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Places to Visit : Shri Swami Narayan Mandir : Bartlett, IL

I am going to start a new category of postings called “Places to Visit”.  I will be documenting various places that I visited and think that they would be of interest to other people.. 

The first one on the list is the Swami Narayan Mandir (temple) in Bartlett, IL. Although, this temple is dedicated to Swami Narayan (one of the Gods in the Hindu religion), it is open to anyone that wants to visit. The temple is built completely out of marble and was completed in a record 16 months. As it stands now, it is the largest Hindu temple in North America (Thx to Deepti for correcting me.. Looks like the newly built Swami Narayan temple in Atlanta, GA is the largest temple in North America now.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAPS_Shri_Swaminarayan_Mandir_Atlanta). It was built in accordace to ancient architectural practises, which means that no steel or iron was used in building it. The temple is located at 

4N739 IL Route 59,
Bartlett , IL 60103 USA

An added bonus to visiting the temple, in addition to be able to view an amazing architectural wonder and (if you are inclined) a chance to sooth your spirit, you also get good vegetarian food :). It is cooked right in the temple.

Photography is not allowed inside the temple.. Here are some pictures I was able to take from outsite the temple

The Haveli

Intricate wood carving on the Haveli’s enterance

The temple, in snow..

Front view of the temple

The entrance of the temple

February 2, 2009 by Photography Travel Uncategorized 2

Timeless classic by Pushikin..

I was introduced to this poem by Pushkin, when I was studying in Russia by one of my friends.. I forgot it’s title and could only remember a few works.. So, I put up this post, earlier on this blog. Thx to Dima.. I found it again :).. Here’s one of my favorite poem’s by Russia’s greatest author.. Alexander S. Pushkin ,

ПРИЗНАНИЕ (translates to Confession)

Я вас  люблю,-  хоть я  бешусь,
Хоть это труд и стыд напрасный,
И в этой глупости несчастной
У ваших ног я признаюсь!
Мне не к лицу и не по летам.....
Пора, пора мне быть умней!
Но узнаю по всем приметам
Болезнь любви в душе моей:
Без вас мне скучно, - я зеваю;
При вас мне грустно, - я терплю;
И, мочи нет, сказать желаю,
Мой ангел, как я вас люблю!
Когда я слышу из гостиной
Ваш легкий шаг, иль платья шум,
Иль голос девственный, невинный,
Я вдруг теряю весь свой ум.
Вы улыбнетесь, - мне отрада;
Вы отвернетесь, - мне тоска;
За день мучения - награда
Мне ваша бледная рука.
Когда за пяльцами прилежно
Сидите вы, склонясь небрежно,
Глаза и кудри опустя, -
Я в умиленьи, молча, нежно
Любуюсь вами, как дитя!......
Сказать ли вам мое несчастье,
Мою ревнивую печаль,
Когда гулять, порой в ненастье.
Вы собираетеся в даль?
И ваши слезы в одиночку,
И речи в уголку вдвоем,
И путешествия в Опочку,
И фортепьяно вечерком?...
Алина! сжальтесь надо мною.
Не смею требовать любви.
Быть может, за грехи мои,
Мой ангел, я любви не стою!
Но притворитесь! Этот взгляд
Всё может выразить так чудно!
Ах, обмануть меня нетрудно,
Я сам обманываться рад!

English translation can be found here (http://members.tripod.com/~halonine/1824-26.htm#confession)

February 2, 2009 by Literature Uncategorized 0

2009 Superbowl

The only cool thing that came out of the 2009 Superbowl (Other than the fact, that the Cardinals played their heart out.. but still lost), were the 3D ads!! Dreamworks and NBC partnered up with Pepsi to show two ads in 3D after the first half.. I don’t know if the hype generated by the ads justified the millions of dollars spent to create them.. I am sure the picture below was reflected in most of the households across America 🙂

Thx to Sri and Kirthi for hosting this year’s Superbowl party.. The Guacamole and Haleem were yummy..Pictures from the party (http://flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157613256281176/)

February 2, 2009 by Food Fun Sports Uncategorized 0

Можете ли Вы мне помочь?

Если вы из России, вы можете мне помочь найти это стихотворение Пушкина? Я считаю, что имеет несколько линий, как этого ..
“Lublu ya vas..
..Chivo ze bolshe”
January 31, 2009 by Fun Uncategorized 13

You know you are addicted…

  • When you check your blackberry every minute, even when there is no e-mail waiting for you..
  • When you are in a social gathering and keep checking your blackberry rather than mingle with people..
  • When you are in a drive-thru lane at a fast food place and have to think “I will not check my blackberry until, I get to the window and get my food” (that takes an average of 30 seconds!!)..

I think I need to get some help here :-).. And looks like this is not a new phenomenon.. Here are some stories about the addiction

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/03/just_how_far_do.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401646/Blackberry-addiction-similar-drugs.html

Any ideas? 🙂

January 31, 2009 by Fun Rantings Uncategorized 0

HOW TO : View HTML pages in Linux (command line)

If you are stuck in a terminal on a Linux workstation and need to view a html file.. you can use the following command

links NAME_OF_HTML_FILE

Links displays the HTML code in the page by default..If you want to just view the rendered HTML, press “\” and you can toggle between HTML and Text views.

P.S : You need to have links installed to use it :).. But most of the new distributions have it installed by default.

January 30, 2009 by HOWTO Linux Uncategorized 3

Lessons of the trade : Data purge in databases..

Quick note to myself.. If you have a high volume transactional database and are looking to purge data from a table(s).. make sure you purge the data in small chunks. If you purge the data in larger chunks (rows), other processes trying to access the data on those tables have to go to the redo logs to access the data, since the purge job will put a lock on the table. This obviously adds latency to the queries.. So purge the data in smaller chunks (rows), forcing the database to flush the redo logs.

January 27, 2009 by Databases Technology Uncategorized 1

Why I added 5lbs of weight in 3 weeks…

Five Guys, a burger chain from the east coast opened their first franchise in Chicago… If you want some fresh juicy burgers and peanuts to eat while the burger is being made, this is the place to go to. I first tasted the Five Guys burger when I was in Washington DC, a couple of years ago, on work.. I thought how cool, it would be to open one in Chicago. Looks like some enterprising entrepreneur actually took my idle thought and opened one :-).. It is located at 2140 N. Clybourn Ave.

Coming to the title of this post.. Why did I add 5 lbs of weight? These three pictures should tell you why..

YUM

YUMMM

YUMMMMMY

OK.. That is my friend Rich.. but you get the idea :-)..

January 27, 2009 by Food Fun Uncategorized 0

SourceForge : Project of the Month

SourceForge.net is an online community supporting open source projects by providing hosting, distribution and subversion services. They choose a project every month from the hundreds of thousands of projects that are hosted on SourceForge based on popularity and activity. Most of the projects are the who is who of the Open source community. This is a good link to bookmark.. http://sourceforge.net/community/index.php/potm/

January 24, 2009 by Programming Technology Uncategorized 0