Going Solo

Roald Dahl has been my all-time favorite author. Ever since I read Matilda, I became his fan and gradually read almost all his writings.
This one, in particular is a worth keepsake. As the name suggests, "Going Solo" is the perfect book to revisit your childhood and to feel that thrill of growing into a teen and an adult.

Oh did u notice my bookmark...! Many of my known folks like it a lot and want to have one..  :)

Now that its time to say good bye to computer ( have to get into my bed), I guess I am gonna read a few pages from this book once again .

The Art of Tea-Making

The art of Tea Making ~

A typical Sunday starts with Tea-making....

Take a cup of water. While hot, add pounded ginger (and tulsi, if there). Bring it to boil thoroughly. To it, add a sugar (a little more than half a spoon). Bring it to semi-boil. Tehn add Tea powder (my fav is Tata Life). And bring it to boil (once or twice, if required). Add milk as desired (I like less milk) and keep in medium  flame for 2-3 minutes. Strain it and sip it  with your favorite biscuits.

No doubt, tea is a celestial beverage..!

Love

Someone had once told these great words ~~

"Love is like a rose.
...When pressed between two lifetimes, it will last forever." 

Hope you all get the rose of love / love of rose..Have a great weekend with your loved ones.

Happy Birthday AT

Time ticks by so fast...

It was 24 years back when you came to this world as my little sister..!
Aah those days of fight, fun and rivalry... Gone are those days .. Only memories reside in my heart..

Now you are big enough, almost taller than me..more beautiful than me.. stronger than me.. bold than me... more courageous, more caring, more scarificing.. and of course more rich..  :)

On your  this birthday, my best wishes, love and blessings (all packed in a surprise bag), I send for you...!
May you grow "day in, day out" and happiness sprawl around you..! May all your wishes and dreams come true... Amen..!
Hoping that you have the best 24th birthday ever (I hope you liked the gifts of this year)...!

Wishes from Mom, Dad, Me, Paltu and Chai..

Spice up...

Just like spices add flavour to our food,
A smile adds glamour to our life....!

Or one must say "Ä little spice adds flavor to our life"...........!!

Let's spice up our life with a little :)..!

Celebrating August...

But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes 

** Celebrating August **

August is the month of frienship and festivities get into gear as per Hindu Calender.
First Sunday of August was celebrated as Happy Friendship Day.
2nd of August till 30th August: Holy month of Quran, Ramzaan is here.
(Day before yesterday, we went with Wasim to the famous Rusell's Market and hogged on kebaabs and yummy phirnis..! what all mouth-watering delicacies!!)
4th to 14th August: What a shopping time I had at Dastakaar, Bangalore and Flower show at Lalbagh.
13th of August was Rakshyabandhan, that auspicious day when sisters tie the red-yellow-golden thread (rakhi) to brothers wishing for their health and happiness and for her protection. I too celebrated it..!
15th of August was Happy Independence Day. India celebrated its 65th independence. So did I..!
22nd of August: Yesterday we celebrated Janmastami..! What a peaceful moment it wa- Me and Chai and Nandi bro and BK Kerur..! all fun fun..! yummy food..!
And next week while August says good-bye to all of us, we will be celebrating Ganesh Puja (1st of Sept'11)

The whole month was such pomp and joyous ceremonies..!
I guess I am loving this season of rain (for a change)! (Lots of holidays ..may be thats why !!) :))

The Champa Flower

The Champa Flower
~ Rabindranath Tagore
***
Supposing I became a Champa flower, just for fun, and grew on a branch high up that tree, and shook in the wind with laughter and danced upon the newly budded leaves, would you know me, mother?

You would call, "Baby, where are you?" and I should laugh to myself and keep quite quiet.

I should slyly open my petals and watch you at your work.

When after your bath, with wet hair spread on your shoulders, you walked through the shadow of the Champa tree to the little court where you say your prayers, you would notice the scent of the flower, but not know that it came from me.

When after the midday meal you sat at the window reading Ramayana, and the tree's shadow fell over your hair and your lap, I should fling my wee little shadow on to the page of your book, just where you were reading.

But would you guess that it was the tiny shadow of your little child?

When in the evening you went to the cow-shed with the lighted lamp in your hand, I should suddenly drop on to the earth again and be your own baby once more, and beg you to tell me a story.

"Where have you been, you naughty child?"

"I won't tell you, mother." That's what you and I would say then.

****
Current Mood: Remembering those old childhood summer holidays (when I had read this poem of Tagore)

The Hazy Memories...!

From a recent journey to one of the evergreen forest  patches of elephant country (Kerala), where peace and traquility resides at its best..!
The reflections are that of the memories which are still  in my mind..!

World Photography Day

"Once photography enters your bloodstream, it's like a disease."
- Anonymous
For World Photography Day~ 19th August, 2011

There are many people in this world who never heard of World Photography Day. Even I was not aware till 2007...Why is that?  World Photography Day wasn’t ‘created’ by a big brand as a marketing tool nor needed an brand-ambassdor.
It's rather a day where photographers had started to come together to celebrate photography, just because they could. Any excuse to throw a party right?!?!
World Photography Day originates from the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic processes developed by Louis Daguerre. On January 9, 1839, The French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype process. A few months later, on August 19, 1839, the French government announced the invention as a gift “Free to the World.”

Nodoubt that now, when we have DSLRs and those various modes/ tricks/ techniques of photography, we should celebrate the fraternity of 'photographers'.

A day for that passion called "clicking away", a day to salute your work and mine...!
To all "shutter-bugs"around the world, on this World Photography Day, Amtrips wishes happy clicking moments!

Happy Independence Day

Six decades ago, on the 15th day of the eighth month of the seventh year of 1940s, India got its freedom from British rule  and now we say it proudly "we are citizens of a free country".
A country which is united by its diversities..!A nation famous for its dignity, hospitality, culture, tradition and heritage..!

No doubt "being Indian" is a pride in itself.
However we ought to hit the stride..!
When we celebrate this day, we have to remember and  realise that we have to pay for this freedom/ independence in some or the other way.  This year when the whole nation celebrated the 65th Independence Day with the Tricolour fever, I got myself some orchids and cacti from the Lalbagh Flower show to celebrate the Independence Day... My mantra in lieu of this freedom is
~ More greenery.. so Go green
~ Reuse, Recycle and Reduce
(Sounds bais;b'coz of the hidden ecologist in me)

Salute to the Royal Animal..!

Saluting the royal animal...!
When I was a kid, I never knew what tigers are except for the fact that "Tiger is our national animal."

Being a pseudo-ecologist, I now know that tigers are keystone species of  an ecosystem (dominantly evergreen to  moist and dry-deciduous forests). With the population of tiger falling drastically, wildlife is undergoing a bottleneck. Reasons are many. However, the prime reason for the tiger-fall is poaching. Human are the biggest danger to these big cats today.

Taken this Sunday, at Dastkar Nature Bazaar, 2011 (@ Gayatri Vihar, Palace Ground, 5th-14th Apr'2011), this photo has a story to be told. While I was wandering for my subject (to be clicked) and  at the same time, wondering what to buy and what not, I over-heard the conversation between a 5-6 years old kid and his mom.
Boy: "Mommy, whats this?!?!"
Mom: "That's a tiger.."
Boy (chuckled): "Mommy, see see, a blue tiger..!"
Mom: "Nahi Beta (~son), its violet..!" (My eyes popped out hearing this)
 ----
Boy: "Mom, but the one we saw in zoo is yellow.. All tigers are yellow..It can't be a tiger, you are lying to me" (awww, I was awe-stuck with the kid's intelligence!) And with that he started crying..!
----
After a big silence,  mom gave a super-witty response..
Mom: "Beta, painting hai..! It's a mistake..We will ask the painter to make it yellow."
(lolz, I must say its so easy to make your kids satisfy when then are kids..")

(I think this is a gimmick for all of us to realize what we are up to and what we ought to do..!)

Friendship Day..!

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Every year, 1st Sunday of August is celebrated as Happy Friendship (Fren'ship) Day..! 

Friendship Day was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1919, and intended on first Sunday of august to be a day where people celebrated their friendships by sending cards. The first Sunday in August was chosen as the center of the largest lull in holiday celebrations. Friendship Day was promoted by the greetings card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer resistance - given that it was rather too obviously a commercial gimmick to promote greetings cards. By the 1940s the number of Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in Europe, however it has been kept alive and revitalized in Asia where several countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends. Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated in a number of countries across the world.

^{More info on International Friendship Day @ Wikipedia}

Age overtakes.....

Age overtakes us all;

Our temples first; then on o'er cheek and chin,

Slowly and surely, creep the frosts of Time.

Up and do somewhat, ere thy limbs are sere.

~ Theocritus, "The Love of Thyonichus"