At the End!!!

I witnessed something awakening recently. I had read about it in books watched it in movies and soap operas and made fun of it until now.

I call it awakening and not heart breaking because it was more of a realization than anything else. It got me thinking we are so oblivious of many things that are there but not really visible in obvious ways. We tend to take things for granted. Depend on things and people.

Partly the society and community we live in sets us up for a kind of obviousness that is unrealistic, and partly the omnipresent media of the sort that shows us green and rosy pictures.

We often assume that people who care for us would never hurt us or would continue caring for us forever because that's how it was so far. Well wake up. Only thing constant is change and people and situations change.

We expect mothers to be either extremely maternal or not, we forget they are humans and no ones just like the other, especially not like what we are shown in Advertisements and movies etc. They are often somewhere in between.

The friend who was your best friend and stood by you the one time you were in trouble may not stand by you next time for various reasons.

The father or brother or sister who bailed you out for getting arrested that night or coming to help when you were getting bullied may not come next time. It can be because they are not around or just because they don't want to, things/situation/people change.

The husband, you think loves you, adores you and dotes on you, may just ask you to leave or leave you himself, when going gets tough.

We often attach and start leaning on others knowingly or unknowingly and people, equations, situations and relationships change. Things just change for plethora of reasons. It's time of awakening, to understand that at the end we are all alone. It's just yourself that would stand by you no matter what.

The children you count on may not be around when they grow up and decide to leave the nest for good.

The house and all those little comforts you thought was your ultimate sanctuary may be destroyed by some natural calamity or man-made destruction.

At the end it's just you for yourself. Wake up and learn to rely on yourself and be with yourself.

Wake up and stand up for yourself. !!

Cheers. :)

Blue, white and sprinkle of green in my rear view mirror

After a long wait finally Summer is here (officially).

We were visiting Snoqualmi Falls last weekend and what I saw in my rear view mirror on the way was so mesmerizing and tranquil that for a moment I forgot everything and thought this is heaven and we keep looking for it everywhere and in everything else.

In that moment nothing mattered be it career, money, position or people.

We keep running after career, people and money and we pass over the small things in life like a blue sky with white clouds and sprinkle of green from the trees around the road and those on mountains behind.

As is the motto of this blog to not let small things in life go unnoticed, one should never overlook 5 things in life,

1. Nature around you:- the wonderful gift given to us for free and has everything that we need .
2. Health:- if you can walk few miles just do it.
3. Happiness :- it comes from small small things like eating your favorite dish, watching a kid play or smile in a park, a Dog sprinting after a ball with all the energy and zest, a flower blooming or fruits growing on the tree(s), Sun sets and Sun rises, waves of ocean and ripple on the creeks, rivers, lakes or ponds, mist coming from a water fall, horses grazing the grass or a chipmunk or a squirrel eating and playing in a forest, Moss covered trees with the hollow of the trunk to hide, a bunny chewing it's way on the green grass, even weeds that grow in your backyard with colorful flowers are beautiful; the list is endless. If you have witnessed any of these in past few days consider yourself lucky, happy and alive.
4. Growth:- if you can learn, grow up, grow old or watch some one grow up it's worth the journey called life.
5. Kindness and compassion:- it is the most precious thing that is seldom given and often forgotten or glossed over. It has many variations we just need to identify them and keep with a warmth that spreads all over.

PS: If you plant a plant or tree you can be rest assured it will be there tomorrow, day after and day after and so on... no matter what, can you say the same for career, money or people we run after and add stress to our short lives?

Cheers!

Listen to your brain and not to your heart

One of my friends shared a post saying "Trust in the wisdom of your heart and it will carry you to places your plans have never dreamed of".

Well that's wrong. Simple plain wrong. 97% of the time it's wrong only 3% times it is right.

If you know that your heart is going to choose to play or watch TV against study and your mind knows it's wrong well don't listen to your heart. Very few like to work hard before they party at all.

You look for love of your life and you find someone absolutely charming your heart beats at just look of that person, but your mind says maybe not perhaps somethings a miss, then something is a miss.

The mind usually works on logic and reasoning hence listen to your mind, ask your heart to shut up and do the work of pumping the blood in your veins at right rate and not interfere with thinking which is really work and expertise of brain.

It is possible you may suffer if your heart is not into it, but then it's a guarantee you will suffer either ways, and it makes sense to suffer for things that you can explain giving logic and reasoning.

It is easy said then done, but it must be done. If your mind is mindful and aware of logic and reasoning it will more often take you on better path, I wouldn't say right or wrong path, because it's relative there is nothing as absolute right or absolute wrong.

How can one make sure that mind is on right or better track? Many people say exercise, Yoga and meditation is the answer to being aware and being mindful in a way that will take you in right direction and I completely agree with it, but there is a bigger and better power there which is much more powerful than Yoga, exercise and meditation, that is will power. If your will power is strong one can achieve anything. It doesn't need catalysts and stimulants like exercise or Yoga or meditation. I have seen people defy death and ghastly illness or injuries mere with will power.

Yes Yoga, exercise and meditation lead to a better mental and physical health and work as stimulants and/or catalyst to develop, harvest or amplify your will power, but don't forget the real power is within your mind itself.

If you can harvest your will power you can win any battle; the biggest challenge is to learn to harvest it. Will power comes from within your mind and your heart has no role to play in there.

Harvest the power within!

The Mantra of Success

I see there are loads of books available to read how to be successful.
I haven't read any yet but I guess this is true in general what I have realized.
Again I would say it is easy said than done however here it is.

"To be successful you need to be Smarter, Better and Faster than others in every aspect."

1. People need to like the way you look, dress, carry yourself, talk, think, react, process information, work and communicate.
2. People need to like your skills.
3. You need to be social and be able to convey your thoughts, work and experiences across in a way that makes an impact on others.
4. Most people know the same things you know, but if you are smart enough to identify it, better to process it and formulate it in the way it can be communicated and faster enough to communicate it in real time before someone else does it in a way that people can relate to what you are saying will gain you more and better results and rewards.

Magical Experience @Universal Studio, LA

I had to visit LA for a wedding, we were kind of 50 miles away from LA city center but it was still close to LA (closer than Seattle).;)

We reached Wednesday night and we had just one day before all festivities start.
The choice was between Universal Studio and Disney land.
I thought I can do Disneyland in Florida but LA seems to be hub for Sci-Fi movies let me do Universal Studios first.
Until last day I wasn't sure what to expect but then I happened to see a video of Universal Studio tour posted on you tube sometime ago and I was super excited to go there. So much I drove some of my close friends crazy by sharing my excitement.

Well we decided to go on Thursday, hoping the crowd would be less and I am still wondering if the crowd was less on Thursday being a Weekday, I just can't imagine how much would it have been had we had visited Universal studio on a weekend.

Anyway we reached Universal studio and before you enter the Theme Park there is this Shopping Complex "City Loft" it was amazing the kind of stores it had was just too good, especially there were stores which sold only socks of all type and stores that had beautiful gift items and stores with amazing candies and chocolates and then one which sold around 8 types of Pop Corns. Trust me I was awed beyond words can describe, to see all that. ( I did buy a small pack of Chicago style Pop corn, it was yummy :):):)).



Finally we bought tickets and entered the theme park. The Journey Begins with Light Camera Action --->


After the action starts it kind of takes you to Texan Cow Boy style Ranch restaurant and European streets and stores. There were also many stores that sold Harry Potter stuff starting from Wands it had almost everything Cloaks, Owls, cauldrons, brooms, Quidditch stuff and sweaters and uniforms of all houses and list is endless. Well I thought, okay it seems all business.

We went ahead and found ourselves among Minions where Gru and girls were recruiting us to be Minions. Here started our 3D experience and after that I have no words to describe the fun rides, you feel like you are part of one of the scenes of the movie, though it still felt like it was a little bit made up, but little did I know that best is yet to come. ;)

We came out of minion theme and we entered "The Hogsmeade"!!!!. It was Magical.

We had everything there, we had snow in summer, we could see Hogwarts in distance, there were wizards helping kids perform magic, no-melt ice-creams, Olivander's wand store, Book store, Martha's butter beer was sold every where in wooden barrels (which I must say tasted awesome, I haven't tasted any drink like that before, and it's not real beer so even kids can enjoy), there was a Zonko's candies store with chocolate frog that had Dumbledore cards to collect. You can also see the Veela Witches from Beauxbaton's Academy of magic and students from Durmstrang Institute perform along with our Hogwarts student performing their song with singing frogs.

They had Hogwarts train with a ticket collector standing outside, The Whooping willow and the blue car stuck in whooping willow, spiders, Diagon Alley, Moving talking picture frames of all of the Hogwarts Headmasters etc etc etc. One has to go there to feel the magic. Someone put lot of thought and effort in the whole concept, that if there weren't too many muggles roaming around I would have thought it was all real and I was in Hogsmeade myself. What added to the magic was that theme park staff were all in their uniforms as per the roles they were playing and they played their roles aptly. It definitely made the whole experience much more real.

Then comes Hogwarts and the 3D ride of forbidden journey with Harry Potter, this one seriously makes you feel as if you are inside the movie with Harry flying on a broom. This is the most amazing experience I have had in my life and I have been to plenty of Amusement parks in my life so far.

There is another ride "Buckbeak's flight" which is not that great but good for kids and the Buckbeak they created looked very very real. Everytime you start the ride you bow to the mighty Buckbeak and it bows back that is when the ride starts.


Then we went for "The Mummy returns with revenge" theme park and the ride was amazing however it did not have complete 3D experience but they built the scary caves and at the end you do feel like the insects actually touch your feet. (It was scariest for me as I am super afraid of insects, especially the ones in Mummy movie which eat you alive in seconds.)

Studio 2 tour which shows you many movie tricks and it's 360-3D King Kong show is also very good but nothing beats Harry Potter experience for me as I grew up reading those thick books (And I own the whole set and I have read it at-least twice and some of the books I have read 3-4 times).

Harry Potter theme park is the total magical experience one can experience for real. It was definitely worth the money, time and effort. It was so nice that I was under the spell of the magic even after returning home, until sadly someone poked my magic bubble by commenting on my obsession with whole Harry Potter and magic :(. Well as much as it broke my bubble and brought me to reality I feel I will never forget this experience where I had a lot of fun and I must conclude it with writing a blog, which will keep the memory live for me longer than usual. :)

Kudos to the team who designed and executed Harry Potter theme, only thing I can say that it all felt real and "Magical". :)

There are other attractions as well like Jurassic park theme boat ride, Shrek, Simpsons, Water World and Transformers. We missed out on Shrek, Simpsons and Transformers due to lack of time but we had fun. However many people like the live Water World show I was not that thrilled but I cant deny the effort and energy that those actors put in there.

PS: As I said there were lot of muggles around me, I am borrowing some pictures from google and adding some of my own here, but I can assure you it looks exactly as it is visible in the pictures, and it is fun and magical. It is a must visit place and I would love to go there again. :)

Have all the fun and magic in life while you can.
Cheers.!! :):)

The 3rd Sheep

As against in middle of night, today I am blogging in the middle of the day. ;)

This thought has been lingering in my head for long and I finally decided to blog it out.

I received this story in one of the Watsapp (chat app) groups and it kind of made me think.

The story is about a missing Sheep.

It all started one lazy Sunday afternoon in a small town near Toronto, Canada.
Two school goings kids had a crazy idea.

They rounded up 3 Sheeps from neighborhood and painted the numbers 1,2 and 4 on their sides.
That night they let the Sheeps loose inside their school building.

The Sheeps wrecked havoc over the night.

Next morning, when the authorities entered the school, they could smell something was wrong.
They soon saw sheep droppings on the stairs and near the entrance and realized that some Sheeps had entered the building.

A search was immediately launched and very soon, the 3 Sheeps were found and they were numbered 1,2 and 4. But the authorities were worried where was Sheep No.3?
They spent the rest of the day looking for Sheep No.3.
Gradually there was panic and frustration.

The school declared classes off for the students for the rest of the day.
The teachers, helpers, guards, canteen staff were all busy looking for sheep No. 3, which of course was never found.

Simply because it did not exist. :\

This story tells us that those among us who in-spite of having a good life are always feeling a "lack of fulfillment" are actually looking for elusive, missing non-existent  Sheep # 3.

Whatever the area of complaint or search or dissatisfaction may be relationship, job-satisfaction, materialistic achievement, list is endless...

An absence of something is always larger than the presence of many other things.

After few days I went to have coffee with a newly acquired friend one of the evenings before leaving the city for good (which I wasn't very happy about) and we both were talking about our lives, Jobs, friends, family and relationships etc. I did not realize when the whole discussion went deeper and got more intimate. As much as I was happy to find a friend I could talk to at deeper levels, all of a sudden I realized that somewhere we were looking for 3rd sheep. Actually our problems were not that big and I include myself here as well.

I forwarded this story to her and said maybe we are looking for 3rd sheep. It also means we are having a fulfilled life, because that is why instead of being worried about the basics we are perhaps concentrating on wrong things. Think about it, if we did not have food to eat or clothes to wear or a place to live in, would we be worrying about petty things in life like how someone behaved or how they did not behave or what they said or they think. Of course not, our whole focus and energy would be on getting food on table, clothes and a place to keep us warm and protected.

That is when I realized, that at some point of time we all  look for the 3rd sheep and we have to remind ourselves and each other that we gotta stop looking for that one, because we need to realize perhaps it doesn't exist; and we must stop looking for it in every possible corner. :)

Stop looking for Sheep #3 and have worry free days and a fulfilled life ahead ...

Cheers! :)

Mediterranean Grill, Bel Red Road

Often when I go to bed early I wake up in the middle of the night and then I often have trouble going back to sleep. So if you notice closely most of my blogs say in the middle of the night. :)

So today is no different, went to bed early woke up and couldn't sleep, so I was reminiscing events of the day and this one kind of stood out.

There is this Mediterranean Grill on Bel Red Road Bellevue, Washington. I have been there thrice (today was third time).
It is kind of a small, cozy place with very good food. They say they make it all fresh and I think the freshness of ingredients kind of seeps into the taste of  food they serve too.

First time I went there, there was a lady serving the food, she was not very nice but wasn't very rude either. Second time I went with one of my colleagues and there was this guy at the counter and he was not so nice and looked like he was in scurry, I didn't see anyone waiting while we ordered (we had just entered the place), it being a small place I looked around and the crowd wasn't thick either, I thought may be he is preoccupied or something. I didn't give that much heave of thought then. Last time my colleague complained of him being rude but I thought it was just a bad day.

Today being Friday and after 2 weeks of fire fighting, late nights and dealing with multiple "Bosses" we decided to go out for lunch. My colleague said "Shall we do Mediterranean again?"
Me: ???? Again?
Her: Yheah, I didn't like the guy but I liked the food. I have decided if he doesn't smile today I wont tip him but I like the food.
Me: Okay, but I have 2 more colleagues joining us.
Her: That's okay, if its only 2 I am not in mood to socialize today unless it's you.
Me: Just 2 more girls. It would be fine lets go.

When I reached there I saw same expressions on his face (intimidating, like he has lost patience already and hey we just walked in, whats the deal with this guy). After 2 weeks of all of the things mentioned above we did not want this kind of behavior for lunch was for sure.

I knew that both of my new found colleagues had never tried Mediterranean food and my other colleague is low in energy and just like last time this guy is intimidating and in a scurry let me order first and fast as being the vegetarian I have limited options to choose from and them (all 3) being non-vegetarians had much more choices. So after I placed my order I was waiting for my 2 newly added to group colleagues struggle to order at the counter and he was being himself (a jerk in a scurry for no reason visible to us). When I observed from a distance how he was intimidating these 2 little girls fresh out of college in a new country, I couldn't help myself but tell him "Oh come on be nice, they are coming here for the first time, having Mediterranean for first time", and I also told him that my other friend standing near the door has already decided not to tip because he is being himself ...yup ooopsie daisy.
(My other friend was not happy because she felt obliged to pay tip because of my big mouth.)

His response was "I cant read minds, and its a to go place no pressure for tips." Well this is where I got tongue tied, I didn't say anything but mean while my 2 new friends could make up their minds on what they wanted to try. I knew after this its up-to him to decide either to be nice or continue being himself. Cant help it.

While we were seated and waiting for our food to arrive I thought he might as well spit in our food before serving and trust me I didn't want to think about it, I was hoping against all hopes that he didn't as he is not the one making our food. (I had seen it in some Hollywood movies).

Finally he comes with our food and a smile, he was trying to be nice when he got our food I wasn't sure if it was genuine but now that I think of it, I think he was genuinely trying to be nice. My first friend (who had to tip) asked why did you have to open your big mouth and I was like well he seemed to be a straight forward person I know that language being one myself. (I don't know some how it felt right to do so, I cant tell why?... but it did).

After that he was nice to us all and even asked if my new friends liked the food for the first time.
Before leaving I wished him to have a good day.

Now that I am thinking the first thought passed my mind was that perhaps he didn't like Asians or did not like our faces. He himself was a tall, good looking guy in a rugged way as he didn't bother to shave but carried it off pretty well. Yes we Asians esp Indians we don't have those good looking genes like others, our height, body, color and the way we dress up (not) is far from something we can say good looking or fitting in; and top it with the cherry of language barrier (often not always).

I was thinking I should have told him we may not be pretty faces to look at but we are humans we have a brain, heart, liver, kidney just like him and we have pure blood running in our veins not mud as he might have expected. I also wanted to tell him that one of my 2 new friends is so sweet that if he was a Vampire (yheah Washington state and Vampires, Werewolves kind of go hand in hand in my mind :| :) ) he could smell the sweetness in her blood from afar.

But then another thought entered my mind, I realized that he was just being himself, which makes him a jerk to others and I felt it was more like a wall to protect himself (don't know from what) but it wasn't for us, perhaps it was for himself. perhaps he was scared of something so it was his facade.
These people (jerks) are just being themselves and in the lee they become jerks to others.

I also realized that I have been accommodating his behavior all this time. It didn't affect me until I saw him being rude to others. Perhaps being close friends with one (jerk) once, I have got a little immune to people being jerks, and I knew he wasn't all that bad he was just being himself. These borderline jerks are often (not always) very good at heart inside, they can be amazing human beings if they decide to be so.

Only good thing was he took the feedback positively and if he continues serving with a smile he would perhaps cover up the fifth star missing for his restaurant in Yelp. :)

Well this blog is for him.(I don't know his name).
Cheers and serve with a smile. :)

The Trade Off

I moved to The United States of America a year ago. I always wanted to visit USA, wanted to visit places and use to wonder how Christmas festivities would feel in The US ( as I was fan of Hollywood movies).
Back home we used to feel "ooh" that guy settled in The US, he is minting money. She got to travel and visit. There was this hype of visiting or settling in The United States of America.
Since childhood I knew I would love to visit but I never wanted to live there forever.

Now that I am here I can see my friends and family envy me being in US. Everyone asks me hows life there with loads of expectations and all I end up saying is "it's all same". Am I earning good perhaps yes if I convert the currencies but otherwise it's same as the life style I had back in my own country. In fact I ended up living alone far from family and friends, however much it felt good initially there are times it gets me and makes me very very sad, lonely and nostalgic. :)

While I am busy here earning my livelihood which is nothing great, life moves on back home. Births, Weddings, Deaths, Festivals, new trends, graduations. Moments which happen once in life time.

Thanks to technology I can keep in touch with them, do Skype calls and Watsapp and international calls but its not same as hugging them, holding hands, sleeping in the laps of grandmother, crying and laughing out over a cup of coffee with friends, being there with them.

I would admit there are some comforts like less crowded grocery stores, cleaner air to breath and wider roads to travel on; and for some perhaps its the freedom from the cultural prejudices, freedom to dress and act different from the society back home. But for me I am set in my ways and what I am today is very much chiseled and sculpted by my country's culture and values of society when I was growing up back home. I can deviate a bit here and there, accept things and ways of new country but still deep inside I am me (the one chiseled and sculpted by my country, culture, values and society).

I miss the weather, food, friends, family and festivities, the time back home. Miss being that younger me in that all (culture and festivities). I miss Makarashankarati, Gudi Padva, Ugadi, Pongal, Holi, Baisakhi, Haldi Kumkum, Ayudha Puja, Navratri, Durga Puja, Dasara, Diwali, Indian version of Christmas and New years, list is endless. I miss the festivity that start way before actual festival time and lingere in air long after. Those sweets, twinkling lights, fire crackers, kites, pujas, temple visits, Diyas, Rangolis, Ethinic Days in office and society decorations even if you didn't do anything, inadvertently you become part of it all.

I miss Indian Cinema, there, it was all around you; you know what's new coming up in market, new trends in Fashion and things, but here you really need to keep up with things happening back home, many people are able to do it but I don't know how to do it myself (being a loner). Back home it was easy like breathing because it was all around you.

I miss knowing my people, the culture, sand, water, earth, trees, animals, birds.

Here days come and go, festivals like Halloween, Thanks Giving, Christmas and New Years however amusing they are ... they make me feel lost and lonely as my roots belong some where else. They don't feel the same, I haven't been able to connect to it yet.

I miss everything that is good back home and I haven't reached to the conclusion if Trade -Off is worth or not but at this time of Diwali festivities I want to wish you all a Very Very Happy Diwali.
I would be in full day office training on Diwali day and the Day after (Gujarati New year), do remember me in your festivities and enjoy on my behalf.

HAPPY DIWALI and HAPPY GUJARATI NEW YEAR. :)

PS: I agree being happy is in my hands no-matter where I am but I guess I am allowed to miss home.

Miss you all !!!
:)

Hope

I have been reading the book "Act of Love" where a top notch theater actress Jessica meets an accident and is no more capable of walking straight or walking without a cane, she no more looks beautiful with her gray hair and a stoop. She isolates herself from the rest of the world especially from theater, New York and her closest friend Constance (an 80+ years old lady and a retired top notch actress herself), on an Island of Lopez.

Luke, a top theater director and grandson of Constance reads her conversations with Jessica in her exile after death of Constance and decides to find out more about Jessica because he falls in love with her while reading her letters to Constance. He goes to Lopez island and finds Jessica but Jessica looked nothing like what he had imagined her from her letters and what he had seen her like before. He returns without meeting her, but is not able to stop loving her and goes back to meet her. He falls in love and makes Jessica fall in love with him, herself and he discovers a little flicker of hope that Jessica was hiding inside her to return to theater. He loves her, probes her and pokes her to return to theater.

Finally Jessica does return to theater not in New York but in Sydney, as director, and with help of Hermione she finally becomes the actress she always wanted to be.

The interesting thing is even when she had put herself in exile where she neither talked to anyone or meet anyone she kept a dog named "Hope" with her.

A hope is a wonderful thing and can make miracles happen. :)
It's a hope that leads us forward and makes the whole journey called life worthwhile. Jessica found the love of her life in Luke and a friend of lifetime in Hermione but only because she had a hope inside, a little spark; with this she could achieve everything she had exiled herself from, thinking people wont accept her the way she is now.

Now starts my story.
This is the favorite time of year for me, onset of Summer. It's little hot though but I am sure soon some drizzle will render the whole city cool and green. Why this time is my favorite because all of a sudden the green trees around start bearing blossoms Yellow, Pink and Purple; trees are often laden with flowers only. Mango trees are laden with tiny first fruits of the season. They make an awesome view to my eyes and my heart. Perhaps they all symbolize Hope. Hope of new season a new beginning and hope of everything. I know its already March but March has been the official year-end for schools, offices and financial year and a promise of a new beginning since childhood to us all.

This year I welcome this season with mixed feelings, I have always had mixed feelings of Joy and sorrow for beginning and end at the same time. But this time more of sorrow and little less of joy as I think this would probably be my last summer in Bangalore. I would have to leave the trees, seasons, roads, flowers and my friends behind; Practically almost everything I am so familiar to have around since last 7 years. Yheah 7 years looks like a lifetime to me. But I will hold onto the hope. Hope to see them again sometime.

This tree (picture taken at one of my late evening walks in my apartment complex) is a tree which doesn't have any leaves but it still blooms with the blossoms of hope. Somewhere deep down it teaches us all that no matter what hold onto "Hope".

This blog is for everything and everyone I will miss when am gone. :)
Cheers!! :)

Sky full of stars

Main places to visit in Nepal are KathMandu, Pokhra Valley, and Nagarkot.
One can google and find loads of information about Places to Visit in Nepal.
I am going to share something else.
A different experience...

We had been to Nepal for a very short duration. We stayed close to airport in Kathmandu on our first day but its not a good place to stay unless you have a Vehicle. We were kind of not happy with our Hotel food and we had to go very far to find edible vegetarian food. However for vegetarians the best bet would be a "Nepali Thali" which consists mostly of Rice, Dal, Curry, Papad, Pickle, Salad and Sweet; it's simple food but really very tasty. Non-vegetarians can enjoy food and would have no problem with available options.

Our Journey started from Kathmandu and then we went to Pokhra valley, there you have multiple sports activities to do and loads of shopping options available for tourists. If you want to do Sports activities like Heli Hiking, Gliding, Zip through and others, one needs to spend 2 or 3 days there; This place is fun for all alike. We did Zip through and it was fun. We also came across lots of foreign nationals who had come to Nepal after visiting India and their outlook and thoughts about India is something you need to experience yourself or may be I would talk about it in some other blog, some other day.

After Pokhara we went to Nagarkot and unfortunately we reached there little after sunset :( and we were leaving to Kathmandu next day...there was no chance of seeing sunset next day.
Well I would say Nagarkot is the place to be in Nepal.
We wanted to watch early sun rise on Himalayas from  Nagarkot so we were planning to sleep early and wake up early. We stayed in a resort where our cottage was little away from main building and we had to go through the dim lit pathways. That's when I experienced an amazing thing. It was cold but sky was clear and I saw "The Sky full of Stars". Often we look up and we see few scattered stars in the sky, but until this day I had never felt that sky was really full to stars. Yes I live in city and often light pollution and sky scrappers don't let us see the real thing. Light blinds us from seeing the real thing and all this time we thought we need light to see things :|; what an irony .

My camera could not take that picture but its etched in my memory and heart. That time I wished and desired many things that would never come true but still I was happy and ecstatic and was one with myself for few moments.I just could not get rid of smile from my face.It was amazing. I wished I had more time but I also wanted to experience the sun rise next morning  or I would have probably sat there gazing at stars whole night all by myself.

So make sure you have at-least 2 days and 2 nights in Nagarkot when you visit there. I would want to go there again some day and I hope next time also I feel the same while gazing at "The Sky Full Of Stars" which took my breath away.

Its true best things in life are for free, we just ruined it all by buying expensive things that blind us and fool us to the core. :|

The sky really is full of Stars :) and its not just a thing people say :) Enjoy!!!

(I am writing this blog after a year of my visit to Nepal and I still feel it and remember it in my heart as if it was yesterday; then I am sure its worth a visit guys) :) Cheers !!!

Lavasa, The Planned Hill City of India

For some Lavasa is a planned hill city near Pune, for some it's a good investment place and for others it's a place which violated the laws of Environment.

For me I would say who cares about the Lavasa City, personally I think Lavasa city is not as great as we see it on-line, also it's terribly expensive and they levy a 17% City tax on everything which is already over priced and heavily taxed.
The city is still under construction and not as well maintained as the road to Lavasa for whatever reasons.

What I loved the most is the route/road/drive to Lavasa city from Pune (after we cross the dam, that separates the whole area from Pune city), it is lush green with different shades of green and very beautiful and scenic. The pictures you see here in this blog are real and perhaps don't do the justice to the scene as it was taken from a mobile camera of 8 mg pixel.

Population in that area is relatively less and the whole place (not the Lavasa city) is so green and clean that I forgot for a while that I was in India. :| It was beautiful enough to take your breath away when you see those beautiful green mountains and river. For once I really thought that " really India is beautiful and not at all dirty and overpopulated".

The river and lakes are also very clean and very blue, the kind of blue that we used to paint and imagined how a river would be in our childhood. I still remember we all used to have a standard painting with mountains and river flowing from those mountains, birds flying above in the sky and a Sun (either setting or rising). Trust me once you visit Lavasa you would see exactly such scene and love it. One could also feel that we never did justice to drawings or paintings, in reality nature is much more pure and beautiful.

So if you want to visit this place do not bother to book a hotel in Lavasa city just hire a cab from Pune and go there for a day and return in the evening.

One can enjoy the water rides there which closes by 5 Pm, but I must admit water rides in Goa are way better and enjoyable than the ones in Lavasa, because water rides on sea/ocean is much more fun than on calm controlled lake as in Lavasa.

The Lavasa boulevard is also enjoyable in a good weather and one can try various food items (which is again over priced, but I think we can live with that for once). Something worth trying is the chips that they server in a swirl. chips with a twist :)

You can also catch a Lavasa tour bus which costs Rs.100/person but then you can take as many rides you want with the same ticket on that day. One can catch Lavasa tour bus near the boulevard or Lavasa Information centre.

One can also try the nature trail, perhaps if you want to go for a nature trail you need to go early or stay in the City but if you are not planning any trekking, its best you visit Lavasa for a day and return in the evening.
If you are planning to drive and are an experienced driver I feel Ghats are not that tricky and roads are good to return little late in the evening after you see all the lights reflecting in the lake at twilight.

I must say its worth visiting once. I had been to Lavasa in early September and it was really very green and pretty.

Love the green and clean India and wish that one day whole of India would be like that (without extra Tax :| ).
Cheers :)

Green Goa

Goa is one of the favorite vacation destinations equally amongst our Indian natives and foreign travelers.

Often I see people asking what is the right time to go to Goa and people say best time to go to Goa is from October to May but I say go Goa anytime and its fun.

Often you will find some good deals and many people say its cheaper in off season i.e. Between May to October. But I say take the deal and go to Goa. You may not be able to enjoy the water sports and some shops and Flea market might be close but you can still see some sunny days when you can go to beach and in this season i.e. between May to October Goa has a very different charm. You can enjoy a less crowded and laid back Goa and wonderful Goan people having their religions feasts and traditional mass prayers.

In this season all the waterfalls are at their best and look amazing and mesmerizing beautiful,  so much that I was ready to endure dirty, cockroaches and mosquitoes filled coaches of our Indian railways for just a glimpse of Doodh Sagar water fall. Trust me its one of a kind view when your train passes through the water fall and you can see the fall quite a after that for few minutes amidst the greenery so beautiful, that I really did not mind the roaches for a while.

You can visit spice gardens and ride elephants. You can visit beaches.

It was fun to take 2 wheeler and go around Goa ki galiyan (rambling streets), wait under a tree or a road side shelter when it rained, watching the peter patter rain drops and wishing when will it stop raining so I can continue exploring more of green Goa.  The whole fun is that you realize that you are on vacation, you have no time boundaries no meeting to reach in time to, no deadlines and you have all the time to yourself to enjoy the rain and being with yourself, friends and family. :)

I love Goa as its a kind of meditation for my soul, being a midst that greenery away from rushing and gushing life of city where we hardly have time to breath, it was like connecting to myself.

I also let my guards down and allowed myself to get some temporary Tattoos and loved it so much that I am actually thinking of getting permanent one (I have 0 tolerance for pain :| so I am just thinking) but it was fun to go wild for a while, play with waves on beach, collect sea shells, get scolded by lifeguards to go further inside the sea :|, make sand castles and walk from one end of beach to other, get completely drenched in water and then enter a plush restaurant with shoes in hands and sand in clothes and very little money in pocket (that also wet money :p) (they still welcome you with smiles on their face and remove their cushions from the chairs :| ). I loved every moment in Goa.

I don't say Goa in October to May is no fun, its fun too but all I say is Goa is fun round the clock and there is no particular time to go to Goa. During October to May you can see beautiful shack restaurants lined up on beaches with jingling lights and wonderful music that makes Goa even more beautiful. You can enjoy the mixed crowd of people from all over world and water sports and night clubs and casinos. Goa means fun guaranteed anytime of the year.

Go Goa!!!! :) Love Goa!!! Have fun. :)

Dubare Elephant Camp

This long weekend we thought of going to Dubare Elephant Camp and stay in Dubare Inn which is just opposite to the elephant camp on the other side of the river.

It looks quite promising place when you visit the website but there are things that you need to know before you go there.

The first thing is that though you may get to see Elephants there but you may not get a chance to ride them if its a festival day like "Ugadi" (Kannada New Year) or some national holiday so plan accordingly.

If you are interested in white water rafting the best time to go would be after July, i.e. after the rains.

If you go during summer when the water levels are low and you can not do rafting they charge you Rs.100 per head for going in a raft and after July which is the peak season for white water rafting they may charge you Rs.600 per head to Rs. 800 per head depending on the rush and time of your visit. rafting can be done anytime between 9.00 Am until 5.00 Pm in the evening. Last raft goes in the river at 4.30Pm.

Here you can see lot of elephants bathing and you can actually help the mahouts to bathe them and feed them at the minimal charges of Rs.100 + food (which can be bought at the site) for Indian citizens and Rs. 200 + food (which can be bought at the site) for foreign nationals.

These Elephants are tamed and trained. These Elephants are released in the forest at the end of the day after the days washing and riding the tourists. These are the same Elephants that are decorated and used for riding by the king of Mysore on the occasion of Dussera which is one of the biggest festivals of Mysore full of monarchical celebrations.

Elephants are washed or bathed every day starting from 10.00 Am, it is advised to reach there by 9.00 or 9.30 Am and cross the river to the place where Elephants are washed and bathed. Then you may get a chance to ride them again at the charge of Rs. 100 Per person for Indian citizens and Rs. 200 for foreign nationals.

Often these mahouts ask elephants to put their trunk on your head as a blessing for an extra tip (trust me it doesn't hurt at all, so no need to be scared). Elephants are considered to be a symbol of Lord Ganesh an Indian Deity worshiped for any new beginning. Watching the mischief and play of baby elephants is fun and worth the visit.

Dubare Inn is a good place if you compare it to a tent in a forest, it has private cottages and bathrooms but if you compare it with a resort with all urban comforts and ambiance probably you will be disappointed.
It still needs to work on hygiene and interiors. You may not like to visit their kitchen if you are planning to have food there. These cottages are old style house with older times flooring and all, but their service is good, people are courteous and nice. For a forest it provides all that one can need so it's good. They are expanding and probably coming up with new urban style rooms soon. Probably then it would be a more comfortable place to stay on your holidays.

One can see the open sky at night from the big open grounds in front of the cottages and spend night under the sky if you wish, it's the best experience of staying close to forest with all the basic facilities and safety.

Also as it is small place near the forest, be prepared with your gear to protect yourself from insects and other such stuff.

The Idli (steamed pan cakes made of rice) you get there for breakfast is very good and hot Idli should be preferred over anything else.

Dubare Inn has their own rafts but you can very well go ahead and take the other vendors who have booking offices just outside the Dubare Inn. on the bank of the river.

If you are staying in Dubare Inn then often you can see some Elephants in the evening who come to drink water or an untimely shower on the other side of the river, if you are adventurous and have swimming skills probably you can swim in the river but make sure you do not go to the part of the river where crocodiles dwell.

We spent a night there and it was fun to see all the starts in clear night sky during the summer and hear stories of insects, snakes and elephants from the locals. We also played games at night in the open grounds in front of the cottages and it was like being at one with the nature and it's galore.

Please note that it is not necessary to stay in Dubare Inn to see Elephants, you can stay in any good place of your comfort near Kushalnagar, Medikeri or any good hotel or resort near by and travel to Dubare Elephant camp to see Elephants in the morning. It's just that you need to be in time to have all the fun.

Enjoy! :)

Amdavad

Ahmedabad also locally known as Amdavad, is a happening and colorful city of State, Gujarat, India.
People here proudly call themselves Amdavadi and here life is all about Networking and Jugad ( making your way through total chaos and mess). Jugad is a skill you need to survive in this city and trust me loads of people do that.
People here know how to make way out of an impasse.

Here it is possible to visit a patient out if visiting hours just by calling few names whom you know belong to management of the hospital and at the same time the security can be really nasty for breaking rules.

You can get all types of experience here which you would have never thought of.

Gujarat being a dry state (No Liquor Zone) but you can still find drunk people.

People come to help and "People value People" at the same time you would see a brawl going on, on the road and you would think they would probably kill each other if they had a gun, till they find they know someone in common and instantly all is forgotten and forgiven. :)

Amdavadis love food and mind well its all about Junk food.

Here Maximum people you see have iPhones or some smart phones as they like to live life King size.
Life in Amdavad means Food, Entertainment, Family and Friends.

These people are the brains of business and backbone of prosperity of the state of Gujarat.
These are the people who resurrected from Earthquake and Religious Riots in a way as if it had never happened.

If you want to see true colors of Gujarat one must visit this city during festivities of Navratri.

For a real Amdavadi experience one must visit and try

1. Ellis Bridge
2. Shambhu Cold Drinks
3. Jassu Ben na Pizza
4. Honest Pav Bhaji
5. Karnavati: Dabeli, Vada Pav, Pizza
6. Havmor Snacks
7. FreezLand Chilli toast and Club Sandwitch
8. Sankalp: Mysore Masala Dosa
9. Vadilal Icecream
10. Asarfi Kulfi
11. Anand Sweets

Famous places for Navratri celebrations one can to go:

1. Friend's Garba
2. Karnavati Club
3. Rajpath Club
4. Cept College grounds
5. NID College grounds

Navratri is main festival of Gujarat where one can witness the original culture of Gujaratis and see plethora of colors and enjoy the variety of food and festivities with galore of decorations and lights with equal amount of devotion to Godess Amba Ma and Fun and Frolic.

Navratri is the time when girls and boys dress up and go out to dance with traditional songs vibrating in the air and revive the old traditions and culture alike. Probably this is the safest state in India where Children and youth can go out at night without much of a trouble.

Do visit Gujarat if you really want to enjoy the Traditional Dance festival called Navratri.
I really miss this festival being out in other state. :)

A Beautiful Day

I live in a place called Bangalore. Here if you feel hot and sticky for couple of days you can very well expect a nice little shower which renders the whole place greener and cooler, often accompanied with the pink breeze that blows by, full of wonderful fragrances from the flowers of nearby trees/plants. It would leave you overwhelmed by the beauty of nature.

This is the best season of the year, onset of summer (spring) one can see lot of pink and purple blooms. These trees are so beautiful and the weirdest thing is that these trees have very little green leaves and are rather full of beautiful flowers. Probably one of the Biology lessons where they said flowers also make food for the trees is applicable in this case.

The roads where these trees are lined look just awesome.

Today is one of those days, when it rains for a little while and renders everything Green and Cool.

I work with an IT company and we have a beautiful green campus. There are total 7 Offices in Bangalore this is the 7th one.

I noticed this campus when I came for interview and it immediately gave me a feeling that I want to work here. With God’s grace I got selected and was offered a Job here and was happy to join.

Initially when I joined I was not assigned to any project, I would leverage the time to drink in the beauty of campus but once I was put to work I don’t remember when last I really enjoyed the campus.

Today again when I am in-between projects I got the time to enjoy the campus from the rooftop cafeteria while having my late lunch. The weather outside is awesome and I just wished if only I had wings and I could fly. :)

From the place where I was sitting I could see vast green lawns and beyond that is a small stoned pathway where one can walk which is lined with beautiful Green trees with Pink, Yellow and red blossoms all around. Way away from traffic of the busy roads. It was a kind of solace straight from heaven. I wished I could just share it with all my loved ones just the way I was experiencing it at that moment, the first thought was take a picture but that’s when I realized that, what I was witnessing could not be captured within a camera (or may be my friend Falguni would do it better if she were here). Everybody has a gift to express, for I like to describe things in words and my friend likes to take pictures and some paint it and so on.

I must say it’s just not the beauty or greenery but it’s about how I felt, the peace within, the feeling was so good that I wanted to capture everything along with the scenery. My feelings, my thoughts my happiness the peace I felt at that moment and the 360 degree of the scenery which no camera that I know of can capture.
It also made me feel that I must learn the names of all the trees around me to describe the things better in words. Well that’s my next agenda on the list.

With growing technology where machines precisely understand what we want to do (think of zooming or moving files with a touch on an iPad or any touch Pad or touch phones for that matter) I wondered if we can achieve this too, where one doesn’t only capture the scenery but also captures emotions, feelings and thoughts that emanate by a mere look at that place/scenery.

One last thing that I want to say is, I think if we could drink the beauty around us every moment of every day it will make life so beautiful. I wish all the work places have such scenic beauty that would make going to work much more happening. Please take time to admire and enjoy the petty but incredibly beautiful things like trees, flowers and birds that are there around us all the time, which normally goes unnoticed due to work pressure/stress and other such tensions that we carry with us in our minds all the time. We forget that it's kind of a cycle. If you enjoy the beauty or things around, it can even be a smile of a person (need not be green plush scenery always), that would make you enjoy everything through the day and that will reduce pressure/stress and would help you further enjoy everything around. The cycle goes otherwise also if you forget the good around you; you will always be miserable and would never be able to enjoy things around you.

To all the readers of this blog. Happy Life.

PS: This is not the picture from my office but still reminds me of the blossoms I was talking about.

Enjoy :)