Monday, January 12, 2009

Dadubhai Thamma Goes to Nandi Hills

View from bus window while starting the climb.

The Brat and her 'fairy God thamma' inside the bus.
The family starting their climb on foot from the bus stop.

Dadubhai plucks huge datura flowers from the side of the tank.

Near Nehru Nilaya almost at the top.

Taking a break from the climb.

Small tuft on the temple wall.

Inside the Shiva temple.

At the top of the hill.

View from the top.

Waiting for the bus that will take us back to Bangalore.

Monkeys galore.

A last look at the hills from the bus window.


The hills turn to plains.

3 comments:

~nm said...

I loved those big flowers in the hands of your kiddos.

And that pic of the wild flowers sprouting from the wall is so so beautiful!!

Indian in NZ said...

nice clicks...BTW where is 'Nandi Hills' ?

diya said...

They are 'datura' flowers, that grow wild most of the time. They are suposed to be the favourite of Lord Shiva and is used in his puja. We had to disect a datura flower for our class X biology practicals. What is special about these flowers is their size, I have never seen datura this big in my life and FIL says neither has he, and that's a very big thing coz Baba has been plucking flowers for pujas from a tender age.

The wild flowers were from the temple at the top of Nandi Hills- they looked as if someone had arranged them in that way. All the tourists were photographing this miraculous outgrowth!

2bs mommy- Nandi Hills is the nearest 'hill station' from Bangalore. It takes 3hours to get there by a fairly efficient bus service. It is Tipu sultan's summer retreat later used by the British. Although its altitude is much higher than Bangalore, it gets quite warm in the afternoons. It is used like a picnic spot now and there are several trails that lead up to the highest point where a temple of Lord Shiva is located. This like every other hill station has been visited by Gandhi and Nehru and the guest houses which they had occupied are preserved though the public is not allowed access. These guys have been to every little hill station in this country. Where ever you go theses guys have already been. Another person whom you will encounter in these retreats is Rabindranath Tagore- have seen his photos in the remotest of these picturesque spots! Did not have time to add a write up yesterday so told the story through the pictures!