Travel In Home: villages

Showing posts with label villages. Show all posts

Villas in Villages

Every time I go past rural India, I stop by at the village houses. They are simple, functional and have a charm of their own. I know I will find it difficult to adjust to the houses, but I cant stop admiring them. Tell me which one would you like to own.

I have not had too much time to blog or follow posts for the last couple of weeks, but I have been busy with some friends who were visiting. Ive also been tied up with a couple of projects in the travel space and will be sharing them with you guys by the end of this month

Not much of travel and travel writing has happenned either, except that Paramount Airlines published my story on Ashtamudi in their in flight magazine , Windows and Aisles, while my column in the Inside Story in Metro Plus last week was about Darasuram, a Chola town of the 12th century.

by Jour ~ Friday, May 15, 2009 0 comments

India through my eyes - Its Red hot !

Rustic India is indeed colourful and its not just greens and browns that we are talking about.Its red hot too..Chilli and Andhra Pradesh are quite synonymous..they say Telugu food is quite spicy too. I was crossing the Andhra -Karnataka border near Mantralaya when we stopped by this fiery colour. I think India is red hot ! what do you think ?

This is My World for now..To view different parts of the world please click here

by Jour ~ Monday, April 20, 2009 0 comments

Images of India - On a hot summer day

Of late Ive been driving into rural India more often than once. Almost every trip has taken me into this rustic world where villages and small towns seem to beckon me. This has probably been so over the last six months and probably barring Chennai and Hyderabad, I havent been to a city . I just returned from a weekend trip only to become a casualty to Bangalore's pollution, heat and dust. Maybe thats why Im advocating a holiday to a pollution free world

In a way, I seem to be more inclined towards villages than small towns. I believe rural tourism has great potential - not just portraying the stereotypes or "real India" as the guide books say, but a connect back to the simpler,more basic way of life . What do you think ?

by Jour ~ Wednesday, March 18, 2009 0 comments

India through my eyes - The grass is green on the other side

Women working in the paddy fields in Thanjavur, called the Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu . Situated on the deltaic region of the River Cauvery also known as Ponni in Tamil Nadu, it is believed that every inch of soil here is equal to an ounce of gold. Pon in Tamil means gold and Cauvery is called so as the river yields "pon" or gold in the form of paddy.

Paddy cultivation happens across four seasons and the crops are short term or long term as described below. The first is called Kuruvai - the short term crop from June to November, the second Thaladi which is from November to March, the third is the most important season , Samba which is the long term crop . This is usually sown from August and is harvested between January and March and it constitutes more than 60 % of the total paddy cultivated here. The final season is summer which is from December to April.Besides paddy, pulses, gingelly, sugarcane , coconuts and groundnuts are cultivated here.

by Jour ~ Wednesday, August 6, 2008 0 comments

Ayyannar - The Guardian God of South India

In the pantheon of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, are the guardian Gods who serve as protectors. They protect villages and are called "grama devatas" or " Kaval deivam " in Tamil. In Tamil Nadu, the guardian god is portrayed as a mustachioed male and is called Ayyannar.

During my recent visit to interior Tamil Nadu, I passed many road side shrines of fierce male deities with idols of horses and elephants placed around. In ancient days, villagers worshipped Veerakal or hero stones which were erected in the memory of fallen soldiers. These later became cult shrines . Ayyannar is often referred to as a vira or a brave one who rides horses, brandishes a trident and fights demons and protects the villagers. His associate is Karuppusamy who rides a tiger .

As you drive down rural Tamil Nadu, you will find their shrines placed at the frontiers of villages and the deity is seen riding a horse. Sometimes, horses and elephants stand close to a tall colourful statue of the deity. The horses and elephants are the vehicles of Ayyannar when he goes on his rounds around the village.

In some villages, the deities are small and are placed below trees or near the open fields.Weapons such as swords, spears, tridents or lances are also placed at the shrine.

The Ayyanar is said to protect the village from the malevolent forest spirits and he punishes the guilty.Most officiating priests are not from the Brahmin caste and are from a local lineage that had initiated the cult generations ago. It is said that they hail from the community of potters .As in a cult practise, animal sacrifices especially chicken and goat are offered to please the Gods.

by Jour ~ Saturday, August 2, 2008 0 comments

India through my eyes - the colours of sanctity

Women segregating the red and yellow turmeric inside the temple at Patteeswaram near Kumbakonam town in Tamil Nadu .

by Jour ~ Thursday, July 31, 2008 0 comments

India through my eyes - A sneak preview

A window opens out to give me a glimpse of life in Arekere,a small village which is hardly 5 kms from Javagal . This is the main street that ends in the Hoysala temple there. The doors to this house were closed though .

I will be posting a picture or two every week which will be titled the same as above..It is mainly a perspective of rural India and the people Ive met in many of my travels..most pictures like these do not carry any text..I do hope you will appreciate the beauty of real India, the way I see it.
Ravi Kashyap , a gentleman from the US commented a couple of days ago (after almost a year) that the house belongs to his ancestors and was built in 1680.This is what he said in his comment which Ive published below.

"This is our ancestor home, was built around 1680's by my great great great grand father (Shanboug Rammanna, also know as saraf Ramanna), my relatives lived in this house till 1970's .

Most of our relatives have migrated to UK & USA and thus the state of the house, recently last month (aug 2009) we visited this place and have plans to renovate the house to maintain & keep the heritage."

by Jour ~ Thursday, July 24, 2008 0 comments

The coffee children

Kids at a drying yard of a coffee plantation near Bekodu, a village near Belur and Hassan in Karnataka.

by Jour ~ Sunday, July 13, 2008 0 comments

A local market or Sandai

In villages, the word Sandai stands for a local market which opens probably once a week and the entire village gathers . The local fares are all sold here , from cattle to vegetables and all the local produce . Its full of life, colourful and vibrant.It is an important day for the entire village, not only does it display their bargaining powers, but the entire village gets together on that day.

We were in Javagal on a Sunday morning when the Sandai was in full progress. Well, all sandais do not take place on a Sunday , it could be on a regular weekday as well,as we found out at Haranahalli, another hamlet where there is a Hoysala temple .

In smaller hamlets the wares are usually restricted to vegetables , cereals and local produce and cattle, but larger towns sell virtually anything from bangles to clothes.
I was told by my uncle that this was market was popularly referred to by the British as "shanty " and sometimes the market opens out in the evenings.

Besides the local wares, one can see nomadic skilled and unskilled craftsman walking from village to another. They mostly are like cobblers, or they sharpen knives, repair household items and even polish your old vessels. You may catch a few of them in some old localities in small towns and cities even today. When I was a child, Ive seen them and their particular cry is very distinct as they advertise their services and go from door to door advertising them. This is a tribe which is fast diminishing today.

by Jour ~ Thursday, July 10, 2008 0 comments

Post card from Coorg

One of my favourite pictures from my Coorg album. The roads are like this - empty, quiet and serene. The lone busstand looks pictureque,except that I hardly see buses or people waiting for buses. Sometimes roads like these lead to coffee plantations or open fields

by Jour ~ Sunday, June 29, 2008 0 comments

And back on the trail

A sudden assignment took me to Javagal in Hassan district and thereafter to Coorg yet again and I am now back, finished with the article and the pictures..We are working on a special on homestays and discussing the merits of homestays wrt resorts. While I do think both offer unique experiences , I prefer a homestay for the local connect and the personalised service and the fact we get an opportunity to meet some great people ..

So..what do you all think ? Do let me know..In the meanwhile here is a glimpse of rural Karnataka and the Coorg trail resumes in the next post

by Jour ~ Thursday, June 26, 2008 0 comments

The Hoysala trail - 20 villages in 3 days

Thats right..Ive been on the Hoysala trail in interior Karnataka , visiting about 20 villages and 30 temples - some in ruins such as the one here , which is in a small hamlet called Angadi where the Hoysala Dynasty actually began..One of my best trips ever this year, I must thank my cousin Lalitha and my uncle Muralippa for actually taking me there..

by Jour ~ Wednesday, May 7, 2008 0 comments

Enroute on the Hoysala Trail

The journey down the Hoysala trail has some interesting vignettes and its not always temples and sculptures that make pretty images..I saw several groups of nomads moving with their bag and baggages, their people and pets..and this little group with a pampered pup caught my attention ..

The pup turned its face the moment it saw the camera..but finally I managed to get a couple of shots as the car whizzed past..they may not be great compositions, but beautiful moments ..I wonder where their journey takes them ..

by Jour ~ Tuesday, February 5, 2008 0 comments

Indian countryside

There is nothing more beautiful in the world than Indian countryside . Sharath and I discovered this on our anniversary when we decided to become vagabonds for a day and give in to our wanderlust

So we drove around karnataka,without a destination in our minds ,running past fields and plantations, stopping by woods and lakes , and pausing by to take a moment around small hillocks to see what we are missing in life ....