(Hereafter shortened to BPA in the interest of typing effort)
Fields full of smiling sunflowers standing tall. An interesting set of co-travelers. A couple from Bijapur who took offence because I wasn't suitably impressed by Bijapur ("You should have taken a guide beta"). Another who was indignant that the Cholas are never given their rightful place in history books ("Cholas are relegated to a 5 mark question in history exams!"). A fairly explicit sculpture of the Goddess of Fertility. Awfully hot weather in the middle of January. An artist sketching away in a corner of a monument using the stone sculptures for models, making me wish I was half as skilled. Lots of time spent catching up with my mom. Even though BPA isn't as charming as Hampi, nor the sculptures as intricate as Belur-Halebidu, these are some of the memories I will carry from my BPA trip.
Having decided that it had been a long time since I traveled for leisure, me and my mom sat down to pick a destination for a three day weekend. BPA had been on my list for quite sometime and satisfied my criteria of being connected by train (I suffer from a not-so-mild case of car sickness), while the name was tongue-twisting enough to pique my mom's curiosity. Train and hotel bookings done, we reached there early on a Friday morning to find out that 3 whole days was probably overkill for BPA. So at the last moment, we decided to add Bijapur to our itinerary.
On Day 1 we covered Aihole and Pattadakal during the morning and the Badami caves in the afternoon. Aihole was a little disappointing, more so as our driver wouldnt stop at any of the smaller monuments we wanted to see ("Ye saara ek hi type ka monument hai madam, aapne ek dekh liya na.") Pattadakal was one sprawling campus full of beautifully sculpted monuments - a visual treat indeed. The Badami caves were a tiring climb, but were totally worth it. On Day 2 we went on our impromptu trip to Bijapur, where the only noteworthy monument was the Gol Gumbaz (which had an equally tiring climb up, but wasnt nearly as interesting as the Badami caves). On Day 3 we covered the other monuments in Badami during the first half, while the second half was spent recovering from all the exhaustion.
Here are some shots from the trip:
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| Durga temple, Aihole |
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| The sprawling Pattadakal campus |
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| A recurring motif across BPA |
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| Cave sculpture of Vishnu that is synonymous with Badami |
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| Resting point in between some heavy-duty climbing at the Gol Gumbaz |
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| Dancing Shiva at the entrance of Badami caves |
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| Bhootnath temple complex at Badami |
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| Reclining Vishnu - one of the numerous sculptures all around Badami |
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