Light of the Lamp

Hi pals,           HAPPY New Year, Happy Pongal and Lohri to all of you and hope that all your dreams be fulfilled. I cannot go forward without mentioning that the last year ended in a gory way with the gang-rape and the following death of the 23-year-old paramedical student who fought for her life till the end. We saw the uglier side of our capital which is less safe for women and a series of sermons uttered by the politicians and so-called self styled god-men who conveniently put some part of blame on the hapless victim and not on perpetrators. One positive part of this incident is that we witnessed a huge protest against this atrocity and crying out for more safety for women. Anyway, I may be writing more on this topic in the next article.                              Coming back to the topic, we ended the last year with a trip to Wayanad which is situated in the North of Keral...

Hi pals,                   How are you feeling yourself post-Diwali? Ready to relax and unwind for the rest of the year? Have you all planned to be at resorts or any comfort places to energize those tired nerves? Anyway, advanced Happy Holidays!!                             Its been a little busy for sometime, still I've been planning this post for a long time. This time, it is an area which I've never ventured before- BOOK REVIEW!! I am not that good in writing detailed reviews, especially about books, as half of the details do not stay in my mind after I close a book. But, after reading two books recently, I felt compelled to write something about them. No, they are not the books launched recently, but the old ones. Nowadays, it has become a fashion to launch the book of the first timers in some five-star hotels or famous book shops. If we open our newspapers, we can s...

Hi friends,                   I am back after a pause for more than a month wanting to write something on the eve of Diwali. Diwali is a festival of lights, victory of good over evil, welcoming Goddess Lakshmi and so on. What do families do during Diwali? Make or buy goodies, new clothes, light the lamps, and of course, no Diwali is ever complete without bursting those tons of fire crackers.                                           When we burst these crackers along with our families, how many of us will remember that a fire accident took place in Sivakasi fireworks factory just two months back? Almost every year, some fire accident takes place in that factory which burns some human lives. This time, more of onlookers were involved in the accident. These people rushed into the factory thinking that an explosion had taken place and ...

Hey buddies,                       For a long time, I have always been amazed by the variety of birds that exist in our planet. I have made a brief mention in one of my posts that one of my favorite pass time is bird watching. But with increased urbanization and deforestation, lots of bird species are becoming extinct thus tilting the balance of our ecosystem. If, we, city-dwellers want to sight more birds, we will have to travel far away from the concrete jungles and be at a place with lots of trees and lakes.                                                 I have drawn and painted birds in the past using water colors and oil paints by borrowing someone else's photos. I have enjoyed recreating every feather and other features of the birds and would like to do more. This painting is the follow-up of ou...

Hello once again,                           It's been more than one & half years since I began my blogging, and I have to say, it has been a wonderful journey for me so far. My husband encouraged me to start a blog, and I thought it will not go past  2-3 posts and will sit idle. I am a relatively late entrant into the blogging world, and though I filled my profile details, I did not start writing for sometime, not knowing how to enter each post!! But, one day, I did start, and after that, there is no turning back!!! As some of you would have noticed, my space does not stick to any particular topic, and so, it is sometimes on social issues, or on travel,  artwork or anything different. Many of the topics are unplanned and written more out of instinct. I would like to thank all of you for the support and encouragement you have given me and I feel humbled. I will want to continue writing more and hope it ...