That’s how the summer has been going for us !

  

 
The latest product that has come out of A’s boredom and creativity is this mini photo album. I was pleasantly surprised to see the size of the album, almost the size of a jack fruit seed, I kept wondering how she could manage finding and pasting such small pictures !!
And, my company has offered the families of employees tickets to watch Jungle Book, and who would miss it ? We loved the movie and I liked the kid a lot. Just before the day of movie, we read a little of Jungle Book book too !

  

A attended a short 3 day course on glass painting, and here we are, with all those paintings !

And we tried watermelon Popsicles from Rak’s kitchen. While V didn’t like them even with out tasting, we loved them to the core  !

  

Old tinkles, aging more than 20 years, Roald Dahl books that we had planned to read, Ghachar Ghochar which was translated by my college senior, book by Dale Carnegie have all come out. This book by Dale Carnegie, which got added to my FIL’s collection after he saw it with his father, which wasn’t noticed by me at all in all these years, came out after I attended a training on presentation skills, and realised how his ideas are being used till date even after a hundred years or so.

And here I end the post with a puzzle for you to solve, the puzzle we got yesterday at workplace.

Decode following message

Z5Q8Z6A5Q9 ! Q6Q9Q7 A5Q9Q5 Q5A6A1Q5 Q4Q8A5A6Q5

 Hint: The answer is at your fingertips

Remember that we got this puzzle at workplace as an e-mail .

Have a great weekend and come back with your summer fun and the answer too 😊

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One day I too would

Like to spend my post-retirement days pursuing hobbies with full of passion, the way FIL does now…

Not that I want to retire immediately, but when I do so, I wouldn’t want my days to be idle flowing with the tide, but filled with all those activities which keep me engaged and contented.

FIL, who took photography as a hobby, post retirement, has his own world around it. Apart from the numerous photography clubs he is part of, the various trips he makes to places in and out of Hyderabad, the multiple sessions he attends, the varied competitions he takes part of, the innumerable accessories he explores of, he is seen doing lots of these things too around the house:

  
Cleaning painstakingly with some powder and scrubber, the items aging 20 year old or more, which otherwise he wouldn’t have paid attention to, and drying them up in the sun and making MIL watch it over, to ensure it doesn’t get lost, just so that he could experiment photography techniques on it. Everything went well until A came home that day, asked what it was by taking it into her hands, and that thing which was a single piece separated as two 😀

  See all the equipment around, stool, setup, handmade paper, thermocol sheets and all !

  A keychain that formed his subject !

  Creativity in the making, putting together souvenirs from different , unconnected places.

  
 Attempts at product photography !
  A’s play stuff too pose as models at times 😊

One of the photographs FIL clicked was selected today as the group banner for Hyderabad Nature Photography ! Hobbies that make retirement look fun, promising and beautiful !!

I know it but

Just fail to follow it at times…

I know how therapeutic blogging is to my stressed mind at the end of a day, how refreshing it is to interact with blogger friends after a tiring day…

But I just fail to follow it at times !

And so here I am, back to this world of mine 😊

I know how recharging it is to meet the loved ones of my family, to laugh endlessly with all my cousins , to forget all that is part of the regular routine and get transported into a different world, how lasting those wonderful memories can be…

But I just fail to follow it at times !

  
So here I am, with a picture we captured at a family gathering. One of the cousins on my paternal side initiated a get-together at my grandparents’ ancestral home and how could we not go there ? It has been around 12 years that I visited this place, owing to the fact that everyone that once belonged to this place now moved on and the place has essentially become empty except for a single cousin and his wife, and naturally neither V nor A have seen it at all. I was excited to go back and visit all the places I once visited as a child and relive those times.

As expected, I had a wonderful day, with a count of 87 , spanning multiple generations, some who know me as a little child, some who know me as a peer, some who know me as a big adult. It was total FUN and I wish these things happen now and then to recharge the battery in me 😊

For the initial hour or so, A’s reaction was like “Why do you all shout so much , why is this fun to you and when are we going back home ?” After an hour or so, she was like “Can we stay a little longer ?”

Though I fail to follow things that I know of at times, I come back and start following them again, so hope to be regular at blogging again 😊

Manu aalay

The abode of Manu, or Manali, according to legend is the place where Manu, who carried the seeds of creation along with the sapt rishis in his boat, came to rest somewhere here in the Himalayas at the time of the great deluge , with the help of Lord Vishnu using Vasuki Naga as a rope. This place, which was a small village, expanded multi fold over time and has become a popular destination for many tourists over the world.

Here’s a peek into some of the places we visited :

Manu temple, quite an old one stands as a tribute to those ancient times.

  
Hidimba Devi temple, hidden among the giant deodars, dedicated to goddess Hidimba, wife of Bhima and mother of Ghatotkacha.

Vashisht hot water springs is another place of interest. The temple is believed to be of more than 4000 years old. The mythological background to the hot springs here is that Lord Lakshmana shot an arrow of Agni in the ground here to facilitate hot water for bathing for Vashishta maharshi. The water was so hot that we could place our feet in them for just a minute or so. And apparently, according to our driver, the actual hot water is mixed with some cold water and released !

  
Beas river, those stones, the mountains, the snow seem to be with you everywhere, wherever you go in Manali !

  
The monastery near the mall road of Manali, I found the prayer wheels interesting, the devotees are supposed to turn those prayer wheels, that are placed round the temple.

  
My little brain fails to comprehend most of the modern arts that get displayed in art museums , but these artists and their art, which happen at the blink of your eye, on the Mall road, simply took my breath away. I was awestruck by their talent!

More in the coming posts 🙂

A day…

A day that wakes me up with a warm smile

A day that flows with positive energy 

A day with nothing to fear about 

A day with heart full of contentment

A day filled with endless chatter

A day that puts me to sleep with a warm smile 

Is a day this heart wishes for !

What if the current day doesn’t seem so, 

There’s this hope that tomorrow is going to be such a day !

It just happens !

Long long ago, we used to make plans, some big , some small, in advance…

Long ago, we used to make it a point to have coffee at Barista, whatever day of the week it is…

Some time ago, we used to wish each other, and go back a little in time…

And today, it didn’t strike me until V called me up at work and asked what day it was…

And today, it didn’t strike V until he checked the messages sent by FIL on Whatsapp…

It didn’t strike us that today is the day we got engaged 12 years ago, the day which we celebrated in many ways over the years.

Signs of growing old ?? Nah, signs of growing matured 😊

p.s. After the forgetfulness, we celebrated our day with Mirchi bajji and Ice cream !!

Mishmash

  
See those big big ones in the hands of people over there, they are the Himalayan rabbits being offered to tourists for holding and getting photographed, of course for a price ! I was surprised to find a business of this kind.

  
Spot the lone house on the hill top in the upper part of the photograph ?  It is a common sight to see many such individual houses spread across the hills. And when we were wondering how on earth, people in those houses would access things from outside world every day, we found our answer in the trolley , in the below photograph, which is used to send supplies from below 😊

  
Bikers seen as above, are seen in big numbers, heading to Manikaran !!

  
Up, up, we climbed , till we reached the top where there was nothing but snow. And guess what we found there, people selling tea and coffee 😊

  
Aloe Vera plants in very big sizes, in very big numbers !!

And for the last one I wanted to tell you , I couldn’t take a picture of it, but here is lot of information on it with photos too. We found so many visibility marker balls of this kind, which looked quite interesting !