Picture this / December 2014

The strongest of all warriors are these two -- Time and Patience.
LEO TOLSTOY, War and Peace

Medical profession and care

Sitting in front of the ICU , waiting for continuous news on my father's condition which was fluctuating over the past two days I noticed a sudden rush of activity around.

Activity with noise, cries and many voices and more footsteps.I went in till the entrance door of the ICU and inquired with a bystander on the cause of the chaos.

Was told that some members of the family of the hospitals Managing Director had met with an accident. 

I totally sympathize and understand what the family would go through.Just that this medical "care" is missing while treating all patients alike.

When normally a medical lab technician task takes time, here within no time most of the departments were in attendance. Saw the X-Ray department people, "ayammas", admin,pharmacy, off-duty and on-duty nurses....The entire staff to summarise was in attendance.

The fervour and concern that was displayed by the staff was something that I noticed totally missing through all these days of my waiting in wards and in front of the ICU. 

Why aren't all patients treated with half this sensitivity and concern?

Aren't all the others too loved ones of someone or the other?

The only hope I saw was in the form of a couple of male nurses who came out and spoke to the other patients family outside. They were true angels of care who make us want to keep the faith.

Picture this / November 2014

The evening sun allowed me to watch this breathtaking burst of colours as it gave way to the moonlight.

Watching the setting sun along the water at the distant shore,  one had to look back to see the grandeur it left back to the surroundings.
Though it was for a few minutes, this magical view will surely be one to remember.

My double star

In observational astronomy, a double star is a pair of stars that appear close to each other in the sky as seen from Earth when viewed through an optical telescope.

This can happen either because the pair forms a binary star, i.e., gravitationally bound to each other in a mutual orbit , or because it is an optical double, a chance alignment of two stars in the sky that lie at different distances.

The weekend viewing of a double star was for me more surreal and less scientific.
It gave me a feeling of the two most important people of my life watching over me. The two I owe my life to , literally also... 

Here's a picture of a double star Albireo that I got after a search on www.  This was the double star that I chanced upon in the clear night sky through the telescope at the observatory.

The “head” of the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, Albireo is a beautiful stellar pair, notable because it shows a striking amount of color — one star glows with a deep, yellow hue, while the other appears as a brilliant blue.  

Courtesy: www images

Find yourself

Found this piece of quote so apt in times we feel down under

Courtesy - www search and emilyquotes.com

Listen here

Came across this quote that rings so true:

Picture this / October 2014

Hate is a very strong word...
Somethings I have come close to hating over the past days and situations:

Indifference
Hypocrisy
Pretence

That's the human unruly mind. While we set out to discipline others, we tend to overlook to first discipline our minds and subduing negative aspects.
 

Picture this / September

 

Courtesy: A calendar advertisement

September

• September ( sep-TEM-bər) is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of four months with a length of 30 days
• September begins on the same day of the week as December every year,
• September's birthstone is the sapphire.
• The birth flowers for September are the forget-me-not, morning glory and aster.
• The zodiac signs for the month of September are Virgo (until September 21) and Libra (from September 22 onwards).
• September is the 9th Month ...... Happiness is being on Cloud "9"



Blue Sapphire

Aster

 

Property tax

A friend recently made a very very elaborate document to make the online payment of the property tax very very easy.
It was aimed at audience such as :
A) lay persons
B) lay persons who don't know when the tax needs to be paid
C) lay persons who don't extensively swear by google search engine's capabilities

Specifically, it is aimed at the property tax payment in Bangalore for online users.
I found is extremely useful, hence sharing it here :

Slide-1

 

 

Slide-2

Slide-3

 

 

Slide-4

Slide-5



Courtesy: Reliable source who swears by google use ! 

Gift

The race called "Parent":

With the strength of the mountain, warmth of the summer sun, calm of the quiet sea, generous as nature, they teach us


Patience
    Trust
        Time
            Love
                Pride
                    Joy

 

Metamorphosis

Wondering aloud. ....
Do people change? Or situations change? Or just time ? All or none?

Children, I've heard , have the undistorted understanding of things. What you see is what you get.  As we grow older, with various influences directly or indirectly,  there is a change. Analysis and situation and context is added to the simple thought.

With time , the thoughts and influences change and so does the pattern of life.
Difference of preferences are obvious between two persons 
This can b attributed to their personalities which again maybe influenced by their situations and surrounding and so on.
 

How about differences in preferences for the same person over a period of time? Also notable. Especially in cases where we hear

-" you used to like mango as a child , now what happened?"

- " you enjoyed rock music in school, now your stuck with jazz?"

-"before marriage you used to call me every hour, now you don't even have time to answer my calls":-/
 

And to all the above , the common factor is " look how you have changed". Sometimes change cannot be attributed to the one person who is supposed to have changed. It might be a combination of reasons :
Situations, priorities, context - these change with time and mostly as ones life progresses.


Still wondering aloud. ....
Do people change? Or situations change? Or just time ? All or none?

Picture this / August 2014

Neelaakasham (read after translation as Blue skies)

Theory of "something"

Simple yet extremely effective pictorial description that I came across.

We fail to appreciate the blessings that we already have and look for happiness elsewhere.

Blessings that are people, skills, food, shelter,job and every small day to day task that we are able to do.

Pic Courtesy: my avid twitter user room mate

Picture this / July 2014

Celebrating Germany's victory in football, this month's pictures are from Berlin.

Here's the splendour of the Brandenburg Gate against the night sky:

One of the many other landmarks  in Berlin also include the Sony Center.

 

The Sony Center is  JAHN designed Sony sponsored building complex located at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany. It opened in 2000 and houses Sony's European headquarters.

This area, originally part of the No mans land of the Berlin wall, became the focus of attention after the fall of the Berlin wall.

 

Sony Center

Enormous dome structure of the Sony center

 

 

 

 

Eat Pray Eat

The caption for the post doesn't have a typo. It's intended "eat" second time and in that order.

In the places of worship, distribution of food is usually done regularly. Sometimes as customary and mostly commercial to "cater" to the visitors needs.

Different regions all over the world are becoming home away from home for Indians.
Needless to say,  places of worship such as temples are cropping up in many such places and becoming a common meeting and greeting place for families, neighbors, colleagues and friends.
So a quick talk over dosa and coffee or lunch of pulav and raitha would be perfect. What better place than a few feet away from the altar.
Not surprisingly,   the food court is usually as crowded as the area near the altar!

If on a weekend, one ends up little late and just at the closing time of the foodie's altar, then the almighty would understand that the devote is in fact in a puja right now...the "pet Puja".

:)

Bon Apetit

Glossary 
 "Pet" : Hindi word meaning Stomach
 "Puja" : Meaning prayer
 "Raitha" : Salad with cucumber as an accompaniment for pulav.


Image courtesy : www

   

Be Here Now

Live life today...Not yesterday , Not tomorrow.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life 

  - Charles Dickens

Picture This /June 2014

MURAL

Any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. 

Mural at Pontiac, Illinois

Mural at Quebec, Montreal

A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.

There are many different styles and techniques. Best-known is probably fresco, the technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. This technique uses water soluble paints and the word  is derived from the Italian Adjective fresco meaning “fresh”.

In contrast to Fresco is a secco wall painting which is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in Italian).

Tempera painting is one of the oldest known methods in mural painting. In tempera, the pigments are bound in an albuminous medium such as egg yolk or egg white diluted in water.

Marouflage wall paintings are painted on large canvases, which are then attached to the wall.

Information collated from  : Wikipedia

Picture this : May 2014

Reef knot aka square knot, is a well known knots among scouts.

I came across this interesting display at the Comlara Park situated in Illinois.

 To support this picture I wanted to share, I took help of Wiki and found some interesting stuff about this simple "Knot". 

A reef knot is formed by tying a left-handed overhand knot and then a right-handed overhand knot, or vice versa. A common mnemonic for this procedure is "right over left; left over right", which is often appended with the rhyming suffix "... makes a knot both tidy and tight".

 The reef knot is at least between 4,000 and 9,000 years old.

 The name "reef knot"   originates from its common use to reef sails, that is to tie part of the sail down to decrease its effective surface area in strong winds.

Other uses of this simple knot can be traced to medicine in tying bandages.....known to the ancient Greeks as Hercules knot.

Used since ancient times to tie belts and sashes, a modern use in this manner includes tying the obi (or belt) of a martial arts keikogi.

A note of caution however that it is an insecure knot, unstable when jiggled, and is not suitable for supporting weight.

66...Going on 66.

Travelogue of a weekend of cars, highway and history through the historic Route 66.

Seeing the numerous links for the annual celebration of the old US highway I66, him and her blocked the weekend of May 3 and May 4.

Visit to the I66 Happened on Sunday due to other unplanned activities. 

However a one day of the trip along the old highway should be enough if you are going on a quick hop of each county fair. 

Starting from the twin city of BLONO(Bloomington and Normal), the drive was pleasant for the afternoon. Starting in the afternoon after a heavy brunch, Towanda was the first stopover about 30 min away. 

Stopped by on seeing a board which read " flea market". It was mentioned in some articles that they recreate the days when the highway I66 was in use. True. 

The stalls were set up on a small ground with a live band strumming out songs at one end. 

Stopped by a stall at the entrance where an elderly citizen was selling wooden shapes of birds and animals. 

Next stall had some hand crafted bracelets and curios. There were wood painted crafts which looked cute. 

The visit to this stall did not end with just a window shopping. Purchases included a couple of bracelets for the little nieces back home.

Another interesting stop was by a stall that sold hand knit shawls for little children. The ladies had a story to tell about the stuff in the shelf. Like the muffler that a retired kindergarten teacher used to knit. She used to give it to the children annually. And now that she has retired she decided to knit some for the flea market this year. 

If all this seems like the place full of things only for "her", here are a few stalls that were purely for "him"..... Complete set of John Deere automobiles in metal. Prototypes that were quite close to the actual sizes I felt!

Another interesting place and story was that of the silver dime circulated during the civil war.. Those were on sale and interestingly the ones during the war cost more while the coins just printed (coined) a year later cost a little less. Here the purchase included a 50 cent coin bought for 8dollars .

.

The music band played on with three musicians on the guitar and another dude on the drums.

While some of the visitors relaxed under the trees with a lemonade, some grooved to the songs.

Every town along the route 66 has carnivals set up to welcome the summer.

We drove then on the peaceful two way highway to the next pit stop only to see that that they were winding up on the dot.The drive was lined with  some vintage car displays along the route.

One of the notable stops is Pontiac. As the name suggests, a must see here is the Oakland Pontiac Museum. Maintained by a group of enthusiasts, the place has a wide range of the brand of automobile with a history to tell. There is no entry fee and one can walk into the well maintained museum which also has some interesting souvenirs.  Photography is allowed inside the museum. For HIM- Lots of clicks possible here.

A few murals also line the walls of this town, which is very quiet on Sundays. Here's one of the murals overlooking the empty Sunday street.

The mural depicting Route 66 is an apt background for a good picture to sum up the road trip.

Head further towards Chicago unless one wants to camp or pull over at one of the many such pit stops along the Route 66.

Routing through Route 66

U.S. Route 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway and colloquially known as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System.

Established in1926, the highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of about  3,940 km.

 It was recognized in popular culture by the song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.
While reading up on the Route 66 I found the mention of the song in almost all articles on Route 66:

The song by Bobby Troup goes:

If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks on Route 66!
......


Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, and it was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985, after it had been replaced in its entirety by the Interstate Highway System.

Route 66 doesn't appear on the maps these days. The stretch between St. Louis  and Chicago is still usable for a certain extent. The section of I-55 between Chicago and St. Louis was built as an alternate route for U.S. Highway 66.

One of the remnants of Route 66 is the highway now known as Veterans Parkway, east and south of Normal, Illinois, and Bloomington, Illinois.

During its days, Route 66 served as a major path for those who migrated west, and it supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive.

The annual celebration of the Old Route 66 happens with displays and flea markets in some of the communities along the route.
For more on some of the celebrations in a few communities between Bloomington and Chicago, watch this space .

( Information collated from the information over the www)

Rain drops

Liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated—that is, become heavy enough to fall under gravity.

One form of water - Showers of blessings from above is called by various names in different parts of the world.

Regen  in German
Pluie in French
Baarish in Hindi
Matar in Arabic

A boon more often than not, rain can nurture life as well as create havoc - One of nature's ways to remind us not to control or mess with her.
Monitoring and forecasting has been closest we have come to be with mother nature.

To be able to harness the benefits, we need to be able to appreciate and respect this resource.
And when we want to value the times she is benevolent, simple tasks of harvesting rain water can go a long way in conservation.

On World environment day in April, heres a toast to mother nature.
As always: Let every day be a reason to celebrate nature.

Don't wait for the storm to pass....Walk in the rain. It is better than just  getting wet!

Picture this : April/2014

Life is a road trip!

That thing called Life

Simple gyaan for a good life.

As I read this line, it seems very elementary and yet we strive to achieve this.

" Smile Often"

"Laugh a lot"

 

"Realise how blessed you are for what you have"

 

Share the smile

It's been a quick visit to Mysore this time. Been here a few months back- three months and few days since my wedding at Mysore.

What is special to me about this place is that I belong to Mysore more than any other place. 

The palace- majestic and lavish best explains it. 

The zoo- children's delight and a parents day out too. 

The parks - quiet walkways and some unspoiled by crowds 

The roads- well maintained 

The people - always amicable and warm 

Today I visited a few friends in Mysore. Its one of the places that we've been encouraged to visit often by my parents. 

Bapuji ashram is a institution in Mysore which provides a home to around 46 children. The surroundings are calm yet supportive for children to treasure their childhood memories in the future. 



The sights of little children playing bring a smile on anyone's face. At the same time, the sights of  elder kids  going about doing the evening chores after a day at school is heart warming. 

The kids here are educated in schools and colleges, find appropriate professions. It is heartening to see pictures of some of the kids grown up and then "settled" - their wedding pictures hang on the wall. 



It is an NGO which strives to fight against child immortality, injustice towards the girl child in their own way. 

 

When we celebrate our happiness with our near and dear ones, we rarely realize the value of life or count our blessings.  

I know there are many who indulge in bringing a smile on others by little acts of selflessness. For those who are waiting for an opportunity to do any random act of kindness, I encourage you to just look around. 

Help those who help.