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Odisha Part 2 - Puri: The Experience of Jagannath

The temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the four most important temples across India. Sometimes called the Char Dham – Badrinath in the north, Rameswaram in the South, Dwarka in the west, and Puri in the east – these temples mark four corners of our country, and each of these temples has a connection to Adi Shankara. He is said to have travelled to each of them, thus marking a sacred geography of India, long before the country actually existed. Among these 4 temples, 3 are dedicated to Lord Vishnu, while only Rameswaram is dedicated to Lord Shiva, though the lingam there is said to have been installed by Rama. Further, Shankara set up Mutts at 3 of these sites (or very close to these sites, like at Badrinath, where the mutt is at Joshimutt), while the mutt in the south is at Sringeri in Karnataka, quite a distance away from Rameswaram. Coming back to the topic, I have visited Rameswaram most often, Badrinath during my childhood, and Dwaraka a few times, but Puri had stayed out of re...
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Mud Wasp

What do you do when you see a wasp? Stay out of its way? What do you think we do? Click it of course!!!!



This black and yellow wasp, probably a mud wasp, was busy building its nest on our balcony door in our room at the Club Mahindra Coorg Resort. It was fascinating to see how a little blob of mud quickly turned into a nest, all ready for occupation.


Unfortunately, not everyone shares our fascination for such creatures, and predictably, neither did the resort staff. We returned from a walk to find the nest gone, the door wiped clean. All we could do, was wonder if the wasp had found a safer place to build its home.
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  1. sriOctober 2, 2013 at 1:51 PM

    hahah :) quit a challenge

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meghana HassanOctober 3, 2013 at 7:45 AM

    Beautifully captured...

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.N. SubramanianOctober 5, 2013 at 11:43 AM

    Wonderful! Some of the wasps could also be found in the unused plug points outside our houses. Incidentally coul you please dispense with word verification as I am straining my eyes (may be of old age)

    ReplyDelete

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