Diwali: when home becomes celebration!

When the diyas are lit, and the flames are a prayer

for love, peace, prosperity and lots of laughter

when the rangoli is inviting to come home

and the whole home is calling your name, again

Diwali is where home is, where celebration is!!

Diyas and Diwali

Home is where Diwali is and sometimes this seemingly simple fact gets ignored. Staying away from home sometimes the festival spirit is just missed and when the leaves are not approved it becomes a further excuse. But then diwali is family time and family is always there when you need them most!

Here is my last year love story with my home town Delhi in which the office played the villain. The story starts in October with the festive spirit in air, but due to everybody being in holiday and since you are single, interpret that as no family commitments and children, you are made to stay at office, when all you want to do is be at home eating ladoos, arguing with your dad and basking in all the attention your mom wants to give you at festival time. 

With the tempers soured, and fights at home for not coming and at office for not getting a leave it didn't seem like festival at all. One day before Diwali with shoulders dropped and spirit in complete shambles, and a heavy heart and sounds of my mom’s voice echoing disappointment and sadness echoing wild and loud I sat staring at my laptop reading the Diwali greetings with sarcasm. Dreading tomorrow and missing all my Diwali usualness at Delhi, going to friends and relatives at home, laughing and joking all day, making an elaborate rangoli, eating home made ladoos and kachoris and decorating the entire house. With a sigh and slight tear I brushed away the memories and the tear.

Suddenly I got a call from my boss saying that my leave is approved and wishing me all the best for holidays. I controlled myself not to say nay profanities, wanting to ask him what use is holidays now with no tickets available, I refrained and said a polite bye. Packing my bag I made my way home, empty house I thought but just as I reached.

The first surprise was the rangoli outside my flat and second as I saw my mom standing at the doorway, I almost ran and hugged her, “so what if you can’t come , we have got diwali from delhi here for you in Bangalore, happy diwali beta”, as I entered there was my brother and my father and the entire house decorated.

Without being given much time, I was working around, laughing and eating my mom’s handmade besan ladoos decorating the entire house, filling sweets in boxes to be given around. And then suddenly the tears made their way through as I hugged my dad and all he said was, “family is family beta, we will always be there for you, and at festival time we ccouldn't bear to see your sad face, its time to be happy, its time for ghar wali diwali!!”

And it was one of the most memorable diwali for me ever, I got new friends in my neighbours as they joined in the festivities and it was home away from home with a celebration that I still deeply cherish and this time with diwali round the corner I am off to home, for that special Ghar Wali Diwali!!

Diwali Rangoli!

 How long might be the distances and the miles

 The heart knows no boundaries as it cherishes memories

 That special besan ladoo and the dal kachori

 That colourful rangoli and decorative diyas

 Here’s wishing everybody a special ghar wali diwali!!

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Note: All Images used are author's original work.

World is going more Indian than you think!!

The night was dark and mystic, the breeze was fragrant with promise

He knelt down on one knee, underneath the glowing street lamp

"Will you marry me?", she caught unaware, glowed with happiness

"yes, I will", she paused to let that sink, in a hesitant whisper she said

"But I want to do the marriage around the fire, we taking the pledge

of the seven vows, decked up in Indian costume"

Decked up in colours of red, like a princess she walked with garland

he smiled, as the lights glittered, tired of dancing, floating with joy

The observer smiled, "world is going more Indian than you think!"

The music of evening prayers travelled with the strong wind

she ran from her room to the ghats to witness the evening aarti

transported to a different world, she remembered the dark days

the depression, the fatigue and the unknown world of failure

the yoga, the meditation and the journey to peace! she smiled

The observer noted, "world is going more Indian than you think!"

She smiled reading the review of her new restaurant, reminiscing

what they called was her, "cooking block", they had written her off

her cooking was called "mediocre", and the days of despair

and then she tasted the heaven, what they called curry!!

And she adapted it for her modern Indian cuisine, "Indian Kitsch"

the observer chuckled,"World is going more Indian than you think!"

 He was designing for her, she had won the battle against cancer

but that special touch that he craved for was missing, 

she was his special girl and light had finally come through the dark doors

and then he saw the special "chikankari" fabric he had got from India

and then the special dress was ready, the mirror beamed along with her

the observer wiped a tear, "World is going more Indian than you think!"

Both the sides stood facing each other, hatred written across their eyes
behind them citizens cowered, and prayed for their loved ones safety
and then the protester of peace, came forward tired of the destruction
and stood between them, "Let there be solution, through non violence, If you shoot
 shoot me first" and then hundreds joined in as the bewildered army looked on
The observer proudly said, "World is going more Indian than you think" 

He had finally agreed for his son's wish, left his hometown with tears

the future land as they called it, made him scared, weary

he looked down as the land faded away slowly, fearful of the new place

but the polite namaste and the hospitality, the smiling faces at the airport

and the warm roti with sabzi, had the little smile playing from cheek to cheek

the observer patted his shoulder,"World is going more Indian than you think!"

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A trip to Sikkim: Photo blog

                                                  The breeze of the hills whispers stories
                                                  Some unknown, some nostalgic..
                                                  The evening dusk envelops the dark green 
                                                  with the music of the cascading waterfalls..
                                                  The beauty surprises, pleases and shocks
                                             makes me reflect who I am and what I want to be!!

There are lack of words to describe sikkim's beauty, its ethereal, its magnificent, its majestic and still largely unaffected by the tourist flow. I travelled for a five day period.

The Mountains on the way to Nathula Pass, Sikkim

 The itinerary for the five day trip was as follows- first two days in Sikkim, visiting the local sight seeing and changu lake and beautiful monasteries. Then a half day excursion to Namchi and from there to darjeeling and fifth day in Darjeeling.

Changu Lake, Sikkim

The Curvy Road, Sikkim

The Peaceful Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim

Namchi, Sikkim

                                                   

Lepakshi..the beautiful ruins..

A short drive from Bangalore are located the mesmerizing ruins of Lepakshi. It's like being transported to a new world altogether, magnificent, old world charm and just quietness. It's a simple and nice drive from Bangalore on the bangalore-hyderabad highway. The road is good, even after the diversion when you enter the small village, the road is quite good.

The Ruins of Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh

The entry Gate, Lepakshi

The story of Lepakshi is, in the ramayana the bird jatayu while fighting with ravana fell here and lord rama while caring for it, he sai "Le Pakshi", "Rise Bird" in Telegu.

The hanging pillars, Lepakshi

The famous hanging pillars are good to see, but without a guide will be little difficult to understand it.
There is a beautiful ganesh idol and a shiva lingam housed inside the massive seven hoods and three coils of a naga, so a nagalingam which is said to be one of the largest nagalinga in India.

Nagalingam at Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh

Ganesha hewn in stone, Lepakshi

Also there are ancient paintings, finest specimen of mural paintings of vijaynagar kings.

Mural paintings, Lepakshi

Mural Paintings, Lepakshi

Apart from this there is a spectacular monolithic nandi and the kalyan mantapa which is also an architectural marvel!! Its just 130 kms away from Bangalore and makes for an interesting day visit!!

White light..expressions..the purity of emotions

My first photo blog..its a story through pictures..!!

White Light..purity..woman's heart

The White light of purity, of transparency as it envelops everything in its wake, purifying everything. Its the essence of being a human!!

Colours..and white light

The colours of undiluted laughter, of myraid hues as they spread over, the creativity of soul and of life!!

The soul of food, salt

The life giver and saver, it is what spices up things, the small white unit crucial to taste and to life!!

The captured shadow

The strangulated shadow of white light as it peeks from the curtains of darkness, watching the transformation of itself, of its essence, of the humanity.

Light at the end of tunnel

The long wait at the end of tunnel for the illumination of white light, of justice and of happiness and of peace!

A short trip to pondicherry..

The magic of a sunset, is the orange hues

splashed across the bronzed sky

as the wide leaves of the coconut trees

sway in the cool mystical sea breeze!!

Sunset at Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India 

The story started from a friend's wedding in Chennai, and with the long weekend around the corner. We decided to go to Pondicherry, the land where time stops. Unlike the beach capital of Goa, a pondicherry holiday is about relaxation and cafe hopping and shopping at auroville!!

We took an AC bus from koyambedu bus stop in Chennai, and got lucky as the bus was waiting at the stop. With the ticket cost of only Rs.135, it was an awesome bargain and the bus didn't disappoint at all. We started around 9.30 pm and by 1.30 the bus had dropped us to our destination, pondicherry bus stop.

Our earlier booked hotel, a bed and breakfast Inn in the french quarters had cancelled our booking at last minute and we stayed at hotel sathya sai, which turned out to be a great bargain again at Rs.800 a day for 2 person stay. The room was clean with a big enough bathroom and a functional TV, and teh staff was helpful and cooperative.

To roam around the city, you can easily hire a bike or a bicycle. A bike would only cost around Rs.400 for a day and you can bargain for 2 days easily.

Here's my summary of the Best Cafes I liked in Pondicherry:

1. The Indian Kaffe Express
- Absolutely great for breakfast with innovative options and really tasty food. The service takes a bit of time but then pondicherry is for relaxation. It is well situated within the french quarters and you should definitely give it a try!!

2. Zuka
- For all chocolate lovers, this is nothing less than heaven and absolute must try!!

3. The Hidesign Cafe
- An absolute bargain with delicious food!! and a great location being inside the pondicherry bazaar
Much better than the expensive options

4. Le Cafe
- Awesome location right beside the beach and good snack options

We also tried LB2 lounge and cafe Shanti, but they were ok nothing great as such! and you can try so many other cafe options available!!

Coming back to attractions, we did roam around the majestic french quarters, its a must see. And we did some shopping around the bazaar, if you like leather bags, definitely try hidesign factory outlet where you can get as much as 60-70% off.

Pondicherry Market, pondicherry, Tamil Nadu

I loved this small bazaar with mud objects, they were a treat to watch.

Next day we started off in morning to auroville, on our rented bike and reached quite easily in about 35 minutes. We walked to the statue, which was nice and then shopped around for incense sticks and hand made soaps. We had a nice quite lunch and then moved to serenity beach in pondicherry.

Coming to beaches, there is obviously the promenade, the rocky beach but it is mostly crowded. Serenity beach was a great discovery. It has less crowd, you can do surfing here and it's great to just sit on the rocks and watch waves crash by. Its quite clean, littered with fishermen boats.

Serenity Beach, Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a great weekend break, for relaxation! For just roaming around!!

Serenity Beach, Pondicherry

A Monsoon love story: Me and the Andaman Islands!!

Monsoons are romantic, monsoons are colourful..the pallete of colours that appears on sky can put any colourful painting to shame. I am a hopeless lover of the monsooons..so my first travel post is a monsoon post to the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

So yes, I travelled in the off season, of late july, which has both pros and cons. The tourists were still there but much lesser than the peak season, and you are free to enjoy the island beauty in its stillness in its charming loneliness!! On the flipside, a few of the beaches were closed and there is no private ferry, although I really enjoyed the charm of the government ferry, also was way cheap on the pocket.

Port Blair, Andaman Islands

So on a five day trip..this is how our iterinary went
- Landed in port Blair around 1..spent the day there
- Day 2 to havelock Island in a government ferry
- Day 3 to Niel from Havelock and spent the day there
- Day 4 Back to havelock, entire day there
- Day 5 Morning back to Port Blair and flight from there

The highlights of the trip or the things you should definitely do, in part images and part words..

Cellular Jail

1. Cellular Jail
Its a sad tragic story with a beautiful architecture and in the rains it just becomes more magnificent!!

Architecture of cellular Jail, Port Blair

The architecture with massive lines is just imposing, it narrates a tale of perseverance and strength. Its the main thing to see in port blair. It was an afternoon spent well.

View from the top- cellular Jail

We spent the evening at Rajiv Ghandhi park, which looks beautiful in evening with monsoon clouds There is nothing much to do here just stroll around and relax.

Rajiv Gandhi Park, Port Blair

Then started the journey to Havelock, the governemnt ferry leaves at 6.30 am and second at 9.30, we missed the first one

Boats at Havelock Deck, Andaman Islands

Havelock is just beautiful, to describe it as anything else would be just not true. Radhanagar beach, vijaynagar beach and kalapathar..the white sands, crystal blue water and untouched natural beauty. Radhanagar beach has truly been described as one of the best beaches in Asia, but I loved Kalapatahr becah even more, its just pristine, yet untouched.

Kalapathar Beach, Havelock Islands

Kalapathar Beach, Havelock Islands, Andaman

It's very easy to roam around in havelock using a two wheeler on rent. Personally I didnt find much in Neil island, you can easily roam around using a bicycle. We did snorkelling here, since the crowds are lesser. You can give it a miss, if you don't have much time.

I hope you like reading it and was somewhat helpful, would love to hear your comments!!

Andaman Islands