Talakad - Kovalam Beach near Bangalore

There are quite a few interesting places near Bangalore and often the most visible is Mysore and places around it and any beach is some 300 kilometers from Bangalore and the sea or water bodies of a larger kind are not a component of Bangalore as a city and its skylines. In many ways the largest river near Bangalore is the Cauvery encountered on the Mysore road and since time immemorial this river has formed part of the mystique and fables of this part of the World. The Cauvery is God for many with many  tributaries and is possibly the only river that touches and has links with the states of South India namely Karnataka; Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

But of late and to mention very late barely few hours drive from Bangalore I find a place called Talakad off the Mysore road towards Kollegal and on the banks of the river Cauvery full of sand and looks to me all at an instance as the Kovalam beach in Trivandrum that I visited many years ago .Talakad as a place is under-positioned to any inmate of Bangalore and here the river Cauvery masquerades itself as a Sea and anyone desirous of having a beach experience this place would come handy. It would need some considerable amount of time to come to terms with the vast historical significance and expanse of this place largely full with sand. There are many temples around this place with deep driven significance that possibly runs through ages.

I did go through some tales associated with this place..the most significant one of  Alamelamma  the wife of Sri Ranga the last Viceroy of the dwindling Vijayanagar Empire in the middle part of the 17th century. Raja Wodeyar who appears to be Chieftain of nearby Mysore ousts Sri Ranga from control and takes over SriRangapattana for himself and Sriranga and his wife settle down in Malingi a small town on the opposite banks of Talakad across the Cauvery and Alamelamma having carried jewels with her on her departure. Raja Wodeyar on noticing the missing jewels pusues it by desptching his soldiers to Malingi who were only given a pearl nose ring and Alamellama adorned with the other jewels drowns in the Cauvery on her own accord cursing the Wodeyar kings of Mysore thus....

LET  TALAKAD BE FILLED WITH SAND

LET  MALINGI BECOME A WHIRL POOL

LET THE WODEYAR KING BE DEPRIVED OF PROGENY

Surprisingly all these curses have come to pass which would be astonishing to a agnost. Talakad is full of sand from sand storms that gripped the town from the hills around apparently many bunds were built to prevent the migration of Sand. Malingi did become a whirlpool so much so people had to be evacuated creating a place called "Hosa Malingi" away from the Cauvery river and more than anything the Wodeyar Kings have themselves bore the brunt of the curse with no issues to the serving King. Alamellamma is pleased through worship today by the Wodeyar kings during Dussera.

It appears that one of the better of the routes to Talakad would be via Kanakapura but this road is a single track road that leads to Mysore and some of the bridges on this road are metal structures creating constrictions and in my view point this axis of connectivity between Bangalore and Mysore adjoining Talakad must be gradually or instantly developed into a more motorable one which would contribute  many economic rewards and also would please Alamellamma that many more visit  Talakad and take stock and part of its various ancestry and heritage.