My trip to Mantralayam-> Alampur jogulamba shakthi peetam -> Yaganti. -> Belum caves -> Mahanandi-> Ahobilam -> Srisailam

This was a long awaited trip for me. I hope this blog guides for those who want to plan the budget trip  with family or friends.  Total  travel distance  (Mantralayam to Srisailam)  covers  approximately 700 kms in 4days,  Hyderabad - Hyderabad covers 1200 kms approximately in 5-6 days .  Here i go  about my travell experiences in detail.

Day 1 - Hyderabad.
I started my journey from Hyderabad by train (as i prefer train, based on availability) to Mantralayam.  There  are few trains  which stops  at Mantralayam Road (MALM)  railway station. I choosed one among those trains based on availability and comfort. 

Train name: TATA YPR express which is available only on Fridays . 

Boarded the train at 22:25 into AC coach as that was winter I preferred AC coach as  we can control the temperature.  The  same train stops at Lingampalli at 23:03. Got my birth and had a comfortable and warm sleep. 

Distance travelled: Overnight - 270 kms 

Day 2:

Morning 6:00 am train stopped at Mantralayam Road railway station. I was ready with my luggage and eager enough to start my trip. Jumped on the platform with full energy and had  a glance at railway station. What an amazing station south central railways has came up with. This is a newly constructed railway station with accommodation facilities available for the pilgrims visiting Mantralayam.

Mantralayam road (MALM) railway station- 6:30 AM

Travel Tip: If you don't have plan to stay at Mantralayam, you can fresh up at the railway station as it has very clean  toilets available .

Mantralayam temple is at the distance of 12 kms from the railway station. You have RTC bus / auto rickshaws  available at railway station.n
Frequency of bus: every 30 mins. @₹10 per head
Auto rickshaw: mostly available @ ₹20 per head.

Early morning ride to Mantralayam was so mesmerising. Two sides of the road is covered with green fields and witnessed the sunrise with clear sky.

After 30 mins of  auto ride, we reached Mantralayam. Mantralayam has good accommodation and locker facilities. As we not planned to stay in Mantralayam, choosed lockers to keep the luggage.  One can find lockers on the left side to the temple.  They charge ₹10 per head and can avail washroom facilities.  Believe me, wash rooms at railway station was much  better compared to these.  We also had an alternate to take a holy dip in river Thungabadra which is just behind the temple. But, terms and conditions- based on availability of water.

After refreshing at the locker zone we had a walk towards Thungabadhra river and found many stalls serving breakfast and other pooja related items. As the water level was poor that day, we came back and went for darshan.

For darshan we entered Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt (temple building) and had darshan of Manchalamma devi and continued to the main temple which is also called as Samadhi. It was so pleasant to meditate near Samadhi. Yes, you are allowed to meditate in front of Samadhi for a while if the crowd is less.

Samadhi inside the Temple Complex

Attractions at temple complex

Had a pleasant darshan in 30 mins and came out of the mutt. It was Ekadashi. So, no prasadam counters open.  One should go out of mutt to have some food. After darshan, next plan is to cover the near by visiting places like bichalai and pancha mukha anjaney temple. Auto rickshaw facilities are available near temple area to cover this places and drop back to temple. Total distance covered will be 45kms approx.

Bichalai is the place located on the bank of river Thungabadra where bikhsa (food/prasadam) was prepared with out fire , and Panchamukha anjaneya is the place where Sri Anjaneya Swami guided Sri Raghavendra Swami way to Mantralayam. These two are the places covered mostly by the travelers. 

With these places covered we are done with Mantralayam and have proceeded to Kurnool.

We have very few buses available from Mantralayam to kurnool. So, one have to go Yemiganuru, which is on the way to kurnool, and find a connecting bus to Kurnool.

So its Mantralayam-> Yemiganuru -> kurnool.

Alampur :

About:

Alampur Jogulamba Temple is a cluster of temples dedicated to Nava Brahmas. Bala Brahmeswara is the presiding deity here. This place is also called as southern Kashi, as the temple has the most matching features of Khashi.

Alampur Jogulamba is considered the Shakti of Bala Brahmeswara Swamy and the actual construction of the temple dates back to 6th century.

It is believed that the upper jaw with tooth of Devi fell here at this place. 

One among the attractions of this temple is its architecture and cluster of temples for nava bramha names as Bala Bramha, Kumara Bramha, Arka Bramha, Veera Bramha, Vishwa Bramha, Taraka Bramha, Garuda Bramha, Swarga Bramha and Padma Bramha.

This temple is also called as Sangama Kshetra ( Krishna and Tungabadra Samgamam). 

Journey: 

Those details are much enough to make Alampur as our next destination. Nearest way to reach Alampur is from Kurnool. It was almost evening, we started to Alampur from Kurnool bus stand. Frequent buses are available to Alampur from Kurnool which is just 22 kms. It took 45 mins to reach Alampur.

It was getting dark each passing minute and finally reach Alampur bus stand by the time light disappeared. Its walk-able distance to temple from  Alampur bus stop. So, we started walking to Jogulamba temple which is one of the 18 shakthi peetams. 

Fortunately the time we reached is the time for Sandya Harathi, last harathi in the temple. 

With the pleasant darshan followed by journey back to Kurnool and check-in to the hotel concluded the journey on Day 2. 

  

What is smart with "Google Allo"?

One more app into the market from Google. Can google be always smart? Does Google get success with every app? Well I am not sure.

Here is what I found with Google Allo - A Smart Messaging App.

Google Allo, a new smart messaging app for Android and iOS that helps you say more and do more right in your chats. Google Allo can help you make plans, find information, and express yourself more easily in chat. And the more you use it, the more it improves over time.
We are living in the world of smart devices which are helping us getting the work done in a smarter way. We do shopping, reading, health care what not , every possible thing. Well among those, most widely used applications are "Messengers".

Messengers are the smart approach we choose to stay connected with friends. We do plan parties, catching up with loved one and for many more, we rely on Messengers.

Are the Messengers are smart enough? 
This could be the question Google worked on, to introduce us a new messenger called "Google Allo". Google call it as Smart Messenger.

What is Smart with Allo? 

You might be interested in a conversations to carry on with your loved once as long as possible. But too often you have to hit pause on your conversations -whether it could be for planning a day out, flight status, or lookup new restaurants.

So, Google Allo helps you keep your conversations going without a pause, by providing assistance when you needed. This is being implemented with a service called Google Assistance.


  Features of Google Allo: 



Smart Reply: It is same like auto suggestion we get in Google search engine. Allo makes it easier to respond quickly to your frnds by suggesting the all the possible responses you can give.

With Smart Reply, you can respond to messages with just a tap, so you can send a quick “yup” in response to a friend asking “Are you on your way?” Smart Reply will also suggest responses for photos. If your friend sends you a photo of their pet, you might see Smart Reply suggestions like “aww cute!” And whether you’re a “haha” or “😂” kind of person, Smart Reply will improve over time and adjust to your style.

So, Allo will record your style of responding to others and will suggest accordingly. Like, I have a habit of typing "Hmmmm" which will be recorded by google and suggest you every possible time to reduce your key strokes.    Yes it is smart. So, Allo is reading your style of conversations :-P








Google Assistant

With your Assistant in Allo, you can have a conversation with Google — ask it questions and let it help you get things done directly in your chats. You no longer need to leave a conversation with friends just to grab an address, share your favorite YouTube video, or pick a dinner spot. Just type @google to bring your Assistant into any group chat. And of course, you can also chat one-one-one with your Assistant in Allo.

Here are just a few ways Google Assistant can help in Google Allo:

Make plans with friends. You can easily move from discussing dinner with friends to making plans for the night, right in your chat. Just add the Assistant to your group chat and ask for movie times, local restaurants and more. You can also research travel destinations, flights and hotels together with friends.

Get answers. Get the latest info on everything from news, weather, traffic, sports, or your upcoming flights status. Ask the Assistant to send you daily updates on the information you care about.

Have some fun. Ask your Assistant to share that funny YouTube video or play games with friends right in your group chat — for instance you can compete to guess a movie title based on a series of emojis.










Chat in Incognito mode
Its all about privacy and security which all needed. As per google, all chats in Google Allo are encrypted using industry standard technologies like Transport Layer Security (TLS). But google went extra mile with an option called Incognito . When you chat in Incognito mode, messages have end-to-end encryption and additional privacy features like discreet notifications and message expiration. You can set expiration time for the messages you send. Post the expiration time, message will not be available in the chat window. you can also change the expiration time for each line before you time.








I found this quite impressive than other messengers I use. This is only my view. Please share your thoughts about the application in the comments.



Sources: Google Blogs. 
Disclaimer: Intention of this post is not to promote any brand. This is just to share what I found amazing. 

Gadget to stay connected during outdoor adventures.

You are happy, joyous and strong enough as long as people are arround you and knowing the path you have choosen while doing outdoor adventures.

What if you lost the track and stucked alone in jungle.?

How about connecting/communicating with people when you are lost in a deep jungle with no network coverage area?

If I were you, Yes, I am nervous. I want to go back to the group where I came from. I want to join back the party being with friends, humming together, fighting for a snack and what not, everything. Yes, I want my fun back.

 But how?    Hahaha, this is just a situation came into my mind while exploring google about latest technology gadgets.

GoTenna is the gadget what I found and want to share with you. The beauty of this gadget is creating your own network with a limited range to communicate with your peers. It is like a modern walkie-talkie, keeps your smartphone in touch with friends and family nearby even where there's no wireless coverage. going to much details....

What is GoTenna?
GoTenna is a system that creates a wireless network that lets you send text messages along with your location between mobile phones, when there is no network coverage. You can also view offline maps.  This is not a replacement for your regular cellular network to use it for phone or going online.

It uses radio (cognitive digital radio) to create a local network with a range of up to four miles and automatically co-ordinates with other GoTenna devices which are within range . The radio and antenna is packed into a small, water -resistant and rugged device that can easily clip to your backpack.

Much more details can be found at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoTenna .

Disclaimer: This intention of this post is not to promote any brand. This is just to share what I found amazing. 

Be hushaar.. whatsapp is going to share your information with facebook..

You may have received a notification from global messaging service WhatsApp asking you to agree to a change in Terms and Condition effective from thursday, under which mentioning that whatsapp will share the phone numbers of its users with facebook. This will enable facebook to create more targeted advertising on facebook. If you did not, you will get one shortly.

Please do NOT Agree to the change. Click on read more and at the bottom, there will be an option to share data with Facebook that will be marked yes by default. Please uncheck that box.

If you have already agreed to the change, you can still opt out by going to WhatsApp/Settings/Account and unchecking the share data box and thereby opting out.

Sources: logical Indian media.

What is a Unix shell?

Shell is a process or a program running on Unix system which provides traditional command line interface, which interprets user commands into operating systems instructions. 

Shell reads the command from the User interface and validates the correctness of the command. All the commands which pass validation, will be sent or redirected to Kernel as a system instructions to perform the respective operation output is sent back to the shell interface. 

How Shell Interprets the commands: 

Shell interpretation is not as simple as we see. A lot of background process happens when ever user press “RETURN” on the user prompt. Shell breaks the commands into individual pieces. Looks for the meaning of those pieces and performs the necessary action. 

Below is the simple explanation of how shell interprets command. 

    sort -d playerslist > playerslist.sorted

This means, "Sort lines in the file playerslist in dictionary order, and put the result in the file playerslist.sorted ." Here's what the shell does with this command:

1.     Breaks up the line into the pieces sort , -d , playerslist, > , and playerslist.sorted . These pieces are called words.

2.     Determines the purpose of the words: sort is a command, -d and playerslist are arguments, and > and playerslist.sorted , taken together, are I/O instructions.

3.     Sets up the I/O according to > playerslist.sorted (output to the file playerslist.sorted ) and some standard, implicit instructions.

4.     Finds the command sort in a file and runs it with the option -d (dictionary order) and the argument playerslist (input filename).

Of course, each of these steps really involves several sub steps, each of which includes a particular instruction to the underlying operating system.