Wander Woman

A very very long time ago, when Garuda fell after having been fatally injured by Ravana, SriRam saw the wounded bird and said "le pakshi" which means 'Rise Bird' and this is what gives this place its name. It took us to almost 1-11/2 hrs to reach Lepakshi. Just before you reach the temple, as you enter the tiny village,you are greeted by the huge statue of Nandi the Bull. It is a magnificent piece. The temple is a short drive away. It is said the Nandi faces the temple and stands as a guard to the temple. Keeping the statue to your left,if you stand at a certain point,you can see the tip of the temple. ancient architecture fascinates me. These small wonders and tiny nuggets of information make a place more interesting. For example, the temple of Le pakshi is famous for its Hanging Pillar . There is a certain Pillar which does not touch the floor. Also,the temple is an architectural marvel. The carvings, the sculptures and the murals take your breath away. It is a nic...

Pondicherry was a French colony. The French legacy is still maintained in the french quarter of the town with yellow colonial bungalows draped with bouganvilleas and streets named in French. We drove down to Pondy on a sunny day and it took us almost four hours with two breaks in between. The drive was pleasant ( love driving through the countryside) and the roads were good for most part. We checked into the Hotel Du Parc which is located on Nehru street, adjacent to the French quarter. The building is old colonial and has that distinct old world charm with high windows and antique furniture. The room that we took was on two levels. The groundfloor had a tiny seating area and the bathroom whereas the beds were in a kind of loft like area above. The stairs were wooden and my LO had a gala time marching up and down. We checked in late afternoon, dumped our stuff and decided to hit the promenade.It was two mins walk and we sat by the sea enjoying the cool breeze and samosas.The promenad...

Coorg is known as the "Scotland of the East". I dont like such names, frankly because, more often than not they tend to put certain ideas in your head. When you travel, you should go with an open mind, so you can see the place as its really like and not what its supposed to be. Anyway, we drove down to Coorg, on a sunny day, from Bangalore. We avoided the Mysore road and went through Ramanathapura (thank you GPS!),lost our way, went offtrack for an hour, drove through lush green fields and finally reached Coorg in the evening. To say it is beautiful is to say the least. I've always loved the hills more than the coast. Coorg is all rolling hills and lush meadows and coffee plantations. As usual, we didnt go to any of the waterfalls or viewpoints. We just drove through city, Madikeri -the capital of coorg,and its surrounding villages. Kushalnagar has a Buddhist monastery and an elephant camp. That will be on our itinerary next time. This time we just soaked in the local ...

So, we were just driving around the countryside,looking here, stopping there, when we found this Vineyard tucked away on the roadside at the foot of Nandi Hills. This region, I later came to know, is dotted with vineyards. Not big winehouses but small,individual farmers. If you visit these areas,youll find people selling grapes by the kilos for as little as 50 or 60 rs a Kilo.And needless to say, these are very very sweet. Plump and Juicy Canopy A slice of heaven Nandi hills in the distance

Situated at around 30-35 km from Port Blair is a beautiful,sandy,shallow beach called Collinpur. Since its situated a little away from the city, the beach is cleaner and quieter. Its covered by dense vegetation and you wont know that you're near the sea until you actually see it.  Its a long stretch flanked by a hill on one side and since the gradient is not steep,its ideal for swimming and sunbathing. The main attraction for me was however, another beach called Kurma Dera. This beach is situated a little farther from Collinpur and is more deserted and quieter. The car couldn't go upto the beach and we had to walk nearly 2-2.5 km to reach the beach. The walk was through a very muddy and slushy path along a creek andd I expected to see a crocodile pop out any second. In fact, the second time we went to these beaches, we heard of crocodile attacks on the same day corresponding to our visit. Kurma means shells and I found the most amazing shells on this beach. And what surprise...

It was on a rain drenched evening that we reached Munnar,a hill station on the border of Kerala. To say its beautiful is an understatement.Its a very small town bordered by tea estates on all sides. The rolling greens in every direction is a real treat to the eyes.SSsomebody said that Munnar was the summer capital o the British in Southern India.I thought it was Ooty.We were also told about the two local tribal chieves Kanan andd Devan who had initiated tea planting in this area.Tata Tea has a particular product named after them. Tata has huge tea estates here,chief of them being the 'Lechmi tea estate'.It was a dream of mine to stay in a tea estate and this time we did. Initially, we stayed at the High Range club, which is basically the planters club,situated in the golf links.Its a beautiful an very old property. there's a room there dedicated to the old planters of yore,complete with hunting trophies and all. Golf Range High Range club We also got an opportun...