Hoysala Temples - First Day

One of the things that I prefer to have is to have a breakfast option during my hotel stays. This one did not came with that option but certainly had a restaurant to eat. 

First stop was going to be 29 kms away from my hotel. The temple that I was visiting was in Javagal. Kind of reminded of our former fast bowler Javagal Srinath who also hails from Karnataka. He was not born here though.

It was the month of Dec 2024 and still the rain would drizzle now and then. The road was covered with greenery on both sides. Nature is best experienced during the rains. 

I reached my first temple for the day, the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple. The temple entrance is greeted by two beautiful small elephants. The temple is a trikuta (three shrines). 

When I reached there, a pooja was being conducted adjacent to the temple. As I entered inside the temple premises, the temple was relatively smaller in height compared to the ones that we often come across. There were hardly any people on this side of the temple. 

I find it strange that I do not even visit the local temples in my area and here I am fascinated by a temple hundreds of kms away that is said to built in the 13th century.

One of the fascinating part of the Hoysala architecture is the way the temple exterior is considered as a canvas for depicting the revered gods  Its almost like walking through art inside a museum. Every wall with gods and others depicted had a story to tell. 

The good thing was that they were in good condition, takes one back in time. The detailing and the intricacies of those sculptures were mesmerizing. I entered inside the temple, it was dimly lit and I was the only one inside. There were three statues i.e., of  Lakshminarasimha, Sridhara and Venugopala on all the three directions. 

The foundation of the temple had the circular lathe-turned pillars and is so fine that it felt almost machine cut. Its a wonder how the know-how of this work has been lost on us.

Paying my respect to the gods and admiring the inner sanctum, I exited the temple and moved to the next hall where the pooja was being conducted. There was also a goddess idol shrine over there. Offered my prayers, stood for a while attending the pooja and made my exit from the temple. 

From there, I headed towards Sri Veeranarayana swamy temple in Belavadi which was around 30-32 kms away. It was again a secluded place with hardly any tourist/people around. 

The Hoysala architecture was evident here too. This temple is dedicated to Vishnu.  As one walks towards the main shrine, the walls of the temple adorned with beautiful carvings makes its presence felt. Even the ceiling had Vishnu playing the flute.  

I bumped into the priest who informed me not to take photos of the idols, something that I abide by.

The approach to the main deity' room was almost dark with hardly any lights. I said my prayers and decided to explore the exterior of the temple which was similar to the earlier one in terms of the sculpting carved.

From there I went to visit my last temple of the day, Ancient Hoysala Shri Doddagaddavalli Lakshmi Devi Temple. This place was another 30 kms away.

Its always a good practice that when one is away from the toll free highways and all, a biker should always choose the car mode to avoid any kind of surprises that good map might come up with in terms of best route.

I almost ended up in someone's house but thankfully there was a way out and I was able to reach this temple from a less traveled road trail. As I was parking my bike near the temple, it started raining, more of drizzle. As I was making my way to the temple, a couple also entered the temple premises.

This temple is said to be built in the 12th century by a wealthy merchant Kalhana Ravuta and his wife Sahaja Devi during the reign of the famous Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana.

The highlight for me in this temple was the two demon shaped sculptures outside the shrine of Kali goddess who was hidden behind the open top half closed doors, with the face of goddess carved above it.

There were few local villagers here along with the security women who were doing pooja for the lord Shiva deity. The couple who had entered before me were taking pictures and when I started taking them, I was told no photos still I managed a few but not enough for my liking.

The temple complex consisted of the main temple and the entrance hall which also had a seating arrangement. One could see the main temple with the Hoysala emblem on the top from the entrance hall. There were also small temples within the complex but there were no idols in it.  

After the pooja was over, prasadam was distributed which I took with me. It was still raining and I decided to find a space for myself in the entrance hall. The villagers too joined along with their kids and of course the security guard whom I hated for not allowing me take pictures inside the temple.

I had a good conversation with a little girl who could speak in English but not Hindi and the mother had no clue what we were talking about. I finished my prasadam but the rain did not look it was going to stop anytime soon.

After spending sometime, I decided it was time to make a move. Put on my rain gear and walked towards my bike to head back to my hotel. 

It was time to call it a day. 

 

 

Hoysala Temples - The Journey Begins

The day came when I knew this was going to be my last trip for the year 2024.

One thing about planning a trip is the dilemma of going through the flow or plan it to such an extent that you don't miss out on anything. Chances of going back again are always there but slim. 

I have always been a planner and when it comes to planning a trip, I ensure that I cover all the spots.

The good thing about traveling in India, you can visit most of the places within a week and come back, unless it remote and requires extensive travel like Ladakh.

I knew about the two temples that I wanted to visit. The Chennakesava Temple & Hoysaleshwara Temple. Apart from these two famous ones, there were others too in the surrounding areas that were also known for its beautiful construction and architecture.

The first thing that I had do was book the hotels. Since I was going there on my bike, the journey would have taken me two days to reach. My places of stay would be in Belagavi and Belur. One thumb rule that I follow is to avoid riding on the night.

All my travel plans were around the places Belur and Halebidu.

Traveling by bike was not my first option but I realized that as a solo traveler, I would end up spending more on transport than otherwise. Yes, there could have been a renting option of bike too, then again it can become a hassle to find one. It made better sense to use one's own vehicle and gives me a reason to ride too. 

Since I dont ride my bike often, I needed to check if I can pull this off. Long rides can have its impacts. Nothing gets you prepared than practice. My trip to Bhimashankar proved yes I can do this.

The bike was serviced, everything taken care of but it was at the last moment that I realized that I would need more than a tank bag for this trip and this certainly did not look good. On top of that my aux light got busted and when I went for replacement they wont fit. Now I had to ride with a bag on my shoulder, aux light busted but still working.  

Started my ride early in the morning, had over 450 km plus to cover. Google maps showed around 10 hrs to reach. We all know how accurate that is depending it does not misled you in some other direction. I knew this was going to take longer than that.

One of the fun parts about riding on the highways is the open roads and pure adrenaline rush, with winds gushing over you when one speeds up.  Taking halts at the roadside hotel and getting served the local food and enjoying the scenic beauty that nature has to offer.

I have to say this the Maharashtra roads are in pretty bad shape when compared to other states. I have been on this route earlier also and it was no different no matter how much time has passed. How difficult is it to provide decent roads? 

One thing that no one tells you how quickly the night makes it presence once the sun sets in. This certainly was not looking good for me. There I was on the highway which was pitch dark and trying to cover the last mile to reach my hotel. It did not help that I also found myself stuck with traffic and diversions.

The head lamp of my bike did not help the way it was supposed. I will talk about this in my later blog posts. The distance which was a few kms suddenly became longer that had me wondering if I am ever going to make it all. In the end I overcame everything and managed to reach my hotel.

Took a shower and had my dinner inside my room.  

Hotel Ramdev holds a lot memories for me as this was the place where we used to make our stay during our family trip to the native. Having a bournvita or complan drink here was my go to drink as a kid. This hotel even though in a tier-2 city is always running full. Fun fact, this hotel was featured in the Bombay to Goa movie.

I normally prefer to start early in the morning, but I decided to start a bit late. This was going to be another 400 plus km ride.

What I did not anticipate how good the roads were. I was in love. The road leading to my destination was pretty empty with not many vehicles plying on it. It was fun riding, taking halts to take pictures.

The roads went narrower as I moved from the highway to the state local roads and finally reached my hotel Mayura Velapuri. The room that I was allocated was more than spacious I ever had. The bathroom itself was a big room compared to the size we have in Mumbai flats.

Took a shower and stroll in the nearby area. Had dinner and went to sleep.

The temples were calling the next day.   

Hoysala Temples

 

I have to say that in the past two years I think I have done a lot of traveling which I dont think I ever did in my life. That too solo.

 Its interesting how things open up when you decide to travel on your own and not wait for anyone to join in. Another side effect is that seeing one travel so much they also decide to join you in your coming trip which actually happened when I had decided for the Bhimashanker trip on the bike. 

That trip was supposed to be a stepping stone for another trip of mine that I was planning, again on a bike.

 I have to say that growing up I did believed in God, in fact as a child used to do aarti also after taking a bath and all, visiting local temples and all. Nobody told me to do that but I used to do that on my own. 

For me as a child, God was a friend who helps the good people and thrashes the bad people. Then I had a fight with god and I simply stopped doing what I used to do. That would include visiting the local temples too. Even now I hardly visit the local temples.

That did not meant I gave up on our friendship but yes I was angry. As a child sometimes one does not understand the turns life takes nor one gets the answers they are searching for.

I am very much invested in the Indian mythologies especially Mahabharath and do wish to read the Vedas or Upanishads if I can. I find it very odd that foreigners found inspiration in our ancient texts and built something that could end the world. Yet here we are being independent for over 75 years as a country and a majority of Indians are pretty clueless about the contributions that India has made in the world or how advanced our ancestors were. Its a pity.

 When I decided to travel, visiting temples was certainly not on my list. Yet here we are and I have already visited a few in places like Hampi, Tripura, Bhimashankar, Gujarat and others to name a few.

I realized that its the temple architecture that has my attention. Those beautiful carvings carved out, the detailing and intricate designs speak so much of ability to tell stories out a stone.

I also have to state that Instagram scrolling also enabled to know more about such places of worship which have been built beautifully but I had no clue about.

They Hoysala temples were one of those reels that I would come across and would be mesmerized by the beautiful carved statues and the mandanikas. Also who can forget those perfect polished granite pillars and its complex designs, when there were no machines around.  

Wondering how did this trip happened? Well, I needed a break. Its so strange that within a couple of months from my Tripura trip. I went ahead with this one.

More on that I did this trip on my bike. That was not the first choice but given the transportation concerns, I thought it would be better to ride on my bike and it certainly did not disappoint.

 Doing a bike ride on the highways has its own fun.

 I would be sharing the travel details in my upcoming posts. If its more than one blog posts then I would link it below for easy reference.

Bhimashankar Temple

 

 

Back from my Tripura trip, I was planning on another trip when I got a call from a friend of mine with whom I had not spoken for almost three years now.

Apparently, he came to know about my Tripura trip through social media and wanted to go on a trip. That too on a motorcycle. He spoke about a lot of places like the North East states of India, Nepal and others.

It was then I suggested about Bhimashankar temple. This was something that was on my mind. In fact before the trip that I was planning upon, I thought of doing a dry run by visiting this place first on my motorcycle.

The last time I did a trip on a motorcycle was last year in Dec when I went to Gujarat. Post covid, the only time I ride on my bike is on the weekends which sometimes hardly happens.

Since a lot of time had passed, I needed to make sure that I can still ride before I embark on a 2000km ride. Bhimashankar was going to be the dry run to make sure that I would able to go or not.

One of the unusual things to note was that the distance from Mumbai to Bhimashankar temple was around 200 kms but it would take around 5 and half hours to reach there. For 200 kms, that is just too much time to spend on the road.

Somehow my friend agreed to it and then went AWOL before the decided date making me wonder if this trip was going to be another solo.        

This guy says a lot of things but also has habit of not turning up and yes showing up late is his forte. Having experienced it many times. So, it would not have been a surprise if he conveniently forgot about it.

We were going to ride on a Sat and thankfully he called on Thursday and yes the trip was on.

We were going to meet around 6:30 am which did not happen and when I reached the point where I was supposed to meet him, he was late again. On top of that he did not even filled up the fuel tank a day before as I had told him.

The first thing that we did was to find a petrol pump for him which took a lot of time. One of the good thing was that he had a GPS mobile mount fitted on his bike. As for me my GPS mount was my tank bag which you will find out later is not helpful as a GPS mount.

Since this was his first such long distance trip, I told him that we would stop every 50 kms now and then and continue our ride. This would also give us a good indication on how we are doing our rides and able to check on each other.

We took our first break when we crossed one of the toll booth and decided to have some breakfast on the way. There were many makeshift eateries around.

One particularly offering south Indian dishes was pulling the crowd. I decided to pay a visit to an old women eatery which was almost empty. The lady an old frail woman who seem to have an eye surgery done recently but still having enough stamina to cater to people’s demand.

As my friend was yet to reach, I decided to give my order and sat around observing her taking care of her business. Life can be cruel at times to be at an age when one is supposed to be rest, take care of their health. Yet here she was working to make her livelihood.   

My friend arrived and reminded me that I should not have eggs since we are visiting temple. Normally I do follow to ensure to not have any non veg if visiting a temple. This time it just skipped my mind. We had our beak and got back on our bikes for our ride.

Everything was going ok and roads were good too and in the midst we would find people walking mostly doing the Pandharpur Vaari pilgrimage, some even barefooted.

All was going well and I was supposed to take a left turn where there were police bandobast and one of them stopped me and told me to go ahead and said that the road is closed. I then followed google maps and from there on the destination to reach the intended place seemed a bit longer.

I was taken through roads which pretty much looked as if I was lost. We were supposed to be meeting at our next 50 kms stop. Guess what he reached another place and I different one. Now I was the one who was behind him by around 10-15 kms which is a lot knowing that I was ahead of him.  

One of the bugs of Google Maps is that when you miss a turn it will not tell that you missed a turn. Instead it connect with the best route to reach your destination from your current location. This is a disadvantage instead of a feature as it would never let you know that you missed a turn.

My friend stopped to have chai while I took a break to relieve myself. From then on google map directions made me realize that using navigation on a tank bag is not a good idea as I found myself stuck on small roads going in and out and turns at every nook now and then.

If that was not enough, I found myself stuck in a road that was blocked by some celebration or procession from which I could not get around.

There was a truck in the middle of the road blaring loud music out of huge speakers and people dancing around it. I was wondering what to do, as google baba should that was the only road to move ahead. As I stood there on my bike to make a move. Thankfully, after sometime I saw at one end of the road, bikes moving from both directions.

I decided to make the most of it and tried to make my way through the crowd and blaring noise that rung my ears even though I was wearing a helmet.

Then it happened, out of nowhere a guy who was dancing took out a towel containing haldi kumkum powder and threw out on the crowd which included me and that resulted in me and my bike covered in the yellow powder. I took a halt and decided to clean myself and my bike but the powder was too much that just wont go away.

It was already afternoon and again the reliability on google baba seemed to make my journey longer than it was. I decided to take a halt for lunch at a place from where the MTDC hotel was supposed to be around one and half hour to two hours away.

The place I had stopped did not had any food to offer so I decided to have tea and move on. The roads became narrow for a single lane and was all covered with trees, mountains and water bodies. I knew this will take more time than I thought.

Finally found a place to have lunch and at both of my halts I tried calling up my friend and was not able to reach to him. Only once I was able to connect and I shared the details of the hotel with him so that if he is able to reach earlier he can go the room. For some reason, only Jio & BSNL networks work here.

I decided to take it easy on the road as the surroundings were mesmerizing. I found the locals walking on the road and sometimes asking for a life. I gave a lift to a boy and dropped him at the nearest town.

We don't realize how grateful we should be for the lives that we lived!! Thank you God.

My friend was waving at me through the balcony of the hotel. It was around 5-5:30 pm, my friend had reached just half an hour before me and seem to taken a different route from mine.

The room was pretty spacious with a bigger balcony and enough space in the compound for parking cars and walk around and yes comes with a 24/7 hot water. The wifi works only at the reception and not inside the rooms. This was a nice property and just need proper maintenance and better services especially wifi given that internet does not work very well unless jio or bsnl and that goes for mobile network too.

We decided to get freshen up and then visit the temple. The sun had set and we decided to hop on my friend’s bike. The temple was around 10 kms away.

Bhimashankar Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is considered among one of the 12 revered jyotirlingas in India built in the 13th century.

One of the unique things about this temple that instead of ascending steps it had descending steps towards the temple. There was hardly any crowd but there is always a queue. The outer walls had it seemed cemented on the old pillars. There could have been a better way of restoration then using cement.

We offered our prayers to the Shivling as we entered the garbhagriha which looked built and standing on its original composition.

There is a guy there just waiting to move people away after a few seconds of darshan. I find this very annoying. I understand the purpose of doing this but one needs them to be sensitized. People are standing in queue for hours, coming from different parts of the country and in the end when they get a glimpse of the deity they are pushed away.

There are other small deities idol kept inside & outside the temple. Got some sweets for home and had dinner. There are not many restaurants available and only the temple surrounding have few.

It got cold in the night and the ride became equally chilly. We reached our hotel and decided to take a call on visiting other places nearby.

The next day I thought it would be wise to leave for our homes then to visit other places otherwise we would get late. We had our breakfast and left.

We took a different route than what I took and took our breaks to click pictures. These roads were not much in use and I came to know why later when we encountered slopes which were steep and made of kaccha roads and then it happened.

My friend who was leading in one such slope had fallen while taking a turn with a tractor coming from opposite direction. Apparently, he braked on gravel stoves and that did not end well. Thankfully he was ok with no major injuries as his bike took the brunt of it. We rested for a while before we were back on the roads

We decided to have lunch at Lonavala and buy some chikis & fudge on the way. This did not end very well for me as I had a puncture on my rear tyre thanks to a nail that got stuck. This resulted in again unwanted delays.

I parted away with my friend when he decided to get on the old route and I took the Mumbai Pune Expressway and further confusion got created once I reached Mumbai not knowing which flyover to take thanks to my navigation and took longer than I should and reached home around 20:00. It was clear that I need a better GPS navigation setup before I embark on my another trip. As for my friend, he reached half an hour later.

We decided to visit the place again in the future minus the bikes and visit the other places we missed out on. When that will happen, only time will tell.

Tripura Travelogue Part IV

 

Day 7

I had planned to go to Pilak today. One of the things that I had to figure out was the mode of transport. 

One of it included taking the bus from Udaipur to Jolaibari and the other one included taking the train.

I had spoken to the staff at the hotel about how to go there and luckily one of the staff was from that area and he suggested both ways and asked to call him in case of any assistance.

I decided to go via the train mode of transport which was quicker and showed only 10 minutes away from railways station a 3.3km distance on google maps.

Reached Jolaibari railway station and caught an auto to the market. On informing the driver on the share auto of visiting Pilak, he dropped me on the main road stating you will get auto from here to Pilak.

Given the experience, I had with the auto drivers here, I decided to check on google maps the distance by walking. It showed a good 2kms with an average time of 30-40 mins walk.

I decided to walk. From the time I got here, I never had walked enough for sightseeing and this seemed to be a good day to catch up on it. Before I embark on it, I decided to have a light meal as its was already noon.

This was such a good decision to walk, as I enjoyed every bit of it and gave my legs the workout that it needed.

As I got closer to the first site Shyam Sundar Tila, I found two local cyclist one an older guy and other relatively less younger slowing down the pace of the cycles and matching my steps. The older guy kept staring at me as he kept cycling at a slower pace. 

I decided to say Hi and that got him to stop his cycle and start asking questions to me about where I am from and all that. Answered him and asked how far is the place and was told its nearby. The old guy left and now it was the turn of the other guy who seemed happy to see a tourist visiting the historical sites. Soon he too left.

The Shyam Sundar Tila was completely empty with the exception of a lady who was playing music on her phone and seemed to be the caretaker of the place. 

Not much information is available about these sites, only stating that they were built around 9-10th century and who built them and why seemed to be kept as a mystery. There are total three sites in Pilak and they are dedicated to Buddhism & Hinduism sects.

There was terracotta carvings on the walls which gave an insight into that period and three idols of which two were over 6 feet in height but badly disfigured. There was no information available on who they were.

After spending sometime over there, I headed towards the second site Ancient Mound Pujakhola.

It was a bit of walk to the next site but the green fields spread across on both sides of the road certainly made up for it. I saw the signboard on the side of the road and could see a structure in middle of a farmland.

I confirmed with a passerby and that indeed was the second site. I walked in the middle of the farm and then found the gate to be locked. It was not locked with a  lock per se but it was locked in such a way that it was not easy for me to open it. 

I tried my luck with it and it wont open. Just as I was about to turn around. A man came out of nowhere and helped open the gate. I thanked him and was able to enter the site. It was a small site with again an idol carving of more than 6 feet albeit disfigured. Again, no details available anywhere on the site origins or description of the idol.

After clicking a few pictures, I decided to make my way to the last site which also included an ASI museum. This place was surprisingly the highlight especially the museum which holds the terracotta carvings which were well preserved and had many stories to tell. Sadly again one could not take photographs of it.

Again the site outside had idols/monuments which were disfigured and the description on it missing. I spend some time here seating under the shade of a huge tree spreading its branches whose name I did not know.

I decided to get an auto back to the railway station, but could not find any. I visited one of the shops for mineral water and there were people around chit chatting. My entrance got their attention and they went silent for a moment and one of them engaged in conversation with me. I asked if its possible to catch an auto and he suggested to walk stating it’s a 10 mins away from the railway station.

This route was different from the one I came through. I decided to rely on google baba and it did not disappoint as it took me through paths which I believe only locals use. I walked on the roads, then passing through houses and then on a nowhere land and following the directions of google landed up right at the station. 

Sometimes google baba takes one through the less travelled path and makes one feel alive once you reach your destination.

The journey on the train was also very interesting. I had never seen so many spiders building intricate cobwebs inside the coach before. They were not your regular small spiders and it seemed to not bother the locals too.

I did not had much expectation from Pilak but the walk, interaction with locals and the serenity of the place with greenery all over made me relish the experience a lot more. The ASI museum is recommended if interested in ancient carvings.

Day 8

It was time to say goodbye to Tripura as I was traveling back to Mumbai today. Before that I had to catch a train to Agartala and then an auto to the airport. The trains run on fixed timings and had to wait for the train to arrive. I met the backpacker pair again and together we hopped on to the train and bid our goodbyes as we reached Agartala.

In terms of tourism, Tripura has a lot more to do to attract tourists and also offer last mile connectivity and guidance to ensure that they reach hassle free to those sites.

The auto driver menace is something to be dealt with in absence of public transport like buses in certain areas.

It would have been nice to have signage about the backgrounds of the site and idols that are being showcased to know more about the history of the place and its importance.

As a foodie, I missed having local food. One can find Bengali food over here, but the local food like Mui Borok,     Bamboo Shoot, Chakhwi & Gudok, etc are not easily available. The restaurants over here offered the same cuisine that is available in urban city. Why not promote the local cuisine along with it?

Overall, Tripura has been a mixed bag of experience for me when it comes to traveling.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my travel experience and would love to your thoughts on it.

Tripura Travelogue Part I

Tripura Travelogue Part II

Tripura Travelogue Part III

Tripura Travelogue Part III

 

Day 5

Today was going to be a leisure day. It was going to be sightseeing in Udaipur, the city of lakes as I was told.

I first visited the Matabari temple also known ass Tripura Sundari temple and one of the Shakti Peeth wherein her right foot toe had fallen here.

This has to be the relatively smaller temple of such significance that I have come across build on Bengal’s ek-ratna architecture style.

There is lot of construction going around this temple and I completely forgot and missed the Kalyan Sagar pond which has rare bostami turtles and fishes living it. The pond is not visible from the temple’s end and one needs to ask to know its location.

Probably this could be another reason to come back again next time.

I went back to the hotel and the manager guided me to take shared auto to the market and from there you will have to go reserve. Got into a shared auto and after dropping off all the passenger, I told him to drop me at a stand whose name I don’t remember.

He asked me where I was from since I was speaking in Hindi and asked me where I wanted to go . I told him that I wanted to visit Bhubaneshwari temple. He said he will take me there for Rs. 70 and I agreed since it was on the outskirts.

I visited the place and it was temple without an idol but at a secluded place. Just opposite of it was the Old Raj bari Palace. The gates were closed for reasons unknown and I could see the Rabindrath Tagore statue placed opposite on the outside.

The auto guy said he will drop me back at my hotel for Rs.150 and I was like I am ok with it knowing that I am traveling for sightseeing.

On the way to my hotel, I asked him to stop at the Gunvati group of temples & then a temple again built on the ek-ratna architecture style.

The auto guy picks up a fellow in mid-way and as we reach the hotel and I gave him Rs. 200, he says he will charge me Rs. 170 for stopping to check those two sites. I was like if I had got an entry to the old raj bari palace, that would have taken more time than the ones I visited. Also if I engaged your services it does not matter as long as they fall in the way to the hotel. On top of that picking up a passenger in a reserved auto. He reluctantly gave me back Rs.50.

I was back in the hotel before 1 pm. Now this was weird. Never have I gone for a sightseeing and came back this early. Guess what, the Bhubaneshwari temple was not very far from the market. Like a 15-20 mins walk and I really wondered if I should have taken an auto at all. Given that I prefer to walk unless its really hot & humid and the place is far to reach.

Also have to say that Google maps time estimates also screwed things for me making me think places are far then they were if I choose to walk.

I decided to have my lunch at the hotel and then went for a walk at the Rajabar bus stand in order to find out about the bus routes for Amarpur. My destination to visit for tomorrow.

I kept on walking and I could not even find a proper bus stand on the road. I walked quite a bit and then decided to turn around and ahead for the hotel. One of the things that I realized was that people over here do not prefer to walk that much. I hardly saw people walking down the streets and found it strange.

I was not sure how I was supposed to reached to my destination for tomorrow. Called a few taxi/cab services which did not help as I thought it would be better to have a car arranged from here instead of Amarpur.

By the end of the day, I was relieved as I found a cab with the help of my hotel manager and went to a sound sleep.

 

Day 6

Today was the day I had planned to go to Chabimura & Dumboor lake.  For that If I had go on my on, I would have to travel to Amarpur and from there arrange a taxi/cab or maybe a bus/shared to go to both the places. Going to both the places was around 150 kms considering if I go Dumboor lake first.

This was going to be quiet a task. I thought it would be better if I could rent a taxi/cab from Udaipur itself but it could have got pretty expensive for a sole traveler. I had a conversation with the hotel manager Partho and he said that he can arrange a car for me.

That certainly got me excited but then the dillydallying happened. I would ask if he checked with him and it would always be yes, I will check with the driver in sometime.  This went on and then night had fallen. The only thing that I could think of him giving goli (excuses) or making a fool out of me.

Surprisingly, my room’s doorbell rang on the night before and I was informed to come downstairs to meet the driver. The doorbell eked out a devotional song which was so loud that I thought of telling them to knock the door instead of ringing the door bell.

Apparently the person providing the rent on car services was a relative of Partho. As we were discussing, money matter came up and I said around 3-3.5k is ok for me. The relative was also not sure on how much to charge. At that time, Partho informed that two foreigner backpackers had checked in and thought of asking them if they would be interested in joining.

Reaching them out became quite a task as Partho was trying to reach their phone but apparently it was not responsive. He sent one of the staff employees to bring them down and the guy named Conrad comes down.

I informed him about the plan to visit both the sites and the arrangements and we can split the fare between us. He was ok with it and checked with his lady friend named Rani and both agreed to join me. Renting the car would cost us Rs.3500.

Once everything was fixed, I heaved a sigh of relief and felt like my wish got fulfilled.

The day began around 7 am in the morning without any breakfast and heading first to Dumboor Lake. It was good time to know both Conrad and Rani (whose name I came to know later) 

Conrad was from Poland on a five week journey for his India trip. While Rani was backpacking with the intention of settling in the Kokan coast in the near future.

We managed to reach Dumboor and were lucky to witness local dance performed by the locals. 

Having a cup of tea and had a conversation with Rani, who on the first look looked like a foreigner with black hair, said she was an NRI with an OCI card. Her father was an Indian and mother American. In fact all her siblings had Indian names.

We made our way to the Dumboor lake and the cost of renting a boat was Rs. 2800. It was like we wait for 8 more people to turn up or hire the boat for the three of us. 

We did the later as this is an off beat place and there were no tourist people around with the exception of us. It was good that I had company otherwise shelling out that kind of money would have been an expensive affair.

It is said that the Dumbroo lake is in the shape of Lord Shiva’s Dumbroo, hence the name Dumbroo lake.
The whole round of the lake take around one and half to two hours that gives one a fair idea on how big the lake is. There is also an island called “Narkel Kunja” where we were dropped off and had to pay 30rs as an entry fee. It gives a feel of a small resort island with cottages and restaurant to stay. A good place to live among the waters.

The calmness of the water hits you once you go back on the boat and you find yourself lost mesmerized in the beauty of nature.

This has been the longest boat ride that I had ever been to and also special in a way that we were the only people around and were able to connect with nature as it were.

The next stop was Chabimura before that we had to have lunch on the way. This was a local restaurant offering thali with various options. One would find Bengalis everywhere and this was more of a Bengali local thali than the traditional food that I wanted to try.

Having our stomach full, we went ahead to our last destination Chabimura. The good thing here was that we did not had to hire a boat just for ourselves. There people already waiting and our presence made it to total of 11 people required for the boat. The cost per person was Rs.150.

Chabimura is known for its rock carvings carved on the steep mountain wall on the bank of Gomati. There are images carved of Shiva, Vishnu, kartika, Mahisasurmardini Durga and other Gods and goddesses. These images date back to 15th-16th centuries AD.

Just as the boat moves along between the two mountains, one can see the rock carvings greeting them on the right side of the mountain. 

There were other carvings too but there were covered by the moss that has grown over them. If one tries to capture them on camera, they certainly will not be able to make out easily.

This is a sad part when it comes to promoting places like this but not ensuring that care is taken to ensure that they are maintained properly.

We encountered what was thought to be a crocodile at first but turned out to be a water monitor lizard. I never knew India had those animals too as I think its not that common in India as its in South East Asia.

We went further ahead and finally saw what was the highlight of Chabimura, the Mahisasura Mardini Durga rock carving of more than 10 feet making its presence felt to us. 

Again moss had grown on parts of the image that refrained us from the enjoying the full beauty of the image carved.

It still remains a mystery on what purpose these rock carving served and did this place had more significance than we know today. Till now no one knows.

The boat ride halted at a place called the cave of Chabimura. It’s was a small trek that got complicated with water flowing on the stairs making the whole area slushy and difficult terrain to walk on. 

Thankfully no one fell and here one can see image of Shiva lingam carved as one heads towards the cave. Apparently its told that cave holds treasures and is also said to be cursed as per the folklore around it.

One of the strangest things that I observed that the mountain trees had trash hanging around it at least for few of them. This place is like a jungle and it makes one wonder if there are people living in there. Then again when promoting such a place, efforts should have been made to keep the place clean. 

Chabimura adds a mystic allure with the boat ride in a secluded place surrounded by mountains and dense forest and then you find these rock cravings out of nowhere with no human presence nearby.

We went back to our hotel and this was a day well spend!!

Tripura Travelogue Part IV

Tripura Travelogue Part I

Tripura Travelogue Part II

Tripura Travelogue Part III 

Tripura Travelogue Part II

 

 

Day 3

I had to get up early today as I had a train to catch namely the 12097 Agtl Kgbp Jansh  Dharmanagar which leaves at 6:00 am and reaches Dharmanagar at 8:30 am. 

Today I was going to Unakoti as a day trip. One has to book the train tickets in advance as they are reserved train bookings. I also had my return booking done on 13173 - Kanchanjungha Express leaving at 14:26 pm and reaching Agartala at 17:25 pm.

This would give me enough time to reach and wander around Unakoti and come back.

Unakoti can be reached via Dharmanagar and Kumarghat. One can plan this as a day’s trip from Agartala or can take accommodation in the mentioned places.

Once I reached the Dharmanagar station it was the same negotiation with the auto rickshaw drivers for going to Unakoti and back. The price quoted was Rs.1000 even though I was traveling solo. One has to use their bargaining skills to bring it down.

The distance to Unakoti from railway station is around 18-20 kms and takes around 30-45 mins to reach. The road national highway 208A is pretty empty and well made for smooth travel.

On the entrance, I asked how much time it would take to cover the place and surprisingly I was told it was going to be around one hour. That kind of surprised me as unakoti means less than a crore and to be able to cover them within an hour sounds too good to be true.

As one enters the rock carvings entrance, one comes across this might rock carving of one of the gods followed by another one. Those rock carvings really makes an impression on one on the way they have been carved out completely. It’s said to be dated around seventh to nine century.

No one knows who made them and they still remain a mystery with regards to their purpose.

The place is quite a walk and steep too at least for the stairs leading to the museum on the top. I don’t think it can be called a museum as such as it has a lot of idols kept under a roof and also has small open temples around it which I believe is worshiped by the locals.

The place where Ganesha image is found along with others gives it a picturesque look of a dam with the background of Shiva image in the back and water flowing through the pockets of hole in the rocks.

There is a stream of low lying water flowing opposite the Ganesha’s image and a bench to sit. I sat on the bench for quite some time as I took my time to take in what the place has to offer.

There was a path on the right side which I took and apparently no one is there. There are no signboards as in where it leads to and the path just continues. I came across an idol in the middle of the path and it would still go on. I walked quite a bit and I did not where it was leading to. I decided to return back as I did not want to get lost in the forest. The officials overlooking the site could certainly put up some signboards to where it led to.

As I sat on the bench opposite the Ganesha image, I saw one of the security guards making noises and I could hear activities behind the stream flowing. I turn around and saw an elephant with its calf. It was not wild but domesticated and was bought to the stream for bathing purposes by the mahout. I sat there watching it, taking photos & video of it. Something so close and to see mother child bond in nature is beautiful.

I decided to exit the place and took the snacks back from the entrance. They don’t allow to carry food inside and one has to leave them at the entrances.

On my way back to the station, I was informed by the auto driver that there was a 12:45pm Agartala Silchar express which I can get on. It certainly made sense that I can leave early and reach Agartala by 4-4:30 pm. The only hitch was that I had to take a general ticket to board the train and this was quite an experience.

It was quite a ride and thankfully I got a seat to sit and kept dozing off in between which helped. 

I have to say I had a lot of expectations from Unakoti. From what I have seen from the youtube videos, travelers blogs & videos. I expected more rock cravings to be seen than the ones that are usually seen on the internet.

 Apparently there are very few rock cravings than the claimed less than a crore gods of the ones that I mentioned. Apart from that one can hardly find any other rock carvings. What I have come to know that apparently there was an severe earthquake ages ago which damaged the other carvings. One can see broken cravings in front of the Shiva image.

The water flow never used to exist before but after the earthquake it appeared and flows nearby the Shiva and Ganesha carvings.

With the exception of one video that I came across no one talks about the rock carvings being less than unakoti. I think its misleading to do that and one should be transparent about what to expect, what one will see if one is making travel videos/blogs for other peoples reference.

I was a bit disappointed with my Unakoti’s expectations but the rock cravings are worth seeing.

Day 4

Today, I checked out of my hotel and headed to Udaipur wherein I had booked another hotel for four days.
I got into the local train of 07684 AGTL SBRM DEMU SPL Agartala to Udaipur which runs till Sabroom all day at a given timings.  

As I got down at the Udaipur railway station. I got scammed by the auto guy. I informed them of the hotel that I was staying and I was informed that they will be charged me Rs.100. I asked around and the same number was quoted to me. The hotel was supposed to be like 5-6 km away.

I agreed and he said he will be carrying other passengers too and I was ok. I thought I would probably be the last one to be dropped off. Guess what I was second passenger to be dropped off and I was like what happened. I paid the money and decided to check with my hotel.

A share ride from the railway station is Rs. 25 and is quoted Rs. 100/150 only if its reserved. I got scammed in one of the off-beat places of India. I have to say that I have traveled in other places in India but the way these guys scam tourist that too an Indian from another state is another level. This has never happened before.

I checked in to the hotel and decided to visit Neer Mahal. My room was not ready, so I was provided with a temporary accommodation. I asked the manager Partho on how to go about it and he told me to catch a bus to Bisramgarh and from there to Melaghar and its walkable distance from there.

I followed that and easily reached Neer Mahal. One needs to pay for the boat ride that cost Rs. 50 and then an additional charge of Rs. 30 post reaching the place.

The boating ride is a joy as one gets a complete glimpse of the palace on the outside

The palace is beautifully build and is a photogenic place. If your are a photographer or want good profile pictures taken, this is the place to be.

This palace was build by a British company  Martin and Burns and constructed by Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma as a summer residence for the royal family.

This place bought me joy 😊 

Even though this is not a big palace but its made very aesthetically and colored in a mix of white and brown which only accentuates it more.

This place surely made up for the sadness that I felt of my expectations of Unakoti.

One thing that needs to be remembered is that the sun sets around 5pm or even earlier and its feels like 10 pm in the night.

There are hardly any street lights on the roads and it makes one wonder how people socialize as its pitch dark on the roads post 5 pm.

As I took back to back buses back to my hotel, it almost felt like I was traveling late in the night.

I was finally back to my room and it did not feel good. The room’s cleanliness level was manageable with the mirror in the room having stains due to it being old. The wash basin tap wont work and the mirror on top of it again no different than the room.

My room in Agartala was way much better than this in terms of rooms hygiene and cleanliness.

I made a complaint to the Manager and he said me to adjust for today and they will arrange tomorrow. 

With that I hit the bed and end my day knowing nothing will change and I will have to adjust as there are no better hotels nearby.

Tripura Travelogue Part III

Tripura Travelogue Part IV

Tripura Travelogue Part I