A visit to the world's tallest monolith

Sravanabelagola is quite a mouthful. In more ways than one, as my pictures will reveal. This quiet little town is home to the famous statue of Lord Gomateshwara, of the Jain religion. This statue is 18 metres high, and has been standing right here in Karnataka all this while - but I only discovered it on Monday. It is carved all out of one piece of rock and is the world's tallest monolith.


Needless to say, I could not resist using the zoom lens.

It took several hours to drive out here from Bangalore, but that's just the start of the journey. After arriving at the temple, there's still the small matter of climbing 1000 steps - great big granite steps in the side of a mountain. It is not as easy as it sounds, and I recommend warm-up exercises - my legs were in agony for the next three days. But it was well worth the climb, to finally find the statue towering over everything. (The railings you see in the picture below is a modern addition to help us unfit 21st centurians to stagger up those steps - and that picture was taken only about a third of the way up!) It really was a wonderful experience to add to my life.

My neighbourhood

A friend sent me this link to a site full of pictures of the part of town I live in. Just thought I would share it with you so you can see what it's like here! Or what it used to be like, at any rate.

Click here to visit!

You may want to turn down your speakers a bit, because there's some odd trumpety music that comes up and it doesn't seem to have a Mute button!

VOTE FOR ANGINA

Driving down CMH Road this evening, I saw this mysterious message spray-painted on a wall. I have no idea what it means. Do any of you?

As far as I know, here in Bangalooraloo we have no politicians named Angina. Do any go by the nickname"Angie"? Is there a Nagina out there with a dyslexic supporter? Oh! Maybe we have an A.N. Gina?

Could it be an acronym? For example:
Anti Nicotine Group of Intensely Neurotic Activists.
All Nonsense Graffiti for Indian Nicotine Addicts.
Asian Non-Governmental Institute for Nagging Aches.

Perhaps there is a heart patient out there in Indiranagar, who, having experienced the horrors of cardiac arrest, decided that angina was a lesser evil.

Maybe it is a warning. From someone who has spent agonising hours, days or months, trying to figure out why their name is not on the Voter's List. Someone who wants us to know just how stressful the desire to vote can be. Someone who left out a comma. Maybe the message is supposed to read "Vote, for angina."