Bengaluru_Mysore trip-2008

I made my  first visit to the green city of  bengaluru  so as to meet one my very close friend.Given the fact it was my firt visit to the second South Indian

city(the first being Hyderabad-which had left very bad memories about South Indian states) i was quite thrilled and at the same time a little skeptical about what

is in store.I took the christmas break off and took a morning flight from the hustle bustle city of Mumbai.I already had informed Sarbojit(my college friend) about my visit

,he gave his words that he will be there in the airport for me.The last time i saw sarbo was around may be 6  months back in mumbai when we were in our college.So i was also eager to have a glimpse of my friend.Whatever i got to know from my freinds in Bengaluru was that Bengaluru is supposed to have the best airport in the country(Unlike there IPL team Bagngalore royals [:P]).i guess they were true in the sense it was huge and the location of the airport was very good.I met sarbo waiting for me in the airport with a newly developed  small tummy(very obvious of corporate hoggs like us) .The drive down to bengaluru was beautiful from the airport(the new airport is far away from the city,around 15-20 kms away perhaps).It gave me the impression that may be my perception of South indian states is going to change.It was very green ,the Indian airforce hangars were falling on tne way,overall i was already started liking bengaluru.

I was there in bengaluru for 3- 4 days trip.One of those days i decided to visit mysore with Joyeeta.We decided to have a 1 day trip as we were not sure about the accomodation facility that we will have in Mysore.The places that we had in our mind were the all famous Mysore palace and Chamundi hills.What i got know from joyeeta was that chamundi hills is the best place to view Mysore in the evening.Chamundi hills has a temple and not much to do but the essence lies in the view that one gets of the lighted Mysore Palace in the evening times.One generally needs to rent Motorcycles to go up the mountains or the best way is to rent a SUV.We kept Chamundi hills as our last place to be visited in Mysore.We took a Volvo from Majestic (its very easy to get one) to Mysore.First on the list was Mysore palace.I had seen this place in picture postcards in my childhood days.The palace was beautiful...worth visiting it.One can have a freindly elephant ride there in the palace complex only.Overall the the Mysore palace was a beautiful place to visit and one can imagine how beautiful it will appear in the evening when it looks like a newly married bride in the heat of the sun.Our next destination was the Mysore zoo.we took an auto and visited the zoo.This was one of the well maintained zoo that i have seen.When we came out of the zoo it was akready evening so we had to drop the plan of Chamundi hills.It was a bad miss but i guess someday we wil visit it.As my first visit to mysore it was a nice visit.Joyeeta impressed me with her guiding skills [:P].We came back to bengaluru by 9.00 pm that day as we had planned before.

The next day we went to a place in Indiranagar for lunch.Its a bengali resturant called 6th ballygunj place.The food was yumm and will make any bengali miss Kolkata.We licked our fingers and had a good time.By the end of the trip i cam to know the various crosses of  Malleswaram...again the credit goes to Joyeeta.

I left for Kolkata from bengaluru on 25 th december.I had some good memories in my tummy to carry with me.The place gave me enough reason to visit again.

The Bannerghata Safari

My second trip to Bengaluru was in mid January 2009 during the Indian Republic Day.Although it was a short trip but i guess i had to make it special as this was my second trip with the all mighty Joyeeta as my guide.This time we had not much time to visit any places outside Bengaluru but explore places in and around Bengaluru.Sarbo has gone off to Mangalore with his friend so did not havethe golden chance of having a travel guidance from him.I reached there on friday morning.After reaching Sarbo's place it was like all "RUSH HOUR".I had to plan up stuffs that i had to do in the next 96 hours..tough..isnt it..but i made it simple.

Joyeeta claims that i have a very bad habit of planning everything from beforehand,but i guess this time this bad habit of mine gave away to some very productive trips.Wildlife and Amusement parks always have been my favourites thrill centre from an early age.Beofre visiting Bengaluru i did manage to sneak into the internet and lsit some of the national parks that is near Bengaluru.Off all the ones listed what i found encouraging was the BANNERGHATA NATIONAL PARK.The website claimed that they have safari in their which did raise my eyebrows[:P].

I guess it was a sunday morning when as usual i had to wake up the ever sleeping giant joyeeta out of her 'Hitler camp' PG and remind her that we are expected to leave bengaluru ealry so as to utilize our day to the maximum.We took a 'Vajra' from Majestic to Bannerghata.I had the impression that Bannerghata would be in some other place really outside the city,but i was proved wrong as we had to pay only 50 bucks for the tickets.It was a nice journey through the city into the outskirts of the 'Green City'.On our way to the place we saw the all famous IIM Bangalore,HSBC analytics office etc etc.We reached the national park at around 8.30 am.As usual we reached early(it is my habit!!!!).It was still 1 hour till the safari began.We had our breakfast in a small restuarant beside the national park.The meal was quite an exciting one,we ordered for puri bhaji.We got the puri but the bhaji was some cooking masacare.Adding on to this we had the golden luck of seeing the resturant owner run with his airgun to shoot a baby monkey that was hovering over us in the trees.The owner was very happy to see us that he provided a accomodation facility..and went on to ask whehter we want them on day or hour basis(Just like Jab we Met).I guess that was the last time i even spoke to that person..JOyeeta was about to burry me for choosing this place .I felt that we should move on as the consequences will be on me [:D].

The safari costed us 150 bucks.It wasnt the best safari but it was worth 150bucks.We were put in a bus which was guarded with metal grilss from all the side.This gave us the impression that we had some carnivores host waiting for us.We were lucky enough to view the royal bengal tiger along with White tighers at srtiking distance of our bus.It was quite thrilling.The national park has a decent food plaza.It also has a zoo beside the national park.The zoo has one of the best collection of alligators that i have seen still knwo.We finished our journey in the evening time.The national park is a nice place to be visited for a one day get-away.One should be aware of the qualities of the accomodation available near it..if anyone asks about my view then i would say dont take those accomodations ,its pretty shady.We came back by evening time and acknowledge a very well made trip to one of the very best South Indian national parks(given the fact the other national park in nagarhole,Coorg sucks!!).

Our next visit was to Nandi Hills.Whatever information i got from the internet was that nandi hills is about 35km away from bangalore.One have to take those shady KSRTC buses to nandi hills as there is no VOLVO to that place.In short nandi hills is a disappointing place.The only thing that is worth watching is Tipu's drop.One thing that i want to reveal is that visitors please be aware of the immense number of monkeys that you will get here.Joyeeta was once sorrounded by the entire monkey kingdom because she dared to have apacket of Lays in her bag.I would advice people to decide some other place for weekends visit and not Nandi hills.We had a very tough time coming back from nandi hills as we had no formal booking system.