LIFE IS A POETRY: August 2017

Welcoming Ganeshji into our homes for the fifth time

Here comes the week to invite the most respectable Man into our homes, who brings positive energy and happiness as he walks in. It's his week to rule the homes, lanes, roads; shining with his presence placing himself in public pandals for group worship, across every corner of the country. He watches the world through his million eyes, fixed to his idol form, varying in shapes and sizes starting from the size of that of a 'palm of a hand' and scaling to as tall as a 'coconut tree'. Each and every idol statue carved out, displays the uniqueness and the best of the creativity coming from the craftsmen. However, at times some do go overboard modernizing him like the one below.

Courtesy: Google image

Data research indicates that the tallest statue in India is generally found in Khairatabad in Hyderabad, Telangana. However, even Vizag seems to be pulled into the interest of housing the tallest statue. During 2016, Visakhapatnam seems to have erected a 100 foot and 78 foot long statues in two of its locations - Vizag city and Gajuwaka respectively, followed by Khairatabad being contented with a 58 foot stature.

This year Khairatabad has erected the statue standing 57 foot tall and here is a glimpse of him.

Courtesy : Google image

Coming back to the topic of our home, we invited him for the fifth time this year (2017). As size does matter to us at our home, we restricted his form to a 1.5 foot. As i proceeded to the market in the morning to fetch him, the radio aired the message from the chief minister of the State to invite him in his eco-friendly avatar. The State is becoming quite serious about the form of the idols and is strictly saying a 'NO' on the usage of Plaster of Paris (POP) material and is encouraging the clay models instead. The authorities are also up against the use of the strong oil paint colors being used to beautify him. The country has started to realize that the water bodies and eco systems are fearing to turn toxic year by year, taking a hit on their features, property and utility as they uptake their responsibility of bidding goodbye to our guest while the festival ends.

Entering the market, I was greeted to a crowd of handful of sellers who had substantially reduced in number as compared to earlier years and stacking a group of brown colored idols in majority. The woman seller enlightened me that the POP and the color idols have been drastically cut down this year and in the coming year would lose its trail and vanish. They were infact being monitored and were charged with an extra levy for every POP or deeply painted idols thus discouraging their act. She continued with a constant effort to induce me in buying the colorless idol seeing my interest wandering away and finally bribed me into coloring some parts of the idol in gold. With no choice left, I finally killed my desire of a colorful form and befriended him to start his company for the next three days. After all, what matters is the divinity that blesses us, be it in any color, size, form or material. Further, it is also equally important that we bid farewell to him with utmost dignity which doesn't mean respecting him only until Visarjan but also help him to completely dissolve from his present form in the water body and not instead find himself all alone in a half dissolved state at some corner of the water body. Well! he definitely deserves our continued respect beyond our homes too.
I realized and embraced the fact that it is high time to start respecting the environment too in parallel, so that we and the coming generations do enjoy this festival with the same spirit and enthusiasm.

2017

As I pen this post, we stand to complete 2.5 days with him and during his stay he has ensured to fill our atmosphere completely with love and harmony - "cladding into new clothes, enjoying the delicacies of festivity, discovering the existence of neighbors, sharing some happy moments in person with close friends, relatives and more importantly taking a moment to thank the Lord for enabling the life sail across swiftly".

Our previous encounters with the Guest in earlier years

2016

2015

2014

2013-The first year

Thanks for being our esteemed Guest, all along and accepting our invite each year. You make us feel great with your presence.....

Coorg, Madikeri

We booked this homestay as part of our coorg trip. We started our journey from Bangalore only to reach the Raja Seat at Coorg in the evening. Being a long weekend, the roads were completely doing their work of welcoming tyres every minute. The place was so crowded having no place to park, we bid it goodbye and continued our journey towards the homestay, which is around 10 kms away from this place. We had to get down the hill to reach the homestay and one needs to definitely rely on google maps for the final destination or drive slowly looking out for proper sign and landmark indicated by the owner, as there are high chances of missing the entrance leading to it. As the place has many homestays around, the local people (few found on the roads) would seldom know them by its name.

The homestay is on the first floor and the ground floor houses the owner. The setup is ideal for a group of friends (6-10) or a family of 3 couples. There are two bedrooms and one of them having an attached bathroom. The rooms were neat and tidy and the atmosphere of red oxide floors, roofs with concrete clay tiles, brick walls painted keeps the surrounding cool and it would remind most of them their great grandmothers homes back in native. We closed the day after a delicious meal and bidding good night to the full moon that night.

The entrance of the homestay includes a decent sit out area which overseas a green plantation, where one could sit back relaxed and converse with the nature, sipping the malnad coffee. The homestay attracts a lot variety of birds in the early morning where you can hear the sweet chirp of their happiness.

View from the Entrance

The owner is very friendly and professional. Post a typical local cuisine breakfast, he would take the group on a small tour of the estate covering coffee, pepper, paddy fields and varieties of flora and a morning walk in these fields lifts up the inner spirit.

Plantation tour

Estate

Paddy fields

Being conveniently located, we were able to visit some of the important attractions in the daytime and spent the evenings in the relaxed atmosphere. The homestay is 40 kms away from Bhagamandala and is 10 km to the Raja's seat in the opposite and one could cover the waterfall. Bhagamandala known for the birth point of river Kaveri from where it starts it flows has its shrine and overlooks a valley of beautiful mountains filled with lush green.

One can plan to head to Chelavara falls which is at a distance of 40 kms back towards the journey of homestay. The other waterfalls Abbi and Irpu are quite far and would lay beyond the homestay in the ongoing direction, so can be saved for the other day.

Talacauvery-Birth place of river Kaveri

The sight of the valley from Talacauvery

After spending a decent evening, we returned back to the homestay which had begun to engross itself into a silent calm breezy atmosphere. The dinner was marvellous given to the fact that it comes directly from the touch of the Owner's homemaker instead of a commercial chef, which adds beauty to the taste and making the local food lip smacking. It feels heaven to have the simple local cuisine after a tiring day and added to that having such food amidst nature with the silent cries of the night, the wind talking to the swaying trees is a delight in itself.

All in all, we enjoyed blissful moments at this homestay and our entire group was thrilled with the stay.

With my happy niece ending the journey at homestay

If interested to stay at this place, you can more details at the following site http://chirpyblooms.weebly.com/

Enroute to Bangalore, we halted at Dubare elephant camp. After reaching we found a deadly crowded place. To reach the camp, one needs to board the local boat which already had a lengthy line for it. Many others had already taken the choice of walking into the rocky path covering a kilometre of 2. As we started our baby steps we realized the path was quite slippery and was an act of adventure. We called it off and happily waived at the elephants far away. We did make some goodtime playing in the river water.

The adventurous slippery path leading to Dubbare camp

Heading on further, we covered Tibetan Monastery & Nisarghadharma and finally hitting the non-stop road to Bangalore. A great trip to remember

Honda CBR 1000RR - 1:12 (Maisto)

The Honda CBR1000RR is a 998 cc sportbike having a four cyclinder liquid cooled. It has come into production since 2004 by its maker Honda and belongs to the 7th generation of the CBR series of motorcycle series starting since 1992.

Masito has decently carved out this model in the 1:12 scale model segment and the attention to detail is to be appreciated. The model has a kick stand that moves. The wheels roll about smoothly. The rear tyre in the bike has spring suspensions and the shock absorbs move which definitely would raise the eyebrow of kids. The tyre rims are things that I did not really like much as it could impact the beauty of the bike when observed carefully from near and the material is not firm and needs a reposition manually when they are shaken.

The model is quite trendy and stylish and worth to showcase as a collectible. It is available online in Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry currently in India. One could also get them at any shopper's stop, toy store, landmark costing around Rs. 650

http://www.maisto.com/

MV Agusta Brutale 1090R - 1:12 (Maisto)

The MV Agusta motorcyle company of Italy released the Brutale series 1090RR in 2010. Tagged under the concept of naked bikes, The bike is a 1078 cc sportbike having a four cyclinder liquid cooled. The bike is known for its design, performance and engineering with a very good dualmode ABS system for normal and race biking mode taking care of extreme braking and helping the rear wheel to continue to be in contact with the road. The headlight equipped with LED adds appeal to the overall look of the bike and offers perfect lighting for driving conditions ensuring safety, however the headlights make it appear as if the bike has lowered itself to spring up into action, similar to a dog bending its head before it enters into the the mood to fight its opponent. The design of the wheels in this bike make them quite lighter given to the use of slender spokes, cutting out the weight as feasible.

Coming to the diecast model, Masito has done a decent work on the 1:12 scale model and has taken care of the minute details of the bike. The model has a kick stand that moves. The wheels roll about smoothly. The rear tyre of the bike has nice spring suspensions which make the shocks move. The tyre rim in the front tyre brings down the beauty of the bike when observed carefully from near as the material used for the rims is not upto the mark. Its not firm and needs to be manually adjusted back to its orginal position.

The model looks stylish given to its unique complex style and worth add beauty to your collectible. It is available online in Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry currently in India. One could also get them at any shopper's stop, toy store, landmark costing around Rs. 650. The original imported bike costs around Rs. 25-28 lakhs in India, at the time of writing.

http://www.maisto.com/

Ducati 1199 Panigale - 1:12 (Maisto)

The Ducati 1199 Panigale produced by Ducati was introduced in 2011 named after the town in which it was produced - Borgo Panigale in Italy. The bike is a 1198 cc sportbike mounting a four cyclinder liquid cooled. The bike is known for its ergonomic design for a convenient rider posture, strong monocoque made in diecast aluminium taking away decent amount of weight from the racing bike enabling proper weight distribution. The bike is equipped with ABS system and new generation brakes enhancing the safety for three programmed riding modes. The bike has two headlight equipped with LED and they play the role of the eyes in the face of the bike raising the beauty of the bike further. The design of the wheels do contribute the savings in weight in the bike. These bikes cost around around Rs. 40-45 lakhs in India, at the time of writing.

With respect to the diecast model, Maisto has done a great work on the 1:12 scale model and has done justice to the model to resemble closest to the original. The model has a kick stand that moves and the wheels roll about smoothly. The rear tyre of the bike has nice spring suspensions which make the shocks move. The use of the plastic is more than the metal in this model given to the overall design invovled. Maisto has used the metal largely for the fuel tank unlike its other bike models where the use of metal is more comparatively.

The model's enthralling design and looks makes this my personal favorite in my collection & and the red color of the bike enhances the beauty of the bike further. It is available online in Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry currently in India. One could also get them at any shopper's stop, toy store, landmark costing around Rs. 650.