Category Archives: Travel
Road Trip 2011: Hampi, Karnataka
A long weekend was enough for us to venture out of Hyderabad for the first time since we moved here. I am sad to learn that there are no great places around Hyderabad and in close driving proximity for day trips. But that did not stop us from exploring further and beyond. Here are a few snapshots of our trip down south to Hampi.
Please excuse me for making this post too long, this is the shortest I could make it!
My friend Sagar filled my brain with thoughts of Hampi, the Vijaynagar Kingdom and Krishnadevaraya to be precise! Hampi was the capital of the once flourishing Vijaynagar Kingdom, that was ruined almost completely by an alliance of the Deccan sultanates. It never recovered from that, and what we see today in Hampi is remnant of the same. It is like travelling back in time, and the only questions which remained in my mind after the trip was ‘what did the people look like back then – and what did they eat?’.
The Virupaksha temple, seen above, is perhaps the best known landmark of the place.
The people of Vijaynagar Kingdom were very religious. This is evident from the hundreds of tiny temples all over the place. Also seen are scores of statues of deities, such as the monolithic statue of Ganesha (above).
Many relics got buried deep under layers and layers of mud, that went on to become soil for farmlands, only to be excavated in the late 20th century by ASI.
Few carvings have been preserved as well as the Shiva’s family (above).
Most of the Virupaksha Temple survived the attacks. The paintings above are from the ceilings of the main chamber of the Virupaksha Temple
Of the many surviving monuments, is the Pushkarni, or the Stepped Tank.
Overall, the place provides huge volumes of history and along with that a number of awesome captures…
The awesome Tungabhadra river…
The awesome lush green landscape dotted with awesome pre-Cambrian rock structures… (pic taken from top of Anjeyanadri Hill, believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman)
Awesome crowds…
Awesome guest houses…
Awesome food!!!
Awesome us 
Awesome roads…
And our awesome dear Figo…
All in all, an awesome destination, combined with 800 km of driving pleasure (well, almost – apart from the Telangana trouble in Mehboobnagar), good food and nice crowd…! Hampi is definitely a must visit place in India, but make sure you visit after November and before February!
Hello Hyderabad – First Impressions!
Finally the move is complete. We have moved with all our stuff to Hyderabad, a buzzing town in south central India. Hyderabad, often known as the City of Pearls, is centrally located in the Indian Peninsula. It is a historic city, one of the largest metropolitan areas in India, and recently rated as the 4th best city to live in India.
I spent a little more than 3 long years in Pune, the city that I had come to love so much. I am definitely going to miss the beautiful monsoon in the Sahyadris, the awesome drives to Panchgani, Lonavala and other tiny places nearby. I will miss the lovely cool climate of Pune, and the lush green cantonment area.
So, how is Hyderabad? Fortunately, it is one big city in South India, where you can do without knowing the local language! Thankfully I can abuse in Telugu, but on a serious note, I am not planning to learn the language this time. I had always created an image of this city in my mind based on my interactions with the Gults in college. But I guess I was wrong. Hyderabad is a very cosmopolitan, and a convenient place to live in. It has the features that any big city should have (except public transport). I like big cities that are not too crowded – and Hyderabad is just that. I have heard it gets really hot here, but summer is still two quarters away!
Looks like Hyderabad is a photographers’ haven. Pune was almost blank, but this city is a historic place – plenty of forts, palaces and other structures in and around the city to click. City lights are good as well :) Hopefully, I will take more than a few months to explore all places within Hyderabad. Having said that, I am a bit disappointed with the fact that there really is nothing around Hyderabad – at a convenient drivable distance. Bangalore, Goa, Vizag are all at a distance of 10-15 hours. Being centrally located, the only option one has is to take a flight from perhaps the best airport in India! I am however looking forward to our drive to Hampi sometime in the first week of October :)
To capture it in short, it is not even a month here for me, and I have already been a part of an adventurous drive in the dark, and Lucky Ali concert – the concert was mediocre, but it was fun and we got free audio CDs too ;)
#311 Udaipur, Rajasthan
Last week, I visited one of the most beautiful cities in India, Udaipur. This also happened to be my first trip to Rajasthan, the desert state of India. Udaipur, however, is like an oasis; well I did not visit the sandy parts of the state, but Udaipur surely looked like an oasis. It is beautifully located in the laps of the Aravali mountain range, and is also called as the the Venice of the East and the Lake City. It was setup as final capital of the Mewar Kingdom by Maharana Uday Singh. You can read more about Udaipur on Wikipedia.
Pretty that it is, it did provide ample opportunities to take some great photographs. Being with a crowd is always bad when you want to set out on a lonely photowalk with only your camera. But here are a few shots I did manage to capture:
This is the Rangniwas Palace, a beautiful and inexpensive heritage hotel we stayed at.
Street side shops on Palace Road
The Udaipur City Palace
Inside the City Palace
Udaipur City, seen from the City Palace
Handicraft and other shops inside the City Palace Complex
Truly the most beautiful view, the city seen from Lake Pichola
The Lake Palace
The City Palace seen from Lake Pichola
Enchanting Folk Dance at Bagore ki Haveli
Crowd at Bagore ki Haveli
Clearly, these images do not capture even one percent of the beauty my eyes captured in Udaipur. I certainly will make one more trip! If you have a few days at hand and need a good break, head to Udaipur, today!
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