Mahabalipuram Trip - Part 1: Shore Temple

First Impression: It was my first visit to Chennai and the first sight when we(me, Manju and Harish) reached Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus or CMBT at Koyambedu on a Monday morning was not a pleasant one. Several bays in the bus stand full of plastic and garbage made it an eyesore. Coming out from there, we were greeted by several auto drivers making a beeline for potential passengers, a familiar scene in any Indian city. Well aware of the fact that Chennai auto drivers do not use meters for charging customers, we went to the prepaid counter to get an auto to Virugambakkam. Though the guy at the counter issued a receipt which was half the price others were quoting right at the gate, we soon realized that was more than double the price we would have paid in Bangalore for the same distance(around 3-4 km's)

Shore Temple amidst greenary

Oh no, Traffic Jam here too! : Jammed traffic was an inconvenience which did delay the process of reaching our venue. When asked about the jams, auto driver maintained that it was only on Mondays. But roads dug up for Chennai metro work indicated it was not a weekly affair. Having a Tamil speaking guy(Harish) in our group made things simpler when we had to inquire with the hotel receptionist in Tamil about the booked rooms. We had come for a friend's wedding which was scheduled in the evening. So, we had a whole day free to explore in and around the city. With my interest in historical places, I already had Mahabalipuram in mind. After checking into our room, we got a call from our bridegroom-friend. First thing he asked was whether the AC is working properly. We thought it was the right question to ask in a city like Chennai, where temperatures can rise up to 42 degree Celsius. On the other hand, Harish's friends in Chennai advised against going to Mahabalipuram because of two reasons, chief being the hot weather and the time it will take to reach there tackling Chennai traffic. But we had already made up our mind. Soon, we called up a taxi guy for a day's rental.

Close up of Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram

ECR : When we started from Virumbakkam, it was around 11 30 am. Though we had to counter the Chennai traffic again, once we reached East Coast Road(ECR), it was a smooth drive. ECR running along the sea coast is dotted with resorts. Thought it would be good option to try next time. 60 km distance was not a long one and after one and half hours, at around 1 pm, we were at the outskirts of Mahabalipuram getting down for lunch. Ready to experiment with the East coast sea food cuisine, I ordered a fish curry only to find it not good:( Oh! Forgot the name of the fish too!

Front view of Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram

Shore Temple : Entering Mahabalipuram, first we stopped at the Shore temple, picture of which you will find in travel brouchers or in google image results! This is the first historical temple, I have seen at the sea shore. Amazing sight it is - with sea waves on one side and an architectural wonder on the other. Green pasture around the temple is well maintained by Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) and gives the temple the unique look. Unlike the temples in the main land, temples at the sea shore suffer from erosion. It was evident from the lack of fine carvings, if you see the temple today. But it should be noted this has been in existence for more than 1300 years now. The temple dates back to 700-728 AD during the reign of Pallavas. Though it seems like there are 2 shrines looking at the 2 gopuras, there are in fact 3 shrines.

Main sanctum sanctorum of Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram

2 of the bigger shrines with gopurams are dedicated to God Shiva and the smaller shrine in between is dedicated to God Vishnu, thus honoring the beliefs of both Shaiva and Vaishnava sects. This is very rare as you will find either temples dedicated to either God Shiva or Vishnu in other historical places in India. Main sanctum sanctorum (garbha gudi) houses big Shivalinga. But as I clicked flash on my camera there, I could hear some creaky sounds from inside the temple. When we went to see what is it, battalion of bats was hanging from the roof. It seemed ironical that even after being one of the World heritage sites in India, place was in such a pathetic condition. Then we went to the Vishnu shrine where a reclining Vishnu idol is carved. Yet to find the significance of the carving of reclining Vishnu.

Reclined Vishnu Idol, Mahabalipuram

Camera Fiasco : Soon after that we had the inevitable photo sessions at the historical place, some for Facebook and some for the memories!! When we had to take a group photo, we handed over the digital camera to a guy who sincerely told us he does not how to take a picture using it. As usual, we insisted to hold the click button for a few seconds. To our surprise, he held the camera in opposite direction about to take a picture of himself without knowing where the click button was. Now, we were sure that we gave the equipment to the wrong guy. It also made us feel we should not take things granted like this - assuming everyone in the world knows how to operate a digital camera! Fortunately we found another person who knew how to use it.
Bang on Target : After the shore temple visit, our immediate destination was the beach nearby. On the way, we could spot a Thiruvalluvar statue. Nearby that we saw few people standing around the balloon shooting place. We took a plunge. Harish was the first to pick the gun for the shots and he had all six bullets on target - six balloons busted. When our turn came, me and Manju drew blank - none of the bullets made an impact! Walking on the sand, we went on to touch waves of Bay of Bengal. Till today, I have seen only Arabian sea. So, to have a glimpse of Bay of Bengal in Mahabalipuram was special. Though the sea, the waves were the same here too :), sun over the top was hotter than West coast of India. Without spending much time, we headed back to our next destinations - Pancha Rathas. While returning from the sea shore, inspired by Harish's performance, I picked the gun again - this time the score was better - 3 out of 6 shots were on target!

Thiruvalluvar Statue, Mahabalipuram

Bay of Bengal, Mahabalipuram

Idols on display, Mahabalipuram

To be continued...

Kanasembo Kudureyaneri Film Review

Girish Kasaravalli's latest venture Kanasembo Kudureyaneri looks at how differently men view death. Changes have been made to the original story by Amaresh Nugadoni on which the film is based and it presents the rational side of things as is the case with most of Kasaravalli's films.

At the beginning of the film, audience is presented with a quote of Jean-Luc Godard, a famous French film maker - “A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order” and spectator realizes this as the movie progresses. The film presented as a sequence of events happening during three days are not in chronological order. This presentation may create confusion in the minds of those who have already read the story and also those who have not read it. This may also prompt them to go for a second viewing too.

Picture Courtesy : nowrunning.com

But to get the gist of the story, this is not a hindrance. This technique of randomly presenting the scenes is not new to Kannada industry, as director Upendra presented the same in his debug film as hero in 'A'. He called the technique '2-D' then and asked for a intelligent audience for his film. One different aspect of Girish's films is his use of different dialects of Kannada. If it was Kundapura Kannada in Gulabi talkies, it is North Karnataka lingo here.

Man's dreams are a product of his beliefs. There are no dreams without beliefs, and there is no life without dreams. Modern civilization has impacted human thinking in a profound way. His beliefs have changed. Hollowness of human relations gets exposed very easily during these times. As he becomes more logical in his thinking with selfish motives he tries to keep away from his loved ones(or once?). The film explores all these aspects in a sensitive manner. Film has been presented with light hearted humour as well as sarcasm. Vaijanath Biradar who is branded as a comedian gives one of his best performances here as a grave digger. So, is Umashri who acts as his wife.

As far as the title is concerned(Kanasembo Kudureyaneri - Riding the stallion of a dream), it is appropriate as the film is the sum total of Eerya(Biradar) and his wife's dreams. It is difficult to present dream on screen. Kasaravalli succeeds partially in that. Film as such is a worth watch.

Learn Tulu Series in Kannada now!

I am overjoyed by the responses to my Learn Tulu series of posts. These posts have received the highest number of page views as well as comments from my readers. Thank you all for the same. After seeing the interest among the readers to learn the language, I am confident that Tulu language will definitely survive many more years contrary to what UNESCO's report has indicated. I had started Learn Tulu series last year primarily to spread the language and save it from extinction.

By the way, some of the readers have expressed their concern about the pronunciation and suggested to write these posts in Kannada script too. Though I have used the transliteration convention used by Baraha software, there may be cases when the reader can get confused. So, in my Kannada blog, I have started the same series using Kannada script, which can serve as a proper pronunciation guide as with Indic scripts, what you write is what you read. So in future, you get to see the new articles on Learn Tulu Series in both English and Kannada blogs. You can read the previous articles of the series in my Kannada blog here.

IIM Bangalore's Annual Business Festival - Vista 2010

Vista 2010, IIM Bangalore's annual business festival presents Vista Corporate Evening, which includes a corporate quiz exclusively for the corporates and 2 business plan case competitions (one sponsored by Yahoo! and the other by Nokia). Following is the list of events you might want take part and win awesome prizes!

PGSEM students at IIMB are organizing exclusive corporate events named Vista Corporate Evening on 2nd Oct 2010. Yahoo! India is the sponsor of the Vista Corporate Evening.

Corporate quiz is an exclusive quizzing extravaganza for corporate participants to be conducted on 2nd Oct. Acclaimed quiz master Thejaswi Udupa will be the host this time. With the top corporate teams fighting it out, the winners would have to bring their best game to the table. First prize of Rs.30,000 and second prize of Rs.15,000 to be won. And there are attractive prizes to be won by the audience too.

Software Czars is all about finding the new software czar. A strategic business case analysis competition for the Software industry, Software Czars is exclusively designed for IT professionals. It tests the participant’s knowledge of the IT industry and the how-it-works through various instruments including case analysis and role plays. The event is open now and the Round 1 deadline is on 28th September, 2010. The selected participants will get to be finalists and present their case study to an elite panel of industry experts on 2nd Oct. Winners will take home a First prize of Rs.20,000 and a Second prize of Rs.10,000.

The Next Big Wave will decide who will ride the next telecom wave. It is a brand new business plan competition from IIMB-PGSEM stable to find next big rider in the telecom market. The case has been sponsored by Nokia and winners get to own super swanky mobile phones from Nokia as well as prize money worth Rs.15,000 in all. If the ideas generated are worthwhile, the winners will be funded by Nokia to pursue and implement their ideas. The round 1 deadline is on 28th September 2010 and the event is open now.

To know more about the event, you can visit the following links
http://www.iimb-vista.com
http://iimbpgsem.blogspot.com

Pancharangi Film Review

Its another case of a big director movie being a big let down. Well, I see Pancharangi as a continuation of his earlier venture Manasaare. Yogaraj Bhat has presented Manohar(Diganth) of Manasaare who was a jobless youth in a new avatar as Bharath Kumar. Similarities show up from the first scene. Its a classic case of a frustrated youth making fun of the way people live and view life. Of course, director has used the same dialogue style(that of being different from what people normally speak) he employed in Mungaaru Male. But here, Diganth and Nidhi take up that job which was Ganesh's USP then.

Picture Courtesy : nowrunning.com

Looking at the pace of the movie, you will wonder whether its going to be all new view on life. But wait, it takes only few minutes before you realize otherwise. But then you have brighter aspects in the movie too. The case of Nityananda Swami seems to have inspired one of the characters, which is well portrayed. Also, the herd mentality of the people who watch numerous astrology programs on most of the national and regional TV channels and believe whatever the astrologer says takes a bashing here.

Well, dialogues for some part of the film entertain the audience. But they seem to be on similar lines. I found the trailer of the movie more interesting than the actual movie. Watching the movie, I fee director seems to be in confusion about his view on life. Whatever it is, the film is definitely not up to the mark, where you would go to the movie by just seeing director Yogaraj's name.

Tulu Script and Thawlava Software

You can read this post in Kannada here.

Not many people know that Tulu language has its own script. Bhagavato is the first Tulu epic to have been written in Tulu Script. In this epic, Poet Vishnutunga quotes Kannada poets Kumaravyaasa and Chaatu Vithalanaatha. Bhagavato dates back to 1636 A.D. This epic has been preserved in Manuscripts Department of Mangalore University with the efforts of Dr Venkataraja Puninchattaya(Info: Baravuda Jeetige - by Suryoday Perampalli).Kannada actor Suryoday Perampalli has brought out a book of Tulu alphabets. You can see the Tulu alphabets from one of the pages of the book below. On the other hand, National Computer Literacy Committee has come up with Tulu transliteration software - Thwalava 2.0. Key board layout used is the same as the one used for Kannada transliteration software - Nudi. There are 50 alphabets in Tulu language. Demo of the software was done in last year's World Tulu Convention. You can also see the usage of the software in the video below.

Related Links:
Times Of India's report on Thawlava Software
Deccan Herald's report on Thawalava Software