Enchanting Tamilnadu......

Recently I got an opportunity to visit south India, particularly Tamilnadu. I am sharing few glimpses of the trip here.

Our first destination was Madurai. We reached there early morning and went for quick darshan at meenakshi temple.

                                                            Meenakshi Temple

Meenakshi Temple (North Gate)

As per hindu mythology lord Shiva in the form of Sundareshwar came here to marry daughter of king Pandaya Maladwaj, Meenakshi. Goddess Meenakshi is considered to be incarnation of Parvati. This is the most famous tempe in Madurai. Apart from this temple, it is also famous of Silk and Cotton hand woven sarees.

After having lunch we headed for Rameshwaram. 

                                                                    Pamban Bridge

It is a small Island which is connected with mainland by Pamban bridge. It is an engineering marvel in itself. 

Rameshwaram Temple

Rameshwaram is one of the 12 jyotirling. It is said that this jyotirling was established by Lord Shri Ram himself. That is the reason why it is named "Rameshwaram"

Ram Padam Temple

This temple is famous for footprints of lord Ram. It is also said that Hanuman took his flight for Lanka from this spot. It is highest spot in Rameshwaram. One can view entire city from this spot.

Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple

During the war between Lord Rama and Ravana, Ravana took help of Ahiravana, the king of Pathala. Lord Hanuman in order to protect Lord Rama and Lakshman formed a fortress with his tail. Ahiravana took the form of Vibhishana the noble brother of Ravana and took Lord Ram and Lakshman to Pathala loka.

Hanuman entered pathala loka in search of Rama and Lakshmana, He found that life of Ahiravana was hidden in the five lamps which were placed in different directions. He could be killed only by extinguishing all five lamps the same time. To accomplish this Hanuman had to take the form of Panchamukha Hanuman. This form of Hanuman has five faces. Hayagriva, Narasimha, Garuda and Varaha are the four other faces along with Hanuman's face. Hanuman using the five faces in different directions blows air to extinguish the lamps there by killing Ahiravana.

One can find floating stones of Ram setu in this temple

                                        


                                     Kothandarswamy Temple

This temple is dedicated to lord Ram, this is the place where Vibhishan(Ravan's brother) surrendered himself to Ram.                        


                                                    Dhanushkodi

After Rama won the war and crowned a new king of Lanka, Vibhishana asked Rama to destroy the bridge. According to the Hindu story, Rama then broke the bridge with one end of his bow. Hence, the name Dhanushkodi or 'end of the bow' (dhanush meaning 'bow' and kodi meaning 'end'). 

Mini Trucks take people to Land's End through deep sand and shallows using planks put under wheels by local kids.
The sea from Land's End, Dhanushkodi,Sri Lanka is about 15 kilometers from here.

This was our last spot in Rameshwaram then we headed to Kanyakumari which is 294 KM away.

Kanyakumari:

                           Kanyakumari Teertham

Kanyakumari is famous for its spectacular sunrise and sunset. Unique thing about this place is that one can see sunrise and sunset from the same spot. We reached this spot at around 5.45 am to my surprise it was already crowded with tourists, all eagerly waiting for sunrise. I must say that wait was worth. It was the most beautiful thing that I ever witnessed.

                                        Kanyakumari Devi Temple

After watching sunrise we headed towards Kanyakumari temple. This is one of the rare temples in India where Devi (Mother Goddess) is worshipped as a child. The temple here is a Shakti Peetha, one of the holiest shrines.

                                            Swami Vivekanand Rock

The Swami vivekanand memorial stands on one of two rocks located about 200 metres away from main land. To reach here we had to travel in a streamer, it takes about 2-3 mins to reach this memorial rock. Memorial was built in 1970 in honour of Swami Vivekananda who is said to have attained enlightenment on the rock. According to local legends, it was on this rock that Goddess Kumari performed austerity. One can see the foot print of goddess as well. A meditation hall (Dhyana Mandapam) is also attached to the memorial for visitors to meditate. 

                                        Suchindram Hanuman Temple

Then we visited this magnificent Hanuman temple. This temple has 18 feet tall idol of Hanuman. Suchindram temple is unique in the whole of India in that it is dedicated to three different deities represented by one image in the sanctum and is called Sthanumalayan (Sthanu-Shiva; Maal-Vishnu and Ayan-Brahma).

From there we headed towards Trivandrum.

Tiruvananthpuram 

Our first halt in Trivandrum was Padmanabhswamy temple. We reached there quite late at night by the time temple was closed. So we decided to stay back and visit temple next morning.

                                         Padmanabhswamy Temple

                                                              Ananth Shayana

I was very excited to visit this temple being a Vishnu devotee. Reason for my excitement was that I had never been to any vishnu temple where deity is reclining on serpent Anantha or Adi Sesha. Here, this serpent has five hoods facing inwards, signifying contemplation. The Lord's right hand is placed over a Shiva lingam. Sridevi-Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity and Bhudevi the Goddess of Earth, two consorts of Vishnu are by his side. Brahma emerges on a lotus, which emanates from the navel of the Lord. That is why the name Padma(Lotus)Nabh(Navel). This temple gained fame after a spectacular treasure of worth 1 lakh crore rupees was discovered from temple. There are 6 vaults in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple that were marked from A to B. Among them the vault A and B were not opened for past 150 years. Vault A was opened in 2011 by Supreme court's order but team failed to open vault B. (I will write a post dedicated to Sree Padmanabhaswamy soon which will be more detailed one).

All delighted after wonder experience at Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple we headed towards Kovalam beach.

                            Kovalam Beach

Kovalam beach is situated by Arabian sea in Trivandrum. Kovalam means grove of coconut trees and true to its name it offers endless sight of coconut trees. Beach is very clean and well maintained. It is attraction for lot of foreign tourists.

With this our enchanting trip to south India came to a joyful end. 

Breaking Stage And Breaking Stereotype!!!

It was just the beginning of summer holidays. Each day was getting hotter and hotter. She loved spending holidays with her grandparents in a small village surrounded by beautiful greenery. Most importantly she loved the fact that she could play games with her cousins and neighbors all day long without worrying about school or studies. Bed-time stories from her grandmother being the best part of her summer vacations. Like every year she visited her grandparents. So this warm evening, her cousins decided to play football. When her cousins and their neighbors started forming team no one was ready to take her in team. She wanted to play with them but they just shooed her away saying "this is not GIRL'S game, you will not understand a bit of it; go and play with your Barbie." That was the first time ever a 7 year old faced gender stereotype ever in her life and she was about to face it for the rest of her life. At this age she wasn't aware that girls' game and boys' game were different. She could not understand why she should not play football even though she wants to, puzzled she went back home.

                                                           ****************
She ran to her mother, and asked "Why can't I play Football? Why it is a boys sport?"
Her mother, rather surprised, said "What nonsense! Who is feeding such crap into your mind?"
She narrated entire scene to her mother.

"Come with me I will show something" said her mother.

Her mother pulled out a sports magazine and showed her picture of a beautiful lady and asked her "Do you know who she is?" She looked at the picture and replied "No"

Her mother explained her "She is Mayanti Langer, an Indian TV sports journalist she has hosted many sports event. She hosted 2010 FIFA World cup broadcasted on ESPN. She not only understands Football really well but she has also played it. She has not restricted her to one sport. She hosts common wealth games and Cricket matches too."

"If she would have paid heed to such comments then she would not have achieved what she has achieved today."

"Don't let anyone tell you what you can and what you can't do because you are a girl. You are strong and you are important. Don't let others define your personality"

                                                           ****************
Every year, the 11th grade students would throw a farewell party to both, the 10th and 12th grade students. It used to be painstakingly huge affair. It used to be a month of fun that included outdoor sport, fashion show, some dance performances and skit. She was very excited as she had always been good at dancing. She choreographed a dance performance. She and her team practiced hard. Team decided that she would be performing in center as a lead dancer. Few days before the event while they were rehearsing, her teacher walked in and watched the dance silently. Students reached out to teacher for her feedback after dance. "Everything looks good" teacher said, "Good job, just one suggestion though" team continued to listen carefully. "I think your current lead dancer is not doing great job."

She was devastated to listen to this. No one had ever told her that her dance was not good, she locked herself up in the washroom and started crying,that was when she heard her teacher talking to someone. She wiped her tears and moved closer to listen carefully.

"I agree she is a fantastic dancer and she is doing well no doubt but lead dancer should not be a fat girl. You are more appealing, more presentable, people like to see skinny-fair skinned face at center stage."

These words stabbed her million times over and over again. She was never hurt so much. Not even when her friends teased her by calling "Golu"(One who is round from all side). She was so broken that she decided to quit dancing.

She went home really really upset. This was just so unfair, literally. Thinking this, she turned on T.V and flopped herself on couch. That was when she saw a fat lady dancing like pro on "Jhalak Dikhla Jaa", she was none other than "Bharti Singh"an eminent stand up comedian. She astonished everyone with her lifts and 180 degree splits which others find challenging even to attempt.

Bharti tickled bones of entire nation when she did her first stand up comedy on "Great Indian laughter challenge". Those were the days when we watched only male contestants on comedy shows. She changed the Indian scenario of stand up comedy. In this male governed field, Bharti became India's most popular comedian.

She smiled while watching Bharti's dance performance and thinking how she has shown the world that size doesn't matter. She told herself I will no more blame my genes(those secret fatty deposits blueprinted in my DNA). She thought, people judge you based on your appearance and they will continue to do so. It's what they do. While one might not change their perspective...what we can change is our perspective for ourselves. How to do that? By not viewing ourselves with a convex lens.

                                                             **************
10 years later:

"I can't dance" said one of her student in her dance academy. "Who told you that?" she said.

"Look at me I am so fatty, I can't even move my belly"

"Never think that you can't dance because you are fat or you can't do certain thing because you are a girl"

"Look at me and look at those trophies I won in dance competitions" she said.

She continued " Don't judge  yourself or others based on their body type. Change your convex lens...change your perspective"