Kruger National Park - African Safari

Our travel from Graskop to Kruger National Park continued after spending a night at Graskop. We left at 6.30 a.m. and proceeded towards Orpen gate in Kruger. There was so much excitement in me as African Safari is a life time experience for those who love nature. Kruger National Park is one such place where you will get memorable experience. After reaching Orpen gate at 8.15 a.m. we reported at the reception as we booked our accommodation and entry ticket over the internet.

 Just near the gate we spotted an elephant, the herd was little inside which we could not see. We were very happy to start the safari with Lord Ganesha’s blessings. After breakfast we entered the real wilderness. The Kruger national park has lot of entrances. Our plan was to enter through orpen gate and reach Skukuza gate before 4.30 p.m. as we had booked for sunset safari at 5 p.m.

We spotted lot of warthogs, Blue wild beasts, Kudu, Giraffes, common reed buck and Steenboks. A drive of another 45 minutes took us to the most gifted sight.
 A zebra family gave excellent pose to the camera. The parents crossed the road before we reached near them. Foal was on the other side of the mud road. On looking at our car the mother and father zebras with all anxiety called the foal to cross the road to reach them. They were shaking their head forward and backward calling the baby. It was a fantastic scene. Once the foal reached them they showed happiness and were licking the baby. They developed confidence in us as we eagerly took photographs and stood at a comfortable distance.

Then we were lucky to spot a white rhino near a water hole. The wild ostrich unlike the ones in farm was gorgeous. We also spotted lot of elephants and their dung all over Kruger national park. It is said elephants eat most of the time and rest only an hour or so in a day.
Another spectacular scene was lionesses trying to hunt baby elephants. The parent elephants were scaring the lionesses away. The parent elephants stood protecting the young ones and it was a very moving scene for everyone looking at it. We could not wait for long as the safari time was fast approaching.

In the above picture please look at the elephant raising the trunk scaring away the lioness. The last bigger picture indicates the position of one of the lionesses present there. I have circled it in black. The colour of the grass and the skin of lioness was almost same. Because it was moving towards the elephant at the time we crossed the place we were able to spot and take picture.

We reached Skukuza camp at 3.50 p.m. just in time for the safari confirmation reporting time at 4 p.m. We reached the guest house and downloaded our luggage and proceeded for the safari leaving my son with his grandparents. The safari started at 5 p.m.

 As we were just out of the gate there was a hunting going on. The place became crowded. I had a glimpse of a cheetah carrying a baby impala and running into bushes. The mom was looking at it and the scene was too pathetic. I had to convince myself stating this is what is called life cycle is. As we moved further in at a far off distance on a rock was sleeping lioness. It did not wake up for long time. Hence the safari moved further away to spot cape buffalos. Around 8 o’clock the guide stopped the vehicle. To all our surprise we saw a leopard just crossing the road and entering bushes. The fellow passengers in total surprise shouted only to make the leopard hide into the bushes. After that we only saw giraffes and elephants. The safari vehicle took a turn and started proceeding towards the camp. Few minutes later the safari vehicle which was going ahead of us was coming in the opposite direction. There was another bumper surprise.

A lion was coming towards our vehicle. We waited until it crossed our vehicle. If you think that would have been the most nervous moment in my life you are wrong. The lion was walking along with our vehicle for 10 minutes. Then it reached a spot. Scratched the mud on the road with legs and settled thereitself giving pose for photographs. We were sitting on the last row on the window side. We had good view and were bit nervous being close to the lion. Every one was very happy and satisfied .

As we proceeded towards the camp after a satisfying lion walk along experience the guide spotted a young elephant. It was single. As the guide stopped near the elephant it became aggressive and it started moving towards our vehicle. I lost my nerves and started shivering. The guide was unmoved by the approaching elephant. The vehicle was at an angle in which the approaching elephant was few yards away from the seat I was sitting. I sat down inside the vehicle to avoid looking the elephant. Finally the guide made the elephant submissive and it started moving away from us. I stood finally to bid good bye to that elephant. With that dramatic scene Sunset safari came to an end. We reached the guest house and had called it a day. The next day morning my parents-in-law went for sunrise safari and they have spotted few lions sleeping on the road and hyenas along with other animals.

After they came back we proceeded towards Crocodile bridge gate. Towards Lower Sabie from Skukuza another surprise was waiting for us. A leopard was chasing a monkey on a tree. We had a good sight of leopard climbing up and down and jumping from a tree. There were lots of resting areas with toilets inside the jungle. One such resting area with a small restaurant had information about the kind of animals spotted at all the camps.

We did not see any big group of cape buffalos. We could not capture leopard as it was moving fast from the eyesight . While making collage for this post I accidentally stumbled on zooming the place where we noticed the lion I spotted the lioness. This gives me the feeling that I should have taken the fast moving leopard too. If any of you happen to spot such ones please do click. You can later use tools to zoom and have a clear picture.

The journey towards Johannesburg started at 3.15 p.m. from crocodile bridge gate and ended at 8.15 p.m. When we were out of the gate where we thought we would not find animals to our surprise was an elephant. We came back with happiness as Ganesha blessed us first when we entered the park and at last wishing a safe journey.
Dinner : Lot of offers were pouring in from friends to have PIL for dinner. Though I was extremely sleepy and preferred sleeping to eating , a small fresh up at home refreshed me and kindled my appetite. We had delicious food at Shruthi & Venky's house

After a week we came to know that a leopard was shot at in Skukuza camp where we stayed. Yes! it has intruded into the camp chasing a monkey in the very same guest house camp ! As it is unsafe for people inside the camp the authorities have shot not with tranquilizer but with gun. Leopards are territorial. So even if it was dropped elsewhere it would revisit the camp. Also other leopards will not allow this one in their territory. Therefore they had no choice but to kill the animal. It was pathetic to hear the news. You can read about this story in http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Leopard-shot-at-Skukuza-camp-20101001

The next posts in this series is "Destination Cape Town!"

Visit to Graskop

We planned a trip to Graskop and Kruger along with Srinath's parents. We happened to travel through all the popular routes in South Africa, namely the panorama route, the garden route and the wine route. I would like to start with the panorama route to kick start the travel posts.

About the Panorama route:
This route is the most exquisite scenic route in South Africa with waterfalls and canyons. As the name suggests we got all 360 degree view of the mountain range. We had the opportunity to travel around this place during various seasons. This time of the year being spring we happened to see lot of flowers and shades of green in the trees and plants.

Our journey from Johannesburg started at 7 a.m., with a break fast break at 9.30 a.m. at Belfast. We passed through Dulstroom a beautiful town with lot of hills and valleys.

The yellow flowers in Orgistad Oasis complex on the way to panorama route caught our eyes.

Around 12 p.m.we could view blyde river canyons as we entered the panorama route
Blyde river canyon: Though Blyde is the third largest canyon in the world it bags first place in the largest green canyons category.
The first spot we stopped to view the blyde canyon was three rondavels. This place is the best spot to view the blyde canyon. The three rondavels stood majestically and the view was breathtaking.
Three rondavels: Rondavel is the African type of hut which usually is round or oval shaped. There are three independent rocks which has shapes of African huts hence the name.

The next stop was at Potholes, the place of origin of Blyde canyon. The place is just right for photographers. The beautiful swirls and the intensity with which water ran through could be seen from the bridges across the river.
Bourke’s Luck Potholes:

 The place is named after Bourke who predicted the abundant gold deposits in that area though he could not find for himself. The place is abundant in red sand stones. The merger of Treur River with Blyde River with swirls caused over eons made the sand and rock to grind huge, cylindrical potholes into the bedrock of the river.
From potholes we proceeded towards the Berlin falls.

 This is yet another place to photograph. We happened to stumble on a place en route to Berlin falls while searching for a picnic spot which was close to a timber saw mill. The spot was wonderful with cool breeze. We settled under a huge tree with picnic.
The next destination was wonder view, the highest view point in that area. No wonder the view point is called wonder view.

 It was wonderful that we had an unrestricted view of the rain forest from an easily accessible point.
After having seen rain forest view the next point of interest was God’s window.

This is the most popular place around the panoramic route with cliff plunging to 700 meters with views of low veld and kruger national park. We purchased two pedestals from the tribal vendors to mark an end to the one day trip en route to Kruger.

Seventh wedding anniversary

By God's blessings I and Srinath have stepped into eighth year of our togetherness. We recollected the places we lived during our wedding anniversaries these years. Life was like tide with ups and downs. Initial days of adjustments were little difficult for me. From day one, every day is a learning experience and understanding is still improving. At times I wonder how many intricate understanding parts are there between a husband and wife. Observing the positives, the inherent talent he has dealing with people, the right decision making attitude have always made me feel that no other person would have been a suitable person for me. Though expectations always do not meet I can take it as a difference between a man and woman, hence balance would be there in life. We are lucky to be blessed by Srinath’s parents this year for our anniversary.

Epitome of Valour

I happened to read an article about St. Joan of arc, whose bravery can be compared to Lakshmi bai, Rani of Jhansi, a young woman who fought English troops and won several battles for France 500 years ago.

It is unbelievable to know that she at the age of 16 listened to her inner voice and prepared herself to take the most dangerous step in life of becoming a soldier though was born as a daughter of a peasant. She had great victories, crowned Charles, a king and died as a martyr at the age of 19.She got freedom for Orleans and was captured by Germans and sold to English and underwent a prejudiced trial. She was considered to have obliged to evil commands and was burnt. She attained Saint hood later!. She is an epitome of female bravery, egoless soul, faith in God, values, and determination.

Sarva dharma principles

All religions in the world believe that we should love everybody.

 If we believe in religion we should accept that everyone can believe in God in different ways and not judge or criticize anyone else’s beliefs. If someone criticizes you for believing in your religion you should say “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I believe that all religions are pathways to God” and walk away.

These values if incorporated in children's mind then there would definitely be peace in the future world!

Being an interesting person

My thirst for becoming an interesting person has increased tremendously in the past few years. The hints I would like to share on this topic are that we need to develop certain qualities within us which will make us and the people around us happy and attract crowd where ever we are. Being optimistic is the most important thing. Listening to others and appreciating the real good points when they speak would in turn make them listen to us. A very passionate interest in whatever we learn and sharing cutting edge information with others will make us a person whom others would like to acquaint with. To gain knowledge and interesting information we need to read a lot. Reading about people and psychology would make a big difference . Above all "Understanding is the function of heart, not of intellect" is the basic to this performing art!

Days without internet...

Repeated cable thefts made me feel as though I was in stone age. These days we have reduced the burden of postman and the usage of papers with the help of e-mails. Days passed with curiosity about the unread emails and updates which I missed from friends world over.The internet black out period for me!
This period has helped me revive passion for books. There was more time for me to oraganize my daily routine. Day seemed longer and the world seemed smaller. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" became true in this context.

Srinath's innocent handiwork!

What happened to my comment segment?...After analysing so much I understood the popout window setup for comment has been disabled. This happened after the "called it a day" post. This was posted by Srinath when the telephone cable was stolen and the desperation I had to upload my post as early as possible. I handed over this job to my darling husband and he successfully uploaded it.From that moment onwards the comment prompt didnot work.I recieved my comment in the form of message or email from none other than the only person who truly follows my blog "Hari". I had to change my nice template to check if anything was wrong in the code of the template that I was using. Just after changing the template I noticed the problem still remained. Then with so much dullness in my face I started analysing everyother option and found the solution. But Srinath says he only posted the content and didnot change the setup. It still remains a mystery to me that how the comment prompt setting had changed. I just found that the particular post remains unchanged when I change the font! So wondering what innocent handiwork did Srinath do!

Called it a day!

Last weekend kicked off on an interesting note as we headed for sports day being celebtrated in Aaditya's school Midrand montessori. We parents gathered in Sagewood as the ground there was big enough to accomodate all the cars,parents and grandparents. We wanted to be on time and started off accordingly from our house to end up in unexpected traffic jam near the school. We joined the events before it started. Thanks to the staff as they waited for all parents to come and gave us all breathing time to settle. soccer starz trainers welcomed us all on behalf of the school staff .

The eventful day started with warmup exercises for children by soccer starz trainer and the toddler directress Angela invited toddlers for flat race. The race was real fun to watch.Some children were crying and some of them were carried or accompanied by their moms. I couldnot stop looking at those wonderful buds with so much innocence on their face clinging onto their moms as they were scared to see such a big group with all eyes staring on them!

This was followed by race for 4 year old girls and boys which was taken over by Michele. These children had bean bag race as well.There was some visible difference between toddlers and this group. These children were not scared of the crowd. But they could hardly complete in an order. In this category the bean bag race was fun filled with some of them were least bothered about the bag they carried on their head,some were very careful and some of them walked instead of running to make sure they reached the finish line with the bean bag.Soccer starz trainers were busy judging the winner and were capturing them on their camera.

The next group of children to start the race were 5 year olds. Here comes my hero! supposed to be in 4 year old category . He joined the slightly bigger group with so much pride on his face for having been considered as 5 year old. This group was little organised and everyone managed to finish both the races.We were happy to see Aaditya enjoying the races.This again was conducted for girls and boys seperately.

Then came the six year old boys and girls with better urge to race for the first position.


After all the children events were over it was time for adults!The much awaited event by me!!! I must say almost all the moms were willing to participate in the race.Warm up exercises were given by one of those men in blue(soccer trainers!).It was conducted in 3 batches with Aaditya's teacher participating along with us as her son is also a student in the school. Who came first?..those guys kept asking among themselves unable to come to a conclusion...lol

Next was the dads race.Only two batches of dads race against 3 batches of moms.There was one accident here with a dad just skidding towards the finish line. Srinath didnot participate as he is still recovering from ACL (No friends....not the result of domestic violence!)lol...

This was followed by grandparents' race. It was a great race to watch as most of them were almost fit enough to run.

Then it was the turn of staff members to race.Every one except Michele participated as she is in her last trimester of pregnancy.With this all the races came to an end.

The day ended with award ceremony to felicitate all the participants. I was reminded of the chocolate medal by his earlier schools. Aditya wanted to make sure he ends up eating that and I was in a mood to safe gaurd the t.shirt before the chocolate melted only to find that it was a real medal and not a chocolate one.

Srinath took a snap of Aditya with his teacher and assistant in class. We bid good bye to his teacher and started off to home. Even in car Aadithya was not ready to believe that it was a real medal!I convinced him after much persuasion and reached home happily to call it a day!

Thanks to Sian and team. Special appreciations to them for having conducted the sports day during this time of the season. The weather was excellent and perfect for such an event.

Surprise visitor to my house!

I have always felt that nothing interesting had taken place in my life. But when I actually looked back I did realize that lots and lots of interesting incidents have ofcourse taken place, in a span of few years and here I am reminded of one such incident ..

Yes…..It is about the surprise of my life .

We were living in Karur at that time(2006). Our house was on first floor .It was a beautiful and big house. Aadithya was about 14 months and was just beginning to get more mobile in the house.. I was in the master bedroom playing with him. I asked him to bring his book that was in the hall and this little fellow went until the bedroom door and came back umpteen times. Obviously he was tired of playing and slept. I just opened the bathroom door which was just outside the master bedroom after he was asleep and there was the surprise of my life. Wonder if anyone could place a surprise inside bathroom? Yes…the uninvited visitor inside surprised me and sent shivers down my spine.

The surprise visitor was a venomous snake in the corner just opposite the bathroom door. Luckily there was nothing in the room except a mug and toilet cleaning brush and the floor was white in colour. The bathroom window had a clean stuck mosquito net and there was a opening for exhaust fan which had a mesh outside. Every one in that colony were amazed as no one had a clue how the snake would have come inside the first floor bathroom. I kept the door open and went to call a neighbor thinking if the snake comes behind the door it might hurt the person opening it. I had confidence that it might not move easily in a tiled floor. Later my neighbor closed the doors . The person who came to hit it could not find when he opened the door. It curled itself into a very small ring and hid under the toilet brush. The white tile turned into red in next few minutes. If it had come to the other bathroom which was parallel to this one and was attached to the bedroom the situation would have been different and anything could have happened to either one of us.

Later on people in the colony when meeting either me or srinath started commenting little sarcastically that “did u have a visitor?”..etc.etc. To their surprise who ever made such comment had the same visitor waiting for them outside their door steps! Guess what happened next… no one spoke about that incident !

I have immense belief in baba and few days earlier to this incident I stuck a baba’s photograph on the bedroom door as my inner sense advised. I am a person who does not like His photo to be stuck every where inside the house except pooja room. The answer for sticking the photo came to me. He protected all of us from a very poisonous snake!

Gonna miss good old friends!

Missing good friends will always create vacuum in one's heart. This vacuum has already started developing in my heart as well. My first and good friends in South Africa Vish and Varadh are leaving for India in 10 days. We met them first in 2008, January at Chianti, sunninghill where they were our neighbors. They are a very rare kind of ppl i.e. Totally good at heart, the most humble, the most friendliest etc.etc... . It’s so hard to find someone who is so emotional towards every other person in the family like Pavithra Varadh. All the three are so modern yet religious and their attachment towards their family is marvelous. I wish them all the very best and hope to continue their friendship wherever they are in this world....

Miss you all!

Thank you very much for the beautiful Sunflowers and wonderful vase! The vase will always remind us of u folks! Flowers may fade but not our friendship!

My Music odyssey...or an ordeal?

Do you like this fancy title? Well title courtesy ,my blog guru "HARI".

Has anyone ever tried attending music classes like me? I wonder!

My mother is a great fan of carnatic music and wanted me to become atleast a kolu singer...

Here are my attempts to learn music!


Trial 1: My first attempt to learn music started at the age of 5, in Pattukottai. (the first trial I believe) My teacher asked me to come the following year..since she felt it was too early.

Pattukottai was close to Thiruvaiyaru.Out of sheer interest my mom took me there during aaradhanai. What I can remember now is a river , the container in which we took yummy puliyodharai , Kunnakudi playing violin, Mandalin sreenivas as a very young boy. I enjoyed sleeping in mandapam.

Trial 2: My second attempt began on an auspicious day,whereby I visited my teacher and paid due respects to her.I was asked to come for regular classes then on.

I attended classes for few days before which my father got transferred to tirunelveli and with that my second attempt to learn music ended abruptly.


Trial 3: It was my mother who though not classically trained, would always ask me to follow some of the songs she used to sing.In Tirunelveli at last we found a music master and my mom was more than happy. My brothers used to drop and pick me up from the class. He tried impressing me with chocolates and sweets, though I never liked chocolates and would eat the one given by him for his sake! I was attending classes regularly.
Time came when the master had planned for a trip to Bombay for LFC. My teacher fell sick after his Bombay trip and passed away eventually.
This triggered the sense of humour of my brothers. They would tease me saying that I killed my master with my voice. So there came an end as other music teachers were in places far away from my house. Thus drawing an end to an unsuccessful third attempt to learn music.

Trial 4: I gave a long break to my trials and made my next attempt when I was in college. When I was studying B.Sc,my parents found violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman's sister who was living nearby. My mother went for enquiry. They wanted students for music exams. My mom thought that would be too much for me. So this attempt ended even before it started.

Trial 5: One day while going for a walk in Annanagar, a "Music classes taken" board attracted my mom. She enquired and I joined. The teacher encouraged me a lot and said that I had a good voice. One day to my utter shock I noticed a hearing aid in her ears, which I had not seen all those days. I realised that she was partially deaf.I came home and told my mom in whispers that the teacher had hearing problems. The worst part was My brothers heard the whole story and galatta started all over again.They teased me saying that the teacher beared with me because she was deaf. I stopped going to classes then on thus putting an end to fifth unsuccessful attempt to learn music.

Trial 6:I was studying MCA during this attempt. One of my relatives finally found Mr.Jayaraman(famous for his katha kalatchebam on radio).His wife was a renowned music teacher. I loved going to music classes for the first time in life.This went on for quite some time, but as luck would have it this teacher shifted her house to a new place where there was a vet downstairs.
One day an unleashed dog started chasing me as I opened the gate and my cynophobia brought an end to an unsuccessful attempt to learn music.

It was fun time again for my brothers as they teased the hell out of me remarking that even dog could not bear my voice!

Trial 7: I was already married during this attempt and was living in Baroda.My previous music teacher's daughter was taking music classes there. Finally I got her address. Srinath ...my husband used to come home very very late and most of the times was out of station. When everything settled and the routine looked like normal, I planned for attending classes.
This time it was Srinath who got transferred and this also ended even before it started.

I am still looking for a music teacher who can quench my thirst for music!

The art of appreciation

As Voltaire says "Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well". I was just thinking about this truth. What came to my mind is that my father's policy of taking only the positive qualities from other person. If we can find the positive things we will automatically start appreciating them,which in turn would help us fine tune ourselves to attain greatness, which is voltaire's philosophy too.

How often do we appreciate things in life? Self appreciation is motivation when done with care. Ego is just few inches away from self motivation. So one should be careful in this act of self appreciation. It helps us to do self examination too. Do we speak softly to others, how cool were we when a situation leading to angerness arised, how regular are we in our daily routines are some of the things that we can include in our life for assessing the self dicipline. If we can appreciate ourself for our good I strongly feel it improves our quality of life.

Appreciating others for their gestures or skills, will make us try and adopt those qualities. No one in this world will be a gelous person. It also paves a learning platform in one's life. Appreciate friends, the happiness they get is transferred to us as well. They try to improve themselves too.Appreciation will lead to sharing and thus we start learning from them. We keep appreciating famous musicians, sports personalities,leaders and we forget about people around us.Let us start practicising this today.

It would be appropriate to conclude with Mother Teresa's quote "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” So lets start appreciating and be kind to others.

Every problem has a solution!

I am blessed(really!(lol))to have been born with three brothers, all with different characteristics! First one is timid,second one very bold and social and last but not the least is a cleanliness fanatic.
The third one is little closer and am reminded of the days he used to drop me in college. My college was very close to his office and would drop en route. But the hardest thing is making him get ready to office. He would take long time to make sure his shirt is free from slightest wrinkle. Next comes his office bag,would dust it everyday and would make sure there is not even a spot of dust. Polishing his shoes would be another patience tester for the rest of the family watching him. Next is his bike, the cleaning of it and the speed with which he used to do that made me shed tears. He would even clean the rim everyday! Everybody tried in vain to make him skip one of the routines so that he would start early. My complaints or criticisms resulted only in him saying that there is no need why he should be dropping me and that I could go by bus.

So next thing I thought of was, the solution to the problem!

I started doing the first round of cleaning, as however neat or perfect he would do his routine. Yet,that was a success. The time he took to get ready came down drastically. Every one used to give a naughty smile and my Mr.clean brother too. He is happy that I suffer for that joy ride. Others for my effort to avoid going by congested bus and at the same time to avoid going late to college.
Thanks to Mr.Clean bro,as cleaning,organising or planning has never been too difficult for me. I am trained in those after all!

Cynophobia...my fight to over come.

I have cynophobia, abnormal fear of dogs. I don't know when and how it started. But the fact is the moment I look at a dog even at a very long distance ,though leashed my adrenalin shoots up and the next thing in my mind would be either to avoid the route or shout. Everytime I cross a dog which is leashed, I get the thrill of doing bunjee. The worst part is I passed it on to my son as well.

Now I feel is the time for rectification. I want to get rid off this fear. Can owning a dog help? It might. But I hate them licking and jumping on people. Also taking care of them is an alternative to a second child I guess.So even owning dog is out of question.

So as an alternative I thought I would understand the language of dogs, rather the barking. Since I never knew that barking could mean them recogonising us or their happiness until recently. I read about the behaviour of dogs too. It suggested that avoiding eye contact and standing still at the same place would be the best idea to avoid being attacked by unknown dog. I am learning more and more everyday. I would be the happiest person in the world if I could successfully get rid off Cynophobia!

If you have cynophobia please do check the puppy picture in the left pane...Looking at the picture of dogs also reduces the fear..(courtesy some article abt overcoming c.phobia)

Am I missing Motherland?

"Grass is always greener on the other side". This holds good for my current situation.
Life is too short. Should I spend it in a foreign country longing for the love of near and dear ones in motherland ,missing the feeling of living in a own house?
Well the answer is, definitely not ,except that I consider this as an oppurtunity to appreciate creation of God!
My kid misses the love and affection of his grandparents and cousins. Little enjoyments like gully cricket, travelling in bus,auto and train are definitely missed by my son.
Having caring friends ,sooths the pain where electronic gadgets have become the alternative to friend,philosopher and guide.
Do we need so much challenges in life,that makes us move away from the place of origin? Opinions vary. For me being with husband and kid is more enchanting than anything else in this world.
I was once asked by a guruji, if I enjoy being in a foreign land. In a spiritual mood I could not think of the emotional attachment towards the mother land but was reminded of the chance that I got to wonder the creation of God. What could be a justified answer? I still wonder!!!
My emotionless mind's answer is that I am happy in this country. But my emotional mind says that this happiness is only a mirage.
Perhaps I would ask what could be the perfect answer to the same guruji , if I get a chance to meet again.

Amazing qualities of my father...

As this is my first blog I thought it would be appropriate to begin with this topic as my father is the person I have always thought the reason for whom I am today.He is the sculpter of my characters.

He is a person who is still admired by his ex-collegues and is a great human being who lives a diciplined and principled life. He never forgets or finds reasons to say that he could not do his regular morning prayers or exercise routine. A very active person who always looks at the positive side of anyone whom he meets. Egoless simple person who is always friendly and tries to do whatever help he can to others without any expectation.

His hard work and dedication led him cross all hurdles and is blessed to have retired as a prestigeous Indian Postal Services(IPS) officer, who always was the most sought after person by all his superiors and subordinates. His love for his brothers, sister and even cousins cannot be explained in words. Always calls me by his sister's name and vice versa.Such is his love for both of us.I have never heard him talking ill about others or even feel bad when a situation of such a sort arise.

I have not seen him have time for attending bhajans or discourses though is a devotee of Sai baba, but he practices what is being preached by Bhagawath Geetha and Baba . This reminds me of the day we had been to Putta parthi where he was one among those two or three who were personally blessed by Baba in a very big gathering of devotees.

His care for children cannot be explained in words. He is always there for me to share anything that I come across no matter good or bad. Always advises me to increase reading habbit and wants me to be a knowledgable person in life. I hardly remember him shouting at me. I was not restricted or questioned regarding money which I used to have, as his brought up was such that he knew for sure that I would not spend extravagantly. There used to be times during which I would retain the balance of amount from shopping and give that when need arises. It was like I was managing the household expenses at a very young age. He had trusted me ,gave me independance in what ever I felt like doing.He found me a perfect life partner and I am sure he is a happy man today for having got a good son-in-law.I doubt if I can be a good parent like how he is. I feel proud to be his daughter and want to adopt all his good qualities in life. I donot look at him as a daughter longing for being pampered but feel blessed to have got such a noble ,caring person as my father.