That little bit of change.

Sun sets on 2009. 2010 is here. Feels like this year passed in the wink of an eye. A lot happened in the past year if I come to think of it. Some eventful, some not so much. But,it's time to welcome the big two zero one zero. It's his time now. It's also time for something interesting. Resolutions. I've not been much of a resolution person. Meaning, I haven't bothered to resolve on new year to avoid breaking them later anyway. Easy way out. But this year-end, I take the step. I resolve.( :). Is that the right word?).
1. To be a little more dedicated to whatever I do.
2. To be a little more patient with life.
3. To do that extra little bit to find the divine I've been hoping to find on accident.
4.To be a little more patient
5. To be a little more mad.

Well, I can think of more. But let me keep it concrete only on these. Less risk-more return (ah it works here).

Have a happy new year everyone. More madness in 2010.

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Spoon (feeding) time

What do you do when midnight hunger pangs strike??

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Angels and demons.

Happy holidays fellow bloggers and everyone else too.
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One for each day.

When you live in a place like Goa, you don't run easily out of pictures of sunset. Another fabulous one for the album.
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Ah the Happy bull.

OR Ox. (Cant figure the difference anyway). This pair, that is the Shehnai(an Indian instrument) guy and his bull are a common sight in India. And they visit street-to-street, the guy blowing his Shehnai and the Bull, strutting in bright colors to earn a living. Well, it's a different story that this pair generally sets of all pet dogs barking their lungs out. These Shahnai-wallahs are usually a great talent. And.. these bulls are considered to bring luck when fed. Ahh!! The Happy bull. :). Unlike his brothers, he gets to visit so many people instead of ploughing fields on a hot day. And look at the colors he's wearing. The bright Indian colors. There's Red,there's green and there's fuchsia too. Note his accessories as well. There's beads, bells, frills. Whoa!! No wonder he gets an audience often.

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New home!!

Mowgli has now found a new home. I'm so eager to blame this too on the Global warming. But he seems content here. This was at a peanut fair that happens in southern india where many farmers from around bring in their harvest of peanuts to sell in various forms. Raw, shelled, boiled, roasted. Yum!
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A new beginning

Blessed are those of us who get to see such a beautiful sunset often. And being able to sit at the not-so-crowded seashore and watch the sun go down, priceless!
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White butterfly

As beautiful as the flower looks, it smells even better. This fragile little flower blooms in the evenings and is a common sight in many houses along the konkan coast. My grandmother says this flower can draw snakes like a magnet but i have't seen one near ours. It's also called Ginger lily for a reason i dont know.

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Monsoon saga.

Whoever said monsoons in Goa end in august is set to eat his words. It's pouring endless. And the skies are grey like never before. The picture inset reflects the grey mood of our backyard. Cheers monsoon!

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"Freedom", just another F word? Said a write- up on a fashion magazine. Smart one by the writer. I rarely "read" from a magazine about fashion. The usage of F to catch attention always works. I was amused by what freedom meant for Bijoy Venugopal. I was actually smiling after I finished reading it. I wondered how many more people in the world actually felt truly free when they din have to answer tests in mathematics and physics. I personally(yes, weirdly) loved the pressure of exams. After the exams I would miss the last minute frantic studying. Din have the chance to study physics in school, but mathematics was a pet paper. It was the pressure of results I could not take.

Anyway, Bijoy got me thinking for a while. What did freedom actually mean to me? No answer. I asked myself again. Wait a second, said a small voice. Was I not free yet? I was getting to do what I want. Oh at least most of it. But was I truly free? Did I complain bout how unfair the world around was. Did I envy people with lesser boundaries. I did. So often. All I needed was freedom of being chaotic when I wanted. :). I wanted to be the person who doesn't wait for opinions and permits to live my own life. But that would mean I would have no access to people I care about. I'm chaotic enough this way. Let me spare poor souls around me. And whoosh went the crazy thoughts OUT. The freedom I already had was scary enough. If I just knew how to thank god for what I have. Let me go back to my book. I might find more dangerous questions to ask myself. So long.

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Lillies

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Is it human tendency to question everything? Is it arrogance? Or is it curiosity? What is it that we spend a lifetime to gain an understanding of? Why is it that so many of us, might not even get close to understanding the difference between a lucky co-incidence and a miracle. No I’m not being philosophical. I don even know what that word truly means.

Somebody close to me once said, “The most difficult part of being spiritual is being the spiritual being”. To her surprise, it drew a loud laugh from me. It was pure gibberish to me. I was sure she had read it somewhere and was repeating it in a vain effort of sounding wise (read cool). She squinted at me and walked away. And half spiritual people are probably tough to apologize to. :-)

I’m not a spiritual being. Neither am I religious. So then what does it make me? Confused soul I guess. I learnt at a very young age that chanting memorized prayers is not an easy way to connect to any supreme power protecting us. I realized, speaking to him whenever I felt like, put me in more comfort. I know when I put my palms together and bend my head to surrender to her, I feel warm inside. The warm feeling is what I love. Like a reassurance.

May be some day I’ll understand what it is to connect to him. In a better way than I do now. In pursuit of spirituality.

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Pathway to god knows where.

Half a mile into the forest, i chickened out. I din want the leopard prediction to come true.

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Interesting looking Mushrooms.

PS: We found out later that they were poisonous.

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The dawn of the cobweb. (Fancy title) :)

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A trip worth it.

We left Shirdi and started towards Mahabaleshwar. The plan was to reach before dark. The fogs of Mahabaleshwar are notorious. And the rains wouldn’t help we knew. Apart from a small round apricot shopping on the way and a tiny confusion in Pune, we were on schedule. I was going to this beautiful town for the first time. So was eager to get there sooner. The fogs beat us to it. The drive up was nice. Everybody somehow seemed quieter. Intermittent rains accompanied us all the way up. The highway was buzzing. Not uncommon. Mahabaleshwar is the favorite of all the IT clan from Pune and Mumbai. No worries about accommodation though. Our cottages were already booked. Only one thing was eating us –how to get there? The place we’d booked our cottages was nearly 2kms away from the main town. The roads were super foggy and few people in sight. We finally got there, thanks to GPS and a kind soul who put us on track. We were told we were reserved 2 beautiful cottages. But the only problem is they were at the far end (That’s cos we got there last). We din mind initially. But once Parag and Anup (my husband’s 2 good friends) got the feel of how deserted the cottages looked and the forest looming behind it, did not waste a minute to start about leopards being a menace in this part of the country. And obviously the Ghost stories weren’t too far behind. After a quick dinner, we settled down for some high scale chatting. Believe me I laughed like there was no tomorrow. My belly hurt for almost an hour into sleep. Those are the times you treasure. I can’t remember when we fell asleep. We set out for a walk when we woke up. And there in front of me was the name of the Cottage. (I missed it in the dark the previous night). “Krishna Cottage” the stone outside said. My heart skipped a beat literally. If it doesn’t strike a bell, let me tell you more. Krishna Cottage is the name of a Indian movie. A horror movie to be precise. I knew the night that followed would be difficult now that I carried this knowledge. I’m not particularly afraid of ghosts. It was the two pranksters I was worried about.

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Some temple on the way. Bangalore-Pune highway

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Kalanov Who?

Interesting question. Kept us nonsense hunters occupied for quite some time. And a fabulous lunch followed on the way back from shirdi. Chateau Vineyards served great lunch with better wines. Set among beautiful vineyards complete with an artificial well, it was a feast to the eyes and my stomach. sadly no pics of the place

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We hit the Bangalore-Pune Road and the speedometer hit 120 with ease. India NH4 baby! I could not take my eyes off the road.
More pics on the way.

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Amboli Ghat and Rowdy Monkeys.

After much planning and postponement, we settled on taking a trip to Shirdi and topping it off with a relaxed stay in Mahabaleshwar(a beautiful hill station in Maharashtra). The rains were a bonus. The journey started on Friday. And what a start!! Foggy ghats of Amboli welcomed us with open arms and i loved every bit of it. I longed for corn-on-the-cob and there it was. It wasn't great but it was my first this year. The monkeys were a menace. I almost gave my corn to them in fear till sac came to my rescue.

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Rain at its best.

I'm beginning to believe that my posts about rains in Goa are jinxed.When i write about them, it stops raining here. I'm curious now. Want to see what happens. So I'm posting the video of a rainy evening i shot in Coorg (a small hill station in the south of India). The Video is complete with nature's special effects.

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View from the Ferry. A barge is in sight at the far end

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Monsoon Calling. About time!!

I guess all the complaining about monsoons have paid off. Looks like the rains have called the strike off temporarily. The monsoon predictions went terribly off the mark. And the scare about the catastrophe following the 3 eclipse was enough to make me paranoid. Whew!! The rains are here. And i hope they stay. The river is full again. Goa is green again. The sight is beautiful. More pictures on the way. And by the way, finally my own pictures are hitting the blog. My husband should be sighing with relief. His master pictures are safe(for now).

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Lazy Sunday.

Today's day was long. Really long. I say this cos of two reasons. 1st-The sun set about 10 mins ago. i.e. around 7:15 pm IST. The second-I've been doing nothing all day and silently hoping the day would end. Heard of the watched pot story. I wonder how the sun manages to get through such long boring days. The ever evasive rain decided to tempt us a little today. All she did was to leave the nearly dry clothes damp again. I still have no idea what i'm going to do for another 4 hours before sleep takes over. Movies don seem to be taking the lead. The book I'm reading is seeming too predictable. Cant anyone write a book that can actually be read straight for 4 hours???? Okay! While writing this line I've just decided to do some online search for the Goan Pav. A kind of local bread that forms part of most of my meals now. I've realized i know nothing much than what it costs. So it's decided. It's journey on the path of Pav for me for now. Should keep me occupied for a while. And then I'll crib some more. May be I'll find something else en-route. And may be...I'll write about it tomorrow.

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Serenity understated. Or is it?

Sunrise shot by Sac from the house. Peace surrounds the picture. Wish i could see this in person.

You can try to strangle light:
use your hands and think
you've found the throat of it,
but you haven't.
You could use a rope or a garrote
or a telephone cord,
but the light, amorphous, implacable,
will make a fool of you in the end.

You could make it your mission
to shut it out forever,
to crouch in the dark,
the blinds pulled tight—

still, in the morning,
a gleaming little ray will betray you, poking
its optimistic finger
through a corner of the blind,
and then more light,
clever, nervy, impossible,
spilling out from the crevices
warming the shade.

This is the stubborn sun,
choosing to rise,
like it did yesterday,
like it will tomorrow.
You have nothing to do with it.
The sun makes its own history;
light has its way.

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Goa! No.Bangalore! No.No. Goa! No.Bangalore! And-here-we-go-again.

Life is Strange! Strong first statement. I’ll tell you why. Exactly one year in the past from now if someone would’ve told me that I’d be leaving Bangalore to live elsewhere, I’d have laughed my head off. And if such a brave foresighted person persisted, I’d have shot him dead. Thank heavens no one ventured to tell me my future back then. I was so much in love with the IT city for whatever reasons that I did not for once think I’d move. But I did. To where??? GOA! Hmmmm. Don’t start envying me already. There’s much more to the story. I spent years pitying hardcore Bangaloreans leaving town for reasons I did not understand. People complained. People complained some more. And then some more. Went on about how the city had changed. Was not great anymore. Pub culture sucked. The traffic has gone from bad to worse. City’s exploding. :). I don’t disagree altogether. But it is so difficult not to still love that place. The weather’s still amazing as ever (lesser rains this year though), people are still warm, & the city’s still green. Oh yes it is! When I told people I knew I was leaving Bangalore to live in Goa, I expected “Oh poor you! I cant believe this is happening to you”. But more often than not it was “ What!??! Lucky you!”. Goa brings that reaction I guess. Only few of my closest frens admitted that it wouldn’t be easy. Not easy at all. I moved. With a lot of apprehension. I was moving to a place loads slower than my hometown where I’ve practically spent every day of 20 yrs of my life. I was wondering what it would be like to live in the most sought holiday destination. But my worries were put to rest almost immediately. This State welcomed me with open arms. The ocean was waiting. :-). This place was more beautiful than I’d seen it with the eyes of a tourist. I was a LOCAL now. Now wait a minute. My loyalties din change. I just wasn’t scared anymore. It took me 2-3 months to actually love this place like a Goan does. I live in South Goa which is more peaceful and away from the hullabaloo of the eager tourists (:-P Ha!). But me and my husband travel North everyday to our Work. And I love watching the white of the chapels against blue of the sky or the gray of the river. I love it. And when I admitted it,I was told I’m on my way to be a True Goan. I was thrilled. Almost every weekend is a dinner by the ocean. Walk on the beach isn’t taken for granted as yet. And a glimpse of the monsoon has left me yearning for more. Ah the elusive rain! Probably next week I’ll upload the pics of Goan Monsoon treating us Goans. Oh here we go! I’m a Bangalorean + Goan. Wish I could come up with a fancy title for that. We’ll leave at this now. Verdict: I Love Goa, (God forgive me) a lil more than I love Bangalore. There! I said it. That feels so much better. I still long to go to Bangalore. But I know that once I leave Goa I’ll long more to come back. Today I tell my frens it was more easier than I thought to love this place which is called GOA.

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