The Miles and The Smiles

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.