An unseen revelation, Orissa!

People talk about everything; they have their own views, they have their own things to prove and they have their fears to overcome. They politicsed every issues and nothing has spared then how will you escape when it comes to which state you belong? Which language you speak? etc.. Even after 61 years of independence we are fettered to make ourselves free from the fighting to prove an identity. When we will learn to be Indian and respect each other as Indian. Why are we so divided with every bit of things, by language, by region, by dressing, and you name it whatever, next you will find a division for it? If money and power are the two factors that influence hundreds of other factors for things to find other way? The same people have their many different opinions for things. For them there are so many unidentified problems to solve but with no clue what they are doing. 'Unity in diversity' is a thing of past and maybe we forget about it since eon, don't know where are we heading?

Many times, I wonder even with open eyes we can’t see what is happening in front of us. And the next moment we close our eyes to discover a new world, a world where we can see everything the way they are without even bothering about the closed eyes.

I have had one such exploration in the recent past trip to Orissa. There were places that I visited for the first time; I got a different (I would say learning) experience that otherwise completely unknown in many aspects to me. It was a village and not a university that taught me about a kind act to keep humanity alive and also about the amazing people out there. They don’t know how to read but they know how to respect, they don’t know how to talk but they know how to show their love, they don’t have money to buy gifts but they have the unselfish helping hand to offer. I was so wrong that they are the poorest people, now I say they have everything that makes this life happy and to live in peace. I was glad to see that Govt. has taken some significant steps to improve the lives of villages. On my return path, I smiled back to those villagers and thanked them for they welcomed me not as a stranger. You say it god’s gift or nature’s gift both sounds same to me. A trip to there, always come as gift for me. But this time it also surprised me whatever was happening at the other corner of the state.

An early morning endless walk, reminded me that I have lots of things to catch up with ...

I am still wondering, how things change and time just passes by us telling nothing, nothing at all about things we don’t want to know. There are still so many things to explorer and most of the time I find myself as a little drop in the ocean. I have learned one thing - there are no secrets, if you respect yourself, your own identity then it’s never a difficult task for you to acknowledge the same in the other person.

Diwali Sparks!

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't. ~Blaise Pascal

Many hands make the light work which seems to be amazing :)...

Banana chips!!!

The pictures were taken inside a Hot Chips Shop in Palakkad town, Kerela. I happened to visit this town more than once and while coming back I had this delicious pack of chips.

Banana chips, very popular in Kerala and locally known as upperi, is fried in coconut oil.

It's cripsy, salty and tasty :)

There are many varieties of banana chips; even you can find sweet deep fried chips. But my focus was on the plain n salty chips which are more popular in terms of its taste.

The reflection of an eye!

Today morning while browsing through my favorite blogs, I found some really wonderful sunset pictures on vagabond’s blog. An amazing color composition that was captured so beautifully! I liked it so much that I pulled one of the pictures for my desktop wallpaper.

Now, you can tell me how it looks ? All credit goes to her and ah! this is not the first time that I am using a picture taken by her for the very same purpose :).

The Rail Trail

Here are few random pictures from the never ending experience of Indian Railways. Some good, some bad and some ugly but all it matters now is the curiosity of navigating the past moments spent standing behind the lens.

The power runs through these thin nerves …

A WAG 7 engine, known for its speed and one of the successful class of goods engine.

On a voyage of discovery ... unfinished ...

A WDM-2 Engine, reminds me about the old yet the long existence of it on the tracks. WDM Stands for Broad gauge (W) Diesel (D) Mixed traffic (M) engine, if you are not already known about it.

The bridge over Godavari River. You praise the bridge when you learn that it carry you over a tough path.

Ad-Mad! - Dreams

These days I am suffering with something called as ‘Ad-Mad fever’ :) and my favorite ad these days is this ad of ‘Union Bank of India’ …. A very beautifully presented ad, and the lil gal in it, is what make a whole difference while putting forward the message of this ad. Simple, yet a powerful message that make you think over it again.

“because your dreams are not yours alone…”

Life and death

Life and death are the two simple words that have myriad of meanings in it, and someone can easily relate these words with so many things or course of events happen around him/her. One is antonym to the other but both are part of the ultimate truths we are guided with. Wait! I am not trying to find a new definition for them but it is the topic of this month at Cuckoo’s Photo Gallery and so I am back here again with one such pic …


The picture was taken inside one of the pandals created on the occasion of Durga puja. There was this centere place inside the pandal for people to light up the lamp and offer their prayer to the goddess Durga, when my turn came on that evening I was quite amazed by seeing the faith that people were showing for these lights. The lamps burns until the last drop of ghee and spreads the warmth, to live with a hope. But if you don’t light it properly; no matter how much ghee is inside the lamp, it will extinguish quickly like a spark in the clouds.

People light their lamps to see it burning, they see their life gathering an invisible power from it, and they feel blessed. They move on with this light but they tend to forget which lamp had given them it.

The lamp (like a body) is matter to the soul, and light is an act or form (like the soul) to the potentiality of the body. The body may demise after certain duration but the soul will remain as the principle account the cause of existence of the life. They both represent the cycle of life, and death being the final completion of a transforming process.

Left, right & Life!

You are different, your world is different and so your life is different. Every one of us here has something more to say about life and the lessons learnt from it. Maybe we already know some of them or maybe we are yet to know about everything that might happen in the life. So knowing others perspective on life is as important as your own. Whether it’s good, bad, ugly or beautiful you will identify only if you go on with the ones, having a bit of you in it :) See the difference; see a new world around you and explore it.

My search begins with me ... Well! Life is like a WINDOWS operating system where you can find an 'EXPLORER' key to identify what is there inside the folders that every time you made some changes to it. So keep checking in it. It’s your life and it’s your search. And In the end, …

In the very beginning of my life, I wanted to have answers for everything. But now I respect the fact that I can’t have answer for everything … - Paulo Coelho

Happy ! Dashera :)

The vacation is ON and days are running by me as if minutes or seconds but that can no way stopping me to have some great time out here on the festival season. To top that I am having a gala time with some wonderful home made foods and some favorite sweets. It’s time to meet some lost friend and relatives, they are all together once again to celebrate untold things, to catch the breath once again … it’s the togetherness that brought many memories re-fresh and above all the harmony of life. Not surprisingly, all of them are tied in a single thread called ... love. Every sweet shared with each other is now put forward as a token of blessing from the Maa, the goddess. They all know they are nothing without the blessings of Maa. And all these days are a good learning for most of them to identify the meanings of words like - 'respect', 'considerate', 'appreciate', patience, 'polite' and 'courteous'. It’s a bonding of so many known yet un-known people. How I wish to thank all of them and thank god more than once for helping me identifying so many things at a single place :)

For last few days it was kind of restless in the evening, though I wasn’t able to dedicate the required amount of time for photography but I still managed to click couple of pictures while roaming around different parts of this small town in Orissa. I wanted to share the pictures of some of the pandals, that is magnificently decorated and inside you will find the most amazing art work on the idol of Goddess Durga. So here you go with few of the pictures …

Also today is Maha Navami, an auspicious day and I take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy Dashera :). May god bless all of us!

OOO … Holiday Time :)

Yipppee! I am on vacation now, its almost 7 months or so by now since I am part of such a long holidays. There are lots of things that I am looking forward from this trip, needless mentioning I will be travelling like a mad. So if I think 3 eastern coastal cities in three different states are not long enough to tired me then I am always open to make some changes and add couple of more places to the list :). The other thing is that to witness one of the most exciting and beautiful festival in this part of the country which is popularly known as Dashera or Durga Puja.

Sometime, I wonder how things appear to be changed over the years and on the other hand this realization that as if nothing has changed at all. It keeps on reminding me that I am the same traveler who starts his journey with a renewed pair of eyes with every day passing by... And then it remains the same for you whether you associate some people with a place or some places with a group of people but time is one of thing that change without unveiling much about itself to a traveler ... Ah! do I need to say now that there is no such time called as the best time that someone can really think or wait to go on and meet the people who love you the most. Perhaps you don't know the speed of the time and don't mind anything :)

I was watching one of documentary video all through my train journey which is quite inspiring and reverencing. Honestly, its one of the best real-life video that I have watched in the recent past (I will write more about it in a separate post).

Now, here you go … that describes the theme of the video with few extracted lines from it …

Our nature’s beauty is something that the soul wants it. Whenever you see that a man is in contact with his soul then he enjoys a beautiful sky, a beautiful tree, a beautiful bird and suddenly you hear a piece of music, Oh! and then you lose your self. Everything seems to open up in a different way !!!

P.S: The picture above is taken by me ... I considered it as a beautiful gift for working late on a day ;)