Girish Bharadwaj - Again!

I had blogged about the great person called Girish Bharadwaj a long time ago. Infact it was my second blog.
Today Vijaya Karnataka newspaper has carried an article about this person.

His feats are superb.

In remote villages of South India, this Engineer has built 93 hanging bridges to help the rural folks. The bridges are of varied lengths. Right from 20 mts to 220 mts in length. The bridges can be used to walk or take 2 wheelers.

His fame and intelligence has been used by states like Kerala and Andra Pradesh apart from his home state of Karnataka. The malnad and coastal region of Karnataka have benefitted from his work.

Great going Mr Girish! Waiting for a century of bridges from you. 

Links -
Vijaya Karnataka article on Mr Girish Bharadwaj
My blog on Mr Girish Bharadwaj

Special Lunch

The Udupi Krishna Mutt is one of the famous temples of South India. The Lord has supposedly turned himself (180 deg) so that Kanakadasa (his ardent devotee) could see him. So unlike other temples where you enter the premises and you can see the idol, at Udupi you enter the temple and have to take half a round to see the idol.
This is not the only unique feature about this temple (photo of the temple complex on the left).

Saturdays are special in this temple. Though lunch is provided free on all days, there is a special tradition on Saturdays.
There is a big marble floored dining hall (bhojana shala - ಭೋಜನ ಶಾಲೆ ). People sit on the floor (no table meals). Plantain leaf (ಬಾಳೆ ಎಲೆ) or other kind of leaf (muttukada yele - ಮುತ್ತುಕದ ಎಲೆ ) is laid in front of you. Then the dishes (like rice, sambar, rasam ) are served on that. On Saturdays, it can be different. Devotees can opt, not to have any kind of leaf. Food is served directly on the floor. This is supposed to be very holy. People believe that their problems would get solved by doing that. This practice is particularly rampant during some special Hindu months like Shravana.

There is another variation to this in a near-by temple along the coastal region.
When the brahmins are eating their lunch in the temple, some non-brahmins come near the brahmins and take 3 morsel of food. It should be given in the same hand, which is used for eating. This is a kind of vow which they have undertaken to solve their problem.
 

And these are followed by people irrespective of their financial status or social status.

Unique practices flourish in India.