SMILE... you are in KUCHCH

Kuchch is the western most District of Gujarat, INDIA and is blessed with unique geographical features. Rann in the North which also encompasses white Rann India Bridge and forward areas of Border  Like Vigokot ,Khardoi etc being manned by BSF , Creeks which also has famous and disputed 68 kms Sir creek and Coastal areas which have famous ports and tourist stations  like Mandvi and Mudra.

Sunset in white rann

White rann with  huge tent city established on the edge of Dorodo village during the Rann festival is the star attraction particularly during the full Moon nights . Festival  an annual affair on the shinning, white, salt plane    starts in Nov and ends in Feb. is worth visiting experience. It is a life time experience where salt plane is formed when the evaporation of the sea water is more than the precipitation in this area.


The wild life in the Rann comprises of Sambars, Fox, rabbits, wild boars and numerous species of birds.like cranes, pelicans, flamingos etc.

birds in the rann

Sambar in the rann

4 DAYS and 915 kms....

sugarcane  juice 

It was a good break from the fast lanes of Delhi to Himachal. Getting ready at seven for a short journey is not difficult as the winters are about to go and the summers are almost there. Packing the bare minimum, having a cup of tea, we the family of four,with our fully loaded WAGON-R started for the Gods own land.....HIMACHAL.

SHORT VISIT

Took a short leave to visit parents in Himachal. Journey in the train AC Chair car was enjoyable . boarding at 1430 hrs and reaching Ropar at 2000 hrs was not at all tiring. Humidity levels though at its peak still the climate was enjoyable and much better  than the hot and humid Delhi.

rains are wanted to maintain the water level

on the way,  people to religious places in HP 

Carried the book by Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina" along. Out of 783 pages could read only 150. Beautifully written and enjoyable read.
few lines from the book : Anna, who  is the heroine of the legendary novel, her husband, Alexey see her talking to a handsome man in a social gathering and is jealous and after due deliberation scolds her in the following line when she returns from the gettogether;
Alexey to Anna - I consider jealousy, as you know,a humiliating and degrading feeling,and I shall never allow myself to be influenced by it; but there are certain rules of decorum which can not be disregarded with impunity. This evening it was not I, but judging by the impression made on the company , every one observed that your conduct and deportment were not altogether what could be desired.
Rains are deficient by a huge margin though it had been raining during short stay at my native place.

WINTERS AND WINTERS.......

Coldest days in Delhi of this winter when the mercury has gone down considerably below normal. it was the worst winters in north India where record snowing took place and made the life miserable for the people living in higher reaches of J&K and Himachal.

Delhi has four prominent seasons ,winters which extends from Dec to Feb is the best to visit the city. life of Delhi never changes but is always on the fast lane..

HOMELAND SECURITY EXPO- DELHI

IFSEC-2011....

Best of the products for homeland security were on display at the Expo from 6-9 dec2011 at pragati maidan.

Bio- metric system for access control, the perimeter security, the controlled access to the house and the surveillance systems were all on display.

Expo might have been success seeing the protective concept and security it provided to the individual as well as the corporate buildings from the unwanted nuisance.

it may be worthwhile to mention that without human protection no gadget is successful and we need to train the manpower as well to really handle these tech equipments.

one week break in Himachal

It was a well deserved break when we took on the wheels to Himachal. NH1 from Delhi to Ambala has been considerably improved with the construction work on the flyovers is in progress though at snails pace. with the road conditions improved we could hit Chandigarh from south Delhi in 06 hours.

night halt at Roopnagar.

on the onset winters in the second half of October really makes the driving a better experience through the open fields of Punjab and one enters Himachal. Did n,t I mention the road infrastructure is improving and improving fast.

Enter Himachal....... speed of the veh is halved..partially because the road is hilly but mainly because the condition of the road goes to worse. patches ......pathholes .... overloaded trucks......my goodness.... innocent people....

Himachal govt has to under stand that the arteries to the state has to be well maintained if the economy of the state is to be kept healthy. need someone emphasize the importance of domestic tourism for this tiny state.......

Govindsagar which is filled to brim after the good Monsoon provides best opportunity for boating in the lake.... perhaps in near future shall be a very good water-sports destination.......

Festivals really provide a good opportunity for the siblings to meet each other , ponder over the future plans of each other and remissness the yesteryear spend together...who said the time moves on ....i say it just runs away.....

SCHOOL ADMISSIONS IN DELHI

Finally it was a sigh of relief..... finally some sound sleep in the night...perhaps worst phase of parenthood was over. Getting addmission in good school in delhi is a project in itself. For the last three months , uncountable calls to schools where the secretary or the receptionist picking the phone behaving like the proud owner of the school, numerous visits to school premises where bypassing the gate sentry to the reception of the school is just like winning another war, I was able to get admission to my children. Horrible tale starts when somebody with school going children gets posted to new delhi... he will get a shelter easily but not the schools. Education in national capital is one of the issue which worries most parents except for few who runs their own school. education is business specially in DELHI.

visit to city of lakes aka UDAIPUR

UDAIPUR is the one of the famous places in the popular region of MEWAR. On to the south westren part of rajastan its boundary lies along the gujrat. Mewar is famous for it has produced the greats like MAHARANA PRATAP. it was one of the first visit to this part of the land. June is not the month to visit udaipur because the lakes are empty, climate is hot so people goes to nearby town mt. Abu.

FATICHAR SHOW BY HOCKEY TEAM INDIA

NEITHER they have the matching skills nor are better stamina wise, watching hocky match with spain, indian team provoked me to have a pity on them, and utter words to all those people who are responsible for sorry state of the game in india today. In match with Pakistan perhaps they played better in the opening game where all the energy they were possessing might have been eroded in that match only, seeing last two matches i.e the match with Australia and Spain have shown that even a school team is better placed than the indian hockey team which is playing the world cup 2010. The lack of josh is clear.Attitude mingled with better skill is the need of hour. speed is one thing where we are losing the game...... firangi teams are really no match for our desi doodles. When are we going to learn from past mistakes... perhaps never it seems
Wake up India and fetch some talent and save us from the shame every time we play some big tournament.......and bring the lost glory back. in the National sport.

RED FORT ////27 -2-10

Visit to a historical places not only refreshes but also gives the insight to the evolution of presnt form form the past. Vist to lal quilla was one such experience which took the thoughts back to schooldays when we used to read about the mogul dynasty and the its rule in India.RED FORT which took almost 10 years to be constructed under the rule of emporer shahjahan is truely the archtectural embodiment of the era of 17th century and has witnessed the military might of the mogul dynasty,britishers and finally the indian army post Independence. This fort is witness to the contradictions posed by the brilliance of the rules and subsequent fall of the dynasty in the hands of RANGILAA Bahdur shah jaffar who was subsequently jailed in Rangoon by the Britishers. initiation and failure of Revolt of 1857, also called as the Ist war of Independence was perhaps the mark of down curve for the glory of RED fort.Imperial British India Army was headquartered in Lal qila.it is now world heritage sight preserved by Archeological survey of India and is the main tourist attraction.
sound and light show in the evenings is really worth wathing to get a glimse of the glorious past of the fort...

mogul gardens

Blooming season ie the month of february,is one of the best months to visit Delhi. climate is favourable as the winters are on the last leg and the summers are a while late. mogul garden in the vicinity of Rastrapati bhawan is worth watching in the full blossom of the nature.we happened to visit the garden along with family on 16 feb 2010.It was delight to watch the flowers in thier full blossom youth.Herbal garden consists of the herbal plants,though they are also present in the hills but common man does not know its name only the use travelling down to the generations, Rose garden is as poorly maintained, perhaps rose garden in chandigarh is better kept and maintained than one here in delhi, Though a retinue of workers is maintaining it.architectural layout of the garden is worth seeing.

PEHOWA

Located 150 kms (3 hour drive)from Delhi ,one of the ancient places of religious importance related to HINDU MYTHALOGY,related to MAHABHARTA BATTLE is PEHOWA.


PEHOWA(pritudak) a pious land of 48 kos radius,located 27 kms(west) from PIPLI(KURUKSHETRA) ON THE sides of NH 1 on the bank of river Saraswati.Whole of north India(punjab, Himachal, Haryana)throng this place for PIND DAAN to the relatives who have departed to the heaven prematurely.it is believed that after the mahabharat battle where millions of soldiers lost their lives used to haunt the pandavas asking for last rites for their souls... lord krishna brought them to PEHOWA for performing the last rites for these millions of soldiers on the banks of saraswati river. Since then the tradition goes..The place is related to grief and satisfaction unlike HARIDWAR WHERE HINDUS immerse the ashties of the departed.
This place is full of dharamsalas for night stay. one of them where we had a stay is MATA BALA SUNDARY TEMPLE TRUST. A WELL MAINTAINED FREE PLACE TO SPEND A NIGHT.
In the kalyug saraswati river has vanished which bloomed in SATYUG and what remains is a concrete man made pond whose water is suffocating, due to rituals, pouring in all the pooja material in to it,whish is cleaned occasionally.
Kurukshetra is full of historical anecdotes as mahabharat was fought on this place.
BRAHMSARAVAR IS ANOTHER PLACE to see, A huge brass charriot replica on which krishna giving GEETA sandesh to Arjun is really worth seeing.
Commercialisation of the place has led to the lost charm of the history which has a great place in the hearts, which might have been relevant to the effected but from turist point of view place is OK for one day visit.....

26/11 mumbai seige

Incidents happen to change the psyche of a nation, generation, tribe or civilisation. mumbai attack by the 10 mercenaries sent by the jealous neighbour was one such attack on the mindset of the common masses that it united the nation in to one . sacrifice by the common man/ NSG COMMANDOES and police personnels created such an euphoria that led to govt create special agency (NIA) which is truly federal in nature excpt the preventive powers and also exposed the vulnerability of india to more such attacks.

Amorphophallus titanum- largest flower of the planet! our endeavour should be to MAKE INDIA A FLOWER AMONG THE THORNS

such attacks give oppurtunity to introspect and bring in the much desire changes in to all spheres. OFFENCE IS THE BEST DEFENCE

organised are we ?

what is organised cadre? perhaps it won't mater to a lay man, but to the people who are toiling day in and day out , giving thier precious lives for the brloved forces and the nation, when they are deprived of thier rightful right on the name that they are not organised , the these words sounds like HAMMER. some bunch of jokers just sitting in airconditioned rooms,just passing one test(UPSC),play with the words and decide the outcome.
one of my friend wrote on organised cadre:
he walks happy by my side
is it because he is organised(cadre)
i work for him though he is so shallow
i will still serve because i am not so hollow
now i see a man in white
he looks smart, deffirent,and bright
will he break the wall and see my plight
becouse when i joined to serve
know not i that i was not organised!!!!!!!

Megha aaa re.......

a few days back, a few good things happened for a few good people and for most others.ONE A govt is formed thankgod it as not a hung parliament,but a govt with majority to provide a stable sarkar and with no place to blackmailers,TWO a longest linking bridge is constructed in Bombay by HCC, showing that india has arrived. THREE long awaited monsoon finally lands in the capital...............giving much of the relief from the scortching heat of the june. BUT the hapiness was short lived when rains once again eluded and finance minister presented the much awaited budget .... much hoped tax exumptions were a farce as most of the earnings will again be taken over by the govt back by way of direct taxes and remaining through indirect taxes...... ironical isnt it????????