For the benefit and with the sole objective of catering to the thousands of devotees in Bangalore and Karnataka, the TTD, Bangalore, has constructed a new Temple at Vyalikaval, in Malleswaram, Bangalore.  The Pratistapana of the Lords shall be organized from May 21st - 23rd, 2010 at the Temple Premises. The Temple will be open to devotees from 13.00 hrs on 23rd May 2010. The Temple as been constructed as per Agama Shastra, under the guidance of TTD’s Temple Architects and Statapathis. The rituals conducted will be performed in accordance with Vaikhanasa Agama Shastra.

All the puja/ sevas being conducted will be done in the same spirit as in Tirumala and all the contributions made here shall be directly credited to TTD Hundi at Tirupathi. 

The devotees in Bangalore and Karnataka, can now visit the Temple and conduct the same sevas and seek blessings of the Lord, here in Bangalore.The inauguration of the Temple is a culmination of an idea, which started over 2 decades ago but remained unfulfilled. 

The newly established Temple is an abode of seven deities –

1.      Lord Venkateshwara Swamy

2.      Sri Padmavati Ammavaru

3.      Sri Andal

4.      Sri Ganesha

5.      Sri Rama / Seeta Mata / Sri Lakshmana & Sri Anjaneya

6.      Sri Anjaneya

7.      Sri Radha & Krishna

Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams

 16th cross, Vyalikaval,

Malleswaram, Bangalore 

91 80 23315361/ 91 80 23445432

well... thats the formal part of this update... but, when i heard/saw this update in News9 Channel, i was like, 

just one thing i can understand from this opening-branch stuffs.. more branches, more audience/customers/devotees(here), more gain, more money... has the faith of people has been mis-used? everyone knows the answer for this Q. and this is one of the perfect examples for that. whatever the intention of the so-called groups/trusts is, to those who still have hope/faith, "all the best"...

Last week, one of my close friend opened an ice-cream shop "Kold Stone Creamery" @ Abirami Mall. So, me and my another friend went there for that opening day. And since its the first day, it was kind of practicing session only. so, each one of us, took care of some work there. and me, as the waiter. though have lil experience in serving people, for those social service activities as part of YRC, this one is REAL. means, its all about convincing or acting nicely to them... the same way we receive when we go to some other restaurants. among those 5 groups whom i served, one gave me tips of Rs. 10 for the bill of Rs. 80 !!!! wow!!!! i never thought of it... i dint know how to react to that, what to say to him... so, just said thank you, as usual. :) we always sit on the other side of this... so, It was sooo nice... different and awesome experience you know... thanks to my friend, for giving me this wonderful opportunity.. 

some interesting questions also came my way.. and you know this is ice-cream shop... one family asked whether they can just get fruit-salad instead of ice-cream... one other question was, one old man asking, "do you have sugar-free ice-creams?"... well, interesting and funny, to know how people ask question to escape from ordering something, and just to sit and relax for some time in that cool shop...

And if you're visiting Abirami Mall @ Chennai, please do visit this shop in third floor...

All the best to my friend for this new venture!!!

For quite sometime, i wanted to get a Zoom lens for my camera (i own a Canon 1000D EOS camera), though i already have Canon 18-55, which i got it along with my camera kit. I often end-up in place, where i wanted to zoom, to take a close picture of something/someone, but just because, my kit-lens was very basic lens, but sufficient one for taking indoor pics. So, Zoom lens got added to my shopping list and became the next-to-buy stuff.

Having decided to buy a Zoom lens, after little reading here-n-there, i kind-of got into dilemma between two lenses. First one is Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens and the other one being Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro lens.

The main advantage of the First one (canon lens) is that, its from the maker of the camera which i own, and also promises an awesome image quality, even at the far end of the zoom. Also, it has a very good auto-focusing speed even at full zoom (compared to other available zoom lenses in market now). Adding to it, it also has the Image Stabilization (IS) factor, which is so much necessary, when you handle this lens in your hand (when not using tripod). With all these advantages, it comes with the whooping price of $542 (US) or Rs. 36000 (India). Another important factor to be kept in mind is that, changing lenses. Whenever i need the zoom factor or otherwise, i have to switch lenses. And not all time the environment will be suitable enough to switch lenses and the moments might get missed also.

This comfortable issue is mainly addressed by the Second one (Tamron lens), that one lens, covers the entire range, from reasonable wide-angle, to, super zoom, upto 15x. no change in lens required. But, the drawbacks with this lens, when compared to that of Canon lens, are the image quality and slow Auto-focus (though its very quick, but not as quick as Canon lens) at the far end of the zoom. Though, this being the only* (as of now) zoom lens which covers this huge range, also with VC (Vibration Cancellation, similar to IS in Canon lens), the price $630 (US) or Rs. 31000* (India) (*depends on where you get it. Since this lens is very very new here, in India, i got it for such a cheap price, without warranty though, but good box piece). 

So, when it was a choice to make on,  standard & quality  Vs comfortable & affordable, i, this time, chose the second one, Tamron Lens. Yes, finally got the Tamron Zoom lens last week. And till now, i'm glad about that choice. caz, with the same amount, which i would have spent in canon lens, i could get a Tamron lens, tripod, another original Canon Battery and camera screen guard. thus, my camera got little heavy, but my purse got very light now (and always its that case, so np). And already Tamron lens, proved its purpose, when i tried this in my Trekking Trip. 

Canon 1000D / Rebel XS with Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro lens