Trekking at Azhagar Kovil - 3

Hi Guys,

(To Read Trekking at Azhagar Kovil - 2, click here)

It took a long time for this concluding post due to my exams.

12.40 pm: We started moving down. This is where I left the previous post.

12.51 pm: The water we collected at the Raakaie Amman Temple was nearly empty as Saravana didn't collect properly. Bala said that there is another temple nearby on the way down where the we can collect the water from another opening of the stream. We reached there by 12.50 pm. It was a small temple that was a 2 minute walk from the main road. It was visible from the road, if observed carefully.

The Path to the temple

12.55 pm: It was five minutes before Saravana collected water from the water stream that was flowing through a pipe. It was some 10 feet below the ground. The water was again very clean and had some herbal flavour. There were a very few people who were preparing to take bath. The water was very cool and the sun was quite hot.

Water flowing through a pipe.

The small temple

1.08 pm: Another 15 minutes of walking and we reached the Ice Cream vendor - the man who sold Ice Cream at the dividing point between the road and natural path. It meant we had completed nearly half the journey in the downward path.

The Ice Cream Vendor

1.29 pm: We sat in a rock for some time. Bala had captured a butterfly and after some efforts he took shots in different positions before leaving the butterfly back to freedom (we didn't hurt the butterfly). After that we continued our journey towards the base. We spotted some goats drinking water in the stream and eating plants.

Goats

1.40 pm: We reached the base of the temple after some 10 minutes. We were so tired by then and it was relieving to see the wall of the temple.

Nearing the end of the journey.

1.45 pm: It took us five more minutes to reach the starting point. After capturing some shots we moved to the bus stop.

The entrance of the temple

A mandapam outside meant for devotees to rest.

It took us nearly 1 hour to come down. Leaving the rest period, I could say it took us 45 minutes. Walking down was easier than moving up. After drinking water, we moved to bus stop by 2 pm and it was lunch time. There were no buses there.

It took another 15 minutes for a bus to come and there was a big crowd. Again I was left with no buses at the other bus stand and hence I reached home finally by 4.15 pm. I was so tired by then.

Walking for a long distance after a long time didn't do anything that day. But when I woke up the next day, my whole body was aching and moving within the home itself was a trouble. Anyway it was a good exercise for the muscles and I got back well soon.

It was an unforgettable experience was me along with Bala and Saravana. Hope to do another activity soon.

I will write about the history of the temple and suggestions for trekking here in my next post (or soon).

Happy Reading and Viewing!!!

Power of Mobile Internet in India!

Hi Guys,

Do you use mobile phone to access internet? If your answer is yes, then you contribute to one half of Internet population in India. Yes, one half of Indians use mobile phones to access internet. It was 2% in January 2009 and in a span of 3 years it has become 48% in April 2012. Maybe, by this time it would have crossed 50%

Most of the times, I browse through PC, but mobile has been a great companion for me. Mobile Internet users can be broadly classified into two types. The first one comprises of people who do not have access to PC or broadband or who feel broadband is expensive (a survey shows that Indian people are ready to spend Rs. 50 per month on an average). The second category is people, who use mobile to browse while travelling or not being at home. I belong to the second category.

Mobile Internet offers great tariffs. There are packages for 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, etc depending on service providers. So, whenever I am travelling I activate the 1 day pack for which I will ultimately spend very less. The main purpose I would need internet while travelling is to check mails, to access Facebook and to see any other important site. Many of my friends who stay outside use mobile phones as modem. They use monthly packs and it is both cheap and good enough for browsing.

Two years back, when I started using Internet on mobile, the speed was very low and connection was very poor. At many places, the towers won’t support EDGE (which is an advanced version of GPRS which enables high speed). These days the speeds have improved a lot (am speaking of 2G technology) and so have the infrastructure.

A month back, the modem in my home went berserk and hence I was not able to use broadband. I used my mobile as a modem and it was very handy.  The speed was not great, but it was good enough to browse and download basic stuffs. I was amazed to see speeds of 200 Kbps which is one tenth of my broadband speed.

If we are able to get such good speeds in 2G, then surely 3G would be superb. There are lot of issues with infrastructure and tariff. But remember that it is just blooming. Recently tariffs have been slashed hard. Earlier I had a doubt whether 3G will be successful in India. But in 2 years time, I think lot of people will start using 3G.

With lot of websites becoming mobile friendly (even my blog is mobile friendly – set so in blogger settings) and increase in sales of smart phones, I think browsing in Mobile would be as good as browsing in PC. With decrease in costs of smart phones and improvement in Infrastructure of service providers, definitely India is all set to become a Mobile Browsing country.

This post is written for Internet is Fun Conest (http://www.vodafone.in/fun) on Indiblogger. Indibloggers, please vote for my post at this page

Happy Reading!!!

The Immortals of Meluha - Amish

Hi Guys,

It’s very difficult to write a fiction story based on religious characters. A little slip would mean that the book will be criticized for ever. A little high on reverence would stamp the book as a religious book and number of people reading would decrease.

Amish has done a marvelous job writing ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ The novel is the first part of the Shiva Trilogy. The second part is ‘The Secret of the Nagas’ which has already released and third part ‘The Oath of Vayuputras’ is yet to release.

The outline of the story is just simple – The Story of the Man, whom legend turned into a God.

The year is 1900 BC. The story begins with Shiva in Mount Kailash, nearby Lake Mansarover. He is the leader of a group of people. He is aided by Bhadra. They face frequent attack from enemies as the enemies want to acquire Lake Mansarover. At the same time, Nandi a captain from the Meluha kingdom (which spreads over the western parts of India and current Pakistan) approaches Shiva and asks their people to come to Meluha for their safe being.

Shiva decides to go and once they reach Meluha, they are astonished by the development and discipline at Meluha. The Meluha kingdom is ruled by King Daksha. The Meluhans are Suryavanshis (people who follows solar calendar). They were once ruled by Lord Ram who devised all the rules and hence he is worshipped as a God.

The Meluhans are facing lot of troubles. The Saraswati River is on the brink of extinction. They face terrorist attack headed by Chandravanshis who have allied with the evil Nagas. The legend says a hero will emerge and he will be the savior.

When Shiva reaches Meluha, the people are offered a drink that is said to cure diseases. When Shiva drinks it, something amazing happens and the people start to believe that Shiva is the hero they were waiting for. They believe Shiva will cure all their problems. Shiva is dumbstruck to know the immense belief people have on him.

He also falls in love with Sati who is Dakhsa’s daughter and he also finds out that the Meluhans live long. Sati keeps avoiding him saying she is not supposed to marry. Meanwhile they face frequent attacks from the enemies whose main purpose seems to be kidnapping the princess.

So, why do Meluhans live long? Who are Nagas? Are Chandravansis evil? Why is Lord Ram spoken so high of? Why do people have immense belief on Lord Shiva? Why do they need the waters of River Saraswati?


To all this, read the book. The book is definitely a page turner. I started and finished it off in the same day. Amish has penned a wonderful story taking all the characters of Hindu Mythology as extraordinary people whom history has turned into God.


See the official trailer for the book here.

Click here to buy 'Immortals of Meluha' from Flipkart

Buy The Immortals of Meluha from Flipkart.com

Click the image below to buy the set of 2 books - The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of Nagas from Flipkart

Happy Reading!!!