Windows and Wanderings - Ghumakkad Turns Fourteen

 When your blog turns fourteen, how do you celebrate?

You celebrate by thanking the readers and contributors.  Because it is the readers who have taken the blog where it is. Thank you all.

Ghumakkad continues to wander.

Why do you like Ghumakkad's Blog?

Ghumakkad asked the readers a simple question 'Why do you like Ghumakkad's blog?' Within minutes we started  receiving responses. We have tried to summarise and include as many in the table below.

Reader(s)	Why I/we like Ghumakkad's Blog
KS Venugopal, Amandeep Kaur	A window to the world
Gyan Agarwal	It has a soul.
Lakshmi and NR Ravi, Vijay Uppal, Sharad Kumar, Daleep George,  TSR Swamy, Pramod Goel,  SVS Chary, Anju Tiwari, Surendra B,  Zafar Naseem, Ramya Champion, Vinay Prasad, Premila Basu,  PR Sangam, Vinod Dhanuka,  Pramod Lakhotia, Rachita Mahajan, Nishi and Ashok Jaitly, Mohan Swaminathan, Mani Thomas	Armchair travelogue of unseen and unheard off places. Feels like a 'live' tour with a ringside seat!
Ruma Purkayastha, Rashmi B, Indira Susheel Kumar,	Stories that leave you with the desire to experience and explore
Raman Kumar, BC Jayaprakash, Ruchi B, Vardhaman Tantia,  Poonam B, Joya Ganguly, Vijay Bal, RB Dhavare, Satish Kwatra	Wide variety, depth of research and simple language
Joyshree Banerjee, Dr Pappu, Praveen Garg, Chandreyee Ganguly, Helga Lakhotia	Makes us feel part of Ghuamkkad's trips!
N Sridhar, Pimmo Lodha	It gives me joy
Dr GB Sethi, Rakesh Bajaj, Tejaswini, Chanda Golani	It's uniqueness and educational value
Vinod Agarwal, Pramila B, Seema Jain, Suresh Sharma, Arun Dhupar	Meaningful and vivid descriptions that leave the reader asking for more
Suchitra Chauduri, M Vasudevan, Nitin Dhavare, Sharat Choudary, Mukul B, Shereen Sultana, Rajat B, Chaitanya Shiroor	Insightful, refreshing, authentic and deeply inspiring
Trixie Asirvatham, Shyamola Khanna, Dr Surekha Bhanot	Stunning illustrations and narratives
Pradeep Sethi	Love the small things that you notice!
Dilip Mohapatra, Krishna Prasad, Yella Prakash Rao, Raj K Mehta	Spreads goodwill, empathy and positive thinking.
Manik Srivastava	Your art of storytelling!
Vinay B, Rajinder Singh, GR Nair	Passion with which every story is created.
Padma Ramesh	It inspires wanderlust!
Deepak Jena	It keeps me in touch with my Professor!
Jaishankar	Stories that lie at the junction of adventure, curiosity and wisdom.
Dr Rohini Tiwari	My most exciting virtual travel companion and storyteller!

Am humbled seeing your responses. Ghumakkad seems to have made a wide impact as visible from the variety of responses. Each one of you (and many others not included in the above list) deserve the special badge of appreciation. Thanks once again.

Ghumakkad exists because of you

It took 13 years to reach 6 lakh page views. But, we have added 5 lakh page views in just one year! See the graph below.

Sharing below an excerpt from Amandeep Kaur, my former MBA student now settled in Canada.

"Ghumakkad has been far more than a travel blog to me, it has been a window to the world. 

What makes Ghumakkad special is not just the journeys, but the soul behind them. Your writing carries warmth, curiosity, wisdom, and that quiet humor which makes readers feel like fellow travellers rather than just an audience.

As your student, I admired you in the classroom. As a reader, I have admired the way you turn travel into stories that stay with people long after they finish reading. Fourteen years later, Ghumakkad still inspires people to dream, explore, and look at the world with kinder eyes. That is a rare gift."

------------- 

Thank you Amandeep aka Ammu.

Another regular reader Admiral C Raghuram has sent a short poem on Ghumakkad's 14th Anniversary.

"Your footsteps frame each place with light and rhyme,  
You lift small wonders into song, one gentle chime.

  
Through winding lanes and hush of hills you roam,  
Each travelogue a tender bridge that leads us home

.  
You open doors where hidden mornings gleam and play,  
You turn plain paths to honeyed tracks where memories stay. 

 
Fourteen years your roaming words have charmed the way,  
Forever may your stories lead our hearts, and gently stay."

----------------- 

Thank you Admiral.

Special thanks are also due to all the Guest Story writers listed below along with links to their stories:

Ansh and Nikhil (then 14 and 11): Why Kodaikanal?

Abha and Akanksha: Ladakh: Shades of Heaven on Earth

Ankush: Maya The Tigress of Tadoba

Koushik Gopinath: Male Showstopper - Tigers of Ranthambhore

Abhishek Singh: Winning The Hearts Of People

Akanksha: Women Hiking In Water

Dr Rohini Tiwari: A Squirrel Comes Home

Trixie Asirvatham: Fallen But Not Forgotten

Ankush: Ironman In The Family

Nikhil (then 10 years old): Coyote Gulch- Hiking In A Stream

Sachi (then 15), Syon (13) and Maana (11): Who Says Children Don't Read Books

Naman (then 8 years old): Sketching at Eight

Ankush: 2nd Time ironman ki Kahani Ankush ki Zubani

Mohili and Kabir: Hiking With Two Middle Schoolers

Padma Ramesh: Who Says Adventure Has an Age Limit?

Tushar Bhakay: Birding on a Bicycle

Debashish Mukherjee: Call of the Road - Curiosity, Discovery and Joy

Padma Ramesh: There is Magic in the Air When They Meet -- An account of a Navy Veterans' Reunion

Would you like to see your name in above list? Then share your guest story. We would love to publish it.

Those who wish to browse across the spectrum of our picture stories, may click the link below:

Ghumakkad Enters the Teens - Gives a snapshot of our stories of last 13 years.

Be it the travelogues, environment, wildlife, birds, life lessons from Nature, obituaries or simple observations around our lives-- you have loved it all.

All we would say-- Gratitude with folded hands.

Last but not the least we have to thank our advisors over the years:

Trixie Asirvatham (Blog content)
Dr Chitra Shanker (Environment)
Yella Prakash Rao (Birding)

Thanks for browsing and stay connected. Do share a comment and/or your guest story as and when you can.

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 22nd May 2026

#14thAnniversary #travlandlifeblog #GhumakkadIsFourteen #WindowsAndWanderings #gratitude #thankyoureaders #OneMillionPageViews #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb #GuestStory #explore #discovery #adventure #joyofsharing #powerofobservation #appreciationbadge #blogreadership

Teachers Other Than Teachers

Who is your teacher? Who can you learn from? Can there be teachers other than school or college teachers?

Can you also learn a thing or two from any or all of the following:

Nature- trees, plants, animals, rivers, birds, insects and the like?

Children

Parents

Friends, Pets

Life events like birth, ill-health, bereavement 

Successes and failures

Covid pandemic?

Sports and extra-curricular activities?

The answer to all of the above is yes! Like the Brahma Kamal flower which blooms at night once in many months, synchronised with the full moon! Teaches us to be punctual in life!

On this Teacher's Day, let us thank all the teachers in our life. Teachers have made us what we are today. Our gratitude to each one of them.

Ghumakkad is grateful to all his teachers at:

Besant College, Varanasi

Birla School Pilani

BITS Pilani

IIT Kanpur

Naval PG School California

Students too deserve our thanks. Because students are like oxygen for the teachers!

We also owe our gratitude to teachers-other-than-teachers. We have learnt a thing or two from such teachers as summarised below:

Teacher	Learnings
Nature	Patience, Steadfastness, Managing Change, Team work
Children	Inquisitiveness, Energy and enthusiasm, Love, Trust, Honesty
Parents	Discipline, Love, Compassion, Care, Respect
Friends	Relationships, Team work, Emotional Stability, Trust
Pets	Loyalty, Trust, Love
Births	Joy, Happiness
Sickness	Patience, Emotional strength, Financial planning, Gratitude
Bereavement	Fortitude, Emotional strength
Successes	Happiness, Fulfilment
Failures	Emotional balance and strength
Covid Pandemic	Patience, Self-discipline, Concern for others
Adventure Sports	Spirit of adventure, Risk taking, Self-confidence, Physical and emotional strength
Painting, Music, Dance, Writing	Introspection, Creativity, Self-confidence, Visualisation
Team Sports	Team work, Conflict resolution, Discipline, Physical and emotional strength

Feel free to add to the above list of 'teachers-other-than-teachers'. Mail your suggestion to hbindia@gmail.com . We would be happy to append to our list with due credit to you.

Every teacher's day for Ghumakkad who is also a teacher, is a time for introspection and reflection. Am sharing below some of the previous stories which bring out different perspectives on learning and teaching. Just click the link to browse the story.

Do Teachers Get Bored? 

Covid Couldn't Deter The Teachers 

A Teacher Keeps Learning

Who Inspires A Teacher - Teachers plant seeds of knowledge

Learning From Students - who keep the teachers on their toes!

Harsh@IBS - Journey of a different kind

This Teacher's Day, Ghumakkad thanks all his students and former students for enriching his life.

Thanks for browsing and Happy Teacher's Day once again.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 4th September 2023/ Secunderabad

#teachersday #teacher #learner #students #nature #learningneverends #joyoflearning #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #teachersotherthanteachers #learning #teaching

Life Lessons from Madhu Malti

Madhu Malti? मधु मालती।  Names of twins? No! Then what?

It is the name of a flower which changes its colours and blooming time over the days. It is best grown outdoors in filtered sunlight. It has a mild and sweet fragrance.

In English, the Madhu Malti is known as the Chinese Honeysuckle. It is also called the Rangoon Creeper. In Telugu it is called Radha Manoharam (knowledge courtesy K Satyanarayana of Hyderabad). It is a climber which grows fast and flowers profusely. See the pictures below:

We had posted few pictures of the flowers on our social media handles, taken after a recent shower. One of the readers then researched and wrote back the following:

"The flowers change in colour with age and it is thought that this is a strategy to gather more pollinators. The flower is initially white and opens at dusk. This attracts hawkmoths with long tongues for pollination. On the second day it turns pink and on the third it turns red attracting day flying bees and birds. The flower also changes from a horizontal orientation to a drooping pose."

Thanks Anchita Nidhindra for educating us. After her feedback, we took some more pictures of the flowers and correlated it with the above observations.

Life Lessons

Like all the creations of mother Nature, Madhu Malti also has many life lessons for us. Here are a few which we have observed.

Peace: The flower initially blooms in white colour which conveys a sense of peace for all. It remains white only for a day as if to convey that 'start your day with a prayer - peace for all'.

Punctuality: The flower blooms at dusk on day one. It senses the light level every evening and starts blooming. We humans can learn a thing or two about being punctual in our day to day life!

Adaptability: We all know that change is the only constant in life. But how many of us adapt with the changing situations in life. Bereavement, ill health, work stress, job loss are many such issues which overpower us because we are unable to change our thinking or action. In contrast Madhu malti flowers constantly adapt with the change.

Team Work: Madhu Malti flowers bloom in bunches and stay together till they fall. Lesson for all of us to remain steadfast as individuals as well as when working in teams. See the video of the flowers swaying together.

Falling With Grace: Time comes for Madhu Malti flowers to fall off. It falls with grace. Lesson for all of us- when the time comes, remain graceful even when you retire or move on in life !

As we saw the tiny flowers and the tall climber has many lessons for us. That is Nature's way of teaching us, provided we are willing to learn.

Do observe the Nature around you. Pause. Observe. Feel the mysteries.

Here are the links to some of our earlier stories related to Nature.

Tree Bark As Rat Poison - read about a tree whose bark acts as a poison for the rats who eat away the roots of plants in a garden or field!

Nature's Clock - How the custard apple fruit synchronises its arrival with Diwali every year in one part of India? Like a geo-synchronous satellite, Diwali dates change every year. But the custard apple starts to ripen in the tree on dot! Read on.

Brahma Kamal A Smart Plant - Smart watch, smart cities and now a smart plant! How does it synchronise its blooming around a full moon night? Read on.

Hope our stories have triggered some inquisitiveness about Nature in you. Do share your observations of the world around you!

We close with a picturesque quote (PQ) by Lady Bird Johnson who said 'Where flowers bloom so does hope!'

Thanks for browsing.

     -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ Secunderabad/ 29th May 2023

#madhumalti #adaptability #climbercreeper #peaceforall #white #pink #red #pollinators #Nature #teamwork #fallingwithgrace #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #ChineseHoneysuckle #rangooncreeper

Upside Down- Learning from a Caterpillar

 A tiny insect with multiple legs. Shining body with contrasting legs. Can climb or cling to slender leaves. Sometimes, it keeps going even while upside down! Yes, we are talking about a Caterpillar as shown in the picture below. Give it a caption and win KBG-75, the 75th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad, online captions contest.

Here are two more pictures without the contest logo for better visualisation of your caption.

Now go ahead and give a caption for the above picture featuring a Lily Caterpillar fast!

How to Submit a Caption

For the first-timers on KBG, you can respond using any of the six channels below:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Send email to hbindia@gmail.com    
3. Respond on the FB post
4. Comment on Instagram @ghumakkadhb 
5. Comment on Twitter @HarshBh21184761
6. Send a WA message. If you want your WA number to be added to Ghumakkad's list, send an email.

So folks, get going and give your caption pronto! If you feel like, you may submit more than one caption.

Previous Contest

KBG-74, the 74rd edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad Caption Contest had featured a picture of two dried up lemons from our tree. See the picture below.

However, the close up of lemons confused all the contestants with melons. Whether lemons or melons, the captions were very creative. It was a case of differing perspective and perception. We then created our picture story titled 'Perception Vs Perspective' which included all the captions submitted by the contestants of KBG-74. Two of the winning captions of KBG-74 are reproduced below:

Hope we have succeeded in diverting your mind away from a world struggling to bounce back after devastating impact of Covid on global economy. Ghumakkad aims to spread joy and cheer all around like our logo shown below. Thank you Ramya Sriram for such a creative logo.

Now, be your creative best and shoot your response. Most catchy captions will be the Winners of KBG-75! All the best.

Thank you all the readers for your continued support.

Stay connected, stay safe.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 10th June 2022

#caterpillar #upsidedown #keepmovinginlife #changeyourperspective #lilycaterpillar #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #KBG #kbg75 #kaunbanegaghumakkad #onlinecontest #takeabreak #captions #powerofobservation #creativecaptions #learningtogether

Ghumakkad Enters The Double Digit

Your blog, Ghumakkad's blog, turns ten today. Ghumakkad thus enters the double digit with lot of excitement and hope!

How did it start ?

Our set of eight stories on Bhutan, which is so picturesque, was the starting point. From a mere travel blog, Ghumakkad has transformed many folds. And we haven't looked back since then. First three years had only a handful of page views since it was a blog by invitation. Once we made it open, the growth has been overwhelming. See the graph below showing 258,000 page views.

Our Content

Over the years with the support of our readers, we have been able to broaden our content. Telling stories with pictures has been the format. However, the stories are no longer limited to travelogues. Here are few snapshots of our broad spectrum.

• Beating the Covid Gloom: We did more than a dozen stories to bring cheer into our Covid-affected life. We also shared real-life stories of two Covid-survivors of the 1st wave, one each in India and USA. Each story highlighted the power of positivity in those gloomy days. Some of the quick links are given below. 

I got a new life - A Corona Survivor's Tale

Take the Virus Head On - Survivor recipe from another Corona Warrior

Breaking Free In Lockdown

Bouncing Back In Lockdown

Every Day Is A Sunday

Stay Home Stay Safe

Lockdown Is ... Happiness

• Kaun Banega Ghumakkad (KBG): During the Covid-dominated period, KBG online contests have been very engaging and educative. It provided the much needed diversion from gloomy news and charts of Covid. After the first 50 editions of KBG, which posed a question to the readers (to name a plant, tree, insect, fort or a flower), next 23 editions instead asked the readers to give a caption to a picture. The readers creativity in suggesting the captions was overwhelming. Some of the contests which were well contested are An Arch to Captivate You, Lazy Lions, Mutualism by Nature. We will soon be celebrating the 75th edition of KBG. 

• Guest Stories: Ghumakkad always encourages the readers to contribute guest stories for our blog. Rohini Tiwari's story 'A Squirrel Comes Home' has been read by more than 600 readers!

• Bird Rescue: Read how few bird lovers in Secunderabad rescued a Black-Winged Stilt injured by the kite thread manjha.

The manjha spares no one. Few years back, we had rescued a fruit bat injured by the manjha. You may browse the story 'Rescuing an Injured Bat'.

• Nature: Nature continues to inspire Ghumakkad. Can a tree or a plant be your valentine? Or birds and animals? Or insects, bees, butterflies and moths? Yes, why not? Stories like Nature as Valentine and deriving Inspiration from a Butterfly were appreciated by scores of readers. 

• Saluting the Veterans: Our story '50th Year of 1971 War' which featured Naval children besides the Veterans, showcased the motivation of the younger generation.

• Lesser Known India: Though our physical travel was severely curtailed during last two years due to Covid, we did manage to feature two destinations, one each in Telangana and Rajasthan. Read the story 'Devarakonda- The Fort Which Needs Your Support' which highlights the efforts of local community in restoring a 800-year old fort. 

We had featured the Havelis of Khichan Rajasthan in the announcement of Winners of KBG-28. Khichan has some incredibly sculpted Havelis made of red sandstone. Glimpses. 

Learning Together:  In keeping with Ghumakkad's motto of learning together, we believe in sharing our knowledge and experiences. We had conducted a 'live' case study based on Hindi feature film 'Shershaah' last year. Our story 'Shershaah- Beyond The Movie' evoked keen response form not only MBA students but also the faculty members.

Through the movie, we could bring out lessons on 20 different aspects of OB, HRM and Strategic Management.

Most Read Stories

Taking stock on 10th anniversary of the blog, our most-read story continues to be the tribute to a fellow BITSian who gave his life fighting the terrorists in J&K 25 years ago. We salute Capt Ravi Shankar for the supreme sacrifice. Do browse the story 'An Immortal BITSian', if you haven't read it so far. 

The table below lists other most-read stories from our blog during the last ten years. Apart from the stories related to my alma-mater BITS Pilani, it is heartening to that readers have liked the story on Brahma Kamal the Night Queen highlighting one of the Nature's many miracles.

Our blog's readership is not confined to India. As shown in the map below, more than 45% of our readers come from countries across the globe. We thank each and every reader.

For a snapshot of our first eight years as a blog, do browse our story 'Ghumakkad is Eight'.

Moving On

With the Covid restrictions being lifted, Ghumakkad hopes to resume our travels and bring you more stories. Do share your pictures and stories through our blog.

Acknowledgements

There are numerous people who have helped us grow. Some of them had been acknowledged in our 6th Anniversary post. In addition, we place on record our appreciation to the following for their unstinted support.

Trixie Asirvatham our content advisor
Chitra Shanker our advisor on plants, trees, insects and birds

Ramya Sriram logo designer of our KBG Contest

Anchita Nidhindra, Manik Srivastava, Joyshree Banerjee and Akanksha for being the KBG Jury members

We also thank each one of you for your continued support without which Ghumakkad wouldn't have been here! Do give us your feedback to help us improve.

We are reminded of an ad for chocolates which said 'Never too old for a chocolate'. Ghumakkad started blogging at sixty. So folks 'never too old to start blogging!'

    -   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 13th May 2022

#GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #10thAnniversary #BlogAnniversary #HarshBhargava #ThrillOfWriting #JourneyOfLife #BringingSmiles #makingadifference #kbgcontest #kaunbanegaghumakkad #wellness #motivation #inspiration #positivity #nature #environment #teachers #learning #india #mysteriesofnature #travelforfun #beatthelockdown #wildlife #keepgoing #blogger #pictures #photowalks #powerofobservation #students