Uncharted Prodigy

Well let me thank Siddarth and Vinay in the first place for making me the co editor of this blog. Thank you guys :).

Welcome to Coimbatore, the Manchester of Tamilnadu. "Coimbatore" , the name would ring bells for people in the milling and foundry sectors and certainly wouldn't mean a thing to others until recently. The city is now the new IT hub of Tamilnadu. What I am going to throw light on here is a place called the Isha Yoga center. If you think I am going to teach you some asanas or insist the goodness of yoga, you are certainly wrong :D

This place, is some 15 kms away from the hustle and bustle of Coimbatore situated near the Ghats(mountain ranges). It is a place of scenic and serenic beauty. One thing that people visiting Isha will never forget about it is the cleanliness of the place and the decorum maintained inside.

It is kind of a temple cum meditation center. Well the central attraction here is the Linga inside a doom shaped monument. Trust me, I was told that the central monument was built without using cement. There is another linga inside a place called Thirth Kunt (where the holy water falls from the mountains). The linga inside this pool is made of Mercury the only one of its kind in India, save rest of the world. I was neither able to capture the main Linga nor the Mercury Linga since photos where prohibited in that province. The photo here is of the 3 ishwara murthis depicting various moods of Lord Shiva. Behind is the doom that I was talking about. Above the doom is another Linga made of some holy fluid.

And if you still think the article will not be complete without a word about the Isha yoga foundation, then here is the link :D

http://www.ishafoundation.org/

Cheers!
Nan ;)

A Temple Town, The Himalayas of the South and A Picnic...!!

Well, I did not picture myself to post so soon....but on the bright side, it gives Sid some time to create his masterpiece. I'll inaugurate the Gateway with a tour guide post. Really awesome place guys, u should check it out sometime.

On the last saturday of September, me and my classmates decided to say good riddance to college for the day and go for a class trip to few places. Well, we started out at 1am, and that night was awesome, no sleep and the fun just continued with songs and games and movies etc. At 4 in the morning, we reached the temple town of Nanjanagud, 25 kms from Mysore city. Situated on the banks of the Kapila river, to see the temple in the light of the rising sun, was just so awesome. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Inside the temple, the other deities that are worshipped ar Ganesha, Subramanya, Parvati, Hanuman, Nandi to name a few. It was a well worth visit, and I do intend to go there again soon.

From there, our next stop was the Gopalswamy Hills, also known as the Himavad Gopalswamy Betta, situated 75 kms from Mysore City. It is situated at a height of 1454m and is extensively wooded, giving it the name Himalayas of the South. Even though we reached at nearly noon, there was still a bit of fog. As our bus climbed up the hill, the view was just awesome. We trekked all the way to the bottom again. We could see a few snakes on the way also. Serene beauty it is. Perfect place for hiking actually but you may need to be a great biker, if u plan to take your bike up there. To negotiate the twisting turning road is in itself a big task. Again, there is a temple dedicated to Gopalaswamy, or Lord Krishna. Legend has it, that Lord Krishna, pleased by the penance of Agasthya muni, blessed the place and promised to live there.

Last stop on the way back home, was Talkad...a great place on the banks of the Cauvery river, for a picnic. If you wish to, you can wade through neck deep waters and walk to the other side of the river in summers. You can also hire coracles and take a short trip on the river. Talkad also hosts some historical temples just a short walk from the riverbank, recently unearthed by archeological department. The water you see here are surprisingly deep turquoise like the sea. Though we did not have enough time to visit more places, if you do have the time, you can visit places like Shivanasamudram or KRS dam. For a one day outing, I can tell you, the combination was just perfect. It was a day one can never forget. Hope you do visit someday.

Till next time...Bye, hope you visit it and have a nice time.

(PS: my pics of Talkad were lost...i couldn't find any anywhere that can match mine...sorry...)