No words. Just watch it. And yes, they arent lying. I have been there once. Its a pity that I went only to South Island. It is what they. It is picture perfect.
Category: travel
Vegetarian’s Survival Guide to World Cuisine Eating
Whether you are traveling the world (on leisure or business), or are being adventurous and trying out an international cuisine restaurant in India, this article helps you eat without worries.
An excerpt:
Asian
The relative absence of dairy makes it easy to eat vegan at an Asian restaurant. Order steamed vegetables, stir-fried tofu, lo mein, brown rice or any other meatless offering at a Chinese place. Go for miso soup and a vegetable sushi roll if you’re eating a Japanese meal. Thai, Vietnamese and Korean restaurants usually offer multiple vegetarian options on their menus as well.
Strict vegans: Always ask to make sure your meal won’t contain any fish sauce or stock.
Barbecue
Although it seems like this category would be the toughest one of all, it’s probably the simplest—just go for the side dishes! Build a “sampler platter” of sides like grilled corn or asparagus (hold the butter), a dinner roll or two, steamed broccoli, a baked sweet potato with cinnamon sugar, or even steak fries.
Strict vegans: Ask whether your veggies can be cooked on a separate grill or otherwise apart from where the meat is cooked.
Breakfast & Brunch
Whether you find yourself at a Denny’s or at a fancy-schmancy brunch spot, there are lots of options when it comes to breakfast food. Fresh fruit, oatmeal, hash browns with ketchup, granola, bagels and toast with jam are a few great ones.
Strict vegans: Request that your oatmeal be prepared with water instead of milk, and always remind your server you don’t want butter on your toast.
The other cuisines covered are Indian, Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Pizza.
Read the article at menuism here.
(via lifehacker)
Thirunelveli (mostly in pictures)
Did a weekend trip to Theeli (as the local sometimes refer Thiruneveli as). Travelled from Bangalore to Kumbakonam in the usual Mayiladuthurai express. And then drove down to Thirunelveli with the wife, kid and brother-in-law.
The route is Kumbakonam-Tanjavur-Trichy-Madurai-Virudhunagar-Sattur-Kovilpatti-Thirunelveli. Kumbakonam-Tanjavur is horrible road. Tanjavur-Trichy is passable (except for the heavy traffic). Trichy-Madurai is good quality road but still some twists and turns on the road. There is a Ghar Dhaba in the Madurai bypass where there are clean restrooms and you can get some food. Madurai-Thirunelveli is just a fantastic stretch to drive – straight road with beautiful road quality. It almost feels like you are driving in US – like in Nevada or somewhere. No vegetation. No habitation. For miles together. While you need to pass through Tanjore and Trichy (if you consider Tiruverumbur as part of Trichy), you will take bypass for all other towns such as Madurai and Virudhunagar.
View Larger Map
The rest of the post is mostly just going to be pictures.
The Nellaiappar temple is a huge temple, which is also very old. It is one of the paadal petra sthalangal (Tevara sthalangal). The temple was built by Koon Pandiyan – the Madurai king who was cured by Gnana Sambandhar. Nellaiappar and Gandhimathi Amman are housed in separate temples and the two temples are connected by a Sangili Mandapam – a connecting hallway.
A detailed post about the temple can be found here by suryakala here and here.
Update: I had this photo in my phone and had missed adding it here.
Rishikesh Sunset
Chanced upon this pic that I had snapped quite a few years ago. One of the most brilliant sunsets that I had ever seen, This is from across the Ganga banks in Rishikesh.
Kumbakonam temples (part deux)
After all the near-by Kumbakonam temples, I spent an evening and an early morning visiting 6 local temples. (My other posts on the Kumbakonam visit are here, here, here, and here.
1. Kasi Viswanathar temple
Bang next to the Mahamaham kolam (tank), this temple has two pieces of interesting information attached to it. The nine great rivers of India went to Lord Shiva in Kasi and said –
“Everyone takes a dip in our waters to get rid of their sins. Where do we go to get rid of all those sins?”
Lord Shiva said, the waters of the Mahamaham tank are so pure, you can wash off your sins there. After their bath here, Lord Shiva is said to have given dharshan as Kasi Viswanathar here.
There is also a main Shiva lingam in the outer praharam under the Sthala vriksham. This is said to have been worshipped by Lord Rama and Hanuman on the way back from Lanka, where he begged forgiveness for any sins committed during the war.
The temple is a nice small temple. The Shiva lingam can be beautifully seen right from the road through the raja gopuram. There is some confusion about whether this was Kudandhai Kaaronam (one of the padal petra sthalangal). But I get to hear from reliable sources that this is fake data, and was conjured up to get some moneys from the endowment board. (This is what happens when you bring temples under Government control).
2. Kumbeshwarar
This is one of the main temples of Kumbakonam – from where the town gets its name. It is said this lingam was made of Lord Shiva himself mixing the immortality nectar and sand. Since the lingam is of sand, no abhishekams are performed.
I went in at sunset time. And they were doing Saaya Raksha (evening rituals) to Soma Skandar. Very nice program for about 20 minutes. Soothing and Relaxing.
And then ofcourse, when I was going around the outer praharam, the amateur photographer in me, took over.
3. Ramaswami temple
This is a great temple. I have already written about this temple here. This time I noticed that they had spruced up the Ramayana murals on the inner walls of the temple. They look fantastic. Take a look yourself.
4. Nageswarar temple
Again, I had written briefly about this earlier here. Adding a few more photographs here. Also, in my more recent quest for Tevara Sthalangal, this is one. This used to be called Thirukudandhai Keezhkottam.
5. Someshwarar temple
I had briefly written about this earlier as well here. Visited again because, this is another thevara sthalam. This is the original Kudandhai Kaaronam.
6. Sarangapani temple
Ofcourse, no visit to Someshwarar is complete without visiting his neighbor – Sarangapani (pictures here). Beautiful majestic Vishnu in lying down pose.
(Looks beautiful in Black and white – doesnt it?)
So that is the end of my Kumbakonam Weekend travelogue of 18-21 April. I might do a couple of more this summer. Will update.
My count of Thevara sthalangal is now 6. Yaay.
Thirukadayur
From Thirukolakka, we headed off south on NH45A (Chennai Nagapatinam highway) – towards Tharangambadi. Thirukadaiyur is right on this road. When you come closer you will start seeing a lot of Hotel Sadabishekam advertisements.
After the peaceful encounter with the Lord at Thirukolakka, Thirukadaiyur was a shock. It was a Saturday, and apparently a Muhurtham (Auspicious for weddings) day. Bad day for a visit to this temple. One of the stories behind this temple is of Markandeyar. See Sthala puranam below for detailed story. By this story, Markandeyar defeated death here. Hence folks come here to perform their 60th and 80th birthday celebrations – so that they can live forever. I am not sure which part of this ritual that I find amusing – the myth that only if you worship the Lord here will you be able to defeat death (Lord is everywhere!) -or- why someone would want to defeat death.
We came here for a different reason. The wife wanted to visit the Abhirami Sannidhi. She has been reciting Abhirami Andhadhi for a while now, but had never been to this shrine. So she wanted to come. We did see Amruthakateswarar and Kala Samhara Moorthi as well.
No pictures taken here. Since it looks like a market place now. Too much crowd and commercialization.
Sthala puranam
When the Devas and Asuras churned the ocean and got the nectar, they forgot to worship Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha was upset about this, and stole the pot (ghata) of nectar and hid it here in Thirukadaiyur. He created a Shiva Lingam to worship his parents and did abhishekam with the nectar. It is because of this (and the Markandeyar story) that, folks believe that if they come here, they are blessed with long years of life.
Before Markandeyar was born, his father Sage Mrukandu was given a choice – a wise boy who will not cross 16 years, or a mediocre boy who will live longer. His parents chose the first option. On the 16th year, when Lord Yama came for Markandeyar, Markandeyar hugged the Shiva Lingam. Lord Yama unleashed the death leash and it surrounded the Shiva Lingam as well. Lord Shiva became very cross and kicked Lord Yama and gave Markandeyar immortality and Moksha.
The other story is about Abhirami Battar. There was a person by named Subramaniam, who used to be considered mad, since he considered every living woman as the Supreme Goddess herself. He used to often sit in front of Goddess Abhirami and immerse himself in his thoughts. He was in such a state, when King Saraboji walked into the temple. He was very irritated that the man did not acknowledge his arrival. He asked what day was it that day. In a trance, Subramanian said it was the full moon day, since all he was seeing was the bright round face of the Goddess. It was the no-moon day and the king got even more irritated. The king ordered Subramaniam to be executed if the moon did not show up at dusk. When he came out of his trance, Subramaniam realized the trouble he was in. And he started singing Abhirami Andhadhi. In the 79th stanza, the Goddess, in true filmy fashion, just as it was about to be dusk, is said to have thrown her nose ring, and it formed the moon. The king realized the greatness of Subramaniam. And he also came to be known as Abhirama Battar.
Thirukolakka
This qaint little village is about a kilometer from Sirkazhi. You should ask for directions. And not too many will know the name Kolakka. You should ask for Osai Nayaki Temple. They will give you directions to get to a road (depending on where you ask), and then tell you, just follow the road until you hit the temple. Just do that. You need to follow the winding road for about a km, and this little temple pops out of nowhere. There is no big Raja gopuram – so do not use that as a landmark to search for.
This beautiful little temple, which is the 15th in the Paadal Petra Sthalam list, is one of the cleanest temples I have seen. Very nicely maintained. When we entered, there was a young man (barely in his early twenties), who was the Sivacharyaar. He was going around to the various sannidhis and doing Neivedhyam with one small brass vessel. From the old ages, this has been the practice. The Sivacharyaar brings the food to be given to the God from his own house. And in a lot of not-so-well-to-do Sivachaaryar families/temples, that is their food for the day/meal.
The temple itself looks super old. At the minimum proof, we know it is atleast 1300 years old (since Sambandar lived in the 7th Century). The temple existed at that time. So it should be older than that. Unfortunately, the age is showing. It looks like the temple has not had a kumbabhishekam in a while. Paint is peeling off. There are parts of some walls that are in rubbles.
The Shivan is of course majestic. Big lingam. Ambal is even more majestic. Draped in beautiful 9 yard saree, She just looked amazing. There are other sannidhis around the temple. There is Somaskandar (Muruga in kid form between Shiva-Parvathy), Saneeswarar, Suryan, and Mahalakshmi.
Sthala Varalaaru (Story of the place)
This is the first paadal petra sthalam for Gnana sambandhar, our child saint. He walked with this father to this shrine from Sirkazhi. On reaching here, he started singing on the Lord (who was then called Sapthapureeswarar). The Lord, feeling sorry for the little child (on a big mission) clapping his hands and singing, gave him a pair of Gold Cymbals (Jaalra). Gold cymbals do not produce much of a sound (due to its malleable nature). The Goddess interjected and gave it divine sound. It is due to this, the Lord became known as Thaalapureeswarar. And the Goddess as Osai Kodutha Nayaki (or Osai Nayaki, as the locals have shortened it).
The other mythological story for this temple is about Mahalakshmi. She is believed to have done tapas here to get reunited with MahaVishnu. And when that happened, the God and Goddess gave all devotees here dharhsan in Thirumana kolam (Marriage form). Hence the name of the temple as Kolakka.
Some photos:
To be continued —
Coming up – Thirukadayur, Thirukudandai Keezkottam (Nageswara Swamy Kovil – Kumbakonam – #27), Kudandai Kaaronam (Someswara Swamy Kovil – Kumbakonam – #28).
More information about Kolakka can be found here.
Sirkazhi
This is part 2 of the Kumbakonam April 18-22 travelogue. Part 1 is here.
We started off bright and early at 6:30AM for our first pilgrimage. The original plan was just Thirukadayur with the whole family. The wife had been reading Abhirami Andhadi for a while, but had never really been Thirukadayur and seen the Goddess Abhirami. I was going to slug out Sirkazhi and Thirukolakka solo. But then, it looked like a better plan to do these two together. The latter two temples are 21km from Thirukadayur. And it helped that I had told the awesome sthala varalaru (literal translation: story of significance of the shrine) to her, and she was hooked too.
So back to the journey. We had hired an Indigo. We hit Sirkazhi first. The route from Kumbakonam is pretty straight forward. Take the Mayavaram road. You will pass Thirubuvanam (famous for silk sarees), Thiruvidaimaruthur (famous for the Brimhahathi gopuram – Mahalinga swami temple), Govindapuram (famous for the Vittal Krishnar temple), Adhuthurai, Madhirimangalam, Kutthalam,and you hit Mayavaram. This stretch is about 32km. The road quality is decent. But it is the typical Tanjore delta roads, where the roads meander as much as the Kaveri itself.
When you get into Mayavaram, just go straight. Pass the railway station. Pass the bus station. Until you hit a T-junction. Look to the right, and you will see the third building on the left — Kaliyakudi. How can you get to Mayavaram and not have food at this place. It is a third generation run hotel. Now modernized with A/c. Food is decent as well. Just dont get there too early (like us – we were there at 7:15AM). The dosa kal (literal translation: dosa stone) was not hot enough, and hence no dosa was available. So a hearty breakfast was had.
Once done with breakfast, take a U-turn, and head the other way down Pattamangalam Theru. This road leads to the Chidambaram road if you dont take any turns. Just keep following the main road. You will reach Sirkazhi in about 22 km. You will pass Vaitheeswaran Kovil on the way. So in case, you want to make a quick stop you can. We did not, in this trip.
Before we get into the sthala puranam, I will give you two tips to soak into the local culture.
- Somehow get someone local to say the name Sirkazhi. Anyone local to the Tanjore/Mayavaram/Kumbakonam area should be fine. They will always say it as “Seeezzhazhii”. The ‘ra’ and the ‘ka’ are conspicuously absent.
- When asking for directions, or for help, address the person as ‘ayya’. You will get a much better treatment. Thats how the locals call each other. (Kinda like using ‘boss’ or ‘guru’ in Bangalore ; and ‘anne’ in Chennai).
Sirkazhi Sthala Puranam (or alteast parts of it)
In general Sirkazhi has a very rich historical lineage. It is said to be that Brahma came and worshipped in this temple. So the city at one point in time used to be called Brahmapuram. In fact the main deity is also called Brahmapureeswarar. The city is also referred to as Kaazhi in a lot of the tamil scriptures.
Back to the Periya puranam story, Sirkazhi is the birth place of one of the Naalvar – Thiru Gnana Sambandhar – the child saint. The sprightly young lad of 3 years, followed his father – Sivapada Hrudayar to the temple tank. It is also significant to note that, before conceiving Sambandhar, Sivapada Hrudayar and his wife prayed to Lord Shiva to be endowed with a son, whose sole aim in life would be to spread Shaivism and make it win over other competing principles at that time. Jainism and Buddhism was dominant at that time, and had political patronage. There were some religious fanatics of these two religions who went to great length to destroy Shaivism and prevail over. It was not too different a time than now.
So Sambandhar went to the tank with this father. While the father immersed himself in the temple tank, the child felt lonely and started crying. It is said that, on the request of Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvathi fed the child with her own mothers milk, extracted in a silver cup .The father came out of the tank, and saw the child with milk on his lips, and silver cup in his hand, and got pretty cross. On questioning the child, the child pointed to the Gopuram of the temple and alluded to the fact that, it was the Lord himself. It is my understanding this is the Sattainathar Sannidhi that we need to walk up a flight of stairs to see even today.
When the father did not believe him, the child who had barely started speaking a few words (he was 3 at that time), sang is first pathikam (decad). The father was shocked and realized instantly, that his wish had been fulfilled.
In the next 15 years, Sambandhar travelled to 100s of shrines and sang beautiful decads on Lord Shiva. It is also of note, that in almost all of his decads, there would be a venomous sarcasm against the Jains and the Buddhists of the time, in the 10th stanza of every decad he sang.
I did not take too many pictures of Sirkazhi. You can get tons of pictures on Google Image search.
The Brahma Theertham – where Gnana Sambandar got Gnana Paal (Literal translation: Knowledge milk).
Note: As I had said in an earlier paragraph, most of the literature that I read on the web, does indicate to the fact, that it was not the Buddhist religion or Jainism that was the culprit, but a subset of religious fanatics, who misinterpreted a large portion of the religion to their advantage. Or, so, I would like to keep my opinion.
Kumbakonam Weekend (April 19-21 2013) – Part 1
I had been looking forward to this trip for a while. The wife and kid typically go to their home town (Kumbakonam) for a few weeks for the summer vacation. We had taken the Mayiladuthurai express. This is a very elusive train – the one train, the Mysore Mayiladuthurai Express that connects the Bangalore to Trichy, Tanjore, Kumbakonam, and Mayavaram (this is how the local refer to Mayiladhuturai). And it does so happen, that there are a large number of techies who are from this area. So there are only two ways of getting into that train:
- Book 4 months in advance (and book all the tentative dates that you want a booking) – cancel the unwanted ones later.
- Book even a waiting list ticket, and pray to your isht devata (Literal translation: God of your pleasing) that one of the tickets I cancel in step (1) gets allocated to you.
Of course, if you have an isht devata for whom you are his/her favourite devotee, and you enjoy special status of being granted boons by the God, then you can try tatkal as well.
So we headed off to the Majestic Railway station on a warm thursday evening. The train arrived half an hour late (it comes in from Mysore). Having lugged in our luggage into the train, we started off. The train journey was large uneventful.
Morning welcomed us with this:
Woohoo. The sweet smell of the Tanjore delta. My paternal roots are in this district, and hence I get a big kick whenever I visit this region. For some reason, I get this warm fuzzy unexplainable home feeling. And am I glad, my wife is from Kumbakonam, and I can visit here fairly regularly.
I had an agenda this time though. More recently, I have started reading the Periya Puranam (and also listening to some tapes of lectures on this by Shri RBVS Manian). Needless to say, that I have been captivated by this single piece of Tamil literature. Couple of reasons (actually three) stand out for me liking this scripture so much:
- The scripture is in beautiful Tamil. I did not study Tamil in school, and I cannot make out very complicated classical Tamil. But it just sounds so sweet. It really is.
- It has proof of a very rich cultural heritage in the Southern parts of Tamil Nadu.
- And of course, the main reason has got to be that, most of the tales and historical anecdotes happen in this beautiful Tanjore region.
So, with this new found interest of mine, I had decided to seek out as many temples as I can, that are referenced in Periya Puranam, in this area. These are also called “Paadal Petra Sthalangal”. Literal translation: Places where songs had been sung. Songs sung by the great moovar (the three apostles of Tamil Literature) – Appar, Sundarar, and Gnanasambandhar. Manikkavachagar does not figure in the Periya Puranam Compilation, though he has given us some fantastic works. Sometimes, they are also collectively referred to as the Naalvar (the great four).
Of course, Kumbakonam, being the temple city, I will visit other incidental temples, and document my visits to those as well. One more observation to make is that, being a Smartha (neutral towards Shaivites (Shiva worshippers) and Vaishnavites (Vishnu worshippers), I have a greater variety on my plate to go discover.
This post is the first of many, which will document my visits to several of the temples in this historically significant area. I will try and provide as much data about how to get there, and as much historical/mythological data that I can garner.
Stay tuned for Part 2 – for the temple visits to actually start, where I visit Sirkazhi, Thirukolakka, and Thirukadayur.
Jungle Lodges Resort – Bannerghatta National Park
I had gone (with Family – wife and 3.5 year old) to the Jungle Lodges Resort inside Bannerghatta National Park. Every person I had asked about this said they had heard nice things about this place, but had never been there. So I wanted to be there and experience it first hand. Booking it was seamless – on the Internet — http://www.junglelodges.com
Check-in was at 12 Noon. We had left from Koramangala around 10:15AM. We reached the Bannerghatta Zoo parking lot around 11:30AM. We had been asked to call the Park office once we reached there. You need to leave your cars here in the open parking lot. There is a security guy and the Park people try and organize such that all the Jungle Lodges folks park their cars together. I would still not leave any valuables in there – just to be careful. The Park office cheerfully informed us that pickup is on the way.
We then figured out that, it was going to be three families into a single jeep. We were all flummoxed as to how this was going to be managed. The driver guy simply said – “Women, children, and elderly inside the jeep. Others stand behind.” Problem solved.
The resort is about 5 km into the jungle away from the zoo. You can see a lot of Sambar, spotted deer, and Indian Gaur (looks like a bison, but its not).
The road winds its way into the forest, and the view from the jeep back is awesome. The wind in my hair is a great feeling. Another first. Never ridden standing in the back-deck of a jeep before.
And we hit the first check-post. This gate closes at 5:15PM and opens only in the morning. So no entry and exists possible between this time.
And after some more winding roads,
We hit the resort gates.
And yours truly getting out of the jeep deck.
The resort has 2 log huts. We stayed in one of them. They are made fully of wood and concrete. They are on a raised platform.
They have a split AC inside. Very well furnished inside.Comfortable bed. Chair and table. Very clean toilet. Nice tribal painting murals on the walls.
Each log hut (and most other rooms) come with a large sized hammock just outside it. Fantastic to laze around and relax.
Other than the two log huts, there are 10 swiss tents. These are similar sized rooms, but have canvas material for walls. We were told that the bathrooms (at the back) are concrete.
And other than these 12 individual rooms, there is a dormitory that can take 36 people.
So, back to the plan. We settled into the log hut, and were told that lunch is at 1:30PM. Within a few minutes a very courteous staff came and said, that there is a vehicle that got free now, and we can do the safari right away. It should take about 45 minutes and we should be back in the camp for lunch time. There are large enclosures for lions, tigers, elephants, and bears. Quite a few of these animals are roaming in their natural habitat. The safari vehicle is a steel fortified swaraj mazda. In all, a good safari with guaranteed sightings.
After lunch time, the jeep dropped us off at the butterfly park. We were asked to call the driver once we are done. The butterfly park is an unique concept. It is a one-time-must-go. It is a large dome, filled with flowers and butterflies. The doors have wind curtains so that the butterflies do not escape out. There were several signs of very colorful butterflies, but I saw only black ones everywhere.
After the butterfly park, we called for the driver, who picked us up and dropped us off at the zoo. The zoo is a different matter. While the safari had a special van for the jungle lodges folks, the zoo is the regular deal. It was defenitely too crowded for comfort, but then it was the weekend. Also, there was heavy littering etc which was pretty sad. But the son got a good view of the animals.
Then we came back to the log hut. Had Onion pakodas and Chai. Then dinner. With all the walking around, sleep came easily. There is an early morning trek planned in the morning. We skipped it. Breakfast opens at 830AM. We had breakfast around 9AM, and then packed slowly and were ready to check out around 10:15AM. The jeep then takes you back to the parking lot and drops you off at your car.
Food: The food here is very sub-standard. It is not to the point that it could give you a bad stomach ache. But it leaves much to be desired. But then, hey, you do not have any other choice. All the three meals are buffet meals in a hall called the Gol Ghar – a circular hall.
Price: Rs 3200 per person per night. Kids less than 5 years stay free. So our total came to around 6700/- all inclusive.
Tips: There are two large donation boxes (one at the food hall and the other in the reception). It is written in a couple of places that, instead of tipping individually, it is better to use the gratuity boxes.
Value for money: High. If you want to do the zoo/safari with your kid(s), it is a nice option to stay in the wilderness, while at it. Not too far from Bangalore city, so no planning required.
Staff: Extremely courteous staff. Kudos to them.
Comfort/Cleanliness: Fantastic. I would rate these guys very high compared to other similar places I have been to.
And lastly, my favourite pic – the poser:
