God - the experience of his game plan

God works in the mysterious ways and most of the times we are unable to see or understand his wats, but yesterday we experienced the real thing, how God is at work and in control.
The way the events turned out seemed to be a small part of a bigger conspiracy that God had planned.

It was a chilly evening yesterday and we were warming up with some drinks and snacks in the living room. Almost 9 pm and we just felt that we could be short of drinks . It had never happened before that we would go out again to buy a second drink and that too when the temperature outside was freezing at 10 degrees. Nevertheless, Viki and I decided to take a quick drive to the shop and get it. As he parked his car and went out, an old lady stopped him and said something . I was still inside the car and thought may be she enquired about something. After a while she crossed the road and started approaching the people on the other side of the road. Viki was returning and started a little conversation with her while I was still watching from inside the car curious about it. As Viki came back, I asked him about it and he told that the lady is trying to sell some home cleaning detergents so that she could meet her daily target else she will lose her day wage of rs 300.She was short of selling just the last pack.
We saw her and felt she was genuine because it was no fun to be out on road at 930 pm in the cold winter night approaching strangers. We had only 200 bucks with us and the product cost was 280 . We looked at her from distance and saw no one was helping her by buying it. Then we decided to help her and Viki went and asked her to come across this side, wait for us while we go and withdraw from the ATM. She was so happy that she gave blessings to him. We quickly went and withdrew cash from ATM and while coming back we saw from distance that another guy handed over some cash (200 rs) to her but did not buy the product probably he too was short of money. Viki went to her with 500 rs note( we thought she might not have change). As soon as she saw Viki she said that the other guy just gave her 200 rs. Viki gave her 500 rs and got the cleansers, she handed over the 200 rs change that she apparently had just received from the other guy.
And she was super happy with the last piece sold out and danced with joy, saying that finally now she can go home. She kept giving blessings to my husband while I was witnessing the entire scene from inside the car.

Lessons from this incident:

• Humanity is not completely dead
• Try to help people in whatever possible way and capacity you can.
• Distinguish between  fake and real happiness.
• Feel that strong sense of peace when you genuinely help someone.
• Happiness is subjective. For her a 300 rs per day was just enough to give her happiness while we spend it on useless unwanted stuff.
• Last but not the least, god is in control. God heard her prayers and turned the events in such a way that the three main characters, lady, that guy and Viki had to be present at the same place, same time. One needed money, one did not have enough money and third one had excess.
• The 200 rs that second guy handed over to her was the exact change that we were expecting from 500 rs purchase. Our 500 goes to her purse, his 200 rs comes to our wallet and at the end everyone goes home satisfied and happy. God gave to one but did not take from the other person. Everyone got their own share and no one lost anything.

That's how God works I guess. We are indeed grateful that God chose us as the medium to help someone who really needed it and he turned up the events in such a way that everything fell in the right place.

That is about this little story. 

An eternal beauty- TAJ MAHAL

Another weekend getaway, a holiday well spent with easy on pocket and soul satisfying trip to Agra. Thanks to the new Mathura expressway that takes you to Agra in just 3.5 hrs from what used to take 5.5 hrs about 10 yrs ago. 
The road is good, the weather was pleasant and the timing perfect . We initially planned to see the Taj in a full moon night but realized that the tickets have to be purchased in advance from the counter. Nevertheless, it doesn't make Taj any less beautiful during the day. So while the evening went in driving, we decided to wake up early morning and see the monument to avoid the rush and crowd. 
We started at 6.30 am next day with Taj Mahal
Only 2 kms from our hotel. I remember visiting this place when I was in school and things have changed so much in these years. No more dirty complex, bad roads, everything spic and span and more organized. 
We hired a local guide to help us know more about it. The Taj looked breathtakingly beautiful in the light of dawn with a tinge of pink. 

entrance from east gate

 The engravings are semi precious stones

The mosaue

The scripture from Quran in Persian

The Taj is symmetrical snd gives the same view from any direction 

Managed to catch the shine from semi precious gems glistening in the sunlight.

Although I have visited Taj twice before, but this was the first time I experienced the beauty of the monument. It could be because of the early morning mist that made this look mystical and magical, it could be the sense of understanding that comes with age. It sure is a masterpiece and the intricate detailing and precision in the design explains why it took 22 yrs to build this monument. 

I would rate this one as 5/5 and not to miss seeing this in early dawn. 

Trip to Mysore

So here comes my companion and travel buddy who is all excited to go on a long drive from Bangalore to Mysore. A journey of around 3 to 3.5 hrs. Vicky's first solo trip to Bangalore on 27 th October 2019. Lately we have been sharing a common interest for exploring places so the first day was spent in visiting the local areas like the Indira NAgar and ulsoor lake. I had Mysore on my mind since a very long time so I convinced vicks for a one day trip to Mysore. 

We booked a pre-paid taxi to Mysore at 12am midnight, still unsure about the fare from BAngalore. Nevertheless, this did not deter us from travel. We woke up late than the scheduled
Time but thankfully it was a Sunday and a holiday. 

We started at around 730 am and being driven through the city watching the rarely visited places. On the way we crossed RAmgarh famous for the Sholay movie location.  First stoppage was chamundeswari temple followed by Mysore palace. 

 Look at the detailing of these pillars

KRS dam, a man made hydro project.

We headed back to Bangalore at 3pm as it was Diwali and we had to reach by 6.30pm.In between we experienced flash rain and spotted a rainbow. 

Overall a one time visit and a rating of 3 /5.

Neemarana Fort - Rajasthan

23rd May 2019- Another impromptu trip to the Neemrana Fort , also a heritage hotel. It was morning and we were just planning where to head to, for a short one day trip. Someone suggested about this fort which is approximately 100 km from Gurgaon which is only 1.5 -2 hrs drive. It seemed to be a good idea since we always wanted to see a fort with the ambience of a heritage hotel. Since the plan was just the end moment, we had very little time to do advance booking and hurry up.

We started at 5.30 pm in the evening, yes that was quite late but that was the earliest we could start since the plan got finalized at 3 pm only. With 2 hrs drive , we estimated the time we would reach the destination by 8 pm. And with all the lightings the palace would make up for a good view only in the evenings. We headed straight and the weather also changed with light drizzle and heavy wind. Stopped in between for some snacks and continued the rest of the journey.

While we were just approaching the fort , we lost our way or rather missed the turning and that was a gruesome 8 km extra drive up and downhill since it was a highway with no stopping in between and night playing a spoilsport with no signboards to indicate which turn to take. Thankfully , we managed to get the directions right after asking numerous localites and the hotel staff but not until it was already 9.45 pm when we reached the Neemrana fort. The weather was pleasant, dead silence , sight of the palace looked beautiful as the boundary walls were lit with the lamps.

After checking in and being escorted to a beautiful room that had royal interiors with an attached balcony, we went to have dinner. The entire fort looked like belonged to us since there was hardly anyone awake at 10.30 pm. We ordered pizza and soup and finished our dinner .

After that two hours of exploration and adventure began with we two being the only human souls in the entire palace, it was nothing less than a shoot of a haunted palace movie. We checked every nook and corner of the palace, not a sound of even a night owl, it was dark and dingy in some places , taking our imagination towards what the royalty would have been like. After walking in the palace for 2 hrs we were finally tired and wanted to head back to our room but did we just forget and lost our way like in a maze, we ended up coming back to the same place but never to our own room. We thought we checked every possible direction for our room except one which we thought would not lead, and just when we were about to give up, we decided to go to that last corner which we had left and yes, we found our cozy room, and slept like a log.

Next morning we woke up and had a complimentary breakfast with the likes of south Indian cuisine, English breakfast and North Indian food. And took a little relaxation by the poolside. There were windows with Swings where we sat for a while looking at the outside.

We finally had to checkout at 12 pm so after a quick shower we headed back to home.  A day well spent.