Musafir

When i started researching for this trip, i never imagined it to be as satisfying as it turned out to be. It was a meticulous and thorough research for fifteen days. It was also very memorable as this was my last trip while i was residing in Bangalore and was soon to come back to Hyderabad. I could find very little information about the places in this district. There are some places where lot of people visit, but that was not enough. I wanted to explore. I could get some information from the district website and some from other blogs. Apart from the pictures of the main tourist areas, all i got were names of villages and some pictures. I neither had a route map with me nor any information on the mode of transport.

Then my colleague Praveen came to my rescue. He is from Hassan and the first thing he did when i asked for help is asking his dad to book an accommodation. The second thing is hire a vehicle for me. That proved to be the best help i could get and because of which, i could complete by trip with utmost success. I would like to thank him for all the help he and his father had extended. I booked all the tickets and what i find, there was going to be government backed strike on the return date of my journey. I somehow went forward with the journey knowing very well that there could a problem while returning.

I reached Hassan at around 4 AM and hired an auto rickshaw to proceed to my stay. What a wonderful place it was. Very Comfortable and at a less price. I thanked my friend in my heart before going to bed as i still had some time. I spoke to the cab driver a day before and so he turned up at the hotel at the stipulated time. He knew very well about the district and he promised that he would take me to all places possible. We then had a heavy breakfast and then started off.

We will talk a little about the Hassan District before we embark on our momentous journey. Hassan is a picturesque town with a pleasant climate. It is about 180 KM from Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. Hassan District was under the reign  of  Mouryas  of  North India in the  3rd BC  and   later kingdoms of Kadambas, Chalukyas, Gangas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagar empire. The Hoysalas (1000 - 1334 A.D) brought world wide acclaim to the district through their unique style of Temple Architecture. Hassan also has the proud privilege of housing the Master Control Facility of the INSAT (Indian National Satellite System) series of the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization).

This trip had come to be my most satisfying experience till date because of the fact that i could visit places where most of the tourists simply ignore. I had explored most of the Hassan District going to small villages and exploring the temples over there. This series is just a small and sincere attempt to show the Hoysala architecture in its true sense.