With Peace.–Vishwashanthi Ashram,Arishinakunte,Bangalore

Last sunday after a hevy lunch some & some Play station.It was time for a small outing with the family.SO we visited the little known ashram at the outskirts of bangalore called the Vishwashanthi Ashram.

It is located on the Bangalore Tumkur highway, in Arishinakunte village in Nelamangala Taluk. It is located at a distance of around 25 km from Bangalore city.
To reach the ashram from yeshwanthpur.Take the toll higway to Tumkur & then exit at the first sign board that shows a left sign to nelmangala.
The ashram is just about 500mts fro this exit on your left.

Vishwa Shanti Ashram was established by Sant Keshavadas, whose organization is known as the Temple of Comic Religion in the west. Sant Keshavadas was born in 1934 in Bhadragiri, a small village in Karnataka.

The first thing that catches your attention while entering the ashram is a huge 36 foot tall statue of Vittala, an avatar of Vishnu at a distance.

And exactly in front, at the foot of the statue is a Lakshmi-Narayana shrine.

Towards the right of the statue of the vittala , is the entrance to the Bhagvad Gita temple. En route to this, we see the seven rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Cauvery, Narmada, Sindhu and Saraswati – depicted by seven statues.

The bhagvad geetha temple is home to the vishwa roopa (The real form of vishnu) statue.

There is a gayathri temple also in the same building which is quite lovely.

This entire building is depicted as being pulled by the chariot on which Shree Krishna is giving Geetha updesh to Arjuna.

This structure is quite nicely creted.

With a mamoth chriot with horses being depicted.

We sat in front of the vishwa roopa statue for some time.This temple has the entire Bhagwad Geetha inscribed on the walls around it in four languages.That was quite amazing.

Go here if you need a quick break from your otherwise busy life’s.The ashram is quite big i guess around 20 acres or somthing.And there are couple of parks inside were kids could have some fun.

One day trip to Muthathi & Mekedatu

Myself,Wifey & 3 of our school mates were dying for a break from our monotonous lifes & this last weekend we could no longer bear the usual chores of our lifes and we decided to hit the road.Few google searches & suggestions lead us to Muthathi Forest & Mekedatu.

Muthathi is a quite little village in the midst of a reserved forest, 98 Kms from Bangalore. It is also known as the “Elephant Corridor” as it has one of the highest densities of wild elephants in the country. It is famous for river Kaveri, the wild animals, and the breathtaking views .

Muthathi is situated ahead of kanakpura.After kanakpura we have to head towards a small village called sathanur which is around 18 kms from kanakpura from this village there is a road whcih leads to Mutahthi & another one which leads to mekedatu.

The climate was awesome during our travel with no sun at all & some slight drizzle in between made the trip all the more enjoyable.
We started of around 7:00 in the morning picking up people from Domulur & Silik board ,we proceeded towards Muthathi.On our way just after Art oF living ashram we saw a newly built temple which attracted us becasue of its huge statues.This temple was on the udayapura -kanakpura main road.

After spending some time here we proceeded towards Mutahthi.We reached Mutahthi around 10:00 & stopped near cauvery river for our breakfast.We spent enough time by the banks of cauvery.We got some surprise visitors too while we were taking our breakfast.

After breakfast we entered the forest range by paying 50 bucks for god knows what.& then we drove almost 5-6 kms inside the jungle.While coming back we were lucky enough to spot 30-40 spotted deers near a hillside.we managed to click some pics but our quest of getting more pictures forced us to get out of our car & go near them that scared the animal which fled away in no time.

We remained there for couple more minutes thinking that some of them may return but then no one came & we went from there after clickng few pics.

After this we drove back to Sathnur and on our way back stopped at a feild for some pics..

After reachng sathnur we took the road which goes to Mekedatu.It was roughly around 25 kms away & in between we lost one diversion which made the overall journey a little longer but it was very good climate with intermediate rains.

‘Mekedatu’ is the place where the Kaveri (Cauvery) River flows through a narrow ravine. Legend has it that the channel was so narrow that sheep would jump across, and hence the name Mekedatu (Meke = sheep/goat, datu = cross in Kannada).
After around 20 kms we reach sangam & have to park our cars there.The next 4-5 kms we have to either trek or go by govt provided transport to reach mekedtau.We opted for a jeep drive for a price of 400 bucks & enjoyed it a lot .

We spent some time taking snaps there & returned back to sangam after 20-30 minutes

Crossing the river @ sangam was fun & i was very reluctant to step into the water for the fear of ruining my car seats.We did not carry any extra clothes & that was one of the greatest mistakes.As luck would have it two times i fell on my face & got completely wet.I stayed away from clicking any pics here for the fear getting my cam wet & the only thing i shot was

Around 4:30 pm we started our journey back,after drying ourselves for some time .

During our way back my car sped over a chameleon but luckily i was able to get it through the middle of the tyres & later that posed for me & gave some real good pics..

We reached back bangalore around 7:30 thanks to the heavy traffic en route & stopped over at Dhabba near HSR for a heavy Dinner.

The trip had exhausted us & the moment i stepped in my home i was lying on my bed snoring.

The Roads were excellent for the entire strecth.Only problem was at kanakpura were road widening was happening.Apart from that the entire stretch was laid with beautiful roads.

I am sharing some pics taken by my wife during the trip here..

Mutahthi-Mekedatu trip

Club Cabana –Tested Ok.

On the last Friday of October 2009,A team of Quality Freaks from Novell took Club Cabana in Bangalore by storm.This Team Outing was a long awaited one and the entire team had a blast..
We reached the place around 4:00 in the evening.and the activity started off with Bowling..

After Playing a few games , people started checking out different games..

From club cabana

Check this out 3 taking it out on one at long tennis..

From club cabana

After spending more than two hours on ground it was time for some mind games…

From club cabana

Mind games ..aahhh…every body is a winner at that..

From club cabana

Around 9:00 pm we finished our dinner & posed for a group shot before we retired for the day.

From club cabana

An Evening at Indiranagar,Bangalore

Indiranagar situated at a distance of 4 km from MG road has been famous for its posh residential areas. Indiranagar is now slowly transforming into an important commercial hub, with a lot of small and medium sized companies setting shop here. Quite a few of the old houses have given way to apartments buildings and shops, particularly on the eastern portion of CMH Road between 80 and 100 feet roads. Work on the Metro Rail started in July 2008 and the width of road currently available for use is very limited and not recommended for vehicular traffic.Also, a majority of the majesty that was once Indiranagar, that is, its lovely array of trees and greenery, have been chopped down mercilessly, to give way to the Metro.

Today i was just going through this place when this otherwise ordinary looking place gave an extraordinary view.

Sai mandir Photo shoot

Our neighbor hood is blessed with a sai baba temple..We always liked visiting this place for its peaceful atmosphere.. On the Diwali day i was overwhelmed when i was asked to photograph the temple…i took this as a blessing & went ahead doing my first ever assignment…
Following are few snaps from the lot…
Photo assignment 5

Assignment 6

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These snaps along with few more have been handed over back to the temple.I was exited to hear that the temple authorities are planning to sell these photographs at the temple & hence raising funds for the temple..
I could not have asked for more…
This temple is situated at kundananhalli gate,Marthahalli..People who live here has experienced the power of this temple in various ways & also have seen the changes whcih has happened to this area after this temple came into place..The roads which were in pathetic condition 2 years ago have become jogging tracks..The place which once was full of dust & slush have given way to shopping complexes & residential apartments.like this there are 100’s of examples of the way this temple has affected its neighbor hood & have changed the face of this area.