It's Dasara (Navaratri) & festive mood in Mysore. Whole city is lit up. Exhibitions, sales, concerts. I managed to roam around in the city in the evening. Here are few photos of Mysore Palace & other places illuminated.

Places around Mysore:

• Nanjanagudu
• Ranganatittu
• Himavat Gopalaswamy Betta
• Shivanasamudra

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When we started off towards the temple town 'Melukote' (Melkote or Yadavagiri or Yadugiri) on a summer day, to be greeted by the misty morning. Our prayers for the same climate went in vain as the temperature soared later. We stopped at couple of places for photo sessions & reached in time for the breakfast.

After savouring the delicious 'Puliyogare', we roamed around the place - Cheluva Narayanaswamy temple, akka-tangi kola, Dhanushkoti (there is one here also), Raya Gopura & then Yoga Narasimhaswamy temple (situated on top of the hill).

What amazes me is the number of pushkarinis (kalyani or man made water-body) in a town situated on a hill. And that too most of them filled with water during peak summer.

The day we were there in Melukote was the last day of 10th board exams. A bunch of guys directly came out of the examination hall and jumped into the water to beat the heat & also to celebrate the end of exams ;)

How to reach there:

Bangalore - Mandya - turn right after 4 KMs from Mandya - Jakkanahalli Cross - Melukote

Bangalore - Kunigal - Bellur Cross - Nagamangala - Jakkanahalli Cross - Melukote

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Background photo: Sunset - captured right behind our house.

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Background photo: Mallalli falls near Somawarapet.

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Background photo: The boatman, captured at Udyavara near Udupi.

An unforgettable journey

Places visited during the four day bike trip to West Coast

* The beginning
* Belur
* Yagachi Dam
* Sringeri
* Agumbe
* Around Udupi - Malpe beach & port, Bengre
* Udyavara beach
* Kunjarugiri and Pajaka
* Around Kasaragod - Ananthapura & Madhur
* Bekal Fort
* Manjeshwara & Someshwara

Route taken during the trip -

Day 1: Bangalore - Kunigal - Hassan - Belur - Chikkamagalur - Sringeri - Agumbe - Hebri - Udupi

Day 2: Udupi - Malpe - Udupi - Udyavara - Kunjarugiri - Pajaka - Kaup - Surathkal

Day 3: Surathkal - Mangalore - Kumbla - Ananthapura - Kumbla - Madhur - Kasaragod - Bekal - Kasaragod - Manjeshwara - Someshwara - Mangalore - Kudupu - Kaikamba - Polali - Kaikamba - Surathkal

Day 4: Surathkal - Mangalore - NH48 - Shiradi Ghat - NH48 - Hassan - NH48 - Bangalore

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Background photo: Crossing the river at Tengumaravagada near Ooty Atop Chembra peak, Wayanad, Kerala.

Visited Kokkare Bellur again, 15 months after my first visit. There were not many birds this time. Painted Storks were around 20-25 in number.

Pelicans were very less in number. I counted 7 or 8 pelicans. I tried to get a decent shot of these big birds, but in vain. That pelican was hiding behind the tree branches as if its being guilty of something :P

Few of the sun-bathing Storks posed for the camera without hesitation.

And so was this squatting one

Bellur, became famous & got the prefix 'Kokkare' (Storks) because of these beautiful birds & is home for hundreds of storks & pelicans. The village is on the banks of river Shimsha, which flows on to join river Kaveri.

We thought of going on a coracle/boat ride & headed toward the river. Being summer the water was less & had to return back without luck.

"Come saar, I'll take you to the other side of the river. It's safe to play in water & take bath" called the boatman, while we were looking for some place on the crowded bank of river Kapila. Though it was 3.30PM the place was crowded, few devotees & many other trying to beat the summer heat. We decided to cross the river on the coracle to avoid the crowd & it was worth the decision. While my friends were enjoying playing in the water, I sat on the sand repenting for not bringing an extra set of clothes.

We started from Bangalore a bit late at 11AM as drive was completely unplanned. We had no particular destination for the day as our idea was to spend a day with friends. We were in no hurry & took our own time to cover the distance from Bangalore to Mysore. After the lunch break at Maddur, we decided to visit Nanjanagudu. We reached the place by 3.30. Another hour spent in playing in the river Kapila. And then we paid a visit to Srikanteshwara temple (temple of Lord Shiva).

Nanjangud is a temple town and is on the banks of the river Kapila (a.k.a Kabini). The place is 23 km from Mysore & around 160KMs from Bangalore. The temple of Lord Srikanteswara was built by the Gangas in 9th century. Nanjanagudu is also famous for 'rasabaaLe', a variety of banana & at one point of time (during late 80s) the place was also famous for the 'Nanjanagudu tooth powder'.

By the time we started back from Nanjanagudu, our stomachs started grumbling which reminded us of the food which one of us had packed from home. We found a peaceful place - an old temple in the middle of paddy fields. We finished the food & spent some more time watching the Sun going down. And then we headed back home.

Thought coracle ride was of short duration, it was fun sailing on the smoothly flowing river. It was as if sitting in a cradle. How I wished for a coracle ride all the way back to Bangalore from Nanjanagudu :)