26th Edition of Shadow Dancing With Mind - Celebrating Two Hundred Thousand hits...

Welcome to 26^th Edition of “Shadow Dancing With Mind” and celebrating 200K Plus hits at my blog...

Its been a pleasurable journey of blogging, from the days of 2004, when I used to write only for myself to this day, when friends and bloggers visiting my blog, give me immense satisfaction. This is a journey of my thoughts, poetry, spiritual and creative pursuits, which not only made me more aware about me and the universal nature but also connected me to 1000+ Google Plussers and more the 350 followers... All amazing personalities and from each one of them I learned a lot. Thank you all for making this journey a hugely successful one and greatly satisfying.

In this edition, you will find some of the amazing books by Rilke and Tolstoy; A unique design installation, A very interesting contest on writing poetry (Haiku) to WIN ALL EXPENSE PAID WEEK LONG RETREAT in India as well as some of my Haiku and Poetry, as listed below...

THE READER – The books that I have read...

An amazing "Confession" by Leo Tolstoy

“Faith is the strength of life. If a man lives he believes in something.”

Reading a beautiful book “Confession” first published in Russia (1882), which was removed by Orthodox Church censorship and later published in Geneva (1884). In his “Confession”, Leo Tolstoy confronted his own reflections about the will to live, when in the end, it’s all about nothing.  Every moment is a step closer to dying, then why this whole life’s attempt to gain fame, family, friends and power.

Letters To A Young Poet - Amazing Voice Of Solitude, RILKE

“When a truly great and unique spirit speaks, the lesser ones must be silent”

The “Letters To A Young Poet” is a deceptively simple book. The letters were originally written to Franz Kappus, a 19-year-old officer cadet at the Vienna Military Academy, of which Rainer Maria Rilke was an alumnus. Discouraged by the prospect of life in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Kappus began to send his poetry to the 27-year-old Rilke, seeking both literary criticism and career advice. Their correspondence lasted from 1902 to 1908. In 1929, three years after Rilke's death, Kappus assembled and published the ten letters.

DESIGN STREET – A collection on design

First Chennai Urban Art Installation – commemorating the Child in You

During my travels, whenever I saw the creative of use of public space, like 'The Morning Line' below in Vienna, I used to wonder, why such activity does not happen in our own city. Yes there are installations… permanent political and religious Statues or in some small corner an Art Installation like the one at the corner of Harrington road, which sadly no one notices anymore.

ITC Grand Chola Hotel – A Sustainable Design and Hospitality with Smile

Last Saturday, I was invited by the Indiblogger team to preview The ITC Grand Chola Hotel. This is one of the latest Grand additions to the hospitality sector of fast developing Chennai, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu few months ago. Being in the profession of Interior Designs and Projects, It was a pleasure to spend a day in this beautifully crafted hotel, with exquisite artefacts and accessories highlighting the vast expanse of its interiors.

UP, CLOSE & PERSONAL – Some personal insights and experiences

Felix Dennis – A live tapestry of Pills, Publishing & Poetry

A very interesting and, in my opinion, quite truthful verse about poets by Felix Dennis which caught my attention, few days back. I started to do a little research about the poet and it turned out to be quite an epic story in itself. As I got to know more about the Poet Felix Dennis, who is in fact a publishing Giant with flagship brand like THE WEEK, got me thinking more and more about how writing poetry affects people from different fields and class... but before that, here is the verse...

Winter Spiritual Retreat by an unique Community Paras Dharma Ashram

The bi-annual Winter and Summer Spiritual Retreats is organized, for a limited group of only 25 ‘preselected’ participants, by a unique community and Non-Profit Organization and Trust “Paras Dharma Ashram” which is based out of Kushinagar.

WHISPERS – The poetry Section

Write a Haiku and WIN

Write a Haiku on "Spirituality" on or before 31st March 2013, and win a chance to be one of the 7 WRITERS who will be offered an all expense paid week long stay in spiritual retreats in Rishikesh, Himalaya and in Kushinagar (A place where Buddha attained nirvana)

Love, Destiny and Death

A lot of pent-up emotions are here to explode and now all those thoughts and feelings are rushing back to surface... hope you could relate to it all.

An Apology To The Delhi Gang Rape Victim

Today, a sad day indeed for the common people, who are feeling helpless and were looking forward to a bigger fight along with the brave heart girl, who fought and fought... Shame on all of us, if we let her fighting spirit die. Let’s all fight to bring back the dignity that India has within, which it lost in a senseless act of lust and drunken criminality of psychopaths...

STILL LIFE – A journey through images

A South Indian Marriage in North Indian Style

It was one of the most beautiful five days of ceremony and fun. I enjoyed it thoroughly as guests from across the world gathered and graced the occasion. So here is a small journey of still life for your pleasure....

Falling In Love with 'Namma' Chennai.... A North Indian affair

Living in a place, lovingly called 'Namma Chennai'...

It was a different world from Delhi, when I came to Chennai in 1994 - different culture, outlook and life style. But over the year Chennai’s beautiful sensibility and style seeped into me and now it’s ‘Namma Chennai”. Here is ‘what makes me, love Chennai’ through the lens of my camera...

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Hope you will enjoy this edition... look forward to your comments and visit to the next Edition... please click on the “Join this Site” button on the right hand side top corner to follow my posts on this blog... I will be grateful.

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Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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25^th Edition

Design Street: ITC Grand Chola Hotel – A Sustainable Design and Hospitality with Smile

Last Saturday, I was invited by the Indiblogger team to preview The ITC Grand Chola Hotel. This is one of the latest Grand additions to the hospitality sector of fast developing Chennai, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu few months ago. Being in the profession of Interior Designs and Projects, It was a pleasure to spend a day in this beautifully crafted hotel, with exquisite artifacts and accessories highlighting the vast expanse of its interiors. 

IMG: Indiblogger

The tagline ‘Responsible luxury’ of ITC Grand Hotel is a statement true to the vision of ITC, which presents ‘First on Earth – The greenest Luxury Hotel Chain in the world, where every hotel is LEED Platinum rated.

A Sustainable Design:

Opened as the world's largest LEED-certified platinum (Highest in the category) green hotel, is 100 per cent powered by renewable energy. It recycles all its water and generates sustainable energy, through wind farms in Salem (Tamil Nadu – India), for the whole of its electricity needs. The building is designed by Singapore-based SRSS Architects, (Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart) who are equally committed to sustainability and incorporate in their designs, a broad spectrum of energy conservation, water use efficiency, indoor environmental air quality and material sourcing.

The Architecture:

ITC Grand Chola is themed after traditional Hindu architecture of the Chola Dynasty. This architectural theme is reinforced with 462 pillars, most of them with hand-carved design work. The hotel has over 1 million square feet of marble with 57 varieties of the stone. The intricate stonework in the building was created by 4,000 artisans from Mamallapuram who worked on site. The hotel, built on 1,600,000 sq ft, is dubbed the largest stand-alone hotel in the country and will have the largest convention centre in the country built on 100,000 sq ft with a pillar less 30,000-sq ft ballroom.

Hospitality with Smile:

After circumventing the entire expanse of the Hotel, we arrived at a grand porch of the hotel. Our hostess for the day, Ms. Neelam, with a big welcome smile, explained that the roundabout access to the porch, is in line with the tradition of Chola Temple Architecture, where custom is to do Parikrama(Going around the temple). According to her, this concept of access is incorporated first time in the hotel industry of India. Apart from the tradition, I personally feel, it also serves a good purpose in orienting the guests to the huge expanse of the building. 

As you enter, the first thing that one notices is the smile on the faces of the entire welcoming staff, including the security personnel and then the spectacular entrance lobby welcomes you with open arms. The entire lobby is made with Italian marble, hand crafted by thousands of artisans from nearby Mamallapuram, gives a feeling of being inside of a temple.

The hotel is comprised of 600 rooms, which include 522 rooms and 78 serviced apartments. The rooms are divided into 326 Executive Club rooms, 31 Eva rooms, 132 Towers rooms, 48 ITC One rooms, 14 Deluxe Suites each measuring 1,164 sq ft, a presidential suite named the Karikalan Suite and a six-bay grand presidential suite named the Rajaraja Chola Suite spread over 4,380 sq ft. 

IMG: ITC

The single rooms occupy an area of 615 sq ft (one of the largest in hotel industry) with exclusive lounge and private butler. There is a distinct wing, Eva wing, for female guests spanning the entire wing of the second floor. The hotel has three wings: the first or primary wing houses all Executive Club rooms, and the second wing contains ITC One rooms, Towers rooms and all the Suites. The third wing has been constructed exclusively for the Residences, offering the luxury accommodation.

The rooms are fully equipped with everything the technology has to offer in terms of hospitality and entertainment, starting with an iPad that can control almost everything electronic and electrical in the room. The most delightful feature of the iPad control was the facility to actually see who is on the other side of the door, ringing your doorbell and if required, one can open the door from the same. I have had great time exploring the well appointed room. The choice of restful arrays of pillows and the unique ITC Rest Kit, which has different types of oils, creams, etc. to give you that perfect sleep and relaxation. According to our hostess Ms. Neelam, it is proving to be  very popular among the guests.

Img ITC

The hotel has a total of 10 food and beverage destinations, including the Peshawri, which serves cuisine from the Northwest Frontier, and The Royal Vega, a vegetarian restaurant. Others include Madras Pavilion, Cafe Mercara, Nutmeg, Cheroot Lounge, Pan Asian, Modo Mio, The Pub and Tranquebar. The food in the various restaurants is authentic in taste, and a delight to savor.  Each restaurant is thoughtfully decorated, keeping in mind the tradition as well as the theme of that particular restaurant.

An interesting touch is a jukebox where one can play the song of one’s choice. I was told that this is a first in any Indian Hotel. It was a surprise to find the iconic Egg Chair in one of the lounges. I was thrilled to find the beautiful paintings of M F Hussein, specially the one from the old Chola Sheraton, which is currently priced at Rs. 10 Million.

Going forward, the Leisure facilities will include a 23,000-sq-ft Kaya Kalp. There are beautiful Spa, outdoor pools, gyms for each of the three wings, and a shopping area.

Over all, the experience in the ITC Grand Chola was exquisite - a day well spent. The soft tone interiors and the grandeur of the hotel, slowly grows on you and the attentiveness of the entire staff, with smiling faces, remains with one for a long time...

Curtsy: Info from ITC Chola Staff as well as from Wikipedia

IMG: All images, except as mentioned, is personal

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Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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A Note on Good Design