Light of the Lamp

Hello,               This article is for a change. Yes, a change from the travel articles, social issues, poems, book reviews, art & craft, et al. Phew, what a change!!! What is that change?? Is this about something totally out of our universe? No prizes for guessing. It is something about us only. Our change-expecting habit. Habits do become second nature when they are with us for long.                                                                                                        I do not know about people in other countries, but we Indians have this 'incorrigible' habit. Forget about shopping with credit or debit cards. There are many shops and establishments in our country th...

Friends,                 I hope you are all enjoying this cloudy, gloomy weather with rains in between and lots of steaming cups of tea, when time permits. As the continuation of the last travelogue article, this one mainly focuses on Munnar trip. I wanted to encompass all the details of our vacation trip in one, but found that it was becoming too lengthy. So, this one stands out from the rest :).                                   After having the complimentary breakfast at our hotel in Thekkady, we started with renewed vigor to explore Munnar. It is about 110 kms from Thekkady and we took NH 49. As we progressed, the road became narrow and winding, forcing us to go slow with caution. Munnar's altitude varies from 4,760 ft to 8,842 ft above sea level (the upper limit is close to the altitude of Mt. Everest). So, it was understandable that we got to see ...

Hi pals,                Finally, I am back to my beloved 'blog baby'. I have been planning to write this one, but I did not have enough time and space required for concentration. It has been about 2-1/2 years of work of words which keeps this space going, and once again, I thank you for all your support which is the life blood of my blog. During this course of time, I found that I have been writing travel articles off and on. This makes me realize that I have passion and energy to travel and discover those unknown paths of our planet.                              This time, it is not about those among '100 hidden spots', (a column that appears in 'The Hindu' on places which are not that well-known) but which is visited by every Tom, Dick & Harry. After spending about a week in my hometown, we planned to spend the rest of our holidays in Thekkady & Munnar. Much aw...

                                                                        Poetry is not my forte and has never been so. I do not have patience to go through the never-ending lines of a poem or the lyrics of a song. I was happy and comfortable writing the interpretations of poems in my school & college days. Poetry is for people who are more intellectual in thinking compared to ordinary mortals. I scoffed at the reasoning that poems bring out a range of emotions and that a poet reaches to the masses through his creative words. Then, why is my mind itching to pen a few lines? How is it going to look like? Will it be called a poem?                                                 ...

Hello all,                   Yes, it has been quite sometime since I posted anything. In fact, it is more than 2 months since I wrote anything here. It goes without saying that a blog's life depends on the passion and the fire that the blogger breathes into it.  I hope to keep my blog frequently updated to my best possible, since it is my beloved baby.                          About a couple of months back, there was a news of  the daughter of an auto rickshaw driver topping in CA (Chartered Accountancy) exams in the first attempt. Not only did she clear these exams in the first attempt, but also became the first rank holder in the national level which only a few could dream of. Her brother also managed to clear the CA exams in the first attempt. I am sure, all of you would have read this news with great enthusiasm congratulated her for her stupendous achieveme...

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...