Channapatna - The Land of Toys

Couple of months passed in 2014 and thanks to my laziness & procrastination I still have a backlog of travel posts to update. Channapatna was the first among them which happened way back in August 2013. It has been in the todo list for quiet some time. After going thru the usual workflow of reading blogs, browsing photos, gathering friends the date got finalized. As usual it was a delayed start around 8 AM but the weather was very kind on us. Bangalore weather when at its best can even make the office ride enjoyable. It was one such day and that combined with the awesomeness of the NICE road, the experience was pure bliss. No one was in a mood to rush and even the fastest bike was clocking at 20 Km/h.

NICE road has always been nice

We stopped at for breakfast around 10 somewhere past NICE road and had idly vada sambar. One of the spiciest sambars I ve ever had, ending the course with a cup of coffee. Finally sun woke up around 11 and we had no choice but to speed up the ride and reached the temple around 11.30.

Navaneetha Krishna Temple

The Navneetha Krishna temple features the childhood version of krishna in his crawling posture. The belief associated with Navaneetha Krishna Temple is that worshipping here will eliminate "Putra dosham". We also happened to witness the ritual of people donating coconuts/rice and other stuffs in weights equal to their kids. There is a huge weight balance, and they donations are weighted equalled to the weight of the kid.

Navaneetha Krishna a.k.a Kulanthai Krishna

Soon before the thought of where to have lunch arose, the iyer announced that there will be a anna thaanam today. Lucky indeed. We happily ate the served Besi bellabath and curd rice accompanied by potato chips.

We were done by 2 and since Channapatna is famous for handmade toys, we set out to buy some souvenirs. Since I wanted to shoot some landscape, myself and few others rode to kanva reservoir while others were busy exploring the toy shops. The cloud play at the Kanva reservoir was quiet dramatic and I managed to click few HDR shots and as usual failed portrait attempts of Jai & Puhal.

Surreal dreams at Kanva Reservoir

While we were busy shooting, the other group managed to find a wholesale manufacturer who built toys in his house. It was a kind gesture from him to greet them with coffee and also explained his business. The bulk purchase was complete and meanwhile we too were done with kanva reservoir, as planned we met at the Kengal Anjeneya temple which is on the junction of Kanva reservoir entry. It was a festival day and the temple was obviously over crowded. We had a quick glimpse of Anjaneya and set out on the final lap of our ride.

Kengal Anjenaya Temple

The return journey was equally pleasant till we reached bangalore by 5.30 at Banngerghetta road. Crossing Banngerghetta road during peak hours is a challenge in itself. Adding to the challenge is an bus breakdown which made traffic move like a tortoise. After putting all the driving skills to test, performing matrix stunts in the non moving traffic we managed to reach home by 7.30. A day well spent.