being away for 10 days on a long promised holiday, i defn missed PSVP.
though i did make use of this 10 days in trying to bring more treasures on the net. My sch was as below:
Thursday night - landed chennai
Friday
morning - Quick dash to mallai for a 45 min shoot on some special posts based on expert advise of master sculptor.
noon - spent couple of hours with Dr Nagaswamy sir, when he invited me for his talk
evening - attended the talk and managed to meet Narasiah sir as well. Got introduced to film actor Naseer, Dance mastero Padma Subramaniam, Veenai mastero Kannan.
Saturday
A select group of friends left at 6.00 am on a tour to cover Mahendra pallava caves around chennai - We targeted 4 but could do only 3. we visited Seeyamangalam, Dalavanur and Mandapattu ( vallam and kurangu anil muttam were also on the list but couldnt make as we had to reach chennai in time to send of a friend who was leaving for a 6 month assignment to kuwait that night, but still made the trip) - a detailed series on these caves, pillars and door guardians will follow
Sunday morning - Left for delhi
Monday - by road to Jaipur - covering Amer fort, Jaipur city palaces, Jantar mantar, Hawa Mahal - stay in Jaipur
Tuesday - left for Agra, via fathehpur sikri, Agra fort, Taj, Mathura and back to delhi close to midnight
Wednesday - Visited National musuem of delhi, with its excellent collection of pallava and chola bronzes and stone sculptures. Visited ASI head office next door to buy some publications - but returned back mty handed, since they were painting the room and all books incl bill book were packed away !!!
Evening visited Akshardham temple - simply blow away - in 5 years, this amazing work - the sculptures were remarkable on the sandstone but the main structure in white marble leaves you stunned
Midnight left for Haridwar and Rishikesh
Thursday : visited swami sivananda ashrams and a few more - pristine view of ram jhoola and lakshman joola - bridges across the ganges - took a boat ride across her, enjoying her amazing cool waters - went up to mansadevi and ganga snanam - picking a few bottles of her - a lah Rajendra - but not so triumphant. as the food was real bad and my son was feeling the effects of packed schedule. returned to delhi that midnight
Friday - local sightseeing - India gate, Kutub minar ( hmm some interesting pillars and sculptures here), red fort etc etc
Sat we took time off to shop and return back..arrived past midnight, rushed son for a few shots in the hospital and slept by 3.
Sunday morning - woke up at 6.30 to keep appointment with chandra at REACH inscription reading course ( unfortunately missed chandra) - but met epigrapy expert Mr Ramachandran and Dancer Swarnamalaya. Wished all students best and asked them to support.
8.45 -thanks to Prof Swaminathan's invitation, attended talk on bronzes of south india by Dr V.N. Srinivasa Desikan at TAG centre.
Evening had darshan of Nanganallur Anganeyar before boarding flight back to singapore.
hectic but very satisfying 10 days - except for not getting the ASI books. Thanks to all friends who helped me out and apologises to others, who i couldnt meet/ call.