Indian Columbus

Garganeys are from Europe. They migrate to India during the winter season. It is such an enchanting sight to view hundreds of Garganeys together. You don't need to travel to North America to watch the rare and beautiful Great blue heron. If you have sharp eyes and patience, you could easily find those birds here. The once-endangered Egrets are found in large numbers. They are beauties of Almighty's creations. Black Drango - I am running short of words to describe this incredibly attractive creature. It is said that the Barn Swallows are the most widespread swallows on the globe. Perhaps to prove that, they are abundant in this locality. I always wonder which is more beautiful - King Fisher or Blue Tailed Bee Eater. Even after watching them together for hours on the same site, I could not determine. Many more migratory birds and even the common birds are found here. If you wonder, which place I have been talking about....you may not believe it. I am talking about the highly poll...

The Big Lake, which has shrunk into a small lake - this would be the ideal title for this article.  Yes, the lake is known as "Periya Eri", which means "the big lake". It was a bigger lake once. It is said that the lake occupied around 150 acres once. Thanks to encroachments and other related issues, it is hardly 70 acres now. The big lake lost almost 50%, and it has already become a small lake. The lake is supposed to seamlessly flow into the Adyar river, which is not the case now. It is one of the sad stories of water bodies of South Chennai, the region full of lakes and ponds. One can get an excellent aerial view of the lake from Tiruneermalai hill. Periya Eri is also known as Tiruneermalai Lake.  Happy travelling. Note:  As per a report, there were about 650+ waterbodies in Chennai region till 1980s. Today, only a fraction of them exist. And, most of those surviving waterbodies hardly have water and even some of them that have water had been shrunk badly. In Che...

Neervannan, Neermalai and Anima Malar Mangai - beautiful Tamil names! Not only these names, but even the site associated with them is such a picturesque place. It's a lovely hill surrounded by water bodies amidst the congested and highly populated locality. Do I highlight the religious importance of the site? Do I need to talk about the historical glory? Else, should I write about the mesmerizing hymns by Alwars? Where do I start and where do I end? The place, Murtis, surroundings, sculptures, hymns and everything else related to the holy site are incredibly amazing. Yes, this article intends to cover each and everything about the Tiruneermalai Neervanna Perumal Temple . (Note: I have been visiting the temple since my childhood. I have curated a heritage trip to this site. I have written about this temple in my blog many years ago. However, I did not feel accomplished. I felt I should write an extremely long article that covers all aspects entirely. Hence, I spent more than two mo...