The butterfly Award - Something to remember

Divya, I am so flattered to see this nice gesture from your side. The pleasure is mine :)

I know that on many occasions I am lazy to put up these awards here and people please … please forgive me for that..

Now it’s not a bad idea to show off things some times :) in fact you know; there are multiple reasons why should I thank you :) And since I have to continue passing this nice thing back to you people …. here is my favorite blogs (believe me its difficult for me to pick only 5 blogs, because all the blogs which are there in the ‘Blog-roll’/’Blogs I follow’ are undoubtedly my favorite).

1. Lakshmi – The best travel blog I have ever come across. I don’t know how many times I switch to her blog in a day but I surely wish she updates her blog more than once in a day :)

2. Vagabond – You need to focus on to her name, she is truly a vagabond and an amazing photographer, and I guess she has many hidden talents to show up on her blog :)

3. GMG – I marvel at his blog, he has so many things to share with every one of us here, just so amazing. Never ending experiences from the small world, you need to go to his blog to understand what I am saying …

4. Priyanka – A thinker, a dreamer in her own terms, her blog makes me nostalgic.

5. Himanshu – The blog which talks about technology, entrepreneurs & business. And on many occasions, gave me the foods for thought.

They are rockers, and I am so glad to have them around me.

Keep blogging :)

Dhauli - There was never a good war or a bad peace.

Dhauligiri is located on the banks of the river Daya, around 10 km away from the city of Bhubaneswar. One of the quietest place I have ever visited so far. It helped me knowing many hidden things from the past and a quick scan through the pages from the history is just good enough to learn the importance of this place. I was surprised by the reasons behind the beginning, the end and there after the transformation of a war to a lead ways to peace, that untimely changed the views of King Ashoka as he renounced his sword after the Kalinga war probably in 261 BC.

A sign board indicating the way to Dhauli, from Bhubaneswar - Puri Highway you need to take a right turn and travel around 3.2 K.Ms on the hills to reach near the Shanti Stupa. For more detail information do click here.

Vishwa Shanti Stupa, the Peace Pagoda at the top of Dhauli Hill was built by Indo Japanese collaboration in 1972. The shining white structure is built in the form of a massive dome with lotus petals as its crown. The five chhatris (umbrellas) placed on its flattened top represent the five important aspects of Buddhism.

The War memorial. Not exactly what was written on there, Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. - Buddha

Rock edicts of Asoka

It was a bright sunny day, and I decided to walk alone, never did I realize that I would be witnessing one of the amazing trekking experiences, in a peaceful and serene environment, and yet again a different kind of exploration for me. It wasn't the first time I was there but perhaps the first time holding the clock all by myself and identifying that life can't be an empty promise. Every war made an entry to the history has shown people many paths, what is called searching for the life and in the end the peace without any terms & conditions. So does that mean somewhere a war’s ultimate destination is peace? Sometimes its better not to understand things, however, rather easy to forget them while trying to simplify it with many unknown questions of life, and as said there is no way to peace, but peace is the way. I believe it has the power of a miracle transformation.

Saturday Rainbow

It was a very eventful Saturday for me and I was able to finish most of the things that was awaiting my attention for quite a long time, and to top that there were something more in the store that reminded me I have yet another reason to thank mom. And also it was the rainbow who visited Bangalore last evening to say “Hello, beautiful life” …

"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true"

Oh! did I tell you that there were in fact two rainbows, or it was just a reflection of the one? :) :)

"We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lost sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.”

P.S : The pictures were taken with Nokia N78 Mobile Phone

S a v e y o u r a s s !

6) ज़िक्र करो या न करो, मेल ज़रोर लिखो;
और मेल लिखो या न लिखो, उशका रिपोर्ट जरुर बनाओ !!!

Update: Himanshu, added few more lines to the above mentioned points and I wanted it to continue with the flow .... wah! wah!

P.S: This was a forwarded mail that I received today, couldn't stop laughing.

Ananta Vasudeva Temple, Bhubaneswar

A vaishnava temple of 13th century which enshrines lord Balarama (Ananta), Krishna (Vasudeva), and Subhadra.

a side view of the main temple ...

The temple is very popular, like many others in this region for its profusely carved exterior and finished appearance. But now unfortunately much of the carvings are faded due to the softness of the stones. Going back to history, it was erected by Chandradevi, the daughter of Anangabhima III during the rule of Bhanudeva in 1278 AD.

The interesting thing someone could notice between this temple and the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri, there is one similarity the way prasad (holy food) are sold/offered to to the deities. The place where the food is sold/served is called as Anand Bazaar.

The temple is located very closely to the eastern corner of the Bindu Sagar lake, which offers a magnificent view and another highlight of the visit. And if you walk still further for few minutes, on your right hand side you will find Lingaraj temple, the famous temple of lord Shiva (more on this on a new post).

Due to lack of time, I didn’t able to spend my share of time with the camera but nevertheless these few pictures will serve as a reminder to me that I have to visit that place once again.

In my head ...

The line that was ticking my head all the day …

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared”.

… it so happened again with me and to my realization the size & price of the candle doesn’t matter, what matters is that whether it is having the light?

Grand Canyon Skywalk!

Yesterday, Sethu Sir sent me this wonderful information of a awesome tourist place in Arizon, US. Somewhere, somehow I can relate these amazing places with an invisible source of energy that help you to identify you in this world :). As soon as I finished reading the mail by the time I was so charged up and excited to face any challenges, so Sethu Sir, please don't forget to send me the sponsored-return tickets ;)

The hors-shoe shaped Glass Bridge, otherwise known as the “Sky Walk” is one of the aspiring and magnificent civil engineering project which shows the unmatched thinking of engineer skills. The construction of this glass bridge started in March 2004 and opened to the general public on March 28, 2007.

Glass Bridge is suspended a height of 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Grand Canyon.

In 2005, it was tested for its structural ability and the results were really very good. It passed all its engineering requirements by 400 percent and therefore the total load which this glass bridge is able to withstand is equal to the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes which is more that 71 million pounds. The bridge will be able to sustain winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from 8 different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. It is said that more than one million pounds of steel was used in the construction of the Grand Canyon sky walk.

This is what I found while searching in Wikipedia click here for more information. And the official website. In the end don't miss to watch the amazing video :)

This place is in one of my dream destinations list, so what's your ?

P.S : the images and video source is Internet.

The Bug’s life

In the recent past, I have faced many issues while using blogger services but nevertheless the fixes/solutions for the issues followed it (if not in a timely manner). The latest in the list of bugs that I am facing is with the newly introduced “Embedded below post” comment option. If you have chosen ‘in your setting options’ to use ‘embedded comment form’ then you wouldn’t be able to post any comments due to some reasons. Also, you will notice there that the drop down menu which should allow you to choose you Google username will be empty.

Check here: Discussions > Something Is Broken > Embedded Comments Not Working Options

The only work around, I found to overcome this issue for now, is to choose either of the older options available in the setting, i.e Full Post or Pop-up Window to let your blog readers to post comments. For advanced users, there is always a work around options to tweak the code and customise it :)

P.S : You may like to follow the official Blogger Help Group for any issues, they are really helpful.

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 :)...