Story to my book: Our One-Day Trip to Talakadu, by Pasang

Trips are like a story to a book. We can fill the pages of the book with our memories, thoughts and feelings. Doing a journey gives a good exercise to our mind as we can enjoy keeping aside our day-to-day problems. It makes us feel happy, excited and relaxed. It is one of the sources of entertaining oneself by luring around with people and nature.

This getaway was one of the best experiences I had in my life till date. The trip was so mesmerizing and dream like. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed to the fullest till heart content.

As we are in our last year in the PES College of Pharmacy, my classmates and lecturers decided to organize a special trip that would not be on academic subjects, but just for leisure, entertainment and discovery. We opted to go to Talakadu (or Talakad), which is a antique desert-like town on the left bank of the Kaveri (Cauvery) River, 45 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore, in the South of Karnataka state.

Early morning, all the classmates and some of our teaching faculties came to our college where the bus was picking us.

All trip participants, with Pasang standing second from the left.

After everyone assembled, we left at 7am. We had a good time inside the bus as we started singing songs and dancing, with our teachers participating joyfully, thereby increasing our fun and excitement. At around 9am, as we were all hungry, we dropped near a restaurant to have breakfast.

After that, we resumed our journey…. Before reaching to our destination, we quickly visited the historic Chennakesava (Keshava) Temple, located at Somanathapura; it is one of the finest examples and most preserved of Hoysala architecture (see below). The temple was built by Soma, a Dandanayaka (Commander) in 1268 AD when the Hoysala Empire was the major power in South India.

The group at the Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura

After 4-5 hours of travelling, we reached Talakadu around 1pm. We all were very much excited. We got off from the bus to have lunch.

After finishing our lunch, we relaxed for half and hour. Then the fun part began: we went to the bank of the Kaveri (Cauvery) River the river, which is totally covered by sand and is like a beach. We played, swam in the water and dipped ourselves in it. The place was quite crowdy as other people were also there to spend quality time together. We clicked pictures to capture the moment to make a beautiful memory of our life,

The Kaveri River beach

Coracles: light round boats, in bamboo, to ride on the river.

Swimming on the beach on the Kaveri River.

We were enjoying so much that we didn’t know how the time went by. Finally we got out of the river and we changed our clothes. After that, we visited 2 to 3 historic temples near the place, with the help of a local guide. He explained about the history of the place.

• From 350 to1050 AD, Southern Karnakata has been ruled by the illustrious Gangas dynasty, followed by the Cholas (11th century) and by the Hoysalas dynasty (12th-13th century).
• Takaladu had once over 30 magnificent temples, most of which now lay buried in sand. While most probably the sand was carried by the wind from the dry bed of the Kaveri River while it changed course, people still believe it is due to the Queen Alamalamma’s curse in 1612.
• There are 5 remarkable Lingam[1] temples erected by the Gangas and symbolizing the 5 faces of Shiva. They lead to a pilgrimage every 3 to 12 years. Another magnificent structure is the Keerthi Narayana temple in the Hoysala style of architecture (quintuple plan, beautiful sculptures and ornaments, etc.).
• Most of these temples have been excavated and repaired by archaeologists.
• [1] a Lingam is huge “egg or phallus-shaped” column.

Talakadu temple buried in sand in 1991

Keerthi Narayana Temple, Talakadu.

While returning back, though everyone was tired, we again danced and sang inside the bus. It was one of the unforgettable moments of my life.

This experience really helped to boost the bond between teachers and students, as we all shared a common interest and same perspective on this trip. What we saw in our teachers while they are in college and while on trip was out expectations. We were so overwhelmed to see them being so friendly and polite with us. I have been to lots of trips but this one will certainly win the place for that reason.

Trips with friends and family make it happening and wonderful feeling we get and strikes our head is an awesome experience. Those experiences collected within our brain comprise lots happy, relaxed and emotions that gets attached and makeup glimpses known as memories. Those memories can be recalled wherever life may take you and will certainly puts a smile on your face when you recall it. You get to learn something on every trip you have been to. It not only boosts your knowledge but also gives you an advantage over things in life, it teaches you new things.

I am so grateful and thankful to Helene mom, mama and papa and SEA family for being in my life and giving me an opportunity to experience such moments in my life.