Nanjangud Vistas

Continuing my post of visiting Nanjangud I couldn't upload all the pictures. So here are some more pictures of the location... both indoor and outdoor shots. Some of the pictures may be a little blurred.

My trip to Nanjangud

The first week of my holiday in Bengaluru I visited Mysore and Nanjangud with parents and extended family members. The trip was a pilgrimage for my father who had promised to visit the ancient Shiva temple here. The trip was quite eventful with several things happening including problems with the vehicle and a major stomach upset after I returned home.

Mysore city Road

We started off at 8 am in the morning from home and after some family visits in Mysore we reached Nanjangud finally at 4.30 pm just in time for the temple opening. I was visiting Nanjangud after 12 years and the place offered quite a few surprises to me. For one thing the roads around the temple have been cleaned up and some aesthetic hedge plants have been planted along the medians. The town used to be a dusty, grimy place, but today it is a clean and neat location which evokes devotion.

Street scene in downtown Mysore

The temple is currently undergoing renovation and hence there are some areas inside the shrine that are not so impressive. Here are some pictures of my visit to the temple town.

View of the Entrance to Nanjangud temple

A view of the pillars that support the entrance to the Nanjangud temple

Attractive temple frescoes

Sculptures inside the temple

Some road pictures of Bengaluru

I have finally found a place where I can download pictures from the camera and upload them onto my blog. Here are a few road images of a renovated Bengaluru...

In Bangalore... after a short trip.....

It has been a week since I am back in good old Bengaluru... the city has grown by leaps and bounds as usual. I took a short trip to Nanjangud, a small pilgrimage town less than 200 km from here and it was a different experience altogether.

The journey was pretty swift on smooth and newly widened roads and what totally caught me by surprise was the amount of infrastructure development that has taken place in Nanjangud. I remember visiting the city more than a decade ago and it was a crumbling little village struggling to handle the increasing tourist/ pilgrim traffic. Today it is a swank tourist town with smooth concrete roads, vast open spaces, neat riverside areas for worshippers, devotees who wish to take a holy dip, and even fishermen. The temple itself is undergoing renovation right now and the part of it that is complete is simply superb. Going by this testimony I am sure the temple will be transformed into a wonderful tourist/ devotional/ pilgrim center once the renovation is complete.

I will conclude with a hope that I will be able to visit the temple again once the renovation is complete.

Blogging from Bengaluru.....

I am finally back in Namma Bengaluru... after a long break of over two and a half years. I had heard only of the new problems and issues that the city was facing during these two years. Boy were they totally biased... you bet.... I took a spin around the city today in an auto and was surprised at the numerous good things that have happened to the city. The first thing is the notorious Bangalore traffic... and my experience is that yes the bottlenecks and chaos continue to reign the city but overall there is about 30-40 percent improvement in the road quality and general traffic speed.
That is something better than nothing. People who complain will do so even if they are given roads like airport runways... but believe me guys don't complain about Bangalore traffic or roads. I am quite certain you will notice the change once you land up here.
The ride is not totally smooth... but not as chaotic as before either. There has been great improvements in some stretches of roads while other roads have gone worse due to development works.
My verdict is that Bangalore has changed for the better... better roads, faster traffic, less snarls...

Mineral Wells invites me to visit again!!!

It has been over 3 weeks since I visited Mineral Wells State Park, but the memories of its vast green acres continues to haunt me. The rugged rock formations, myriad flora and fauna, vast lake and interesting landscapes beckon me to return and explore further.
This is something I like about the US where every natural area is developed, maintained and aggressively marketed so that it generates enough revenue to pay for all the investment. This way natural habitat and a beautiful location is saved, and the people have a space to get away. I hope this kind of mindset descends into the heads of every single individual in the world so that the quickly shrinking green cover may be saved from further destruction.
Here are some of the pictures that I have not posted earlier.

Liberty Fest, Farmers Branch

Today was the second day of the annual three-day Liberty Fest held at Farmers Branch, Texas. I came to know about the fest through some posters and decided to participate. Today's highlights were an outdoor expo which featured a lot of recreational vehicle marketers, two artificial outdoor rock climbing walls, a micro-mini petting zoo with all the farm animals, such as chicken, rabbits, pigs, calf, and a llama. These animals are so common in small towns and some areas of Indian cities but very very rare in US cities. The only place American-born children get to see live animals other than dogs, cats and fish.
My favorite section of the event was of course the car and motorcycle show featuring a wide array of metal steeds and monsters. I have personally almost given up the hope of ever riding a motorcycle again, but when I see a beautiful set of wheels I can't help but take a closer look and oogle at it.
Anyway enough of my chatter... here are some pictures of the Liberty fest.

More Pictures of Mineral Wells

I haven't shared all the pictures of our recent trip to Mineral Wells State Park, TX. This park is one of the closest locations where one can see some kind of hilly terrain, and rocks that can be climbed. The park is beautiful right now and with weather not having heated up too much the colorful flowers, insects, and other flora and fauna make it a great place to visit.

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Mineral Wells State Park Visit

Sunday was pretty eventful, visited one more state park in the vast state of Texas and this time it was closer home... about 100 miles south west. The park is named after the city of Mineral Wells which was a thriving spa, health resort, town famous for its fresh water resources. At its peak the town's water was known to cure all human diseases and people traveled to this little town to spend few weeks rejuvenating themselves. Well that was probably more than a century ago. Today the town is just another small town in Texas with a large ranching community and tourism that the State park draws. Well this is the closest location from DFW metro area for rock climbing, some hill hiking and of course swimming and wildlife watching.
Here are some pictures of the location and I will post further about what we did in the state park soon.

Mineral Wells Trading Post... the only store on the state park

Lake Mineral Wells - vast waterbody

GPS Mapping Achieved!!!

Something I have been wanting to do since several months I achieved today finally... not because I bought some new fancy gadget... but because of some serious thought and working persistently on my computer. Here is a trail route I mapped from home to the library and back and of course we drove across this route. Tomorrow onwards I will try to log cycling trails, travel routes, etc..

Shelby Mustang Show in Plano

Recently the Legacy Texas Bank organized a vintage car rally to showcase their top-management's Shelby Mustang cars and other vehicles. I couldn't attend the show due to school commitments but I did manage to get a few pictures... here they are...

Heart of the Shelby Mustang

Cute high performance car...

White Rock Lake - Quiet Aqua Forte

One thing I love about Texas is the way lakes, creeks, and to a certain extent green areas are protected and allowed to thrive. This is possible partly because of the low density of population and vast land area which the early European Colonizers found virtually free to occupy. The conquest of early settlers, hard work of their offspring are being enjoyed by this generation of native born Americans as well as newly arrive immigrants like myself.

This past weekend I participated in a free Kayaking event organized by one of the leading adventure sports gear marketers REI. They offered a free experience to wannabe kayak owners, canoe enthusiasts, and fishermen who would possibly want to own their boat. Even though I belong to the enthusiast category who may not buy a Kayak or any other watercraft in the immediate or near future I still wanted to enjoy a day on the water free.

So there we went to the lake and used some of the equipment provided by REI such as Kayaks, life jacket or in America it is Assisted Flotation Device and had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Still Water Kayaking @ White Rock Lake, Dallas

Yesterday we went Kayaking at the White Rock Lake, Dallas. It was a free marketing event organized by REI, the adventure & outdoor sports gear store. There were all kinds of kayaks and all visitors were allowed to get into them and try their hand at it. Being mildly windy it was a little challenging to kayak in the area, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures...

Vistas of India-Homa

Vistas of Lost Lake and Surroundings

Continuing my report on the short but eventful visit to Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, India-homa, I would simply say that our hike turned into a mini adventure after I coaxed everyone into climbing down the rock face into the depths of the valley rather than follow the trail that snaked around the hills to form a natural slope. Once down at the water level we crossed the shallow stream via a trail of rocky outcrops and started retracing our steps around the lost lake.

Here are some pictures:

View of the waterfalls from the base of the hill

The world is full of insensitive people who will litter even the most pristine natural spots.....

Sweeping view of the valley and rock face we just descended

Tooth Fairy..... somewhat entertaining...

For lack of nothing else to do on Friday evening we decided to go to a movie at the dollar theater in Plano. The intent was to watch a Jackie Chan movie, but there was none playing at a night show. So we decided to watch The Tooth Fairy instead. This is a fairly entertaining kids movie... apart from a few minutes of fantastic ice skating and a some comedy frames there is nothing much worth watching in this movie.

The story traces the life of an aging ice hockey star who is named the tooth fairy because he knocks out teeth of his opponents. His girlfriend has two kids, the daughter just loses one of her teeth and the mother tells the story of tooth fairy. The protagonist tries to tell her the truth in a rude manner to the chagrin of the mother. The son doesn't like this guy because he is rude, and sarcastic.

The story moves on to fairyland when the player gets called to do some community service and then after some seriously boring drama and some funny scenes the movie ends with a soulful transformation of the protagonist. I definitely wouldn't pay the regular theater ticket to watch this movie....

Views of Lost Lake and around!!!

We hiked for couple of hours in the lost lake area of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. The terrain reminded me of the rolling rocky hills that I was so familiar with in India. This is the first time since arriving in Dallas that I am coming across such terrain. The lost lake is indeed a dam built in a small valley between two tall rocky hills. The stream collects in the deep gorge walled at a strategic location and the excess flows off the wall creating some sort of a waterfall out there. We walked beside the waterfall and down the rocks to cross the stream and walked alongside the lake on the other side.

Dam that creates the Lost Lake

Lost Lake facade

A couple brought kayaks and hit the water enjoying the stillness of the lost lake. Swimming is not allowed at this location... perhaps because of the rocks in the lake bed or maybe because of the depth... I don't know. Kayaking and fishing are allowed and there were few people enjoying the therapeutic and relaxing activity.

Couple enjoying kayaking

Saudi Girls Getting Smarter or Getting Exploited???

I recently chanced upon a news report online about a pre-teen girl from Saudi Arabia who won her divorce from her 80-year-old husband. After reading the brief article I must say I am pretty impressed by the way the girl and her family handled the entire matter. I don’t know whether to term this incident as an evidence of empowerment or exploitation of women. Maybe my readers will help me arrive at a suitable conclusion.

Let me present some facts of the case according to what I read in the original news report. Apparently the girl willingly married her 80-year-old relative (father’s cousin) a year ago. In the bargain the girl’s father received a dowry of $22,000, a small fortune I must say. A year later she decides that she doesn’t want to remain married to a man old enough to be her great-grandfather and approaches a human rights group to files for a divorce.

The state-run human rights agency takes up her case and privately settles her divorce case. At the end of a year the girl is $22,000 richer and FREE. The news report doesn’t comment about whether the dowry amount was returned or not. I guess it was not, because if it were to have changed hands the girl and her family would have screamed from the top of the tallest building in Saudi Arabia.

She can now go to school, probably emigrate to the US where she will be welcomed because she fought against the oppressive patriarchal society in Saudi Arabia, find a young boyfriend, get married and settle down. She could simultaneously invest the $22,000 she got as dowry last year and use it to pay for her college.

Fantastic idea indeed. She declared to the court that she married the 80-year-old man willingly, out of “filial respect to her father”.

This is where my dilemma comes from. I understand that what happened to the girl in question is totally unfair and the father and family of the girl who agreed to Sell for $22,000 to their aged relative are completely at fault. At the same time I can’t help but marvel at the smartness of the girl who managed her family and get rid of her husband and still be $22,000 richer. Alternatively I wonder whether the father of the girl conspired with his family and manipulated the young girl’s feelings and made her do and say things she did and said.

If it were the first instance then the 80-yr-old man tried to exploit the girl’s family and got exploited in return... kinda tit for tat. If it were the second case where the girl handled the case by her own smartness, then I must say there will be lots of changes in Saudi Society in the decades to come. If it is the third case where the father orchestrated the entire incident, then I would say this is no different from any other oppressive, and exploitative incident against women in such societies.

I’d be interested to know your opinions on this subject.

Women Power in America!!!

I have been reading the Dallas Morning News off and on. Recently a news item caught my attention and when I was about to forget all about it and move on I read a follow-up column by one of their women columnists. The column titled "The pinch heard 'round Flower Mound the least of city's worries" is a well written piece of literature and conveniently takes the focus off the main issue in question. This article also highlights how women get away Scot free even when they are guilty of a serious crime such as "Sexual Harassment". Simply because the subject of harassment was a male and didn't file the complaint... probably fearing humiliation and backlash.

Anyway let us me first relate what happened as per the several news items I read. This is a fairly old incident, one that happened about five months ago. During a city function two FEMALE city officials as high ranking as the Mayor and a city council member, sneaked up behind a MALE police officer and simultaneously pinched his behind. The poor police officer squirmed in his position in surprise and the ladies just giggled away to glory watching his predicament. The police chief who saw his staff member's harassment filed a case of sexual harassment in the court against the women.

What happened after that is interesting, the court commissioned an independent investigation and considered the CCTV camera footage of the incident and concluded that the incident was NOT sexual harassment but some innocent fun. The court promptly acquitted the culprits and told disciplined the police chief. Since then there has been report after report defending the two women and now this women columnist completely brushes aside the incident and talks about how mineral rights, oil drilling, and other issues have divided the city of Flower Mound, Texas and the said incident was just an excuse for two warring factions to fight.

Well that may well be the case, I wouldn't doubt the bigger money game and politics playing in the matter. But what I would like to point out in this case is that the women have not been disciplined suitably.

Let us consider a similar scenario involving men. Supposing it were two men, instead of the women, both high ranking city officials, who had pinched the bottom of a female police officer purely out of jest, without any sexual intent. What would be the result? Would the feminists, women and human rights activists remained quiet? There would have been an uproar and the men would have been put behind bars immediately and the investigation/ hearings and trail would have been conducted later. This would have also conclusively killed the political careers of the two men concerned, while the female police officer would have been hailed as a heroine.

Now why this discrimination between sexes? Is this because men are mostly silent sufferers in crimes of this sort? Or is this because women can get away by flashing a giggle or a smile and expressing innocence?? I would really like to know????