Excuse me! Do you have a minute ?!!

We live in a world where everyone is in a race to reach the finish line. Everyone is running towards something, out of which so many people don’t even know what they are running after. They are just running. And in this mundane process we forget to breath and look around at the positives of life.

So if you are reading this take a moment out of your busy, chaotic and pressured life to count all the positives. Say thank you and show gratitude in your heart towards all the good things that you already have. You might be taking those things for granted but there would be someone out there in this world striving for those same things, like you are striving for something else.

Learn to appreciate what you have – before time makes you appreciate what you had.

Magic In The Moonlight

Image courtesy: google

There are moments when we all look for tranquility in our lives and then there are moments when we are not thinking about it but it comes to us unexpectedly in the most unimaginable situation. That’s exactly what happened with me on my trip to Goa in June. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts ( Facing Your Fears ) my friend Tanushree invited me to stay at her house in Goa and I had an amazing one week staying in her beautiful home. I made some really nice friends and memories on this trip to Goa.  One of them being, going for a beach picnic on my last night in Goa.

We decided that instead of going partying on a Saturday night let’s do something different and go for a picnic. My friend Leo owns a shack at Candolim beach in Goa called Bay View shack  and since it was off season, all the shacks were shut on the beach, making it deserted and non commercial. So he suggested that we do our picnic there. We picked up alcohol, mixers, wafers and a few other things from the nearby supermarket and went to the beach.  We reached around 7 pm when the sun had already set making it a perfect setting for a moonlight picnic. The moon was the only source of light and the sea waves were the only source of sound. To top it all, it was just the six of us on the beach. Imagine having your own private beach, Yeah! It was exactly like that. It was mesmerizing.  I wish I had some good pictures to share but it was so dark that I couldn’t capture anything. Both the pictures I’ve used are from Google as I tried to look for something that was similar to what I experienced. So I’ll leave it to your imagination.

After absorbing in the brilliance of nature we thought of pumping up the energy. We connected our little portable speaker to our phones and blasted some good music. We drank, we danced and we laughed. We were having a great time and then it started drizzling. We wanted to enjoy in the rain but we had our phones and gadgets which we didn’t want to ruin.  Luckily, Leo had a Boat which he had kept upside down with the help of a stand so we quickly put all our things in the bags and rushed towards the boat. As soon as we all crawled inside the boat it started raining like cats and dogs. The sand and the rain drops were rushing towards us even then because of the wind but it didn’t bother us. There was more than enough space for all of us to sit comfortably. We continued with our drinks and music in our little boat shed, high on alcohol and the whole situation. We were greeted by occasional thunders making us hoot and whistle to each one of its visit.

We were so busy in enjoying ourselves that we didn’t even realize when the rain had stopped.  We turned down the music and crawled out of the boat. I looked around and the sight of the beach and the moon enchanted me. The way the moonlight was falling on the sea and the water was shining in the dark, the way the waves were reaching the shore and going back to the sea, it all just pulled me towards it.

I went and lay down over there looking at the moon, the stars and the infinite sky. The water was close enough to touch my feet and go back. The sound of the pristine water was the only sound that I could hear. I closed my eyes and found my serenity, my peace, my heaven.  In that very moment I wished that I could just be there forever and that moment gets frozen in time.  Sadly that wasn’t possible and I had to get back to reality after a while. But my memories are mine and that particular moment is etched in my memory forever because it is that moment in which I found my tranquility unexpectedly when I wasn’t even looking for it.

Image courtesy: google

You have to dream before your dreams can come true

A quote by one of the most wonderful, Intelligent and visionary human being, Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.

He died on Monday evening after collapsing during a lecture at the IIM-Shillong, India.  I am proud to say that He was India’s 11^th president and one of India’s most accomplished scientists. Dr.Kalam was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Hearing the news of his demise made me want to share a bit about him here on my space. He had so much to teach, so much to give, so much to share that his passing away is a great loss for my nation. India will always remember him as a true hero and a people’s president. He envisioned India with a great future and I hope we, as the youth of India are able to see what he saw and make India the India that he wanted it to be.

So as Dr. Kalam said- You have to dream before your dreams can come true. Take that first step and find that courage within you to dream so that you can make it come true.

Can’t Be Moved

What can I do, I cannot move.
Life feels so stagnant like nothing’s moving.
Like I’m stuck at the same place since I don’t know when.
What can I do I cannot move.

Even if I try hard to lift my arms and legs,
they come back to the same place because of a magnet.
My heart keeps shouting from within me, I’m still here.
It says I need to let go,
but the cage of my body is not letting me move.

My heart says let’s go, just you and me.
Somewhere quite yet with a lot of sound.
Somewhere new, somewhere with love around.
To start over and then move on to another.
The heart is naive, it doesn’t understand.
It wishes for things that are out of my hand.
It cries from within me but I don’t listen.
I just close the window of the cage and look away.
What can I do I cannot move.

-Aradhana Jagota.

Mountains Calling: The Evening

Continuing from where we left off yesterday, we went to the local market where we saw a huge group of hostel kids accompanied by their teachers probably on a school trip. Looking at them jumping around in excitement made me recollect my school memories when I used to go on school trips. What an amazing time that was.

It wasn’t a very fancy market. Just a simple lane of stores selling mostly camping stuff and things of local produce. We didn’t buy anything but we enjoyed our evening tea/coffee over there at a local cafe.

From there we went to a place called the sunset point, which is around a 15-20 minuets drive from the market, situated above the cantonment area.

As soon as we reached there and i got down from the car, I was in for a surprise. It was so so so cold! It was a plateau and winds were flowing from all the four directions making it very chilly. (I tend to feel colder than normal people.) But the sight was oh so beautiful.

          

Ha-ha…as I said, I feel really cold!

          

After the amazing (FREEZING) sunset we ventured out on a stroll near the hotel. I don’t know what is it about walks in mountain areas that excite me so much. Maybe it’s the sound of birds or the sound of silence mixed with it or maybe it’s the fresh air. Whatever it is, it’s always wonderful.

Remember I was mentioning about our evening conversations in our balcony in my earlier posts, well this is a proof of that.

It was time to say goodnight. Next morning we began our journey back to delhi relaxed and recharged to get back to the city life. 🙂

Mountains Calling: Day II

As promised yesterday, I am back to tell you more about my trip to Chakrata. we woke up well rested and fresh to start our day of exploring chakrata. Thankfully, the weather was on our side, the sun shining and the cool breeze flowing. Which was a relief considering there was a thunderstorm outside the whole night when we tucked ourselves into bed. We had a scrumptious breakfast and began our journey.

       

The first spot that we chose was called Tiger falls which was around 45 minuets drive from the hotel. Apparently its named so because the sound of the waterfall is just like a roar of a tiger, that’s what the locals say at least. After the drive we reached a point from where we had to trek 15 to 20 minuets towards the waterfall. which was quite enjoyable and the view was enchanting.

         

Now i’m starting to feel that i should buy a proper camera and stop depending on my phone camera as the pictures are nearly half as god as what the actual view was.

            

the waterfall was surrounded by lush green mountains and the most beautifull sight was how the trees curved at the edge of the mountain with sunlight passing through it. The waterfall didn’t make any tiger sounds though. The sound was just like any other waterfall. But it was enjoyable sitting at the edge of the river on a stone and dipping our feet into the water with so much beauty around us.

On our way back to the car we spotted a small tea stall and decided to sit there and enjoy a beer or two. Before you get any ideas, we were carrying our own beer and no tea stalls in India do not serve alcohol. We ordered two portions of Maggie (which is a quite popular brand of noodles in India and is available everywhere.) and took two packets of chips from him and he was happy to let us enjoy his shed.

Oh ya! since we forgot to carry an opener with us, the tea stall owner volunteered to open it with his opener – THE SICKLE.

After a brief stoppage at our hotel for lunch, we headed in the other direction to see the market area and the sunset point thereafter. About which i’ll be writing tomorrow in my next blog post as I have to go for some work now so need to stop my fingers from writing. till then… Happy blogging 🙂

Mountains calling

Remember the time when we were kids? We used to go on holidays with our parents in our summer break. Ring any bells?

When I thought of travelling, those memories started coming to my mind. All the trips that I’ve taken with my family, all the fun we have had travelling together.  And then it struck me – why did we stop doing that? Maybe we grew up, Maybe we got to busy with our careers or maybe we started having more fun with our friends. And that’s when i thought its time to make more memories with my family.

I started planning a trip with my parents and we decided to go to this small place called chakrata in Utrakhand. We always pick places that are untouched and non touristy for family trips so that we enjoy the nature, get quality time with each other and relax. Chakrta is technically 7 hours by road from Delhi but it took us 9 because we stopped thrice to stretch our legs and also to eat. The whole journey was comfortable except for the last 1 hour when we took the road towards the valley which was under repairs.

We stayed at Himalayan Paradise hotel, which is a lovely property overlooking the mountains.

We took a family room which i fell in love with as soon as i saw it. wooden roof, wooden beds and a small wooden staircase to climb on the double bunk beds. the best thing was the smell of pine trees all around.

                                   

yup! that’s my mom sitting on top of the bunk bed. The room also had a balcony with a breathtaking view where one could sit for hours. our evenings were spent sitting there along with some great music, good drinks and amazing conversations.

                                 

The meals were only served in the restaurant which was a small but cute dining area across the hallway.The menu was mainly simple Indian food, and i must say that the food was delicious.

                              

Our first day was spent at the property itself because we wanted to relax and enjoy a few drinks. The hotel is pretty comfortable on the pocket and has really good reviews on trip adviser.  I’ll write about our second day at chakrata tomorrow, which will be more about the things you can do and the places to be seen.