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Museums of Bangalore: Indian Musical Experience

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Watch the video here:  https://youtu.be/xuSdTK4XeoI Overview: I thought Bangalore just had 2-3 museums which are well known until a few years ago, but a little research opened up my thoughts as I discovered several museums within the city. I have decided to visit all the museums in the city and document those.  The first one on the list is the Indian Musical Experience in JP Nagar 7th phase. This beautiful museum is dedicated to the evolution and science behind different forms of music from traditional to contemporary.  As we enter the museum, in the inner courtyard, we can see a sound garden, where we can learn about the sounds created from natural things like wood, stones, and metals. We can try our hand in generating music as well. This area is well enjoyed by both adults and children. We then get inside the museum and the experience starts from the 3rd floor, where we are shown a small animated movie with different types of sound created by nature. From there we enter an interacti

Bangalore-Shimoga trip-1

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Video Link:  https://youtu.be/Xcb6OKKA2e4 Overview: We had to attend a wedding in Hosahalli (Shimoga) in March 2021 so we thought of visiting a few places around Shimoga which we hadn't seen before. We started from Bangalore on Saturday early morning at around 6:15am and stopped for breakfast near Dabaspet. We had light breakfast and headed towards our first destination, Baggavalli, which was still around 200kms away. The drive via Hiriyur - Ajjampur was very scenic with good roads and we were surprised to see greenery even during the summer months. We reached Baggavalli at around 11:30am and were happy to see a Hoysala temple after a long time. This is a 13th century temple and dedicated to Sri Narasimhaswamy. Unfortunately, the temple was closed when we went there and the priest had gone to a nearby village. We were impressed to see most of the carvings still intact on the outer walls of the temple, and being a Vaishnava temple, we could see Dashavatara carved at multiple places

Sompalyam: Hidden treasure in Andhra Pradesh

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Overview: Sompalyam is around 160km from Bangalore and is in Chittoor District of AP. This temple can be reached from Bangalore via Hosakote - Chintamani - Kothakota. We left at 4am so we could reach there by 7:30am.  The first striking feature of this temple is the 52 feet high ornamental Dhwajastambha, highlighting of the brilliance of the Vijayanagara rulers.  The outer mantapa pays tribute to the female and male warriors who played a role in protecting the empire. There is a huge Uyyale mantapa also, similar to the King's Balance in Hampi. As we enter the temple through the main Gopuram, the first sight which captures our eyes is the stone chariot carved out of granite. Yes, you heard it right. The stone chariot which can be seen in Hampi and Tadipatri, can also be seen here, though smaller in size. The ceiling of the temple is decorated with colourful murals, depicting the scenes from Ramayana.  The Kalyana Mantapa is exquisitely carved out of black soapstone and has captured

Chennapatna & around: The land of Toys

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Overview: I hadn't visited Chennapatna solely for the purpose of buying the locally made toys. This time we thought of exploring the local shops for some wooden craft shopping.  As usual we clubbed a few other places so that we can have a half day trip from Bangalore. Around 60km from Bangalore is the Sanjeevaraya Anjaneya temple at  Devarahosahalli , located not very far from the Kanva Dam. This whole area is known as the Kanva Kshetra. According to the priest, when Vyasaraya was meditating near the Kanva river, he heard an Omkar sound emerging near the place where the temple now stands. He came close to this place and then installed the Anjaneya image and hence people started worshipping it. It is believed that people with ailments come to this temple to seek blessings of Anjaneya to be cured of their illness. There is a small lake near the temple and some monkeys were also seen playing on the tree top. Sanjeevaraya Anjaneya Temple Sanjeevaraya Anjaneya Temple Devarahosahalli Lak