Visit to Srirangapatna and Nimishamba Temple

"Dear Friends, this travelogue is a humble dedication to people of Karnataka. I consider it as an honor and privilege to write about this great state and its citizens. I am also thankful to God in giving me a new opportunity to interact with people of this state and learn many good things from them".

With best Regards,
Junior KK.




Nimishamba Temple, Srirangapatna.

16th October, 2010.
Time: 04:15hrs.

The clock strikes 4:15AM. The alarm in my mobile starts singing,” Nanna dhvanige ninna dhvaniya, seridante namma dhvaniya. Na swaramu nee swaramu sangamamayi manaswaranga avatarinchey.......”. I woke up and got ready in 30 minutes. The climate in Bangalore was cool in the morning hours. At 5:30AM, I came out of my house at Bommanahalli and walked past the mosque towards Begur Road. Local isthiri wala Sridhar was busy with his pressing work. We greeted each other and after 5 minutes chat with him I started with my journey to Bommanahalli bus stop. A couple of street dogs accompanied me till the signal. I boarded 356C bus bound towards Majestic circle.

The bus was crowded even at that unearthly hour. That surprised me a little. As my bus crossed Madiwala, I almost got a seat, but a guy pushed me aside and threw his bag thus reserving the seat. After he sat, he gave an accomplished look at me and I couldn’t resist laughing inside. The journey lasted 40 minutes and I reached Majestic comfortably even though I was standing all the way. I walked towards the Railway station and purchased a ticket to Mysore though I was visiting Shrirangapatna. To be on the safer side, I purchased an Express category ticket so that I had the advantage of travelling in both Express and Passenger just in case if I changed my plan to visit Mysore (had a different backup plan).


Sriranganathasamy Temple, Srirangapatna.

I walked to platform 6 and waited patiently. 214 Tirupati-Mysore Fast Passenger arrived 20 minutes late with a BZA WAG-5#23x91 locomotive and there was a mad rush. I occupied one of the doors and waited for the train to start. Those 15 minutes seem to be the longest in my life. At 7:45AM, I heard a typical WDM-2 type honk and my train slowly chugged out of SBC. I liked the driving style of the loco pilot. My train curved towards the right and then towards left and after crossing Nayandahalli the train picked up high-speed. The first halt was at Kengeri. There was a mad rush and my train became jam packed. With a couple of youngsters sitting in the doorstep, I stood behind them observing the scenery as the train travelled across rural Karnataka. It was diesel action all the way. Diesel locomotives have a charm of their own! It’s also nice and interesting to watch them, though I am more of an electric fan.



My passenger reached Maddur at 9:15AM. A good amount of crowd got down at Maddur. Couple of vendors holding “Maddur Vadas” boarded the train and they started making good business! I had an idea of tasting it, but later quit it as I was a bit concerned about hygiene. I knew it would be good and hygienic, but still I thought “maybe next time”. My train was running a bit late as it had started late, but I wasn’t bothered. I found some space near the door and I started rail fanning. There weren’t any crossings so there weren’t much rail action, but overall the entire atmosphere was awesome and it made me feel good.



At Mandya, some chain-pulling incident happened and as a result my train was made to wait for 5 minutes. Yeliyur, Byadrahalli, Pandavapura were scheduled stops and my train halted there. It was a pleasant sight to watch the villages from trains. I noticed that the train was fully packed only till Maddur and after Maddur the train was mildly crowded.



After getting down at Srirangapatna, I walked to the front to observe the locomotive. After a scheduled minute halt, my train started and it was a real beauty to watch KJM WDM-2 departing the station with its smoke all around. As the train disappeared, I sat under the tree to enjoy the rural beauty of Karnataka and then proceeded towards Srirangapatna Ranganathaswamy temple.



I was impressed by the temple at first sight. There was a delay in darshan as poojas were conducted for the deity. I purchased laddu prasad for my cousins and then went around taking photos of the temple, sculptures in my camera mobile. I was amazed at the beauty of the sculptures and the cleanliness of the temple. The temple was indeed well maintained. I spent a good 45 minutes at the temple premises before leaving to my next destination Nimishamba temple 5km away from here.



After visiting the temple, I proceeded towards the town and walked inside for a kilometre. By now the weather was too hot with scorching sun right above my head. There weren’t any good hotels, but I accidentally bumped into a nice chap. He was an auto-driver and he suggested that I should take a bus to Nimishamba temple instead of going in auto. I told him that I would rather go in his auto, but he wouldn’t accept and he suggested that a bus would be cheaper costing only Rs.5/- instead of Rs.40/- for his auto. I was amazed as I haven’t come across such an auto-driver so far in my life who advocates so much for bus. I told him that an auto would be more convenient and proceeded with him. He agreed to take me to Nimishamba temple and drop me back at Shrirangapatna bus stand for Rs.40/- without any waiting charges. It was a jackpot for me. I never heard such things in Chennai.



I enjoyed the journey very much. It is believed that anyone visiting Nimishamba temple should donate lemons to the deity. In return they are offered lemons by the priest which were kept in pooja earlier and those lemons should either be made into juice same day or kept in home for 21 days and then thrown out. I offered 3 lemons and got 3 lemons as prasad. The temple looked fairly small with Kaveri River nearby.



Nimishamba is a form of goddess Parvati. There is a belief that Parvati will clear off all problems and trouble of her devotees within a minute. That explains the reason for the name "Nimishamba". "Nimisha" means a minute.

I roamed around the temple for around 25-30 mins and returned back to my auto. I thought that auto-driver may demand a few rupees extra, but he didn’t ask me anything and he dropped me off at the bus stand. I walked towards the nearest hotel. I had two chapattis and one masala dosai. The hotel wasn’t very hygienic, though it looked big, spacious with a lot of tables. The bus stand was very near and in 15 minutes I managed to catch a bus to Bangalore. I boarded the bus at 13:00hrs and I reached Majestic at 16:30hrs. I had problems of finding a bus to Baiyappanahalli and it took 30 minutes to find one. After 1 hour ride, I reached BYPL Nilgiri’s stop. My cousin brother’s house was very near to the tracks. I spent the weekend at his house before returning to Bommanahalli.

-Krishna Kumar.S
a.k.a Junior KK
IRFCA-SBC