There are 3-4 different aiports to enter Madhya Praesh - Indore, Nagpur, Bhopal or Gwalior. Depending on what you want to cover, you can chose the appropriate airport.
I had made 2 plans.
Plan A
night Indore (Dont miss street food)
omkareshwar temple - day trip night halt indore
Ujjain and back to Indore
train to Jabalpur
Kanha/Bandavgarh - 4 hours
2 nights in kanha
drive to bhedghat near jabalpur - 4 hours. Stay in Bhedghat
boat ride and relax and stay Bhedghat
morning drive to chitrakoot and stay there
4 hours drive to khajurao - see the place and stay
4 hours drive to Jhansi. stay - see the place
afternoon start towards gwalior - 3 hours
gwalior sight seeing and evening flight
Skip chitrakoot and just see khajurao to save a day.
Plan B
Morning fligt to gwalior
afternoon/evening -see gwalior
drive to jhansi see the place
start towards khajurao - see the place and night stay
chitrakoot and stay
come to jabalpur and checkin at bhedghat and stay
boat ride and go to kanha by night
2 days in kanha
Feel free to end the trip by going to nagpur for a flight to bangalore
Else, contine to Indore for Ujjain and mahakaleshware visit
I stuck with plan A.
Route map
There are 2 Jyotirlingas in MP. To reach them, it is best to start the trip from Indore. I will capture my trip itinerary
Day2:
For Day 2 travel from Indore, there are several options to book cabs - like Ola, redbus, savari.com etc. But based on my friend's recommendatin, I booked cab from https://www.gozocabs.com/
Visit 2 Jyotirlingas - Omkareshwar and Ujjain Mahakaleshwar. In 2019, the roads were not so a great, so we had start early in the morning and Visit Omkareshwar. The temple closes by 1.00 p.m. and reopens after a couple of hours. You can opt for special Darshan. Try to avoid Pundits. Finish the darshan early and head towards Ujjain.
If you reach Ujjain early, visit Harasiddhi Mata temple. This is more than 1000 years old maha kali temple in Ujjain and it is having two pillars and each one is having 1001 lamps. At the time of evening aarthi, all the 2002 lamps are cleaned everyday and lighted again.
See how this task is done perfectly and quickly.
The main Mahakala temple is open till 11 p.m. So, try to get a darshan either before or after dinner. It takes about 20 min for Darshan.
Day3:
Ujjain Mahakala temple is famous for Bhasma Arati. This Arati starts at 4.00 a.m. People stand in the line from 12.00 a.m. I am told that first 50-100 people who enter the temple will get a chance to go close to god and do Jalabhishek themselves. To get this chance, people stand in line from 12.00 a.m. If you are not particular about Jalabhishek, but want to get a good Darshan of Bhasma Arathi, it is good to get in to the line by 2.30. Any later than this, you might not get a good seat to view the Darshan. Booking can be done from temple website 30 days before the darshan http://dic.mp.nic.in/ujjain/mahakal/default.aspx
For Stay, there are multiple places to stay in Indore, but I chose the Dharmashala attached to the temple. It is not fancy. It is a very basic, but clean accomdation. Advantage is if you want to go to temple for Arati, you can get up and walk 200-300 mts to reach the temaple. Other good hotels are more than a km away. Booking can be done from temple website 30 days before the darshan http://dic.mp.nic.in/ujjain/mahakal/default.aspx
Since the Darshan gets over by 6.30 or 7, you have rest of the day to take rest and visiting near by temples. There are plenty of Auto rickshaws that you can hire for the same
My next destination was visiting National parks in MP. Most famous ones are Kanha Tiger reserve forest and Bandavgarh National Park. These national parks are more than 600 kms from Ujjain. So, instead of wasting an entire day travelling by road, I took AC train to go to Jabalpur. Jabalpur is the closest railway station to any of these National parks.
Day4:
There are a few local attractions in Jabalpur - Marble rocks at BedaGhat, Dhuadhar falls, 64 yogini temple, Jain temple, Madan Mahal fort, Sharada temple, Kachnar temple. Depending on your interest you can visit any of these places.
Enjoy the boar ride in Beda Ghat. Get a glimpse of it from the famous song from Ashoka movie "Raat ka Nasha Abhi"
Unfortunately there was an extended monsoon this year and Narmada river was over flowing. So, we couldn't go no a boat ride.
For traveling in Madhya Pradesh, I booked cabs from http://www.guptatravelsjabalpur.com/
I found them online and they gave me a good service.
Day 5:
For the next segment of my trip which was for 6 days, I booked a Tempo traveller from Gupta travels.
Roads are not great (as of 2019) and it takes long time to reach places.
We started by 8 a.m and reached BandavGarh National park by lunch time. We had booked 2 safaris. People say that tiger sighting is better in BandavGarh National park. But the best time to sight tigers is Dec-March. We had booked an evening safari (3 p.m. to 6 p.m) and a next day 6 a.m. to 10.a.m.)
Day 6:
Get up early and head to Tiger safari. The resort guys generally pack breakfast. After the safari, you can come back to hotel and get ready for next journey.
We started towards Khajurao in the afternoon. Due to bad road conditions in 2019, it took us 8 hours to reach Khajurao.
Day7:
The entire day was dedicated see different temples in Khajurao. We travelled in September and weather was still in 30s and very humid in Madhya Pradesh. So, it is better to start sight seeing as early as 6 a.m. Early morning is also good for photography.
We went to the main khajurao temple (western group of temples) at 6 a.m. It takes 2-3 hours to see the temple (depending on your interest). Return back to hotel, have breakfast, and then head to Rahen falls which is about 30 min drive from khajurao. It is a beatiful falls formed due to volcanic eruption. You can spend about an hour there and head back.
After lunch, you can take some rest. You can resume visiting eastern and southern tempples after the temperature cools down (say after 3 p.m.) Finish all temples by 6 to be back to main Khajurao temple for light and sound show (english show at 6.30 and Hindi show at 7.30)
Day 8:
After breakfast, start journey towards Orchha. Due to road conditions, we reached Orccha by lunch time. After lunch time, we visited Orccha fort. Try to finish the fort visit before sunset to visit Chattris. https://www.windhorsetours.com/sights/india/Chhatris.html
It is a beautiful view at that time.
After sunset, head towards Jhansi.
Day 9:
Start towards Jhansi fort early in the morning. Jhansi fort was not as exciting. It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to see the place. It is even ok to skip Jhansi. Post lunch, we headed towards Gwalior.
On the way to Gwalior, if you have time visit Datia. There is a fort and Pitambar temple (Shakti Peeth). Due to Navarathri festival, the temple was crowded, so we skipped it.
We reached Gwalior by evening.
Day 10:
Start early at 6 a.m. to cover Gwalior fort. It is a beautiful fort. It takes about to cover all the places in and around the fort. In the same premisis, you can visit Gwalior fort, Saash Bahu mandir, Gurudwara and Teli ka mandir.
Return to hotel, have breakfast, take some rest. After lunch, visit Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior. It is a beautiful palace and you can easily spend about 2 hours.
You can do some shopping in Gwalior
Breakfast - Famous Poha
Lunch/Dinner - kwality restaurant. For chats -(at your own risk), try Phool Bagh chaupti Shopping - Topi bazar, sarafa bazar, subhash market Sweets - Bahadura for Gulab Jamun, Shano-Shaukat for assorted sweets especially Boondi laddu, Daulatram Gupta, Gazak
Day 11:
Return to Bangalore
Other places of interest in MP
I didn't have time to cover it. But if you happen to go to bhopal, visit Bhimbetka rock shelters
Bhimbetka rock shelters are in Bhopal, MP. It is a UNESCO world heritage site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 kilometres. At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago. Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are about 10,000 years old (c. 8,000 BCE),
This was my itenirary of my recent Family trip to Gujarat covering about 2300 km
Day1 and Day2 - Ahmedabad sight seeing, shopping and Gujarathi Thalis
Day 3 - travel to Bhuj -Enroute visit Lathol (an arhcealogical site from Harappa and Mohenjadaro times, and HiraLaxmi park, Bhujodia
Day 4 - Local sight seeing in Bhuj followed by a visit to Mandvi Beach. Visit to Vijay Vilas palace (Hum Dil de chuke sanam was shot here)
Day 5 - Local sight seeing in Bhuj (Parag mahal where Lagan was shot), followed by a visit to Rann of kutch, India bridge and Kaladungar (magnetic hill and sunset point)
Day 6 - Travel to Dwarka from Bhuj - Visit Dwarkadeesh temple followed by beach
Day 8 - Sunrise, beach time, Somnath jyothirling temple visit and other local tourist attractions. Continue journey towards Diu. Relax in Diu followed by a good evening stroll at the beach
Day 9 - Visit to Diu fort and continue journey to Gir forest. Relax and go to Safari
Day 10 - travel to Ahmedabad and fly back to Bangalore
Bhuj was a clear winner with too many interesting places to see both in the city and surrounding areas. Also the beaches are clean and can spend good time as the evenings are very pleasant
I had called up the goAir call center today and the call center representative called my friends a 'bakra' I was very upset and registered a complaint on the goAir website
Here is the extract of the complaint.... -- I had a complaint aginst the call center rep (Tajinder) whom I spoke to today (at 3.20 pm IST, 16th Feb, 2012). I have booked tickets for my friends who are in Ahmendabad, who unfortunately don't have access to Internet to take print out of the ticket. I had called in to enquire if they can get the E-ticket at the airport. After listening to my question, Tejinder (without muting his line), turns asked someone in hindi "Ek bande ne 6 logon ke liye ticket book karayi hai, and un 6 bakron ke pass internet access nahi hain. Kya unko airport me ticket mil jaayegi …..". Then the phone went to mute Wow, is this how you talk about your customers? What right does he have to call my friends a 'bakra'. It is none of his business to pass comments on us.
After a while, Tejinder unmuted the phone and got back to me. When I inquired about why he called us a bakra, he denied it and said that he was not talking about us, but about someone else.
Then I asked him to connect me to the supervisor. He agreed and turned around (without muting the line) and told someone in hindi ' usne, mujhe bakra bolte huye sun liya.' . After some low back ground conversation, the phone went mute. Before the phone went mute, I think I heard him asking one of his colleages to talk to me like a supervisor.
I spoke to the supervisor Pradeep Pandey and complained. He too denied the incident and apologized.
I regret having booking a ticket on goair which doesn't respect the customers. Please take action
Regards Nagendra HK ---
This is the response I gor from goAir
Dear Mr. Nagendra Warm Greetings from GO Air! Further to your email, we are sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience at Call Center. We empathize with your concern and apologize for the same. We wish to inform you that we have terminated both the representatives after listening to the call recording. We at Go Air, always believe and are trained to put our Customers first. A seamless, comfortable travel experience is what we aim to go about every time. At times, as in this instance, we do fall short. Feedback such as yours helps us improve. We hope you shall view this as an exception and consider giving Go Air an opportunity to welcome your aboard once again. Mr. Nagendra, we once again humbly request you to treat this case in isolation it deserves and do not let it deter you from patronizing Go Air. We would appreciate if you could grant us another opportunity to serve you better in near future. For further information on Flight schedules / fares / booking, please revert to us at feedback@goair.in or contact us at 1800-222- 111 / 9223-222-111. We would be glad to assist you. We would request you to frequently visit our website www.GoAir.in for updated information. Thanks and Regards, Aparna Desai Customer Care
Their UI is amazing. By far the best for train ticketing online in India.
Cleartrip Train Calendar provides an indication of availability for a range of dates across trains, so you can find the best date and train to travel. The availability you see here may have changed at the time you try and book.
Rajarajeshwarinagar in Bangalore is more like a temple town. If anyone visits Rajareshwarinagar, they can check out a few temples
1. Rajarajeshwari temple - Something I myself didn't know until I read the wikipedia, is that the temple was built in the late 1960s. This temple has Jnanakshi Shri Rajarajeshwari as its deity, and is maintained by the Kailasa Ashrama Trust.
2. Nimishamba temple - The Temple contains the shrines of Devi Nimishamba, Moukthikeswara (Isvara), Siddhi Vinayaka, Saraswathi and Lakshmi Narayana. Chandika Homa is performed everyday in a specially designed Yajna Shala.
3. Shanmuga temple A beautiful temple of shanmuga on top of a small hill. It is started by the sringeri mutt. The temple has a magnificent Gopuram with the six faces of lord subramanya.
4. Omkar hills - Omkar Hills is the tallest glorious and devotional spots in Bangalore with the avowed objective of propagating. The Ashrama has a Goshala, a Sanskrit Pathashala and arrangements for training in Vedagamas. A magnificient Tower Clock, bigger than the reputed Big Ben of London, with provision to bring out Shankanada and Omkaranada along with the striking of each hourly gong, has been installed on the Hill. 5. Shridhara Gudda
Mandatory Good pair of trekking shoe Sweater Jacket monkey cap Regular cap (you can't always wear a monkey cap. Sometimes it gets really warm during the
day) Gloves (preferably leather, so that it doesn't get wet when you fall on the snow and put
your hands on the ground) few pairs of thick socks toilet paper/tissue papers - (mornings will be cold and you won't be able to touch water) torch hawai chappal toothbrush paste (small) soap (small) water bottles (preferably two 1ltr bottles) sun screen lotion sun glasses rain coat (thin plastic ones) Under garments T shirts Track pants (preferably water proof) thin towel Tumbler Plate spoon/fork Tiffin box Good rucksack a few plastic covers (in case you need to put a few wet clothes) some important medicines thick Needle and thread (in case the bag gets torn)
optional camera (extra film roles/memory card/battery) cell phone (you generally get signal only up to base camp and sometimes higher up in the mountains) very light weight radio energy drinks (like glucose/electrol) other eatables paper/pen (in case you need to take notes) air pillow thermals (if you have) shaving kit water purifying tablets
sleeping bags, inners and blankets are given by YHA
Every year, Employees of Sun Microsystems dedicate a week for Global volunteering program. India Engineering Center (IEC) is also very active during this week. One of the events as a part of the Volunteer program, was to clean up the plastic waste at 'Sangama', a popular picnic spot at the intersection of rivers kaveri and Arkavati. Close by is a 'MekedaaTu', another famous getaway from Bangalore. Lot of tourists visit these places every year and leave a lot of plastic waste. Employees of Sun along with volunteers from 'Clean and Green' go on a cleaning program along the banks of river kaveri. Last year (2007), we all had been to Muttatthi and this year they had chosen 'Sangama'. Along with my family (mom, wife, sister and nephew) I joined the team of volunteers at Sangama. The place was a big mess with plastic covers, bottles, gutka packets etc. A group of 60 volunteers worked for 3 hours in the scorching heat to collect 220 KG of plastic waste. The plastic waste was handed to a plastic company in Kanakpura who use it for laying tar for road. Last year we had collected 303 kgs of plastic at muttatti. You can read about it on April 14 2007 - Mega Acitivity @ Muttathi
The same day evening, I had to attend a wedding reception. I met a few friends at the wedding and told them about the clean and green activity and they appreciated our effort. In most of the South Indian weddings, the guests are given 'Tamboola' (coconut and beetle leaves) as a tradition. It is believed that the guests who attend the wedding should not be sent empty handed and hence there is a tradition of giving tamboola. The practice is to give the tamboola in a plastic cover. My friend told me that in the wedding, they had decided not to use plastic and hence they gave the tamboola in a paper bag, with a very nice note on it. The note requested people to reduce the usage of plastic. click on the image to read the note. Read A letter to Reliance Industries
Less than 1500 tigers are left in india now and at the current rate of deforestation and poaching the day is not too far when the beautiful cat and all other wildlife will be extinct. Please add your name and email to the "SAVE THE TIGER" Campaign started by NDTV-Sanctuary and do your bit for the tiger and the forests of india. The tiger needs all the support it can get..Please forward it to all your friends for support.
During the October holidays, my sister and nephew were at home and we decided to go out on a one day outing. I suggested ShivanaSamudra and everyone agreed. We started from Bangalore on my car on mysore road. There are 2 approaches to shivanasamudra - first via kanakapura and the other via mysore road. I was told that the Mysore road was better for driving. We started by 9.30 am and were quickly at Ramanagar. We stopped at my favorite breakfast place - Kamath Lokruchi. After relishing on different kinds of dosas for an hour we started again. It was quite a sunny day and everyone in the car started complaining about going to ShivanaSamudra as there was no shelter there and we would be baked in the sun. My sis suggested that we go to Gosai Ghat near Mandya. I quickly called up a couple of people to find out what was in Gosai Ghat. My friends suggested that I go to that place as there was a river(kaveri) flowing there. To reach Gosai Ghat, I had to take a left turn on mysore road at Sreerangapattana. We reached the place by noon. We could see a few people taking bath in the river. There was a lot of water in the river. The place was NOT very crowded. We all got in to water and spent more than an hour there. My 10 month old son was having a great time playing in water. This is a good place for one day outing from Bangalore. The only problem is that there is no place for the ladies to change clothes. One has to take the cover of some temple shrines. We were very hungry when we started back from there. One place I prefer to have lunch on Bangalore mysore highway is Hotel Haripriya in Mandya. After having lunch we decided to go to ShivanaSamudra. One has to take a deviation in Maddur to reach ShivanaSamudra. This road is not all that great, but you can drive on that road. One particular stretch of 4 km is quite bad near Malavalli. We reached ShivanaSamudra by 5.30 p.m. There is a beautiful water fall here. It is called the 'Gagana Chukki' falls. Close by is another falls called 'Bhara chukki' falls. But as we reached the place quite late, we didn't have the time to go to the other falls. There was a lot of water in the falls. It was a treat to watch. The weather was also cool and the sun was just setting. We enjoyed the sunset over the falls. They have even started a hotel at this place. People can stay here for the night. It is a nice getaway from Bangalore. We started from there just after sunset. Driving in the dark in the Malavalli road (bad road) could have been avoided if we had reached the place earlier. But, once on mysore road, you can reach Bangalore in an hours time.
To reach Gosai Ghat from Bangalore Bangalore - Ramanagar - Chennapattana - Maddur - Mandya - Sreeranga Pattana - Gosai Ghat - Roughly 120 KM from Bangalore
To reach Shivana Samudra Bangalore - Ramanagar - Chennapattana - Maddur - Malavalli - ShivanaSamudra - Roughly 110 KM from Bangalore
Two weeks ago, I had to got o Mysore for some personal work. I was continuously debating with myself whether I should take a bus, train or drive in my car. After some thought, I thought of doing something, which I rarely get an opportunity - long bullet ride. I was up and ready with my helmet, leather jacket and clothes for a day and was off. I started from home by 10.30 a.m. After giving a quick stop for fuel, I was off on the high way. You are in a bilssful state when you are enjoying the sounds of a bullet while going at 60 KPH. It was a very pleasant day with the sun not being very bright. There was a pleasant sunshine and cool breeze. I was already enjoying the cool breeze on my face. Initially I was cruising at a lower speeds, but as I covered more distance, I started gaining speed. By now, I was touching 70 kmph. I reached Ramnagar and gave a 20 minute break. While I was sipping tea from a road side tea stall, I quickly made a few phone calls. I started from there and started touching 80 kmph and above. Even though I was traveling alone, the journey was not boring. On either side of the road was lush green paddy fields. Paddy seeds are sown right after monsoons during June-July, which cover up the entire fields by October. By now I was already at 90 kmph. Riding the bullet is simply effortless. I used to earlier own a Hero Honday Splendor, which, used to take a lot of effort to reach 70+ kph ( I have covered thousands of kms of highway trip on my splendor as well). I gave my second 20 minute break at Sreeranga Pattana to make a few more phone calls. From here, on a few occasions my 500 CC bike Bullet touched 95kms. I didn't go above this, because if something were to go wrong, I would have to run around alone to get help (had to be extra careful as this was my first solo long distance ride). Within minutes I was at Mysore ring road, where I took a deviation towards T.Narasipura, which was my final destination. T.Narasipura is a small town, 30 kms from Mysore. My problems started from here, as I had to go on some really bad roads. There were small stretches where there was no road at all. It was a dirt track ride at certain patches. Bullet, which is known for bad shock absorbers, was already hurting my back. I reached my destination by 2.00. pm. Discounting the two 20-minute breaks that I had taken, my journey was for 2.5 hours and I had covered 170 kms. After having my lunch and taking some rest, I headed back to Mysore. This time, I was feeling that I was riding on Mars (Mars has craters too). By the time I reached Mysore, my back was hurting a lot. I took a pain killer and went to bed. The next day, I had to visit T.Narasipura again before going back to Bangalore. I decided that I had enough of the bad roads. I parked my Bike at Mysore Bus stand and took a bus to T.Narasipura. After finishing my work, I was back in Mysore by 4.00 p.m. My cousin called me up and told me that she would join me on my way back to Bangalore. I took the Bullet from the Mysore Bus stand and went to her office. After reaching there, I asked her, if we she was ready for Ass-Ass-I-Nation. She told me that she was very excited about this trip. We started from Mysore 5.15 P.M. I told her that I was going to cover maximum distance while we had sun shine. Riding during night is something I generally avoid as the headlight is not very bright. The reaction time to obstacles will be very less as we can spot them very late. Right from the word go, I started clocking 90 kmph. We witnessed beautiful sun set en-route. I cruised comfortably all the way till Maddur. By now, I had started losing sun light quickly. I had decided not to stop till I reached Kamat Lokruchi at Ramnagar. I reached there by 6.30 PM. I had covered 90 kms in 1 hour 15 minutes. The traffic was low as it was a week day and hence we were able to cover the distance quickly. We stopped for some snacks and coffee. The hot Mirchi Bajji and coffee was perfect after the ride. We sat there and relaxed for an hour. I asked my cousin, how she felt and she said that she was enjoying the ride. I had another 50 kms to cover before to reach home. I thought that I would take it a little easy and cruise. But as I started, I realized that I had surrendered to the supreme power of the Bullet. There was no way, I could go below 80 kmph. There were occasion when I was cruising at 90 kmph even in the darkness. The temperature had started falling. This year we are having a cold winter. Bangalore recorded some lowest temperatures in decades this year. The traffic was also thickening as we were closing Bangalore. I reached home by 8.30 kmph. I had coverd the last 50 km in 1 hour. After reaching home, I asked my cousin, if she was ASS-ASS-I-NATED, and she said with a smile "Not As(s) much".
It was a wonderful long drive on the Bullet. I would like to call it the Biking Nirvana. I had covered a total 400 kms in 2 days. I roughly got 30 km per liter of Petrol.
Total Distance: 400 KM. Total Time on road: 4 hours 45 minutes. Bike: 500 CC Bullet. Top Speed : 95 Kph. Mileage: 30 kmpl. When: November, 2007. Route: Bangalore - Mysore - T.Narasipura - Mysore - Bangalore.
Yesterday, my friend Nawaz called me up to get some thoughts on buying a new car. He had been doing some research himself on the web and also been talking to his other friends. From what he had heard from his friends, he seemed to have been quite impressed by Tata Indigo XL. When he called me up, he was very upbeat and was explaining the features a lot. He asked me if I could go along with him to the Tata show room to take a test drive of the vehicle. I agreed and went to the show room with him. I had never test driven a new car and it was my first time. Tata Indigo has petrol and and Diesel variants. In each of these variants, they have two models - Classic and Grand. At the showroom 'Grand' was there a display piece and we started inspecting while we were waiting for the executive to come and attend to us. The car looked good. At first glance, the most impressive thing about the car is the space. There is a lot of room inside. The back seat is very spacious and 3 people can sit very comfortably. Tall people won't have any problem stretching their legs when they are seated in the back seat. By now the executive came to us. She started explaining the features of the car. The classic is the more basic model which has a 1.4 ltr engine. The boot (trunk) is quite big, but still not as big as I had expected it to be (as there is a lot of room inside). The interiors are not very great with the car. They have tried to give a wooden finish to the front panel, but it is made of plastic and doesn't go well with the car. The 'Classic' comes with premium fabric upholstery which is pretty good. One very good feature which I haven't seen in any sedan is split AC. There are separate AC ducts for the back seat. This feature is something, I have seen only in Qualis and Tavera. But even in those, the AC ducts are on the roof, but in Indigo, they are at the bottom (between the two front seats). This is a cool feature. Another unique feature is the chiller. The chiller is in the glove box and can keep your cool drinks chill (ofcourse the AC has to be ON for this). Fog lamps, all 4 power windows, power steering, rear defogger and central locking, front seat height adjustor (for both seats) are all default in the Basic model. There is no Cup holder for the driver's seat. It is there only for the passengers in the back seat. The basic model comes at around 6.1 or 6.2 lakhs on road in Bangalore and is a good buy. The Grand comes with a few extra features. It comes with leather upholstery, 4 speaker DVD player with two LCD displays behind both the front seats, a car phone kit (free nokia phone and a charger) and power seat height adjuster. Now it was the time to test drive. I took out the 1.4 petrol for a drive. I could only drive it in busy Bangalore traffic. It had a smooth pickup even when the AC was on. The gear shift was smooth. Really not much complain with the car. This is not to be considered as the the full 'GO' for this model as the drive was only for 2 kms in traffic. One has to drive the car before making their choice. However there were a few things I was not comfortable with the car. The gear seemed to be very far from the driver's seat. One has to reach out for it. I am used to driving a Maruti Baleno which has a very big front window shield which gives a very clear view of the road. I was not very happy about it in this car. For tall people whose head almost reaches the roof, the road view is not very clear. After the test drive of the petrol version, we tried the diesel version. I sat in the car and turned the ignition on and I was immediately disappointed. There was a lot of engine noise and vibration. It was like sitting in a truck (OK, I am exaggerating here, but I was very unhappy). The Grand Diesel comes at around 8.75 lakhs in Bangalore. Who would want to pay so much money for a diesel car with just 1.4 ltr engine which makes so much noise. Atleast I wouldn't. The diesel versions of Verna are so smooth when compared to Tata Indigo. Classic makes a good buy for that price, but Tatas will have a difficult task selling the diesel version of Indigo XL, that too when they have the image of a taxi.
There are lot of places to visit around Bangalore.There are a few one day trips and a few that can be done in 2-3 days.
One beauty of Bangalore is, you find hills all around Bangalore. 50-70 kms in any direction going out of Bangalore, you fill find hills.
On Tumkur road, you will find Devarayana Durga, Shivagange etc.
On Mysore road, you will find RamNagar
On Bellary road, you will find Nandi hills
On Hosur road, you will find KrishnaGiri.
On kanakpura road, you will find kabbal durga
On Magadi Road, you will find Savana Durga
There are a lot of pilgrimage spots to visit as well.
I found out about Easy auto from a friend of mine today. I have not used their service. If someone has used this service and has had any good/bad experiences can post their comment here
How does Easy Auto Work? Passengers have to register themselves using Passenger Registration Kits (PRK), to avail door-to-door service at a cost of Rs.75/-. Any one in the family can avail Easy Auto using the same registration. That is, using a single PRK you can register up to ten phone numbers, which will be used as identifiers by the computers.
Registered passengers can use Internet, Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) or Short Message System (SMS) to hail an Easy Auto. Others can simply hail one, at any of our Easy Auto Stands or on kerb side.
For hailing Easy Auto using SMS, you will have send in your location code to 9844-11-22-33. You will get a receipt confirmation message along with request code. If this message does reach in 5 minutes after your SMS, you may have to try again. Please remember any network congestion can affect smooth flow of SMS. After the confirmation SMS, you will get another in a few minutes along with Easy Auto number followed the auto driver's mobile number. To complete the procedure a parallel SMS will be sent to the auto driver. Please ensure to call the Easy Auto driver within 5 minutes or else he will be assigned to another passenger.
For hailing Easy Auto using IVRS, you will have dial 9844-11-22-33 and follow the instructions told to you. To complete the procedure a parallel SMS will be sent to the auto driver. Please ensure to call the Easy Auto driver within 5 minutes or else he will be assigned to another passenger.
Who can use Easy Auto? Easy Auto can be used by anyone. A registered commuter gets door-to-door service. For registration, the user will buy a kit from any of the Spice outlets in the city at a cost of Rs.75.00. This is a one-time fee to be paid by the commuter.
A few years ago, there was an Ad on Indian Television for a Bullet Electra.The Ad shows a train approaching a railway crossing which slows down. Then a man comes on a bullet and crosses the railway track. And the we see the caption 'Everybody makes way for a bullet'. Yes,that's how the Royal En-field Bullet is treated.
These days, I posses one - a 500 CC bullet - The most powerful bike on Indian roads. For long, it was my dream to get one. I had driven a 100 CC bike for many years and it was time to graduate. I was hoping to buy a 350 CC, but to my surprise, I have landed up with something more powerful.
The best part of riding a bullet is not speed or acceleration. The feel is different. The rich humming sound is a music to ears. It is a pleasure going at a the steady speed and accelerating gradually. The body resonates to the sound of this machine. With those wide handles and a cruiser seat, I get a royal ride. With a 22BHP, the rides are ecstatic.
When I go on the road, people give me way as I approach them. At traffic signals, from the corner of the eye, I notice people are staring at my machine with admiration. Somepeople even have a friendly chat with me and enquire about this beauty. When I stand next to a bus, I can notice that people from all the windows are watching. It feels good to be the center of attraction. I know that they are not watching or admiring me, but it still feels good as you are the owner of the wonderful instrument.
There was a time in Bangalore, when bullets were used by all police officers. So, whenever a bullet sound was heard, people gathering in the dark corners of the street would disappear. So, even whencommon man rode a bullet, he got the same respect. Today, the Bullet has become more common with the introduction of user friendly Thunderbirds and Electras which have eliminated a lot of problems that a classic bullet had.
In many ways, I can compare a bullet to girl friend or wife - People on the road give you an envious look. - High maintenance. - You have to be very gentle while starting. If you are rough, she will backfire and hurt you. - You will enjoy her company and want to be with her more often. - Weighs a lot. - Not easy to handle. You need to master the art. - Loud :)
When I speak to my friends, I get some interesting thoughts
- Bullets are like (old) buses, you have to roll/rock in gear a bit for the gear teeth to get the idea of shifting anywhere. - Talking about fixing things is fine, actually doing it will be trouble. - Tyre pressure 20 Front 25 Back Anything more it is assrured that superb shocks in bullet will take you directly to HOSMAT ! - Are you not able to change gears ? If you can .... ignore it.... its like software... more closer you look more money you will spend with diminishing returns and at the risk of introducing new defects to a previously working piece :-)
Their UI is amazing. By far the best for train ticketing online in India. 
1. Rajarajeshwari temple - Something I myself didn't know until I read the wikipedia, is that the temple was built in the late 1960s. This temple has Jnanakshi Shri Rajarajeshwari as its deity, and is maintained by the Kailasa Ashrama Trust.
3. Shanmuga temple A beautiful temple of shanmuga on top of a small hill. It is started by the sringeri mutt. The temple has a magnificent Gopuram with the six faces of lord subramanya.
4. Omkar hills - Omkar Hills is the tallest glorious and devotional spots in Bangalore with the avowed objective of propagating. The Ashrama has a Goshala, a Sanskrit Pathashala and arrangements for training in Vedagamas. A magnificient Tower Clock, bigger than the reputed Big Ben of London, with provision to bring out Shankanada and Omkaranada along with the striking of each hourly gong, has been installed on the Hill.
Every year, Employees of Sun Microsystems dedicate a week for Global volunteering program. India Engineering Center (IEC) is also very active during this week. One of the events as a part of the Volunteer program, was to clean up the plastic waste at 'Sangama', a popular picnic spot at the intersection of rivers kaveri and Arkavati. Close by is a 'MekedaaTu', another famous getaway from Bangalore. Lot of tourists visit these places every year and leave a lot of plastic waste. Employees of Sun along with volunteers from 'Clean and Green' go on a cleaning program along the banks of river kaveri. 
Last year (2007), we all had been to Muttatthi and this year they had chosen 'Sangama'. Along with my family (mom, wife, sister and nephew) I joined the team of volunteers at Sangama. The place was a big mess with plastic covers, bottles, gutka packets etc. A group of 60 volunteers worked for 3 hours in the scorching heat to collect 220 KG of plastic waste. The plastic waste was handed to a plastic company in Kanakpura who use it for laying tar for road.
In most of the South Indian weddings, the guests are given 'Tamboola' (coconut and beetle leaves) as a tradition. It is believed that the guests who attend the wedding should not be sent empty handed and hence there is a tradition of giving tamboola. The practice is to give the tamboola in a plastic cover. My friend told me that in the wedding, they had decided not to use plastic and hence they gave the tamboola in a paper bag, with a very nice note on it. The note requested people to reduce the usage of plastic. click on the image to read the note.
During the October holidays, my sister and nephew were at home and we decided to go out on a one day outing. I suggested ShivanaSamudra and everyone agreed. We started from Bangalore on my car on mysore road. There are 2 approaches to shivanasamudra - first via kanakapura and the other via mysore road. I was told that the Mysore road was better for driving. We started by 9.30 am and were quickly at Ramanagar. We stopped at my favorite breakfast place - Kamath Lokruchi. After relishing on different kinds of dosas for an hour we started again. It was quite a sunny day and everyone in the car started complaining about going to ShivanaSamudra as there was no shelter there and we would be baked in the sun. My sis suggested that we go to Gosai Ghat near Mandya. I quickly called up a couple of people to find out what was in Gosai Ghat. My friends suggested that I go to that place as there was a river(kaveri) flowing there. To reach Gosai Ghat, I had to take a left turn on mysore road at Sreerangapattana. We reached the place by noon. We could see a few people taking bath in the river. There was a lot of water in the river. The place was NOT very crowded. We all got in to water and spent more than an hour there. My 10 month old son was having a great time playing in water. This is a good place for one day outing from Bangalore. The only problem is that there is no place for the ladies to change clothes. One has to take the cover of some temple shrines. 
We were very hungry when we started back from there. One place I prefer to have lunch on Bangalore mysore highway is Hotel Haripriya in Mandya. After having lunch we decided to go to ShivanaSamudra. One has to take a deviation in Maddur to reach ShivanaSamudra. This road is not all that great, but you can drive on that road. One particular stretch of 4 km is quite bad near Malavalli. We reached ShivanaSamudra by 5.30 p.m. There is a beautiful water fall here. It is called the 'Gagana Chukki' falls. Close by is another falls called 'Bhara chukki' falls. But as we reached the place quite late, we didn't have the time to go to the other falls. There was a lot of water in the falls. It was a treat to watch. The weather was also cool and the sun was just setting. We enjoyed the sunset over the falls. They have even started a hotel at this place. People can stay here for the night. It is a nice getaway from Bangalore. We started from there just after sunset. Driving in the dark in the Malavalli road (bad road) could have been avoided if we had reached the place earlier. But, once on mysore road, you can reach Bangalore in an hours time.
