Semmozhi Poonga (park) in Chennai

We were back in Chennai after our Amritsar trip. Had a full six days before I had to return to the US. It has been three years since I spent that may continuous days with parents and brother's family. Last two years, it has been a two days or three at the most, squeezed in at the end of business trips to Asia.

One day we decided to cool down at a local park called Semmozhi Poonga. We have visited this place as kids but not in its current form. The park is a great place for kids under 12 and older people who are still kids at heart. 

There were at least two dozen parrots that had made their home in the trees in the park and it was a treat to watch them. It was also great to watch the kids play together. Something we would like to see every day but have to wait for every three years..

The light during sunset combined with the greenery made for some perfect portrait backdrops..

and finally, sometimes the best photographs are the unplanned unposed for ones.. when you catch someone playing with kids and you happen to be standing far away with a telephoto lens trying to capture parrots, but capture something more magical instead! 

I did take what is possibly the best shot of my wife in recent memory. It does not go on this blog, but it is a note for everyone. Keep a telephoto handy and stay far away and you might end up with some memorable "people" pictures!

If you are in Chennai on a hot summer day, strongly recommend this park to take the kids to and have a fun time!

Durgiana temple and Gobindgarh fort

The previous post on this series is here..

There was a reason Amritsar fit our "trip within a trip" concept perfectly. You could cover all the attractions in the city within 2 days, provided you had a good driver / guide. 

We had one more site that got added. Gobindgarh Fort, which used to house the Kohinoor diamond, was open to the public after 157 years! We just were fortunate to be there after it opened.

We did a quick stop at the Durgiana temple, which was rebuilt to mimic the golden temple. Only the "willing to walk in the hot sun" subgroup went for this. The "rest" stayed in the Van under the shade. This temple also has a gold roof, silver doors and reminds you of how rich things were "once upon a time"!

Given Jr. had spent almost a month in India by the time we visited Amritsar, she had been trained by grandma to walk around temples. She was willing to walk in the sun and that to me was an interesting change! 

We spent a litle under an hour at the Durgiana temple and were off to the Fort. At first we were disappointed to learn that the actual fort was a good mile or more from the parking lot.

That meant half our party would refuse to go citing leg weakness and heat! Fortunately, one of the guards said that for a fee they can get us inside on a vehicle, provided we can wait for 10-15 minutes. So we gladly paid and took the ride. 

There were not that many visitors, it being a week day and we pretty much went through all the history of the place, watched a show in the theater within the fort, have San and the little one go on a "camel ride" and come out in time for lunch.

there were a few horses in the fort that were used to give rides. One of the horses was an albino (I think). It was beautiful to see..

and did I mention the "camel ride"? The little one for some reason, wants to go on Camel rides every chance she gets.. maybe because she missed out in Jaipur a few years ago... this time she was not disappointed!

The camel ride, short and sweet.. smile on their faces, priceless! 

Then there was a late lunch. That lunch deserves a special post in itself ! 

Golden temple by day

The previous post on this series is here..

We got up early in the morning and went back to the Golden temple. The tour guide said that if we go early enough walking bare feet on the roads and in the temple will be easy on the feet. The kids co-operated and got ready early. 

The previous night we had visited the golden temple and on our way out had a late dinner at a Dhaba right outside the temple. Let's just say that everything was "extra buttered" and extremely delicious. It was a miracle we got up in the morning at all after all that food. 

Golden temple by day is as magnificent as it is by night. There was a one hour wait to go to the inner sanctum, even early in the morning. We stood in line, said a prayer and came out. Then we walked around the entire temple, sat there to gather in the vibe of the place and that was that!

Here are some of the pictures that made it interesting for us. Will always cherish this pic of me and San as well as this one of the ladies walking out. They were already tired as it was getting pretty hot. Amritsar in summer is hot!

The little one looked sooo cute with a head scarf that I kept calling her "bittu". All the shop keepers there were calling her bittu! 

The rest of the photos are on a slideshow here..

We also got to go do some shopping at the stores that line up the walkway to the temple..

The next stop for the morning was the Jalianwalah bhag memorial which is right at the edge of the golden temple. . .