River and Rocks- PQs

Few days back our daughter Akanksha (Ashi to family and friends) had gone on an all-women hike in Zion Narrows, Utah USA. It is hailed as one of the top-5 adventure hikes by NatGeo. She shared some pictures wading through the river. A river finds its way whether in the plains or rocks or hills.
This story is an outcome of the rocks shown in her pictures. Ghumakkad got reminded of Bhedaghat near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh India- where the river Narmada cuts through marble rocks. Similarly, Sahasradhara near Dehradun has a short hike where you go up a stream into a cave in flowing water. Next memory which flashed was of Narsing Temple near Bidar in Karnataka India, where you wade through chest high water in a 600-foot long cave for darshan of Lord Narsing. You may browse the full story Bidar-Brimming with History. 

All the above sites got created because water found its way. Not because of its force but its persistence. This is precisely what Jim Watkins had said. Here is a PQ- picturesque quote- for you superimposed on famous marble rocks of Jabalpur.

A companion quote on steadfastness of the rocks follows. This time the picture is courtesy Ashi taken at Zion Narrows USA and the quotation by Thomas Jefferson.

Another quote that comes to mind is by John Muir who had said that Rivers flow not past but through us! You may browse the earlier PQ here.

More pictures of Nagarjunasagar and Zion Narrows will follow. 

Thanks for browsing

    -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 24th June 2017

Ghumakkad turns Five

Ghumakkad's blog-- your own blog-- completes five years on 25th May 2017. It is each one of you who has helped us sustain this exciting journey. A journey of exploration, adventure, thrill and discovery. When we started off, we never knew we would reach out to so many netizens. With just 234 page views in first 12 months in 2012-13, your blog has now crossed 92,500 page views. 

It took three years when 'Ghumakkad crossed 25,000 mark'.
But it took just one more year to reach the 50,000 milestone. And the next 42,5000 page views came in this year taking the count to 92,500! Credit for achieving this landmark goes to each of you.

Numbers don't matter. What gives us a kick is when someone travels all the way to Port Blair or Africa based on our picture stories and gives us a pat on our back! We feel humbled in adding happiness to your lives.

Over last five years, you have liked and appreciated more than 6000 photographs in this blog taken around the world--spread over 230 posts with 30 embedded videos.

Of course, the journey continues. As we said earlier, 92K page views in cyber world is no big deal. But for a non-commercial, non-political, non-religious and non-celebrity blog it means a lot. It is truly a humbling experience for me. 

Credits: Many readers have given regular feedback to enrich the blog. Please allow Ghumakkad to mention few regular readers (please pardon us for omissions if any!):

(Late)Manorama Bhargava	PSP Sarma (Octogenarian)	Trixie Asirvatham
BD Bhargava(Octogenarian)	N Sridhar	Pramod-Helga Lakhotia
Umesh Dhyani	Pramila and Mani Thomas	Rajendra Singh
Sunil Sud	M Sitaram	Manasi Panigrahi
Aditya Jain	R Raghuram	MV Vasudevan
Suchitra Chowdhury	Raj K Mehta	Vinod Dhanuka
Avinash Tiwari	Supradeep Sen	Pradeep Mohan
Ashok Kota	Masthanaiah Aluru	Arun Dhupar
A Ramnath	Rani PAR Kumar	TJ Master
BU Vuppala	Lakshmi and NR Ravi	RB Dhavare
Vinay Prasad	PG Bhat	K Gopu
M Ramesh	Anand and Farida Jain	Kirti Sharma
JA Rama Moorty	Kingshuk Nag	Brijesh Kalra
GR Nair	Swati-Swayam Mishra	Vasu Iyer
BK Nagaraj	Pradeep Siwach	C Raghuram and many more

Credits are also due to: CD Sawant,  RRN Chowdary, Deepti Thakur, A Mohandas, LV Mohandas, S Santhanam, AVS Madhav Rao, Sangeeta Agarwal, V Ramachandran, Chaitanya Shiroor, Vijay Bal, Umesh Kumar and the entire Bhargava clan spread  around the world. 

Time for a quick recap. Our first story five years ago was titled 'Exploring Bhutan Part-1: The Team'. 

We started off as a travelogue. Change is part of our life and soon other subjects got added. The flavour of the blog has thus changed. We invite you to sample some of the stories spanning various aspects of our life. You may click to browse any of the posts hyper-linked in parenthesis:

• Travel (Bhutan-Thimpu and beyond, Munnar-Kerala, What's new in Goa, Changing face of Jaipur, USA-Casinos, USA-Camping)

• Wildlife (Africa- The Big Five, Tigress of Tadoba, Birds of Ranganathittu, Ranthambhor Tigers)

• Environment (Port Blair Flora and fauna, Friendly Munias, Rescuing an injured Bat, Learning from Caterpillars)

• Learning and teaching (Plants and Leadership, Bringing realism in the classroom, Social Entrepreneurship, Learning from students, Life beyond an ECG)

• Picturesque Quotes (PQs) (Rose petals and Life, Nature, Darkness, Patience)

• Obituaries (Dr Abdul Kalam, Kushwant Singh, Elfo our dog)

• Books by Ghumakkad (BITS of Success)

• Reunions (Navy, College-BITS, Campus BITS Goa)

• Fitness (Yoga and life partner, Grandpa's Gym, Why Golf, Hiking, Scuba Diving at 65)

• Poems (Ansh enters the Teens, So what if I can not see, Our Little Princess is three)

You can also search within the blog for any topic of your interest.

Once again we would like to thank each one of you for your continued support  and encouragement. Ghumakkad hopes to bring you more pictures, more stories and more insights into our life.

Hope you enjoy the blog as much as we do creating the stories for you.

Thanks for browsing and being part of our exciting journey.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 25th May 2017/ hbindia@gmail.com 

Mother's Day Greetings

I was looking for a suitable picture for Mother's Day post. As if on cue, a cat which had adopted our car garage with her recent litter, came out to feed her three kitten. Two kitten brownish golden and the third one greyish. In the morning light, all of them got illuminated well. The resulting picture says it all- Mother's Day- Today and Everyday.

Greetings to all the mothers in the world.
Mothers make a difference in their children's lives as well as all others whom they impact. For example, a teacher makes a difference in the life of her students, a doctor on her patients and so on. Without mothers, we wouldn't be in this world!

Mothers discharge many roles at the same time. Some of these roles can be browsed by clicking the story 'A mother is a mother'. Ever seen a cat protect her kitten from a huge dog like a St Bernard? Click the story 'Facing the Enemy'.

Ghumakkad fondly remembers his mother who passed away in 2008. For me, my mother was like a rock-- a source of strength and inspiration. Am reminded of Alicia Keys lines "My Mom is definitely my rock" superimposed on a picture below.

Mothers can't be thanked enough. Pranaam Maa प्रणाम माँ -- Smt Pushpa Bhargava (1927-2008). We miss you.

We are fortunate that Ghumakkadni-Neeta's mother lives with us. On Mother's Day, our Pranaam to her as well. May her smile keep guiding us!

We are sure you will hug or remember your Mom on Mother's Day.

We can only pray to God to make us a mother next time.

       -    Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 14th May 2017/ Mother's Day

#mothersday #amotherisamother #rememberingmother #gratitude #respect #indebtedness ##ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

Remembering Gautam Buddha

Buddha Jayanti-- Gautam Buddha's birthday on full moon day i.e. Purnima पूर्णिमा of 'Vaishakha' वैशाख month is celebrated the world over. Born in a royal family, he denounced the world when he was 29. To seek peace and to get answers to questions about life.

Many of his teachings are as relevant today-- more than 2500 years after his salvation. One quotation which comes to mind is "We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think". One of the largest statues of  Buddha is in Bhutan which we photographed in 2012. You can see Neeta, Manik and CP Srivastava at the base of the statue-- looking completely dwarfed! The statue was under construction, that's why the scaffolding.
Ghumakkad presents a PQ- picturesque quote- dedicated to Buddha on Buddha Jayanti 2017.

Another quotation from Budha 'Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without' was featured earlier. The PQ is reproduced below:



Some of the earlier PQs which you may like to browse and use in your writings, talks or presentations are :

Vision is the art of seeing the invisible
Solitude is the place of purification
Life is a reflection of the state of your mind

Buddha also said "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

Wishing you a life full of peace and happiness.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/Buddha Purnima 2017/ 10th May

Dancing at Eighty

Ever seen an eighty year old dancer perform whose knees have given way? She can't stand and perform. So what is the way out? Sit on a chair and perform. Sounds weird? Not when you see Mrs Savita Bhargava my aunt from Gurgaon, performing at a wedding dance night in Udaipur.
Pre-wedding function called 'Sangeet' संगीत meaning music is actually a dance night where bride's family members perform short dances. In olden days, sangeet ceremony was held only at bride's place. And another musical night called 'vadhu parichay' वधु परिचय  was held at groom's place after the wedding. This was to formally introduce the newly wedded bride to groom's family. But with changing times when families of both sides come to one city, sangeet is attended by families and friends of both bride and groom.

The pictures here are from a 'global' wedding. The groom and family came from Italy and the bride (my niece) from an NRI family in USA/Hongkong.
The wedding took place in a Fort like hotel in Udaipur. Can't wait any longer to see the pictures? Here we go. We open the scene with eighty-year old dancer performing while seated on a chair.

 Two short videos to show her 'adaa' अदा !

Savita Mami's performance was preceded by Nidhi. She too gave a superb performance. I couldn't take pictures myself owing to delayed arrival from airport. But thanks to her hubby Mukul, here is a one-minute video for you.

Looked like a dream wedding? Indeed it was.
More pictures will follow in next post.

Thanks for browsing.
   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/11th March 2017