Indian Eye

Visit to the Golden Temple - Namdroling Tibetan Monastery

On the way back to Bangalore, we stopped by Bylakupe about 5 kms from Kushalnagar to visit the Namdroling Tibetan Monastery, popularly known as the Golden temple. It is also the second largest Tibetan settlement in India, and houses about 250 monks.

 We least expected the grandeur of the monastery, and it is certainly the grandest Buddhist Monastery I’ve seen! It is also well maintained, and you get a sense of Tibet as you enter the monastery, right from the arch at the entrance, to other ornate decorations and tapestries inside the monastery.

The main building houses 3 huge gold coated, 60 feet statues of the Buddha, Padmasambhava and Sakyamuni. The sight and experience is so overwhelming, and one of the highlights of the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Buddha, Coorg, Kushal Nagar, Namdroling, Tibetan Monastery

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Club Mahindra, Kodagu Valley Resort - Day 3

The day before saw Kiruba and Apurva make an early exit. Kiruba had to attend the Nokia Word Conference in Amsterdam and Apurva had to leave to Lucknow for a personal engagement. But I could feel their reluctance to part earlier, especially Kiruba, who wished he could stay back.

On day 3, we were up earlier and were ready for the next leg of our trip, the Dubare elephant camp.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: bonfire, Club Mahindra, Coorg, dance, Day 3, Dev, Dubare Elephant Camp, Elephants, Kannada, performance

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Club Mahindra, Kodagu Valley Resort - Day 2

Getting up early in the morning in the midst of nature, in beautiful Coorg is rejuvenating. Why? because you wake up to the sound of birds, the fresh sight and smell of nature, and the cool wind blow past your face. But then how do you wake up early from the lap of luxury , when you still want to catch a few winks more Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bhagamandala, Cauvery, Coorg, Kanike, Shri Bhagandeshwara, Sujyoti, Talacauvery, Temple

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Club Mahindra, Kodagu Valley Resort - Coorg

Continued from Previous Post.

Heading to my room, I was wondering how it would turn out. That concern disappeared the moment I stepped into the room. Elegant and spacious, well furnished, with wooden flooring, and the right ambient lighting, it was just the room one would want to crash into at the end of a tiring journey.

View of the room - Studio apartment

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Tags: Bloggers, Club Mahindra, Coorg, Dancers, Field Marshall Kariappa, Joy, Kodagu Valley, Kupya, Perfomers, Resort, Room, Singers, Trip

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Trip to Coorg - en route

Coorg is around 270 kms from the Bangalore airport - the most convenient assembling point for the bloggers coming in from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai. Depending on how good your transportation is and more importantly how good the roads are on that particular day, it could take anywhere between 6-8 hours to reach Coorg.

As the organiser, I arrived on the 29th of November, a day earlier to ensure that there were no last moment hiccups.

On the 30th, I informed the driver to park near the airport his Tempo Traveler, capable of carrying 15 passengers comfortably (or not so comfortably we realised later).

I had synchronized the flight schedules for the bloggers so that they would converge by 9:30-10 AM at the Bangalore airport. But as was expected, the overcongested Indian skies failed the clock once again. So the flights from Mumbai and Delhi were delayed by more than an hour. Fortunately, the Chennai flight was on time and all passengers (Kiruba, Sudhir, Shrinidhi, Dhruva) reached as scheduled. Also, the Delhi flight that was delayed by an hour also managed to scrape through, bringing in Dev and Mridula.
I was a little concerned about the Mumbai flight that was delayed and arranged for a back-up incase it got delayed further. I didn’t want to inconvenience the other bloggers who were waiting. But those concerns were put to rest, when the Mumbai flight finally arrived, and just in the nick of time because the rest of us had boarded the van. The Mumbai flight bought in Anil and his wife, and Apurva.

Dev and Dhruva in conversation

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Tags: Airport, Bangalore, Bloggers, Club Mahindra, Coorg, Flight, Kamat Lokaruchi, Travelers, Van

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