Ten must see places before you get married...

If you came to this blog expecting that i am going to write

about some must see erotic places that you have to visit before getting married, then sorry to disappoint you folks.

Actually name of this blog should have been "Ten must see places before you Die". But i changed it. Anyhow both sentences mean the same. Marriage is also like death. Death of freedom, individuality, more than anything Death of your independence to take your own decisions. I think i am moving away from topic. I thought of writing about good travel destinations and ended up giving reasons not to marry.

Before i start my list, few things i need to mention. Only places i have visited personally will be in this list as i don't want to add or remove some place on the basis of some review i read about that place in net. Second thing is I have not traveled above nasik( Nasik is a place in Maharashtra where according to ramayana, Mr. Lakshmana chopped off Surphanaka's Nose ) towards north, so all places will be from south India.

10. Sand Beach of Pondichery : There is nothing special or unique about this place. Its just a small island where we have to reach by a boat. Nice Beach ( I don't like east coach beaches though..) I have spent some good time here with some good people. That's Enough to get a Number 10 position for this island in Pondichery.

9. Agumbe Ghats : I had been to this place so many times. I used to go to sringeri from udupi every Friday in a Royal Enfield. Riding a Royal Enfield in 13 hair pin bends of Agumbe is an awesome experience. I had been to this place so many times and have seen this in all climatic conditions. Nothing can beat the beautiful view we will get in Agumbe in rainy days. Did i tell you that agumbe records the second highest rainfall in India. If you are a fan of shankar nag's Malgudi Days then you must also know that shankar nag shot the whole malgudi series in Agumbe. ( Additional information - Malgudi does not exist - R K Narayanan just combined his two favorite areas to get this name. Malleswaram and Basavanagudi).

8. Jaganmohana Aramane( Art Gallery) in Mysore: I had been here only couple of times even after staying in mysore for four years. Its an Art gallery and is mostly filled with all the weapons and music instruments which were used by Mysore Maharaja and British people. But there is something else which is very special. Paintings from Raja Raviverma. Raja Raviverma is a guy who gave new dimension to Indian painting. I read somewhere that Raviverma was the one who has given face to numerous god and goddess of Hindu religion through his paintings. Till the time of Raviverma Indians saw god only in statues. But He showed god to people by painting god on a canvas. I like two of his paintings very much. A painting where raja shantanu is asking satyawati, daughter of a fisherman to marry( This one is from Mahabharata). Raviverma was able to bring out the right expressions on face of shantanu, beautiful satyavati and her father. Other one is the most popular one. Lady holding a Deepa in her hand. I am eagerly waiting for this movie "Rang Rasiya" which is based on this great painter ( I accept there are other interesting things in Rang Rasiya as well..).

7. Green Route - This is the railway route from Sakleshpur to Subramanya in western ghats. There are numerous number of tunnels and bridges that we have to pass by. My initial memory of this place is when i was a kid and i used to wait for tunnels and bridges while traveling from mangalore to tumkur in train. Then they stopped Train in this route for gauge conversion in 1991. After that it became a trekking route. It is a 40km route, just walking next to railway tracks in middle of western ghats. You will have to pass through long tunnels ( Some are up to 800 m long) and very high bridges. Need to be very careful while crossing bridges (I have read about many people who died during trek in this route) A very different and challenging experience all together.

6. Brihadeshwara and Meenakshi temples of Tanjavur and Madurai - First thing that i can notice about these temples is that they are huge. There is no place for things which are small. Starting from the total area of temple to size of statues, everything is huge. But there is no fine carvings that we can see in belur. All statues are plain with very simple carvings. In Brihadeshwara ( Brihath + Eshwara = Huge God) we can also so see a big nandi ( Third biggest nandi in India.) Meenakshi temple is so big that you will get lost. You will enter temple from one side of town and come out from the other side of town and start searching for your vehicle. Then off course you have to take a bus to reach the entrance to get to your parked vehicle. One good thing about these temples are in a single temple complex you will get all gods and goddess statues. You can choose any of god and start worshiping. Tamils are the most spiritual people i have ever seen. Still they are ruled by DMK.( DMK policy is not to believe in any god)

6. Ajantha and Ellora: I had been here many years back. So I don't remember this place much. But still i can remember the series of dark caves and beautiful paintings inside that( these paintings are fading now.. so better visit before it is completely gone). Actually these caves were unknown to civilized world till some English officer found them behind bushes in middle of jungle. Beautiful statues of Buddha, paintings inside dark caves( they used colors made from plants) and some interesting construction in Elora are main attractions. People used to find treasure when they dig up this region (That means it was a very rich place in history). Definitely a Must see for people who like visiting historical places.

4. Belur and Halebidu: Two temples built in Hoysala regime of Vishnuvardhana ( There is a third one in somanathapura). It took them 103 years to build this temple. One of the finest piece of art is here. First half of the temple is devoted for god with most of the god statues in front. Rest of the temple is filled with ShilaBalikas. You must hire a guide to know the story behind each stone. Most of Shilabalikas are in very bad state ( All good shilabalikas are in London Museum for Art). But we must really appreciate those fine carvings ( Both sculptor and his model.. :)). My favorite in Belur is a big statue of Ugra Narasimha. They used to carve miniature statues before carving big ones. We can see all miniature statues as well. Definitely a Must see place.

3. Mulayangiri : I did not believe it when i heard that karnataka's highest peak MulayanaGiri has road till the top. It takes couple of hours of trek to reach Tadiyandamol( Highest point in Coorg). But here to reach top there is no trek. Just sit in a vehicle and have a ride. There is no match to the scenic beauty of MulayanaGiri. You have to just be there to experience it. Chickmaglur to tarikeri covering mulayangiri, babanudangiri, hebbe falls, kalahatti falls and Kemmangundi, will be a ride to remember. Even though distance is just 70km and road is pretty bad but scenic beauty we will get to see hear makes us to forget all other things. Definetly Number One in my list.

2. Beaches of Goa : If you are planning for a lousy holiday with lots of leisure, relaxation and less travel, then this is your holiday destination. Hiring a two wheeler and racing in roads of Goa is a must. This place is so different from rest of India. Speciality of this place is that you will feel like a alien here( i love that feeling..). When i say different i am not talking about culture, life style or the way they live, I speak of the difference in mindset of people. People here are so liberal. They welcome all cultures and appreciate them very well. Your nation or caste will not affect the way you live in here. That's the reason it draws such a huge amount of foreign tourists. Two wheeler ride in old roads of Goa which runs in between coconut fields, Relaxing in beaches and night ride in boat are must.

1. Rameshwaram : This is the place where rama started to build a bridge to lanka ( Actual place is dhanushkodi, couple of miles away from city ). There is a temple in place where rama did a pooja of linga and then there is sea. This is a small island completely filled with proofs of Rama's adventure (i am not sure how true are those..).

It was dark and i was standing on the sands of rameshwara with hundreads of others in early hours, to get first glimpse of rising sun. I was holding something which i will let go on that day( thats jus a ritual.. somethings we can never let go.. does not matter how hard you try). That was a very spiritual moment. Thousands of thoughts from past running in my mind. Felt like sitting there and start crying ( No one would have noticed that.. people were so busy there). It was one of very few moments in my life that made me go weak emotionally. Standing in front of ocean i realised i am so small. I am just a tiny piece of dust in front of this huge life. But as they say each guy is a hero in his own life.

I dont know whether hanuman really dropped a linga that he bought from shiva or rama really did a pooja here. But this is a very spiritual place. We can take bath in ocean and then have bath in some 30 odd wells. Then we have to proceed to see linga worshipped by rama and one more linga bought by hanuman from kailasa.We can also do some shopping of shankas and some decorative items made of sea shells.

So this is my list of must see places in south india. I just hope that you will visit all these places before you get married :) .