Skip to main content

Featured Post

Odisha Part 7: The Rajarani Temple, Bhubaneshwar

The Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneshwar gets its name from the stone used to build it - the red and yellow sandstone used here is locally called Rajarani. This temple was once known as the Indreshwara temple, which is mentioned in the Ekamra Purana, which tells us about the temples of Bhubaneshwar, which was then known as Ekamra Kshetra. Today, the temple stands in a well-maintained lawn, and is the only ticketed monument within the city. The temple is built in the typical Kalinga style, with the tall curvilinear shikara over the garbagruha , and a jagamohana connected to it. The temple is believed to date back to the 11 th century, and is most well known for its sculptures. The entrance to the temple has two pillars with a Naga couple protecting the sanctum, holding garlands in their hands. The base of the pillar shows 3 lions standing over 3 elephants, a typical motif in temples of this region during this period. On the other side of the pillar is a horse and rider, and the two mo...
Post a Comment

Back from Lavasa and back to Blogging!

For a travel addict like me, journeys are always memorable - Some for the sights, some for the experiences, some for the destination itself, and some simply for the co-travellers. I just returned from a trip to Lavasa, which had a bit of all these and more! To begin with, this was the first trip to which I was invited as a blogger, which gives and ego boost like no otherJ! Add to that, a location with a huge and picturesque lake nested amidst the hills, a view to vie with heaven, a room facing the waterfront promenade, and the company of like-minded women who never ran out of things to talk or laugh about, and you have the perfect trip, wouldn’t you agree?




While I made the most of the sights, clicking away to glory ( I returned with over 500 photographs!!), and enjoyed the Women’s rally, which was the point of the whole trip, what I really relished was the company of all the wonderful people – Nisha, whom I had already interacted with, and enjoyed talking to, about our travels and common friends; Kiran, whose blog I read and identified with, totally relating to her experiences bringing up her son, who is similar to Samhith in more than just age; Monika and Ideasmithy were people whose blogs I had read off and on, but didn’t know at all. In spite of that, talking to them was surprisingly so easy, and not one of us shut up even for a while! Pushpa was someone I came to admire for all the varied things she does (Just take a look at all the blogs she maintains!), besides which her enthusiasm and determination are amazing! And of course, Shakti, who had to leave early, and was sorely missed the next day! Last but not the least, the lone male amidst a phalanx of women – Biswajit (Bish to us!) from Windchimes, who bore the company of six women who talked non-stop, about everything under the sun, from husbands to boyfriends, kids and food, blogs and blogging……, and even then, didn’t desert us for a minute, in fact, helping us beyond the call of duty! Thanks to all of you, for making this a really memorable trip!



There are lots more posts coming up, about Lavasa – the drive, the views, the place, and lots more, so keep coming back!

Meanwhile, there are two interesting things that happened while I was away –

First, I was featured on the Windchimes blog. This happened a while back, but since I was offline, I was blissfully unaware of it. As they say, better late than never, so here is a link to their post. Please do take a look and read all the nice things they have said about me J

Blogger of the Fortnight

Secondly, my posts on Hampi are on the Club Mahindra Blog. There are two of them, so please do take a look at both… Don’t worry, there’s not much to read… just lots of photographs! Here are the links –

Stones Do Speak – Hampi Part 1

Stones Do Speak – Hampi Part 2

Labels:
Location: Lavasa, Maharashtra, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw...
10 comments
Read more

Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
9 comments
Read more

Review of Executive Lounges at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport.  That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’...
2 comments
Read more