Somanathapura stands alone

Resorts come in all shapes, sizes and hues. From the corporatised ones with the semblance of a hierarchy to the one-man shows, with various other twists in between, the interaction with these is an experience worth recounting!
Naturally, you will think of getting in touch with these people/places when you have a vacation on mind. While your own time freedom goes through the roller coaster till the 'golden hour' when your leave request finally gets through, our friends in these resorts take us through another free ride of sorts! That is why I say, a good part of the fun lies in planning the trip.
Here is my experience in booking these resorts during the mid-August 'Independence' weekend. I would not like to name all of them here, lest the leopards change their spots, or whatever!
The original idea was to visit Jog Falls and stay at the Forest Department's tent houses. This later transformed into a family tour postponed to a later date.
Then we were to join a colleague's family on a package tour of the State Tourism Development Corporation. This was one week prior to our departure so everything that followed happened in the space of a week. The sweet tension of holiday-shopping prevailed from the 7th to 13th when we finally left Bangalore!
As we later preferred another package, our friends wisely proceeded to book on the tour of their choice! Good for them, because not everyone is likely to share our idea of 'fun'!
When we made the phone call to book ourselves on the package of our choice, a disinterested voice told us it was no longer operated and hung up! Nothing very unusual there; however, many of these discontinued tours are still reflecting on the fliers being given out by their franchisees even today! Likewise, a new website (with some inoperative web links) has taken over, while the old portal still continues to dish out all the details of these discontinued tours!! Such confusion could surely be avoided!
Then the attention turned to resorts and the original idea came back to life again. However, as feared, 'stay@matthuga.in' was running full. Though we contemplated staying at a hotel in Sagar we were told it is always famously full, so we didn't even try. To share one bit of intelligence, sometimes it works out just as well to stay at another nearby place and still visit your intended destination! This time, however, it couldn't be done. Must admit though that the exchange of mails took place comparatively quickly.
The next one is in Coorg and promotes rafting activity as well. This is probably the season too so one could expect them to run full as well. However, one had to go through the attempt out of the urge to travel. So off one goes looking for their website/blog and is heartened to see it was updated only last week! Which means somebody is active on the internet. That is encouragement enough to send an e-mail, hoping for a response in the next 24 hours. When it does not turn up in 36 hours, an SMS is sent. Voila, one gets a one-word reply: 'Full'. End of story.
Then there was one located in an arecanut plantation. To the offline query one sent through the 'live chat' facility, e-mail response came in about 12 hours, suggesting that their mobile number be contacted. Of course, one had already tried the landline number by then and obtained the same reply. As if by intuition one could sense that one would be told the resort is not currently operating. When the call was indeed made to the owner's mobile, that is exactly what happened!! Of course, the exchange was very cordial & open and one was advised to plan a holiday two months later with a group of 8-10 people so that it 'works out' for everyone. Presently, not recommended.
Another positive takeaway was that the website developer turned out to be an avid traveller as well and one could strike up an interesting exchange of mails! As they say, don't leave any stone unturned.
Then, this one was fairly pleasant. A friend had already been to this home stay in Coorg and had good reviews so this place was also in the reckoning. However knowing the popularity that it had already notched up, one was keeping it for the later part. When an SMS did not elicit a response in about 6 hours, it was thought best to call up and enquire. The gruff voice at the other end said he didn't know and should not be contacted for this purpose!
Did I say pleasant? Well, that's because the next number still yielded a negative answer albeit in an apologetic voice. Was almost in a mood to demand that they should remove the details which are no longer valid from the website! Which takes me to another topic altogether: What to look for in their websites?
There is a saying, "We tend to plan our holidays better than we plan our lives!" The flip side of this is, you would probably like to be on a perennial holiday - a never-ending trip - that is why you are polishing the act so reverently till you get to that one perfect holiday! To the extent, some of us would like to say that we lead our lives in between holidays!! Or rather, to paraphrase Quaint Francis Quarles, 'when this holiday begins to die, the next holiday begins to live!'
Where did we end up finally? Well we ended up in booking an A/C room bang on the National Highway by the sea. That makes another story, however it must be mentioned here that these people were the sweetest of them all - booked the room over a phone call and e-mail with no advance payment, kept in touch with us, mentioned & offered all the services they could provide and generally gave us a great feeling of comfort till our departure.
A fitting finale to the ordeal of an earnest traveller, should I say?
THE LAST WORD: This is not universally applicable, there are still some nice people out there. Having said this, people in this business must shed the mercenary-like attitude and behaviour they display 'in season'. While it is understood & appreciated that there are very few round-the year destinations and the industry needs to thrive during the travel season, the cut-throat competition driven by small doses of greed everywhere, tends to throttle the long term prospects of the industry itself.
Think about this: How long does it take to muck up a beautiful waterfall? Once that is done, what else remains to be seen?
What to look for in their websites
Given below are just a few tips to get you started. Always remember that the unsaid goes with the said. Their website is there to sell. Others' experiences/reviews are specific & real at that time - things could always have improved or worsened!
Location & features/facilities: Some sites give you this information in elaborate detail including a location map, photographs & videos, others just skim over it. Understand that WYSI just WYG, at the best!! More the features listed, greater are the chances that a lot of other things which you may like or need, are not close by! Likewise, the guys giving you minimum info could be telling you that the real beauty lies outdoors & away! So be very clear what the purpose of your break is, there is no universal destination. More important, try to figure out how far or near this place is to your point of arrival & departure. Ideally, you want this to be nearer, however it does not serve your purpose if its in the heart of all the din. Likewise, it is better to specifically confirm about the features/facilities that interest you most - don't discover after reaching the place that you have visited during the off-season!! Do remember to ask for the fees/charges in detail, mentioning your group size.
Tariff: Some guys mysteriously leave it out. Well probably intentionally because it could be outrageous! Some guys are open for bargaining on the phone, others at the reception desk, still others conveniently mention the off-season rates as well. Understand what the 'plan' includes and what the option offers. Check whether the benefits are listed in a generic manner; same with exclusions - they could also be listed in some corner which you tend to overlook. As a rule, treat it primarily as a place to safely keep your belongings, rest when needed and refresh yourself - all other things are a bonus, which you must surely explore and enjoy. Which means, it is better to confirm beforehand whether there is an extra charge for things that interest you the most.
Check-in/check-out times: Your ideal preference should be a round-the-clock, 24-hour check-in/out time. However, this will not be possible in resorts that offer you packages on 'per person per day' basis or even on 'twin sharing basis per day' because they would like all their guests for the day to check in around the same, go through the same activities at the same hour and check-out almost together, leaving them a clear window to prepare the rooms/cottages for the next set of guests. Of course, depending on how tightly they are booked, they might closely insist on or be lenient about adhering to these time lines. They can even juggle the events a little and the guests will never know!! However, it pays to be on time or a little late, than be early and either wait around or be given un-cleaned rooms! Hence you need to coordinate your travel plans with this one variable. Mind you, you could always arrive early or leave later than the published hours; your resort will have the discretion to either charge you for everything that is extended to you during these hours or treat it as complimentary.
Contact details: Be prepared to find that some of them no longer work! It pays to start early and begin with the softest approach, an e-mail. The quickness and the content of the reply will tell you a lot. Be specific in your query, otherwise they could politely refer you back to the Nth page of their website! If that does not work, try the SMS. You may either get a reply by SMS or nothing at all! Try the telephone next and remember to note down the date, time & person's name always. Likewise leave your details behind so that communication can become two-way and they recognise you faster.
Reservation, cancellation & payment terms: Bigger places have their set of terms and conditions. It pays to follow them and maintain documentation of all the transactions, just in case things do not go as per plans and you have requests to make, including refund. Better not to interpret anything to suit you, rather ask them to clarify your doubt, preferably by e-mail. At smaller places there could be flexibility and room for changing or waiving many of the terms, so talk to the person who takes decisions at their end. Every establishment keeps a few things at its discretion and offers it to select, valuable customers depending on the time & situation. Established ones do it when they have goofed and smaller ones do it when its off-season. Owner-run places offer these freebies to most well-behaved, undemanding customers.
Have a great time on your next holiday!

Anchetti.

What are names for but the associations we heap on them?

For long, Anchetti was one such name. A destination, because I used to see the name on some buses. A possibility, because any time I wished to, I could take one of these buses and go there and find out what it was like. As though, it were the promised pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Of course, I did not find out where it was and how far away, just yet.

Then I bought a state map of the Archaeological Survey of India and pored over it for days, mentally marking out the places I had been to, the routes I had covered and what was left stil undiscovered. It was a heady experience, like sipping champagne.

As my finger traced the way out of Karnataka at Attibele and entered into Tamil Nadu at Hosur and moved farther still, it paused at Denkanikota to the west of Hosur. I had been there more than once as my uncle hailed from that place. It evoked a steady stream of memories, like the first rain in summer.

The grandfather, who was the first 'landlord' I had ever met, had twinkle in his eyes, gulped ragi balls effortlessly and bought us sweet bun with sugar crystals on top. The house with tiled roof had a small space open to the sky in the center of the hall for people to wash their feet etc., and a well in the bathroom, to draw water before bathing. There were cows in the shed and mosquitoes aplenty.

Denkanikota had a huge tank/lake as well: we had once gone missing for hours just trying to go around it as kids, and I - as the ringleader - got a dressing down when we returned! Those, perhaps were the beginnings of your Travel Expert!

What struck me about the map was the huge patch of green beyond Denkanikota. High altitude was also indicated. I was perplexed and surprised because this part had not come up in any descriptions of the region I had read anywhere. I was discovering only now, there were forests and hills to be explored in this place.

Nestled in the midst of this greenery was Anchetti. I knew right then I will go to this place some day!

When we did visit Anchetti on 11/05/2008 it was quite sudden, considering my penchant for picking a destination over many days. So happened we were nearing the end of my wife's vacations and we had still not booked a suitable place to go for a break. Those details make two separate stories and I will choose another day to tell you about it. Now it is Anchetti, first things first!

My search for some really close by places fit for a day trip from Bangalore led me to two names - Thally & Anchetti. Essentially we were looking for a new, (perhaps) cooler place at some altitude. Somehow Thally did not appear too promising for such an outing so we picked on Anchetti. Google Earth too promised me we will see hills, greenery and even water there, so Anchetti it was.

It was a Sunday and my wife was willing to buy my enthusiasm. I told her we will definitely decide upon another place in the next week, for now we could take a short ride out of town and check out this place. So off we went to Hosur, changed to a crowded bus and reached Denkanikota. So far so good.

Then began our long wait for the Anchetti bus. As it generally happens, I had seen it way too often when I had no intentions of boarding it. Now that we were waiting, it took a long time to come. We shared a freshly cut cucumber and eyed the small bananas. We picked up dark-hued jaggery that was cast like an idli! We bought some great onion pakoras and gulped down fruit juice before the bus appeared and triggered a pandemonium. The strategy was clear - my wife would barge in first and hold a seat for me; I would get into the stream of humanity soon after and reach her.

This was neither chauvinism nor chivalry - this was survival! Mind you, there was every risk I would call off the entire thing and head home - I have done it on some occasions before! - there have been times when I have felt it is best to conserve energy because I am a strong believer of, 'tomorrow is another day.'

Getting into that bus, reaching my wife and plonking myself beside her was almost out of some horror movie. It took me time and courage to use my body weight and wade through the surging humanity milling about the wee aisle of that bus. Then I had to coax the ladies and gents to give way as they were simply in no mood to let me reach there later than them and still manage to take a seat! They did finally relent and I sat down heavily, realising this is quite a regular mode of travel for the majority of our population.

We, the urban folk are spoilt with too many comfortable options I guess and we need to get this rough treatment once in a way to remind us of the ground we stand on! I believe this rough and tumble is a part of being a traveller, especially a budget wanderer. No complaints there!

This last stretch was where all the promises lay, otherwise it was a great setting for me to nod off and get my beauty sleep that Sunday afternoon! We did not have to wait very long after we left Denkanikota and the cultivated lands on either side gave way to small hillocks with boulders. Greenery appeared in the form of bushes first, then grew into thicker vegetation. Considering that it was the later part of summer, this was refreshing and also hinted at a water source nearby. This was also one of those rare stretches of forest where we did not encounter the check post or the patrol jeeps. Being elephant country, it was mandatory that the milestones were painted in green - you have probably heard before that elephants simply dislike your white coloured milestones, so they simply uproot & throw them away! - giving away the fact that the land was under the Forest Department.

It must be admitted that there are many more breath-taking rides we have been on, in terms of the scenery we get to see. The USP of Anchetti is its proximity to Bangalore. Crossing the border, looking at the Tamil boards and hearing people talk around you highlights the fact that you are away from home! Yet, hardly have you travelled some 70km or so and you get to be treated to green forests, distant hills and a drive through ghat section complete with hairpin bends! Hurtling downhill at a good speed, the bus made short work of all these. When we crossed a short bridge, I sensed that we were getting closer to Anchetti. Before we could appreciate that, we were already there!

We decided to let this bus return so we could spend some more time at Anchetti and then head home. We paid a visit to the humble bakery and gulped hot tea from another stall. We traced a few steps back in the direction we came from and returned; we took a few steps in the other direction to see what else was there and retreated. Really there was nothing of much interest in this dusty little place so I switched to observing & contemplating till the return bus could arrive.

Anchetti is a little wayside hamlet, enroute - as I discovered - Hogenakkal & Pennagaram! As I knew, the route to Hogenakkal passed through places like Rayakottai & Palakkodu from Hosur. So I figured this route must have been improved recently hence it was attracting traffic. As evidence to that, the road conditions were, I would say, superb all the way to Anchetti! This was definitely a plus point and naturally caused more traffic flow, which explained the dusty look.

Even otherwise, from the vantage point of the bus stand, Anchetti did not look very lively. Considering that I expected to find some lodging facility there, it turned to be a really humble little place. We did not find any signs of a place of worship, we found quite a few meat shops and eye-catching mounds of puffed rice in huge bags that were stitched together for that purpose. To me it looked like a small settlement of people who lived off the produces of the surrounding forests.

Of course, the maps I saw had clearly indicated that Anchetti formed a T-junction. We came in from Denkanikota and a left turn would have taken us to Pennagaram. The right turn was non-descript, nothing very important lay beyond. The forests in fact lay to the back of this T-junction and there was no open passage for us to explore. Standing there at Anchetti, we now realised that the right turn took one back to Karnataka - to Kanakapura in fact, via a place called Hunasanahalli!

Things started falling into place quickly now. Anchetti was not the only hilly place close to Bangalore. How could I forget my visit to Galibore by the river Cauvery?! Indeed, such terrain appeared to reach up to Bheemeshwari, recede and then join the foothills of the MM Hills range! Anchetti was the other side of these ranges and hence a part of the Veerappan territory! To me it appeared like the Western Ghats makes one final incursion around the Bannerghatta region and flattens out beyond Bangalore, making the whole region a part and parcel of the Cauvery river system! Today, like the Yamuna in Delhi, one has to go looking for the Vrishabhavathi in Bangalore!

The return journey was uneventful except that the bus travelled really slowly, loaded as it was with revellers returning from Hogenakkal, of whom we had seen a lot more as we waited for the bus at Anchetti. Of course, these people were travelling by cars, which fully answered my curiosity about why so many cars were seen on that route. Thankfully this was a direct bus to Bangalore so we were saved from changing more buses for the day. However, lot of time elapsed as the bus had to take a long deviation just to touch the new bus terminus on the outskirts of Hosur.

End of the day, my wife pronounced: this looks good for a bike ride!

I lost no time in drumming up others' interest in Anchetti. I told my cousin Sudhir, whose father hailed from Denkanikota. He had heard that they often enjoyed a bicycle ride to the forests. Now his interest was kindled. We decided to visit Anchetti again on 01/06/2008, this time on a Kawasaki bike.

He picked me up as planned and we rode up to Chandapura. Confusion led me to insist that we take the right turn there, instead of later on at Attibele. As a result we got an unexpected bonus! Our original plan was to take virtually the same route as before, except for deviating at Attibele and taking the road via the TVS Motors plant as a bye-pass to Hosur and heading out to Denkanikota directly. Instead, we landed at Anekal!

We said 'Great' and proceeded to Gummalapura and onward to.... Thally, the 'Little England!' Honestly we could not make out why it was called so, though both Sudhir and me had read about it from other bikers' accounts on the internet. We took a refreshment break at Thally and read with surprise the board put up by the shop at the cross-roads: Mysore Road! The shopkeeper then explained that Thally town was about a kilometer away and the road continued to another town on the Kanakapura road, from where one could head out to Mysore. Which means, people in these parts do not necessarily touch Bangalore to go to places like Kanakapura, Ramanagaram and all the way to Mysore! A great insight indeed if you were planning a bike rally in these parts!

From here we headed straight to Anchetti via Denkanikota and Sudhir simply refused to have anything to do with this dusty place. We took the left and continued. Immediately I noticed the wide enough stream of water, which had all but dried up during our last visit! I mean, we simply had not realised then that a stream flowed through!

We rode on for a couple of kilometers more before abandoning our plans to look for a tea shack. Sat down by a compost heap and took a few sepia-toned photographs with the mobile. Started back and halted midway on the climb, though we had read caution notices that passengers should not alight at these places. We reasoned that it made more sense during nights, especially when the vegetation was lush and water was plenty, which draw out the elephants from their daytime retreat.

Then we heard the sound of water flowing, spotted the muddy brown stream gushing amongst boulders way below, noticed there were some young fellas who had probably been swimming somewhere nearby. It was a typically non-threatening stretch of forest with the winding road acting like a lifeline! Only when you spend enough time off the road do you appreciate the existence of a road however humble!!

Then we continued up to the outskirts of Denkanikota, stopped for some grub as we felt ravenously hungry, proceeded to Sudhir's ancestral home which I was visiting after many, many years. There was absolutely no disrepair as I feared - in fact, it had been improved in patches and was absolutely comfortable as we stepped in from the sun. We gobbled up some jackfruit that grew in the backyard, chit-chatted some more and hit the road again.

This time we managed to take the road towards TVS Motors and then linked up to NH4. Our journey home was halted briefly as the rain lashed out, and, more hot food awaited us when we reached home. We did not ask for anything else!! The romance with Anchetti had concluded, promising to resurface on some unsuspecting rainy day!

One thing however had changed: Anchetti was no longer just a name, a destination or a possibility - it had entered the long list of places that have suffered a visit by us!! Long live Anchetti!

In the West, people and their administrators alike show a lot of commitment in preserving monuments. To them history need not be all that ancient either because some of the societies were born recently if you look at it from this side of the Time continuum!

In India, we stumble upon history as it were! It is that omnipresent invisible wall that people simply walk into and disappear, like in the movies. Our history lurks around every corner, so to say, hence, without any special effort on your part, you can weave in and out of history at will, as though negotiating through Monday traffic.

I discovered this and more recently on my Bangalore walk with bangalorewalks.com

The background to this runs something like this: Like your usual web search which takes you everywhere else except where you wanted to, once I chanced upon something called "Heritage Walk." This was in New York City. I guess the link was through about.com where I was trying to get familiar with New York. Since it was casual, I came away as ignorant as before; however, 'heritage walk' and 'beer walk' were two things that remained in my mind, the latter a true testimony to the Bangalorean at heart. Obviously, I am joking because beer and me have parted ways.

Perhaps it was the very next search that led me to this information that my own Bangalore city had a Walk! My brief visit to the site www.bangalorewalks.com left me interested enough to refer it to a few friends, period. In true representative style, I did not go myself!

Likewise I have read about a group of people who have got together during weekends and gone on bicycling trips around Bangalore, including a moonlight ride. Now, that's something! As usual I am telling you this is something YOU can enjoy!

Coming back to the Walk, bangalorewalks was in the news recently because of being associated with the "Golden Chariot" luxury train inaugurated by the President recently and rolling out in March. The Walks people had been commissioned to walk the Charioteers through various heritage sites of Karnataka!

Could I keep quiet? NO! I wrote to them and said hey, how can I be a part of this? This guy wrote back and said, come to the Walk instead. Of course I am joking and he was not. I told him the sun rises late in our part of town; he said, that's a typical Bangalorean, get up early one day and join us.

And you know what? I joined them. On a Sunday at 7.00 AM, nothing less! Even now I wonder, whew, how did I manage to do that?!

We were a group of about 15 people, majority of them on a short visit from the US. There were six vehicles parked in the lane. One of them had to be of the guide! The rest belonged to one family and four individuals, all from Bangalore.

Based on the fact that I have spent the maximum time in Bangalore I introduced myself as 'perhaps the only 100% Bangalorean', only to retract it hastily as Arun started darting us with questions about our own city! I mean, how would a casual member of the Walk know all that? Yet, by the time we concluded the walk, I had answered a question or two!

The Bangalore Walk is a short walk down the MG Road that traces the history of Bangalore in a fun way. There is no overdose of nothing. It is a heritage walk in the sense it shows and tells you how Bangalore grew up over the decades, based on whatever still remains standing or being demolished! Now I am not joking because we did see one old building that was pulled down recently. Our foreign friends sighed and collected trophies, even as the security guy walked up and announced that no one would be allowed from next week!

To say anything more would be taking your fun away, whenever you decide to go! It is true that these guys do another walk at Lalbagh regularly on Sundays, besides a whole bunch of custom walks designed for specific groups. That set me thinking, why not a culinary walk in South Bangalore?!

Alright let me stop here, my stomach just growled in anticipation! For, the proof of the pudding lies in the walking!

This trip happened all of a sudden. By chance Hari asked Shankar how far Sivasamudram is and he promptly referred the case to me. Hari believed it was only about 50km from Bangalore; not only did I correct that notion, I also asked him why. Then he said he was planning to go the next day - alone if needed - and asked me to join. I knew I will be joining him, though we dragged the drama right till we departed.

It rained that night, a typical January drizzle. An overcast sky greeted the dawn and I called up Hari to call off the trip. Hari protested initially that we should take a chance. When I explained that it was neither an emergency nor were we going in a four-wheeler, pointed out it was about 140km away and added that the roads may not be all that great, he relented.

Almost three hours later he called again and said, having started the whole thing he could not back off. The others were ready to brave the rain and bad roads, so they will come and pick me up by 9.30 AM. It was finally 10.45 AM on 05/01/2008 that we flagged off from my place.

The first stop was to fill up fuel and check the air pressure, then we touched the Bannerghatta Road beside IIM, reached the NICE road, stopped for the inagural snaps midway and reached the Kanakapura Road. We turned left and moved on to Kanakapura at a good pace because the road was mostly good. Kanakapura, 60km away from Bangalore now belongs to Ramanagaram district, recently carved out of Bangalore.

We passed Kanakapura and took a stop for some tender coconuts. Then the road condition turned bad because repairs were underway at various spots. However, the saving grace was that we were fresh and we had a destination to reach so it did not matter too much.

Hari then said he had read in one of the websites some 40km of the total distance was in bad condition! He also reasoned that the information looked old, and we did see some recently laid stretches too, to prove his point. In any case, we agreed right then we should return via the Mysore-Bangalore Road.

We took one more stop about 9km short of Malavalli and had some cookies and coffee. When we reached Malavalli (some 42km away from Kanakapura) we took the bypass road and reached a point where the directions were clearly seen. Hari was thinking one could go to Somanathapura temple and then move on to Sivasamudram. I just knew the route up to Malavalli and did not bother too much about what we will do after that.

Here we saw Sivasamudram was to the left and say 31km away while the road to Somanathapura was a little distance away to the right and the destination was 29km away. Hari wanted to photograph the temple and he had read that it will close down by 4.30 PM. My basic knowledge told me temples usually close by Noon to re-open by late afternoon, yet I did not suspect that no Pooja was being performed at this temple! So we continued towards Bannur, from where Somanathapura was 7km away. We stopped for lunch at Bannur and had our fill of ragi balls and rice. Nothing great there, we were plainly hungry!

Shortly we reached the temple and saw that it closed at 5.30 PM so we had ample time to cover the place. The structure was a little distance inside from the gate. From Malavalli onwards we had followed the yellow direction boards of Karnataka Tourism; outside the temple stood an old multilingual board to tell us we had arrived!

It was our mistake that we started as late as we did, otherwise one will be somewhat disappointed if the plan were to cover only Somanathapura in one day, especially if one were to be a regular tourist with no special interest in historical, heritage sites. However, for someone who gets fired up at the sight of monuments like these, this offers a great chance to explore, precisely because it is standalone - you do not have too many things to cover, say like in Hampi, so one can really relax and take their own time going around the temple and marvelling at the labour that has stood the test of time.

We felt a mixture of emotions as we walked around in the temple. I am not sure whether this temple was excavated or it has gradually gone to waste. If you look in the small cubicle-like chambers that surround the main temple, you would think it was excavated. However if you recall that this is the third important location for Hoysala style of temple architecture after Belur (where Poojas are held till this day) and Halebid, it is unlikely that this temple was excavated. In that case, the systematic damage to each and every important, beautiful structure within the premises begs an explanation. Invariably the possibility of Muslim raiders spoiling this structure comes to mind.

Had I gone through the information put up by the Archeological Department completely, I would have known more. However I just glanced at it and learnt that one Somanatha, who was an officer under the Hoysala king took a keen interest in building this temple of Lord Keshava or Vishnu. Beyond this, our interest was at best casual as we wandered around the temple. We just absorbed whatever we saw. Only Easwaramoorthy seemed to know more than me & Bhat about ancient practices. He pointed to a male idol with toe rings and explained it was a common form of identification for both married men and women.

India has a rich wealth of these temples in terms of architectural beauty. It is a mirror to how mankind itself has evolved. To my mind, I have not been an avid temple traveller, yet even I have caressed a few pillars and idols in my time - something we are not actually supposed to do!

We were in no hurry and took a lot of photographs. Again, no one to stop you! Once outside, we had some coffee even as I recalled my visits to other places in Karnataka: Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole, Hampi, Belur, Halebeedu... there was a tinge of sadness to these thoughts because, as a nation we do not seem to take great care of any of these heritage sites.

Hari was charged up and was still interested in Sivasamudram! I had to convince him we would probably hardly reach there before sundown and then we had to travel all the way back to Bangalore. He saw the point and agreed to return home.

From Somanathapura to Bannur, then to Mandya at 24km away, we touched the Mysore-Bangalore Road. The riders were ecstatic about the road while I could mostly see nothing in the glare of the headlights from opposite! The plants on the median have to grow, then maybe there will be better shielding from oncoming traffic lights.

We stopped at Maddur for the famed Maddur Vada, now just a distant cousin of the original. The layered vada with onion pieces and groundnuts, which you broke off piece by little piece and savoured with chutney, is clearly a thing of the past!

When we reached home, the boys had dinner with us and bade goodbye. I felt that a beginning was made.