Pandal hopping on Saptami

Shubho Mahasaptami!

Went out to see Ulsoor and Jayamahal pandals today. Ulsoor puja was organized in RBANMS grounds,and it took us a while to reach there because of the crazy traffic. I had almost given up any hopes of visiting the pandal, because there was absolutely no parking space left on the streets. But by sheer luck, we found a spot, parked our car and heaved a sigh of relief!

This puja boasts of being one of the oldest in Bangalore. The place had innumerable stalls of food, organic  groceries, cars and so much more. We finally made our way to the place where all the idols were placed.

Ma in all her glory, looked beautiful and majestic as always :). All the idols were decorated in gorgeous attires and ornaments. We couldn’t stand there for very long due to the crowd, but I did manage to get a few clicks.

I was looking for my yearly fix of Anandamela, but couldn’t spot any book stalls. For those who don’t know what Anandamela is, it is a magazine published yearly with loads of stories and novellas.

We decided to move to Jayamahal Extn, which is also a very old pujo but, is a little smaller and usually quieter.

I had come to Jayamahal after a few years and the pandal was magnificent this time. It was tall and looked regal.

It was peaceful, there was no chaos around (except for the food stalls of course!). There was an unmistakable intoxicating fragrance of dhoop. Decoration was impressive and Ma looked breathtaking.

We offered our prayers and moved to our customary inspection of food stalls 🙂 Mr.H almost screamed “golgappa!” and we decided to share a plate. It was delicious, crisp puris filled with tangy pungent water and yummy mashed potato. We also tried a plate of dahi papri chat, which was good too.

Our next discussion was where to go for dinner 🙂 Read on.