Vagabond

That was another tough day for all of us in the hostel; the examinations would start the next day. Unusually, all the hostelers were in their room, glued to their text books and notes at 6:30 pm in the evening.

Myself and Chandru braved out of the hostel as if there was nothing unusual to happen the next day, unmindful of the exams, to the nearby Lioness Club that was in a lane just behind our hostel in Eranakulam.

At the Lioness club, there was a presentation by those team members who had returned from their Expedition to Antarctica recently. The delegates included Scientists from National Institute of Oceanography, two Naval Officers and one Geophysicist from Geophysical Institute.

The lights were off and the documentary film show started. It showed the Ice filled terrains of Antarctica. The team which camped in Antarctica gave a name to their camp site as 'Dakshin Gangotri'.

Whilst the show was on, a member of the delegation was narrating their experience of Antarctica as to how difficult it was to manage the cold climate during their stay and what was their routine and the diet they had, etc,. Also they showed their only neighbors with whom they could be friendly with, showing those Penguins on the screen, which merrily flapped their wings and jumped about here and there.

I learnt, for the first time, that the penguins cannot fly and they had enjoyed our southern delicacy, "upma", the method of preparation was researched and prepared by The Food Research Institute, Mysore, specially for this Antarctic Expedition!

As we were engrossed in the meeting, somebody from behind vigorously patted my shoulder saying, 'hey subu... onga appa vandhirukaardaa' meaning, my father has arrived at the hostel... Which I couldn't just believe and so I ‘phooed’ him away by saying, "kathai vidathe da"... meaning 'don't lie'!

"Promise! Your father is sitting in my room and swore that he will declare you as a vagabond, if you don’t turn up within 15 minutes!"

This response from him made me immediately realize that my father was indeed around there, as he is the only person in this world that I know who would use the word ‘vagabond’!

Excusing with Chandru, I left the venue immediately and reached the hostel to see my father sitting in my study chair, giving a suspicious look as to why I went to Ladies Club and that too at night!

I have just returned after my emergency trip to Chennai and during my stay, my friend called me up after seeing ‘The Hindu’, “Hey Vagabond, sorry to hear about your Dad!”

Yes, the inevitable had happened; my father peacefully passed away on 3rd November, 2011.

Diwali Dreams

Have you ever found out the reasons for any one becoming a Super star from a simple actor? One striking difference that comes to my mind is that Super stars are immensely popular with children.

Now, talking about the festivals of India, there is no need to scratch one’s head to identify the most popular festival, that is one and only Deepavali or Diwali!

We can never get back those childhood days when, we would celebrate one Diwali and immediately look forward to celebrate the next one in greater fervor.

Those were the days when we

· Take pride in bursting crackers well before dawn

· Crave to accumulate the shreds of crackers in front of our houses to show to others that ours was bigger celebration!

· Deliver more variety of sweets to the neighbors to prove that point again!

· Wear those ready made dresses with such patterns that no one else could be spotted wearing it!

· Even after all the crackers are used up, try to make improvised ones from the failed crackers from the debris!

· Show the burns as a proof of the adventurous style in celebrating Diwali!

Now after crossing the middle age, when social activists talk about various hazards involved in using fire works and also the plight of children employed in the industry, we tend to think deeply for and against celebrating Diwali.

Religious and mythological reasons, notwithstanding, Diwali is no more to be treated as a festival but a social movement that brings in a host of benefits to the society.

Well readers, if you agree with the above statement, I am sure, you can expect your bonus very soon!

H A P P Y D I W A L I

Action in inaction(Remix!)

Take a train and settle down in your berth. Now sleep well till your destination is reached, without any need for any action from your side! Should I say that this is an example of your action in inaction? Your action is to reach the planned destination yet you accomplish it without any action on your part,once you have boarded the train!

Well. In work situation, taking decision in matters would require both action and inaction. In some matters the best solution is to leave it without any action from your end! For example, some vexatious matters which will become troublesome if you attempt to deal with it.

But inaction when action is demanded by the situation would invite liability due to negligence. For example, you know a toddler is about to trip over a parapet wall from your arm's distance. If you fail to act to prevent the toddler from tripping, then you are clearly negligent. This is what is known as the principle of liability. A liability can arise due to lack of duty of care. Here one should see if there is a duty of care that is required to be fullfilled by a person. A differently-abled person is not expected to have the same duty of care that is required in such situation as against a normal person.

Some people think that best way to avoid trouble is to simply desist taking any decision. People in sensitive offices are often found to resort to inaction, for fear of courting trouble!

Height of inaction is to ignore something happening under your own nose that would bring serious consequences for the institution itself, say your home or office or any public utility. It is like walking off ignoring a dangerious material found on your way, unmindful of the harm it would cause to the society.

We all read from news nowadays that how those found to have resorted to inaction is being seriously questioned than those who have found to have taken wrong action!

Although it would be challenging to differentiate and decide on action or inaction, one must do due diligence by bearing in mind the duty of care expected on oneself.

So readers it is needless to say that even inaction is actionable!

Growth issues

Every day, in the morning, the first thing I would do is to see my weight in the weighing scale. Well, the day when I think I have reduced my weight, the scale would show higher reading than expected! I wanted to reach below the 80 kgs mark. To achieve that, I started on a regime of fast walking and also bought an 'abs reduction' special exercise chair from a mall from Dubai.

Now, with a renewed confidence of controlling my weight at my will, I decided to do an experiment. I went for 45 minutes fast walking and, thereafter, I had a lighter dinner than usual, thinking that the next day I would reach below 80 kg mark. But to my utter disappointment, after all the exercises, the scale read 83 kg as against the previous reading of 81 kg!

Recently, I was going through the exchange rate of Indian Rupee against Dhiram. Strangely I found a correlation to my weight! I found 1000 rupees equaling 83dhs! I was biding time to see that Rupee value would become weaker against Dhiram, so that I can transfer some money. I kept a benchmark level of INR1000 to go below 80dhs, so that I can transfer some money back home. I waited and waited for this to happen, like I was craving for my weight reduction.

Believe me; both my weight as well as the exchange rate never met my expectations for the past several months.

Well, I am planning to have a sumptuous dinner tonight and to head for the bank tomorrow, skipping the weighing machine and ignoring the growth issues!

children wither childhood

Recent news report disturbed me a lot. A 13 year old boy climbing a tree to pluck a fruit or two was shot down by a trigger happy fellow inside an army compound. Gone are the days that children can freely emulate squirrels, parrots or even monkeys wandering at will by jumping from one tree to the other and tasting each and every fruit in sight.

My own memories traveled down the lane recalling my childhood. I remember my school days when I would sneak out from the class after finishing the lunch, even when the class was in progress, to join the street urchins to go hunting each and every house for mangoes,chicoos, gooseberries and pomegranates. Of course, we would try our luck during the post lunch period when, in every household, the members would have retired for a siesta. On many occasions, hearing the noise of our stone throwing or shaking the trees, somebody would yell out of window, calling names. We would all take flight to another safer target. Never missed a single day will we return without our share of the fruity-booty!

Once during summer vacation we three brothers went to our granny's house at the native place in Kerala. In the back yard I climbed one coconut tree, after ensuring that was the shortest of all, and attempted to pluck a tender coconut. Seeing this, our neighbor threatened us that he will report the matter to Granny, which made us abort the attempt and runaway!

We had heard stories of Land lords catching errant boys and tying them on to the trees for hours and letting them off after a dose of warning and extracting profuse apologies, but never heard of anyone fatally attacking the children. To prevent animals from grazing the farm field, there are instances of farmers putting up barbed wires. Some farmers started electrifying the barbed fences, which raised wide condemnation from the animal lovers and also became illegal.

I had made a comment to one of my contemporaries that today's children never go out to play games, and outdoor games are slowly fading out from the minds of children. This may be because many parents do not allow children to play out in the open without an active supervision of an adult member of the family.

Can we just take this story of 13 year old boy as a stray exception of a child paying for being in his childhood or should we worry for this changing trend wherein we observe children wither childhood?

After all it is better to be safe than be sorry!

When losing is gaining!

Health concerns crop up frequently like a pop up message or some sms campaign! Driven by an urge to reduce weight, I started looking for ways and means to achieve that. Got myself enrolled in a gym closer to my house and started doing workouts for almost an year. Though the fitness appeared to have improved, the flab around the waist did not budge a bit. This I could realize whenever my boss tauntingly comments at me about my belligerent tummy!

One day I visited a client who is quite warm and friendly. When I was with him one of his office boys came with a glass kettle in which something was brewing! The office boy stooped towards me and inquired if I would have coffee or tea. I told him to bring tea without milk.

After he left the room, I was curios to know what was brewing in the kettle. My friendly client told me that it was Green tea specially sourced from a famous mall in Dubai. He went on to explain the qualities of green tea and what it will do to improve health and reduce weight. When I doubted its effect, he reasoned out by saying that even intake of mineral water can increase weight and that the anti oxidant properties of green tea, and other special ingredients contained in the particular brand would assure weight reduction.

Even then, I couldn't just believe that simply drinking green tea would reduce weight, seeing the person himself who is quite obese. But he quickly dispelled my disbelief by saying that he was once 120kg before hooked on to green tea and now he has come down to 110kg!


He elaborated how to prepare the green tea using the special glass kettle in which first tea is placed inside the mantle and, steaming hot water is gently poured to the level of mantle, which should be kept for 10 minutes. Now the tea is ready to be decanted in a tea cup and taken without adding milk or sugar.

Finally, I asked him a frank question as to 'why he did not offer Green Tea in the first place, was it because it was expensive?'

The reply from him surprised me.

He said that many of his friends whom he offered, initially did not like it, as it would taste like boiled water using’ Cow dung'!

Well, don’t you think, one would not mind some bitter medicine for achieving Good Health?

Service your memory!

The karaoke system I had bought from Gitex trade in Dubai was giving trouble. The internal microphone had a puncture in the cord and went blank on and off whenever my daughter was singing.
The cordless microphones were also not working properly due to frequency-feed back problem. Everytime we tried to use, the microphones were giving a high frequency noise that even owls and bats would not tolerate!

My daughter began taunting me for buying a useless system. I started simmering and smoldering within. Angrily, traced the original purchase invoice from the file and dashed off to E Max, from whom I bought the system during the month of October at the E max stall at Gitex.

First we went to the service section where they collect the faulty items for warranty service. The guy at the counter advised us to meet a person at the Karaoke section who may be able to fix the problem and, in case he could not resolve the issue, then he would take it for repair service.

We met one Filipino guy who at first irked me with his remark that the warranty seal in one of the cordless microphones was broken, meaning that the warranty condition was affected. However, he started connecting it to one of the music systems. To my utter surprise, the cordless system behaved so obediently that he started testing it in different tones and made mocking noises! Then he explained to me patiently how to control the volume in the cordless system to avoid the frequency-feed back noises from arising.

We were so happy that the problem ended with such a simple solution that saved us from spending some extra money on buying internal microphones, as planned earlier, as an alternate solution.

Now the Filipino guy asked me if I can tell the name of the sales guy who sold the system at the Gitex. He also asked me if I tried to sing a song whilst buying. I replied that I sang a song but did not remember the sales guy and started to search for the name of salesman in the purchase bill. He asked me to read out the name from the left-hand top corner of the bill which read 'Marlo'

I thanked him for his service and asked his name when he flipped out his ID card which read "Marlo"!

I drove back home thinking that one needs to occasionally service the Memory too!

Sensing Home Science

Some of the best chefs in the world belong to the 'unfair' sex! Yet in many households male members are forbidden from entering the kitchen. After all no one wants a 'bull in a china shop'!

But here in UAE,may be due to the skewed demography, most of the kitchens are ruled by men!

That is how I acquired the kitchen kingdom for the last 3 years. Recently my wife went back after a short visit to Sharjah. She did not fail to notice the cluttered refrigerator and commented, 'why don't you de-frost it'?

Well, the very next day after she left, I promptly switched on the defrost button of the fridge, before leaving for office.

When I returned and reached for a cold drink,I could get some unsual smell from inside the fridge. On close examination, I found a dark liquid dripping from all over the trays, on the shelves, and inside door panel.

My detective brain started investigating it further. When I opened the freezer compartment, I found the entire frozen ice to have vanished but there lie an almost empty can of cola with its gaping lid. Now I could arrive at the scientific reason behind the whole episode.

I had left a can of coke bought from supermarket a month ago, inside the freezer compartment; may be to cool it faster. I had completely forgotten it. The ice got accumulated like a mound and totally covered it up. This was the reason for the comment from my wife before leaving Sharjah.

When I defrosted my fridge, the ice started melting. But when the outer ice melted away, the frozen can suddenly burst and the frozen cola erupted like like a volcano inside the fridge!

Science says, when water freezes, its volume increases by around 10%! The frozen ice around the can, earlier prevented the can from bursting, but eventually it happened when the surrounding ice melted away!

Kitchen science comes naturally to women where men fail miserably. My mother used to make a 'Rasam' (south indian soup variation!)using a vessel made of 'Lead'. She would caution everyone in home, not to keep the vessel directly in oven without some quantity of water in it. Unmindful of this, I tried to make some sweet dish, when my mom was away. The vessel started to melt immediately that I could not retrieve it from the oven. As a result, I had to hide myself under the cot, when my mother returned from her shopping!

Many scientific findings we learnt in classrooms are found to be used in day to day life, such as the litmus paper turning blue or red. This principle is widely used by womenfolk to welcome newly weds to their home, by mixing "haldi"(turmeric powder) with quick lime to make a red liquid, that is considered 'auspicious'!

Even today, you would find in villages, women folks dropping a golden ring, in a vessel of rice and water, to quickly separate stones from the grains whereby using the principle of increasing the difference of specific gravities between the solid and the liquid medium.

Now I understand why some universities have courses for "Home Science".

Well, even if you are not holding a degree in Home science, to enter the kitchen, you need some "Home sense"!


P.S:- I forgot to add the one more thing that happened:- the dosa flour kept in fridge fermented and bulged like a ball as shown in picture. I made a controlled explosion to open the same but still the dosa flour splashed all over and I had to do the clean up..

Driving crazy

It is 3 years since I landed in Shajah. In whole of UAE, Sharjah is supposed to be topping the list of emirates wherein getting a Driving License is considered most difficult and uphill task!

Initially, I sort of, pooh poohed those who were telling this to me. I felt that it would be just a cake walk for me, especially when I had the experience of driving vehicles for over 20 years, having obtained the license 20 years ago in home country, and also with blemish less track record.

On my first "Kacha"test, my RTA inspector hesitated for a while whether to clear me or not and finally told me that word "talim". When I looked up in disappointment, he told those words, "Next time, I will pass you, Insha Allah"!

I felt that it would be just a matter of another test and thereafter one final assessment, then I would have in my hands, that beautiful piece of plastic card which would be precious than other credit cards snuggled away in my wallet!

Since then, and strangely enough, I have been giving "Kacha" tests for five more times without luck and, not had the chance of meeting the same RTA inspector who had made that promise.

When you fail once, the next time around you change the style of driving from defensive to offensive and vice versa or, adapt a submissive style. Last test was on 26th February, when I went with a resolve that I will just go and drive without even blinking for a moment that there is an Inspector by your side.

When came my turn, I simply pulled out my car from the parked position on the side of the road from inside the yellow line, and the moment he signaled me to go faster, I started racing faster and faster and in the process, overtook a trailer by the fast lane and came back to the right side. He then made me to take a right turn and one more right turn, before finally instructing me to park on the road side.
I saw to it that I parked the car exactly as per the copy book style that my instructor had told me during the training.

Back at the RTA driving school when we reached with the 4th candidate, the inspector signaled 3 of us as having passed.

I never felt happier when I got promoted in my previous job or when I got a baby or even when I got married!

The inspector came and handed over me the slip with the "Pass" stamp. I thanked him and before leaving the place, I gave a glance at him, when I was pleasantly surprised to see the very same person who said to me those words, " Next time, I will pass you, Insha Allah"!

International women's day

Dedicated to Lass-Angels in my life!





On this International women's day we need some change in women!
Yes; the name women sounds as if derived from 'we men'!

Don't you think women only gave birth to all Men?
Then why the name derived from, We,Men?

Is there a substitute that will replace the word, women
With no string attached to other gender?

Well, is there any man who is an Angel?
Yes! THERE IS A SUBSTITUTE WORD FOR WOMEN, IN ANGEL!

NEED Vs DESIRE

I need to do this; I need to do that! And, I need to write this today!
Life is revolving around satisfaction of basic necessities. ‘Someone said, ‘Cause of every need is for the cause of satisfaction of such need!’ Well, desires are always beyond the basic necessities or needs. The moment you satisfy one desire, another will crop up. Can we distinguish need and desire? May be desire is a greedy version of need!

I was staying away from my family some time when I was transferred from Mumbai. At the new place an acquaintance enquired about me, to which I said, ‘I am fine. I have every thing I need for a person living alone; good house, a vehicle and food that I make for myself’. This acquaintance said, ‘well 'man do not live by bread alone'!

Most of the time, we are contented with mere satisfaction of basic or bare necessities. Of course, one can eke out a living with the fulfillment of bare necessities, if one needs to do just that, like in today’s world; completing a basic Engineering degree!

I met a friend having a lavish lifestyle. Any new gadget in the market will be seen at his home within a week. I gently prodded him by saying that ‘you not only have desires but really go an extra mile to fulfill them’. His reply was interesting; he said that unless you satisfy your desires as they come up, they would never give you another opportunity to accomplish them. ‘Each and every desire has a timeframe, for e.g., you will not want to ride a motorcycle at the age of 50 as you would like to do when you were at 20’!

I had a childhood friend with whom I visited a restaurant. He repeatedly ordered a dish he liked for 3 times! He is a kind of person that, if he liked coffee, he would not hesitate to order it again!
I met him again after several years. He told me about his son who had the habit of sharpening pencils using sharpener until the pencil is reduced to a bit. To curb his habit, he gifted a box full of pencils and half a dozen sharpeners. Result, the boy learnt to use sharpener judiciously on his own! Incidentally, I also noticed that the friend has shifted to a finicky diet regime now!
In short, needs arise due to basic necessities, whereas desires are triggered by ‘basic instincts”!
• Needs are static or constant whereas desires are dynamic;
• Needs are boring where as desires are invigorating;
• Needs are a few whereas desires are plenty;
• Needs are repetitive in nature whereas desires are innovative;
• It is essential to fulfill needs whereas it will be nice to satisfy desires;
• If need is a shelter, desire is like multiplex!


After all, you need shelters as well as multiplexes in this world!

Impromptu....

Impromptu is an attempt to render a song or a speech without any preparation or referring to any text or written script.

Thesaurus explains the word impromptu as something Spoken, performed, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought: ad-lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, improvised, offhand, snap, spur-of-the-moment, unrehearsed. Informal, off-the-cuff.

Most of us would get in to a situation when you are asked to say a few words in front of a gathering, a formal or informal group.

I observe that in earlier days, i.e. prior to the invasion of internet and computers, impromptu speeches were quite common and people were not uncomfortable doing it. But now with social networking sites making people glued to their seats in front of lap tops/computers, the changes in life style have almost made them recluse and not ready for such adventures like addressing a gathering. Even if pushed to make a speech, they make awkward attempt and fail to impress the crowd.

Impromptu is also a wonderful word as it can be used as an adjective, adverb or even noun! Impromptu means improvisation. Therefore, a person attempting it should have creativity. But to say that creativity can be only with a select few and not with all is simply wrong. Every one can make an impromptu, with a little bit of effort.

We have heard lot of folklores which are nothing but impromptus! Something which happens on its own without any special preparation, pre-meditation or prodding can be termed as impromptu. In a way, the revolution that happened in Egypt is also an impromptu!

My own attempts at impromptus have been fairly good but there were occasions when I could not make a free flowing speech as well. I have now learned to use a technique whereby if the topic is not really a comfortable one, dwell around it by frankly admitting my lack of knowledge, in a self-deprecating way, to make it interesting!

Well, the topic I chose to write was not prompted by anybody or pre-planned but popped up simply like the word itself, an "Impromptu"!

keys keys

World of Competition. Ask your children what it means to know all the keys? They cram a lot of information in their tiny heads that it would be next to impossible for even adults to emulate them.

As parents, teachers, managers, we all know how to ask questions! Never for once we blink to think the plight of those to whom we direct those questions, whether they are supposed to know the keys to those questions or not?

Whilst we know that no one will have keys to unravel the future, but the fact remains that the 'Present is the key to the past'; at least this is what the Geologists tell us. So do we hear a famous song, saying, 'future is not us to see.. que sera sera!'

On this valentine day, I think that only pure love can be a key to the heart of beloved!

Never in my life have I seen any other place abound with shops making duplicate keys. I used to wonder why so many shops are here only for making duplicate keys. Then I realized that the key is for comfortable living! Yes; many keys are used for one home so that the family members, when they return first, can open their door!

Keys are so important that one has to safeguard it from being misplaced or lost. Insurance will not pay in a burglary loss, if original keys were found to be used to gain access.

For any lock you may have duplicate keys, you must safeguard the spare key from un-authorized access. I find two or even three set of keys are provided by the manufacturer of Locks and safes. Whilst this may be useful in an emergency, one has to be careful that the duplicate keys are not reaching the wrong persons.

Well, KEYS ARE KEYS TO SAFE LIVING. LIKE ELECTRONIC PASSKEY or PASS WORD, ONLY THE OWNER SHALL HAVE THEM IN HIS CUSTODY!

எ BUCKET FOR contentment

A friend met me recently and started telling me a story. In a village people would be seen carrying bucket in hand in large numbers. Every day,they walk 4 miles to the 'big lake' to bring a bucket full of water to their homes. During their journey back home, the bucket full of water will spill along the way and, by the time they reach home, they will hardly have any water left in the bucket.

Fed up with this perennial problem, the entire village assembled at a place to discuss the issue. They decided that they will create a channel from the lake to their village and also dig a community well at their village were the water can be collected. One year of hard work was agreed as contribution for each family member. After one year passed, the villagers became the talking point for the rest of the country men.

The friend went on to say that our routine, 9-5 job is like carrying a bucket, which is our usual rut. At the end of the month you are left with hardly any residual amount which you can count on for support during an emergency. His story and the comparison really convinced me about the futility of our 9-5 jobs. What is the alternative? I asked him.

Here he gave an option to enroll myself into a pyramid scheme, narrating many more success stories. Although I agreed that there will be good possibility of an early mover to greatly benefit from the scheme, my own conscience somehow did not favour the idea, as it kept me telling that the weaker links in the chain would be affected.

I then took a vow that whatever be the situation, I shall never enroll into a pyramid scheme till 'I kick the bucket'!

I am quite happy with the little 'bucket' that I have, despite the inadequacy or limitation it may have. I convince myself by reassuring that buckets are enough to save lives... like the fire bucket you see in Malls, public places or in Cinemas!

A bucket somehow reminds me of the limit of contentment, basic necessities and thrifty life stye!

CHAIR

Chair is very important in our life! From 'Walking Chair' to 'Easy Chair' we occupy a chair almost from the infant stage till we call it a day!

Imagine a job without the chair. Such a job would be very difficult and arduous to perform. Even a lift operator or a security personnel to be provided with a chair, if he has to be effective. In most companies, chairs and tables are given to employees according to their category or positions. People get emotionally attached and tend to identify themselves with their chairs.

I know a person who has occupied one chair for over 3 decades in his office. Even when the entire office was refurbished, he refused to change his chair! Some people will never leave their chair, come what may! But some will sense trouble in between and run away! Well, does it sound like something that we heard from Egypt and Tunisia?

In a meeting you rise to make a point with the permission of "The Chair". Nothing in a company moves without the approval of the Chairperson! Human beings are so attached to their chairs that they would go to any extent to retain it! We also observe people who occupy their chairs day and night and, throughout the year, thereby their bodies take the shape of their chairs! Now with the invasion of computers and laptops in every day life, even children refuse to move away from their chairs in front of the computer! They also develop neck and shoulder pain and other funny problems like Corporal Tunnel Syndrome!

In the living rooms, the chairs in front of TVs are never unoccupied, unless the TVs break down!

At Corporate Board rooms, you have many battles for occupying the coveted Chair! Whatever be your position or social status, we can give only one simple advice: Please choose your chair which will suit your back! In literal as well as in euphemistic sense! If you occupy a chair which is not suitable to you, i.e. in tune with your qualification and skills, then you would find it difficult to take decision and do justice to your chair. Here also your spine will be at risk as you may have to take some bold decisions! If the chair is not ergonomically suitable, then also it will create trouble to your spine.

The first thing I did when I joined the new office was to closely examine the chair given to me. I immediately realized that I needed a back support! (Literally, and not euphemistically!). I bought a back rest from the market and started using it from very next day!

Well, from that day onwards, I could take some bold decisions without injuring my back!

அமேசிங் places

Never before I had a vacation like the one I just had on the eve of New Year! Yes; this time my visit to India was fully packed and memorable.

On 31st December, we left for Mangalore from Mumbai. From the Airport we went straight to Sringeri in Karnataka which is on the banks of river Thunga. We stayed at the guest house called Rishi Valley Cottages. We could breathe the fresh air with sweet smell of flowers coming from the beautiful garden inside the compound. When experiencing the serenity and tranquility of the place, you are convinced as to why that saint had identified the place and made it his abode for reaching to the heaven! Yes! This place, I swear, is the one stop destination for reaching to the heaven!

The caretaker who knew only Kanada language could communicate what he can offer for breakfast, "Avalakki Uppittu" or iddlies besides coffee or tea for beverage. Whilst we enjoyed his coffee, my daughters simply went around clicking the flowers and the surroundings, some of the photos are posted here.





Next place I can never forget is Dharmastala. This is about 100 kms away from Mangalore. We reached on Monday evening-4th January. Somebody advised us to meet Mr. Veerendra Heggade, who is the Dharmathikari (Trustee) of the heritage. I should say that rather than being termed as a religious place, this place is the final destination for dispute resolution for scores of people. Yes people come here to resolve their disputes or problems and go back happily by reaching an amicable settlement! The judgment obtained here is valid and widely accepted.

We met Mr. Veerendra Heggade who not only engaged us for over 10 minutes, he also suggested us to stay overnight and proceed the next day after seeing all around the Dharmastala. We readily accepted his advice and stayed overnight at the "Netravathi"guest house. Mr. Heggade also sent a representative who took us around Dharmastala and also to the massive kitchen and the dining place, showing us how the food is prepared for the visitor and served free. Earlier Mr. Heggade told us that on that particular day of our visit 53 quintals of rice was cooked, enough to feed about 45000 people!

People of all faiths from all over India and abroad visit this place. Any amount of words will be insufficient to express the greatness of this place and the tradition followed by the family of Heggade for almost 700 years now.

Whilst returning, I was just thinking that if more such dhamastalas are founded in various parts of the world, then there would be no one going to bed without having one square meal in a day!