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Orchha and around – 2 Day Itinerary
The word Orchha means ‘hidden’. This was the stronghold of the Bundela Rajputs, who expanded their territory to what became Bundelkhand. There are a couple of origin stories regarding the clan’s name. In one version, the name originates from ‘Bund’ (pronounced ‘boondh’) or drop in Hindi. A ruler fell upon hard times and was exiled to the Vindhya range by his enemies. He became a devotee of the Goddess Kali and prepared to sacrifice himself to the deity. The deity appeared and promised the restoration of the dynasty’s lost glory. The deity bestowed the name Bundela on the dynasty to commemorate the drops of blood he spilt in devotion. In…
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Orchha Fort – of Gods and Men
The Hidden Town of Orchha Orchha, in present-day Madhya Pradesh, was the Bundela Rajputs’ bastion. The Orchha Fort is the name given to a complex of many monuments that were built by King Rudra Pratap Singh and successive Bundela rulers between the 16th and 17th centuries CE, as they expanded their territories into what became known later as ‘Bundelkhand’ or the Bundela nation. Internal strife caused the ‘princely states’ of Datiya and Panna to secede from Orchha. The dynasty fell prey to the Mughals and later the colonialists, who took advantage of the perennial conflicts and intrigue between the different Bundela ‘states’. The main fort sits on an island. The…
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A Masinagudi Weekend
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…
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Our 4 day Jaipur Itinerary
The excitement started to build two months before August 2022. We had been reading about the culturally rich ‘Pink city’ since our school days and finally we had our itinerary planned! August being the rainy season in most parts of India, Rajasthan seemed like one of the best options for the holidays around India’s Independence Day weekend. Below is a snapshot of our itinerary for 4 days in Jaipur. Jaipur Itinerary – Day 1 We started from Bangalore in the morning and reached our hotel in Jaipur by the afternoon. A laid back Day 1 was planned. Maharaniyon ki Chhatriyan We had planned to visit Maharaniyon ki Chhatriyan only because…
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4-day Udupi Itinerary
Getting there We reached Udupi on the day of Christmas in 2019, and needless to say, the town was beautifully decked up and looked festive, We had also pre-booked a Zoom car for the trip. The drive from Mangalore to Udupi was also quite nice and it reminded us a lot of Kerala and its coconut trees. We’d planned our stay for the next 4 days at an AirBnb for its proximity to many of the places on the itinerary. Udupi Itinerary – Day 1 Sri Krishna temple, Udupi We made our way to the famous Udupi Sri Krishna Temple. The temple has a picturesque tank from where the line…
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Hoode Beach, Udupi – Where time and waves stand still
This particular blog is more of a photo dump of our time at Hoode beach and less of words. This was the first beach we visited during our trip to Udupi and we were totally blown away by the serenity and the vibe of this beach! The amazing white sand, the gentle waves and the colour of the sky made for a magical day! I just sat on the shore and let my 3 year old to play all by herself, a first for her, as the sea was so so calm that it almost felt like a large river! The beach was very clean, probably because of the very…
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Everything You Need to Know about Nathula Pass, Sikkim
We visited Nathu La or Nathula or Natula pass as part of our first ever trip together to Sikkim, way back in 2013. So, the photographs and description you find here maybe wildly different from how you may find the pass today. The way up A visit to Nathula requires securing a permit from Gangtok the previous day. However, the travel desk at our place of stay took care of this as we’d informed them on the morning of the previous day that we’d like to visit Nathula the next day. The only vehicles that we saw on the way to Nathula and back were Scorpios and Boleros. We started…
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Hampi Itinerary – Day 1 of 4
You can see the magnificent Hampi in your own way. Some choose to hire an auto rickshaw, some take their car and some of us do it with a hired bike or on foot. We visited Hampi in the October of 2018. We took an overnight bus from Chennai to Hospet and then an autorickshaw from Hospet to our B&B in Hampi. It was a modest and clean homestay with a view of the Virupaksha temple from its balcony. It was perfect for us because many places were accessible by foot. Day 1 of our trip was completely on foot. We decided to get acquainted with the town and hence…
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5 Days Bhubaneshwar Itinerary
I am calling this our Bhubaneswar trip – but this was also in and around the city. We travelled to Bhubaneswar in Odisha in February, 2020 and this trip is very memorable for us, not just because of the amazing places we visited, but also because this was the last vacation we took just before Covid struck. Bhubaneswar Itinerary – Day 1 Nandankanan Zoo Most of our trips have a ‘Zoo day’ in the itinerary. Our daughter loves animals and we try to make every vacation fun for her as well. Since zoos tend to be crowded over the weekends, we typically plan our itineraries in such a way that…
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Toda Temple, Ooty – A peaceful tribal village in the hills
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. 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 slopes. The below snapshot shows…
