Vinayak Hegde

Alexis Ohanian ( kn0thing on twitter) – the co-founder of reddit (and the creator of the beloved Reddit Alien) was in Mysore for the TED conference. He took a break from the TED conference to meetup with a bunch of redditers. For those who don’t know he is also the publisher of XKCD books and all the proceeds from the book go to building a school in Laos. It was interesting talking to him about startups, startup school, Paul Graham, ycombinator, traveling in India, the startup scene in India, Social media [link to TED Presentation] and of course reddit.

We gave him a sampling of Indian food (Coconut Groove) and sweets (K C Das). Thanks to @dhempe and @pswam for organising this tweetup.

The next day at Tampere, I decided to take a tour and visit the different sights of the Tampere. In the morning I visited the distinctive Kaleva Church and the Tampere Cathedral. In the evening, I went to a traditional Finnish Sauna followed by a visit to the Viikinsaari island.

The Kaleva Church and Tampere Cathedral

The Kaleva church has several distinctive features. It is built in the shape of a fish and is extremely minimalistic as it does not have any ornamentation inside (even compared to the typical minimalistic Lutheran churches prevalent in Finland). It can be mistaken for a huge classroom or a concert hall if it were not for the large Organ that is present there. The church is huge and has a volume of about 36,000 cubic metres. Incidentally the guide who was conducting the tour was the daughter-in-law of the architect and she gave an insider’s view of the church. Another unusual feature of the church is the altar and the tall wooden sculpture behind it in the shape of a reed. The interior is mostly exposed concrete while the exterior is white tiled (like scales on fish’s body).

The Tampere cathedral was built in 1907 and is famous for it’s frescoes. The frescoes were painted by renowned symbolist Hugo Simberg. “The Garden of Death” and “The Wounded Angel” are two of the famous frescoes in the Tampere Cathedral. Hugo Simberg’s works depict dark and gloomy worlds. “The Wounded Angel” was voted as the most famous and recognizable painting in the whole of Finland recently. The most controversial of the frescoes is a red-winged serpent on the ceiling of the cathedral which symbolizes corruption and sin. The windows of the cathedral are adorned with beautiful and intricate stained glass paintings. All along the mezzanine floor of the church, you can find the paintings of the 12 apostles of Jesus.

The Wounded Angel	Garden of Death

Viikinsaari island

In the evening, Marek and I went to the Sauna and met some other CSers. We had a CS meeting in the sauna ! After the Sauna and a dip in the Näsijärvi Lake, I left for a trip to the Viikinsaari island on Pyhäjärvi lake. The island is popular with Tampere residents for picnics and weekend getaways. The forest on the island has several art installation in the form of theater props, photos and other artifacts. Angling, barbeque parties, kayaking and horseriding (on Icelandic horses) are popular activities on the island.There are several nature trails including around the island and the western part of the island is a nature reserve.