The artist stands tall..

He stood there, at the intersection glowing under the light.. I have no idea who he is or why there is a statue for him out here in Hospet... No signboard, no plaque nothing...

This was a statue we passed by when walking towards the bus stand..  Shimmering under the light, this person was definitely an artist of some sort, maybe a poet.. but nobody knew of him...  I came back from the trip, and posted this on Instagram and a friend of mine solved the puzzle. She said he was 

"Saint Kanakadasa. A poet philosopher and an important person in the Bhakti movement of Karnataka.His compositions are famous and sung even today by leading Carnatic exponents."

Have you come across such mysterious things during your travels? Do share stories... 

• More on this saint

Riding the Metro... and the beautiful sunset

So, a few days ago I got a message "can you come to the airport?" .. I was both surprised and stumped, cos he had mentioned the chennai trip, but since I dint hear from him after that I wasnt sure if it was on or cancelled. Anyways, we went to and fro about how much time he had, the time it would take me to get to the airport etc.. and within 10mins, I was dressed and on the way to the Chennai Metro station.  Alternatively, I can take the emu as well, it is also within 5mins from home, but metro seemed a better option [esp cos with emu I have to get off at Tirusulam and cross the road etc] :)

I have 2 closeby home, within 5mins walk infact- Kilpauk and Pachaiyappas College. I opt for the latter cos it was just a straight stretch with no crossings or crazy traffic. Got to the station, picked up return ticket -Rs110 and was up on the platform #1 and in the train to the airport [which is the final stop]. The train was fairly empty, and the ride was smooth. In 35mins I was at the airport, in the shuttle headed to the departure area.

Once you get off the train, go downstairs and get on the elevator to the ground level. The shuttle operates from the ground floor near the metro station and drops you at the arrival area. From there you can take the elevator up to the departure area. And similarly, to head back to the metro station, go down to arrival area and  take the shuttle to the metro station. This is exactly what I did to and fro... And once again, back up to the platform#1, and on the train headed home... 

                                                  Here are a few clicks from the evening.... 

The route was Pachaiyappas college to Airport via Anna Nagar, Koyembedu, Ashok Nagar, Nanganallur road... 

[Spotted this while waiting at the station.. interesting contraption and concept]

Err umm these ads are all over the compartments... Fruits of the loom itseems.. hehehe

The ride back was good, but the train was packed, I had to move to the ladies compartment which was also packed within minutes... phew... Good to see people using this mode of transport so well! 

Travel tales - The Camel at Puri beach...

Decided to weave a story of a place/meet/incident from each of my journeys.... These two photographs were clicked at Puri Beach during my visit to Bhubaneswar in Jan.

This stretch of the beach was quite empty.. A man standing nearby told me this was almost like a private beach, used by only those who stayed at one of the properties around here. The beach seemed like an endless one, and was quite clean. There were a few visitors, some sitting in circles under a canopy. Near one such was where this camel was parked, yes I say parked cos there was an attendant standing nearby ready to pull down the ladder strapped to the camel and take whoever was interested on a stroll along the ocean. 

Within minutes a newly married couple from a group came forward, got on the camel and began clicking selfies before being whisked away for a short walk... And upon their return, the ladder was pulled out to the sand and they got down from the camel. 

They couldn't stop gushing about the ride, the fun and la la la... All the time I kept wondering about the poor camel.. What it was going through and how it probably yearned for nothing but freedom to run and frolic about, instead of having to listen to orders and be a circus monkey.... 

Skywatch Friday... Bhubaneshwar to Chennai I fly....

I love the window seat, and I make sure to grab it at every given opportunity. This time, while flying back from Bhubaneswar, I was allotted the aisle seating on the 2nd leg and well, I kept hoping praying none else would come and I could scoot over to the window. But lo behold, after a bit of juggling and people shifting about, since I was a lone traveller I got to move to the window seat.. Yabadabadooee 

And well, I had a blast clicking pictures, watching the plane do its magic the cities/clouds below pass by slowly...  Here are some shots and video in reverse order.... :-) 

For more beautiful skies, click here