Tag: <span>bangalore</span>

Date: 23rd January, 2012

After how well-received my last flower show post was, I decided to cover this year’s Republic Day Flower show at Bangalore’s Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens.

I initially planned on waking up really early to avoid the crowds that would be thronging Lal Bagh in the days leading up to 26th January (India’s Republic Day), but given the cold weather, throwing aside my cozy blanket and getting out of bed early morning seemed near impossible.

So post lunch, I set off.

Lal Bagh towards glasshouse Bangalore India — I parked my bike inside, paid the Rs. 30 entry fee and walked towards the glasshouse

Lal Bagh glasshouse Republic Day flower show crowd Bangalore — It was 3pm -- and crowded!

Lal Bagh glasshouse Bangalore India — I walked around the glasshouse to get to the starting point

Buddhist temple stupa flower design Lal Bagh show Bengaluru — Every year the organizers have one major attraction that's the signature showpiece

Buddhist stupa design Lal Bagh flower show Bangalore — This flower show's main attraction was a Peace Pagoda, a Buddhist Stupa

Korean buddha stupa flower design Lal Bagh Republic day show Bangalore — This one was modelled on the Buddha Sharira Stupa in Jeju Island, South Korea

Group of annuals Lal Bagh glasshouse corner panorama — Group of Annuals at the corner

Geranium flowers Lal Bagh flower show Bangalore — Recognized some of the flowers from my last visit

Dahlia flowers Lal Bagh botanical gardens Bangalore India — Right next to the Geraniums were the Dahlias

Dahlia flower macro closeup Lal Bagh Bangalore India — They - were - pretty

Dahlia flower petals Lal Bagh Bangalore India — These flowers were quite the hit among the public

Dhalia Lal Bagh flower show Bangalore — Dhalias?

Orchids Art of Life exhibit Lal Bagh flower show Bangalore — They had a section for orchids

Needless to say the orchids on display were nowhere near the orchid collection I saw in Singapore’s Orchid Garden.

Pot flowing flowers display Lal Bagh Republic Day show Bangalore — This was the other part of the main attraction

Flower wave out of pot Lal Bagh Bangalore floral show — I don't know what the inspiration behind this piece of work was

Swan made of flowers Lal Bagh show Republic Day Bangalore — Look, a flower swan too

Flowers flowing design Lal Bagh Republic day show panorama — Wonder what flowers they used

Lal Bagh glasshouse Republic day flower show main attraction Bangalore — I would say the big attraction was quite impressive his year

Mandhara school of floral arts section Lal Bagh flower show Bangalore — This section was being arranged by a floral arts school

Fruits design display Lal Bagh flower show Bangalore — It wasn't just flowers they were using

Kamsale flower arrangement Lal Bagh show Republic day — They had floral arrangements inspired by select Indian states and their respective cultural contributions

Kuchipudi flower arrangement Lal Bagh show Bangalore — This arrangement inspired by Indian classical dance

Kathakali inspired floral arrangement Bangalore — Inspired by Kerala's symbolic kathakali dance

Brassica flower Fern Hill garden Lal Bagh show — These rose-like flowers looked really nice

Brassica flower Lal Bagh Bangalore — What the flower is actually called

Cockscomb plant Lal Bagh glasshouse Bangalore — The ever so interesting cockscomb plant

Indian flag national anthem rice mustard Lal Bagh display — The Indian flag made using coloured rice grains and our national anthem written using mustard seeds

Taj Mahal made using rice grains Lal Bagh display — A portrait of the Taj Mahal made using rice grains

Buddhist stupa made of flowers Lal Bagh Bangalore — It was time to leave

I actually did two rounds — first with my wide angle lens mounted on the camera, and then a second round with my Tamron 28-75mm macro lens.

Honeybee flying around flower Lal Bagh Bangalore — This is why I need the Tamron lens for such occasions

Bee flower macro photography Lal Bagh Bangalore India — I love taking such shots

Buddhist stupa floral temple Lal Bagh Republic day show panorama — Took the final few shots of the main attraction at this year's flower show

Lal Bagh glasshouse roof buddha stupa floral design — I had spent well over an hour inside the glasshouse

There weren’t many new flower varieties on display inside, many of which I had seen in the last flower show I attended. Still, I got my money’s worth of photographs.

Soap bubble floating Lal Bagh Bangalore — Saw a kid outside blowing soap bubbles and I had the spontaneous instinct to just click this bubble

Lal Bagh reflection in bubble Bangalore — I'm glad I did -- check out that reflection!

Bubble floating in the sky Bangalore India — Followed the bubble as the wind lifted it up in the sky -- until it burst

Lal Bagh glasshouse crystal palace history Bangalore India — History of the glasshouse at Lal Bagh

Lal Bagh fountain Bengaluru — Went up to the fountain

Fountain water droplets fast shutter speed — Played around with shutter speeds

Lal Bagh fountain slow shutter speed Bangalore — Slow shutter speed

Lal Bagh fountain fast shutter speed Bangalore — Fast shutter speed

Fountain figure slow shutter water effect Bangalore India — I was quite enjoying this

Lal Bagh fountain figure water droplets slow shutter effect — Okay fine, I'll stop

Lal Bagh fountain glasshouse Bangalore India — I stepped away from the fountain

Lal Bagh glasshouse structure sunlight shadow — It was nearing 5pm

Lal Bagh botanical gardens tall trees Bangalore — I walked back

Japanese garden entrance Lal Bagh Bangalore — Made a quick visit in here before leaving

Monkey Lal Bagh gardens Bangalore India — What's a visit to an attraction in India without the presence of these guys

Peacock flower creation Lal Bagh show Bangalore — Inside here, this was drawing a lot near

Mahabharath sand artwork creation Lal Bagh Bangalore — So was this sand sculpture paying homage to one of India's greatest epics

Tree branches white flower Lal Bagh — The branches look like reindeer antlers

Kempegowda tower temple rock Lal Bagh garden Bangalore India — All in all, a good photo session

I wonder what the organizers have in store for this year’s Independence Day Flower Show.

If you liked this post, and would like to see more flower photography, also check out:

Photos from the 2010 Lal Bagh Botanical Garden Flower Show, Bangalore

Singapore 2011: Day 3 – Bukit Timah and Singapore Botanic Gardens

I interrupt my current Singapore series to bring attention to a place I never knew even existed in India!

Me and my friends haven’t gone on a road trip in quite some time. So when we spoke about driving somewhere we all had never gone before, it was hard. We were sick of Mysore Road and have seen pretty much every attraction that stretch of Karnataka has to offer. This was going to be a proper weekend drive – leave early Saturday morning and be back by Sunday night, so given the time frame, the choice of destinations were quite limited to begin with.

As luck would have it, a friend of mine uploaded a few photos he had taken from his visit to a place called Gandikota in Andhra Pradesh. I had never heard of the place before but when I saw his photos, I just couldn’t believe I had never even known about its existence! Upon asking him for more information about Gandikota and doing some research on my own, I suggested a drive to Gandikota to my friends.

Some of them were apprehensive, saying it looked like “just a canal,” some couldn’t make it, but I was still hell-bent on going there. Charting a route map using Google Maps, the drive from Devanahalli to Gandikota was going to take approximately 5 hours (250kms). I also found that we can drive to another attraction, Belum Caves, from Gandikota itself and that would take over an hour to cover the 60km distance. From Belum Caves, we could then drive to the town of Anantapur and connect back to NH7 to drive back all the way to Bangalore city (280 kms).

After much convincing and last minute tussles, we (myself and friends Anand and Ramesh) were ready to venture into a territory hardly many from Bangalore have gone before.

Date: December 17th, 2011

The plan was for Anand to first pick me up and then Ramesh by 6am, but as is usually the case on our drives, we were slightly delayed and only picked up Ramesh as it neared 7am.

Foggy Sarjapur road morning drive Bangalore — We started from Sarjapur-Outer Ring Road… which was rather foggy at 7am

Airport road towards Devanahalli Bangalore — We drove on Airport Road and past Devanahalli

We stopped at a Kamat restaurant adjoining a Bharat Petroleum bunk to our left for breakfast. After puris and tea, we set off again towards Chikballapur.

Route map to Kadiri — We got off the main highway at a major intersection from where you need to take a right (Image: Google Maps)

Untarred road to billur — We did get a bit of rough road…

Road to Billur Karnataka — … but got back on to smooth tarmac soon after

Goats blocking Indian road — But we had to slow down when we saw this

Goats on road Karnataka India — Bangalore’s mutton supply discovered!

Goats crossing road India — There was a LOT of them!

Goat herder crossing road India — We waited until the herd passed by

Goats ram Karanata road India — Papa goat?

YSR golden statue junction Andhra Pradesh — We came straight down that road and passed this statue of the late YSR. When we stopped to confirm if we were going the right way, a passer by told us we need to take a right instead to head towards Kadiri

Road to Kadiri Andhra Pradesh India — We were now in the state of Andhra Pradesh

Road to Kadapa Andhra Pradesh — The road got narrow for a bit

Temple lake Kadiri Andhra Pradesh India — By 11am, we were in the town of Kadiri

Raja Reddy wedding photo — Raja looks pleased

Kadiri town AP India — Kadapa is the nearest major town to Gandikota, but we decided to drive through an alternate route that would take us straight to Gandikota

Jalamadugu turn at Kadiri Andhra Pradesh India — We came down that road and took a right towards Jammalamadugu

Ramesh Anand Phadake Ford Fiesta AP India — We stopped for a tea break at a dhaba along the way

Gopi Punjabi Dhaba Andhra Pradesh India — Gopi was the name of one of our ex-bosses… but that’s not why we stopped here, I swear

Kadiri rocks Andhra Pradesh India — The landscape in these parts is completely different. Lots of rocks…

Inner Andhra Pradesh rocks geography — … and the rocks just stay (Taken by Ramesh)

Ramesh Iyer tea Andhra Pradesh India — We had our Rs. 5 chai

Anand Phadake tea stop dhaba — It was 11:45am, and we still had a long way to go

Inner Andhra Pradesh old man — We hit the road again

Road to Jamalagundu bridge — This was pretty cool

Hindu temple under huge rock India — This temple under that huge rock

Andhra Pradesh interior electricity lines India — For most our journey, we traversed through sparsely populated villages and barren landscapes — and hardly any vehicles with a ‘KA’ registration

Road to Jammalamadugu trees — (Photograph by Ramesh)

Sunflower fields Andhra Pradesh India — There were SO many sunflower fields on either side

Sunflower fields Jammalamadugu Andhra India — (Mind you, just about all the shots above were taken from behind the car window)

Ramesh phone GPS Ford Fiesta drive — Even though Ramesh had copies of the map routes on his Nook tablet, we relied heavily on the Google Latitude mobile app to check if we were on the right path

Goat crossing Andhra Pradesh — More ‘mutton’ crossings

We eventually reached a small village where we had to stop at a railway crossing. Something that took an ungodly long time!

Anand Mithun Ramesh in car — We had plenty of time to take photos of ourselves in the car

Nearly half-an-hour later, the train finally shows up — and how…

We had lost quite a bit of time and it was already lunch time. Fortunately as we arrived in the town of Jammalamadugu (yeah, try saying that fast) we saw a sign of hope.

AP toursim Gandikota hotel road sign — Finally, we were getting nearer!

Road to Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — The roads for the most part were good… and there were *hardly* anybody else driving through these roads

Windmill blades Suzlon Andhra Pradesh India — There’s quite a lot of windmill activity by Suzlon in these neck of the woods

Road to Gandikota fort Andhra Pradesh India — The road got narrower — which meant we were getting close

AP tourism Gandikota hotel entrance — And by 2:15pm, we had finally reached our destination! Haritha Hotel Gandikota, by APTDC

When we called up this hotel (Ph: (0)90105 54899) to book a room, the guy who answered simply told Ramesh “just come”. Now we know why. There were hardly any other guests besides us!

The waiter/receptionist/attendant showed us the cottages, we didn’t want an A/C room, so we just took a fan room that had a large bed which could easily accommodate the three of us. The room cost Rs. 630 ($11/€9), and we didn’t have to pay anything extra for the third person. Unfortunately, the water heaters weren’t working. (Why is it just about every hotel in India that costs about the same has such a problem with providing hot water?!)

Gandikota hotel restaurant granite pillars — We were hungry, and sat down at the restaurant for lunch

There wasn’t a menu, so we just asked what was available for lunch. The receptionist/attendant/waiter told us: “chapathi, phulkas, dal curry“. That’s it. We didn’t have any choice but to order all three.

Since they hardly see any guests, they don’t stock any meat either. But receptionist/attendant/waiter assured us we would have more options available for dinner, like egg. Sigh…

When our food came, the chapathis and phulkas were essentially the same – both were made using maida, the phulkas only being a little smaller. And I doubt the phulkas were made the way they are traditionally done so. They cost the same too, Rs. 24 per plate (a plate has two), so you might as well just order chapathis. The dal (Rs. 40) was passable. We were hungry, so had to eat what was given.

By the way, they have the full stable of Coca Cola’s offerings like Kinley water and soda, besides the other carbonated drinks like Sprite, so you really don’t need to carry the same when coming here. Unless you’re a Pepsi fan.

Gandikota hotel garden playground Andhra Pradesh India — We decided to take a few photos of the hotel

Gandikota fort from APTDC hotel — You can see the Gandikota fort wall from here

Aptdc gandikota hotel granite buildings — Everything is made of granite stone

Gandikota hotel rooms Andhra Pradesh India — Our room was in the back

Gandikota aptdc hotel resort panorama — The cottages are on the extreme left (Panorama comprised of 9 shots)

Mithu Divakaran AP tourism hotel Gandikota India — (Photograph by Anand)

We decided not to leave our bags in our room just yet. Instead, we wasted no time in heading straight to the fort.

Once you reach the fort walls, you can take your vehicle inside and down a narrow ‘S’ path, through a small village to park right near Gandikota masjid (mosque).

Gandikota fort masjid Andhra Pradesh India — We parked by the side

Gandikota masjid entrance Andhra Pradesh India — There was no entrance fee to enter the masjid, but the guides there said we’d have to pay Rs. 25 since we have professional cameras

Gandikota fort masjid Andhra Pradesh tomb — The Jamia Masjid

Gandikota fort masjid minaret dome parrots — Anand’s Canon SX30IS super-zoom is truly impressive

Gandikota fort rocky building Andhra Pradesh — After the masjid, we went in here to pay the ‘camera fee’

Ramesh Mithun paying fee Gandikota fort — There was no sign anywhere saying Rs. 25 was the ‘camera fee,’ but the guide sounded kind enough and eager to tell us about this place without asking for any money, so we didn’t mind paying up

Gandikota fort hall pillars panorama — Panorama comprised of 4 shots

Anand Mithun taking photos Gandikota fort — Photograph by Ramesh

Rangaswamy temple Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — I walked to this temple while Ramesh and Anand walked towards the gorge

Red granite temple rocks Gandikota — The stones are mostly red granite

Gandikota Ranganathaswami temple pillars ancient art India — The temple is called Ranganatha Swamy temple

Ranganatha swami temple door Gandikota — I was too chicken to enter this dark room

Ranganathaswami temple gates Gandikota India — I left the temple and walked towards the gorge

Gandikota panorama from Ranganathaswamy temple Andhra Pradesh India — A panoramic view from Ranganatha Swamy temple

Granite rocks Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — Tread carefully, its all rocky grounds here

Rocky hills Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — I was walking towards the main reason I wanted to come to Gandikota

Gandikota Erramala hills towards Pennar river — Wait for it….

Gandikota gorge Erramala Pennar river panorama Andhra Pradesh India — … voila! Ever thought India had geography that looked similar to America’s Grand Canyon?

Oh, if you thought the above photo would make for an awesome wallpaper, here’s a 1920×1200 version!

Mithun Divakaran Gandikota hills — It’s quite windy at the edge

Red granite stones formation Gandikota — Wonder how these rock formations even came to being

Gandikota gorge rocks river — The rocks just seem planted there

Anand Mithun taking photos Gandikota gorge — (Photograph by Ramesh)

Gandikota Pennar river Andhra Pradesh India — A very calm Pennar river

Mithun Divakaran taking photo Gandikota gorge — (Photograph by Anand)

We looked for other ways to reach centre of the hills, from where I hoped to take panorama of the entire plateau in front of us.

Mithun way under rocks Gandikota — Just then, we spotted this opening, and I went in to see if it led anywhere

Gap under rocks Gandikota gorge — It led us out here

Gandikota gorge from cave panorama India — The view from down here… about the same as from up there

Mithun Divakaran Gandikota rocks Andhra Pradesh river — Photograph by Ramesh

Going back out rocks Gandikota — We made our way back out one-by-one

Anand Ramesh walking up rocks Gandikota — We moved on further

Rocks boulders Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — We had to move slowly and chart our own path

Stones boulders Gandikota hill Andhra Pradesh India — I can’t stress enough on safety. It’s just rocks and boulders you will be stepping on, so take your own time. Some of these rocks are loose too.

Gandikota fort walls river hills — But it was worth it, the view was fantastic…

Gandikota gorge pennar river panorama — … and I got my panorama!

Gandikota gorge Pennar river end of hill — Took some last few shots with the 70-200mm lens

Gandikota fort walls river side panorama — Imagine what life must have been in those days

Gandikota fort walls Pennar river Andhra India — We would have liked to have gone all the way down to the river… but we didn’t see a way or anybody else down there (Photo from Anand’s super-zoom camera)

Cave Gandikota hill Pennar river Andhra Pradesh India — How cool is that? There’s a cave down there… and I would had *so* loved to have gone in there

Red granite stone hill Gandikota India — Red granite

Ramesh Anand Mithun photo Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — We attempted a group shot with Ramesh’s camera atop my bag. After a few attempts, we got this.

Gandikota reservoir Pennar river — The river flows into the Mylavaram reservoir

Standing stone Gandikota rocks India — The rocks here are quite something

Gandikota tourists evening Andhra Pradesh — It was past 5pm, and most visitors were on their way back

Sunset Gandikota rocks Andhra Pradesh India — It was getting darker, but I still had some more to see

Gandikota fort wall ruins India — I wanted to go that Mayan-like structure right of the centre

Gandikota hill Erramala Andhra Pradesh India — Walking away from Erramala hills

Gandikota fort ruins boundary wall India — It smelt of shit here — both goat and cow (and hopefully not human)

Gandikota fort ruins steps to platform — Unfortunately as I got near the structure, the entry path to the steps was blocked by plants and weed

Lamb shelter Gandikota village — Hello you shitters!

Gandikota village old houses — Walked through the village

Gandikota village stones houses India — Everything is made of stone here

Gandikota village well Andhra Pradesh India — One of the village’s source of water

Gandikota fort masjid reflection well — I walked back to the car and re-grouped with Ramesh and Anand

We still had one more temple to see inside the fort, but we just couldn’t figure out the way to get to it. So we drove out of the fort and wondered if there was another way.

Once out, the guides told us the way to Madhavaraya temple was from inside the fort itself, but they suggested we go tomorrow morning as the fort was going to be closed (more like, the guides were done for the day).

Turkeys Gandikota Andhra Pradesh India — Well hello turkeys! We don’t see much of you here in India.

Gandikota turkey birds India — They may taste good, but boy are they ugly headed!

We decided to head back to the hotel. We were all pretty tired and we just wanted to rest.

Anand Ramesh rooftop AP tourism hotel Gandikota — We went up to the roof of our cottage

Standing on the roof I thought of how I could have brought my grill and some marinated meat in the cooler. I’m sure the staff wouldn’t have minded. It’s a perfect setting for a barbecue.

Mind you, Gandikota isn’t for everyone. It’s not what I’d call a ‘family destination,’ unless your family is the adventurous kind. The rocks you will have to walk over just to take the kind of photos of the gorge you see above aren’t easy for everyone to do. Also, there is hardly anything around for fun or excitement. Not even a hospital in case of emergencies.

If you want a weekend of peace and quiet, some privacy or even a new spot to usher in the New Year with close friends, then consider Gandikota as a perfect Bangalore getaway.

Gandikota evening pink sky Andhra Pradesh India — The evening sky at 6:15pm was a picture perfect end to an amazing day of discovery

View from AP tourism hotel Gandikota — There is quite literally, nothing surrounding this resort

Gandikota hotel dog on steps — Only stray dogs for company

I took bath without hot water because I desperately felt the need to be clean after walking amid goat droppings and all the climbing. Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold outside.

The same receptionist/attendant/waiter came to our room to ask us what we wanted for dinner. It would help the kitchen if we ordered in advance. The options weren’t many, but we asked for some rice, chapathis, dal, tomato curry, egg masala and egg burji. Everything cost Rs. 40-Rs. 45, so our expectations weren’t very high.

There is the option to have cable (Dish TV) in our room but we told the guy we definitely weren’t going to be watching television. We had ‘Mr. Jack‘ for company and the three of us spent the night reviewing our photos and chatting away.

Tomorrow morning, we had to go to the temple, drive 60kms to Belur caves and then drive back to Bangalore before nightfall. Day 1 was fantastic, we couldn’t wait to see what day 2 had in store for us!

Bonus: Here’s video of the Gandikota gorge I put together using clips from Ramesh’s and Anand’s camera

Next post in the series:
Bangalore weekend drive: Gandikota and Belum Caves, Andhra Pradesh – Part 2