Sunday 8 December 2019

Chail Military School

Chail is a remote hill station in Himachal Pradesh.
Apart from The Palace, what else is there to see?
Well, in the hills you don't need places to see. You have to feel the forest, walk in the woods, smell the scent of the pines and relax by the river side! You do all that and you get rejuvenated.
However, Chail also has the highest cricket ground in the world. It is now used as cricket stadium-cum-playground for the students of Rashtriya Military School, Chail. In this story, we take you to the school, the cricket stadium and Sadhupul- a small village downhill. We the Navy Veterans sure felt great getting back to school!

Those not familiar with the geography of Himachal Pradesh, may see the map below. 



 Let the pictures do the talking.



These words 'heaven on earth' for Chail Military School were written by Commander Sudhir Tuli (Retd) who is an alumnus of the school. Thanks much Sudhir for your inputs.














Being a Navy Veteran, it was heartening to see a Naval Officer's name too! See the green arrow in the picture below.


Fallen but not forgotten! The school has proudly displayed the bust of one of its alumni who was conferred with the highest gallantry award the Param Vir Chakra. Capt GS Salaria made the supreme sacrifice and laid down his life in 1961.








We the veterans couldn't resist ourselves on athletics track! Pictures with a PQ- picturesque quote.





Get a feel of the world's highest cricket ground in this short video clip.





Before we left the school, we were reminded of Washington Irving's quotation "Age is a matter of feelings not years"! PQ below for you.



Sadhupul





Here is the link to our previous story on Chail Palace just in case you missed it:


Coming up next...





Thanks for browsing.
Do share your comments.

    -   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 8th Dec 2019

#navyveterans #himachalpradesh #himalayas #chail #chailmilitaryschool #chailcricketstadium #himachaltourism #friendsforever #navybuddies #oldage #navyreunion #indiannavy #livinglife #ageisnobar #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #natgeoindia #planetmindia #wandertrails #photowalks #history #machanforthequeen #heavenonearth #backtoschool #PQ #picturesquequotes

Friday 6 December 2019

Celosia Cockscomb KBG-27

Magenta flowers.
Velvety.
Wavy.
Hardy.
Blooms last for many days.
Which flower is that?
KBG-27 Kaun Banega Ghumakkad had posed this question last week.

Answer: Celosia Cockscomb or Celosia Cristata or Murgkesh  मुर्गकेश in Hindi. It is called Seethamma Jada in Telugu.
Why this name? Because the flower is shaped like the comb on a cock's head!

This annual plant has a velvety, ruffled form that is 
often compared to a cockscomb, or even a brain. See 
the picture above.

In fact, it's commonly known as cockscomb or woolflower. Celosia seems like an exotic flower, but it's not difficult to grow in the home garden. It makes a striking accent to other flowers in the garden. In fact the saplings in our garden were brought by our domestic help from her neighbourhood growing wild.


Few more pictures of the flower from our garden in Secunderabad, India.


See the pollinator at work on a cockscomb flower. 

Being a common flower across the world, the contest drew more than 350 participants with more than 50 correct answers. First three correct answers came within 10 minutes of posting the contest on-line. Advance intimation of the Contest gave equal chances to participants across time zones.

Congratulations to the winners of KBG-27 listed below:

  1. Poornima Tangirala, IT Professional Hyderabad
  2. Rohini Tiwari, PhD, Former Professor, Nutrition and Wellness Consultant, Coimbatore Tamil Nadu
  3. Col Jaishankar, Indian Army. Blogger, traveller and environmentalist.

We are grateful to all the participants for their continued support. Those who missed the awards by a few minutes, be faster in responding next time.

Special thanks go to Dr Chitra Shanker for research guidance and Ramya Sriram for the logo design.

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected.

     -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 6th Nov 2019

#kbg #kaunbanegaghumakkad #onlinecontest #environment #nature #awareness #fun #quickresponse #shootfast #firstthree #kbgwinner #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #celosiacockscomb #cockscomb #knowyourenvironment #wanderers #photowalks #learningfromnature #plants #powerofobservation #learningfromplants #funwatchingflowers