Light of the Lamp

 Hi folks,            Wish you all rest of peaceful and happy 2025 ahead. My last blog post was in November 2024, 'The death of a yoga 🧘‍♂️ guru.' After that, I seemed to have drifted away from my favorite space hoping to come back and write about something that I hoped to end 2024 on a high note, but did not happen so. I will get to that in the next post. This one was lying as a draft which I intended to write during Kumbh mela mahotsav. Now, maha Kumbh mela is 2 months behind and is almost forgotten.                   Anyways, I will continue and finish this post before moving forward with the next one. Maha Kumbh mela saw crores of crowds not wanting to miss the holy dip which was advertised as not to   be missed in ones  lifetime. This kind of publicity drew much more larger crowds than the usual Kumbh mela  that occurs once in 12 years . The pavithra snan or holy bath taken dur...

 Hi all,          As this year is coming to end, let us all hope for reasonably pleasant and peaceful days for everyone around us. The news about the passing away of a yoga guru who was aged just 53 would have shook all of us just as it did to me. I was like, how could a yoga guru die so young!! He should have lived past his 90 years,  right?              Sharath Jois,  a yoga 🧘‍♂️ master from Mysuru, who was on a tour to USA from October to conduct yoga workshops suddenly collapsed and died when he was hiking with a group. The reason was found out to be cardiac arrest. Though he was 'labelled as world famous' who taught yoga for some Hollywood celebrities, I have not heard of him and Iam sure many around me would not have heard of him. He was the grandson of established yoga guru Shri Pattabhi Jois and the family have Jois academy for yoga. These days, anyone goes and checks the social media to find out more in...

 Hi friends,            My blog page 'Light of the Lamp' has many travelogues. While travelogues are always pleasant to read and revisit, life is not just about traveling.  Unpleasant incidents around which are 'man-made ' that keeps happening repetitively not only breaks our hearts, but keeps pricking our conscience.               The horrible rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata, rape of 4 year old girls in Maharashtra a couple of days after Kolkata horror are just a few. Along with the regular news of sexual harassments in newspapers and other media of which some of them are almost published like footnotes,  no one actually cares for those victims. The release of Hema commitee which exposed sexual harassments of women  artists and casting couch in Malayalam movie industry are just a tip of an ugly iceberg. Though these crimes are worse than first degree murders, punishments rarely match the de...

 Hi friends,            After the disappointment over our Europe trip which got cancelled in June this year, I suggested that we should travel in Vistadome coach from Bangalore to Udupi to experience the scenery and the journey through 54 tunnels on the way.                Vistadome coaches were introduced about 4 years back and that too through very few scenic routes in India.  These coaches have large viewing windows on both sides, rotating chairs, and a viewing platform. It is more expensive than the ordinary coaches and so for a common man it is out of reach. July was the peak monsoon season when we booked the journey from Bangalore to Udupi and the journey offered magical views.  If you aim to reach stars, at least be happy that you could touch the moon. Vistadome coaches were made to give the Indian traveller awesome experience to match the western nations, but still fell short at some places....

 Hi,             When was the last time any of you received a birthday card, Wedding anniversary card, New year card by post? Sounds like another era, right? I consider lucky enough to have grown in 1980s, when I eagerly looked forward to receive birthday cards, festival greeting cards, handwritten letters from our relatives by post which cannot be imagined by current generations. I committed to my memory many of our relatives/friends special days  so as to send those beautiful cards!                   Greeting cards were painstakingly chosen from shops, additional loving messages were added along with the printed lines and posted with eagerness in the nearby postbox or post office. We used to wait with equal anticipation for those wonderful cards. During our childhood,  my sister and myself used to prepare hand painted greeting cards with lot of colors and imagination.  Our late grandfat...

 Hi friends,              After finishing my routine chores, I sat listening to the songs played in radio by Alexa. As I grew up during 80s, Ilayaraja songs were among my top favourites.  The song ' Manjum peyyum raavil ' from old Malayalam hit movie 🎬  Pappayude swantham appoos took me to nostalgic ♥️  90s. I never watched the movie but I like the song 🎵 very much to listen again and again and hum a little bit of it.  I went through the Wikipedia of this film and was surprised to find that it ran for 250 days in theatres!! Unthinkable for movies of today!            Leave the black & white era; from my growing up years upto now, one will realise that so much has changed with film industry in India. It maybe similar across different countries of the world. We had blockbusters like Sholey, Dilwaale dulhania le jayenge or DDLJ, qayamat se qayamat take or QSQT running for years in theatres acros...