Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara

Yesterday I visited the Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara (or Gokarnatheshwara) temple. And now I am angry with myself for not going there earlier in my more than two years in Mangalore! It is a wonderful temple. And during Navratri it is decked up with light & flowers to create a stunning view.

It covers a significant area & significant number of gods :), but is primarily a temple of Gokarnanatha i.e. Shiva. As you enter, the first part you enter is the Shiva temple. It's a grand temple with lot of gold plated surface, lot of lights, lot of flowers, and obviously lot of crowd. I don't know whether it is because of navratri or it is always so.

There is a 'Kalyana Mantapa' to its right where they have put up wonderful statues of different forms of the goddess (Durga, Kali, Gowri, and so on .. ). This obviously is a Navratri special. In addition the place is decorated with paper flowers in a very aesthetic manner. Then there are small temples of various other gods - Ganesha, Krishna, to name a few. Each is decorated very well with gold or silver ornaments or flowers or a combination of these.

To the left of the main temple we have a fountain. Apparently they have a musical fountain show from 6 to 8 pm but I reached a bit late and missed that :(.At other times also the fountain is on, and its very nice to watch with colored lights. I am partially color blind, so if I think it looks good, you might find it even better. On one side of the fountain we have very nice artwork in form of animals depicting some event in mythology. We have a hanuman temple near the entrance and another sculpture opposite to it which I could not really comprehend who it depicts.

Final word: If you happen to be in Mangalore during Navratri, do visit Kudroli. :) Happy Navratri !!

Special Olympics

Did you know that there is something called the Special Olymics? Maybe you do. Even if you did, did you know that it was held this year, in Shanghai? Even fewer people might know. Now, did you know that the Indian contingent won a whopping 150 medals - 36 gold, 44 sliver and 70 bronze!! I seriously doubt you knew.

This is amazing. As per the definition of the Special Olympics, these are people with 'intellectual disabilities'. And they go out to Shanghai to compete in Olympics and win more medals in one year than our best athletes (normal people) win in ages. I digged a bit more and found that India's all time haul of Olympic medals is a grand 17. Yes - 17 medals in 107 years. Isn't that a stunning difference?

Still I dont see any mention of this in the major news channels. Major newspapers reported this in a small column in a corner of the sports page. (I obviously didn't see all papers, so don't blame me if it did appear in one!!). Why? Because WE are not bothered. And they will show us what WE want. They are here to make their money, isn't it? The Times of India had a page-full of coverage on the India-Australia cricket series. I am a cricket fan, & a pretty crazy one at that. Still this somehow hit me. This story deserved to be on the front page.

This is part of a bigger problem. Media today is more and more concentrating on stuff which everyone WANTS to see, instead of what everyone SHOULD be seeing. The same happens to other sports when compared to cricket. The same happens to important political and social happenings compared to dumb stories about personal lives of politicos and movie stars. The same happens to soldiers dying in conflict as compared to some wacko going on a hunger strike for an illogical demand. Imagine, even 'Indian Idol' results are in the news!! This is outright stupid!

Everytime I see this I feel something is wrong. But the Special Olympics was a big one. I dont know why it went un-noticed. Kudos to the athletes who achieved magnificent success in Shanghai. Hope they and their kind continue to excel in whatever they do. Because they deserve it ...

Heyy Jonny

After tring since 3-4 days, I finally saw Johnny Gaddaar yesterday. Please note, I DO NOT intend to write a review, simply writing about it because i liked it !!

It seems straight from a Chase novel, but is executed very well. Hats off to Sriram Raghavan for a very good job. Quiet a few times you feel you can predict what happens next - but lot of times you are proved wrong. The story is gripping and keeps you hooked till the very end.

The movie has great casting. The actors picked for almost each role are perfect. Niel Mukesh as Johnny in his debut movie is wonderful. I don't know how well he can keep up this show. But he's a refreshing new actor, reminded me of Hrithik in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai.

Dharmendra & Vinay Pathak deserve a special mention for an excellent portrayal of their roles. I did not think Vinay Pathak will ever come out of the 'Bheja Fry' mode, but he surprised me. Dharmendra is still going strong, in a role which is tailor made for him. I do not know the name of the guy who played Shardul, but he also put in a wonderful performance.

The title sequence is very innovative, reminding us of movies in the 70s. Thrillers were forgotten for some time but this movie has rejuvenated the genre. I hope we will see more of these. Especially in an age when there is no time to read an entire novel ;).

I am in a hurry, so I will stop here. Last word: Its a must watch. Enjoy :)