Sunday, June 26, 2011

Gopalswamy Betta

I had heard good reviews about Gopalswamy Betta and not really had a chance to visit the place, being a frequent visitor to Mysore. Thanks to my collegue who had invited few of us for his daughters naming ceremony in Mysore, which gave me an opportunity to visit Mysore and Gopalswamy Betta as well.

Naming ceremony was scheduled on Sunday afternoon, it was one of my collegue who initially sugested on visiting Gopalswamy Betta early in the morning and come over to the function in the afternoon at around 1:00 Clock. I thought its good idea, since Gopalswamy Betta is at a distance of 80kms from Mysore and travelling will not consume a long time. I left to Mysore on Saturday afternoon and reached by evening 6. My collegue was scheduled to take the early morning train to Mysore and reach by 7:30 on Sunday.

As we started, on the way i picked my cousin from Mandya who had finished his classes at college and started driving towards Mysore, Since we had time, my cousin suggested that we visit " Lord Venkateshwara" temple which is in SriRangapatana. My wife and i had not been to temple before and we all agreed to go. Temple is situated atop a hill called " Karri Betta" - A quiet place, i doubt if many people are aware about the temple apart from people across nearby villages. Temple has a historical significance and it is believed that Lord Hanuman, carried the idol of Lord Venkateshwara and placed it on the hill top. A good place to visit on the way to Mysore. Here are few pictures.









We also Visited Nimishamba template and Chamundi Hills and stayed overnight at my cousin's place. Next day morning as planned we left Mysore at 7:30 in the morning, my collegue along with his wife had arrived by then. Gopalswamy Betta is situated in Bandipur National Reserve forest and is at a distance of 80 kms from Mysore. We had to take the route via Najangud--->Gundalpet. Journey took about an hour and 20 minutes. Roads are well maintained and driving from Mysore ---> Najangud--> Gundalpet was a good experience, untill we cross Nanjangud, there would be some slow moving traffic due to HTV's moving around.

From Gundalpet Gopalswamy betta is situated at a distance of 15 Kms, as soon as we entered Gundalpet we confirmed with few passerbys who guided us to take a right turn after travelling a few kms once in Guldapet. Road towards the hill is not in a very good condition, we had to manover many potholes, but again its manageble, we had to travel at a speed of 40 kms since the road was not in a very good condition. We reached the entry point at 9:00 AM and were stopped by the Forest Guards who checked our bags to see if we were carrying anything ( plastic, liquor etc) which was not allowed. Entry fee of Rs50 was collected and we were told, we had to get back in an Hour's time. There were some new rules made recently after few  incidents being reported of people who violated some forest reserve laws.

Drive towards the hill from the starting point will take about 20 - 25 minutes due to the road condition, view of the huge lanscape that you get to see as you drive up the hill is magnificiant. As you tend to get closer to the hill, you can start noticing the difference in weather conditions. One has to carefull while driving up or coming down the hill, since it is two way road and there are a couple of steep turns.

Nevertheless, once we reached the template, we were all in for a surprise. As we were driving up the hill, we could see the Sun shining bright and there was no hint of rainfall, as soon as we parked the car and got down, we got to witness a thick fog surrounding the temple and within few seconds it started raining and adding to it were strong winds. We ran and took shelter inside the temple. As we waited for our turn to get inside the template to get Darshan, there was change in weather. Rain stopped and there was some sunshine and again in matter of minutes, we could see thick fog desending the hilltop. It's just amazing and i have very few words to express what i witnessed. One should see the beauty of this place through their own eyes. Surprisingly, even during summer season, this hilltop will have thick fog/mist.

As we went inside the temple, it was a bit warm. As the priest performed pooja, he briefed all of us on the historical significance of the temple. It is said that, throughout the year, summer or winter, their will be mist formation on the surroundings of Lord Krishna's idol inside the temple.

We got to wintess lush greenery and best part is seeing the weather conditions on the hilltop change every few minutes. People are not allowed to go beyond the boundary wall of temple premises. This is done in the interest of public as it is being said that wild elephants come very close to the template range to gaze around. We were happy that we got the opportunity to come over at the right time and we managed to get some nice pictures from the hilltop. I am sharing few pictures. Overall, a place which should be on the must visit list. I highly recommend visting Gopalswamy Betta.






Location : 80 KMS from Mysore.
Route : From Mysore-->Nanjangud-->Gundalpet---> Gopalswamy Betta
Best Time to Visit : 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM ( Based on my experience)

Thanks... take care.




Sunday, June 19, 2011

Back after a break

Hello People,

Good Evening, Yes its been quite some time since i made a blog post. Had to begin the year 2011 with new phase i was going to get into in my life" My Marriage". It was an arranged marriage, which made me realize how big the importance is of trust and faith when it comes to arranged marriages, i hardly knew my to be wife, my parents knew each other's family pretty well and thus came the proposal, purely based on the character and conduct of my parents. My wife's parents hardly knew me, i don't recall meeting or interacting with them before the marriage proposal, see how the trust come and faith comes into place. Having known my parents for many a years, they decided that i am right guy. I still wonder if i am ;) - I still remember the day when i first spoke to my to be wife ( then) who was straight out of college, enjoying her vacation, trying to all the sleep in the world which she had lost preparing for her final graduation exams and in the middle comes a marriage proposal from her parents who had mentally prepared her by saying we are looking for a suitable guy for you. Now, i don't know if my wife made the right decision to get married very early, but i really think she should have been provided an opportunity to venture out, work and have some independence. I am making sure that she certainly has all of it :) I remember questioning my mother, why are they getting her ( to be wife) married so early, she is just out of college, but you know i never got convincing answers ;)

Well everything said and done, marriage was finalized. Trust me, marriage is an expensive affair, it just cannot get simple. Well you know lot of people say, it's once in a life time, i still question, is it worth spending lakhs of rupees for 2 or 3 days of event full ceremony. All my questions related to finance which was going to spent for marriage were turned away and i never got convincing answers, well it just so happens that by the time you realize the extent of money spent on marriage, you would have got married. Strange are the ways, we go to an extent to make sure others are happy, no matter if we take pain.

I hope marriages get simple in the coming days :)

Take care..