Bangalore, Karnataka



Bangalore Palace

 Decided to spend a day in Bangalore, popularly referred as the Garden City or the Silicon Valley of India, but not sure where to go, allow me to suggest 3 beautiful places to visit, ideal for any family: Bangalore Palace, Cubbon Park and the ISKCON Temple. These three forms a well packaged trip as it takes care of key needs – Romance, Happy kids and Spirituality.



Bull Temple, Bangalore

 Before we started our trip, we offered our prayer at the Bull Temple, located at Bull Temple Road,  Basavanagudi, Bangalore.

Presiding Deity At Bull Temple

Bangalore Palace

Bangalore Palace Enterance

It is bit expensive place to visit, as the entry cost is Rupees 200 per person, so if you are four member family, be ready to shell out Rupees 899 (including service tax) to see this place. Also, I have to warn you about the price one has to pay, to take a camera inside the palace – Rupees 600 only!!. Still I consider this is one of the romantic and quiet places to visit and if you belong to the category of people, who hate to visit shopping malls, adventure theme parks or roam the bustling city. Bangalore Palace, located at 1 Palace Road, Bangalore Palace, Vasanthanagar, Bangalore 560052 resembles the famous Windsor Castle in England and is noted for its exquisite wood carvings. Another notable quality at this place is the self guided audio tour provided by Narrowcasters (www.narrowcasters.com), which assist each visitor. It is a classic example of how technology can be implemented to provide a pleasant and reliable guide at the tourist places.  We loved it and definitely recommend as a place to visit in Bangalore.


High Court

 Cubbon Park

Karnataka Vidhan Soudha


An amazing yet a cheap place was our second stop - Cubbon Park, which was designed by Gen. Mark Cabbon, in 1864. The park covers an area of over 300 acres in the heart of the city and has a children’s park within; exclusively for kids. Adjacent to the park is High Court - the red Gothic buildings and the Industrial Museum. One could also see the magnificent Vidhan Soudha towering over the Cubbon Park, which is also the Secretariat and the Karnataka State Legislature building.

ISKCON Temple

The beautiful Hare Kishna shrine build on the hillock providing a panoramic view of the surroundings is spell binding at sunset. The fusion of modern technology and spiritual harmony makes it worth visiting this place.  Since our visit coincided with Deepavali (the Festival of Light), the entire temple was lit up with lamps and adorned a festive look.



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St.Thomas Basilica, India

St. Thomas Basilica (Santhome Church)

On April 8, 2012, when Christians around the world was celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ as Easter Sunday, visited one of the basilicas, which was built over the tomb of an apostle.  The amazing nation, which gave the world many religions including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, is also the home of the Basilica built over the tomb of Apostle St.Thomas.  The visit to St. Thomas Basilica popularly referred as Santhome Church on Easter Sunday gave a sense of fulfillment. The Santhome Church is near the Marina beach in Chennai.

Painting at the underground tomb

Santhome Church

St.Thomas one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ came to India in A.D.52. Martyred in A.D.72 and was buried in Mylapore, Chennai. St.Thomas who brought Christianity to India is considered to be the Father of Indian Christianity. Pope John Paul II visited the underground tomb, below the Basilica and prayed on 5th February 1986. There are only three basilica is in the world built over the tomb of an apostle.While St.Thomas basilica is in Chennai, India, the other two basilicas are in Europe - St.Peter's at Rome and St.Jame's at Spain.

Mary in the temple Car

After spending a hour, decided to visit the Nossa Senhora da Luz or the church of the Lady of Light, which is just two kilometer away from the Santhome Basilica. The church built by a group of missionaries from Portugal, who were lost in the sea and prayed to Mary for help, landed  upon the spot in 1516. The church also referred by the locals as Kattu koil (Forest Church) has stood the test of time till today and is considered as one of the oldest European monuments in India. Although at the time, the locality was a thick forest, now it is part of bustling metropolitan area.

Santhome Church is about 20 kilometers from the Chennai Airport and 9 kilometers from Central Railway station. If you new to Chennai, it is advisable to go for the pre-paid taxi for your commute from the airport or the railway station and avoid the auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers who some time demand ridiculous fares.



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Rajagiri Fort, TamilNadu - Part II

Rajagiri

Six months after my first visit to Gingee (Krishnagiri), had an opportunity to trek again at one of the Gingee Fort (Rajagiri). While the Krishnagiri was easier to trek (took about 30 to 40 minutes), Rajagiri posed bigger challenge (One and hour hour to reach the top).

Kalyana Mahal  (Marriage Hall)   

One of the Massive Grain Storage Room

At the foot of the hillock, we spend an hour looking at the Kalyana Mahal (Marriage Hall), the rows of enclosure for the royal staff, a massive tank called Elephants' tank, King's Audience Hall, Grains Storage, the Mosque and Magazine. The Audience Hall has a square area marked by a high and ornate platform with bold traditional temple-type moldings and a massive stone backrest.  The Mosque located at the entrance of the inner fort of Rajagiri was erected by Sad-at-Ullah Khan to commemorate his victory over De Singh and the capture of the fort in 1713 AD.

King's Audience Hall 

Staircase (made out of Stones) leading to Audience Hall

Temple at the Foothill

Next, we passed through an uneven flight of steps along the rocky hill track to the top in 90 minutes.  Atop is granary, magazine, cannon and a beautiful temple.

Ranganathar Temple at the Top

Cannon at the Top

Granary at the Top

We offered our prayers at the shrine for Kamalakkanai Amman, the guardian goddesses of the place before moving down in 45 minutes.

At the Top of Rajagiri

General Instruction to the Visitor:

• Government charges an entrance fee of Rs. 5 for Citizens of India (free for children under age of 15) and $2 for people from other countries.
• Approximate duration for Rajagiri trek is 4 hours.
• Rajagiri remains open from 9.00 A.M to 5.00 P.M.
• Gingee is on the highway (National Highway 66) which connects Thiruvannamali and Chennai, and hardly takes 3 hours to reach from Chennai.

Beautiful Scene near Rajagiri

Accra, Ghana - Africa

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park Fountain

Recently undertook a business trip to Accra, Ghana in Africa, a former British territory, a country whose culture was associated with gold, ivory, and slave trade and now known as a football frenzy nation. Like to remind you that some of the photos in the blogs are borrowed and are put together to get a feel of this place.

Ghana - West African Country

Flagstaff House - Indian Connection

Since it was business trip, exposure to Ghana was very limited, but what stood out was the warm hospitality of the Ghanaian, the warm weather and the cleanliness and the safety factor. Since English being the official language, had no issue in carrying out the normal activities during the visit. Other than English, Ga and Twi are spoken by the local. In the little free time I had, visited the La Beach, Accra Mall (movie theaters, food court and many leading shops including Shoprite) http://www.accramall.com/ and Holy Trinity Cathedral Church (http://www.holytrinitycath.org/).  

Accra Mall

Holy Trinity Cathedral Church

Independence Square  Arch 

Independence Square

Also drove around the Chinese build National Theater, which resemble a ship, Administrative buildings on the High Street including Supreme Court of Ghana, Independence Square, Kwame Nkrumah  Memorial Park, Movenpick Ambassador Hotel and India-funded Presidential Mansionor or Flagstaff House.  Heard that all university and colleges in Ghana now offers Chinese language courses, a sign of China's growing role as a superpower in African continent.

National Theater - Chinese Connection

Tro-Tro in traffic - (Blue and Yellow colored Vehicle)

Even though, public transport  is available, Tro-tro is commonly used by many locals to move around. Tro-tro is a cheap and popular shared transport in Accra. Tro-Tro name origins is, in Ga language word tro, means penny. From 1965, Cedi notes and Pesewa coins are used instead of pounds, shillings and pence, but
name Tro-tro have struck among the locals. One can always expect a very busy traffic and cars of very make including BMW, Mercedes, Tata, Honda and Toyota during morning and evening office commute. It is also quite common to see vendors selling almost everything - fruits, vegetables, watches, maps, mobile recharge cards, toys, etc., at most of the traffic signals targeting the car and Tro-tro commuters.

Majestic Movenpick Hotel

Since my trip overlapped with the Africa Cup of Nations (2012) organized by CAF (Confederation of African Football) had an opportunity to see the football frenzy nation live. Unfortunately, football enthusiasm met with an sad end when on  8 February, Ghana was defeated by Zambia (1-0). In the final, Zambia, defeated third-time finalists Côte d'Ivoire after a dramatic penalty shootout, giving Zambia their first continental title.

Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park

La Beach

When my trip came to an end, had a wonderful feeling that I had visited a West African nation made of large number of good beaches, one that extends warm hospitality to its visitor and a country moving steadily towards political and economic stability - A promising and democratic nation in Africa. 

Google Map below.

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