Summer fun 2013

Summer spread its wide enticing wings in front of us. We cousins had decided that the meeting point would be Pune this time. This was so that the ladies (read girls) could catch up and freak out while the kids were being looked after by the grand mom (who loved to do just that!).  So that’s what we did, and what a blast we had. Of course we made it up to the kids by taking them to parks everyday to run around, fun zones in malls, EPIC 3D, tons of ice creams, and last but not the least – an outing to Pavana Huts – an agro tourism destination.  Pavana Huts was a petite farm house with acres of land around it, and lots of space for kids to run around, play, soak in the atmosphere of the fields and subject their taste bugs to awesome home-cooked delicacies. The website indicated that the place does not claim to be anything out of the ordinary. It was a break from the routine, in the lap of nature.

Run by Mr. Prasadh G Yelakar, Pavana Huts is the outcome of a simple idea of setting up a little farm, and opening it to people who would like to get an idea of farm life, see what it is like to grow their own crops, vegetables and fruits, laze around in the pond and just relax. Situated near Pune, in a place called Kamshet, it is easily accessible if you have your own vehicle. It takes around an hour and a half’s drive from Pune city to reach the place, and Mr. Prasadh is very accurate with his directions. As we entered through the narrow drive-way and parked our vehicle, we were welcomed by Mr. Prasadh’s eager parents. They had setup a small table with a heavenly breakfast of Poha and Upma, made in the authentic Maharashtrian style. After double helpings of the same, came some strong and super sweet chai. Though we would have preferred it a little less sugary, the chai masala that came fresh from their farm made up for it.

After that Mr. Kelkar, ever so enthusiastic about his current retired life, and ready to share his experiences, took us around the house. He had a bedroom which visitors could use to rest, at a nominal price. Beyond the hall was a kitchen where they cooked for themselves as well as the visitors. The cooking was done on chulhas which were used in olden days, to retain the taste of the rotis. They had bags of rice, jowar, bajra stored in the wide kitchen which doubled up as a store room. The 70something Mr. Kelkar explained to us that this was the best decision he had taken in his entire life - to give up working, and self sustain himself and his wife on their own farm. He seemed to enjoy walking around the fields, dealing with the couple of farmers he had, give out instructions to the boys who helped him with the electricity, plumbing, building etc.

He then took us around the farm, showing us the various crops of jowar, bajra, rice, and the various veggies and fruits that were growing around. Since it’s been just a few years from inception, they are still figuring out the seasons and how / which crops grow better when.  There was a guinea pig and rabbit coop, where the kids stepped in and they were thrilled to hold the little animals in their hand.

We did a session of boating in their man made pond just for the fun of it. Kayaking was also an option, though we didn’t give it a shot. Rest of the morning we literally slept in water. Another man made pond which was had around one and a half feet depth of water, called out to us! And none of us could resist. We lazed around for 2 hours and didn’t feel a wee bit of the heat. The kids freaked out in the water slides and the water showers, and refused to step out of it. We finally dragged them out to change for lunch.

Lunch preparation was simple Maharashtrian thali, which had their trademark Bhakri Zunka, Zunka bhakri - Maharashtrian dish is a traditional chickpea or besan based wet mix which is then tempered with mustard seeds, garlic paste and curry leaves. This zunka is then stirred with fried onion mix and enjoyed hot with jowar or bajra bhakris or rotis. Along with this was dal chawal, which we had just to taste the heavenly smelling farm grown rice. There was salad and papad to go along with, sheera and last but not the least, masala buttermilk. Buttermilk was the best part of the whole meal, and the couple served us as many helpings of the same as we wanted. There was a small bell – pizza hut ishtyle – which we could ring if we liked the food. This was to let the cooks know that their efforts were more than appreciated.

Stuffed, we contemplated as to whether we sleep, or do a trip to the near-by Pavana dam. Unanimous decision was SLEEP! J After a short refreshing nap, what next? Tea and garma garam pakodes!! Phew. Was there any space left in our tummies? Oh no, but the onion pakodes were too tempting to resist. We chatted around, and Mr. Kelkar picked an eighty year old tortoise out of its container and let it walk around. The kids got a touch and feel of the animal.

Finally, some pictures later, we said our byes to this lovely homely couple, and went back to Pune after a relaxed day! For more details visit - http://www.pavnahuts.com/

Soup time folks...

I saw this interesting soup preparation on the "Food Food" channel a few days back, and was really eager to try it out.

This recipe is a part of 'A Slice of Summer', the theme of the month all May in The Alternative, an online publication on sustainable living

Yellow Pumpkin and Sweet Corn soup. Hmm. An interesting combination. Got a chance to try it out yesterday. Here's the recipe -

My measurements here served five. The veggies - a small packet of shelled sweet corn, a 200 gm piece of yellow pumpkin and one medium sized onion. Dice up the onions and the yellow pumpkin. Heat a pan, add a teaspoon of butter into it, and saute onions till they turn golden brown. Add the diced pumpkins and sweet corn, some salt to taste, and fry for 2 minutes. Transfer this mixture into a pressure cooker, add three cups of water and cook the vegetables well. Drain the water and keep the water aside as vegetable stock. Puree the cooked vegetables well in a mixer. Add the vegetable stock and boil the soup for 5 minutes. Serve hot with some freshly ground pepper to suit individual taste. You could also add cream to the soup before serving.

I prefer the fibre of the veggies and corn in my soup. If you like your soup smooth, strain the pureed vegetables and then add the stock and bring to a boil. The soup had a nice sweetish flavor to it from the yellow pumpkin, and also a streak of peppery hotness to it. Freshly ground pepper gives a distinct flavor, the emphasis here on "freshly" ground :)... helps to keep that in mind. Didn't take pictures this time to give you a visual idea, but the outcome was simply awesome.

Simple joys of life.

Sitting on the bed with a laptop, typing away, a cup of adhrak waali chaai to help keep the yawns at bay, I can hear my 3 and a half year old son chirping all around the house, one thing after the other catching his attention.

 

Just a moment ago, he was on the verge of throwing a tantrum, accusing me of turning off the TV too soon. "But we had a deal" I tried to tell him, "that it would be just 10 minutes of watching Chota Bheem. You already crossed the limit, and its half an hour since you started watching it, and its OVER now. The show timing is up, and they are putting subtitles now, so there's nothing I can do about it."

 

Nothing I said seemed to convince him, and he was all set to yell out loudly. (Before you start having your doubts, let me tell you, his tantrums, I am told, are nothing compared to other kids. He is a very understanding child - touch wood zillion times - and this was the rarest of occasions) So being the case, I seemed to be the lucky (and spoilt?) mom who really didn't know how to deal with these rare outbursts. I tried reasoning, ignoring, placating, and striking another deal - which was - deciding to end any other sessions of Chota Bheem if he continuing whining and wailing. Bad luck. Nothing seemed to work today.

 

Just as I thought I am in for it, Naani popped in a magic sentence - "I have a pedha for you in your snack bowl, would you like to try it?" Poof. The mood turned exactly the other way round and off went he happily, had a nice little pedha and went on to arrange his little train engine set, with little word blocks on the goods carrier. He came back into my room to announce "Amma I am carrying Goods train la full of dabba jalebi". (We are Tam Brams, which explains his liking for food, especially sweets). Ready to burst into a laugh, I tried to look serious and asked to see the train. He proudly led me to show the neatly arranged goods train. 

 

Such darlings, kids. No preconceived notions, no inhibitions, no carrying over emotions, NOTHING. Just pure feelings for the moment. It is heartening to watch them and oh, how they succeed in bringing a smile into our otherwise serious lives!

 

Well, right now he is talking to his little cousin, who is all of 4 years, warning her to be wary of scorpions when she travels to Australia for her summer vacation. Can you beat that! :) Love you little fellow.

Kabini (Nagarhole National Park)

Since the little fellow's friend and their family are moving out of India soon, we thought it would be a good idea to go on a trip with them so that the little ones get some good time together. After a lot of dilly-dallying, finally the destination was decided as Kabini, and the dates were finalised for 26/27/28th weekend of November. As usual, the days passed by swiftly and Saturday dawned, pretty much dampened by continuous rains the previous night. Nevertheless, not letting that dampen our spirits, we got together around 6:40 am at our house, and after making sure we had the directions right, we set-off at 7 am. That was not bad at all for us, since we had a record of starting not earlier than 9 am on each of our trips :)

The route was pretty straight forward. We got out of Bangalore on to the Mysore road, and hit the national high-way in around an hour's time. The breakfast stop was KaduMane. After thatte idlis, some good strong coffees and playing with the birds in their little garden later, we set-off once more. The kids had a super time in the car. There was a little bit of traffic at Ramnagaram which slowed us down slightly. When we were entering Mandya (or Maddur, am not sure), we got caught by police for over speeding. Eh? Over speeding? What was the speed limit and where was it written? We asked and were told the limit was 80 and we were at 79. Uh? 79 was lesser than 80 I thought. Realizing he had spoken too fast, the traffic cop corrected himself and said that the speed limit was 70. :P I see? We saw that every person driving on that road was being caught. So we just brushed it aside as a collection drive and paid the money without argument and moved on, a wee bit irritated for being delayed for no fault of ours. After which, we crossed Mysore, and with the help of the 3G on our phone as well as the residents of Mysore, we got on to the road which took us to Kabini. The final stretch of the road was blocked and  there was a diversion on to a kuccha road for the last hour of the trip. Some broken backs later, we finally reached Jungle lodges and resorts, Kabini at 1:30 pm, just in time for a super duper lunch!

The rooms at Jungle lodges

We checked into our rooms and were briefed on what was in store for us. Since it was almsot 2:45 by the time we were done with lunch, we decided to stay around at the Gol-Ghar (which was the lunch area), and relaxed on huge hammocks near-by. At 3:30, they served some tea and biscuits, and then we dragged the sleepy, but not willing to sleep kids, into the jeep for our first safari at Kabini. What stood out was the back-breaking ride. However, no complaints there! We absolutely enjoyed the greenery, sounds of the forests, the huge teak and rose-wood trees, and the simple beauty of nature. Couldn't have been better. The spotting was pretty low though. We saw a few wild boars, tons of deers (oh dee(a)r!), a variety of birds, and one lone elephant at a distance where it was tough for the eye to spot. A wee-bit disappointed, we returned to the rooms and freshened up.

A male sambhar deer

After another dose of tea we went to the Viceroy Bungalow for a movie screening about Wild dogs. Wonderful I must say. Absolutely clear and it was an experience watching the wild dogs hunt the deers down, wild-dogs nursing their little ones and caring for them and so on. The only irony in the movie being the audience ended up feeling sad for the poor deers who were hunted down, where-as the photographer was empathizing with the wild-dogs and their receding numbers and the fact that they were missing their catches! Guess that's the work of nature eh?

After the movie, it was dinner time. A light dinner and some bon-fire later, we crashed into our rooms for a good night's sleep. After what felt like a few minutes, we were given our wake-up call at 5:45 am, to get ready and assemble for our morning jeep safari. We hurriedly shook the poor kids out of their deep slumber, quickly freshened up and assembled at the Gol Ghar for some much needed tea/coffee/milk. Then we packed ourselves into the jeeps and entered the forests, braving yet another bumpy ride. This time, with not so enthusiastic team mates and a bored naturalist, we had to keep our eyes wide open to spot animals ourselves. Hubby proved to be the sharpest of the lot, and he ended up spotting a mother and baby elephant, and a tusker (male) too followed suit. And the best catch of all, he shook us from our reverie on spotting a leopard jump down from a tree!! Wowie. For some foolish reason, I assumed the leopard was just going to hang around in our presence and I had all the time in the world to adjust my camera, zoom and shoot. Stupid me! While I wasted my time doing all this, the leopard saw us, and quietly slunk away into the bushes. Oh no!! No pictures of the leopard. I couldn't believe it. We drove closer to the spot, rather we went exactly to the spot the leopard was in, waited around for almost 20 minutes, but the leopard was wary of humans, and did not return. Oh well, at-least we feasted our eyes on the leopard for about 3 minutes! A wild-cat roaming free in the forests, at a distance of 30 feet from us .... what more could we ask for? Super cool.

We then got back to the resort for some nice hot breakfast of baked beans, bread + butter + jam, upma, kesari bhaath, and so many other varieties. After this, there was a little coracle ride, just for the fun of it, and then we retired to our rooms. The rest of the morning was just chilling around, playing with the kids, chatting and then it was time for lunch. After lunch, we had very little time with us before we got back on to another safari, this time on the boat. We were a wee bit rushed up by the jungle lodges team, as we had to go pick the naturalist Arjun from Orange County, along with the people living in the Orange County as well. A little disappointed at having to skip tea, we set off on the boat ride. The calming effect of the boat ride and the naturalist's interesting tidbits about the birds and animals around us nullified the "no tea" disappointment, and the journey proved to be the most enjoyable one so far.

We spotted the Malabar pied Hornbills. Yeah, so what? Was my first reaction. Arjun claimed it to be one of the most special kind of birds. Why? Here is the story. These horn-bills are the only kind of birds/animals who find a partner and live with this partner for their life-time!! If the male dies, female lives without another partner till her life time, and vice-versa as well. Wow! And when these birds reproduce, the mother stays inside her home (which is a hole in the tree) for the entire duration of laying eggs, incubating and hatching. Both parents close the hole in the tree with mud, tree pulp, their droppings etc., and leave only a small aperture for the father to bring food for the mother and the children. This goes on for close to 90 days, until the little ones are slightly bigger to be able to learn to fly. Interesting! The next time on, when he showed us the horn-bill, I looked up and tried hard to spot it with renewed respect for the bird in my heart!! :)

Croc resting

Our boat driver was one Mr. Nagaraj. The ease with which he spotted birds/animals was just unbelievable. We were lucky to have him and Arjun on our trip. Both of them kept us engaged with their own areas of expertise. Nagaraj took us really close to a crocodile resting on the banks of the river. Since the crocodile is a cold-blooded animal, it needs to regulate its body-temperature. Since the sun was up that day, the croc had come to rest on the banks of the river to take in the warmth. Arjun made sure we kept pin-drop silence, lest we ended up disturbing the crocodile and it had to go back to the waters. The crocodile going back into the waters might have seemed like no big deal to us initially, however, when Arjun explained the reason as to why it was on the banks, we felt really bad once when due to some noise made by an adjoining boat, the croc had to jump back into the waters. Arjun mentioned that once it goes back in fearing attack, it might take days for it muster up courage to come back up on the banks, which could disturb its entire body temperature cycle. Hmm.

Cormorants in their nests

Another interesting fact about a bird called Cormorant (which was aplenty in these waters) was that they do not have the oily lining on their feathers like other birds do. The oil coating helps the waters to drain off from the feathers quickly and hence birds generally are not bothered by the water. However incase of these cormorants, they do not have the oil glands which produce these linings, and hence after fishing for food, they rest on the banks of the river with their wings spread wide apart. So with this renewed piece of knowledge when we looked around, we realized that all the cormorants were actually standing on the river banks with their wings wide apart, drying out their feathers. Awesome!!!

A tusker

After spotting a tusker up-close, we headed back. Arjun egged us to use our binoculars and scan the forest for tigers as it was a huge task to spot tigers. They might just be lying in front of our eyes but we would miss them easily. However hard we scanned, we were not lucky enough to spot a tiger. However, enriched by the information and excited by the entire boat ride, we got back to the resort and spent the rest of the evening chatting about and relaxing in the ayurveda spa that the resort had. What a day it had been. However, we decided to give another shot at spotting tigers. The next morning, we got onto another boat safari. We missed the naturalist this time. However, our boat driver was Nagaraj again, and he made up for that by spotting a water snake this time! We even saw a water snake zoom past us in the water, right next to the boat. Beautiful!

Water snake on the rock

The exciting trip finally came to an end as it was time to check-out after the boat safari. The kids had a blast through the trip as they got to see each other all the time, and they had plenty of time to dig around in the sand and play to their hearts content for these 3 days. We checked out, refreshed and relaxed after three days of safaris and pampering at the resort! What a weekend. :) 

Jog falls, Tavarekoppa, Bhadra.

Another long weekend meant another trip around Bangalore. Having read about Shimoga and Jog falls in my text books when I was a kid, I was curious to see the famous Jog falls of Karnataka. A marriage in Shimoga was all the excuse we needed to embark on a trip to see the Jog falls. 

We left home around 9 am on Saturday. We took the Tumkur route, crossed Tiptur, Arasikere, Kadur, Birur, Bhadravati and finally reached Shimoga. The main crops around these areas is areca nut or betel nut. So on the way, we found a lot of specialized farm trucks, on which sonny dear went for a ride with his dad. He even got a ride back in a luggage auto. What more could the little hero ask for!

Since we had time till Sunday evening for the wedding, we decided to continue towards Sagara, a place closer to Jog falls. Being a long weekend, all the good home stays around Jog falls had been booked already. We did not get any accommodation initially. However, the people running the home stays around Jog falls turned out to be very helpful, and after a few phone calls, they got us a room at Shankara mutt at Sagara. This place had a room with a double bed and a bathroom and acted as a good overnight dump for us. They did not provide food, and we visited a near by restaurant called Varadhashree lodge, which served good south indian food (and ofcourse filter coffee!!). There was a quaint little Raghavendra swamy temple just next to the mutt. We spent a peaceful one hour there, and saw the preparations going on for the Karthikai (a tamil month) deepam there. The temple trustee was a very helpful person. He took us to the nearby market and introduced us to the owner of a shop which sold wooden artifacts. Sagara is famous for sandalwood and ivory carving. Lot of wooden idols and temple mantaps are carved beautifully and the expressions on the idols are captured wonderfully. We picked a little temple mantap for ourselves and returned to our room to crash for the night. 

Next morning, after a quick coffee at the Varadhashree lodge, we moved on to the market place to see if we could get rice Kadubus. Sagara and Shimoga are famous for this delicacy. However, we were too early for the sleepy village. We had to make do with the usual idly and khara bath from a Mysore cafe, and then proceeded towards Jog Falls which was a 30 km drive from Sagara. 

We heard from the local people that this was not the best time to visit Jog Falls as the volume of water falling was pretty low during this period of the year. So we saw, when we reached there. We decided to climb down the 1900 set of stairs to reach the bottom of the falls and experience the cold water under our feet (and hair for who so ever desired :P)

The climb down was pretty easy, with gravity helping us. We didn't think of the trip back up, and just decided to enjoy the water and the monkeys jumping all around the place. After relaxing for a while at the bottom we decided to start the walk up the 1900 stairs. And boy! wasn't it a tough one. Saving our breaths, taking some quick swings of lemonade, butter-milk and maaza, waiting every few minutes to gaze at the rainbow formation across the falls, we finally made it to the top. After some lunch (We couldn't eat anything it all. Liquids were all we could take), we sat in the car and headed back towards Shimoga. 

On the way to Shimoga, Tavarekoppa wild life safari beckoned us and in we went to take a look at the tigers roaming free and the ferocious leopards safe in their cages (or so we thought). I got the scare of my life here when two leopards pounced on my camera when, in my excitement to take some good pictures, finding a little gap wide enough for the camera lens, I went a tad too close to the cage. To top it, I even had the flash on. We got to see a lot of monkeys playing havoc too. Anyone having a pack of pop corn or biscuits, beware! Please make sure you have it all zipped up in the bag and the monkeys don't even get an inkling that there are eatables. They jumped and grabbed the food from anyone displaying it and walking around the zoo. Wonderful experience it was for our sonny boy. He got an "up, close and real" experience of the monkeys and their antics. 

  

After the safari, we headed towards Shimoga. Got into Samrat Ashok Hotel and Lodge, and after a cup of coffee, went up to rest a while. The evening was spent at the reception of a friend, and after the tiring day, we slept really well that night. 

Monday morning, it was time to move on towards Bangalore. Google maps indicated another interesting place called Bhadra dam, on the outskirts of Bhadravati, which was on our way back. A small deviation from the National Highway took us to Lakkavalli village, where we could  go on top close to the lighthouse near the Bhadra Dam. 

From there we had a beautiful view of the Bhadra river, and also spotted the Jungle Lodges (Bhadra) resort where people were going boating. Our next stop had to be that, so after spending a few quiet moments taking in the scenic beauty from the Bhadra dam, we moved to River Tern Lodges and asked for a boat ride across the river. Another beautiful discovery this. The steam boat took us along the forest edge and we even spotted a tusker on the way. The poor animal got a little perturbed with the noise of our steam boat, and moved away from the water further deep into the jungle. The river tern lodge was a beautiful setup by Jungle Lodges and resorts, with little huts right in the middle of the forested area. Imagine sitting in the balcony of your home looking out at lush greenery and a river beyond with butterflies and birds to give you company. Wow. What beauty and what peace! Dream on. We had to satisfy ourselves with the boat ride. The navigator Deepak gave us some good information about the area and the animal density, and we left for Bangalore promising ourselves that we would come back. 

Belur and a bit of Halebid

The previous post about Shravanabelagola got a tad too lengthy, hence moved the Belur and Halebid experiences to a separate post. :)

After Shravanabelagola, we moved on to Hassan, and stayed at the Hotel Hassan Ashok (previously managed by ITDC, now privately managed). Beautifully landscaped, with a little fish pond, and some domesticated birds, this was a cleanly maintained hotel, which offered good rooms, equipped with all the necessities (and more), a super yummy breakfast, and to top it all FILTER COFFEE :). What more can one ask for? We crashed early that night to rest for the next day's travel to Belur and Halebid, which were around 35 km from Hassan. The breakfast next morning was simply awesome. (Our little chap was thrilled to feast on choco flakes, bread, orange marmalade, and jam, while I tried their south and north Indian spread as well.) And the filter coffee was absolutely perfect to help me overcome the most irritating runny nose that I had through the trip.

The first stop was Belur, after around a 45 minute drive. We stopped at the Chenna Keshava temple. I assumed we would quickly go around the temple, and cover a few more temples at Belur and then move to Halebid. I was proven wrong. We entered the temple, this time without socks to protect our feet. The heat was a little too much for the little guy :) But he managed pretty well, with just a few whines, and learnt that if he kept walking instead of standing still, the heat would not bother him much. We first went in to get Darshan of the avataar of Vishnu. On the way, we admired the pillars and the sculpture, the intricacies with which they were carved, without knowing the meaning behind each one of them. The husband told me we had to go get a guide who could explain the history et al behind the temple. I did not think much of the idea, until the guide finally joined us and started explaining the meaning behind every little art around the temple. I was blown away.

Garudar

Chenna meaning Handsome, and Keshava being the first name of Vishnu, this is a Vishnu temple (which is indicated by the Garudar present at the entrance), the construction work of which was started during the reign of King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala empire. King Vishnuvardhana was born a Jain. During his reign, he became a disciple of Ramanujacharya and converted to Vaishnavism. That is the explanation of how this Temple came into being during his reign. At the entrance of the temple, to our top left, there is a carving of the King Vishnuvardhana holding court along with his Guru Ramanujacharya. To the top right of the entrance, we have the King's grandson holding court, during whose reign the construction of the temple completed.

At either side of the entrance, we can see Rati and Kamadev. The significance of this being, Rati and Kamadev are always seen together. However, when one comes to pay respects to God, we have to leave all our worldly desires behind and come with a mind focused on the Lord. Hence here, Rati and Kamadev are separated, and standing on either side of the entrance. On the top of the entrance, there are two Makaras (Mythological animal) on either side. The Makaras are supposed to be a combination of five animals - pig's ears, eyes of a monkey, body of a fish, tail of a peacock and mouth of a crocodile. Also, on either side of the entrance is the emblem of Hoysala carved out. The name Hoysala came about from the ancient tale which indicates that a student named Sala saved his teacher and friends by killing a beast (supposed to be a combination of a lion and a tiger, which reminded me of a Liger that we saw in the Pine Mountain zoo at Atlanta!). Hoy means strike in Kannada, and the teacher yelled "Hoy Sala", as Sala was the bravest student of all, and the teacher believed that he could save them all from this beast.

Hoy Sala emblem

As we enter the temple, inside there are various pillars, each one unique in its design. The intricacies on the pillars left me awestruck. At some places, we can even insert our finger around little thin columns designed on the pillars. There is a carving of Mohini before we enter the sanctum sanctorum. Lord Vishnu took the form of a beautiful lady, to enchant the asuras and thus obtain the pot of Amrut and hand it over to the devas. This avatar of Lord Vishnu is carved with amazing precision, where the proportion of the nose is 1/3rd of the face, and the proportion of the face is 1/7th of the body. The facial expressions speak for themselves, and to indicate that it is Vishnu in the form of a lady, even the sacred thread (poonal) is kept intact in the carving. Wow!

Mohini - Vishnu avatar

As we went around the temple, we saw a work of Ravana trying to uproot the Mount Kailash, with Shiva and Parvati residing right on top of it. The story goes that when Ravana tried to move the mountain, not knowing that Lord Shiva and his consort reside on it, Lord Shiva pressed his smallest toe on the Mountain, and Ravana was held down by the Mountain and could not move. The depiction of this event was brought alive in the work of stone.

Shiva killing an asura

There were different avatars of Lord Shiva depicted, a few being the Kala Bhairava, and the Gajasura mardhana, each one of them carved with so much of detail. The Narasimha avataar catches ones eye... It is another beautiful work of art, highlighting small details with so much of precision.

Narasimha avataar

It was as cold  inside the temple premises as it was hot outside. The fact that the heat was reflected off the surface of the stone made the insides of the stone temple cool and very pleasant to be in. One of the most beautiful temples that I have visited, the guide revealed another interesting fact. The Dhwaja Sthambam that we see just outside the Sanctum Sanctorum indicates that the temple is functional. If there is no Dhwaja Sthambam, this means that the temple is no longer active/functional.

Belur and Halebid are said to have been attacked by Malik Kafur around the 14th century. The temple of Belur was protected and saved as soon as the attack started, so it didn't incur too much of damage. However, Halebid was destroyed to a great extent and is in a pretty dilapidated state.

Similar work of artistry (but destroyed to a great extent) can be seen in the Halebid temple (which is a few kms away from Belur), only major difference being, this is a temple of Lord Shiva, and it has Nandi residing at the entrance. Also, there is no Dhwaja Sthambam at this temple.

Nandi

These temple towns are a must visit. Anyone even just interested in listening to stories can appreciate these beautiful pieces of work, each one of them having so many stories to tell, of an era long gone by!

Shravanabelagola

Being a long Dassera weekend, after a lot of thought as to what trip could be done overnight, the husband finalised on Hassan. We planned to cover the three temple-towns around Hassan - viz., Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebid. When we started on the trip, I was pretty much geared up for another family outing and some more fun with the little one. However, the trip ended up offering me more than what I expected! I never imagined that temple sculptures could make me so excited that I would end up writing about them! Phew. What an experience.

We started from home (Bangalore) at a very relaxed pace (left at around 12 noon). On the way, after stopping over to meet and touch a few cows and talk to some interested villagers, we spotted the Gomateshwara atop the hill from afar. When we parked near the temple after 2 hours of driving, we were told that we had to either walk bare-foot or with socks. So donning pairs of socks and caps to beat the heat, we took a couple of bottles of water and started the climb. As we climbed higher and higher, the view got more and more beautiful. After the climb of the first major flight of stairs, we reached the Odegal Basadi. A construction of one of its kind, the picture below will speak for the description of the construction type.

All around this Basadi (or Basti), there were inscriptions in ancient scripts, which were preserved by a glass enclosure propped around them. A lot of these temples around Hassan have been destroyed, and hence the Government is working hard to preserve the amazing work of artistry around.

After climbing further up, we got another peek of Gomateshwara's gigantic statue. Each of these little peeks seemed to egg us on to get to the destination fast to see the entire statue. Unlike various other temples, this statue, due to its sheer size, is in an open area, which looks similar to the "mittham" in the houses of the olden days down south. There are statues of various other Teerthankaras all around this main idol. All of them in various postures of meditation. The size of the statue is what struck me the most. Every few years, there is a Mahamastakabhishekam conducted, where abhishekams are performed for this huge an idol.

The view of this town is wonderful from this high. The Kalyani pond below and the Chandragiri hill across is also a pretty sight to see. And although there are few more places to see around here, we decided to stick to only this one, as we needed to rest and prepare for Belur and Halebid the next day. And I didn't even have an inkling of the surprise that was in store for me at Belur!!

Dosa Hop

A few weeks back, I was introduced to this new term called "Dosa Hop". :) It literally means, hopping from one dosa joint to another, eating as many masala dosas as possible, in a single day. As such, thinking about masala dosas, if they were to be made at home, we could easily gobble down 3 or 4 dosas, and maybe more. However, if it has to be from a hotel (to be precise, from Bangalore's old favourites, which generously add dollops of butter and spoonfuls of oil to the dosas they dish out), it is quite a task to digest even one dosa on one day. Keeping this in mind, a group of friends went dosa hopping, and after a successful attempt, passed on the idea to us!!

We had a few dosa crazy people around the day this idea was passed on to us, and hence there was made a decision. Let's go dosa hopping this saturday! :P Yay! (Before any of you start worrying about how I could think of achieving this feat, I had already made up my mind - Dosa hopping was not my thing. I would go coffee hopping instead, and grab a few interesting pictures).

So we headed straight to CTR - Central Tiffin Room - Malleswaram - one of the old favourite breakfast joint of Bangaloreans, on Saturday morning. At 10 am, we were served the first dosas of our day. Hmm. So the three of the dosa hop participants were super enthusiastic and wiped clean their dosas. The dosa was nice and buttery and the chutney here was not spicy at all. The coffee ofcourse was awesome, as it usually is in any of these breakfast places at Bangalore.

After a few minutes of passing time and chatting, we headed to Janata hotel which is just two lanes down! This is another favourite I hear. The trio grabbed another plate of dosa each around 11:30 am. This time two of them stuck to plain dosa, while the most enthusiastic of all stuck to his masala dosa order. So after two dosas and another coffee, we had a few more friends who joined us, and we headed to a park where the kids could play, so that we had a few hours break in between before we headed for another dosa stop.

The third stop was at Vidyarthi Bhavan at 5 pm in the evening. This joint is at Gandhi Bazaar, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of flower sellers, fruit vendors, and whatever not. This place always reminds me of  Chennai's T.Nagar. Being the eve of Janmashtami, the vendors had a busy time dealing with bargaining customers. We headed straight into VB, where we experienced the way the waiter balanced atleast 15 plates of dosa on one hand. It was time for three more masala dosas :). The VB dosa is again brushed with awesome amounts of oil and butter. The chutney here is pretty hot, which is how most of the Bangaloreans like it.

So, are we done for the day? Yes!! Three dosas are all we can take. Let's go home and rest our tummies awhile:). 

My summer at Pune

Though summer doesn't exactly mean vacation for me, when I look back, for the last few years, I realise that I land at my parents place consistently during summers (May). This year (like the last), me and my son came down to visit my parents. This time my son was big enough to have started pre-school, and he had his holidays during May. So off we came. And fun we had! Just like all the visits, this also turned out to be a foodie one for me! Mom has a convection oven, and so I usually try my hand at baking and experimenting with the oven.

So there were two attempts at sponge cake, with little variations (added a bit of chocolate syrup and butterscotch essence the second time). The output both the times was pretty decent.

There were two attempts at granola bars too! The first one was super successful. We enjoyed some really yummy snack of granola bars for a few days. (You can find the recipe for the same here- http://savithrispot.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-granola-bars.html). Egged on by this success, I tried my hand at it another time. My second attempt at it was a disaster though :D. I mixed the ingredients and spread it on a rack for baking. And .. went off to attend a call (ofcourse after letting my mom know that she needs to turn it off in another 20 mins). But my timing proved wrong, and what we got was a half-blackened and hardened oat cracker :D

Well.. it still tasted good.. why wouldn't it, with a tin of milkmaid in it :P ;) .. But this was how it looked -

It was not just oven, this time. Another attempt was Ragada Patties, which I made on our usual gas range. Found the recipe here - http://www.marriedtoadesi.com/2007/05/radish-potato-and-paneer-tikkas.html Made it minus the radish. And .. drool! :) Has to be had fresh, as paneer is one of its ingredients.

The next attempt was veggie pasta with white sauce and a tangy veggie salad. I made the pasta with bellpeppers (how I love the colors!), corn and zucchini (this is the first time am using this vegetable in my cooking). The white sauce was the simple one with all purpose flour, butter and milk. Added a dash of the mixed italian herbs. Wheat farfalle was the pasta used. Pro - Yummy pasta - Con - The quantity was huge and it was the night's dinner, next morning's breakfast and lunch!!! :D ;) Am sure mom dad are going to stay away from pasta for a long long time ;)

Thanks to sis-in-law for the recipe for the veggie salad. She prepared this awesome dish once for dinner, and we enjoyed it to the core. I wanted to try it out myself. I used diced and slightly boiled beetroots and carrots, diced tofu and onions. I marinated the vegetables with some salt, chilli powder, turmeric, sugar, vinegar and cream for two hours. And voila :) Simple, healthy and refreshing.

And last but not the least, mom made this super capsicum rice the other day. Everything was perfect about it. After all, it was maa ke haath ka bana! And none of my dishes above came anywhere close to it. :) We had the rice with cluster beans made the maharashtrian way - using groundnut and white til powdered. Hmmm... heavenly.

So the foodie and fun Pune trip is almost coming to an end. But we did have a great time, and also managed some outings in between to discover Pali (Mango Huts) and Lavasa. Like the saying goes, all good things must come to an end...

The Dunmore House

Situated in a little lane at Nallurahalli (off Siddhapura, near the Shell petrol bunk towards Whitefield), the Dunmore House is a beautiful little place. It is a wonderful bungalow, with the best part of it being a lot of natural light coming in. The ceilings are high which makes the place cool at any time of the day. They have a small garden area and a pond within the house, surrounded by pillars and a platform that people can sit on. There is a wooden swing and a trampoline on the platform. The Trampoline is the kids' favorite. They just love to climb onto it and jump! This area surrounding the little garden is where the kids have their snack, on little tables and chairs. The garden has a narrow beam on which the kids learn to balance without hurting themselves, a little tunnel made of four animals with their mouths wide open, that the kids can crawl through. This is undoubtedly the most attractive of all the areas in the house.

There is another quaint little place in the house which allows a lot of sunshine to come in. It is like a small room, with a slanting glass roof. There are small beanbags placed here for kids to sit on and do any activity that they like. A small aquarium with around 9 colorful fishes swimming around is another attraction for the kids. There are two hall like areas which have a variety play things for children. They have little scooters, a roller coaster, a soft ball tub, a little house through which the child can crawl in and out. Some of the self-learning stuff include:

1. Wooden boards which have animals, modes of transport, sea-creatures etc. which fit back into the shapes of the board. 

2. Socks that are hung about with each sock holding an alphabet. 

3. Lots of building blocks, colorful rings which fit back into their pillar.

4. Varieties of trucks, and even a little washing machine!!

There is a huge garden (yes, apart from the little one within the house), which has a lot of play things designed especially for kids. And of course, the main attraction here is - a lot of white sand which has been thrown  in for kids to play. Trucks and trowels, spades, and buckets are provided for the kids to dig and play around with the mud.  

The concept that the teachers who run this play follow is - they let the child be his natural self. He / she is allowed to roam around and choose any area or toy that he likes or wants to do at a particular moment. He is not forced into doing anything, which is a major plus for the child. Till the child gets adjusted, one teacher is assigned to the child, who sits with the child through out his two hours everyday, and helps him get adjusted to the place. So the transition for the children becomes a cake-walk. The parents can spend a week or two with the child at the school to make sure he settles in. This gives the parent also an insight into the school and how they deal with children. 

There will of-course be a lot of challenges, what with more children joining in, and different batches being decided on, but The Dunmore House, and Vandana and Shahista, are doing a great job at present! I wish them success in this wonderful new venture. Way to go guys.

Potthi canteen

The family (about 10 of us) made this trip down South. One of the stops was Thenkasi, to visit the Kaashi Vishwanathar kovil. Right opposite to the temple, was this little idli kadai called the Pothi canteen. What a discovery it turned out to be! We landed at this modest little kadai almost every morning to devour their soft idlis and awsome vadais and of course not to be left out - strong filter coffee. And you can be rest assured that the stuff was soft on the tummy too.

One particular day, we were so involved in eating the idlis, that we lost count of how many idlis and vadais each one of us had, and found that we ended up paying a lot more that what we ate for. However, no complaints since it was all absolutely worth it! With the amount of crowd that the guys who run the place had to manage, it generally gets tough for them to count exactly what people eat, and hence they end up doing an approximation. So the next time on, we sincerely kept count of what all we ate, and compared numbers with the shopkeeper, before we paid him the amount.

Unbelievable how such simple dishes as these could pull an audience so large every single day. Hats off to the Pothi canteen and the people who ran it.

On the same lines, a note about Ananda Bhavan, in a lane next to this Pothi canteen. They were famous around that area for the varieties of dosais they served. My favourite here was the Podi roast. HOT to the core, and simply wonderful to taste, when finished up with a strong dose coffee, what more can one ask for. Those who can't take too much spice, please stay away from this particular speciality. :)

North Karnataka Food again

Keeping up with Bangalore's tradition of small eat-outs making it big, tucked away in one of the little lanes of Jayanagar 4th block is another little foodie place which seems to attract a lot of office-goers. It is called Sri Venkateshwara Uttara Karnataka Foods.

This joint, in-spite of its size, is neat and tidy, offering a limited but decent array of items. The main menu speaks of Full meals and Chapati Meals, both priced nominally. You can choose your chapati and roti from that day's options (Ragi Rotis, Jolada Rotis, Akki rotis, Plain chapatis etc). With any meal you choose, you get two or three sabjis to go along, and a cup of curd. If needed you can also buy a glass of buttermilk to wash the meal down. They also have some awesome pickles and chutneys to go along with the meal, and if you choose the special meals, you get a generous blob of butter on your plate :).

The whole serving process is pretty quick and is the best option if you are looking for a quick afternoon meal, without too many frills ... this is a good place to be in. The whole fare gives a very homely feel, and it is the current favorite with my colleagues, as the canteen at our office these days paints a very sad picture!

A truly inspiring novel

Though this blog is not primarily about books and their reviews, this was one book which touched my heart, and I couldn't resist writing about it.

To Sir With Love

When I saw this book lying on one of the racks in the library, the enthusiasm in my father's voice, whenever he spoke to me about the movie filmed on this book, rung in my ears. I decided I should have a go at this one. And, how I loved it! Nothing but a true experience on these lines could bring out such a wonderful book.

E R Braithwaite has recounted the events in his life in a truly captivating manner. His hold on the language and the way he has worded the book is pleasing to the mind, after reading more recent authors who no longer treat language with so much importance.

The story talks about how Ricky, after a wonderful childhood and some happy years of serving the nation by being a part of the Air Force, was completely oblivious to the color discrimination that is prevalent all through England. He is suddenly thrown into civilian life and rudely discovers various difficulties that the so-called "colored" individuals face in their day-to-day life in England. It comes as a shocking discovery to him that even after being so highly educated, serving in the air force, and excelling through his life so far, he has to fight it out to even earn his daily bread. He realizes, through every road block that he faces, the fact that the English so coolly cover-up and appear as if they are not prejudiced, but when they are faced with the actual task of having to decide between a colored person, and "one of their own", their true reaction to the situation surfaces. Through all these difficulties that Ricky had to face, he handles the task of being a teacher to kids who are from a poor economic background, with so much of conviction and courage, that the book ends up making one think hard and look at life with a new meaning.

A must read.

CPK!!

P and R got us some awesome pizzas from the California Pizza Kitchen at Georgia. Till then, I felt there was no variety in the vegetarian pizzas that were available in the States. It was always just cheese and tomato and basil and that was it. So when I mentioned this to P, he immediately decided that I must get a feel of the CPK varieties! The pizzas that they ordered were  - Greek, Mexican, Japanese Eggplant and American

And wow.. I got the variety I so missed during this trip! My favourite was the Greek pizza, which had avocados instead of chicken, to make it purely a veggie delight!! Next came the American pizza which was the only one which did not "Go easy" on cheese :) I simply loved it. The Japanese had toppings of eggplant and broccoli, and the Mexican variety had artichoke hearts in it (we finally found out how artichokes actually were supposed to be cooked, after the "popat" experience at Cafe Manna, where they gave us grilled artichokes, and we thought we didn't know how they were to be eaten!)

CPK it is for pizzas. :) - http://www.cpk.com/menu/pizzas/

The best Tomato Soup ever

Noodles and company... Another foodie joint in the States, with a nice concept. They have various kinds of soups and pastas catering to different palettes - Mediterranean, Asian, American to name a few. I have been to this place thrice now, but the one thing that swept me off my feet there, was the awesome (awesome) tomato bisque (soup) that they served. It was completely out of this world. Take my word for it!!! I have never ever tasted soup like that anywhere in my life!!! The thickest, creamiest, tangiest, yummiest soup ever! Would love to go once again to N&C just to have more of this soup.

Hats off to perims

It was wonderful to read the article about our dear Shyamala periamma. :) It is nice to see that her talent was recognized and written about so well. The Mambalam house has always been a constant hubbub of activity, with one or the other guest coming in from every part of the world, staying over, chatting away and relaxing on the famous "balcony" of the house. As a family, we used to keep teasing her that come what may, she will never fore-go her music classes, and even if hell broke loose, she would be teaching her students sincerely in the "vaasal-room" of their Mambalam house. And her patience and smile is a taken-for-granted fact!

Hats off to Shyam perims. We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick new trial.

Before leaving the hotel room for my next visit, I wanted to try out some new recipe. And the recipe had to be simple. I was too lazy to carry out a major process of buying stuff, grinding, marinating, mixing, waiting and what not. As I browsed for recipes, I found one that fit my requirements exactly in a blog that I follow - http://savithrispot.blogspot.com/2007/07/ravenous-for-rosti.html

I like potatoes in any form. And potatoes combined with cheese had to be good! :). So I tried this recipe, with a slight variation of adding pepper instead of red chilli powder (just because I had lots of pepper powder to be used up!). And wasn't it yummy! Here's a pic of how it looked while cooking!!!

Looooooooong weekend

Starting from the eve of the long weekend, we were in the holiday mood... Friday evening saw us entertain 3 bachelor friends for dinner, with (I surprised myself by the number of preparations, so am taking the liberty to brag about it!!!) onion pakodas and potato bajjis as starters, main course had sepankizhangu roast, red cabbage morkuzhambu (yes!!), lime rice and semiya upma!!! White rice and curd to go along, and the bachelor friends got the dal which they prepared too. Phew! The best part of the dinner was that the guys enjoyed every bit of it, proof being the empty vessels (though after a month of eating sandwiches and packed and re-heated food, anything edible and home cooked would have been a hit)...

Saturday morning, we had to be in the "rush" mode, and were on the roads by 9:15 am... four couples with kids, heading towards Olson Lake beach .. It was a bright and beautiful day and the drive was amazing with the scenery which never ceases to surprise me. Everything around here is just picture perfect. Pretty looking houses around a small lake, with flowering plants surrounding them, a narrow river, with sparkling clear water, flowing across the road while we pass on a bridge above it, a winding road with trees looming right over us (the entmoot kind of trees!), and the quaint little post boxes at the foot of every second tree, which make us peep through the dense trees to actually find houses sitting right in between this forest-like setup!!!! I could just go on!

The day at the beach was fun, with splashing around in the water, lazing on the sand, lunch packed from subway (my first bite of subway sandwiches turned out to be a good experience with some tangy Chipotle sauce added in it) football on the grass, boating with the life jackets for all of us including the kids, (they looked so cute in it) and then heading back to a friends place where we exchanged stories and laughs way into the late hours of night with some yummy dinner (ordered this time from a nearby Indian restaurant)

After all this, Sunday morning had to be a relaxing one.. so we were up only by 9. We decided that today would be "catering to our tummy's with home food" day! Masala dosas and chutney it was for breakfast. By the time we had it, it was more like brunch. So we  finished brunch by 12:30 pm... with a hot cup of ginger tea...(or should I be more specific and say chai, after the experiences here with using the misnomer "tea", but actually meaning tea with milk and sugar!!!). So sunday was pretty relaxing, with just a walk outside with the little one, and a stop at metro mart for some water. Evening was Palak rice and raita time. This was a new recipe that I tried out, and it turned out really well!

Monday was shopping day. Being the July 4th weekend, lots of stuff was on sale. So we visited quite a few shops and managed to get a good amount of gifts to take back for family in India. We decided to put an end to our gift shopping as on today!! :) Barnes and Noble was one wonderful bookstore that we visited. Recommended by friends and family alike, we had to look for ourselves what this shop offered. It was massive, and had a huge collection of books. The little one just loved the little train set that they had put up for kids to play. We would have liked to spend more time there, but for our growling tummies. So I just had time for the kids section, and picked a few books for kutti. Lunch was a quick snack at home and then after a nap, we headed out again for a nice long walk. We returned to try out an Indo Thai restaurant very near to our hotel room. Some good food later, got back to our room to get ready for our next day at home!!

Tuesday was mostly uneventful too. We spent most of the day at home and went for a long walk again in the evening. The long walks that we do takes us through such a beautiful localilty, that we just continue to walk for hours together, until we realize that out feet are tired and we need to get back! But yes, the four days were well spent, both fun and relaxing, just like every weekend here is turning out to be!

Bridging gaps

One of the engineering wonders that I was taken to in San Fransisco was the Golden Gate Bridge. Since the climate around this time of the year through out the US of A is warm or even hot in most places, I decided against carrying warm clothes. I did take a jacket, though, for my son (thankfully) cos I was soon to experience the strong winds at the view point around the bridge, which almost threw as off our feet!!

It was a beautiful bridge constructed right across the strait. It had a pathway for people who wanted to walk across the bridge and there was a path for bikers too. We however decided to drive through the bridge, as we wanted to cover a few more places. At the time we visited, a huge container vessel that passed by below the bridge made for a picture perfect scene.

Picture Courtesy: K chitappa!

Some interesting facts that I learnt about the bridge are -

**The color of the bridge was painted an International Orange. The name of the bridge, though, did not come from its color. It is the bridge across the Golden Gate Strait that is the entrance to the SFO Bay from the Pacific Ocean. Hence the name - Golden Gate Bridge.

**Eleven men were killed during the construction of the bridge, and that was actually a safety record of that time. The expected fatality was more than 30!

Tons of other facts about the bridge are available online and make for an interesting read. :)

Sweet Tomatoes.

One of the eatouts that we went to in SFO this weekend really impressed me with its concept. It is called Sweet tomatoes. Its a chain of restaurants within the US, though I just found out that the state I stay in does not have one :(.. Really did want to try out the lots of other stuff in their menu that I missed out...

As soon as you enter, you see the vast spread of the buffet before your eyes. (Vegetarians also have a huge choice). Starting with a variety of salads, cut vegetables, it goes on to have baked potatoes, pastas, soups (the variety was so huge that there were 3 kinds of soups for vegetarians, and around 5 or 6 kinds for non-veg lovers), macaroni and cheese, various types foccacia (which I learnt was a sort of pizza), baked beans .. this is just probably half of what they had to offer. To top it all, they had different kinds of desserts, what with muffins, brownies, cakes, icecreams, toppings for ice creams, seems like a never ending list. With all of the items available, you can mix and match them according to your taste.

You can check out the menu here - Sweet Tomatoes

Once you get in, you first pick up a tray and go along a line to pick stuff that you like. Try not to pick everything that catches your eye this trip itself, cos you will have tons of things on the other side to try out later after you pay and finish your first round. At the end of that line you have the counter where you pay for yourself and get a bill. Then find a place to sit and enjoy your meal, and go back how many ever times that you want, to the buffet, and pick what ever else that you need. Another tip is, try not to order any drinks, as that adds up quite a bit to the bill. This place have drinking water available for free in dispensers, which is another rare thing I guess here around the US, as we need to buy soda or coke at most of the places as they dont serve water.

Well, the size of the buffet does explain the width of the people here too! There is no stopping you, and you need to have a conscious watch on what you are eating and how much you are eating. But it is a place to definitely visit if you are touring the US. Also if you are in a hurry and want to grab some quick meal, this is the place to be in. No wait times, and the food is ready for you to start on it as soon as you get there.