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Lights, Camera, Music.....And our gorgeous Green ladies made the evening colorful

Dandiya or Dandia, also known as Dandiya Raas, a popular folk dance originating from Gujurat, is performed in groups, on the occasion of Navaratri (nine-day celebration of the goddess Durga), to honor the divine feminine, and celebrate the triumph of good over evil, purifying the mind and start afresh. Slowly, Dandiya has become extremely popular and is celebrated in many places, with paid mode and the charges vary based on the facilities offered. However, our ladies do all the preparation to celebrate in our society premise - it's quite different when everyone is known to each other. So the evening ended up having some brilliant performance, in which they danced their heart out, with some exceedingly elegant, vibrant getup and colorful Dandiya sticks in hand.

Preparation of an event of this scale, must have taken considerable amount of planning and effort, and it showcases the spirit of togetherness of our ladies and our culture. There was some nice snacks arranged in between, to refresh and regain their energies and dance again to the fullest possible. And not to mention, it would have taken a lot to prepare the colorful outfits matching the theme, making the evening a grand success.

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Wishing you all a Happy Independence Day filled with pride and joy

Today is 78th Independence Day, and on this historic day, we all gathered together and celebrated the flag hoisting ceremony in our apartment society, honoring the spirit of our great Nation, which is the only thing that we can do as a common citizen.

यहआज़ादीझूठी_है

Compared to previous years, the crowd was less, because of another festival, which is celebrated in each household and probably our green ladies are busy with that, so could not join.

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And we can only wait and enjoy it.

It has been raining crazy this year, almost every day since the start of this month. When it started, we were very happy, I recorded this video of the view from our balcony, felt like nature was dancing to accept the rain, as if it was waiting eagerly for the rain. After a scorching summer, the plants must have been very happy to get enough rain and so were we, as the climate got cooler and the view got better and better over days. But then after couple of weeks of rain, it has become very challenging for us - the roads are full of potholes, vegetable prices are sky rocketed with miserable quality, taking the kids to school / colleges has become more problematic, but then barely we can do anything other than waiting and enjoying what the nature is giving.

Look at this photo when the rain started, and now compare with the top photo, that I took from the roof top on her birthday.

The view from my window has become amazing, but then its also damaging life of late. Recently, in a very unfortunate incidence, 3 UPSC aspirants died due to the basement flooding in Rau's Study Circle, New Delhi. Imagine, how much rain would have happened in a very short span of time, for this kind of sudden flooding. Technology is also to blame, because the doors were tagged to open with bio-metric ids, which stopped working, but this kind of incidence happening in the nation's capital indicates, when nature becomes violence, we can barely do anything.

Just before the rain started, I collected all seasoned inca saplings from a place, after lot of effort and planted in my garden, along with ladies finger plants, but unfortunately, they are also getting spoiled, as I can't take any care of them. More to come on that......

Are we the ones to blame for this ? These are all effects of Global warming ? Share your thoughts....

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This year we had everything well arranged.

Raja festival is a special festival to celebrate femininity and every year, we celebrate it in our society by having an event, in which, stalls are put by our residents presenting some very delicious home cooked foods and drinks. It provides opportunity to our young entrepreneurs (our kids) to put their stalls, and feel the business taste. At the same time, it provides us opportunity to enjoy the evening with some nice food, and meet each other. This year, our ladies took initiatives to prepare the event in an organized way. The swings in our society was decorated nicely, setting up a charming ambience for the girls / ladies to enjoy and capture some beautiful memories. And the finishing touch was done with some nice DJ music, setting up the floor for dance and our ladies are Pro in that segment, showing up some niche performance. So let me present you the photos and videos for you to feel the excitements.

Quite a memorable event to celebrate femininity, isn't it ? Here is the memory from last year event, some add up, some miss, Life goes on, but the fact remains same : Men cannot be elegant without the touch of femininity.

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Add colors to life

Holi, the Festival of Colors is a very special function that we celebrated today. This post will be a photographic journey of the celebration, watch the video to enjoy it to the fullest details.

The beginning and end.....

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One of our major festival in Hindu Culture - Celebration at our society.

Maha Shivaratri is one of our major festival in honor of Lord Shiva and people fast the entire day and take food only after "Mahadipa" is raised. In the evening, devotees lighten diya at the temple premises till "Mahadipa" is raised to complete their fasting.

Our temple was nicely decorated this time to celebrate the occasion and the morning must have been very blissful. I arrived in the evening, coming from a religious trip that ended at Prayagraj, (also known as Allahabad). It's famous for Triveni Sangam and I brought the water from there and offered it in our temple, as its considered very auspicious. Here are the captures from the evening from our temple premises.

The preparation for the panna prasad to be served after "Mahadipa".

Everyone waiting for the "Mahadipa", watch the video to see the event.

And then the time for the delicious panna prasad. I have definitely missed many devotees as I arrived late, and most of the rituals were in the morning but kudos to our ladies to make these events special.

More to come on my travel soon...

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A new company for my garden work

Kashmir Project - why named so ? Because the seeds actually were brought from Kashmir when we visited there. In one of the park, I met a farmer who was taking care of the garden, and the curious gardener in me asked, if they would grow in our climate and he said, yes, its possible in Winter. So he gave two types of seeds : one for summer and one for winter and its for their weather. He told me to try out both in our winter and if it works, then I can ask someone to collect more. I even told our driver to collect seeds and send to me if I ask. We have got their numbers and even they have already sent dry fruits once.

You have seen her earlier in my garden, but not as a gardener. This time, she reminded me about those seeds and then after I prepared these big containers, I suggested why not you try this time..

And also sprinkle the first water on them, even though it was almost getting dark. The full video here :

For some reason 3speak did not load this same video that was created using Movavi with MP4 encoding, not sure why.

After couple of weeks, some saplings showed up and it was really hard to recognize what they are. So I followed my common sense to replant the unusual ones, that does not look like wild plants that I know.

Not a lot of work, but handling these very small saplings like a baby required me to be extra careful. That feelings of they being brought from Kashmir adds that thrill.

And now some beautiful captures from the garden - finally see who arrived !! They will always find their ( or our) food , and it definitely feels rewarding to see them in my garden .

Every year, this roundup in the center becomes full with flowers, but unfortunately, this year, it looked empty. As I wrote in my previous post, the soil quality was poor, and it's now shining after we added ten blocks of coco-pit along with some organic fertilizers that is prepared from household wastes. Our gardener does the hard part, and we planted yellow Inca and I am personally working on them and monitoring to see how it comes up - its always an experiment. Based on the results, we will make this entire area a flower garden.

Don't the plants look very healthy and growing well with the organic fertilizers ? And do you know, they last longer with organic food.

And then some regular maintenance of my garden - there is always some work and even though I plan a hour or two, most of the times, it takes longer. The Chrysanthemum plants are looking for some extra time to flower up, may be because the Winter is not very strong this year. But we are still glad that we have a pleasing winter, because they predicted there will be no winter. In fact, it was almost going away and then taken a U-turn to come back strong again. You never can predict Nature....

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Goodbye 2023.....

These are the people who did not want to go home so soon - come on, it was just 1 a.m. - that's the experience every year - it always feels incomplete to wind up the enjoyment and wait till next year. We had an amazing Zero night celebration at our society with some super arrangement of Live Music, DJ, cultural events and Food. Any amount of words will not be enough to express it, so this time I decided to capture videos mostly - the whole purpose of buying that tripod was this event.

The shade arranged on the top definitely helped a lot for a comfortable sitting for elders especially.

A lot of planning and proper supervision was necessary for smooth execution of the event, Food Tokens were distributed a day before - one for snacks and one for dinner - Kudos to everyone who took charge and sacrificed their personal commitments to make this possible - May 2024 bring a little extra happiness for you.

The most cool person conceptualizing the event and making sure they are executed flawless.

Guess why most of the photos at this same place ?

Man in the middle (highlighted with blue light) is our apartment's Michale Jackson, so don't forget to watch his steps in the video.

These photos will cherish our memories for a long time, till the next event. Given that, we felt incomplete (which we always do anyways), a picnic is being planned soon, to complete the unfinished party. I know many of you are eagerly waiting for this post, it took a lot of time to process the media and prepare the final output out of 50 GB of content. But that's my portfolio, and I am learning to make it better, this time with a Movavi video editor, as Windows Video editor dies with large content.

If any of you want specific videos, then feel free to contact me.

All photos and videos shoot with Sony α6400M.

May 2024 bring you lot of energy, stamina, insane salary increment, win a lottery.....😜

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On every second Sunday of December every year - yes, it's fixed.

Every year the second Sunday of December is special, because its dedicated for our PG Meet. And this year, the venue was inside the University itself, at the Alumni Association office, that is right at the center of the sprawling campus inside the city. That gave opportunity to most of us, to visit our departments and rewind some sweet memories from that place, almost from three decades back. And then some lovely food, and nice time spent with friends that you can feel from the photos and videos. There was some proposal to change the date, but then it was rejected. Another proposal to reserve some rooms for people coming from very far, has been accepted. So from next year, there will be 2-3 rooms ready for people who can come the previous night or in the morning and get refreshed and join the meet up. Waiting to see you all again at the same place in 2024......

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Unlocking the entrepreneurship from school level

Every year, the Unwind program is one of the biggest event in my kid's school which they desperately wait for. The program nurtures the early entrepreneurship skills in kids, by promoting them in the platform, they have grown over the years, by inviting business from various corners. They focus on the kids who are in their 11th grade and then the younger kids support them, by providing the services necessary to show their skills. Since my son left the school, and choose a different path, now my daughter is the one, who participated in this year's event. And the curiosity these kids have for this program did not let them sleep before the night. She was like leave me as early as possible, I have tons of things to do.

Apart from the stall duty, they had tons of good food and lot of fun rides, and she enjoyed them all. It was all paid, and she had taken money from home, but then this year, she was extra cautious, keeping the money at two different places. Last year, she lost half of the money and was heartbroken as someone stole it in the crowd.

We joined her in the evening, as we had to pick up her. The event is so popular that, many people and young kids from other schools try to enter it, but then the school authorities are very tight in allowing only the immediate family members, for whom they send an invitation card. So we had to take that card as proof to be able to enter, and then what we experienced was mind blowing.

The TRAP live band from Kolkata mesmerized the crowd. I never expected an event like this in a open forum, you can watch the video to feel it.

Happy faces enjoying some hot snacks and coffee in the chilled weather and some live music. Someone pointed out that we were wearing matching dresses, honestly we didn't even realized before. Her dress was from a decade before and I bought my shirt recently:)

A separate area for the girls, felt good to us because of safety. And even a lot of teachers were continuously monitoring the place to make sure kids are safe, this is the best thing in her school.

Decorations were all over the place to make the ambience colorful.

Their school had all the arrangements to even live play the event in two big screens.

This car deserved some attention, feels like a new electric offering.

The level of exposure that these kids are getting is definitely going to help them become smarter to become successful in life. We have seen many real life examples of our friends, who have excelled because of their entrepreneurship skills even though they were not that good in education(or you can say below average). More ever there are a lot more opportunities now compared to our time. So these exposures will push their spirit to prosper in their career.

Watch the video and tell me how the live band feels like.

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A festival that instills the sense of responsibility in the eldest child

Today is Prathamastami, a festival for elders and is a tradition that is believed to be celebrated since 14th century on which the eldest child is worshiped, with customary rituals that brings prosperity for the eldest child and the family. The eldest child is instilled the sense of responsibility to lead the family and in reality, we always see, if he/she leads the family right, then younger kids have to obey and do a righteous life. Here both are elders, and we got the new dress for the boy, but the Saree is sent by my in-laws (her parents) - that's also a tradition followed for whole life.

And specific to this day, we have the authenticate Odia delicacy Enduri Pitha, which is a delicious pancake sweetened stuff (prepared from scrubbed coconut and jaggery) filled inside, and wrapped in turmeric leaf. This is very very specific to my place, and this year the price of turmeric leaves were too high since yesterday. Thankfully, I got this at a reasonable price at very early morning from a farmer selling it directly. She got up at 5 am and started the preparations.

My duty was to supply all the items, but rest all she took care and served us the mind blowing Enduri Pitha with curry. I like it so much that, I brought a lot of turmeric leaves so that this will continue for some days. Apart from the taste, turmeric has health benefits and believe me the aroma of the Enduri Pitha gets better as the leaves become older turning yellow. Sounds interesting, isn't it ?

For the first time I got flowers from my plants, as it was very early morning and I did not want to go out and buy them.

Unwrap the leaf and you can't wait till you finish and ask for more.

From morning, it has already been prepared three times and still going on......

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Our rituals cleanse the mind, body, and soul

Today is Kartika Purnima, and on this full moon day, our holiest month of Hindu culture ends. The entire month remains strictly vegetarian for most of the people, practicing rituals to cleanse the mind, body, and soul. Last five days are known as Panchuka, and almost everyone shun non-vegetarian food, even the cranes turn pious and give up eating fish. There is a scientific rationale as well behind this : diseases spread more readily with the onset of monsoon, so it's essential to refrain eating heavy or non-vegan meals to stay healthy.

The month marks the end of the holy period of last four months (Chaturmasya), and it's believed, Lord Vishnu enters a yogic sleep in the netherworld or subterranean realms of the universe (Patala) since the start of Chaturmasya and return to his abode today.

On the start of this month a Diya is hosted in our temple premise and every day, its brought down to add ghee and then again hosted back. This Deep Daan is a ritual to please Lord Vishnu to return to his abode.

In some places, the diya is kept on rice only and the same rice is used today to cook the prasad, as the rice is soaked in ghee for one month, it has a very unique and different taste.

During the entire month, arts are made on each day with Rangoli at the sacred Tulasi plant( the holy basil), Tulasi being the consort of the Lord Vishnu, pleased by these offerings to reach to the Lord.

Kudos to our temple priest who consistently take care of making these beautiful arts with his lovely skill.

Our ladies observe the entire month with auspicious customs and during the last five days of Panchuka, go to the temple at early morning and do the Sankirtana, rounding around our apartment society. It's believed that women sustain the healthy life of their husband by doing all these auspicious rituals even if their husband don’t follow any dharma - that's the power of a woman resembling the chastity and purity of Tulasi or Vrundavati - true woman empowerment from ancient times.

And specific to my place, we also celebrate the Boita Bandana, on Kartik Purnima in memory of our ancient maritime trades dating back to 3rd century BC. People go to the nearest water body to set afloat miniature boats, but then we filled our mini swimming pool where the ladies can fulfill the ritual.

After completing that, they offered their prayers at the temple and went for five rounds of Sankirtana. I have tried to capture it in video from different places to bring the best of it.

Women drive the family in our culture with these religious practices, that brings mental peace at times of difficulty which is very important in this stressful life - Kudos to them for what they sacrifice for the family.

Finally the prasad was cooked at the temple premise and offered to the Lord first and then distributed in the public. Ladies did ensure to arrange everything and our temple priest cooked it. It was very tasty, that's the power of blessings, every time you cook in the temple, it's an entire different aroma.

So that's all ? NO.... We do have a prasad sevan ceremony now in the evening for all the families of the society at the temple premises. Collectively seeking the blessing have a different charm.

I have been capturing the clips for the entire month for this post and it's an incredible effort to club all this, but hey that is how we share our culture, isn't it ? Hopefully these posts will help pass this information to our next generation. At one age in life, you will need only divine blessings to lead a peaceful and happy life. They can't be bought........

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Music and Dance are probably the best stress busters.

We both have it in our blood, whenever there is some loud music, it tempts us to dance. She is like a Pro, but I still don't give up. I discovered this video from our last trip, and was surprised to find our son capturing this, when we were enjoying. He is laughing at the end, which means, he also enjoys it. And I feel, music and dance is some great therapy for everyday stress, agree ? Should I join a dance class to try to match her ?( I know, it won't be that perfect though.) Do you love to dance ?

This is my first post in the Threeshots community, so if I am not doing something right, then please let me know.

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The festival of lights brings fortune and prosperity.

Diwali symbolizes victory of light over darkness, and is a famous festival that is celebrated across India. This is a special day that kids desperately wait for to enjoy the crackers. People decorate their homes with Rangoli (colored powders) and flowers, illuminate their homes with decorative lights.

You go to anyone's house, you will definitely be invited with sweets on this occasion.

This year there was rumors about cracker shops being banned, but finally they gave permission on the last day. As I mentioned in my last post, the wholesale shops were open and I brought crackers from there. And then the stick sparkles were missing there, so I went to the nearby market and saw them getting ready to open, waiting for the license.

So they advised to come in the evening or next day.

The price was almost five times of what I got from wholesale shop. This could only be because they were open on the very last day and people had no option. I wished the administration should have done a better job.

And finally the evening approached and the first thing that people do is to decorate their homes with diyas (oil lamps) or candles. Our temple was beautifully decorated with diyas in the evening, seeking the blessing of the God. And then we all gathered at the front space to enjoy the crackers, socialize and have fun. Watch the video to feel it yourself.

To all our residents, whom I have not been able to capture on this occasion, please feel free to insist me capture you on frame. I was busy in keeping a vigil eye on the kids, and at the same time sparkle some light to take these photos, so my mind was little occupied with that.

All photos shoot with Sony Alpha 6400 E-mount Camera with APS-C Sensor (ILCE-6400M). For the first time I realized, I should have taken more videos as not many photographs were great because of smoke everywhere. Considerable amount of time taken to choose these good ones and compile the video for a not so good editor. A new learning, to try only on next Diwali. And by the way, we are supercharged now to be getting ready for our next mega event, the New Year. These real socialization makes our living colorful and memorable.

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Life certificate and the minimalist living

Last week I went to my native, and its a regular visit which I make often to take care of their needs. As Winter is just knocking on our door, the weather is pleasant and so as the ambience.

I could not resist stopping there and take some snaps of the ambience, these wild sugarcane (Kans grass or Saccharum spontaneum) flowers are unique to this season.

In the evening, a close friend called in to join a prayer at his home. And then we headed to experience the live melody, that reminded us our time.

Definitely it was a mega arrangement unlike our time, but the feelings of that melody took us back to three decades - you can say Spottify Live in Nineties. Back then, these were the only form of entertainments and the crowd was much bigger. We would go riding a cycle and come back by 11 pm, otherwise, you know. Now a days, the crowd is less, but plenty of money is spent. But that minimalist living was way better than today, when people did not have high aspiration. These festivals were major means of socialization.

The club that was arranging this seems to have pretty good sponsorship.

And they had this lottery that also gave them pretty good earning, I tried my luck, but I have never been lucky to win anything in my entire life.

Coming back, the lighting that were placed all over the road was something to capture.

Next day, took my father to the bank to give his Life certificate.

Every year he has to submit a life certificate to the bank to get his pension, applicable for all pension holders. This scooty was bought for him, but now we don't allow him to ride as he is not very active.

He served this same branch as Manager in his tenure, so people still know him, and everything could have been done without he going (by submitting online), and he signing the papers. But going out there makes him happier. This made me realize that, there would come a time in life, where you have to certify that you are alive. From God's grace, we are fortunate to have our parents this long, without any major health issues.

Mom had caught some eye infection almost three weeks back, when I had gone last time. We consulted the doctor in the govt eye hospital and I was amazed at seeing they giving all medicines free.

My friend took her in subsequent weeks and the same doctor advised to repeat the same. But the infection did not go away completely. So I decided to take opinion of another doctor asking him to prescribe some better medicine, that we bought from outside. The free ones are probably okay for people of younger age, who have better immunity.

On our way back, she wanted to buy some sarees, from one of my friend's shop. These little happiness makes me go there often to take care as they don't agree to come and live with us in the city. It needs some extra planning and effort, but then there is a wording that the announcer told in the melody : Saved money can help you in troubles, but if you take care of your parents, then trouble won't come. So find out that little time instead and spend with them.

And that 1 rupee idly and other tasty breakfasts at this shop is a must few times when I am there. They are not the healthiest but very tasty. Dad has a very strong appetite (in fact much better than me) and loves when I bring this.

Diwali is tomorrow and fire crackers are cheap in the wholesale stores near to my native. So this was a must to bring coming back, the price is three times lesser than retail stores in the city.

And peeling some coconuts, and bringing back - a bit difficult but then we have a lot lying in the store. This one was almost matured to be planted and the stuff inside is very tasty.

And the little garden I am trying to put up there is coming up, will post about it separately. Overall a pretty busy life, that does not allow me to write often, but taking care of everyone is a higher priority.

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Do Cheerleaders give you any clue ?

We all have seen Cheerleaders, but may not be this close. The mega event was the Royal Premier League Cricket tournament held at my native place. On the final day, they had this arrangement that was definitely surprising for us as well as the crowd. You can see there were lot of viewers from the village to watch the final match, and certainly they spent a lot this time.

It was all because of a nice sponsorship they got from Royal Lion. And they wanted us to play a friendly match in the morning, with that hard cork ball. You must have seen posts earlier from me on cricket, but we always played with Tennis ball. Playing with the hard cork ball is risky and most of us played with a hard ball almost three decades back. However, we finally agreed and formed a veteran team to fight with the youngsters.

The finals were to start at 1 pm, so we played a 10 over match in which the Juniors bat first and set a target of 99 for us. Certainly bowling with the cork ball was not easy, and more ever fielding was most challenging. In the attempt to hold a catch, I even hurt my left hand. Even though the spirit is there, the body does not move that first. And also holding a catch needs good practice, which we lacked. Still it was a lovely memorable experience.

They provided all the kits to us, good that I had some personalized stuff (like guard) at my native place, as I play cricket only there.

This bat is always like in the backwards of my car, and I had to go for batting in higher order because of some early wicket collapse in our team. Luckily we both played till the end and I finished the match with the winning four. I never thought, I would be able to connect the ball with bat so well. That too with the cork ball, which comes faster. But it happened, I was able to score a little over quarter century and our partnership scored more than 60 runs.

And getting a prize for performing in such an event was way beyond my imagination, they handed us Rs 500/ cash along with a cup for the performance. I came to know that they were giving a smart watch in every match, for the Man of the match award - that's not a small amount, certainly they got a big sponsorship. After our match was over, the finals started and we stayed the entire day there, because there was provision of lunch as well.

Reminded me our time when we used to hold such tournaments, by collecting money from every house in the village. There would be few hard workers who would do most of the task but overall its a team effort.

The DJ guy is sitting inside and play it only when there is four or six or a wicket and then the cheerleaders swung into action.

The prize distribution continued till late evening and the entire day was full of fun. Certainly, people in villages enjoy these live events and socialization, which is much better than the digital world we live in. That's the reason, I always go there, when ever I get opportunity. It serves two purposes, first spending some time with parents and then all these fun. It's complete different feelings, which can only be experienced and not expressed in words.

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With all in-house expertise

Making a reel is not that simple, it needs a bit of planning, and direction, especially for people like us who are not very much engaged in making reels on a daily basis. But she has it in her gene - singing and dancing is her favorite and the way she moves, I can barely match with that. I am not sure, if you noticed it or not, but she had a small dance in the Puja on wheels program in our society that I shared in this post. I was not even aware that she is coming on stage, as I was the shooting the entire event. She planned it then and there and executed it pretty neat. I like to dance, but then it's just some random dance and not suitable for reels. So that is the reason, I have a guest appearance in all her reels 😀

We still love those old songs from our time and she is the director and composer of this entire reel, starting from conceptualizing to final editing. She did teach me few steps even for that guest appearance. And as mentioned in my last post, we went to one end of the blue beach to get some free space. Ya, the less the crowd the more comfortable we are.

And the execution needed all of us, our daughter playing the song, and prompting to start. Our son doing the shooting. We had to do several retakes, because there were still some crowd, who did not stop to come in between. So the final one was done after 11 retakes. But that was only the visual. After coming home, she gave the idea of merging some photos and other clips at the beginning to match the way the song was shoot. And then merging the songs with these images, clips, was taken care by our creative digital director at home - our son. I tried to edit it with Windows Video Editor, but its pretty difficult to get the desired output. I finally gave up after trying for almost more than two hours. But he has some professional video editor software that allows to match the songs to a micro level. So he did a better job in less time.

The entire crew behind this - some people love it, and some do not. But as long as we are doing decent things for our own happiness, we don't need to bother about the negative feedback. There are many people who are doing indecent things to have more viewers in their reels, but that's not what we want. We just want to capture some nice memories for ourselves that will serve as a souvenir for us. After all, everything that we do in this life is for happiness, isn't it ?

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Kick-started yesterday by the Puja on wheels program by Super hit 93.5 RED FM

October is the month when the celebration season begins at our society with the Puja on wheels program conducted by 93.5 RED FM on our premises. In fact they start this program from our apartment, and then continue visiting other societies for the Dussehra (Vijayadashami) Celebrations. This sets the celebration spirit in us, as we are about to welcome the pleasing Winter. The program continues for almost 3 hours that includes events like dance, sing, fashion show for kids and ladies category. And then there are two special events to showcase our auspicious traditional capabilities : Blow the conch shell (Shankha), and Hulahuli - sound produced by women for festivity and prosperity. The award goes to them, who can perform for the max time.

They bring a lot of prizes, along with their sponsor partners as you can see. Its a lovely event to showcase some talent and take prizes / goodies. And most importantly enjoy the time by participating , irrespective of who takes the prize.

You can watch the video to feel the fun - everyone is happy with this program irrespective of whether they got a prize or not - THAT makes the program a grand success. The entire crew know many of our ladies personally as well - ya the ladies rock as you can see.

And there is special pre-cooked food competition, for which our ladies bring food prepared at home. The crew tastes and awards the best three participants, of course, its some of the best home food they can enjoy on stage. And the crowd then takes over, there is stiff competition there. I was lucky to taste few of them, and they were indeed very very tasty - next time please bring more.....

The amazing song performance from Priya was soothing - you and the entire crew made our evening - so a big thank you to the entire team.

The platform was very suitable for some nice clicks so we took every opportunity to have some memories captured.

And how could we let the evening go away without some dance !! To conclude the celebration, we all danced together to few tunes - energized to plan a bigger one during Diwali. Thank you everyone who came, participated and be with us - those who missed, being captured here, better show up in our next event.

I had to cut short and reduce the quality to keep the size within 5 GB, BUT here is the full HD quality , if you wish to see it.

Full resolution pictures to be shared soon....after all its Monday...

And thank you to the entire crew of 93.5 RED FM - you guys are amazing.

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Makes you feel your money is worth

It's after some time we went for a movie as a family on Ganesh Chathurthi and this time the movie was Jawan - a high voltage action drama by Shah Rukh Khan. As I wrote in my last post, the puja completed at around 12 pm , and the published schedule was half an hour early. So we had booked the ticket at 12.15 pm. However, even though it ended late, we stayed till completion as that won't make us happy to enjoy anything else. And then we rushed to the Cinepolis and reached there 5 mins late. By the time we entered, we were glad to find out that ads were going on. Look at the excitements at her face.

Now coming to the movie, its full of action thrillers that will keep you engaged for the entire time. Shah Rukh Khan himself is a craze in India and this is his second movie after success of ‘Pathaan’, so he already had some trends set in people's heart. The story line did not attract me much - its about bringing justice to the oppressed in a wrong way. However, ShahRukh's double role in two different age groups and his acting did impress me. Both the characters are unmatched, and he has done justice to both the characters portraying some nice flamboyance. I was drawn to the film deeper and deeper only because of that, and even kids did like it. It's like you feel the story is filmy and cannot be real. But you still enjoy all the action and high voltage drama till the end. There are some guest appearances from Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Dutt, but they are not quite impressive though. One other interesting character was Sunil Grover, but the story lacked the ground to present his best.

The jumbo popcorn kept us busy the entire second half, not to mention, its a bit costly at Cinepolis. However we choose Cinepolis , because the kids also wanted to spend some time in Timezone, as it was a Tuesday and they run a half price sell. Unfortunately there was surprise when they reached there, will write about it in another post.

This place will be part of my review update of Cinepolis, last time I shared a photo it was on trending list of Google as the photo has been viewed 392698 times.

The boy barely gets time for any entertainment and so will be the case for next two years. So going for a movie will certainly refresh him and we are going to view Expend4bles this Sunday with the exception that, it will be he and me. My daughter has an exam the very next day, so they are not coming, but this is how life will be going forward - Enjoy every moment when you get a chance. And the good news that I have now got a HDFC Dinners Privilege Credit Card that gets us some discounts, more to come on that.

You can also watch some trailers at : https://in.bookmyshow.com/mumbai/movies/jawan/ET00330424

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The best lesson that one gets from sports

So if you followed my previous posts, then you might have observed him missing, the reason being, he was going to participate in the State Inter-School & Y.G.T.A. State Ranking Table Tennis Championship and he went there for five continuous days to participate in various categories. He did win few rounds and then lost in later rounds, but I could see some nice improvement in him.

I accompanied him only on the third day and the other days, he went by the school bus. When I asked him, if it was comfortable, he was not unhappy, saying, its ok. Does it have AC ? No, but now a days I don't feel it's a must to have. That was impressive - a boy going through all the hardship, sitting the entire day out there in the stadium is not complaining. The Indoor Stadium does have provisions for AC, but then its quite expensive for the participating organization to bear the cost (5000/ per hour), so they do not operate it at all. The day I went there, I felt, it was very hot and kind of suffocating with so many people inside. Only after a nice rain, I could feel better. But the boy was not complaining, and was telling me, I have to adjust. Boy, your endurance level is certainly getting better.

Standing in the queue , waiting for the food while very hungry, and then taking care of all the discipline to match the schedules on his own - you certainly can't teach all these at home. You simply cannot create this kinda situation where they learn to behave responsibly, be patient. He was telling, one day , he felt very tired and slept on the floor without anything - one of the first in his life. But then that his when one learns the importance of essentials, and sports is the best thing that can teach anyone all these qualities. Being a sportsman, I know what it feels - adjusting to every situation and be focused on your goal.

On day one, I got some whatsapp messages from him and it was a list of things to remember for the next day. He sent me them so that he does not forget as he is going alone and Papa is not there to arrange. And most importantly he was not upset from his looses rather motivated to do it better next time. This was the first time he participated in school level events and there is one more coming up this week, about which he is optimistic. But I am really happy to see the change in his endurance level, be it whatever happens. This is the best thing that will always influence in life.

I enjoyed the movie Heart of Stone on Netflix, seeing him taking care of himself. The food was good, but the inside of the stadium was not very comfortable, so the movie kept me engaged. There is no good eating place nearby, so I bought a coupon paying 200/-. His school teacher was asking me to bear the coupon, but I felt doing my part as well, considering it, kind of a charitable donation for all the work the association people doing, sacrificing their own work. And the new Sony WH-CH720N headphone with noise canceling / ambient sound mode helped me pass the time. A review on WH-CH720N coming soon....

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With cultural events, followed by some nice food and dance.

What an evening it was to celebrate the Independence day. As I stated in my last post, the prize distribution and cultural events were planned for the evening. The kids were excited to receive their prizes, so that was the first event.

Then the cultural program started with a nice patriotic song presented by the ladies group. Seemed they had done the full preparation for this.

And then we saw some spectacular performances on the stage.

This year the sponsorship was mostly done with voluntary contributions from residents and food was a last minute addition. The Green ladies department managed all the sports and cultural activities, doing a spectacular job. But then the gentlemen surprised on the last day by adding dinner and the food was really very tasty, being cooked at our premises. Initially there were discussions to cut short the events because of lack of funds, but then where there is a will, there's a way and that was proven this year. We all need these stress busters more often - the real socialization that the Digital world can never compensate.

Dance was the concluding and most enjoying part of our function, and even though it started a bit late, we enjoyed it to the fullest, extending it to almost midnight. You can feel it yourself watching the video - it was kind of a mini new year celebration.

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Independence day celebration was a lot of fun for kids

As I stated in my last post, this year Independence day celebration was planned in a very sweet way for the kids. There was a drawing competition done in the week end. And the Sports Competition was left for this day, that included a 100mtr Race, Lemon and Spoon Race and Musical Chair. The Lemon and Spoon Race could not happen because kids were asked to have their own arrangement and bring the Lemon and Spoon and that did not happen. But the Musical Chair was the most fun filled event. There were two categories and both were equally competitive. In the interest of the size of the video I had to change some of them to play fast, but then it made it more fun.

Enough drinks were made available and provided to kids, as the climate has been a bit hot again. But kudos to the spirit of the kids and bravo to our volunteers, who sacrificed their personal work and made this possible.

And the cultural events were done in the evening, more to come on that....until then enjoy the video.

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Celebrating the 77th Independence Day at our society

As India celebrates its 77th Independence Day, we take this moment to celebrate the same hoisting our National Flag at our apartment society in the morning, followed by sweet distribution. The day is fully planned with lot of activities that includes sports event in the day time and cultural activities in the evening. So more to come on that...

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It helps in character building in real life

This was his first appearance this year in a state ranking tournament. He has not been able to prepare well, and he knows pretty well that there are much better players coming there but his enthusiasm to participate in the event made me think twice and allow him to take break from his studies and go for it.

Unfortunately he was cut by only two days (based on his date of birth) to play Under 17 matches. Initially his name was there on the list, but then later they went by a date strictly and he was out of that league. So it left him only two choices : Under 19 and Men's category.

The organizers definitely did not have a very well organized schedule and enough man power but then as I understood its just the association of people who are interested in TT who takes care of all. The government does give them some benefit, but at the end, its mostly their personal interest which drives them to arrange these events. That made me understand how much they love this sport - they sacrifice their personal interest to spend time, money and effort just for this pleasure of kids.

He did win his first matches in both category , and was very happy for that. The reason being, his opponents were seasoned players who practice daily and were underestimating him. After he secured well in his 10th board exam, he decided to go for an integrated coaching where most of his time is spent in studies. But at the same time he did not want to quit playing TT, because he loves it. His teachers have tried to convince me many times to stop his sports for couple of years - if he has to get into IITs or any premier institute he has to work very hard as the competition is very tough in general category. And they advise him to spend very little time for only fitness ( max 20 - 30 mins) and focus more on studies. But being a sportsman myself, I know the immense benefit of sports which is probably more valuable than studies, isn't it ?

Sports teaches you to fight against all odds, be patient ( especially when we loose), and then prepare better to strike next time. And then most importantly adjust to situations when it comes to food or comfort and then focus on your goal to win. You won't believe, for the first time in his life he slept on floor (without even a paper) - when he came and told me that, I could relate it to my childhood. Sports is the best entertainment that will keep one engaged with good thoughts. If you ever played then I am sure you know these feelings - that never let us go in any wrong path. Isn't charter building more important than studies and achievement ?

At the end, if they become a good human being, that's all will matter. You can get into premier institutes, you can earn a lot, but at the end, it all comes down to your happiness.

Spending two days out there for more than 10 hrs, eating whatever they got , adjusting what came in front of them and still not complaining and rather showing that happy face of achievement - boy you are going in the right track. I don't want you to quit sports at all, let there be some compromise in studies. Watch out the video to see his excitements.

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The king of fruit is known as poor man's fruit, but....

This was no where near where I could climb - at least not now.
While coming back from home I decided to pick Jackfruit which are now ready to be ripen. There were couple of them which anyone could pick, cut two of them. But this high Jackfruit was spot on and I found out a help.

At the bottom of the tree, this big one was about to be ready and if you do not know then there are animals who can smell much before we do and they also know how to eat this. We cut it and keep at home for few days and its ready. And if you want it sooner, then put some liquid Limestone to the stem and it will be ready in just 2-3 days - some natural ways of ripening it.

Narayan who is staying at our home came as savior and offered to climb and get it. Initially I thought, he would take a rope and a bag and slide it from the top, but he was pretty confident to not need anything. I was amazed the way in which he quickly climbed and brought it with ease. This is the benefit of being slim - and of course he is pretty younger as well as courageous.

Accomplishments justifies a very happy face.

Kept one at native home and brought two, gave one of them to the person staying next to our apartment along with some mangoes. This year they had no yield from their mango tree because our apartment people cut a big branch of that tree. So I decided to share mangoes with them as much as possible. This is our token of gesture for a good relationship - I now go anytime and grab drumsticks from their tree any time - it's one of a kind which is very tasty.

Do you know Jackfruit is known as poor man's fruit ? So the king of fruits grows in abundance, so much so that, people don't buy them in rural areas and get it free from neighbors. So the economically weaker section use it widely. But the health benefits it offers has now made it popular in cities as well. It has so many health benefits : provide instant energy, can reduce blood sugar levels preventing diabetes, improve vision, can cure anaemia, digestion problems, can prevent bowl cancer as well as cardiovascular diseases. It can regulates blood pressure as it contains high amount of potassium but then people who have chronic kidney diseases will have adverse impact for this reason. However Jackfruit seeds do not have the same problem - almost everyone can eat them with lot of health benefits. It can be preserved for long time and kids love it - sweet and tasty. So if you do not like Jackfruit then try the seeds - you will thank me.

And do you know we have queen of fruits and even princess of fruits ? 😀

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Feeling the negative temperature with a blissful view

Getting up in the morning and seeing snow all around with a scenic view - that was all that drove us to book a night stay at The Meadows, Gulmarg. As I posted in my last blog my daughter had a dream to wake up seeing snow all around. And I must say we were not disappointed by the nature. The hotel is near the Gondola rides cable car, so its at an elevated place. We were very tired playing the whole day in ice, so once we reached there we felt like taking rest. But we had to climb the steps to reach there.

The ambience was nicely set up in the hotel, and it was snow everywhere. We were thinking that those ice have become hard (some kind of hard rock) and remains there forever, but in reality they were not melting because of the low temperature. On querying we got to understand that they only go away in peak summer which is in June. Soon we realized that we did not had any lunch, almost forgot playing in the ice. So kids ordered something to eat and look what we got.

Getting hot Maggi and some crispy snacks at such a cold place was like have their dream fulfilled - an entirely different experience.

And look at him, he was not even willing to go for dinner and come out of that blanket. They have room heaters, but then they start it only after 7 p.m. and it takes almost more than a hour to feel the effect. The heaters are run by hot water, because the entire building is made up of pine wood. So that is the reason it takes time to feel the effect.

Seeing them not coming out made me take rest as well and literally it was very difficult to go for dinner.

The serving was very limited to only few items - kids felt a pinch but then we had to convince ourselves that probably that is what you get on a snow land. What made me happy was that hot Tawa Roti served on table with some sweets and other items - enough for a perfect sleep.

The night was pretty chilled and we were disappointed that they did not have hot water being served 24/7. You really can't even put your hand under the tap water - freezing cold water coming out of it. I tried to call in for some help but there was nobody around the reception, which was a pretty bad experience - unexpected from a 4+ rating hotel. Getting up pretty early in the morning and seeing all others sleeping like they are not going to get up in next hour made me go out with the camera to grab some cool snaps. And no one was still around the corner to even ask when we would get some hot water. They really need to make their service better.

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Testing of the zoom of my camera lens to see this which was a bit far from me - seeing some good results.

Doesn't it look like some white hard rock ?

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I could not stay for more than 20 minutes, my hands were shaking , effect of which was on the videos. All the gloves were wet from the previous day, so it would be better if you keep spare ones.I had to come inside and search for someone to help with hot water. They had to start the generator and it took almost more than half an hour to get hot water. This was not the kind of service I was expecting. They should have taken care proactively in the early morning.

Overall the food was good, though items were limited in numbers. Knowing that we did not have the gondola ride tickets, we finished breakfast early and decided to leave early for half a day site seeing in Srinagar, as we had to return our ice shoes on our way back.

As we came in I took the picture of the spot from where the gondola ride was starting - look at the crowd. It was more than 100 fts down but thanks to the camera.

We are definitely coming back in few years with a more better plan. If you ever plan to go to Gulmarg then plan couple of days stay with gondola tickets for both the phases ( Second phase is more adventurous but may be scary for some). And there are much better hotels on the top - if you can afford. On our way back there was a magnificent view point and the driver planned for it. I will keep it for my next post. But before I go I must share something else - our first reel at Gulmarg - with the song Aap Ke Aa Jane Se from Khudgarz movie at our time. I am only a supporting actor though 😀

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqvdvldpUQh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

This post will be part of my google review of The Meadows, Gulmarg.

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Our first snow experience

Gulmarg is one of the lovely and gorgeous hill station in Kashmir and is located at a distance of approximately 65 kilometers from Srinagar with a drive time of around 2.5 hours. As I stated in my last post, after checking into the HOTEL SNOWLAND we did not feel like going out for any shopping, as our travel adviser was suggesting. Instead, we preferred to just relax preparing our next day visit to Gulmarg. I will write a separate detailed post on the hotel as part of my review, but I must say the experience was truly awesome.

After having a very nice breakfast, we were super excited to explore our scenic trip - ready with the puffer jackets.

It took almost 3 hours to reach there. Ideally it should have taken half of that time, but the roads are not wide enough, so one really cannot drive fast. Also even though Srinagar is the capital of Kashmir, the roads are not in good shape and the smart city project work is going on. It took almost more than a hour just to get out of the city and then couple of hours to finally reach our destination. Watch the video to have a feel of the scenic trip having some awesome views.

Gulmarg is famous for the Gondola ride, the cable car that is second longest and second highest in the world. One has to book the tickets in advance to ensure a ride and we did a big mistake by not booking it. Our travel agent did not insist and follow up to make sure we pre-booked the tickets, they thought, we could get tickets then and there. Usually that is the case and one can get the ticket, but the time was different. If you are planning to go, then make sure, you book tickets as early as possible at https://www.jammukashmircablecar.com/ . It takes you to https://jkcablecar.payu.in/select/1 to book the ticket and there are two phases. The first phase takes you to Kungdoor located at around 10000 ft and then the second phase takes you to Apharwat Peak which is at around 14000 ft.

It's more difficult to get the second phase tickets, so make sure you book both, though you can book the second phase only after you buy the first phase tickets. I regret not doing all these research earlier as we were really busy with the exams. So if you are reading this make sure, this is in top of your list, if you are planning a trip to Gulmarg.

The cable cars are the best means to go to the peak and enjoy the place, but then without them there some other options having a very vague price quoted by the locals there. They offer you a horse ride to roam around and taking to the foot hill of other small peaks and then one can go a little higher by using sledges. And the price ? The cable cars cost 1700/- INR for both the phases but these guys quote 5-6 times of that to just take you to the foothills not even peak. Its a bargain price, so you should have skills to negotiate.

We did not want to opt for any of these, so we decided to just go there on our own and explore as much as possible. But in either case, you will have to hire the snow boots and our driver took us to a shop located much before the mountain peak, picking ours. That person offered us a guide service, saying he can take us to the peak by walking with us, but we will have to make sure we don't say that anywhere. The local community is pretty united and they did suspect when they saw us walking without any horse and challenged him there. So much so that at one point he said we are on our own and then I had to jump in ensuring he is not hurt. There is literally no governance of these local communities which is a real bad thing for such a nice tourist place. So best to plan your travel when you can ensure you have those Gondola tickets. The horse riding is not 100% safe as well, we saw a horse skidding and falling down. The lady on top of it fell down ruining her day.

So with all the challenges we were here walking couple of miles, the guide helping a lot.

Those pathways are pretty bad, horses ruining it. The government should have a better arrangement. But keeping all our worries behind, the kids started enjoying as soon as they were in the snow.

She ran alone to a place and started putting her dream snowman and her brother joined her providing a helping hand.

We utilized the time to capture some memorable moments and shoot a reel, the lady did not want to miss the opportunity. The guide was the cameraman, the lady being the director :)

The weather can change quite fast in these areas and it's good to carry a umbrella which we did not. There is no place there where you can take shelter so if you have kids, carry a small umbrella. You cannot even run or come back fast. So as the rain came in, we joined the kids pursuing them to move fast, leaving their snow man.

But they did not want to leave the snowman alone so played with it breaking into pieces.

It was very difficult to convince them and bring back - in no mood to leave the place. So the man in charge (me) had to accept a final round of play with ice.

On our way back, captured some more photos and the kids finally went for a sledge ride to come back fast.

The sledge man was asking for 600 rupees but I insisted to give only 200 as getting down was not difficult at all and he agreed taking kids on the ride. That's the kind of bargain one need to do :)

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While me and the lady was walking down, the sledge man came back super fast and offered us a ride even in half price , 100 rupees. And we wanted that reel so went in. And then we had to walk back from the place where the snow ended.

And before I wrap this post some interesting facts :

As you can see, this is the only private property at that place on the top and it belongs to a family whose forefather was granted this few centuries back as a war compensation. We could capture it from distance, thanks to our @6400. And I was always thinking it will feel very chilled in the snow, and it will be pretty difficult to bear, but I was wrong :)

This is the place from where we walked. Again, if you are buying the Gondola (Cable Car) ride , then you do not need to go here as you will enjoy a lot at the peak. Now we have plans to go back again in few years to enjoy only Gulmarg with the Gondola ride. My daughter wanted to get up in the morning with her eyes on snow, so I had booked a night stay at The Meadows Gulmarg. More to come on that and also some reels along with some more photographs.......

Pinned on https://pinmapple.com/ - [//]:# (!pinmapple 34.04767 lat 74.38009 long Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir d3scr)

This post will be also part of my Google review of the place - a little hive marketing.

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These small little happiness matters a lot

Yesterday was Ritwik's birthday, and my daughter was poking me every half an hour day before - We have to go. They have invited only a handful friends and their parents, and we can't miss it. Now that school is over, this makes a nice meet for them as well. But the problem was that this was a workday for few, until I realized from my Boss that it was a holiday where I work. So as soon as I verified it was a off for me, the happiness on her face was was out of control.

Every time we go out, we have to push them to get ready soon. But that was not the case yesterday, the were ready before time, I could feel her excitements.

It was a small get together, but look at their faces - pretty comfortable and enjoying the company, notice the birthday boy in the middle. They share almost the same bench in same class - I could correlate looking back at our childhood. And the boy has grown up hair quite fast - if you compare to my last post on his thread ceremony.

The food was awesome - starters, birthday cake cutting and then a main course followed with deserts. They have a restaurant in the Bhubaneswar club which is famous for Biriyani and it was part of the menu (both Veg and Non-Veg) and indeed awesome. And that small bottle game was quite a fun - the prize was for the losers. But the winner also got it finally.

I must say the IQ quotient in our kids are way ahead of us - the way they speak, grasp makes us feel we are just trying to hang in as a bridge between our non-digital past vs current digital life. It was good that, they got along and spent the entire time without any digital activity.

While the kids enjoyed their time, we did get more closer spending a nice time - the Mums now forming a new whatsapp group to collaborate more for some frequent gatherings. These small gatherings are the best way to get out of our stressful life in this digital world, and detox ourselves by getting more socializing face to face - talk, laugh loud, discuss all the family tantrums and fun. Apparently now that we have a group, we are going to plan more such events, may be sometimes outdoors after the summer.

And did you forget the boy ? No way - someone who had just his exams over, did not spare me.

He wanted his laptop back to start playing games. He made me go to the service center before his last exam to give them to solve some heating issues. And since we were going that way, he picked it back. He has full rights now to play.

The day went like in minutes - all the fun, good food, good time just after the exam stress - you can imagine. These little happiness matter a lot - we just need them more frequently. Just when we were about to come home, got a call from the Sony center - Please come and take delivery of your Camera. Whooo - finally I have got a digital camera - more to come soon on that.

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A grand event in our society on the day of Holi adding more colors

They started a new beginning in life and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. As I said in my last post, this was on the evening of Holi, ending the day with more colors. It is customary in our culture for the bridegroom to go to the wedding venue. And the groom's procession is the most enjoying part, in our marriage.

The groom is from our apartment society and an air conditioned mini van was arranged for our society's people to join in the wedding procession. It felt as if we went for a mini picnic. It's a lot of fun to dance to the tunes of loud music and the groom himself came out and danced to few tunes, along with their relatives. Our ladies group did match to the tunes nicely , which you can watch in the video.

On entry they did serve some drinks and starters in limited quantity - the groom holding the coconut and waiting for the bride's side to come for the early rituals and welcome.

The wedding reception was arranged at Taj Vivanta with some great decorations from the bride side.

The entry of the bride was no less than a bolywood movie, after which they both exchanged garlands with some nice fireworks to capture these moments.

As you can see a separate pandal was set for the customary rituals to happen afterwards - the essential part of any Hindu marriage.

And then some great combinations of starters in both veg and non-veg followed by large collection of main courses.

As we went in a large group, the time was pretty enjoying - trying out different foods and capturing some nice moments. The wedding hall was big enough to accommodate large number of crowds - they did arrange several places serving the same menu, making it easier for the guests to pick and enjoy. Usually this becomes an issue, if many people come at the same time.

By the time we came back it was more than 12'o clock in the midnight, but the journey in that mini van was quite a fun, laying the foundation stone of a picnic that probably would happen soon.

Congratulations to the newly weds to start a new life and may their love grow stronger and deeper through each passing day. As a tradition, a separate reception is arranged from the groom's side on the fourth day of the marriage and this was hosted at MAYFAIR Convention, a place lot nearby to our apartment. Most of the people from our society attended this function, may be for that reason.

The food choice was great here as well, serving at one place, unlike the previous venue. The guest list seemed to be covering maximum guests from our society - all known faces enjoying the food, and taking some nice snaps.

Overall a nice evening spent with some good captures in this great ambience. I hope you get a feel of our Hindu marriage from this post, though there are lot of rituals that are practiced, which did not make here.

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A joyful day to meet everyone, celebrate, forget and forgive.

Holi, the festival of colours is a very special day for all age groups - it's one festival which everyone enjoy. In my last post I shared how the God comes out to meet the devotees and start the festival of colors. That set the precedence in the kids to not spare us to buy them colours and start the planning.

And then finding that perfect old dress which can be used - it's so much fun to see that and remind us our childhood. It's like you have to find out the best discarded dress once in a year.

We have lot of kids in our society and the open area was dedicated to play colors. The fun started at around 10 am and it was all kid's affair.

It was so much fun to see the kids go wild - some of them even did not hesitate to use the mud water. And they were innovative as well - they prepared a water slide on their own - enjoy and clean the slide at the same time. You should watch the video to see their excitements. And of course they were disciplined following each other waiting for their turns.

As the day progressed, elder members started coming out and join the fun. We typically use the natural dry coloured powder (abir) and color each other until there is no space left.

The women community in our society is very active and always ahead. Enjoying the day to the fullest and also serving some nice food to make the day more pleasant.

The day marks the arrival of Spring in India, and reminds us that this is the end of winter. Usually the day becomes hotter from this day and watermelon was a perfect soothing choice to help us stay longer. And then various types of sweets and snacks - who does not want them !!

It definitely needs lot of preparation and kudos to the ladies for the treat - they ran out of stock very soon.

As the day progressed, more families joined the fun. We had a sound system set at the common area playing some loud music to compliment the event and encourage dancing - watch the video to see the fun. And its a fair game to color anyone - the kids would come and throw colors or spray from their big water guns - you have to be ready for that. If you can recognize yourself then you have not truly played Holi 😎.

Any little space left is an opportunity to add more color.

The fun continued for almost 3 hours with a perfect ending - a very nice treat at home from Anjalli Nani with some nice healthy food. The day was indeed colorful in all aspects - most importantly very well spent to take away stress of our daily life and cheer us, recharge us till the next event. And some of us attended a grand marriage in the evening, will post about it.

Holi is a grand festival having great cultural significance and as I said in my previous post, the festival is also celebrated in a grand way at Lord Jagannath's place. If you have not seen it earlier, check out this video to experience yourself.

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To meet devotees and play colors

Dola Purnima is a very special and unique function, when the God comes out to meet the devotees and start the festival of colors - the most awaited festival for kids. The deities are taken out in procession in a very well decorated palanquin ( known as Vimana) and then devotees offer their prayers along with Sweets / fruits and natural dry colours (Abira). In villages this is a very grand ceremony, where many deities from different villages join together at a common place called Melana Padia (Meeting place). It almost spans the entire night with a very large procession including many different shows / action. Stiff competition happens among villages in decorating the Vimanas and showing their art and skill. And the God goes to each home in morning / evening hours before coming for this final meet at the common place.

But we kept it simple in our apartment society, in fact, this has been started just two years back. There is a lot of room for improvements and hopefully we will get it done better with contributions from devotees.

This small Vimana was very nicely decorated by our support staffs and kept ready by the evening, the event was planned to be started at 7 pm.

Then we carried the Vimana to the front of the society where the offerings were made by residents. The loud sound of Ghanta (a metallic gong) along with the blaring of conch shells reminds the residents to come out and meet the God in open, offer their prayers and sprinkle colors on him.

The Lord stayed for almost a hour there, and then taken back to the temple in a procession, going round the society.

With this festival, we welcome the spring, which is sometimes referred as ‘Basantotsaba’ - the spring festival. And this also sets out the spirit for Holi - the festival of colors which is about to happen in 2 days. And do you know this festival of colors is actually a festival of victory of good over evil, according to Hindu mythology ? Here is the full story :

There was a demon king, Hiranyakashyap. He was so egoistic that he commanded everybody in his kingdom to worship him.

But his son Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu and refused to worship his father. Hiranyakashyap tried several ways to kill his son Prahlad but Lord Vishnu saved him every time. Finally, he asked his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap.

Hiranyakashyap knew that Holika had a boon, whereby, she could enter the fire unscathed.

Holika had to pay the price of her sinister desire with her life. Holika was not aware that the boon worked only when she entered the fire alone. Prahlad, who kept chanting Vishnu Nama all this while, came out unharmed, as the Lord blessed him for his extreme devotion.

Thus, Holi derives its name from Holika and is celebrated as a festival of victory of good over evil.

Mangoes

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We used to hear these in our childhood, our bed time real stories as per mythology. And they were always teaching us that the good always wins over evil - an ethical learning. And did you notice the mangoes ?

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Most important festival to celebrate in honor of Lord Shiva

Maha Shivaratri is a very important festival for us, and is celebrated across the country in various places with some different rituals. It has got another name at my place : Jagara. Though legends have different versions of the significance of this day ( such as on this day, Lord Shiva performed the heavenly dance of creation, preservation and destruction or on this day he married Parvati ), the devotees believe that praying the Lord and keeping a fasting on this day, the lord fulfills their wish). Unmarried girls and boys keep fasting in the belief that they will get a good life partner - the beauty of our culture to find a reason to do fasting at least. And then after all day fasting in the evening the devotees lighten the diyas in the temple premise and finally the main diya (Mahadipa) is taken to the top of the temple, as you can see in the video. The devotees circle around the temple seven times enchanting hymn, before the Mahadipa is taken to the top. We have this Lord Shiva temple in our society premise and this is celebrated in a grand way every year. At the end, a drink made up of fruits, milk, curd, jaggery and other nuts is served to everyone. The beautification of the temple had been going since last two weeks, to set up the perfect ambience.

Every year, a vegan feast is also served to all the members of the society. This year, it was decided to do it yesterday - the reason being ,most people will be available as it was Sunday. And I must say anything that is prepared in honor of the God at the temple has very unique and delicious taste and nobody wants to miss them.

The arrangements were done for 300 - 400 people, having several items - a Khichdi rice, a dalma ( dal with vegetables), the tomato khatta (with dates), a cauliflower fry and a sweet khir for the fine finishing. And many people generously contributed big amounts for this making this feasible. The cook came with his team of people by afternoon and made everything ready in just 4 hours. The good thing is that the society owns all these utensils and they were kept ready.

Even though people were requested to come after 7.30 pm, nobody turned around so early, so the serving started around 8.30 pm. My wife and daughter ate in the first batch, but me and my son joined late after playing badminton. The main arrangement was done to sit on the floor surrounding the temple, but then some tables were laid out for senior citizens.

Overall a great evening - I love the socialism in this kind of festivals - they are real stress busters. Everyone taking time off and joining together at one place and then that face to face discussions, laughing, gossiping - they are much better than the digital counterparts.

We stayed there till 11 pm in the night. A lot of food remained even after everyone finished eating, so residents were requested to take as much as they can. For the first time, we brought some rice and dalma, as they were available in big quantities, and today is Monday - another auspicious day.

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A memory reminding old days

When did you go for a picnic with friends and cooked yourself as an amateur and made it a grand success against all odds ? That too, when all amateur cooks have different opinion and collectively try their best - it was so much fun.

Many times we discussed to have a picnic among our close friend groups and it could never happen. Blame Covid - it remained in plan since last two years. Finally, the time came, when Mr Basant took the initiative and promised to make it a reality. It was a small group of five people, few more could not join, but we enjoyed it thoroughly.

The first task - cleaning the mess a bit to find some space for us - I wish, they clean this every day, as they are charging a little. Basant and Anil did all the marketing previous day, except the meat. There were limited items - rice, meat, salad. So the meat had to be good for which, they got up early and went to a known person. All the spices were made ready at home as well. And then loading everything, and arriving at the spot - Barunei Hill, which is close to my native place.

I went directly to the spot, best friend was assigned the task of getting something to start - chicken fry.

Kudos to his wife who prepared it so tasty, and making it ready in the morning. And it was more than sufficient for five of us - perfect boost to start the fun.

And then the real fun began.

Putting that smoky fire, with Ashok volunteering to take the lead with two assistants 😀

The firewood that they brought was very less, so it had to be collected - roaming around, they found out - look at their happy faces.

Arranging those stones to put the container with space to accommodate firewood - not an easy task, but quite enjoying. This was my only contribution to cooking, except cheering them up.

We decided to cook the meat first as that would take more time. But then in the middle they realized, the chief cook put the mutton masala in the beginning, which was wrong. And it was decided, nothing is wrong - that is why its a Wild feast 😃 And at some point, they added anything they liked.

After some time, the second container had to be placed for parallel cooking - so some real skill was needed there. They needed some hot water to fry the spices properly.

And then one of us realized that potato was supposed to be fried first. There was no container to fry it then, so the jury decided to add them as is.

Finally the time came to test if its ready or not, unfortunately it was not. And then some real brainstorming - we needed a raw Papaya. So me and the other non-cooking friend Anil roamed around to see if other picnic parties have some to spare. After asking at several places, we found out one, and they happily shared. Going to the market or my home to get one would easily need half an hour, and we didn't have that much time to spare.

Knowing that the meat will be ready soon, they started cooking the rice as it takes very less time.

Doing a final round of testing, before making the sitting arrangement. We had already consumed half of the salad in the beginning, so did not prepare more as everyone was hungry looking at the mutton, and it was sufficient. And believe me it was so good - that smoky flavor - delectable taste. Seeing all this, there is a huge demand to make a family picnic - they don't want to miss the fun.

And then finally sitting for some time and doing the analysis - they were speaking like pro in cooking. That is what happens, when its a grand success - everyone wants to show their credit 😄. It was so much fun spending the day that we decided to meet more often and arrange something like this again, inviting more friends. It's easy to take a cook and then have him cook everything and sit and eat. But this has a whole different experience - collectively making it a success in-spite of all the odds. And of course we have learned to make it better next time.

Before going to my native home, I did not forget to take mutton to my home. I knew my father will be waiting for me.

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Pride of our city to host the world cup second time in succession.

The 2023 Men's FIH (International Hockey Federation) Hockey World Cup is starting on 13th January 2023, just in a week's gap. And if you are not aware, then its going to be hosted at Bhubaneswar, the city where I live and one other city Rourkela of my state. The last edition of the Hockey World Cup was hosted at Bhubaneswar only and its a pride to host it in succession, which is unique. Hosting such mega international sporting events provides opportunity to my city to showcase its capability and world class sporting infrastructure and earn reputation. And in order to make this event memorable and successful, the local municipal authority BMC ( Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation) is conducting a series of events at several locations across the city to set the mode. Yesterday they came to our Infocity Greens apartment and we all participated and enjoyed the events. As part of the program, they did a nice job of working with our apartment society to make the vicinity clean, and decorate the area with hockey related themes. They have several dedicated teams to put up the necessary arrangements ( hoardings, lights, sound etc) and they did a nice job of putting them in time.

Several events were part of the program :

• Magic show for kids
• Fashion Show for kids
• Quiz
• Fashion Show for ladies
• Mock Hockey
• And not to mention, a selfi point.

The society did a nice job of informing the residents early ahead to get ready and be part of the program. It gives us immense pleasure to be part of these program and encourage kids to get interested in sporting events. And as usual, our residents were high on their mode to get dressed in sportswear attire and very much enthusiastic to take some tokens of appreciation as prizes - so there were stiff competition.

You can feel the enthusiasm of our residents in these photos and videos - always ready for social events. Moreover, hockey being our national game, and the event being hosted by my city, its our duty to encourage such programs and cheer them.

The Mock Hockey was real fun - one has to score three out of three to win the prize and I was able to win the prize from men's side. There were more competition on the ladies side, as there were more participants. But then winner made a clean sweep hitting a perfect three.

The program came to an end with cheering up the hockey them and dancing to the tunes.

And then taking up some nice photographs with the BMC officials, the crew, who did a great job of making such a nice arrangement.

And finally the ladies special....always in the front. Here is my token of appreciation - a memory to remember this grand event. Watch the video to experience the full fun.

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Zero night celebration at our apartment

2023 brings a lot of hope for all of us. Last two years were spent in absolute dismay due to Covid, and the aftermath is yet to stop. However, life has to move on - and that one thing pushes us ahead - Hope. After two long years, our annual party was celebrated on the occasion of zero night. A lot of planning and effort by many people over a month made it a grand celebration. It was full of fun and lot of good foods. Having the celebration inside our apartment society helps us enjoy more, because the kids are familiar with the place, have their friends with whom they can enjoy the time, leaving us to enjoy the party with our friends. Outsiders are not allowed with some strict vigilance from the security. Food was being prepared inside the complex, and served hot. The menu was full of both veg and non-veg dishes, to serve all.

The stage was set, lights on, a live melody followed by DJ music kept everyone on high to welcome 2023.

Everyone was in party mode - the promising teens, gorgeous ladies giving it a shine. The food starters were served early in the evening - charging everyone to hang on for next 2-3 hours. The live melody was for limited time, but then DJ music made it even better taking us to new highs. The bon fire to welcome the new year makes it a special memory, where all of us roam around the fire till the click ticks.

Watch the fun filled video to experience it, you will find me at last, because I was the one who was recording all these. For the first time, I personally felt, we had more participation from men's section, usually the ladies always fill the glamor. This time also they did a superb job, but at least we made our presence.🤓 I had to borrow a video of mine from a close friend to include in this final movie. He observed the fact that I may not have any clip and will need some lovely memories. It has taken a lot of time, to merge, edit and make this clip, that will remind us the good time with which we start this new year. Hopefully, Covid will be a thing of past, bringing life to new normalcy.

Hers are some family pics from the evening, afterwards, the photographer was lost.

May this new year bring happiness and prosperity for all of us. Wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year, 2023.

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One of our mega event of the year

Every year, on the eve of Christmas, we all unite to join the mega sports event of the year - the cricket match, that reminds us memories of our time. It's fixed on this day on purpose - all are summoned to keep aside their busy schedule and join us on this day. Some people join us from abroad, so fixing this particular day makes it easy for them to plan ahead of time. This year, we invited a team from another nearby village as well to make it more competitive and fun. The captain of that team used to play with us, so he knows each of us. Three teams were formed, out of more than 70 people joining this event. If you are a sportsman, then you must be knowing, that being there itself brings those cheerful memories of our young time. Some of them came just for that purpose - enjoy the togetherness and cherish their memories.

The coin for toss - someone brought this to make it special. And then introducing all players to our guest of honor - one of our beloved elder brother.

It takes lot of collective effort to arrange such mega events and we were given the charge to organize the tents, some other were responsible for food, some people arranged the t-shirts for three teams, and then some other took care of the sports items. And most importantly everything was supposed to be in time - good that it was executed flawless by each set of people , and we could start the event by 10 am. As you can see, each team were given their t-shirts of different shades. Colorful, isn't it ? But collecting the size of each person, ordering them and getting in time - you can imagine the planning and effort going in since last three weeks.

Captains of two teams for the first match - in their fifties, but look at the enthusiasm.

Old traditions - discussing the game plan, and praying for the win.

Teaser food is an essential part of these events and those who organized it did no fault to make it delicious - you can feel it ?

Seeing some of the friends after long time makes this a special day. So much special that, I had to sacrifice the party that my son is giving today to his friends. Delegated the job to the lady and came here to meet all friends.

Some of them are in their sixties but they come just for the company and memories, as you can see. There were three matches between each of us and we won two matches, becoming the winner. It's fun to see the body movements not matching the sportsman spirit, but that is what makes this event special.

And we were fortunate to have our local MLA with us to encourage - he supports all kind of sports and is leading the discussion to make a mini stadium for us. He is literally part of every sports event.

And that special delicious lunch.....

We ate as much as we could - the cook did a nice job and have been part of this since last few years. He is informed well ahead to be available for this.

Reminds us our young time - we can eat sitting anywhere, no special arrangement needed.

A nice day spent with friends to celebrate Christmas, Wish you all Merry Christmas.

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means a lot to them

She wished me to take her to the Mahotsav and it gives immense pleasure to fulfill her wish. Mahotsav is a trade fair that are organized at different places and this one is hosted every year, very close to our home. Typically these big fairs are hosted during Winter, so that people can enjoy the fair without getting tired or sweating. Old people need too little but that little too much. She had asked me before two weeks if I can come, but then as you read my last post, I did not inform her about my accident, because I know, it will pinch her a lot. As I felt little better, I decided to seek her blessings first by going to my native and then narrate her the incidence. Seeing me fine makes her worry a little but what she told surprised me. She had real bad dreams just the previous night of the day of my accident which indicated something bad was about to come. Some may call this a coincidence, but it is some sort of warning that the divine gives us.

Arrived early in the evening and after waling to the venue, she suggested we first have a glimpse of all the stalls before doing any purchase. There were a lot of crowd and the downside of these trade fairs are severe air pollution because of dust. So I advised her to wear a mask.

The center of attraction was the musical melody being performed by live artists - long time back I had experienced. It's all free.

There was a sitting area and we enjoyed some moments there. And then she started the shopping. She has her list of things to look out - tea cup was one of them.

She did not find suitable ones in couple of shops - very specific about what she needs.

And finally, she found those small cups that would accommodate half big cup of tea. And the cost - only ten rupees each. You have to buy minimum six pieces giving sixty rupees, but that was affordable for everyone. We brought ten - six for her and four for my wife - she too likes small cups. The good thing about this cheap small cups is that, it does not pinch you, if it breaks or you discard after using for some times. The same cup with good quality will cost you sixty each in big shops. The quality does not matter a lot when it breaks 😀

And then she was looking for something to take out the ash out of our wood chulah but this man was quoting a higher price - she knows how much they should charge.

Artificial but beautiful and budget friendly flowers for home.

Ever enjoyed this ? The moment when it comes down is a unique experience and me and my daughter love it. The place is full of such activities and this is the crowd puller.

We were back to our shopping.

Anything in this shop was ten rupees and she what she grabbed. Cost effective management - the tea filter is an everyday need.

A jewellery shop where you can get jewelries that does not need insurance - thief will regret stealing it 😀

The paan shop - preparing the next batch of deliverables.

She bought a gold chain as well. Small things but look at the happiness at her face.

The mega bangles shop - not cheap but she bought bangles because we went here - some memory.

All varieties of Ray-Ban glasses available here.

A utility and decorative shop - did not have power, I felt, they should have arranged good lighting - to trigger sales. And then comes another main attraction of these fairs - some mouth watering foods.

Some people are mad about these and come daily to just eat these.

After some time my best friend joined us - he was busy but when he heard I am there, he postponed his work and joined us - with his son.

Who does not love pickles !! You get lot of varieties at one place here.

She got couple of packets of incense sticks - a packet costs 100/- and two 150/- , mind blowing pricing so that every one will get two thinking that its a loss otherwise.

Another shop with some native products from the villages - she got a kg of Horsegram Dal - ever tasted it ? You would love it.

Coming back some other shops.

Finally she got what she wanted. And another pickle shop - this one had more varieties.

Enjoying their sell - not a lot of profit but then they enjoy the time. And we enjoyed the time - it's these little happiness that matters a lot for them. The next morning as soon as my father got up, he was asking if I can bring some fish - a voracious non-veg lover who can eat every day, more than once.

We don't get these export quality prawns , but luckily it was there. The price is a bit high at 900/- kg, but its less compared to cities. Got a kg of that and the other fish that dad asked for. And she cooked it nicely - we have a cook but since I was there, she was super charged to cook. It's these moments that inspires us to live for each other.

A post for #MarketFriday initiative by @dswigle

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Finally she got her choice of ornaments

Getting your choice of ornament is luck and finally she got what she wanted at Malabar Gold, Patia. Friday is our lucky day, and that is why we choose this Friday to go for the purchase. She was very much interested to buy it during Dhanteras (posted here, but then she returned disappointed because she was looking for a specific type of Necklace that comes with gem stones. Most of the time we buy something as we go with a mindset to buy it, but she preferred to return instead. As the marriage season is going on, we decided to go to the nearest Malabar Gold store, Patia and try her luck.

And the new collections that have come in, did not disappoint her - she loved this one.

But wait, this was not the only one. Since long she was asking me to exchange her old necklace, and I was not willing because, it's always a loss to exchange GOLD. You pay the making charge and when you exchange, they pay you in current gold price, if its 22 crt gold. And you again pay the making charge on new ornaments. So you always loose that amount, which is big. But considering her desire to try these new designs, this time I allowed her to exchange her old necklace. If she does not wear what she has, then its useless. Another important factor was that Malabar Gold has a fair evaluation of old gold for exchange and also have a fair price policy which allows for transparent and reasonable pricing of products. So before going for the exchange , they spent a good amount of time to finalize their choice of ornaments.

One of their staff Sasmita Sahu, was very patient to not only assist them to find out what they wanted, but very very helpful to take us through the entire purchase and exchange process, admire her patience. The exchange process has changed significantly in recent times and is very transparent. They now have a digital scanner ( like X-ray machine), which can scan the gold and tell what carat it is.

It's pretty costly , but as you can see, it can exactly evaluate your old gold quality and guarantee a fair price. In older days they would reserve some percentage, that would pinch your pocket. Now that we have such niche technology, we always get back the right price of our old gold.

This was her old Necklace - a bit traditional and she could wear only in occasions like marriage etc. So she wanted something modern and latest. Though they scanned the gold, their next step in exchange is to melt it at 900 °C and make it a perfect biscuit of gold for exchange, removing any impurities, so that its not a loss to them as well. So this is the last appearance of this necklace before it went to RIP. She did give some of her other gold jewelries as well, luckily all of them came out 22 carat.

This melting machine is also pretty costly and the price is based on capacity. But its good to see such niche machines being available that can melt the gold in 5 minutes, which guarantees a fair exchange price to you. And finally it came like this - a tiny gold biscuit.

He was trying to understand the whole process and follow up to make sure, everything is calculated right - something that will come in his future use.

And then as we moved to the final billing process, he went to the McDonalds store that is just beside this show room and enjoyed some vegetarian bites.

Here is what they brought - the entire collection of purchases.

And before coming back happily, Sasmita offered a nice gift as well - she waited till this long and went for lunch only after we came out - pretty dedicated to her job.

This will be part of my google review of this place.

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In memories of our maritime traders

Some loud enchanting at 4 am in the morning made me wake up - the ladies of our apartment were doing the Kirtan going round the building, which reminded me about the last day of this holy month. On this day, we also celebrate the unique Boita_Bandana festival , to remember our maritime traders and this starts the historic Bali Jatra, Asia's largest open trade fair. Last year I was lucky to be part of the celebration and also posted about it , but unfortunately due to the sad demise in our family, we are not supposed to take part in any religious activity for ten days. However, presenting you some arts that were being done in our temple premise in this month, captured when I was going early in the morning to pluck flowers.

People offer their skills of doing these as devotion to the almighty. And the Kirtan - the musical recitation of mantras is done in last five days (called Panchuka) of this month, that ended today. This month was a full vegan month and all these practices sets up the perfect spirit of devotion and attachment with the God - believed to be part of our Karma. Tomorrow is Chhada Khai when people can start the non-vegetarian diet.

The Boita_Bandana festival is quite unique to my place, to sail miniature boats in water bodies. Since today there is also a Lunar eclipse, this was supposed to be done before 5.38 am ( as per our religious guidelines). The society was smart to fill the mini swimming pool so that people can sail their boats here instead of going to distant places having a river or pond.

So the ladies must have got up very early and after finishing this , went for the Kirtan, which I was watching from our balcony. Later I took some more photos in the morning - these boats symbolizes our trust. I did explain them in my last year post

The natural fragrance of night jasmine flowers were making this place energetic.

And there was also a grand vegan dinner in the temple premise yesterday, that we missed as well. They requested us several times, but then we have to obey the traditions, so I had to tell them the news to respect our religion.

If you ever get a chance to visit my place, then this is the best time to visit - the weather is quite pleasant in this early winter and sets a perfect ambience for the Bali Jatra. This year, our famous international sand-artist Sudarshan Patnaik has tried to set up a record by building World's biggest sand traditional boat that is 68ft long and 42ft Wide. You can see more details here :

https://twitter.com/sudarsansand/status/1589793180937261057

The fair is happening after couple of years due to Covid and is quite crowded so one needs to be cautious about pick pocketing, but its one of a kind. I planned to visit this year, but then as we will not eat anything outside, had to cancel the plan, keeping it for next year.

And there is a special dalma done on Mondays of this month using Elephant Apple - will write about it in another post.

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The last meet

Friday was a very difficult day for us, my father's elder brother passed away. He was being treated for some health condition since last several years, and gave up after struggling for almost two weeks. They were four brothers and he was number two and my father is number three. The eldest and the youngest have passed away earlier. So this was a pretty challenging situation for us - how to tell him this news and handle it. Initially we thought, we would not tell considering his age and health condition ( he has heart problems and is fitted with a pace maker) but then later we decided to reveal the ultimate truth. Because otherwise if some day he will ask about his brother, then it will be difficult to explain and handle the outcome. So better he sees himself for the one last time and accept the truth.

After getting the news in the morning, we went to the hospital and asked our mother to bring him later. It took more than 2-3 hrs to get out of the hospital and then the body was taken to his residence for one last glimpse. He is survived by wife, and three daughters, and one daughter and her family was present as they are living in the same city as we are. Others were on their way as soon as they received the news.

As part of our culture, we offer flowers and Gulal (colored powders) and then family and relatives offer the holy water of Ganges on his face and 'Nirmalya', the dried Mahaprasad of Lord Jagannath Temple. A Tulsi (Holy Basil) tree is given to him, that goes till the funeral.

They had lost their mother at early childhood so there was tight bonding between the brothers. He had a very strong affinity towards his village where they completed their schooling. He made his school proud by becoming the first Engineer of that school as well as that village. And then he joined the government job and retired in a very senior position. He regularly used to visit his school and provided big financial assistance for its welfare. Anytime there was a need of finance, they would approach him - he was a very respected and known face in his village. He knew his conditions and had given strict instructions to take his body to his village and do the last rites there. And many people after knowing the news, were desperately waiting at his school for his last sight. Knowing my father's condition, I decided not to take him there ( its 50 miles away) and decided to spend some time with my aunt and then take him to my home.

The school authorities and other respected old people along with all the children gave him a very heartfelt tribute, that was well deserved. We stayed at his home and spent time with my aunty, and came back to our home after few hours. As part of the ritual, we had to wait till the funeral was over and then take bathe. And then there will be several other rituals, we are following for ten days, as our family. It's difficult, but we have to respect our traditions and follow them. And we are closely watching my father , being with him always. My younger brother flew from Bangalore to just stay with him, so that he does not face alone or depressed.

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Victory of light over darkness

Diwali symbolizes the victory of light over darkness and is the only other most interesting festival for kids ( after Holi, the festival of colors) because of fire crackers, they simply love to burst the crackers. As I posted in my previous post, I always bring good amount of crackers for them, because I know, they will not leave me spared otherwise. This year was no exception. In the morning, went to our favorite sweet shop and brought sweets - we distribute sweets to whoever comes to home.

The shop was running out of stock fast, and I did grab some.

Rangoli is another important part of the celebration through which we decorate the house. My daughter wanted to create one and brought some Rangoli. It needs lot of time and expertise but then that is what people love to do. The shops do their annual Laxmi puja on this day and decorate as much as possible. You can see, how our regular shop was putting Rangoli and distributed sweets to us.

My daughter patiently did a lovely Rangoli at our home.

Usually people put it outside the home, but then she was comfortable doing inside. Here are some other Rangoli decorations done by our neighbors.

It takes lot of time, but then that is the best way to keep kid's excitement till evening - desperately waiting for crackers. We always visit the temple and seek the blessings of God before going to burst fire crackers. There is always risk associated with crackers and divine blessings is needed to be safe, whatever degree of carefulness you follow.

The apartment has strict guidelines to burst fire crackers only at the open space in the front as cars are parked inside. So every one comes there and its a nice time to see each other and wish them. And you can see everyone coming with nice outfits and wearing jewelries, gifted to them. We had lot of crackers , so I was in charge of looking after the kids while the lady was happy spending time with others.

See the happiness on their face - in some traditional cotton outfit. The lady had some nice time with her friends.

My son and his friends did help us to finish the crackers.

And my brave daughter was not getting tired - she was saying, this year we have brought less crackers. And she was right as well. There was speculation about a cyclone coming in on this day, and for that reason, many traders did not apply for the license and open a shop. The cyclone diverted, so at the last moment, the demand was huge but supply was less. I got this much from a wholesale shop at approx 75$, but usually it would got us much more.

I did manage to frame myself for memories.

Some nice time with other families along with a group photo before coming back.

And some nice food was prepared by the lady to complete the day.

And I must say, I did spend some time on this auspicious day to set up my garden, more to come in another post.

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For the first time I heard a lord being referred by his devotee's name

Dagdu Sheth Ganpati is the most popular phrase in Pune - I doubt, you will hardly find any local who would not know about this. Ask anyone in Pune, where to go to see the Ganpati festival, they will tell you to go to Dagdu Sheth Ganpati. Dagdu Sheth is the name of the person, a famous Halwai (sweet) maker, who after loosing his only son to the deadly disease plague, incepted the deity of Lord Ganesha with his wife Lakshmibai, to save their family. And then this is being celebrated since last 129 years, and counting.

This is the permanent temple but then they move the Lord for the 10-day Ganpati festival by building a replica temple in a grand way. And it's not an easy task, especially when the lord wears millions of dollars of jewellery.

I went twice to capture some good snaps, but the crowd was huge and their volunteers will not let you stand for few seconds as well. You can see the deity is being guarded by an armed security personnel along with live CCTV surveillance. The reason is that, the deity is adorned with several kg of intricate gold ornaments symbolizing the divine glory. In fact the idol as well as the jewellery are insured for several hundred thousand dollars as well. The temple trust is the richest trust in Pune, by the virtue of generous donors and devotees - to give an example, in 2017, a Pune jeweler donated a 40-kg jewellery collection valued more than $1800000. They undertake several social initiatives to worship the Lord through its service to humanity. They do have a dedicated website where you can even have live darshan and much more : https://www.dagdushethganpati.com/

The trust was also selling beautiful mini replicas of the idol in the festival. And I believe, they had this special rituals which must be highly paid and pre-booked.

And look at that - trucks of coconut donated by devotees - I believe at least five by one person at one go, because that is how it was being sold.

And if you are wondering what happened to Lakshmibai , wife of Dagdu Sheth, then this whole place is named after her - LAXMI ROAD. It's the traditional part of the city where the celebration happens that makes one delightful with a meditative state of mind.

The crowd was pretty huge, a person carrying her daughter on his shoulder to just click some photos - innovative thinking. I discovered a nice sweet stall just at the backside of the temple - made me more hungry.

That instant energy from sweets inspired to move ahead to see some other celebrations around - you can find a Ganpati pandal in every neighborhood.

There were crowd everywhere and carnival-like procession along the busy thoroughfares. This seemed to be a permanent temple and look at the big container placed there. It was fun seeing people throw money to go inside that.

Coming back had some light lunch at a veg restaurant to help me enjoy the rest of the day.

And then headed to Tulshibaug - which has the most beautiful and appealing idol. On the way, there is a lane full of shops selling imitation jewelries - seems most people who visit love to buy these.

Kind of a mini trade fair with lot of crowds, one shop was pretty interesting.

Curious me asked the shop keeper, why these are sold and what I came to know is that, this represents Goddess Gauri and people buy these and worship only during this festival. They are not cheap as well, sells for almost 80 - 100 $. And here comes the huge 14 feet idol at Tulshibaug.

Believed to be established in 1901, this idol is adorned with splendid silver jewellery from head to toe - yes its all real silver.

And look at the outside decoration, it was grand too. What I loved about this place is that, people were very devotional to offer their prayers and that is what makes our culture unique. You can see the prayer from public in the video. Then roamed around to see some other idols.

Rain disrupted the celebration for some time, but then as you can see these Dhol-Tasha groups were all over the place, determined to celebrate even in the evening.

You can see how the same Dagdu Sheth pandal has been decorated with lights.

People were not leaving the place and at one point, I could not find out a way out to come back.

Tried to look for an auto or cab ,but then all roads were closed and could not find any. Ola / Uber did not help because mobile network was not working properly, this is how you feel the pinch of technology at times. After roaming around several lanes, found an auto, who charged two times the regular fair but I was happy to find him and without any hesitation, boarded it. This was definitely a memorable event of life time. Enjoy the rest of the videos, that I promised to post in my previous blog - I was truly delighted with the spirit of people of Pune to celebrate the occasion in such a grand way. Never did I see a lady riding a Camel coming on a procession, ya, you can see it yourself in the video (around at 5 minutes 2 seconds).

And it took a lot of time for me to compile this post, but this along with my previous post forms an epic experience that adds to some unforgettable moments of my life. Someone told me that the final Immersion procession that happens on the last day is more fun, but unfortunately I had pre-booked my return tickets. Now that you know it, if you plan to visit Pune by any chance during the Ganpati festival then make sure, you stay for that final day.

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Detailed review

Finally, last week end, we visited the Wonder World Water Park and Resort, at Malatipatpur, Puri. It was long due on me, postponed several times due to rain. But last week, we decided to spend the day there. Along with me and my family, my best friend joined us with his family.

They have two types of tickets : General and VIP. The VIP ticket costs significantly more with the only difference being, you eat a Buffet Lunch in A/C Restaurant. Though their site says, they have VIP Slide Entry, in reality, its not true. No one cares about it unlike other places, where you have a VIP entry for each ride.

They give a pair of costume with a refundable security deposit of 150/- per pair. However, they are not washed well. Good that my wife and kids had taken their costume. We even tried to buy it in the shop present inside but then there were no stocks. So we had to adjust with those not so well maintained costume. If you have it, then best to carry it. And I bought a waterproof cover for the phone, which was a big mistake. I thought, pictures would come fine as it was a sunny day. But later when we saw, they were pretty bad. So best to take your phone and take some pictures and then go back and keep it in the locker. The locker is not too far, so you can bring it again, if you want later. Only some videos were ok, which I have posted here.

This is the pool you enter after going inside, and it was disappointing to see the water level. It was hardly half filled. And then the kids tried the slides, and my daughter got stuck half ways. She had to kick to go down, there was not enough water flowing or the sliders are not working the way, they should. My friend tried one and he experienced the same. So literally all you can do is sit inside water, that also is not enough - may be sleep inside - that is what my son did finally.😀

We decided to take some snaps and move on to the wave pool. As you can see, photos are not that good, because of the waterproof cover.

The wave pool was also not up to expectation. Only one side of the pool is working, the right hand side is not working. And they have a stage in the middle, where they have some local models dancing to the tunes of item songs. Definitely something that kids did not like.

After some time, they brought it another hot model, who kind of went wild to tempt the young mass, but then, we were laughing at the moves, that had possibilities to get her inside the pool 😀

Not sure, if their bar is operating or not, but this was definitely not a family environment. We decided to move on to other rides. The kids enjoyed these rides, you can see in the video. But then there was no separate VIP Slide Entry. Also I felt, the service was not very prompt.

Unfortunately, heavy rain started as we started these rides, and we were feeling cold after spending half an hour and decided to take the highest ride.

The kids were disappointed to go here to hear that kids are not allowed. That too the red section is not even working. One thing I was very happy about - my son was not fearing any more. He always had this fear of height earlier, now he is surprised himself how that went away. He was disappointed not to be allowed the ride, and coming back, spent some more time in a kids pool.

When we went to take bathe and change our clothes, it was disappointing there too - they definitely do not have enough water for bathe as well. The sprinklers were literally useless, and the water was salt water. This area falls near the coast, but they did not do water treatment well. As the weather became chilled, we managed to take light bathe and then go for the lunch.

The soup was not even hot - we asked to make it better but then there was no action.

The food was tasty, but little spicy. Good that the kids were very hungry and still enjoyed the food. And this was the only benefit of a VIP ticket - you can enjoy unlimited food. So they took their time to taste all the items.

Chicken Biriyani saved the day as it was less spicy. The sweet ( Rice Khiri) was limited though, kids wanted more. Coming back, we took some more pictures.

Overall, it was some fun time spent, but then its not worth the money and driving 60 km to get there. It definitely needs to be better for a ticket price of 999/- each. In fact, the VIP ticket is not worth, if you really want that Buffet Lunch in A/C Restaurant. Rest all are same. This will be part of my google review of this place. On our way back, we did not miss the tender coconuts.

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In another six months I will be able to spend more time with you.

Coming back from my native is never easy - leaving two old people, who ideally should never stay alone. My father is a big fan of good food, especially non-veg. I wonder, how he is able to digest at this age of 82, but then it's always good to see him strong. During our match, I made sure to bring some mutton for him and he enjoyed it. That day was the last day of non-veg after which one month will go full vegan. However, there is one other thing he should love for his health, but he does not. He does not want to do any hard work or even simple walk. All he wants is sit, eat and sleep, which is not good for him. So me and my Mom are always behind him, encouraging , fighting or whatever it takes to make him walk few steps every day.

Another interesting observation over the time is that, he never forgets monetary things. Ask him anything else, he will say I don't know. Probably being a banker, his memory has got some weakness for monetary aspects. And he loves to go to the Bank, where he served two tenures as Branch head. In fact that is how, this land was bought, while he was serving here. So I accompanied him to the bank.

It's always a pleasure to see him happy. He did withdraw his money, by writing a cheque and counting them - all on his own. I was just listening all the conversations. And then coming back, I was surprised to hear him asking me to stop by a book store. He wanted to refill one of his pen. Had he told me, I would have bought a new pen, but I was happy, to see he remembering things and wishing to get it done. And even he knows the exact store - where to go.

I intentionally did not offer him any help - to see how he is approaching the steps. He climbed them on his own, went and asked them to refill. There were some crowds, so he had to wait ( Ya, in India, there is no special treatment). But then once others left, his job was done. And then because the shop keeper gave him some change, he brought a small tape instead. I asked, what will he do with that, and he said, he may need it, better to take instead of change, as nobody takes changes. Interesting, isn't it !

Coming back, he looked down at the steps. I was standing on the street. The shopkeeper indicated to give him hands, but then I purposely did not. I wanted him to come on his own. And he did. These are some of the small things that may boost his courage. But not alone though - he always needs a company, who can be with him and be very careful to watch and hold him immediately. That is the reason, we are not letting him go out alone. Because, recently he fell at a place, and some known friends saw him, and brought him to home in an auto. He loves to go out, but then Mom is super watchful to make sure he does not step outside alone. They are living together since last 52 years - so you know, she can always make out what's cooking inside him. So whenever I go, I take him outside. And whenever I have a little bandwidth , I run there - ya, I feel deep inside for them. Hopefully, things will be better in another six months after my son's exam - running an one man army is not easy. And they don't want to come and stay with me in the city - they love the natural ambience of our home. As long as they are able to manage their things.

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Steal moments from Scattered Thunderstorms

Rain have spoiled pretty much everything this year. This event was being planned for more than a month, but then every time, the weather report would say there is scattered thunder storms. Even last week, it was almost final - the organizers had booked the stadium for this fun filled event consisting four teams. I came to my native and by the time I reached home, they cancelled it at the last moment, at 9 pm. I went back, spending couple of days with my parents. But then this week end they were seeing some good predictions and prepared for the event on Sunday. We always do have a mega lunch along with such events, and that is what makes it difficult. If you start the process of arranging that feast, then there is no way going back. Exactly that happened this week end.

The preparation starts as early as 6 am - someone goes and gets the mutton by standing there and having ready. And they have a nice parameter, that the vendor is informed earlier - it must be not more than 14-15 kg. Else the meat would not taste good - for the first time, I knew about it. By the time I reached the field, the cooking was already started.

We were waiting for the people to come in and start as the weather was a bit clear. The field is nice in the sense that, there is a cement pitch and if rain stops for a hour, then it drains. So its not difficult to play with the tennis ball, if not desirable. As soon as we have enough players, we started the event. These are all the people who played cricket in nineties - some of them have reached their sixties and the youngest are in their forties 😀 But believe me, the excitement and the sports spirit we have today, is missing in the younger generation. Many sacrificed their day, by taking off from their duty, the previous day and coming all the way to just participate in this.

And who does not love to spend time with best friends !! One day away from the digital world and fully filled with fun. Two sets of T-shirts were arranged for two teams. In fact, four were organized, but then at the last moment, they cut short it to two teams, anticipating many won't come.

As we were in the middle of the match, rain again came back. The biggest drawback of all the low-pressure rain is that, they will come from nowhere within very short time. Not sure, why we have so many frequent low pressure situations this year, anyone knows why it happens ? Is it because China or North Korea are testing too many missiles into the sea ? Someone was saying that 😁

As soon as the rain stopped, we were back to the field - even though it was full of water. There was no time to wait for it to drain and also, more rain was expected. Fielders were advised not to run and just stand and not hurt themselves - an accident at this age would be a disaster.

Here comes the winning team - short of two people who ran away as soon as the match completed. But only after eating the delicious mutton lunch.

I was not very sure, if I could even attend this event. Because I caught fever for the second time in my life on Friday. But then I just slept for 24 hours without taking any medicine and eating some home made food that is given during fever, and recovered. Saturday Morning, I was thinking not to come for the event because of that, but then by evening I was super charged to go for it. After we finished our lunch, my best friend and me spent some good time together.

And the organizers were not very happy about the way this was arranged, so now they are planning one more day and night event with flood lights after two weeks 😀. There was a time, we did not have money to buy sports kits but still enjoyed the game very much and were kind of mad about it. So much so that, we would go for 3-4 days to come back and get beaten. Now that, we can afford to sponsor, why miss the fun !! Life needs these....At least for our generation.

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Dussehra symbolizes the win of good over evil

For the first time in last two years, we went out in the occasion of Dussehra or Vijayadashami. It was good to see people are no more worried about Covid to celebrate this occasion. Unfortunately, the rain is the spoiler this time, though it was little better in the morning. We visited few places to see the decorations, and started with the nearby place.

After seeking the blessings here and taking the prasad, went to see another famous pandal, which was a little far. I was not expecting a lot of crowd, as we went during the day time. Usually the crowd is huge in the evening, because of very beautiful light decorations. But I was wrong.

If you see that left most road in this picture, its full of vehicles expanding more than a mile. That too, when it ideally should have been have only few cars. So instead of entering that road, we decided to move on straight on the highway over-bridge and see it from the top.

Then we moved on to the next nearest celebration, which was almost similar in look and feel, but a miniature version.

Apart from the beautiful decoration, the other interesting item to see was the moving Sudarshana Chakra, which you can see in the video. Definitely some contribution of technology there. Moving on to the next stage, that was a GOLD CLASS presentation.

These are all real silver and gold - if you think, these are cosmetic. Every year, they add values to their asset, in a planned manner to add more gold. And isn't the workmanship beautiful ? So many people would have worked on this for last few months.

This being at the center of the Capital city, there were crowd coming in from every corner. And I am sure, because of the weather, you see only this many people, else it would have been easily 20x of what you see. And they will be definitely there by evening.

The small boy has a bigger responsibility on his shoulder.

And that Ferries wheel brings a lot of memories - even today I enjoy it. My daughter loves it as well, in fact only she and me sit, my son and my wife are scared. But they were very hungry and did not like to walk before eating, so we tried to find out a place to eat.

I never thought, it would be so competitive to get some foods. We had to wait for more than 30 minutes to get a seat and then another 30 minutes before we got it served on the table. The food was not up to expectation, but that is what happens, when demand increases.

And you know what happens after eating food 😀, they wanted to go home and take rest after doing a little shopping at a very nearby H&M shop.

And this was all the fun, but then the morning was quite busy with the vehicle Puja. I have posted about that tradition earlier, so will share the pics this time. I choose to do a face lift of the car, by going to a nearby servicing center and this post is part of my google review : https://goo.gl/maps/eZ8sgmZr2h3Yq6DA8. It was an amazing experience and I will go back for a engine detailing service. As its getting older, it needs more care !!

My daughter did lot of help to get this done, and that is how they learn these traditions. Hopefully, Vijayadashami will bring in all good news for all of us.

And the festival is celebrated in mega way in the adjacent city of Cuttack, which is a cultural heritage. Feel free to enjoy some nice captures in this thread :

https://twitter.com/lubuiaf/status/1576869535902494720

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I was in Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra and thoroughly enjoyed this delightful festival

Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesha festival is the most delightful festival in South India. And the festival is the best time to enjoy in Pune. Fortunately I was in Pune this year for my office work, and I did enjoy the festival in fullest - for the entire day, I was at their most happening place. Its impossible that you will find anyone who is not talking about this festival during that time or celebrating it. So I did the preparation the earlier day, with information from my friends in office - READY to be at Laxmi Road and Dagdusheth Ganpati, by 11 am, and travel in an auto and then walk, as roads are closed.

As soon as I reached the area, that is much before Laxmi Road , I could sense the feelings of celebration and had to get off the auto and walk down the road.

But then some loud sound attracted me on another pandal - lots of people playing big drums. So I could not resist walking there and spend a good time enjoying their effort and spirit. This is the first place in the video.

I am sure, you get how people celebrate this festival in a grand way in Pune. This is known as Dhol-Tasha (a form of group dance celebrating festivals in a disciplined & musical way). Out of curiosity, I talked to Mr Anish, and came to know that they start practicing this couple of months before the actual festival to get ready for the charitable work on the mega day. And there are thousands of such young devotees across the state, who come to the city to be part of this grand celebration. Look at their skills, and patience - its definitely not possible to play this for hours without practice and dedication.

As they moved out, so as I towards the Laxmi Road, where the grand celebration happens, the center of attraction being the Dagdu Sheth Ganpati. All the pandals come in a procession through this road where people gather and enjoy the most beautiful festival in Pune city.

Some high profile political leader came to inaugurate the festival - only then you can have a vehicle driven in such crowd.

The boy was not big enough, but not small as well to handle that drum.

As I walked, I reached the Dagdu Sheth Ganpati Temple, this is the permanent temple and has got quite a bit of very interesting history and facts, which I will present in my next post ( yes, I had to split, because of the 5GB limit on video), but until then enjoy the festival and fun. It's one of a kind experience to enjoy the carnival-like procession that brings people together, making it one of the most popular festivals.

And are you watching Hivefest ? It was nice to watch it live stream, it was so much fun.

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And he enjoys their company

Look at the top of that light pole in the left - they are waiting for their man to come in. Few are already walking the path, to grab a better share by securing their position. And then here comes the old man, with their food.

I tried to capture it as fast as I could, did not realize to take a video then. But I think, you will get a feel of how he enjoys their company.

For some of us, it may feel scary, so many pigeons going round the man - at one point, he was almost invisible. A video probably would have been so nice. Just a day before, I watched the movie Morbius and this scene kind of reminded me that.

Truly Amazing experience.....on the roads during my morning walk in Pune.

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The home coming ceremony

Finally the day arrived, to move to our new company Dragonfly Financial Technologies. When we enter a new home, we do celebrations and this is our new home, so our colleagues prepared for the celebration putting some traditional touch along with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Kudos to all of you who took their precious time, to blend our culture to the work place and those who extended their hands to help in wherever possible. All of these people are working in great positions, but for a moment, we all had that spirit of new home coming mode and prepared to fly with a new mindset - deliver financial institutions global multilingual and multi-currency cash management solutions in a flexible, API first ecosystem, with seamless possibilities. The excitement to enter our new home was unmatched and can be seen on everyone's face.

And every celebration must have some sweet moments - so this was no exception. What made it more sweet is that, it was distributed by none other than our site leader - excitement at the highest level.

It will take a little while to settle ourselves, and adjust to the new place. But with this amazing mindset, we will thrive to globally deliver the best digital banking and treasury management offerings to financial institutions, writing our own success story.

The new facility is positioned at the 13th floor of a very high rise building named SKYONE and has got a spectacular view, to boost productivity. It will perfectly chime in the spirit - Sky is the limit.

With the metro coming in, this will be a beautiful experience to work from such a place. And of course, those who need to shed some weights, they can easily do that by following the steps in the stair case :) Though we have a small facility that provide some means if you can't dare to walk the steps.

13th floor on wheels !!

This day and this post will be memorable for all of us - to look forward to contribute to our own success story. I was overwhelmed by hearing from many of you to put this on @peakd - I am sure, this is going to be seen many many times over the years.

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AirAsia was a pleasant experience

Finally, the time came when I needed to visit my office at Pune, India. This is my first visit after Covid, and things appear to be coming back to normal now. I came to Pune six years back, and train was the only means of transport then, taking more than 30 hours. Things have changed and now we do have a direct flight to Pune, operated by AirAsia. If you are planning to travel by air, then I strongly recommend to look for options in https://www.skyscanner.co.in/ . They have pretty good deals and I was very happy with the price that got me the return trip. So yesterday, the day came to fly and my son gave the company to drop outside the apartment.

The check in was nice, apparently, the flight was full, because of Sunday. The flight operates from Kolkata via Bhubaneswar. So it becomes a direct flight for us. Here are some captures inside the Bhubaneswar airport. Seems, they have maintained better cleanliness now.

Here comes some captures above the sky. I am a big fan of blue sky and the perfect combination of cloud with the blue sky, was stunning combination. As you can see, we don't have lot of high rise buildings at my place.

The crew surprised me inside the flight by presenting me snacks and at first I politely refused saying I have not ordered anything. However, they said, as this was a Corporate booking so they have this as part of the journey offer. Sounds good, who does not love such freebies.

I did carry a noise cancellation headphone this time to enjoy a movie onboard, which I downloaded earlier in Prime. And I loved the courtesy of the Cabin crew - they did help me to put my very heavy hand bag carefully having two laptops . Even though there was a little delay in the departure, seems they adjusted some time and arrived as expected. Here comes some captures as we were about to land.

Look at those high rise buildings , appears like blocks placed by a neat architecture. As we were about to land, there was announcement to not use Camera inside the airport as its a military base (owned by Indian Air Force) and photography is prohibited. But then they have some places, which seems to be meant for photography.

As soon as I came out, I could figure out the presence of the military base, as you can see. Some military vehicles without any number plate was there to pick up their VIP.

AirAsia did ask me to share my experience and this post will be used as review of my first experience with them. Let them also know about HIVE.

Pinned on https://pinmapple.com/ - [//]:# (!pinmapple 18.579336 lat 73.908932 long Pune International Airport d3scr)

This will be also submitted as part of my Google Review.

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You best know your mistakes

There are occasions when we fail to win, but then, we are the best judge to know, what went wrong, isn't it ? Because we know it from the core of our heart. There will be people watching outside and they may have different opinion, which helps you compare with what you know. But then you always have the answer inside. We should learn from our failures or mistakes and utilize that next time to do better. It's a continuous process, which goes on. That is the reason, I recorded this video while my son was playing. I will post a different blog, with all the details. This was his first appearance in such a large crowd inside an indoor stadium. The environment was totally new to him. The opponents were unknown, their skill was unknown, but then that is how one learns - learn how to improve your skills, by looking at other top players there. I definitely did not have the skill to guide him, except encouraging. But what he told me that, the table is different than the one he practices. The ball was coming slow on this table, and he tried his best. He wished, his coach were there, but unfortunately, he caught fever and could not come in. May be he would have guided him differently, to change some strategies, by looking at his opponent's skill, table conditions. But then I am happy that, he tried his best, and carry leanings from this to improve. I always keep on telling him - "Be the best version of yourself, you will never regret in life." And I am proud to see him trying. Win and loss are part of life. If we have tried our best, then we know, we did the right thing. And I will be always with you, no matter whatever happens.

All his friends and coach asked for the video and he thought it to upload on Youtube, but then I wanted to capture this here and share this to his friends and coach. The upload did fail couple of times, but finally it went through.

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Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav - Har Ghar Tiranga - are you patriotic ?

Today is a special day - We are celebrating 75th year of India’s independence. It's known as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav - that promotes several initiatives. There has been a dedicated site put up to promote all of these : https://amritmahotsav.nic.in/

Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of it's people, culture and achievements.

This Mahotsav is dedicated to the people of India who have not only been instrumental in bringing India thus far in its evolutionary journey but also hold within them the power and potential to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of activating India 2.0, fuelled by the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

The official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on 12th March 2021 which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of independence and will end post a year on 15th August 2023. Following are the five themes of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

And here is how our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi quotes :

The Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav means elixir of energy of independence; elixir of inspirations of the warriors of freedom struggle; elixir of new ideas and pledges; and elixir of Aatmanirbharta. Therefore, this Mahotsav is a festival of awakening of the nation; festival of fulfilling the dream of good governance; and the festival of global peace and development.

Like the history of the freedom movement, the journey of 75 years after independence is a reflection of the hard work, innovation, enterprise of ordinary Indians. Whether in the country or abroad, we Indians have proved ourselves with our hard work. We are proud of our Constitution. We are proud of our democratic traditions. The mother of democracy, India is still moving forward by strengthening democracy. India, rich in knowledge and science, is leaving its mark from Mars to the moon.

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And there was a special campaign Har Ghar Tiranga - https://amritmahotsav.nic.in/har-ghar-tiranga.htm. People were inspired to bring the Tiranga home to invoke the feeling of patriotism and then post a Selfie with Flag at https://harghartiranga.com/ - So did it invoke the feeling ? As of writing this, here are the statistics.

56207433 people have pinned their SELFIES to this site so far. But then there are other social medias. So what next ? Does this suffice to prove that you are patriotic ?

Really ??? I don't think so, and I am not happy to enjoy this kind of freedom. What have we achieved after 75 years of Freedom ? It certainly is a welcome step, to increase awareness about the Indian National Flag, but we need more - we need a self sufficient India, or so called AatmaNirbhar Bharat. And in a self sufficient India, we should have fair competition. You did nice campaign to promote the buzz - One country, one emotion, one identity. But it's far from reality. If it's one identity, then why feed people free at taxpayer's money ? It hurts me. If it's one country, then why reservation after 75 years of freedom ? Why not spend money only to enable them for competition, but make the competition free of reservation ? If its one country, why can't we make a rule for all to apply brake on population, which is the most serious problem ? There are many whys to which, there are no answer. I know, I can't do anything, but I can express my free speech, right ? At least, I have that freedom in a democratic country, right ?

I did not take any selfie because I was doing something more important, to enable my son. For last two days, I have been taking him to a Table Tennis competition at the Indoor stadium ( more to come on that), and I can say its fair - because there is no discrimination based on caste ( called reservation). If we want to be truly patriotic , then we need to develop a culture to work - to compete in a fair way , where skill is the only parameter to decide the best - like sports. Only then we will be AatmaNirbhar Bharat - Self sufficient India.

What do you say ? Wish you all Happy Independence Day 🇮🇳

AzadiKaAmritMahotsav

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This time it was a Sizzler Mania

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There was a Sizzler festival going on in our favorite restaurant and we were waiting for my son's exam to be over. Yesterday was the last day of his half yearly exam and I can gladly say, we are seeing some serious changes in him - he is putting a lot of effort going to the extra miles, and have been working hard since couple of months for the exam. He wanted a treat after the exam and I promised to give it as soon as his exam is over. So we went for the treat after his exam was over yesterday.

Me and my son went for non-veg and the other half of the family preferred vegen. I tried the Grilled Spicy Paprika Prawn Sizzler, and my son took the Classic Grilled Chicken Steak Sizzler. The lady went for a Mexican one where as our daughter went for Corn Mushroom Cheese Blast Sizzler. And how can we miss the sweet, that also came in the form of Sizzlers - Sizzling Chocolate Mud Cake With Ice Cream and then a Sizzling Brownie. So it was a Sizzler fest for us. Hope you can feel them.

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Car Festival symbolizes proclamation of the good of the world

If you experienced the crowd in my post yesterday, then you definitely know how crazy people are here, and that can happen only when one is very devoted. People consider it very auspicious to be part of this greatest festival of God, Puri being the main place. However, its celebrated at all places world wide, where ever there is a temple of Lord Jagannath. Same goes with my place, we have a small temple and here also we did have the Car festival, which I joined.

There are many theories behind why the Car Festival is celebrated. According to legend and mythology, after Lord Krishna's death, the Pandavas as his last kin, failed to burn the body because burning power of fire was incapable of dissolving the body of Lord Krishna. A void voice told them that Krishna's navel cannot be burnt in the fire, or destroyed by any means, so you throw it in the sea. So the Pandavas threw it in sea.

The half-burnt mass of Lord Krishna appeared in the form of a wood log floating in the sea and was discovered ( by being guided by the God himself in his dreams - there is a whole separate story behind that) by King Indradyumna, a passionate devotee of Lord Vishnu. The wood log was brought and placed in the Srigundicha temple, to make the idols of God. The king called in all his renowned architects to make the idols, but all of them expressed their inability. That is when the Lord Viswakarma (The God of Engineering) came himself in the form of an old sculptor to make the idol out of that wood log. However, he laid out a condition insisting that the door must not be opened for 21 days or until the statue are completed. Every day the king and queen would go and stand in front of the door , hear the sounds of idol making and come back happily. However, after few days, they stopped listening any sound. The queen out of curiosity, orders to open the door after fifteen days. And as soon as the door was opened, the old sculptor disappeared. The statues were half-finished and they remain like that. The king was very disheartened, but again guided by the Lord himself to establish them in the temple in the same form. And at that time the Lord directed : O king, bring me to my homeland once a year. That's why the God along with devotees go to Srigundicha temple in the Car Festival.

Again, these are all legends. But one more interesting fact you should know - when the Lord returns to his temple, a special event named Suna Besha takes place - they are fitted with 208 kgs of gold costume with which their limbs are seen to be like completed. May be I will do a post if its live broadcast.

And by the way, those people playing the bells are specially skilled, so don't try hard at home :)

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Mother Earth is the biggest icon of femininity

Raja Festival is a unique festival of womanhood celebrated in my place that falls in mid June every year. It's a three day long special festival to celebrate femininity and these three days are full of joyous festivity for unmarried girls following some niche customs spending vivid and enjoyable times. It's believed that Mother Earth ( Goddess Bhudevi) menstruates at this time (the word Raja is derived from a Sanskrit word 'Rajas' which means menstruation) and must be given full rest from any sort of agricultural activities( e.g. digging, ploughing etc) so that she becomes more fertile after this. Women are compared in a similar way to Goddess Bhudevi, getting special privilege in this festival. they should not work for 4 days and take rest and only enjoy spending happiest moments during these days. Menstruation is considered as a sign of fertility, and therefore, it celebrates femininity and women's ability to give birth to another life.

A special pan cake Poda Pitha is made during this festival about which I posted earlier in this post. And the swings made on this festival, are the biggest enjoyment for these girls. Ever saw a bamboo swing ? Believe me, they are super fast - one should have a strong heart to sit on them.

This year, I was at my native place, and got a chance to see the celebration happening on the Barunei Hill, which is near to my house. The celebration was stopped in last two years because of Covid and that was the reason, this year, it attracted huge crowds.

But knowing that did not discourage my mother and she wanted to see it, so I took her taking the company of a close friend, who also brought his son.

There is a temple on the hill top, where the twin goddesses Barunei and Karunei are worshiped and it has a special attraction - they make a very tasty pitha (cake) every day. Since we have gone there many times, we preferred not to go there because of the large crowd and instead enjoyed the cultural program for some time.

See the elderly lady coming here ? These are the joyous atmosphere for rural people enjoying their time celebrating togetherness. Unfortunately, the attachment is fading away in city lives. And remember this ?

Brings back memories of our childhood times. My friend's son made us feel that back, crying to sit on this. There were a large number of stalls placed but, I felt the space was not enough to accommodate the large crowd this year. My mother wanted to buy some utensils that are hand made and we had to search for them. Thankfully, they were sitting outside, while we were coming back, helping us to not go to the crowded area full of dust (as she has asthma - see, she still wants to go:)).

There were couple of vendors making it competitive ( good for us), but her expert eyes found the perfect one. Knowing that, she picked the best one, the vendor did not want to reduce anything on price, but after several discussions, she made the deal - something worth learning :)

And then back to home with all the memories....

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Ever played with them ?

Red velvet mites or Trombidiidae, the fascinating very cute small red bugs are visible only during the early rainy season. Seeing them in the morning in our football field brought back our childhood memories. Back then, we would spend hours following them and touching them to feel that velvet warmth - a unique entertainment for us. This natural way of entertainment was no less than a gadget for us. They have a special place in our culture and given a very privileged name - ସାଧବ ବୋହୁ - which symbolizes the bride of the rich seafaring merchants of ancient times, wearing a red Silk Saree. In English, it is called the Red Velvet Mite possibly because its upper part is as smooth as a velvet mesh. In some places, even they are worshiped in the Raja Festival - a three day long special festival in the month of June. They are most commonly found in the early rainy season and on the day of Raja Sankranti, virgin girls collect them and worship them for good rains - good rains bring fortune for the farmers. And since the rainy season brings the greenness all around us, it is believed, their existence in this universe is to add beauty to the nature.

There were some lovely songs dedicated to them, that we would sing in our friends group and enjoy those times, which goes like this :

ସାଧବ ବୋହୁ ଲୋ ସାଧବ ବୋହୁ

ଅନ୍ୟ ବେଳେ ତୁ କୁଆଡ଼େ ଥାଉ

ଝିପ୍ ଝିପ୍ ବର୍ଷାରେ ଦେଖା ଦେଉ

Its like wondering where does the Red velvet mite live in other times and come only during early rain ?

And this one has a lot of feelings :

ସାଧବ ବୋହୁ ଲୋ ସାଧବ ବୋହୁ,

ପିନ୍ଧି ନାଲି ଶାଢ଼ୀ ପାଟ

କୁଆଡ଼େ ଯାଉଚ ଚାଲି

ଆସିଲାଣି ଉଠି ମେଘ

ଘର ଯାଅ ବେଗି ବେଗ ।।

Hey the lovely and beautiful bride of the seafaring merchant, wearing a red silk saree, where are you going ? The rain is coming, go soon to your house. Lot of feelings in that, isn't it ? So much that, as soon as we saw one of them on the field, we stopped doing the warm up and the entire team searched for them on the field - taking them and leaving outside of the field so that, no one accidentally steps over them. It affected our schedule but everyone was happy about it - those feelings are still there. Unfortunately, they are about to be extinct in urban areas, and some kids may not even recognize them - so we should teach our kids to know about this cute lady of nature. I have made my kids hold them and feel them and then see their expression - Wow.....

And I remember a funny fact from our childhood memories - some would take and keep one of them in a Vermilion (Sindoor) box giving them a special treat. Now I wonder, if it was killing them at the end?

Background Music by orangiromusik from Pixabay

And by the way, don't read my palm if you are a palm reader😀

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It' almost about to be a thing of the past

Podo Pitha ( ପୋଡ ପିଠା ) is a pancake and is considered as one of our signature dishes belonging to my place. It's made on the special occasion of the Raja Festival - a three day long special festival to celebrate femininity. The traditional way of making this pancake is almost extinct in the modern generation because it uses Chulah, a traditional old way of cooking with wood. And on top of that, this dish needs charcoal and dried cow-dung (or similar alternatives) as fuel - that is the reason its almost about to be a thing of the past. Though it can be prepared with a pressure cooker and the gas or using an oven, you will definitely be deprived of the unique flavor and taste, if it were made in a traditional way. Luckily we still have preserved the Chulah at our native place where I have come and Mom made all the arrangements to make this special pancake. She definitely has that magic touch and anything she prepares is amazing and tasty.

Coming to the ingredients, the batter is not very different and is a regular batter made out of rice, black gram, soaked for 4-5 hours and then grinding it - the only thing to remember is that the rice batter should be a bit coarse unlike the batter of black gram, which can be fine. The mix them well and then add coconut slices, sugar and salt. If you do not want it sweet, then you can even add only salt for your taste - that's what Mom did - she did not add sugar.

Modern people use baking powder, but we rely on the batter's self-fermentation by keeping it for 4-5 hours more, and then whisking it fast by hand - your hands have better bacteria :). If you are a coconut fan, then you can also add grated coconut. Some people even add a roasted and caramelized version of grated coconut. To make it more tasty, people even add cashew nuts. Some ginger fans add chopped ginger and some flavor fans add cardamom, but ours was a fully traditional simple version. And one more thing, people add some sort of oil or ghee while baking it in cooker or oven, but Mom used just the banana leaves without anything on them, as you can see in these pictures and video.

She is ultimate - she knows the perfect set up, for a moment I was scared, if the fire would burn everything to charcoals, but she was very confident about the amount of fire and time - something that cannot be taught.

If you are wondering what this pancake has to do with this special festival to celebrate femininity, then the interesting nourishing aspect of this pancake is that it can easily be preserved for the entire three day period without losing its taste. And it can be easily cooked as well, as you see. Our ancestors were very wise, isn't it ? The ladies must have thought to cook it once before the festival, and then the men take charge if more needed, huh !! By the way, this pancake is favorite of our living God of the Universe - Lord Jagannath - served when he returns home from the Car festival. There is a whole different story behind that, but I must say, that the Poda Pitha made for the Lord is a very specialized unique version.

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The AC desperately needed a deep bathe

Air conditioners are now an essential part of life, isn't it ? At least it is for us, who can resist not fitting one, when the temperature consistently remains above 40°C and sometimes shoots near 47°C. However, one important aspect of running it in optimum performance is to get it deep cleaned in a regular interval, at least twice in a year. This deep cleansing using foam jet technology has been a recent trend since last two years, about which many people still do not know. Even I did not know last year. I have one regular technician who was taking care of them since last decade. He used to clean the inner blower manual way, after dismantling all the structure and taking it to a service place to use their high speed water sprayer . But after seeing this popular way, I decided to go for it today and booked a service at Urban Company.

They charge a bit more than what other technicians charge, but then I wanted to go with an expert hand. Because, my regular technician did this to my old AC few days back, after borrowing these tools from someone else, and I felt, he lacked expertise, as he was doing it first time. However, I felt the difference in cooling after the cleanup - so this time I wanted to go ahead with an expert hand.

Above are the list of things that is covered in the service. The technician did come in time and after spraying the cleaning foam on the front grill, cleaned the outside fittings. He did not check the gas though for me, because this is a brand new AC bought just last year, so the possibility of gas leakage is minimum.

Then he cleaned the indoor as well as the outdoor unit with the jet spray, as you can see the video. After the jet spray, he manually cleared the drainage, and it seemed he even shared the video with their team for review. Looks like they do have a protocol on the procedures to be followed.

And you can see how this looks like after the service - free from all dirts. This front grill gets jammed after some time, and all we had been doing is to clean the filters. But then it was not helping at all, and the AC was running for long hours, without getting the desired result, pinching my pocket. After the service we can feel the difference - its like brand new, chilling the room in just 10-15 minutes.

The good thing about the service from Urban Company is that, they have free one month warranty for a revisit, should you need them. And if that was not enough, then it covers also any damage done during service delivery up to 10000/- ₹

I am not sure, how much effective this would be but I would wish, I will not need it. And they do have a Lite service which costs a little lesser at around 500₹, the only difference is that it does not use the cleaning foam.

I am planning to get it done after 4 months, one deep clean and one lite clean in a year is enough to save a lot on electricity bills in next four months and then keep it ready for next year. If you have not used these service using foam jet technology, I would recommend you try once.

This post will be part of my review of the service from Urban Company - Hopefully, they will encourage their users to post reviews like this.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/adhcygew

A rare experience of seeing them so close

The morning was a surprise - the mummy pigeon was missing on the nest. We have been seeing it sitting next to the window all the time for more than couple of weeks. So I got a little curious and when I looked closer, I found the new borne have arrived in this world. May be they are out few hours back and their mother has gone somewhere to find some food for them ? I quickly picked the phone and took these close shots and video, after opening the window. All the time I was very scare because I know, their mother attacks. My hand was shaking in fear, you can realize from the video. And I was not wrong,it was somewhere nearby and it came back. I did not intend to disturb them, it was just a nice opportunity, so I closed the window and they are back inside their mother's wings.

It appears, the mother have put some more effort in making the nest more comfortable. Comparing it to the image I posted last here, it has added some more cushion like every other mom does for their kids. Hopefully bot the siblings survive this time and fly soon.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/zszjszyf

They want to claim this space as their permanent house

It has been quite an interesting time watching this lone squab growing up so close, if you have not seen it earlier and do not know what it has gone through, then look at my previous post. It is lucky to be alive though it lost it's sibling. As a result, it got lot of sympathy from us as the kids wanted to make sure, nothing happens to this squab.

As it grew up, we saw the mother was leaving her alone for some time and going somewhere. That is the time for our photography, as she is very protective and attacks like any other mother. I could not capture all the love they share - they play with their beak - may be the mother teaches the kid to how to use them. The moment I was going closer, they will be stand still. And in fact, this baby also started reacting , whenever we were trying to open the window, when the mother was not around. So probably she learnt it fast or that is the first thing that the mother taught.

The kids felt, the mother is going out for some food, may be the amount that was provided is not enough for both of them. So a little extra was given and more no of times as well. The squab slowly walked to the food and ate it. It was interesting to see the mother not allowing other pigeon to touch the food as they tried to invade. Watching them, a little dramatic fun started at home everyday - how a mother is protecting its kid by not allowing even her husband to eat the food.

Soon it was difficult to differentiate between the squab and its mother as you can see. With so much food, it probably grew up faster. Can you differentiate ? The only way we could differentiate them is the color around the neck - the squab does not have that yet. And then one fine day, we saw another pigeon joining the family - this time the mother was not reacting much. We thought, it must be the father. May be its a family reunion now that the squab was grown up. May be the mother wanted the father join the kid to take the responsibility, help it grow up, and fly possibly.

Soon we saw the father often and even it started to eat the food, without the mother protecting. It was also playing with the squab - seemed they forgot the loss of their other child and now enjoying the time as a family and would teach the squab together to help it fly. Every day, we were watching, when the squab would fly because that was the only activity yet to be done.

Never did we realize that they are planning for family expansion so soon, before we were surprised to see a new egg in the nest.

The husband's activity was suspicious but seems, it came for a purpose. The kids were heart broken - what, the squab has become a pigeon but its yet to fly. How can they abandon the child and think about more child now !! They should teach it to fly first. But then we tried to cool down them - probably that is the difference between animals and human - we take care of all kids but animals abandon their kids once they are grown up. And to add to our frustration, a second egg followed after two days.

Come on, you want this place to be your permanent home ? We don't want to close this window forever. It was fine for a while, but its already a mess with bad smell and we wanted to clean it up as soon as they leave this place. But you are planning for two more kids !! How can you do that !! We will spoil your plan.

After several discussions, we have decided to show pity again - we really cannot kill the lives inside those eggs. The kids inherit the same quality - they got angry but then they don't want to hurt the eggs. So we are going to see more squabs soon possibly - we don't know how things will unfold but in this process, when we opened the window angrily, after seeing the eggs, the squab (or you can say the pigeon now) started to fly. It flied and went and sat at another nearest window but that was good to see. May be it needed that push - similar to us. When life forces you to face - you learn how to face.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/wezaywiq

Do you know this very interesting fact about Jack fruit ? What you eat when its raw is thrown away when its ripen.

We have got quite a good number of Jackfruit this year at my native and they have been growing without any effort. This is the time when we eat them raw - the stringy flesh is a nice replacement of any meat - it takes the flavor of the spices that you cook with. So it can taste like chicken or mutton based on how you prepare - and it imitates well as a replacement for meat. So if you have a real good cooking skill, it will be difficult to differentiate if you tell people it's meat. We do a variety of items out of it, but cutting it raw is the most challenging task - the sticky latex substance will be a real mess, if you do not know how to deal with it. I have tried to cut it myself once and I really messed up and took hours to clean them. Since I was in my native, I had the help from an experienced hand - our maid who is with us for last three decades. After Mom, she is the one who knows most about the old techniques - you need to put generous amounts of oil on your hands and the tool that you use to cut it. So she cut it clean and the lady was very happy to use them instantly.

If you watch the video close then you can observe, we are using only the flesh and discarding the inner core that contains the jackfruit and the tendrils. This is a very interesting fact about Jackfruit - when its raw, we eat the soft flesh and when its ripen, we throw away this flesh and eat the jackfruit. And do you also know that this is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world ?

I have seen in some videos online, where, people retain these inner part (having the jackfruit) when using in the raw form, and I did the same mistake first time, looking at these online techniques. But it did not taste the same as Mom used to cook. So when I inquired with her, I could figure out where the problem was. This soft flesh (without the inner part) becomes very soft when boiled and can replace all most all your meat needs, if you prepare it thinking as if you are cooking your meat. I bet, the taste will be near similar. And you can store these for long time as well - I got a lot and stored them to enjoy in frequent intervals. We have got a lot of them , it was fun to see a lot growing at the root of a tree, that was covered earlier. Little did we realize, there were so many including a huge one.

We have left that big one to ripen - they will be ready sooner than the smaller ones. And we will continue eating the small ones coming up till next month.

And I am not going to tell about the health benefits, its even used as medicine, but I love the taste - both raw and ripe. I could eat one alone, when I was young. And this fry today, made out of those raw jackfruit was mouth watering.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/ctedjomn

It was so fast, watch at around 20 seconds.

I went to my native to give some supplies to my Mom and stayed for couple of days. In the afternoon a sudden storm caught my attention, I had to go out and check out things are in place and it was really scary there. I was shooting a video and never did I realize that I would accidentally capture Lightning - do people wait to shoot that ? For a moment, I felt like it was coming to me. And even though I can see in the video, I cannot extract the still out of the video, super fast and stunning.

And this jasmine flower caught my attention this time as well, its the bigger sister of our country variant jasmine. This is named as Balli flower where as it's younger sister is known as Malli - I still learn from my Mom's experience. Mom brought it from some temple and the size was eye catching. And of course the fragrance - keep just one flower in a room and you can smell it. This amazing nature has given us so many gifts.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/kzrpbxlo

Exercise is my medicine now

As we get older, it is very important to keep ourselves fit, to be more productive and more importantly stay away from the modern diseases like diabetes and BP. I personally feel, these modern diseases have excelled in taking over a large percentage of population because of our lifestyle. We have been trying hard to add all the comfort to our life (that we think is possible to earn) and in the process, we have forgotten that, the body needs some physical work. We cannot avoid stress, it is almost impossible and is part of everyone's life - the reason being, we are an ever growing population in this universe competing to grab as much as possible from the same limited resource. The competition will always incline to become more tougher and its up to us to limit ourselves on how much we need. But in this process, don't forget to give the golden gift to your body in the form of some physical activity to keep you fit for the competition. This Weekend-Engagement Friday blog prompts has Exercising as one of the prompt and coincidentally I was shooting all this to keep as my memorable times. It will be inspiring after may be a decade or later to continue this journey. And of course I have been able to inspire my son to start his journey - he must shed some weight at this age and become more fit. So if you are person who loves physical activity, the this Weekend-Engagement Friday blog prompts encourages you to tell the hive community about your approach. There are some other nice prompts as well which I think, gives opportunity to most of the people to write about and be part of the community.

Now coming to my approach on physical activity, I like the freestyle approach more - to be able to do it anywhere and to do to the extent of what my body enjoys. If you have not seen my previous posts then, I started this latest journey may be around 3 years back, after I was diagnosed with some health issue and advised by the doctor to do regular exercise and reduce weight. He recommended some diet routines as well, but I was not in favor of that - I did not want to give up on home made food ( by the way I am a not a fan of junk food) - after all, not eating what we like will be very stressful, I feel. So I promised him to reduce my weight by working out more. Since then I have been able to reduce myself from a XXL size to L size - I have kept some of those XXL ones as memory :) - yes, I was 104 kg at one time and now 82 kg, all of this without giving up any food.

When I started my exercise, I ran around the apartment on the concrete base to hurt myself without realizing. After two weeks I realized by back pain was only increasing and thanks to a doctor here, who helped me figure this out and take precaution instead of medicine. He advised me to run on a normal ground but now a days finding a ground is challenging as well, so I have selected this small park to do the slow run first in the morning - I try to do around 30 - 40 rounds to warm up myself before doing any other stretching. If you think in terms of time then it would be 10 to 15 minutes - running 6-8 rounds at one stretch and then walk couple before running again.

And then I will do the stretching for another 10 - 15 minutes. If you ask me if I have any particular goal on how much or how long I should do them, then my answer is as long as I feel my body’s adaptive response, I continue doing it. My son keeps recommending me a smart watch, but my sweats are my smart watch. I think, its best to recognize the signs from body. I keep doing all these, till I have enough sweating to feel myself complete wet. So for that reason, it do it for longer duration in Winter. And then I do spend few minutes shooting the football for few minutes.

When I am in my native, then I have a full team and a big playground to enjoy football. But here I do not have that much space, but I have found out this small space, to shoot for few minutes, to keep the practice. I do not want to loose that strength in the thigh - where there is a will, there is a way. And decathlon has been a nice place to find all my needs - it was like a photo shoot done for them. I ordered two pairs of shots, t-shirts and a football from them and their product have been always nice. I don't think, we get anything better at anywhere else, in such price.

The last exercise I do is for the neck - I got spondylitis sometimes back and could cure it by only doing the exercise. Given that I am working for long hours in front of a laptop, it is very much necessary to do this neck exercise every day. And then I relax and wait for my son to join me to go for cycling. He likes to run on the treadmill, and once he comes, we go for 15 minutes of cycling, if its a busy day. If its a holiday, then we roam around as long as we like. Since school reopened few days back, it has been very challenging for me to finish my exercise before I go to drop my daughter at 6.30. I have been trying to put things in place by waking up as early as 4.30 am, because I am strict on my routine - its very essential to not become regularly irregular.

Diet is an important part of exercise - a light dinner and good sleep helps me a lot. So unless there is a reason ( like some party or going out), I am very much strict on light vegan food in dinner. That's all about my physical activity - the dry dates soaked in milk overnight tastes like drink of the gods, when I come back.

This post will be part of Decathlon promotion on Instagram.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/adseokkr

Our second Reel

The beach always reminds me my favourite song - सागर किनारे दिल ये पुकारे (saagar kinaare dil ye pukaare) - the lady wanted to shoot something for our second reel. The lyrics goes like this :

सागर किनारे दिल ये पुकारे

तू जो नहीं तो मेरा कोई नहीं है

सागर किनारे ...

जागे नज़ारे, जागी हवाएं

जब प्यार जागा, जागी फ़िज़ाएं

हो पल भर को दिल की दुनिया सोयी नहीं है

सागर किनारे ...

लहरों पे नाचें, किरणों की परियाँ

मैं खोई जैसे, सागर में नदिया

हो तू ही अकेली तो खोई नहीं है

सागर किनारे ...

Src

Ask Google to translate and it comes like this :

Hearts call on the sea shore

If you are not, then I am none

Seaside...

Wake up view, wake up wind

When love wakes up, wakes up

Yes, the world of the heart has not slept for a moment

Seaside...

Dance on the Waves, Fairies of Rays

I'm lost like a river in the ocean

Yes you are not the only one lost

Seaside...

The love wakes up sometimes....it's necessary in this super busy life.

Look at my previous post for all the fun.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/qspwgimx

A rare opportunity to experience the upbringing of pigeons

The mother of these squabs got an opportunity to do a close shoot. My home was undergoing painting and yesterday was the last day, on which the workers painted the window grill where these squabs are growing. The contractor asked me to engage a person to paint all the grills from the beginning, but since these squabs were new borne, I told him to delay the work as long as he could.

The kids even did not want to disturb them and I asked the contractor if he can send someone later to just paint that window later, he denied. So yesterday, the work was done and the mother of these squabs left them alone for some time. Not sure, if she got disturbed or she felt secure to leave them because a person was nearby.

He wanted to open that sliding door for few minutes to paint and told me that the mother has left them. So I took the opportunity to shoot a close video and some close photographs. As soon as he finished, we told him to close it and the mother was back quickly. May be she was watching it somewhere nearby.

It has been an amazing experience for all of us to see the love between the mother and the squabs. We have now seen few times the mother feeding them by her peak and playing with them - dragging them by holding the peak of the kids. May be that is how they love and play. By the time we go, they just keep quiet. I told the person to clean the other side of the window so that we can take some images without disturbing them, but since the mother came very soon, we did not want to disturb them again. And she is very protective about her kids like every other mother on this universe - the kids are having a nice time watching this process so close.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/gcfdxwfe

Finally the squabs are here

We never watched baby pigeons this close - finally they are here with us, just next to our window in the kitchen. Sometimes back, I had posted how a couple put up a nest at the same place and tried to hatch their eggs, but last time, they broke those eggs themselves leaving us in utter frustration. But this time, they have hatched two squabs - a live fun for the kids. I was very upset about last time, so I was not letting them put up a nest here, but they took the advantage of our vacation - by the time we came back, we saw them with eggs. The kids requested not to disturb them. You can see the egg being hatched few days back and I was not knowing that the kids were counting the days :)

They were pretty excited to see these baby pigeons yesterday after waiting for long time. We could probably have taken better video by removing that window, but the mother is very protective about the kids - like every mother on this earth. She tries to hit that glass, if any kind of sound happens there. She even does not want to leave them any time, even for food. We tried to give her some rice to eat, but she did not move. Another pigeon ate those rice. Interestingly she feeds these kids by giving them food in their peak - watch the video at 01:47 - the kids peak seems to be mature, may be the nature has put them that way so that they can eat. We are not sure, from where the mother brings that food, not sure, if she has some storage mechanism. This is going to be fun for next one month - as I understand from my google search, the kids will be ready to fly then. But does the mother store the food for this long ? May be she will go after few days and we will be able to clean that glass to take some better videos, but until she gets out of the place, its really scary to try to do any movement at that place. Watch out for more videos and fun in coming days. Someone was telling, pegions bring wealth - may be time for HIVE to go to 10$ :)

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/wkydzipz

The spring is ending - I will miss these colors

The blissful morning in the amazing nature - that too with friends - the old way we used to enjoy - on a cycle. This is my entry for the Amazing Nature Contest of this week. It's a open competition this week - that means, you can post pretty much anything - as long as its colorful. Please look at this post to post your entries.

Are you a morning person ? I mean who loves get up in the morning ? If you are a nature lover, then you must be a morning person. Those who are not, miss this eternal happiness to enjoy the nature because Nature is always at its best in the morning.

I usually get up very early in the morning now - pluck some flowers and then get ready and go for exercise in the soothing nature.

The spring is almost ending here, and I am going to miss the pleasant weather - along with it, the colorful vegetables that we get in winter / spring - yes, I am sure, everyone will agree that OUR AMAZING NATURE is at its best in spring.

My friend called in to join him and since he was at a little distance place, instead of taking scooty, I went on my cycle. He was surprised to see me being able to ride the cycle. When I told him, let's go on a ride on the cycle the old way, he did not believe me, if I can drive both of our load. I told, if you can seat, then leave the rest to me. Sitting itself is the difficult task :) And then the rest was real fun - we roamed on the cycle on these quiet roads full of greenness - the refreshing cool wind was much better than any AC.

We almost forgot to come back to home that is when the reminder came for him - bring some vegetables please. So we decided to go to this known shop on our way. Look at the colors of Cauliflower - Yellow, white and purple - isn't it a lovely color pallet in the form of vegetables ? Everything sold here are local product and fresh. He packed a bag of these vegetables and just then, his immediate neighbor arrived there, so he delegated that bag to him for us to enjoy some more time.

After roaming for some time, we saw something that we could not ignore - hot Gulgula ( a sweet dumpling made of flour, jaggery and fennel seeds).

A road side shop that serves only this along with a curry - very famous in our locality. This was the first batch and the crowd were yet to come. So we packed ten each along with curry and headed to home. When my son ate this he was like please go and bring some more or promise me you will bring it again tomorrow :)

The morning was so much fun - will be a memorable one. This was our life when we were young and I felt those days were much better. With all the luxury at hand, people forget the nature and leave an artificial life to realize only when its late - I hope you understand. Anyone can tell how this video was shoot ?

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/ofqoeyrj

Holi - the Festival of Colors

The Festival of Colours is very unique festival in India and this year was having lot of excitements for kids - all most everyone came to celebrate this year because this was the first Holi after Covid. The kids got up pretty early and was very curious to go out to play with colors. I knew this so we got up early and finished our work to be ready to go with them. The very first thing we do is to offer the colors to God at home as part of our daily worship. And she had the tough job to prepare the breakfast and lunch before going because the kids would not wait after coming back. I got some herbal colors as well for us and that was first offered to God.

Even though we decided to step out at 10 am, my daughter did not wait and went at 9.45 breaking the barrier. I took this picture of my son to compare how he looks like after coming back :) It's also dangerous to stay at home because people come searching us and then you can't stop them to put colors inside home, taking the extra pain of cleaning it.

As soon as we went, my son's friend did not spare him. And my daughter was already lost in the crowd - yes, it was a bit difficult to find her. They were all looking almost similar.

After some time the lady joined us - she knew these kids will need water. And she was not spared, quickly she got her share.

After some time my friend came with his daughter. He came wearing a mask saying he is very allergic to color but has brought her daughter to enjoy some time. But who cares - watch the video at to see what happened to him. You cannot take any excuse on this day - no one will listen to you on the ground.

And look at my son :)

Can you recognize me ? My friend forgot about all the allergy after he was not spared and did all this. And these people could recognize me only from my steps , living in my next door :)

The kids headed to the swimming pool so we had to follow them, but it was no less there as well. The ladies group that came with their kids started the fun there.

Some of my friends came to see their kids and I did not lose the opportunity :)

Just after the kids celebration got over, the sound of the loud music indicated the last fun of the day - all the people gathered at the park for the rain dance. Thought the kids were almost done, the lady and me were already unrecognizable so did not want to loose the fun. Hope you will enjoy all the dance and how we play the festival of colors. It has been really difficult to accommodate so many clips in 5 GB limit - almost took 4 hours.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/ssmjntsd

First Reel of Life

The lady wanted a reel with me - We have come to a resort for couple of days to relax from the busy life, and will be going back tomorrow. Kids desperately wanted to go to a place having lot of good food and good ambience. I have a lot of photos to share, but I could not stop sharing this one - she did plan all of this , choreographed herself and wanted me to do the Srivalli step in this song at the end. The song is from a recent movie Pushpa and the song is trending now. Though the step that I did, is not in the song, she came up with this idea to have me in the reel. She did train me a bit as well :) And our son was the Camera man. I really enjoyed all these , hope you will enjoy. Already there are some requests to do more :)

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/lwsbdlpb

FOOTBALL has been one of my biggest weakness

If you have seen my earlier posts, then you know, I had to go under the knife for the sake of football but after recovering, I went back to field again. Many people discouraged not to play football at this age but I am not able to convince myself to stop playing football. Instead, I decided to get some football accessories that would help me protect my legs from any injury to some extent. And what other place is best than Decathlon. See what I got.

Three pairs of socks, two shin guards - I was not quite sure, which one would fit, so I ordered both the available models. This protects my leg from any injury to a great extent. There is no guarantee that I will not be injured - football definitely is risky. But then don't we have risks in every step of life ? Walk on the roads and its quite possible that a car will crush you. Will you stop walking for that ?

Trying out these shin guards, I found the white one more comfortable, because it comes with stretchable sleeve sock and after wearing that, I just need to put the shin guard. You can see the product here.

Looks perfect ? I liked the way of marketing from Decathlon - so I am writing this post to share on Instagram and tag them. May be it will help some people discover HIVE this way.

Here is how it looks like with all accessories :

I know, we all have been busy in carrying out our responsibilities but then we need to find out some time for ourselves as well. The time spent on the field helps me release all the stress and positions me well for the entire day.

The rules remain same even today - even though we are not playing professional football. Its very much essential to do the warm up before actually play - to make sure, the body is ready for the extra stretch.

And the amount of calorie that burns in playing football is probably much better than self exercise. In fact, I barely notice before the end of play. It's so much entertaining to play in a team that consists of players from an age group of 13-61 :) discouraging any foul play. Unfortunately I don't have this liberty in city life.

Now meet our team - you can see the age group.

Guess his age ? He is 61 and already retired from a government job. And see his fitness.

Quite inspiring, isn't it ? This is what makes me eager to get up in early morning and go to field. And of course that FREE Vitamin D apart from all the stress release. This post / ameture video will serve as a great memory for me in my life - I am sure, it will be so much fun to look back at this post after a decade. I will be sharing this post on Instagram as part of Share your story initiative by decathlon.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/cubunouc

When you have nothing but you feel you have everything

I was going to Puri to attend a wedding ceremony, and the train stopped at a station. An old man came in and sat in front of me. His leg touched mine accidentally and he followed the very old custom in respect - taking his hand and touching my feet and taking the name of our Hindu God Lord Vishnu. We have been taught this from childhood and it has become a habit that will go only after death. The reason we follow this custom is that, Lord Vishnu resides in every soul and if our leg touches anyone, then its a disrespect to the Lord, so we apologize by following this custom. But I was surprised because the old man appeared to be from Muslim caste - his dress and cap was clearly indicating that. I just did Namaskar (Salutation with two hands) to honor his respect and kept mum.

After being comfortable at his seat, he started enchanting some slokas of Lord Jagannath. I was curious to watch him. As the train was passing by a temple, he bowed his head, closing his eyes offering some prayers. I was very much confused by this dilemma - a person from Muslim caste offering prayers to Hindu God !! After some time I could not resist my curiosity and asked him - You look like Muslim, how come you are offering prayers to Hindu Gods ? Where are you going ? Where is your house ?

He was very clam and not disturbed by my question. He started answering me - I belong to Salabega caste - my father is muslim and my mother is hindu. I belong to a village from where I boarded the train and I am going to Puri to do my business - I sell mutton. Selling mutton is my family business, so I have been brought into this business by my father, but I do not eat. I am thankful to the Lord to be able to go everyday to Puri , the holy place for the sake of my business.

My curiosity doubled and I asked - do you believe in Lord Jagannath? But you must not be allowed to go inside the temple ? He answered - He is the Lord of this universe, so how come I stay out of the universe ? Every day I go and look at the temple and offer my prayers and then go for my business. I feel him in every moment of my life. Even though I cannot go inside the temple, I wait for the car festival (Ratha Yatra) to see him, to feel those eyes that is looking at this universe, to capture them in me till next year. Don't you know about Salabega ? I belong to that caste. I feel my life is success and complete because of the Lord - the lord is present in every soul - tears were coming out of his eyes.

I was speechless - there was no words for him - he was a living symbol of the divine. He is not rich but he has everything. The happiness in his face won't match any other materialistic achievement in this world. He seems to look complete and a very successful man. For a moment I was comparing myself to him - do I have the same happiness even though I have achieved everything in life !!!

If you do not know about Salabega, then he was a famous religious poet in 17th century and was son of a Muslim father and Hindu mother - his father forcibly married his mother. So even though his religion was Muslim, he devoted his life to Jagannath. He was refused entrance to the Jagannath temple because of his religion, but it did not dissuade him by any means. His faith became stronger and it is said, he used to see the lord everyday during his bathe - he would take water in both his hands and offer that to the Lord only after he sees the Lord - kind of live telecast. He would come to see the God only during car festival as Lord comes out of the temple to see everyone. Once a villager from his village was going to the temple and Salabega gave him a coconut and told him to stand in front of the temple and tell the Lord that Salabega has sent this coconut. If you want to take this come out and take it else Salabega has told, I will take it back. A big hand came outside of the temple and took that coconut. After this incidence, people started giving him all the due respect, but he was still not allowed inside the temple. In one car festival he was coming to see the Lord but felt ill on his way. Fearing that he will not be able to see the God, he offered his prayer and ask the Lord to wait for him. The lord obeyed his summon and did not move - Lord Jagannath's cart did not move an inch even though so many people were pulling it. The main priest could feel there is something wrong and then started his prayer to understand and the lord gave the message, which he conveyed to public. That place where the cart stopped was later devoted for Salabega and his body was cremated there ( as per hindu rituals) and the Samadhi still stands there. During every car festival, Lord Jagannath's cart stops at his Samadhi to honor his devotion.

The government of Odisha has declared Salabega's birth place ( where he was residing) as a cultural heritage and taken over the place doing all sorts of development. We visited this temple sometimes back and this video is from that temple. You can see how he is sitting outside the temple offering the coconut so that the Lord would come and take it.

If you have come this far then ask yourself - What does success look like from a spiritual perspective? I am sure, you will get the answer.

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Mom made this using traditional stone grinding tool that are almost going to extinct after few generations.

At the age of 71, I am not sure, from where she gets so much of energy, that too after being admitted several times in hospital for long periods. We always have argument over this - I would tell her not to work so hard, but little does she listen. She says habits will go only with death. Yesterday morning when I came from the field after playing football, she was busy preparing these black gram dumplings and we had some arguments over this as well. She lifted that heavy stone grinder and that's not good for her. She did the preparation day before by putting the black gram over night, and she did not wait for me because, these dumplings must dry at least 75% same day, else it will be damaged. She should have told me, but then she feels, she won't give me work. We both have same feelings for each other.

Apart from using the traditional stone grinding method, there is not much complexity here, but still I observed her till the end and helped wherever possible. You won't get the same quality in market because they always mix rice or other cheap components to sell it cheap. But then there is compromise in taste. There are so many varieties of dumplings that is prepared and sold at my place but this one is the best in terms of taste - using only the black gram. Soak 1 kg black gram over night and clean it well - the black skin will go away. Next day morning just grind it - you won't get the same taste , but that should be fine. I must say here that in rural areas, people still use these stone grinding tool for their everyday use and do not buy a grinder even though they can afford. The only reason of that is that the spice or masala prepared on this brings better taste. Old is gold - they know it and they are capable - so why not enjoy the better taste.

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The most important part of this is the fermentation - you should see the video to know how she knows when its ready - something very interesting I learned. She would ferment and then put a small piece in water - if it floats, then its ready. Amazing experience that is being transferred over generations.

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And then she would put these small dumplings on a plate - she asked me to apply ghee on this plate before. The reason she used ghee is that, she can consume this on all days ( on some holy occasions as well because oil is not permitted). But you can use oil as well, if that is fine with you. The point is that, these dumplings should easily detach after being dried and they would if the surface is slippery.

It did dry almost 75% as she expected and she put it again today for the final dry.

Looks good ? One of my friend came today and asked her to give some - she denied. My friend could figure out from the texture itself that its pure and home made. And to let you know, that traditional stone grinding tool means a lot to us - every house hold will have them because we worship that and its used in all our big festivals like thread ceremony and marriage. May be I will do a separate post on that.

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Sitting with eyes closed and observing our inner world and breath is not easy sometimes

Is it hard to meditate ? Probably not, but honestly I have never been able to mediate before yesterday. The reason is that I just don't get inspired to mediate. Blame it on my liking or those who never inspired me, I am always a person loving outdoor sports. And the reason for that probably is that is how I have been brought up ? I remember our childhood was full of outdoor activities. We did not have any other means of entertainment. Apart from school playing outside was the only means of entertainment and our parents did not have to tell that to us even. We would just go ourselves. Today, even though I have been telling my kids, they don't like to go - they have something else that fascinates them - mobile, laptop - that provides a plethora of entertainment. They even don't watch TV now a days. They get everything in these devices. And why blame only on them ? This is the situation for every family - they tell me their friends are not coming so with whom they would play ? So as a result, we have tried to inspire them to mediate and my son is doing it every day at home. Initially we forced him - you won't get mobile or laptop if you don't mediate. Call in inspiration or forcing him to do it, he fell into that habit. And now he does it on his own. So the point is that, we have not been inspired or forced to do it. You can do something everyday only after it becomes a habit. A habit is possible only two ways - either you are inspired or you are compelled.

So no one inspired us or forced us and that is why I did not learn it. And as far as I think, Meditation was possibly popularized in India only after Baba Ramdev started selling it to public. Before that, probably very few were aware of its benefits , and doing it. But Baba Ramdev brought the revolution - by organizing big public events and then later publishing them on online platforms. He definitely has been able to encash it in a very niche way but it also has benefited people because it inspired them. So if someone would have inspired us , then probably I would have practiced it long back.

As I said a habit can only come from inspiration or compulsion - yesterday I started it because of a compulsion. My compulsion is my situation - trying to inspire my father to start meditation, with a though that probably it can improve some of his conditions. If I have to become a teacher, then I need to learn it first. So yesterday I went through several videos and started practicing the basic yoga - Kapalabhati. Again thanks to Baba Ramdev - he has videos online to inspire you as well as guide you on the technique. And I started persuading this to my father yesterday - he was very reluctant to do this but finally after lot of push, he started. I know, this is not perfect, but this is a beginning - everything starts like this. I know, its going to take several days for him to observe his inner world and breath - even it may not happen, but I am trying my best. At least in this process, I will benefit myself. May be after I feel the difference, I would wonder, why someone did not inspire us when we were kids !!

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Live Fish tastes much better

Usually I do not get live fish always - by the time I go they are all sold out. I do not want to sacrifice my exercise to go very early in the morning. Today somehow, I got a chance to get a live fish from market. I did take the opportunity to shoot some visuals and edited them for you. These are all cultivated fish - unlike the happiest fishes from the dam. The dam fish is more tasty - they also weigh more - 4/5 kg minimum. But they never reach market , they sold out there itself. The government is giving nice subsidy for fish farming - that is why we see these live fishes. The vendors bring them in a small truck - they put a big plastic on the back side of a mini carrier and then fill it with water and a pump and leave these fishes inside. And then they give it to these sellers , who keep them inside small containers. Do you know how to recognize if a fish is fresh or not ? Usually people look at the gills , but actually the eyes are the best indicator of freshness. You can check both as well.

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Me and my son decided not to cook anything special - instead just taste the fish fry (because the lady does not eat on any other day except Wednesday) - authentic fish taste alone. Just clean it, put some turmeric powder, salt, mix it well and fry it with mustard oil. That's it - quite simple isn't it ? When served hot, you can eat a lot.

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Breaking news from budget 2021

So, after lot of anticipations, today stance of Government of India on legality of crypto showed some positive signs in the 2021 budget. What is your reaction? I felt like the government has played real smart by putting the fireball in our pocket – take tax without worrying about what happens to investors. This is how it reads:

Any income from transfer of virtual digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens or NFTs will be taxed at 30 percent. Also, loss from sale of virtual digital asset can be set off only against the gains from sale of virtual digital assets. Cryptocurrencies as a gift will be taxed at the receiver’s end.

src

So, your loss is only yours and you will be able to set off only if you make some profit. But what happens if one wants to exit and sell on loss, because of some emergency need? One should not sell in such conditions. That means, you should invest that much that you can afford to loose ( a popular common perception that everyone agrees) – if you make profit, pay tax and walk away clean.

Interestingly, the Central Bank plans to launch its own digital currency in 2022-23, as investments in cryptos turn hot in the country. There are no details on how this digital currency will make our investments hotter but some say, it’s a sign to indicate that, crypto is not going to be accepted as legal currency but only as an investment and this new digital currency will be the legal currency of India. Hopefully, we will have more details on this new digital currency later this year – if it will be suitable for investment or its only going to be used for transactions.

Interestingly the government did foresee the potential of NFTs – which indicates, this niche segment is going to boost a lot. But is there a catch here – NFTs selling in our currency? Because the NFT selling in crypto would fall into the same clause, why did the call out the NFTs specifically? They definitely think, there would be some platforms where NFTs would sell in legal currencies and they do not want to lose tax on that.

Many people are celebrating this on social medias – [CZ] (https://twitter.com/cz_binance) Binance tweeted about it saying “Crypto is legally recognized in India, with a 30% tax.”

https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1488434147135737860

But did the government say so? Not yet - it’s all people’s perception. This was my response to CZ :

https://twitter.com/sanjeevmbbsr/status/1488500318656602113

The government definitely has taken some time to see how it goes, till it comes up with it’s own digital currency. Until then, its all as we explore. I am personally a bit disappointed – if they consider is as an investment, then why don’t they charge the same tax to other investments? Even people do similar or more profit from shares / equities, why there is a differentiation? I am already paying more than 30% tax on every penny I earn – paying another 30% from gains is literally discouraging honest tax payers to try their luck – especially small investors like us.

This is how centralization can always control decentralization – at the end, you have to fall back to regulators to enjoy that profit.

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This was captured during our visit to Sabarmati Ashram - Ahmedabad Gujurat, two years back. Ganjdhiji used to carry such a small spinning wheel wherever he went. It was a great moment to see and experience it myself - I was refreshing my travel memories. The place was so peaceful - I tried to do a post on it , but it just stopped uploading a lot of images - giving error 500 on @peakd. Anyone knows why ? May be there is a limit, I will try to complete it tomorrow, but in the mean while enjoy this.

Wish you all a happy 73rd republic day.

copyrights @sanjeevm - content created uniquely with passion for #HIVE platform — NOT posted anywhere else! #HIVE is my only social diary - my blog is my life.

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A payment failed without any action or notification

This morning, I was shocked to find out that Amazon failed a payment and did not bother to refund the amount though their site says "Your refund has been initiated". I have been paying my electricity bills through amazon pay - it just saves all my consumer details - I have added the consumers from my native place as well - if for some reason, I have to pay it online.

The apartment supervisor gave the current electricity bill today and when I went to amazon pay, it even showed me that I pay the last bill on 17 Dec 2021. But when I click on Pay, it fetched the old bill.

The mismatch in the amount triggered my suspicion. And when I looked closely, the date was even from last month. So I started investigating more about it. Looked at my card account, the amount was never credited. It was debited on 17 Dec as shown in amazon site, but then no one bothered to follow up the failure of payment to the vendor. What do you call this ? A poor software design that did not trigger any alert, if the payment failed ? And worst that that - they tell you "Your refund has been initiated" , but then what happens next is not their responsibility ?

And the worst part is to figure out how to reach them on call. Have you ever tried to call them for any issue ? It took quite a while to get to this screen.

And it is not straight forward from here as well.

Could this not have been simpler to get a button to call them from a order ? Almost took more than a hour to find out to how to call them. I wonder, why no regulator ( consumer related regulators) does not notice this! Billions of Indians use the site and many of them even are not competent to raise an issue. And on top of that, there are other malpractices by delivery guys - they can decide if they deliver you or refund it citing your absence. But you cannot call their customer service in a straight forward way.

And now coming to the call - I recorded it on purpose - to save what I am committed. It's an audio file converted to mp4 to post on @threespeak - I am not aware, if we have any platform here on HIVE where we can post only audio files (M4A format), do let me know, if you have idea. If you hear the conversation then you will find how responsible they are - he started telling me, the bill was paid on 17th and today was 19th, so wait for 3 business days for it to reflect in Billers site. I had to remind him that, it was from 17th last month. By this time, it should have reached some definitive action. How even you do not notify me , if it failed !! You could have given a mail or message. So if I did not discover this, then I would have lost the money - sometimes I pay the bills from another payment app PayTM - recently they charge when you pay from credit card, so I moved to amazon pay. These payment companies make you habituated first and then start charging you - that is how they make money showing billions of profits because of high number of transactions.

Apart from the polite apologies that has been taught to the customer service representative (CSR), all I heard is that they will look into the issue and resolve it. The CSR thinks, the payment is done from their side but the vendor did not update, so they will seek a refund and credit that to my account, but my point is if it failed, they should have taken care of this automatically and fixed before I noticed.

I am going to tag this to amazon official account on twitter, at least they should know how their software works. This is a classic case best suited for a consumer case - but doing that is not easy as well. Someone should build a consumer review platform on HIVE - the best fit to have all the details captured transparently.

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Satkosia Gorge - A memorable day in serene nature

Satkosia Gorge is located in eastern Odisha in the bank of Mahanadi river and is not too far from my place. Some times back, we visited there along with friends - a day planned to be spent in the lap of nature with friends. If you have never seen a water crow then you should see my last post. My friend arranged everything very well - only the road by which we went was not very smooth, otherwise, once we reached there, we felt like not coming back.

The Gorge connects to three districts of my state and there is entry from each side - people use these local boats to cross the gorge and they carry the two-wheeler and other heavy items as well.

We had a motor boat arranged for the trip and the food was prepared and carried to the boat. In the interest of time, the food preparation was delegated to some other people who were near to the place.

Wonder who he is ? He is one of our friend - he loves a minimalist life as well.

We had to use another manual boat to ride the motor boat, since the launch pad was far.

You can see the excitements, everyone was tired but as soon as we reached there and started the journey, we forgot everything.

Satkosia is a name derived from two words - Sat and kos - Sat represents seven in my language and Kos is an ancient unit of measure, which is equivalent to two miles. So this gorge expands over 14 miles connecting two different regions. There is a Tiger Reserve as well (named as Satkosia Tiger Reserve), but that was not in our plan - we just wanted to spend the time in this wonderful luxury in the lap of nature and if possible see some crocodiles and other animals if possible.

It was one of the best experience of my life - the experience that had adventure as well as leisure - keeping everything aside.

We asked the driver to slow and also drive near the bank - there was possibility to see the crocodiles on the bank.

For a moment, I felt my mobile was not equipped with the best camera to capture this amazing beauty of the nature. May be it needs a professional camera, but that would also need some professional skills.

When you are relaxed, you feel hungry, right ? We had some very delicious food served on board - mutton, chicken, prawn, fish fry, rice, daal, salad. We stopped the boat to finish the lunch - a different experience of lunch on board.

Even though, we were feeling not to come back from this mesmerizing experience, my friend insisted as we had to travel back 100 km again.

On our way a family of small tortoises - enjoying as a family. Definitely a better camera was needed here.

The gorge provides living-hood to many people - catching those happy fish the taste of which is unmatched. I came to know, recently they caught a big fish weighing 22kg.

The jetty on the other side - there are some real big motor boats being planned to inducted soon - we plan to go back with family here again. No amount of words can express these feelings - you really need to be there to feel it yourself.

There is a view point that provides some splendid experience of the place. Everyone was tired and did not want to go there, but I walked it alone to the top to enjoy the place one last time.

Would it not have been incomplete without this experience ? Coming back I saw a family of birds enjoying their time, but capturing them was not easy.

On our way back, we stopped to pick some Cauliflower fresh from garden - the area is very fertile and it is very cheap to buy here - almost half of what we get in city.

You need to be little careful walking down these fields - they are slippery - but it has a different charm.

Do you feel the place from this post ? I am sure, it just gives an impression only - the reality can be felt only being there. On our way back, a nice tea treat to end the trip.

Good that our government is now promoting some of our best kept secrets in eco retreat packages - they charge you a premium price - this year, it was discounted after people expressed concern. You can see all the offerings here :

http://ecoretreat.odishatourism.gov.in/en.html

And to know more about the tiger reserve, refer this :

http://www.satkosia.org/index.php

Pinned on https://pinmapple.com/ - [//]:# (!pinmapple 21.350708 lat 86.127477 long Satkosia d3scr)

You can imagine, how much it took to create this post - worth it - a memory of lifetime.

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Harvesting Coconut - the God's fruit

Coconut is one fruit that is part of our every day life. If you do not know, then it's called Sriphala in Sanskrit - some call it God's fruit or divine fruit. Some say its blessed fruit - it's one fruit tied to our traditions very close - in every occasion, it can be used. And most importantly, we use it almost every day - either raw or in cooking.

That is the reason, we have planted few coconut trees at our native - to meet our needs for the year. Unfortunately, there are not enough pluckers available now a days - some even charge as high as 250/- per tree. They come and ask, by seeing the tree but hearing the rate, we say NO. When I was in my native, the person who comes every year, arrived one day - he takes only 100/- per tree - See the difference - its a unorganized sector - so whatever they quote is fair. Without any hesitation, we said yes and he plucked from all the trees, that would suffice our need for the entire year.

It's very important to pluck them every year and clean the trees - the coconuts won't grow otherwise. Some of them were very big and some small - only because, this should have been done earlier. But better late than never.

I had to bring them and keep in the store room. Do you know how to peel the coconut ? It's a bit of difficult task, but I think, it will end with my generation - not sure, if my son will learn it or not. I will post a video on that - Mom taught me everything.

The coconut tree's life is around 70 - 120 years, almost same as human. So if you plant few trees, it will serve you for at least two generations - it does need care, but that is once or twice in a year. And it's 100% organic and natural all the time - every part of it is usable. In our culture, its used in every worship - I have heard, some saying it represents the trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - the three GODs that are the root of existence of this universe. There is a lot about the cultural importance of coconut, but keeping aside them, it's one fruit that is available throughout the year and usable as well. And tender coconut has got so many health benefits - even doctors advise to drink it every day. Another important use of it is that, preparing the sweet stuff for various cakes using jaggery, you would have seen some posts from me.

We do have a dwarf variety as well, sometimes back, I heard a start up in India developed a drone, to pluck coconuts. They are useful in places like Kerala, where coconut is abundantly cultivated.

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WE have got a picnic spot - at my home

Everyone wanted one more feast - a non-veg feast. Who I was to deny when the home minister orders it !! That too, when you have everyone taking care of all the preparation with so much love and care. So it was a outright yes. This time it was planned better - the ladies discussed and decided a day before to do the non-veg feast - this was the second feast , I posted about the Veg Feast earlier. It was decided to start early so that, we can finish at right time. But in the morning some argy-bargy delayed it. I was in charge of getting the non-veg items, but since it got late, I delegated that too.

This was the first non-veg of the year for Parents - Mom eats only fish / prawn, so we planned for two non-veg items - chicken and prawn. And it was not the regular broiler - we got color birds.

Everyone swang into action to prepare everything - all the items were planned to be prepared on the chullah - it has got a complete different taste when you prepare non-veg on chullah.

To prepare the chicken we needed a bigger container and Mom has separate utensils for non-veg. So a big one had to be brought from the upper birth - don't look at the woods - they are priceless teak woods, kept for our own use - cut from our own tree.

The new borne princess came for a visit to see how things are cooking up. And she was not disappointed :)

Mom cannot eat anything spicy - so she was asked to sit and overlook the prawn preparation - mallai prawn with coconut - a sweet and very tasty recipe.

The chicken took most of the time - the country chicken is not very soft like broiler and needs more time.

My father is a die hard fan on non-veg but we try to keep his diet regulated. He was waiting for it to finish fast and since it got a bit late, we served him at home. My son took the opportunity saying, he should not eat alone and he will give company to him :) I know both cannot wait..

Look at their face - my son was saying, we should plan one more soon. Everyone except my daughter was non-vegan, so my wife had to prepare a paneer curry for her.

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And the evidence of togetherness :

My son learned something new after serving us - the utensils give us natural black 😀 - I am sure, next time he will be careful without me telling him.

And my daughter put the finishing line - masala cold drinks.

Later in the evening we packed our bags and came from my native. It was so much fun enjoying the time there with the entire family - with an unseen gift 😉 - I gained 3 kgs weight for which I will have to struggle. And I missed writing a post after a month, because I wanted to show you something else. How fast you can cut onions without looking at them ? See the video. It took quite a while to compile the video so I gave up doing it yesterday.

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An authentic recipe of Odisha, India - with coconut flavor

This Rice Pancake is everyone's favorite in my family - it's very simple to prepare and we even have a festival for this - Chitou Amabasya - the new moon night that comes in the Shravan month - that falls somewhere around end of July or start of August. On that day, it's fed to snails as an offering and put inside the water well. And interestingly, after you eat this, you should not go out - so it's served mostly in dinner or after you come home and do not have any plan to go out.

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You just need rice and coconut to prepare the batter - soak the rice for 5-6 hours, and grate the coconut, grind the rice with coconut, add salt as per taste and the batter is ready. Take equal amount of rice and coconut to make the batter smooth and the tasty pancake. To make it super soft, leave it 2-3 hours and mix it one more time. Sometimes we add the rice water that is extracted when we cook the rice ( sundried rice) but that is not must to have. The main technique is to have the batter not very thin or thick - something you will only learn from experience.

You will need a thick cloth and a bowl of water - put the cloth in that. Now heat the pan in medium or high flame, put a bit of oil or ghee, once that is hot, put a ladle of batter in the pan and then cover it with a bowl. We have a bowl that is made of mud and is 30 years old - Mom has repaired the tip with white cement so that she can hold it. If you get this somewhere well and good, but any bowl that would cover the batter will also do. Now squeeze the cloth and put around the bowl. If your batter is very thin, then make sure, the cloth is less wet and vice-versa. Now leave it for 2-3 minutes, and then remove the bowl and thread and take out the pancake by spatula. We add a bit of sugar on it so that it melts in the heat making it super tasty. Some people eat with hot milk and sugar - especially useful, if for some reason, its not very soft - soak in hot milk and it will be soft.

Still wondering why you should not go out after eating this ? Because its cooked only on one side :) - some tradition that are followed since ancient times. And Mom prepares it best - she has that magic hand.

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Looking back at 2021 and 2022 Plans

2021 was a year to be remembered - at some point, it gave us some hope - I thought, I could try to hit all the goals that were pending since previous year, because of Covid, by running faster - I tried to throw myself to a race. But after some time, I realized, there is a hand that does the magic - it directed the clock to rotate anti-clockwise. The blessed hand was telling us in disguise - you can only try but at the end its me who decides.

Then I took a pause, started looking back - it was not that bad - we could not do everything that we wanted but we are alive. We did enjoy the slow down of life - we enjoyed the family - everyone at home. Kids were not going to school and initially we thought its difficult but slowly we adjusted. We enjoyed their presence all day. It was a bit of extra work - but we spent more time with each other. There were moments, when we were excited to think that everything will be normal - but after some time, we realized to adjust to the new normal. The best way to make ourselves happy is to lead a minimalist life and Covid taught us that. To be able to adjust into every situation with what we have. We had money, but we did not have shops open to buy anything. We had vehicle but we were not allowed to go out.

Before Covid, Working from home was like sleeping from home. Now working from home is a profitable model for the companies - people now understand what I have been doing for last 10+ years. There are more opportunities with WFH.

Schools were telling us not to give mobile or laptop to kids - now every kid is having a gadget ( mobile, tab, desktop or laptop) to be online. There are frustrations but that is the new norm. It teaches us to deal with situations with patience, in a clever way.

As history says, the pandemic comes once in a century. So this was in our destiny - we should be thankful to God, to be alive. It teaches us one thing - life is a crossy road, but may be its because we tried to run too fast !! If we slow down a bit and enjoy what we have, then may be things will look simple.

With that, I must say, I do not have any goals for 2022. Whatever you plan, at the end, you barely have any control. But I will consistently give my best effort to do what I can without seeing dreams - the best way to make your dreams true is to get up. So instead of setting any goal, I will try to achieve - realistically. Slow down and achieve - to make the crossy roads easy.

The first step is to spend some time with my parents and start this year with their blessings. So we have come today to my native to see that happiness on their face. The new year would not have a better start leaving them alone.

Several videos / photos have been thoughtfully shoot and edited and used in this - 2021 of my life - yes, I am learning....tell me if you can relate the script to the video or if could have been bettered.

This post have been a great fit for the contest in this post, but it has expired. Still posting to the community.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/xfrhtjlm
Ever know, there is a crow which resides in Water ? Yes, its called Water crow. I saw it after three decades. Nature has given us some amazing gifts - it takes care of cleaning the water by eating the insects and small fishes as well.

Continuing from my last travel post, we went to Satkosia the next day and on our way, we stopped at a place named as Champeswar.

The major attraction of the place is Champanath Temple, where you can see big tortoises, feed and touch them. I never saw such big size tortoises so close earlier. But before heading inside the temple, we ate out all the bananas on the store - they were very tasty. See the video and feel it yourself. And you can spot the water crow at 3.33 minutes - an interesting move inside the water attracted my eyes to it.

Pinned on https://pinmapple.com/ - [//]:# (!pinmapple 20.434015 lat 85.158011 long Champanath Temple,Champeswar, Odisha, India d3scr)

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/ieawxwnp

In seventies the materialistic world does not matter at all

Today I took my parents for meeting with old friends to refresh their memories

This was the meet for 1968 batch matriculation(10th grade) from the school that was started by just one person. He sacrificed his life to start this school because there was no school nearby. My father and mother belonged to the same place, and both completed their matriculation from this same school. Though this meet was for my mother' batch on 1968 , we took my father there to refresh some of his memories and meet with people. He was the eldest person in the meeting and was honored with the presiding sit, unveiling books from authors who are mom's friends. Everyone knows my father and his family there - my father's elder brother was the first batch of matriculation from this school being the top scorer. They have so much of attachment that, they donate a lot for the betterment of education in the area - my father being a big advocate of education for all.

The school has changed a lot - thanks to recent initiative by the government where the government funds equal amount to the school based on what people donate. Mom was very happy to see it after couple of decades.

I was amazed at the enthusiasm of Mom to go for this meet. It's always good to see them active and these are the memories that will keep them fresh for long time. And since my father was not going out a lot, it was a perfect opportunity to take him to meet with people - that may help his mental conditions.

For the most part I was the photographer, but I enjoyed the feelings that everyone shared - it makes us realize to see the life ahead of us. Apart from the rural ambience, I did not miss the opportunity to get some fresh vegetables and sweets on our way.

Though I have been tired physically, it gives me immense pleasure to take my parents for their pleasure - which they always did when we were kids.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/qnxhibqp

Someone got infected who came to our home few days back

Three hours back, my wife started comlaining about severe bodeache - something unusual as she said. And with that, she also has severe throat iritation. This followed up after we heard yesterday about our close family member ( her maternal uncle) being tested positive. He came to our house 4 days back and was tested positive yesterday. He has developed complications, but not very critical though. Going through all the medication and staying isolated.

So I had to decide what should be done. It's difficult to decide in such cases - we feel the pinch, when it comes to our own family or self. Called various friends, some even doctors and everyone told, it's better to do a test. I advised her to stay isolated till we decide the next steps. Some advised to take her to a hospital. Kids being at home, it's difficult to handle the situation, as they get more panic. My daughter was more worried about how they will stay without her and what they will eat. After talking to several friends, I got a nearby lab contact, who take the sample for both antigen and RTPCR test. So I called in them and he came and did the antigen test half an hour back. Thank God, the report came negative as you can see in this video. I also enquired about how a positive report looks like and he shared a image with me.

In case of positive, there would be two lines like the above. I also enquired if we should go for a RTPCR or not, and he said its not needed as the antigen is 80% accurate. We will still be watchful to see any development - she does not have fever yet, but as per doctors with whom I spoke, they said, she should be watchful about any unusual things - like loss of taste or smell or any breathing complication. The doctors have advised antibiotic and pain killers still. The only peace of mind we have is that, we both have taken the vacination ( double doses). But still kids are at risk.

I hope things will be fine, but let's see - if she feels ok by tomorrow.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/jrykhzjj
This pegion has only one functional leg - but it has learnt to live with that. I was morally a bit down since I received the mail from Dan about which I wrote in my last post. To refresh the mode, today we went out to my son's teacher home, to see his new born daughter. After coming, I was going through my files in the phone and then I saw this video, which I captured some times back. Though I enjoyed the day, this video has helped me to boost my moral energy and get ready to go back to work.

Life has ups and downs - if these small creatures can learn to live with such a permanent loss, then why not we ! After all, the show must go on, till we can, so why not give our full energy. I will post about my visit in a later post, wish you all a happy week end and a great start for the coming week.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/fmutkjvw

It's the platinum jubilee of India's Independence

Today is the 75th Independence Day, and every year, we celebrate it with the flag hosting followed by some sports activity for the kids, as we have lot of kids on our society. Covid has spoiled everything, but with all guidelines, we did the flag hosting in the morning. The patriotism in all of us gets activated on these days (Republic day is another) , may be because that is how we grew up. And who does not remember those small sweet packets !! After all difficult shows, that little packet was the inspiration for the next year.

But things are changing - I do not see the same feelings in our next generation. Not sure, if I or we are to be blamed for that, but honestly, I myself don't feel pride in our independence and can inspire anyone else to feel proud. The patriotic me is fine, but it dies few hours after the flag hosting. It keeps asking me what have we done in these 75 years ? Are we really an independent country ? A country which has to secure it's own capital to celebrate independence ?

And a lot of other questions that hunts me within......May be a post later on that.

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https://3speak.tv/watch?v=sanjeevm/hcajxtaa

The only way to defend ourselves is to give them their space

The morning was a fun filled morning with monkeys doing a high voltage dram in our apartment. I was on my morning walk/run schedule, and saw a gang coming in and climbing to the roof top. Then they hang out for some time there, probably searching for some food. And after 10 -15 minutes, they started coming down, and going to balconies. Most of the balconies are open ( only few are closed with extra grills), and they started throwing things from balconies. People started shouting and trying to throw water at them. But they were kind of determined. After some time, one of our guard, figured out that they are looking for food. He ran and brought few packets of biscuits and showed that to them. Instantly, they came down. The guard was brave, and just stood there, and gave them few to eat. And then he slowly moved them towards the gate, away from the building. Most went away after that, but couple of them seems interpreted that there can be more, so they followed him and then what happened was just amazing. They were very politely taking biscuits from his hand and eating them , without any fear.

It was very much fun watching them, but one thing is clear - they are not going to fear us, if they do not get what they want - their food. And we are the ones, destroying their natural inhabitation - the forest. So they come out in search for food and then it's very difficult to control them, once they surpass the fear benchmark. May be time has come to rethink - give them their space, else they will come and take out ours ?