Ghumakkad Turns Twelve!

Hurray 12th Birthday! Not mine, though I wish it was! Ghumakkad, your blog, completes 12 years.

Rooted in Nature, Ghumakkad would like to express our gratitude to you for continued readership and feedback. The picture below shot in Pichavaram Mangroves in Tamil Nadu last week, shows the mangroves up close. Like the roots of the mangroves, Ghumakkad's blog is rooted to each one of you who give us energy and encouragement. 

Last 12 months saw a phenomenal jump in the page views from 291,000 to 450,000! Wonder if we can expect similar growth this year! It is the magic created by the readers!

Last year we had shared a snapshot of our content and its variety. We are re-posting it to save our effort. We have added a list of posts most viewed in last 12 months. Read on.

The Journey

Ghumakkad started as a travel blog. Our inaugural story was a set of eight posts on picturesque Bhutan. Initially the blog was by invitation . Naturally it had very limited page views in the first three years. Once opened to public, more readers enjoyed browsing it. See the graph below which shows the current page views at 450,000 with more than 4660 comments. This is the 612nd Post of our blog.

As we mentioned, last 12 months had more than 160,000 page views. See the graph below.

The Content

Our blog has a variety of content with pictures. Some of the themes are listed below with links to connected stories:

• Travelogues like A Train journey in USA, Scuba diving at 65, Hiking up the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan, Toddler on a Hike

• Wildlife including The Big Five of Africa, Tigers of Tadoba, Birds of Ranganathittu, Rescuing a Black Winged Stilt

• Environment including Trees (White Jamun?, Neem Trees Under Attack), plants (Friendship With Plants), insects and flowers (Brahma Kamal)

• Online Contest called Kaun Banega Ghumakkad which has completed 80 editions so far!
• Lesser-known India series Hindola Toran, Devarakonda Fort and more

• Entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship stories like Dreams to Reality, Young Entrepreneurs Bootcamp, Startup Fever Grips VVISM

• Teaching and learning (Ghumakkad is a teacher!) including real-life case studies and Innovations in A Convocation

• Obituaries of leaders like Dr Abdul Kalam and martyrs like Capt Ravi Shankar

• Motivational posts specially during Covid

• Guest stories including those written by the children (Coyote Gulch Hiking in Stream), Covid survivors (I Got A New Life) and Animal Lovers like Rohini

• Picturesque Quotes having one of our pictures with a famous quote like Claude Monet on Nature and another one by a KBG winner.

• Adventure and Endurance like An Ironman in the Family, Women Hiking in Water

The Readership

Thanks to the wider reach of internet, our blog is read globally. Readers from India account for only 45%, balance coming from across the globe. See the colour coded world map below.

Most Viewed Posts (All time)

Capt Ravi Shankar's life story has been read more than 7690 times. We salute his supreme sacrifice

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Another story on 'Brahma Kamal The Queen of Night' has been read by more than 6810 readers. It shows the readers' interest in environment and Nature related posts.

Most viewed posts during the last 12 months are shown below. Once again, our readers showed their preference for Nature-related posts.

Acknowledgements

There are numerous people who have helped us grow. We place on record our appreciation to the following for their unstinted support.

Trixie Asirvatham our content advisor

Chitra Shanker our advisor on plants, trees, insects and birds

Ramya Sriram logo designer of our KBG Contest

We also thank each one of you for your continued support without which Ghumakkad wouldn't have been here! Do give us your feedback to help us improve.

Onwards to the 13th Anniversary of Ghumakkad next year!

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 23rd May 2024/ Chennai

#GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #12thAnniversary #BlogAnniversary #ThrillOfWriting #JourneyOfLife #BringingSmiles #makingadifference #kbgcontest #kaunbanegaghumakkad #wellness #motivation #inspiration #positivity #nature #environment #teachers #learning #india #mysteriesofnature #travelforfun #wildlife #keepgoing #blogger #pictures #photowalks #powerofobservation #students #adventure #lesserknownindia #PQs #picturesquequotes #learningtogether #mangroves

Undavalli Caves Architectural Marvel

Imagine cutting solid rocks 1600 years ago with rudimentary tools? And then creating a four-storied structure on the monolithic rock face which has withstood the vagaries of Nature? You can only marvel at the architects and sculptors of that era!

Where is this place? Located close to Vijayawada city in Andhra Pradesh, it is easily accessible by road. See the map below.

The architecture of Undavalli caves is similar to Udaygiri caves in Madhya Pradesh, both dating back to 4th to 5th Century CE. Built during the Gupta period, the caves bring out the trinity- Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. According to Wikipedia, "Most Gupta emperors were Vaishnavas; Many sculptures of the deity Narasimha, as well as other legends of Vishnu and from the text Ramayana are featured in the caves. These caves are dedicated to Ananta Padmanabha, a form of Vishnu laying upon Shesha. Later Jain and Buddhist monks used these caves as rest houses." Sheshnag is seven-headed celestial snake under whose hood Lord Vishnu had his royal seat.

Ghumakkad visited the caves on 9th May 2024, the 'shadowless day'! One of the hottest days this summer with Vijayawada recording 42 degrees Celsius. Not a pleasant time to travel. But we had to be in Chennai for a family event. Those transiting Vijayawada can take an hour's break to see the historic caves. Vijayawada is at the junction of NH-65 coming from the west (Hyderabad) and NH-16 for those travelling the east (Kolkata) to south (Chennai) or vice versa. Other state highways also emanate or terminate here. See the map below.

Though high noon Sun is not suited for photography, but we had no option. Sharing below few pictures and videos of the caves and the temple.

Here is a short video showing the unfinished monastic cells on the ground floor.

The stairs to the first floor of the caves are not very steep. But senior citizens need to exercise caution. See the video below.

The second floor pillars have the 'dashavatars' the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu. Mostly defaced by the Moghul invaders, some of the sculptures are still intact. See the video courtesy the security guard who hesitatingly shared his knowledge about the history of the caves.

For those readers not familiar with the ten avatars, here is an image from Wikipedia.

The Reclining Vishnu

Midway through when we braved the noon Sun to see the caves, came the surprise rain. It poured and we got drenched. Another thrill of a summer outing!

In a one-minute video clip below, see how it poured without any signs.

There is some debate among historians about Lord Vishnu's reclining position in Undavalli caves. Points of dissonance are:

• At most places Vishnu is seen reclining on one side as against lying almost flat in Undavalli
• Closed versus open eyes
• Five headed serpent versus seven headed in Undavalli
• Four hands of Vishnu versus two in Undavalli

Therefore, some researchers have concluded that the "statue may be 23rd or 17th Tirthankara of Jainism Shri Parshvanatha". Debate continues. Readers' insights or comments on this aspect are welcome.

Talking of caves, we have Borra Caves in the Eastern Ghats in India, 90-kms north of Vishakhapatnam. But these are natural caves formed because of rich limestone rocks. Spectacular to see, specially when lighted up. Stalactite and Stalagmite create surreal shapes. You may read the following picture story.

Beauty of Darkness - Magic created 150-million years ago by Stalactites and Stalagmites

Another cave which offers a bit of thrill and adventure is the Narsing Temple near Bidar in Karnataka. You have to wade through chest high water for half a km or so, to reach the deity in the cave. Pretty scary to say the least. Browse the last part of the story linked below to feel the thrill:

Wading through Chest-high water in a Cave - Narsing cave temple near Bidar in Karnataka India

We end with a quote about the rich history and culture of India. "India lives in several centuries at the same time" said Arundhati Roy. How true!

Thanks for browsing. More stories on rock-cut architecture of India will follow soon. Stay connected.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Undavalli Caves, Andhra Pradesh India/ 16th May 2024

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