Dravidam

Silhouettes – Places of Worship

Silhouette of the Tanjai Periya Kovil. Tanjai is short for Thanjavur and Periya Kovil the big temple dedicated to Shiva in the form of Brihadeeswara. Built almost 1000 years back, when the Chola dynasty was reigning supreme in the South of India. The crown, shikharam, on top of the main tower, vimana, is carved out of a single stone and weighs more than 80 tons.

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

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A Contre-jour view of the Mecca / Makkah Masjid mosque, built originally during the reign of Qutub Shahi Sultans of Hyderabad in the 1600′s.

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

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San Thome Basilica is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Santhome, in the city of Chennai (Madras), India. It was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers, and rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today. It was designed in neo-Gothic style, favoured by British architects in the late 19th century. Source: wikipedia

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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One of my pictures sourced by discovery.com

Picture I took of Gaali Gopuram (Tirupati) featured on discovery.com. Govinda, govinda …

View article Planet 100: Top 5 Green Houses of Worship (Video News) on discovery.com

Dravidam / Wanderlust — No Comments
23
Jan 10

Heaven’s no comparison to home!

Headed for a couple of weeks to the place I used to call home ..

A photomontage of vignettes from my home state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India. Made from pictures taken from my many trips between 2001 and 2008 to the place I used to call home. Set to the film song sorgamay endrAlum by I.Ilaiyaraja from the Tamil movie Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu (read, left one place to be at another) that basically tries to say, “Heaven is but no comparison to home!”.

Lyrics (Tamil) of the song:

sorgamay endrAlum, adhu nammoora pola varuma
ada ennAdu endrAlum, adhu nam nAttukkEdaguma
pala desam muzhudhum pesum mozhigal, tamizh pol inithiduma ..

yerikarai kaathum yelelelo pattum inge edhum ketkavillaye
paadum kuyil satham aadum mayil nitham pakka oru solaillaye
vethalaya madichi maaman adha kadichi thuppa oru vazhi-illeye
odi vandhu gudichu mungi mungi kulichu aada oru odayillaye
ivvoru enna ooru nammoru romba melu
ada odum pala kaaru veen adambaram paaru
oru dhaagam theera yeedu moru

sorgamay endrAlum, adhu nammoora pola varuma
ada ennAdu endrAlum, adhu nam nAttukkEdaguma
pala desam muzhudhum pesum mozhigal, tamizh pol inithiduma ..

mAdu kannu meikha meyuradha pArka, mandaiveli ingu illaiye
Adu puli Attam pottu vilayada, arasa maram medai illaiye
kAla rendu pUti katta vandi Oti, gAnam pada vazhi illaiye
thOzhigalai azhaiccu solli solli rasiccu, Attam pOda mudiyalaiye
oru yandhiratha pOla, ada inge ulla vAzhkai
idhe enge pOyi solla, manam ishta pada villai
nam oora pOla, oorum illai

Dravidam / Wanderlust — No Comments
1
Sep 09

Onam Ashamsakal

Today (02Sep09) is the Onam day in Kerala, India. To those that go “Oh, now what?”, here is a short extract from wikipedia:

“Onam is the State Festival of Kerala. It is celebrated in honour of Mahabali (also Mavaeli, Balichakravarthi or Bali, not to be confused with Vali), the mythical Asura king of ancient Kerala. According to legend, Mahabali returns to visit his (former) subjects on the day of Onam. Also a harvest festival, it falls in August/September. It was officially declared State Festival in 1961. Onam is now celebrated by everyone in the region irrespective of caste or religion.”

It is to Malayalis (people of Kerala) what ThanksGiving is to North America .. of course, including the big TG Dinner (sadya, in Kerala).

Below are pictures that I had taken during Onam time four summers back. They are mainly from Thrissur and Aranmula (boat races).

These are photos that I had tagged Onam on Flickr. I see that Flickr has titled this mashup as Onam Tag, which coincidentally means Onam Day in German. Unintentional but very appropriate!

Events captured in the above slideshow are:

Puli Kali or Cat Dance. See http://www.onamfestival.org/pulikali-kaduvakali.html
Kummati Kali or Masked Carnival Parade. See http://www.onamfestival.org/kummatti-kali.html
Vallam Kali or Boat Race. Famous is the Chundan Vallam or Snake Boat. See http://www.onamfestival.org/vallamkali-boat-race.html

Here are links to some posts and photoblogs on Onam that I found interesting:

Here is wishing a very Happy Onam or Onam Ashamsakal in Malayalam!

Dravidam — 1 Comment
7
Jan 09

Manathil Uruthi Vendum

“O Mind, be firm ..” - A poem in Tamil by Subramanya Bharathiar. Verses that are Ideal, Immortal, and Inspirational. With this, I wish everyone the very best for this new year (2009). Listen to a musical rendition of this poem, sung by K.J.Yesudas, from the movie Sindhu Bhairavi.

Click image above to enlarge view

English Translation:

O Mind, be firm in your principles
 and Speech be pleasant and refined;
Cherish noble thoughts;
 and may your cherished desires be attained;
May your dreams come true
 and may you achieve your goals quickly;
Seek Wealth, Happiness,
 and Fame in this World.

Awaken the eye of wisdom
 and pursue your goals with determination;
Let Women attain liberation
 and let God  protect us all;
Let the land be bountiful and
 let us gaze upon heaven;
Let Truth alone be Victorious
 and lasting forever;

(Source: M.S.Ravisankar and Siddharthan Ramachandramurthi)

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17
Aug 08

Indien motos et Ménage à trois

A cool example of when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Except here it is a few vellaikarans (read, white guys), presumed French, doing as the natives do in Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a former French colony and also known as The French Riviera of the East or La Côte d’Azur de l’Est.

Ménage à trois (read disclaimer below) on motorbikes is common place in India. Green consciousness of people in India is quite inherent and motor-pooling is a logical sequitur! Or so I would like to believe ;=) In reality, it is a necessity for lot of families that cannot afford more than a two-wheel motorcycle regardless of family size.

As for the threesome, not sure who taught whom here:
?? — France — India — France — ??

I took this picture as I was waiting inside my car by the roadside. It was a nice fleeting moment that I thought captured two cultures, diverging or converging depending on your point of view, coexisting.

Image post-processed in picnik.com with a combination of pan-zoom and matte effects.

Disclaimer: The term Ménage à trois here has not been used to refer to any sexual contexts. Refers strictly to simple threesomes! Reader discretion advised.

Pondicherry, near Tamil Nadu, India

Dravidam — No Comments
30
Nov 07

dravEYEdum photoset on Flickr

This Thanksgiving, I have set up a photoset on my new Flickr account. This set comprises of pictures that I have been taking since 2001 in the South of India – aka dravidam - that mainly includes present day states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. It is one of my pursuits to rediscover and connect with dravidam.

oru payanam aarambham (a journey has begun).

View dravEYEdum Photoset on Flickr | Slideshow