metherover

It had been quite some time I went on a ride. I wanted to ride to/in some to some unique/different location. I was looking around the map a large one which I had stuck to door, and thinking where to..where to...I suddenly stopped as my eye sight fell on Bhutan and I thought I'll ride in the land of thunder dragon. I did some googling, noted down some details.      A few weeks later, I was at a friends place and I told him I am planning to ride to Bhutan and casually asked joining? I informed him of the details I had gathered. He seemed interested. I then asked him if how about we ask the others? I called our close friends and they all interested. The pack was formed - 10 of us, including a couple. i.e., nine bullets. All us applied for leaves, and they were approved. It was two week ride. We got our bikes serviced. We were shipping our bike to Kolkata, and we were riding from there. The day before we were to go to the railway station to parcel our bikes, I receive a call

Trip Log       Total distance covered about 750 Km The Riders:                Suraj - Royal Enfield Electra-5S(TN02 AD ----)                Krishna Mohan - Royal Enfield Electra-5S(AP 10 AN ----) Route  Hyderabad       | Kurnool       | Nandyal           |          Mahanandi       | Nandyal       | Yaganti       | Belum Caves       | Nandyal       | Hyderabad                  I was on speaking with Krishna Mohan over phone, telling him about my ride from Chennai, earlier that week and casually asked him, how about a ride this weekend?.... and he said why not!!!!!.. Told him I call him back later that day or the next day to decide where to ride. I called him later that day and we decided that we would ride to Nandyal, visit couple of temples then ride on to Yaganti and also visit Belum Caves before returning home. Like always we asked each other, start early? I then told him..... there's a

Gangaikondacholapuram is located about 41KM from Kumbakonam. Gangaikondapuram visit was a part of my Kumbakonam visit and  I must have spent about two hours here. I decided to take a bus to visit the temple. At the bus stand, I enquired if there was any direct buses plying to or via gangaikondacholapuram. I was told that a bridge in that area has collapsed, so I can take a bus until the bridge and then walk about 2 miles and then take another bus. I was thinking “Walking!!! That was a NO NO” . The localite continued saying that I can take a bus to Jayankondam instead and then change bus to Gangaikondacholapuram. I reached Jayankondam, in about an hour. I then changed bus and travel about 5-7 km to reach Gangaikondacholapuram. As I was reaching the place, I could see the imposing temple structure on the right hand side and I was wow!!!... It was a cloudy day, and it looked as if it would rain anytime. Since I was not carrying any rain gear(umbrella, waterproof bags) but had my

DARASURAM is located about 3 - 4 KM from Kumbakonam. The Airavateswara temple was constructed by Rajaraja Chola II in the 12th century. His grandsons had a short period of life. Rajaraja II was was his(Raja Raja I), grand-daughters son. Darasuram visit was a part of my Kumbakonam visit. I must have spent about one and half hour at Darasuram. I was not was not able to take more pictures here as someone yelled ‘photo edukadhengo’ (do not take pictures). I am sure I missed taking many more interesting pictures. I was also sweating profusely as it was a humid day and I had to be more cautious with the camera, this was also a reason for fewer pictures and picture clarity.  After the chola period, the islamic invaders(Nizams and Bahmani Sultans), destroyed many statues. In the 15th century the Rulers from Madurai region, The Nayakers did some work like paintings(vegetable paintings), extension on these temples. The vegetable paintings can still be seen on the walls and on the ceiling.

Temple Town Kumbakonam, is one of the oldest town in south india. It is also known as "temple town" due to the prevalence of a number of temples in and around the tow.. The Mahamaham festival is celebrated here once in 12 years and it attracts lakhs of devotees from all over the world. I reached Kumbakonam from Chennai at 04:00 AM, by SRM Travels. I checked into Hotel Royal Park, adjacent to the bus-stand by about 04:30 AM. The cab which I had booked the previous day arrived on time (by 05:30AM - as scheduled) to pick me. I reminded the driver that I was on a one and half day trip and I intend to visit all/most prominent temples including the Navagrahas. I also wanted to visit Darasuram a heritage site under UNESCO. It was my first visit to the town and I wanted to visit most of the temples with limited darshan time. I did not perform any pooja in any temple, just prayed. DAY 1 I visited the temples below 1. Swamimalai 2. Chandran temple 4. Ponni