It did not strike me till the guide at Hampi told me so.
Karnataka has three types of rocks: a) Soap Stone, b) Granite, and c) Sand Stone.
Hampi (a UNESCO World Heritage) ruins are made of Granite.
The temples of Pattadakal (a UNESCO World Heritage) and the Badami Cave temples are of Sand Stone.
The temples at Belur and Halebid are made of Soap Stones.
Follow the stones and you would have covered a considerable part of Karnataka's tourism offerings.
People travel all around the world. They have what is called the wanderlust.
I will be happy if I manage to cover, in one life time, the whole of South India - just the four states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. And I am restricting myself to only those places that fall on the tourist map. South of India is sufficiently rich to last me a life time.
Restricting myself to the south also means that I get to drive to my destination.
I depend mainly on two books for all my travels. And I would recommend this to anyone.
The first is part of the 'Outlook Traveller Getaways' series. It goes by the name 'Weekend Breaks From Bangalore'. Unfortunately the name 'Weekend Breaks From Bangalore' is misleading. Many tourists from the north and outside India may not use this book as they are more interested in a been-there kind of trip. That would be a mistake. Of all the books that I have checked at the local bookstores, this one is perhaps the best. The book dedicates at least 4-5 pages (or more) for each destination. The pages cover maps, routes, best way to get there by car, bus and train, where to stay, where to eat while traveling and at the destination, local interests and places of interest around the destination. I wish they would come up with the next edition soon. My book is getting tattered from use and the next edition would give me the excuse to buy it again.
Outlook Traveller also has dedicated travel books on Goa (I have) and Kerala (need to buy).
The second book I refer for all my trips is the India Road Atlas published by Eicher GoodEarth Publication. I hate maps that need unfolding and refolding (and in any case you can never get the folds neatly back again). The Road Atlas is a book that is of size that is little bigger than A5 and little smaller than A4 size paper - very convenient. There are two built in bookmarks that helps you navigate easily from one page to another. The map is sufficiently detailed. And even if you do not wish to travel by road, buy this Atlas. It is fun to trace roads on the map.
I dreaded the onset of monsoon. There goes my twice-a-week commuting to the office - I thought! But no I was wrong. For one, Bangalore does not have torrential rains - when it rains it pours, but more or less at definite intervals. And second, the mornings are so pleasant that one wants to cycle on and on and on. And third, light showers cool your body down and makes the ride a real fun. And fourth, the motorcyclists seems to hate light showers and tend to stay off roads during the showers making the roads that much safer.
Note: I wonder why anybody hasn't come up with a scientific explanation on the more or less 24-hour cycle of the rain patter in Bangalore.
Besides the fact that I feel healthier and all systems go, I decided to work our how much I save per year by cycling twice a week to work.
My office is 10km away from my house. The price of 1 litre Diesel is around Rs. 38 in Bangalore. I think my car does about 14 km per litre, but in Bangalore during the rush hour I will be surprised if it does anything more than 10km per litre (and that is on the hgher side!).
That means I spend arounf 2l of Diesel a day. Works out to Rs. 152 per week. That is Rs. 608 a month. That is Rs. 7296 a year.
Plus the fact that I feel good about doing my bit to save the world.
Hmmm ... I think I need to start doing this 3 times a week!!!
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