Shiva Trilogy - Amish Tripathi

I heard a lot of praise for the Shiva Trilogy and finally decided to buy the books and send them to my book filter ( My grandfather whom i fondly call Dada). I was sure that if Dada will like the books then so will I. as expected, he told me that the story is quite interesting and he loved reading the books. So then I decided to read the trilogy consisting of 3 books..... The Immortals of Melhua , Secret of the Nagas and the Oath of Vayuputras. I absolutely loved all the 3 books.

The story is about Shiva, Lord Shiva that is, based on the assumption that he existed on earth long long time ago. The story is about Sati, who supports shiva unconditionally. The story is also about Daksh who is in love with only his ego and will go to any lengths to keep it intact. The story is mainly about Somras, the divine drink of gods. Story starts in Mount Kailash, Tibet where the main protagonist of the series, Shiva stays with his tribe. How Shiva becomes the Neelkanth and how he finds out the Somras is bad and how he goes about to stop its productions forms the story. Also intermingled with this story, is the Shiva-Sati love story, their relationship with theirs kids etc.

Amish's writing style is very unique and makes for a very interesting read. In fact the endings of both book 1 and 2 are so interesting that they make sure that you pick up the next book immediately. The characters in the story are beautifully written which help the reader connect with them instantly. You want to really turn pages to know as to what happens next with your favorite character. Personally, I loved reading the relationship shown between Shiva and Sati and also the character of Sati.

Additionally, another thing that Amish has helped me achieve is to get over my inhibition of reading Indian authors. After reading this series I have now reading the Krishna series by Ashok Banker. More on this in my next post.

Trip to Wayanad , Kerala

We decided to visit Kerala during the monsoon. So when we could take a day off in July we decided we would go to Wayanad. Wayanad is located at a distance of 280 kms from Bangalore. So on 6th July at 7 we started off from Bangalore.

Day 1:

Bangalore- Mysore - Gundulpet -Bandipur -Sultan Bathery - Wayanad.  ~280 kms.

Though we wanted to start around 6:30 we ended up starting at around 7:00. The road taken was Bangalore- Mysore - Gundulpet -Bandipur -Sultan Bathery - Wayanad. We had booked our stay for 2 nights at Planet Green Plantation Resorts. Bangalore- Mysore road was a breeze as usual except for the speed bumps at regular intervals. The roads from Mysore to Gundulpet is ok. Once we entered Bandipur we were crusing at a slower place hoping to spot some animals. We didnt see a single animal for a long time and when we had almost given up we suddenly spotted a Elephant and a calf who had just crossed the road. :). The best part of the drive through the forest was that due to the recent rains the jungle was lush green and was a treat to eyes. Soon after we entered Kerala for the first time, and the greenery continued.

 The road shown in Google maps to reach the hotel was under construction so  we wasted around an hour trying to get to the hotel. We finally reached the resort around 2 in the afternoon. The hotel staff had called us earlier and asked us what we wanted to have for lunch. So we had some simple but tasty vegetarian food. It started raining in the evening and so we just relaxed in the resort and ended up watching Djoko - Federer match.  Dinner was also an extremely tasty fare. 

Day 2:

We decided to start off the day early since we wanted to cover atleast some tourist places before it rained again. So we left the resort after having breakfast at around 9. 

First on the list was a view point called the Lakkidi View point. The view from this point was beautiful. This place thought is infested with a lot of monkeys. Also, this place is littered with trash. I wish tourists are little more careful about where they throw the trash. :(

Next on the list was Pookode lake. This was a total waste of time. There is nothing to do here and once you have seen the Ooty lake and the kodai lake this just seems lackluster. There is a pathway along the lake but since it was monsoon it was full of leeches. We just spent about 15 mins here and headed towards the next place on the list. Tickets was priced at 15 Rs per person and 20 Rs for a still camera. 

The third on the list ( also the last place we ended up visiting during our stay) was the Banasura Sagar Dam.

The drive to the dam is a treat to the eyes. The entire road is filled with Tea estates and is without a doubt one of the best drives that we have had until now.  Banasura sagar dam is the largest earth dam in India and definitely worth a visit. Tickets were priced at 20 Rs per person and  25 Rs for a camera. There is a option of taking the Jeep for 80Rs per person or to walk about a km to reach the dam. We decided to walk and reached the top of the dam in about 20 mins. The view of the Banasurasagar lake is amazing. You can also walk upto the Earth dam .We spent about an hour and a half here. It was almost lunch time and so we decided to come back into town and have lunch at hotel woodlands. I had read good reviews of this place but the vegetarian fare was ordinary. The non veg section though was completely full with people waiting outside. After lunch we decided to just drop in the rest for a while and then go look at some waterfalls. Fortunately or unfortunately the moment we stepped foot into our room it started to rain heavily. So we decided to drop the idea of visiting the waterfalls and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the balcony with some hot pakodas and tea. :).

Day 3:

This was the day we would travel back to Bangalore. Since we wanted to reach bangalore around afternoon we decided to check out early around 9. The drive back was smooth. Unfortunately the drive through the forest was uneventful and we didnt even spot a monkey.... We reached Bangalore around 3 after stopping for lunch at KFC near Channapatna.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience to just see the beautiful lanscapes of Wayanad. Hoping to go there some time again soon.