Happy Life.........................

Couple of weeks ago, my cousin rang me up andasked if i was interested in joining him to watch padayani - a traditional performing art of kerala that is celebrated in few Kaali temples in southern kerala. I had heard a bit about padayani from my father and other friends but did not havetoo much idea about it. Hence decided to explore it. And Boy, Had i not been there, it would have been a huge loss. The history behind padayani goes something like t his. There was a daemon called Daarikan who was an ardent follower of Lord Brahma.He got a boon from the god that he could never be killed by a man and if a drop of his bloo d is spilled into the ground , a thousand daemons would rise from that. The daemon became so powerful because of this boon and he started creating havoc.Lord Shiv a opened his third eye and created goddess Maha Kaali to save the people from Daarikan.She travelled on the back of a daemon called Vethala and confronted Daarikan After a few setbacks, Maha Kaali was fi...

- Documentary/66 minutes/2010/English,Malayalam,Tulu, Hindi, Punjabi Director K R Manoj's well-paced journey through the remnants of two Pesticide tragedies in India leaves the viewers with distrubing images of the long term effects of using harmful chemicals for farming. In addition, it also provides the people with a new found energy to fight for their earth.The documentary, which will be screened outside the 2011 Geneva convention in Stockholm (Conference Of Parties), is an invaluable asset to the Indian environmentalists who are fighting the indian politicians in an effort to enforce a global ban on harmful pesticides like endosulfan. The movie first explores the "Cancer Train"- A train whose majority of passengers are patients who travel back and forth from Bhatinda to Bikaner for their cancer treatments. As a part of Green Revolution, a large amount of chemical pesticides were used in the southern Punjab in its cotton belt. Over a period of time, continuous expo...

Day 1 - Leave Bangalore by 8 AM - Go to Tibetan Monastry , Bylakuppe ( on the way from Mysore to Madikeri, Just before Kushal Nagar) Place to Visit : Namrodoling Monastery ( Golden Temple ) - Have lunch at Tibetan Monastry , Bylakuppa - Go to the HomeStay - Homestay details o Address: Suntikoppa , On the way to Madikeri from Kushal Nagar o Cost : 2750 /- ( including Dinner / Breakfast ) o Contact person Kariappa o Contact Phone : 9448380234 - Evening Madikeri/Coorg tour ( Leave around 3) - Madikeri Fort Madikeri fort was first built by Mudduraja in the last quarter of the 17th century. He also built a palace inside the fort. It was eventually rebuilt in granite by Tipu Sultan who named the site as Jaffarabad. In 1790, Doddavira Rajendra took control of the fort.The palace was renovated by Lingarajendra Wodeyar II in 1812-1814. One can find ...

Roaming around the books section in Landmark in a mood of trying something new, this book caught my attention mainly due to its colorful coverpage and captivating title. A glance through the acknowledgments section gave me a feel of a fresh writing style and I decided to give the book a try. Back Home, I got immersed in the book and soon I was happy that I bought it. The book revolves around the life of four retired men who lives in an old neighborhood in Calcutta, the protagonist being a chief Justice who just ventured into his retired life. The author(Suparna Chatterjee – her first book) has very smartly intertwined the storyline with the life and lifestyle of people in Calcutta. It is quite obvious that she is in love with the city and its culture and very little into the book she drags the readers as well into the city. The four gentlemen get invited to a house for a dinner and a theft happens at that place. The heroes gang, christened ABCD’s ( formed by adding together the firs...

Life was all happy. Filled with flair and energy Mind free as a bird A dont-care attitude to everything Days went past smooth Enjoying the world as I go It was bound to happen May be freedom is not for ever. Mind full of thoughts. Thoughts of an unknown future. Is it a compromise that i have done Of course there is no right or wrong. Yes, it was bound to happen Better soon than later, i hope Guess i was being selfish Guess i was being scared Guess i was being complacent Guess i was being non-confident In choosing something that was easy I put lot of thinking into this. I put a lot of energy into this. Well, it was a matter of confidence which built up once i took the plunge. Surprising , though it was. I knew deep down i had it in me. It was bound to happen It took some time though.. I am all happy again. My mind free My tensions relieved My life having a direction I am waiting for my future Isnt this what one wants? Now i am not praying Nor am i wishing But i know for sure That i...

Life has been quite normal for past few months.. Nothing exciting has happened. I had been thinking , this is unusual.. For me, its a must that something crazy happens once every few months.Not that i want it that way, but invariably that is the case.... It was the independence day long weekend. Three of us planned a trip to grand canyon. We flew down to San diego from San francisco and then drove all the way to Grand canyon. We reached the place early in the morning.Grand canyon is truly one of the wonders of the world. We spend some time shuttling around at various vista points enjoying different views and taking picures.. Then in the afternoon we took a trail down to the colorado river through the canyon. It was a strenous, yet exciting hike . It took us about 7 hours to complete the 8 mile hike. We were totally exhausted but the hike was worth the experience. Next day we started on our way back ,spending few hours at one of my relatives home in phoenix. By about 7 in the evening we...

Snow.. it has always been my dream to live in a snow-covered area.... miles and miles of plain land covered in beatiful white, sun rays reflecting out of a snow-capped mountain, rolling down a snow hill, throwing snowballs at each other,walking on snow mountains dragging your leg out of soft snow.... Being in the southern part of India, i never got a chance to see snow... and somehow i could not make up time to visit kashmir during winters... My first experience with snow was during my first visit to US. The week that i landed here, me and my friend went on a 36 hrs train journey to Colorado all the way from California. From there, we went to the rocky mountains. It was the beginning of september. So we were not actually dressed for any cold weather. A bus took up to the top of the mountains. We had to walk up for half an hour to reach a top view point. Half way through , the climate went really cold and hail storm started. Both of us dressed in T-Shirts were shivering and we ran ...