Travel

It is customary to complain about the bad condition of roads in India. But roads in Tamil Nadu are nowhere as bad as they are in Karnataka.I visited Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu in March, and found good roads even in remote villages. Lots of tourists were visiting the pilgrim centres at the time. Karnataka actually has a lot going for it. Beautiful landscape,salubrious climate and lovely Hoysala temples. I wonder why the people there are so indifferent to the tourist potential of their state. More needs to be done to promote Karnataka on the tourist circuit. Places like Devarayana Durga, near Tumkur, are beautiful. And yet when we visited the place sometime in June this year, there were only four or five others there.Apart from the well known temples like those in Tonnur or Srirangapatnam, there are others too like the ones in Maddur, for instance, that are worth visiting.
We also got to see the temple at Kaidala, the village to which Jakannachari, the sculptor responsible for the visual treat of Belur and Halebid, belonged.The idol is beautiful, although it is broken in places and has to be mended.In the space of four days, we managed to see 16 temples. In Kumbakonam in three days, you can visit 34 temples.Simply because the roads in Kumbakonam are better.
If you like your food spicy, then you're going to find it difficult to like the food in places like Mysore.We found it bland, and went in search of an Andhra restaurant.
As for Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, a good place to stay would be Hotel ARK. Moderate tariffs too. But they don't have a restaurant. So you'll have to go elsewhere for food. We went to a place called Venkatramana.You get good veg food at reasonable rates there.