Col GKS Reddy Coins: VISIT TO SHREE VENKATESWARA TEMPLE, BIRMINGHAM UK

CHAPPIDI ABHIRATH REDDY,

C/O COL GKS REDDY,

Secunderabad - 500 084.

Visited Shree Venkateswara Temple at Birmingham City on Saturday 27 Oct 2018. Started by car from London at about 0730h and hoped to reach Birmingham by about 1000h, a distance of about 120 Miles. However, heavy snowfall started half way through and finally reached the Temple by about 1115h. Returned back to London in the Afternoon after Darshan and Lunch.

UNITED KINGDOM.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK)^] or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

The sovereign state is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy.The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 1952, making her the longest-serving current head of state. The United Kingdom's capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with an urban area population of 10.3 million.^[19] Other major urban areas in the UK include the conurbations centred on Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Liverpool.

The United Kingdom consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.Their capitals are London, Belfast, Edinburgh, and Cardiff respectively. Apart from England, the countries have devolved administrations, each with varying powers. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.

Birmingham.

Birmingham is the second-most populous city in the United Kingdom, after London, and the most populous city in the English Midlands. With an estimated population of 1,137,100 as of 2017, Birmingham is the cultural, social, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is the main centre of the West Midlands conurbation, which is the third most populated urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population in 2011 of 2,440,986. The wider Birmingham metropolitan area is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a population of over 3.7 million. Birmingham is frequently referred to as the United Kingdom's “second city”

Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple, Birmingham

The Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple (grid reference SO980906) is one of the largest temple for the deity Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) in Europe. It is on Dudley Road East, A457 behind the Meadows School in Tividale, West Midlands, England, on the border between Tipton and Oldbury; it was designed in the style of the Tirupati Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, India.

It opened on 23 August 2006 and was consecrated in a five-day ceremony between 23 and 27 August. The Vishnu incarnation Lord Venkateswara is the presiding deity, with two other deities either side of him in the main temple- his wife Padmavati, an incarnation of Vishnu's wife Lakshmi, and Hanuman the monkey God featuring in the Ramayana epic. Outside there are two small Shiva temples to his sons Ganesh and Murugan, along with a hall for Navagraha or small astrological representations of nine celestial bodies. It is an increasingly magnificent, well-appointed complex, very active with resident Brahmin priests; it is not necessary to be a Hindu to visit, but shoes are removed and photographing inside is not allowed.

Also on the site are a community centre, gatehouse, fountain and various developing lawn areas and walkways (in January 2008); the main building has two storeys, with the temple upstairs and service and administration below; Vedic tradition and Sanskrit language classes are held. Many of the Hindu community in the area speak Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam; the temple is a not-for-profit organisation.