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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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Grasshopper.. oops! sorry.. Cricket!!!

I have written earlier about how we have become interested in insects thanks to photography and blogging.... Of late, however, there has been a change. These days, Samhith no longer calls me to take a photo of an insect. He simply takes my camera and tries it himself! Of course, many of his attempts did not bear fruit, but here is one of his successful endeavors.....




He saw this grasshopper cricket at Auroville while I was busy buying things in their shop. He rushed to me, took my camera and ran off. My arms were full of things I had collected, and I couldn't run behind him, and just hoped that he wouldn't break it! I didnt pay much attention either when he told me he had photographed a grasshopper, and it was only when I downloaded all the pics that I realised that he had captured it beautifully! I have done nothing to these pics except cropping them, so you can see that his photography skills are improving!


He is now waiting for me to buy a DSLR so that he can take over this one! Of course, I wonder how long it will take him to get bored of this and set eyes on the DSLR!!!

Thanks Indrani, for pointing out that this was a cricket, not a grasshopper!!
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