A Trip to Melkote and Mysore

A short trip to Melkote and Mysore (KRS Back waters). (31-07-2009)

Distance: 380 Km (total)

No. of people: 3

Mode of Transportation: Car ( Vinay's Zen)

Route: Bangalore->Mandya->Melkote->Srirangpatna->Mysore->KRS Backwaters->Mysore->Back to Bangalore!

We wanted to go to Melekote from a long time, sinc

e the exams got over. But the plan kept on postponing and the no. of people who wanted to come to the trip initially also got reduced when we finally decided to go to Melekote! So it was just the 3 of us and we had to go by Car since the second bike wasn't available!

So we left here at around 7 Am, filled the car on the way and headed towards Mysore! We didn't stop until we reached Mandya. It was a quick drive and within an hour and a half we reached Mandya. We decided to have our breakfast at Sha

rada Restaurant, Mandya! Masala Dosa tastes so awesome here, heavenly!

After the short stop we started our journey again. We have to take a right deviation from the Mysore-Bangalore Highway in order to go to Melekote. Its around 40 Km from Mandya. It was a little difficult to find this deviation but soon we found it with the help of locals. It was a smooth drive from here, roads are so good and with very less traffic! The captivating Green fields with cattle ploughing the fields was what we were greeted with! It was such a great sight, I did even capture a few snaps quickly!

The road was so attractive that I decided to try my hands on the wheels! So far only Vinith was driving and me being still new to car I was a little skeptical about the idea of driving an a place which I am not aware of! Nevertheless I did decide to drive. I guess I did a pretty good job at driving and it was Vinay's turn next, Vinay is new to driving too! After sometime, the temple on top of the hill was visible to us. It was a pleasant sight I must tell you. We finally reached the temple. There was only one car apart from us and we were happy that there were not too many people!

The Yoganarasimha Temple at Melkote was built by the Hoysallas, is at the height of 1,700m from the sea level. The Scenery is awesome! A painter would love this place and he would spend his entire life here!

It is hard to find words to describe the beauty of our temples! Like any other ancient temple, the Gopara is intricate with the statue of Narasimha. I kept to myself for a while in the temple. The sight of god was striking that I felt releaved of all the worries. It made me feel at ease. I was flying, flying away with no thoughts! I can never forget this moment! I never felt like leaving that place!

And there were monkeys of course! So many of them! I was shocked to find that these monkeys were very friendly. They were playing among themselves and most of them were sitting with a partner. Some of them had young ones with them too! One of them touched vinith's leg and later he told us that the palm of the monkey felt like velvet!

It was just around 11:30 after the temple visit. We spent some time there and started making plans as to where to go next. Finally we decided to make a short stop at a lake which was visible from the top and later head towards Ranganathittu.

The lake had visitors in the form of birds and new Human beings were to be seen around. We spent some time there and started our journey. I drove for a while, it was a great drive. The road is so awesome there. We took Pandupura-Srirangpatna road. We reached Ranganathittu but we were told that it was off season and its not worth a visit. We were kinda disappointed. We decided to go to Mysore since we had a lotta time in our hands.

At Mysore, I met my cousin and we finished our lunch at a good Hotel. My cousin suggested a couple of places we could visit in Mysore. We decided to go to Blue Lagoon ( This is what the locals call KRS Backwaters). It was bumpy drive and we finally reached. All of us were suprised to see a place like this. It was as if like we landed on an Island suddenly! There was not a soul apart from us. It was as if we were in a beach! It was so peaceful there. I took a some quick snaps.


We had some interesting conversation and soon we realized that it was getting late! We couldn't keep track of time! I'm sure none of us wanted to leave that place but we had to.. We reached Mysore and dropped my cousin. We were on our way back home, I was slowly drifting away with all the thoughts. As we were driving back home in the night, I started wondering- "How soon the day got over!".