Our visit to Darasuram Darasuram’s Airavateswara Temple has been on our to-do list for a very long time. Yet somehow, whenever we visited the Thanjavur–Kumbakonam region, making time for a relaxed visit to this temple always seemed to slip away. This one trip, when we visited the Oppiliappan Temple in Kumbakonam, we had time to spare in the evening. We set off with the goal of finally visiting the Airavateswara Temple and ticking it off our travel list. Read about our trip to Gangaikonda Cholapuram here. Plan your trip Additional piece of information for travellers: There is very little shade in the space between the outer corridor and the inner…

Our trip to Masinagudi started on a Saturday morning at 6:30 AM. The route we took from Bangalore to Masinagudi was the Kanakapura – Malavalli – Nanjangud – Begur – Gundlupete – Bandipur – Mudumalai – Masinagudi. We stopped for breakfast at the Saviruchi Restaurant just after entering Malavalli town. As we entered Bandipur, it was already nearly mid-day. We came across herds of deer and troops of monkeys. We were checked at the crossing into Mudumalai by the forest guards to see if we were carrying any single use plastics with us. Vehicles with commercial plates are required to pay a ‘green tax’ during entry based on the size…

About the Todas The Todas are a tribe that have lived in Tamilnadu along with the other tribes such as Kurumbas and Badagas. The Toda settlements are called munds and there is one such mund with a temple in their traditional half-barrel shape at the top of the hills that form the Botanical Garden campus in Ooty. A smaller model of the temple is at the entrance of the Botanical Garden and it is also where one can buy Toda-made handicraft items. Getting there The trek to the top of the Botanical Garden is scenic and is best taken at a leisurely pace as the last stretch involves quite steep…