Shravanabelagola

I’m pretty sure that many of my foreign readers must’ve felt perplexed on reading the title alone!

Jainism is one of the ancient religions and came into being during the 7th Century BC in Eastern India. Shravanabelagola is a temple situated on the Vindhyagiri hills, Karnataka, with a  17.37m tall granite statue dedicated to Jain deity Lord Gommateshwara, also known as Bahubali. Trust me, this Bahubali has got nothing to do with the Telugu movie “Bahubali”!

We were told that it would take about 2-3 hours to climb up the burning hill (summer), visit all monuments and come down and were even asked to buy socks for ease. But then on climbing a little, with the fact that there are a total of  700+ steps more to climb, a young lad would finish the climb as fast as possible, say, half an hour! And as for the elderly citizens, there are palanquins, but then the workers carry it to and fro at a lightning speed, which would be enough for you to get a heart attack. So better climb! It would also be better if you climb barefoot, as it’s a natural way of feet massage.

 

The hill offers beautiful view of the Shravanabelagola village, Temple pond and Chandragiri hill. The statue did make the climb worth, and indeed was an exercise for the mind, body and soul.

NOTE : This temple is also famous for its naked saints(who mostly won’t be coming our way – as they’ll usually be in the inner areas). Make sure that you don’t laugh on seeing them as it is considered to be a very rude gesture.

Las Vegas of the Middle East

Dubai, the Arab Vegas is buzzing with so much energy that a thousand splendid memories rush back to me as I type. Anybody who enjoys being around things that are rich in character will have a wondrous time looking around.

The only 7 star hotel in Dubai, Burj Al Arab, envied by other Emirates, has literally everything gold plated, starting from the sky high pillars to the rectangular tissue boxes!  The hotel is quite a splurge with 56 floors and 200- something rooms. Though we made a quick plan to go for an “extravagant” lunch, their working hours were quite contradictory to ours, which left us with the usual Arab grub!

Our next entry was to Atlantis The Palm hotel. The richly colored underwater halls and tunnels housing marine life was a resplendent view. And  the Cold Stone Creamy ice-cream flipping – WOW!!

 

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Sunsets always seems so different and yet so similar from every location. I was lucky enough to click the sunset view of Burj Al Arab. Apart from that, the only task I had to do was to bask in the beauty of the sunset.

Though we were only able to frolic on the sands of Jumeirah Beach due to the strict time- schedule, the visit to the sail shaped hotel and Atlantis The Palm was indeed worth it.