Monday, April 28, 2008

ISRO Launches 10 Satellites through PSLV

Today, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched 10 satellites using its reliable PSLV rocket from its SHAR range in Sriharikota near Chennai. This is the 13th flight of PSLV and the vehicle carried two Indian satellites and 8 small foreign satellites. Castrosat of India will provide high resolution pictures.

This is one more step of ISRO into the high value space market where only few players are there. ISRO also proves that it can execute such complex projects by ejecting 10 satellites into orbit precisely. I am also proud to say that PSLV vehicle was built at Trivandrum my home town and 2 of my family members are linked to this organization.

See more on this at http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/April28_2008.htm
BBC News has a very informative article on this event. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7374714.stm. The site states "Today the country undoubtedly has one of the largest national networks of operational satellites anywhere in the world."

Great work by people at ISRO.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Kotilingeswara Temple, Karnataka

Kotilingeswara Temple, Kolar, Karnataka

Updated: 29 Dec 2009 after a subsequent visit.

It is stated that there are 87 Lakhs (8.7 million) Shivlings in this temple. They are looking at 13 Lakhs (1.3 million) more to reach one crore (10 million) shivlings at this temple. Devotees can sponsor installation of Lingas.

Kotilingeswara Temple

The Kotilingeswara Temple is situated at Kammasandra near Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka. You can reach here by taking the Old Madras Road from Bangalore. Follow the OMR till BangaKolar when you have to take diversion just before Kolar towards Bangarapet. After crossing Bangarapet (around 6 kms) the road will split to Kolar Gold Fields (right) and Kotilinga Temple (straight). Follow this road and you will see the temple on the right side after 3-4 kms. There is also Karnataka Tourism direction boards along the way at many places. The distance is around 115Kms from Bangalore. On our second trip on Dec 29th, we saw the roads are getting widened and the traveling distance has reduced by an hour. It took us 3.5 hours to reach the temple with ample breaks in between. You can also reach here by train to Bangarapet station and then by taxi/bus.

Kotilingeswara Temple

This is a unique temple where you see Shivlings everywhere you turn. The main temple complex has two temples, the main Shiva temple houses the first Shivlinga installed here and the other has Shiva, Vishnu and Bhrama deities. You can see many shivlings all over the temple complex.

Kotilingeswara Temple

There is an outer complex which is bigger and houses the remaining shivlings. There is a huge 108ft high Shivling (suppose to be the biggest in the world) and a 40ft high Nandi within this complex (picture above). There is also a temple housing Ganesha and Hanuman.

Kotilingeswara Temple

Free meals are provided to the pilgrims everyday in the noon. More details can be found at http://kotilinga.org/index.htm




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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Kempfort Shiva Temple, Bangalore

Shiva Statue @ Kemp Fort

This magnificent Shiva Temple is situated on the old airport road inside the old Kempfort campus. Kempfort has been demolished recently and Total Mall has come in its place. Behind it is the grand Shiva temple in a very serene environment. This is open 24 hours a day and is a good place to visit while in Bangalore. There is also a giant Ganesha statue in the temple.

The Shiva statue is around 65ft high and is considered to be one of the highest in India. The background is made to resemble Kailas mountain and give a feeling like in Himalaya. River Ganga flows from the head of Shiva on to the mountains. At night the Shiva statue shines majestically in the bright light. They also have a small tour of different Shiva pilgrimage centers across India made into a miniature exhibition. The temple is kept very neat and you will also find music concerts happening here in the evening.

Kempfort Shiva at Night
Shiva statue at night

Look at the people standing at the bottom of the picture to gauge the height of the statue. Read more on this temple at Mustseeindia.com. They have used photos by me in the site.


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Friday, April 11, 2008

Strengths Finder

I read the book "Now, Discover your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton.

The book teaches about how to find out your talents and how to cultivate the talents to your strengths. It also has lot of examples of people who nurtured their talent to be successful in life. There is a test you can take in the www.strengthsfinder.com website to find out your talents.

It also makes a point that why you should spend more effort to improve in your areas of strength rather than putting time to remove your weakness. A very nice read.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Hogenakkal Falls Trip

We had a three day holiday due to Ugadi and decided to go out some where. Since Hogenakkal was in news for all the wrong reasons these days, we decided to go there. We started out in the morning in our car around 8:45am and reached Hosur by 9:15 am. Hoganekkal is around 150km from Bangalore.

There are three ways you can go to Hogenakkal from Hosur. First Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Pennagaram and second via Roayakkottai-Palakkod-Pennagaram and third via Denkanikottai. The third route is suppose to be very scenic and the shortest, but the roads are very bad. We were advised not to take that route on our Maruti 800.

We took the Dharmapuri route. From Hosur we traveld by the highway to Dharmapuri. Once you get to Krishnagiri, take the flyover and continue. There is a toll road in between we payed Rs.25. The road were good till Krishnagiri and beyond that lot of construction work going on. Still not bad to drive though there are many detours on the way.

Iyyanaar Statue
Ayyanar Statue on the way to Hogenakkal

Once you reach Dharmapuri junction, turn right to the road going to Hoganekkal. The route will cross Pennagaram 15km before Hogenakkal. On the way you can see many beautiful Ayyanaar statues. We stopped by to take some pictures. Every village in this area has an Ayyanaar statue/temple. We found many en route. The colorful and artistic statues are a treat to look at.


Ayyanaar Statue

Once we passed Pennagaram, the road goes around mountains with a good view of the forest. It is around 2-3 km before we reached Hogenakkal. On the way we had to cross the forest check post where they noted down the vehicle number and got signature in their register. Also there is an entrance fee of Rs.20 collected here.


Once we reached Hogenakkal, we parked the car in Hotel Tamilnadu parking area towards the end of the road. Parking charge was Rs.10. Before we reached there, near the bus stand there are people selling parking tickets. Do not buy parking tickets from them. Also there is an entrance fees of Rs.20 collected here. After parking, when we got down, there were lot of guys with blue color shirts coming behind us offering to take us on crocale ride. Crocale ride is the main attraction at Hogenakkal. It is a circular boat made of bamboo sheets, covered with plastic sheets and sealed with tar. Little scary? But people say it is very safe. They were asking for Rs.400 for a to and fro ride. There are many road side shops selling fried fish. In fact, these shops are there everywhere inside the water fall area.

Fried river fish.  These shops are everywhere.

We went inside the waterfalls area through a row of shops. At many points there are people with tickets for proceeding further. On the way there are many fried fish shops and people were taking oil massage. There is a government notice board displaying the price for boat, massage etc. Also warning visitors about verifying the credentials of the crocale men before hiring them. We reached the hanging bridge where we saw the mini falls. The hanging bridge got its name from the fact that it is hanging on iron ropes tied from one end to the other. Here is a photo from the hanging bridge showing the mini falls.

Hoganekkal falls
View from the hanging bridge
After crossing the bridge, you get into a rocky area before you cross the water to get into the main falls area. There is a observation tower when we can see the falls from away. But the real treat is to get into the crocale and get near the falls. One of the guys who approached us near the parking lot was following us all this time. We asked him for a deal. He agreed to take us for Rs.200. His initial offer was Rs.400 for a private ride. Cheaper options were available if you want to share with others.

Hoganekkal falls


We got into the boat. The water, we were told, is 100ft deep at this place. During summer, the water will come down to a depth of 50ft. During rainy seasons (around August), you cannot go by boat here as the water will be very violent.

A mobile shop in the river

We were little scared after seeing the crocale (Me especially) and knowing the depth of the water. The crocale man took us near the main water falls. It was not very big considering it is an off season. August is suppose to be when the water falls is at it's peak. But then you don't get to see it near by the crocale. Then we took a small stride on the water. We found shops in the water on crocale selling all kinds of eatables. They can take you for an 1 hour ride to a nearby sand island. We decided not to do that as we have to return.

River Cauvery at Hogenakkal
River flowing after the fall.  It flows between the rocks for a km.

The view of the rocks and water fall is fantastic. The water flows between the high rocks for almost a kilometer. The crocale man dropped us near the parking place on return.

Hoganekkal falls
Under the water fall

When we were in the water, we found boys on top of the rock jumping into the river. They will jump for you if you offer them money. I did not find it very amusing. This could be child exploitation. If you look at them, they will jump and swim near your boat and ask for money.

Kid jumping to the river from the rock

We started back in the evening. There were lot of monkeys on the road through the mountains. Many are very small and it is very nice to see them. We reached Bangalore in the night. While returning, we took the Palakkod-Royakkottai route. The road was not very good, but a lot shorter. It took around 3.5 hrs to come back. Overall, it was a nice trip after a long time.

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