tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52927458774971195552024-02-19T07:38:11.264-08:00Experiencing Life Under The Bodhi TreeJoan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-57202986161675002332019-07-21T05:26:00.000-07:002019-07-22T01:28:02.984-07:00T Nagar Heritage Walk – A walk in the past<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On 19</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 6.6pt; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">th</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> August 2017, 06:07 AM, we all gathered in T Nagar for an event. T Nagar, one of the most buzzling parts of Chennai is a shopping hub surrounded by huge multi storey shopping centers and even the tiny roadside shops will have an amazing collection of fancy items. But that’s not all. Todays walk took us to an altogether new dimension of this place.</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A city is shaped by many factors such as geography, culture, tradition, food habits, demography etc. Today we learned about a tiny fraction of this amazing city from the perspective of History. With Chennai day round the corner we went to revisit the history of T Nagar on a cloudy Saturday morning. Thanks to the rains the previous night the climate was pleasant throughout the morning and thanks to no rain that morning that we enjoyed this event hassle free.</span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"> </span> <br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Few facts about this place. T Nagar was once a huge lake called the Long Tank which formed the west frontier of Madras Presidency. A massive natural lake of 540 acres, which extended from the present day Nungambakkam to Saidapet , was drained out to make the first planned township of Chennai in the British Era. Madras Presidency extended to Kanjam District in Orissa also covering parts of Karnataka and Kerala. T Nagar was built in the year 1923-25.All the main roads and streets are named after the members of the Justice Party – a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. This part of the city is planned in the form of the Rising Sun with Usman Road forming its base, Panagal Park forming its body and GN Chetty Road, Theagaraya Road (aka Pondy Bazaar) and Venkatanarayana Road forming its Rays. An amazing bit of history, which makes us realize that the practice of building a city on lakes exists since decades. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2BokqCXtk82FcxhbBa0Nzr-FjpUHdBE-bbkOM9BxGMHGfjzz1PP3xub5oX4j1Gx7W2WX5f_pIvNEPef-8cOL3pj4F_XRHNGVDC1LV0iDnpweKwUC6jPtIdmzcf25-8Y36yMItc8DnDU/s1600/RisingSun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="741" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2BokqCXtk82FcxhbBa0Nzr-FjpUHdBE-bbkOM9BxGMHGfjzz1PP3xub5oX4j1Gx7W2WX5f_pIvNEPef-8cOL3pj4F_XRHNGVDC1LV0iDnpweKwUC6jPtIdmzcf25-8Y36yMItc8DnDU/s400/RisingSun.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="color: #366091; font-family: cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Justice Party</b></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"> </span> <br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the pre Independence Era, the Caste divide was much more rampant than what we see in the present day. The Brahmin and Non Brahmin divide is an issue since ages and with the political development, this divide just got bigger. With a view of protecting the interests of the Non Brahmin population the South Indian Liberation Federation was formed. It aimed at the upliftment of the social status of the Non Brahmin community. The Non Brahmin communities were oppressed and denied for several rights and looked down upon from the upper castes who were the Brahmins. Even today, in several villages all over India, we can see this stark divide where the lower castes are not even allowed to use the river water as the upper castes feel that they will contaminate the river water. </span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichwS38-GcMFl_mED7JSVriKn6a4tlTQz4kHuyRdi6Vv0VuIlbsZ5uoI6-glphAhyphenhyphennxB0tjMQTmVZNX12DcPtIiFv39M0Hz6tNPC4a7AwyD33jnFJwoyNHWLLzffopWTVJNshlsb0dRPk/s1600/JusticeParty.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="775" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichwS38-GcMFl_mED7JSVriKn6a4tlTQz4kHuyRdi6Vv0VuIlbsZ5uoI6-glphAhyphenhyphennxB0tjMQTmVZNX12DcPtIiFv39M0Hz6tNPC4a7AwyD33jnFJwoyNHWLLzffopWTVJNshlsb0dRPk/s320/JusticeParty.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the British Era, the Brahmins enjoyed a higher position in the social hierarchy. Due to this, they had access to more job opportunities, political dominance, better educational opportunities etc. The South Indian Liberation Federation was formed in the year 1917 by P. Theagaraya Chetty, T.M. Nair and C. Natesa Mudaliar. This party was later popularly known as the Justice Party after the English Daily Justice published by it. They released the Non Brahmin Manifesto in 1916 which represented the interests and safeguarding all the other communities except the Brahmins. </span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"> </span> <br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can say that it laid the foundation for all the existing Dravidian Parties of Tamilnadu. T Nagar being the first township planned by them has its own piece of history oozing out of every nook and corner. As I mentioned earlier that this township has all the roads and streets named after some prominent members of this Elite Political Party which existed between 1917 – 44, we were privileged to revisit this place and experience more than what we learn in the books.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Usman Road</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Usman road, one of the busiest roads of T Nagar is also the costliest commercial stretch in Chennai. This road is named after Khan Bahadur Sir Mohammed Usman, an Indian Politician, Unani medicine practitioner and socialite who served as the Minister of Home for the Madras Presidency in the Justice Party government. Born in Thanjavur, he graduated from Madras Christian College and joined the Justice Party. He served in the Madras Legislative Council, Governors Executive Council and the Viceroys Executive Council. He was the first India to serve as the acting Governor of Madras Presidency for a short stint.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Panagal Park</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Panagal Park, a huge park in the center of T Nagar, is named after the Ruler of Panagal (Correct pronunciation being Paanagal), the chief minister of Justice Party who created this park. Sir Panaganti Ramarayaningar also known as the Raja of Panagal, was an active member in the Justice Party and remained with it until his death. He worked towards the empowerment of oppressed classes for social justice and also supported women empowerment. He brought in many social reforms like the Hindu Religion Endowment Board, Communal G.O etc to mention a few. </span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hindu Religion Endowment Bill sought to establish Trusts to maintain the temple funds and control the temple administration.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">He brought in the caste based reservations to ascertain the jobs for all the castes based upon the population divide under the First Communal GO. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In order to learn medicine, it was compulsory to learn Sanskrit those days. He introduced a bill which removed this compulsion.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Between the years 1929-87, there was a public radio inside the park to cater the visitors who gathered there to listen to music and news and stayed till the last news broadcast at 7.15 p.m. </span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were privileged to meet the descendants of this amazing man in the walk which enriched our experience.</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pondy Bazaar</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pondy Bazaar, one of the commercial stretch of T Nagar, is officially called Soundarapandian Angadi and was named after W.P.A Soundarpandian Nadar. He was a leading figure in Nadar Mahajana Sangam</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and became the first Nadar member of the Madras Legislative Council upon a recommendation by P.T. Rajan</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1920. He served as the Board President of Ramanad District. He is known for his effort to associate the Nadar community with the Self-Respect Movement</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Non Brahmins were not allowed in Public Transport. He made commendable efforts for them to use public transport. It is said that he strongly refused to give license to buses if they don’t allow non Brahmin in public buses. </span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">GN Chetty Road</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This road is named after Diwan Bahadur Sir Gopathi Narayanaswami Chetty. He was an Indian merchant, landlord, politician, legislator and economist.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was a member of the Joint Select Committee of the Reserve Bank of India Bill and played a pivotal role in the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The beauty of this road is that, two of its streets – Govindu Street and Nathamuni Street is named after labourers who died building the drainage.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This road also has the Sir Pitti Thyagaraya Hall which is named after Sir Pitty Theagaraya Chetty who was one of the founder members of the Justice Party. He used to be a member of Indian National Congress but was unhappy with the caste divide which he experienced in the party. One of the wealthiest people those days, he donated a staggering amount of Rs.10000 for the Kapaleeshwarar Temple. But on the festival day was forbidden to climb the temple as he belonged to a lower caste. This discrimination enraged him and he went to T.M.Nair with whom he had some difference of opinion over letting water for the Parthasaarthy Temple. They both had been victims of caste discrimination despite being elite and educated. Thus, they went to </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">C. Natesa Mudhaliar, who was already working towards these issues and founded the South Indian Liberation Federation and started the Non-Brahmin Movement. His home in Tondiarpet is now a heritage building.</span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>T.M Nair Road</b></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> </span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taravath Madhavan Nair</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 6.6pt; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was a political activist of the Dravidian Movement from the Madras Presidency. He was initially a member of Indian National Congress and also worked in London as a doctor. He was nominated for the Imperial Legislative of India but lost the election and blamed the caste discrimination for this loss. This led to his involvement in the Dravidian and Non-Brahmin Movement. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the Varna system, the society is divided into four castes – Brahmins (Head), Kshatriyas (Chest), Vaishyas (Belly) and Shudras(Feet). This has created a lot of ripples in Indian Social Format as the lower castes are always looked down upon. According to this system the caste is determined by birth. T.M Nair condemned this idea. In his magazine, </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Antiseptic </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> he mentioned that though people are divided based upon caste but I have never seen a child born this way</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHEVy2alcDbWEN2Iy5vyxBy9TqQk6QyPFdC7PxyINWvbPNlohi4Jfuicqe7TfcDKGBEiuRhUwlNYtelFYtm-r222a-XIO6jCeqfEclB8brKVlgq5U_c7Zt4QE2Vczc7FhRWXQXTDc_fIM/s1600/TMNair.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHEVy2alcDbWEN2Iy5vyxBy9TqQk6QyPFdC7PxyINWvbPNlohi4Jfuicqe7TfcDKGBEiuRhUwlNYtelFYtm-r222a-XIO6jCeqfEclB8brKVlgq5U_c7Zt4QE2Vczc7FhRWXQXTDc_fIM/s320/TMNair.JPG" width="224" /></a></span></span></div>
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">He fought for the rights of the oppressed and died in England due to ill health. He travelled, despite being warned, to speak in support of communal representations. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Basudev Street</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Basudev street is named after Mayor Basudev who was a member of the Madras Legislative Council and the Mayor of Madras. He was known for his efforts to move the Madras Moneylenders Bill in order to remove the indebtedness of farmers. His descendants joined us in the walk and it was indeed a pleasure to meet such people about whom you just get to read about in books.</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanikachalam Road</span></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This road is named after Thanikachalam who was a leading lawyer in the period of 1875-1929. Thanikachalam Chetti participated in the early sessions of the Justice Party and was responsible for drafting the resolutions in the Madras Legislative Council which eventually became the Communal G.O of 1928.</span></span></span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thiagarajar School</span></span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CD Nayagam T Nagar Higher Secondary School is on the Venkatnarayana Road. He joined the Self Respect Movement with Periyar. Periyar was a member of Indian National Congress but due to his philosophy that different sections of a society should have equal rights to enjoy the fruits of the resources and the development of the country he left the Congress and proposed the Self Respect movement. Justice Party accepted the proposal and he joined them. But due to internal conflicts between CD Nayagam and Periyar, Nayagam left the Justice Party. This was the beginning of the fall out of the Justice Party.</span></span></span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Natesan Park</span></span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Natesan Park is nowadays one of the famous joggers park and gathering areas in Chennai. It is named after C Natesa Mudaliar, who was one of the founder members of the Justice Party. He was already heading the Dravidar Sangam when Pitty Theagaraya and T.M Nair approached him with the idea of South Indian Liberation Federation. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The non Brahmins were denied food in the Madras University. He opened a Dravidian Student Hostel specially meant for the Non Brahmin students.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This park falls on the Venkatanarayana Road, which is named after Venkatanarayana Rao Naidu who had contributed towards the abolition of Caste System. </span></span></span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sivagnanam Street</span></span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This street is named after T.N Sivagnanam Pillai who served as the minister of development in the Justice Party.</span></span></span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Duraisamy Road and Sivalingam Bridge</span></span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Popularly known as the Duraisamy Subway, this road is named after an Eye specialist Dr. Duraisamy. Sivalingam bridge, the lesser known bridge that runs over the subway is named after a person who set himself ablaze over the Anti Hindi Protests. </span></span></span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Periyar Statue </span></span></span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We ended our walk at the Periyar Statue near to the T Nagar Bus depot, where he gave his last speech. Periyar joined the Justice party as it accepted his ideology of the Self Respect Movement. After suffering a huge loss in the elections, Periyar said that, “This loss is for our own good”. Many people had already started leaving this party as the Indian Freedom movement had gathered momentum. He had been the fighter for the rights of the oppressed. He condemned the Vedas which divided the people. He was much closer than the other Justice Party leaders as he would personally go among the masses and be one with them. He was in jail for the Anti Hindi protests when he was made the party leader. Anti Hindi protests are often misrepresented as an opposition to Hindi as a whole. Hindi and Tamil are both of different scripts and have its own set of languages. If Hindi was made the national language, it would have superseded the other script, which is the Dravidian Script and it would have been compulsory for the people to learn Hindi. In order to protect the Dravidian Languages, this opposition sparked up and lots of lives were lost in this protest. Though Hindi is still the official language but it’s still not the National Language and even today the regional languages are recognized and all the official circulars come in these languages as well. </span></span></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span> </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eLvG_V4ifeaBPZqjEax6Upv3h6JpxLaifAfTKqAGlrPwnac7uGPczEfMEtxDhvnx39BdPJGedZ4MHwpdDkQAYhKeS0_ZV9RmMLm0agp16lxKcXKTl0pPcJny8ErZ068X_Fb7etRQrYc/s1600/Periyar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="321" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7eLvG_V4ifeaBPZqjEax6Upv3h6JpxLaifAfTKqAGlrPwnac7uGPczEfMEtxDhvnx39BdPJGedZ4MHwpdDkQAYhKeS0_ZV9RmMLm0agp16lxKcXKTl0pPcJny8ErZ068X_Fb7etRQrYc/s320/Periyar.JPG" width="212" /></a></span></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He declared the party name to be changed from Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam. He fought vehemently for the abolition of untouchability and liberation of women and women’s education. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But due to his differences with Anna Durai they separated and Anna Durai formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Anna Durai had compromised with Delhi to be a part of the Independent India but Periyar was fighting for an Independent State. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">He was staunch supporter of Anti-Brahminism and was an atheist. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With this amazing chunk of history, many of which might be left out, we left for the day. Even today we fight for our rights and social status in many places but imagining doing that in an era where the concept of freedom didn’t exist, is altogether is different experience. Thanks to the efforts of these great selfless people, we are still breathing in the open air and enjoying all the benefits. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lot of work is yet to be done but if India is on the path of development, it is due to the fore vision of these founding fathers of the nation. </span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Sources:</b></span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">T Nagar Justice Walk – Conducted by Mr. Govi Lenin</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://tamilnation.co/hundredtamils/periyar.htm" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tamilnation.co/hundredtamils/periyar.htm</span></a></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-e39d72ff-7fff-7838-727b-654d0a8dea79"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hindu Newspaper</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-59038006874169413252016-03-02T08:26:00.003-08:002016-03-02T08:26:19.914-08:00Yelagiri bike trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It was the onset of the winter monsoons in Chennai. My phone
rang on busy Tuesday. It was my friend Raj. “Are you free this weekend?” and my
answer was doubtful. He told me about the two day ride to the Yelagiri, its
mountain range quiet in the Vellore district, Tamilnadu. And this happens to be
quiet near to Chennai. And I made up my mind that this is the plan for my
weekend. After a lash of heavy rains across the city, it was calm. I was asked
to fill the registration forms and it read – ride in the torrential rains of
Tamilnadu. As I read further, the list of safety equipments ran on. On any bike
trip it is important to dress up properly and carry the below necessities along
–</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->T-Shirt</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Comfortable pair of trousers, Jeans is the most
advisable</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Helmet</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Elbow and knee guard or a biking jacket</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Pair of glove having knuckle protectors.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Raincoat (as it was a rain ride)</div>
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<br /></div>
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As for the pillion, the gloves can be avoided. I did have
the first three of the requirements but had no idea what to do for the elbow
and knee guard. Later I found out that there were quiet some people who had to
buy it. So we planned to meet up the day before the trip. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It was evening and I was waiting for all of them to turn up
at the spot. Thanks to the change in weather, I was already suffering from cold
and fever. While I was still waiting, I saw a few people staring at something
on the sky. I turned to look what it was and saw a beautiful rainbow arched
above, and its reflection formed another lighter version. Delighted at this
rare sight in this crowded city, I continued waiting. Finally they turned up
and we bought the stuff and I met some people with whom I was going to travel.
That’s the beauty of traveling, you always get to meet new people and learn new
things. When we parted ways the rains started pouring again. I was scurrying to
find shelter and Raj said “This is how the whole trip is going to be.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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Next day, Raj came to pick me up at 5:30am. We were supposed
to reach the meet spot at 6:00am. I was not even ready with my biking gears.
After wasting time there getting myself ready just like a school girl, we
started to the meeting point. I thought we will be the last ones to reach. When
we stopped to fill out monster, we called up the organizers Sandhiya and we
came to know that she had slept off. It was a good start. And we ended up first
at the Toyota showroom near Koyambedu. After half an hour slowly we ganged up
waiting for the organizers. I already knew Sandhiya, an amazing biker. Who says
biking is just for guys? The other organizer arrived on his R15 wearing an
orange rain coat. One just couldn’t miss out on that color. A doctor by
profession and biker by passion – Arun Jayabalane. Who thought that doctors can
actually be so cool? The only cool doctor whom I knew was from the band Euphoria.
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jUdVQmk69A1LrWnj3mjN9Pbjx6OTP-NIwLDV-CfYDG5hJE0sWKdzXqwCVm5FwYgB3ALM_aPZXCmc1Sf4Qk37lJospctX99f60oWtPSTIpGm9lewkICj34fDpk5-BI4lCsnn4awMFFPw/s1600/2015-11-251-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jUdVQmk69A1LrWnj3mjN9Pbjx6OTP-NIwLDV-CfYDG5hJE0sWKdzXqwCVm5FwYgB3ALM_aPZXCmc1Sf4Qk37lJospctX99f60oWtPSTIpGm9lewkICj34fDpk5-BI4lCsnn4awMFFPw/s320/2015-11-251-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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After the headcount we started the journey. The climate was
pleasant and breezy; thanks to the light showers we were receiving now and
then. We made a pitstop at the Murugan idli shop, near Kanchipuram, to refuel
ourselves with the daily dose of coffee. Having coffee is a ritual in
Tamilnadu. In a day they simply have 5-8 cups of coffee. And without a coffee
their meals don’t seem to end. After this fueling up and a few clicks, we
embarked on our journey again. When I was peacefully enjoying the surroundings,
I heard a whale calling. I looked around and realized that it was my tummy
asking for food. No amount of coffee can replace food. We made stop at a tiny
shop. It had our humble breakfast – idli, dosa and puri. What else do you need?
We grabbed our plates and waited. Sandeep joined us on our table. His luck that
the waiter just won’t serve what he asked for. After getting neglected for a
while, we passed on what he asked for. </div>
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Our first stop was in Javadhu hills. It’s an extension of
the Eastern Ghats. We were to see have lunch and visit the falls nearby.
Vegetarians and non –vegetarians separated. On the way uphill, we were stopped
as there were boulders which had fallen down that morning and they were getting
blasted to clear the way. It seemed pretty much like the Roadrunner show
dynamite. After blasting them the rubble had to be cleared. That halted us for
quiet sometime. Photo session started and we got acquainted to each other. We
saw a worm of an inch length. If you touch it, it curled itself into a tiny
little ball. It would get camouflaged among the seeds. Amazing are the
creations of nature. Raj was playing with it so that he could capture a video
of it in motion. While sitting we heard a bus honking. The bus went past us and
we were wondering how come they let the bus pass and not our bikes. When we
went to see, we found that there was another bus standing on the other side of
the boulders. People simply changed the bus and travelled to the other side.
Simple enough! Finally the roads were clear enough for us to move. We reached
our spot and it was lunch time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5AhYDX0pssK3QpmV4OoP5nMpbj1xRbvkpCcgLmE9dErkl6SMAM5VADuy7hhxQWik-nJngpEfaAbSIYbUYpb_SMeAtgZ-TmEgriFanjuwwNJ0hDdbeEs30nAX7_wRwzoFm5Guw2Y1GLk/s1600/2015-11-252-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5AhYDX0pssK3QpmV4OoP5nMpbj1xRbvkpCcgLmE9dErkl6SMAM5VADuy7hhxQWik-nJngpEfaAbSIYbUYpb_SMeAtgZ-TmEgriFanjuwwNJ0hDdbeEs30nAX7_wRwzoFm5Guw2Y1GLk/s320/2015-11-252-1.jpg" width="320" /></a>After the lunch we went to check out the Beemanmadavu falls.
But our luck, the falls were closed as some people were drowned due the heavy
currents as a result of the heavy rains we received the previous week. After a
lot was begging and pleading all we received was some cucumber (<span style="color: #943634; mso-themecolor: accent2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I don’t
remember what we ate exactly. Please change</span>). After getting disappointed
there, we moved towards the streams. I was highly drowsy. I was so excited about
the trip that I didn’t sleep the previous night and it was showing up. That’s
what comes outa being a nocturnal. I was dozing off now and then. Finally when
we reached the spot we saw a lush green surrounding and a stream flowing by. On
the corner of the road was a huge tree. Perfect spot to ease out a bit. I was
busy clicking selfies when I heard guys going into the water. They screams and
laughing on how cold the water. Soon Sandhiya joined them. I was so tempted to
go into the waters but I stopped myself coz of the cold and fever I had the
previous day. But I thought to myself that I have 2 doctors around and there
are medicines discovered for sniffles, enough a license to fall sick. “Wait
guys I am coming!” I screamed and went inside. It was super cold. My teeth were
clattering but I dint stop posing for my shutterbugs. </div>
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After this refreshment we started back to the Javadhu hills
for tea and snacks. It’s bliss to have ginger tea at cold times. I was famished
and as soon as I saw hot medu vadas I just jumped on it. I had no counts of how
many I had. Who cares about dieting when good food is being served? </div>
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In cold something that bothers us ladies is going to the loo
quiet often. It’s always a big trouble to find clean spaces to answer the
natures call. It was already dark and we had to find toilet. No public toilet
was open at that hour. We kept searching and ended up in a tiny shop where the
owner was kind enough to let us use the washroom. When hungry, the one who
gives food is the God. But when you wana pee, the one who offers a clean
bathroom is God. After finishing our business it was tea time for me. I was
dreaming of a sip of ginger tea but alas only normal tea was available. Well,
something is better than nothing. I ended up having 2 cups of tea. </div>
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That’s when I came to know that it was Arun’s birthday. We
were supposed to stay at an NGO called SODEWS (Society for Development of
Economically Weaker Sections). It is an NGO that caters to the need of
children’s education based upon the rule of free education for children below
14. They provide premises to 106 children for living and they send them to the
nearest schools. They facilitate in the overall growth of these children.</div>
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The guys went to buy cakes for the kids. We were waiting
and were talking randomly. They came with 2 huge boxes of cakes cut into
pieces. One box was handed over to me and the other one to Apoorva, the other
doctor I was talking about. We both were the only pillions, thus this humungous
responsibility. And this came with a standing instruction – “We are keeping an
eye on both of you to make sure you are not eating any of it… :p” </div>
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I was struggling to keep the cake intact. I guess I was too
sleepy and was seeing things in the dark. I saw a man walking by and that
happened twice. It seemed like the same person crossing us twice. Darkness
plays with your head times. And Raj made sure to add spooks to it. But there is
no need to feel scared with good company. India is marked unsafe for female
travelers but if you ask me, no place in this world comes with its safety tag.
If something has to happen it can happen at any part of the world. One needs to
be wise in choosing their travel companions and work on their instincts.</div>
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We waited at one of the last forks of the day and someone
came to show us the way to our destination. We had to do a bit off roading in
the muddy outskirts of the nearest town, ‘Vaniyambadi’. Without skidding or
falling we made it to the destination. We were swarmed by a bunch of kids who
were readily helping us out to the premises. Sandhiya and I changed into dry
clothes and went to the birthday celebrations. The kids were so enthusiastic
and they already knew Arun. They seemed to be very fond of their anna but were
prompt enough to tell his age as 47 when asked. We told them about us and what
we do. Kids have innocent hearts and they get attached so soon. There was one
girl called Revathi. I can’t forget her name coz she has the same name as my
sisters. And somehow we gelled pretty well instantly. </div>
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We were served with huge quantity of mixed rice for dinner.
I was rather sleepy than hungry. I was just waiting for the dinner to get over
so that I could sleep. As soon as the dinner got over all sat and started
talking. And I was like ‘do I really need to participate? I wana sleep.’ Raj
noticed this expression on my face and just asked if I wana sleep. I went in
promptly. On one side Sandhiya was on a call. I didn’t care about anything. I
just took a mat and a bed spread, used my bad as a pillow and in within seconds
I was sleeping. I got up around 4:30 am. I felt I will be the only one who is
up. But when I peeped outside there were two more people up.</div>
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Bharani sir and Lokesh were up since sometime now. When
enquired I came to know that they were not able to sleep coz of the super snore
sound. And I asked where? I didn’t hear anything. When I listened closely I
heard it from inside. Charles, Apoorva’s friend, had been snoring loudly the
whole night it seems. Well somebody did have a good night’s sleep.</div>
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Soon Leel Prasad got up and sun started spreading its rays.
Mahilan also got up and we decided to take a stride along the foot of the hill.
We asked around and came to know that there is a temple on the hill and it has
a falls up in the hills. We decided to
make a go as we didn’t see on yesterday. We kept walking and slowly heard the
noise of water. We kept following noise and reached a stream. The climb looked
a bit steep ahead. I hesitated to make a move at first but again temptation
took over me. I weighed the options and it was feasible to make the climb. I
lifted my tiny feet and with the help of my fellow mates I finally made it to
the large rock face which had the tiny temple. Mahilan kept complaining that he
didn’t bring his camera. All we had was phones and a GoPro. That seemed more
than enough at the moment. The sun had already risen but it was so cloudy that
we couldn’t feel the heat at all. Drank the flowing water, washed face and
enjoyed a lot at the spot. There was a particular rock face far on the other
side. The rays touched it in such a fashion that it looked nothing less than
Kilimanjaro. It reminded me of the movie Lion King. It’s one of my favorite
even today. I am particularly fond of the places it shows. I was beaming with
joy to be in one such place. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We realized that all others would be up by now and they
would kill us for enjoying leaving them behind. We were manufacturing excuses
to keep them while walking down. I was
walking too carefully. We reached the stream and Leel whooped “Success” and I
fell down on my butt. Similarly sometime back when he had screamed Lokesh fell.
I guess it has something to do with him screaming. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We rushed to the premises just to find all of them searching
for us. They already had tea and were getting ready to make a move. I was again
looking for my ginger tea but ended up with a normal tea again. I got ready in
a jiffy as I had kept my bags packed last night itself. There was someone who
was still not out of the bed. Sandeep was the last one to wake up. We all went
around checking out the place and houses where these kids lived. There was a
German lady who was their sports instructor. She had a unicycle. On our request
she showed how she rode it. She was doing it beautifully. Our guys made a try.
It takes lot of observation and practice to ride it. I stood behind as I know
my riding skills very well. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2H2wE1DGCc9fetO1CzrwT3XPMXnuJqAdeOqe52NXdEt2f9TOKAUWDhugtN30sZSMIn4ipOECsfbW9xeqg0B3mBL0S0F8anHFqZa9vKLhAwrh12bK9Rt3HqW-irlMIG8Z_XoVdJnTvZcs/s1600/2015-11-25-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2H2wE1DGCc9fetO1CzrwT3XPMXnuJqAdeOqe52NXdEt2f9TOKAUWDhugtN30sZSMIn4ipOECsfbW9xeqg0B3mBL0S0F8anHFqZa9vKLhAwrh12bK9Rt3HqW-irlMIG8Z_XoVdJnTvZcs/s320/2015-11-25-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sandhiya asked her to show her dread locks which she had
neatly covered with a dread lock bag. She had made the locks when she was 17.
And they were quiet long by now. We showed her our monsters and she wished to
learn someday soon.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
After bidding them farewell and making promises to come back
soon we left for Yelagiri. From the country side we went on with the journey
and were among the hills. Due to the rainfall all the streams were full and
every 5 mins we saw some falls. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally we were on the road to Yelagiri. This Ghat road had
10 hair pin bends. We stopped on every curve to click some spectacular shots.
Mahilan was super excited and clicked some exotic shots. It was almost noon by
the time we reached the top. All were hungry. We found a tiny shop. All went
and started ordering and cooking by themselves. This is a liberty a tourist will
never understand. We had our breakfast and formally introduced ourselves. It
was tea time again and finally I got my cup of ginger tea. Arun said “Please
give her a cup of ginger tea or else she will say that organizers didn’t even
get her a ginger tea.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We finished our lunch as well and started back home. It was
very misty and we could see the clouds floating below us. This is where you
actually live and breathe. We bid adieu to the hills went towards home. After a
long non-stop ride we stopped at Ambur. This place is known for its biryani. We
halted at the Ambur Star Biryani. We had a sumptuous meal and went looking for
coffee which was not before the same murugan idli that we saw yesterday. After
a lot of twists and bends and badam milk we reached Chennai in heavy rains. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We can either spend money on weekends and buy stuff or spend
time and gain experiences. Choice is yours.</div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-66331298836682345022015-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:002015-10-23T22:15:56.140-07:00#CaveBikers Trip 1 - Trip to Belum Caves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Carlito, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Busy days in the concrete jungle, makes me yearn to escape to a paradise where there is no noise during the weekends. A week full of heat, pollution, noise, stress n fatigue I finally live up in the weekend. I live the week in reverse. Weekdays are full of workouts n rest and weekends are the days I look forward to live. </span></div>
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<span is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E17" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQxsUcuo-ySqU0NERjn7JE3T-I25oKwodUQsOoQTsSONhF77Zq41CWE2wyuufFCcpt8lefMWossiCW3lu2MZ_OCgbjw0DX5D8fPa-PaZGqP9G-zl716-S_0FW6BFswy3abtNDOnxdUOQ/s1600/route.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQxsUcuo-ySqU0NERjn7JE3T-I25oKwodUQsOoQTsSONhF77Zq41CWE2wyuufFCcpt8lefMWossiCW3lu2MZ_OCgbjw0DX5D8fPa-PaZGqP9G-zl716-S_0FW6BFswy3abtNDOnxdUOQ/s320/route.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span id="E25" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E25" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">One such escape was to the Belum Caves of Andhra. Biking through the dry lands of Eastern Ghats we went on a journey of 400 kms. The most awaited Saturday came. Raj and I started from my place to meet the remaining bunch to Koyambedu at 0400 Hrs. This was supposed</span><span id="E26" is="qowt-word-run" named-flow="FLOW-4" qowt-eid="E26" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be my first ever bike trip and my excitement was natural. Best part I didn’t have a bag to pack my essentials. Raj got a tiny little bag rolled up into a ball. I was wondering how m I gona fit my stuff into it. But it unrolled into a bag sufficient enough to carry my stuff hassle free. So this is how I was all set for the journey. We reached the usual meeting spot in 20 mins where already the bunch was waiting. This was the bunch of guys with whom I was gona spend my rest of the 48 hours. Mani, Dinesh and Khaja were here and all the bikes were here. But we were still waiting for someone. </span></div>
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<span is="qowt-word-run" named-flow="FLOW-4" qowt-eid="E26" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that someone was Sudharshan. He arrived in a car </span><span id="E27" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E27" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and was late. On top of that he didn’t have his helmet. And the day began with Raj giving it nicely to him for his great thinking. It seems people were counting on him for riding as well. I was enjoying my sips of a hot morning tea with all this going around. With all the travel songs on my playlist and full volume on my fone, this patakha guddi started for the trip.</span><span id="E28" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E28" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E28" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span id="E30" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E30" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">t was a little cold as it was the beginning of </span><span id="E31" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E31" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">March</span><span id="E32" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E32" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and also due to the speed at which we were riding. Raj and I were on the bullet, the sound which seemed like noise on the normal days sounded like music today.</span><span id="E33" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E33" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We were on the way to Nagalapuram when the day broke. We didn’t even leave the Tamilnadu borders when I started feeling the first rays of the sun.</span></div>
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<span id="E39" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E39" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The highways of Chennai are beautiful with trees on both sides and smooth and wide roads. It makes the riding much more fun. Unending roads,</span><span id="E40" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E40" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> just to enjoy the fun called travel. I felt that I don’t need the travel songs to enjoy the ride. Took off my earphones and kept all my gadgets in the bag. I was able to hear the birds chirping after a long time. The surroundings seemed so beautiful. It felt like I was experiencing the vivid colors of nature in HD vision. And all the old Hindi songs started making sense. </span></div>
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<span id="E45" is="qowt-word-run" named-flow="FLOW-6" qowt-eid="E45" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crossing Nagalapuram, we reached Tirupati around 0700Hrs. That was the place where the fork divided into pilgrimage and our destination. But this was the </span><span is="qowt-word-run" named-flow="FLOW-6" qowt-eid="E45" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">break time for the hungry travelers.</span><span id="E46" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E46" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> These highways offer really lovely food. Much cleaner and tastier than what we get in the city. We all hogged like pigs and fueled up the tummy for the rest of the journey and were set to start again. Our GPS started acting funny and kept showing longer routes. Somehow, after all the wrong bunch of turns we figured out our route and were on track.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some experiences just can’t be described in words. These are just meant to be felt. Trees forming themselves </span><span id="E48" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E48" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">in the form of cave on the highway, the dry mountains all the way, the dry heat, the sand, the empty roads, the occasional passing of villages, the fields, and the bumpy rides everything was simply the way to get myself connected to the nature in its raw form.</span><span id="E49" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E49" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I have had the privilege to visit a few countries abroad, but my India never fails to surprise me. Just keep going and you will always find something new and breathtaking here.</span><span id="E50" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E50" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I have the serendipity of meeting amazing people and visiting the places that I have dreamt of. This reaffirms my faith in dreams and its coming true. </span></div>
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<span id="E52" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E52" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At 1200 hrs we were still on the roads of Andhra searching for food like nomads. Dry, thirsty and dirty, we were in perfect shape to be called the hooligans of India. We found ourselves at a tiny shop where they were selling coconut water. </span><span id="E53" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E53" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The coconut water was equal to elixir at the moment. We all had a couple of drinks and embarked on the journey again. </span><span id="E54" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E54" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> But once thirst is satisfied hunger pangs are on. As soon as we reached the next village we started searching for some eat out. We were a bunch of wanderlusts who didn’t even know the native language. But the best part about traveling in India is that that if you know even one native language down south and Hindi, you have got the all India permit to go around. It’s always fun to know new things. And the one new word I learned in this trip was ‘Majiga’. </span><span id="E55" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E55" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Majiga’ is the Telugu word for Buttermilk. Buttermilk is a necessity to me and surely this word goes down in my travel dictionary. At least am not gona suffer without my daily dose of ‘Majiga’ if I get lost in this part of India. LO</span><span id="E57" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E57" style="display: inline; white-space: pre-wrap;">L</span></div>
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<span id="E59" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E59" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">After this refuel we made it a point to reach the destination and make a stop or else the caves will get closed. Now we crossed Kadappa. Lots of cement factories placed near to each other. The whole side way was filled with special ‘Kadappa Kallu’. This place is known for the limestone deposits and thus lots of quarries and cement factories. </span><span id="E60" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E60" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were so many tiny huts made of these stones. </span><span id="E61" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E61" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">We now reached Jammalmadugu from where the fork went to Belum Caves and Gandikota. We decided to go towards the caves and camp in the Gandikota fort.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDAm3PGaGihlgFMot_wFkHjh-LmNHgguHhdLReIwu6l-bAOt_FYJm82jxD7JlvqKyv0BMF4eXNaV8NJHfZ8k5faswi9XeTj_YUbcPD6rQbSDCw8ARsm_RssnjDLmXtkxNnO42e4jABCzg/s1600/belum1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDAm3PGaGihlgFMot_wFkHjh-LmNHgguHhdLReIwu6l-bAOt_FYJm82jxD7JlvqKyv0BMF4eXNaV8NJHfZ8k5faswi9XeTj_YUbcPD6rQbSDCw8ARsm_RssnjDLmXtkxNnO42e4jABCzg/s320/belum1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span id="E66" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E66" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
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<span id="E66" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E66" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="E66" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E66" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38;">The uphill biking was pretty tough as the roads were very smooth and we had to slow down. </span><span id="E67" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E67" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38;">Finally we started seeing signs of nearing Belum Caves. Finally we reached the mountain where it was written ‘Belum Caves’. Time for a click – Say cheese.</span></span></div>
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<span id="E73" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E73" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is supposed to be second largest caves in the Indian subcontinent. And is one of the tourist attractions in Andhra. This place has its own historical importance which can either be googled upon or be searched on Wikipedia. Not much of a research is needed for that. ;) </span><span id="E74" is="qowt-word-run" named-flow="FLOW-9" qowt-eid="E74" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were welcomed by a large limestone Buddha. These caves are made of limestone </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">and have amazing stalactite and stalagmite formations. </span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFpXD2E8Jr6UjmI47GmnTSyel6pK7GqXk2P0BKnwMuV0AimWa6bnwjM4tW-FwEPmYC9gkOGDqB2yuYg0fueBBuTZ_IHBM9X7A8_HhORqbWdYapx4OVwecEvDRdpFB5fqbT02JFlzg5Co/s1600/cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFpXD2E8Jr6UjmI47GmnTSyel6pK7GqXk2P0BKnwMuV0AimWa6bnwjM4tW-FwEPmYC9gkOGDqB2yuYg0fueBBuTZ_IHBM9X7A8_HhORqbWdYapx4OVwecEvDRdpFB5fqbT02JFlzg5Co/s320/cave.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38;">It’s hot, stuffy and suffocating inside. It’s said that there were some monks who have dwelled in these caves </span><span id="E76" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E76" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38;">and you can find places where you can find remains of theirs and places of meditation. But you will truly wonder how they actually lived inside this tiny barren place. Nowadays, as this is developed as a tourist attraction, they have put up lights, made pathways and ventilated a few places. Or else it’s difficult to get enough air to breathe inside. The popular spots are the Banyan Tree and Patala Ganga . But there is still quite a lot of cave unexplored. We tried going to those spot but it was quiet slippery to walk. </span><span id="E77" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E77" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38;">But my eccentric bunch of unknown people whom I was quiet familiar by now had to explore somehow. </span><span id="E78" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E78" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">We explored the depths of the caves and came out. I have heard people saying it’s comfortable traveling in a pair of jeans. So wrong. I guess it was coz I wore my normal pair of skinny jeans. It made the hot trip unbearable. Happily changed into my shorts. Phew! Such a relief. </span></div>
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<span id="E86" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E86" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">After resting for a while we started for Gandikota. We still had to ride at least 50 kms and the sun had started setting. We reached Jammalmadugu and refueled the bikes and started for Gandikota. It was pitch dark</span><span id="E87" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E87" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">. We could lights only at a distance. There road was narrow and still busses were coming and going. We finally reached the APTD Hotel. The fort was just 2 kms away from there. So we thought it’s a good idea to halt there and finish off the dinner there. As soon as we went inside we all were searching for chargers. Finally food arrived. It always awesome, to relish the meal after a great day. We camped in the parking lot. Saw the stars shining bright above me after a long time. Ghost stories, history, chatting and nobody slept. </span></div>
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<span id="E89" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E89" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">It dawned and we rushed to our bikes. We had to be at the Gandikota Gorge to experience the sun rise. </span><span id="E90" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E90" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a o</span><span id="E91" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E91" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">ne in a million </span><span id="E92" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E92" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">sunrises</span><span id="E93" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E93" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> over the Pennar River and breathtaking view all around. I love experiencing the sunrise in all possible ways. And this was so captivating a moment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">This world is an amazing place to live. And if you ask me, this is the heaven. I feel so lucky to be able to experience life everyday and in every way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv2PP79sh4bU_iYRPQDANTPnSosoFkXwFqPllqMbDcMVyXATsumrUyZndBWTETUcwwaW4h8zqeYkturdefEw79YDywrbxd0O2xD_DfUZd_lOQgYyppxq0YOEePnNUENgJ2M0GBFmg__RE/s1600/gantikota.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv2PP79sh4bU_iYRPQDANTPnSosoFkXwFqPllqMbDcMVyXATsumrUyZndBWTETUcwwaW4h8zqeYkturdefEw79YDywrbxd0O2xD_DfUZd_lOQgYyppxq0YOEePnNUENgJ2M0GBFmg__RE/s320/gantikota.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span id="E100" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E100" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Gandikota fort is an ancient town having its archaeological importance. There were 2 temples and a mosque in the same place. The ancient grain</span><span id="E101" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E101" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> silo and other monuments were kept well preserved over these many years. This village is very dry but at one point of time it surely would have had lot of greenery due the proper channelization of river water around the fort. This tiny place is beauty in its own way. There is a lot of history that has its own story to tell. But we had to bid adieu this place. </span></div>
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<span id="E103" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E103" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was already 1000 hrs when we started back. Now only one stuff was left on our </span><span id="E104" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E104" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘</span><span id="E105" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E105" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">to do</span><span id="E106" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E106" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">’</span><span id="E107" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E107" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> list.</span><span id="E108" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E108" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> We were searching for the sun flower fields now. But we were all worn out and I finally un</span><span id="E109" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E109" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">derstood the phrase ‘Pain in the Ass’. We were just looking places to sit down for a while. But we had a distance of 420 kms to cover. Finally we reached a Punjabi Dhaba </span><span id="E110" is="qowt-word-run" qowt-eid="E110" style="display: inline; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">where we had a refuel and we just slept off there for a while. We were still looking out for the sunflower fields. Finally we found one and I was able to wish the lovely ladies a Happy Women’s Day from the fields.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The trip concluded in the next plans to be executed as soon as possible. Lots more to come from my Jolly good world. Life is amazing. And this women’s day I learned that there is much more to explore in life than just sitting and dreaming.</span><br />
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-3500450400363134912015-02-28T03:52:00.004-08:002015-02-28T03:52:58.187-08:00Understanding<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The understanding of a human being is far beyond the
capacity of himself. What he thinks, what he perceives and what he understands?
Even he doesn’t know. Think for a while, everyone lives a similar life. They are
born, grow up, they eat, drink, sleep and die. Nothing is new. Even then people
don’t understand each other. There is an old Hindi saying:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Samajh samajhkar
samajh ko samajho<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Samajh samajhna bhi
ek samajh hai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Samajh samajhkar jo
na samjhe<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meri samajh me vah
nasamajh hai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Translation:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understand the
understanding for understanding the perception<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understanding the
understanding is an art in itself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even after
understanding this if one doesn’t understand<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is a stupid in my understanding<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9JX8wnMzD-c9YtGD4solq8mncoUcT45jl29u-zTCQS4jDnzSUk7gi0z6oQCGlwczwDIhTER9FgQ1mdetIvHu9WE9IK0E4NYOCDyruhBwaCPttYZUasG4jcm5yzkFzYnzCzyxGIu52Yqw/s1600/rainbowbrain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9JX8wnMzD-c9YtGD4solq8mncoUcT45jl29u-zTCQS4jDnzSUk7gi0z6oQCGlwczwDIhTER9FgQ1mdetIvHu9WE9IK0E4NYOCDyruhBwaCPttYZUasG4jcm5yzkFzYnzCzyxGIu52Yqw/s1600/rainbowbrain.png" height="200" width="151" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Too much of a tongue twister isn’t it? The meaning here is
very simple, each and every one in the world has his own opinion, priority and
perception. If people understand this simple fact then there won’t be any room
for fights. Misunderstandings will be always be there but that doesn’t mean
anyone is wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a man thinks and what he understands are two totally
different things. He thinks something and understands something else. It’s like
– he thinks he understands, but many times he fails to understand the thought. Understanding
is that supreme power which defines everything in this universe. Just imagine,
it is the same heaven and earth since ages but our understanding and perception
has given it a new identity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This rational thinking ability is what we think sets us
apart from the fellow creatures on this planet. And we proudly call ourselves
the superior being for the same reason. Well, is this true? It’s time to do a
self-check. All these animals don’t need
instructions manual like Gita, Quran or Bible to enjoy their lives, but we do. They
travel the world without boundaries and communicate without any fuss. They
co-exist peacefully. But when it comes to us, we see and perceive what is told
or shown to us. We don’t take time to think and understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three major survival instincts for a peaceful life are –
thinking, understanding and belief. Without these it is very easy to lose
control over the life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But these are Greek and Latin for everyday life. Lemme give
you a simple tip. Many people complaint that – nobody understands them. But the
answer to this problem lies within. Self-belief is the key to life. If you don’t
understand yourself then nobody will because nobody cares. And if you
understand yourself completely then you need not wait for the opinion of
others. Understanding thyself is an art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the same time, you cannot live whimsically based upon
your own perception. To coexist you need to make peace with the surroundings. Understood?
Or your understanding limits itself?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep your senses open. Life is wonderful and magical and nothing
less than a miracle. That’s how stories happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-64996024192652561092015-02-18T06:00:00.001-08:002015-02-18T06:00:56.790-08:00A day out to Nagala<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Had heard about Nagalapuram from my friends many times and
every time I heard about it, the craving to visit this place just kept
increasing. I have a big appetite for adventures that brings me one step closer
to the nature. And this wait was finally over on Valentine’s Day when I went
for the Social trek. Its gona be a year now since I got associated with Chennai
Trekking Club, thus I had a few familiar faces. But as usual, the beauty of
these outings is the new faces we meet up. Many were pretty new to this trek
and had the same conundrum in the head regarding the unfamiliar faces. Ah!
Nostalgia. I still remember writing about the unfamiliar faces becoming good
friends by the end of the day, and yesterday I was hearing the same for myself. </div>
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The day began at 4:30am when I started from home. People get
blind dates on Valentine’s Day. I got my blind date in the form of unknown new
friends. Picked up food on the way and reached Nathan Café, Koyambedu by 5:00am.
This trek was specially organized for kids from Bala Ashram. And we all were
eagerly waiting for them. Finally our very own Pons arrived with them at 5:30am
and we started off. After battling with the city traffic for some time we
reached the quiet highways. Within no time I could see Telugu writings on the
walls and hoardings. Happy realization that Andhra is too close to Chennai.
After a few twists and turns I could see the mountains having big rock face.
Those mountains stand majestic covered by mist. Beauty past compares. We
suddenly made a halt. When I got out I came to know that we had to pay a toll
for going beyond. We felt as if it’s for the road construction and stuff. But
when we entered that road, one of the worst ‘Kachha’ roads you could ever get
in. We all had an LOL moment. After some bumps we reached our base camp. By
this time we all were super hungry. It was time for the home made breakfast
from Rajasekaran. Awesome idlis and vadais. One of the best breakfasts ever.
The kids were busy fishing the tadpoles from the stream nearby. Nambi was the
smallest child among them. ;) <br />
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The kids were of varying ages. The little ones were of about
5 years old and the oldest was probably in his 10<sup>th</sup> or 11<sup>th</sup>
standard. After refueling ourselves we started for the trek. When climbed the
embankment we saw a lil dam. It had some water and some burnt trees. It looked
like a place where these Bollywood romantic songs are shot. We crossed that and
were treading n the trail. At first it looked like a path way. But slowly we
were climbing the boulders. The biggest task was not only being careful of the
steps we take but making sure the kids coming with us are fine and enjoying
this trip as much as us. But it turned out as if they are leading the way for
us. Amazingly energetic kids. Keeping up with their energy was a tough task but
was super fun. After reaching the first pool we relaxed and it was snack happy
time. Delicious apples filled our tummies. And we started the climbing again.
Now the boulders were a bit bigger and little smooth. We were losing grip here
and there. Some edges had spaces only enough to keep one foot. In no time we
reached the spot marked X for us for the day.</div>
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A beautiful pool and a little water fall, nice shade. Superb
spot for picnic. Within minutes we could see not 20 but 40 kids around. And ya we had our very own Scooby Doo around us all the time. No no.
The headcount of kids didn’t increase, but we all were one among them as soon
as we saw the water. There were rocks that seemed like slides and with life
jackets we swam across to the falls. I drank the purest water ever. Slipped many
times on the rocks, while trying to stand by the falls. We got free fish
pedicure thanks to the little biting tadpoles. And our very own friend Kamal
had a scorpion sitting on his head. He was the one giving shocks now and then
to all of us. We lost the track of time. We all left the waters only after
hunger pangs started. Puli Sadam or Tiger rice never tasted so awesome before.
After a sumptuous meal we had the nanari sherbet.</div>
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myself in those kids. Reminded me of the trips my mother used to take me. As
kids we don’t have any inhibitions. As that’s how we all were today. </div>
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We started back by 4:00pm and the return journey seemed much
smaller than onwards journey. Groupies, selfies and photo time. Astonishing
view. </div>
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By the time we came down we could see the sunlight fading
away. Numbers were exchanged. New friends were made.</div>
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It’s said that “a weekend well – spent brings a week of
content.” And I am sure that all were content. </div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-24904231805110935372014-09-23T08:57:00.000-07:002014-09-23T22:25:13.585-07:00Rare Shades of the Evening Sky<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This evening I happened to witness the beautiful strokes of
some rare colors. There was a patch of fluorescent green and violet
in the twilight sky. Call it art, call it science or call it miracles it is spread
all around the world and every moment something completely delightful keeps
happening around us. But in the midst of the entire conundrum we are missing
some precious moments called marvels in our life. In the golden hour I witnessed
the magical and colorful sky in the city of Chennai. I was amazed and awestruck
with the magical shades of green and violet. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF94unsyB7_lxBeeTrohfJRfwmeG8gIvMweqAj1FaMMDfzPMscGj_HIoeEFui0Re2kP4oRrysKhwkS4bl-fwid04kEmnnkLd9eOfHkRfC9rEnKSR70d3XaaIViv4p1co8hXZpv3AKQ28w/s1600/IMG_20140923_180211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF94unsyB7_lxBeeTrohfJRfwmeG8gIvMweqAj1FaMMDfzPMscGj_HIoeEFui0Re2kP4oRrysKhwkS4bl-fwid04kEmnnkLd9eOfHkRfC9rEnKSR70d3XaaIViv4p1co8hXZpv3AKQ28w/s1600/IMG_20140923_180211.jpg" height="240" width="320"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I talk in scientific terms, it is the reflection of sun
rays at the sunset. But these colors are of rare occurrence in the equator. Kept
looking for the angle of reflection and refraction but there are something
which the human being still can’t imitate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I talk art, the colors blended in such a smooth fashion
that even artists would just stop and admire the sheer beauty of the magnum
opus of the almighty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nature is full of mysteries and miracles. And the ease with
which things occur and co-exist in nature is a mystery and miracle in itself. No
words can ever do justice to this master piece which we call the Earth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For instance, we admire the beauty and strength of the huge
rivers and waterfalls. Ever wondered where they originate from? How does water
reach that height? Is the mountain high at some place than others? No human can
ever be able to replicate any of this enchantment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“There is a thin line of difference
between fantasy and reality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> All depends upon what you believe.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If one wants to enjoy nature in HD then he
simply needs to embark on his own journey. Nobody can own or possess the
nature. We all need to just simply exist with it in our own space and time. Only
then can this everlasting beauty can be enjoyed peacefully. I must say I enjoyed
my HD nature moment today. Such little moments brightens up the life every day.
Just keep looking</span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.</span></div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-72544175215460233262014-07-07T07:26:00.000-07:002014-07-07T08:06:48.611-07:00Ainthinai Tree Plantation Drive<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Since childhood, I have always looked at this world completely awestruck because it is so beautiful and abundant of riches. Used to wonder how long we are gona keep developing and why to develop so much? What are we finally gona receive after development? What is the ultimate goal? I always found the concept of development quiet bizarre because we develop to save time and end up thinking what to do with all the free time. Time passed and I too became a part of this system. Working and walking aimlessly, looking for comfort, taking a refuge to the tasty junks available all around. Villages and farms had become childhood stories to me. Then finally I ended up living in one of the most beautiful cities, Chennai. It used to be my dream city with all the trees and temples around. But it became a nightmare when I saw the filth around. All I could hear was the noise of horns. The city's lifeline, one of the best public transport system in the whole country, getting stuck in the middle of a mindless traffic. There was no escape from this concrete jungle. Went to St. Thomas Mount and saw the massive city. It had expanded beyond boundaries. This was actually a heart breaking sight because the whole city was nothing more than a pile of bricks.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMeKk_nsjnzzNNN3McV-kF1YALv_N4I_IQlCALq21Gc9eqSCbDVKRjPn2iskvvdv_Gih0uX9TZi0O0jupWjwgn8SEbM2SPdjRE3CGFvRx9Mg3_hjsUQzo905S5UsW3FL1XMcfRUjTx25I/s1600/10456204_596876530430441_3227602036771587121_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMeKk_nsjnzzNNN3McV-kF1YALv_N4I_IQlCALq21Gc9eqSCbDVKRjPn2iskvvdv_Gih0uX9TZi0O0jupWjwgn8SEbM2SPdjRE3CGFvRx9Mg3_hjsUQzo905S5UsW3FL1XMcfRUjTx25I/s1600/10456204_596876530430441_3227602036771587121_n.jpg" height="320" width="201" /></a>Somehow I found my way to CTC and ended up working in a farm in Mailai. Met many likeminded people and the day started with the traditional Tamil breakfast of koozhu. Instead of having it in the modern mans instrument made up of metal, had it in the palm leaves. Felt that in the name of recycling we are still just using papers, rather than looking at the marvelous ways of nature for recycling and reusing its waste. Went ahead and saw many varieties of plants and trees. They are the habitats to so many different creatures. Man has built his habitat taller than the trees and yet it’s not self sufficient. Dug the pit, mixed the manure and fixed the sapling. Such a small gesture to Mother Nature. She was doing all this by herself till we poked our nose and tried replicating nature’s model to build a new habitat in the name of development and making this a better place to live.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliXiLHFwsTOh86Qf5CwfEygZ80-zNSOBWPH1LlbjUOP_tJnbZ7QqzinDQGv8f0GHS55Sxhc9duEoeFt8NcYugJf6sAJxrLSxaGA3cwS9O4DFtQBAL2WqFeaspS7mfkatsJznmaYpUS8hK/s1600/10401934_596876263763801_4837216582417508707_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhliXiLHFwsTOh86Qf5CwfEygZ80-zNSOBWPH1LlbjUOP_tJnbZ7QqzinDQGv8f0GHS55Sxhc9duEoeFt8NcYugJf6sAJxrLSxaGA3cwS9O4DFtQBAL2WqFeaspS7mfkatsJznmaYpUS8hK/s1600/10401934_596876263763801_4837216582417508707_n.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a>Its ridiculous that people find it weird to live in villages nowadays. India is a rich land meant for agriculture but no. We want tar roads, glass buildings, pollution spewing vehicles all around. All the modern man inventions were made to make the life easy and not lazy. Going into economical language, the human life is following the famous bell shaped curve [Ref. – The Third Curve – Mansoor Khan] Development had made the life style reach the peak long back. Now we are the beginning of the unfortunate generations where all these riches are gona decline. Statistics show that how on the name of development we are successfully creating new diseases.</div>
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Oops. Too many thoughts shared by my fellow mates. But when we went for our lunch we all had the sense of satisfaction of having actually earned the meal that day. Not to forget our little star Jishnu who was a part of all the action and captured all these delightful moments.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbNsS42T0cxWc7_fpPjilLHC26ykId1DU7WyZA5pLMTkUYofW2F-fg5J6Iew25r3HYfvYjA43wFdPkGHGc5Q0aW-ZyeDEVk-zFPopWsoX-e24OV4dCwNsaSyIAsg4SrqbJiEIPKSqYnrP/s1600/10455221_596875680430526_4996620265175316256_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbNsS42T0cxWc7_fpPjilLHC26ykId1DU7WyZA5pLMTkUYofW2F-fg5J6Iew25r3HYfvYjA43wFdPkGHGc5Q0aW-ZyeDEVk-zFPopWsoX-e24OV4dCwNsaSyIAsg4SrqbJiEIPKSqYnrP/s1600/10455221_596875680430526_4996620265175316256_n.jpg" height="161" width="320" /></a>With all these heavy words am just trying to convey that we have done enough damage to earth already. What we are doing now is just a little bit of effort to make up for the huge damage we have already done. If one wants to see the Jesus Christ mentioned in the Bible, then please look around. We have poked so many nails on the body of Earth and yet it is giving us more than we can ask for. If you want to see Lord Krishna for real, then look around for shower of all the riches in the world upon you from Mother nature. Take any other mythological character and you will find that it was all just our very own Mother Nature described in human form. Because it is always said that God is always around us and if we take a look it’s just nature.</div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-17711874397843499002014-06-10T09:31:00.003-07:002014-06-13T19:11:34.850-07:00CCC5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On Sunday, I was a tiny part of the 5<sup>th</sup> Phase of
the massive cleanup drive, The Chennai Coastal Cleanup 5. That’s when I realized
that the biggest bio-hazard on earth is the human race. Marina Beach is the
world’s second largest beach. We feel so proud hearing these words, but how
does it feel to have these beaches completely filthy?</div>
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That’s how I felt when I was ready with my gloves and bag in
my hands. I and 6500 other volunteers were all set for today’s cleanup. I was a
part of the group cleaning up the Ashtalakshmi stretch of our beloved Bessy
Beach. A beautiful temple on the sea shore is what we picture. But just look a
bit down and you find plastic bags, bottles and fishing nets. Brush aside the
sand a little more and you can find the little treasures we have left for our
future generations – Plastic spoons, Paper dishes, Rubber balloons, Thermo cols,
Bottle caps, Oh! The list goes on and on. Public started coming and sat around
watching the day begin at the beach and I found them strangely staring at us. That’s
when I felt reassured to what I have always thought –</div>
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We all are literate but not educated. The ability to read
and write is just not enough if you can’t put your knowledge to a good use.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiPfOfJLUDWA32JiYTOOSu1fmyKwnh-5FgMO9rO30ACC46N02VVbDHP9JxxBp0L4mWSlpalRTnuZ-n7Av-bhbdRPKOsfSNcmvnQ0cbRsFx3xhxya9PJp-HhD7cit6EU17vE5iMQG7YD1o/s1600/10408618_10152387686202221_6623316531353187710_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiPfOfJLUDWA32JiYTOOSu1fmyKwnh-5FgMO9rO30ACC46N02VVbDHP9JxxBp0L4mWSlpalRTnuZ-n7Av-bhbdRPKOsfSNcmvnQ0cbRsFx3xhxya9PJp-HhD7cit6EU17vE5iMQG7YD1o/s1600/10408618_10152387686202221_6623316531353187710_n.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>In the school days we all have studied a compulsory subject
called the Environmental Studies. Am sure all of us would have found it to be
the easiest to pass. But the question is what have we learnt? People have happily
made the sea a dump yard. We are the creators of our own doom. We have not
discovered enough cures to the number of diseases we created on the name of
upgrading the lifestyle. </div>
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With all these revolutionary thoughts I filled three big
bags of garbage and went to the dumping point. We all were finally able to
clear 50 tons of garbage in those few hours. Well this is not a matter of pride
but shame. Just imagine if we were able to collect this much rubbish in those
few hours, how much is still lying there. God knows how much debris is still
left behind. </div>
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What we have done is a very small part. It’s high time we
mend the damages we have done or else nature has its own way of clearing the
environment in a jiffy. People who believe and worship god should start respecting
the nature, which is God. God is here there everywhere right? So all better
show some respect and stop offering dirt and filth to the sea. It is time we
co-exist with the nature.</div>
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This is not an event. This is how beaches should always be –
CLEAN!!!!</div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292745877497119555.post-69028270670613618782014-04-22T06:12:00.002-07:002014-04-24T04:33:02.551-07:00Stepping out<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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5:30 am IST. All assembled at
Guindy. I was rushing from home thinking that I am the only one late. Reached the
spot and the first person I met was Nambi, a guy whom I knew only by his name.
This was my first trip with CTC and didn’t know anybody here. Was to spend the
whole day with complete strangers. But my head was completely blank at that
point f time. Went ahead and met Kumar sir. There I saw a girl coming. Looked a
lot like school girl but later realized that she is a school teacher, Archita.
Well a close guess. Then came a voice from behind introducing herself and
meeting us. Gayathri, a very warm and friendly person who knew how to strike a
conversation. These were the first set of people I met that morning. This eased
me a little. The dawn broke and world started shining and my eyes went to the
clock and it was going to be 6:00am. I was wondering why weren’t we starting
now and suddenly we started. We were told that some 6 people are yet to come
from Tambaram. And in no time we reached the first destination. There I met
Nandhini, an amazing lady who defines what is being young at heart. Seeing such
people makes you realize that age is just a number. After that I came to know
that 3 people were late. This gave a window for a biscuit break (a break even
before getting started) because the breakfast was going to get a bit delayed.
But as always the journey is the fun part. I was enjoying the scenic road to
Madhuranthagam. We had a little halt for tummy refill and again back on the
road. When I turned around I saw half the crowd drowsy. Even though it was a
bumpy ride people managed to dose off and their bags seemed to be good cushion
to them. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7Avf-PxG1Cjjym4ypIUwcifKSjJll2pSXa2RdY3VF4mMBpIGZKS-jTGhfcSrbmNqYYyAi2wjKlMdOYFyso-ohCWXdjnDL1NJLmIyazPfi-DJ0SYlBLQ3ZCG2yYpaxMUoypQeAXClcco/s1600/Yerrangadu+Arboretum+050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7Avf-PxG1Cjjym4ypIUwcifKSjJll2pSXa2RdY3VF4mMBpIGZKS-jTGhfcSrbmNqYYyAi2wjKlMdOYFyso-ohCWXdjnDL1NJLmIyazPfi-DJ0SYlBLQ3ZCG2yYpaxMUoypQeAXClcco/s1600/Yerrangadu+Arboretum+050.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a>Finally we reached our
destination at 10:00am and it was already hot outside. We all marched inside
the farm which had trees of all sorts. Never thought that these many different
varieties of trees existed right next to me. As kids we learn about flora and
fauna in science and we learn how many different species are there. In those
days I always felt that these all exists only in forests but I was proven wrong
when I walked among the most exotic trees of the world. Let me name a few like
the – Fox tail palm, The Golden Palm, The Seashore Paala, The Breadfruit Tree,
The Galabash Tree, The Kadamba Tree, Ebony, Bitterash, Ashoka Tree, The Sand
Paper Tree and so on. All had their own peculiarities and were amazing in their
own way. Never knew Palm had so many varieties. In fact the farm had 21
varieties of Bamboos alone!!! To name a few – Golden Bamboo, Vietnamese Bamboo,
Bengal Bamboo, Chinese Bamboo, Red Shoot Bamboo and the Tripura Bamboo etc. </div>
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We are so busy earning a living that
we forget what is living. When we go away from the commotion of the city we
realize what we are from the inside. One never grows up in life, they just
adapt to the situations. But once we are put into a place where life is all
about having fun we actually start living and breathing for a change. Taking a
step outside the easy life we live gets us to go around the world, meet new
people and make new friends. Have you ever wondered how much fun the people in
the channels like NGC and Discovery are having? Ever wondered how to get that
kind of living? Well, I have wondered and the secret is simple – STEP OUT. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZxald-rsxHJ1bUN8cGq7NW21UjeGfsnK74mJT40bp6eqlUSg-H5IC3-wzqfLzKixC1tVahNReOPzsIlzCpVh3rt88rQUEjxDSaUjWjc0m_7rVjTgRAjjofAEcMT2LGWFu3BP0PP2U5Q/s1600/Yerrangadu+Arboretum+063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZxald-rsxHJ1bUN8cGq7NW21UjeGfsnK74mJT40bp6eqlUSg-H5IC3-wzqfLzKixC1tVahNReOPzsIlzCpVh3rt88rQUEjxDSaUjWjc0m_7rVjTgRAjjofAEcMT2LGWFu3BP0PP2U5Q/s1600/Yerrangadu+Arboretum+063.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a>As the sun started going to the
top few of us (including me) rushed to the pump shed to have a shower. After
ages did I go to such a place and all the suppressed craziness jumped out. Suddenly
all were not a stranger anymore. Felt as if I had known them for ages. I guess that’s
what happens when liked minded people meet. Never thought wavelengths can match
like this. After having fun in the water we turned around to see when were the
others gona come and within the blink of the eye the power went off and others
missed the fun.</div>
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This is one of the major problems
faced by the farmers – power supply. They don’t have enough access to
electricity. They get power supply only for 3 hours a day. They are unable to
draw enough power to water the trees. This is an issue that needs to be
resolved so that the lives of these trees are kept safe. </div>
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All were worn out after a hot day
and were eagerly waiting for lunch. And at dot 1 lunch came just as planned. Went
and sat under the shade of the paradise tree. It surely was paradise beneath
it. It was huge enough to give shade to all 35 of us. Tummy savored the simple
delicacies like sambhar rice, kaara kozhambu, rasam, moru and not to forget the
applam which all were snatching from one another just like school kids. Well this
made the Hindi phrase come true – Dil toh bachcha hai ji (Heart is still just a
kid). </div>
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After resting for a while post
lunch, we proceeded towards the next farm which was supposed to be a mangrove. But
instead we ended up in a Coconut farm. Again our exploration began and we found
a huge well. The perfect place for an ultimate dive. When I realized the height
and depth of the well I decided to be a spectator. One of my biggest fears is
snake and this makes it easier for me to spot one very soon. I spotted a
beautiful golden colored little snake happily slithering in the well. This made
me double sure not to get inside it. </div>
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I started hearing loud noises. When
I looked around I saw the guys getting ready for the dive. I was surprised and
shocked at the same time. I had seen such things only in cinema. Before I can
even process these thoughts guys started jumping. Then came the amazing lady,
Chitra, the only lady who dived. This made me feel why not try the jump but
then I said to myself, “please remember, you are just a beginner level swimmer.
Don’t you dare put yourself and others into trouble.” So silently I rush down
the steps and demanded for the tube. I somehow gathered enough guts to get
inside the well even though I knew a snake is lurking around. Wasn’t even able
to swim, Rajsekar had to push me to the other side. But even this little thing
felt so damn amazing that I don’t have enough words to describe that feeling. When
I came out of the well I was having new set of friends, new nick names, lots of
giggling and fun. I don’t know about others but surely did find my wishing
well. </div>
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Then we all gathered and
introduced ourselves and talked about our experience. This session helped
breaking the ice between all and we found a part of us in each other. A flame
of <b>greenathon</b> was lit among all got
and got all of us much closer than what we were in the morning.</div>
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In the return journey I was back
in my talkative mode and the people who were complete strangers to me became
people whom I can call buddies. </div>
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So, at times you just need to
step out of your home and see the world around. Its full of wonders and amazing
people. One doesn’t need to be hero to go for adventures. All one needs is
passion towards life and the world is with you. Hakuna Matata.</div>
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Joan Snibbleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050289695729049886noreply@blogger.com5