A Weekend To Remember

It was just the third time all 5 of us (actually, its 6 now, but my niece tags along with her mom, my sister, anyway) could manage to get out of bangalore and spend some time together in like 7-8 years!!!

We left bangalore by 6. The drive was nice. We stopped at Belur since me n my sis had never seen the place in our adult life (not sure if we have seen that place before as kids).

Belur has one Chennakeshava temple. The Lord Krishna is dressed up like how any goddess would usually be dressed. And thats just the beginning of bizarre facts abt this place. Will try to recount with as much accuracy as i can.
Two great architects/designers created the masterpiece temple which is supposedly, entirely detachable and can be re-assembled elsewhere. The entire temple took over 100 years to build.

They built a working model first, without the intricate sculpturing. Then built the actual temple. The model can be seen even today.

The shilabaalikes are famous cos they are known to depict many thoughts/ideas/philosphies. The social life also forms a part of the series of sculptures. Mythology forms another interesting part.

Although many temples are known to be destroyed by invaders from faraway lands, the sculptures here were destroyed cos of local vandalism!!! Stupid, Silly people thought these brilliant masterpieces also had gold in them! Ofcourse, this was after the capital (HaaLu Beedu-->HaLe Beedu) was destroyed by actual invasions. Apparently, people wanted something to survive and took to these temples. Also, some are said to have thought that, like hampi, these sculptures also made sound when hit with hands. Crazie, i say!

By the time it got hot, we were in Chickmagalur. The Golf Club where we stayed was refreshingly quiet and serene.

I also had the Mungaru MaLe DVD in my bag. Had got it from Bangalore, simply cos, i knew i would have time to waste/laze. And what better way to unwind than watching a silly/foolish romantic kannada movie! well, that was the prejudice with which i started watching.

My attempt at watching the movie in one full stretch was futile cos, i really cudnt sit thru it in one stretch. My goal was to find the factors in the movie which made it such a BIG hit. (It really was a big hit aye! made a LOT of money)

I must say, it was disappointing. The script lacked the basics of a good movie. Un-realistic scenes, Silly painful jokes, average dialogues, bad direction/acting... why did people even like it!?!

The music/lyrics/cinematography/choreography(to some extent) can take credit for the success. Did only these make it a hit? well, i dint seem to find anything else. Oh! and, the RAIN!!! hmm.. well, no comments abt that too!

Coffee and finger chips helped quite a bit...

The next day we left to Mullayangiri. Breathtaking, beautiful place. Wait for a post on me trekking there soon :)

We followed it up with Kemmangundi. This place hasnt changed at all in 15 years!!! Only the number of people flocking it, has increased. There is Datta peetha, Hebbe falls and Kalhatti falls, which we couldnt do. All within 50 kms from Chickmagalur, in one direction. The road from mullayangiri to kemmangundi thru Datta Peetha and Hebbe Falls is very bad. This is Bhadra WildLife Reserve forest area. But it was definitely better than the Bandipur National Park stretch we did while returning from Wayanad. Phew. THAT was bad.

Most of the other time was spent sleeping or eating...