2010: The year that was in my life!!

Its that time of the year when you need to get a new diary, feel guilty about last year's resolutions that you didn't keep up, when  you have to reflect upon what you have done for the past 365.25 days (2010 is not a leap year nerdy idiots) - The good, The bad, The highs, The Lows and The Everything that happened last year.

I saw lot of my friends sum up their experiences of past one year in a single facebook status messages, but can't blame them though. This is the age of twitter where you are supposed to convey everything within 144 characters. But being the Aako i am i could not restrict myself with a solitary status message in facebook instead i reentered the blog world after many months.

So what happened to Aako Shiva in 2010?

Like everyone else i also had a roller coaster ride, there were some highs, some lows, some enjoyments, some disappointments, some happy moments and some not so happy moments.

Naa. Muthukumar's Kavithai :: காதலித்துக் கெட்டுப்போ:

I read this Kavithai in Ananda Vikadan way back in 2002. Had to share with a friend now and since most of the social networking sites have word limit for the updates i am posting it here.

This one inspired me to write some kirukkal kavithaigal on my own... so this kavithai is always close to my heart :P

Rediscovering RajaRajeshwaram - The Great Temple of Thanjavur!!

Rediscovering RajaRajeshwaram:

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For someone who fought with his grandmother and vowed never to set foot in temples again for all the stupid superstitious rituals associated with it, I have come really a long way. I don't know exactly when the fascination for Thanjai Periya Kovil started for me. I think it was after i finished reading “Ponniyin Selvan” novel. Ponniyin Selvan changed me completely.... it made me to explore the Tanjore temple and trasnformed me as someone who has interests in historical temples, sculptures,architecture and their heritage.

Thoughts about making the documentary film: 
 

I have been planning to make a documentary film on thanjavur periya kovil for a long. time I wanted to make the film so as to bring out the architectural finesse of the 1000 year old temple in a video so that it reaches a wider audience. The idea is to make the viewers aware of all the unique features of the various structures, scriptures and statues of the tanjore temple and make them appreciate the rich Tamil history of the Cholan era. 2010 is the 1000th year since the temple was constructed. So I discussed with my friends who are part of 3ifactory design studio – Sreejith and Vishwaant and they readily agreed to make the documentary film. I have seen few documentaries which includes Thanjai Periya kovil like the one from BBC - Michael Wood's "The Story of India" - Part4 (Ages of Gold) (video link) and NGC's "The Lost temples of South East Asia" (video link).Though they were visually spectacular there were lot of errors with respect to the history of the temple and they didn't cover the Periya kovil in its entirety.

RajaRajeshwaram – the movie: 
 

Shivz Photography: First photograph that got Published!!

          The Hindu Nxg had a photo contest called "Framed" and had invited photographs about Chennai as part of their Chennai Day celebrations. I sent some pics that i had taken and one of my photograph got published. This is the first time that one of my photograph got published in a newspaper and i would like to share this with all of you. Thanks a lot for all your support and i hope i can entertain you with my photographs!!

Original Picture:

The link to Hindu Nxg - http://www.go-nxg.com/?p=8458

The link to Hindu Site - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article579157.ece

Aako Travel :: Trip to Topslip (Pollachi), Valparai and Athirappally falls!!

        The idea of traveling is to explore new places and to learn new things along the way, and we all learnt a lot of things during our trip to Topslip and Valparai. I would like to share the experience with you so that you can go better prepared. Planning for this trip started few months back… First we booked train tickets to and from Coimbatore junction. Then we checked out Valparai tourist sites and booked tempo traveler for the entire trip and a cottage to stay in Valparai.

 

Day 0 (15th July 2010) :: Central Station:

 

         After lots of confusion and last minute drop outs 14 of us were supposed to board the Nilagiri Express in central station exactly @ 21:00. The train started exactly @ 21:05 and only 12 of us boarded the train. Our friend Prabhu was near the train’s engine and Super Hero Satish was near the parking lot. After lots of frantic calls we found out that Prabhu got into the “Ladies Compartment” and Satish into the “AC Coach”. After few hours they joined us when the train stopped in Arakkonam junction.

Day 1 (16th July 2010) :: Pollachi, Parambikulam and Topslip:

       Time - 05:00 AM. A cool breeze announced that we had arrived in Coimbatore junction. Had breakfast in Coimbatore and proceeded towards Pollachi. We stopped at a place called Ambaram-palayamPollachi to get permission letters to stay in top slip. The office of the Forest department opened only at 10 and we got permission to enter Top slip and also got a dormitory where 16 people can stay for Rs.1300. Only forest guest houses are available in top slip so contact “Department of Forestry in Pollachi (Wildlife Warden Office, 178 Meenkarai Road, Pollachi, Ph: 04259-225356)” for accommodation. Tree Top houses, Dormitories and other cottages are available at affordable rates...