Most of us have grown up with the philosophy of seeing God in everything – in every stone, every tree, every human being, every animal and what not. Roadside temples are not anything new in India. We have earlier written about a tree with a slight resemblance to an elephant’s trunk turning into Ganpathi idol and a street side temple. (Of Faith & Creativity).
This is another interesting version. A huge rock in the Matheran hills turning into another massive Ganpathi. Clever use of colours and artistic rendering have converted this huge rock into a divine statue complete with a mouse at its feet.
This interesting piece of art is visible during the train ride from Neral to Matheran. The trekking route from Peb Fort to Matheran also passes through this new temple.
On our second safari at Tadoba, a few kilometers inside from the starting point, this board welcomed us. As if to temper our expectations. This was at the border of Tadoba range and Moharli range where there is a small settlement. Soon after this however we did spot a tiger.
It’s already jingle bells time at the ITC Grand Central! Last week was the ‘cake mixing ceremony’ – mixing loads of dry fruits with spices, honey, and fruit extracts. The mix is let to ferment for a month or so, for baking those delicious plum cakes for Christmas.
This year, the students of Akanksha Lower Parel Centre were invited for the cake mixing ceremony at the ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai. Saroj maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons were the celebrity guests for the event.The kids were so thrilled and charged up that they managed to convince their teachers to allow them to leave early from school. They were restless even while watching cartoons during the short wait time.
The excitement was palpable as they got ready for the ceremony in the ball room. As about 30 kids got into the act, wearing Christmas caps and palms duly tucked in gloves, the room soon got filled with a heady aroma of fruits and spices. The colourful mixture and the sweet aroma was enough to give an idea about how yummy the cake would be! The exhilaration soared as the kids fished out the two hidden coins from the mix.
Traveling and blogging have opened up a whole lot of interesting experiences for us. Of which, one we cherish the most is the blogger friends. After interacting with them online for some time, meeting them in person (that too unexpectedly) adds to this pleasure.
Thomas and Shilpy of Walkthewilderness (http://walkthewilderness.blogspot.com/) is another couple-blogger like us. Passionate about wildlife and photography, their blog is a visual delight. Thomas has been generous to us with his tips on photography. We were looking forward to meet them at the auditions for the Great Driving Challenge. After three fun-filled days, the exuberant Thomas and composed Shilpy have become our friends in the real world too.
Our neighbours are always excited about our travels and adventures. When their brother-in-law from Bhopal visited them, they became eloquent about us. They didn’t know that the brother-in-law and we were already online friends. It was a surprise to open the door and see the smiling face of P N Subramanian, whose blogs are a treasure trove of history, archaeology, travel and numismatics. He writes in Hindi (http://mallar.wordpress.com/) and English (http://paliakara.blogspot.com/), though we manage to read only the English one.
After our last post on Top 12 results of the Great Driving Challenge, we haven’t updated on Top 3 results. Soon after the announcement, we had to pack our bags from Royal Palms and get ready for the journey.
So here is the video of Top 3 announcement.
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We started our 10 day trip through the heart of Western Ghats on 7th morning and had a great time.
We have made it to the Top 12 from over a thousand contestants.
This challenge is getting interesting for sure.
The 12 contestants will now meet for a ground event somewhere near Mumbai for three days. 3rd August to 5th August. The Jury is expected to grill us on all possible skills. And 3 will make it to the final round and get to drive 3000 kms.
The first hurdle is over. We are in the race. As one among the 100.
Thanks for everyone who voted for us.
As the digital clock ticked seconds on the TGDC website on 20th July, we anxiously waited hoping that as it turns 1.00 pm, the home page will transform into a list of names and we have to search through the 100 names. But Sandip had one more trick up his sleeves. Sure the home page changed. But to some 100 blocks of letters. One had to click each of those letters to find whether he/she is in the race. And after some random clicks, when the heart beat started racing, we started clicking one by one from the start. And voila. When the 4th letter ‘R’ magically turned to be us, we smiled at them with some narcissistic pleasure.
Getting into the next 9 from the 100 is certainly not easy. Nothing can be done now. It is just wait and watch to be plain lucky.
Mitsubishi, with its Indian partner Hindustan Motors is organizing a contest open only to couples. Couples who love travel, who can blog, photograph and drive. We have jumped at it. Close to 400 couples are in the list now and a 100 will be shortlisted based on the application forms.
Shortlisted people will have to go through a second and third round of evaluation – details of which are not known now – and a final three teams will be selected. These three will have to travel 3000 km during a 10 day period, blog about it with videos and photographs. And the winner will get a cool Rs. 10 lakhs !!
So vote for us and help us increase our chances of winning !!
Meet Sraddha. She is about 12 years old and stays in a one-room house along with her parents and siblings. The sparkle in her eyes perhaps hides the difficulties of her daily grind.
Since the past five years, she is experiencing a new life. Apart from her school, she now tries to fast track her learning of English and Maths. And hopes to fulfill her dream of becoming a police officer. Thanks to Akanksha, a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation working in the field of education. Akanksha’s core belief is that giving a strong educational foundation, self esteem and values to the less privileged children will help them improve their quality of life.
Today, Sraddha had more reasons to smile. For she was enjoying her first ever adventure picnic near Kanheri caves at Sanjay Gandhi National Park along with many of her friends. And for us it was a different trip as facilitators.
It has been a long time since we did ‘packing-bags-on-early-Sunday-morning’. There have not been many one-day treks of late. So when Nature Knights planned an adventure activity session of rock climbing, rappelling and valley crossing for about 35 kids from Akanksha, we did pack our bags and joined them.
Volunteering for this event was quite an experience for all of us in Nature Knights. Matching up to the kids’ energy levels and answering their innumerable questions was a task by itself. The impact of Akanksha was evident in the confidence displayed by the kids.
Did you know how well they make modular kitchens in Belgaum ? Well, a copy writer who wrote this advertisement copy for this brand in Belgaum seem to know. And a passionate copy writer he/she is.
We saw this on the back cover of Belguam-Dharwad-Hubli Yellow pages, published by a private publisher in Belguam.
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