Life is Good!

• A full bus with waiting, but still getting a seat!
• Getting out of the bus stand without mugged by the guys hard-selling hotels in the city!
• Having a car to drive and a post midnight snack in an open air restaurant on the 8th floor of a hotel in the not so crowded area!
• Pyaz Kachodi before sunrise
• Tea @ the tea shop of Brij Bihari Yadavji at sunrise
• Walking around a fort early morning
• Sleeping through most of the day
• Walking around busy markets in the evening
• 1:00 a.m. coffee after driving 125 kms
• Though stimulating conversations throughout the night, and reaching home at 4 in the morning!!

Life is great! I think I said good before, but no! its GREAT! :)

2009 in Pictures - July

After a gap of almost 2 months I am getting back to posting the rest of 2009 In Pictures now... This time around lets see how July was in 2009... It was full of loads of excitement, summers had arrived, festivals were on the charts, flowers were blooming, and traveling to new places was planned...

Let's go to July 2009 then!!!! Enjoy! (pssst...this post has a lot of photographs... be patient while scrolling down! I would not like it if you miss some pictures!)

July started with a flight to Atlanta! Aditya was there from India on a project and I felt this was just the right opportunity to fly down south and enjoy some mountains. I was really excited because this was the first time I was going to see mountains in the US... Did I say I love mountains? I do!!!

Smokies! here I come!

Reached Atlanta late in the evening and the Sun Gods were still waiting to welcome me at the airport!

Adi was driving a Pontiac G6! and I had another reason to celebrate because of this fact! I had been trying to rent out a G6 for a long time now, and it happened when I was least expecting :) lovely!

The GPS I was carrying was giving a lot of trouble, it used to get lost, or take us to places where we not really were going to! but we still managed to drive all the way to Smokies with some help from the road signs! Figured that if you keep your eyes, open you might not need a GPS afterall!

The first pit stop was creekside after we crossed the small town of Cherokee in the state of North Carolina! Amazing beautiful road, covered with greenest of green trees, with a small creek flowing next to the road! Perfect mood for an amazing drive!

And needless to say there were a whole lot of bikers enjoying the warm weather on their Harleys on that road!

Below is the east side view from Chingman's dome, the highest point in the Smokies... Its an artificially built cement view point to give visitors a 360 degree view of the Smokies. I can only imagine how crowded it would get if it was India, more because of the smalltime shopkeepers, of which all I missed was a Chai-Wala... Sigh!

The western view has the state boundary of NC and Tennessee, like you see in the picture below...

The access to Clingman's Dome below!

And finally the beautiful Smokies!!!! Pictures can capture only a part of how beautiful these were... but to be honest, nothing in this world is as beautiful as the Himalayas!!! Call be prejudiced! but that's how it is! simple!

It was the 4th of July when I was in Atlanta and all towns, big or small on our way had fireworks going on... We drove past two, but decided to stop at the third one and enjoy the show...

And did not do much the other two days I was in Atlanta... the most eventful thing being, that I saw Transformers2 on IMAX (huge is an understatement for that screen) and ICE Age 3 back to back!

Back in Milwaukee, it was time for Festivals and Fairs...

Bestille Days and Great Circus Parade were scheduled over the next few weeks... This is when staying in the heart of downtown, and next to the lake was making more sense than anything else :)

Bastille days is a 4 day french festival which is celebrated every year in Milwaukee downtown at the Cathedral Square lawns! Perfect time to enjoy some exotic wine and food... Me being a vegetarian and a non-wine drinker, made myself happy with elaborate helpings of Egyptian Rice, Greek salads and fresh lemonade while walking around and enjoying some brilliant music performances in the evenings!

The photographs below are a mix of Great Circus Parade and Bastille Days!

Beautiful father son combo :) Saw many dads wearing the same stuff as their boys! sweet!

Family planning is something that has not been introduced to some in the US I guess...

And I am sure this horse's mom had an affair with some Dalmatian!

Fairs and festivals are one place where I see some family values being displayed in the US... most of my time otherwise was spent noticing the teenagers and youth, which did not seem to be moving in any direction but everywhere! It was a very nice refreshing change to see families together at these festivals... but it was mostly kids and parents, or old people.. the young guns were not many in number around these... Considered boring I guess, by them!

There was an actual circus happening too! and it was really interesting to see how kids in the US react to Camels and Elephants :P

India still means something very different when it comes to Circus.. check out the face and India... I would love to look for someone who looks like this in India now :)

Another good thing about social gathering's in the US is that people of all age (minus the ones I mentioned) fully enjoy themselves!!! They drink, they dance, they laugh!!! it was fun to observe!!

My favorite couple in the US... Deepali and Gaurav...

My parking lot and collectibles I acquired over time...

Bindiya had handed over Ganeshji to me when I went to UK for the first time in 2007... they have been with me since! I am sure he is enjoying the mid-western weather in summers!

And the month ended with an absolutely brilliant and mind boggling sky show at Lake Front...

The adrenaline rush when a jet flies just about 100 ft above your head is indescribable... How kids cry after that is a different story altogether!

So that's how July of 2009 was... Did you read anything or just saw the pictures?

Did you know?

That the railway tracks are checked by gangmen, every 2 kilometers about 10 minutes before a Rajdhani or a Shatabdi is to cross.

Watch out for more about Indian Railways on Chai ki Dukaan!!!!

Important Announcements!!!

I am happy to launch two important websites today!!!!

1. www.sopaan.org : This is the website that is dedicated to my social responsibility initiative and is supported by a group of friends who are as serious about doing some for the society as I am... Initially this would be focussed at raising funds for grass-root level initiatives, and sharing information about various NGOs that are in existence and have a similar mindset. A lot on Sopaan is still under construction or review, and I would keep working on it while its open to everyone to view. Please do feel free to leave comments, share ideas and thoughts, or give me some feedback.

2. www.AndPictures.net :Photography for me has never been about a picture only, infact its the places, the people, and the moment which is of primary importance for me "and pictures" come later... This website would serve as my online portfolio and is a step towards professional photography.

I have been able to do this because of the amazing support that has been extended to me from everyone around. I do not dream to make it big, but I do dream to make an impact in whatever capacity I can with time!!!!

In addition to that, let me also invite you all to a group exhibition that I am a part of.. The exhibition opens on 4th of March in India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Please do make it convenient to attend.

Holi(day) aftereffects

Holi could not be complete without a few songs for me... Though I do not really play, and mostly because of lack of company, which has led to Holi being just one of the many days in a year, I still think that the following songs make the festival worth it... Did not do much or anything about Holi today, but thought of putting these songs together in a post before the day ends!

Its impossible to rank these songs in any particular order and hence just a random sequence...

Enjoy!!!!

Is sab ke zimmedaar! aap hain!!!!

Shukriya

धन्यवाद

gracias

dankie

благодаря

děkuji ti

bedankt

salamat

merci

Danke

σε ευχαριστώ

תודה

grazie

ありがとうございました

terima kasih

dziękuję

obrigado

gracias

asante

ขอบคุณ

Спасибо

ddiolch 'ch





and like i said... ye sab aapki wajah se hua hai :)

सुंदरकाण्ड – हनुमान्‌जी की सुरसा से भेंट

चौपाई :

जात पवनसुत देवन्ह देखा। जानैं कहुँ बल बुद्धि बिसेषा॥
सुरसा नाम अहिन्ह कै माता। पठइन्हि आइ कही तेहिं बाता॥
आजु सुरन्ह मोहि दीन्ह अहारा। सुनत बचन कह पवनकुमारा॥
राम काजु करि फिरि मैं आवौं। सीता कइ सुधि प्रभुहि सुनावौं॥

देवताओं ने पवनपुत्र हनुमान्‌जी को जाते हुए देखा। उनकी विशेष बल-बुद्धि को जानने के लिए उन्होंने सुरसा नामक सर्पों की माता को भेजा, उसने आकर हनुमान्‌जी से यह बात कही, आज देवताओं ने मुझे भोजन दिया है। यह वचन सुनकर पवनकुमार हनुमान्‌जी ने कहा- श्री रामजी का कार्य करके मैं लौट आऊँ और सीताजी की खबर प्रभु को सुना दूँ

तब तव बदन पैठिहउँ आई। सत्य कहउँ मोहि जान दे माई॥
कवनेहुँ जतन देइ नहिं जाना। ग्रससि न मोहि कहेउ हनुमाना॥
जोजन भरि तेहिं बदनु पसारा। कपि तनु कीन्ह दुगुन बिस्तारा॥
सोरह जोजन मुख तेहिं ठयऊ। तुरत पवनसुत बत्तिस भयऊ॥

तब मैं आकर तुम्हारे मुँह में घुस जाऊँगा और तुम मुझे खा लेना । हे माता! मैं सत्य कहता हूँ, अभी मुझे जाने दे। जब किसी भी उपाय से उसने जाने नहीं दिया, तब हनुमान्‌जी ने कहा- तो फिर मुझे खा न ले उसने योजनभर मुँह फैलाया। तब हनुमान्‌जी ने अपने शरीर को उससे दूना बढ़ा लिया। उसने सोलह योजन का मुख किया। हनुमान्‌जी तुरंत ही बत्तीस योजन के हो गए

जस जस सुरसा बदनु बढ़ावा। तासु दून कपि रूप देखावा॥
सत जोजन तेहिं आनन कीन्हा। अति लघु रूप पवनसुत लीन्हा॥
बदन पइठि पुनि बाहेर आवा। मागा बिदा ताहि सिरु नावा॥
मोहि सुरन्ह जेहि लागि पठावा। बुधि बल मरमु तोर मैं पावा॥

जैसे-जैसे सुरसा मुख का विस्तार बढ़ाती थी, हनुमान्‌जी उसका दूना रूप दिखलाते थे। उसने सौ योजन मुख किया। तब हनुमान्‌जी ने बहुत ही छोटा रूप धारण कर लिया और उसके मुख में घुसकर तुरंत बाहर निकल आए और उसे सिर नवाकर विदा माँगने लगे। उसने कहा मैंने तुम्हारे बुद्धि-बल का भेद पा लिया, जिसके लिए देवताओं ने मुझे भेजा था

दोहा :

राम काजु सबु करिहहु तुम्ह बल बुद्धि निधान। आसिष देइ गई सो हरषि चलेउ हनुमान॥

तुम श्री रामचंद्रजी का सब कार्य करोगे, क्योंकि तुम बल-बुद्धि के भंडार हो। यह आशीर्वाद देकर वह चली गई, तब हनुमान्‌जी हर्षित होकर चले