Time To Go (Cont)

Some argue that if all the three are pushed out of the team now itself at a time, India will become new West Indies losing even to Zimbabwe. They argue that Indian spectators may also lose interest in the sport if crowd pullers like these dont play, especially in the longer format. And this is especially bad when there is a perception that test format is fast losing popularity.

These are very much true. No one can attain the crowd pulling capacity of Sachin, and it takes time for the youngsters to reach the level of Dravid, Laxman. So only way out is Laxman should go first, Dravid second, Sachin third, all three with in one or one-and-half years.

If I am not wrong, India's next foreign tour will be in next year. That should be good news for old-timers if they are planning to retire on a high by scoring tons on flat tracks. That should be bad news for Indian cricket if they plan to stick around by scoring heavily on flat tracks.

Young guns should be given opportunities to play on these flat tracks and build confidence that they too can score. Meanwhile BCCI should prepare bowling pitches in at the least 2 regular test stadiums so that these perfect their technique. By the next overseas test tour, they should at the least be able to put up decent performances if not match winning ones. Even if we get defeated we can at least say that we are building our teams!!!

Time To Go

VVS Laxman is 37 years old. Rahul Dravid is in his 39, Sachin Tendulkar is going to 39 in a few days. Tendulkar has been playing for India for 22 years, Dravid and Laxman for 15 years. How many more years do they want to play when the youngsters are waiting for their chances is the question everyone is thinking of.

The purpose of continuing them in the team till now is they can act as backbone to the batting lineup in longer format of the game which requires good technique suitable for all pitches. Which in the opinion of many, is lacking in the possible young replacements like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Chateswar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, etc. Until these youngsters perfect their technique, these old-timers are to act as fillers.

But they are not doing justice to their assigned roles. Two back-to-back white-wash overseas series are the testimony to that. Tendulkar is better off among them but that is not enough for a man named Tendulkar!!!

Laxman is on the top of the stack of the players waiting to be pushed out of the team. He played an astounding innings of 96 in South Africa in 2010 but after that he isn't able to perform on pitches abroad. No doubt he scored 3 half centuries in West Indies in mid 2011, one or two on tough pitches in that, but that was a depleted West Indies bowling attack. He scored a century on the same West Indies team in India on a flat pitch which doesn't add to his achievements. His England tour and Australian tours are disasters.

Dravid has been fantastic in England series. He rediscovered his form and class when everybody wrote him down. His batting display was the only saving grace in the India's disaster tour of England. Such was his form that he was taken into ODI team against England after some years. He continued his form even on West Indies in India. But his Australia tour didn't go well. He was bowled 6 times in 8 innings!!! If this is any clue, his time has come.

Everyone is waiting for Sachin's 100th century since mid-2011. He was unlucky to miss his century a few times. He got out in 90s, 80s, 70s on England, Australia, West Indies. He got good starts in England in 2nd innings of 3 matches but wasn't able to capitalize on that. He wasn't helped by any on the other end of the pitch in building a partnership. He played well in Australia too in first 2 matches. He was aggressive and hitting the ball well. Among the three, he is the only one who can continue in the team on the basis of merit. But even he should retire after completing his 100th century for every fan's sake. I just hope he wont take another 1 or 2 years to get that. Hopefully he gets it in the current ODI series against Australia. 

Tadipatri Temples (cont)

Chintala Venkata Ramana temple is located near Bugga temple, nearly quarter kilometer away.

This temple is also built by Gandikota Nayaks just like Bugga temple. But I dont know who exactly built them. There are some inscriptions but I couldnt read them. :-)

The temple and gopurams are rebuilt just like Bugga temple. And just like the rebuilt parts in the Bugga temple, these also look awkward (but to a lesser extent) over the beautiful lower structures of the temple which are still remaining.

The sculpture is as exquisite as the Bugga temple. There is not a square-inch of area remaining empty. Ramayana tale is carved over the walls.

But what caught my attention was the rock chariot which reminded me the famous rock chariot in Hampi. This one is not that beautiful but very nice.

I was thoroughly disappointed because of the lack of services of guides to guide us at both these temples. May be that is because these temples are living temples and not very famous outside my district. Archaeological department, tourism department should have at least placed description boards for our convenience but not even one such board is present at Chintala temple. Only two such boards are present at Bugga temple. Because of this I couldnt even know who built the Chintala temple.

Worst thing is we dont find much material on these temples even on the web. Concerned authorities should wake up atleast now and start publicizing the temples by publishing online material in their websites. Guide services needs to be provided  to all the visitors. Conservation efforts should be taken up to preserve this heritage which we should feel so proud of.

On the whole, Tadipatri temples are wonderful, I had a pleasant experience.

(I will write more on the architecture of these temples when time permits)

Tadipatri Temples

There is are some temples in Tadipatri, but two are famous and majestic. They are Bugga Ramalingeshwara temple and Chintala Venkata Ramana temple. Here are the photos of these temples.

Bugga Rama Lingeshwara temple

Chintala Venkata Ramana temple

My interest in these temples was kindled by a documentary aired on DD Saptagiri long back. Till then I didnt even know that such beautiful temples existed in my district. From then on I tried to visit these temples and finally last month I visited them.

Bugga temple is located on the banks of river Penna. This temple was constructed by Pemmasani Timma Naidu in 16th century. He was a general of Vijayanagara empire. Might be under Sri Krishna Devaraya, but I am not sure.

Gopurams are located on the north and south side of the temple. One gopuram is left incomplete, I dont know why. The other gopuram which is the entrance is rebuilt over the remains centuries later as the original gopuram collapsed because of earthquake. (I am not sure about the earthquake thing). This rebuilt part looks awkward. The beauty of the remains of the original gopuram makes the rebuilt part look more awkward.

Some pillars in a hall in front of the main temple are tilting and most probably they will collapse in the near feature. Already some of the famous temples in AP collapsed like the gopuram of the Kalahastishwara temple and a temple in Guntur district. Archaeological department needs to take proper care of the temple.

The sculpture is exquisite and intricate all carved in black stone. One of the best I have ever seen.

River Penna water seeps into the temple, and somehow drops of that water springs out of the linga in the garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum), possibly due to capillary action. Note that the point on the linga where the water comes out is 2 meters above the river flow.

Belum Caves

Belum Caves photos

Here is the link to the wiki page on Belum Caves. Everything you need to know is given there.

Because of my laziness, I always postponed visiting all the famous places in my district or near my district. Finally last month, shrugging off my laziness I started to Tadipatri from where Belum Caves are 30 KM away. After 2 hours of journey, I reached there.

There is a bigggg statue of Buddha, made of I-dont-know-what, on the way to the caves from the entrance. That was nice.

Caves are not fully explored and developed. Developmental work was still going on. In total the length of the corridors currently accessible to the visitors is around 3 KM. That 3 KM is enough in my opinion. At first, caves appear to be nice. But after 5 minutes every thing becomes repetitive, every cave appears to be same as the other. Even guides start saying same things over and over, this only reinforces the feeling of repetitiveness.

Inside the caves, fresh air is pumped by motors through holes in the caves. But when we went there, there was power cut and so I felt suffocated for sometime. Even after the power returned it became difficult for me to stay, I was already suffering from headache. After I came out of the caves, I felt relaxed.

AP Tourism department provides the services of guides for free to everyone. Not many tourists came on that day. Guides were saying that per day on an average 250-300 visit the caves. On peak days (holidays) numbers may go up to 700-800 it seems. There is a restaurant near the caves run by AP Tourism department if I am not wrong.