Crystal flowers
Crystal Flowers
I was waiting to make some crystal flowers because they look so royal and different. But I didn’t have the right coloured crystals at home. When I got them I could hardly wait and immediately plunged to make those. The crystal flowers looked so pretty. Whoever saw it, just said “wow!!!! Beautiful !!!”.
Door Decor
Door decorations are very common in India; you will see it in front of almost every home. I made one with green crystals.
Door decor
Terracotta Jewelry
I made some terracotta jewelry. I bought some clay, made different shapes of beads, dollars and earrings and left them to dry. Once they dried up, I painted them with different hues and assembled to form necklaces. What do you think of them?
Full neck chains with earrings
Half neck chains
Rudrakshi chain
Glass painting and flowers
I made a new glass painting last week and a couple of duplex, stockings and origandy flowers.
The flowers look so good that i want to make more but no time :-(.
The flowers look so good that i want to make more but no time :-(.
Glass painting
Orange flowers are made of origandy. Red and pink flowers are made of duplex
Flowers made of duplex paper
Stockings flower
Soft Idlis – Kunigal
Sometime in August 2009, Dad and mom had been to Hassan. While returning, the car driver stopped at Kunigal for a quick snack of idlis. Since, then my mom has always praised those idlis. On Jan 31st, when we planned for temple near Hassan, my mom made sure we stopped by that hotel for breakfast.
In Kunigal, opposite to the Office of Talasildhar, is small road side eatery "sri Siddalingeshwara". Just by myself I would have never gone into that eat out. But, mom had already said so much about it, and I saw a fleet of cars at the hotel, so I decide to try it out.
The hotel is run by a young lady, and is just but a space covered with asbestos sheet, few chairs and tables around, and runs just on trust basis. People go in, order and a helper just fills a plate with their order and hands it to them. And no note made of the order. Once the person is done, will go to the cash counter and tell what he has eaten and pay the amount!!!!
We ordered idlis, they were amazingly soft and had sprouts, onions and green dill leaves. Apart from idlis they had crispy yummy vadas and pulav. Tea and coffee was just perfect. It was ages since I had such perfect beverage. The recipes were handed over to the owner by her fathers, who use to run that eatery earlier.
If you pass Kunigal, it is a must stop.
In Kunigal, opposite to the Office of Talasildhar, is small road side eatery "sri Siddalingeshwara". Just by myself I would have never gone into that eat out. But, mom had already said so much about it, and I saw a fleet of cars at the hotel, so I decide to try it out.
The hotel is run by a young lady, and is just but a space covered with asbestos sheet, few chairs and tables around, and runs just on trust basis. People go in, order and a helper just fills a plate with their order and hands it to them. And no note made of the order. Once the person is done, will go to the cash counter and tell what he has eaten and pay the amount!!!!
We ordered idlis, they were amazingly soft and had sprouts, onions and green dill leaves. Apart from idlis they had crispy yummy vadas and pulav. Tea and coffee was just perfect. It was ages since I had such perfect beverage. The recipes were handed over to the owner by her fathers, who use to run that eatery earlier.
Trip to Mantralya
Raj and me visited Mantralaya on 20th Sept. I got the tickets booked through our Time Sol desk.
Travel: We took the Hampi express from Bangalore on 19th Sept. It started at 10:30 pm and reached Mantralya Road at 7:30 am. For return, we took the Udayan express from Mantralaya Road at 10:05 pm and it reached Banglore contonment station
at 7:45 am.
Trip: We reached Mantaralya Road at 7:30 am. As soon as we stepped out there were government buses, which got filled within a minute. It was 8 Rs per head. Apart from busses there were many shared autos which charged 15 Rs per head. From Mantralya road, Mantralya is a 20 minute journey.
We had booked a room in our community's hostel there. It took us 15 minutes to get a
room. We freshened up and left the room at 9:30 am. There are plenty of hotels in Mantralaya, and it is quiet easy to get rooms.
To eat we went to Udupi restaurant, it was close to the temple and it looked decent from outside, food was decent too, we had a quick breakfast and headed for the Tungabadra river.
Tungabadra river:Tungabadra river is a 5 minute walk from the temple. It was a very sad scene there. The entire bank of Tungabadra River was nothing but a Dobhi Ghat. It was muddy and dirty everywhere. People, who wanted to have a bath there, took a coracle to nearby rocks, which were 40 meters away from the bank. We did a quick puja to the river goddess and left the banks.
Tungabadra River
Manchalmma Temple: We reached the temple and first visited the Manchalmma Temple. It is situated on the left corner of the Mutt complex, Goddess Manchalamma is the presiding deity of the village. Before visiting Raghavendra swamy, we need to first visit the goddess. We can offer madallakki to the goddess, this time due to time constraints I hadn't taken it.
Mutt:
In front of the temple
We then looked for what seva we could get done for Raghavendra swamy. In the list we saw that, most pujas were for either 5 am or 7:30 am. Only one puja "Archana sahitha Hastodaka" was for 11 am. We took that and went in. We went into gate 8, for the sankalpa. We were allowed to go into the sanctum right opposite to vrindavan and watch the archana and arathi. We then had a darshan of the vrindavan and went in for 14 pradakshinas.
Behind the mutt in a huge hall, there is idol of Moola Rama. Men not in Dhothis were not allowed into the hall. So, Raj could not come in for the darshan.
We returned to our room and went for lunch in our community hall.
Panchmukhi Temple: After a deep noon sleep, we started from our room at 4 pm. Had a quick tea at Udupi and took a shared auto to Panchamukhi temple. It costed us 30 Rs per head. It took around 40 minutes to reach Panchmukhi owing to the bad roads and stuffed shared autos. Our bodies had started aching by the time we reached Panchmukhi. Taking a bus would have been a good option, but there were no buses after 3 pm!!
Panchamukhi Temple
Panchamukhi Temple
The temple had padas of Hanuman at 3 places. We then went into the temple, took a ticket for mangalarthi. We had expected a glorious idol of Panchamukhi Hanuman. But it was udbhava murthi. We couldn't clearly make out the God. There was udhbava
murthi of Venkateshwara too. There were idols of Ganesha, Rudra devaru and Sesha devaru which were installed by the founder priest Antacharya.
Padukes of Hanuman
It is said Raghavendra swamy performed penance here for 12 years in that place when Lord Venkateshwara, Goddess Lakshmi and Panchmukhi Anjenya appeared and blessed him, and asked him to enter the brindhavan. Around the temple are the natural formation of rocks.
Natural rock formations
Natural rock formations
Return to Mantralya was much better and it took us 50 minutes to reach Mantralya. We went to have another darshan of Raghavendra Swamy. It wasn't crowded as most of the crowd was standing outside the temple for the dinner which starts at 7:30 pm. Preparations for Rathosava was on. The chariots looked magnificient.
Golden Chariot
Silver Chariot
The rathosava was scheduled to start at 8:30 pm, and we had to catch the 10 pm train, we couldn't wait to see the rathosava. We checked out of the room and took a shared auto at 15 Rs per head to the railway station.
Temple Timings: Darshan starts from 6 am in the morning and the temple remains open till 2 pm. Evening it opens at 4 pm and remains open till around 8:30 pm. Dinner at temple starts from 7:30 pm to 9 pm.
Raghvendra Swami's Padukes: Last time when I had been to Mantralya, we had seen the the original paduke's of Raghvendra swamy. It kept in the archaka's house. Before Raghavendra swamy entered the brindhavan he gave his padukes to the archaka. Since, then the padukes have been handed over in the family. I can't remember the exact location of the house but I do have the contact number : 08512 - 279427. In case anyone going there get the address please post it on this blog.
Things to remember:
If you plan for bath in Tungabadra river, then take a coracle to some nearby rocks.
Men will not be allowed with shirts on and to enter moola rama mandir, dhoti is a must.
To go to Panchmukhi first half of the day via buses would be better.
Travel: We took the Hampi express from Bangalore on 19th Sept. It started at 10:30 pm and reached Mantralya Road at 7:30 am. For return, we took the Udayan express from Mantralaya Road at 10:05 pm and it reached Banglore contonment station
at 7:45 am.
Trip: We reached Mantaralya Road at 7:30 am. As soon as we stepped out there were government buses, which got filled within a minute. It was 8 Rs per head. Apart from busses there were many shared autos which charged 15 Rs per head. From Mantralya road, Mantralya is a 20 minute journey.
We had booked a room in our community's hostel there. It took us 15 minutes to get a
room. We freshened up and left the room at 9:30 am. There are plenty of hotels in Mantralaya, and it is quiet easy to get rooms.
To eat we went to Udupi restaurant, it was close to the temple and it looked decent from outside, food was decent too, we had a quick breakfast and headed for the Tungabadra river.
Tungabadra river:Tungabadra river is a 5 minute walk from the temple. It was a very sad scene there. The entire bank of Tungabadra River was nothing but a Dobhi Ghat. It was muddy and dirty everywhere. People, who wanted to have a bath there, took a coracle to nearby rocks, which were 40 meters away from the bank. We did a quick puja to the river goddess and left the banks.
Manchalmma Temple: We reached the temple and first visited the Manchalmma Temple. It is situated on the left corner of the Mutt complex, Goddess Manchalamma is the presiding deity of the village. Before visiting Raghavendra swamy, we need to first visit the goddess. We can offer madallakki to the goddess, this time due to time constraints I hadn't taken it.
Mutt:
We then looked for what seva we could get done for Raghavendra swamy. In the list we saw that, most pujas were for either 5 am or 7:30 am. Only one puja "Archana sahitha Hastodaka" was for 11 am. We took that and went in. We went into gate 8, for the sankalpa. We were allowed to go into the sanctum right opposite to vrindavan and watch the archana and arathi. We then had a darshan of the vrindavan and went in for 14 pradakshinas.
Behind the mutt in a huge hall, there is idol of Moola Rama. Men not in Dhothis were not allowed into the hall. So, Raj could not come in for the darshan.
We returned to our room and went for lunch in our community hall.
Panchmukhi Temple: After a deep noon sleep, we started from our room at 4 pm. Had a quick tea at Udupi and took a shared auto to Panchamukhi temple. It costed us 30 Rs per head. It took around 40 minutes to reach Panchmukhi owing to the bad roads and stuffed shared autos. Our bodies had started aching by the time we reached Panchmukhi. Taking a bus would have been a good option, but there were no buses after 3 pm!!
The temple had padas of Hanuman at 3 places. We then went into the temple, took a ticket for mangalarthi. We had expected a glorious idol of Panchamukhi Hanuman. But it was udbhava murthi. We couldn't clearly make out the God. There was udhbava
murthi of Venkateshwara too. There were idols of Ganesha, Rudra devaru and Sesha devaru which were installed by the founder priest Antacharya.
It is said Raghavendra swamy performed penance here for 12 years in that place when Lord Venkateshwara, Goddess Lakshmi and Panchmukhi Anjenya appeared and blessed him, and asked him to enter the brindhavan. Around the temple are the natural formation of rocks.
Return to Mantralya was much better and it took us 50 minutes to reach Mantralya. We went to have another darshan of Raghavendra Swamy. It wasn't crowded as most of the crowd was standing outside the temple for the dinner which starts at 7:30 pm. Preparations for Rathosava was on. The chariots looked magnificient.
The rathosava was scheduled to start at 8:30 pm, and we had to catch the 10 pm train, we couldn't wait to see the rathosava. We checked out of the room and took a shared auto at 15 Rs per head to the railway station.
Temple Timings: Darshan starts from 6 am in the morning and the temple remains open till 2 pm. Evening it opens at 4 pm and remains open till around 8:30 pm. Dinner at temple starts from 7:30 pm to 9 pm.
Raghvendra Swami's Padukes: Last time when I had been to Mantralya, we had seen the the original paduke's of Raghvendra swamy. It kept in the archaka's house. Before Raghavendra swamy entered the brindhavan he gave his padukes to the archaka. Since, then the padukes have been handed over in the family. I can't remember the exact location of the house but I do have the contact number : 08512 - 279427. In case anyone going there get the address please post it on this blog.
Things to remember:
If you plan for bath in Tungabadra river, then take a coracle to some nearby rocks.
Men will not be allowed with shirts on and to enter moola rama mandir, dhoti is a must.
To go to Panchmukhi first half of the day via buses would be better.
Flower show - Lalbagh
Kavitha proposed the idea of meeting at Lalbagh at 4:30 pm on Sunday 9th Aug, to see the flower show. Of course, all of us agreed. It had been around 6 years or so since I went to the flower show and I was pretty excited to go.
Raj and I were late by 30 minutes while the rest of the team - Kavitha, Anitha, Joe, Pushpak, Suvarna were there on dot. We started off to the glass house where the flower show was hosted. It was crowded beyond our expectations.
Jostling as I entered the glass house, I spotted a cute pink teddy bear made with roses. The highlight of the show was - a mermaid, surrounded by four dolphins and four teddy bears. All of them were built with vibrant colored flowers - red, pink, purple and it looked awesome. The other highlight was the flowery dino with its baby.
Dolphins and Teddy in roses
Dino in flowers!
We went around looking at the remaining flowers, not all of them grabbed my attention. Quiet a few were the humble flowers from our gardens.
Colorful flowers
Colorful flowers!
The Dhalia, velvet flowers grabbed my attention. Raj was surprised at the Velvet flower (that is the way I call those flowers) it has the velvety feel; he couldn't believe how the flower felt. Done with the flower show we headed for the vegetable and herbal show. It was lovely to see the vegetables we consume on the plants :-).
Dhalia
Velvet flowers
Vegetables on Plants!!
It was 6:30 pm by the time we were done with shows and started going around the stalls. There were assortment of things on sale - flower pots, seeds, wood works, herbal medicine for cockroaches, bhel puri, gulkan, Eureka forbes, handicraft, purses, bindis so on. When we left Lalbagh it was 8:30 pm. It was just fun and refreshing.
Raj and I were late by 30 minutes while the rest of the team - Kavitha, Anitha, Joe, Pushpak, Suvarna were there on dot. We started off to the glass house where the flower show was hosted. It was crowded beyond our expectations.
Jostling as I entered the glass house, I spotted a cute pink teddy bear made with roses. The highlight of the show was - a mermaid, surrounded by four dolphins and four teddy bears. All of them were built with vibrant colored flowers - red, pink, purple and it looked awesome. The other highlight was the flowery dino with its baby.
We went around looking at the remaining flowers, not all of them grabbed my attention. Quiet a few were the humble flowers from our gardens.
The Dhalia, velvet flowers grabbed my attention. Raj was surprised at the Velvet flower (that is the way I call those flowers) it has the velvety feel; he couldn't believe how the flower felt. Done with the flower show we headed for the vegetable and herbal show. It was lovely to see the vegetables we consume on the plants :-).
It was 6:30 pm by the time we were done with shows and started going around the stalls. There were assortment of things on sale - flower pots, seeds, wood works, herbal medicine for cockroaches, bhel puri, gulkan, Eureka forbes, handicraft, purses, bindis so on. When we left Lalbagh it was 8:30 pm. It was just fun and refreshing.
Nisarga Dhama - Coorg Part 4
From the monastery in Kushalnagar we started off to NisargaDhama. We had lunch at a small hotel in Kushalnagar.
NisargaDhama is 2 kms from Kushalnagar and 30 km from Coorg. It is resort belonging to Jungle lodges. The resort has cauvery water going round it. The resort looked more like Cubbon Park to us. The place was crowded with people everywhere and littered with plastic and leftover food.
Hanging bridge in Nisarga Dhama
There were quite a lot of bamboo trees and benches to sit. There was a deer park, where we took a basket of cucumber and fed the deer. Apart from that there were Elephant rides, which we weren't interested in. Going around the place we saw there was a place where people could get into the waters and have fun. If one wants, they can book a lodge there and stay. We went on a boat ride before we left the place. This place I wouldn’t mind avoiding if needed.
Deer Park
View of the river around the resort
From here we headed to the hotel in Coorg. We started off next day to Bangalore.
NisargaDhama is 2 kms from Kushalnagar and 30 km from Coorg. It is resort belonging to Jungle lodges. The resort has cauvery water going round it. The resort looked more like Cubbon Park to us. The place was crowded with people everywhere and littered with plastic and leftover food.
There were quite a lot of bamboo trees and benches to sit. There was a deer park, where we took a basket of cucumber and fed the deer. Apart from that there were Elephant rides, which we weren't interested in. Going around the place we saw there was a place where people could get into the waters and have fun. If one wants, they can book a lodge there and stay. We went on a boat ride before we left the place. This place I wouldn’t mind avoiding if needed.
From here we headed to the hotel in Coorg. We started off next day to Bangalore.
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