Recap: [Hybrid] India, November 29, Discover India's Richest Temple & Explore Oldest Street Market - Indian Community Spotlight Meetup 🛕✨

[Rahul001]

cover photo of the recap of the meet-up with badge (Local Guides India) shown in the photo, created by @_aviralagrawal. 10 years celebration logo credits goes to @ShifaAymal & @Rakshith_LG (from left & right of Team logo).

Hy Local Guides,

This post is a member of #IndiaCommunitySpotlight2025 (by @curatorofmemory), a week-long celebration by #TeamIndia.This is also a part of the Community Spotlight 2025, a celebration initiative by @AdrianLunsong for celebrating 10 years of Local Guides. We welcome you to the Indian Local Guides Community during the 48th Week of the Community Spotlight mission from the 24th to the 30th in November 2025.

We are thrilled to share the recap of our Hybrid Meetup at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala focusing on showing majestic India’s Richest Temple, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and Kerala’s Oldest Market, Chalai Market.

The in-person meetup kicked off around 10:00 am. I along with @SarathUpendran started our exploration around the temple, visiting local shops and smaller temples surrounding the main attraction. @Nipun_Hanna joined as we prepared for the virtual meetup. This was his first time attending in-person with the local guides community & we gladly welcomed him to the community.

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Virtual Tour Highlights

At 10:30 am, we started our virtual tour around the temple welcoming more than 10 attendees from various parts of India.

We thank all the attendees who made the virtual tour more vibrant for us and others.

Our Live Tour showcased some vibrant gems, including :

1. Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple - We took the attendees through the East & North Nada (entrance) of the temple highlighting the majestic beauty of the adjacent temple pond.
2. Methan Mani - We stopped to showcase the famous Methan Mani, an iconic clock tower known for its unique mechanism and history.
3. Old Chalai Market - We walked through the Chalai Market, Oldest Market Street. On this Small Business Saturday, we make sure virtual tours cover small businesses shown inside the market. We also contributed towards such businesses from uploading photos to editing valuable attributes.
4. Pazhavangaadi Sree Maha-Ganapathy Temple - We also virtually showed the prominent temple, dedicated to Lord Ganesha.
5. Small Fort - Our final spot was the Small Fort ; adjacent to Pazhavangaadi Sree Maha-Ganapathy Temple, adding a historic touch to the tour.

I thank @TravellerG, @Nipun_Hanna & @SarathUpendran for the narration while we visited unique gems.

Attendees - @Shalz, @ShreyaMusings, @Shrut19, @Manishhh, @Nomad_Enkay, @TusharSuradkar, @EshaHarish, @Kumaarsantosh, @Dipayan_Mandal, @PrasadVR, @TravellerG, @Nipun_Hanna & more.

Thank you to everyone who joined in for in-person and virtual tours to make this “Indian Community Spotlight” exploring meetup a grand success. It was wonderful to explore such a rich and historic walk with the community.

#TeamIndia
#10YearsOfLocalGuides
#CommunitySpotlight2025
#IndianCommunitySpotlight2025

[KetanChhaniyara]

Hope you all enjoyed a lot and gain insights from the meet-up. Photo captures of the temple looks mesmerizing. Congratulations @Rahul001 on a successful meet-up.

[PrasadVR]

Hello @Rahul001, @SarathUpendran and @Nipun_Hanna, Thank you for sharing the details of the temple during this virtual meeting. The photos are excellent, and the recap is impressive.

[EshaHarish]

I attended virtually, and it was such a great meetup! The detailed walk around the temple and all the explanations were really enjoyable. Truly loved the experience, great work by the team! @Rahul001 @SarathUpendran @Nipun_Hanna

[Shalz]

@Rahul001 thank you for a beautiful virtual tour of the temple

[Shrut19]

Namaskar
@Rahul001
Thankyou for virtual tour of Temple & Oldest Market, sorry I am joining late,
Congrats for Success of Meetup..

[Nipun_Hanna]

It was so nice to meet you all.. this was my first meetup !
So happy to be part of exploring the shree padmanabha Swamy Temple…

Looking forward for more such events in city .

Happy to meet @Rahul001 & @SarathUpendran

[TusharSuradkar]

Very nicely covered virtual tour of the richest temple in the world, dear @Rahul001

I greatly appreciate that you walked attendees through the various parts of the huge temple complex, explaining the sections and their importance.

This inspired many to visit the temple in person soon.

[SarathUpendran]

@KetanChhaniyara

Congratulations @Rahul001 on a successful meet-up.

Hi @KetanChhaniyara , thank you so much for your support. We are really glad you liked the photos of the temple. It was a memorable day for all of us. Hope you’ll get to visit the place in person someday and explore even more.

[SarathUpendran]

Thanks a lot, @PrasadVR sir, we are glad you found the virtual walkthrough and photos helpful. It’s always nice to know that our effort to capture the details was useful

[SarathUpendran]

Thank you, @EshaHarish we are delighted that you enjoyed the virtual tour and the explanations. Your kind words mean a lot. hope we get to meet in person in future meetups

[SarathUpendran]

Thanks, @Shalz , I’m happy the virtual temple tour resonated with you. We hope to bring more such virtual walk soon

[Ssiddharth2000]

That’s a wonderful recap of this amazing hybrid meet-up @Rahul001 and @SarathUpendran Sorry I missed the virtual Meet-up but thoroughly enjoyed the photos and GIF.
Great to see @Nipun_Hanna join the meet-up too.

[SarathUpendran]

Hi, @Shrut19 , thank you so much for the support. No worries about joining late. I’m glad you could catch part of the tour, and we really appreciate your good wishes. Hope to see you in our future meet-ups.

[SarathUpendran]

It was great pleasure meeting you @Nipun_Hanna … hope you will be joining for all the future meetups in tvm …

[Annaelisa]

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zu diesem gelungenen Treffen @Rahul001

[Kumaarsantosh]

Thank you, @Rahul001 and @SarathUpendran, for your wonderful efforts in showcasing the rich and vibrant cultural values of our country.

[TravellerG]

Nicely written and presented post, dear @Rahul001 and @SarathUpendran
Congratulations for successfully conducting the virtual and physical meet up…
Highly appreciate your efforts to showcase different destinations to our attendees… great …
Sorry, that I had to leave a bit early as my family had a lunch session at a relative’s house.
Thank you very much for your lovely demonstration and happy that all the attendees enjoyed the same.
Hope we will have more sessions in the future…
Best wishes…
With warm regards

[AdrianLunsong]

@Rahul001 It’s a shame that I wasn’t awake in time for the virtual portion of your meet-up but well done to you, @SarathUpendran and @Nipun_Hanna (and the various online participants) for making the meet-up a success!!

[SarathUpendran]

Thanks a lot @Annaelisa for the constant support and encouragement