Melkote or Melukote  (or ThiruNarayanapuram for Tamils), is one of the most important Vaishnava temple in Karnataka. Inspite of living (on and off) in Bangalore since 97′ I have never been to Melkote before and the long weekend over Christmas gave me the opportunity to do so. The route was Bangalore - Ramanagaram - Maddur - Mandya - Melkote about 160 Kms and a projected 3 hours journey.

We left on Saturday Dec 26 a little late around 8 AM. It turned out to be a wrong time as we got stuck in heavy traffic throughout.  By the time we could reach the famous Kamat Lokaruchi for breakfast it was past 10 AM. It took an hour to leave that place  as everyone from Bangalore seemed to travel towards Mysore and was coming there only for food. The going was slow even after that as town after town came within 15 - 20 Kms of each other. I missed the turn to Melkote before Mandya bus stand and after enquiries at a tea shop took another smaller road a little after Mandya entry / exit arch. The road joins the Mandya - Hassan highway which takes you to Melkote. It was  around 1:15 PM when we could join the queue for Darshan at the Cheluva Narayana Temple in Melkote.
 

The Road to Melkote

Cheluva Narayana Temple

Temple Sculptures

Temple Sculptures

 On the way down, we stopped at the Pancha Kalyani, (temple kulam) for some pics. It was big and not unclean.

Temple Pond (Kalyani)

 We enquired with the Auto-driver for other places and on his recommendation went to Raya Gopura and ornamental tower / structure near the edge of Melkote. We had an informal guide who said we can even see Sravanabelagola Statue from the top on a clear day. We couldnt that day but spent some time clicking photos all around.

Raya Gopuram

Our initial plan was to cover Melkote and if possible Srirangapatna too and auto driver had recommended another place called Thondanure (Thendnur Kere) with a few more temples on village side. As it was getting late and I not being comfortable with night drving in our highways, we had to skip those for another time. We left Melkote at 5 and reached Mandya by 6 PM. it was already dark and I was little apprehensive of driving in the night. Without little choice, we still carried on. The heavy traffic was a blessing in disguise as I had sufficient lighting and directions from the other vehicles. With another 1 hour break at Kamat lokaruchi including some shopping and getting stuck in railway crossing in the ring road between Tumkur Road - Jalahalli, we reached home at 10:30 PM tired but satisfied with a day spent well.

Yelagiri lake view

Then we went to the nature park (entrance fees Rs 15/adult). The park was small but very well maintained. The play area for children had lots of play equipments which the children in the group enjoyed. There is even an artificial waterfall inside the park.

Yelagiri Nature Park

We finished our visit a little after noon and it was time for the checkout. The downward trip to the plains was interrupted for a couple of photo sessions but otherwise uneventful.

My Bangalore friend wanted to goto Krishnagiri Dam which was just a little detour towards Salem highway from Krishnagiri. So went to the dam, which was full and took more photos. The park attached to the dam was big not very clean. There are no boating facilities in the reservoir either.

Krishnagiri Dam / reservoir

So after spending just over half an hour there we returned to Bangalore. Yelagiri can be made as a day trip from Bangalore or Chennai, what with the lack of options, but it is better to spend overnight for a more relaxed trip. Our stay, Hotel Hills was ok but I would keep it as a secondary option and try out other places such as Landmark ,Zeenath taj or Sterling on my next visit.

Yelagiri is a small hill station near Tirupattur / Vaniyambadi in Vellore District, about 150 Kms from Bangalore and 220 from Chennai. Not very well known, with very little to see or do,  it is nevertheless getting increasing crowd from Bangalore and Chennai due to it being just off the 4 lane Golden Quadrilateral route. Quite a few hotels have come up in recent years although no fancy ones. A paragliding adventure activity was organised last year bringing a little more fame to the place.  This was the place chosen by me and some friends for a break / family get together. 2 families from Bangalore and 2 from Chennai were to meet up here in December 12-13 weekend to spend a relaxing holiday. For me this will be the first drive in a ghat section and no easier introduction than Yelagiri with well laid roads and just 14 Hairpin bends.

We left in our Ford Ikon an hour later than the planned 6:30 AM from home. The route was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vaniyambadi (GQ) - a little after the toll gate turn right (almost U turn) after exiting the GQ to join Vaniyambadi - Salem SH18, turn left about 10 KMs later at Ponneri to enter the Yelagiri Ghat Road. Click link for Google Maps Route to Yelagiri from Bangalore. As per plan I met my Bangalore friend at Adayar Ananda Bhavan (A2B), Chinnar about 27 KMs after Hosur. After finishing Breakfast continued on our way to reach Hotel Hills, Yelagiri by 11:30 AM. The distance was 163 KMs from our Home. The hill ride as expected was not difficult. It was beginning to get misty when we were driving but by the time our Chennai friends reached half an hour later, fog got heavier.

Yelagiri Ghat Road

Plains from Yelagiri Ghat Road

After completing the check in formalities and freshening up we left immediately to the Yelagiri / Punganoor lake. Just a couple of hundred metres away from the hotel, the lake is the main attraction in Yelagiri. A 3 rupee entrance ticket gives you access to the lake and a small park with children’s play area. There are pedal and row boats to go around the lake and our big group took two row boats (Rs 120 for 8 persons). It took about 15 minutes to cover the entire lake and we got some useful information from the boatman about possible sight seeing activities.

Yelagiri Lake

After this we wanted to go for a walk around the lake where a well laid path exists. However, it started raining heavily so we had to chnage plans and return to Hotel for lunch. The lunch was average but heavy but the service was very attentive. It was still raining heavily so we had to stay put in the hotel and catch up with each other’s lives. It was also getting foggier which gave a real hill station feel to the place. We could leave the hotel only around 5 when the rain subsided. We just went for a walk along the main road and returned to the nature park, with the attraction of a musical fountain. Unfortunately for us, it was cancelled due to rains. Initially they said they wanted at least 30 people (and no rains), when we offered to pay for 30 people and dont mind getting wet, they checked with someone and said, they couldnt take the music boxes out if it rains. The day ended with a light dinner and chatting till midnight.

Contd..

Now that I have gotten a little more comfortable with the driving, I am slowly easing into making weekend trips near Bangalore. Having read about the Chikka Tirupathi  temple in a blog and having gone across a couple of times in bike rides, I thought it is a convenient place to take the family as is only about 35 Kms from home. After having to cancel a couple of times, we finally made the trip last sunday 8th November.

From Kundalahalli, there are two routes, one via Whitefield - Channasandra on NH 207 and other from the other side of NH 207 via Varthur - Sarjapur. The latter was reported to have better roads and so we took the same. All was going well until Sarjapur town except for a few speed breakeers. A very narrow stretch in Sarjapur town followed by 2-3 Kms of very bad road surface, then it got better. Road was being retarred and was good enough except again one or 2 small patches. The temple was reached in less than a hour from home at a distance of 31 Kms. The name of the lord is Prasanna Venkateshwara standing in a posture similar to the lot more famous one in Tirupathi . There was some rain and a temple was being conducted within the temple premises making the environs dirty. However, the darshan was good and we completed our Archanais relatively peacefully. It was then time for some photos a couple of which can be seen here

Chikka Tirupathi Gopuram

Chikka Tirupathi Temple

Kalkunte Ranganatha Swamy Temple

At last I did my first ever drive to Chennai from Bangalore for Deepavali. It was on the superb Golden Quadrilateral via Hosur.

Chennai Bangalore GQ

Left Bangalore on Friday morning at 6:15 AM. Took the Varthur, Sarjapur, Attibele route to Hosur and reached A2B,Chinnar at 7:30. There was a heavy rush as every car going to TN from Bangalore seemed to have stopped there. We could leave only close to 9 from here. Reached Chennai outskirts by 12:15 passing thru’ 5 toll booths. I missed Poonamalee bypass and got stuck in traffic near Poonamalee bus stand. Could reach home at Velachery only an hour later.

After celebrating Deepavali with family and had a lot of city driving in Chennai with hectic visits to firends and relatives in Chennai. It was pleasant to drive in a city without too many speed breakers but scarily the drivers in Chennai seem to love driving so close to each other. Return was on Monday morning leaving a quarter past seven. Had to make a detour to Vadapalani and got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic till Koyambedu. With two breaks for breakfast and lunch, reached home only by 3 PM. Inspite of this being my first highway drive in India, I could maintain constant speeds of 100 -110 occasionally touching 120 - 130. I also gained the confidence for many more driving trips.

The highway is fabulous and tolls are totally worth it. Although we bypass the towns enroute, Hosur, Ambur and Vellore have spread to the highway and will require a bit of cautious driving. Apart from some slow moving bus and truck drivers blocking the right lane (and some times both lanes) there was not much to complain. Reminds me to update my Chennai - Bangalore road travel guide which is now in serious need of overhaul.

Google Earth has been upgraded to version 5 with the satellite images being more recent (May or even June 2009). Apart from the fact that our Chennai apartment which was under cloud cover earlier is now visible, lots of the new constructions in Chennai (and other cities) are now part of GE 5.0. A few of these for your viewing pleasure

Kathipara Cloverleaf Interchange

Kathipara Interchange

Padi Flyover

MRC Nagar