sankarrad.blogspot.com
Not Too Random: On a Sunday in Trivandrum
http://sankarrad.blogspot.com/2015/07/on-sunday-in-trivandrum.html
Saturday, July 11, 2015. On a Sunday in Trivandrum. The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. Did a version of this story for the July issue of. National Geographic Traveller India. Rise early on a Sunday and join one of several free walking tours conducted in Thiruvananthapuram (also known as Trivandrum). While Tree Walk. Explores the city’s tree wealth, Heritage Walk. Heritage Walk www.facebook.com/groups/heritagewalktvm. No visit to Thiruvananthapuram is complete without admiring the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
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Not Too Random: Making sun while the hay shone
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Thursday, November 18, 2010. Making sun while the hay shone. Object of desire: The Hay-in-Thiru bag. The first Hay Festival in Kerala. Was winding down. The young lady sitting beside me on the steps of the Kanakakunnu Palace, the festival’s venue, was nagging a young man who, I believe, was a festival volunteer:. 8220; Eda, eniku oru. Get me a bag, no),” she wheedled, pointing to the rainbow-faced jute bags that speakers and delegates got as part of the festival kit. 8220; Adhungale nokku. Ende. What thi...
sankarrad.blogspot.com
Not Too Random: By the lake
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Friday, February 20, 2015. A version of this story is in the February issue of. National Geographic Traveller India. As we drive through the gates of Anantya. My mobile phone buzzes indicating that it has no signal. And it stays signal-less for most of our three days at the resort. I wasn’t complaining though, for the holiday at Anantya was about getting some real downtime. Activities on offer at the resort include a visit to a rubber plantation; bicycles to explore the resort’s winding pathways; f...
sankarrad.blogspot.com
Not Too Random: Around heaven
http://sankarrad.blogspot.com/2011/05/around-heaven.html
Tuesday, May 24, 2011. First sight of the Lord:. Guruvayurappan appears in the most unexpected places; like the hands of this poster vendor. Priced Rs 20 each, these posters of the young Lord Krishna offer devotees a visual souvenir of a visit to Guruvayur. Heaven on earth. That’s how Pepita Seth. Describes Kerala’s Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple. In her remarkable book. Heaven on Earth: The Universe of Kerala’s Guruvayur Temple. And for the millions of devotees who visit Guruvayur. Even up to a few years...
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Not Too Random: Where the trinity rules
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Where the trinity rules. Blink and you’d probably miss the turn off to. From the highway that links Thiruvananthapuram with Kanyakumari. If you do miss it though, all you need to do is ask and you’ll be back on track in a jiffy. For Suchindram is a pretty important village as it is home to the very unique. A History of Travancore. As you turn off the highway and head towards the village, the temple’s. Which dominates everything around it. And then you notice the large tank tha...
sankarrad.blogspot.com
Not Too Random: The moonlit market
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Over the years, I’ve had my fill of atmosphere-laden bazaars and their surrounding neighbourhoods. So it was with some reluctance that I set off, a few weeks ago, with my wife and a favourite uncle to explore the area around Delhi’s Jama Masjid. With just about half-a-day to spare, there wasn’t much bazaar-tripping we could do, but Chandini Chowk and lunch at Karim’s were very firmly on the whistle-stop itinerary. Soon, our table was chock-a-block with plates — a platter o...
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Not Too Random: Kovalam calls
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Tuesday, June 16, 2015. Hawah and Lighthouse beaches from the deck of the lighthouse. Did a version of this story for the June issue of. National Geographic Traveller India. Some of my earliest memories of family vacations in Thiruvananthapuram involve Kovalam. The seemingly never-ending drive zigzagging along twisty roads, the gradual descent between palm groves, the tanginess in the air and the sudden expanse of the beach, with the sea stretching off into the yonder. Deck with a view. Surf for a cause.
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Not Too Random: Snapshot: The model’s last pose
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Snapshot: The model’s last pose. Some time last week, I was driving past. The College of Fine Arts-Kerala. In Trivandrum when I saw a. Or Golden Shower tree in full bloom. I stopped to take the picture above; a version of which I used in. The sculpture is of Chellappan. One of the many works — sculptures, paintings and clay models — he’s featured in. For Chellappan is, or rather was, a model for students of The College of Fine Arts. 8211; into the frame walked the living sculptur...
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Not Too Random: When heroes visit
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Saturday, March 27, 2010. I’m walking towards the eastern entrance of the. And towering over me are five figures draped in billowing red robes. The Pandavas. Have stopped by on their annual visit to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala’s capital. In March/April every year, the Padmanabhaswamy temple celebrates the Painkuni. Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Gouri Lakshmi Bayi of the royal family of Travancore. Which is why the Painkuni utsavam. Is sometimes also called the '. Or the festival of the five Pandavas.
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Not Too Random: Memories of Angkor
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Thursday, October 28, 2010. The towers of Angkor Wat. A visit to Angkor leaves me with a backpack full of questions. Whose tranquil face is it, I wonder, that is carved on each facet of the 54 towers that cluster thicket-like in The Bayon temple? Is it, as widely believed, the visage of Jayavarman VII, the great Khmer ruler who built The Bayon or is it of the Buddha? And what drove the apparently unassailable Khmer empire that created marvels like Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom to all but disappear? Comes al...
