New Hanuman Statue near Agara, Bangalore

In Bangalore, you will see many high rising Hanuman statues. I have not seen such statues in other cities. There was a new statue being built at Agara Junction (on outer ring road) and it was recently commissioned. It is a real big statue.

The statue is built very nicely and is decorated colorfully. Standing on a high pedestal, the statue looks majestic and this site could soon become a tourist attraction. The interesting fact is that this is just besides a Mosque on one side and Temples on other side. A nice piece of communal harmony if I can call it that way.

Kempfort Shiva Temple, Bangalore

Kempfort Shiva at Night
Originally uploaded by Ramki's reflections

This is situated on the airport road inside the old Kempfort campus. Kempfort has been demolished recently and I believe there is some mall coming in its place. Behind it is the grand Shiva temple in a very serene environment. This is open 24 hours a day and is a good place to visit while in Bangalore. There is also a giant Ganesha statue in the temple.

The Shiva statue is around 65ft high and is considered to be the highest in India. The background is made to resemble Kailas mountain and give a feeling like in Himalaya. River Ganga flows from the head of Shiva on to the mountains. At night the Shiva statue shines majestically in the bright light. They also have a small tour of different Shiva pilgrimage centers across India made into a miniature exhibition. The temple is kept very neat and you will also find music concerts happening here in the evening.

Look at the people standing at the bottom of the picture to gauge the height of the statue.

Bannerghatta National Park

For this weekend and since this is a Gandhi jayanthi and a bandh day in Chennai, both of my brothers were in Bangalore.

We went to Bannerghatta National Park. We did Tiger and Lion Safari. We saw lot of tigers and some lions. Not a bad trip compared to some safari's I have gone in US where you don't see animals. But overall not very exciting. The animals were very healthy. Sometimes it resembles more of a zoo than a national park with lot of animals in cages.

The park is around 25 kilometer from HSR Layout and took around 40 minutes to reach. Well maintained and has also a good zoo. Some other attractions also are there including butterfly park, elephant safari etc. Pretty much a good destination for people with kids and also good for those who are nature loving to have a chance to spend some time out from the mechanical world.