Travelogues of Megarajan in India

My Travels - 2011

2011-05-09T02:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I am giving the links to my older posts here as I felt it was difficult to navigate around this blog.

1. The After Effects of Tsunami : A Weekend Gone Sour

2. Tirupati Trip

3. Coonoor - Kothagiri Trip

4. Wayanad Trip

5. Guntur Trip

6. Halebid Belur Trip

7. Thekkady - Idukki Trip

8. Munnar Trip

9. Hyderabad - Waarangal Trip

10. Mazhai In madras

11. Pondicherry Trip

12. Caves In/around Chennai - 1 - Goodiyam Caves

13. Kaatupalli Island Trip

14. Waalajah - Arcot - Vellore Trip

15. Chitoor Trip

16. Hills in Chennai - 1 - Chinna Malai

17. Hills in Chennai - 2 - Parangi Malai

18. Temples in Chennai - 1 - Thiruvalluvar Temple

19. Caves In/around Chennai - 2 - Chinna Malai Cave

20. Caves In/Around Chennai - 3 - Vallam Caves

21. Temples In Chennai - 2 - Singa Perumal Kovil

22. Temples in Chennai - 3 - Sekkizhar Kovil

23. Temples in Chennai - 4 - Kundrathoor Murugan Kovil

24. Temples in Chennai - 5 - Thiruneermalai Kovil

25. Tada falls

26. Kollimalai Trip

27. Kannur and Thalassery Trip

28. Nilgris Trek Day 1

29. Nilgris Trek Day 2

30. Nilgris Trek Day 3

31. Nilgris Trek - Murugamalai

32. Nilgris Trek Day 4

33. Nilgris Trek Day 5

34. Nilgris Trek Day 6

35. Kottai Malai

36. Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai

37. S V Nagaram Aranmanai

38. Goa Trek Day 1

39. Goa Trek Day 2

40. Goa Trek Day 3

41. Goa Trek Day 4

42. Goa Trek Day 5

43. Goa Trek Day 6

44. Goa Trek Day 7

45. Goa Trek Day 8

46. Goa Trek Day 9

47. Kollimalai Trek Day 1

48. Kollimalai Trek Day 2

49. Heritage walk to Fort St. george

50. Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day 1

51. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 2

52. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 3

53. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - day 3

54. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - day4

55. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 5

56. Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 6

57. Thirusoolam Quarry

58. Heritage walk to St thomas mount

59. Vijayawada Trip

Vijayawada Trip

2011-03-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

Vijayawada trip

Date : 5-3-2011
Place : Vijayawada
People : Megarajan and Raghavendra

Another day, Another Marriage, this time in Vijayawada.

There is something interesting about caves and I heard there were many caves around vijayawada. Hence the plan was to see as many of them as possible.
These were the ones I had in mind.

[1] Undavalli caves
[2] Mogalrajapuram caves
[3] Akkanna and Madana caves

But I was able to see only Undavalli caves in this trip and I had to miss the others.

Undavalli caves

The undavalli caves were just outside of vijayawada and were well maintained by the ASI.

Description of the undavalli caves

Old Telugu Inscriptions in the cave

Brahma and other associated gods.

anantasayana perumal

Greenery around the caves :

Garuda ;

Not sure who these people are , but they keep a constant watch.

Amaravathi stupa :

In my last trip , I missed this one and I expected a lot out of this. But it turned out be a damp squib with nothing more than a mound.

This is a buddha statue currently being built to make amaravathi more prominent in the buddhist tourist map.

this is model of the stupa which must have been present in amaravathi .

Kondapalli fort

In my many previous treks, though I have not been the fittest of all, I have seen many people struggling hard to climb, and needed help. But today was the day when it caught up with me and I was left gasping for breath and I had to see others waiting for me to catch up. :-( . Somehow with the help of Raghavendra who accompanied me in this trip, I was finally able to climb to the top.

The fort was a big one and it had the nicest of views.

Kondapalli Toys

After we climbed down the kondapalli fort, we spent a lot of time going through the shops in the kondapalli village and finally I didnt buy anything worthwhile.
The toys were many and were very good. I wish they were more popular and they sold more of them.

This was the biggest of them all and was eye catching.

Heritage Walk - St. Thomas Mount

2010-08-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

Date :22-8-2010
Place : St. Thomas Mount, Chennai

The Madras Day events are scheduled in august, and I attended the Heritage walk in St.George Fort last year and this year.

This year, a new Heritage walk was scheduled at St. Thomas mount closer to my home.
I have already been to St. Thomas Mount and this will be a good time to explore the surrounding areas.

Garrison Church

We started the walk from this church, one of the oldest churches in chennai. This church had been only for army officers and now is open to the public.

Doubting Thomas :

This was a picture of "Doubting Thomas". the story goes that after jesus resurrection, one of his disciples thomas, didnt believe and hence jesus asked him to touch him and see whether he was real. This painting shows that act.

Old Homes :

Path to Hill :

St. Thomas Mount has 2 ways to climb, one for the vehicles and one via the steps.

Lone Statue :

Church :

Pope :

Pope had been here.

Kathipara :

View of the Guindy Kathipara Flyover from here.

Plane :

This is a nice place to catch sight of the planes to airport.

Lambton :

Its tough to believe that the discovery of Mt. Everest as the tallest mountain in the world started from chennai. Lambton was a british officer who was interested in doing surveys and took up the effort to survey the whole of india. After his death, it was continued by others, which finally led to the exact measurement of everest as the tallest mountain in the world.

Steps Entrance :

This is the entrance for those who want to climb this mountain via steps.

Dilapidated building :

We are not sure what purpose this building had, in the olden times, but now it is being used by the Punjab regiment of army and they are not doing a good job in maintaining it.

Cheers

Thirusoolam Quarry

2010-07-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

If you are a watcher of tamil cinema you must have seen this place in many tamil movie climaxes and songs.

I am posting a collection of photos that I took at the Thirusoolam Quarry.
The Photos belie the sheer depth and magnitude of this place.

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day6

2010-01-19T07:37:00.000-08:00

Have a look at the previous days.

Day1

Day 2

Day 3 - Berijam lake

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Todays plan was to trek from Kadavarai/Kilavarai to kovilur in kerala and then to munnar by bus.

We started on the other side of the mountain which belonged to tamilnadu and came down to this side of the mountain which belongs to kerala.

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day5

2010-01-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

Have a look at the previous days.

Day1

Day 2

Day 3 - Berijam lake

Day 3

Day 4

Todays plan was to trek from Manavannur to Kadavarai.

Immediately after waking up in the morning, we went for bison sighting in this place because everyone told that in the nights bison would be staying here. But were unlucky and not able to see any bisons.

Kadavarai

We reached kadavarai by evening and were told that we were right on the border of tamilnadu and kerala. like one leg in tamilnadu and one leg in kerala :-)

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day4

2010-01-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

Have a look at the previous days.

Day1

Day 2

Day 3 - Berijam lake

Day 3

Todays plan is to trek from Kavunji to Manavannur.

Kavunji Village :

Perumal Kovil in the middle of mountains.

mphasis guys and us :

There were a set of guys from mphasis who shared the room with us at the first basecamp and hence had become comfortable with us over the days. The fact that couple of them were able to speak and understand tamil made it even more better.

And you have to remember its not just Mphasis, its "Mphasis, an HP company". :-)

Lunch point :

Assistant Director Ponkumaran

After 2 days into the trek, at kavunji, we heard that a new person Ponkumarn had joined the trek and he was an assistant director of KS Ravikumar from Kollywood.

After lunch when we were near the end of the days trek and near the german farm, ponkumaran pointed out 2 burnt out trees and told that the "Maasi Maasi" song from Surya film Aadhavan was shot in that place with a huge set constructed there. Though I could never believe it fully at that time, now I have verified that he was indeed speaking the truth. When I saw the Aadhavan movie, the entire "maasi massi" song is shot in the place and even ponkumaran has played a small role in the movie.

The following is the photo I took of the place.

the following is the scene from the song.

Now its clearly proved beyond doubt that the "Maasi maasi" song was shot here. :-)

In the Nilgiris Trek, It was climax location of "Roja".
In the Goa Trek, it was the Dona paula beach which figured in "Puthu Puthu Arthangal".
And now, in the kodai trek, it is the "maasi maasi" song from Aadhavan.

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day3

2010-01-08T02:47:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 3 of the trek and todays agenda is to trek from Berijam to Kavunji.

Have a look at the previous days.

Day1

Day 2

Day 3 - Berijam lake

Berijam camp :

British time building:

There was a road from Kodaikanal to Munnar constructed by the british, which was named as the Escape road because it was constructed to help the british escape via cochin in case of a japanese invasion. Berijam lake is right on the road.

Extent of civilisation

Konalaru river :

Kavunji village :

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day3 - Berijam lake

2010-01-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

Have a look at the photos from the previous days here.

Day1

Day 2

Morning walk in Berijam Lake :

We had reached Berijam lake from Kodaikanal the previous evening and today our plan is to trek from Berijam to Kavunji village. But before the main trek, we had a morning walk along the Berijam lake and it turned out be one of the most beautiful place. Amongst the 50 who were part of the trek, we 4 of us were the only ones who visited this place at the right time and I was the only one with a working camera when we went. Hence I got to click the most beautiful place in the trek without any competition. And below are those photos.

Srini was the only one and hence the most lucky one to get himself photographed at this place.

After the morning walk came to an end, we readied ourselves to start the days trek.

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trek - Day2

2010-01-05T02:53:00.000-08:00

2009 YHAI Kodaikanal to Munnar Trekking - Day 2

See the photos from Day 1 here .

Day 1

Morning :

At the youth hostel, There were some very good views when we woke up in the morning with the sun spreading light allover the place.

Start of the trek :

By 9.30 we were packed up and ready to start the trek. The group was very big with 50 people.

Amidst the clouds :

I have never seen clouds like these when walking on land. This is the reason why Kodaikanal is called as "Mist Valley".

Gnanasekar amidst the clouds

Pambar Waterfalls

After walking for a couple of hours, we reached the pambar waterfalls and spent some time there.

This is an image everyone must have seen in many movies. Nevertheless it looks good. Though I lacked the imagination to take an image like this, Gnanasekar took it.

And by evening we reached the next camp at Berijam lake.

2009 YHAI Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 1

2010-01-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

2009 YHAI Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - Day 1

People : Mega, Saravanan, Srini and Gnanasekar
Places : Kodaikanal to Munnar
Date : 25-31 Dec 2009

When we came to know of this trek, We were the first to register first for this trek and got the first registration numbers A1-5, and we reported very early on 25th morning by 8.00 at the youth hostel office in kodaikanal.

This will be the plan of our trek. We will start at kodaikanal and end the trek at Munnar.

Welcome banner

Greenlands Youth hostel in Kodaikanal

When we entered the Youth hostel we had a full view of mist covered mountains and it set the tone for the rest of the days.

Kodaikanal lake :

After freshening up we were left to see kodaikanal for the rest of the day. Hence the plan was to do breakfast, shopping and then visit to lake.

"Aayiram thalai vaangina aboorva sinthamani" mathiri "Aayiram photokalukku(4GB) mel pose kodutha" great saravanan ivar thaan. Nalla paathukunga.

Bryant park :

After we entered Bryant park only for a short time sunlight was available. After that it was fully enclosed in mist.

Coakers Walk

Since coakers walk was very near to the youth hostel, we walked through coakers walk, but we were not able to see anything since it was mist everywhere.

YHAI Seshachalam Trekking Expedition 2010

2010-01-04T10:12:00.000-08:00

Just FYI, I havent done this trek nor intend to do it this year.

YHAI Nilgiris Trek 2010

2010-01-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

Just FYI.

I did this trek in 2007 and the photos from it are available here.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4 - Murugamalai

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

The Most Beautiful Places Of China

2009-11-02T05:22:00.000-08:00

The Most Beautiful Places Of China

Came across this wonderful link containing many photos of China, we dont usually see.

Enjoy drooling over the landscapes.

Did S.Ramakrishnan or Anantha Vikatan plagiarise my Photo ?

2009-10-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

The answer very well might be NO :-). The title was just to grab attention :-).

But someone from the vikatan editorial team seems to have used my photo from my blog in the issue of Anantha Vikatan (30-9-09) for Ramakrishnans article "Sirithu Velicham", instead of going to the place and taking a photograph.

My Photo from the post Thiruvalluvar temple

Though this is not uncommon for individuals, a publishing house like Vikatan must be more cautious.

Though the photo in the vikatan article looks uncannily similar to mine, appearances can be deceptive. Please compare the photos and let me know your views also.

Apart from that its great to know that my photo has been used in S.Ramakrishnans article.

For people who dont know S.Ramakrishnan, he is one of the most respected tamil writer now. He is an inspiration for all people who wish to travel to obscure and forgotten places and pen down their thoughts. I drooled over his writings in "Thunaiezhuthu" and "Deshandhri" , both of which came as a series in Vikatan and later were published as a book.

S.Ramakrishnan

His site is at sramakrishnan.com

If you havent encountered him till now, "Thunaiezhuthu" and "Desandhri" will be a good place to start.

Kodaikanal Munnar Trekking Expedition 2009

2009-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Kodaikanal To Munnar Trekking :

Just FYI.

Heritage Walk - Fort St. George

2009-08-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Heritage Walk - Fort St. George.

Date: 16-Aug-2009
People : Mega and "Meesai" Siva
Place : Fort St. George.

A group of dedicated volunteers, who love the city Madras for what it is are organising a series of events to celebrate the birth of Madras every year in the month of august. What started as a "day" a couple of years back, now spans a couple of "weeks" and I wish they grow more in the coming years.

The Madras Day

For all the events for this year, you can check out Events for 2009

Till now, I have never been to these events, and this time after much hesitation decided to drop in for the Fort St. George Heritage walk.

The plan was this

AUG. 16 / SUNDAY
Walk inside the Fort St. George
7.30 am - Walking tour of Fort St. George. In English. 90 mins. Report at parking lot opp. Fort ( eastern gate). Free.
Guide - Dr. Suresh, Archaeologist.
(Option; Fort Museum opens at 10 a.m. so you can check it out on your own. Admission by ticket).

The above plan interested me for various reasons. I have been wanting to go Fort St. George for a long time now, It was free, There was an "archeologist" to explain things.

As mentioned a group of people gathered at the parking lot outside the Fort and exactly at 7.30 A.M the organisers started the walk. My impressions of an Archeologist till now were limited to what the movies have portayed like Mummy and Indiana Jones. But Suresh, the archeologist conducting the walk seemed a normal person just like any of us.

Though he gave a lot of information, I will try to write down whatever has sunk in.

He started with how the English merchants found the city. The English had started business from Andhra and one of them walked down from andhra along the beach and found this place where the fort exists as a good place to start their business. He selected this place due to various reasons and one of the unconfirmed being that he fell in love with a girl in nearby Triplicane.

There was a time, when the fort itself was the City and hence the fort looked like a Mini city with its own streets, temples, churches, canteens, hotels, posh localities, ordinary localities and also ATMS.

The Museum .

St Marys church

The british it seems did not business with anything else, not even religion and for a long time resisted opening a church inside the fort. But later they relented and had to construct this church in 1695 which stands till this day. Suresh, the archeologist mentioned that the walls of this church were 1 metre wide and the church was supposed to be "bomb-proof" which seems to have been proven since this church has lasted many wars.

A short history of the church.

In the exterior of the church, there were gravestones for many persons.

The church had many things of historical value and was like a museum with many artifacts.

This is the biggest single musical instrument I have seen till now. Its a pipe organ and the sound comes out of the white pipes that are in the instrment.

Clive House :

It seems when Clive was the governor he stayed here in this bungalow and hence its known as Clive house. Clives marriage was registered in the church we saw above and he had spent his honeymoon years here in this bungalow.

The first floor was the highpoint of this bungalow, because it had a hall which was 2 floors high which present houses a Photo exihibition by the Archeologist who accompanied us.

Arsenal :

Dirty section of the Fort:

These are some of the places Suresh termed as the dirty and unkept section of the fort. The place is full of army personnel and the place doesnt speak good of the army. The archeologist showed us a Army Barracks which is the biggest army barracks till date in india but the army prevents anyone from seeing it because they have broken it. And we were also not allowed to take photographs.

The Walls :

The fort has two parallely running walls, the outer wall and inner wall.

Must have been a moat :

Namakkal Kavignar Maligai :

One of the new building in the fort and the one our Archeologist was very unhappy about. But its repetitive symmetrical patterns was a sight.

The event was very well organised and went without any hiccups. Hence I am planning to go for the Pallikaranai Marsh - Nature walk in the next week, The details of which are below.

AUG. 22 2009
Pallikaranai marshes
Madras Naturalists Society organises a Nature Walk in Pallikaranai marshes guided by Preston Ahimaz, a resource person from MNS. Starts at 7 am.

If you plan to drive, take the OMR, past the toll booth in Perungudi and take a right at the signal after the toll. You will come across yet another toll booth. Go past the tool booth and assemble at the Forest Department 'Protected Area' sign post at 7: 00 am.

If you take the Velachery main Road you can avoid paying toll. You have to take the Velachery Tambaram Rd, past the Vijayanagar Bus stand, the flyover and then take the left going towards Thoraipakkam. The Forest Department 'Protected Area' sign post will then come on the right.
The duration of the programme will be approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Contact Preston Ahimaz - 94445751404, K. V. Sudhakar - 99625 15479

My Travels

2009-08-02T12:08:00.001-07:00

Kollimalai Trek - Day 2

2009-07-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Day 2 :

After successfully climbing Kollimalai the previous day, we were all left tired.
And finally we dropped the plan of going down to the Falls, and drew up a plan that included visiting the recently discovered temple ruins in vaasalurpatti and the muthumakkal thaazhi.

The recently excavated Sivan Kovil :

Muthumakkal Thaazhi :

If you have never heard of the term "Muthumakkal Thaazhi", you can have a look at Dolmen

If there is one picture that will define Kollimalai, the below one will be it.

Info on Kollimalai :

And finally a group Photo.

Thanks to sarpalan, his appa and his family for all that they did to make this trek a reality.

Kollimalai Trek - Day 1

2009-07-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Place : Kollimalai
People : Mega, Saravanan, Saravanan appa, Srini, Satish, Vijay, Babu, Rakesh, Natarajan, Karthick, Prem, Kamesh.
Date : 18,19 July 2009

If you havent seen yet, See my previous post on Kollimalai Trip at Kollimalai Trip

Sarpalan, my ex teammate and YHAI trekmate suddenly organised a trek to kollimalai and sent tickets to join, which we all promptly did.

Day 1:

The plan was to trek from Periyasaami Kovil at the base of Kollimalai and to reach the top of Kollimalai.

After eating our breakfast and packing the lunch, we started the climb at 10.30 A.M.

The place where we started to climb.

The White patch in the middle is the path, we will climb.

The path we took is what has been created by water flowing down the mountains.

Saravanan had given 3 options for us to choose at the beginning.

* Take the road
* Take the easy trek
* Take the difficult trek.

All of us unanimously chose the difficult trek not knowing what we had in front of us.

This was supposed to be the place where the easy path and difficult path diverged or as everyone else put , the Junction of "Poo Paathai" and "Singa Paathai"

At some places the gap was so big.

Nearly halfway

One of the toughest places to climb :

This place was one of the difficult places to climb and which was completed by many only with help from the top.

The plains :

The white patch is the path in which we came up

Finally we were near to the top .

The guides that accompanied us. They gave us good company and from the beginning they maintained that the time remaining to reach the top was "just 10 mins". They never changed their stance. :-)

After a long trek we reached a water source at 5.00 PM and had our lunch. Meanwhile at the beginning of the climb Babu had a cramp and wasnt able to walk properly. Hence he,Saravanan and a guide Ravi, took a different route. We had no information of them for hours and we were left wondering when they would be able to reach the top. Finally they reached safely with good help from the guide.

S.V. Nagaram Aranmanai - Arani

2009-06-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

Place : S.V Nagaram Aranmanai
People : Mega, Arivoli, Vinnoli, Srini, Aathi, Raju

When I was looking for interesting places to visit, my Friend Arivoli took me to all these places in vellore

After that his brother Vinnoli found for me Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai

And now his mother pointed us S.V.Nagaram Aranmanai in Arani. She had been to this place in her sixth standard and could neither remember the way nor the exact location, which is too much to ask considering that was so long back. Anyway all that I would need is a name and she gave it. Hence I was waiting for a chance to go to this place and when my friend Dhamu's marriage happened it was settled.

My searches on the place yielded little information except the fact that it was near Arani and now a Govt Agriculture department was functioning in its place.
When I knew that a govt office was functioning, I had doubts of seeing the place fully or without any hassles. And it happened the same way. When we entered the premises and requested permission to see around the place, we were promptly denied permission. The second time, they relented and gave permission and left us alone.

We started going around the place with a spoilt mood due to the behaviour of the govt officials.

Entrance :

It seems there are 2 big buildings inside the campus and we will first look at the one that is visible from the road.

Front view :

Inside view:

Entry :

All the doors of the palace were locked and we had to go through the opening in this door.

The room :

Remains of a college that must have been functioning in this place.

Window Decorations:

The highlights of this palace was the decorative windows and the pillars. We will have a look at some of the windows.

Wooden Pillars :

The Wooden pillars were out of place in this palace since these were the only place where there was wooden pillars.

Ceiling Decorations :

Pillars :

Owl :

There was a single specimen of this owl. I still dont know whether this was a a real bird or a sculpture.

Stair Case inside the palace

Balcony :

Outer :

The outside of the palace read that a Veterinary hospital had been functioning out of this palace. Hmmm... People have abused this palace as much as they can.

Garden :

Since the agriculture department is functioning now, I think they have developed a garden.

Water Fountain :

This must have been a water fountain.

Second Aranmanai :

This is the second building inside the campus.

Paintings:

The highlight of the palace was the pillars, window decorations and the paintings on the ceilings.

Glass :

To my untrained eyes, even this glass looks to be a work of art.

Some Motto :

Finally the palace is a work of art and must have been beautiful in its time, but now is in ruins.

It is a very good candidate for the TTDC to take over and make it a tourist spot like Nayakkar Mahal in Madurai.

Top 10 Adventurers

2009-06-01T21:17:00.001-07:00

Top 10 Adventurers

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 9

2009-05-20T04:49:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of the YHAI Goa Trek 2008 and we were ready to disperse.

To summarise, the trek ended up being a very enjoyable one.

And the return journey in the train was through the Dudhsagar station that we trekked through. Hmmm...

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 8

2009-02-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Todays trek plan was simple and it was just half a day. We would have to start from Dhargem and trek to Mollem and from there we would take
a bus to Base camp at Panaji.

Starting from Dhargem

Today most part of the trek was thru the Bhagavan Mahavir National Sanctuary.

Finally today I came to understand why the orientation in the first 2 days had a session on snakes.
We were able to see a snake catching a rat live.

The Mollem - Goa highway

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 7

2009-02-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

Todays agenda is to travel from Anmod camp to Dhargem camp.

Kid on the way

Today we had to cross a mountain and the entire stretch was a good piece of trek. Since we have a faint chance of seeing some animals
only if we are in the front and also I was waiting to see the shiva temple which we were supposed to cross today, I trekked alone for
the most part of the day in the front. After all this, All that I could see was monkeys.

Tambdi Surla Temple

and finally by evening we reached Dhargem camp which was inside a forest.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 6

2009-02-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

Day 1
Day 2
Day3
Day4
Day5

Todays Agenda is to start from Kuveshi camp, cross castlerock village and reach Anmod Camp.

Starting:

CastleRock

The castle rock village had a nice set of painted houses and shops.

YHAI - Youth Hostel Association of India

2009-02-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

A little about YHAI:

YHAI stands for Youth Hostel Association of India. Its a Government supported organisation operating in a No-Profit, No-Loss basis.
The Youth Hostel movement was started in Germany and has since then spread to various countries.
The goal of it is to enable Youth to travel more in a cheap way.

In India, it comes under the control of the central Govt and is being run in a good manner.
Most of the Indian states have a state branch and organise State level treks.
In some cases, they organise National level treks also.

Advantages of trekking with YHAI :

1. Its Cheap.
2. Its safe, unless you do something stupid.
3. They cover the whole of India.
4. You need not run around for getting permissions from various concerned organisations.
5. Becoming a Lifetime Member is dirt cheap costing only 1700 Rs.

The YHAI main website :

http://www.yhaindia.org/

And become a member at

http://www.yhaindia.org/memberships/register

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 5

2009-01-26T01:05:00.000-08:00

We are on Day 5 of the YHAI Goa Trekking Expedition 2008 and if you would like to have a look at previous posts, click below.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 1
YHAI Goa Trek - Day 2
YHAI Goa Trek - Day 3
YHAI Goa Trek - Day 4

Today's agenda is to trek from Dudhsagar Camp to Kuveshi Camp.

We started off from the dudhsagar camp was able to see the Dudhsagar waterfalls within minutes of walking.

Dudhsagar at distance

The Entrance to the waterfalls

About the waterfalls

Good scenery

This is the part most were waiting for. Trekking through the tunnels. We had to cross 3 tunnels as part of todays trek and it was a new experience.

Dudhsagar was a peculiar waterfalls with a Railway station right below it. During the monssons and the water flow is huge, I believe it must be a sight.

From the top of the waterfalls

We are the centre of the National Park and all we see around is mountains.

Lunch Place

This fantastic place was where we had the lunch for the day.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 4

2009-01-26T00:24:00.000-08:00

We are on Day 4 of the YHAI Goa Trekking Expedition 2008 and if you would like to have a look at previous posts, click below.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 1
YHAI Goa Trek - Day 2
YHAI Goa Trek - Day 3

Todays trek is to travel to Kulem by Train and trek from Kulem to Dudhsagar.
In Kulem, We will have to enter the Bhagavan Mahaveer National Sanctuary and trek through it.

Devils Canyon

Most part of this days trek was through the sanctuary and was on a dirt road.

Dudhsagar Base camp :

Trains passing in the mountains :

The base camp was at the foothills of a mountain and we were able to see the Chennai Goa Vasco Express, going on top of the mountains.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 3

2009-01-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

We are on Day 3 of the YHAI Goa Trekking Expedition 2008 and if you would like to have a look at previous posts, click below.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 1
YHAI Goa Trek - Day 2

Todays Agenda read Sailing to Velsao Beach and then a walk for some kms to the Velsao Camp. I had been wishing to do sailing for a long time and hence was expecting this. But Since there were only 3 sailing boats and since each can accomodater only 5 , it was decided to select the names from lots. And life being unfair like always it is, I was not selected for sailing :-(
The rest of the people not selected for sailing would be going in speed boats till Velsao.

Boating:

Boating was a pleasant experience with sightings of dolphins and even some whole schools of small fishes that jumped out of the sea.

Velsao Beach :

From the place we landed and got down from the boats, we had to find our way to the camp and walk to it.

Roads lined with Coconut trees

Though goa has a different image, that of a new age, always in party mode place, I found goa nothing to be different from any other coastal town in Tamilnadu with all the coconut trees.

Velsao Camp :

The Velsao Camp is a very nice place just besides the seashore, and all night we were able to hear the sound of the waves.

Velsao Beach :

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 2

2009-01-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

We are on Day 2 of the YHAI Goa trek and if you missed the previous post have a look at

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 1

Route Map for the Trekking Expedition:

The Day's Agenda read Rappelling, Acclimitisation and Orientation.

Rappelling :

Acclimitisation:

As part of Acclimitisation, you are given a rucksack and 2 blankets and made to carry them over by walk till Dona Paulo Beach.
This is just to get people comfortable with the idea of carrying a rucksack for the major part of the day.

This seemed like an old fort on the other side of the river, but I have no idea of the name of this fort.

The entire walk was along the beach and was very good.

Dona Paulo beach:

After walking till noon, we reached the Dona Paulo beach and spent some time there.

Boats in the jetty

The Market in Dona Paulo Jetty:

While discussing about goa, Srini reminded us of the fact that a major portion of the tamil film Puthu Puthu Arthangal was shot in Goa, and he can recognise these places. When I recently saw the film again, I was able to recognise most of the places. For example this Dona paulo market will come in the songs and is the most easiest place to recognise.

After this its back to basecamp and rest for the rest of the day.

YHAI Goa Trek - Day 1

2009-01-09T06:31:00.000-08:00

Dates : 25-12-2008 to 2-1-2009
People : Mega, Saravanan, Srini, Dhamu and Vijayraj and G11 batch.

After our successful Nilgris Trek with YHAI, we settled for the Goa Trek to be the next trekking expedition with YHAI.

For the Nilgris trek photos, click below.

YHAI Nilgris Trek - Day 1
YHAI Nilgris Trek - Day 2
YHAI Nilgris Trek - Day 3
YHAI Nilgris Trek - Murugamalai
YHAI Nilgris Trek - Day 4
YHAI Nilgris Trek - Day 5
YHAI Nilgris Trek - Day 6

6 of us registered for the Goa trek, 3 from bangalore and 3 from Chennai.
Out of that 1 dropped out and 5 turned up for the trek. Me and Saravanan started from Chennai and reported on 25th Dec. Srini, Dhamu and Vijayaraj started from Bangalore and had already landed in Goa a day before.

Base Camp:

The YHAI Base camp was a big one with atleast 30 bigsized tents occupying a big ground. This was the control center for the whole of the trek operations.

After finishing up the reporting formalities, which included getting a ID card and getting a tent, we were free for the evening.

For the evening, we planned to go for the river cruise.

Cruise Boats in the river

One of the distinct looking cruise boats

As you can see the boats were already filled with people to the brim and we also joined.

We, the people.

After the boat started cruising, the first program was to give the kids the stage and allow the kids to dance.And what a sight it was.

One of the other programs was a sample of a Konkani Dance.

All in all, the river cruise was a pleasant experience with good music and entertainment.

After the cruise, we returned to the basecamp for dinner and we had a great and sumptous dinner waiting for us.

Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai

2008-11-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

Place: Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai
Date: 1-11-2008
People : Mega,Arivoli,Srini,Dhamu,Balaji
Vehicles: Pulsar,Fiero,Splendor

Just to recap, I had gone to Vellore to attend my friend Raju's Wedding and had visited Kottaimalai near padavedu.

And after we returned from Kottaimalai and thinking about the plan for the next day, after the marriage gets over, people suggested a worn down,unused,not taken care of Palace in the nearby village.

"uncared for, Worn down" were words that I liked and hence we decided to go the palace.

I have never been to a Chettinadu Palace and it quickly occurred to me that this could be one like it.

Thanks to Vinnoli for finding this place.

The way to the Palace was devoid of any habitation but the roads were Very good.

Front view:

Entrance

Side view

There were Iron Pillars from Glasgow,England.

Steps

The steps,Pillars and all the Walls were of high quality finish , that is not achievable nowadays and the Civil Engineers amongst us was quick to say that the high quality finish
was possible due to the addition of lime mortar and that practices has completely stopped now. He also said Infosys is one client who requests such finishes.

Paintings

The Walls were pasted with floral designs, which I believe were Paper. But its tough to decide by looking at it now.

Walls

The Outer walls were also of high quality due to the high quality bricks that seem to have been used. Each brick was in perfect shape.

FirePlace:

Once inside our task was to identify the prupose of each room. This one was a easy one and its fireplace. :-)

Top

Emblem

I am not sure about the below one , but this one looks to be a Royal Emblem of sorts.

Side view

After spending some 2 hours at the place we were left to wonder what it would have looked like when it was new and being used.
The palace has a outlook which we might label as British, but has Indian pillars and Arches commonly seen in Mughal architecture.
The place was a good mixture of English,Muslim and Hindu architectural elements.
We were lef wondering at the craftsmanship of Indian masons.

The Palace is constructed in a very good place such that it is completely surrounded by hills on three sides.

I later learn that , a Zameendar from this place who had studied in England had married a English woman and constructed this palace for her.

The place is in ruins now and I believe is cared by noone in particular. I hope the TN Archeaology Dept takes over this site and maintains it.

How to Go:

Go to Arcot and ask for Poosimalai Kuppam.

Hills in/near Chennai - 5 - Kottai Malai

2008-11-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Kottai Malai

Date : 1/11/2008
People : Mega, Arivoli and Thannoli
Vehicle: 2 Pulsar's

When searching for interesting places near vellore, Kottai Malai was suggested by my friend Raju from Onnupuram and hence it was decided that we will go to Kottaimalai when we came down to Vellore for his marriage.

If you havent looked at the previous posts on hills, click on

Hills

Name Board :

This was the name board that spelt the way for Kottai Malai and the 2160 feet doesnt convey much in the board.

Path:

The Path to the top of the temple consists of a mixture of Tar Road till the bottom of the hill and then alternating Sand road and cement roads till we reach 90% of the top. After that there
are the steps.

The Roads are very steep once we start to climb and hence utmost care is needed. 2 Wheelers are the best choice but even then it was tough terrain all the way.

I dont remember the last time that I was so focussed on a single task continously for more than half an hour.It was so demanding that I even forgot to take photographs on the way :-)

What you see below is a Bridge inbetween the rocks.

Temple :

The temple is on top of the hill and has a view worth dying for.

Godowns:

These seem to be old constructions most probably like some godown or something.

The Surrounding Hills :

The hill itself is surrounded by a whole range of mountain ranges and all you get on the top is view of undulating mountains.

Kids:

These people were trying to listen to the sound of silence at the edge of the mountain. Their presence there tempted me to go to the place where they were sitting and it was good to be there.

Village:

When we began our journey to the top of Kottai Malai, we came to a place where there were roads that went left and right with Temple path being the centre one.

The left was to go to Shenbaga thoppu, a dam and the right to "Elandhampattu" a village, that you can see below as a group of huts.

How To Go :

Go To Vellore and from there to Padavedu. In Padavedu ask for Kottai Malai.

If you are fit and you have the time, you can walk from the bottom of the hill. It will take you a whole day if you plan to do it by walk even for a fit (by Village standards) person.

Best option is to travel in 2 wheelers for each person. Doubles wont help.

If you travel by a 2 wheeler, make sure that you are very good at handling it and I mean it.

Cars are not of any help here.

Cheers

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 6

2008-06-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Have a look at the previous posts in this series.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day - 4 - Trek To Murugamalai
Day - 4 - Main Trek
Day - 5

We are onto the last day of our Nilgiris 2008 trek and the agenda of the last day is to leave after breakfast:-)

The team that stayed till the last :

From left, Edwins father,Saravanan,Mega,Prasanna,Camp Leader,Edwin,Sethu and Kathiravan.

After succesfully completing my first trek with YHAI, I am happy that I got to know them atleast now and have set a goal of 1 trek per year.
For those who dont know about YHAI , here is a brief description .

A little about YHAI:

YHAI stands for Youth Hostel Association of India. Its a Government funded organisation operating in a No-Profit, No-Loss basis.
The Youth Hostel movement was started in Germany and has since then spread to various countries.
The goal of it is to enable Youth to travel more in a cheap way.

In India, it comes under the control of the central Govt and is being run in a good manner.
Most of the Indian states have a state branch and organise State level treks.
In some cases, they organise National level treks also.

Advantages of trekking with YHAI :

1. Its Cheap.
2. Its safe, unless you do something stupid.
3. They cover the whole of India.
4. You need not run around for getting permissions.
5. Becoming a Lifetime Member is dirt cheap costing only 1700 Rs.

The YHAI main website :

http://www.yhaindia.org/

And become a member at

http://www.yhaindia.org/Transaction/Memebership/RegistrationDetail.aspx

Happy Trekking ...

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 5

2008-06-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

Date: 1 May 2008

Please have a look at the previous 4 Days Trek Photos and experiences.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day - 4 - Trek To Murugamalai
Day - 4 - Main Trek

Todays agenda is start from Pykara and reach Singara Basecamp near Mudumalai by evening.

Wild buffaloes :
We came across a set of Buffaloes which though domesticated was clearly not happy with us in their place and were giving us a stern face.

Wild Boar:

From the beginning of the trek, we were told that we would have chances of seeing wild animals in 5th day when we were near to Mudumalai and so everyone was on the lookout for anything that moved amidst the bushes.

By Chance I was at the front of the group and had the time to look properly when the guide showed us a animal. I zoomed in and took a photo. It turned out to be a wild boar. Even though It was just a wild boar and my photo of it was not that much good, I was able to convince the 4 kids who had come to the trek, that I was a Photographer from National Geographic. Even though they would not believe me, the situation of me being the only one to capture the first sighting of a animal in the trek helped and they decided I was indeed a Wildlife Photographer :-).

Hemanth :

Hemanth is from mysore and had not come with his family. It was good to see that he has come to a trip this much far without his family members accompanying him.
He reads books and has read the kannada version of Pappillon. Till this time, I have never heard of that book. I would have to get it and read it.
And he has not seen Roja, the movie.

For most part of the day we trekked in the Route that was laid down by the Mysore rulers amidst the mountains.

Bokkapuram in the distant :

A good mountain to climb:

This mountain stood out amidst the surroundings and I wished that it would be bokkapuram, but sadly it wasnt and we did not visit tthis also.

The mountain we had crossed

Bokkapuram Temple:

This is the temple where Veerappan used to come for worship.

Masinagudi:

Singara Basecamp:

Singara, though not exactly mudumalai is some 5 kms from Mudumalai and we were warned that the previous day elephants had broken the windows in the basecamp. I am not sure about it though.

Deer at Singara:

Basecamp:

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 4

2008-06-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

We are on Day 4 of the Nilgiris Trekking Expedition 2008 and if you missed out the previous days, check out the following.

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 3

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 4 - Trek to Murugamalai

Terrace Estate:

Terrace Estate in front of Murugamalai.

Leaving behind Muruga malai

Below is the other side of Murugamalai and like every "other" face it looks tough to conqer.
I am sure that the side from which we climbed was much easy than the other side which is visible in the below photo.

Main Trek:

The trek for today is from Pandiar Hills to Pykara.

Me, Saravanan, Srini and Sharath.

Temple :

A temple amidst the clouds.

Kolam outside the temple:

TR Bazaar

TR Bazaar is the place where we meet civilisation during this day and acts a resting place midway.

The Loner and the Group:

Resting after a steep climb

Stream:

A Dragon Fly in flight:

Proof for the fact that Dragonfiles were the models for Helicopters.

At the end of the main trek for this day we reached our basecamp Pykara which is nearby the Pykara Dam and the Pykara waterfalls.

Pykara :

When we reached the entry point for the waterfalls we were stopped by the watchman and cautioned that entry was till 6.00 P.M and we cannot enter.
After haggling for sometime, we blurted out that we were part of the trekking and then his respose changed drastically. We were allowed in and he told us that we should have this comunicated this fact before itself. I am glad that I became a member of YHAI.

When we reached Pykara, we were repeatedly warned by the locals that the water here was not fit for bathing and we should restrain from doing so.
And the falls proved it with a toxic chemical smell.

At the end, this day we trekked less since it was mostly over the road, enjoyed the surroundings more.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 4 - Trek To Murugamalai

2008-05-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

Please go thru the previous posts in this seris

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 3

Nilgiris Trek - Day 4- Trek To Murugamalai.

Murugamalai is a mountain in Pandiar and can be treated as a individual trek in itself. While all others had went to this place the previous day evening, I didnot go at that time and today morning again a group of five of us climbed to the top. It was the first time for me and the second time for the rest.

The Place in all its grandeur

The place looks just cool with grass evenly spread across the whole of the mountain with very less trees giving it a distinct look that invited everyone who saw it.

The steps:

The way to this mountain is just a series of steps carved out of the sand.

On the way :

The Murugan Temple ;

At the top of the mountain is a Murugan Temple with a minimalistic structure. No wonder since at this height it would be difficult to carry all the stone needed to construct a temple.

From the top of the mountain all we get is a sheer spread of mountains below you and you can enjoy all that to the max possible.

How to reach this place :

From Ooty Bus Stand take the bus that goes to Ooty Terrace Estate and get down at the last bus stop.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 3

2008-05-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Please go thru the previous posts for Day 1 and Day2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

We are into the third day of the trek and todays agenda was Starting from Mukuruthi Dam and reaching Pandiar Camp.

Start of the trek:

We had a group photo with the campleader before we started the trek.

Trekking amidst the clouds

Resting place :

This was a cool looking oasis amidst the hills and we had a nice rest here.

Edwin :

Edwin is one of the guys we met during the trek and he joined with us often since there were 5 of us more or less of the same age group and we all were speaking tamil. Every day after the trek is over when we had time to talk and discuss , edwin would tell us about all the movies he had seen and describe them in so good detail that you will want to see them. A

Lunch :

We came across a stream and we had our lunch here.

Pandiar Village:

Evening we reached the pandiar village and had nice tea here.

Pandiar Basecamp :

We reached the Pandiar basecamp around 4.30 and after having tea, others went for another trek to a nearby hill,Murugamalai while me and Sethu stayed behind to get some rest.

Now I notice that I have taken very less number of photos in this day, must be due to the reason that I felt tired and did not have the mindset to take many photos.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 2

2008-05-12T07:36:00.001-07:00

Nilgris Trek - 2008 - Second Day -

Please have a look at the previous post in this series

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Since the previous night was the first night in the trek, everyone didnt know everyone and the sleep was ok.
The second day was spent like this.

1. Morning trek before breakfast
2. Trek to a nearby stream before lunch
3. The Main trek for the day - ParsonsValley to Mukuruthi dam.
4. Evening sight seeing or trek near Mukuruthi dam.

Morning Trek :

We went roaming around the basecamp Parsons Valley and enjoyed the morning views the place offered.
There was a small settlement near the basecamp with a shop where we bought snacks for the coming days.

Village:

After roaming around the settlement we had the chance to go to a nearby stream.

Actual Trek :

We started the Main trek after lunch and we were the last ones to finish the lunch.
After lunch we started off on the main trek to the Mukuruthi dam.

Skull of a Bull;

We came across little stream on the way and many had a bath in this stream itself.

Diversion weir:
We came across a diversion weir where there was a small waterfalls also.

After trekking for nearly four hours, we reached the base camp at Mukuruthi Dam at evening 5.00

Evening Trek:

After taking tea in the Mukuruthi camp, we went to the Mukuruthi dam to have a bath.

Mukuruthi Dam:

Cheers
Megarajan

Worlds's Most Controversial Destinations

2008-05-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Worlds most controversial destinations

Have a look at the worlds most controversial destinations as of today.

My Travels Reloaded - 2005 - 2008

2008-05-05T06:50:00.000-07:00

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 1

2008-05-05T04:57:00.000-07:00

Place : Nilgris Hills
People : Mega, Srini, Saravanan and many others
Date : 27th Mar - 2 May 2008

After years of gathering information to find interesting places to visit, for a change I wanted to let someone else do the hardwork and just join the party at the

last minute. Hence when I came to know of YHAI organising a 5 day trek in Nilgris, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try them.

I had restricted myself to mostly 1 day or 1 place affairs due to various reasons and was hesitant about this 5 day trek. Since this was my first time with YHAI,

I was believing till the last minute that my bag would be carried by a vehicle to the trekking shed each day. But they destroyed my hope and I was left carrying

my bag for the whole trek :-). It was tough in the beginning but later it got adjusted.

Plan of the trek :

ROUTE SCHEDULE

Day 1: Reporting at base camp Parsans Valley at 2.30 P.M
Day 2: Parsans valley to Mukurthi Dam (10km)
Day 3: Mukurthi Dam to Pandiar Hills(12km)
Day 4: Pandiar Hills to Pykara falls(16km)
Day 5: Pykara falls to Mudumalai(12km)
Day 6: Disperse after break fast

Map:

This is the map of our trek.

First Day :

Me and Saravanan were the first to report for the trek and we did so exactly at 2.30 P.M as mentioned.

YHAI Welcome :

Parsons Valley Trekking shed :

we stayed at the Parsons Valley Trekking shed for the first day.

Group at Parsons Valley Trekking shed :

A group photo before the start of the trek.

The first day of the trek consisted of a visit to the Parsans Valley Dam.

Parsons Valley Forest cover Details :

The details of the Parsons Valley forest range.

Parsons Valley Dam :

View from the Dam:

I came to know that Parsons Valley dam is the place where the climax of Roja was shot. So I give you photographic evidences for that :-)

Arvindswamy in the climax of the movie Roja:

Photo of the real place :

Madhubala in the climax of the movie Roja:

Photo of the same steps

Hence hereby its clearly understood and proved without doubt that the climax scene of Roja was shot in Parsons Valley dam. :-)
If the YHAI ever conducts a Quiz, they can include this as one of the questions. "Where was the climax scene of Roja shot ?".

P.S :

The Photos from the other days would be posted soon..

The housewife explorers who climbed the Himalayas

2008-04-23T04:52:00.001-07:00

The housewife explorers who climbed the Himalayas - Telegraph

What possessed three 1950s housewives to defy convention and set off together for the forbidden reaches of the Himalayas? And what did they find when they got there? Sally Williams talks to the women today

Telegraph TV: watch Anne, Eve and Antonia's film of the Himalayas

Fifty years ago three English housewives set off on a remarkable adventure. Anne Davies, 35, Eve Sims, 25, and Antonia Deacock, 26, who had no previous experience of overland expeditions, embarked on a journey everyone said could not be done by women: a 16,000-mile drive to India and back, and a 300-mile trek on foot into Zanskar, the remote Tibetan Buddhist kingdom.

Technorati Tags: travel, adventure, women, himalayas

Temples in Chennai - 5 - Thiruneermalai

2008-03-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

Date : 23/3/2008
People : Mega,Arivoli and Srini

This is the Fifth post in the series Temples in Chennai. Have a look at the previous posts at

Temples in chennai

Thiruneermalai is one of the 108 Divya Desams and is near Tambaram in chennai.
There are two temples in thiruneermalai , Ranganathar Temple and the Neervanna perumal temple.

View of the hill from the Road

The theppakulam

Temple Entrance

The Temple Gopuram

Gopuram amidst the clouds

View of the Temple Tank from the hill

View of the hill along with the Temple tank

How to Go:

On the way from Guindy Kathipara junction to Tambaram, take the right opposite Lakshmi Theater after Pallavaram Bus stand and go straight.

Temples in Chennai - 4 - Kundrathoor Murugan Kovil

2008-03-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Place : Kundrathoor Murugan Kovil
Date : 12/1/2008
People: Mega & Senthilbabu

Kundrathoor Murugan Kovil is one of the old and popular temples in TN and my longtime wish to visit it materialised finally.

The Temple

View of the temple steps. I hear that these steps have been featured in many of the Tamil films.

The temple gopuram

View of the nearby hill from the temple. Ofcourse, After seeing a hill,even though there is nothing on top of it, we cannot not climb it.

We had a nice view of the Kovil from the nearby hill.

How To Go:

From Porur Junction, take the Kundrathoor road and you will reach this temple.

The Motorcycle Diaries

2008-01-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

Movie Review : The Motor Cycle Diaries :

When you look back the history of the world and try to pick a group of revolutionaires the world has produced, I am sure that Che Guevara would figure in that list.

Those who are not familiar with Che till now, should read the wikipedia entry on him.

Che Guevara

Though many would be happy to label Che as a Terrorist or a Guerilla, the truth is it depends on which side you are.

To say it in short,

Sidharthan,a prince, travelled wide, and became The Buddha, The Enlightened.
Ernesto,a well off doctor, travelled wide, and became "Che" Guevara, The Revolutionary.

What interests me in the above is the "travel" side to it and the Travels of Che Guevara have been made into a movie.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Anyone, who is even remotely interested in travelling should see this movie. You get to see the South America at its best and worst.

The gist of the movie is simple.

Che and his friend decide on a 6-month bike trip across the south american continent, do social work in a leper colony and settle down by 30.
At the end of the trip, one of them settles down but the other sets about changing the world.

This trip shapes the views and perspectives of Che and at the end of it as the movie poetically depicts, che decides that he will take the side of the underdog.

Temples in Chennai - 3 - Sekkizhar Kovil

2008-01-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

Place : Sekkizhar Kovil
Date : 12/1/2008
People: Mega & Senthilbabu

Temples in Chennai - 3

This is the third part in the series, Temples in Chennai. If you missed out the previous posts, please checkout

Thiruvalluvar Kovil

Singa Perumal Kovil

And this time, its again a peculiar temple, NoT a temple in the truest sense.

Without any further ado let me say that I had the chance to visit a temple dedicated to Sekkizhar, One of the greatest saivite saints of India.

The wikipedia article on Sekkizhar does not give much details, but anyway you can have a look.

Sekkizhar

To add to that,

1. Sekkizhar was born in Kundrathoor, now a suburb of Chennai.
2. He constructed a Sivan temple, Thirunaageswaram in Kundrathoor, which is still a big temple.

The Thorana vaayil on the entrance to the street.

The Temple:

Some of the wordings inside the temple.

Ofcourse, I visited the Kundrathoor Murugan temple and some others also, but they would be another post another time.

How To Go :

This place is on the right side before Kundrathoor Murugan temple and is in walkable distance from it. Any bus going to Kundrathoor Murugan temple, would do .

Thanks to my friend senthilbabu for showing this little unknown place.

18 Stunning bridges from around the world

2008-01-10T21:20:00.001-08:00

Have a look at the bridges from around the world

18 Stunning Bridges From Around The World - Frikoo

The Top 10 Deadliest Mountains

2008-01-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a brief account of the Top 10 Deadliest mountains in the world.

Top 10 Deadliest mountains

Trip to Tada Falls

2007-12-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

Date : 1/12/2007
People : Mega,Satish,Ravi,Shashidhar,Bhadri,Himanshu,Raman
Vehicle : 3 Pulsars and 1 Splendour
Distance : 85 Kms

As a person travelling in and around chennai, I have been wishing to go to TADA falls for a long time and it has taken so much time to materialise. Now the trip was made possible with me getting a new Pulsar for myself. Hnece the plan was hatched to go to TADA falls in bikes from Chennai.

After starting from Chennai at 6.30 AM, we reached Periyapalayam and had our breakfast.

At Breakfast :

To reach Tada falls you had to take the road that goes west before the TADA town.
And ask for the village Varadayya palem. From here the falls would be nearly 5 kms.
On the road from NH5 to Varadayyapalem is the below temple. I heard that it is Kalki Oneness Temple.

Kalki Oneness Temple :

Me with my bike :

My new Pulsar featured in many of the photographs and I am sure that it looked good in all of them.

Base Camp 1 :

This is the place till where the share autos come and drop you by. From here the falls would be some 3 Kms. 2 kms of a pebble road and 1kms of a oneway path.

Base Camp 2 :

This is the last place till where we can take any vehicle. After this its only Walk.
When we went, apart from our vehicles, we had a couple of other bikes and a scorpio to accompany us.

Base Camp 3 :

After walking for sometime from the previous point we will reach this Sivan temple.

Rest in the middle.

The Small Waterfalls :

This is a small waterfalls and for many who are not able to go beyond this point, its good to spend time here.

Butterfly :

For some reason this butterfly was very much interested in us and did not leave us for a long time.

The Final Destination :

This is the final destination in this trek. And the place looks just gorgeous. This place has a waterfalls tucked inside and hidden from outside world.

This place is a natural swimming pool and the depth was unimaginable. The water here is the clearest you can find anywhere though.

The Main waterfalls:

The Last Waterfalls which is unreachable for most of the people. This place is reachable only by swimming, and it was a tough task taking the camera in the water.Thanks to Shashidhar who did the impossible task of carrying the camera above water in one hand and swimming in another hand.

A Photo From Deep inside the Main waterfalls.

After spending a lot of time at this place it was time to return back.

This is the terrain that you will be crossing to reach the falls.

View of the stream from the Top:

A view of the stream that is formed because of the waterfalls.

Flora in TADA:

The Lone Tree:

On the way to NH5 from Varadayyapalem the scenery was good.

After visiting TADA Falls, I would like to mention that TADA is like a Computer game with 7 Levels. Only the fittest can complete all the levels. :-)

Level 1 : Reaching TADA
Level 2 : Reaching the Mud Road
Level 3 : Reaching the Stream where we have to park our vehicles.
Level 4 : Reaching the Sivan Temple
Level 5 : Reaching the point from where there is no specified path and we have to trek only on rocks.
Level 6 : Reaching the small waterfalls.
Level 7 : Reaching the Final Destination.

Like in all games, the difficulty increases as each level progresses :-)

Out of 7, 5 of us including me reached the Final Destination, and 2 opted to stay back at the previous level, the Small waterfalls. There is a bonus level in which you can swim to the Main waterfalls. Though Satish, Ravi and Shashidhar attempted it and reached the half point, I am not sure whether they fully completed it. :-)

So, If you plan to go to TADA , try to complete all the above levels and you will have a feeling of a great accomplishment.

The 5 Smallest Countries in the world

2007-10-19T06:34:00.001-07:00

The 5 Smallest countries in the world are

1. Vatican City
2. Monaco
3. Nauru
4. Tuvalu
5. San Marino

My Interesting Files: 5 Smallest Countries

Have a look at the above post. A Good one with the current status of the countries.

The World's Most Dangerous Sports

2007-10-18T09:02:00.001-07:00

Forebes has an interesting article on the Most Dangerous Sports in the world. Have a look.

Forbes.com - Magazine Article

BASE Jumping
Heli-Skiing
Diving
Cave Diving
Bull Riding
Big-Wave Surfing
Street Luging
Mountain Climbing
BMX
White-Water Rafting

10 Most Incredible Things to Do Before You Die

2007-10-07T22:51:00.001-07:00

10 Most Incredible Things to Do Before You Die

GO SKYDIVING

DOCK WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

EDGE OF SPACE SUPERSONIC JET RIDE

TAKE A RIDE ON A RUSSIAN MIG-FIGHTER JET

DIVE TO THE TITANIC ON-BOARD A SUBMARINE

CLIMB THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT

VISIT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

COVERT OPS

DIVING WITH SHARKS

TAKE AN AFRICAN SAFARI

Kolli Malai Trip

2007-09-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

People : Mega, Muthu,Babu,Shivanand,Sarpalan,Vijay,Prateek and Arun
Place : Namakkal and Kollimalai
Date : 8 and 9 , Sep 2007

When the time for a Quarterly Team outing grew near, Sarpalan was quick to invite all of us over to his hometown Namakkal and hence thereby visiting Kollimalai also.
So the Team outing was arranged to be Kollimalai.

Places we had visited :

1. Namakkal Anjaneyar Kovil
2. Arapaleeswarar Kovil
3. Kollimalai Waterfalls
4. Kolli Paavai Kovil or Ettu Kai Amman Kovil

Namakkal Anjaneyar Kovil

Though I had previously crossed this temple during my college days, I hwas not able to visit it that time.

A Candid Photo of myself inside the temple taken by my friend Shivanand.

After finishing with the Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple our next stop was Kollimalai.

Places to be seen at Kollimalai :

These are the places to be seen at Kollimalai. I would say this is an exhaustive list. Make sure that you visit atleast a couple of these place when you are in kollimalai.

Trip Upward :

The trip to the bottom of the Kolli malai was scenic and straight out of a bharathiraja movie.

The climb up the hill was a trip into nature full of awesome sceneries.

Video of a Hairpin bend

Kollimalai boasts of having 70 hairpin bends and in one of them many of Large vehicles have no option but to take Reverse gear to turn. See yourself in the below video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7UrpUCIxKx4

Seeku Paarai or Suicide Point :

This is one of the Viewpoints that we had time to visit and a good place to enjoy nature.

Semmedu :

This, I believe is the biggest village in Kollimalai and this is where we stayed for the night.

Morning walk :

Couple of us decided to an impromptu morning walk and the result was these awesome clicks.

Pepper plant.

Boating :

Kollimalai now boasts of an artificial Boating place and the boating was pleasant with nobody to disturb us.

Arapaleeswarar Kovil:

The Arapaleeswarar Kovil is a old temple situated near the waterfalls.
It is a "Paadal Petra Sthalam" also.

The temple has a good number of Tamil inscriptions. I am not sure whether someone has taken the effort to decipher these inscriptions.

Kolli malai Waterfalls :

The Waterfalls is the highlight of Kollimalai and you wont regret it after the steep climbdown of some 1000 odd steps.

At The Beginning of the Path to Waterfalls

The main Waterfalls

Video of the waterfalls

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dC2PbRiNWq8

The climb up to the starting point after the bath in the waterfalls is on the extreme side of trekking and can be quite daunting for anyone who is not a frequent trekker.

Resting halfway during the climb up of the waterfalls.

Kolli Paavai Kovil :

The Kolli Paavai Kovil is the most famous temple, haviing a Pazhamozhi to its fame.
The saying goes that "Kolli Paavai sirithe Kolvaal",roughly translating to (kolliPaavai will kill by tempting with her laughter)

The Temple:

Thanks to Sarpalan for his efforts in organising this trip and his family for their great hospitality.

Cheers
Megarajan

7 amazing holes around the world

2007-09-10T07:44:00.001-07:00

If you would like to see some of the worlds biggest holes , click on ...

7 amazing holes « deputydog

Kannur and Thalaserry Trip

2007-09-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

Kannur and Thalaserry Trip:

Date: 18,19 August 2007
People : Mega,Satish,Ravi and Shashidhar

The plan was to attend my friend Jathin's Sisters marriage and hence see around Kannur.

All websites about Kannur boasted of many beaches and forts in the place and I was waiting to see them.

Places we had visited finally were

1. Thalasery fort
2. Muzhapilangad Beach
3. Kannur Fort
4. Payyambalam Beach Walkway
5. Payyambalam Beach
6. Kannur Lighthouse

Marriage

The Marriage happened peacefully without any fire ceremonies.

As you can guess yourself, The guy in the Coat is Jathin, our host.
And he played the "Perfect Host" part perfectly. He had arranged a Tavera with a driver for us. That was too good to believe. :-)

Guesthouse

Our stay was at the Government Guest House, Kannur. The Guest House was constructed just next to the sea and had an amazing view of the sea.The sound of the waves were our company during the nights.

The Guesthouse had a fantastic view of the sea as you can see below. :-)

Thalaserry fort

The Thalaserry Fort is at a distance of 20 km from Kannur and is a very small one.:-(

The Entrance to the fort:

The tree inside the fort. The fort had nothing to show off except this big tree. :-(

On top of the Rear Gate

The Walls of the fort.

Muzhupilangad Beach

The Muzhupilangad Beach is the most coolest beach I have ever visited. No soul in sight for kms and the beach is all for yours.

You can go the beach shore in your vehicle and drive in the beach for some 2 kms. Think of the scene in Alaipayuthey where Madhavan will shout "ava enna paathu sirichitta ..." in the beach . :-)

Our Driver with our vehicle in the beach.

Also worth seeing here are the stange sight of the rocks in the middle of the sea.

Kannur Lighthouse

The Kannur Lighthouse is a small very small lighthouse in the next compound to our guesthouse.

Due to the very narrow time, that visitors are allowed (3.00 -5.00 PM) we didnt go inside the Light house.

Payyambalam Beach walkway

The walkway along the beach is a cool place to spend the evening.

Kannur St.Angelo Fort

The St.Angelo Fort is the fort that is present in Kannur itself. It had a nice view of the sea.

Inside the fort

I have seen the below place in many films.

The Beachview from the Fort at its best.

Another view of the beach :-)

Payyambalam Beach

This is a nice little beach to spend some time in the evenings.

A big Thanks to Jathin for the stay, To Ravi for booking the tickets in time and himself sleeping uncomfortably in Side Upper Berth and to Satish for bringing a damn good Camcorder.

Cheers
Megarajan

10 Most Amazing Lost Cities

2007-08-31T12:10:00.001-07:00

An interesting account of Lost cities...

10 Most Amazing Lost Cities

Photos from Cuba

2007-08-31T04:57:00.001-07:00

If you had ever wondered, how Cuba looks like , just see here..

Recent Photos Taken from a Trip to Cuba | Government Dirt

The Bicycle Riders of Amsterdam ...

2007-08-28T07:08:00.001-07:00

Though Indians are still using Bicycles, it is a dying transport in the cities.

But have a look at the residents of Amsterdam in the below link ...

Amsterdam Bicycles

Technorati Tags: bicycle, travelogue, megarajan, amsterdam

Afghanistan during the 1970s

2007-08-10T01:16:00.001-07:00

Have a look at Afghanistan and Pakistan from the 70s..

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Blue hole in Belize

2007-07-28T03:01:00.001-07:00

Have a look at one of the Natures wonders...

Neatorama » Blog Archive » Blue Hole in Belize

Blue Hole in Belize

British Castles

2007-07-05T06:24:00.001-07:00

Have a look at awesome Aerial views of British Castles

British castles (37 pics) (//STATiC)

The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time

2007-06-22T03:07:00.001-07:00

National Geographic Adventure Mag.: 100 Greatest Adventure Books (1-19)

1. The Worst Journey in the World, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1922)
2. Journals, by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1814)
3. Wind, Sand & Stars, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1940)
4. Exploration of the Colorado River, by John Wesley Powell (1875)
5. Arabian Sands, by Wilfred Thesiger (1959)
6. Annapurna, by Maurice Herzog (1952)
7. Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey (1968)
8. West With the Night, by Beryl Markham (1942)
9. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (1997)
10. Travels, by Marco Polo (1298)
11. Farthest North, by Fridtjof Nansen (1897)
12. The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen (1978)
13. Roughing It, by Mark Twain (1872)
14. Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana (1840)
15. South, by Ernest Shackleton (1919)
16. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, by Eric Newby (1958)
17. Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl (1950)
18. Travels in West Africa, by Mary Kingsley (1897)
19. The Spirit of St. Louis, by Charles Lindbergh (1953)

And more if you click the link ...

Insanely Complex Intersections

2007-06-19T21:55:00.001-07:00

Pictures of Insanely Complex Intersections | DailyCognition.com

If you find the Tambaram intersection in Chennai itself as confusing , check these out.

Coolest Castles around the world

2007-06-19T05:57:00.001-07:00

Pictures: World's Coolest Castles. Edinburgh Castle, Ashford Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Windsor Castle, Himeji Castle. Funny rants.

Enjoy the Castles ...

Prisons of theWorld

2007-06-15T21:57:00.001-07:00

prisons of the world « deputydog

If you would like to have a look at different prisons around the world, just have a look.

The Islands and Lakes

2007-06-12T03:55:00.001-07:00

Do you want to know what is the

1. The Largest Island
2. The Largest Lake
3. The Largest Lake on an island
4. The Largest Island in a Lake
5. The Largest island in a lake on an island
6. The Largest lake on an island in a lake
7. The Largest lake on an island in a lake on an island
8. The Largest island in a lake on an island in a lake
9. The Largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island

Check the link below

The Island and Lake Combination

The Top 10 Intrepid Explorers

2007-06-06T23:39:00.001-07:00

LiveScience.com

These daring men and women have made the world a smaller place. Thanks to their guts and sweat, we know the Earth is round, life exists in the depth's of the sea and that the view from space is spectacular. - Corey Binns

My Travels Reloaded - 2

2007-06-06T04:46:00.000-07:00

11. Pondicherry Trip

12. Caves In Chennai - 1 - Goodiyam Caves

13. Kaatupalli Island Trip

14. Waalajah - Arcot - Vellore Trip

15. Chitoor Trip

16. Hills in Chennai - 1 - Chinna Malai

17. Hills in Chennai - 2 - Parangi Malai

18. Temples in Chennai - 1 - Thiruvalluvar Temple

19. Chinna Malai Cave

20. Caves In/Around Chennai - 2 - Vallam Caves

21. Temples In Chennai - 2 - Singa Perumal Kovil

My Travels Reloaded - 1

2007-06-06T04:42:00.000-07:00

2 Years of Travel Blogging !!!

2007-06-06T04:27:00.000-07:00

Hi,

This blog is 2 Years old now and I have successfully Completed 2 Years of Blogging my travels.

Hoping that I get to travel more.

Cheers

Temples in Chennai - 2 - Singa Perumal Kovil

2007-06-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

Temples in Chennai - 2 - Singa Perumal Kovil

This is the second part in the series "Temples in Chennai". Have a lookkat the first one at

Temples-in-Chennai-1-Thiruvalluvar Kovil

The SingaPerumal Kovil is dedicated to Narasimmar and it seems that there are 11 major Narasimha kshetrams in TN . They are

1. Parikkal near Villupuram.
2. Singri near Pondicherry and Cuddalore.
3. Singaperumal Kovil near Chengalpet.
4. Poovarasan Kuppam near Panruti.
5. Sholingar near Walajapet.
6. Polur near Tiruvannamalai.
7. Sinthalavadi near Trichy.
8. Namakkal near Salem.
9. Singar Koil near Vellore.
10. Narasinghapuram near Tiruvallur.
11. Avaniyapuram near Kanchipuram.

You can get a list of Narasimmar temples outside TN at Outside TN

Entrance:

Sri Paadalathri Narasimha Perumal Thirukovil:

The Main Temple :

Steps around the temple

An interesting carving on the steps:

The Backside of the temple:

How to Go :

1. Take the Suburban Metro train from any of the station in the Chennai-Beach - Chengelput Route and get down at Singa perumal Kovil. From the station the temple is walkable distance.

Hitchhiking across the globe

2007-05-23T23:30:00.001-07:00

The Hindu : Metro Plus Chennai : Around the world for free

He hitchhiked to the ‘end of the world’. And when he reached Ushuaia in Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, Ludovic Hubler paused for breath under a sign declaring ‘Fin del mundo.’ Then, decided to keep going.

Now in India, Ludovic is still reeling out names of countries he needs to travel through: “Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Iran…” The 29-year-old Frenchman has been hitchhiking for more than four years now, surviving mainly on goodwill and persistence. “When I was a child, I’d say, ‘I want to see the whole world’,” he says, holding out a worn map with his route drawn across in bold red arrows. “Then, when I graduated, I decided to travel across the globe. But by using no planes, no trains, no buses, no taxis.” His challenge was to travel on an average of just $10 a day (“most of which I use for visas, food and museums”), never spending money on transport for the actual journey. Instead he would ask for lifts, or offer to work on boats when he needed to cross oceans or seas. “No one had done it before, and I didn’t even know whether it was feasible when I began. I just thought, ‘Well, there are roads, so there must be cars. And if there are cars, there must be drivers. And if there are drivers, there must be hitchhikers’.”

So on a cold, snowy night, Ludovic began his life as a nomad at the Val d’Isere’s ski station in the Alps on January 1, 2003, equipped with just a backpack. It certainly wasn’t easy. “There are hundreds of times I have found myself in the middle of nowhere, with no idea what to do next. In the Sahara, the Atacama, the Gobi… And it is not just in the deserts.” And, on average, for every 20 people he asks for a lift, only one agrees. “I stand at gas stations with my map, and explain what I’m trying to do to drivers who stop for fuel. Sometimes I get hundreds of ‘No’s.”

His path crossed over the Strait of Gibraltar into Africa, past Morocco, across the Sahara, into Senegal. He then found himself in Dakar, making his first attempt to “boat hitch” across the Atlantic Ocean. “I went from captain to captain, asking if I could work my way across.” It took him two months to find a willing sailboat. After 16 days of doing everything from fishing for dinner off the side of the boat to making porridge in its miniscule kitchen, Ludovic reached Recife in Brazil. He stayed for six months.

“I had started enjoying myself, and developing the journey into a mission,” he says. He began speaking at schools, (“maybe 300 so far”) discussing global warming and world poverty. He is also mentoring about 30 children, victims of cancer and leukaemia, at the Strasbourg-Hautepierre hospital in France. “I share my experiences with them through e-mail, photos and discussions via web camera. The teachers at the hospital use my travels for history, geography and drawing classes. When I’m in the Antarctic, they’re drawing penguins. When I’m sailing the Atlantic, they’re drawing sailboats. I try to make them tour the world with me.”

Thanks to the website-based communities like Couchsurfing and the Hospitality Club — where people invite travellers into their homes — that he’s been using for accommodation, Ludovic has made many friends (“probably thousands!”), and said many goodbyes. “I miss never having a girlfriend. But it’s a question of prioritising. I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I didn’t finish this.”

Many times he almost hasn’t. He’s been threatened with a gun at a remote farmhouse in Argentina. “I put my hands up and shouted, ‘Please don’t shoot me. I’m French!’ Then, he took me in and we had a beer.” He’s been trapped in a car travelling at 200 kilometres an hour in Spain; travelled with a driver with cocaine in the backseat in Brazil; and survived a would-be mugger in Peru. “In many parts of the world, people have guns in their cars. As long as they don’t use it on me, that’s fine.”

He’s also eaten iguana in Nicaragua (“Not very nice”), spiders in Cambodia, grasshoppers in Thailand, snake in Laos (“Snake is better. A bit more tasty”) and scorpions in China. He’s survived temperatures of 42 in North Canada, 30 in Mongolia and 10 in Antarctica “since it was summer.”

His route has taken him through Columbian roads controlled by narcotics traffickers and remote islands like Yamdena, in Indonesia. “In places like this, I realise that I’m the ambassador for not just my country and Europe, but also the western world.” He’s even managed to get into North Korea, “which was fascinating, like the Soviet Union in the 1970s.”

On January 1, 2008, Ludovic will finish his journey, in exactly the same spot he began. But as a completely different person. “I’ve learnt so much. Hitchhiking is a fantastic school of life... Sometimes I spend three hours with a minister, and ten minutes later three hours with a farmer. To me, it’s a tour of mankind.”

Ranipet among Worlds Dirtiest Cities

2007-05-15T23:41:00.001-07:00

World's Dirtiest Cities - Great Subjects

Most Beautiful Bridges in the World

2007-04-15T21:39:00.001-07:00

Amazing Filtered Things: The Most Beautiful Bridges In The World

10 Most Beautiful Indian Roads

2007-03-01T05:50:00.000-08:00

10 Most Beautiful Indian Roads

Strange Statues around the world

2007-02-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Strange statues around the world | haha.nu - a lifestyle blogzine

Blogged with Flock

Caves in/around Chennai - 3 - Vallam Caves

2007-01-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

This is the second part in the Series "Caves in/around Chennai"..

These caves are known as "Vallam Caves" after the place where they are located.

The importance to these caves comes from the fact that it was the Pallava King Mahendra Varman who made these.

And these caves contain some of the oldest tamil inscriptions.The dates are supposed to be between AD 610 and 675.

The Caves here actually are a set of 3 caves.
The Caves now function as a Hindu Temple.

View of all the Caves.

A Good View of the Cave at the Right.

The Tamil inscriptions on the pillars of the caves.

The Horns on this statue are one of its kind in India and is a unsolved mystery.

View from the top

The Board on the Main road.

How To Go : Go to Chengelput and take the road to Mahabalipuram. A sk for Vallam and then ask for "Malai Kovil".

Saddam's Palace

2007-01-15T21:11:00.000-08:00

Shadows of Tikrit | Preview

Blogged with Flock

Walk Through Ferrari Factory

2007-01-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

drive line: Great photos from Ferrari Factory

Blogged with Flock

Photos of a City in Switzerland after storm

2007-01-07T02:11:00.000-08:00

Globalne ocieplenie zaatakowało

Blogged with Flock

Amazing monasteries around the world

2007-01-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

Amazing Monasteries Around the World » The Daily Buzzer - Celebrities, Cool Videos, Funny stuff & More Crap to Waste Your Time on.

Blogged with Flock

The worlds most amazing airport

2006-12-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

FUN GREEDY | FEEL THE FUN IN REAL

Blogged with Flock

Top tourist spots in India

2006-12-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Top tourist spots in India

rediff.com: Top tourist spots in India

technorati tags:travel, tour, trip, india

Blogged with Flock

Worlds top 100 Wonders

2006-12-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

Hillman Wonders of the World

Blogged with Flock

Walk thru Chernobyl

2006-12-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

English Russia » Lost City of Chernobyl

If you would like to see how the city of Chernobyl looks like now , click the link

Blogged with Flock

The Most Dangerous Roads in the World

2006-12-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

The Most Dangerous Roads in the World

Dark Roasted Blend: The Most Dangerous Roads in the World

Blogged with Flock

Star Wars Set in Tunisia

2006-12-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

Flickr: Search

If you would like to see the place where George Lucas filmed Star Wars , go to this photo collection in flickr.

Blogged with Flock

Caves in/around Chennai - 2 - Chinna Malai Cave

2006-12-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Caves in Chennai !!!! ?

If you think that I am out of my mind to talk about a Cave in the City of Chennai, Sorry, I can show you many Caves in /around Chennai.

This is the first part in the series - Caves in Chennai

Chinna Malai

This cave is right in the heart of Chennai. Dont think I am joking. T
This cave is right on the Mount Road or Anna Salai , the arterial road of chennai. The bus stop next to saidapet on Mount Road is known as Chinna Malai or Little Mount and this is where you find this cave.

A church has been constructed around the caves.

The Entrance to the Church

The Entrance to the caves

The inside of the Caves

The Story of the Caves

The next article in the Cave series would be Vallam Caves.

P.S :

1. This article is just a rehashed version of a previous one at

http://indhiya-suttrum-vaaliban.blogspot.com/2006/07/hills-in-chennai-1-chinna-malai.html

2. This article is to emphasize the presence of a cave in the heart of chennai.

50 works of art you should see before you die

2006-12-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

50 works of art you should see before you die

50 works of art you should see before you die | MetaFilter

Blogged with Flock

Strange Soviet Buildings

2006-12-06T05:56:00.002-08:00

English Russia » Strange Soviet Buildings

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Top 13 Travel Sites from Wired

2006-10-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

The world is more accessible than ever, and that is good news for travel consumers. But the real success story concerns the internet companies that make online travel services available to the public.

Wired News: Top 13 Travel Sites

technorati tags:flock, travel, trip, tour, places, travelogues, megarajan

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Temples in Chennai - 1 - The Mylapore Connection of Thiruvalluvar

2006-09-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is the first part in the series Temples in Chennai.

What better way to start than by paying homage to the great Thiruvalluvar.

The temple we would be looking at now is "The Thiruvalluvar Temple".

After my renewed interest in Tamil, I was waiting to visit this temple. I had visited this temple in my childhood days when I was in mylapre.

There cannot be any Tamilian who has not heard of Thiruvalluvar.

But any other detail other than his name and his work is not known for sure.

In such a situation a legend saying that Thiruvalluvar was born in a certain place is interesting to look at.

The myth is that Thiruvalluvar must have been born either in Mylapore or in Madurai.

Lets look at the Mylapore connection of Thiruvalluvar.

The only evidence that gives birth to this legend is the temple constructed in the premises which is claimed to be the birthplace of Thiruvalluvar himself.

Please read the below article on Thiruvalluvar Temple by Hindu before going further.

Hindu article

The entrance of the temple

The Moolavar : Its funny to say that Thiruvalluvar is the moolavar in this temple , but this is what this temple offers.

The exact Birthplace of Thiruvalluvar :

The protected place claiming that this is the birthplace of Thiruvalluvar.

Other gods

This temple is none less than other Hindu temples in playing host to many gods. like the Naga statues you see below. There are the ubiquitious navagraha statues also in this temple.

Inhabitants of the temple

The temple was desolate when I was there, but I went in a hot afternoon.
People who frequent this temple seems to be these kids who are happy with the big playspace they have got for themselves.

Note:

1. I donot in anyway claim this is the birthplace of Thiruvalluvar by any means ,but this is simply my effort in putting this online for many more eyes to look at.

2. This is NOT a ASI protected monument. It IS a Hindu temple as of now.

An Abandoned City in Russia

2006-09-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a little photo-session of an abandoned city. When the Soviet Union collapsed, government didn’t have much funds to support some small cities around strategically import objects. People of these cities were left all by themselves. Nobody could support them because any communication with this places terminated after the army decided that they now don’t have money to support those objects.People had to leave their places and move. Some were lucky to find their place under a sun of the Army of new Russian Federation, some less fortunate had to leave such places without any hope to find a new home, just because the shops stopped working, water stopped coming out of the facet and nobody cared about them any more.It has been said that even president Putin was thinking to retire from KGB in 1990 and go to work as a taxi driver. Many people are now probably express great sorrow that he changed his mind at that time.Ok, so here are the photos:

English Russia » An Abandoned City

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Hills in Chennai - 2 - Parangi Malai

2006-07-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

This is the second part in the "Hills in Chennai" series.

This hill known earlier as Parangi Malai is now more commonly known as St.Thomas Mount after the saint and the church built on top of this hill.

If you would like to have a feeling of travelling(atleast for a short while) in winding roads and blind turns in chennai, you can try this hill. We can travel in vehicles till the top of this hill.

Entrance :

Church :

Story:

This hill offers a nice view of the Madras City and importantly the Airport.
You can get a nice view of planes taking off and landing from the top of this hill.

Velachery Swimming Pool Complex:

TIDEL Park:

Nandambakkam Trade Centre :

Chennai Airport:

Sunset :

The next hill in this series would be Thiruneer Malai.

Hills in Chennai - 1 - Chinna Malai

2006-07-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hills in Chennai !!!! ?

If you think that I am out of my mind to talk about an hill in the City of Chennai, Sorry, I can show you many hills in Chennai.

This is the first part in the series - Hills in Chennai

Chinna Malai or Little Mount :

This hill is right in the heart of Chennai. Dont think I am joking. This hill is right on the Mount Road or Anna Salai , the arterial road of chennai. The bus stop next to saidapet on Mount Road is known as Chinna Malai or Little Mount and this is where you find this hill. You wont be able to see the hill from the road , but the entrance is there right on the road.

If you ask me where is the hill in the above photo, I would have to say that the church is constructed right on top of the hill. Oh, Do you call that a hill ? Thats why it is called as Little Mount or Chinna Malai. :-)

Before you are back from the shock that a hill is right on Mount Road, give me another chance to give you a bigger shock. Yes I can show you a Cave in chennai.
Whenever anybody says Caves and Chennai , it will be Mahabalipuram , but there is a cave right in the heart of chennai. It is there for you to see in this Chinnamalai.

The church on top of Chinna Malai

Inside view of the church

Entrance to the Cave :

This is the entrance to the Cave where St.Thomas was hiding.

Inside the cave :

This is the inside view of the cave.

Places to be seen in Chinna Malai:

Story of Chinna Malai:

The next hill in the series would be Parangi Malai or St.Thomas Mount.

Cheers
Megarajan

Places in Chennai

2006-07-03T01:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all ,

I am thinking of exploring Chennai more and putting it here so that everyone will get to know Chennai better. I have some ideas to boot like Temples in Chennai , Beaches in Chennai, Hills in Chennai , Memorials in Chennai etc ...

If you have got some ideas or places lemme know.

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Where the Hell is Matt ???

2006-06-24T00:51:00.000-07:00

Matt is a 29-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. He achieved thisgoal pretty early on and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around the planet until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt the idea of dancing everywhere he went and recording it on his camera. This turned out to be a very good idea. Now Matt is quasi-famous as "That guy who dances on the internet.No, not that guy. The other one.No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride long-lasting gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.At the start of 2006, Matt left on a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal.Matt dances very badly, but most people don't seem to mind.Matt is not independently wealthy. Matt also doesn't have some magical secret for traveling cheaply. He does it pretty much the same way everybody else does.Matt thinks Americans need to travel abroad more.Matt was a very poor student and never went to college. When he got older, he was pleased to discover that no one actually cares. Matt doesn't want to imply that college is bad or anything. He's just saying is all.Matt currently lives in Seattle, Washington, where he still works in videogames from time to time as a writer and designer. Matt recognizes that this is not the worst job in the world, but he prefers traveling.Matt is left-handed.When Matt was younger, he could hang seven spoons on his face at once. Sadly, puberty made Matt's face less conducive to spoon-hanging.Matt has a little piece of extra cartilage sticking out on the rim of one ear and a little hole in the same place on the other ear. Matt has no idea why this is the case.Matt is very good with figures and wishes people asked him to multiply things more often.Matt has never lost a staring contest.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Dont miss to see the video in the site.

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Chitoor Trip

2006-06-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

Place : Chitoor, Madanapalli
People : Mega and Gopi
Date : 16,17 Jun 2006
Transport: Govt Buses

Another day and Another marriage to attend. This time it is my oors Kesavan going down the line.

And what do we do after a marriage?. We stay back and look around the place. So this time it is Chitoor and nearby places.

Chitoor is a very hot town in AP very much near to Chennai. The town itself is surrounded by hills.

Chitoor Railway Station

Kanipakam Temple , Kanipakam

Kanipakam is a very famous Vinayaka Shrine near to Chitoor.

After this we shift our base to Madanapalli which is another town famous for producing the great philosopher and thinker "J.Krishnamurthy" to the world. But sadly not many in this town know of his name.

Mogileswarar Temple , Mogili

Mogili is situated at a distance of 30 km from Chittoor and 10 km from Palamaner on the Chennai - Bangalore highway. It is one of the sacred places in Chittoor District on account of the existence of the Mogileeswara Temple. Shiva is worshipped here under the title of Abbreswara, the Sanskrit form of Mogileeswara or Iswara of the Skies.

Thats what the AP tourism site says about Mogili. This is a little temple right on NH205. The temple may be small but the deity is deemed to be very powerful. :-)

Gangamma Temple , Boyakonda or Boyikonda

All over Chittor District we can see many temples raised for women who were later worshipped as Gods. The ones I know are Devamma , Gangamma and Redemma temples and maybe much more are present.

Gangamma Temple is one among them and is on top of a hill named as Boyakonda. The locals call it as Boyikonda. It is a good trek up the hills and the top gives a nice view of the plains below and the surrounding hills.

Path to the temple

The temple

Shops on the way to the temple

Scary statues on the way to top

Sompalli or Sompalayam :

How To reach: Take the Bus to Kadiri which goes via Mulakalacheruvu from Madanapalli and get down at Mulakalacheruvu. From there you can go to sompalli by bus or auto or jeep. Many share Autos and jeep go to Sompalayam but be ready for the ride of yourlifetime if you choose the latter two. The Chenna Kesava temple is on the main road but is hidden and cannot be seen from the road.

Kovulur Devamma Temple, Sompalayam :

This is a small temple with some interesting sculptures.

Front view

What is this ?

Kannapa Nayanar

The Lion Bird

View from the backside

Chenna Kesava Swamy Temple , Somapalli or Somapalayam :

This temple is the find of the tour. It is a great temple with good sculptures , good carved pillars , and Mural paintings. It has been built by the Vijayanagar Kings.

According to local tradition a shepherd was responsible for the construction of this temple during Vijayanagar period.

ASI Board

Front View of the Temple

Dwajasthamba :

Front View of Bottom of DwajaSthamba

Rear View of Bottom of Dwajasthamba

Garuda in Dwajasthamba

Like in all Vishnu Temples, Garuda is present outside the temple facing the god.

Dancer in Dwajasthamba

Uyyala or Oonjal Mandapam :

Front View

Arch

Man

Mandapam

Gopuram

Another Mandapam

Front view of the way to Moolavar

Kalyana Mandapam :

Front view

Carved Pillars :

Pillar with Designs

Pillar with Sculptures with Arch

Pillar with sculptures without Arch

Lady

Krishna

Vishnu in Sitting Posture

Men holding the Pillars on their shoulders

This figure looks dwarfish with beard and Kamandalam. He must be Agasthiyar.

A Short video of the Mandapam:

If you would like to see a short video of the Mandapam just click on play.

or access it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSV9ejVvpfg

Front view of the Main Mandapam :

Mural Paintings

The Chenna Kesava Swamy temple has got good Mural paintings also.

Marriage Procession

Rama killing asura with Arrow with Vishvamitra at the back.

Me on top of elephant.

Scultpures in Main Mandapam:

What is this ?

Horsley Hills

Horsley Hills is called as the "Ooty of Andhra". But it is so small that even calling it as "Yercaud of Andhra" would be wrong. The hill station is just 1KM and we can go around it by walk in 1 hour. But a good and cool place to enjoy solitude. There is hardly any crowd here.

Welcome Board

Enugu Mallamma Temple

Before Horsley decided to make this as his stay during summer months , this hill has been called as the Enugu Mallamma Hills from the temple which is present on top of it.

View from Horsley Hills

The Lone Tree

Oldest Eucalptus Tree in AP

This is touted to be the Oldest Eucalptus tree in the whole of AP , planted by Horsley himself .

P.S : Thanks to Gopi for bringing the camera and to Vamsi for drawing me a map of Chitoor.

Cheers
Megarajan