Le Monde - A Poetic Travail » My India

Photos from my glorious trip

Nisha — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:33:59 +0000

Here are some photos from my recent trip. Can you guess the places or things ? At least some of them ?
No cheating. No Google. Okay ?

Even the dark clouds could not deter the big banyan tree from looking into the mirror of serene water.

The waterfall… which place is this ?

You need minimum of 4 & 1/2 hours for this hiking.

And you get these to give you company alongwith with wolves, peacocks… plenty of variety.

Some of the sculptures were… umm… speachless

The famous Ajanta painting. They don’t allow flash or tripod inside the caves.

A closer look.. inspite of so much care the paintings are in dilapidated condition.

As per his wish, this guy’s tomb was made with Rs 14.75.00

Note:- More photos are being uploaded on Picasa and Facebook.
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I am here !

Nisha — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:12:29 +0000

After so many hurdles such as road being washed away, staying at a very small place, travelling in broken state buses, getting stuck in 3 KMs road jam, at last reached at this serene place.

Right now posting from sitting in front of this lake !

Guess where am I ??

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Cultural capital Thanjavur

Nisha — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:30:51 +0000

My train reached Thanjavur in morning around 6:30. After getting down I followed other passengers from platform to get out of the station. At the station I stopped; some shops had started opening. I wanted to have a hot cup of coffee before I start hotel hunting.

I looked around, no such shop was open. Then I approached a book stall and asked for a good map of the town so that I can navigate easily through its roads and landmarks. That’s the first thing I do when I reach a new place. Strange enough, the shop had all newspapers, film magazines, some novels but no map of the town !
I came out of the station. The morning chill and the fresh air was very welcoming. The chores of daily life had started to begin. I had checked in the internet and had a fair idea as which direction to take for hotel hunting. I started walking slowly enjoying the surroundings. Lone woman and you become a subject of awe. Some auto-rickshaw walas wanted to oblige me with their expertise but I declined their offers.
After about 100 yards I could see some hotels on either side of the road. After enquiring with two, I checked into one.

After freshening up & breakfast I was ready to explore the town. I could see Bragatheeswara Temple from my hotel window. So engaged an auto for fixed rate of Rs 40 to Bragatheeswara Temple, my first stop.

The entrance.

Bragatheeswara Temple or Big temple, as the name suggests, is an example for the Indian sculptural architecture greatness. The first impression of this temple is entirely dominated by its three gopuras or towers.

As in most south Indian temples, the temple complex is very big with 10 feet high outer wall.

Compared to the main tower, the not so tall entrance of the temple is embellished with Hindu gods.

To me the temple has more monumental value than a place of worship. It is maintained by the Archeological Society of India.
Seeing me alone, a few guides approached me with an intention to earn a few bucks but their rates were so exorbitant that I had to tell them I had already gathered information about the temple from internet. When I told them so, they were disappointed and started cursing the internet for ruining their business !

I marveled at the high rise of the temple and the enormous effort that would have been spent to build it.

There is a giant Nandi guarding the shrine, said to be the third largest Nandi statue in the country. The ceiling of this Nandi Mantapa is adorned by brightly colored floral patterns.

The inner walls and pillars of temple are full of paintings which are now in various stages of decay with plaster coming off from most of them.

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If you like this blog, I suggest you recommend it to your friends. If you need to know more on this topic, don’t hesitate to use the comment section or shoot a mail or contact me.
For regular personal updates, subscribe to this website by e-mail or on your reader. For those small stories and tit-bits that don’t always make it to this place check out my Twitter or Facebook accounts.

Posts related to this entry which might interest you :-

Happy Independence Day !

Nisha — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:19:01 +0000

Today is India’s independence day. I wish all Indians across the world a very happy Independence day.

The photo is from the same trip and the shot was taken at an angle.

Note:- This solo trip of Tamilnadu has done much damage than I had ever thought. I was unwell for a long time because of Dengue and then some other related problems. I had fever till 5 days back and confined to bed.
Now I am okay and hope to make up for the lost time.

Jai Hind !