A Drive to Kaiwara

It was first Sunday of September, when we had a short drive to Kaiwara which is around sixty kms from Whitefield, Bangalore. This place is mostly known for the religious purpose and its historical and mythological tales of Mahabharata. It took us two hours of driving as most of the road after Hoskote was under construction. After a drive of thirty-five kms on Chintamni road or SH35, we reached to Kaiwara cross. We took a lunch here before we started again. After merely there kms, we reached to Kaiwara town. First stop we had was at Sri yogi narayana Matth. It was a well maintained ashram with a beautiful white painted temple. Look like Ashram was usually utilized for marriage ceremonies. After having a short walk, we moved towards Bhimlengeshwara temple but it was a deserted view there and was not in very good state. Then we moved to Viakuntha temple or Thathya cave which is on a small hill, little outside of town. This temple has a nice view with its rocky landscape and paddy fields side-by. This place must be good for hiking. In front of the cave there was a national park or zoo maintained by forest department but it was mostly having empty look and suggested only for a big group.

Though there was not much thing to do or see in Kaiwara but I loved to drive to this place for its natural beauty and quietness. It again took two hour drive to reach back to our home.

Vellore fort temple

Last month I went for a long car drive to Vellore, a city in state of Tamilnadu. It was a 200km drive oneway from Bangalore and the longest for me by car.  I with my family started on early Sunday morning and it took four hours to reach there. In between we had a short break. This four hours drive was fun for me. We had to meet a relative there. While returning we thought of checking out the Vellore fort.

Vellore fort which is in the midst of the city is more kind of a temple rather than a fort. Temple is surrounded by a small water channel, which tells that it may be a small fort sometime but is dried now. It was just before the temple closing time and so we entered the premises quickly. There was a small crowd.   We had darshan inside and then we had a walk in the premises and had a close look at its architecture.

While returning my son was not filling well so it was not a very good drive but I could make the return journey safely and in next four hours.

A short drive to Kotilingeshwara

On last weekend I went for a short drive to Kotilingeshwara temple which is not very far from Bangalore. Though it was a short drive but the longest one for me after owning a car. We started late in morning at around nine and we took the Malur village road rather than Kolar highway. Driving on village road is always soothing. It was a single lane road but driving was still easy as there was very minimal traffic. We passed the towns of Malur and Bangarpet. The distance of 75 kms was covered in two hours without taking any break. This place is very near to famous Kolar gold field mines which is closed now.

The temple premises has good shaded parking area where we parked our Grand i10. We took the entrance ticket to enter the temple. Ticket for camera including mobiles was costly as hundred bucks and no-one was buying it.  Temple authority should reduce the cost.

In Kannada, and Hindi too; koti means crore so Kotilingeshwara means one crore Shivalingas. The priest claimed that there are ninety lakhs shivalingas in the temple premises but I guess it was in few lakhs only. I am not very religious person and always want to avoid very crowded places but entered in main temple where there was a long queue of devotees. After the darshan, we took some photos while kids were busy playing in midst of shivalingas. After coming out of temple we sat at a small eatery and had our lunch which we brought from home. Then we started back for Bangalore and in next three hours we were back to our home. In between we stopped our car to a village haat to buy vegetables and few other stuffs. Driving was fun as usual. This short drive was just the beginning of many long drives in near future !