:: PerGram10Paise ::

Bangalore is my second home, and that doesnt mean I'm blessed with some home made food all these years. In fact, im living outside home eating only Hostel / Hotel / Mess food for the last 14 yrs. In this long period of time, I had come across so many food items and payment options.

But.... here is a strange (rather interesting) practise of serving food at Nilgiris, Brigade Road, Bangalore. Recently Nilgiris, rebranded their Kurunji restaurants to "Masala Bread" in the Underground space of Nilgiris, and serve breads, cakes, pufs, cool drinks, milkshakes and buffet meal as well. They started the buffet meal with "Buffet Small for Rs.39" and "Buffet large for Rs.49" and given an option of choosing between Veg and Non-Veg.

For various reasons (Including, bored of Andhra meals from Avakkai / Nagarguna and liked the ambience of Masala Bread) we (my colleagues and I) started visiting "Masala Bread" regularly for Lunch. All of a sudden, couple of weeks back, we could see a weighing scale, next to the food counter. It took few minutes for me understand and digest the concept of serving / selling food by weighing in grams.

Each gram costs you 10 paise. Here is the Flow....

You choose what u need.... from the option of 2 variety rices, 2 kurmas, 2 subzees and 2 kinds non veg dishes.


Then... she weighs it and make an invoice....


Collect it and pay at the counter....


Though it looked weird for me on day 1, we still visit this place for 3 reasons.
1. We still like the food being served with all mothers love and awesome ambience.
2. I eat what i feel like eating
3. I pay, only for what i'm taking.

Guys... you can also check this place in leisure, some time....
Thanks to shivu for the pictures.

~ peevee.

:: MyFaveBrands::

We had a discussion on our fave brands in BWS* group on flickr. Thanks to Sharanya(panache)for making me think on my faves...

Here are my faves for you to see and get inspired..
mine here....



I Will obviously.. add more.
Till then... revert with your fave brands...

~ peevee.

::InSearchOf ::

The life on earth is not so easy for men and women and children. We all are working like dogs, day through night for that extra pie.

Here is a women, who do work as a maid at few homes and work at agriculture fields as well. But.. This scene is for an extra Rs.20 income a day. with a magnetic rod in hand, she collects iron particles from a burnt dump yard in the out skits of Bangalore.



How do you feel now?

~ peevee.

:: transaction ::

City Market, Bangalore is not new to me and i had been there for almost 6 times in the 30 months of my stay in Bangalore, especially to do some photography.

But.. this time.. it was very special, as we had a huge gang of BWS members, shooting around. Guess.. im lucky as well, as i got this frame.


Share your comments and critiques.

~ peevee.

:: peevee @ THE PCA ::

Got an opportunity to showcase one of my favourite pictures in a photography exhibition organised by the PCA, on its 4th Anniversary celebrations at Ahmedabad.

@ Flickr...


@ the Venue...


Guys at Ahmedabad, said, my picture got some decent / great comments from across the members of the PCA. On top of all this... this was published in DNA newspaper on 4th February 2008. Check the Frame here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23421119@N05/2243023483/sizes/l/

Thanks to Milip / Aamir for their support and Special Thanks to Priyanka for her help in sharing the pictures and newspaper copy.

~ peevee.

:: flower zone ::

This Circular... Flower Zone is one of my all time favourite pictures, shot at City Market, Bangalore.


Posting here for "http://photography-in-tamil.blogspot.com/"

~ peevee.

:: Belur and Helebid ::

These two names Belur and Halebedu with Somnathpur, are just synonyms to the excellent hoysala architecture. With a bunch of friends, visited the first 2 towns in Hassan District and wanting to visit Somnathpur as soon as possible. We hired guides in both these towns and these towns are not just towns.. The temples are not just temples. You must visit these places at least once in the lifetime to understand the craftsmanship.

Now Straight to Belur...
Belur was the early capital of the Hoysala Empire, with the main attraction in Belur being the Chennakesava temple complex which contains the Chennakesava Temple (dedicated to Lord Chennakeshava , meaning handsome Vishnu) as the centre piece, surrounded by the Kappe Chennigraya temple built by Shantaladevi, queen of king Vishnuvardhana. The temple is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture, built by king Vishnuvardhana in commemoration of his victory over the Cholas at Talakad in 1117. Yet another explanation pertains to Vishnuvardhana's conversion from Jainism to Vaishnavism, considering this is predominantly a Vaishnava temple.

It was said, that it took 103 years to complete and Vishnuvardhana's grandson Veera Ballala II completed the task. The facade of the temple is filled with intricate sculptures and friezes with no portion left blank. The intricate workmanship includes elephants(depicting strength), lions(depicting courage), horses(depicting speed), episodes from the Indian mythological epics, and sensuous dancers (Shilabalikas). Inside the temple are a number of ornate pillars. Darpana Sundari (Lady with the mirror) carved on walls of Belur Temple is one of major attraction in complex. There are in total (around) 16000 status small and big in this complex. The temple is complete with a royagopuram constructed later by Vijayanagar kings in the dravidian style.

Few of my frames from Belur here....






Then to Halebidu....
Halebidu (Means Ruined city) is just 16 km away from Belur, was the 12th century capital of the Hoysalas. The Hoysaleswara temple was built during this time by built by Ketamala and attributed to Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala ruler. It enshrines Hoysaleswara and Shantaleswara, named after the temple builder Vishnuvardhana Hoysala and his wife, Queen Shantala. The Hoysaleswara temple, dating back to the 1121 is astounding for its wealth of sculptural details.

The temple complex comprises of two Hindu temples, the Hoysaleshawara and Kedareshwara temples and two Jain basadi. In front of these temples there is a big lake. The town gets its name the from the lake, Dhwara samudhra which means entrance from ocean. The two nandi bull statues which are on the side of the Hoysaleshwara temple are monolithic. soap stone or Chloritic Schist was used for the construction of these temples. However a number of sculptures in the temple are destructed by invaders. So the temple is incomplete. The walls of the temple are covered with an endless variety of depictions from Hindu mythology, animals, birds and Shilabalikas or dancing figures and postures from kamasutra as well. Yet no two sculptures of the temple are the same. This magnificent temple guarded by two Nandi Bulls (the 7th and 8th largest monolithic nandi structures in the country. Largest Mahanandi is in Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh) was never completed, despite 86 years of labour.

Few frames from Halebidu...




Our guide Mr.PuttuSwamy, finished his service saying "Belur is famous for its internal beauty" and "Halebidu for its external beauty". He also remembered to tell us that as many as 40 stone statues were taken away by Britishers before Indian Independence. It was not at all a surprise when he said Halebidu temple got more than 20000 statues, small and large inside the complex. Every single visitor including us, were so very happy, as we were allowed to shoot indide/outside/anyside in the temple complexes.

More pictures at....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peeveeads/sets/72157603832502905/show/

~ peevee.