Treasure Trove of Life

Most of the people I call these days either begin the conversation asking "Is there a good news ?/When are you getting hitched ?" or the conversation after exchanging pleasantries converges to this. Even the regular taxpayers visiting my office started offering free advice saying it's "the age" to get married. After a long period of inauspicious days, I decided to start with the process, given its complexity and the time it can take. I've seen a meme or something on the internet that said "Arranged marriage is like Tinder but the main difference is that our parents do the swiping." It was on a Wednesday that I was told about the meeting. The girl's father was informed over phone that we would like to meet and he agreed to do it on the coming Saturday. The venue and time were to be decided later and informed. There was no phone call till Friday evening. I was hoping that I don't have to take a two hour bus ride in the summer heat to a

It's been quite long since I had gone on a solo trip. Firstly, the scorching heat during summer prevented me from going anywhere and then a wedding at the fag end of the summer, relatives visiting me for a week and a transfer kept me occupied. I usually plan a trip during August every year around the Independence Day and most commonly coinciding with some festival. The plan for an annual reunion didn't attain fruition as my friends had other engagements. So, I decided to take a week off and go on a trip to the Hoysala Temples and Hampi.  I had to exclude Hampi which was inundated, from the itinerary.   The plan was impromptu because of the floods in Karnataka and the rivers flowing in full spate. I started on a Saturday morning from Coimbatore and 2 hours into the journey, there happened to be a roadblock.  I reached Chamarajanagara after almost 6 and half hours and immediately went off to Somanathapura.  The Chennakesava temple at Somanathapura is a Hoysala temple bu