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Odisha Part 10: Bhubaneshwar – the city of temples

Bhubaneshwar is often called the city of temples . It is impossible to know exactly how many temples there are, but it has been estimated that there might be over 700 temples in the city. This number, while impressive, is just a fraction of the original number, which, sometime in the 13 th century, would have been about 7000. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the Hindu temples of Bhubaneshwar , where 93 temples are listed. All these are ancient temples, built between the 7 th and 13 th centuries CE. Bhubaneshwar was once known as Ekamra Kshetra , the sacred mango grove. We know this name from an inscription at the Ananta Vasudeva temple, which mentions the name of the place, and the main temple (that we now know as the Lingaraja temple) in the mango grove. Ananta Vasudeva Temple, with a sculpture of Trivikrama in the niche It is extremely interesting to note that the Ananta Vasudeva temple is the only temple to Lord Vishnu in this city. Varaha, Ananta Vasudeva Temple Located v...
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Faces in the Crowd : Two strangers at Amritsar

For Faces in the crowd today, I have two strangers.... two people I clicked at the Golden temple, Amritsar....
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Bhimashankar - a blend of spirituality and nature

Among the 12 sacred shrines of Lord Shiva known as the Jyotirlingams, the one nearest to me was the one which eluded me the longest! The 11 others are located all over India. The one I visited first was the farthest –Kedarnath, which is over 2000 Km away! Bhimashankar is barely 200 Km from Mumbai, and yet I had to wait for years.
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Feathered Friends

There is one tree in our colony which is the meeting point of the birds. It stands on the edge of our common ground, giving a view of the temple, and a whole square filled with buildings. I have often wondered what it is that draws birds to this tree.... but recently, my thoughts have taken a different direction. I often see groups of birds perched on a particular branch of this tree..... A couple of weeks back, there were these three Coppersmith barbets....
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A Festival and a Press Conference

Being stuck inside a bus all alone can be scary. Especially considering the times we are living in. I wondered whether I would be better off getting out, but the situation outside did not look too good either. In sharp contrast to the interior of the bus, the outside was filled with people – loud, hooting bands of guys filling trucks, tempos, and whatever vehicles they could find. I decided I was much safer inside, with the driver and conductor alone for company. For the umpteenth time, I wondered what I was doing, late in the evening, stuck in a bus, on my way to a press conference I wasn’t sure I wanted to attend!
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Book Review: Thundergod : The Ascendance of Indra, by Rajiv G. Menon

There is something about mythology that attracts me. Having grown up on a steady diet of stories from Indian mythology, somewhere, there has always been an urge to rationalize the stories, to search for their roots, and somehow connect them to history. 
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Happy Republic Day!

Sitting in our room at Mashobra, every morning, around 10, we could hear the distant sounds of a band. The day we went on a trek, we learnt that the sound came from the Government school at Mashobra.
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Skywatch Friday - A Fiery Sunrise

The day after the spectacular moonrise  at Mashobra, the sun seemed to have decided that it needed to put up just as spectacular a display.....so, it was a fiery sunrise that greeted us... For more beautiful skies from around the world, visit the Skywatch page.
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