Hello guys. Hope you all continue to stay safe from the worst ever pandemic the world has witnessed. As the world is trying to overcome the challenges set by the pandemic, some parts of the world are experiencing new challenges put forward by the nature. Rains have heavily hit United Arab Emirates, which even delayed the journey of many Indians who were traveling to resume their jobs but had to extend their stay in home land due to flights being delayed and cancelled. The Arab state which has provided a lifeline to many Indians over the past few decades is now working on revival. On the path to revival, a strong challenge awaits the Arab states as there are forecasts of another heavy rainfall in the next few days over United Arab Emirates and Oman. While the Arab states are facing challenge in the form of rainfall, India is battling a heavy heat wave with the temperature of some states rising above 42 degrees. The temperature is expected to be high over the next few days in most of the states while some states did receive their first showers of the summer rain in the last few days. It was hard for me to believe that Bengaluru didn’t receive rainfall for the past 148 days. The drought was broken when a light shower sprayed over Kengeri a day before. Despite the heat wave over many states, many states and communities celebrated their regional New Year days over the last week. Ugadi was celebrated on April 9 by the people of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka along with a minor population in Goa. Vaisakhi or Baisakhi was celebrated by the people of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Delhi. While the people of Jammu region celebrated Vaisakhi, the people of Kashmir celebrated Navreh. The nine day long Chaitra Navaratri was celebrated by various communities of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and the people of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Delhi. The Sindhi Hindus celebrated their New Year festival Cheti Chand a day after Ugadi. People in Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand and the Nepali community of Sikkim and Darjeeling celebrated Mesha Sankaranti last week. As it happens every year, while the people of Tamil Nadu celebrated Puthandu, we in Kerala welcomed the New Year by celebrating Vishu. The people of Tulu Nadu, the Tulu speaking regions of Karnataka and Kerala celebrated their New Year of Bisu Parba on the same day. The people of Manipur celebrated Sajibu Cheiraoba on the day of Ugadi. The people of Bodoland region of Assam celebrated Bwisagu while the rest of the state celebrated Bohag Bihu. Pana Sankranti was celebrated in Odisha while the people of West Bengal celebrated Pahela Baishakh. Jur Sital was celebrated by the people of Mithila region which spans across some provinces of Nepal and the states of Bihar and Jharkhand. Sangken was celebrated by the people of Khamti, Singpho, Khamyang and Tangsa communities of Arunachal Pradesh and Tai Phake, Tai Aiton and Turung communities of Assam. The Chakma community celebrated their New Year Bizhu. The name sounds similar to our Vishu. It is interesting to know that there are different regions within the country which may even create new states in the country in the future. In other words, it is hard to find a country with this much diversity like India. The first phase of the Indian general elections took place on April 19 with the next phase set for April 26. I wanted to avoid politics related talks atleast in this post but with the elections commencing, I just wanted to give a mention to it. Now, as usual let me talk something about my life in corporate. I’ve been working for more than six years in corporate but to be honest I would say this is the worst ever stage in my career. I have mentioned many times that we can’t expect friends at corporate which is proving to be true every now and then. If we can’t expect friends, then can we expect life partners. Then how does many colleagues get married in life which is something restricted to reels but I have also seen in real life as well. There has been a very recent example at my workplace as well. Two at my office who didn’t know each other before joining the company and worked together only for six months got their marriage fixed and from what I understood it was an arranged alliance and not a love affair. Perhaps once the alliance has been fixed, they would have started their romance. If it is possible to arrange an alliance, then I would have already sent more than fifty requests by now. It is not that people don’t like others coming with proposals. Only if people whom they don’t like come up with proposals or come for a talk, they will dislike and hesitate to talk further. It’s not the situation in corporates alone but happens everywhere. With this message, let us start our next journey. In our previous post, we traveled to Bhubaneswar to explore more monuments of the Ekamra Kshetra. Today, we are traveling to the Northeast after a very long time to explore a monument complex which is still not explored completely by the outside world. Let us start our tour of Unakoti.
Unakoti famously known as Angkor Wat of the North-East, is a sculptural emblem and ancient Shaivite place that hosts rock carvings, figures and images of gods and goddesses. It is a place of worship with huge rock reliefs celebrating Shiva. Unakoti literally means “one less than one crore” or “koti” in Hindi. In the local Kokborok language, it is called Subrai Khung. It is the prime tourist spot of Unakoti District, in the Kailashahar Subdivision of the North-eastern Indian state of Tripura. In the name of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, Unakoti is called “Angkor Wat of the North-East”. Its sculptures are carved on a hill of the Raghunandan hills of Tripura. It is known that there are ninety-nine lakh ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine (99,99,999) idols found here. The images found at Unakoti are of two types: namely rock-carved figures and stone images. Among the rock-cut carvings, the central Shiva head and gigantic Ganesha figures deserve special mention. The central Shiva head known as Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava is about 30 feet high including an embroidered head-dress which itself is 10 feet high. On each side of the head-dress of the central Shiva, there are two full-size female figures – one of Durga standing on a lion and another female figure on the other side. In addition, three enormous images of Nandi Bull are found half-buried in the ground. There are various other stone as well as rock-cut images at Unakoti. According to Hindu scriptures, Lord Shiva once spent a night here en route to Kashi. 99,99,999 gods and goddesses followed him. He had asked his followers to wake up before sunrise and make their way towards Kashi. Unfortunately, none awoke, except Lord Shiva himself. Before he set out for Kashi alone, he put a curse on the others, turning them to stone and that is how the site got its name. Local tribals believe that the maker of these idols was Kallu gurjar. He was a devotee of Parvati and wanted to accompany Shiva-Parvati to their abode on Mount Kailash. On Parvati’s insistence, Shiva reluctantly agreed to take Kallu to Kailash, on the condition that he would have to make one crore idols of Shiva in one night. Kallu got involved in this work like a man of his tune. But when dawn broke, the idols turned out to be one less than one crore (or unakoti). Adamant on getting rid of Kallu, Shiva left him with his idols in Unakoti, making this his excuse, and kept on walking.
The existence of 99,99,999 idols in Unakoti (according to the legend), is the apparent reason for the derivation of the village’s name. Every year a big fair popularly known as Ashokastami Mela is held in the month of April. The festival is visited by thousands of pilgrims. Another smaller festival takes place in January. Unakoti lies 178 km to the northeast from Agartala which has the closest airport, 8 km to the east from Kailashahar, district headquarters of Unakoti district, 148 km to the south-east from Silchar. The nearest railway station is 19.6 km away at Dharmanagar railway station on the Lumding–Sabroom section. From Dharmanagar railway station it takes about 30–40 minutes by car. Travelling from capital town Agartala has become much easier nowadays. The morning train from Agartala reaches Dharmanagar before 10 am. The afternoon train from Dharmanagar reaches Agartala by 8 PM. The site has suffered centuries of neglect causing degradation and loss of considerable scale to the rock art. Since its adoption by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) as a heritage site, the situation has slightly improved, though a lot of work including substantial excavation remains to be undertaken. The Centre has recently granted Rs 12 crore to the state for developing the area, 178 km from here, as a major tourist destination. The vertical surface of the Unakoti hills was used by the ancient people to carve various mythological scenes such as the different iconographic forms of Siva, Ganesha, Uma-Maheshwara, etc. Unakoti is famous for its colossal rock cut panels depicting Hindu deities. Unakoti provides evidence of ancient Saiva worship in Tripura from 8th-9th centuries CE. The site of Unakoti is known to the people as an ancient holy place associated with Saiva worship. The bas relief sculptures at Unakoti are on stylistic grounds ascribed to 8th to 9thcentury CE, to the period of Pre-Manikya rule. The rock art may have been patronised by the ‘Deb’ generation of Sri Bhumi.The earliest literary reference found of Unakoti as a place of lord Siva is in the works of A. K.Cahudhuri (1910-11) and the writings of Captain Williams (1914) the then British political agent to the Tripura. The Archaeological Survey of India has also published an authoritative account on Unakoti in its Annual Report (1921-22). Etymologically Unakoti stands for ‘Una’ meaning one less and ‘koti’ meaning crore in Bengali, hence the name of the site ‘Unakoti’ literally translates as “one less than a crore”.
According to a legend, Unakoti was the meeting place of Gods and Goddesses where they assembled on the Shukla Ashtami (8th day of lunar fortnight of the Chaitra month) with the intention of creating another Vrindavan near Mathura. Lord Shiva instructed his fellow companions to wake up before sunrise in order to resume their journey. In the morning no one could get up except Shiva himself. So, he cursed them to turn into stones. Legends though only attribute to the prevalent beliefs. The rock carvings at Unakoti are west facing and are located in a beautiful landscape with lush green vegetation and a stream flowing in the central part of the hillock, downwards in east-west direction. The streamlet forms three kundas at the bottom. These kundas were sacred to religious practices under Brahmanical Hinduism and are a big part of the annual Ashokashtomi Mela (fair) held at Unakoti. The images found at Unakoti can be classified into two categories: Majestic rock-cut images on the vertical surface of the hill and fallen boulders and loose sculptures of smaller and medium sizes scattered on the hill. The most central and conspicuous figure at the site is known as Unkotiswara Kala Bhairav. The colossal rock-cut image of Shiva is about 30 feet in height, portrayed with the third eye vertically on the forehead and the other two eyes indicated with double incised lines without any pupils. The nose straight with the mouth depicted as a narrow slit with vertical lines representing teeth. Above the mouth is an incised line culminating in a loop that depicts a moustache. The headgear and ear ornaments show influence of tribal art. The figure has seen some wear and tear, probably due to the heavy rainfall in the area and frequent earthquakes. On the left of this image at some distance a Trident has been carved. Close to the image of the Shiva, three depictions of the Nandi (Mount of Shiva) and on the rock surface above the Shiva image two female figures can be seen. The figure on left is standing on a lion and is identified as Goddess Durga. Another Colossal rock-cut image of Shiva as Gangadhara, is located at the right side of the approach-way. The image shows the head and bust of Shiva. Shiva is portrayed having two normal eyes and the third one on his forehead. The image is shown with jatabharas on either side, falling down in rope-like design.
A tiara-like ornament is carved on his forehead. Two circular kundalas (Earrings) adorn the lower part of his ears. Next to the Gangadhara Shiva, at a distance of about 2 m further north, one more Shiva image is carved on the vertical surface. The face is portrayed having three eyes, a mouth bearing a row of teeth and a tiara-like ornament on the forehead. Upon crossing the stream on the opposite bank, of the same hillock, one more Shiva image is carved, having similar iconographic features such as the jatamukuta, crown, three eyes, thin incised bow-shaped eyebrows, wide open mouth, a long neck with long ears adorned with a circular floral, kundala. On the extreme left side of the crown, Goddess Durga is depicted standing on a tiger and towards the right; River Ganga is depicted, standing on a crocodile. They are shown in the attitude of penance. Further north of this Shiva image, on the lower slope of a boulder, a male figure holding a bow and arrow is carved. He is depicted to be in a gentle movement with his left leg stretching forward and accompanied by a female figure, shown standing behind him. These images have been identified as Shiva and Parvati in the disguised from Kirata and Kirati. Above the Kirata figures, on the upper part of the hill’s surface two male figures have been carved. The image with jata (locks of hair) and the third eye on the forehead has been identified as that of Shiva. Just above his shoulder, the second human figure is shown, with an arrow posed towards Shiva. This scene depicts as the ‘Kamadahana’ episode which refers to the incineration of Kama by Shiva in mythology. It shows Shiva destroying Kama, the Hindu god of love for disturbing him in his meditation. One image of Hari-Hara or the fused iconographic depiction of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) is also carved towards further west of the cliff. Going upward on the staircase, a series of rock-cut male and female figures are seen, along with depictions of a Shivalinga and the head of Shiva carved in comparatively smaller scales. Also depicted is an image of an animal having the face of a female, identified by some scholars as kamadhenu. A little down the stream, towards west, is a panel carved with a group of three colossal Ganesha images of unusual characteristics. The group consists of a seated Ganesha (7 m or 22 feet height) on the extreme left of the cliff and to his right are two more elephant headed deities. The standing elephant headed images are ichnographically different to that of the seated Ganesha image.
They are depicted standing and have attenuated waists, three-four tusks and six and eight hands respectively. The seated Ganesha image is shown with a distended abdomen, one tusk and four hands. According to some scholars the depiction of the two standing elephant headed deities show influence of Tantric Buddhism. On the extreme right is an image of Vishnu having four holding ayudhas. About 100 meters from the Ganesh panel, the stream turns south and meets another rivulet from the southeastern side. Just near this confluence, on a comparatively lower height is carved a huge, colossal image of Uma-Maheswar, popularly known as Hirimba of the Mahabharata fame. Several loose stone sculptures have also been found scattered in and around the hill. Some of the sculptures are placed in a shed on the top of hill which include images of Vishnu, Hara Gauri, Harihara, Narasimha, Ganesha, Hanuman, Kalyanasundaramurty and Hindu Trinity, they may be stylistically dated to the 11th-12thCentury CE. Two Chaturmukhalinga and one Eka-mukalinga (lingas with four and one face respectively) has also been found there of early medieval art. Two of the four faces of Shiva depicted on the linga are well preserved, testifying to the skill of the sculptor in delineating the contemplating form of Shiva. The style, iconography and quality of craftsmanship of these loose sculptures are superior to that of the images carved on the hill slopes. The only inscription at Unakoti is on the other Chaturmukhalinga image, consisting of a couple of records in Bengali Characters of the 11th-12thcentury CE, which mentions one SriJayadeva, probably a pilgrim. The influence of Buddhism is also seen in the sculptures of the region. There are various depictions of Boddhisattavas, Buddha and Buddhist motifs. Many images found in this area also suggest the presence of religious sects such as Sakta, Tantric, Bajrayanis and Nathayogis. Every year a big fair, popularly known as ‘Ashokastami Mela’ is held at Unakoti in the Chaitra month of Hindu Calendar (April-May), which is visited by thousands of pilgrims. The Huge bas-reliefs of Unakoti are set within a landscape of high cliffs and lush green forests. The total protected area of Unakoti is 150 acres. The site is renowned for the presence of a large concentration of massive rock-cut images of Hindu divinity such as Shiva, Parvati, Ganga, Ganesha and Uma-Maheshwar (locally known as Hirimba), etc.
Besides the gigantic figures, miniature forms of Shiva heads, tortoises, lingas, etc are also found carved on the rock surface. Several loose stone sculptures of Vishnu, Hara-Gauri, Hari-Hara, Narasimha, Ganesha, and Hanuman etc are also found scattered in and around the site. A unique aspect of the carvings in Unakoti is treatment of the anatomical features of the different parts of the body of the deity. These are treated only in their broadest aspect, without any attempt to create harmony with the whole. The design of the ornaments shows influence of local tribes; hence the bas reliefs show the depiction of deities of the Hindu pantheon in the local craft tradition. Not only are the marvelous rock carvings set among lush greenery, streams and rivulet making the monument more beautiful and unique, but the landscape also reflects human ingenuity in the use of natural geology for carving different Brahmanical deities and transforming the place into a sacred cultural and landscape that continues to serve as a source of spiritual experiences even today. Every year a big fair popularly known as ‘Ashokastami Mela’ is held in the Hindu month of Chaitra (April-May) which is visited by thousands of pilgrims. Colossal Bas Reliefs of Hindu deities carved in a similar style are also found on the hills of the Gomati River in Devtamura (Peak of the Gods) in Southern Tripura, but these date to a much later period. At Devtamura, a colossal rock-cut image (13 m height) of Mahisasurmardini is found carved on the Kalajhari hill. In the later centuries, the place was ruled by the Manikya Kings and many temples for Hindu deities were built in this region. The Manikya rulers were the followers of Hinduism who built their temples in a new form of architecture with char chala roof (4-sided hut like roofs) with a stupa superstructure or stupa shirsha. Unakoti illustrates unique experimentation in sculptural relief art. Setting of hills, forest and streams forms a perfect backdrop as well as canvas for carving the low relief images of Hindu deities. Slopes of hills, rocky outcrops have been effectively used to carve these larger-than-life images of Hindu gods and goddesses and scenes from mythology. The depiction of deities, their facial features, ornaments, clothing, etc. show influence of local tribal culture. Large number of rock cut relief images and loose sculptures also hints towards experimenting with scale and style of relief work.
The whole ensemble represents exceptional artistic achievement through designing with nature, sophisticated execution, technological skills, larger-than-life scale, vast number of reliefs works and unique style. This has not attempted anywhere else at this scale or details. The site is massive gallery set amongst the forest displaying number of towering low relief images in unique style, making it a masterpiece of human creative genius. The depiction of Unakoti bas reliefs is one of the tallest bas reliefs in India and are a unique testament to the depiction of Saivism of the Hindu Pantheon in a style highly infused with local folk art. As the streamlet flows down from the hilltop, it forms kundas (pools). These kundas add further importance to the site and were probably associated with religious rites under Brahmanical Hinduism. This reflects the deep understanding of the landscape by the sculptors. Unakoti presents evidence of Saiva Worship in the Northeast as early as 8th – 9th Century CE and depiction of some noteworthy mythological stories which are somewhat different from the mainstream depiction of the Hindu Pantheon of Indian art. The figures have an exotic character representing the artistic efflorescence of cosmopolitan Brahmanical Hinduism. Authenticity of the site can be traced back to the age of the cliff of the Unakoti range against which the relief images have been sculpted out. As the natural context itself has been used to execute these sculptures, the location and setting of the site retain its originality. Rocky outcrops of the hills and surfaces of cliffs are the canvases as well as building materials for the relief sculptures. The low relief technique of sculpting is uniform among all images and apart from natural erosion the sculptures are intact in form. As the site is located amongst the forest, access is limited, the site is best preserved. Style of representation of deities is not only exceptional but also maintains its authenticity as the site has undergone minimal restoration interventions. The site of Unakoti comprises of low relief images carved against the natural surface of cliff, as well as loose low relief sculptures scattered around the hill. The site is set amongst a forest, amidst streams and is of around 150 acres area. The area encompasses all the low relief images representing the unique style, large number, exceptional scale, innovation in design, artistic achievement in technique and natural elements supporting and protecting these sculptures.
Remote location and limited access of the site has helped in protecting the site from incompatible development. Low reliefs of Hindu deities at Devtamura in Kalajhari hills in Southern Tripura in India are similar to those of Unakoti. There are about 37 relief panels at Devtamura, believed to have been carved in 14th -15th century. The style and representation of deities, technology of sculpting relief is more sophisticated as compared to Unakoti. The forms and figures are more sanctified unlike those at Unakoti which show bold experimentation as well as tribal influence. Based on the typology of sculpting, reliefs at Unakoti can be compared to low reliefs of Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta caves, relief panel of Arjuna’s Penance at Mahabalipuram, relief panels of Jataka tales at Borobudur Temple, Ramayana tales depicted in relief panels at Prambanan temple and Banteay Srei, low relief panels of Samudra manthan scene in Angkor, etc. However, these sculpted relief panels are most refined and are minutely detailed. They are part of larger temple complexes belonging to various time periods and architectural styles. On the other hand, Unakoti stands out as an ensemble of larger-than-life low relief sculptures carved on rocky outcrops and slopes of the hills amongst the forest. The experimentation and tribal influence in representing deities makes the site exceptional. Gal Vihara in Sri Lanka is a 12th century rock temple consisting of 4 rock relief statues of Buddha carved in granite rock face. The scale of standing and reclining Buddha images is similar to that of Unakoti. However, representation of Buddha in sculpted form in is very different from Hindu deities depicted at Unakoti. The tribal influence in the style, composure, facial expressions, etc. makes relief images at Unakoti stand out. The setting of both the sites is also of completely different nature. While Gal vihara complex seems planned, Unakoti effortlessly incorporates nature in its design. Rock Sanctuary of Yazılıkaya in Turkiye is an ensemble of Hittite rock reliefs. Rock reliefs of the sanctuary portray the gods of the Hittite civilization. One chamber of the site contains rock-cut relief of 64 deities in procession. Other chamber has larger reliefs which may have served as a mortuary mausoleum or memorial for the Hittite king. While the setting of this rock sanctuary is similar to that of Unakoti, the scale, style and sheer number of relief works at Unakoti proves its exceptional value.
The monument complex which I mentioned many times in this blog, located in another part of Tripura is Devtamura. Devtamura (or Debtamura) is a hill range in South Tripura district. It is known for an archaeological site of rock sculptures, a panel of carved images of Hindu deities of Durga, Ganesha and Kartikeya on the bank of Gomati River. The stone images are estimated to have curved during the 15-16th century. Devtamura is 85 kilometres (53 mi) in length and is situated at an altitude of 229 metres (751 ft) above sea level. It is situated in between Udaipur and Amarpur. Damburu Falls commences at the top of Devtamura, continuing through a series of terraces. Chabimura, the archaeological site at Devtamura, dates to the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. The site includes colossal carvings of the image of Devi Chakrakma. The purpose of the carvings, and the artists who carved them are unknown. The statues are carved on the steep sloping rock exposures of the Kalajhari Hills which drains into the Gomti River. There are in all 37 rock cut images which also include images of Ganesha, Kartikeya, Mahishasuramardini, Durga and many others. The biggest idol of Maa Durga in rock carvings is about 20 feet high. The carvings images date back to 15-16th centuries. Beautiful images are curved with a lot of dexterity on the rocky faces of Devtamura which is steep at 90 degrees. The hill ranges are covered with thick jungles and one can reach this abode of gods only after trekking through these jungles. Each year in mid-January, a fair occurs at the third terrace from the top of the falls, at a time when local tribal members take a holy bath in Gomati River. Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti, Unakoti Range, Unakoti District have been inscribed in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites in 2022 and is awaiting recognition as a World Heritage Site which may take atleast 3 years to come true. We’ve been to Tripura once on the blog to visit the Bhubaneswari Temple at Rajnagar. If Unakoti gets added to the list of World Heritage Sites, then I’ll definitely set my foot on Tripura for the first time and will visit all the monuments.
Well, that’s all I have about the monuments. Now, coming to sports across the globe. The first T20 international between New Zealand and Pakistan has been washed out. Pakistan won the second T20 international by 8 wickets. Shaheen Shah Afridi was named the Player of the Match for his bowling figures of 3 for 13. Finn Allen and Adam Milne have been ruled out of the tour due to injuries. Tom Blundell and Zakary Foulkes have replaced them in the squad. Foulkes received a maiden call-up to the squad on the back of his performances in domestic cricket. Tim Robinson made his international debut for New Zealand but failed to make an impact in the first two games. Oman will take on United Arab Emirates in the final of the 2024 ACC Premier Cup. Hong Kong won the third place by beating Nepal by 4 wickets in the play-off. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the 2025 Asia Cup which will be played in T20 format with the hosts yet to be announced. Mexico won the Central American Championship by beating Costa Rica 3-2 in the five match T20 series. Spain won the two match T20 series against Jersey and will gear up for the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier. Sunrisers Hyderabad registered the highest total in the history of the Indian Premier League by posting a total of 287 for 3. Vishnu Vinod will miss the Indian Premier League due to injury and has been replaced by Harvik Desai in the Mumbai Indians squad. Devon Conway, who was earlier ruled only till the beginning of May, has now been ruled out of the entire tournament. English pacer Richard Gleeson has been signed by the Chennai Super Kings as his replacement. What I couldn’t post due to lack of space in the past few posts was the announcement of 2023 ICC Awards. Pat Cummins has won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award on the back of his strong performances as a player as well as captain which led Australia to ICC World Test Championship and ICC Cricket World Cup titles. Usman Khawaja won the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year after a wonderful year with the bat while Virat Kohli won the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year after finishing as the leading run-scorer in the World Cup and winning the Player of the Series award. Suryakumar Yadav won the ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year award for the second time in a row making him the player to win the award the most number of times. Rachin Ravindra won the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year after a wonderful year with both the bat and ball. Dutch all-rounder Bas de Leede won the ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year award. Pat Cummins has been named as the skipper of the ICC Test Team of the Year. Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc were the other Aussies named in the team. Dimuth Karunaratne was named the second opener with the middle order featuring Kane Williamson and Joe Root alongside Head. Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin were the only Indian players to be named in the team and Stuart Broad, who retired from international cricket, finished the line-up. Rohit Sharma was named the skipper of the ICC ODI Team of the Year. Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami were the other Indian players named in the team. Travis Head was named in the ODI team as well along with fellow Aussie Adam Zampa. Daryl Mitchell was the only representative from New Zealand in the team. Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen finished the line-up with Klaasen named the designated wicketkeeper despite not keeping wickets in much games for South Africa. Suryakumar Yadav was named the skipper of the ICC T20I Team of the Year. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh were the other Indian cricketers named. Phil Salt was the only player to be named from England while Nicholas Pooran was the sole representative of the West Indies. Mark Chapman was also named on the back of his impressive performances in T20 cricket. Sikandar Raza and Richard Ngarava were also named in the team despite Zimbabwe not qualifying for the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. Mark Adair replaced fellow Irish cricketer Josh Little from previous year’s team. Alpesh Ramjani became the first Ugandan cricketer to be named in an ICC Team in any format on the back of his impressive all-round performances over the year. The line-up for the semifinals of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League is complete. Bayern Munich will take on Real Madrid in the first semifinal of the Champions League. Real advanced to the semifinals by beating defending champions Manchester City in penalties in the quarterfinal. Paris Saint-Germain will face Borussia Dortmund in the second semifinal. PSG advanced to the semifinals by beating Barcelona 4-1 in the second leg after losing 3-2 in the first leg. Marseille will take on Atalanta in the first semifinal of the Europa League. Marseille advanced by beating Benfica 4-2 in penalties while Atalanta beat Liverpool 3-1 on aggregate. The second semifinal will be played between Roma and Bayer Leverkusen. Roma overcame fellow Italian club Milan 3-1 on aggregate in the quarterfinals while Leverkusen beat West Ham United by the same aggregate. Aston Villa will face Olympiacos in the first semifinal of the Europa Conference League. Last year’s runners-up Fiorentina will take on Club Brugge in the second semifinal. By the time we compose our next post, the first legs of the semifinals of some of the three tournaments are likely to be over and let’s expect some interesting ties ahead.
Well, that’s all I have for the day. Thus, after quite a while we have completed yet another journey to the Northeast. It took quite a lot of time for me to decide the destination for this post. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had plans to start another series on the blog this time but unfortunately I couldn’t find any suitable destination to start a new series from the Northeast. Probably, after we complete a round across different regions of the country and return to the Northeast, we may get a nice destination to visit. In our next post, we’ll have to choose between North, Western and Central India. That’ll take another big round of research by me to finalise the destination as it happened for this post. Now, let me talk about the final leg of my most recent tour . I woke up early in the morning and went to the Badami bus stand and searched for a bus going to Gadag. I asked the transport people where the bus starts from and they pointed out a bus and I boarded it and told the conductor to give me a ticket to Gadag. He gave a ticket in which the destination was printed as Gajendragad instead of Gadag. First, I thought that Gajendragad was the local name or new name of Gadag as there were name changes to many cities in Karnataka over the recent years including Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore. I then turned on the Google Map and found that the bus was traveling in a direction entirely different from the highway road to Gadag. First, I thought that the bus passed through a different route but after almost an hour and half, the bus stopped at Gajendragad bus stand and then I realised that Gajendragad was a different place. I asked the conductor once again whether the bus will go to Gadag and he said the place was Gadag. Then, I had to show him the map showing the real Gadag and he put his hand over his forehead. What I didn’t understand was whether the fault was on my end or their end or if both of us got confused with the place name. He asked me where I wanted to go and I said I wanted to go to Hosapete from Gadag. He said to take a bus to Kushtagi and upon reaching there, take another bus to Hosapete. Immediately, they pointed out a bus to Kushtagi and I boarded it and took the ticket. It took another hour to reach Kushtagi and I got down at the bus stand and waited for few minutes before the bus to Hosapete arrived. I had to stand in the bus for sometime due to the crowd. The journey to Hosapete covered a distance of more than 65 kilometers and took more than two hours to reach. The notable structure I noticed on the journey was the bridge over the Tungabhadra river near to the Tungabhadra Dam just before reaching Hosapete. Upon reaching Hosapete, I first had my breakfast and then returned to the bus stand and asked when the bus to Hampi will come. Hope you understood which was my final destination in the journey. I waited for few minutes or maybe approximately half an hour and I came across a foreign lady who was also going to Hampi. Some girls in the bus stand gathered around the lady and asked her to show the currency of her country as they haven’t seen a foreign currency yet in their life and the lady showed it to them. Finally, the bus came and it took around 45 minutes to reach Hampi. I noticed that a new bypass road has come for buses going to Hampi. I got down at the bus stand in front of the Virupaksha Temple and as I did in my previous visit, walked to the Vithala Temple despite the challenging weather. I skipped the monuments en route and after few minutes reached the Vithala Temple and took the ticket online. I spent around an hour inside the complex and even took many pictures of the stone chariot, which was one of my favorite monuments in Hampi. I returned by foot on the same road and then paused to click pictures of the monuments. There was a moment when I felt my life was over. I was climbing the rocks to explore the Seshasayi Vishnu sculpture and the Sahasralinga. Eventhough, I have visited the sculptures twice, I forgot their exact location as the rocks around looked almost similar. Lol. I found the Vishnu sculpture but still couldn’t find out where the Sahasralinga was. Two people who were walking by pointed out that it was behind a rock and while climbing a rock I suddenly couldn’t breathe and my legs became unstable. I said to myself that it was a happy moment for a traveler like me for the life to end while traveling but God showed mercy upon me and after a moment, I was able to climb back and finally found the Sahasralinga and then returned to Hampi Bazaar. The temperature was too high that I had to skip some monuments including Lotus Mahal, Elephant Stables and Underground Shiva Temple in the journey. I walked to visit the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple and the Badavilinga which are located next to each other and are the only monuments apart from the Virupaksha Temple, Vithala Temple, Krishna Temple and the two Ganesha statues which I have covered in my all three journeys to Hampi. After taking some pictures of the Narasimha Temple, Badavilinga, Krishna Temple, Sasivekalu Ganesha and Kadalekalu Ganesha, I went to the final destination of my journey, the Virupaksha Temple. After worshipping lord, I walked back to the bus stand and there was a funny incident that took place at the gate of the temple. A monkey snatched the phone of a tourist and went up the tower. People tried to distract it and get the phone back but went in vain. One guy climbed to the top of the tower through the passage used by the temple authorities and tried to distract the monkey. I still don’t know if the person got the phone. I took the bus to Hosapete and had my dinner and went to the railway station. At around 9:15 PM, the Hampi Express arrived and I boarded and found the same foreign lady on the train. I reached Bangalore in the morning and took some rest before resuming work. The journey started at Elephanta Caves and passed through Solapur, Badami and Pattadakal before concluding at Hampi. Obviously, the next question will be where I’m planning the next trip to. I hope by the time of our next post, I’ll be able to provide the answer for this question. Thank you all once again for your valuable feedback and support and expecting the same for the upcoming posts as well. Requesting you all to stay safe and make the use of masks and sanitisers a must in your daily life whenever relevant. For now, keep calm and explore the distinct rock-cut sculptures and reliefs of Unakoti.
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