Traveling is good
There are two basic varieties of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. On asking how does one distinguish between two varieties and which variety is popular brands nescafe and bru made of he told us that instant coffee in India contains a mix of whatever coffee beans remain after sorting. To a connoisseur, instant coffee is blasphemy as the taste is nowehere near good coffee. We left after 20 minutes promising to return back some other time.
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यहाँ का प्रसाद सम्पूर्ण भोजन के रूप में आदमी की भूख को तृप्त करता है। हम दोनों के परिवार ने सच्चे मन से तृप्त होकर इस प्रसाद का सेवन किया था। बहुत ही स्वादिष्ट प्रसाद था, पहलें केले के पत्तों के बिछाने का आरम्भ होता है, फिर उन पत्तों पर पानी मारा जाता है साफ़ करने के लिए, फिर दो पुरुष चावल की गाडी लेकर चावल परोसते है, चावल के बाद आती है सांभर की बारी, चावल के ऊपर सांभर परोसने के बाद प्रसाद का सेवन शुरू कर सकते है।
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It was such a delight to see large landscape, and feel fresh breeze on your face. After an hour, we entered ‘Oran’, the second largest (after the capital Algiers) and one of the important coastal cities of Algeria. It was appearing to be quite urban with tall building and large commercial places.
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It was close to 9.00 p.m. and with hunger cramps, I told Rajah to stop at a good eating place in the next town en-route. We landed at a small time restaurant – Shanti Bhawan (?) at Sayalgudi, a very small Panchayat town. The place looked clean, but the restaurant owner told us that the place was “full”. There were around 40 Ayappa Swami Devotees already seated and they were to be served first and our waiting time could be more than half an hour. While talking to the owner I was surprised to see the pictures of Kabaa, the holiest place for the Muslims along with some of the Hindu Gods. I asked him if it was a Hindu hotel. He said it was a Muslim Hotel. When I pointed to the wall hangings, he said “Sir, we worship all the Gods”. I was touched by his reply to the hilt and almost embraced him. I wish people all over the country had the similar feelings and then this divide between the religions would probably be non-existent. Thankfully the things appeared to be much better in Tamil Nadu as people of all the religions eat the same food, drink same toddy, speak Tamil and wear the same dress – lungi / dhoti and shirt.
Outside the restaurant, a group of Swamis (devotees of Lord Ayappa) were standing. I was told that they were coming from somewhere in North Tamil Nadu (after a couple of drinks, one tends to forget the names sometimes) and were heading for Kanyakumari,
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The slate cutting factory with the old rusty machinery al around. Slates were used for roofing, fencing etc. and was big business then. The factory was eventually closed down in the 1969 and now serves as a National Slate Museum.
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Amongst the various sights we visited were the USS Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Bowfin. USS Arizona was a memorial built on top of the ship sunk and destroyed with around 700 people still on board. We were shown a historic video before a motorboat quickly took us to the USS Arizona.
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We reached Rameshwaram from Madurai about 3:00 PM, we planned to visit Rameshwaram temple in the morning, so we asked our taxi driver Kannan if there is any beach nearby, he nodded his head and said “Yeeessss” (I liked the way he used to say Yeeessss”), it is 13 kms from here and is called Dhanushkodi.
Well, we reached the beach in about 45 minutes, on the way, we also visited a temple where Lord Rama performed the “Raj Tilak” of Vibhishan. Kannan told us that this is the beach, it was very deserted. We found an Indian Navy post there, a tea stall and a snack shop. The Indian Ocean was beautiful, roaring and with high waves. We dared not go too deep inside and also asked the kids to stay off.
The boat jetty/flight of steps and the miniature shrine and the Varaha sculpture at the basement of the Shore Temple, which were discovered by the ASI between 1990 and 1993, were flooded. Controversies and debates among the archaeologists and historians still persist on the existence of similar structures, submerged into the sea.
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यहाँ मैं ये अवश्य बताना चाहूँगा की यूथ हॉस्टल द्वारा आयोजित ये कार्यक्रम इतना सुनियोजित सुसंगठित एवं व्यवस्थित होता है की इसमें आप किसी तरह की कमी नहीं निकाल सकते..स्वादिष्ट नाश्ता शुद्ध शाकाहारी भोजन…इतने न्यून राशि में नव वर्ष को गोवा जैसी अत्यंत महँगी जगह पे आना साधारण मध्य वर्गीय के लिए बहुत मुश्किल के किन्तु इस आयोजन में ये खर्च न्यून से भी न्यूनतम है..इसके लिए आयोजनकर्ता यूथ हॉस्टल वन्दनीय है जिसमे सभी कार्यकर्त्ता वोलेंटियर होते है जो अपने कार्यस्थल से छुट्टी ले के इस 20/25 दिन के आयोजन को सफल बनाते है.
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Marina beach is a major tourist attraction of the city. This sea is rough and the waves here are strong. People visiting Chennai make a point to visit the beach. It is also the main place for the local people to escape from the summer heat. This beach is always crowded attracting about 30,000 – 50,000 visitors everyday. The beach has around 450-500 shops and stalls run by local vendors. It is an ideal hangout place for people of all ages. There are two swimming pools along the stretch maintained by Chennai Corporation.
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Andaman & Nicobar islands are inhabited by various tribes which flourished untouched by rest of the world till British reached there and setup major…
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26th Jan – Port Blair City Tour After coming back from Neil Island, we rested in the afternoon and in the evening went to…
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