Bengaluru Eataries: 11. Iyengar's Inn

Date: 19th Dec 2015

Foodies: Arun, Shilpi and harsh

Cost for 2: 120 Approx

Timing: 12 Noon to 3 PM. Closed on Sunday.

Location: Jayanagar 7th block.

Wait time: None

Specialty: Puliyogere

Read about this new food place from a FB post and decided to check it out. The place opens at 12 so we reached there at 12 sharp but it was still closed. Saturdays are direct lunch day's so we were bit hungry. We thought of giving it some time and waited and the hotel opened at 12:15 PM. The food was prepared in malleshwaram at a home and brought here. The hotel was open 8 months back and it has few fans already. The menu changes everyday and is limited to 4 main dishes a day. There is something called double and triple mix. We can get two scoops of different rice items or 3 scoops of 3 items. Shilpi got her favorite puliyogere and i tried double mix (avalaki chitrana and curd rice). The food was good but all the items had become cold. There is no seating facility but 4 long tables gave enough place to stand and eat. The place was clean.

Some pics from the place.

Looking on both direction to see if someone will come to open the door.

No complaints about the taste of the puliyogere. It would have been better if it was hot.

Aam vade. The outer part was nice crispy.

Double mix. The curd rice was good. Did not find the avalaki rice that nice.

Sajappa a sweet. It has coconut filling inside just like the holige. The outer part was hard unlike holige which is very soft. I like this one among all other.

Directions to the hotel.

If they can find a way to keep the food hot this will be a good place to have a decent lunch.

Bhopal Trip: 10. Udayagiri Caves

Date: 13th Dec 2015

Visitors: Arun, Naveen, Abhilash, Sunil and Rajneesh

Timings: -

Fee: None.

Located 18kms from Sanchi is the Udayagiri caves. The route was through a small village and though the road was not good the drive was enjoyable. These beautiful caves are carved during the rule of chandragupta II, There are 20 caves in total and some of them are just plain rock cut caves with no carvings of gods in it. The most significant of all the 20 is cave 5. It contains the 3rd incarnation of lord vishnu the varaha. Some of the caves are locked and too dark to get any good pictures.

See Sanchi Stupa

Some pics from the visit to the caves.

The Varaha sculpture in cave 5.

Cave 6 from outside.

The rocky hill of Udayagiri.

Some rock cut cave which is empty.

Carving of Lord vishnu in cave 13. Another important cave in Udayagiri.

An empty cave.

View of the green fields from top of the hill.

Cave 1

Other caves and rock cut sculptures.

Another archaeological site near bhopal to visit. This place was not there in our original plan. We spent more time in Sanchi so we thought we will visit this as it was only 18Kms from Sanchi. We had a train to catch at 3 PM.  Some of the things that we missed to see in Bhopal are

Bhojpur temple
Bhimbetka cave shelters
2nd largest Indian National flag.

That brings end to our sight seeing in and around Bhopal.

Bhopal Trip: 9. Chetiyagiri Vihar

Date: 13th Dec 2015

Visitors: Arun, Rajneesh, Abhilash, Sunil and Naveen

Timings: Same as Stupa timing

Fee: None

The Chetiyagiri Vihar is a temple which was founded by the Mahabodhi society of srilanka. This temple houses the relics of the Chief Buddhist disciples Sariputta and Moggallana. The relics are displayed to public one day in a year during the Chetiyagiri Vihar festival. Lot of  devotees gather here for the festival in the month of November. The temple is located just outside the Stupa complex.

Information and pic of Sanchi stupa.

Some pics from the temple.

Front view of the temple.

Hundi in the shape of Stupa.

Statue of Lord Buddha in the shrine. Since photography is allowed the place became bit noisy. We too were clicking pics instead of praying in silence:) Probably this could be one of the reasons for not allowing photography in religious places.

Peace at last when we the tourist left the place.

Souvenir from the visit. 

Bhopal Trip: 8. Great Stupa at Sanchi

Date: 13th Dec 2015

Visitors: Arun, Sunil, Rajneesh, Abhilash and Naveen

Timings: Sunrise to Sunset on all days. Exact timings not mentioned.

Fee: Rs 10 for Indians and SAARC nationals. Others Rs 250.

Day 2 of our Bhopal sight seeing started with visit to the Buddhist monuments in Sanchi. Its a UNESCO world heritage site. The Great Stupa or Stupa 1 was built by the king Ashoka during 3rd century B.C. The stupa was built over the relics of Budha. During the second century B.C the stone encasing was built and the stupa was enlarged. The balustrades were built during this period. During the first century B.C the four gateways were built on all four sides of Stupa 1 and one Gateway was built for stupa 3. There are many temples and monastery's in this site. Monuments are spread across this site and it would be easy if there is a guide to help around.

Some pics from the visit.

The Great Stupa, Stupa 1.

The carvings on one of the gateway of the Stupa.

The gateways of the great stupa.

The stone carvings depict some part of life of Buddha.

Monastery 51. The stone structure was very impressive.

The stupa 2. This stupa lies down the hill.

The parasol at Stupa 3.

Statue of Buddha in stupa 1. There are 4 statues on all four side.

First monument that i have seen which is very friendly to visually impaired people. The notes in braille. Tactile paving of path leading to the stupa from main entrance.

Stupa 3 with single gateway.

Not sure of the purpose or what they are. Guide would have been helpful.

A great place and a must visit attraction in M.P. Give it a few hours and soak in the beauty and calmness of place. There is also a museum that is open from 9 AM to 5 PM (closed on Friday). The museum houses various items found in that area used by the Buddhist monks.

Bhopal Trip: 7. Tropic of Cancer

Date: 13th Dec 2015

Visitors: Arun, Sunil, Rajneesh, Abhilash and Naveen.

Timings: None. Just on the road to Sanchi.

Fee: None.

This invisible line gave me more excitement than 200 acre Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya. Only thing i remember from the school days is its an imaginary line passing around the earth. Some excerpts from my reading about this line.

Equator is the imaginary line which is at equal distance from north and south pole. The tropic of cancer is the line 23.5° (23.43722°) north of equator and tropic of Capricorn is the line 23.5° south of equator. The sun appears directly over the earth only between these 2 lines, cancer and Capricorn. On June 21st the sun is above the tropic of cancer and it is the beginning of  summer in northern hemisphere. Summer in US is from June to August while its winter in Australia. On Dec 21st the sun is above the tropic of Capricorn far away from US. This marks the beginning of winter there from Dec to Feb while its summer in Australia. The area between these 2 lines is called tropical region.

Tit Bit: Brazil is the only country in the world through which 2 of these three lines passes. Equator and tropic of Capricorn.

The line passes through the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP, Jharkand, West Bengal, Mizoram and Tripura in India.

Some pics from the place.

This explains snow is US, Europe and the heat in Africa.

Image source World Atlas

Bhopal Trip: 6. Birla Mandir

Date: 12th Dec 2015

Visitors: Arun, Naveen, Abhilash, Sunil and Rajneesh

Timings:
              Summer - 5:30 to 11:30 and 4:00 to 9:00.
              Winter - 6:00 to 12:00 and 3:30 to 8:30.
              Open full day on Shivrathri, Jenmashtami, makar shankranthi and all Monday of shravan month.

Fee: None

From Taj-ul-Masajid we went to Birla Manir. Birla Mandir in Bhopal is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Narayana. The gorgeous temple is located at the highest point in Bhopal. The temple also has shrines for Lord Hanuman, Goddess Parvathi and Lord Shiva. All the deities are carved beautifully in marble. This is the prominent temple in Bhopal. Like all Birla mandir everyone is welcome here irrespective of caste or religion. The small garden in the temple complex gives a relaxing environment to spend some time peacefully. The temple is well maintained and is a top attraction in Bhopal. There is also a museum in this temple. Unlike the Birla Mandir in Hyderabad here electronic devices are allowed inside the temple. We could not visit the museum as we were running short of time to attend the wedding.

Few pictures from the temple.

Side view of the sandy yellowish temple.

Few close up pics of the outer wall.

Small fountain and the garden.

Marble shanku. One of the symbols of Lord Vishnu.

Front view of the temple.

Shrine for lord Hanuman.

View of the Bhopal city from the temple.

Group in front of one the stunning temples.

One of the must visit place in Bhopal for its spiritual reflection and architectural beauty.
This brings end to sight seeing on day one. We had covered Van Vihar national park, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya manav sangrahalaya, Manua bhan ki Tekri and Taj-ul-masajid.