Picking your Mangoes right from the Tree!! And.. its So close to Bangalore!! Yeah!..we are not Kidding!

Every year, summer arrives and I get nostalgic about how we used to climb the trees and pick fresh mangoes or collect the ones that filled the ground post a heavy rainfall.
Being away form home for almost 10 years.. this has just become a far memory in my mind.
In Bangalore, we have to mostly do with the mangoes which are ripened by carbide or are definitely not fresh picks.


This year, we decided to do things a bit differently. During a weekend visit to one of the resorts near Devanahalli, Mik had notices a couple of mango orchards. This gave us the idea to visit the area and try out if we get lucky and are allowed to pick our own mangoes.

From the time we had spotted the orchards, we waited for about a month and half to allow for the mangoes to ripen before heading out on our mission this weekend.

The drive is wonderful with nice roads towards the Bangalore International Airport. Take the first left after the ITC factory on NH-7, International Airport Road (after Navarathna Agrahara bus stop)
The views change form here. Its gets greener and calmer. The drive and the views were so awesome that I can spent hours just driving and admiring the nature around.

The path is lined with quite a few resorts. So you can easily couple some activities in any of these resorts along with your visit to the orchard for a full day program.

 From GM Palya, it took us about an hour to reach the orchard, which is about a KM before the Windflower Resort. You have a few other orchards too, but we chose this one as it had a lot of "Totapuri" mango plants which is my Brother's a favorite.

My face immediately lightened up at the sight of the tree laden with ripe mangoes. I couldnt hold my excitement to be among them. We got down from the car and asked the caretaker of the orchard, who were also selling the fresh fruits outside the orchard, for permission to go in and pick our own fruits which we would buy.

Done with the permission, we ran inside the orchard like kids. I was so excited!! We took a few pics and spend some time walking inside the orchard (which was pretty big) before going for picking the mangoes.

Once inside, you feel transformed to a different world, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, so close to nature.. My childhood memories stormed my mind.

We spent about an hour inside the orchard, picked some mangoes and paid for them before heading back home.

You have some small restaurants once you hit the main road for lunch. We had lunch at one of them before driving back to GM Palya.

We reached home not just with bags full of mangoes, but heart filled with happiness and mind filled with wonderful memories. I definitely plan to make it an annual ritual and would also recommend you all to try out the place and let me know about your experience.

By the way, I also spotted some Guava orchards on the way back..they were not ripe yet..hmmm...so next month!!?? Yeah!! Why not!!! :D :D

Where to go this Ramadan if you are in Bangalore

A Non-Veg Paradise – Mosque road, Frazer town, Bangalore – Ramadan 2016

During the holy month of Ramadan, the Mosque road in Bangalore’s Frazer town gets converted into a paradise for non-veg lovers with varieties of kebabs, Haleem, and other chicken, mutton and beef delicacies.

For this year, however, a lot of temporary stalls did not get permissions from the government for issues related to traffic hindrance and problems caused to local residents due to the huge crowd and stalls set up by the streets.

This, though restricted the number of stall, did not take away the experience. You still get the same spread of delicious food and desserts in stalls created as part of the extensions of the permanent restaurants of the area.

The varieties of dishes in the stalls

Pathar Gosht was something new for me. Mutton cooked on stone heated by fire underneath

We were super excited seeing the spread of food and were wishing we had an addition stomach just for such days ..haha :D

Out first stop was to taste the world famous Haleem, a slow cooked, paste like mutton dish, and Kurbani-ka-meetha.

Haleem

We also tried some kebabs and chicken chap which was hot and yummy- definitely on my list of recommended dishes to try. 

For dinner, we tried out the Karama restaurant there. Do try this out if you are in the area. The food was good and the prices were pretty budget friendly. In Karama, we opted to have our dinner in the traditional way of sitting on the floor. It was a nice experience J

The interior and the decor was pretty impressive

The Menu reminded me of my thick science books form school :D :D 

The traditional way of sitting on floor and eating

We visited on a Sunday and the streets were crowded even post-midnight. We ended the food marathon with some yummy smoothies and lassi-es. Trust me, every morsel was worth the money and full of flavors to die for.

If in Bangalore, do visit mosque road this Ramadan to enjoy the awesome Ramadan food feast!! 

A day trip from Bangalore to Lepakshi

20th March 2016

Lepakshi is a small village in Mandal, in the Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Lepakshi is culturally and archaeologically significant as it is the location of shrines dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Veerabhadra which were built during the Vijayanagara Kings' period (1336–1646). The temples are the location of mural paintings of the Vijayanagar kings and Kannada inscriptions. Near the temple complex is a large granite Nandi bull.

Bangalore to Lepakshi can be your option for an unplanned one day trip on any of the Saturdays or Sundays that you are feeling bored and not sure what to day. Our’s however was a planned trip which we have been postponing for a couple of months. However, we decided to make it as our first trip as soon as we get our car and there we go.. just 4 days after we gor our car home!! J J. We also looped in 2 of our friends Poulami (Polo) and Dipanjan (D1) for the trip.

Our trip started from G M palya at around 9 am on Sunday morning, 20^th March 2016. Mik was on the wheels. We drove towards Hebbal and crossed the airport toll post within an hour from our journey. A few Kms from the airport we took a break for breakfast at Sri Krishna Grand Restaurant. 

After breakfast, which was for about an hour, we got into the car and commenced our journey. The roads were excellent and so were the views on either side. 

You can find a lot of grape orchards on either side of the road and seeing the grapes hanging on the vines tempts you stop the car immediately and run to them. We however did not do this this time as it was getting quite sunny and hot and we wanted to reach Lepakshi soon.

The road is beautifully maintained and a pleasure to drive on.

After about an hour’s drive, we had to take a left right after the Andhra check post at Kodikonda for Lepakshi. The entrance is marked by a small Nandi status. This will help you not to miss the turn.

I was expecting the road to be not that great once we get off the highway. However, to my surprise, the roads were good!

After driving a few kms we could see the huge monolithic Nandi statue on our right. We hopped out of the car..oouch..its too sunny.. Polo was smart to carry an umbrella ;-). 

The statue is located in a small park which also has a lotus pond Request people please do not litter in the pond. Spoils the beauty completely. We took quite a few snaps here and relaxed a bit under the shady trees. 

We also got to meet a gang of very energetic and super smart kids from an NGO. We took quite a few pics with them and one of them also scared us with an artificial snake!! It was awesome interacting with them and feels really happy at the great work the NGO was doing for the kids.

The Veerabhadra temple is about 500 meters from the Nandi statue. Need to take a left after a couple of hundred meters from the statue. The lane to the temple is marked by small shops selling coconuts for puja, snacks, coconut water

We went up the steps of the temple, Oh! You may be greeted by monkeys here, so keep your belongings carefully J

The temple was as beautiful as we had seen in the pictures. The rock cravings were exceptional. Look you and you can see the beautiful mural paintings. I really wish Archaeological Society of India does something to restore these masterpieces.

The temple is vast. It was really sunny that day and the cool inside the temple was definitely a welcome change. We also spent some time in the garden surrounding the temple under the shades of the tree.

We went around the temple admiring its beauty and marvelous art and clicking loads of pictures J.While taking the snaps I felt that this can be an ideal photoshoot destination for any couple.

We left from the temple after about 2 hours. Before heading back to the car, we decided to have tender coconut outside the temple. Right decision ..haha :D 

The drive back was mostly uneventful except for trying to keep a constant watch outside so that we do not miss the Paratha house where had planned to have lunch (a late one though).

On our way back we witnessed an unfortunate accident which was supposedly caused due to over-speeding. It’s my sincere request to all that please do not over-speed and risk your life just for a completely uncalled for and unwanted adrenaline rush. There are many adventure sports that can be tried instead.

We reached Paratha house around 3.30 and gorged on the yummy parathas and Lassi. Polo found a family of four super cute puppies with their mother and played with them for a while. I admit being really scared of dogs and stood far just clicking the pics J.But I must admit they were really cute.

We reached Bangalore and by the time we reach near Bayapanahalli the sun was about to set. We reached home around 6.30 and called it a day a couple of hours later.

It was a wonderful day trip J. Came back feeling proud once again of the great artistic and cultural richness of our country.

Our KUV100 ...our partner in crime ;-)

Mik captured me capturing the beauty of LepakshiJ

Travelling the miles..engraving the memory with smiles..

Travel enriches our mind and soul in many ways. Travelling can change you forever. You not only discover new places but also discover the new you. Not to forget, you also get to taste the best of local cuisines!  I LOVE to travel. I can spend a lifetime going places and doings things and I know that it still would not be enough.

My papa is an avid traveler..I think that’s where I got the travelling genes from. My best buddy and now husband on the other hand does not have much travelling experience.. but do has what one needs..the thirst to travel.. to explore and the adrenaline for adventure. We together make the perfect travel companion.. but things just got better with the addition of a third member. Our Mahindra KUV100 !!!

We welcomed the new member on 16^th March 2016, but the travel plans with it has been flooding our mind even before we booked it in Jan. Our car…our FIRST car unleashed the hidden roadies in us and we were excited beyond limits that we are now free to explore the roads to all the beautiful places in India without any worry about ticket bookings!!! Plus the ethereal happiness and satisfaction you get when you have the control over the places you go, how you go and when you go..at you own pace. The limitless possibilities to explore when you have the charge of the wheels. Other means of travel have their own advantages, but I love to drive to my place, not demeaning anyone's choice here..do not read me wrong here please.

As we embark on the new roads of discovery and adventure, we would like to share our travel story with you.. with the hope of being able to spread the joy of travelling and inspire some more hidden travel addicts to hit on their dream trips.

Vamos rollo!!! Let’s Roll!!