Light of the Lamp

 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 depth of the atrocities.                   Gang rapes and murders are actua

 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.             No one can complain about the views all the way as it was one of the best w

 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 grandfather used to tell that our handmade greeting cards and handwritten letters were his treasure. I stil

 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 across India before making appearance in television sets! Of course, we didn't hav

 Dear folks,               Iam typing in my favourite space after about 6 months. Of course,  no one would have missed my posts as everyone is too busy with the flow of their own lives!!! Without beating around the bush much, I will touch the topic I want to!!               As the dust has settled down after the results of Indian elections were declared on June 4th, a lot of retrospect is still being done by the media, social media, aam janta on the nature of the results. I too did not believe in the power of the common man/woman before I saw the results.  Of course,  the BJP supported NDA has come to power the third time, but the difference is that BJP party couldn't cross the majority mark of 272 seats !                 This election was detrimental to the existence of declining democracy of India  as it was being almost killed over the past 10 years because of the brute majority of BJP party along with the cult persona of Shri Modiji who declared himself as the saviour of Hindui

 Hi folks,          Wish you all yet another New year that will give you courage and strength to deal with adversities that may lie ahead along with happiness, laughter  and health.  Wish you all more opportunities to travel and explore places around in coming years.               We ended our year with a short visit to Sringeri along with nearby amazing destinations. Instead of making this post long with details of each place, I decided to keep it light by posting more pictures of each place. I hope you all will feel lightness and happiness for sometime while waiting to receive 2024!!                       SRINGERI SHARADAMBA TEMPLE                                Delightful Homestay which was 20 kms from Sringeri temple was such a delight to spend time connecting with nature and simple life!!                                                  Siri Mane Waterfalls                                 Harihara pura Shri Narasimha swamy temple        Some 30 kms away from Siri Mane Waterfalls,