Discovered a Navigator and Long drive companion after 38 years!

 Unlike the last time when she had to get back to work after the weekend, this time Vijayalakshmi was with me throughout the 10 day drive. I planned a drive that was not hectic, and had no night driving. Less than 2000K in 10 days.

1st of Feb 2026

Left home by 1.30pm as I had to meet Amit Roy, son of Sri Tapas Roy ( most of you  know who that is, even if you don't know who that is :))  who was in town and all I needed to do was push our start by a few hours. We reached Chitradurga by 6pm. Vijayalakshmi's classmate Dr Toyajakshi from medical school and her husband drove us around Chitradurga for a quick tour of the lake, Lingayat Mutt, their home with a watch tower and her place of work ( which I hurried out of as it involved a OT etc). Later they hosted us to dinner at a roof top restaurant that offered panoramic views of the town and the new elevated highways all around. As it was a full moon day the dinner outdoors had a special effect. 

207 KMs via Tumkur after Nelamangala change to NH48 

Hotel Myspace JMR 

2nd of Feb

Today we left early to climb the Chitradurga fort. Sweet of Dr T and her husband to accompany us and add their supplements to what the guide was saying and showing us some additional places like the gun powder mill which is really an engineering marvel. For Viju her primary school text book came alive after so many years when she saw the 'Onake Obavva Kindi' and all her hesitation or self doubts if she could climb with her knee pain disappeared in a trice. It is a lovely fort and worth the climb. Much bigger than Golconda which is a fort I have most frequented. It is a easy to moderate trek as the steps are interspersed with level ground.  Later we all went to the nearby and famous Lakshmi Tiffin Room for Khali Dosey and a piece of Gulab Jamun which were very much worth the hype. The filter coffee was also very nice. Having said bye to our wonderful hosts we picked our bags and drove towards Anjanadri hills near Hampi to Kishkinda Resort. We reached Kishkinda resort  just before 1pm By evening we had completed our sightseeing tour of Anegundi by Auto covering the Nava Brindavana which is where Bridavana's of many madhwa saints including the Guru of Sri Raghavendra Swamy, the famous Vysa Rayaru of Vijayanagar kingdom and Padmanabha Thirtha a direct disciple of Sri Madhwa are there. We had to cross the pristine Tungabhadra by a boat. The boat journey was a quiet and peaceful one. Normally the to and fro charges are Rs100/- per person, however since there were no other customers we paid Rs.500 for a 20 seater boat. The island is perfect for meditation even today nestled among hillocks and surrounded by the river. A divine place. The other places we visited in Anegundi were the Ranganatha temple, Gagan Mahal, Chintamani, Vali Gufa and Durga temple, and the beautiful Lakshmi temple at the Pampa Saravor and Shabari Gufa. The legends connected to all these places are interesting and a guide is surely required apart from from doing some internet research to understand the places. Our drive back to Kishkinda resort included the last 2Kms of exclusive village road. The resort itself was nice with a lot of green spaces. 

160 Kms  on NH50 with plenty of large wind mills and the road divider had different colors of   bougainvillea in full bloom and we got to cross the Tungabhadra river and see the dam. It was a lovely drive. 

Viju as Obbava and Dr Tayojakshi as Hyderali's soldier 

Unique Vigraha combining Bhima, Anjanya and Madhwa

3rd Feb

We reached the Anjanadri Hill by 8.30am as it was just 2 Kms from our resort. It is considered the birthplace of Hanuman. Renowned for its stunning, scattered boulder landscapes and 575-step climb, the hill is geologically part of the ancient granite formations of the region, which are believed by some to have been influenced by ancient volcanic activity, forming distinctive, dramatic, and rugged terrain. The climb is of moderate difficulty even if the height of the hill was 1500ft. We took permission to keep our shoes on for the climb. Really sensible shoes which Prithvi had got us made sure sure that with every step landing on solid stone also did not impact the knees. Anjanadri betta was a long time desire to visit as it was the birthplace of Hanuman. Later, local legend has it that Anjana devi moved to another place on the banks of the river to bring up little hanuman. The energy at the top of the hill, the remembrance of all the qualities described in the Chalisa, the great views and the wind blowing hard made this a super experience. We listened to the Hanuman Chalisa, went twice for darshan at the little Hanuman shrine and it felt really nice. A lot of langoors and regular monkeys who did not trouble anyone. From Anjanadri hill we left for Anegundi as the earlier evening we did not see the Rang Mahal which is the palace of the kings before the Vijayanagar kingdom was established. The afternoon was planned rest at the resort. After childhood, it was here that we spent a few minutes swinging on the swings. And while we were on the swings we got a call from Gagan our grandson and that made our day. One vegetarian place we discovered was the  restaurant at the Hampi Delmont Resort and it was clean and finger licking good! 

4th Feb 

This day we drove from Anjanadri betta to Vijaya Pura. It was narrow roads for the first 15kms till we reached NH50 and from thereon it was a smooth drive . We continued to see the lovely flowers in the dividers and the large wind mills. Kushtagi, Ilkal, Hungund were the towns we bypassed. Almatti dam we were quite close by and we crossed the Krishna river this time. We though we passed by Ilkal,  Viju did not want any sarees and the oldest shop in that town  I had called earlier said they don't sell Ilkal dress sets which Viju was considering for our daughter in law, so we just chose the bypass road and reached Vijaya Pura by 1pm. The famous Gol Gumbaz was even before our hotel so we stopped engaged a guide and phew! we climbed up to the whispering gallery. It is an interesting monument with  interesting anecdotes from the Bahamani Kingdom  which was the first Islamic state in South India having been founded around 1347. Thanks to old contact Prof Errana Serigeri who recommended Hotel Madhuvan International, we had a comfortable stay. Did I mention that my travel companion took over other responsibilities throughout the trip beyond being the navigator and that included stuff like checking in and out of hotels, planning the day, tracking expenses, and so many such things that I just enjoyed driving. 

205KM mostly on NH50 with about Rs.250 in tolls. 

5th Feb 

On 5th we started soon after breakfast towards Pandhrapur which is in Maharastra. I chose the route that went past Mangalweda for a reason. Mangalweda is famous for Basundi! Yes it is famous, with a few popular brands. It was worth the detour into the city to the factory and shop of Maali Sweets. They had fresh basundi sweetened and unsweetened and since we didn't want it to be very sweet we bought a cup of mixed basundi, much like I do with coffee at any darshini in Bangalore. Also picked up some fresh ghee that we could carry back home. MangalWeda is also the birthplace of  Jayathirtha (Teekaacharya) the 6th in line from Sri Madhwacharya. We did not make the effort to search for his birth place. I have previously visited Malkhed where is Brindavana is located. Our accommodation was booked at the official Vittala Rukmini Bhakt Nivas where we checked in had some lunch, rested a bit and went to the Tukaram Gate of the temple as we had booked for a Tulasi archana. It was a soulful experience. Doing the tulasi archana and taking the tulasi leaves to offer to Vittala and being able to touch the feet of the Lord with our hands was a once in a life time experience. It was well organized, the purohit who led the Puja was very good and professional and as a bonus we had a Bhajan leader who made sure our 20-30 minute wait was enriching to the soul. Everyone was singing without exception, and in perfect rhythm, just too good! The Prasad was excellent too. After the Puja and Darshan we went to the Ganapati temple, Pundalik temple and for a boat ride. The river Chandra Bhaga ( Bhima) needs a lot of help in maintenance and I wonder why the Government thinks there is only Ganga in India that is crying for help. Sabhudana Khichdi and some Ice cream was dinner. Our room was comfortable. 

115 Kms from Vijayapura to Pandhrapur - Our chosen route took us through some state highways or two lane roads. They were all in good condition save 15-20kms. 

6th Feb 

We started after Poha and Chai towards our next destination Kholapur. We reached our hotel Classic Midtown which was a good choice as it was clean, extremely well located and had space for parking by around 2pm. One critical contribution by the Navigator was to visit the main temple in the afternoon of our arrival. This worked for us at Anegundi, Pandhrapur, Kholapur and later in Gokarna as well. It freed up so much time from waiting in long Queues in the mornings. We had a a great darshan of Mahalakshmi Devi both from afar and up close. It was the Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi)  who originally built this temple, so many centuries ago. Dilip Icecream outside the temple southern gate drew us to their special cocktail icecream. It was really refreshing. The owner told me that it was a third generation enterprise and a dilip came into their family after the shop was established. The name for the shop came from the legend of King Dilip of the Raghu dynasty who was willing to give up his life for Nandini the cow his wife and he were looking after. Solid Brand name story I think. We walked by the Rankala lake and bought a Mumbai sandwich for dinner. It was a colourful, large and crowded lake. 

7th Feb 

Since we already had darshan of Ambabai we hired an Auto cum guide suggested by the hotel to take us around the city. We first visited the Jotiba temple, follwed by the various locations in the Panhala fort including Teen Darwaja, step well, the large granaries etc. It was near the historical granaries we had our early lunch because we were getting Jowar Bhakri's just off the Tawa. It was fresh and wholesome as it gets. The Jowar Roti's in Bangalore always have some Maida and never taste like the original and the temperature of the roti also has something to do with it. After the hill top Panhala fort we visited the new Palace, and the town hall museum. All worth seeing. Our afternoon attempt at buying a saree failed again. We then went to the wholesale market to pick up some organic and chemical free processed famous Kolhapur Jaggery. We walked around the temple, visited the Rankala lake again and retired for the day.

By Auto - Approx 70Kms 

The Jojoba Temple 

Panhala Fort 

New Palace 

Town Hall Museum 

8th Feb

We started after room prepared breakfast of sandwiches. The bread in Kholapur was really good.  We were on our way to the last stop before returning home which was Gokarna. We stopped at Belgavi to meet Dr Naina Joshi who was a class mate and guide to Viju during her stay at Hubli. It was Dr Naina who helped Viju get her first job after graduating, in Mumbai at the Bachoo Ali opthalmic hospital. It was a pleasant meeting with photographs and sharing of life journeys. Dr Naina got us  Idli's and coffee before we bid good bye to continue our journey. After Belgaum the road meanders through large tracts of forest. It was quite an experience and so enjoyable driving on the Mirjan-Ramnagar road. We bypassed Kittur of  Kittur Rani Chennamma fame, we were disappointed that we could not visit the fort or her statue as for practical considerations we had to move on. With the new and efficient highway system one downside is we miss entering and feeling the various cities and towns enroute.  We reached Gokarna after 6pm and after a bath and getting into traditional clothes we reached the Atma Linga temple just in time for a nice sparsha darshan. The baby Ganesha temple had a Murti that was really cute. The legends connected with the Atma Linga were fascinating to say the least. We then walked to the Gokarna beach where we just saw the numerous stalls as the water had receded  far out  due to the low tide and it was quite dark also. We found that despite being so close to Udupi, the restaurant scene for vegetarians was dismal in Gokarna. We visited three restaurants in our two day stay and none of them were decent. Thankfully our hotel Om International had good breakfast and the rooms were also nice. The location of the hotel was also perfect. 

330 Kms via Nipani, Belagavi, and yellapur 

With Dr Naina Joshi 

Watch after 1pm....a lovely drive 

9th Feb 

A day for relaxing after a long drive. Hired an auto to take us to the Kudle beach which involved a lovely trek down to the beach. Definitely the best beach in Gokarna. Clean and peaceful. We should have brought our swimming gear. On the way to this beach we went to the Venkateshwara temple and the town sarovara called Koti Thirtha, both had a unique calming effect for some reason. 

Back to the hotel for some rest and went out for an organized tour by Golden Cruise Gokarna managed by Vijay, his sister and brother in law (8971397515). They were very professional, reasonable and gave us every opportunity to participate in swimming, kayaking and watching the sunset from the sea. A well organized and probably the best way to see all the beaches of Gokarna without having to trek.  

10th of Feb

The return journey to Bangalore started with roads that were not great as a lot of repair was happening. The best part was that we drove through some hills and forests. At Sirsi we bought some Manju Guni rice grown in the area and best for making sweets.  Our lunch stop at Kamat at Davangere was nothing to write home about. Davangere Benne Dosey and Girmit were not available during lunch hours. We reached home by 6.30pm driving mostly on the NH 48 after Sirsi without going into any town.