I had been to Gadag last weekend to attend vaikuntha samaradhane of Saqqu Dodamma. My mother was already there at the place, myself with Seema(my sister), BIL, Shivani(niece) travelled on Thursday 20th September. Our plan was to stay one day in Gadag, attend all functions and next day to tour historical locations of Bagalkot(shooting locations of recent movie Guru).
We left Bangalore 9 pm by VRL bus direct to Gadag. Next morning we reached Gadag at 7.30 am. After completing ablutions at the home, I attended homa for a while. Then I accompanied Murali for his nostalgic visit to REC Hulkoti(7km from Gadag).
Murali in front of REC, Hulkoti
There he met his professors and lectures. He showed me the hostel, mess and canteen and shared all his emotions. We had Kadak Chai and Goli Bajji at the canteen.
Veeranarayana Gudi
At 12 noon we travelled back to Gadag to attend function at Veeranarayana Kalyana Mantapa. Vimal had already come there. After magalaarthi at adjacent veeranarayana temple there was good lunch with variety of sweets. After lunch we (me, vimal & murali) relaxed for while as the lunch was very heavy.
Improvised Jute Aata
We spent time grand children of Saqqu Dodamma, also observed and enjoyed their improvised version of jute aata. After seeing jute aata we had a walk back to the home. The roads are not in good condition. There is a lot of scope for improvement. The place is yet to look like a district headquarter.
Later in the evening we went to see movie ‘Hey Baby’ at Sri Krishna Theatre (theater owned by our cousins). Well who will deny a hit for movie that without any tickets. The movie was a nice 'time pass'. I missed 15 minutes of the movie, since I had to discuss with Hanumanth(transport guy) about next day trip. Murali, Vimal and other relatives left that night itself. We(BIL,sister & my mother) stayed overnight.
Next day I got the up at 5.15 am and got ready as soon as possible. My mother, Seema and Shivani took some time to get ready. At 7.30 am Hanumanth came to pick us in his ambassador. Before leaving Gadag we had breakfast at GRB.
The journey was comfortable, as the roads were in okay condition in spite of recent incessant torrential rain. At some places the water had overflown the the bridge level, with dumps of mud on the bridge.
Mud deposits over bridge
2-3 days before travelling on these would have been impossible. The rains has taken it's toll on the farmers.
Winnowing
Many of the crops were destroyed especially Maize. For the remaining crops they were doing premature harvesting, with dumps of maize on the roads, so it gets winnowed by moving vehicles.
Aihole
Durga Temple
Our first destination was Aihole. We reached the main site(group of temples) around 10.45 am. We had photograph session at many places. Durga Temple was center of attractions. The others temple were not maintained properly, majority of them were stinking, because of bat's urine.
Pattadkal
Pattadkal is categorized as UNESCO world heritage site. We reached the place around 12.15 pm. There are many temples here also. The site is next to malaprabha river. Virupaksha and mallikarjuna temple are temples here. Inside these temples many stuffs from puranas, panchatantra are depicted.
Vishnu Purana
In mallikarjuna temple there is depiction different types hairstyles of Chalukyan Era. sounds cool :)
Hairstyle
Well, since the place is banks of river the incessant rain had it's effects in many folds. The low lying areas of town was submerged.
Drying Notebooks
As a result government gave permission to people to stay in temple complex itself which is at higher level. In the temple complex, the school childrens were drying there note books which were drench in rains.
Mahakoota
We saw this place accidentally as it was on the was to Badami. Later I came to know that some of the sequences of Aishwarya’s 'Barso Re' song was shot here.
Shivling
Can you recall a sequence where she dives into a pool and worships a shivling. It is there within Mahakoota temple complex.
Badami
At Badami, first we had Jola rotty at some hotel as Lunch. The food was ok types. After lunch we went to Badami Fort. The fort has many cave temples (Guhalayas).
Shaiva Guhalaya
Jaina Guhalaya
Pulakeshi-1 constructed this site with an inspiration from Ajanta Caves(overheard a Guide's explaination). There are many levels at the site, at each level there is different kind of Guhalaya. The view of the lake Agastya Teertha from top is breathtaking.
Agastya Teertha
Here also Guru movie was shot, one of the sequence is the deal sequence between Abhishek and Arya Babbar(Aishwarya's brother in the movie). 'Ek lo ek muft' song was also shot at the same place. There are many things to see and understand in these Guhalayas. In the end we realised that we should have opted for a guide to explore this place.
Banashankari Temple
We had darshan at Banashankari temple(5 km from Badami). This place was bit contemporary. many people worship at this place. After darshan travelled back to Gadag and reached at 7 pm.
In Gadag we went to Trikuteshwara temple. As it already dark the carvings here were not visible properly, we decided to wind up. Then we went to Kamat Restaurant and had special tea there. It was too good. Later we had mirchi bonda at some bonda corner. It was spicy like anything.
After having dinner I spent time with Dodamma's grandchild. They were busy playing some computer game.
Generation-Y
Finally we left Gadag at 9.30 pm and were back in Bangalore next morning at 8 am. End of nice trip, but while travelling I missed two good cricket matches of T20 world cup India v/s South Africa and India v/s Australia.
