Wanderings and Sojournings

Every ‘soul’ that owes its existence on this earth, would yearn to wander i.e, roam around, at times, and soujourn i.e, stay calm, at times. The definition of soul, is at times, beyond what can be comprehended by our mind. One such beautiful soul, is the river Cauvery, also spelled as Kaveri, who has captivated many other souls, by her grace and bounty.

This blog post, is more of a photo blog, travelling along the river Kaveri, from its source at Talakaveri to its ultimate destination, the great Bay of Bengal.

I have had the opportunity to visit many significant spots along the river, and capture some beautiful moments, which I wish to post here!

The origin of Kaveri, Talakaveri at Kodagu, Karnataka. The river starts as a small spring here, along the Brahmagiri hills, which are a part of the mighty Western Ghats. Seen here is the arch of the Talakaveri temple.

The spring, overflows into a small pond, which is enclosed by the graceful temple!

The plaque, at the sacred confluence, at Bhagamandala, Kodagu says it all

The mighty Krishna Raja Sagara Dam along the river, at Mandya District.

The Goddess Kaveri, blessing by her bounty, with the mighty KRS dam in the background!

The mighty, more than 1000 year old Kallanai, or Grand Anaicut across the raging river, over the plains at Tiruchirapalli! This ancient wonder, is still in use and is a major water regularotyr system across the river, in Tamil Nadu. The river splits into two major distributaries, Kollidam, the northern channel and Kaveri, the southern channel which retains its original name. There are also very other streams which split from here, spreading fertility all across the delta districts.

Frothy water, gushing out of the slucies at Kallanai!

A soothing sunset, over the wide Kollidam, at the border of Chidambaram and Nagapattinam districts..

The southern Kaveri, meandering near Swamimalai, near Kumbakonam.

A small check dam across the Kaveri at a place Mappadugai, in Mayiladuthurai.

The green canopy, over the gentle currents, in Mayiladuthurai!

Flowing through the heart of Mayiladuthurai! (This pic was taken in July 2018)

The graceful Nandi mandapam, at the centre of the river, in Mayiladuthurai. The place is the famed Thulakattam, locally called as Lagadam, where the annual festival dedicated to Goddess Kaveris is celebrated for the month, during the Aipasi Tamil month (mid October – mid November)

The many temples across the bank, in Mayiladuthurai!

The ancient, grand mandapam, across the river bank in Thulakattam.

The elephant of Mayuranathar Temple, at Mayiladuthurai, enjoying its time, chiling out at the river!

The northern Kollidam, forms a great mangrove forest, at its confluence with the Bay of Bengal!

A previous blogpost, explains much in detail, about Pichavaram – “Travelogue – Pichavaram“

The mangrove forests, again at Pichavaram.

The southern Kaveri, silently mergers into the Bay of Bengal, at the ancient famed place of Kaveripoompattinam, now known as Poompuhar.

What started as a spring, roars across the hills, glides along the plains and streamlines into the sea!

Another pic, at the Bhagamandala confluence.

God Bless

Festives, Good and Bad

I had been away for a long while, as my personal and professional commitments had taken a higher priority. And I’m back to my good world of blogging, which sadly had to take a backseat.

Writer’s block, I should say, is one which anyone would hate, when trying to type out a good post, and that too after an exile. And I keep thinking, observing, little bit of rolling too, to come out with something worth posting about, to celebrate my return to Words and Lines. And there, I get a sudden flash from a block of memory.

The holy nights and celebrations of Navaratri have started and it’s supposed to be the time for spiritual ‘reconciliation’. Well, if one is ready to explore the unknown and is ready accept the outcome, any time would be a good period of celebration, for such reconciliations and realizations that follow.

The Navaratri celebrations signify the victory of Goddess Durga over the tyrant Mahishasura, the victory of Sri Rama over Ravana, or more precisely the victory of ‘good’ over ‘bad’

The concept of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ has always been and should always be debatable. What’s seemingly good to one is bad to another and the vice versa holds good too. What’s good in a situation might be a bad one in a different situation, from the same point of view that held it as good, earlier!

Mahishasura, a strong willed, tough devout, noble enough to receive boons of greater strength and power, turned into an arrogant bundle of vile, to unleash his powers over the unparalleled. Well, the neurons inside Mahisha’s brain would justify how being a ruthless tyrant, would be for a noble cause! That’s how perspectives work! But rising over good, bad, right, or wrong, one level headed cause must create a balance from every known and unknown relativity, which is denoted here by Durga, who adorns a third eye over her forehead, that could see the unseen and foresee the not to be seen.

Anyway, the twenty eyed Ravana couldn’t view the better horizons as seen by the ‘dual’ eyed Rama, and it paved way for his victory, or more aptly, the balance as denoted by the bow he carries! A similarly different perspective, with a differently similar example!

So, in my ways, Navaratri can more aptly be put as a celebration of the restoration of the erstwhile fallen balance, than the victory of ‘good’ over ‘bad’

Such realizations, celebrations culminate in on the eve of Vijayadasami, the last day of the Navaratri, and the day for new beginnings.

Preparations under way for celebration of Dasara/Navaratri at Mysore.

Festivals are about celebrations, relationships, realizations, knowledge, colour, food, pomp, splendour, sharing, giving, receiving, and so many other things, abstract. And for a long festival, the preparations for which begin even long before, there is so much to do within.

I wish a Happy Navaratri. I also seek blessings for more knowledge, and time, and to blog regularly.

This work of words comes from my level of knowledge and understanding. I’m always ready for any correction or discussion.

Cheers
God Bless

Lie

A lie was said
So perfect
And beautiful,
And real!
A real Lie!

A lie was believed
So deep
And fitting,
And true!
A true Lie!

A lie was lived
So pure
And enough,
And genuine!
A genuine Lie!

A lie was dead
So stiff
And gone,
And done!
A done Lie!

Cheers
God Bless

Dawn

I woke up today, as usual, to a lazy morning. And then struck a sudden poetic thought, “..the demons of darkness have slept, as the spirits of light are waking up..” These lines were echoing in my mind, all day, only to realize that we tend to associate ‘darkness’ with demon, and ‘light’ with spirit. And deepening further, that demon must mean something bad though spirit should mean good, and dark is bad while light is good! The prejudices, mental setups cheat and mock us on a narrow lane, though we claim to be broad minded. Now this should make a quite serious post. But i wanted to write something different and came my attempt in poetry (after a long time) Dawn!

Dawn and Dusk follow each other, and in way to represent them, I wished to repeat the first words of every line of the poem, in a symmetrical fashion. And here is my Dawn (literally, as i’m waking up from a stint from blogging!)

The spirits of dark,
are to rest.
And then woke up,
those of light,
warm and bright.
Their warriors shining,
upon the world,
as we know.
The chants of song,
of the lore,
by the priests,
to the light,
rendering charm
and glory,
rendering beauty,
to the faith,
by the folk,
of the soul.
The wind blows,
as light rises,
upon every tower,
their spire,
warm with the ray,
those reaching
and shining,
are who,
The spirits of light.

Cheers
God Bless

Tumkur Diary

I’ve been in and around Tumkur for quite a few months. A place that I’ve heard of, located in maps, heard occasionally, and had never thought would visit, forget ‘live*’ here.

A calm, and vibrant place, when compared to the neighboring Bengaluru, Tumkur (oops it’s Tumakuru now!) is famous for the Siddaganga Mutt and the 109 year old and still rocking Swamiji. He is referred to as Nadedaduva Devaru (Walking God), and no amount of praise can be attributed to the yeoman service that he has done, and is doing for the betterment of the society.

Tumkur is also famous for its numerous colleges, that it is known as the Educational District of Karnataka [FYI, Chennai also has a lot of engineering colleges 😉 Only a Chennaikaaran/kaari can appreciate a subtle joke here!]

Tumkur has got another nickname – Kalpatharu Naadu – A place that gives boons to all! Yeah it has given several boons to me, that I’d treasure for a lifetime and more [Again FYI, Chennai is known as Vandhaarai Vaazha Veikum Chennai – A place that helps a person to thrive, when he comes here, to Chennai]

Siddaganga hostel and playground. Seen at the background is the Siddaganga Hill.

Tumkur is surrounded by hills, small and large which gives an opportunity for a lot of sceneries and weekend escapes. The Siddaganga Mutt itself is situated at the foothills of a range of hills, with the Siddaganga Temple situated over a small hill. Siddarbetta, Siddagange, Chinnaga Betta are few other popular hills with temples, in this region. Madhugiri (which translates to honey-hill) is another rocky place, bit far from here, which has the second largest monolith of Asia, along with some ancient forts.

Along the Bangalore-Tumkur highway, on a winter morning!

Tumkur, already a city with good facilities, is under development to be a smart city, with facilities like full wi-fi connectivity, rapid transportation system, and to name. Tumkur is very well connected to Bangalore, around 75 kms away, with bus and train facilities. Tumkur enjoys the same climate as of Bangalore, with almost same facilities, yet lesser pollution, lesser traffic and cheaper cost of living. No wonder it is already a smart city!

*I didn’t want to use the word stay, for you’d have understood that I haven’t stayed, but lived in Tumkur!

Cheers
God Bless

Songs of Spring

Spring season is loved by everyone. And more by those, for whom, the springs blows away the harsh and cold winds of winter, literally and metaphorically!

It could be the truth, or psychological effect, or a beautiful imagination, the onset of this period of time (last final weeks and February, and the beginning weeks of March) brings a sudden gush of energy and happiness into me, every year, right from childhood.

Probably it could be, because of the anticipation of completing the annual exams (I’ve never feared exams 😉 ) and enjoying the long summer holidays, the happiness of playing on streets without fear of rains disrupting (actually I loved rain, but the fact that I’d be pulled into home, by grandma, made me detest it slightly) the excitement of family tours, the joy of watching TV without any restrictions, the happiness of relishing pulpy, sweet-tangy mangoes, and the reasons could go on and on, in the days of childhood.

Meanwhile, semester holidays which arrived during spring/summer gave me uninterrupted time to read books, start blogging 🙂 , occasionally go out and play (I stopped playing out, once getting into college, unlike my friends. Not sure if a good or bad thing 😀 ) and few to name, to happen in the later days of my life.

Now spring/summer doesn’t make a difference in the routine or ‘timetable’ of the day. Yet the spirit of spring remains intact and brings in a fresh wave of energy, from nowhere.

Well, on a second thought, if we make and take the best of any situation, and derive happiness from it, everyday of life is spring, with flowers blooming around and butterflies abounding everywhere!

Sharing an all time favourite song of mine..that matches the situation here!

P.S..the title for this post was inspired by one of the chapters in my 6th standard English Literary textbook – Songbird in Spring Time – a short biography on M.S.Subbulakshmi. One of the few chapters from my school textbooks that I can never forget!

Cheers

God Bless

Grateful!

A quick, random poem, as I keep wandering about life, lying on the bed, and the waxing moon peeping into my room, to say hello

To the abounds
of happiness and sadness,
for they make, and break,
the material, in the possession
of me.
Grateful!

To the vast stretch
of sky and earth,
for they bless and support,
the life, of which
is me.
Grateful!

To the harshness
of heat and cold,
for they soothe and comfort too,
in times of need,
very dire
Grateful!

To the couple
of Body and Mind
within whom I live,
for they guide and misguide,
the journey of me,
the soul i’m
Grateful!

Cheers

God Bless

Two Thousand 15

A post with specially picked photos from my phone, that defined the year 2015 for me

Its twenty days since the beginning of 2016, and a budding procrastinator is here with a recap of 2015!

It began with a ritualistic screenshot of my mobile screen…

One of the first events of the year, The Hindu Lit for Life in the month of January…

A wonderful trip to Kumbakonam in March…

Sketching, shading, twists and surprises in April…

Realization of the fluidity of life in July…

Cheers_________________________________________
God Bless

Food Glorious Food

It’s a while, and it seems like I’m on an exile. And when I decided to return back to post, what can be better than one of my favourite topics, rather the favourite of many – Food, Glorious Food!

Food is the basic necessity, for survival for any organism. For some organisms, food is a matter of life and death, for some it is a luxury, for some a celebration or a fantasy, or happiness, or divine, or something beyond.

I was always taught from childhood that food (any food) is divine, and should always be treated with respect. Food must never be wasted, but at the same time, our body must not be overloaded. This is perhaps the only lesson I’ve religiously followed until now!

At this moment I recollect a conversation from one of my favourite books – The Pregnant King. //And I run to fetch the book, to type the lines as they are, from the book//

– – Once, while wandering in the woods, they came upon the carcass of a wild buffalo teeming with maggots. ‘How disgusting’, cringed Shilavati.

‘I don’t think the maggots will agree with you’, said Prasenajit. Shilavati realized the wisdom in her husband’s simple words. The human way is not the only way in this world. – –

One’s disgust is someone else’s food, someone’s waste could be one’s food, and that’s the way our beautiful universe is meant to be.

Let’s stop with philosophy and move to the fun part. Did miss saying food could be fun? Yes food must be respected and not wasted, yet there can be a lot of fun over food. Trying out new cuisines to eat, or cook, trying new recipes, spending a calm afternoon with only food for company, a romantic time with beloved and food! And wading through the tough times, or celebrating happiness, or nothing for that matter, food always and should come in, to be a part of that moment to complete it, in my honest opinion!

When it comes to food, one habit of mine seems to be a boon as well a curse. I’m still to determine, from where I’ve acquired this habit of eating slow. I have no idea of when, or how it started, but I’ve always eaten slowly. This comes as a great boon because, eating slowly come with a lot of benefits, as discussed everywhere. And it becomes a nightmare while having a formal lunch with team members!

I’ve got several advises too, to speed up the process of my eating. But why would I give up the temptation to relish the moment, slowly 😀

Have food, have fun and please do not waste them!

P.S.. Food, Glorious Food, is one of my favourite poem, from Oliver Twist

Cheers

God Bless

Changes…

From what can be termed as an ‘exile’, i’m back to the amazing universe of blogging, again!

Change is the only constant thing in our lives. An old cliche, but the truth nevertheless. And it was time for a change in my personal and professional life, which had me to take a break from blogging, for about two months, and now i’m here, back to one of the things I loved to do.

Changes in our lives are always good, though we might take some time, at times, to realize the goodness of the change 🙂

Cheers

God Bless

Mahabharata ~ Changing Perspectives

Mahabharata is one of my all time favourite ‘experience’. I term it an experience because, quite often when I get to read/hear/watch retellings of the great epic, a thought process occurs, which gives rise to new perspectives, new vistas, new ideas, which are experiences that need to be savoured deeply!

I had grown up listening to Mahabharata stories from my grandma, watching the B.R.Chopra teleseries (the re-telecast actually! i’m not that old 😉 ) – Mahabharat (1988 TV Series), reading the English translation of Mahabharata by Rajaji – Mahabharata and an illustrated modern retelling by Devdutt Pattanaik – Jaya. In an earlier post, I had written about this modern retelling – Perspectives. There are various anecdotes associated with Mahabharata, which also provide varied insights and knowledge on it. Take off the religious angle, and it can beat a story of any genre, hands down!

It is generally said that, if something isn’t mentioned in the Mahabharata, then it doesn’t exist at all! And that’s because there are numerous retellings, abridgements, expansions, addition of ideas, commentaries, exclusion of ideas, folklores, corrosions, misunderstandings, etc on this already grand epic!

There are episodes in this narration that tease the logical part of our mind, and then there are portions that tease our illogical parts. And it is up to us to judge if a character in this epic is good or bad, or neutral, and that depends on how we view the scenario. This is the reason that there are many flows in the Mahabharata. Now this should explain the title – Changing Perspectives.

In my younger days, I preferred the action and grandeur of the narration, to the philosophical arguments. The fighting sequences, the grand palaces were more fascinating than the Bhagavad Gita and the other tenets. But now, I yearn for more of philosophical tenets, the varied perspectives that they provide, the various commentaries that have been written pondering over the realms known and unknown. The action and grandeur just seem normal and do not excite me anymore. This gives another meaning to the title – Changing Perspectives.

Mahabharata was nothing more than a religious story, for me in childhood. Only to realize later, that it is a lesson on how to lead life, and also how not to lead life. Probably I might realize something else, in future. Changing perspectives again!

Cheers

God Bless

Love you, Honey!

A very fine, misty Saturday morning. You open the fridge and gulp the last remaining, yummy champakali, dipped in honey, and then you realize you are supposed to start your diet today!

Any system requires ‘quality’ fuel to function smoothly. The very complex system of human body, too. When we speak of ‘quality’ fuel, it lays emphasis on a balanced diet i.e.. a proportionate combination of nutrients, proteins, this, that, taste, health (uff and whatever) etc!

Quite often we tend to take advantage of this complex system of our body, and just pump in any kind of fuel. As it ages, any machine is subject to wear and tear, and then the results of the ‘imperfect’ fuel, start showing signs. One of the many age old proverb says that prevention is better than cure. So the best way to avoid any complications in health, is to maintain a good diet.

One can start being into a good diet, at any moment. No nudges, no promises, no guilties, no grumblings..just start a healthy, balanced diet, and one can see several short term and long term effects, which improve the working condition of the body, physically and mentally.

And please, never conclude to the ‘fictitious’ fact that a balanced diet consist of some bland, tasteless, colourless, flavourless food. As mentioned earlier, good food is always inclusive of every aspect, health, taste, flavour, /keep adding/, etc. While taking all these into account, it is no wonder, that one of the best food that nature has provided us, is the simple, yet gorgeous HONEY!

This sweet thing has all the qualities of the ‘perfect’ fuel, to keep this system running smoothly. With all the best sugars (glucose, fructose, titanic rose 😛 ), without any cholesterol, honey is literally one honey of a wonder-food!

Just a few drops of honey, when included in our daily food can work wonders. Listing few of them, to my knowledge.

1. Starting the day with a cup of warm water or green tea, mixed with a spoonful of honey, can aid in speeding up the metabolism, thus controlling weight gain and constipation.

2. Having a spoonful of honey, with some ginger gratings, can instantly cure a sore stomach.

3. A spoonful of honey, with pepper, is a sure relief for sore throat.

4. Honey is capable of getting digested quickly, and that’s the reason, most medicines of Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Siddha are taken with honey.

5. Sugar is literally an ‘angelic’ demon. Substituting sugar with honey is an ideal way to deal with the harmful effects of sugar.

6. A glass of warm milk mixed with honey..you can imagine! 🙂

7. Sweets prepared with honey, are more delicious (healthy too!) and provide a better taste too

The list can simply keep growing. Such are the benefits hidden in this vicious, golden liquid. So check out here – Dabur Honey for recipes, tips, advices, information on honey. Also check out the Honey Diet, to Stay Fit and Feel Younger!

It’s actually okay, when you cheat on your diet, not occasionally, but rarely! So don’t strain or pressurize and enjoy the cheat foods. They’re one hell of guilty pleasure!

Cheers

God Bless

You See Cricket in UC Cricket!

It all started with catching up the headlines in newspaper the next day, to live commentary on radio, followed by live telecast with some glitches on national television, and now we are here now, having the live score updates and even the live telecast of our favourite cricket match within our palms!

There are many applications, that bring ‘personalized’ cricket, but none as good, as better, as best as UC Cricket does! UC Cricket from UC Browser brings the best of cricket happenings, from across the world, to our palms.

Imagine the time, when your favourite rival teams are clashing, and you need to be clashing with the assignments at office. The various websites that update the minute-by-minute score and stream the live match are blocked! And there are none, patient enough to update you with latest score, or the last wicket, or the just hit boundary.

Or that Saturday evening IPL match, when the team from your home place and the team from your staying place, clash and then, the biggest dilemma of your life, is not choosing between them, but thinking of how to get the latest score update, while shopping with your fiancee!

Or the final day of the test match, across the hemisphere, heading to a nail biting finish, with no idea of how luck would favour any of the teams. And you are required to travel that very night to attend that very important meeting. Half your friends are unaware of such a match, and the rest have their phones silent, or switched off, or fast asleep!

This is the era of smartphones, which make our lives smart. One of the best features of these smartphones are the various applications which aid in making our lives smarter. There are apps that are mediocre and then there are apps that are super-smart! And one of that league is UC Browser. A browser from where one can Surf it All! Surf it Fast!

UC Cricket is one of the best features that UC Browser can offer. UC Cricket provides live updates, discussions, sharing options, special videos, and lots and lots of other options, to choose from!

With UC Cricket from UC Browser, you enjoy the match in solitude, along with muting that boring review call at midnight, at office!

Or enjoy the Saturday date with your fiancee, and also getting immediate updates about the IPL clash that you were awaiting! A clear win-win.

And what can describe that feel, when the train is running into the darkness of cold night, and you are cosily lying on the berth, with UC Cricket updating your favourite match scores!

Get the UC Browser from here – http://www.ucweb.com/ and get to UC Cricket. Change your phone from smart to smarter! And click on those screenshots of UC Cricket from UC Browser all along, taken from my Lumia phone.

UC Browser – Surf it All! Surf it Fast!

Cheers

God Bless

LoveWins, Oh but really?

In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court of the US has recognized the equal status of its LGBT citizens. It’s nice to see people offering their support by various means. There is so much positivity, hope, warmth shown all around in the social media. But how much of it is genuine? Is India ready for such a change? Are Indians willing to accept such a reform wholeheartedly? All I had to say about this were 5 things, as tweets.

Status updates, profile pic changes, etc are good and give a positive feel, but how many actually support LGBT wholeheartedly? (1)

Constitutions, courts can give mandates, but it’s up to the people to overcome prejudices! (2)

Talking about India, when just tweeting about gay things can fetch rude, ‘well-wisher warning’ messages, miles to go ahead! (3)

Anyway, people judge, hate, love, accept according to their capabilities but one leads their own lives 🙂 Smile and cheers! (4)

Finally, plant rights didn’t make me a plant, hence gay rights won’t make me gay! Thanks and sorry for the ranting-tweeting spree! (5)

Hope i’m clear headed and have summarized my thoughts.

Again emphasizing that there is so much positivity, love and warmth all around. Wishing and praying that it lasts genuinely forever and Love Wins always. Union of souls is beyond the spectrum of gender, orientation, religion, caste, creed, *whatever differences have been created by humans* and we have a long way to reach there!

P.S. Supporting gayness doesn’t make me gay (if i’m not already, actually 😉 ) And the term gay actually means happiness (if you don’t know already) Special cheers!

Cheers

God Bless

Vacation Chronicles ~ 3

Melkote

Following the earlier two posts – Vacation Chronicles ~ 1 and Vacation Chronicles ~ 2 – The stones are alive! here goes the third and concluding post on my vacation.

This post is completely dedicated to a beautiful, clean, serene, divine, calm, picturesque, peaceful, little town in Karnataka, named Melkote. It is at a distance of about 50 kms from Mysore and has good, accessible road from there. And still, i’m still out of adjectives to sing the praise of this place!

Melkote, also known as ThiruNarayanaPuram is more of a pilgrimage center, than a tourist spot, and that’s the main reason we were there (remember I had mentioned family vacation/pilgrimage in the earlier post?) The CheluvaNarayana Temple and the YogaNarasimha Swamy Temple atop a small hill are the important temples, apart from a few other ancient, antique temples here.

Melkote is quiet, little town with few ancient temples, many clean and pristine ponds surrounded by lush greenery, simple and traditional homes, clean roads, little shops, a Sanskrit college and academy, scenic vistas, humble and helpful people, which makes a person fall in love with this place again and again!

The YogaNarasimha Swamy temple is situated atop a small hill. Visiting this temple requires a climb of around 200 rock cut steps, which are covered by lush greenery, and occasional stone mantapa. There were many monkeys and goats along this way too, giving us a good company.

And not to forget the yummy Puliogare and Chakare Pongal that we got to taste here. Simply divine! And for the uninitiated, Puliogare and Chakare Pongal are a delicacy present in many South Indian Temples. They are supposed to be second most important aspect of the temple, the first being the Lord 😉

That’s me, on the way to YogaNarasimhaSwamy Temple, atop the hill.

From the various experiences that I had here, the one I loved the most are the divinity and the cleanliness of this place. Divinity is beyond the scope of any explanation and our understanding! So moving on to the cleanliness aspect, the temples, roads, ponds, public washrooms are maintained so well in this little town!

Overall, the pilgrimage to Melkote was nourishing to the soul, pumping up more faith into the mind and lifting up our spirits.

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Check out the following links, which provide more information on Melkote. Please do pay a visit to this place and get an experience of a lifetime!

Melkote – Wikipedia

Melkote – Anudinam

***The pictures included in this post were taken by me***

Cheers

God Bless