Cycle Diaries

Rest of the pics

I think Bangalore is just awesome place for cycling and I try to utilize any opportunity I get. Asked Rags (one of my roommate) if he is interested ? He said yes then I planned, didn't disclose the distance though :-).  We started for the shri Ravishankar Ashram in Kanakpura road, around 25 kms from our place. I had visited the place earlier and had liked some locations on hill top.

Google maps helped us to figure out the route, but there were quite a few. While going we choose to go via Koramangala -> Bannerghatta road -> NICE road -> kanakpura road. NICE road was really nice :-), It was just awesome for cycling. The slope was also helping us, you hardly need to use paddles.  We later came to know that bicycles are not allowed on that road :-).

Reached Ashram, there was a shuttle showing various places at Ashram. The Sumeru and Viskalakshi Mantapas are really nice places. Had lunch there (they serve free lunch to everyone) and after resting under the shade of the green trees for about an hour started our back journey.

In our back journey we choose different route, kanakpura road -> Banashankari -> koramangala. The road was in very bad shape due to rains and the Namma Metro construction work. And to add there was no mud-guard on the back tyre of my cycle so I was getting a constant spray of mud on my back. We reached our home around 5.00 PM after travelling more than 50 Kms........ huuuufffff quite a distance.

Not to mention the Bangalore's weather was very supportive :-)

Dussera @ Mysore

Dussera @ Mysore Enjoy the pics......

It was a Random plan, visited Mysore for a day during dussera, as we had heard a lot about it. We first visited Chamundeshwari Temple on the hill top. Then we are told from local people that there are various events, most notable Royal Parade at the Palace, Torch light parade at Bunni Mantapa and various shows at Vrindavan Gardens. The more important aspect came a bit later that you need passes to attend these and there is no way you can get them on the spot. We thought for a moment what to do as we didn't have any passes, then decided lets give a shot and we reached the venues on time.

First event Royal Parade at Palace, the venue was already full with people from all over India and many foreigners. We stayed at the main gate for some time, and soon the whole area was getting filled with more people like us :-). With request/force they finally allowed everyone inside. We could manage some place to sit in front, actually we tried to stand sometimes to get a better view, but the crowd behind us reacted like we asked for separate Telangana or may be more Cauvery water :-). The parade was very lively presenting various cultures and music of karnatka. The show came to an end with Elephant Balarama carrying idol of goddess Chamundeshwari.

Till we reached the second venue Bunny Mantapa it was 7.30 PM and again the same situation no passes and again the same solution :-). So they allowed us inside, It was even better we got proper sitting places in the Gold class of VIP quota :-). It was a huge ground with flood lights all around. The show started with a wonderful Laser show and performance, followed by wonderful aerobics, in between some people landed from sky in parachutes and other events went on. Then came the big event Torch light parade, this wasn't the advertisement of EverReady batteries or something as I first thought :-) 900 karnatka Police staff entered the stadium holding the torches (Mashal). It was great parade with perfect synchronization. They got arranged in various positions and displayed messages with their torch lights, It was just awesome.

We didn't have time to visit the third place as it was only one day trip. My final comments :  One should definitely visit Mysore during Dussera but better pre plan everything. The festival goes on for 9-10 days with lots of events organised daily. 

Coastal Andhra, A Glimpse from Train

I clicked some pics while I was going to my home town Vizianagaram from Bangalore. The train route covers a significant part of coastal Andhra. Enjoy the greenary.....