​​
Melukote, Santebacahalli, Aghalaya
Of the three places I visited, Melukote is the most popular one. The ladies at the petrol pump were excited to see me riding solo everywhere. They have seen groups of women coming to Melukote over the weekends, but a woman riding solo was something new for them. Seeing women riding solo might not be unusual to those on the main highways, but when you go on the interior roads and not-so-popular places, they are warm, welcoming, and supportive.
The usual story at any petrol pump (my experience): they are minding their own business, asking how much petrol I’d like to fill. The moment I open my visor and utter the words, the whole thing changes. They suddenly realise that it is a woman, and if the attendant is a woman, then we get on talking about so many things. It is heartwarming to meet such lovely people and share time with them.
Looking for the not-much-explored (frequented by tourists) ancient Hoysala temples around Mysore and Hassan opened my eyes to a whole new world. The upcoming rides were planned to visit these gems. There are several of these—some almost ruined, covered in overgrowth of plants; some still working, where a priest does the rituals every day; some where a local caretaker eagerly waits for a visitor to share the lore and history he is so adept with. Over the next four rides, I covered most of these temples. But there are still so many to be explored.
On the Melukote to Shravanabelagola route is one such temple—the Shri Malleshwara Swamy Temple at Aghalaya. Though the temple is dedicated to Shiva, it is interesting to find the carvings of Vishnu on the outer wall of the temple. Aghalaya means destruction of sins (Agha = sin, Laya = destroy). I met a few kids from the village who were waiting for their school bus and chatted up merrily about the motorcycle rides. It was from them that I learnt the temple isn’t open daily—it welcomes visitors only on special occasions.
Bidding adieu to the kids and the temple, where I was the only visitor, I headed to the next temple at Santebacahalli. I stopped at a beautiful lake on the way, which was full from the recent rains. The early morning hours are a perfect time to be by any lakeside and watch the birds flitting around. This ancient Hoysala temple—the Mahalingeshwara Temple—is a working temple, located on the side of the road through the village. It is situated in a beautiful location right opposite a lake. A local priest was cleaning the premises when I arrived. The surroundings were calm and placid.
While returning to Mysore, I made a pit stop at Melukote. It was a relief not to see anybody dangling from the Rayagopura this time to get a selfie or a reel for their social media accounts. There are now boards near all the monuments announcing that photography and videography are not allowed without permission. On a weekday morning, this was not strictly enforced, as I saw a person taking pictures. It would be nice if they enforced this on weekends, when the place will be swarmed by tourists.