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Royapuram–Chennai Heritage Walk
Following last year’s Chennai Heritage Walk on Old Madras Fort Wall by Mr.Sriram V, this year too I registered. Today the walk was on Royapuram area. I have crossed Royapuram area but never really seen the places there. After reading about Royapuram Railyway station being one of Indian subcontinent’s oldest surviving station I have been wanting to see it. In today’s tour, as usual Sriram started on time at 6:10AM and we all boarded into vans which took us first to Royapuram Railway station. The railway station which is a significant historic monument is in deep neglected state and is in the risk of being demolished by Southern Railways (the…
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Beautiful floor tiles in Central Market, Kuala Lumpur
I have noticed that countries with Islamic cultural influences tend to have beautiful patterns on their floor tiles. You can see these tiles not only in palaces or star hotels but in common pedestrian settings as well – in roads, malls, museums & pavements. Today while in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) I went to Central Market for some window shopping, I ended up buying a Batik shirt, but that is, for a different post. There are two levels in Central Market, where you get many art and craft items. While climbing the stairs (there are at least 4 of them at each side) to the second level, I noticed beautiful designs…
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My House renovation
The independent house I live in Mambalam area of Chennai is over 28 years old. The last time we did painting & repair was before my marriage and that was a decade ago. In the last few years the interiors have started to show its wrinkles and age. The most scary part when we thought of getting the house painted or repaired was the packing. Since we have lived in the same house for over two decades, we have accumulated lot of useful/useless stuff – definitely lot more than what we would have if we were in an apartment. After many months of thinking about doing something, we decided we…
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Trip to Pondicherry
Last week my son had the whole week off from Tuesday through Friday for his school annual day. My work in the office was relatively light, so I decided to take him (of course along with my wife :-)) for a tiny-vacation. We had been to almost all resorts in Mamallapuram near Chennai, so we decided to go to Pondicherry. Though I have travelled through Pondy numerous times (on the way to Cuddalore or further south) and been to few places there, I haven’t stayed and seen Pondy in its entirety, that way it was an ideal choice. From Chennai, Pondy is only 3 Hours drive – you have two…
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Mysore Palace and its splendour
Finally, I found some time to start writing and posting the photos of my recent Mysore and Coorg trip. On our way back from Coorg, we made a stop-over in Mysore. I didn’t miss the chance to go again to Mysore Palace, this time in the broad day-light. After buying a Rs.15 ticket you are allowed inside the palace. Cameras and Footwear (Shoes/Chappals) are not allowed; both have to be deposited in respective booths. Cameras for the reason the flashlights will damage the delicate handmade paintings. Footwear to be left outside as there is a Lord. Ganesha’s temple with poojas performed every day inside the palace. This follows the Indian…
