Mutyalamaduvu

It was a Sunday morning, and we were totally free of engagements (which by the way is a very rare case). We decided to go on a long drive, just me and my husband cruising in my car. Went to Bannergatte but did not want to stop there so we drove further...we knew that there is a picnic spot somewhere in Anekal called Mutyalamaduvu. In Kannada language, Muthyalamaduvu means Pearl Valley

It is a beautiful gorge with a sleek little ravine flowing through it and surrounded by lush green forest infested with mischievious monkeys with their devil may care attitude. Although it is a picnic spot you might want to be careful with your food these little devils could gang up on you, so I suggest you have your food before descending the gorge that way you can enjoy  the place in peace. The tourisim of Karnataka has provided us with minimum facilities and gazibos to sit and eat.

The  stairs leading to the ravine is not long and ends up near the temple of Shiva on the right and a beautiful waterfall that ends up in a little pond. Here the water from the falls slides down the flora of the place creating an illusion of a sting of pearls, hence the name Pearl Valley. The source of this water is the Onakanahalli Tank located nearby.

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Puri - The land of the Lord

We started for Puri at 7:30 in the morning and reached it at around 9:00. Our trip advisor suggested we visit Puri first. May be he thought it was good to visit the temple in the morning or may be, he must have thought with fresh mind and body we will be more forgiving of the shabby state of affairs at the state’s most sacred temple. Puri Jagannattha temple, the pride of Orissa is a revered place not only for the people of Orissa but all the Vaishnavites around India. It is one of the ‘Char dham’ (Badrinath, Rameshwaram, Dwaraka, Puri) piligrimage a hindu is expected to make at least once in a life time. I have come to expect more from such a pilgrimage centre, but was disappointed to find it in such a pitiful state. Lack of proper information is one of the major concerns. Non-Hindus are not admitted into the temple. On reaching the temple we found that no mobile phones, cameras, handycams, umbrella’s or even water bottles are allowed inside the temple. Well and good, but they failed to provide a good locker facility, as tourists we were carrying all these things and when they asked to leave these things with some undesignated people outside the temple, who kept them in ragged old sacks along with our slippers. The people who are appointed to take care of the valuables were properly named or designated or at least wearing a shirt, so pardon me for not feeling safe to leave all my valuables to them.

Then there is a NO ENTRY sign at the front entrance and nowhere that says how to enter the temple. After enquiring several police and security officials whose knowledge of English was practically nil, with some broken Hindi we managed to find out that there are two more entrances to the north and south of the temple high walls. As we entered the temple through the northern entrance the first sight we encountered was that of ‘bats’. Would you belive it! Bats in a temple! that is still receiving pujas regularly. A few focused lights in strategic locations could have eradicated the problem, but I guess the famous temple is little low on funds to spare for a few bulbs. The path leading to the main temple is sticky with spilt ‘bhog’ (the holy rice offering). When we finally reached the temple our view to the Lord was obstructed by a group of people and priests animatedly debating on some issue, completly ignoring that they were inside the temple complex and are causing great in convenience to the piligrims. When the voices began to raise we tried to enquire some novice priests about the issue, but due to language problem we were unable to understand them then we asked them how we were supposed to see the Lord with people standing there. At that point someone, very rude mannered fellow started pointing at the exit and kept pointing in another direction. We were disgruntled to be shown out of the temple without seeing the Lord. But it turned out that he was pointing us to another door to the sanctum sanctorium from where we were able to see Lord Jagannatha in full view. This was one of the instances which make us rethink our own view of the world around us. We thought the person to be rude but all he was doing was trying to do was steer us away from trouble and point us in the right direction. Thank you Lord for a well deserved lesson, we learn something every day.

All in all Puri was a rollercoaster of experiences. We go in expecting a grand experience but are faced with a humble temple complex with very little pretension, surrounded with quiet many minor temples. But the larger than life idol of the Lord was awe inspiring. When we entered through the south entrance my gaze immediately fell on the dark looming figure way right in the sanctum sanctorium. The idol of Lord Krishna or Lord Jagannatha as he is called here, with wide penetrating sight immediately captures our utmost attention. Every temple has its own customs and traditions, here in the Jagannatha temple devotees raise both their hands towards the heaven and praise the Lord calling out ‘Jai Jagannatha’. The comparatively shorter figure to the left of Lord Jagannatha is that of Subhadra and to her right is the imposing figure of Bala Bhadra (Balarama), who is considered as an image of Lord Shiva. Hence they proudly present to us a temple which holds the Siva Kesava in the same sanctum sanctorium.

Together the triad of brothers and sister are the reigning deities of this holy land. Each year they are honoured by a grand festival called Jagannatha Rath Yatra in the month of June which attracts a lot of tourists and piligrims alike. Each year many logs of wood is gathered here to build a grand chariot (Rath) for the honourary deities visit to the city. Millions of people pour into the city of Puri for a glimpse of deities on their outing. The wood that is used for the chariot is the one that is used to to cook bhog around the year for the Lord. Though the excursion merely stretches to the end of the grand avenue called the ‘Bada Danda’ right in front of the temple. The preparation of bhog is also a must see event. Earthen pots of different sizes are piled up one over the other and get the food in all the pots is cooked evenly and at the same time.

Travelling with my husband is a challenge on its own. Being a typical South Indian he prefers, no, insists on having rice for his lunch and dinner, moreover being a vegetarian his choices of restaurants fall from many to quite a few. Though he loves sweets, he will not tolerate any amount of sweetness in his curries or dal, so I always keep a lookout for restaurants, which could accommodate at least a few of his requirements. A fellow passenger from our train journey to Orissa was a South Indian like us now residing in Orissa. He suggested that we should stick to tiffin, snacks or Chinese because we will not find Orissan meals to our taste. So when I spied ‘Hotel Grand’ a few yards away from the temple on the first floor of a shopping complex. I immediately steered my husband in that direction. The air conditioned room room was a welcome relief on a hot day. Though they did not have tiffin there was a limited selection of Chinese so we ordered fried rice and curd rice. The fried rice was good but the curd rice was a bit sweet and then we understood why Reddy sir told us we might not enjoy Orriyan food. It was always sweet. Oriyans prefer sweets. Their Rasgullas are finger licking good. So good, that it is said that even Lord Jagannath offers Lakshmi Devi to enter the temple. Truly the favourite of the Gods. They enjoys healthy amount of sweets in their diet, well... who doesn’t; but they also have a thing for sea food maybe not near the temple. To enjoy the sea food of Puri we need to head towards Puri beach.

Puri beach is a busy area bustling with hawkers with strings of pearls of all shapes and sizes, (which could be original or cultivated) gem stones, souvenirs made of sea shells, conches, little replicas of the Puri temple, models of the famous wheels of Konark temple, hand bags, applique work umbrellas and wall hangings. It is difficult to find peaceful stretch of beach in Puri so if you want to have a peaceful beach experience head towards Konark....

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Konark - Temple of the Sun

span style="font-family: Calibri;">Konark is a small town some 30km from Puri and a good 60km from Bhubaneshwar. It is the third point of the golden triangle. Konark is the most visited place of Orissa, as it is the home of one of the most unique temples of India, a sun temple. It is a world heritage site drawing tourists around the world to its exquisite beauty. Indian temples are mostly dedicated to one of the Holy trinity or their avatars but rarely we find temples to other

Gods. The sun temple is rare cause it is dedicated to the sun God, Surya and such temples are very few are could be counted on fingers. But the appeal of the temple lies in its architecture and sculptures that embellish its beauty.  The temple is built to serve the Sun God who is always represented on his unending journey on his chariot, hence the whole temple is constructed in the form of a chariot with seven horses tied drawing the chariot, which represent the seven days of the week and 24 wheels of the chariot, representing the 24 fortnights that form an year. Since a month is divided (according to hindu calender) into two ‘pakshas’ or fortnights. The walls of the temple are adorned with surya in his infant, youth and adult stages representing the sun at different times of the day. Before I go any further in describing the incredible beauty of the temple I would like to start with us arriving at Konark.

Our taxi driver left us at the mouth of a narrow lane much narrowed by the tightly knit stalls on either side. As soon as we elighted the vehicle auto rickshaw drivers surrounded us offering to take us to the booking counter of the Sun temple where no four wheelers are allowed, for just a minimum price of 30/-. Though it would have relived us of a walk in the hot sun, we preferred to do some window shopping of what’s on display so we decided to walk down the lane. It was a good idea too, we found out that cashew nuts are cheaper in this parts and are only 300/- per kg. It was a steal but beware some cashews may have little worms in them so break the cashew before you eat, what I did is as soon as I reached home I broke all the cashews and slow roasted them, that way they will not be spoiled. Anyways back to Konak,... At the end of the lane we were faced with a ‘Navagraha temple’ sign on the other side of the road, wondering if this was the entrance to the sun temple we asked a local vendor. He immediately pointed to the left, to a much bigger entrance  gate where people were chatting excitedly, indulging in a quick cooldrink or a nibble before entering the temple. There is an entrance fee of Rs5/- per adult (which may vary if you are a foreigner), still camera’s are allowed freely while video camera’s are charged Rs 25/-. We also booked a govt. Recognised guide for Rs150/- who explained the construction, architectural design of the temple, kings who ruled and patronized the temple and so on... One thing he said was that the king who commissioned the building of this temple has a TAIL.

Caught your attention didn’t I, well I was also curious at this statement but turns out the story is not that fascinating. The king of Konark suffered from an elongated spine which caused him great discomfort, he was unable to sit, stand straight or perform any chores that are expected of him as a king and a husband to add to this humiliation his people started calling it a tail. When the king consulted his royal priests they suggested that he should appease the Sun God and receive his blessing, so began the construction of the Sun temple.

Like many temples in Orissa, the Sun temple of Konark follows the kalingan school of architecture which commands any temple should have a inner sanctum or vimana and a outer hall or jahamohana for yagnas and yagas to be performed. According to tradition the shikara of the inner sanctum is raised cylindrically while the shikara of the outer hall is in the form of a stepped pyramid. The inner sanctum which should contain the reigning deity is razed by Jahangir’s troops and is now empty but the outer hall still remains tall. Pujas have not been performed in the temple for many decades hence it is more of a historical ruin than a holy place of worship. But still the temple is a awe inspiring sight with its majestically shikaras raising to towards the sky. Huge steps lead up to the temple entrance which is constructed on an elevated platform of about 12ft high. On the walls of this raised platform is where all the artistic geniuses of the time worked to chisel immensely beautiful sculptures, the 12 pairs of wheels. Each stone of granite is painstakingly sculptured and transformed from boring granite to beautifully voluptuous women caught on different chores of their daily life. The ‘Natya Mandir’, opposite the temple is also on an elevated platform, where dances are performed in honour of the Gods. The Natya Mandapa holds four stout square pillars all of which are adorned with dancing nymphs in various postures.

Temple of Sandhya (Surya's wife)

Konark is also  talked about, for its erotic sculptures next to the temples of Kajuraho, but it has more wealth of history to offer to the beholder. A day in the life of the queen is represented on one of the wheels of the temple, while in another region aptly capture the life of a commoner. There are carvings that show us how these huge granite stones are brought in from different parts of the kingdom and how the whole family of the artisan travelled along with the stones cooking, cleaning, raising kids and living life on the road. While another part of the temple wall depicts the great pomp and celebration that escorted the king in all his grandeur while he was leaving for a hunt. Another stretch of sculptures show us how traps are used to capture elephants. There are also depictions of how the rocks are pulled on logs and carried to such heights to make the temple the magnificient structure that we see today. A trip to Konark will be the highlight of your journey and a jewel of an experience in your life.

teluguvaramandi.net and teluguvaramandi blog

Second Cave Temple of Badami

The second cave is dedicated to Vishnu in his Varaha and Vamana avataras. The cave has a verandah and ascending a few steps is the pillared hall and a sanctum santorium cut out into the cliff from the rear wall of the cave temple. In the outer walls of the verandah we find two dwarapalakas standing with lotus flowers in hand, and are flanked by a women at the bottom. The symbolism used by the crafters while depicting men, women, ganas or animals in smaller sizes might be to show their stature hence they could be servants or helpers.

As we enter the pillared hall we find the sculptures of Bhuvaraha to our right and that of Trivikrama to our left. Varaha Swamy is the Deity worshipped by the Chalukya Kings and is the emblem and royal seal. According to legend Vishnu in the form of Varaha (A boar) rescued Prithvi (Earth) lifted the Earth out of the ocean. Here Earth is depicted as Prithvi maata (Mother Earth) hence we can find Varaha swamy sculpture holding up  a lady, while  celestial beings watch him reverently.

The wall on the other side of the pillared hall is adorned with the depiction of a detailed story of Vamana avatar of Vishnu. Vishnu in his dwarf form went to the asura king Bali and asked him for dakshina (offering to a brahmin) while the king was performing a yagam. The king was obliged to grant him dakshina as he asked for them at such an auspicious occassion. The king who was resourceful and prosperous didn't think twice in granting the dakshina of a dwarf brahmin's choice of three foot land. As soon as the king agreed Vishnu in the form of a dwarf brahmin assumed a gigantic form and placed one foot on the Heavens and one on the Earth and asked Bali where he should place the third foot for which Bali bent down humbly on his knees and offered his head on which Vamana kept his third foot.

The sculpture depicts the whole story in one scene where we can see Vamana as a dwarf with a bowl in his right hand and an umbrella in his left. King Bali promising his dakshina by offering water from his kalasa. Then Vishnu assuming his gigantic form and extending his feet. Finally Bali admitting his frailty and submitting to Vishnu by clinging to Vishnus leg.

The ganas appear in different postures as musicians and dancers celebrating.

Celestial couple depicted in the ceiling of the Cave 2

 Design of Swastiks on the ceiling

Vishnu riding on Garuda 

 Depictions of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva,

 Bead and Flower designs embossed on to the faces of the pillars.

 Flower and Fish design on the ceiling                                             Celestial couples depicted on the face  of the pillars.

 Towards Cave 3

Madhu Latha (Dogiparthi) Srungavarapu

2nd Swadesi movement

Today I have recieved a SMS and I thought I should share it with all of you
It said :
'We are in a financial crisis. The rupee is weakening everyday. So there is an urgent need for a "2nd Swadesi Movement!". Please buy goods produced by Indian companies. Avoid Pepsi, Coke etc. since it has a profit of 800% the goods value. Try to use Indian products, try contributing to Indian economy. More than 3000 small & medium scale companies have been shut in one month. Try passing this info. to whomeever you can if you are a true Indian.'

So here I made a reference to all the Indian companies accoring to their categories

Textile:
Aravind Mills
BombayDyeing

Construction:
ACC Ltd.
Aditya Birla
Bharat Aluminium Company
Bharat Electronics Limited
Essar Group
Hindustan Construction Company
Larsen & Toubro

Modren Retail:
More
Trinetra
Fabmall

Transportation :
Air Sahara
Air India
Ashok Leyland
Bajaj Auto
Bharat Petroleum
Eicher Motors
GoAir Airlines
Great Eastren Shipping
Hero Honda
Hero Cycles
Indian Railways
Jet Airways
Konkan Railway Corporation
Maruti Udyog

Banking :
Bank of India
Bank of Baroda
Canara Bank
Federal Bank
HDFC Bank
ICICI Bank
Kotak Mahindra Bank

Food :
Amul
Britannia Industries
Dabur
Harnik General Foods

Health Care :
Appollo
Cipla
Cadila Health care
Dr. Reddy' Laboratories

Household :
BPL
Eureka Forbes
Godrej Group
Hindustan Times

Technology:
Adani Group
BMR Advisors
Ballarpur Industries Limited
CMC Limited
Crest Animation Studios
Engineers India Limited
Evalueserve
GAIL
Genpact
Gussmann Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
HCL Technologies
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Hindustan Computers Ltd
Hindustan Machine Tools
Hindustan Motors
Hindustan Petroleum
IBP
i-flex Solutions
Infosys
Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation
MindTree
National Aluminium Company
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
NIIT
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited
ONGC

Media :
Balaji Telefilms
Moser Baer
NDTV

For more information on these companies goto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_companies

Try to avoid international products such as
Johnson and johnson

India's Old Currency

The first set of British India notes were the 'Victoria Potrait' Series issued in the denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000. These were unifaced, carried two language panels and were printed on hand-moulded paper manufactured at the Laverstock Paper Mills. The security features incorporated the watermark (GOVERNAMENT OF INDIA, RUPEES, two signatures and wavy lines), the printed signature and the registration of the notes.British India Notes facilitated inter-spatial transfer of funds. As a security precaution, notes were cut in half. One set was sent by post. On confirmation of recepit, the other half was despatched by post.

This series remained largely unchanged till the introduction of 'King's Potrait' series which commenced in 1923.

The introduction of small denomination notesin India essentially in the realm of the exigent. Compulsions of the first World War led to the introduction of paper currency of small denominations. Rupee One was introduced in 30th November, 1917 followed by the exotic Rupees Two and Annas Eight. The issuance of these notes was discontinued on 1st January, 1926 on cost benifit considerations. These notes first carried the potrait of King George V and were the precursors of the 'King's Portrait' Series which were to follow.

Regular issues of this series carrying the portrait of George V were introduced in May, 1923 on a Ten Rupee Note. The King's Portrait Motif continued as an integral feature of all Paper Money issues of British India. Governament of India continued to issue currency notes till 1935 when the Reserve Bank of India took over the functions of the controller of Currency. These notes were introduced in denominations of %, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 10000.

The Bank's issues to January 1938 when the first Five Rupee note was issued bearing the potrait of George VI.

This was followed by Rs 10 in February, Rs 100 in March and Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 in June 1938.

In August 1040, the One - Rupee note was reintroduced, once again as a war time measure, as a Governament note with the status of a rupee coin.
As an added security feature, the security thread was introduced for the first time in India.

The George VI series continued till 1947 and thereafter as a frozen series till 1950 when the post independence notes were issued.

Homage to the heros

Chandrayaan-I India's Pride

India on Wednesday became the sixth nation to launch a moon mission when indigenously built PSLV-C11 rocket blasted off from the spaceport here carrying with it Chandrayaan-I, which will map the lunar surface.
Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) home-grown rocket PSLV-C11 lifted off at 6.22 a.m. from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre taking the spacecraft beyond the thick dark cloud cover over this coastal town.
After 18.2 minutes, ISRO's warhorse rocket had injected Chandrayaan-I, its maiden moon mission, in the earth orbit.
With the launch, India joined the elite club of moon faring nations -- the US , Russia , European Space Agency , China and Japan .
"The launch was perfect and precise. The satellite has been placed in the earth orbit.
"With this, we have completed the first leg of the mission and it will take 15 days to reach the lunar orbit," ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.
President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani congratulated space scientists on the successful launch.
Chandrayaan-I is carrying an Indian flag which will be placed on the lunar surface when the Moon Impactor Probe lands on the moon during the course of the two-year mission.
"Our baby is on the way to the moon," Chandrayaan-I spacecraft director Mylswamy Annadurai said after the satellite was injected in the Transfer Orbit with a perigee of about 250 km and apogee of about 23,000 km, about 19 minutes.
About 18 minutes after liftoff, Chandrayaan-I separated from the rocket and began circling the earth in an elliptical orbit powered by its own engines.
At opportune moments, space scientists tracking the mission will fire the spacecraft's Liquid Apogee Motors (LAM) repeatedly to take it into more elliptical orbits.
Subsequently, the LAM would be again fired to take the spacecraft till it reaches 387,000 km from earth which is called the Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO).
After Chandrayaan-1 reaches the LTO, its LAM would be fired again so as to slow down the spacecraft sufficiently to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.
The next step would be to reduce the height of the spacecraft orbit around the moon in various steps.
After some more procedures, Chandrayaan-1's orbit would be finally lowered to its intended 100 km height from the lunar surface, which is expected to take place around November 8.
Later, the Moon Impact Probe would be ejected from Chandrayaan-1 in a chosen area following which the cameras and other payloads would be turned on and thoroughly tested, marking the operational phase of the mission.
The MIP will not survive the fall but demonstrate technologies for a future soft-landing mission. During its crash on the lunar surface, the MIP will send high resolution images of the moon and also analyse terrain.
Of the 11 instruments carried by the satellite, five are Indian, three are from the European Space Agency, two from the US -- including a radar that can search for ice under lunar poles -- and one from Bulgaria .
Beyond 3-D mapping the moon and scanning for mineral deposits, the mission will test systems for a future moon landing