There has been a buzz about The Great Driving Challenge in blogging circles in the last few weeks. It is a competition for couples interested in driving, travel, writing and photography. The organizers like to call it “a web-based and physical reality Event.” A hundred participants are screened based on their profile, and 12 of them will be selected for final audition. Three of the twelve get to go on a 10 day drive, and the winner gets to take a million rupees home.
I have to admit that my interest in the challenge itself is peripheral. But I have been reading through a few interesting blogs and posts on the contest website, and following fellow travel blogger Charu, who has made it to the last twelve. T&S are another couple in the last 12, whose blog I read regularly.
Here is unfolding more stories of the Hoysala Kingdom, and places we visit as part of the ‘Tour of Less Known Hoysala Kingdom’ from Travel Wise. My story on Dwarasamudra, the ancient capital of the Hoysala Dynasty was published in Deccan Herald a few weeks ago. An unedited version of the same is now posted on Club Mahindra Blog.
Standing on the top of Bennegudda hill, there is something interesting to see in every direction. Spread to the north are the ruins of ancient city of Dwarasamudra and remains of its temples of stone. To the east is the famed Hoysaleshwara Temple and the large lake that attract travellers in drones from all over the world. To the south, not far from Hoysaleshwara Temple, is another complex of finely carved structures of stone that have weathered the times. Finally, to the west is an open expanse of villages and fields, with tall hills of western ghats visible in the horizon. The hills are so far away that their fading ridges seem to merge into the sky.
Read the full story on the ancient capital at clay.
Lakshmi writes in Deccan Herald about the small village of Angadi, associated with the origin of the Hoysala Dynasty. Angadi is one of the places we contemplated on including in the Hoysala Trail for ‘Travel Wise’, an initiative from Lakshmi and I. But it was way far from other locations in the itinerary, and could not be accommodated in a two-day schedule.
The idols and sculptures were kept safely, especially Chennakesava which stood in the glare of the setting sun. As the sun touched down, we sat a while on the broken pillars gazing at the strewn idols and wondering about the times when a dynasty was laying its foundation stone in a small village. It dawned on us at that very moment, that we had just walked into a historic moment.
Read Cradle of a Dynasty on Deccan Herald. The link may expire in a few days.