Happy Ending To 2009 !!

dear friends

2009 is almost gone and the brand new 2010 is around the corner................

Inspite of the economic slow down, the price hike of essential commodities and the strong presence ( or should I say the deep routed..) of terrorism in our small beautiful 'Gods own country' , we all had an okay year... None of us wouldn't hv done exceptionally good in our chosen feilds... but it was not as bad as expected in the beginning of the year.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support and encouragements. Without which, I wouldn't have continued my blogging.

I sincerely hope you all will continue to support me with your valuable comments and suggestions...

May I wish all of you a very happy , peaceful and safe 2010!!!

Trivandrum Zoo...What a disappointment ?!!

It has been ages since I hv visited Trivandrum as a tourist. During this x-mas holidays we have visited Trivandrum mainly to take my 5 year old nephew to the Zoo. He is a great fan of geographical & Animal planet channels and he wanted to visit Zoo to see all his dream animals alive. But when we went inside ,all the excitement gone...infact it was a great disappointment ! There was nothing to see, not even Elephants, the animal we see almost in all parts of Kerala!

I remember visiting zoo years back when i was a school girl. We were so excited to see various types of birds , smakes, animals.. the monkies, jirafs , zeebras, lions,tigers etc etc. Each student had to submit a tour report with the animal/bird/reptile details and also had to make a seperate album with the leaves of various types of tress in that big campus. That visit to zoo really was an informative and exciting experience.

But on my recent visit I could only see very few animals a Zeebra, Hypo, Rhyno...thats it. There are lots of deers around. No special birds, yeah, hv seen 1 ostrich... Only thing I liked about the place is the cleanliness.. unlike before, the place was quite clean.

I sincerely hope the Govt / concerned departments take necessary steps to bring enough animals to the zoo and also to take care the place / animals well.

Is our tourism restricted only to ayurvedam and back waters ???!!!

THIRUPATHI - The lord of Lakshmi........

I have been to one of the most ancient and spectacular place of pilgrimage in India , The Tirupathi Temple, last week. It really was a wonderful experience . Lord Venkiteswara is supposed to be the richest God in the world !

Approximately 50 – 75 thousand pilgrims are visiting Sri Venketeswara Temple every day. The Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) maintains the place very well. Security measures are tight and good . The surroundings in and around the temple are unbelievably clean. TTD has organized efficient systems to ensure the , transportation, stay , food and smooth movement of the pilgrims. TTD generate the electricity required to run the township using wind mills and solar system. They do have 2 dams, Papavinasam and Kalyani , for meeting the water requirements. I also understand the flowers required for the Pooja is cultivated there itself.
The enchanting hills , the thick / dense forest and the cool air sooths your body and mind .The Tirumala Hill is 3200 ft above sea level, and is about 10.33 sq miles in area. It comprises seven peaks, Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrishabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The temple is located on the seventh peak, Venkatadri (Venkata Hill). TTD is protecting the forest very well. In addition to the main temple ,there are many other small temples located inside the forest on top of the hill. Taxi services, jeep/cars , are available at a moderate cost to visit these temples.

TTD has a beautifuly maintained Museum which is worth watching. There are art forms, photos, musical instruments, curios , weapons ,ornaments and many more to watch. I have seen a beautiful art piece, a picture of Lord Venkateswara made of ancient coins, donated by the cine actor Sri Mohanlal.

In short , the visit to Thirupathi was a refreshing experience. The fresh green forest, pollution free cool refreshing air , clean surroundings and the small water falls…the hill station is truly a nice place to visit.