It’s been a busy days for the past few weeks. That means less time to write. For the time being here are some random photos from my trips in year 2008. Above one was taken near Somanathapura.
Rail tracks near Mandya, en route Melkote.
Yoga Narasimhaswamy temple at Melkote.
A kid I met at Kaidala, the birth place of Jakanachari, the main architect of Hoysala temples.
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:
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
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.