Monday 25 December 2017

The Venna Lake

                                                                            -Chinmayee Deshpande 
Image result for Travel blogs on venna lake
Picture Credits- Rajesh Deshpande
Mahabaleshwar is a captivating hill station positioned in Satara district of Maharashtra. At an altitude of one,353 m within the Western Ghats range, Mahabaleshwar is understood for its charming beauty, historical temples, fantastic waterfalls, misty hills, and valleys. This pristine hill station is the source of the Krishna River that flows across Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Mahabaleshwar is one of the top monsoon locations in India and additionally one of the best weekend gateways from Mumbai and Pune. 

Often referred because the queen of hill stations in Maharashtra, Mahabaleshwar attracts large range of vacationers for its lovable perspectives, beautiful landscapes and satisfactory temperatures. Pratapgarh Fort, Venna Lake, Mahabaleshwar Temple, Krishnabai Temple, Lingamala Falls, Tapola, Panchgani are some crucial places to visit in mahabaleshwar. There are numerous viewpoints that are strategically located to seize the panoramic views. Arthur’s Seat, Wilson Point, Kate’s Point & Elephant head Point, Connaught Peak and Bombay Point are famous viewpoints.

Image result for Travel blogs on venna lake
Picture Credits- Bhargav Deshpande 
Venna Lake is a artifical lake built in 1842 by way of Sri Appa Saheb Maharaja. Venna Lake has an area of about 28 acres having outer edge around 7-8 km and is fed by means of repeated springs. Surrounded with the aid of lush greenery, Venna Lake may be very popular spot amongst honeymooners as well as households and additionally one of the top locations to visit in Mahabaleshwar town. Tourists can enjoy a boat trip within the lake or a horse journey next to the lake. Row and Pedal boats are available for the tourists.
 While coming back from Panchgani, we stopped at Venna Lake for some boating. It has changed its face since we visited it last time three years back. The lake is a great attraction to everybody with its dazzling sight, boating, fishing, newly came up dam and stalls for games and eatables. It is within walking distance from Town Mahableshwar. It also supplies drinking water to the town. The lake has an area of 28 Acres and average depth of the 10 ft. December to June is not the best time to see the waterfalls in Mahableshwar, Venna Lake’s beauty more than makes up for it. Boating here is a very peaceful experience and both paddle and row boats are available for hire. There are many kiosks selling delicious Maharashtra street food, strawberries, mulberries and more, just opposite the lake.A boat ride at Venna Lake is a very relaxing experience.

Monday 20 November 2017

The Mangladevi Temple

                                                      - Ninaad Tonsey


In Tulunadu, in the 10th century, Kundavarma, the most famous king of Alupa dynasty was ruling. Mangalore was the capital of his kingdom. At that time, there came two sages named Machhendranatha and Gorakanatha from Nepal. They reached Mangalapura, crossing the river Nethravathi. The place were they crossed the river came to be known as ‘Gorakdandu’. They chose a place near the bank of Nethravathi which was once the centre of activities of sage Kapila. He had his hermitage there and it was a great centre of education.’
Hearing about the arrival of the two saints the king came to meet them. Introducing himself as the king of Tulunadu he paid them his respects and offered all help and patronage. Pleased with the humility and virtues of the king they brought to his knowledge that his kingdom was a holy place and it was sanctified by the activities of holy saints and sages in the past. They requested him to grant them land so that they could build their hermitage and make it a centre of their religious activities under his protection and patronage.

Image result for mangalore mangaladeviFor Kundavarma it was really a surprise to know that his land had such a hoary history. It was from these saints he came to know that once upon a time, in his land there existed a temple dedicated to mother Mangaladevi. He heard from them the story of Vikhasini, Andasura, Parashurama and the temple of Mangaladevi built by Parashurama. The two saints took the king to the places where all these historical events had taken place. They asked the king to dig the place and retrieve the Linga and the Dharapatra symbolising Mangaladevi and install them in a shrine along with Nagaraja for protection.

Kundavarma carried out the advice of the two sages. A grand shrine of Sri Mangaladevi stood on the holy place. The two sages themseleves guided and supervised the execution of the work. The temple attained special significance as Mother Magaladevi granted special favours, especially on maidens. Pious maidens who worship the goddess observing Mangaladharavrata (Swayamvara Parvathi) will heave their wishes fulfilled. They get husbands most suited for them.

Even today, heads of Kadri Yogirajmutt visit Mangaladevi temple on the first day of Kadri temple festival and offer prayer and silk cloth to the Goddess.

Friday 22 September 2017

WHERE IT ALL BEGINS......!

TRAVEL AND TOURISM

                                                                                                                   - BY DANISH FAROOQ

As we all know that our country is one of the oldest countries of the world. It is full of attractive historical places, heritage sites, and charming tourism places including mysterious places in various Indian cities which make India famous for travel and tourism all over the world.  People from all across the world come to see beautiful places in India and love to travel here. From the architectural and cultural point of view, India is one of the most famous countries all over the world. India is most populated and multicultural country and maintains its uniqueness for unity in diversity. India is the motherland of the worldwide famous legends such as Mahatma Ghandi, Gautama Buddha, Rani Lakshmi Bai and contains the traces of their presence in various forms.
Picture credits: Mr. Ashish Chandra.
Tourism to India is a big source of income for the country and many lives depends on this. The technological advancement has changed the way people look at travel, and has made a great impact on tourism.Tourism now a days is seen as a product and tourism as an industry but it is yet to attain the status of a formal industry . Tourism in India, is the second largest earning source of foreign exchange. The tourism industry in India employs a large number of people of both category, skilled and unskilled through its primary, secondary and intermediaries.Tourism in any country promotes its national integration and international brotherhood.
Our country is naturally bound in its all four sides offering wide range of flora , fauna, landforms, multiple cultures and above all a big treasure of handicrafts . Tourism in India can be called as a fully loaded product with all features. In order to leverage this uniqueness, a tourism campaign named as ‘Incredible India’ was started by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) in in 2005. Tourists places in India has also been divided under sections like spiritual tourism,’ ‘ecotourism’, ‘spa tourism’, and ‘adventure tourism’ in order to encourage tourism and better growth in India.

India is awakening to this boom of tourism and we still lack the sensitivity towards tourists and tourism places. We are still to reach our full potential of tourism revenues. There is still lot of scope and in spite of all the negatives – safety issues , high population , pollution, poorly kept historical sites , lack of proper infrastructure we are a sought after tourist destination . So I leave you to ponder what will happen if we are able to improve upon even 50% of these concerns. Small improvements and little concerns can give a big leap to tourism.