Many years back, when I visited the National Museum in Delhi, one of the images that I was most impressed by, was the Surya from Konark. I remember being rooted to the ground as I stood in front of the sculpture, admiring every detail, simply unable to walk away. There are various ideas of where the sculpture was placed in the temple, but wherever it was placed, there is no question that it would have drawn all eyes. I remember wondering back then, if this single sculpture was so impressive, how much more impressive the temple would have been! The first thing that struck me about the Konark temple during my first visit, was its size. I have seen huge ancient temples before – the Brihadeeshwara temple and the Kandariya Mahadev temple, to name just two. However, Konark was something else. It was awe-inspiring to even think of just how much larger the original temple would have been, with its main spire intact. So many years later, on my second visit, the size was still impressive, bu...
The Summer of 2015 was a memorable vacation. We set out on a trip which took us across the country, starting from Tadoba in Maharashtra to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, and finally, Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu. This was the trip I literally travelled all the way from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean! The trip lasted all through the month of May, but the resulting posts kept me occupied for the rest of the year. I completed the series just before the year ended, and here is a look at the whole journey.... first, through my attempt at Storifying the series.... and with links to all the individual posts...
- The Himachal Series
- The Southern Jaunt
- Our Tirunelveli Temple Run
- Part 1: Introduction and Nellaiappar Temple
- Part 2: Valliyoor, Thirukkurungudi, Kalakkad, Athalanallur
- Part 3: Thiruppudaimarudhur
- Part 4: Sorimuthu Ayyanar Kovil, Mannarkovil, Tenkasi, Kuttralam
- Part 5: Nava Tirupati
- Part 6: Tiruchendur
- Part 7: Nava Kailasam
- Part 8: Karungulam
- Part 9: Sankarankovil
- Part 10: Some Temples around Sankarankovil and thoughts on our disappearing heritage
- Part 11: Kazhugumalai
Nice trip!! and good photos!!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Aravind!
DeleteThere are so many great stories and snaps just in your condensed version! I'm looking forward to the detailed blog posts. As I was looking through your pictures there were a lot of dramatic skies with all the rain you encountered. I know it was probably dismaying to have to deal with the bad weather, but it made for some beautiful photo compositions. And your sister-in-law's gardens are absolutely gorgeous! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Natalie!!! and yes, the rains were actually welcome... we expected it to be burning hot, and the rains ensured that the weather was perfect!
DeleteWonderful teaser. Look forward to those lovely stories. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Niranjan!!!
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