It's that month of the year which everyone wants to get over as soon as possible and usher in the rains. But like everything in this world, May also has it's pluses and minuses. So let us look at the positives and things we will miss after May is done and dusted.
1) Mango tops the list of things which will be missed as May comes to an end and rains start to pour.
2) Summer vacations come to an end.
3) Number of hours available for cricket will reduce, as rains play spoilsport.
4) The visit to the golawala, for a weekly dose of gola.
These are a few of the things that I would miss, when May days are over. But why do we forget the reason for the sweltering weather is of our own doing, Global Warming, so lets brace ourselves for an even warmer May next year.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Broke and on the Road in Goa
Come to think of it we just saved our asses from being booked for a misdemeanour: breaking into the Central Jail. But in our defence we weren't aware that it was a Central Jail, there was no one at the checkpost and the gates were open. This makes a pretty bad reading for our jail security measures, but isn't this how things work in India. To their credit they did catch us within a minute of entering the jail premises.
After cajoling them for 2 hours not to press charges, we continued our journey to Baga, Goa. I was apprehensive from the moment Sunny proposed that we hire bikes and go off to North Goa, but had to give in when Prajnesh, Viraj and Gautam concurred with Sunny and hence the stakes were against me. It was loathsome to leave the calmness and serenity of South Goa and head off to the more happening and lively parts. But as the day went by things got even more interesting. We had an amazing time riding in the rain and it was 6 pm by the time we reached Calangute Beach, June being an off-season we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. All of us hadn't drove for 2 hours to have the beach for ourselves, the action was missing, so we sent Sunny to find some action for us.
As per Sunny's prognosis we would have to kill some time as it was too early for any kind of action to begin; so we loitered around on the road connecting Calangute to Baga taking in the rare views. Between the five of us we had around 1500 bucks after paying for the bikes and petrol, as we weren't going to spend the night at Baga we were on a shoe-string budget. Party where-ever we can, if we could get in and then drive back to our base - Cavellosim Beach. Plans have a tendency to unwind into something completely different from what was conceived.
The clock struck nine and after having some crumps for dinner, we were on the hunt for rave parties or should I say a party. I haven't put in so much of effort ever before in searching for something and in the end not even coming close to finding it. Should have taken my Mom along with us, because she is very adept at pointing out the exact location of things at home which I am searching for. After scavenging every nook and corner of Baga-Calangute for 2 hours we deicded to assemble at the town-centre to contemplate our next move. Prajnesh, Viraj and I were the first to reach there, while we were waiting for Gautam and Sunny to turn up, Prajnesh decided to get some info from a passerby. He started by asking him about the hotel rates, the directions for Cavellossim and then out of nowhere he asked the fellow whether Goa police patrol the roads at night.
The mention of Goa police caught the fancy of the passerby and he asked us why we were so concerned about them, the big mouth Prajnesh had to tell him that we didn't have driving licenses, just when Prajnesh said that, the passerby unbuttoned his raincoat to reveal to our astonishment his police uniform. WOW! We were going get jacked 'again', the night just got better. So we started with the normal routine of blandishments and finally we had to bribe him because his asking price ticked upwards whenever we said something. Now left with only 300 bucks and lassitude, we decided to begin our journey back to the sanctity of our hotel beds in Cavellossim. Not paying heed to the police officer's advice of booking a room at Baga, due to paucity of funds we decided to leave.
By the time we reached the highway he came across another police checkpost and we had to go through the whole ignominy once again. So we offered them the only money we had, which was too less for him as we had paid a similar amount to only one office and here they were three. So after a lot of cajoling we were let go. But this time we did listen to them as they told us that several checkposts will be found at this time of the hour on the highway. The one of the two options was to continue on our journey and end up in trouble/jail as we had no money left to bribe anyone and the other one was to go back and crash in Baga.
We decided to go back and pass the night in some bar, on the way back we were being followed by a police van and we thought that they are chasing us. Now we didn't need this at this point of time. We made some turns and ended up in the middle of somewhere, there was a bar nearby which was open, we parked the bikes at a frantic pace and made a dash for the bar. The bar owner told us that he was taking his last order and if we wanted to stay back then we needed to buy something. Gautam found out that the cheapest thing we could do there was to play pool, we could stretch a game for a few hours, couldn't we ? So I don't know how but we could gather 75 bucks in small change, for one frame of pool, from that point onwards we were completely broke.
The bar was nearly empty, so the owner came over to the pool table for a chat, we were so happy to spill the beans and pour our hearts out. He was very sympathetic to what we had gone through but he told us that he shutting down in 30mins so we had to make a move. We tagged along with him on the way to his house, he then he gave us a brilliant idea to spend the night on the beach. This was our only way to spend another 4 hours till dawn, after 6 am there weren't going to be any police checkposts. So he showed us the way and told us to follow the sound of the waves to reach the beach. But our night wasn't going to end in such a lame manner, so while on our way to the beach, we encountered our final(hopefully) nemesis, 'stray dogs'.
We had had enough, so we decided not to go any further and camp on the road. We passed the remaining hours camped on a road in a resedential area, reminiscing about the day gone by and how it would be something that all of us would never forget. Those 4 hours we had a really great time talking to each other, it was time well spent in the end. At the crack of dawn we got to our bikes and rode non-stop for another 2 hours to Cavelossim. All of us crashed in our beds till.....
After cajoling them for 2 hours not to press charges, we continued our journey to Baga, Goa. I was apprehensive from the moment Sunny proposed that we hire bikes and go off to North Goa, but had to give in when Prajnesh, Viraj and Gautam concurred with Sunny and hence the stakes were against me. It was loathsome to leave the calmness and serenity of South Goa and head off to the more happening and lively parts. But as the day went by things got even more interesting. We had an amazing time riding in the rain and it was 6 pm by the time we reached Calangute Beach, June being an off-season we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. All of us hadn't drove for 2 hours to have the beach for ourselves, the action was missing, so we sent Sunny to find some action for us.
As per Sunny's prognosis we would have to kill some time as it was too early for any kind of action to begin; so we loitered around on the road connecting Calangute to Baga taking in the rare views. Between the five of us we had around 1500 bucks after paying for the bikes and petrol, as we weren't going to spend the night at Baga we were on a shoe-string budget. Party where-ever we can, if we could get in and then drive back to our base - Cavellosim Beach. Plans have a tendency to unwind into something completely different from what was conceived.
The clock struck nine and after having some crumps for dinner, we were on the hunt for rave parties or should I say a party. I haven't put in so much of effort ever before in searching for something and in the end not even coming close to finding it. Should have taken my Mom along with us, because she is very adept at pointing out the exact location of things at home which I am searching for. After scavenging every nook and corner of Baga-Calangute for 2 hours we deicded to assemble at the town-centre to contemplate our next move. Prajnesh, Viraj and I were the first to reach there, while we were waiting for Gautam and Sunny to turn up, Prajnesh decided to get some info from a passerby. He started by asking him about the hotel rates, the directions for Cavellossim and then out of nowhere he asked the fellow whether Goa police patrol the roads at night.
The mention of Goa police caught the fancy of the passerby and he asked us why we were so concerned about them, the big mouth Prajnesh had to tell him that we didn't have driving licenses, just when Prajnesh said that, the passerby unbuttoned his raincoat to reveal to our astonishment his police uniform. WOW! We were going get jacked 'again', the night just got better. So we started with the normal routine of blandishments and finally we had to bribe him because his asking price ticked upwards whenever we said something. Now left with only 300 bucks and lassitude, we decided to begin our journey back to the sanctity of our hotel beds in Cavellossim. Not paying heed to the police officer's advice of booking a room at Baga, due to paucity of funds we decided to leave.
By the time we reached the highway he came across another police checkpost and we had to go through the whole ignominy once again. So we offered them the only money we had, which was too less for him as we had paid a similar amount to only one office and here they were three. So after a lot of cajoling we were let go. But this time we did listen to them as they told us that several checkposts will be found at this time of the hour on the highway. The one of the two options was to continue on our journey and end up in trouble/jail as we had no money left to bribe anyone and the other one was to go back and crash in Baga.
We decided to go back and pass the night in some bar, on the way back we were being followed by a police van and we thought that they are chasing us. Now we didn't need this at this point of time. We made some turns and ended up in the middle of somewhere, there was a bar nearby which was open, we parked the bikes at a frantic pace and made a dash for the bar. The bar owner told us that he was taking his last order and if we wanted to stay back then we needed to buy something. Gautam found out that the cheapest thing we could do there was to play pool, we could stretch a game for a few hours, couldn't we ? So I don't know how but we could gather 75 bucks in small change, for one frame of pool, from that point onwards we were completely broke.
The bar was nearly empty, so the owner came over to the pool table for a chat, we were so happy to spill the beans and pour our hearts out. He was very sympathetic to what we had gone through but he told us that he shutting down in 30mins so we had to make a move. We tagged along with him on the way to his house, he then he gave us a brilliant idea to spend the night on the beach. This was our only way to spend another 4 hours till dawn, after 6 am there weren't going to be any police checkposts. So he showed us the way and told us to follow the sound of the waves to reach the beach. But our night wasn't going to end in such a lame manner, so while on our way to the beach, we encountered our final(hopefully) nemesis, 'stray dogs'.
We had had enough, so we decided not to go any further and camp on the road. We passed the remaining hours camped on a road in a resedential area, reminiscing about the day gone by and how it would be something that all of us would never forget. Those 4 hours we had a really great time talking to each other, it was time well spent in the end. At the crack of dawn we got to our bikes and rode non-stop for another 2 hours to Cavelossim. All of us crashed in our beds till.....
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Dada rules my heart !
Good to see Dada in the thick of things once again in IPL 3, from the forgetful South African safari to this year's poor show in the great Indian tamasha. Things haven't changed much on the points table, other than the return of Dada's killer captaincy moves. He was more successful in his previous avatar as the captain of the Indian cricket team. Everything comes to a naught even after his deft bowling changes and field placements, the team's complete lack of performance and fighting spirit has led KKR to lose even from decent positions.
IPL 3 has caught everyone's imagination this year too and the most spoken/discussed topic is which team are you following ? Being in Mumbai one can't miss the euphoria around this year's table toppers, Mumbai Indians and Sachin's batting prowess accompanied with his recently developed captaincy skills. There is no doubt about the fact that he possesses one of the best cricketing minds in the world. So being a KKR fan in Mumbai is looked upon with indignation and ridicule.
Constantly being reminded about the team's mediocre performance and being a butt of all the jokes in IPL 2, I was relieved to see that this year's honour goes to Kings XI Punjab. The hostilities have not ceased as yet, the deteriorating performance of KKR in IPL 3 makes me question my unequivocal support for them. However, everytime the question arises from within or outside, my faith in the team is reiterated just because of one man, Sourav Ganguly. From Day 1 there is only one team oops one man who is worthy of my support. So this is for all my friends, relatives and to top it off for my Dad, that my partisan support will continue for any team that has Dada in it.
Realistically speaking I might have to choose a new team to support most probably in a year or two. But being a person who always favours the underdog I think I might end up supporting KKR all my life.
IPL 3 has caught everyone's imagination this year too and the most spoken/discussed topic is which team are you following ? Being in Mumbai one can't miss the euphoria around this year's table toppers, Mumbai Indians and Sachin's batting prowess accompanied with his recently developed captaincy skills. There is no doubt about the fact that he possesses one of the best cricketing minds in the world. So being a KKR fan in Mumbai is looked upon with indignation and ridicule.
Constantly being reminded about the team's mediocre performance and being a butt of all the jokes in IPL 2, I was relieved to see that this year's honour goes to Kings XI Punjab. The hostilities have not ceased as yet, the deteriorating performance of KKR in IPL 3 makes me question my unequivocal support for them. However, everytime the question arises from within or outside, my faith in the team is reiterated just because of one man, Sourav Ganguly. From Day 1 there is only one team oops one man who is worthy of my support. So this is for all my friends, relatives and to top it off for my Dad, that my partisan support will continue for any team that has Dada in it.
Realistically speaking I might have to choose a new team to support most probably in a year or two. But being a person who always favours the underdog I think I might end up supporting KKR all my life.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday well spent....27/3/10
So I have one more 1st for you, the 1st time I attended an inauguration ceremony of a different kind in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. St. Jude India ChildCare Centres, is a NGO providing families whose children are suffering from chronic diseases with hygienic accommodation and counselling, free of cost, as effective post-medical nurturing can make a large difference to not only the convalescing patient but also his/her family, as families are in a state of shock to see their children suffer from life threatening diseases such as CANCER and AIDS.
St. Jude was opening 4 new childcare centres in the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, it is the new state of the art R&D satellite of the TATA Memorial Centre (TMC). Me being a very punctual person was very much late by 30 mins, while travelling to Kharghar, the thought most prevalent in my mind was, "Why am I wasting my holiday going to a hospital rather than watching cricket, sleeping or doing something that I like ?" But I wanted to do this just to realise whether I have the sensitivity to actually do social service, I was desperate to walk the talk and JSW Foundation provided me with a launching pad and I volunteered. It was just an inauguration ceremony and I didn't have to do anything but then also it was a baby step in the right direction.
Unilever's Global CEO Paul Polman was the Chief Guest of Honour, as HUL had sponsored one of the 4 centre's. But what struck me most was the exuberance of the children even after going through several rounds of chemotherapy.On the other hand I sulk even at the prospect of visiting a General Practitioner and when I am actually in a hospital the first thought that comes to my mind is when am I going to leave, and the stench that is pervasive in a clinic or a hospital makes me sick. Those places are too depressing. No doubt the contribution of donors is invaluable but the real contributors are the doctors and support staff that are there for them day and night. And it was really touching to see the kind of rapport the doctors had with the children, their love for them was infectious.
Visits to such places will be highly recommended for people who feel that they have been treated harshly by life, the visit will not only be thought provoking but will also rekindle one's faith in a long thought dead quality of humility and kindness. This visit has made me reaffirm my resolve to give back to society in whatever small way I can.
St. Jude was opening 4 new childcare centres in the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, it is the new state of the art R&D satellite of the TATA Memorial Centre (TMC). Me being a very punctual person was very much late by 30 mins, while travelling to Kharghar, the thought most prevalent in my mind was, "Why am I wasting my holiday going to a hospital rather than watching cricket, sleeping or doing something that I like ?" But I wanted to do this just to realise whether I have the sensitivity to actually do social service, I was desperate to walk the talk and JSW Foundation provided me with a launching pad and I volunteered. It was just an inauguration ceremony and I didn't have to do anything but then also it was a baby step in the right direction.
Unilever's Global CEO Paul Polman was the Chief Guest of Honour, as HUL had sponsored one of the 4 centre's. But what struck me most was the exuberance of the children even after going through several rounds of chemotherapy.On the other hand I sulk even at the prospect of visiting a General Practitioner and when I am actually in a hospital the first thought that comes to my mind is when am I going to leave, and the stench that is pervasive in a clinic or a hospital makes me sick. Those places are too depressing. No doubt the contribution of donors is invaluable but the real contributors are the doctors and support staff that are there for them day and night. And it was really touching to see the kind of rapport the doctors had with the children, their love for them was infectious.
Visits to such places will be highly recommended for people who feel that they have been treated harshly by life, the visit will not only be thought provoking but will also rekindle one's faith in a long thought dead quality of humility and kindness. This visit has made me reaffirm my resolve to give back to society in whatever small way I can.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Of all things that happened to me for the first time!!!
I am very much hooked on to blogging, can't get it out of my mind. So I have to write about something or the other to satisfy myself, am constantly looking for an inspiration to write something on. All ideas that I get relate to my personal experiences or outright fantasies, and if I start writing about those then I will have to open another account and provide access to Adults only. What I mean by Adults is not people who are 18 years and above but those that can understand and appreciate art in every form.
Someone recommended me last night to write about my first crush, and I thought why not improvise on it and write about everything that happened to me for the first time. Had a great time reminiscing about it and am sharing with you a few of them which were outright hilarious when we look back at them but they were a part of my life.
1st Crush: Innocent and pure those are the first words that come to my mind when I think about her. 1st crush was way back in 1994-95 when I was in the 3rd Standard, was lucky enough to have her in my class the next year too. Would do anything just to sit next to her in class, but wasn't that lucky when it came to that, as we had to keep shuffling partners every week and when I was just about to get an opportunity to sit next to her, my favorite enemies raised their heads Exams and Holidays which affected the routine. Two years passed away and I was no better off than the 1st day of 3rd Standard, still couldn't muster enough guts to even talk to her. Latest update about her is that she is on my facebook profile and still can't get myself to talk to her. But for all that is worth, it's a memory that I cherish till date.
1st Date: Had to get drunk to ask her out in 2006(not related to the girl mentioned above, I refrain from mentioning their names to maintain privacy, not mine but theirs), had tried asking out girls before on the phone but was never ever successful in that.In my defence things didn't work out before because I was an introvert and didn't know how all things realted to love/crush worked (am still working on that). So yeah back to the date, asked her out in a drunkard state and the answer I got was a deafening "NO", had to work on that for a few more months to get a "YES". It was a learning experience, better late than never.
There are lot more firsts but will write about them during the course of next week. Like 1st time I got beaten up , beat someone up, got caught cheating in the exams, kiss, jail. But the thing about all 1st times is that on whatever point of time they might have happened to you,whether good or bad, one can never forget about them, their memory always last's forever.
Someone recommended me last night to write about my first crush, and I thought why not improvise on it and write about everything that happened to me for the first time. Had a great time reminiscing about it and am sharing with you a few of them which were outright hilarious when we look back at them but they were a part of my life.
1st Crush: Innocent and pure those are the first words that come to my mind when I think about her. 1st crush was way back in 1994-95 when I was in the 3rd Standard, was lucky enough to have her in my class the next year too. Would do anything just to sit next to her in class, but wasn't that lucky when it came to that, as we had to keep shuffling partners every week and when I was just about to get an opportunity to sit next to her, my favorite enemies raised their heads Exams and Holidays which affected the routine. Two years passed away and I was no better off than the 1st day of 3rd Standard, still couldn't muster enough guts to even talk to her. Latest update about her is that she is on my facebook profile and still can't get myself to talk to her. But for all that is worth, it's a memory that I cherish till date.
1st Date: Had to get drunk to ask her out in 2006(not related to the girl mentioned above, I refrain from mentioning their names to maintain privacy, not mine but theirs), had tried asking out girls before on the phone but was never ever successful in that.In my defence things didn't work out before because I was an introvert and didn't know how all things realted to love/crush worked (am still working on that). So yeah back to the date, asked her out in a drunkard state and the answer I got was a deafening "NO", had to work on that for a few more months to get a "YES". It was a learning experience, better late than never.
There are lot more firsts but will write about them during the course of next week. Like 1st time I got beaten up , beat someone up, got caught cheating in the exams, kiss, jail. But the thing about all 1st times is that on whatever point of time they might have happened to you,whether good or bad, one can never forget about them, their memory always last's forever.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Karnataka on my own - something like that !
Life for me in the last 3 years has been a very long journey, can't stay in one place for more than a fortnight. But the last couple of months have taken me to Karnataka quite often and mostly alone, so decided to go sight-seeing to kill some time. I was surprised to find out that Karnataka has such beautiful places to visit over and above the famous ones like Mysore, Banglore and Hampi. Our country never fails to surprise me, when I least expect it and in the most amazing ways.
Firstly I would like to inform everyone about my current location, i.e. Toranagallu (hope you can pronounce it correctly), Bellary District, Karnataka, if you are still lost, then I am in the southern central part of India. As the weekend was approaching I decided to surf the internet and look for the places I could visit near Toranagallu. As I has already been to Hampi, which is around 50 kms from here, I decided to visit Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, these places are around 150kms from Toranagallu. These 3 places were under the Chalukya Dynasty from the 4th Century AD uptil the 8th Century AD.
I had to start my day at 4a.m., for those who know me very well, will know that how difficult it would have been for me ? I had booked a private cab to take me there, and he told me that it will take 4 hours just to reach the place, as the roads are very bad coupled with heavy tipper movement. The roads weren't that bad for most parts but the air was filled with iron ore dust which made visibility very low. In this part of India the hills are rich in iron-ore reserves, hence, it is a mining hotbed for both legal and illegal miners ( Illegal mining is much more prevalent and lucrative as environmental clearances are hard to come by and vigilance is very low ).
We reached Aihole at 8.30a.m. which is good to time to visit these places as the tempretures are very high during the afternoon. Aihole was the first capital of the Chalukya Dynasty from the 4th to the 6th Century AD, and is home to around 125 temples both small and large of Hindu and Jain deities. Out of these only 15-20 have been taken over by the Archaeological Survey of India, the most prominent among those is the Durga Temple (sorry couldn't upload the pictures as I am not aware how to). As this was their first capital the architecture is very basic and primarily in the Nagara Style (North Indian Aryan Style) and Dravidian Style architecture. Aihole is considered as the school of Chalukya Architecture where they learnt the basics and experimented with different styles inherited from the Northern and Southern parts of India.
Next stop Badami, it was the 2nd capital of the Chalukya's from the 5th to the 6th Century AD, here the rock-cut cave temples are the most prominent and beautiful, along with the cave temples the Chalukya's have built a fort which also is home to some more temples. There is also a pond between the fort and the cave temples, on the banks of the pond, one finds the picturesque Bhoothnath (one of the incarnations of Lord Shiva) Group of Temples. Badami has four sandstone rock-cut cave temples, cave 1 belongs to Lord Shiva, caves 2 & 3 to Lord Vishnu and cave 4 to Jain Tirthankars, these caves took 28 years to build and out of those, 12 years were devoted to cave 3 which is the grandest of them all. If Aihole was the school then Badami can be considered as the Degree College of Chalukyan Architecture.
From the rock-cut temples of Badami to the astonishing temple complex to Pattadakal, the University of Chalukyan Architecture, the temple complex consists of 10 temples and Virupaksha Temple is the most prominent among them. The Chalukya's built these temples in the 7th and the 8th century AD, Pattadakal in Kannada means the place where the kings are coronated, it has been home to 94 coronation ceremonies. The place was considered holy as it is situated on the banks of Malaprabha River which flows from the south to the north. As one enters the premises of the temple complex, it is home to 4 main temples and 6 small temples which were basically built as blue-prints for the larger ones. The first 3 temples are built in the Nagara Style, the pecularity of this style is the shikhar which is built in curvilinear form. Then we move on to temples built in the Dravidian Style i.e. the shikhar is built in step form. Form these we move on to the Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna Temple which are built in the Chalukyan Style i.e. a blend of the Nagara and Dravidian Style of achitecture.
The Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna temples have excuisite carvings and their pillars are carved with stories of Krishan, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Panchatantra (classical Indian Stories). The outer walls have carved windows, each with a different patters and with intricate carvings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Rightfully the place has been bestowed the World Heritage Site status by the United Nations.
Was done with seeing all the places by 2.30 pm and had a very spicy Kannada meal, it was just too spicy but it was a nice experience having the local cuisine. And when on the way back to Torannagallu made a stop over at the Tungabhadra Dam, just in time to see the sunset. It was a fitting end to an absolutely amazing day.
Firstly I would like to inform everyone about my current location, i.e. Toranagallu (hope you can pronounce it correctly), Bellary District, Karnataka, if you are still lost, then I am in the southern central part of India. As the weekend was approaching I decided to surf the internet and look for the places I could visit near Toranagallu. As I has already been to Hampi, which is around 50 kms from here, I decided to visit Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, these places are around 150kms from Toranagallu. These 3 places were under the Chalukya Dynasty from the 4th Century AD uptil the 8th Century AD.
I had to start my day at 4a.m., for those who know me very well, will know that how difficult it would have been for me ? I had booked a private cab to take me there, and he told me that it will take 4 hours just to reach the place, as the roads are very bad coupled with heavy tipper movement. The roads weren't that bad for most parts but the air was filled with iron ore dust which made visibility very low. In this part of India the hills are rich in iron-ore reserves, hence, it is a mining hotbed for both legal and illegal miners ( Illegal mining is much more prevalent and lucrative as environmental clearances are hard to come by and vigilance is very low ).
We reached Aihole at 8.30a.m. which is good to time to visit these places as the tempretures are very high during the afternoon. Aihole was the first capital of the Chalukya Dynasty from the 4th to the 6th Century AD, and is home to around 125 temples both small and large of Hindu and Jain deities. Out of these only 15-20 have been taken over by the Archaeological Survey of India, the most prominent among those is the Durga Temple (sorry couldn't upload the pictures as I am not aware how to). As this was their first capital the architecture is very basic and primarily in the Nagara Style (North Indian Aryan Style) and Dravidian Style architecture. Aihole is considered as the school of Chalukya Architecture where they learnt the basics and experimented with different styles inherited from the Northern and Southern parts of India.
Next stop Badami, it was the 2nd capital of the Chalukya's from the 5th to the 6th Century AD, here the rock-cut cave temples are the most prominent and beautiful, along with the cave temples the Chalukya's have built a fort which also is home to some more temples. There is also a pond between the fort and the cave temples, on the banks of the pond, one finds the picturesque Bhoothnath (one of the incarnations of Lord Shiva) Group of Temples. Badami has four sandstone rock-cut cave temples, cave 1 belongs to Lord Shiva, caves 2 & 3 to Lord Vishnu and cave 4 to Jain Tirthankars, these caves took 28 years to build and out of those, 12 years were devoted to cave 3 which is the grandest of them all. If Aihole was the school then Badami can be considered as the Degree College of Chalukyan Architecture.
From the rock-cut temples of Badami to the astonishing temple complex to Pattadakal, the University of Chalukyan Architecture, the temple complex consists of 10 temples and Virupaksha Temple is the most prominent among them. The Chalukya's built these temples in the 7th and the 8th century AD, Pattadakal in Kannada means the place where the kings are coronated, it has been home to 94 coronation ceremonies. The place was considered holy as it is situated on the banks of Malaprabha River which flows from the south to the north. As one enters the premises of the temple complex, it is home to 4 main temples and 6 small temples which were basically built as blue-prints for the larger ones. The first 3 temples are built in the Nagara Style, the pecularity of this style is the shikhar which is built in curvilinear form. Then we move on to temples built in the Dravidian Style i.e. the shikhar is built in step form. Form these we move on to the Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna Temple which are built in the Chalukyan Style i.e. a blend of the Nagara and Dravidian Style of achitecture.
The Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna temples have excuisite carvings and their pillars are carved with stories of Krishan, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Panchatantra (classical Indian Stories). The outer walls have carved windows, each with a different patters and with intricate carvings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Rightfully the place has been bestowed the World Heritage Site status by the United Nations.
Was done with seeing all the places by 2.30 pm and had a very spicy Kannada meal, it was just too spicy but it was a nice experience having the local cuisine. And when on the way back to Torannagallu made a stop over at the Tungabhadra Dam, just in time to see the sunset. It was a fitting end to an absolutely amazing day.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Atithi Firangi Bhava!!!
Atulya Bharat is the slogan luring tourists to India, even though the sales pitch was a tad late, the advertisements portray the diversity of India and the various options our country offers to the most discerning of tourists. Tourism will always be a money spinning business and one of the main drivers of poverty alleviation especially in Thrid World countries.
Tourism contributes 6.23% of the GDP, 8.78% of the total employment and brings in around US$ 11 billion for India. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) in India stood at 5.37 million in 2008 and a similar number in 2009, compared to 562.92 million Domestic Tourist Arrivals (DTA) in 2008. In comparision China received 53 million foreign tourists in 2008, India as a tourist destination has just scratched the surface. There is a huge untapped tourism potential in Historic, Adventure and Wildlife tourism.
But I would like to highlight the fact that even though DTAs are ten times FTAs the domestic tourist is not treated at par with the foreign tourist. Indian fascination for the fairer skin continues, coupled with the lure of the green back. We are treated as second rate tourists in our own country when visiting tourist destinations which are also popular with foreigners. Even though we can match the spending power of the firangi, discrimation persists. The only advantage of serving them better is that they stay on for longer durations compared to us but we have the numbers, don't we ? I was most appalled to learn that the police in Goa has been informally informed not to harass the foreign tourist, I wonder what is the basis for that, is it because of their growing clout in Goa or plain and simple discrimination. The Goa police pipms don't have any problems with harassing domestic tourists as they are aware that it won't make any difference. as we don't have any other attractive alternatives. Are we given such special treatment in Russia or Israel ?
Another very interesting experience happened with me, when I was in Hampi, Karnataka recently; was the paucity of Hindi speaking guides. Hence I had to hire one in English, this guide of mine was contemplating sending his son to learn French in Banglore, this reflects the fact that the income from foreign tourists was so lucrative that he was willing to send his son to learn a foreign language at an exorbitant cost. This cost will have to be recovered along with his daily expenditure from the tourist, i.e. Indian or foreign. There are some systemic problems as well, why couldn't the Karnataka Government impart training in Hindi, when they could do so for Kannada and English? With these 3 languages he can cater to the huge number of Indian and English speaking tourists that visit Hampi every year. Otherwise we will have to visit our own country with the latest copies of Lonely Planet as guides are getting very expensive to hire.
We not only have to increase foreign tourist arrivals but also make sure that the huge domestic tourist industry is not left in the lurch. The Indian tourism industry should take a leaf out of the Bharti Airtel's and Tata Motor's of India and try to replicate their success by catering to the aam admi.
Tourism contributes 6.23% of the GDP, 8.78% of the total employment and brings in around US$ 11 billion for India. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) in India stood at 5.37 million in 2008 and a similar number in 2009, compared to 562.92 million Domestic Tourist Arrivals (DTA) in 2008. In comparision China received 53 million foreign tourists in 2008, India as a tourist destination has just scratched the surface. There is a huge untapped tourism potential in Historic, Adventure and Wildlife tourism.
But I would like to highlight the fact that even though DTAs are ten times FTAs the domestic tourist is not treated at par with the foreign tourist. Indian fascination for the fairer skin continues, coupled with the lure of the green back. We are treated as second rate tourists in our own country when visiting tourist destinations which are also popular with foreigners. Even though we can match the spending power of the firangi, discrimation persists. The only advantage of serving them better is that they stay on for longer durations compared to us but we have the numbers, don't we ? I was most appalled to learn that the police in Goa has been informally informed not to harass the foreign tourist, I wonder what is the basis for that, is it because of their growing clout in Goa or plain and simple discrimination. The Goa police pipms don't have any problems with harassing domestic tourists as they are aware that it won't make any difference. as we don't have any other attractive alternatives. Are we given such special treatment in Russia or Israel ?
Another very interesting experience happened with me, when I was in Hampi, Karnataka recently; was the paucity of Hindi speaking guides. Hence I had to hire one in English, this guide of mine was contemplating sending his son to learn French in Banglore, this reflects the fact that the income from foreign tourists was so lucrative that he was willing to send his son to learn a foreign language at an exorbitant cost. This cost will have to be recovered along with his daily expenditure from the tourist, i.e. Indian or foreign. There are some systemic problems as well, why couldn't the Karnataka Government impart training in Hindi, when they could do so for Kannada and English? With these 3 languages he can cater to the huge number of Indian and English speaking tourists that visit Hampi every year. Otherwise we will have to visit our own country with the latest copies of Lonely Planet as guides are getting very expensive to hire.
We not only have to increase foreign tourist arrivals but also make sure that the huge domestic tourist industry is not left in the lurch. The Indian tourism industry should take a leaf out of the Bharti Airtel's and Tata Motor's of India and try to replicate their success by catering to the aam admi.
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