Crows !

Crow is one of the bird that has been introduced to everyone from the time of feeding by a mother in India. Crow joins the kids during story hours too in the form of 'Old lady frying a vada / kaaka vada sutta kadhai', 'Crow and the pebbles', 'Crow and crocodile' etc :-) . I could also recollect that during my childhood days we believed that if two completely dark black crows are seen, it is great lucky day. If you see only a single completely dark black crow, you may need to pinch your nearby friend so that it turns out be lucky. Interestingly that led to lot of pinch play among the friends. The term 'Completely dark black black' refers to crows that have their necks also black in color just as the color of their wings/tail. Recently, crows have entered into tamil movies (comedy role) also in the form of 'kaaka biryani / anju roopa biryani' jokes.

On certain occasions during the morning hours on saturday/sunday, i feed the crows. In my area , they appear to be pure 'chappathitarians' (Yup, they prefer to eat only chappathis made of wheat) . Nowadays the crows are very hi-fi and concerned much about their diet more than the humans :-). Yes, if i try to feed puri, they do not feed on it quickly as it is bit more oily than chappathi. If i give them Dosa / Murukku , they give me a naughty look and frame a question 'What about chappathi ?' (kaaka akakakka). They are very much concerned about healthy diet. They come regularly by around 7.45 to 8.15 pm and sit on compound walls and telephone / television cables before the window. If they are not fed for nearly 15 minutes, they would come and sit on the window door to check our availability and also to signal their arrival for breakfast :-) They will not caw on arrival, unless they are terribly hungry for that day ! Few of the crows are good fielders that they would catch a piece of chappathi using their beaks :-) . I like the manner in which the crows do a series of short jumps (7 to 12 times) on the horizontal metal bar on top of the front gate after picking up their breakfast to reach the pillars(compound wall pillar) at the end. It appears like a little cute dance in joy !

In India, lot of crows can be seen near the temples and residential areas (close to food sources) ! They are typically called as 'House Crow' in India.

Cards game - The real time-pass !

Recently, we have started playing cards after a very very long time. It is fun playing with friends/family members as there would be lot of comments flying during various phases of the games. Card games deserve appreciation as they appear in various formats for various generations of people. The interesting part is that it provides a range of flavours that require less attention to those that require great attention. So, we can choose the type of game based on the mood of the people.

1. Rummy card game - One should have form a sequence of 4 cards, 2 dummy collection (Requires more effective thinking and monitoring of the game)

2. A's card game - The player with the lowest score wins. The A's card holder starts the play and the player who plays the big card starts the play for the consecutive games . I remember nightmares of A's rounds on certain ocassions :-)

3. Sevens card game - The one with the least total value / empty hands wins the game. The interesting part is sometimes you may think that the card of value 1 (A) is the smallest possible, but the opponent might have jokers (Total value of zero) . A real good game !!

4. Poker without money (2 card) - Here, instead of real money, we categorize the J/Q/K/A/Joker as virtual money of Rs 5/10/15/20/30 respectively.

5. Bluff card game - The one who empties his hands wins the game. The players play by stating (truth / bluff) of such set of cards and others can either challenge or continue to place few cards by stating either the truth/bluff. It is very funny game :-)

The above listed games are those most commonly played games in India. In my childhood days, we have played the Rummy , A's , Monkey, Bluff card games. Recently, i have started to play the 'sevens cards game' and 'poker game without money'.

The cost of normal playing cards is around Rs 10 to 20 and that of plastic cards is from Rs 50 to 100. Plastic cards are preferred for different shuffling tricks rather than the normal playing cards !

Nehru stadium in Chennai - Vijay Film awards

Well, on saturday afternoon we got few tickets for Vijay Film awards that was held in Nehru stadium in Chennai. We started around 6 pm from house and it was a 45 mins drive for Rs 100 from Kodambakkam to Nehru stadium by auto-rickshaw. As usual we need to pass through the heavy saturday traffic to reach the stadium :-( Crossing T-Nagar on a sunny day is one of the greatest adventures for a person in chennai :-)

Our tickets were of balcony-3 category. The gate 3 entrance was for balcony-3 . I think, balcony-1 was were film stars were sitting and it was infront of the dias in the form of lot of small round-tables that numbered to around 50. The crowd was pouring in quickly and by around 7.00 , the indoor-stadium appeared to be very much closely packed up. I could find people sitting on the pathway / steps too !

The dias was brilliantly decorated that actually raised our expectations of the event to new heights. The lighting effects were very good. There were lot of displays (small and big). The digital background images and animation was very good . Gopi , the anchor of 'Neeya Naana' was the anchor for the vijai film awards too ! We were able to see many movie stars coming throughout the evening at regular intervals. The show started with Karthik performing few of tamil movie songs (old and new). Got a glimpse of various famous actors and actresses in tamil film industry. It was very enjoyable ! The crowd was very lively as they raised the pitch whenever an actor was named or shown as arriving over the big display .

This was the first time, i watched a film awards function lively. I felt that they played lot of different music that was heard for the first time . But, the audio was not very clear :-( I think, the balcony-1 people would have relished the music and visuals very well compared to either balcony-2 or balcony-3. Further, the dances appeared to be very good, but not extra-ordinary. Maybe, they were extra-ordinary but since i watched it lively for the first time, i could not find the difference. In the television screen, everything appears to be excellent !! :-)

I am sure, vijay television will be soon broadcasting this and hope to see it again !

Visit to Anjaneyar temple in Namakkal

Last week, i visited Namakkal Anjaneyar temple from Bangalore . The route was via Krishnagiri, Salem and Namakkal. It was a 7 hours journey from Bangalore. Namakkal is nearer to Bangalore than Chennai. The travel time can be split up as between Bangalore to Krishnagiri -2 hours, Krishnagiri to Salem - 4 hours and Salem to Namakkal - 1 hour. I attended my friend's marriage and visited the hanuman temple in namakkal while returning back to bangalore. Namakkal is famous for poultry and lorry body building business.

Anjaneyar temple in Namakkal is one of my favorite temple from my childhood. I could recollect my childhood school days of Namakkal which was regularly filled with weekly visit to Anjaneyar temple. He is a very powerful God and infact he fulfilled my childhood prayers of getting good marks :-) . The visit to the temple was interestingly synchronised with the famous namakkal temple festival in which people pour 'manjal thanni' just like holi function. During this ocassion, Lord is brought in ratham around the streets of Namakkal and it is normally a holiday for Namakkal. I could recollect my childhood days in an appartment that collected around Rs 30/50 as donation amount and screened few films on cinema-size screens in the street . No wonder, on the day of my visit last week, Namakkal appeared to be almost closed and the temple was very much crowded !

Lord Anjaneya appears worshipping Lord Narasimha (Narasimha temple is just opposite to Lord Anjaneyar temple in Namakkal) in the standing posture and is very tall with sky as the roof. In my childhood days, i remember that the temple did not have any flooring (It was sand) and it was not covered completely. Last week, i found that things have changed very much that there were new paintings , floorings and rennovation of walls . Good to see a progressive positive change in Namakkal temple. People in Namakkal are very lucky to have such a powerful God in their place as they could frequently visit as they wish !!

Vadapalani temple in Chennai

Today, we visited Vadapalani temple . It was a drive in auto-rickshaw from Kodambakkam. After skipping few auto-rickshaws and negotiations, it was a Rs 35 journey . Well, Vadapalani is one of the major places of Chennai as it is very close to Kodambakkam and T.Nagar. Even thought it is near to those places, the temple in Vadapalani is the main reason for major attraction . The place is pretty crowded as there are many followers of Lord Muruga around the temple on almost every day. On saturday and sunday, it is very crowded as it is a public holiday.

Lord Murugan is so beautiful and divine that both mind/heart is filled with happiness and peace. Luckily, today we saw the Lord coming around in Ratham (Temple car/Chariot).

The temple appears like a simple new-age temple . I did not find many scriptures inside the temple, but the main tower was well scripted with lots of images of different Gods. I liked the water flow at entrance of the temple that washes our legs off the dirt to keep the shrine clean. The drums controlled by modern mechanical and electronics is one of the latest implementation in the temple. I also liked the lightings on the walls of the temple. Unlike other temples that have scriptures over the walls around the temple, interestingly this temple has good lightings over the wall.

Traffic in Bangalore

I have to travel nearly 15 kms to office from my house :-( Thats really energy sapping. The real trouble is because of the traffic diversions due to new flyovers being constructed in most of the places. But, the traffic-jam can be avoided if people follow the rules properly. Many times , people try to go in the opposite direction if there is no vehicle arriving from the other end to reach near the traffic signal. I find that in some places, people drive their motorbikes over the platforms to go ahead of others waiting for the 'green-signal' :-( It is too bad that sometimes people go past 'red-signal' if the traffic police is not around . This happens very frequently during rainy season and it is more difficult to travel on those days.

It was not different today. My travelling time during morning was 1 hour and 30 minutes. In the evening also, it was almost 1 hour and 45 minutes. The main reason behind this chaos is the failure of people to follow proper traffic rules. Though there are cameras at main traffic signals apart from traffic police, it does not seem to solve the problem. It is high time that some device should be made that forces people to follow traffic rules.

While pondering over this, few of the below ideas popped up in my mind
1. Signal Stopper - A traffic light signal should always broadcast its current state as either Red or Yellow or Green. The vehicle should receive it and tear down the speed/acceleration accordingly. So, if it receives red, it should calculate the distance to the signal, the distance to the near by vehicles and slow down / stop the vehicle. In this manner, the traffic rules could be strictly followed(forced) for normal vehicles to avoid lot of chaos to make travelling a very happy journey :-)

2. Laser Ray Gate - This idea may sound funny, but if the people are tough, then rules can be equivalently tough :-) To avoid a person to drive in the opposite side of the road(against traffic rules) to reach the signal quickly, one-way laser rays based gates can be flashed across the other side of the road. One-way laser rays based gates allow traffic to flow in one direction, if it finds traffic in opposite direction, it will slowly lock the vehicle.

Hope that the traffic/commutation situation does not go so bad that such tough ideas come into place !

Hybrid Hen

Well, today i had late lunch as i was busy with some meetings. I had 'veg combo' ( a common corporate food in India ). While the combo was being prepared by the canteen guys, my mind was busy cooking few ideas as i was alone.
1. hmmm, this may sound like an offer that is given during lunch on festive ocassions :-) Yeah, i was thinking that it would be great if an hybrid hen could lay a piece of kabab for every 2 eggs that it lays. This saves cooking time and i believe that hen will be the correct person compared to a man in giving a tasty kabab :-) :-)

2. I find that the egg-shell has very less use and its destination is mostly to dust-bin . It would be great if a hybrid hen could lay egss with grape like skin. Let the skin have a grape/apple like taste. So, you need to make a hole to get the fluid out and can even eat the skin as it would be tasty. There is no wastage - planet receives less garbage :-).

Well, i think the canteen guys were able to read these thoughts cooking in my mind and were quick in delivering the veg-combo to divert my mind into having lunch :-) Hope to blog about mind reading in later editions . hehehe :-)

You are Who You Meet

Well, recently i watched an interesting movie in Star Movies. It was a very simple movie but i liked the information conveyed ! You can guess the name of the movie from the small review that i am presenting here :) All the best !

The movie revolves around two strangers who come in touch with each other . One of them(Morgan Freeman) is trying to become an actor and other(Lori) is a cashier who is bored with life and looking to switch off her job . The circumstances end up in both of them driving together in LA . They have lot of conversations about the happenings in their life and infact about their likes/hates too. The best part was the song sung by Morgan Freeman and the spanish song sung by Lori while they commute in the car. Morgan's song trick helps Lori a lot. The film conveys a point in life - "You are who you meet" !

Here is the BIGGG clue for you - This is the first film in history to be legally released for download through the internet while it was still in theaters :-) I think, i gave the answer in a different way !

Okay, were you able to guess it ?? Yes, it is '10 Items or Less' :-) . The movie was really very simple and soft. I liked the acting. I would like to appreciate the director's ability of converting a very simple happening into a good movie . I hope this movie would have been been a hit just because these incidents are nowadays common happenings of fast life . It is not a surprise that some may feel like their real life incident/own story :-)

A weird thought - Fish and Chicken

I eat non-veg whenever i get a chance to eat it :-) Infact, i am planning to get some (while i go to the shop, this 'some' will become a substantial quantity ;-) ) non-veg tomorrow. Chicken is my favorite. I like kabab very much, yummy.... :-) In case of biryani, Hyderabadi chicken briyani is my favorite as it would be spicy & delicious. I like mutton too, but since Mutton has more fat content, i rarely have mutton related food stuffs.

I recently came across some discussions about - 'Whether dolphin is a gay shark ? ' heheh :-)
Not sure of the extent of truth in it. But, that tossed up few interesting thoughts in my mind as below -
1. Well, do restaurants really bother to know whether the fish that they sell is a gay fish ?
2. What kind of bad/good effects would a gay fish cause to a person ?
3. And most importantly, is the percentage of gay fish growing up/down ?
4. Does any scientific committee perform any research on this ?

I did not get clear answers, but you can share your thoughts . And most importantly, lemme know if you have you ever checked with the hotel manager to confirm if the fish is gay ? hehehe :-) :-)

Creative Ideas from my cup

Nowadays, lot of strange and weird ideas pop up in my mind . I felt that i would keep listing and sharing it here so that you too can enjoy it :-)

1. Beach chair - This is a chair that would swing based on the sound of the waves that it receives. So it would give a feel that you are almost floating in beach water , but you are actually swinging in the chair. The speed of wind would also determine the angle and magnitude of swing :-) It should also be fit with a mp3/mp4 player that would select the songs based on the intensity and warmness :)

2. Memory mouse - This is a computer mouse that will read the fingerprints and login the particular user as soon as the user touches the mouse. The user need not remember the username / password.

3. Weather generator - It is possible to generate many things and i am sure it is possible to generate weather based on the interests of the majority of the people from online poll for that particular area :-) It might need add-on packages like cloud generator, thunder and lightning mixer, wind blower and virtual porus bucket to give the real rain effect . I think, this complete tool can help in converting desert into fertile areas . We need not worry about abandonment of outdoor match(Football/Cricket etc) . It would also be very very helpful for Bollywood and Kollywood movie industry too :-)

So, these are the 3 ideas that popped up in my mind during this week. I will update more of my ideas in the consecutive weeks :-)

Badminton in bangalore

Last weekend, i played badminton. It was like refreshing my old childhood memory. Yeah, i was playing badminton after nearly 9 years - It was a great feel. It was very interesting and would be more memorable because of various reasons like it was raining and we played unperturbed by it, the net was not properly aligned across the court and we were unaware of it, there was no natural light and we played with flood lights (tube light in apartment), there was wind at occasions that took away some of our perspiration and tiredness off our body . On the whole, it was very enjoyable and lovable !

Planning to get a good badminton bat for me :-)

Bedtime stories become True :-)

Recently, i saw an English Movie . I would like you to guess it from the review .

Well, it starts by a man narrating his own story of running a hotel along with his two kids. One of the kid is very smart and his ideas are awesome. The hotel in debt is sold to another guy who enters into an agreement that if that kid works continuously and grows enough, that kid would be the owner of the hotel. Days pass by and the kid grows up, the hotel multiplies in size, customers too multiply, but the kid is still working(Adam Sandler). The owner did not select him by default to run the hotel :-( One day, he does baby-sitting to help his sister. This being his first experience with kids, he converts the daily happenings into a story and conveys it to the kids. The kids add few twists and give some reasonable suggestions to the bedtime stories. To his surprise, he finds that the next day the things that were told by the kids in bedtime story happen true :-). Adam tries to use this trick to get his hotel that he has deserved for a very long time as per the agreement. The stories are mix of various ages of history :-)

Were you able to guess it ? yup, it is 'Bedtime Stories'. Though the basic idea seems to be that of a kid's/family movie. The events are not clearly inter-woven and it may not be pleasing to the kids too. It appears as a very very normal movie :-)

Bangalore to Chennai - Bus Booking Tips

This is a small blog about bus booking. It can be helpful for all new people who commute from bangalore to chennai . It is briefs you about the major bus service providers and the bus ticket booking tips for travelling from Bangalore to Chennai . It can be aptly termed as 'Bus Booking for Dummies' just like 'Yoga for Dummies' etc .. :-)

KSRTC :
1.Online bus booking for KSRTC - http://www.ksrtc.co.in/
2.Normal starting points :
- Only normal non-A/C buses start from Shanthi Nagar
- A/C Volvo buses start from Majestic

SETC :
1.No Online bus booking system for SETC
2.Normal starting points :
- Majority of Non-A/C and A/C buses start from Shanthi Nagar.
- Few non-A/C and A/C buses start from Majestic

Private Buses :
Lot of private buses are available . But keep the private buses as the final choice as they are not very reliable. Sometimes they change the buses without intimation. On few occasions the A/C does not work and hot air gets injected in the final 2 rows of the bus.

Happy Journey !

Bangalore to Madurai Trip

Recently, we visited Madurai after few years. It was one of the most unforgettable trip as it was packed with lot of interesting events . We started from Bangalore by Train (Thoothukudi Express) by around 9.30 PM and reached Madurai by around 7.30 AM. We were very lucky as the train stuck to its exact timings. It was sunny similar to Chennai, but it appeared to be hotter than that of Chennai. But, people of Madurai felt Chennai to be hotter than that of Madurai. The city shops wake up by around 10 am only. Madurai has broadened compared to earlier years, but i could still see that the South Indian TamilNadu culture and tradition to be very much living with the people of Madurai.

The bargaining system with Madurai Autowalas was completely different compared to that Chennai autowalas. There has been an increase in the number of Cab service providers and infact we were able to get Call Taxi too.

Nowadays, Share-Autos have made their way into Madurai are very very common. I found that share-autos are real friends to commuters as they are very frequent compared to buses.

I also visited the cinema theater(Ambika theatre) in Anna Nagar to watch a Tamil movie called 'Tamizh Padam'. There were only very people as it was a weekday evening show. Since some kind of renovation was going on, we need to come to ground floor to buy snacks during the intermission. On the whole, it was value for money and enjoyable ! After the movie, I roamed near the theatre and I could find an increased number of shops along Anna Nagar and KK Nagar. You could find all kind of commutation vehicle to reach your home :-)

We visited Theppakulam and also temples in Arupukkottai . I could find an increased number of both young and old people walking/jogging around Theppakulam during the morning hours. Theppakulam appears to be like a beach in the evening with lot of couples, family and bachelors hanging around in the evening. You could find all kind of shops similar to that of those present in Chennai beaches.

Bangalore to Chennai - From Hosur

Travelling on long weekends becomes extremely difficult if you do not have a ticket reserved well in advance. I have earlier blogged on travelling from Bangalore to Chennai & from Chennai to Bangalore during normal occasions in Unreserved buses. But, the situation is completely different on long week-ends or during festival seasons. This long weekend (Easter), i had to go to Hosur and get a bus for Chennai. I was surprised to see the frequency of buses for chennai from Hosur - It is really very high. Lemme share some info about Hosur now. Hosur is located in Tamil Nadu in close proximity to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the main entry/exit point to Bangalore. It is one of the industrial hubs in Tamil Nadu bordering Karnataka. Apart from climate, the nearness to Bangalore has also helped in Hosur's development. I did find lot of buses to Vellore that has very very high frequency of buses to Chennai . Vellore is one of the main cities that lies between Chennai and Bangalore. It is on the banks of the Palar river. So, if you do not find Chennai with vacant seats even in Hosur, then catch on a bus to Vellore. In Vellore, you can get Chennai buses with vacant seats. Vellore also operates buses that that start from Vellore and depart to Chennai round the clock !

Hosur seems to be one of the best alternative places to get buses to Chennai quickly if you have not reserved tickets for your travel to Chennai from Bangalore. Happy Journey !!

Bowling in Chennai - Down Under Fun

Yesterday, we visited the 'Down Under Fun' bowling in Chennai (Marshalls Road, Dugar Tower). We started from Kodambakkam and reached Marshalls road in 20 minutes by bike. We did not find any big board signs / lighted-setups for the spot and we were puzzled about its presence in Marshalls Road, but we could feel the bowling environment as soon as we found few young people coming out in an ecstasic mood :-) The bowling center was located in the basement. It has 4 lanes only, but a good place to hang around & enjoy! It has 5 to 8 computer game machines and 3 billiard / snooker boards too. We need to remove the shoes and there is no special shoes to wear while playing. I was initially having my socks on my foot, but it was not very comfortable and hence removed my socks too. We should appreciate the designer as he has managed to have all these stuffs to be packed within a very small place. I found the Flat Panel Display that is hanging from the roof for every lane to display the score table to be very small and it did not graphically depict various shots that could give maximum points at that scenario of play. A big screen & more animations could surely boost the appearance. The cost for bowling varies between Weekends and Weekdays. The cost is comparatively less on weekdays :-) So, we need to finish off our work quickly !

Interestingly, i could feel the difference between the 'Down Under Fun' bowling in Chennai(Marshalls Road) and 'amoeba' bowling in Bangalore(Church Street) as i had visited it few times earlier. In fact, I blogged about Amoeba Bowling in Bangalore sometime ago. I found the amoeba bowling(Bangalore) to be well organized, spacious and well equipped with more lanes. There were other set of games too in a separate floor on top of the bowling floor(Amoeba bowling, Bangalore). Anyhow, comparing between Chennai and Bangalore bowling spots is a point to be thought of as lifestyle is slightly different for the majority of the people :-)

SETC & KSRTC ticket reservation - Unreserved Busses

Few of the earlier posts would have given you some view of the booking systems of SETC and KSRTC. I came across another system that is really very helpful - 'Token System'. The 'Token' system is a kind of reservation for the buses that arrive with vacant seats or completely un-reserved in bus-stand(Koyambedu/Shanthi-Nagar). 'Token' system is a way for getting ticket if you have not reserved any ticket at all . It is very helpful for last-minute travellers and also for guys who are lazy to reserve the ticket earlier itself :-) Another system that is similar to this is 'Conductor-system' that helps a last minute traveller to get a ticket in an unreserved bus or in a bus with vacant seats :-) . Ok, lemme share few analysis done so far.

Token system is very very popular for booking tickets between chennai to bangalore in SETC. It is also becoming famous while booking tickets from bangalore to chennai in SETC. In Chennai, SETC booking counter has a very well organized 'Q' that helps commuters to get the tokens without any mix-up. The counter seems to open around 8.30 pm and might be open till very late in the night . On few peak days, it will be open almost till it can support most of the passengers. In Bangalore, SETC booking counter does not seem to be providing you the 'Q' facility in a strict manner and leads to some kind of mixup or thrashing of one-another to get the token. Another point is that during certain times in bangalore, there is no need to get a token, people just squeeze themselves to get into the bus to get the seat as there is no 'Q'. It is a FIGS(First In, Gets Seat) concept which in turn leads to some mix-up as there is no 'Q' to get into bus :-(
So, Chennai SETC adds value to the SETC bus booking system while the bangalore SETC seems to reduce some value of SETC bus booking system.

KSRTC has a good online booking system, but KSRTC in bangalore seems to lack this mechanism of 'Token' system for booking tickets. Instead, the tickets are given by conductors standing near the respective busses. Though this conductor-system provides good oppurtunity for the person who comes in touch with the correct bus conductor with vacant tickets , it makes one person to run between different busses in the stand. It makes the person toil for a single ticket alot as he needs to check with almost every bus-conductor . There is also some mix-up while getting tickets as there is no proper 'Q'.

So, KSRTC seems to lag behind SETC in providing tickets in an organized way to last minute travellers in both Bangalore and Chennai. Though SETC token system is fine in chennai, the bangalore token system has to come up with a proper 'Q' system to provide even more comfort to night travellers.

Also check my blog on 'KSRTC vs SETC' !

Lord Siva Temple - Kempfort (Bangalore)

On New year, we visited Lord Siva Temple in Kempfort (Bangalore) in Call Taxi. It is around 8 Kms from Koramangala and we opted for the Call Taxi's Rs100 per hour scheme .

It is a must-visit place for the people living in Bangalore. Interestingly, the entrance to the temple has few steps that go downwards and we need to walk few meters from the entrance into the temple to get the ticket for special darshan(Rs 50) or wait in a queue for worshipping without ticket.

The Lord Siva idol in sitting posture is atleast 60ft high and his smile is so lively that makes you feel so happy ! There is also a big idol of Lord Vinayaka in the entrance. The temple is very well planned as there is small pond before Lord Siva and beside the pond is the yagam where devotees can buy few wooden sticks, rice, oil and pray. There are also some caves with few deities inside those caves. In the pond, devotees lit candles and make it float in the water that keeps circulating around the pond. There is also a Magic Spot that will help us in achieving our desired thoughts if we stand over that spot chanting 'Aum Nama Shivaya' and drop coins that we get from the counter nearby. We could also see a jet of water sprinkling out of the head of Lord and falling on the ground and that scene is still living in my eyes !!

This great new Lord Shiva Temple is located inside Bangalore city . It is sure to draw in lot of local crowd on weekends & weekdays. I am sure that many people near that area would be planning their weekend to worship Lord Shiva and do a quick purchase in 'Total mall' for the week/month as it is very next to it.

Thanks for such a beautiful temple in the heart of city :-)

Tanjore Big Temple trip - Chennai to Thanjavur

Recently we had a trip to Tanjore Big Temple(Brihadeeswarar Temple) from Chennai.
We started from Chennai in SETC bus around 10 PM and reached Thanjavur(Tanjore) by 8 AM in the morning. It was one of the finest ride as we were able to get a good glimpse of the agricultural areas. We stayed in a lodge nearby the main(New) busstand and finished our breakfast before starting to the temple.

It costs you around Rs.30 in an auto from the New busstand to the Temple. We were welcomed by an elephant in the Temple Gateway (Interestingly i found a similar elephant in most of the pictures in internet w.r.t Tanjore Big Temple :-) ). The Big Temple belongs to Chola dynasty and i wonder how the kings have nourished the Art & Temples in those days !

One of the speciality of this temple is that the Shadow of the temple will not fall on the floors at any circumstances by sunlight. It is one of the strange architecture in the world today.

The entire temple is made of hard granite stones !! The Nandi is sooooooo big and carved out of single stone that held us our breath for a second. Its eyes were very lively and i could visualize it even now . It is a very big temple and the Lord Shiva idol is fantastic. There are lot of stone deities around the courtyard . It was interesting to find a series of stone carved Nandis on the wall surrounding the temple !

The temple gives us an idea about the strength of Chola emperor in Architecture, Sculpture, Painting and Designing. No surprise, Tanjore(Thanjavur) is one of the biggest Tourist places in South India.