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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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Wishing for rain..... Skywatch Friday

Summer's here in no uncertain terms for its just too hot to manage, and the fan is just not enough! I went out to pick Samhith up from school, and the heat was too much to bear... Some people wore sunglasses and sleeveless kurtis, but perspired in the heat... some waited in the comfort of their AC cars,blocking the road and being a nuisance to others..... the kids came out from the cool comfort of the classroom to the glaring midday heat.... happy that the exams were over, but the heat getting to them, tiring them out within minutes......

Faced with such heat, we wished for rain.... hoping for an early and a good monsoon... we are already facing a water shortage this year... and if this heat continues, things can only get worse. In such a scenario, it is difficult to be cheerful and optimistic, so I tried to improve my mood by looking at some of my pics from the monsoon.... Here are a couple of photos taken at Sringeri in August 2009. 

The clouds make me wish they were right here, right now.... Wonder when I will see them again......

 





For more skies around the world, go to Skywatch Friday

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Comments

  1. chitraMarch 19, 2010 at 2:20 PM

    Here in Dindigul it is pretty hot but once inside the house , we feel better. Evening it gets slightly cooler as we have Sirumalai nearby. Here the climate ids dry and no sweat.

    Hope summer rains cools your place faster.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bhavesh ChhatbarMarch 19, 2010 at 3:57 PM

    I too wish for rain, but that will leave us with a lack of mangoes :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bhavesh ChhatbarMarch 19, 2010 at 3:57 PM

    And I love your new template!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MridulaMarch 19, 2010 at 8:52 PM

    Beautiful skies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sandeepMarch 19, 2010 at 10:25 PM

    thnx for reminding me abt this beautiful thing called monsoon. it somehow feels so far away :(

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anuradha ShankarMarch 20, 2010 at 9:59 AM

    @Chitra: sounds nice.... here its humid, so the nights are no better.. in spite of all the mountains nearby...... unfortunately, summer rains only worsen the problem... for one, it only gets even more humid, and as Bhavesh said in his comment, it spoils the mangoes :(.... so we have no choice but to wait for the monsoon.. till then its horrible

    @Bhavesh: absolutely!!! these summers are bearable only for the mangoes we get after.....
    and thanks.. glad u liked the template....

    @Mridula: it was beautiful there.. u should go sometime....

    @sandeep: very true... so far away... and that also if it comes on time.....

    ReplyDelete

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