Slide.com is shutting down on March 6, 2012

Slide.com the photo sharing website is shutting down on March 6, 2012. I started using slide.com for my blog for sharing the photos 5 years ago in 2007. Google acquired slide.com on August 6, 2010 for $182 million. But an year later, on August 26, 2011 Google announced that it is shutting down slide.com.

How to check your PF balance online?

Steps to check your Provident Fund(PF) balance online.

• Go to http://www.epfindia.com/MembBal.html
• Click on the link - Click here to know the balance - at the end of the page.
• In the next link, select the PF office state from the drop down menu
• Once you select the state, select your EPFO office. This will take you to the next page.
• This page 'Member Balance Information' has provision for the entry of your PF account number, your name (as it appears on EPF slip) and your mobile number
• Instructions for entering the PF number :
• Assume you Your PF Number is KN/XXXXX/YYYYY (i.e from Karnataka)
• Then  in Employee PF Account Number field (which has 5 boxes with first 2 filled), enter XXXXX in the third box and leave the fourth box empty
• In the 5th box enter YYYYY
• Enter your name as it appears in your old PF slips
• Enter your mobile number
• Check the I Agree check box and click Submit button
• After a while you get a SMS on your mobile mentioning your PF balance. There will be 2 parts in it - EE amount and ER amount - EE is the amount contributed by the Employee and ER is the amount contributed by the Employer.

Learn Tulu Online : Part 8 - Online Tulu Language Resources

Thought of providing my readers with resources regarding Tulu language available online. Hope you will able to make good use of them.

Tulu Dictionary : Following link on www.tuluworld.org provides you to look for meanings for Tulu words. Key in transliterated tulu word in English in the search box to find the meaning. What more; if you are unsure of the word, the tool gives suggestions on the probable word too! Meanings are provided in English as well as in Kannada.

Tulu Grammar Book : This link from openlibrary.org opens up a Tulu grammar book for you. Written by Rev J Brigel and published by C Stolz (of Basel Mission Book and Tract Depository) in 1872, this wonderfully researched book is very useful for those who are serious about knowing about the ancient language. It also has audio feature, which is of great help but sometimes you may not get exact pronunciation as Tuluvas speak.

Tulu Studies : This is a blog with research findings in Tulu culture, words, place names. Very useful if you are into culture studies.

Trip to Melukote Temples, Rayagopura

Back from KRS backwaters we were at Mysore at about 3 pm that day. We had our lunch at the popular Dasaprakash hotel in Mysore. We also noticed that it is popular among foreign tourists too as we found many foreigners at the tables there. Lunch we must say was good.

Temple pond in Melukote

Melukote : Our next stop was Melukote about 50 kms from Mysore. It took us about an hour or so to reach Melukote. The temple town which is a center for Srivaishnava sect is famous for 2 temples - Yoganarasimha Swamy Temple at the hilltop and Cheluvanarayana Swamy temple. When you enter Melukote first thing you will notice is the large temple pond or pushkarini or kalyani. Numerous Kannada films were shot in this location. Remember the Nadheem Dheem Thana song from Gaalipata?

Yoganarasimha Swamy Temple, Melukote

Yoganarasimha Swamy Temple : After parking our four wheeler near the pond, we went uphill to see the Yoganarasimha Swamy Temple. Narasimha is one of the avatars of Lord Vishnu. From the hilltop you get a beautiful bird's view of the Melukote town. People were waiting for the doors of the temple to be open for the evening pooja. We waited too, though rest three in our group were reluctant to wait. The temple premises is full of notorious monkeys. So, beware of them! Meanwhile, I purchased a CD of Kannada folk songs inside the temple premises. But later I realized that it was almost double the prize as shopkeeper had pasted a different price sticker. I was surprised that in a religious place like Melukote, people do such fraud!

Raya Gopura, Melukote

Raya Gopura : As we did not have much time in the day and it was getting dark, we could not visit the Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple (but got a glimpse of it on our way) and went straightly to Raya Gopura which is famous with the film folks. If you remember the barso re song from Hindi movie - Guru, it was shot here. It is an incomplete temple structure with four rising pillars. 

House of Pu Ti Narasimhachar

House of Pu Ti Narasimhachar : In Melukote, you will also find the house of great Kannada poet - Pu Ti Narasimhachar. It was beyond the visiting hours of the house. So, we missed chance visit the memories of Pu Ti Na.

Suset at Yoganarasimha Swamy Temple, Melukote

Rayagopura, Melukote

Raya Gopura, Melukote

Srirangapatna, Meenakshipura(KRS Backwaters), Mysore

It was an unplanned or rather over-planned trip. After shortlisting many locations we finally nailed down  Mysore and nearby places for a weekend trip. Starting from Bangalore on Friday evening(2nd December 2011), four of us had our evening snacks at Shivalli MTR (near Channapatna) skipping the usual destination - Kamath Lokaruchi(near Ramanagara) :) Our next stop was our chosen resort - Young Island Resort near Srirangapatna. One nice thing about this resort is river Kaveri flows along its border!

River Kaveri near Young Island resort, Srirangapatna

Srirangapatna and Mysore : After finishing our lunch at the resort, we headed towards Mysore at about 9 30 pm. After reaching Mysore we made some unsuccessful attempts at capturing the Mysore palace at night, though only few lights were lit (not elaborate like at the time of Dasara).

Statue of Chamaraja Wodeyar, Mysore

Meenakshipura or KRS Backwaters : Next morning, one of us suggested instead of going to KRS(Krishna Raja Sagara, which was in our initial plan), why can't we explore KRS backwaters? Bingo, everyone agreed! Known also as Meenakshipura, nobody seemed to recognize that name when we asked for directions. Anyway, when we reached Meenakshipuram or KRS backwaters we had spent considerable amount time and fuel, thanks to the road guides who did not know the right route! 

Coracles parked in Meenakshipura shores

Coracle Ride : Soon after reaching Meenakshipura, coracles kept on the shore caught our eyes. Initial inquiry about a ride yielded negative response. Then we were asked to go the colony nearby to see if anybody can drive. We found one guy but the problem was he knew only Tamil and also had stammering problem. An elderly person who was speaking Kannada advised us not to move from our places when were in the coracle since if we move then there is a danger of coracle turning upside down. When we were on board other than the usual chit chat, we had the opportunity to take close shots of birds resting on rocks. On the whole, it is good place to visit if you don't mind the unclean shores!

Crane

Birds on the rock

Few more birds

Kanpur Visit : Few Observations

In December 2011, I happened to visit Kanpur. This trip was of short duration of about 2 days. Incidentally, this was my first visit to northern part of India. Here are few observations on the trip.

Lucknow Airport

Lucknow Airport : Though Kanpur has an airport, we were told to book a flight to Lucknow since flights to Kanpur usually get cancelled at the last minute. Lucknow has a small airport and a chaotic one too! Flight delays are very common. 

Ganga Bridge, near Kanpur

Leather Industry : Kanpur is famous for its leather industry. Our driver was showing us numerous factories on our way from Lucknow airport to Kanpur. Though we guys went to the local bazaar for buying leather goods but we did not buy much as we were not sure of the right prices for the items! Bargain like in any part of India, works here too! On the negative side, leather industry has been infamous for polluting river Ganga.

Kanpur City

Parking in the middle of the road : If we see parking of vehicles on either sides of the road in Bangalore, in Kanpur it is entirely different. We see vehicles parked right in the middle of the road. Well, this applies to commercial streets only(just like S P Road of Bangalore)!

Makhan Vendor

 Motichoor Laddu and Makhan : One thing everyone in the trip savoured and friends back in Bangalore wanted us to bring was Motichoor Laddu! Believed to be a favorite food of Lord Ganesha, motichoor laddus are flavor of this region. Needless to say we guys relished the taste. Also, there were roadside vendors selling special type of makhans, which match to the taste of best of ice creams! You need to taste it to believe this!

Peacock in IIT Kanpur campus

 IIT Kanpur : IIT Kanpur has a vast and green campus 15 kms away from city. It is one the first IITs to be established. Peacocks are easily spotted here and you can watch them roaming in the campus freely. Institute has a tennis court and a football ground. With green cover all over, it is the perfect place to study I thought!

Kanpur getting modern

Old city getting modern : Though majority of the buildings in the city were old, Kanpur is getting modern with glass buildings. Malls are making their way. One of the roads is named Mall Road, not sure whether it is because of the mall located there!

Mall in mall road, Kanpur