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ROCKING BRIDGE
DINESH VORA


It's made with "inflatable modules, like giant life-preservers,
30 meters in diameter" and filled with
"3700 cubic meters of air."
Each of them have a trampoline mesh. In the central part
of each ring, a trampoline mesh is stretched.
Oh, and they got stairs and slides on both sides.


This bridge really rocks. A trampoline bridge! It may result in some broken necks and legs, that's the price you pay
for having a way to cross the river Seine jumping like
the Spider-Man. It is crossing the bridge
on a newer and more playful path across
the same river water.



It's a design by Atelier Zündel Cristea for a Paris bridge competition, which would be built near the existing
Bir-Hakeim Bridge

This Is the Coolest Bridge I Can Imagine

This Is the Coolest Bridge I Can Imagine

This Is the Coolest Bridge I Can Imagine

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  • The temple at Talakadu

  •  
  • The temple at Talakadu
It is the classical Indian story. A tale told by gods and demons, filled with kings and queens, replete with curses and boons. There is a little bit of history here, blended with some geology and topped with legends and myths. Set on the banks of the river Cauvery, this saga dates back to the 4th century and has certain intriguing elements, defying the very laws of nature. This is the tale of Talakadu, the erstwhile capital of the Ganga Dynasty which is now partially buried under sand dunes. Many rulers have reigned over this once flourishing city, but today it is a lost forgotten town, blown over by the sands of time



 Talakadu




It was a natural curiosity to unearth the secrets of Talakadu that drove us from Bangalore one Sunday morning. It was one of those beautiful moments. The weather was just right. An eagle scooped down and soared away with the same ease. A herd of goats clamored for attention. Flanked by the verdant greenery, we passed fresh dewy fields, lotuses jostling for space in ponds, flitting butterflies and a few scattered hamlets. We saw glimpses of rustic life as various stages of harvest were in progress. The entire scene was an ode to the countryside. We ambled on for a couple of hours on the Mysore Road and took a detour at Maddur, passed Malavalli en-route to this sacred, historic town.

We were rather unprepared for this.  At the first glance, it was just a prosaic picnic spot, overcrowded with swarms of loud local tourists and besieged by persistent guides. We made our way towards the river bed, where the Cauvery flowed at her own pace. It presented an unusual, yet a stark picture. There were huge mounds of sand by the banks of the river, like a beach. With a canopy of tall eucalyptus trees spread out from the sand, it felt like being in the middle of a forest. The dense shrubbery, some lively birds and monkeys dangling between the branches completed the picture.

The mounds of sand were everywhere, like small hillocks, some as high as even 15 meters. It was a steep climb, as the feet sank in with each step. It was an inexplicable sight; nobody could fathom where the heaps of sand came from. The fertile soils of the Cauvery basin seemed to have become fine particles of soft sand by sheer magic. While the answer may be with a geologist, my local guide narrates this legend.

Urban legend

A curse of a woman he says is the cause of this sand blown town, an erstwhile fertile capital of several dynasties that ruled over Karnataka. A tale filled with greed and lust for power. It was the time when Talakadu and Srirangapatna were under the Vijayanagara Empire. The death of the last Viceroy, Srirangaraya provoked the Wodeyars of Mysore to declare war. As Srirangapatna fell, the Wodeyar ruler sent his soldiers to covet the jewels of the late Viceroy's widow, Alamelamma. As she fled from her pursuers, she is supposed to have jumped into the Cauvery, uttering the curses. My guide gets all dramatic as he proclaims the curse, "May Talakadu be always covered with sand and may the kings of Mysore always remain without heirs."  The locals fear the curse as they say that it has come true. Talakadu is mysteriously engulfed with a sea of sand and the family tree of Mysore rulers show a large number of adopted heirs.

The story moves from being a mere myth to some startling historic discoveries as well. Recent excavations have unearthed temples from these mounds of sand and each dynasty has left their architecture stamp on them.  My guide points out that 30 such temples are still buried underneath the sand dunes as we climb our way to the excavated areas 

Panchalingas

Talakadu is famous for the Panchalingas – the temples dedicated to Lord Shiva called Pathaleshwara, Maruleshwara, Arkeshwara, Vaidyanatheeshwara and Mallikarjuna .Of these, the first two are the oldest, built by the Ganga kings. The locals here say that the Shivalinga in the former is said to change color according to the time of day – from red in the morning to black in the afternoon and white in the night. To us though, in the cool afternoon, it was simply black.

We paused to give our feet a bit of rest and heard the story of Tala and Kada, the two hunters, after whom my guide says, this town is named. One more story, this time, it fuses a bit of religion as well. A sage, Somadutta and his disciples were killed by wild elephants when they were doing their penance. They were said to be reborn as elephants in the same forest.  Two hunters, Tala and Kada watched the ritual of the elephants offering prayers to a silk cotton tree and out of curiosity, axed the tree down, only to find it bleeding. A voice then instructed them to heal the wound with the leaves and the blood miraculously turned milk which immortalized the hunters and the elephants as well. A temple later was built here around the tree, and the place became known as Talakadu. 

We resumed our journey and reached the Vaidyanatheeshwara, the largest of them all, which was built by the Cholas. All these temples are neatly thatched and embedded in pits as we climbed down to visit them. Remnants of the bygone era were seen in some scattered stones, broken pillars, an ancient well and even some idols. The Pancha Linga festival is celebrated with much fanfare once in 12 years during the Kartika season, where the temples are allowed for worshipping. The last festival happened in 1993 and the next scheduled late this year. The lost and forgotten township sees throngs of devotees only during this period, while at the rest of times; it remains a desolate spot, with a few picnickers.

Besides the Panchalingas, another magnificent temple stands out even in the ruins. The Keerthi Narayana temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, built by the Hoysalas, to celebrate the victory of Talakadu over the Cholas. Scattered stones lie all over the place along with the pillars, stone inscriptions and some carvings are still prevalent. The main temple, intricately carved houses an eight foot tall idol of the deity.

Excavations, they say have unearthed a 12-foot tall stone mandapa along with remnants of Garuda kamba. Work by archaeologists is still in progress here, as we stroll among the many stones, which my guide claims are 'originals'. It looked like each piece of stone was being numbered and the mantapas were being rebuilt to recreate the splendour of the past.

We had walked for more than a couple of hours, deeply engrossed in the continuous banter of our guide. Our feet caved in many a time, as we scaled the steep sand dunes. In the last two hours, we had traveled back to several centuries. We paused for a moment, taking in the sight. The silence was overwhelming. The voices of the past were buried under the layers of sand. We sat there, trying to build castles, but the wings gently swept them down. This, we realized was the destiny of Talakadu -the confluence of the historic and the holy spirit, where myths and legends merged, but were all completely swept away by the blasts from the past.
--
*Sana*


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Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, l et us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.

 
"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the 1st man who touched its leg.
"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the 2nd man who touched the tail.
"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the 3rd man who touched the trunk.
"It is like a big hand fan" said the 4th man who touched the ear of the elephant.
"It is like a huge wall," said the 5th man who touched the belly of the elephant.
"It is like a solid pipe," Said the 6th man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
 

They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said."
"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.
The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have a different perspective with which we may not agree. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, "Maybe you have your reasons." This way we don't get in arguments. Truth can be stated in different ways. This story teaches us to be tolerant towards others for their viewpoints. This allows us to live in harmony with the people of different thinking.

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Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."

They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, l et us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.

 

"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the 1st man who touched its leg.

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the 2nd man who touched the tail.

"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the 3rd man who touched the trunk.

"It is like a big hand fan" said the 4th man who touched the ear of the elephant.

"It is like a huge wall," said the 5th man who touched the belly of the elephant.

"It is like a solid pipe," Said the 6th man who touched the tusk of the elephant.

 


They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said."

"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.

The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have a different perspective with which we may not agree. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, "Maybe you have your reasons." This way we don't get in arguments. Truth can be stated in different ways. This story teaches us to be tolerant towards others for their viewpoints. This allows us to live in harmony with the people of different thinking.

 

--
*Sana*


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Shah Rukh: I just got lucky

The Badshah of Bollywood is celebrating his birthday today and commenting on his stardom, SRK says he just "got lucky" and admits he has made mistakes all along.


http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/wE.nen8ELUKfBgEhMatAWQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MjA7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/285/2011/11/02/srk13-011111-630_072046.jpg

 

Shah Rukh was first seen in serials like 'Fauji', 'Doosra Keval' and 'Circus'. His performance in 'Fauji' as Abhimanyu Rai was one of his early memorable roles.


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Deewana' with Divya Bharti won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.


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Shah Rukh's role in Yash Raj films established him as the undisputed romantic hero. Saif Ali Khan had turned down the role of Raj in DDLJ which is still considered Shah Rukh's most memorable role.


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Shah Rukh is one of the biggest brands in India. He has been promoting brands like Pepsi, Videocon, Nerolac, Hyundai and TAG Heuer among others.


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Shah Rukh starred in Amol Palekar's 'Paheli'. The film was shot in 47 days and was selected as India's entry to the Oscars that year over 'Swades'.


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The teaser trailer 'Rab Ne Bana Di' was first released on Shah Rukh's 43rd birthday.


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Shah Rukh spent his childhood in Delhi and his house in Mumbai is called Mannat. He has a dog called Chewbacca.


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Shah Rukh did a item number in the film 'Krazzy 4'


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Shah Rukh's last big release was Farhan Akhtar's 'Don 2'. SRK's look in the film sufficient buzz.


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Shah Rukh was so possessive about his wife Gauri before he married her that she had once come to Mumbai without informing him.


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Shah Rukh still finds time to help his children with their homework and he tries to drop them off at school whenever possible. They however, feel a little embarrassed because of the kind of attention Shah Rukh attracts.


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Shah Rukh has always been quite close to Big B's family despite rumours that the two don't get along. There's a lot of mutual respect and admiration between them.


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--
*Sana*


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