Karnataka

Karnataka is a land of ancient temples, wildlife sanctuaries, unexplored forests, awe inspiring waterfalls, beautiful beaches, sprawling coffee plantations and much more. This southern state has a varied geography with and climate. Coastal plains lie on the western side bordering the Arabian Sea sporting a warm and humid climate for most part of the year. Mountains, valleys and farmlands in the interior regions have hot summers and cool winters.
Karnatakas rich heritage and history are evident in the numerous temples and heritage sites present in the state such as Hoysala temples at Belur, Hampi, Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur, Ibrahim Rauza, cave temples at Badami and the rock-cut temples at Aihole, monolith of Gomateshwara Bahubali at Shravanabelagola and Mysore Place. Karnataka invites beach lovers to Murudeshwara,Gokarna and Karwar and the religious to Udupi Sri Krishna Matha, the Marikamba Temple at Sirsi, the Sri Manjunatha Temple at Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya Temple and Sharadamba Temple at Shringeri, Kudalasangama, Basavana Bagewadi, Mudabidri and Karkala.
Karnatakas natural heritage, the forests and wildlife are fondly cared for in Bandipur National Park, Bannerghatta National Park, Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary, Dubare – Elephant Camp and Kudremukh National Park to name only a few. Natural wonders abound in the state in the form of Jog Falls (India’s tallest single-tiered waterfall), Gokak Falls, Unchalli Falls, Magod Falls, Abbey Falls and Shivanasamudra Falls among many.
Karnataka has a good network of railways, national and state highways and has international airports at Bengaluru and Mangalore.

Bangalore – Munnar.. Road review

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Finally, after planning for almost 4 years, we made it to Munnar. One thing that I searched for before this trip was a description about the route (fast and best). Though I found the information in bits and pieces, it was not a holistic one. This is one of the major contributing factor for me to write about it.
Best option to get to Munnar would be to take a train till Coimbatore and hit the road from there on. There are 2 trains from Bangalore to Coimbatore. Planning in advance will be required to secure a confirmed berth in the train.

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Jenkal- A bungalow and coffee

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He took out his small tractor and invited us for a joy ride. What a bumpy ride it was! It was an experience in itself and we were thrilled like kids. We were taken to a lagoon sort of water body deep inside his property. In the quiet of the forest you could hear the murmuring of water and spent some time over there splashing around a bit.

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NH7 – Bangalore to Chennai Road Review (and back)

NH7 – Bangalore to Chennai Road Review (and back)

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The distance between Chennai and Bangalore is approx. 340 km (GPO to GPO, that’s how distances are measured, right?). There are 2 prominent routes between these 2 cities.
1.Via Hosur and
2.Via Chittoor
The stretch that I love the most is Hosur to Krishnagiri, which is a ghat section (not in the true sense, but relative). Its scenic and the best time to be driving on this stretch is in the early morning when the sun comes up in the horizon.

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Shettihalli – a church submerged in the waters

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It was the backwaters of the Hemavathy Reservoir and the monument was the Holy Rosary Church built by French Missionaries around 1860. We met a few villagers on our return who told us that this village was once a lush hamlet where the River Hemavathy flowed watering fields of sunflower.

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The Rickshaw run

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This must be a great inspiration for fellow ghumakkars : My friend is driving an autorickshaw for charity across india starting from cochin ending…

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