Skip to main content

Stepping back in time - my India visit 2015

 I visited India in the halcyon days of pandemic free travel.  That was almost six plus years back.  Summer on the sub continent.  A constant 40 degree Celsius.  Humid most times.  Heat index was unbearable at times. 

Yet the solitude of travel does wonders.  Below are some memories of the time I spent on the road - in the southern state of Tamilnadu and its surrounds.  Most temple structures made of local clay or brick are 1000 years old.

Fun signage along the way added to the otherwise scorching episode.





Realizing the temple etiquette for India (of forbidden items) I had donned excessively long jeans which in hindsight served to protect my heels as I draped them under, during my walks over hot bricks in the temple complex 


This type of nourishment certainly helped maintain my sanity along with cold treats


Guess you do not need much to share with another human


11 feet tall Nandi or Bull guards the door to the Gangaikonda Cholapuram complex of temples in Tanjore


I ventured into a former French colony called Puducherry, along the coast to take in some unique architecture.  A few foreign students still visit for seeking something that they cannot find in the west.  Who knows what that might be.


French are long gone and now replaced by today's capitalists including the Colonel from Kentucky USA



common flower arrangement in front of local homes in Pondicherry (now Puducherry)


The orb in Auroville - Matrimandir - a meditation spot established by a French woman who became an ascetic 


This structure was still being constructed during my visit after which it was completed in 2008.



My travels were made possible by Indian Rail





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
Post a Comment
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Post a Comment
Read more