the light baggage

Venugopalaswamy Temple, KRS: Hidden gem in the backyard Overview: I would like to dedicate this entire blog to one place which, at one sight, attracts you with its beauty. It is the Venugopalaswamy temple near KRS backwaters in Hosa Kannambadi village. The story starts with the village itself before the Krishnarajasagara dam was constructed in 1930. There used to be a village named Kannambadi with this temple built by the Hoysalas in the 12th Century. The villagers were asked to vacate their place due to the construction of the dam and subsequently the whole village was submerged under the KRS waters. Every year the water used to recede in the summers and a part of the temple used to become visible from the south side of the backwaters. A new village was built just besides the old one and was named 'Hosa Kannambadi'. There was an initiative taken by the Khodays group to reassemble the whole temple on the banks of the river in Hosa Kannambadi. For this many experts were called...

In & Around Chennai City - 2: My own experiences with Idli, Sambar and Loads of chutney… To read Part-1, Click Here Overview: Just to complete a few more places, I set off on a holiday alone to explore a few places.. First up was the sunrise view at the beach. Went to the Thiruvanmiyur beach to catch the early morning sunrise and man, it was a sight to watch. Cool gentle breeze added to the beauty of the place and this made me believe in the concept of early to rise. The Sound made by the sea, the sun gently rising behind the clouds like a red ball peeping behind the clouds, the chirping of the birds, and the morning joggers made the morning even more beautiful.    After an early start for the day, I decided to visit the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane which is very well known across the state. I planned to go to this place by train. So got down at Thiruvallikeni station and walked down the narrow streets to reach the temple. Later I was told to avoid that route an...

In & Around Chennai City - 1: My own experiences with Idli, Sambar and Loads of chutney… Overview: I somehow like the word 'Madras' compared to 'Chennai' as it reflects the era of 50s to 80s. I have visited Chennai a couple of times with a gap of 3 years and did not find a significant change in the city's culture and looks as compared to Bangalore. I got a chance to work in Chennai for 3 months in the beginning of 2010 when I decided to explore the real city and around it. I had heard a lot of publicity on the Hop-on-Hop-off service from Chennai to Mahabalipuram on the East Coast road. So decided to try it out on a weekend when my parents happened to visit Chennai. The AC buses start from TTDC office and reaches the first stop at Thiruvanmiyur Marundheeshwara temple. As I was staying at Thiruvanmiyur, I decided to visit the temple on the way back in the evening. So boarded the bus there and the fare was around 225 but got a discount of 15% as introductory ...