Skip to main content

Bijapur: A Quaint Old City

Last weekend we took a road trip to Bijapur - an ancient city that still seems to hold on fast to its historic relics and yet where modernisation is fast catching up. One might wonder why Bijapur, when the sun specially scorches down in all its fury, while better counterparts such as Ooty, Thekkady & Munnar are available. Well, let me hope that it suffices to say that we had our reasons.

We took the sleeper a/c coach from VRL which seemed a little claustrophobic at the begining but turned out to be quite comfortable once we got used to it.

Here are a few places we got to visit -


Torvi Narasimha Swamy Temple - It was here that Kumara Valmiki is said to have composed the famous Thoravi Ramayana in Kannada. The deity idol is placed way down below in a cave and though the pathway has been tiled & modified it yet gives one a queer feeling.
We were fortunate as it was supposed to be the week of Narasimha Mahotsav. Since our visit was on a Saturday we offered coconut, sugarcubes and oil as was customary at the temple and also partook the mahaprasad.



Gopal Krishna Park

Located near the Alamatti dam this is a Rock Garden (not like the Chandigarh one) with life like models depicting Lord Krishna's leela's.

There is also a model of the village that was in existence there before the dam construction began. The village replica with all those mud paths, water tank and the old run-down school makes it look almost real.


















A Scenic Park near the Alamatti Dam

















The mighty old Gol Gumbaz



Yelagur Anjaneya Temple


Comments

Jaggu said…
Came through your blog while browsing. Nice photos and nice blog you have.
Whiterays said…
Thank you Jaggu.
Swaram said…
Here thru blog-hopping. Was a nice write-up on Bijapur. Loved the pics.
Whiterays said…
Thanks Swaram. Keep visiting.

Popular posts from this blog

We Are T20 World Champions!! ....really?

Am overjoyed and as happy as every other cricket loving Indian at India winning the T20 worldcup. It was a nail biting finish and I whooped in joy as the tricolour was paraded proudly around the ground..but all the same it seemed too good to be true. A creepy thought passed my mind - Is this all true or is it part of an elaborate scripted show put up for our benefit? It was like a bad thought or dream that nobody wants to think about but it keeps recurring. Maybe I am just going bonkers. Voice in my head - heck, isn't it too much of a coincidence that the final would have to be between India & Pakistan?...Especially after the world cup debacle, cricket took the biggest beating ever in its Indian history. It was almost on the verge of dying a slow death, sponsors pulling out support , public support was lost. Me - What the hell, it was a great game. Played in front of millions. Voice in my head - Forgot the earlier match fixing tales?. After the world cup fiasco the very foun...

Malayalam vs Tamil Cinema

Having been homebound for sometime now and with enough clutter in the TV channels,watching movies suddenly has became very appealing. But I have to confess that am no longer in the rampant watch-any-movie age where I could digest anything from a Saajan to a Hero No 1 but clearly not also yet there to enjoy a Satyajit Ray or Pedro Almodvar movie.Anyways its regional cinema that I am talking here. All this movie watching started with me giving company to my mom and she restricts her staple of movies to only Tamil and Malayalam films. After a point of time comparison was just bound to follow... Best things first - Malayalam films are quite a revelation. From being funny,melancholic, enchanting, tragic, uplifting to plainly being entertaining the range and depth of malayalam films has simply awed me. And am not even talking here of the well-known, superhit mad capers of Mohanlal or Mamooty that the outside world knows of. Let me confess I dont even understand the language completely....

Why Do We Sink This Low?

Let me tell you a very interesting albeit true story. There is large family whose one son is not very happy with the life they lead and wants to earn big bucks. So he goes and finds a job with a rich family who treat him like dirt but our guy is happy making his moolah. One day the rich family accuses him of a heinous crime and almost persecute him. The guy's family back home stands by him and goes all out to get him freed. After raising a lot of dust they manage to free him and get him back home. The father and neighbours go all out to make him feel comfortable and even go ahead and promise him a job. You think the story ends on a happy note here? No. The boy goes begging back to the rich family to adopt him since he has been proved innocent. The rich snooty family looks at him like he is some loony (which I have no doubt of) and simply throws him out. You must be thinking, "Who could ever be such a moron?" Well, we are. Atleast it looks like we are being ruled by some....