2019 Year End Goals Update

2019 is on the verge of conclusion and this is the right time to reflect on the year that was. I know I have some unmet goals. I had a lot of unexpected travel this year, so some of my goals did take a back seat. In December, my brother came down to visit me, so I traded the time I had set aside for working on goals for some family time. After doing a bit of reading, some of my goals seem to have been set incorrectly. I hope I can learn from my mistakes and make amends next year.

Health:

• I am going to continue exercising at least 5 times a week. 
• Additionally, I am eating sugar on specific days of the year and paying close attention to what I am putting into my body and will continue with this effort.
• Getting adequate sleep
• If possible, participate in a team sport but this is not a priority.

I would say I have met this goal about 90% mainly because I still need to work on getting adequate sleep. I put in place some plans which looked grand on paper but hard to implement. It is something I will continue to work on next year as well.

Personal Development:

• Read/Listen/Follow to news every day
• Take up 2 certifications/courses- one which will help me in my professional career and the other which may or may not help me professionally but it is something to help me further with a hobby or help me develop a new skill.

I am proud to say that I have followed the news very closely and also read up some historic information to understand the news discussions better. 

I have worked towards one of the 2 certifications I had planned. Due to my travel and some other family commitments, I could not really appear for my exams but I have already paid for the last step I needed to take before I appeared for my exams which is most definitely happening next year. The preparations are quite a bit for this exam.


Hobbies:

These are so important to me and help me stay sane in this mad mad world. I cannot imagine not working on one of the below.

• Reading: This year I would like to read just 1 book by the end of the year. With work and studying that I will be doing this year and with the other goals, I do not think I will be able to read more.

I did complete reading 2 books that I started reading before setting my goals and started on my book of the year. It is kind of an enormous book equivalent to about 5 books so I will continue reading it into the next year.

• Writing: Last year I started out writing every day and then ran out of content to write everyday. This year, however, I will be writing weekly. It can be about anything but should definitely include 1 thing I did proactively, 1 thing that demonstrates synergy and 1 thing with a win-win attitude, and the progress made with other goals.

I must admit, I have been a little erratic with this goal. One of the methods I will adopt the 2 min rule next year and hope I can do a better job at this as well.

• Blogging: I would like to write 1 blog post per week from now on. I know it was my goal last year as well and I did not completely meet it. As I said, I have thought long and hard and now have a very good idea of how I can achieve it this year. 

I have not met this goal 2 years in a row. My learning from last year did not help. I guess I have to come up with a new strategy.

• Art: I would create 1 art work per month. I am happy to inform that I am already underway.

I am happy I have managed this. I have a bit of work left, but mostly done.

• Cooking/Baking: I love cooking and baking. This year, I am going to try making at least 5 healthy gourmet recipes. In addition, if time permits, I will like to successfully bake 2 types of bread (inspired by Jenna Fischer's Instagram!!).

I really did not think in the beginning of the year that my travel to Italy will present me with this opportunity to try making some gourmet food (for India, not really for Italy) working with local ingredients and spices. I also tried baking one type of bread.

Overall, I think it was an average year when I think about the goals I set out for the year. However, I considering the unexpected things I did year, I think it was not a bad year. Also, I had mentioned initially that I will talk about a social cause, I decided against it as it is mainly charity and I really do not think I am comfortable at this point to discuss it. I will have a challenging 2020 and I am currently thinking of goals to achieve for 2020.

Favourite Pictures of 2019

We are just 3 days away from 2020 and at this point, I thought of sharing my favourite pictures for this year. It was quite difficult for me to select a few. These may be a part of my Instagram posts etc, and may not be the best ones I shot. They are just my favourite. Also, these are in no particular order.

1. Kodial Teru: Or the Mangalore Car Festival. Earlier this year, I went to my home town to attend the week of the annual Managalore Car Festival, also known as Ratha Saptami. The atmosphere was colourful, vibrant and high on energy. For a person, who is not particularly fond of crowds, I just loved the whole atmosphere.

2. Sundays at Cubbon Park: For a big part of the first half of this year, it was a ritual to visit Cubbon Park on Sundays, to be one with nature and acclimatise our lungs to some fresh air, the below picture was taken on one such occasion.

3. Trevi Fountain: I would be blogging about this soon. I had an opportunity this year this to visit Rome and there were some mind blowing places there, one of which was the Trevi Fountain- the bright white marble fountain.

4.  The Colosseum of Rome: It was a privilege to visit one of the 7 wonders of the World- the Colosseum of Rome. It was supposed to be a quarry and before that an amphitheater to view gladiatorial fights and races.

5. The Spiral Stairs at the Vatican Museum: This is not an attraction in the Vatican, I just loved the view.

6. Pieces of Moon: It is a dream to be on the moon but I do not know if it would be ever realized in this lifetime. I consider myself fortunate to have seen some small pieces of it at the Vatican museum- gifted by Richard Nixon to the People of Vatican City. 

7.  View from Stanserhorn: I also had the opportunity to visit Switzerland this year- coming soon on my blog and this majestic view below is said to be that of the birthplace of Switzerland by one of the fellow visitors of the place. This picture was taken atop Stanserhorn.

8. Belur: In my last blog, I have written already how I was blown away by Belur. The below picture taken close to sunset is one of my favourites. 

9. Book House: Sometimes visits to a book shop brings me a lot of calm, the smell of old books and new and the touch of paper have an indescribable satisfaction. It is sometimes my Happy Place. Just being amidst piles of books brought a smile to my face.

10. The Most Extraordinary Autorickshaw: Given the traffic in Bangalore city, it is hard to imagine that anyone driving can be passionate about their job. This summer, I happened to take a ride on the most extraordinary auto. It had a mobile charging station, drinking water, a fan, make-up mirror, positive quotes, calendar, clock etc. Each of those were my favourites. I am just posting one of them. When I reflect on it at the end of the year, I realised what an effort the autodriver/owner had made to provide some amount of service to the passengers and how in turn it made him satisfied with his really tough and stressful job of navigating through the traffic all through the day, which in turn motivated him. If someone doing such a job can manage a smile and show care for his passengers, I think we in our comfortable offices have really got no reason to complain.

Belur and Halebidu

Insignia of the Hoysala Dynasty

This post is in continuation to the one on the Summer Holidays in 2019. I had mentioned in that post that I would be writing about our visit to Belur. We also covered Halebidu which is just a few kilometers from Belur.

I had first visited Belur and Halebidu years back to accompany some colleagues visit India from Belgium about 10-11 years ago. I remember being bowled over by the beauty of Halebidu but only had a vague memory of Belur. On that occasion, we also visited Shravanabelagola. That trip was from Bangalore. On this occasion it was from Manipal.

We stayed at Hotel Mayura Velapuri in Belur. This was a KSTDC run hotel by the state government tourism department. To be honest, I had very low expectations of this place. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and hygiene at this place. The rooms were pretty spacious and well ventilated. These were quite affordable as well. There is a restaurant in the premises with good food. What's more- it is also at a walking distance from the Chennakeshava temple- Belur's main attraction. The road leading from the hotel to the temple are lined with various eateries and bakeries so you can be sure you'll never go hungry here. Just wanted to share that KSTDC or the hotel have not paid me to write this for them. It is my genuine opinion of the place. You can decide to stop over at Halebidu as well and KSTDC has a Hotel Mayura Shantala there. I have not stayed there, so really cannot say much about it. However, this hotel is also really close to Hoysaleshwara temple- the main attraction of Halebidu. You can actually see it from the outside of the temple.

I will not talk much about the history of these temples. You can check out Wikipedia for that. I want to briefly summarize my experience visiting them.

After checking into the hotel in Belur, we had lunch at the restaurant in the premises and headed out to the temple in Halebidu. The temple has vast green grounds and a pool which appeared to be dried up. The temple is a grand structure or a group of structures with beautiful carvings on the out walls and the inner walls, some pillars and the ceiling. These are 12th century structures which were constructed so impeccably without any of the technology available today. It is an exhibition of fine craftsmanship. The temple is made of stone and dedicated to Lord Shiva. The carvings on the walls depict different scenes from Hindu mythology and sacred texts. Also evident is the damage to these beautiful structures either during some invasions or reckless behaviour of tourists who have tried to ingrain their own names into these. There is also a giant bull- Nandi statue on one of the sides of the temple. It was a hot day and the stone flooring heated up considerably- the temple had laid out mats in some parts which provided some relief but there were other parts where we had to hop over swiftly to avoid burns on the soles of our feet. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures inside the temple- I would have loved to share the beautiful interiors of the temple.

Hoysaleshwara Temple

View of the temple from the green lawns outside

Nandi temple

View of the temple from outside

Some of the carvings on the outer walls of the temple

Around twilight/dusk, we went to the Chennakeshava temple in Belur. As I mentioned previously, I only had a vague memory of my visit here. The entrance to the temple has a traditional south-Indian temple entryway and opens into a very very vast courtyard. My mind was blown away with the beauty of the place and its vastness. I loved it. The twilight just added to the beauty of the place. We stayed for the evening Pooja. The idol of Chennakeshava was a beautiful black one, ornate with silver ornaments and flowers. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to photograph the deity. The whole place seemed surreal- very unearthly. The interiors of this temple are quite similar to that of the temple at Halebidu.  This temple too, had similar damages as the temple at Halebidu. We relaxed a bit in the courtyard before heading back to the hotel.

External Archway

From one of the entrances into the temple

During Nivedyam of the deity

Partial view of the vast courtyard

Another view of the courtyard

The carving on the ceiling

Some of the external pillars of the temple

Narasimha Avatar depicted on one of the pillars

External walls of the temple

Another view of the courtyard

Some more carving on the main entrance leading inside the temple

I would highly recommend a visit to both these places, including Shravanabelagola for anyone planning to travel to Bangalore.