MM Hills

During my previous trip to Chamarajanagar I had missed out on going to MM Hills. Hence when there was a day off for Easter (March 31^st) Preethi and I left Bangalore at around 6:30AM. After a small squabble with some boy cutting my way at a petrol bunk, we drove directly to MM Hills. As always I enjoyed the drive on Kanakapura road. We stopped for some tea and bun for breakfast as we did not find any good restaurant. But as the day turned noon, the temperature augmented and it was impossible to drive without AC. April is the worst time to drive around Bangalore not only because of the weather but the view as well which was mostly dry as if burnt. Everything looked sad and ruined with trees without leaves; the one’s remaining had turned brown, ready to crumble. 

But even in this hot summer, there are some trees that blossom, specially my favorite tree of all – The golden shower tree (Cassia fistula). The yellow flowers showered down from every branch. It looked lovely. Last year I planted 4 of these trees in the front yard of my Surathkal house. I can’t wait for them to blossom.

After a nice ride around the hill and few hair pin bends we reached the temple at around 11:00 AM. I bet the drive would be much more beautiful during or after rain. The temple was crowded. We followed a descent queue and had Darshan.  

We had lunch at a small restaurant nearby. The food was pathetic but we had no options. Nagamale was next on my agenda but the villagers told me that I could not drive up there and it was a trek that had to be started in the morning and would be difficult under hot sun. So, tired that I already was, we decided to return. 

On the way we stopped at Sangama. Two rivers meet here but during this time, there were pockets of water collected between 3 rocks and in those pockets where several Bangaloreans bathing. It was not a pleasant sight so we returned immediately.  

This was one of the tips I did not enjoy much at all. I think it had to do mostly with the weather. It was extremely hot, trees were dry and everything looked burnt.  

A Very Creative Month!

The month of March and April was filled with events at French class. It was the month of Francophone festival. 

On March 23rd, we had the "Le defile"….We had to dress up as famous French people, characters or products. Our class choose to do "The universe of Tintin". It was amazing how we all co-ordinated on Skype and prepared for this event. Divya and Sangeetha arranged the moustache and beard for the characters. I was Tintin, so I had to go buy a blue sweater and some gel to get the spikes. The thought of dying my hair also crossed my mind. :-)

The show was a hit. We rocked and it was fun to stand up in front of such a crowd and speak. I had never done this earlier with so much confidence. So I am finally overcoming my stage fear too.  People in AFB now know me as Tintin. 

After the Defile, we had the harlem shake. It was fun to dance crazily. 

The next day we played "Le ralley". Its a loose take on "Amazing race". where you are provided clues for 8 different places and you have to identify them, ride around the city to get there and collect necessary informations and return. We enjoyed this a lot. Karthik, Manooshi, Sangeetha and me formed a group and we very well managed to complete all the places which involved a cathedral, airfrance office, a bakery, a french restaurant, UB city, The french embassy and Renault showroom. We came third. It was great fun!

And then there was this video contest. I had not thought of participating but when my friend, Sush showed me a video shot in Jerusalem with a guy walking backwards from the camera, dismantling stuff and causing destruction which was then reversed, so it appeared as though he was walking towards the camera and creating stuff instead of dismantling them, i knew what i wanted to shoot. I liked the concept. I quickly wrote the story and requested my friends to act. They are a gem. They were so excited about it that it made more than half of my work easy. They were so enthusiastic about the whole thing that they rehearsed as many times as I requested and tried to improvise every time. Our professor too agreed to act and she was so very natural and gave her best shot in just one take after a rehearsal. She is brilliant in the film. Three cheers to all the actors in the film!

I love how we practiced several times, how during a supposed to be final take, how Manooshi and Divya were given a wrong cup which they could not drop with a light accidental touch, how sangeetha, after her shot came to observe the later part but was caught on camera frame; how many times Karthik washed his face, how we convinced the cafe boys to act and finally they were replaced by Anupam who was so enthusiastic about the film and how people watched us and laughed thinking we were crazy; and how many times Rohan fell from the chair during rehearsals. Finally it all turned out to be a beautiful piece of work, which would not have been possible without a very talented ensemble.

I won first prize for my film. :-)

Here it is! My first film!

Le Cachet (A Message) from Ajeya Rao on Vimeo.

So mostly during the weekends, I am leaving in Alliance francaise de bangalore. :-)  

One evening, Preethi and I enjoyed a musical concert there by a group from Reunion islands. They were simply awesome and played several interesting instruments that I had never seen before. 

The rest of April was filled with exams, sometimes it was exhausting but it was always fun to study together and more importantly be part of something interesting together.

Jusqu'à maintenant (Until now)

The month of February was loaded. Several things kept me busy. My garden bloomed with some interesting flowers, I did a off-season repotting.  And the best was this beautiful red carnation.

On Feb13th I traveled to Mangalore for my cousin's wedding. I enjoyed clicking pictures at the wedding and I think i did a good job :-) I love how with camera, one can observe the moments that just last for less than a second and allows you to notice the beauty in the trivial.

While in Mangalore, me and my sister Akki got to meet after a long time, after almost an year. We had a galla time during the two days that we were there. And oh ya, i got my UID done there which was a easy job in a smaller town with contacts than in a crowded city full of strangers.

And the peacocks come to my house looking for greenery. 

Back in class, I started my B1P2 classes. Lot of studies as french gets beyond simple grammar lessons and baby talks to framing sensible sentences. :-)

Through Couchsurfing website, I met few foreigners. My first ever couch surfing friend whom I have not known earlier is Omar. He is an artitst from Berlin. He was traveling in India for a few weeks with his friend Michael. I met them one evening for about an hour at MG Road. I had a good time discussing various topics - Omar and my art, Why Michael loves India, Michael serving army in israel, Bangalore life, Apple products (as Michael is in tech support for apple products) and so on. It was a good exchange of opinions and knowledge.

My next couch surfing friend is Romain from France. Even though i don't speak excellent french, I insisted that we speak only in french. I think i did good.  :-) After lunch we went to Alliance where we met my classmates and we all had good time speaking in french to Romain. 

Another french connection was our volunteers meet. During the year end fest at Alliance, me and some of my friends had volunteered for the arrangement. Thanking us, the directors of alliance treated us for dinner @ chez jacques....it was a nice time talking about france, india, bangalore and alliance. 

Two artists from France visited Bangalore to display this beautiful work of art, music and creativity. Using a backdrop of a cathedral, designing the work specially for this architecture, they mesmerised the audience with visual graphics and music. (@ st, francis xavier cathedral)

Photowalk - Lalbagh

After a long time, another photo walk. This time to Lalbagh with two other friends from office - Shank and Prince at early hour of dawn. 

The remains from the recent republic day flower show made a beautiful subject.

And then came out the sun, with its rays glowing the leaves.

And then from a small hill, the city appeared to reach the sky.

The statues looked bored.

But always the best is a surprise. After a good breakfast at MTR hotel, we walked back to Lalbagh west gate, where we opted a alley and look what we found! A wall being painted. The background became a good background for several portraits as well.

Some days are simply not ordinary!

Devanahalli Fort & Nandi Hills

When my parents visited us in Jan, we tried different hotels like MTR, Ramana’s and Food Street. We watched a nice Kannada play called- Opera House. On a Sunday afternoon we drove to Devanahalli fort. The fort is surrounding the village.

Venugopalswamy temple is situated in middle of the fort.

We then drove to Boganandishwara temple. The temple architecture is beautiful.

The grapes in Devanahalli had matured and villagers sat by the road selling grapes. 

Nandi hills were filled with Bangaloreans. We walked around the hill, went to temple and then watched the sunset. As the sky turned grey and people dispersed, we drove back Bangalore.

Nagamandala

When I sat for Ashlesha Bali pooja performed, the mandala art always caught my attention. It was also my pass time while the rituals were being performed. That is when the idea to paint it occurred and not just the mandala but how different people are involved in it. Most of my paintings, if not all are theme based and this had to complete that. Simply drawing a mandala would not serve the purpose or convey my intent.

Buying an easel came of great help. Though the initial sketch was done in matter of few minutes, the painting took several weeks due to long gaps between the sessions.  Sketch involves two aspects- One the mandala itself. Mandala is drawn as to invite God on to each place and house them there during a ritual. The second aspect is the pooja; for whom it is performed, by whom it is performed and how it is done. One of the priests is offering Pinda to the respective snake lord.

I gathered some images of the mandala from the net and from my recollections. The mandala colors are more or less same but I did change on the square box to black and some to have various shades of green. I picked blue for the background. 

As I approached the tough part of the painting – the finishing, I noticed the yellow being very prominent and out of sync. It had to be shaded and thus the yellow was changed to more presentable shade of colors.

I enjoyed playing with the colors here. I mostly used Chinese paint that I believe is poster color.  Handmade paper was my first choice for the painting as I just love the texture.

When the painting came to an end, I did make some final changes that perhaps changed the objective of the whole painting. I would not disclose it to bias your thoughts but the painting itself was an experience that changed certain perspective for me.

Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal

When I got down from the bus at Amingad at 8:30 AM on a beautiful Friday morning (Dec 28^th), it appeared to have just woken up. Thanks to the bus conductor who directed me to wait for shared transport that ply frequently from here to Aihole. 

Until half an hour before, I was still contemplating on whether to go to Bagalkot and take a bus to Badami or take this route. Finally, I decided to visit Aihole first and avoid more traveling for the day. The kind conductor politely explained me that I could stay in an Inspection bungalow and on Sunday when I return, I could come to Ilkal and board the same bus at around 10:45PM. I thanked him and got down at Amingad as the KSRTC bus that I had boarded last night made its way to Bagalkot which is another hour’s drive ahead. 

In no time I was on a jeep shared by villagers going to Banashankari temple. With only one seat left, I struggled in a back seat as the tempo trax rolled on a muddy village road. The travel had just begun to get exciting. 

I occasionally enjoy traveling alone as I believe that nothing is more adventurous, exciting and educative than traveling alone. It would have been more exciting if it were a foreign land but for me that day is yet to come. My last solo trip was in Dec 2009 to Kolar so this was much awaited.

At Aihole, I first tried to locate the IP bungalow. But what I found was an abandoned place. I spoke to villagers and they informed that the pravasi mandir is now closed and I might not find any hotel to stay here. After freshening up lightly at the village, I started my onward journey.

A cup of tea and idly got me started. Aihole has several temples scattered all around the village. But the main complex houses several important temples, Durga temple, Lad Khan Temple, Galaganatha group temples etc.

According to mythology Aihole is the place where Parashurama washed his axe after killing the Kshatriyas. Aihole was the first capital of the early Chalukyas. Here they built over 125 temples in various styles and is said to be a laboratory of experiments in rock cut architecture. Pulakesi I, one of the greatest rulers of this dynasty, moved the capital to Badami nearby. Badami was then known as Vatapi. It is from these temples that the Chalukyas gained their experience and went on to build the great temples of Pattadakal. The first phase of temple building in Aihole dates back to the 6th century CE, the second phase up to the 12th century CE. Some temples were even built as early as the 5th century CE. All three cities where built at the banks of Malaprabha river.

Aihole, Pattadkal and Badami seem to be a major picnic spot for all the school trips. Because in these two day, the place was never free from thousands and thousands of school kids.  And the village kids, they seemed to be fond of pens. Every now and then I would find a village kid asking me – “Do you have a cool pen?” 

Other places that I visited here were a fort on top of a small hill with a Meguti Jain temple, Ravana Phadi cave temple, Hucchimalli Gudi etc.

With that, I decided to bid farewell to Aihole and headed to Pattadakal (14Kms). A shared auto was ready for that.  The auto prices are around Rs 5, 10 or max 15 depending on the distance.

Pattadakal too was crowded with school kids. There are several temples around here and some have north Indian influence to their gopura. 

At Pattadakal (place for Chalukyas Coronation) there are ten temples including a Jain sanctuary surrounded by numerous small shrines and plinths. Four temples were built in Chalukya Dravidian style, four in Nagara style of Northern India and the Papanatha temple in mixed style.

 

Apart from the main temples, there is another papanatha temple which is behind the main temples. While walking to the temple, I saw these two villagers having their lunch and as soon as they saw me, they asked if I would like to eat. I nodded. This was happening for the second time to me in northern Karnataka. Last time when my mother and I stopped at a sunflower field near Gadag, the villagers had offered us food. There is something very nice about these villagers of North Karnataka, they always offer food to people. They gave me lots of tasty food – Bhakri (Roti made of corn), Chapathi, Cur rice, two sabjis and sweet.

 

After a nice meal, I visited the temple and bid farewell to pattadkal too. I was informed by someone that there are three more temples on the way to Badami – Mahakuta temples, Shiva mandir and Banashankri. So since I had time, I thought let me cover everything. A bus took me to a cross where I got down and waited for a shared auto. But there were no auto traveling to Mahakuta. I was suggested to hire an auto for Rs 50. After a wait of half an hour, I decided to go. There is a point where you have to take certain decisions else you would end of wasting time. 

Mahakuta temples are ancient too but the lake was filled with devotees swimming and hanging their clothes on the rails next to the temple. Such sights depicted untidiness and ignorance disappoints me.

Next, I took another auto to Shivamandir, which is on the way to Banashankari. Now this is a newly constructed temple and hence not very special from an architectural perspective. 

I quickly got another auto to Banashankari which seemed extremely crowded. The temple had long queue so I decided to pray from outside. Walked around and left to Badami on another auto.

 

I was at Badami at around 4:00 PM. I checked into a newly built hotel called – Hotel Sanman Delux. The rooms are reasonable at Rs450 per night. The construction is new and rooms are built away from the main road hence avoiding noise. I took a nap and then at around 6 went out to visit the caves.

By the time I reached the caves, it was closing. So instead I sat by the Agastya lake. It was peaceful as the evening sky changed colors until it was finally dark.

The lodge owner suggested a local khanawali where I had good delicious north Karnataka style meals.

Next morning, I was back at the Agastya Lake at around 7:00 AM. The sun rises behind the Bhootnath temples and thus the opposite hill made of sand stone shined in color of an almond (Badami). I climbed up this hill where there is a beautiful temple. (Upper Shivalaya) Nobody was around and thus it made a nice and quiet place to be.

I met a guy from Belg there with whom I spoke in French. He seemed quite impressed by my knowledge of the language and I learnt some better pronunciation from his accent.  After a small chat I returned back to the lake. I visited Bhoothnath temple and the caves behind it which has beautiful Buddha and Vishnu idols. 

At the base is an archeological museum that has some rare sculptors and paintings from the caves. By now it was around 10 and I could hear groups of students walk into the caves one after another. Their talks from a distance sounded like bees continuously passing by.

There are four caves in here. One dedicated to Shiva, two to Vishnu and one to Bahulbali signifying the different religious path the Chalukya’s took and unity they maintained in them.

The sand stone sculptors on each cave are amazing and magnificent. 

Here I met three French students who were doing their MBA in Delhi on an exchange program. I had a good chat with them too and caught up on some pronunciation. It really helps to speak with French nationals to pick up what you learn.

 

Evening, I returned to the Agastya Lake and sketched. Morning when I was sitting near Bhoothanath temple and sketching, the guard politely told me that I could not draw which I found to be funny because they let people take photographs.

Evening, sitting by the Agastya Lake for few hours I watched the sun set and display brilliant light work on the east side, where the temple is. I sat there by the lake for hours and felt happy. It was peaceful out there. I watched several tourists with their SLR cameras clicking their best shots. People from all over the world seemed to be there. It was a fulfilling experience.

I walked around the village, The tiny roads, cramped houses, pigs and all dirt looked so untidy in the beginning, but now as I am to leave this all behind, they all look so part of Badami and I was getting used to them. I was enjoying the walks around the tiny streets and watching villagers relax in the courtyard as the sun set.

Next morning, I boarded a bus to Bangalore at 7:30 AM. It is a Karnataka Sarige bus; hence it would stop at every major town on the way. I knew it and preferred it. I was okay looking at the villages that passed by and enjoy the scenery. It is here that I met biscuit man. He and I were the only two, traveling from Badami to Bangalore. When I did not go for breakfast, he brought back a pack of biscuit and offered me. He seemed disappointed that I took my lunch at the dabha while he settled for another pack of biscuit. Then in the evening after tea, he shared few more biscuits with me. By the time we reached Bangalore he was all smiling and bid me farewell before he left. 

By the time, I reached Bangalore it was almost 9:00 PM and I was damn tired by the bus journey but happy to have spent two days in a beautiful place with great history; where people are so very kind, polite and nice. I will always cherish this solo travel of mine.