Kadur temple

December 29th
Chikkajajur- A small village near Davanagere

After a long 6 hrs drive we reached our uncles place. Freshened up there and left to visit our Coconut farm.

After taking a look at our trees, we visited my father-in-laws burial place. On our way I had to prepare my daughter to bow to her grandpa. All the while my mum-in-law kept thinking on what to tell my daughter. So
I told her, tata(grandpa) has gone to shami(god).
Daughter asked "why is he with shami".
I said...he was old just like ajjajjja (my grandfather- who died at the age of 90 a few months back)...so God said that he will take care of him and took him.
So daughter said, but tata was not old know (the photo we have at home, he doesn’t look old).
So I had to actually convince her that he got old but we did not take his latest snap so we don’t have one.
The thoughts which my daughter had were good enough to bring back a nice smile on my mum-in-laws face.
After paying respects to my father-in-law we left for Kadur temple. That night was very pleasant. Our cousins had organized for some program for the children and the elders which went on till 12.00A.M. After all the hungama, the crowd was in the bed by 1.00A.M.

December 30, 2007

Kadur’s Eswara temple, near Chikkajajur

Otherwise a quiet place, that day it was jam packed with people all over. It was the day for “kenda” a festivity in which selected devotees walk across glowing charcoal.
Previous night we slept over at the temple itself. Morning was pleasant, we got to see the sun rise. All of us freshened up and moved towards the main temple area. Rudrabhishekha was about to begin. All of us seated ourselves inside the temple the rituals began. The poojas went on for close to 1 ½ hrs. So our legs went numb by the time we were allowed to get up! Curtains were pulled immediately after rudrabhishekha, to dress the Lord. When the curtains opened The Lord looked beautiful…the bells started ringing, eyes closed, hands came together, the aarti lamp was brought out…and I got goose bumps. After the aarti & tirtha, all of us came out of the temple to take part in Kenda. One of the village elders lit fire to the woodstack which was kept. The God used for festivities was brought on a palanquin by 6-7 people. They walked on the charcoal with the God. The moment the God was being brought back, all of us seated ourselves on the ground in a row so that the palanquin passed over our heads- a way to get blessed. These 6-7 people walked on the charcoal 6 times. With lunch being served to all who were present there, the kenda came to an end.

Lord Eswara during Rudrabhishekha

View from the temple

My princess with the village crowd :-)

all in a row

Walking over Kenda

Veg Chinese Restaurant!!

Lou Han- A Veg Chinese Restaurant in HSR Layout 1st Sector
January 04, 2008
A veg chinese restaurant hadn't heard of that one. Got curious and checked with the guy who was taking our order. Turned out that he owned the place. He explained that the concept was new here and in China. A lot of people were turning veggie there, he informed. A chinese born and brought up in India he came across as a really nice guy. It did not take too long for the Manchow and Sweet corn soup to be served. One question remained. What is the meaning of Lou Han. The joke was "lets go to the loo haan ?". He explained - it has two meanings, 1. one of the 18 disciples of Buddha and 2. a dish in China made of 18 vegetables.

Overall, the food was tasty, nice soft Chinese music playing in the background...and to put a even bigger smile on our face, the charges were highly reasonable. For some of my friends who love less crowded place and good chinese food, this would be just the right spot.
Note: Everything these was priced between Rs.50-80. Interesting right :-)

Here is the stuff picked up on the net - Lohans are well-known for their great wisdom, courage and supernatural power. Due to their abilities to ward off the evil, Lohans have became guardian angels of the Buddhist temple and there in the main hall standing guard are the ever-present, indomitable-looking 18 Lohan figures, sometimes accompanied by 500 or more lesser Lohans.
According to tradition, there were originally only 16 lohans. Two were added on the list by the Chinese in the Tang Dynasty.
Legend has it that the first portraits of the 18 Lohans were painted by a Buddhist monk Guan Xiu, in 891 A.D. Guan Xiu lived in Chengdu, the capital of a small kingdom, the Former Shu, formed at the decline of the Tang Dynasty in what is today's Sichuan Province. He was adept at the scholarly pursuits of painting, calligraphy and poetry.

Birthday@Janapadaloka

October 13(mum-in-laws Bday)- 14th(mum's Bday)

My mum-in-law celebrated her 60th Birthday on October 13th. Since we didn’t really know what should be done for “Shashtipoorti”, we decided to get Pooja’s done for our home God. Early that morning, we were at the Ganesha temple in Koramangala (known as the Software Ganesha). Got Rudrabhisheka for Lord Shiva, and Poojas done to Lord Ganesha, Lord Subramanya & Goddess Parvathi. After all the Pooja’s were over, we took my mum-in-law’s blessings and headed straight for lunch with closest of our family members.

This Birthday was meant to be remembered, so we continued with the celebration on the next day as well. The plan was to spend time and let her enjoy the moments with her family (brothers, sisters & their family). This day was special for us coz it happened to be my mum’s Birthday. A special gift to both the mothers.

amma & mummy(mum-in-law)- the active participants :-)

We had booked a small mini bus which could accommodate 21 of us. The trip was towards Mysore road…Kamat Yatrinivas & Janapada Loka, about 50+ kms from Bangalore. The lunch was to happen at Kamat. All our relatives were picked up on the way and by the time we reached the place, it was 12.00P.M. so we headed straight for lunch. Starters: Fresh Sugarcane juice. Followed by rotti yele oota. Those who want to taste North Karnataka food should go here…Jola roti was just amazing…hot, served with butter, badnekai yengai (Brinjal curry), kaalu playa(gram curry)…then the remaining items were the same as any South Indian meal…Rice, Rasam, Curd, papad…I belted on 5 rotis..cant believe it myself. How did I manage to finish it!
The making of those rotis was a good sight to see. Two tall & long benches placed opposite each other. In the middle was the gas with tava. One side there were ladies who were constantly beating the dough in the shape of chapatti/ roti and putting it on the tava and the other side of the bench were men who were roasting the roti and keeping it aside to be served to us. The pace at which the rotis were getting made, this team could have been sent for Guinness book of world records :-)

After our meal, we went to Janapada Loka-JL which was next doors. We were welcomed by the geese there. It was quite a long walk inside JL. First we visited the museum which had all the pics of the Tribes of Karnataka, display of their clothing. Next was an ancient Ganesha temple. Then came the display of folk lore & cultures of Karnataka and some of the remains of dynasties in Karnataka. After all the walking, most of the elders were too tired to walk further. So they took their place under the shade of a huge tree. And we youngsters moved towards a lake which had boating facility. There was only one option there, the paddle boat. So five of us climbed in for a 15min ride. After which all of us proceeded to the Amphitheatre usually used for some folk shows which take place there. The kids gave us good entertainment by singing some songs & jumping around. It was 4.00P.M. by the time we decided to exit. All of us had a cup of coffee/ tea and jumped into our bus.

the maharatha used during festivals.

the boating

at the exit

the ganesha temple

We thought that the crowd would be tired, but then one of our cousins recommended that we visit the Mukti Naga temple near Ramohalli on our way back. The approach road to this place was bad and after reaching we noticed that there was some construction work happening at the temple. The steps to walk up to the temple were pieces of wood put together. Before we went to see Lord Naga, we stepped in to pray at Shri Kaaryasiddhi Vinayaka Temple which was at the entrance. Luckily we were on time for the Aarati for Lord Naga- 16ft tall! This is the biggest Naga idol I have ever seen! Very near to the main temple there was another old temple which had carvings of naga all over, went in there and saw a beautiful small Stone idol of Naga again. Outside this temple we saw lots of small stones piled up, like building blocks. That’s when our close aunt & uncle mentioned that those who have wished for a house for themselves build a stone block in front the temple and ask the lord to bless them with a house. Nice and easy way to build a house I thought :-) After everyone of us had finished visiting the temple, we decided to call it a day.
To make this day a success was a great thing to happen.
Special mention: My husband & I earned a lot of brownie points for organizing this…shy shy

Sorry we didnt take pics at Mukti Naga!! Forgot the camera in the bus!