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Pitts & Wits |
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By Chandrasekar - Page 4 |
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Ganesha with silver uniform looked wonderful and with his blessings we
climbed up the stairs to main deity. Sri Venkateshwara idol is
small (compared to Thiruppathi and Chicago temples). Sri
Padhmavathi and Sri Andaal sannidhanams are to his right and left.
We offered sahasranama archana and it took about 40 minutes. After
the archana, Niveta sang "Sri Lakshmi Varaaham", Dikshitar
kriti set to Abhogi raaga. We finished dharshans of Padmavathi,
Andaal, Garuda, Anjaneya. Near Dhuvajasthambam, vennpongal was
offered as prasad. The taste was so fantastic, certainly reminded
my younger days where I used to get this pongal during the month of
margazhi at the temples. We took some pictures and proceeded
to temple canteen. Puliyodharai, Uppuma, Thayirsaadham, Pongal,
Boondhi, Mixture were each offered for $1. I bought one in each
and we shared. Every item was so delicious and I saw people buying
more and more. We came back to the temple office to browse the flyers and other displays. We got directions for nearby Shirdi Baba Temple. Since we had time we decided to visit that temple too. A lady performed pujas and gave us panchamirtham, baba pictures as prasads. We returned to hotel for few minutes rest. Then we got directions from the hotel office to Duquesne Incline, Gateway Clipper Fleet. We got the map and the time was 2.00 in the afternoon. We decided to meet and say "Hi" to Aruna (Sun's wife) at the temple on our way to these attractions. We went to the temple and spent few minutes searching for her. We finally met her and chatted for few minutes. She then said that she would call me after Manasa's (her daughter) classes were over and suggested not to miss these two attractions in the mean time. I jumped into the drivers seat to proceed towards Duquense Incline. We got there within 30 minutes and there was a free parking beneath Duquense Incline. The Duquesne Incline incline was opened around 1870, it was one of four such inclined planes climbing Mount Washington, carrying passengers and freight to the residential area that had spread along the top of the bluff. The cars are not self-powered, and do not even have operators on board. Instead, they are pulled up and down the inclined track by a cable driven by an engine in the upper station, where the operator works. The cars operate in pairs, permanently attached to opposite ends of a single cable, with one going uphill and the other going downhill simultaneously. The cars therefore counterbalance each other, so the engine needs to provide only enough power to overcome friction and the difference in the weight of the passengers in the two cars. We went into the cable car to go to uphill and the entire journey was less than 5 minutes. Up the hill, there are offices, hotels, residential apartments overlooking the entire Pittsburgh city. We spent about half an hour took pictures and returned via cable car. |