Thursday 30 March 2017

90th Birthday

What do you write
when your Dad turns ninety?
 Not easy to summarise
sixty-five years that
you have been with him.
Your own age
pales in significance.
In fact, you
feel younger in parent's presence!

So, first thing
you thank God
for giving us this day.
We are grateful to Him
for bringing us into
such a blessed family.

Dad,
when we were younger
you had been
very strict with us-
your children.
But not as strict with
your grand-children and great-grand-children!
Why?
Perhaps we now understand
as we are grand-parents ourselves!
And the joy of
grand-parenting goes beyond
disciplining the grand-children.

What did we learn from you?
Many things.

Firstly being systematic and meticulous
in whatever you did.
Like
ensuring your shirts remain wrinkle-free even while travelling,
like
mothballing the woolens and quilts after every winter,
like
clipping your trouser bottoms on your bicycle to prevent grease stains,
like
cross-indexing mammoth records of BITS BoG and Senate proceedings in pre-computer era,
like
fixing the mosquito net on our charpoys in the lawn every night
and many such impressions.

You told us
“take care of your things, they will take care of you”.
Like
polishing our shoes-
a habit which we continue even today.

We also learnt
team work from you.
Every Holi and Diwali
you would greet and hug
every staff member including cleaners and sweepers
as they came home in Pilani
to seek your blessings.

You taught us
to be steadfast yet humble.
In all situations
whether happy or not-so-happy.

Although
you lost all your teeth early
you used your dentures
to entertain the grand children
and some time scare them too!

You broke five ribs
when you were eighty-eight.
But you not only
bounced back
but also continued
doing all the exercises.

Dad,
we can’t thank you enough
for all
that you have done for us.
We only want
to say
‘We Love You’.

May God grant you
good health
so that you continue
to bless us all!  
                -          From all of us 2G to 4G!

-          2G: Harsh-Neeta, Raj-Sarita, Poonam-Rishi


-          3G: Akanksha-Ankur; Ankush-Prabjoth; Deepti-Kartik

-          4G: Ansh, Nikhil, Arjit, Anuva, Naman

                       -          And besides 2G, 3G and 4G, our Ma joins us in wishing you from the heaven


Dear Reader, 
Please join us in wishing our Dad a very happy 90th birthday on 1st April 2017!
Thanks for browsing,

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 30th March 2017




Sunday 26 March 2017

Hampi Vitthala Temple

Vitthala Temple is the epicentre of Hampi's attractions. It has been acclaimed as the most extravagant architectural showpiece of Hampi. As per the website www.hampi.in "The temple is built in the form of a sprawling campus with compound wall and gateway towers. There are many halls, pavilions and temples located inside this campus. Vitthala or Vittala, is a reincarnation of lord Vishnu."
No amount of words can explain this spectacle.  

Ghumakkad visited Hampi in Feb-17. We brought to you the road ride from Hyderabad to Hampi earlier. If you missed seeing the red-chilli farms, click here!

This picture story revolves around the Vitthala temple complex in Hampi, Karnataka.
Those not familiar with the location of Hampi, please see the map below.
We had stayed at Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) hotel Mayura at Kamalapur. Few pictures of the hotel and it's environment can be browsed in our previous story
Vitthala Temple complex is just a 10-minute drive from the hotel. 

All the monuments have a metal signage giving a brief history and salient features. It is very informative.
It was also very heartening to see similar signage in braille for visually impaired tourists. The braille signage is on a metal sheet which can withstand rain and dew. See the picture below.

To minimise vehicular pollution, electric golf carts ferry the tourists from parking lot to the main entrance.

 















Seeing these ruins, I was reminded of Las-Ruinas, a resort created amidst the ruins in South America. Tremendous potential exists in Hampi also for a similar venture. In fact, Hampi-by-night project is underway where tourists will be able to see the ruins at night lit specially.













Here is a location sketch of the monuments.

As we ended the day, we carried back the images of an era gone by.
More stories of other ruins and monuments will follow.

We would like to mention two stories on Hampi written by Ms Neeta Lal in the Economic Times and the DNA. Do browse.

Postscript: Ghumakkad has shared a set of ten stories on Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage SiteYou may browse it by clicking the following links:
Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary

Bye till the next story on other parts of Hampi.

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 26th March 2017

Thursday 16 March 2017

Hyderabad to Hampi

Hampi figures on tourist map of the world because of UN Heritage tag. The ruins in Hampi, which was the capital of Vijaynagara empire in 15th century AD, tell many a saga in stone. Every structure, pillar, pagoda, temple, platform, water well has a story to tell. You get transported back in time, completely in awe. You tend to get lost in time.
Ghumakkads Harsh and Neeta drove from Hyderabad to Hampi in Feb-2017 along with our friends from Germany Pramod and Helga.
Pramod and Harsh studied together at BITS Pilani in 1960s. Both couples in their sixties, bitten by the travel bug undertook this 1000-km road trip spread over four days.

Pictures.


Here is a road map of the route taken by us. While going, we went via Kurnool and Bellary which took almost 10 hours to cover 490 kms. However, on the return leg, we took the route via Raichur which took 8 hours only and was 435 kms. Map courtesy internet.





















 
You may browse all the stories on Hampi by Ghumakkad by clicking the following links:


Thanks for browsing.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 16th March 2017


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