Light of the Lamp

 Hi folks,               I have not been blogging regularly for more than a year now. Except for 1 post on stampede in Kumbh mela, I have not been visiting here. I want to keep my writing ✍️ skills alive and I am trying hard to make a come back despite distractions around.          I went to valley of flowers 💐 trek trip with a ladies' group. This was my first trip with a group of unknown people outside family circle and it was fun getting to know and make new friends. We were given a fitness regimen plan to be followed before the trip. Because  I am into fitness activities for a long time,  following this was not much of an issue for me.              Uttarakhand is a relatively new state separated from former Uttar Pradesh It is known as holy state as it is full of well known temples like Kedarnath,  Badrinath,  Yamunotri, Gangotri,  temples in Haridwar,...

 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...

 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 ...

 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 w...

 Hi folks,                After a fall from the grace with a painful thud this world cup, Indians have slowly got back to business of their lives.               Some of you may have guessed with what I meant when I said Aussies won 2 'cups ' this time!! The second cup we gave them without our knowledge!        😡😩😣                It was terribly disappointing and unbearable day  for die hard Indian fans who made the gallery of the stadium uniformly blue to support 'men in blue!' Btw,  how many of us will know or go and cheer 'women in blue ' like this? No one, including me, knows who the captain of women's cricket team is. Nature and biology being partial to men, women can never match the speed and agility of their counterparts of men! Oops,  I veered away from the topic! When India won 10 matches in a row and looked to be invincibl...

 Hello friends,              Every travel is unique, but a few are more unique due to its geographical location. The border crossings between 2 countries, travelling to one edge of a country are more exciting and evokes more curiosity! Our journey to the tip of India recently was one such. A trip to Rameshwaram and dhanushkodi is not only exciting, but also spiritual!!  Yes, it is on one edge and we can experience the land waning out and oceans taking over and Sri Lanka is so near from there yet so far!!      This Navarathri holidays, it was destination Rameshwaram with our running buddies and their families! From Bangalore to Rameshwaram it is a very long drive by road and so we stopped at Madhurai to have a good darshan of Meenakshi Amman! We planned out in such a way that we did not have to wait in queue for long hours! Because it was Navarathri season, we were lucky enough to see the display of golu bommais ( dolls of deiti...

 Hi,             "In a world where you can be anything, Be kind."                                                    Unknown.         The months of January and February are seasons of weddings, especially in South India. Recently, we attended a wedding of one of our nephews. The celebrations and rituals lasted for 3 days in a resort and there was lot of fun and frolic, catching up with extended family members after a long time. After the traditional nischayathartham (betrothal) in the morning, we expected that the bride will take hours to dress up for the reception. But voila!! Here she enters in a simple saree devoid of heavy makeup, very minimal ornaments making the whole evening look like more of a casual affair. The 'performances' for the evening included bride's father giving a speech about his daugh...

 Hi,         When I informed my neighbour and relative that we were going  to Ooty with our running group, they blinked and confirmed twice when I said I am going to see that hill station for the first time! In my school,  my classmates used to circulate this small poem :              'First do your duty,             Then marry a beauty,             Have honeymoon at Ooty,             Bring back a kutty.(child)'  My husband dismissed it by saying what sub standard poems we were circulating!              Majority of the readers would have gone to Ooty and so I do not feel I should give a grand description of the place! My first and perfect impressions of Udhagamandalam was shattered when I saw many of the places there was spoilt by commercialization and over population which has led to ...

 Hi,                   This is the post I wanted to write about for a long time.  Most of the runners who are into long distance running  will have lots of stories to tell. But, only the fellow runners can understand that language which a layman will find it boring.                                                I started my running journey four years ago. The inspiration to start running for fitness was from my husband who is an expert and a fast runner and is highly respected in the running groups. Within few days, I realized that running is not easy and it is going to be a long and struggling journey!! My husband is now an ultra-marathoner and I am yet to run my first full marathon (42 km). I have never been into any kind of sports during my childhood. This makes my journey maybe harder than others, not to ...

 Hi,          I published my last blog post 'Love hate relationship with British monarchy'  exactly 2 months back  but I found this topic lying as a draft from June 24th, unattended. I felt some connect between raagas and dosas but I was wondering how to put them in words.  As a woman, I do cooking. As a Tambrham woman, I've learnt carnatic music in my childhood (something 'mandatory ' for girls in our community to sing before the prospective groom and impress 😂😁).                        I revisited this page after a long time to proceed with this topic. The real learning starts only when we teach and it is true with any field. I started learning more when I started teaching music to children in my neighbourhood. The more I learn, the more I feel that I have learnt nothing. I love dosas just as I love ragas. Just like dosas being my comfort food, listening to Carnatic music everyda...