Thindi Beedhi (Food Street) of Bangalore

Heavily inspired to blog about this after viewing Sankara's post on the famous Tindi Beedhi of Bangalore, visited here after a long gap along with Nag to indulge in some savories and to capture some :) Hope I do a little justice to the topic and inspire few more people to visit the street...

Thindi Beedhi or Food Street is a street in VV Puram near Sajjan Rao circle, Bangalore and is one of the oldest localities. Here you find everything to everything typical vegetarian dishes on offer. Earlier this narrow stretch of road used to be filled with only push carts dishing out the varieties but now things have changed a little and its a mix of shops and carts that cater to the huge crowd that throngs here.

One should visit here only for "food" and not facilities or trendy restaurants. If you like standing out in long queues waiting for that special "dosa" or that bisi bisi "bele obbattu" or the spicy "capsicum bonda", then don't waste time in not visiting here. If you are the other kind, then please excuse me! Hygeine is not high but you don't fall sick either :)

We started off with the VB bakery, an old timer with a very huge fan following (I still remember the "Khara Bread" that I used to have from here during my school days). Famous for honey cakes, buns and variety of biscuits, we settled for "Palya Buns" to start off with...

Then started our activity to gobble as many varieties as our stomachs could hold on too, lest its bursts out boom boom :D "Mango Corn masala" was our first victim and it vanished in as quickly as it came, next that caught our attention was the piping hot "Bele Obbattu" that soon vanished again into our tummies in no time. After this off went inside were the Bonda's that are mandatory on our every outing...

With our stomachs feeling strangled with sudden thrust of delicious food items, it was time for some "Jaljeera" to ease the stress and boy, it surely was mouth watering :D
Back to action, next were the Dosa's on our hit list and after discussions we just settled for a dosa each (the rest of the varieties would be tried another time :)). It just tickles your tummy to see so many varieties of dosa on offer, just have a look at the list:
Paper Dosa
Khali Dosa
Onion Dosa
Masala Dosa
Butter Dosa
Pudi Dosa
Set Dosa
Bath Dosa
Avarebele Dosa
Roast Dosa
and many others...!

I missed having the Idli's and Paddu's that are on the hit list of my next visit and the hot Jamuns as well as also a couple of sweets and kulfis as well :)

Can you resist seeing the hot "Jalebis" on offer, well we couldn't and a couple of them vanished soon into our bellies followed by some mouth watering "Kulfi's" on offer... Wanted something spicy and so "Boti masala" was the next target to balance the sugar and the spices in our stomachs!

Finally, we decided to call it a day after much speculation and finished the job with some hot and cold "Badam milk" that acted as a sealing agent for all the stuff gone in :)

I would personally suggest the following do's and dont's so that you have an enjoyable experience out there...


Don't:
Go with a full tummy
Go with a mindset of high hygienic conditions
Go with and idea of sitting and eating
Throw the plates and papers wherever you want, be sensible and use the dustbins


Do:
Go with a mindset to eat, eat and only eat :)
Carry a bottle of drinking water
Try varieties on offer and avoid sticking to one item
Carry some digestives (hajmola's) if you need some!
Help keep the place clean and avoid littering


A typical outing for a couple should cost not more than Rs 200/- per person.

And many thanks to Nagaraj Gaitonde for being the perfect support cast :)
Happy Eating and do share your experiences :)

Butterfiles from Kodagu (Coorg) I

Butterflies were all around the place we visited (I still do remember seeing lot of them on our last trek to Tadiandamol here, couple of years back). Then it was just a fascination seeing so many of them around and with glorious colors and patterns and I was just into photography then.


Now and after the NTP, I love butterflies for many reasons, they are super active with loads of energy, always busy moving around, leave a mark in a short span of time, colorful and are pleasing on the eyes and you are kept active once you start chasing them because of all the running you have to do :D


Check out a few of them listed below, will add more details about each of them as I find time and more than a couple of posts to be composed are waiting due to lack of time :)


Gray Pansy Butterfly
The Gray Pansy (Junonia atlites) is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia. The least common pansy in India, found at low elevations in regions of heavy rainfall. It’s frequently seen in paddy fields, seldom in jungles and never in dry areas. Visits flowers of various plants.

Blue Tiger Butterfly
The Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace) is a butterfly found in India that belongs to the Crows and Tigers, that is, the Danaid group of the Brush-footed butterflies’ family. The butterfly larva generally feed on plants of Family Asclepiadaceae (milkweeds, rattle pods, etc..). This species migrates extensively during the Monsoons in southern India.

Gladeye Bushbrown Butterfly
The Gladeye Bushbrown (Mycalesis patnia) is a satyrid butterfly found in southern India and Sri Lanka. A common butterfly in the tropical and subtropical evergreen forests and the bamboo forests. Files close to the gourd and the weakest flier of the genus. Visits fallen berries, fruits and sugary sap.

Common Hedge Blue Butterfly
The Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa) is a small butterfly that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family. The Common Hedge Blue is usually found flying along brightly sunlit footpaths along forest tracks. It flies in an erratic manner and males are usually observed feeding on damp patches on the forest floor. Males are a shining blue above and this can be noticed when the butterfly is in flight.

Waterfalls in Karnataka II

Part 2 of the series...


III. Magajalli falls (Hassan district)

Magajalli falls is a roadside waterfall nestled in the Western ghats near the town of Sakleshpur in Karnataka. It’s calm, serene, undisturbed and easy to miss unless you have a local person with you and a visit is often added to the package to the numerous homestays present here.

Reach: 250kms from Bangalore, 130kms from Mangalore, 150kms from Mysore

Bangalore-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Hanbal-Magajhalli

Monsoon and Winter seasons are a good time to visit.


IV. Shivanasamudra falls (Mandya district)

Shivanasamudra falls is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri and is the location of the first Hydro-electric Power station in Asia, which was set up in the year 1902 and is a segmented waterfall. Segmented waterfalls occur where the water flow is broken into two or more channels before dropping over a cliff, resulting in multiple side by side waterfalls (Gaganachukki and Bharachukki). It has an average width of 849 m and a height of 90 m.

Reach: 70kms from Mysore and 139kms from Bangalore. Somnathpura, Talakkad, and Srirangapattinam are other tourist locales nearby.

Bangalore-Maddur-Malavalli-Sattegala-Bluff

Bangalore-Kanakapura-Malavalli-Sattegala-Bluff

June to October is an excellent time but the weather is moderate throughout the year.


will be continued... :)