TravelingBeats

Distance: Around 45 km from Bangalore City, 22 km from Mysore road and 14 km from Dodda Alada Mara or Big Banyan Tree.

Journey Time: 60 – 90 minutes if no traffic

How to reach there: If you are travelling from Bangalore, on Mysore road take the right turn besides Rajarajeshwari Dental College. Drive past Dodda Alada Mara. On the way you will find ISRO’s Moon Misson Control room at Byalu village. You will reach a junction ( Chikkappa Circle), take left and keep riding. After ISRO centre the road is bad for few KMs. Keep driving and then suddenly you will see water surrounded by small hills. Yes, you have reached your destination. Keep driving and then take right trun where it is written “Camp 1.5 km). This road will take you to the ground zero of Manchanabele dam backwaters.

Route: Bangalore – Mysore road – Dodda Alada Mara – Bayalu Village – Manchanabele dam

Where to eat: There used to be one Dhaba, not sure if it is still there.

Where to stay: No place to stay there.

Language Spoken: kannada, however Hindi or English is understood to an extent.

Manchanabele dam

Manchanabele dam is small artificial dam erected by the government of Karnataka on river Arkavati for irrigation and drinking water in the village of Manchanabele. The dam is insignificant in terms of structure or architecture. But the beauty is in the backwaters it has created surrounded by stone structed rugged hills. This is very good for family picnic, friends outing or couples. If you are going there in the day then do take tent or large umbrella to escape the sun. One can go do various activities here – starting from bird watching, hiking, rock climbing, boating, photography or spend time in leisure. The sun set is awesome there.

Let me give a brief idea behind the trip.

Today afternoon around 2.30 pm me and my friend Deepak left for Manchanabele dam as per earlier Schedule. It was a 2 for a tango on a bike! We took the route Corporation – Mysore road flyover and soon we were on Mysore road. As we both were hungry, we decided to have food one of the many dhabas there. We expected delicious food at economic prices. We landed at Sankranthi Family Restaurant as the place looked pretty cool with huts. Here neither the price was economic nor the food was good. So the bottom line, you may avoid this place without any thought. Typically dhabas are good after Bidadi or around Mandya. Following this we rode for our destination. After, we were on the Dodda Alada Mara road, we were stopping often to take pictures. On the way you can find many farm and nurseries. After Big Banyan Tree one can find Devnagari Tapovan which teaches yoga and meditation. We continued riding enjoying the mystic rugged stone hills. Then came the ISRO Moon Mission control room at Bayalu village. We shot the two large radio antenas and a nice building. I have read about that in newspaper but dint thought that I will see it so soon. From here started a few kilometer of bad road and spray of free powder. But after sometime the road was good again but narrow. We kept asking the viillagers to make sure we are on the right track. We reached Manchanabele dam around 4.30 pm. Near the backwaters one country road goes below kissing the backwaters, we took that road and went to the shore of the backwaters. We had a nice photo session. Its a good picnic spot and looks like many people come here. But the bad part is people dumb eatables and wastages on the shore and water. The government may try to develop this place as a tourism spot. We boarded on our bike and rode little towards the hinterland but we were not sure if we had enough petrol. So decided to get back. The comming back was smooth and we reached Dodda Alada Mara in 20 minutes. We gave a brief stop there as Deepak did not see it. Here, a clever monkey snatched our Sprite bottle and was drinking in style. Just see how!

Following this we rode back and hit Mysore road by 6.20 pm. From then it was a battery of traffic. However, on the way we took a picture of a nice lake and park. Traffic took its tool on time on Mysore road and by the time we reached home it was over 8 pm.

Main meditation hall – Vishalakshi Mantap

Address:

The Art of Living
Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth
21st km, Kanakapura road,
Bangalore south – 560082
Email: ashraminfo@artofliving.org, ashramcourses@gmail.com
Website: www.vvmvp.org, www.artofliving.org

Distance: Around 36 km from Bangalore city center

Journey time: By bus 45 – 60 minutes depending on traffic, private vehicles can reach earlier

How to reach there: Regular BMTC buses ply on Kanakapura road from Market, Majestic and Banashankari. It is advisable to go to Banashankari bus stand where frequency of bus is higher. Bus # 211P, N, 212 – 214.

Stay: If you take up any course, you can stay there.

Food: Lunch is provided to visitors free of cost

View from Sumeru

The Art of Living foundation was founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar a spiritual guru in his endevour for stress free, violence free and peaceful world. There are numerous centers Art of Living centers in India and around the world which offers courses in Yoga, rejuvination etc. Today I will talk about the Art of Living international center located in Bangalore. The campus spread over 65 acres is built to suck stress out of you. After the entrance to the ashram on the left had side you can see a little bit of wildlife with two elephants The buildings built to co-exist with the natural habitat on the Panchagiri Hills will in itself make you feel good about you. The main meditation hall which resembles a lotus cen be visited if no courses are going on then or after 6 pm. One can climp to the top floor and have a bird’s eye view from there.  Photography is not allowed without permission inside. Just opposite to the meditation hall, there is information center and the gallery where many conventions take place.

View of the lake

Behind the meditation hall if you walk down the bridge, you can find many hostels where people stay and the dinning hall where food is served. Volunteers serve food and one should wash their own plates. The campus is nicely planned architechture. At the starting of the bridge if you take left and keep walking along the hill side, you will reach Sumeru. It is like a mantap or like a view point. It is atop a hill and one can climb to the first floor of the structure to get an awesome view of the surrounding country side. It is very peaceful here and one can just sit here to be with oneself, read a book, think about plans or just take a quick nap.

Besides Sumeru there is a library featuring vedic literaures etc. One can also find uniquely built quarters for people who work there. From many locations the lake is visible alongside the garden Vrindavan. For tea – coffee or some lighter food, you can visit the cafeteria at the entrence. Also, you can check the counter which sells organic fruits and vegitables. Also, you can have fruit juice there. You can also do little bit of shopping at the stores located there.

One should be there to experience it! To take a virtual tour, click here.

Evening congregation at the gallery

If you are interested in staying here, I suggest you to enroll for a Weekend Yoga Retreat which includes:

1. 2 day stay at the campus

2. Joyful yoga sessions

3. Pranayama

4. Meditation

5. Ayurvedic consultation

6. Ayurvedic Massage, full filled stress busting activities

For more info call: 9916399464, 080 – 32922160
Email: info@srisriyoga.in

Also, you can check one of their sister concern:

Vyakti Vikas kendra
#19, 39th A cross, 11th Main,
4th T block, Jayanagar,
Bangalore – 560041

They also conduct Ayurvedic cooking course featuring:

1. Info on Ayurveda
2. How to deal with health problems through food
3. Practical demonstrations of correct food preparation techniques
4. Diet plan according to body constitution
5. Recipie and home remedies
6. Duration: 6 days ( 2 hrs every day)

For more info contact: 09916035018
email: ayurvediccooking@vvmvp.org