Our wanderings and perceptions

 The other day we finally let go and booked our dinner at the famous Avartana - ITC Grand Chola at Guindy, Chennai. The food were just work of art. Here are the specimens,

 Arulmigu Kailasanathar & Dhakshanamoorthi Temple, Govindavadi, Kanchipuram This lies 13 kms away from the main Kanchipuram. This is the one and only temple where the Lord Kailasanathar and Lord Dhakshanamoorthi give darshan in the same temple complex. Lord Dhakshanamoorthi has Muyalagan on his foot; he has a third eye. Sage Adhisankarar had worshipped in this temple. A must visit temple during a Kanchipuram trip.

 Our final day of sight seeing in this trip was to cover the spiritual places of Dharmasthala & Kukke Subramanya. From our home stay, Dharmasthala is 80 kms away and we were expected to drive for around 2 hours. We were told that the drive would be through ghat area, With this information we set out through the Sakleshpur route. After Sakleshpur, starts the highway which has been caved through ghat and forest, navigating through numerous curves along. Few minutes into the highway only we realized what we had signed up for. The ghat road was traversed by numerous truck, each following its own speed limit, every 100 metres had a curve and on top of it the roads was  also undergoing maintenance at places. It was one odd experience driving through this road, something that we have never come across in our travel these years. The last leg of the drive is shifting from highway to forest area. All vehicles in the path are designed to Dharmasthala temple only. Wondering how one go...

 The next day was the Chikmagaluru day. We had drove to this place along with the home stay's Sunil and his kids. We drove past Belur again towards Chikmagaluru for some 70 kms, it took around 1 hr, 45 mins to reach there. Our first stop started at the temple. After worshipping here we headed to the other places in Chikmagaluru. Sunil took over and drove us to sight seeing. Mullayanagiri was next spot. its a peak about 2000 kms above sea level. After parking the car, from some 4-5 kms below the peak, we had to climb up 540 odd steps to reach the Shiva temple right at the peak. Being the holiday season, it became a nightmare getting a spot for parking. Had to do it on the hill and started climbing. It was one hell of a task to climb up. The wind was making the task even more difficult. Once you reach the peak, one can feel the serene beauty of the hill. Part of western ghat this is a nature blessed abundant beauty. After removing the foot wears we have to go up another few steps to ...

 The next day saw us drove towards Halebeedu. Belur and Halebeedu temples are said to be the twin temples in this vicinity. We had to cross Belur from Lakunda to reach Halebeedu. This took us around 55 minutes to reach. We parked our car in the allocated parking lot and walked towards the temple after paying the parking fees. We saw several school children making their trip to the temple. Inside the temple near the Hoysaleswarar shrine there is a circular space where danseurs used to dance. The school children are asked to sit here while their guide explains the importance structures of the temple. The entrance to the shrine of Lord Shiva the temple deity is intricately designed. Top of the entrance has small sculptures which are very detailed. Here again we saw the pillar carvings similar to the Belur temple. The ring like structures on the pillar are said to have been done with the help of horses. Ropes tied to the horses when pulled either side would make those markings on the p...