New Year - New Era

New Year - New Era

Almost a fortnight back got this idea in my mind about upcoming English New Year (January 1^st). Every individual from my folklore are getting ready for New Year bash. Certainly they are awaiting the moment to cherish that whole year. Here, interesting fact is every one find happiness in celebrating biggest moments/achievements of past (some may deeply retrospect about mistakes, :)). Well, on a serious note it’s really good to have such spirit. But, why some times we are running the same rat race, after all we all are well educated and equipped. Just think about it and share your comments.

Yes, I am going talking about new calendar year celebrations.

http://www.history.com/news/6-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-gregorian-calendar

How this came?

Gregorian calendar actually prepared by romans but eventually named after King Julius Caesar. In 1582 Christian pope Gregorian prepared and made it official in France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. British also made it official in all the countries they were ruling that time.

Rings a bell about Astronomy?

Some of the months have 31 days, 30 days where as some of them had just 28 days. It’s basically not following astronomy or any physics. Then how it came?

The origins of English naming used by the Gregorian calendar:

·         January: Janus (Roman god of gates, doorways, beginnings and endings)

·         February: Februus (Etruscan god of death) Februarius (mensis) (Latin for "month of purification (rituals)" it is said to be a Sabine word, the last month of ancient pre-450 BC Roman calendar). It is related to fever.[51][52][53]

·         March: Mars (Roman god of war)

·         April: "Modern scholars associate the name with an ancient root meaning 'other', i.e. the second month of a year beginning in March."[54]

·         May: Maia Maiestas (Roman goddess of springtime, warmth, and increase[55])

·         June: Juno (Roman goddess, wife of Jupiter)

·         July: Julius Caesar (Roman dictator) (month was formerly named Quintilis, the fifth month of the calendar of Romulus)

·         August: Augustus (first Roman emperor) (month was formerly named Sextilis, the sixth month of Romulus)

·         September: septem (Latin for seven, the seventh month of Romulus), Sapta=7 Sanskrit

·         October: octo (Latin for eight, the eighth month of Romulus), Octa=8 Sanskrit

·         November: novem (Latin for nine, the ninth month of Romulus)Nava=9 Sanskrit

·         December: decem (Latin for ten, the tenth month of Romulus)Dasa=10 Sanskrie

More information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

New Year?

It’s good to celebrate on beginning of something new. But what’s new on so called New Year day (January 1^st). Is that a piece of paper hanging on our wall called calendar or the Day, Month & Year changing altogether?

Weather?

We have almost all same weather condition on December 31^st and on January 1^st. Nature itself is not ready with something new something like Ugadi (Yugadi) day in South India. On Yugadi, winter will go and all the trees welcomes summer with fresh forth leaves. Weather changes dramatically from the day on-wards. It’s a nature's sign of celebration.

Festive?

So are we really crazy about another festival called New Year, certainly not. We are already out numbered with the festival list in our culture. There are many other occasions to celebrate for a good cause.

Time for a new Resolution?

It may not be a calendar starting day to take up a new resolution, rite? If we are really eager to do something good or some resolution, the next moment itself is the right to take up and go on.

Serious question: How many of us take a nice resolution on this day? If you really believe that making something on Jan 1^st will get good luck on your life, go ahead.

If you are really bothered plant a tree, donate blood, arrange a health camp, donate an education year to a child, go to remote village and spend some time to know about their lives and so on.

Just a Wish:

New Year is just a wish or personnel belief, maybe we are rite at some point of time. But wishing for one’s safety, prosperity, good health is really a great thing, can be done any fine day. Since we are socially bonded with each other, wish for every one’s prosperity like our culture says “Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hi”.

Celebration:

Why the liquor sales are really high on this day? Why so many drunk and drive cases registered on same day? Why we are so tending towards west ? What kind of message we are propagating to our next generations? Is celebration means just booze and dance? My dear friends are we really need to celebrate this New Year or trend a NEW ERA? Never be a follower.

Why to follow this calendar?

Yes, we are following this calendar for global uniformity something like we are using English language for global representation. Since we are following the calendar it is certainly not necessary to follow their festivals.

http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/year-history.html

What to do?

Following west always doesn't meant it is modern and scientific. Just don’t fall for false prestige. Knowingly or unknowingly we may started following this tradition. Now it’s time to come of this trap. Know the reason behind festivals. Better late than never, take a good resolution and be a trend setter.  Swami Vivekanada says “ Be Bold, Be Strong, Be Heros”. 

It may sound odd to think in a different manner, but think once again.!!

For a moment of thought

Another frequent question I ever face is "Was-sup for weekend"? Yes, i do have my own plans. Visiting a friends place, watching a movie followed by dinner. Yeah I am planned for my Week End. But rainy roads, terrific traffic, tax full toxic food made my week end as WEAK END.

Once a while I use to think about what’s happening around? Nothing great haa ? My roads are bad due to department is not fulfilling their duties, public transportation is weak due to lack of funds, blah... blah.. All that I can do is blame on politicians not doing their duty. It’s not politicians not doing their duty, it’s we people not fulfilling our duties on a single holiday called Election Day. Can’t we make our anger to ballet box?

We are really ingenious, smart enough to discuss about Indian international affairs, who could be the next president of USA.  But can’t we really spare some time for next five years of nation? We simply can’t wait for last 5 seconds in traffic signal and blame the traffic police for bribing. Everyone wants a developed nation but don’t have time to cast the vote, follow the signal, keep city clean. As Gandhi ji said “Be the change you want to see”. I don’t have time/guts to question all the sh!t happening around me but I can vote and make others to cast their vote.

If you don't vote, you don't have rite to ask/question the government. Sounds different rite? As a common man we always try to save Tax by means of manipulating or something else. The reason is we personally feel it as our hard earned money. Why cant we feel the same while casting the votes to elect the politicians who use our same hard earned tax money for the sake of country development. We are not ready to leave single penny of our money/our property then why we are silent towards the social frauds happening around. 

Whats the solution ? Don't be tensed, you can change the whole scenario when we all are aware and make others awake. Follow the traffic rules, start questioning the govt./bureaucrats. Like charity starts from home we need to start development of this country from home.

Remember, still major part of real India lives in rural India. Our villages play vital role in every aspect of this country. Rather than concentrating on problems its better to start for solution. I am one of those positive spirits who have full faith on every individual. Its our duty to think and chase the change.

Yes, I am a common man who can change the fate of this country. It may not possible alone, together we can. It takes no time to like this or takes a moment to share. But spread the awareness to change the fate of this country.

Jai hind..!!

Survival of the fittest

Choosing SUDHAGAD:

Our enthusiastic group of friends planned to visit/trek one of the forts around Pune during this summer. (Usually we are habituated to plan a trek at least couple of times in a year). One of our friends is a frequent traveller, who suggested that trekking Sudhagad would be a wonderful experience. He does have some experience over this place although he visited it 10 years ago. So we have decided to visit Sudhagad on next day of Ramnavmi i.e, 20^th April 2013. Keeping fingers crossed our planning done.

Making up to the place:

Finally the day of visit arrived, so our backpacks filled, itinerary fixed, boots tightened and food packed. Our itinerary prepared in following way.

Saturday 12:30 PM – gathering @ Pune railway station

                  01:00 PM – Take Lonavala local train - will take us there by 2:30 PM

                  03:00 PM – From ST stand take the bus to Thail Bail – a remote hamlet to start trek.

                  04:30 PM – Start towards the actual fort, we expected to reach there by 8 PM.

                  08:00 PM – have dinner and take rest.

Sunday 07:00 AM – Morning wakeup call & refresh.

                  07:30 AM – look around the places on summit.

                  09:00 AM – Have breakfast

                  10:00 AM – return trek towards the village at mountain footsteps.

                  01:00 PM – Have lunch (if possible) and start return journey.

And hence it was mere planning; in a short while we came to know that “sometimes if nothing works as expected it may give more fun than actually expected”.

Project Sudhagad:

                Unfortunately fortunate day in life started in a normal way rushing towards grocery stores and food preparation. I was busy half day in preparing food (Lemon rice which is favourite food for many of my friends) and making arrangements & packing. I started at home around 11:30 AM towards station. Here is an important note; they charged Rs. 19.00 to reach station my place (12km) and the later journey from Pune to Lonavala (68km) over a local will coast Rs. 15.00. Yes, Indian rail ways are always best in most of aspects. Also we had an idea in mind to make this a budget trip so our intention was clear to make it as cheap as possible. Our local train journey was another amazing experience. We reached lonavala around 3:30PM. Even though its mid April, summer, it was not that sunny. We were able make our journey to ST bus station very easily. Oops, we have a direct bus to thail-baila only after 4:00 PM. There is no option to think about secondary route, just wait. And finally we reached the base village thail-baila around 6 PM. There is a Hydel power plant & a fort in this small village. Initially we thought that this one could be Sudhagad, but actually not. It’s another 4-6 hrs of trek/trek away. So our great adventure started..!!

Pic i: Thial-Baila fort view. 

Un-Expected trek:

Now we are totally out of the concrete jungle rushing towards paddy fields, nature.  We started following an unknown path which may lead towards Sudhagad. Local farmers helped us in some ways. On our way we tasted some forest fruits, of course they are natural and organic. Its beautiful dusk, so we need to make our journey as early as possible. It’s down trek from top of summit on 45° inclination path and again up trek with almost similar condition. Believe me the path was so dangerous at any point of time we thought of giving up and return to thail-baila. But no chance, we came here on a mission to capture the Sudhagad. Somehow we managed to reach the base point of the first mountain. There is a water fall (will be active during monsoon, totally dry now) between these two mountains. And we lost our self in middle of the forest.

Missi(ng)on Accomplishment:

Its 8:00 PM in the night and moonlight helped us a lot. We are running with low water reserves. Our very aim was to find a route which may lead us to either a village or the actual summit. Secondary option was, find a safe place, start camp fire (of course not only for fun but also for protection), have some food, manage till morning and start the journey/return. Situation turned from trekking for fun to trekking for survival. Our wild guess made us to follow the water fall journey which may direct us. Bingo..! Yes our sixth sense worked and we found a small path with human access. Here is the catch, on our way we found some Chula (natural stove made up of three hard stones placed in three corners of a triangle shape and wood used as combustion material) so it’s an evident of human access to this place. Also we found the way with the help of chocolate/biscuit wrappers. Sometimes our litter also helps others in some way. We started following the path which may lead us to the village or mountain top. Our very aim was to make it up to mountain. Eventually our clock ticked 10 PM mark.

Some time in life it’s great fun if we really don’t know “Where to go, How to go, What to do, How to do”.

As mentioned earlier our team members know the route from this point. They said we will find some water recourse near the moustache hanuman mandir (typical temple). In olden days people used grooves that made on big rocks to hold the water. So we were managed to find one. It’s not an easy task to take water out. One should bend down inside 4” depth and capture the water. That was the only Bisleri/Aquafina mineral water available there. One of our members got two small pet bottles of capacity 120ml each, crazy enough. Finished our dinner (10:30 PM) and our journey started. Frankly speaking, our energy levels are low (actually we are running on extended battery mode). But it’s very much essential to reach the top before the dawn. Me and another young lad from our team walking in front and the others following us.

All of a sudden we found a moving object sound from one of the thick bushes.  It could be a mammoth or a wild cat. We don’t have an experience to handle a canine, how come we are going to deal with it? But we know that by keep talking in louder voice and by making some sounds we can avoid the attack. We are ready with match box to put fire also a big stick in my hands will badly hurt the opponent in first attempt. We are ready. Nothing happened as expected. OMG, this is almost a re-birth. We crossed Maha-Darwaja (main entrance) in between. And finally we reached the summit around 12:30 AM in the mid night. There is a temple (Bhrai Devi) located on top. It’s time to take some rest.

Exploring around the summit:

We were so tired that we couldn’t make to wake up till 7 AM in the morning. After refreshment we were heading towards the one only inhabitant house on summit. We had nice tea there and finished our scheduled breakfast. On the large plateau at the summit, there are two lakes, a house, a big granary, some tombs, a shrine (Vrindavan) and numerous other ruins, scattered around the fort area. It’s totally different world from what actually we are living in. We need to have such kind of experience at some point of time. Most lovable places around the world are really far away from our reach. One needs to plan, work and explore to have an experience.

Returning journey:

After a couple of hours of exploration we just started our return journey for down trek. It was also wonderful experience as we are tired too much and still need to make it. We had some of the nice snaps during our return way. Had some snacks at a small hut. And finally reached a small village from where we can get the bus to Pali. We are also blessed to have a holy darshan of Pali Vinayak mandir at Pali. From pali its another couple of hours journey to lonavala to catch a local train to Pune.

I think our love and attitude towards Mother Nature made us itinerant travellers/trekkers. 

Trekking level : High if you follow thail-baila route, medium from other routed.

Precautions : Carry as much water as you can.

Expenditure : Around Rs. 250.00 (Yes Budget trip) if you can manage.

Maha Kumbh - Grande Voyage

Grande Voyage

(A small trip to Kumbh #Prayag - 2013)

Kumbh: It’s not just largest human gathering on earth, it’s all about religious faith, all about human tolerance, all about connectivity and supremacy of Hindu dharm.

It’s my pleasure to write another word about the happening moment on earth. I thank almighty (para brahman), my parents, friends and all those who are part of this journey directly or indirectly. I always believe that great journeys won’t start with just another foot step; it starts in mind as an idea and transform into a journey then, become part of the life

I had a big idea of spending a Maha Shivratri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maha_Shivaratri) day at Varanasi, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest in India. And this idea transformed into plan of action and coupled with taking a holy dip at Maha Kumbh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maha_Kumbh) Prayag (Allahabad) just a week ago. Before going to start I personally thank Narayan anna, Prakash anna, Ramakrishna anna and dearest Naresh.

Making the trip to Maha Kumbh:

Initially we planned to attend kumbh along with friends from hyderabad, later on it went through a big plan of 7 days so we called off. On a Saturday afternoon (23^rd Feb) an idea flashed into my mind to attend the kumbh along with Varansi in a single go. It took almost a couple of days to make the plan with Narayan anna and the dates finalized. We had waiting list tickets in hand but somehow able to get Tatkal tickets just before the day of journey. (And trip confirmed..! Woo.. Hoo..) The itinerary was:

8^th Friday: start from Pune by night 9 PM.

9^th Saturday: reach Prayag by 9 PM.

10^th Sunday: take a holy dip and proceed to Varanasi.

10^th Sunday: After reaching Varanasi, attend Ganga Harti and stood in line for Maha Dev Kashi Vishwanath darshan.

11^th Monday: Break the Shivratri fast and makeup for return journey.

12^th Tuesday: Reach Mumbai by evening and return to Pune by night.

The Kick Start:

As per the itinerary, Prakash bhai and I started our journey to Prayag on Friday night via Pune-Patna exp. We felt it was a long 24hr. journey but it was just a day of travel gone in a blink. All the co passengers and inhabitants of train journey made our travel easy. The crowded train compartments sometimes made us fuzzy about the visit.

That night @Allahabad:

Still I do remember that night which we spent at prayag. The whole night we were searching for good food and shelter. It’s not an easy business through, we tried our best. Many of my friends advised me to avoid street food. Obviously we were looking for a good restaurant to have our dinner. And finally we found one (may be one of the best restaurants near around the Allahabad railway station) Shriya restaurant, a newly opened one. The food here is not so disappointing one but the waiting duration for food made our mobile batteries fully charged ones. It took almost 3 and half hours to finish our dinner. Its 12:30 AM, Sunday morning they served hot n colorful veg. Biryani on Shivratri day. We just started our Shivratri fast by veg. Biryani. Sounds different rite? Then we went to take some rest at some spot in railway station. Due to Kumbh, the station was crowded with thousands of people arriving /departing from different parts of India. We felt very fortunate that we are part of the most happening gathering on earth. And the night went with some of the best/worst experiences.

Awaiting friends’ arrival:

In the morning we were awaiting friends’ arrival from Delhi & Hyderabad. Naresh from delhi reached us by 8 AM in the morning so we made our plan to take holy dip as the other train was late for couple of hours. We just started towards Snan Ghat at banks of river Ganga (Ganges). It took almost 45 min. to reach just 4 kms. The old Allahabad city looks similar as earlier, no special arrangements for Kumbh except security. It was really govt. fault to prepare the city for happening gathering on earth. People from all over the globe visited the place to witness the happening gathering. UP govt. might have showcased this occasion up to world standards as this is the best occasion to spread a word about our great cultural events. They might have provided improved transportation, hygiene surroundings and planned security to assist the travelers. The roads are not that impressive without traffic alerts. Even though the whole event is lucrative to govt. they failed in providing basic needs to common travelers. 

Holy Dip @Kumbh gathering:

Its 10:45 AM, another sunny day of mid march. Finally time arrived for us to take holy dip at Maha Kumbh. We three people finished our holy dip. Just for this moment, we traveled 1400 KM all the way from Pune to Allahabad. The security arrangements of UP police are really impressive. The cops are really responsive and helping the common public to their best. Many people here informed us about the chain snatchers and pick picketers. Luckily nothing happened as such. Water levels at river Ganga is very low. We found many slogans saying “Watching at river ganga is as equal as taking a holy dip”, quite impressive but every other traveler made the travel to take a holy dip.

Significance of this bath is we 3 people, on Maha Shivratri day, at Maha Kumbh (last day ok Kumbh) taking the holy dip, Bliss..! And the Kumbh Mission accomplished.

From this point our journey turned towards Varanasi, and our Shivratri saga starts here. Our journey to Kashi (another name of the holy city Varanasi) went very softly. We took UP-parihar bus for this 126 KM travel. It’s another 3 hr. Journey through.

Bliss..! Again I made to Ganga Harti:

Mahashivratri, 4PM we reached Banaras, one of the world’s oldest cities (1200BC) still existing. I am totally excited to attend Ganga Harti for the third time. Its starts around 6:30 and goes for 1 hr. We had plenty of time in hand to go for Harti so we booked a boat to take a look around all the Ghats of Varanasi. We met many fellow travelers from Andhra Pradesh. Our small boat was waiting quite opposite to the Harti place at Dashashwamedha Ghat. It was spell bounding moment to watch Ganga Harti from that distant. We captured some of the moments. It went till 8:00 PM. And finally late arrivals met us after an hour gap of Ganga Harti (around 9 PM).

Un-Expected Varanasi:

After taking a small nap on river banks of Ganga we started towards Maha dev darshan. The Maha Dev darshan arrangements were really pathetic. All the devotees were standing along the road side barricades for hours. Even the streets are not so clean with running drainage along sides of the roads. Stinking smell, unsupportive wood barricades, police & Commando security made very congestive way to the darshan path. We were standing for more than 6 hrs for darshan and the moment when we reached the shrine all the priests and security personnel made it very difficult to have easy lookup towards the Lingam (MahaDev Shiva’s deity). They simply spared to blink at the temple and thrown the devotees without any hesitation. The temple surroundings are littered with garbage dump and the whole place is maintained with less hygiene levels.  The whole scenario looks like an abandoned temple from a remote village, not even looks like the great Kashi Vishwanath Temple at any cost. There are more than a two dozens of priests inside the grabha griha.  Finally we made the darshan even though it’s not exactly the darshan and came out of temple surroundings. Gosh, really another poor hospitality from UP police and temple committee. I would recommend not to make Varanasi trip at least during busy schedule days and festive times. Now it’s our time to take bid adieu with all great experiences. Again it’s going to be a long train journey from Varanasi to Pune via Mumbai.

Food @Varanasi:

One of the bad experiences is having street food @Varanasi. The stalls are not opened till 9 AM in the morning. The menu options are so limited with kachori, hot Jilebi and Puri Bhaji. Being a south Indian living in Maharastra we are habituated to have north Indian style of food. We never expected exact south Indian style of food but expected hygiene food with eatable taste. No chance..! We purchased enough fruits and biscuits for next 32 Hr long journey and took our return train. On our return journey we also blessed to have Shirdi Sai Baba darshan. And finally we are back to Pune with some of good experiences and happenings in mind.

The Final call:

Overall trip went amazing except some bad experiences at Varanasi. And now we got good experience to cope with the worst situations. Being part of the huge gathering (7.5 Million people taken holy dip on Shivratri day) itself is an achievement to the fullest. It’s estimated that 3-5 Lakh devotees took holy dip on an average hour. So how exciting to host and participate on such humongous event on earth. Proud to be Hindu, proud to be Indian and human.

Har Har Mahadev....!

Places around Hyderabad

This itinerary prepared during one of my friends Hyderabad visit, felt this might be useful. Basically Hyderabad is famous for two things Biryani & Pearls. So taste delicious Hyderabad Dhamka Biryani at Paradise hotel near secunderabad and you can shop for pearls near Charminar. You can visit hyderabad around the calendar but during summer it will be hot.

Ramoji Film City it takes one whole day but worth watch. Entrance ticket will be little expensive (around 600 - 800 per head) but, believe me its wonderful experience. This place is located around 40 KM away from main city. Please start as early as possible in the morning. Finish this by evening 8 and do visit Sanghi temple which is very near by. This completes a day. Both are must see spots.

Charminar located in old city which is historical symbol of Hyderabad. It will be around 10 KM away from major places of city. You can also visit Mecca Masjid, Purana haveli and Nizam museum. Any ways preference always goes to charminar and mecca masjid. You can shop for bangles at famous Chudi Bazar.  This completes another day.

Golkonda Fort the famous fort of nawab Nijam located in hyd. This one will be around 25 - 30 KM from center of the city. Highlight of the fort is a light-and-sound show. The timings of the show are different during summers and winters. During November–February, the shows begin at 6:30 pm, and during March-October, the shows begin at 7 pm. On Wednesdays and Sundays the shows are presented in English; on Tuesdays, Fridays, and on Saturdays, in Hindi; and on Thursdays, Telugu. This takes hardly half day (start by 3 PM in after noon and return by 10 PM) so depends on your comfort.

Necklace road located at center of the city with lighting scenery. This one is worth watch during night time (that too from birla mandir). You can finish NTR Garden, Lumbini Park, I-Max mall, Tank Bund and Birla Mandir in  a single go. note that NTR garden is a play garden, fun for children. Lumbini park do have a Laser show (light-and-sound water show) about the Hyderabad history (Don't miss this one). I max is the first big screen theater in India. If time allows please do watch a 3-D movie in big screen (Really you can feel the class movie experience). Tank bund is the road that connects Hyderabad to Sec'bad built on banks of hussian sagar lake. You can take a ride/celebrate a party on a boat hotel at Tank Bund. Birla mandir is locate on top of the hill near tank bund. Worth watch during night time. If possible take a ride on this lake. This takes one whole day including morning movie & amp; shopping at I max and evening at the gardens and other stuff.

Salar Jung museum is also one of the worth watch places in Hyderabad. Friday it will be closed. It takes almost a day to watch every articulate in the museum. Hours bell clock is the special attraction. There is a clock installed in which for every hour a small toy-boy will come out of his door opened and ring the bell number of times as the clock shows like 2 times if the time shows 2 AM etc.

These are all the major tourist attractions in Hyd. Apart from this we have Nehru Zoo, Birla planetarium  Chowmahalla Palace, Taramati Baradari, Snow World (snow park), Gnadi Pet lake, Jubliee hills Peddamma temple, Hitech City, Osmania Hospital, Public Gardens, Indira park, Ravindra Bharathi auditorium, LB stadium, Assembly central building, and Falaknuma palace but visiting these things depends on your interest. If you have spare time you can plan & visit.

You can visit Srisailam mallikharjuna Jyothirlingam (200KM) and Nagarjuna sagar dam - India's second largest dam(150KM) which is on the way to srisailam. This takes another couple of days. Yadagiri Gutta - Famous narasimha Swami temple located near around 70 KMs from city. Main attraction near this place is Kunda Satyanarayana Kala Dhamam - Mythological Museum.

 

Note:
1)You can stay at Nampally or Lakdi ka pool which is nearer to every place.
2)All mojor attractions will be closed on friday.
3)You need to bargain with auto wallas and before taking the raid check the google map and tell them the distance.
  
Here you can get more related information. Before planning please let me know (drop a mail) so that I can help you to design the trip.

http://www.mustseeindia.com/Hyderabad/attractions