When you are living away from home, spending weekends at home can be a daunting task. It was becoming daunting for me at least. I searched the internet to find anything close to Bangalore that was still untouched by me. Being here for about 4 years now, most of the (I can’t say all) places that could be have been visited in one day or over a weekend, have been already covered. Then in some site, in fine prints, with stamp size photos, I read about the place. Lepakshi. It said some 150 km from Bangalore.

A little more digging of the internet revealed the route, some more photos and little more information. As the place is little know, convincing friends to come along can be tedious. Having a bike comes handy in these times. One more guy with bike, both willing to explore, both willing to ride and that’s all we needed.

We left early morning, well… 7 am is not too early a morning, but we call it early morning. We followed what we read on the map. From Bangalore, we took NH7 > Yashwantpur > Doddabalapur > Gauribidnaur > Hindupur > Lepakshi route. For the first 100 km the route is scenic. Driving on a smooth, 2 lanes state highway, covered from both sides by red blossoming gulmohar trees, can be an experience of its own. You enjoy the journey so much that you cease to worry about the destination. Some 70 km into the journey and we spotted a lake on the right side. As reaching destination was already a second priority, we plunged into this unknown water body, with our grunting bikes. There was not a single soul in at least 2 km of vicinity. Lush green, golf course like grass, with small hills in the backdrop and a lake in between. I am pleased that we stopped. Had we not stopped, in view to reaching to the destination, we would have missed this pleasure journey, probably the best part of the whole trip.

How many times do we do it… miss the pleasures of the journey, the small locales in between, in race to reach the destination. Without realizing that maybe we missed the best part of the trip. If we could take time and relish the journey, reaching or not reaching the destination would not really matter. Some people might spot this on the way back, but by then it would be dark and they may not be able to enjoy it as much as they would have, while the sun was shining. Or who knows, maybe again they won’t stop as they have to reach home, again reaching a destination may dominate over journey… and remain untouched by the real pleasures of the trip.

Boy…! Enough philosophy. Let’s get back. Our bike also got a wash in the lake. A first for our bike. After all the fun with water we left the lake. Some 40 km more into the journey and roads started to deteriorate. Finally some 4 hours (thanks to the stay at lake) and 140 km later, we saw a 15 feet tall and some 10 feet long Nandi, carved out of a single huge rock. Bikes started to come in lower gears and came to halt at the gates. Before entering we decided to have a coconut water as it was getting hotter as the sun was getting aggressive. We entered the premise. The huge, astounding Nandi… I was not able to take a good photo which could do justice to its majesty. I was even able to capture it on my lense, I don’t know how would have they carved it out of single rock. Next to it was LEPAKSHI written of concrete on the ground. Though not matching the aura of the bull, it still made a statement.

Some 50 m away was the main Lepakshi Temple, localy called the Devalaya. Legends have it that in Ramayana, when Jatayu (the big bird) was killed by Ravan, this was the place he fell. There is another gem of stone art, a 15 feet high, 5 headed cobra. Again made from a single rock. These old people had a knack of pulling one marvel after other and invariably, most of them from a single piece of rock. Other finer details, like who built the temples, whom are they dedicated to and likes are easily available on internet quite easily. I would neither act smart by copy pasting it here, nor would I act intellectual by writing it all again and showing the world, see I know everything. And moreover, history lessons is not what I went there for. I went there for watching some really stunning old world architecture and that much I did. It’s amazing how these structures made without modern day cement, without cranes, computer generated 3d models and all, stand tall for 500 years. And still as impeccable as ever. Every minute details taken care of. Every symmetrical precision intact. I wonder if any of the modern structures would still be there 500 from now.

There are few restaurant type structure nearby. Though they are not tempting, its highly recommended that either you eat in these or carry your food from home. Because once you leave these behind, for another 60 odd kilometers, you would be lucky to find even a chai shop, forget a restaurant. We learnt this the hard way.