Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Tirupati Part 11 - Prehistoric Life Park

I remember the first time I saw an advertisement for the Regional Science Centre at Tirupati; I was stunned that a temple town like Tirupati would have one! On second thoughts I realized that it was probably for the locals, an effect of all the development happening around. As I saw the ads more and more often on my recurring trips, I was curious, and eager to take a look, especially when I heard about their pre-historic section. This was one place I certainly wanted to take Samhith to, on this trip, sort of to compensate for all the temples I was dragging him to. As it turned out, the science centre happened to be very near the zoo, so we combined a visit to both.

We spent almost half the day at the zoo and were prepared to spend the rest of the day at the science centre. It had, after all, a huge indoor section which included a 3D screen, a science park outdoors, as well as the prehistoric section, which is what we were keen on!


Unfortunately, we were just leaving the Zoo when it started pouring, and as it turned out, we were the only visitors to the centre, which meant that the 3D show was off. That put us off going indoors. We did have umbrellas with us, and so we gave the science park a miss – it is exactly like the Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai, so we didn’t really miss anything – and headed over to the prehistoric section. Umbrellas in hand, we wove our way around all the exhibits and headed over to the end of the park where we could see a dinosaur towering over the other exhibits. Instead of wasting more words describing something which Samhith loved, and I am sure most kids will, too, let me take you on a tour through the entire pre-historic section.



This section begins with a display of prehistoric men, showing the evolution of humans. Here they are….


Samhith made an interesting observation on seeing this. He thinks the bust of the completely evolved human (the last one) resembles Voldemort!! For those of you who are wondering what I am talking about, Voldemort is the arch villain in the Harry Potter series….. Go, look up a pic of Voldemort on the net and tell me what you think!!

After a section on Neanderthals, the rest of the museum has models of prehistoric creatures of all kinds… Samhith absolutely loved them, and we spent more than an hour in the pouring rain, walking along and trying to guess which animal would have evolved from which one!!































By the time we were through, we were just too tired, and had no choice but to return. However, there is much left to see in the centre, and maybe we shall return again sometime!

Information:

Regional Science Centre is about 10 Km from Tirupati Railway Station. Buses ply from the station to the science centre at regular intervals. An auto charges Rs. 200 for a trip to and fro.

Comments

  1. A sure and interesting place for children.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely pics and about the Voldemort, what an observation!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanking you once more for sharing these informations

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Bro
    Your Blog is So nice and great and he gives us a good information...
    Thanks Again.
    Flexi Tours Pvt/LtdHotels in Khajuraho

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, Bro
    Your Blog is So nice and great and he gives us a good information...
    Thanks Again.
    Flexi Tours Pvt/LtdHotels in Khajuraho

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks like a great place...
    Have you visited the science centre in Kolkata, its huge and very beautiful with different sections with live models...
    I will visit this the next time I am there!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Chitra: It sure is an interesting place.. for kids as well as us... makes a nice change from all the temples :)

    @Mridula: he is obsessed with the Harry Potter movies right now, so everything he sees gets connected to one of the characters...

    @Aswathi Babu: Its a pleasure to share all about these places...

    @Flexi Tours: thank you!

    @Arti: Never been to Kolkata! but the Bombay one is great too...and the delhi one is huge... visited it as a kid!

    @Aravind: It is! u should go sometime!

    @

    ReplyDelete
  8. Excellent coverage of a science park of Regional Science Centre, Tirupati. I appreciate the flow and coverage like a story. Gudos.
    Mani

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie