The absence of ancient Hindu structures in Kashi is something I have always lamented about. The shrines are certainly ancient, and that is something that has always attracted me to the city. However, I miss the beauty of the ancient structures that we see at other sites. This feeling is intensified when I see marble and concrete and tiles in temples that once would have been beautifully adorned with evocative sculptures, and worn by the passage of time, touched by the hands of seekers who came before. This time , this desire to see some remnants of an ancient Hindu structure in Kashi came true when I managed to visit the Kardameshwar Temple. The Kardameshwar temple is not one of the main temples in the city. It is part of the temples on the Pancha Kroshi yatra, a pilgrimage which takes one on a circumambulatory tour of the whole city. The temple is located on the outskirts of the city, on the western bank of a tank called the Kardama Kund. The Kardameshwar temple is one of the...
Getting to the Blog Camp wa sn't as easy as I had thought! To begin with, I had to convince Samhith to let me go alone - he would have been bored there, anyway, and wouldn't have let me hear anything the other bloggers had to say! And then, getting out of the house took quite a while, and I ended up leaving home only after lunch. Imagine my predicament when I reached the event just in time for their lunch break!!!! One hour to go , everyone busy with lunch, and me with nothing to do and all alone - so I did what I usually do - left the place and spent an hour wandering around - walked to Juhu Beach and spent some time watching a group of swifts flying overhead....... Now to the camp itself . When I first reached the venue, I felt older than ever, for all the attendees seemed so young! Most of them collegians, some in their early twenties..... I have never felt so old.... Thankfully , by the time I returned after my walk, there seemed to be more people around - more nearer m...