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Bijapur Trip – Part II
[Continued from Part I] Pattadakal is a cluster of around 10 temples built in South Indian, North Indian as well as a combination of both styles of architecture. Pattadakal means the ‘coronation stone’ or ‘site for coronation’ and it indeed was one, for the Chalukyan kings. UNESCO‘s website writes about this fascinating architectural wonder thus: “Three very closely located sites in the State of Karnataka provide a remarkable concentration of religious monuments dating from the great dynasty of the Chalukya (c. 543-757). There are the two successive capital cities – Aihole (ancient Aryapura), Badami, and Pattadakal, the ‘City of the Crown Rubies’ (Pattada Kisuvolal). The latter was, moreover, for a brief time…
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Bijapur Trip – Part I
[Trip undertaken in Dec 2012] More than a year down the line after my solo trip to Coorg, another new year’s eve was fast approaching. Instinct told me this was going to be another one of those boring occasions when the world parties hard to welcome the new year whereas yours truly tries to forget everything, finishes his night shift job, scouts the city scape in his superhero costume, rescues a couple of victims from the city’s seedy underbelly and then goes back to sleep and wakes up without a hangover in the new year. It was clear that the urge to travel again was fast becoming an addiction. I called up…
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Hampi Trip – Part III
(Continued from Parts I & II..) The lady at Lakshmi Heritage was kind enough to sew back the button on my shorts the previous day (Shorts or capris are necessary in Hampi’s heat, combine it with a linen shirt for maximum comfort) – extra points for the stay then. Phaddu, a round shaped snack made from dosa batter, is a popular snack in Hampi and you will find various small shops selling phaddu early in the morning. Phaddu is what we had for breakfast on the second day, with spicy green chilli chutney and some very bad south Indian coffee for company. After wolfing down copious amounts of phaddu, we…
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Hampi Trip – Part II
(Continued from Part I here) Moving on, the auto rickshaw guy took us to the Zenana enclosure in Hampi. Wikipedia tells me ‘Zenana’ is a persian term that was used for areas reserved for women, whereas the areas reserved for men were called ‘Mardana’. To the left portion of the enclosure lie the remains of what was probably a huge palace in those days. Speculation abounds about what it would originally have been or looked like, with some even saying that the structure was built of sandalwood and pointing out traces of sandal wood found during excavation. However, no conclusive evidence exists. Pictures of the other attractions follow: I had…
