Shravanabelagola -The Bahubali Temple

 If you want to hustle away from the bustling Bangalore city life, Shravanabelagola is the place for you. 148 km from Bangalore city and a 3 hrs drive is all it takes to reach here. A quiet, peaceful temple dedicated to Lord Bahubali, a Jain saint, is a popular tourist place as well as a piligrimage. More than 2000 yrs old heritage, the structure is still strong and tall

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Happy Anniversary

 

In you I have found my partner in crime, a friend, a support, and a life long soul mate. To the very kind and caring one! 

Cookie Billy

Trip to Dharmsala and our stay at udichee huts in Naddi

 As a customary farewell every year, the year 2020 was bid adieu with a trip to Dharamsala. I always had Dharamsala and Himachal stay on my wishlist. And this materialized on 18 Dec 2020. Although corona was a dampener because the temples and monasteries were closed Temporarily but no one can shutdown the tranquil nature and thanks to corona that we could avoid the seasonal rush of tourists during this time of the year. Personally, I am not a fan of crowded places or crowd for that matter. To save time we booked air tickets from Del - Dharamsala. And what a view, from the flight as we approached Dharamsala. The aerial view mesmerizing, green , brown and white mountains with conical colorful houses. Breathtakingly beautiful view of the Himalayan range like a continuous running boundary wall. 

The Airport is surrounded by the Himalayan mountains with the top covered with snow like an icing on the cake. We took a cab from airport to Naddi where our hotel was located. The drive was joyous , serene , watching the mountains all around covered with greenery. That’s the beauty of Himalayas. They are so different from the other mountain ranges, unpredictable, variety describes them. Sometimes lush, sometimes barren, and sometimes covered with thick snow and need not mention how tall they are. It took 45 min drive to arrive at Naddi, a small village but quite and peaceful. Our hotel Udichee resorts is one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in . Can you picture this, the hotel had a direct view of the beautiful Himalayas. Such a beautiful view! Our room window too opened to the Himalayan view. The staff is very courteous and hospitable. The rooms have all the amenities required to survive in cold weather. They have arrangements for “ sigri” and bon fire too. As soon as we arrived, we could not stop but walked straight to the terrace which has a great view of the mountains. We were offered hot Kaadha as welcome drink , much needed for immunity while traveling.Our hungry stomach craved for some delicious food and we ended up eating aloo, gobhi , paneer paranthas, followed by chole bhature and hot tea. The chilly air and soaking in the warmth of the sun whilst admiring the beauty of nature, what a combination!

Udichee huts, our room. 

Post refreshments and freshening up, we walked through the mcleodganj market , lined by the traditional Tibetan shops selling Buddhist artifacts and other winter garments. We walked to the Bhagsunag Falls, stopped at the shiva cafe, again what a unique ambience to experience on the mountain top. And one of the best coffees to was 

Morning view from cottage

View from terrace, early morning. 

Reading room. 

More on the next blog

Reminiscing love - my attempt to wri

He was so beautiful, so romantic that she would lose herself into his light brown eyes. The way he held her hand in his, the way he showed his love in the numerous ways that no one in the world could match his intensity.  She felt like the most  fortunate girl in the world because having a Greek God to love you is indeed a matter of destiny and an
angel's gift. His boyish charm yet the mannerism of a gentleman, who wouldn't be smitten by him. And she  was drawn to him like a firefly to the flame.
The tender breeze brought his scent whenever she was engrossed in his thoughts. There was not an iota of doubt that he was her dream lover,  the knight with the shining armor.
She loved his narcissistic ways as he stole a glimpse of his own reflection in the mirror and when caught doing so, would give his irresistible smile that makes her swoon over him.
If life were all about drowning in love, she would have chosen to die, because in him, she found life.
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A walk through Hauz Khas and Tughlaq tomb

If there is one thing that I love about Delhi, it has to be the the rich Mughal architecture in and around Hauz Khas, South Delhi. We had a chance to visit this place in Jan 2020. Beautifully maintained, lush green surroundings with a splendid view of Deer Park and lake.

Arranging the sauce to beat the hunger

Manchow soup

Succulent momos

Pork fried rice

Quarantine 🎨art

L

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.