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Showing posts from March, 2008

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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

See how Sugarcane juice is made !!!!

In my earlier post, I had mentiond how we enjoyed freshly-made sugarcane juice at Shani Shingnapur. Now I can show it to you....... If you are not able to see the video directly, click on the link below: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8882978345805173439&pr=goog-sl

A Quick Trip to Shirdi and Shani Shingnapur- with Ranjangaon Mahaganapathy as a Bonus…….

Samhith’s holidays have started . At least, he has 10 days off till new term starts, and he goes to U.K.G. As usual, holidays mean travel, and that is what we have been up to, since the 22nd of March. The trip was totally unplanned , decided on the spur of the moment. No buses were available.. It was, after all, the Holi weekend, or rather, the Good Friday, Navroze, Id-e-Milad, and Holi weekend, and everyone seemed to be on their way somewhere…. So, we did what we usually do- hire a car. We decided to visit Shani Shingnapur first, as it was a Saturday, special for Lord Shaneeshwara, and then Shirdi, and return home the same night, as Shankar and my father-in-law were supposed to go to Karjat on Sunday for the Sai water project. We started at 5:30 AM , my mother joining us from Thane on Friday night. We took the expressway to Pune, and from there, the Pune – Nagar (Ahmednagar) Highway. The ride was smooth as the roads in that part are excellent. Babu, our driver, is an excellent driver

Trains v/s Planes- A Dilemma with Kids

Over this weekend, I got to know what it feels like, to be a regular business traveller . Samhith and I spent the weekend at Chennai with my sister-in-law, Sandhya, attending a function at her place. We went by train, leaving Bombay on friday evening, and returned by a night flight on Sunday, as Samhith had to attend school today (Monday). Whew! Were we tired! Of course, the trip was worth it , because we had a blast ! Shankar's family was all there, as well as friends and relatives, many of whom we didn't remember...The function, a puja to Lord Ayyappa, went off very well.We all enjoyed it. I esecially loved the decoration (ook out for photos ..I shall upload them soon....) Samhith enjoyed the bhajan, and even sang one song ! But this post is not about the function. This is about the journey........ As I mentioned earlier, we went by train , and were lucky to get a good group of co-passengers, mostly 25 year-olds going back home after a conference in Bombay. Samhith made frien

Dandeli- Kali River Lodge

A view of a cottage and tent at Kali River Lodge, Dandeli I have been thinking and thinking about my next blog post. “Which place shall I write about?”- That is the question. Now, you might think I have visited so many places, that it is difficult to choose one of them to write about, but that is not the case. I have always wanted to travel. I remember cutting up travel articles from magazines and newspapers, wanting to go there sometime; reading about a place in a book and imagining myself there; wanting to see everything, from the ruins of ancient civilizations, to the modern mega-cities. I have yearned to visit the deep jungles of Africa, as well as the modern amusement parks and zoos of the world…. All this was just a distant dream , one of the many dreams that I had, but this dream is at least coming true, if only up to a point- For, one of the few interests that my husband and I share is traveling. We both love going to new places. Of course, there are differences-- I love his

Shivaratri Experiences

6th March is Shivaratri … the day , or rather night which is especially dear to Lord Shiva, when all over India, North to South, East to West, people worship Shiva through the night. Rich or poor, young or old, whichever caste they may belong to, people put aside their differences, and gather together to worship His symbol, the Lingam. Shivaratri means different things to different people- for some, it makes no difference whatsoever-it’s just another festival, just like any other…. For some, it is the night of devotion….For some, like my parents-in-law, it’s the night they spend at the temple, singing bhajans, and soaking in the atmosphere…. For my mother-in-law, the ultimate Shivaratri would be at Prashanthi Nilayam, watching Sri Sathya Sai Baba take out a lingam from his mouth…. For me, personally, Shivaratri meant little till my marriage. I accompanied my mother to the temple, and that was all… Now, however, Shivaratri brings to my mind, the magical atmosphere at Nainar Kovil, our