These inscriptions are of great archeological value.
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Getting there - it is about 140 Km from Bangalore Bus Station. You need get on to the Tumkur Road and go towards Neelamngla. Near Neelamangla you need to take the route (Left Turn) towards Hassan. There are enough signboard on the way which will guide you towards your final destination. There are Food Poings and Petrol Banks on the way.

Some Intersting Facts

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- Though the Giant Monolith is on the Vindhyagiri, Chandragiri is of more historical and religious importance. There is a lot to see on the Chandragiri.
- The climb up to Vindhyagiri is steep, tough and tiring. There are 600 steps which you need to climb to reach the temple complex. You need to further climb up about 100 steps to reach the monolith.
- The stairway was carved in 1130 A.D.
- In Kannada Language “Bela Gola” means “white lake” - the place is named after a small pond.
- There is a lot to see here. Plan your travel such that you get to spend at least 8 hours here.
- The temple complex (on both the hills) closes by 6:30 pm.
- Bhadrabahu Cave opens only in the morning.
- When viewed from the top, one of the rocks looked like a giant Lion; a fact not yet unearthed by tourists.

View All Pictures of Sravan Belagola.

View Pictures from other sites.

Recently I visited Thanjavur (earlier known as Tanjore). Thanjavur has a lot to offer to tourists. Some of the major attractions are: Brihadeshwari temple, Thanjavur Art Gallery, Bell Tower, and various Museums.

Brihadeswari Temple (Big Temple): This temple is unique in its architecture. At this temple, Vimanam is high and gopuram is small, in contrast to the conventional Tamil Temples. The temple is designed in such a way that shadow of Cupola never falls on the ground. Sivaganga tank is attached to the same campus. There is also a small water park compex adjacent to the temple complex.

Palace Complex - The palace complex is located inside (the ruins of) Vijaynagar Fort. This complex houses several monuments and museums. Thanjavur Art Gallery, Arsenal Tower, Bell Tower, Maratta Durbar Hall, Serfoji Memorial Hall, Royal Museum, Saraswati Mahal Library, Sangeeta Mahal, Sarjah Madi.

Thanjavur Art Gallery - has sculptures and bronze images from various periods.  There is “Nayak Durbar Hall” in the same building. Durbar hall has rich painting work on its roof and walls. The decorations are really eye catching. Next to Durbar Hall is Natraja Hall, which houses many Bronze Images of Natraja.

Arsenal Tower - There is an Arsenal tower inside the art gallery. This has been designed to look like a temple as camouflage. You can go up of this tower (climbing the narrow stair cases) and get a good view of Thanjavore from top. On the ground floor of the tower, a huge skeleton of Whale is also on display - something that I really found interesting. Way to Arsenal tower is from inside the art gallery.
Bell Tower - is adjacent to the Art Gallery. You are allowed to climb up to the top of this watch tower. You can get a good view of the city from this tower.

Saraswati Mahal Library - This library has rich collection of palm leaf srcipts and old books. Library can only be visited by members. But, there is a small museum open for visitors. This museum contains several books, paintings and photos from Raja Serofji’s personal collection. Some books on medical sciences really caught my attention. A hand-painted old map of London contained as minute details as Google Images. There is no charge for visitors.

Maratta Durbar hall - has rich paintings and carvings on the walls and roofs. The hall is not very well maintained.

Serfoji Memorial Hall & Royal Museum: is housed in the Sadar Mahal building, adjacent to Maratta Durbar Hall. The king’s family still lives in the same complex. There is a garden in same complex (Krishna Vilas Tank used to exist in same premises).  Inside the garden some walls have been repainted with sharp colors. Some light and music shows are held here
occasionally. Various items used by King are on display in the royal museum.

Sarjah madi - This building houses palaeolithic and neolithic tools. There are also items related to Tamil History and Culture. The museum is not very well maintained but worth a visit. The building is next to Sadar Mahal, but enterance to the museum is through the east main road. So, you need to come out of the palace complex and then visit this museum. Entry ticket is sold inside the Palace complex.

Sageetha Mahal Palace - There is a “Thanjavur Handicraft Association” Shop on first floor of this building. Prices are reasonable.

Berrangi Medu - This place has a huge beerangi (cannon) on display. Place is close to Palace. This is claimed to be the biggest cannon in India.

Tamil University Museum - Is housed in a building next to Sharjah Madi. This museum contains some seals and terracota items from Mohan-jo-dado excavations (2500 B.C.). There are also some palaeolithic and neolithic tools excavated from various ASI sites at Tamilnadu. There are beads, terracota pots and other art work excavated from Erode and Periyar in Tamilnadu (1000 A.D.). Some scultptures and wooden decoration is also on display. There is also a section displaying items related to Tamilnadu folk arts and music.
Raja Cholan Manimandapam - This building was constructed during 8th World Tamil Congress in 1995. The buliding is named after great Tamil king Raja Raja Chola. There is “Raja Raja Cholan Museum” in the basement of this building. Museum has sculptures, terracota items and some other excavated objects on display. Main building contains a tower, you can climb up the tower to get a good view of the city.

Clock Tower - on East Main Road is an attractive structure.

Poompuhar - Show Room of “Tamlinadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd” located on east main road. This showroom is very close to Railway station.

Govt of Tamilnadu Tourism Information Center - on top of the “Hotel TamilNadu Restaurant” on east main road. You can get information about Thanjavore and Tamil Nadu here. Office remains closed on holidays.

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Getting there: It is 10 hours journey by train from Bangalore.

Stay: Once you come out of the Junction, there are plenty of options available at East Main Road. I stayed in Hotel Tamilnadu. Non-AC rooms are available under range 450-700, and AC rooms are available under range 800-1000. Rooms are spacious and pleasant. Another hotel in similar price range is P.AL - rooms are good too. Hotel Tamil Nadu is closer to Big Temple and Palace. Check out Oriental Towers, river View and Sangam if you are looking for higher price range.

Local Travel: I covered all the sites (except Manimandapam) by walk. The temple and Palace Complex are within a Km distance from Hotel Tamilnadu. You can also take auto rickschaw (minimum charges INR 30).  City buses are also available - for Manimandapam take a bus towards new bus stand (charges INR 2).

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View All Pictures from Thanjavur
View Pictures from other Sites

Me and Pankaj had been thinking about driving down to Pondicherry for last couple of months. Last weekend was the right opportunity for that, as my sister had come to Bangalore. We took Monday off from office and planned for a three day trip. It was a great trip and we covered Pondicherry and Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram). We also had brief halts at Thiruvannamalai, Gingee and Kanchipuram.

Day 1:
We left from Bangalore at 6:00 am and headed towards Pondicherry on NH-7. At Krishnagiri, there are three diversions. You need to take NH-66 (which we did) to go towards Ponicherry). NH-46 takes you to Chennai and NH-7 continues towards Salem.

Our first stop was at Thiruvannamalai. It is the first major city on NH-66. We visited the “Ramana Ashram” where we bought a few books. Around a kilometer ahead of Ashram is the “Arunachaleshwar Temple”. This is a huge temple and architecture of this temple is impressive. Here are a few pictures of the temple.
Our Second stop was at Gingee. Gingee is mid-way between Thiruvannamalai and Tindivanam. The spot can be easily noticed by the huge boundary walls of Gingee fort. We spent around an Hour in Gingee fort. The “Huge granary” and a gigantic “stone throne” were the main attraction. We did not climb up the hill as we were running short of time. Here are a few pictures from Gingee Fort.
We finally reached Pondicherry at 1:30 pm after a journey of about 300 KM. We stayed at a government guest house. It was little away from Main city. There was a beach about 200 meters away from the guest house. Around 5:00 pm we left for the “Aurobindo Ashram”. We visited the main Ashram Building which houses the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo. We bought a couple of books from the Ashram book shop. Ashram is 100 meters away from the sea beach. We spent an hour at the Beach. We did some road side shopping at “Jawahar Lal Nehru Street” next and then headed for dinner. Dinner was at a French Restaurant “Satsang” at Lal Bahadur Street.

Day 2:
We went to the beach near our guest house at 5:30 am. We had two agendas in our list - watching the sun rise and playing football. The sky was full of clouds and so could not see the sun rise. The beach was full of fishermen, and was very dirty. So eveb football plan flopped off. We went to the Ashram and had breakfast at Ashram’s canteen.
Next we visited Auroville. Auroville is on the outskirts of Pondicherry (as soon as you enter Pondicherry on NH-66). There is a small diversion from NH-66 which takes you to Auroville. There was no sign board there, so we missed the turn and had to come back. Auroville is a place worth visiting.
Here are some photos from Pondicherry and Auroville.
Next city on our plan was Mamallapuram. You have to come back on NH-66 (which takes you towards Krishnagiri) and take a diversion from Tindivanam to reach Mamallapuram. We followed NH-45 from Tindivanam, and had to take another diversion at Chengalpattu.
We reached Mamallapur at around 4:00 pm. This is a very small town. We had late lunch at “Hotel Mamallapur Heritage”. Food was delicious. We next went to see the Sea Shore temple. We stayed at “Hotel Seabeach Resort” and had dinner at the same place.

Day 3:
We went to the site of Cave Temples. There are a lot of cave temples (some unfinished) with fine sculpturing work. It is place worth spending a few hours (at least). Krishna Mandapa, Arjuna’s Penance, Varaha Cave Temple, Krishna’s Butter balls, Ganesh Ratha, Mahishasurmardini Cave Temple, Thirukadamallai Temple  are some of the main attractions at this site. You can also go to the old Light House and get a few view of the city from top. After Cave Temples, we visited five rathas site. Five Rathas are five temples carved out of stones. All are monolithic structures. We also spent a few minutes at local sculpturing museum. This museum houses sculptures made by students of “Mamallapur College of Sculpturing”.
Here are some photos from Mamallapuram.
For our return journey we took the “Mamallapur->Chengalpattu->Kanchipuram->Vellore->Krishnagiri->Hosur->Bangalore route. We had a brief halt at Kanchipuram. Here are few pictures from Kanchipuram.
We reached back home at 10:00 pm.

Road Conditions:
NH-46 is a pleasure to drive, but with a heavy toll fee. NH-7 is good too. NH-66 is ok with a few bad patches.
Places to Stay:
I will suggest that you stay at one of the Ashram Guest Houses in Pondicherry. These guest houses are very close to the beach, and the main city. At Mamallapuram there are plenty of options for all price range. The town is very small and every thing is spread across a few 100 meters. So, you can just take a walk and choose the right place for yourself.

<Town of Lothal as envisaged by ASI>

Last week I visited Lothal; a harappan excavation site in Gujrat. Lothal is the earliest known port in history adn the considered to be the most important Indus-era site in India. Literal Meaning of word Lothal is “Mound of Dead”. Town of Lothal was excavated by Dr S R Rao, during 1955-62.

Getting there: Lothal is around 80 Km (by road) from the city of Ahmedabad. You need to first reach “Dholka” and then take the highway towards, “Bagodhra”. Before reaching Bagodhra (about 17 kms before), take a left turn towards “Koth” on the “Dholka-Bagodhra Highway”. Go towards “Arnej” from Koth. “Lothal” is 11 km away from “Arnej”. Most people in Ahmedabad will not be able to guide you towards Lothal (they may be even surprised to hear the name Lothal), however they should be able to guide you towards Dholka. “Koth” and “Arnej” are well known as you approach Dholka. Any one in Arnej should be able to guide you towards “Lothal”. Ahmedabad->Dholka->koth->Arnej->Lothal.

Places to See: The excavated site is the most interesting place to see. You can spend around one hour at this site. This site also has a ASI museum which was established in 1976. The museum remains open from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm (except on Friday). The excavated site remains open from early morning till evening. There are no tourist guides available here. However some one from ASI will be present here who can explain you the history of this port town.

Excavated Site: The excavated site (port town) dates back to 2500-1900 B.C. The town was destroyed around 1900 B.C. by frequent floods and was completely deserted by Harappans by 1700 B.C. The entire settlement was divided into a citadel (Acropolis), and a lower town. These structures were protected against floods by a 13m thick mud brick wall. The structures were constructed with fine bricks. The bricks of different shapes and size were used for different constructions. Bricks were sun-dried (not oven baked) and are still resistant to the climate. Lothal was famous for its rich cotton and rice growing hinterland and its bead-making industry. The remains of bead-factory have also been excavated. Two water wells have also been excavated. Trapezoidal bricks have been used to construct the well (to give it a circular shape).

ASI Museum: Lothal is one of the riches Harappan sites excavated within the Indian Borders. A number of excavated objects have been kept for display in the ASI museum at the site. However few most important objects have been moved to National Museum, New Delhi. Amongst the displayed objects, Beads, Ornaments (made up of beads, semi-precious stones, copper and gold), seals and sealings, pottery (pots of different size and shape, painted pottery, perforated pottery), shell and metal (copper, bronze) objects, animal and human figurines (mummy, gorilla, horse, bull), weights and measures, toys (including chess board and dice), burial and ritual objects are most significant.

Accommodation at Lothal: is a big problem. I had read at some website that there is a ASI dormetry at the excavation site and a five start hotel about 6 km from the site. But both of these are not existent (may be it was there before). It is also difficult to find any food near by. You can pick up some fruits etc in Dholka. I think that the closest hotels to the site are in the Ahmedabad.

PICTURES from LOTHAL

Yesterday I visited Lepakshi and Penukonda. These towns are a house to rich remains of 16th century constructions by Vijaynagara Emperors.

About Lepakshi:
Lepakshi is famous for its (partially finished) Stone Carvings and Frescoes. Frescoes mainly depict Images from Ramayana. This link provides more information about Lepakshi. Photos from Lepakshi.

About Penukonda:
It was a summer-resort for Krishana Deva. Most of the constructions have been demolished, and now you see newly constructed houses all around the city. However, most of the temple premises have survived encroachments. You can also see a few remains of fort parapet. Follow this link for more information on Penukonda. Photos from Penukonda.

Getting There
* Follow NH-7 from Bangalore.
* For Lepakshi: Take a detour towards Hindupur (after Bagepalli). This diversion is after 100 km from Mekhri circle. Lepakshi is 20 Km down this road.
* For Penukonda: Proceed on NH-7 (no detour). Penukonda is locate on NH-7, about 135 km from Mekhri circle.

We first visited Lepakshi and then Penukonda. We followed NH-7. Penukonda is located on NH-7. However, for Lepakshi, we had to take a detour a detour from NH-7 (after Bagepalli).