A temple of art and architecture @ Somnathpur (Karnataka)

Chennakesava temple at Somnathpur was  our  next stop after Talakad.  A 30km ride on  the T,narsipura –kollegal  road, past the lotus laden water ponds,  paddy, millet,sugarcane, marigold and tuberose fields saw us at Somnathpur.

This  is a beautiful creation of the Hoysala dynasty besides Belur and halebidu, built in the mid 13^th century.You buy a 5rs ticket to enter the temple but after entering the temple and seeing the well maintained temple I feel the ticket should be graded to higher amount. Spotlessly clean and cared with great devotion.

Walking through the pathway, sandwiched between emerald green lawns, you enter the temple  which stands in the middle of  an enclosure  around which runs an open verandah with 64 cells.

The serene temple stands on a star shaped foundation  which is characteristic of  Hoysala architecture and has 3 exquisitely carved temple towers called trikutachala . The three towers once housed beautifully carved idols of Lord Kesava, Janardhana and Venugopala till Malik Kafur and other mughals destroyed them.

This is not a temple in the sense that there are no poojas done to the idols here since they were destroyed by the mughal invaders. It is simply a temple exhibiting the delicate craftsmanship and high precision engineering of the mighty dynasty called hoysalas which ruled the present day Karnataka between AD1100 and AD1320.  This dynasty was noted for its peace and a leisurely life along with its encouragement to talent of arts, which is reflected all around the temple.(hoy is kill and sala is head of the dynasty since he tackled the tiger single handed and killed, this heroic deed took the form of yadava dynasty as hoysala dynasty) 

One need not search for the history of the temple because everything is beautifully recorded here along with all those sculptors name .When I went around the star shaped platform admiring all those beautiful carvings I noticed an employee of ASI cleaning the dust from the crevices.  This beautiful temple is now under the safecare of ASI.  

When I had been here as a school student, all I was interested was in merry making with my friends, only during my recent visit in the May gone by did the beauty of this place sink in.

How many times have I gone WOW over all those celebrated structures of the world( with due respects to those creators), little did I realize that we have an archictectural marvel with high precision and symmetry all done when  precision tools and machines were unheard but just hammer and chisel.The sculptures and the craftsmanship speaks volumes about the hand dexterity, patience, concentration of our ancient craftsmen. 

As I walked out of the temple  and sat on the bench watching at the boys playing cricket outside the temple compound, I also  was wondering why many of the Indian temples and monuments were not celebrated on par with many well known monuments around the world.

 I left Somnathpur, a tiny leisurely village on the banks of the Kaveri,  140kms, southwest of Bangalore and 30 kms from Mysore which has that rural stillness. The stillness here speaks and speaks  about our glorious past in the form of the Chennakesava temple and it has the touch of eternity. So what if this poetry in stone is not celebrated atleast I can write a post about it and next time you are around Mysore don't forget to listen to this stillness called Somnathpur.

Click on the pics below for better view, the last few pics are in bad lighting

                                               click  on the above image to read the temple history

                                                       Don't miss the star shaped foundation and the pillar by the side

                                                      The ceilings inside the temple carved like a plaintain flower, translates the concentration, dedication and patience that must have gone into it.

                                                             janardana

                                                       Lord Vishnu

                                                                  Notice the broken flute of Lord Venugopala

Talakad - Land of sand, legend,temples, history and geography

Journeying through beautiful lotus laden ponds, temple tanks, quaint village huts, humble kutccha houses and all those cliché’s which I described in my Shimsha post we reached the banks of River Cauvery at Talakad. All along the drive, the Cauvery canals too ran parallel to the road irrigating the vast expanse of sugarcane and paddy fields.

The moment our vehicle stopped at Talakkad, the local guides flocked our vehicle and offered to take us on a guided tour. We narrowed on a guide and he rattled out the history , geography and legend associated with the place called Talakkad.

Talakad – 45 kms from Mysore was once a flourishing capital city of the Ganga dynasty . It was later ruled by Cholas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara kings and later the wodeyars.

The dynasties which ruled this place have left imprints of their faith by erecting temples and stamping it with their unique architecture. All these temples numbering around 30 are buried under sand dunes. The central archaeological department of India has excavated many such temples.

A story goes that the name Talkad comes from two woodcutters called Tala and Kadu, who while chopping wood in the forest, found blood oozing out from one of the trees that they had tried to cut. Tala and Kadu while praying to Lord Shiva applied the leaves of that tree to the wound and the bleeding stopped. This incident led to Shiva being worshipped as Vaidyanatha, the lord of doctors and the temple in Talkad came to be known as Vaidyanatheswara Temple.

Apart from vaidyanatheswara, the other temples of Shiva - Pataleeswara, Maraleswara, Arakeswara and Mallikarjuna form the Pancha linga darshan and are believed to represent the Five faces of Lord Shiva. Another ancient temple recently excavated was the Keerthi Narayan temple which is the only temple with Hoysala architecture in Talakkad. We covered nearly 7 temples in one hour since the closing time was 1.00p.m, nevertheless had a fulfilling darshan.

The pataleswara temple

One has to walk over the sand dunes to see these excavated temples in the wooded area. Since it had rained the previous night, it was easy to walk over the sand . We visited all the above temples , while the guide was telling how the archeological department had now constructed a raised wall around the temple so that sand does not close in. Despite their efforts the sand does creep in and close on the temple.

It gave me a giddy feeling to know that I was walking over a great civilization that lay buried underneath the sand While the guide was narrating the history and the legend of Talakkad.

Like any other ancient historical capital, Talakkad too has its share of colourful legend. The one that is popular dates back to the early 1600’s When Raja Wodeyar, the founder of Wodeyar dynasty defeated Rangaraya – the viceroy of Vijayanagar empire in Sri Rangapattina. He later retired to Talakkad and died of a disease.

Sri Rangaraya’s wife was Alamelamma. The victorius wodeyar king alleged that she still had the jewels which belonged to the temple of Srirangapattina. He sent his force to recover the jewels. Alamelamma relented the use of force, she jumped into the river Cauvery and cursed the king and the town thus,

“Let Talakadu be Sandy, Malingi become a whirlpool and the Mysore kings be childless”

and to this day this place is deluged with sand and the nearby town Malingi is full of whirlpools and Wodeyar dynasty of Mysore is issueless.(The present scion Sri Kanta Datta wodeyar, an ex MP from Mysore is also issueless).

While scientists and scholars say the legend is fabricated around the town and attribute the sandy nature to the onslaught of sand brought about by an ecological disaster due to the construction of a dam in 1336 and the strong winds that blow here. The whirlpools to an active geological fault, they are intrigued by the mystery of the issueless wodeyar dynasty. With a few exceptions, the curse has survived folklore from 1610 till today for almost 400 years spanning 17 maharajahs.

After a grand story time and an even grander visit to all the temple we retired to the canopied cover of the river banks to relish our food hamper.

We followed it with some spa moments and a coracle ride on the quiet river which is the confluence of the three rivers Kaveri, Kabini and the mythical Spatika, knowing all along the curse of a woman was swirling and echoing through the place.

We came out of the waters to drink a hot cup of ginger chai under the canopy of trees overlooking the river from a tendered chaiwalla.

Left the place pondering about the legend. Is it a curse? an ecological disaster or a geological phenomenon?

Let time and geologists unravel…… I had a blissful time.

Madhya ranga - Abode of reclining Vishnu

When  we were driving around a bend to reach the Shimsha falls, We read the board of Madhya ranga and  on our way back stopped  to see the temple. It is also called Sri Jaganmohana Ranganatha temple. A pretty huge temple, Simple but very divine. The villagers told us the priest had gone to a nearby  place for the wedding and so the sanctum was closed. I walked to the huge wooden double door and found their was a   peep hole for darshan. I peeped through to find the divine lord clad in dhoti and garlands, absolutely stunning through the filtering light  of the oil lit lamps.  There are very few idols which can send such vibrations. This was one such. The image and calmness is finely embedded in my memory, that it is flashing every now and then.

Devout  Hindus travelling towards Mysore can mark this place called 'Madhya Ranga' at Shivanasamudram.

The 3 major riverine Islands formed by River cauvery are Srirangapattina, Shivanasamudram and Srirangam. Apart from having historical significance and natural beauty, these 3 islands are also major pilgrim centres.

All the 3 Islands have a temple dedicated to Lord  Vishnu popularly called as Sri Ranganatha. The reclining pose of Vishnu on the multiheaded serpent Adisesha is called Sri Ranganatha and his consort Lakshmi is called Ranganayaki. 

Sri Rangapattina is called Adi ranga (the first one)

Shivanasamudram is called Madhyaranga ( the middle one)

Sri rangam is called Antya ranga (the last one).

Of all these Srirangapattina and Sri Rangam are famous but  not much is known about Madhya ranga. This is supposed to be a 1500 year old temple built by the cholas, who were known for unique architecture  and the idol is made of  black fossil stone( saliigrama). A legend goes that Sri Hari gave darshan to Lord Indra here. The Idol is also small compared to adi and antya ranga, . Visiting all the 3 Rangakshetras ( adi, madhya and antya) between suryoday(dawn) to suryasth( dusk) is considered auspicious and  called Brahmanda darshan or triranga darshan. The belief of devouts is that this darshan washes away your sins and gives peace and plenty.

A tidbit: All of us know that the Pilgrim center SriRangapattina was the capital of Tipusultan, The ruler of Mysore who gave the British nightmares but very few of us know that he was a devotee of Sri Ranganatha. He is supposed to have had conversations with the Lord. He also rose to the morning chants of ' O Ranga' . My parents 80+ old neighbour @ bangalore  told me that there was a 'Sri Ranga' temple beside all Tipu's palace.  There is one at Bangalore city market too. Besides Tipu's wooden summer palace is a Fort temple dedicated to Vishnu.

Interested, may check a video on Madhyaranga here.

An electrifying affair with nature - Shimsha

Shivanasamudram in Mandya district is 120 kms from Bangalore via Bangalore – Mysore Highway( alternate route is Kanakapura road). In this Riverine Island formed by the Cauvery, the river branches off and cascades from a great height to form two segmented waterfalls, one the wider Barachukki and the other a kilometer away called Gaganachukki. Gaganachukki again has two views one from the darga(mosque) side and the other from the viewing gallery side. From the view gallery side you can view Asia’s First Hydroelectric power station cradled in the valley below which powered Kolar Gold fields in 1902 and Bangalore in 1905, thus making it the first city in Asia to get electrified. Currently there is no access to the station deep down in the valley but as school students when we went on an excursion, we were taken into the power station deep into the valley by a cabled wagon. No student of Kannada can escape a lesson on this place in their Kannada text.

It was to the above place we set out on a rainy May morning from my parents place in Bangalore. My husband got back to his work at Hyd leaving us at Bangalore for our vacation . My sister planned the above picnic in a hired tavera which accommodated my parents, sis, 3 children and me. We started at 6 in the morning with a food hamper on tow. The cloudburst which started the previous night did'nt deter us but played spoilsport till Maddur(famous for Maddur vada), so all we saw till Maddur was the hazy frames of the Bangalore-Mysore highway through the raised windows of the hired vehicle.

At Malavalli, where the road deviated and the rains drizzled we decided to have our home made breakfast. From here on the rains slowly faded out and we downed our windows to realize why most journeys are clichéd than the destination.

Emerald green fields of paddy,sugarcane and vegetables, drifting mists over the faraway mountains, swaying palms, A tree house( perhaps a watch tower for the paddy fields), quaint village houses with terracotta tiles, glistening leaves of trees washed by the rains, network of water channels, an old bridge like an ancient relic with pasi padinja(fungal) walls which looked steady and sturdy, Igglur dam, Madhyaranga(post coming up) were all the visual treats we had along with crisp fresh air till our vehicle suddenly slowed down on a new bridge which had the sign post ‘ Go slow, Bridge is weak’and treaded upon pot holed narrow road which were no not dusty but clean. (courtesy the rains). Sounds clichéd I know, but wait till you check the photos clicked by me.

The driver finally stopped after a 2.5 hour journey, outside the closed road to Barachukki, he showed us a trekker’s path to Barachukki. We trekked down the path for half a kilometer to hear the rush of Barachukki. Appa and amma could not walk further, not wanting to disappoint my son, my dad told the driver to escort the children up till the falls, I stopped midway when I saw the aerial view of the waterfall, but my sis, and the children continued till the point to capture the cascades.

Our next stop was Gaganachukki, 1.5 km away from Barachukki. This falls can be viewed form Darga side(mosque) and a few kms away is the view gallery side. This point is also called ‘Bluff. Here Shimsha, a tributary of Cauvery breaks into small channels and spreads widely making it a segmented waterfall. The rush of the water , the fresh rain soaked air and the stunning sights it makes with the smoke cloud can be viewed and felt from the cement chairs of the view gallery. Do mark this place when in Bangalore, this one spot is enough to transcend you to an heavenly world.

Adventurous people can trek down but there is a warning board which reads how a S/W engineer Kapil got killed in the water. The water force here is so powerful like an ocean that this place is called ‘Shivana samudra’(ocean of Shiva). The force of the Shimsha water was harnessed into hydroelectric power in 1902. thus earning the erstwhile Mysore state the glorius position of establishing the First major hydor-electric station as early as 1902 for commercial operation. This art was still at infancy, even in the advanced countries. The longest transmission line, with highest voltage in the world was constructed to meet the power needs of mining operations at Kolar Gold fields.

An electrifying place, Ain’t It?

My next stop was at Madhyaranga, a temple dedicated to reclining Vishnu.

Before you check the pics, some tips:

Plan it in your own vehicle than take a hired one. You can stop as you please. The whole route is a scenic delight. Take the Bangalore-Mysore highway, though this is the longer route the road is better till Malavalli. The alternate Kanakapura road is not advisable, unless they've repaired the road(this is the shortest route)

Bangalore- Mysore highway is a foodie’s paradise, you can enjoy the thatte idli at Bidadi and the world famous Maddur vada or dine in at Kamat Lokaruchi, Maddur Tiffany’s, MTR , café coffee house ,Mc D or the various dhabas and halli manes(karnataka dhabas)but beyond Malavalli at your own risk since there are no decent restaurant, so pack your food especially if you have children.

Avoid getting down into the falls since the currents are very strong.

When you are on a day’s trip you can cover the nearby Madhyaranga temple, Somanath, Talakad. If you still have a day at your disposal visit the nearby Mysore and its surrounding places like Srirangapattana, KRS, Balamuri falls( I call this Niagara), Ranganathittu, Kabini and many more. The list is endless………

Also on your return back visit Kanva reservoir and Janapada Loka, a folkvillage ( I missed seeing them)

I've translated all the above cliches into olympus moments. Click on them to feel the place.

From Malavalli to Shimsha, these were the scenes that travelled  with us making me feel I was travelling to a fairy land

                                                               

                                         The meandering cauvery captured from the new bridge

The starting point of our 2km trek, the path was not smooth as it looks here, the barricaded grill on the right is the regular path which was closed for maintenance. It has a view gallery too. Also, Don't miss the drifting mists over the faraway mountains.

The faraway falls visible after a 1/2km trek, the other fragment hidden behind the bushes on your right will be visible after another 1km trek on a muddy terrain.

This segment of Barachukki, that was hidden behind in the above picture, During it's glory(july-oct), I was told this section looks like Niagara( wide falls)

This beautiful tree hut on our way out of Barachukki. Does'nt it look like a page out of Grimm's fairy tale book?

Th malavalli dam at Igglur on the way from Barachukki to Gaganachukki falls. The banks of the river dam is ideal for picnic. The river banks are very shallow and you can access the dam easily, but for the whirlpools. Ideal  to make your camp fire and food on a chulha. We just got down for some clicks.

The gaganachukki falls, Don't miss the horseshoe shaped landing between the two cascades on the left side.

Deep down in the valley,the blue shed you see is the Hydroelectric station and water is brought to the station through those green channels from Malavalli dam.(Info source: our car driver).

  The million $ expression(smile+fear) on my niece's face. She was scared to sit on the  barricade seat of the view gallery.

India's Little England - Hosur

My Summer travel tales continue…

From Neyveli, our next stop was at Hosur on the border of Tamilnadu-Karnataka. This is another town which I can keep writing about. This place is home to manufacturing units of Industries like Tata’s Titan, Tanishq(jewels), TVS, Ashok Leyland ,Hindustan motors, TTK Prestige, Caterpillar, Easun-reyrolle and many industries related to manufacturing automobile bodies and automotive spares, bio-tech, pharmaceutical, tissue-culture, granite factories etc.

A place which cannot be classified as a 'laid back' town or an 'hyper-active' town. It takes a middle path. From what I have observed generally, people here have the approach of ‘Work while you work, play while you play’ May be because majority of them have jobs with 9-5 schedules unlike IT companies which work in different time zones that’s if you discount industrial problems like labour union, overtime etc.

Apart from the above Industries this city also earns good revenue through its horticulture and floriculture exports. Hosur soil is very fertile and so ideal to grow vegetables like cabbage,carrot, beetroots, colored bell peppers, tomatoes, cauliflowers etc., Tons of vegetables are exported to other parts of the country and this town also houses TANFLORA.

Tanflora is the largest agri-export company for cut flowers in the world producing nearly millions of cut flowers per annum. They breed, cultivate and export flowers like carnation, lilies, gerbera and the world famous valentine red rose. This variety created by a rose breeder in Holland is patented and cultivated in Hosur . It is a deep red budded rose with long stalk and big leaf. Another rose by name ‘Kohinoor’ which is a baby orange-pink rose is also cultivated here. The main markets for these flowers are Europe, Australia,the middle East and Japan. The valentine rose was patented in 2009 and the exports have been doubled and tripled since then. All these are possible not only because of the fertile soil but also because this place is elevated 3000ft above sea level and thus enjoys a compatible and salubrious climate all round the year. The reason why it is called “India’s Little England”. The flowers grown here travel in refridgerated vans to Bangalore and then airlifted to various countries like Amsterdam, Germany, Abudhabi, Singapore , Australia etc.So next time you are in any of those countries and see these red and pink roses. Remember these roses are made in India's Hosur.

The history of this town is pre-dated to 2000 years. During sangam age it was called ‘Muraasu nadu’ and ruled by king Adhiyamaan( the king who gave gooseberry to tamil poetess Avaiyaar to prolong her life), The Cholas, Rajputs, Nayaks, Hoysalas,British East India during Cornwallis time, Tipusultan and many more have ruled this place.

The above are not the reasons I visit this city, I visit it since my sis stays here in a beautiful colony which has lovely independent houses. It has wonderful townships to reside. I have already written about them but notable is the Titan township built for Titan employees exclusively designed by Charles Correa and land developers in nearby Bangalore have already blueprinted their share in this town.

It has well-organised, disciplined , structured schools like Titan school, TVS academy, Sishya, Siddhartha village school. Here I have to mention about the school which my niece goes to. This CBSE school has excellent infrastructure and teaching methods. The school is set amidst orchards of Mango, chikku, pomegranate, custard apple etc., and you have freely roaming peacocks, ducks and rabbits as companions. The class rooms are under the canopy of trees like in gurukul method. They also have state-of-art class rooms. No exams till 8th standard. The children are free to pursue what they want. The Engineering, Medicine, Management degrees of Hosur come from Adhiyamaan university named after King Adhiyamaan.

An interesting observation I made during my short stay this time was when we visited the purely vegetarian Hotel Arusuvai( 6 taste).The menu had interesting food items apart from the regular varieties. For the first time I saw the tamil version of Paratha called as Parota. I have seen them in the southern parts of Tamilnadu on the roadside eateries though I have never tasted them. Making this parota is an art. These parota called 'Veechu parota' is not rolled with a rolling pin but made by tossing, it elongates with each toss in the air.

The menu read Kutthu parota( shredded paratha), Veechu parota, Idiappam(Rice noodles), Vada curry( a side dish made with vadas). The waiter keyed the orders on what looked like a mobile phone and moved to the next table. Later, I realized it was an Ipad through which he took the order and it was relayed immediately to the central kitchen and food was on our table in just 10 minutes while the waiter was still in the dining area. I have never seen bearer keying orders on a Ipad(or is it Iphone) in all those hotels in Major cities. Have you?

I took the phone from him to click the above image. Is it Iphone? or Ipad?(cos it looked like a phone but It was marked Ipad, not similar to the ones we know.

Other than this, I enjoyed the early morning walks , just a kilometer down my sis’s house led me to the vegetable patches and a kilometer up led me to the bustling central business city under the NH flyover Golden quadrilateral.   Yeah, this National Highway connecting the major metros of India passes through this town. You can have the best of both worlds in this small town.

I have decided to explore this town more during my next visit by visitng all those Historical forts, ancient temples and picturesque places around Hosur. Bangalore is just 15 minutes away from Hosur because of which it is slowly emerging as a satellite town of Bangalore. Many employees of Electronics city and Health city find it convenient to commute from Hosur than stay in Koramangala, HSR or BTM layout( residential areas of Bangalore). It is also recently connected to Bangalore- Mysore road by NICE road but after a night’s stay at Hosur, I moved with my family, sis and niece to Bangalore via NH-7.

National highway 7 from Hosur to Bangalore showcases the dreams of all those entrepreneurial Indians who started their business in a room/garage and now some are listed in Fortune 500. Infosys, Wipro, Biocon, Dr. Devi shetty’s Narayana Hrudayalaya, MTR, Nilgiris( the first supermarket chain of India) and countless MNC’s like GE, Fanuc etc.,

Next week to a fairy tale destination from Bangalore.

Check some pics (courtesy Tanflora)

I have always awed at those beautiful tulip gardens of Amsterdam in pictures but never knew India exported flowers to Amsterdam.
The red roses are 'Tajmahal' which expresses love during valentines and new year and orange-pink are 'Kohinoor'

Small lilies

Cabbage patches

Auroville - an Utopia

Auroville is a commune that is set up 14 kms North of Pondicherry in Vizhupuram district. Auroville, meaning the ‘City of Dawn’ was visualized by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and his French Disciple Mirra Alfassa(popularly called The mother). Sri Aurobindo visualized this as a place where people of all races and religions could live freely as citizens of the world in harmony.

The highlight of this commune is the the design of ‘Matri mandir’ which is a meditation hall. It is shaped like a golden golf ball with its circular plate like patterns. The lower hemisphere consists of stairs leading you to the upper hemisphere.You are given clean and sparkling white socks to wear and you enter The upper hemisphere which is dressed in pristine white upholstery( I’m not able to recall but I think it is something like the dhurries). The centre of the hall has a huge crystal ball triple the size of a foot ball and directly up above in the ceiling is an opening which allow sunlight to fall on the crystal and illuminates the whole meditation hall. Absolute silence is maintained here all you can hear is the sound of your own breath. You don’t have to subscribe to their teachings to soak in the calmness of this place, but yes you are given an entry pass with a small write up on how to conduct within.

But wait, there is another high point or uniqueness to this place. That it believes and practices environment development. Today many laboratories and research institutions are working on innovative technologies which are environmentally viable for today’s warming world and Auroville is a part of this quest for a sustainable future.

20 years back this place was a plateau of canyons carved with running rain water which drained into the nearby Bay and had a few cashew and mango trees but with lot of hardwork and research of auro followers it has turned now into a bio-region worth emulating by the rest of the world – all in a span of 20 years. Lots of greenery through afforestation, water conservation practices through recycling of waste water,recharging ground water and harvesting rain water.

Organic farming is practised using natural manure, buildings are constructed using the principle of natural architecture using bio-degradable materials like mudbricks,ferro-cement,flyash clay, bamboo and are designed for flow of natural air and light. Energy is harnessed through the various solar panels and so less electricity is used. Even wind energy is tapped though on a minor scale. Your laptops will run on wi-fi enabled by solar energy.

The central part of this place is closed to vehicles like cars and mostly you will find people using cycles and electric mopeds. Even in the day to day life,they follow simple green practices which leave a huge impact on the long run in our environment.

The bio-degradable wastes are reused as compost for their organic farming, eco-sanitation, community recycling and reuse of old and unwanted items, using old newspapers to make crafts and jewelery which are then sold in auroboutiques, community schedules like having tea at the same time at all auroville offices. Since the tea production is in bulk, less fuel energy is used in the preparation of tea. Simple practices like these are effective in saving energy in the long run, discouraging and replacing plastic bags and spreading green messages and making every inhabitant and nearby villagers aware of the environment.

You can find many foreigners and Indians living here. They are followers of this spiritual cult and leave their cushy jobs in the field of engineering, medicine, architecture, law etc and go back to their work or country after a break of two years or so. They subscribe and contribute to the above principles on environment. It is nice to see these westerners wear Indian clothes and cycle around the place and practise Indianess like yoga, meditation etc.,

They have lots of auroboutiques selling auroproducts like jewellery, jute, handmade paper, dry flower crafts, aromatic products all these are famous world over(but expensive).

Auroville has absorbed and blended the goodness of old and the new and is emerging as a model centre for the rest of the country and the world.

Worth emulating its spiritual and environment practices to cool the globe.

Pic courtesy: Flashnews

A fairy tale town - Neyveli

We left to Neyveli from our Paati’s home (Lalgudi) after an early morning puja at Siruvacchur( our family deity temple) and a visit to Virudheeswarar temple, a huge temple dedicated to Lord Shiva on the banks of River Manimuttar in vriddhachalam.

Neyveli – 200 kms south of Chennai is the home of Neyveli Lignite Corporation - a mining and power generation industry in Cuddalore district inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru 40 years back. The thermal power generated here lights up the whole of South India.

I have written a lot about this township before and I can write some more about this well planned township where my FIL retired as chief engineer(electrical) and my husband studied in this township till he went for his engineering studies to Trichy. This 53 sqkms township is exclusively for the employees of NLC and there are no private houses here and so has a static population except for the visiting officials, relatives and friends of the employees.

Luckily my husband’s maternal uncle is the DGM here and we still have access to this place and visit this place almost once in a year since this falls on the way between Chennai and Trichy.

This is a well planned and well maintained township. The township is divided into blocks. A double road lined with trees separates the blocks. For a visitor like me each road and house looks the same, but for people like my husband who have grown here they know it by block numbers like Block 1, block 2 etc. No power cuts since they are the power generators and clean water flows in taps 24/7 without any overhead tank or underground sump.

For a nature lover, just sitting at home and watching the huge well manicured front and back lawns of each duplex house is itself a good time pass. These lawns are fringed with fruit trees like mango, gooseberry, coconut, black berry, jackfruit, cashew (both are grown abundantly in nearby Panruti), Lemon etc along with flowering plants like hibiscus, laburnum, Indian jasmine and many more ornamental plants and kitchen plants.You never feel the heat in summer @ home with lots of greenery clouding your home.

If you still want to go out and enjoy then you have two classy children’s park ‘ The silver jubilee park’ and ‘Nehru park’. These huge parks have many unique play equipments for children which I hav’nt seen in any other children’s park or for that matter even theme park.

Another attraction is the Lovely Natarajar temple which has a panchaloha idol of dancing Shiva supposed to be the biggest in Asia, It is supposed to find its place in the Guinness book of records, standing tall at 10’ and having a base of 8 feet. Anyone with a restless and disturbed mind is sure to find peace of mind in this lovely pristine temple. They have a big Dhyana mandapam (meditation hall) here. Another uniqueness of this temple is that it has a prayer box on the lines of ‘Manu’s needhi bell.

Manu Needhi chola was a chola king who was known for justice and he did not think twice before punishing his son when his son’s chariot killed a calf. His kingdom had a grievance box for his subjects under a huge bell and his name is synonymous with justice in Tamil literature. Similarly, here too devotees write their grievances in a chit and drop it into the box. The grievances and wishes are read to the God during prayers secretly by the priest in the morning and then the chits are burnt. When the wishes are fulfilled the devotees write a 'Thank you' note and drop in the drop box. A faith which many devotees believe in.

‘Villudaiyan patti’ is another temple. The idol of the temple was found during an excavation of the mines. The uniqueness of the murugan( son of lord shiva) here is that he has ‘Villu’(bow) instead of the usual vel(spear).

Many more temples, mosques and churches define the secular and multi-cultural population here.

For entertainment they have 3 theatres which may never have a ‘houseful’ board. When we went to watch the tamil movie ‘KO’ at Sri Nidhi Ratna theatre which has a seating capacity of 300. There were just around 25 people to watch the movie of which 6 were from our own family.

You will find no malls or chain outlets like Mc D or Subway, but they have a main bazaar which meets the needs and conveniences of the people. Also a 'Pay day bazaar' which pitches stalls like a 'mela' in the first fortnight of every month when every employee get their pay.

Sports lovers have a beautiful 9 hole golf course, skating rink, swimming pool, tennis court, chess academy, stadium to play cricket, volleyball, basketball etc.,

They also have an airstrip here which operated some flights. It did not bring in much revenue so it is not operational now. This now serves more as a training track for those learning 2 and 4 wheelers. Incidentally my 12 year old son learnt to drive a e-scooter BSA streak rider ( similar to scooty pep but does not require licence and registration) here this time and my 14 year old drove confidently on the broad roads here where you can never find traffic. The broad road sans potholes looks as though they are specially laid for you.

It also has its own prasar bharthi TV tower.

At night, when you drive out of the arch gate of the township through the cashew tree lined road and reach the national highway, you can find the mines at the horizon worth capturing in your camera.

The mine equipments ‘bucket wheel excavator’ and ‘spreader’ have a series of lights on them. When they excavate and send the lignite to the thermal stations through the conveyor belts the mines @ the horizon lights up against the dark sky.

An eco friendly place, where you’ll find lots of greenery, since NLC is an eco-warrior, actively involved in environmental care by afforesting the exhausted mine fields and careful waste disposal management.

Sea beach at cuddalore and Pondicherry is just an hour and half drive away.

My next post on Pondicherry.

Check pics of neyveli below( quality of some pics not good since taken from a moving vehicle)






The arch gate to enter Neyveli from National highway 45 (chennai to trichy)



The clean and peaceful Nataraja temple(you can see the idol of nataraja)




At the right side the tall tower with the bell is the replica of manu needhi mani


Roads without potholes and traffic. This almost when each house has a NLC jeep, a 4 and 2 wheeler and the township also has intra bus service.




The landing or take off area

the runway of the air strip, now used as an unofficial driving track for learners , mud mound at the far end which look like hills are the excavated mud of mines.


cashew fruit and nut

Lots of Cashew, Jackfruit, coconut and mango trees on either side of the road inside neyveli and out of the township leading to Pondicherry.



view of thermal station at night (last 2 pics courtesy: NLC india)

Kalanai - An Engineering marvel of Ancient India

'KAL' is stone and 'ANAI' is dam , so kalanai in tamil means stone dam.

Many a times(4-5 times)I have passed through the kalanai bridge in Trichy and my MIL would mention to my children ‘Idhu daan chozha kalathu Kalanai (this is the stone dam of chola times). Whenever she said that, It never occurred to me until this time, that I was overlooking a standing testimony of the first century engineering skill which is still functional today in the 21st century.

Kalanai or it's english name ‘The grand anicut’ is ancient India’s engineering marvel built in the first century A.D (source: sangam literature) by the chola king Karikala chola.

This is built across River Kaveri near Trichy. The dam gives raise to a series of water canals like vennar, vettar, arasalar, kodamurutti etc., and irrigates the whole of Thanjavur district of the Cauvery delta which is called the ‘Granary of south India’ for its rich green paddy fields, plaintain plantations, sugarcane fields, mango orchards etc.,

If not for the foresightedness of the chola king, the whole Thanjavur region would be barren since there is no other major water source here.

Today, When cement structures built with advanced technology by esteemed companies fall like a pack of cards,(most of you will remember, an under construction bridge fell a couple of years back in Hyderabad @ punjagutta killing many), this dam much before the invention of cement was built with loose rock set in mud, well levitated clayey soil, stiffened with lots of wood and stone shutters. This has withstood many floods and is still functioning to date. The outer and inner sides of the dam were lined with finely cut granite blocks and were interlocked at the lower level while at higher level, the lining was roughrock set in lime paste. The whole structure is then lined with a thin layer of lime plaster.

The dam was rebuilt about three times till the ancient chola engineers were satisfied with the correct size,length, breadth, height, volume, force of water in storage behind the structure.

In the 1800's minor modifications and alterations were done by European engineers of British India. The stone shutters were removed in 1830 and replaced by Iron shutters, chains, roller wheels by an irrigation engineer of the British East India company Sir Arthur Cotton. He was awe struck to find a structure built of lime sand mix still functioning. He made modifications to the dam by increasing the storage of water by three fold after working the specifications scientifically. Based on the study and materials used here, he built barrages and dams across river Godavari. This helped him to become India’s greatest Irrigation engineer. But he in all humility never took the glory, instead he highlighted the skills of the ancient chola engineers from whom he learned his work. This also became a model for many European enginners later on. Later on many modifications took place periodically, the latest being in 2006.

Today this functional dam has become a picnic spot. A beautiful park with statues of Karikala cholan, Sage Agasthya and the crow depicting the origin of Kaveri etc adorn the park.

Many families enjoy by barbecuing the fresh fishes caught by them and cooking food on chulhas. The washermen of the city also use the place to wash the clothes close to the dam.

The channel gates have been thrown open on june 9th and now it must be gushing with water. I visited it in May when it was peak summer in Trichy called kathiri veyil, so the river was almost dry and the water was not released from Mettur dam.

One must visit this place between July- December when the river water swells. In the tamil month of aadi and on the 18th day(mid july) it flows to its full glory and tamils celebrate a festival called ' padinettam perukku' or 'aadi 18' by offering puja to River Kaveri, rejoicing with a dance called 'Kummi' and feasting on mixed rice like lemon rice, curd rice, coconut rice on the banks of river Kaveri.

I wonder why this structure has not got the honour it deserves, thankfully this engineering miracle is now on the way to be in the safe hands of UNESCO's World heritage site for being the oldest engineering structure to still function albeit repaired periodically. The whole area needs maintenance. The dry water channels(summer) are strewn with plastic wastes, tin cans, tetrapaks etc.,

When you drive out of the place, after the bridge you find lot of thennamthoppu( palm groves), vazhathoppu( plaintain plantations) and mango orchards like thathachariyar gardens. The harvested mangoes are sold on either side of the road giving rise to the name of the road as Mambhaza salai( the road of ripe mangoes). Sadly many acres of such land are gobbled by apartments.

Below are some clicks,though I have not done justice to the place with my images.
Most pics of the river were taken from a moving vehicle,it might lack clarity.


Sage Agasthya and the crow ( the originator of River Kaveri and the Ancient language of Tamizh)




A view of the dam

River Kaveri, it would swell to its capacity and beyond in july, august


The bridge to trichy





River Kollidam a tributary of Kaveri





The plaintain plantations



The palm groves

Information courtesy on Sir arthur cotton: NTV news.

Our ancestral village - Vadugakudi

The journey of River Kaveri from its origin at Bhagmandala hill in Madikeri, Karnataka to Poom Puhar in Tamilnadu where it drains into the bay throws open an entire civilization’s belief, lifestyle and culture.

It has various temples on its banks some very famous and some not so famous ones.

Vadugakudi ( Sathanur) in Tiruvaiyaru taluk ( Thanjavur district) Southern Tamilnadu is a village on the banks of River Cauvery. This is my husband’s ancestral town though his grand father migrated to Trichy long ago.

We try to visit our village deity temple of ‘Kalyana Subramanyeswarar’ at least once in a couple of years and light the traditional ‘Maa vilakku’ ( diya made out of dough) after the abhishekam.

A chola king (Dholasinga Raja) while on a hunting expedition is said to have been caught in the floods of Kollidam( coleroon), a tributary of Kaveri. He is supposed to have rested in the small temple which he came across. The temple priest who was present at the temple requested the king for some land to grow fruits and flowers required for the temple. The king is supposed to have told the priest to throw a stone and he immediately encircled the acres of land surrounding the radius of the throw.( source: the temple priest)

The temple falls under this land and the idol of Lord muruga which is installed now is said to have floated in the floods of Kollidam. In later years,The temple and the land were under litigation. In 1986, the court pronounced and declared the land to be that of the priest and their inheritors . The present priest Vijayan gurukal’s father got back the temple from the court and after his death, Vijayan gurukal who was employed in Bombay left his job to handle the temple affairs.

Today he does the pooja in the temple and stays in the house adjoining the temple.

River kaveri flows a kilo metre away from the temple. We walked down to River kaveri to find it dry this summer but enjoyed the walk through the ulundu fields, plaintain fields on the way to River Kaveri.

My children too morphed so well to the surroundings. They enjoyed and pranced around along with their cousin as if they knew the place well .

We also plucked some tender citron leaves to make Narthelai podi( a traditional accompaniment for curd rice) and drank lots of fresh coconut water and hoarded some for our onward journey.

Some pics below.


The ulundu fields( urad dal fields)

The dry bed of river kaveri at vadugakudi


Plaintain tree from a plantation


tender coconuts from the priests garden

Coming up … Grand Anicut – an engineering marvel of Ancient India