A jar of memories from God's own Country - A Picture Story Post

Sometimes monotonous work and the stresses it accumulates makes one's environment dull and boring and that is when you lose your enthusiasm towards life.Doing things that inspires us or things we wish to do or visiting places that always keeps us in toes breaks such monotones and works wonders in bringing back the creativity in us!

Yes! And the secret is more sunlight, more laughter & fun, more exercise, good food and above all lots of fresh air does the magic in bringing back the enthusiasm.Don't you agree???

So I had got back home on Monday night, having spent last week in Wayanad on a Vacation with family along with our close friend's family. In every single moment we had been living in a paradise. Kerala, being called as God's own Country is richly carpeted with lush greeneries everywhere. The tall jack fruit trees, the cool mountain mist and the gigantic chain of mountains of western ghats form  beautiful and majestic frames intercepted by the pristine gushing water falls, rocky terrains and vibrant springs.It is Mother Nature at her best resplendent beauty and one cannot escape falling for her charms.

Lakkidi View Point-Wayanad

The resort which we stayed in (Coffee Acres) was an exotic place situated in a town called Kalpetta. This place is surrounded by coffee plantations and lots of tall trees that is home for varieties of beetles, reptiles and monkeys.Throughout our stay, outside our balcony french window we could hear the sound of crickets and myriad of other insects buzzing in disarrayed harmony yet blending together to create sound that soothed our soul and fascinated our mind to pause and  listen to the nature's exclusive music track.

                                                          Coffee Acres Resort

The above picture was clicked at Lakkidi, the highest viewpoint in Wayanad located 700m above mean sea level.Surrounded by lofty mountain peaks, thick green vegetation, gushing waterfalls, it offers a bird's eye view of the enchanting valleys. The  sight of  unwinding roads  makes an absolutely breathtaking view which is amazingly beautiful!

                                           Spotted Deers of Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary

We hired a jeep and headed for a Wild Life safari at Tholpetty. The weather was just picture perfect. Everything about the jungle ambiance was so perfect, so serene, so tranquil and did not fail to fill us up with so much joy. We spotted few deers and a couple of wild orange tailed squirrels apart from the ubiquitous monkeys of the place.

                                             Shasu & Shivi had a whale of time at Kuruva Island

How can every single thing be so perfect, so tranquil, so serene and so fill me with  so much joy - See more at: http://blog.preetishenoy.com/search/label/Travel%2FPlaces?updated-max=2011-09-11T23:20:00%2B05:30&max-results=20&start=8&by-date=false#sthash.YKJ7TYz5.dpuf

How can every single thing be so perfect, so tranquil, so serene and so fill me with  so much joy - See more at: http://blog.preetishenoy.com/search/label/Travel%2FPlaces?updated-max=2011-09-11T23:20:00%2B05:30&max-results=20&start=8&by-date=false#sthash.YKJ7TYz5.dpuf

                                                    
Our next destination was Kuruva Island which is situated  on the delta of river Kabini. A big raft ferried us to the island. We walked quiet a long distance amidst the eeriness of the uninhabited  island in quiet admiration of the surreal beauty of the nature.

                                              Banasur Sagar Dam radiating peace

 The Lush Greenery besides Banasur Sagar dam is a spectacular sight for eyes! Look at the Sunset

Our excitement knew no bounds as we headed towards the spectacular Banasursagar Dam, which is the largest earthen dam in India. Walking atop the mountain which is flanked by the majestic dam on one side and the scenic mountains on the other side is a spectacular treat for eyes in different shades of blue and green. It was as if the colors of a palette  had spilled in air making a canvas ; prussian blue, peacock blue, copper sulphate blue, ramar blue, aquamarine blue, sky blue, bottle green , light green, grass green, emerald green, dark green, mint green spread throughout --so you name it ? you can find it here.Mother Nature in all her glory-- she who comforts you, gives you abundant joy and contentment and above all make you feel that humans are the best creation of this Universe !! ( as he with his 6 senses enjoys her beauty to the fullest!!)

We plucked lot of lemon grass from here and relished on the aroma of steaming hot cuppa lemon grass tea!! I am sure the aroma will remain in our memories forever!:-)

 Look at the beauty of the butterfly in the above picture!!Isn't it gorgeous??

                                                            Kanthanpara waterfalls

The above photo is a view of Kanthampara waterfalls. You tend to forget every single thing about yourself once you see a waterfall. The ethereal beauty of gushing waters amidst the slippery rocks is well worth a sight to watch after treading the difficult trails that required lots of physical stamina to reach the place.

                                                         Himvad Gopalswamy Betta

                                              Happy Family is a Smiling Family!


Our final destination was to the Himavad Gopalswamy Betta that is located in the highest peak of Bandipur National park. As the name connotates (Himavad) this peak is surrounded by dense fog throughout the year. The  view from the temple is very picturesque with lush green surrounding mountains and valleys. After a long time  I was able to experience  tranquility and serenity sitting in a temple premises which is rarely felt owing to the commercialization of temples  these days.

                                                                  The recharged Souls

My mind keeps going back to the wonderful time we had together !! Oh! the memories  this vacation has brought! To say they are 'treasured' would be saying it  mildly! It was a truly amazing holiday that recharged every bit of the soul!!.

To develop Reading as a habit

I often sink deep into another world in the process of reading. Reading demands a constant motivation, interest and above all time to concentrate on the stuff you read. Raising a family deprives one the most valuable, precious 'time' to do what you really want.A day as of now is spent 5% traveling, 50% working at office, 30% sleeping  , another 5% spending with family and rest for cooking, cleaning and doing other household chores.This routine in turn creates a boredom which ultimately frustrates my mind big time.

For the past one year, I have been trying my best to read everyday atleast 50 pages  so as to read a lot of authors and be adept with the latest titles and authors. All my efforts where in vain because I do not read with the same interest on a daily basis or I simply dump the book half read. Obviously, I am not happy with the way as far as my reading habit goes. To put a full stop to my procrastination and to really start reading everyday I wish to follow these steps;
1.Read atleast 50 pages a day:

Reading 50 pages a day keeps you engrossed in the plot. The biggest challenge is not to get distracted by your constantly beeping mobile. One strategy I wish to implement is to switch off my mobile while reading and switch it on once I complete reading.

2.Reading two books at a time:

I wish to read a lot of Tamizh books as well, therefore I would be carrying two books at a time so that boredom should not set in so easily.

3.Setting a goal every month

Setting a goal of reading atleast 3 English books and 3 tamizh books a month will gradually train me to become a voracious reader.

4. Setting a list of books in your bucket list:

Keeping a checklist of 'yet-to-read' books as well the 'currently-reading' books should motive me in achieving my short term as well as long term goals.

5. Blogging out my reviews as often as possible:

The idea of blogging out reviews is a great motivator to ensure you read books everyday.

6. Sharing what you are reading with like-minded people:

Nothing works like sharing things with like-minded friends. So I would want to make sure that I discuss my reading with my friends in FB or other paltforms say a bookclub so as to make reading always interesting and pleasurable.

I found this picture cute will browsing for quotes on 'Reading'!

Looking forward on becoming an avid reader soon!

Returning to Blogosphere....

I promise myself to write everyday from today. I have been following a lot of wonderful blogs all these days. Reading blogs changed my personality a lot. Lot of random thoughts and ideas keep flooding my mind everyday. Blame my ignorant attitude and the big lazy bum for not writing. But now I am wide awake, I promise myself that I am going to write, write and write...

She made my day!

Another weekday started with too many things running in my mind.With all hustle and bustle I managed to get into a heavily crowded bus to Parrys. I got into the bus from the front way in, there is this habit of passing the change to ppl after ppl so that it reaches the conductor sitting at the last and he issues the ticket.So i had to pass the change to the lady who stood beside me.To my awe, this lady with a filthy grimace looked at me as if I passed a dead rat on her hand!This obviously irked my morning temperament.People in bigger cities tend to be quite arrogant and violent no wonder this city is an exemption.I will be tagged either "greedy" or "insane" if I had to expect each and everybody under the sun to be good to me.Tided by these thoughts,I was looking out of the window as I passed the RIPON BUILDING, suddenly an innocent child sitting in the front pressed by hands.I removed my earphones to ask her want she wanted.with a huge radiant smile she pointed to her wrist and asked what! At the mere sight of this child, I started smiling at her and the ice is broken.Unfortunately, I forgot to wear my watch so I had to action her back that I did not wear my watch today!:-(This sweet little lady, seemed to be a bit disappointed and actioned back "Cellphone irukkula time ennanu sollunga"..Hearing this I was totally blown away I was having a mobile in my hand but lacked the presence of mind to check the time in it! But this sweet darling quickly made me realise what I failed to think. I once again actioned her with my 10 fingers that it was "10'o clock".She smiled at me atleast ten times in ten seconds and again started shooting her questions "Enga porenga" I said: "Parrys" ,"velaikku porengala" I said" amaam da velaikkudhaan poren";"parrysla enga"?I replied "YMCA Buildingla";"YMCA Building ah? ennakku nalla theriyume!";I replied:"oh-ho!";and again "enna velapakarenga"?? I replied;"unnakku sonna puriyadhey da!""ellam puriyum neenga sollunga!" to my amazement she understood my job profile with effortless ease. And finally this cute little girl was so friendly that she gave her hands for a warm handshake telling "en peru Durga devi".Again I was put to shame coz it created a feeling that I should have asked her name first! with not a second left to delay I quickly took a snap of durga who brought out lot of joy in me.

There is something very attractive in Durga. It is her warm friendly nature. It is the joy that seems to fill her. It is her low level of ego and self consciousness. It is her not so crooked and scheming mind.It is her open,straight and transparent mind. It could be her vulnerability. It is my own amazement and wonder at seeing God's blessing in the form of a child.And yes, Durga devi made my day!!!

And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

and it is very true when i realize what is happening in my life right now. I know this is the decision I have to take at this time but the fear that it might be a wrong decision is threatening me.Recently I decided on 'something'.This decision of mine made me stop eating, sleeping, working and it is like a 'mosquito-bite' sucked my thoughts and caused a serious inflammation in my mind!.The inflammation caused by this bite is working in its own way to get healed.
I started talking to many people and find ways to get that 'something' I really wanted.In due course, I found them suggesting me the kind of life I must lead;lot of free advices and all the best possible spiritual quotes of leading a desire-less life. Shucks! Am I really that greedy or am I not understanding the travails of others!! Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.After a careful retrospection I did realize that we can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.Truly speaking, in finding solution to this 'something' I feel both' euphoric' and 'depressed' because the persons I gave least importance in my life is running to help me out and the persons whom I considered really important in my life have his/her own priorities to work on!Given a situation, being judgmental about a person is truly absurd!..Different persons play different roles at different times in conspiring you to get 'something' you really want out of your life!

The dark side of the Society-Male dominated Society

Its been couple of months since i relocated to chennai(the capital!!) and am experiencing the perfect madras culture everyday.The hot topic I would like to shout loud is the often talked subject "Eve Teasing".I myself being a victim several times.Since I had resorted to train as my means of commutation I need to walk nearly four kms to shuttle between my home and workspot.Meantime I happen to pass by a lot of rogue tresspassers with perverted attitude passing rave comments even if am wearing a fully covered chudidhar.I really wonder what these guys think about themselves.Do they think they are the superheroes owning the planet???Or they are the creatures evolved before the woman community??Why dont these fellows accept females as part of their world.The worst incident I remember which happened oflate is a drunk guy sitting in a bus stand of a famous college in the city ,was in an inebriated state to identify himself.As I happened to travel via that bus stop, I was sitting near a window watching the building of that college ,when this fellow spotted the color of my chudidhar yelling out some nonsense and asking the address of my house.I felt very much embarrassed when the others in the bus looked at me laughing.I was about to burst out my anger at that fellow and the others for such a barbaric behaviour at a girl, but then I kept quiet as I was tired to fight that day.We say India is a developed nation where people are quite rational.we do claim that women are equal to men in all walks of life.Is it not true that such incidents happens everyday??Then why such a hypocrisy???Why do woman are considered as a commodity in men's world??Why men dont accept woman as a part of the society??Now think about a world without woman..Will there be any prospective generations at all??Or think of a world where woman starts teasing men for their dressing style or about their built..Does it sounds funny??Guys out there please develop a mind for accepting woman as they are.Treat them with respect.Jus because you have a 'Y' chromosome doesnt mean that you have got horns in your heads.Girls are not emotionless,senseless nonsense.They do have a heart that is very sensitive to the societal treatment.These thoughts invite a very hot debate indeed!!!

Being a Chenaiite

is teaching a lot of responsibilities in every way!!.Its been a long pause from my active blogging mode but of late I decided to write atleast a bit....After several stumbles, I hit chennai for my work.Before joining my office, I took my bro to have a look at my office location.Being vested with high imaginative skills I had a sketch of my working ambience.A ten storyed tall glass building; a biometric fingerprint entry system,seperate cabin, a cafeteria and wat not!!with these thoughts racing my mind I was nearing my office area.But my good God put a speed breaker to my thoughts..OMG, finally I reached a place where people live in streets. Gigantic ladies with yellow faces dabbed with loads of turmeric were cooking their dinner in one corner of the road and their husbands selling various household goods occupying the greater part of the road when the traffic was at its peak.These ppl produce lot of street bred children who keep playing in the busy road with soiled dresses and uncombed hair.Watching such a sight,I had a great mental attack:-(My expectations were shattered.Gathering every bit of courage and fortitude, I spotted an old building which was supposed to be my office..Everthing was left to my choice then, whether to continue or quit the job. But I made up my mind to come out of the total comfort zone and fight with what my destiny has to offer.
Two months passed.Gradually I convinced myself everyday to be happy with whatever I have been blessed.