Beach

Experiencing the temple town of Puri, Oddisha

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Then panda took us to Anand Bazar area of temple and went away to collect Mahaprasad for us. It was offered to each of us on pattals i.e banana leaves. A huge variety was there but I think children will not like this as it consists of rice, daal and several other items most of which is not liked by children. At last we were offered Rabri, which was very tasty indeed and satisfied our taste buds.

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Udaipur Diaries – The City of Lakes

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We left our home at around 11.20 p.m. and our first stop was “Mardeshwar Temple” , Palikhanda, a place  located adjacent to high way itself. We decided to take blessings of “Lord Shiva” to start the journey. It was around 1.15 pm we left for our next planned stop “Shamlaji Temple”. We were at “Shamlaji” around 2.50 pm. After having darshan in the temple, we took a bit longer break here for some refreshment. I am avoiding writing historical details of this two temples as authentic information is easily available on web and there is no point writing it again. We left shamlaji at around 3.30 curiously waiting to reach our final destination.

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A weekend trip to digha. The Journey.

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When in Doubt, ask again. Ask someone else if you feel that the shmuck you just asked for directions was an inebriated nincompoop. I believe that even now, in the age of GPS and other bond gadgetry, the ultimate GPS is still the roadside paan wallah. Such is the level of accuracy & dependability, that i think they should be hired to proofread the local Google maps data.

You stop by a tapri/ khokha (as referred to in mumbai), light up a smoke, order a sweet paan, strike up a light conversation about how good or bad the weather is, and that’s it. Camaraderie set. The paan wallah will now easily divulge even the most complex info about the routes to take, routes to avoid, probable shortcuts & other awesome places to see in between. Screw you, GMaps !! I got my own local wiki/GPS/navigator/tour-guide.

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‘Rock’On Mahabalipuram!

‘Rock’On Mahabalipuram!

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The streets of Mahabalipuram are a photographer’s delight. The city is famous for stone sculptures. You can get your sculpture done within 3 months and get it delivered to your place just by giving your photograph and your measurements. The murals of deities, elephants, bhuddha’s are a very common sight. It is an eye feast to look at the workmen at work, carving intricate designs on the stones. I got to speak to one such person, Surya , who was diligently making a Ganesh idol. It took him 3 months so far to make the below idol and it would fetch him 35,000 INR. These idols are made  using the machinery as well as traditional hammer and chisel. It gives altogether a different experience to stand among numerous idols which are going to make it temples where we are not allowed to go even 5 steps nearer. After a brief visit to the workshops we headed to the Arjuna’s penance.

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