The Stony Fort

Who guessed it right? Let me know in the comments.
Well! I am giving you all an insight about our Chitradurga. We all know that the moment we say Chitradurga, we all remember a song from the movie "Nagarahavu". Yes, It is about the fort.

Friday, 8.30 in the morning (we are known to leave at least one hour late than planned 😃), we started the voyage from home after dropping our children to school.
This time, the adventure over here is, we travelled in our bullet rather than car. Approximately 215 km from Bengaluru to Chitradurga. After biking to Mysore 10 years back, this was my second biking trip, I was bit tensed as it was a sudden decision taken by Mahesh. But he comforted me right from the start till we returned home.

We had a first break in Kyathsandra to have a plate of thatte idli and coffee, and headed straight in the highway. Well-maintained highway and the cool air made the journey very smooth.
In between on the highway, we had tender coconut to not get the energy drained off.
We reached Chitradurga and headed towards the stony fort at 1.15 P.M. I would recommend to see the fort with a guide as they share many information. But do have good negotiation with them for the price.

The fort is wide spread with the area of 36 km and has taken more than 200 years for the full built.
After the fall of Vijaynagara dynasty, Chitradurga was on its own. But, Hyder Ali always had an eye on this stony fort. He was successful to capture this fort in his third attempt.
Yes he made three attempts to capture this fort. In his first attempt, he tried from the front gate, and was unsuccessful because of tight security.(The fort has more than seven gates.)

In his second attempt, he tried from the small opening that was heading directly to the fort. The small opening was a secret passage used by the Chitradurga ruler to get the daily groceries from the farmers.

 Hyder Ali was unsuccessful in this attempt because of a brave women "Obavva".
A short write-up about her and the successful win of Chitradurga is " Obavva is a wife of a guard who was appointed to alert the fort in case of any unusual instances or activity.
One day as usual she called her husband for lunch, and found that there was no drinking water. She served him and went to get the drinking water. While returning she found the Hyder Ali's soldier entering the fort through the small opening.
To not to disturb the husband who was having the food, she took up the wooden log (in kannada it is known as Onakke, used for pounding paddy grains) and was all set to destroy the enemy troop.
She stood near the opening to hit the soldiers, the moment they came out of the opening one-by-one. Dragged the dead body all the way to the place where it is not visible for the next person who is coming out of the opening.
On finishing the lunch, her husband came in search for her and found her hitting the Hyder Ali soldiers with onnakke and was shocked to see the dead bodies piled up in a corner. As per the guide, she had killed 39 of them, and one got escaped as he entered the fort before she noticed.
On seeing this, her husband alerted all of the soldiers. In the mean time, here the guy who had escaped killed Obavva by attacking her from the back. In this way she made the second attempt of Hyder Ali unsuccessful. From that time onwards, that small opeing is known by her name as "Obavvana Kindi".

Hyder Ali successfuly captured the fort in the next attempt with the help of soldiers who betrayed the Chitradurga ruler. They opened the back gate of the fort and allowed the Hyder Ali's soldiers to enter the fort.
Let me share one more interesting fact of Chitradurga. Has anybody thought why this place is known as Chitradurga. Stop rolling your eyes and read further 👀
Chitra means an art, durga means a hill. The rocks over here is in different art shapes, if observed correctly. Hence this place is known as Chitradurga.

Elephant shaped rock

Rabbit shaped rock

Shanku (corner stone) shaped rock

Snake shaped rock, it is an exercise for your eyes to search in these many rocks.

Feet shaped rock
Oh yeah! this reminds me one more history related to this place. It is believed that
Hidimba, a 12-feet tall demon who was killed by Bheema was living in this place with his sister Hidimbi. 

The guide also shared the information on how they were storing oil and ghee for daily usage and for long term storage of weapons.

The wonderful design of the gate guard's place. This place is designed to have a fantastic acoustic phenomena. If the guardian speaks or sleeps then the snoring sound or whispering is echoed. Also, this place is used to do the fitness test for the guards. The guards are supposed to fit inside that place and their feet has to touch the ground. Well! that's my guardian sitting over there in the photo, and he passed the test too 👍.

They even had the rain water harvesting with the drinking water facility done at that time, which still feeds the whole Chitradurga. They had two ponds known as Akka and Thangi KoLa, named after the two wives of Madakarinayaka, the last Chitradurga ruler.

The cutting edge technology was followed by them using which they used to cut the huge rocks to build the fort.

This is built in remembrance of the animals that were died in the war.

Hmm... as usual I got lost myself with the hystory and significance of the place. On visiting the fort, we left the fort at 3.30 P.M to have very light lunch in the Chitradurga city. We started our journey back to home at 4.30 P.M and reached home by 9.30 P.M. We took a break in between on the way after Tumkur in the hotel Kamat for a cup of coffee.

The historical biking trip ended with the wonderful memory of the long lasting fort and the cool healthy air which I am really missing in my lovely city, Bengaluru.

This snap is my favourite, Isn't it the stunning place!

 

I, U, and We

I found a good reason to write the blog after a year. Wow! we have stepped into the 13th year of our wedding aniversary.
Yes, we have completed twelve years of togetherness.

It's been twelve years since I and u became we.
From the day one, you have always been with me to make everything achieve as us.
We together enjoy every moment of our life as god has planned for us.

Your love towards me is still the same as I still feel the same warmth in your touch.

You are the reason of my smile everyday.
You being behind me makes me feel more courageous to go ahead and challenge the world.
You being in front of us always gives me an immense happiness, as you make us to feel comfortable in all aspects.
You being with me gives me an immense strength to play many other roles.

I keep admiring the way you spend time with our children, the way you take care of them, and the patience that you have towards them.

I feel so proud when I look back to see the way we have travelled so far in our life and achieved many milestones of our life, which have led as a benchmark to the couple who follow us.

Yes! A wonderful journey of togetherness so far with more happiness, challenges, comfortness, and excitement.

Thanks for the importance that you always give me as it is important for our healthy relationship.

Let's keep rocking my soulmate!

A Lollipop Trip

Exactly, it was a lollipop trip for me as we travelled all the way from Bangalore > kukke > Mangalore > Udupi > Sringeri > Hornadu and finally back to Bangalore. Since it looks like a small circle with a stick at the bottom, I call it as a lollipop trip. Now please get relieved from your eyebrow raised expression.

 

 

We had planned to leave our house by 6.30 in the morning, but as usual delayed one hour and left at 7.30 in the morning. But since it was a weekday the entire route from Bangalore to hassan welcomed us with less vehicles on road.
From Hassan to Sakleshpur and then to Gundya through Shiradi ghat. Thanks to government for still maintaining that road in good condition. We reached Kukke Subramanya by 2.30 p.m. and had our lunch. After relaxing for an hour in the pre-booked hotel (Sai Skanda), we went for the darshan of lord Subramanya.

Kukke Subramanya is a well known temple where devotees come to get relieved from Naga dosha, means the curse of serpent. In short, the lord Subramanya  got married to Indra's daughter devasena and later promised the serpent king vasuki  to remain in kumaraparvatha and protect the serpents.  Kumara Dhara is the river that flows from all the way from kumaraparvatha.

 

The devotees are supposed to take a dip in kumaradhara and then visit the temple. We being different, did the reverse of it. Anyways my children enjoyed playing in the river along with my husband that too at 7 in the evening. 

 

Next day in the morning, packed all stuff, had breakfast and then moved towards the coastal city, Mangalore. Since Mangalore is famous for ice creams, we tried four to five types of ice-creams in Pabba's ice cream parlour. With the cool stomach, we travelled further to Kapu beach. The Kapu beach welcomed us with very huge waves. Yes, the waves were very turbulent, and the guard was not allowing Mahesh to go deep into the sea.

 

 

I could see the same character of Mahesh (love towards water) in my two children as even they were jumping to play in the turbulent sea. It would have been very difficult for me to handle my son and daughter if my mother-in-law would not have been with me.

After having lunch on the way, we travelled to Manipal as we had booked our room in a hotel named Treebo Vijaya Residency- Manipal. We relaxed for a while and went to Udupi mutt. Udupi Sri Krishna mutt is a very nice place with a big Kalyani and of course the well known kanakana kindi.

 

During the era of caste discrimination, the Brahmin priest did not allowed kanakadasa to enter the temple for Lord Krishna darshan. Kanakadasa was outside the temple for many days waiting to let him into the temple and for Lord Krishna darshan. When the disappointed kanakadasa sang kirthanas, a portion of the temple wall fell down and the Lord Krishna  statue turned around from east direction to west. The crack in the outer walls of the temple through which Kanakadasa was able to see lord Krishna is known as Kanakana Kindi.
After visiting udupi mutt, we had dinner and reached back to hotel around 8.p.m.

 

 

 

 

Next day in the morning again packed all stuff and geared up towards Sringeri. Hey hold on! Before Sringeri we headed to malpe beach and then visited the no man's island " St. Mary's Island". They just allowed us to stay in the island for 30 minutes. The to and fro boat journey from malpe beach to the island takes half an hour.

 

 

 

In the year 1498, Vasco da Gama landed in this island and named it as St. Mary's island as a dedication to Mother Mary. This island is also known as Coconut island.

 

 

From malpe beach the travel started towards Sringeri. Here comes the main purpose of our trip. Let me tell you in next paragraph as it happens the next day. We reached Sringeri by four in the evening and booked rooms in the temple administered guest house. Decent enough to spend a night. If the temple authority wants they can manage it better. Took rest for a while and went to visit the goddess Saraswati temple, famously known as Sringeri Sharadhamba. This temple was built by Adi Shankaracharya, who used to preach Advaita Vedanta.

 

 

 

 

We also met two young elephants which were looking as twins.  If I am not wrong I think they were of 23 year old. After having dinner served by the temple administration, we came back to guest house and slept off.
Next day in the morning there was big queue for getting ticket to Aksharabhyasa. Thanks to my father-in-law who went  early and got it on time. Yes, the whole trip was planned to get the Akshara bhyasa done for my cute princess Rithvi. It was done by 8.30 in the morning.

 

 

 

The Lord Shiva gifted the linga known as Chandramouleeshwara Linga to Sri Adi Shankaracharya.  The Goddess Sharadhamba is the incarnation of Goddess Saraswati. People believe that by worshiping her, one can receive blessings of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu along with Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. The Aksharabhyasa ritual is done here as it is believed to be sacred and fulfilling. The children in the age of 2 to 5 are given a slate and chalk, and a plate of rice on which the children must write their name and the word OM. It is believed that this ritual imparts good knowledge and education to the children.

 

 

After having breakfast we moved towards Hornadu. Even though Sringeri to Hornadu distance is approximately 67 km, it took three hours for us reach as the entire route is a ghat section. We travelled completely from one hill to another to visit Annapurneshwari. Hornadu is known for famous temple of goddess Annapurneshwari. We had darshan after waiting in the queue for almost more than a hour.

 

 

 

The Annapoorneshwari deity is made of gold. It is believed that a person who seeks the goddess' blessings would never have any scarcity for food in life. It is believed that Lord Shiva once had a curse and that this curse was reversed when the lord visited Goddess Annapoorna and sought her blessings.

 

 

 

 

We had lunch in the temple itself and headed towards Bangalore at 3 p.m. The Malnad region bid farewell to us by cool breeze in the early evening that too in the summer. It was an awesome experience of cool breeze and fresh air for almost an hour till we came down from hilly region to the junction known as  kottigehara. 

 

Finally we reached home by 11 in the night, just to go to work the next day in the morning, and to breathe in the same polluted air.

Born to Live in Dark Just to See Black

Black is a colour, which does not allow the person to see other colour.
Just imagine a situation when your eyes are open and you just see black in colour.
You will be watching TV or doing something and suddenly power goes off leaving you in pitch dark. Would you like to remain in that situation or light a candle. Nowadays we cannot even think of staying in dark and hence have installed UPS at home just to avoid black colour.

We cannot imagine our life in darkness, but few people are born to live in dark, just to see black!

This morning, I started my drive to office in the regular route. Seeing the jam packed road, I took an other route and was trying to cross the road. I found a blind man, may be in his twenties crossing the road. I got down from my bike and helped him crossed the road unaware that I have stopped my vehicle in the middle of the road.
While making him cross the road, I asked him where he wants to go. He told MORE, and since it was near by I left him in front of MORE building and said in a regular tone " See you are in front of MORE now and I will make a move"
I came running to move my vehicle as it was in the middle of the road. Luckily nobody scolded me for that instance.
While moving my vehicle, suddenly I felt ashamed of myself for leaving the person on the road and saying him "see here comes the MORE". How can a blind man see the MORE building when he can't see anything other than black. I parked my bike on the road side and went in search of him in guilt.

I found him moving further from the MORE building. I ran to him and asked him again where he wants to go. He said that he is in search of a garment factory near to MORE.
He was walking so confidently with a stick in his hand that too in an unknown road. He told me that he can take care of him, but he got himself hit by a parked truck. I got hold of his shoulder and went in search of a garment factory. I wanted to apologize to him for the sentence which I told him after leaving him at MORE, but didn't had courage to do. Finally with somebody's help I got the garment factory and left him with the security person.

I have helped the blind people even before this instance, but never felt hurt like this!
Right after this instances, my mind is thinking too much in the offline.
The person who is born to live in dark will be surrounded with questions starting with How.
How the person looks like with whom he talk?
How his parents are?
How the nature is?
How is the food that he eat?

It is now the end of the day, I am filled with so many questions, which does not have answers.
Who has helped him to reach bustop?
whether he reached home or not?
Is he coming tomorrow also, If yes then who will help him.

I am sure after few days, I will forget this instance and the blind man will forget me as he will be receiving help from one or the other. But this instance will always make me feel lucky to have born with sight to see the light.

Happy Birthday!

Even before the year starts

I look for the day of your birthday

Even before your birth month starts

I look for the way of celebrating your birthday

Even before your birth day starts

I start uttering quotes for your birthday!

How can I make your birthday special this year?

The same question arises every year

Will he likes this, will he wants that

Can I buy this, can I gift that

I think about it every night

Finally end up buying cake, pant, and shirt!

A birthday wish with a hug and kiss

Fulfils your birthday with an abundant bliss!

 You are a person who have never shun

Always tries to fulfil my life with fun

Thanks for showering the same love from the day one

Feel so blessed to have you as a soul mate in my life run!

PARO

Around four in the evening on a busy street in Malleshwaram circle, a wounded pigeon falls in front of our feet. The pigeon was wounded and dirty with a stinking smell. It was unable to stand or fly. In an attempt to escape from the vicious attack of the cat, the pigeon had fallen from the two-feet structure beside the road. 

The white cat was ferociously looking at the pigeon that was lying in front of my feet. It was staring at the pigeon with the reluctant look. It was so reluctant to leave its wounded prey that Mahesh literally kicked the cat in the third attempt. Finally he was succeeded in making the cat run away from that place.

We were not willing to leave the wounded pigeon on the road, and we didn’t even know how badly it was hurt and whether it will survive or not. We took a chance and bought the wounded pigeon to our home. I nursed the pigeon with the available ointment at home. Mahesh fed the pigeon with ragi and water. We made a comfortable stay for it in the store room on the top floor.

Next day in the morning, Mahesh gave pigeon a hot water bath to found out that the pigeon was badly hurt at the back and in the leg region. It had lost its feathers in the cat attack. The cat had bitten it very badly.

Mahesh was nursing the pigeon every day and was feeding it with the healthy food. My son was also joining his father in nursing the pigeon. It’s been seven days since we bought the pigeon home, it is getting recovered now. The pigeon is able to stand and walk a bit. We are waiting for the feathers to grow so that the pigeon can fly high.

I am so glad to have a caring person as my partner. I believe that the speedy recovery of pigeon is only because of the dedicated and loving care of my husband. We have named the pigeon as PARO. It is now one among us and my son is happy to have a pet to be with him.

Elderly Ego

Son - Everything in the whole world.

Daughter - A responsibility when living together and becomes valuable after making her married.

Son-in-law - Respectful, Equivalent to son.

Daughter-in-law - Never valued in a positive way. Always comparable with others.

 

• What makes the parents-in-law (PIL) to set their mind in a negative way before even a daughter-in-law (DIL) steps in to their house?
• Why do they hesitate to speak good about DIL in front of her when she has done something good to them?
• Why the grand children delivered by the DIL becomes the PIL's favourite and own, but not the DIL?
• Why do they think that only PIL is adjusting with the DIL in all aspects?
• Why PIL always points the negative things out of many positive things in DIL?
• Why can't a PIL adjust with one negative/weakness of the DIL?
• Why do they expect the DIL to always be smiling even when she is emotionally upset?
• Why do they keep yelling at DIL without even listening to what she wants to convey?
• Why do they always want the DIL's voice to be low even in a heated argument?
• Fights and misunderstandings are quite common at the start of the marriage, but it continues even after many years of marriage why?

 

Those are the questions which arises in the mind of a DIL who tries to be as a daughter in the in-law family.

It arises for a DIL who delivers her best to become one among them.

It arises for a DIL who spends her entire life, time, health and earnings for the well-being of her PIL.

It arises for a DIL who tries to fulfil all the wishes of her PIL. (Without expressing themselves.)

It arises for a DIL who is of a different caste and keeps listening to the taunting words of relatives for PIL sake.

It arises for a DIL who handles the responsibilities of her PIL's son.

It arises for a DIL who loves her PIL but cannot control her anger.

It arises for a DIL who has stopped thinking about her self-respect and self-esteem after her marriage.

Finally It arises for a DIL who tries to find her parents in her PIL.

 

The only answer for those questions is ego. The ego of being an elderly person.

The ego that they have dumped in their heart, or the one that is continued from generation to generation.
The ego that has nailed the strong statement in the PIL mind that “A daughter-in-law is an outsider, not of our blood"

But I ask you how true is this.

• Aren’t the parents-in-law (Husband and wife) are of different blood, then how do they have good understanding?
• Aren’t the siblings of the same blood, then why do they have misunderstandings?

 I have heard a quote that a parent becomes a PIL to hand over the responsibilities to a new person (either to a son-in-law or a daughter-in-law).

In reality, a parent becomes a PIL by changing their mind set, by always thinking in a negative way about the hand over responsibility.

I being the parent of a son, it is really scary to foresee us carrying the same generation to generation ego.

Will the fight continues in the entire life, as a DIL and then as PIL.

No never, come out of the ego of being an elderly person, A person becomes elder not only by age, but by good deeds, experience, and good thoughts.

Never let the ego to bottle up in you. Always be a wise and good-deed person and not an egoistic one.