Team Tadoba

Indian summer. Temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius. In this heat, who would like to go on a Tiger Safari 400 kms from home? 
The craziest of the crazies!

Yes, here are five grannies/grandpas, who ventured to leave the cool confines of their homes in Hyderabad/Secunderabad and face the heat and dust of a jungle safari. 
Inspiration? To see the king of the jungle-- Royal Bengal Tiger in its natural habitat.

Who are these crazy guys-- all in their 60s? 
Here they are-- ladies first!

 

 

Why go in summer?
Because the grass dries up and the heat forces the big mammals including Tigers to come out to drink water. The chances of sighting a tiger therefore, increase. In fact, the tariff for rooms in MTDC Resort at Moharli, (one of the entry gates to Tadoba) is the highest from 1st May to 30th June every year.

Where is Tadoba located? Why the name Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve?







Why choose Tadoba when there are other Tiger Parks in the vicinity?

As we can see, tiger density per sq km is the highest in Tadoba. We hope our statistical research is proven right in a few days time when we are there!


How to reach Tadoba?
We chose to drive down from Secunderabad in our Tata Zest XT 1.2Revotron. It is a car designed for Indian roads with good ground clearance. It is monkey-proof to a certain extent. See the picture taken at Bandipur National Park earlier this year, when the monkeys decided to taste the radio antenna. Mercifully it survived the attack!

One can also take a flight to Nagpur and then drive 140kms south to reach Tadoba via Navegaon gate.

As senior citizens packing our bags for this wildlife trip, we realised that apart from personal stuff like caps, sunglasses, clothes, ID etc, we also have to carry our medicines! Another tale of grannies and grandpas!

As we proceed on this adventure, wish us luck for tiger sightings!

   -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/10th May 2015

Ghumakkad crosses 25000 mark

Ghumakkad is Three

Am delighted to share that your buddy Ghumakkad’s blog is going to be three-years old!

It was 25^th May 2012 when this blog was created primarily to share pictures taken while travelling. We had just returned from Bhutan and the first story titled ‘Exploring Bhutan Part-1: The Team’ was posted in this blog (Link: Bhutan Part-1). It has so far been read by 120 people. Initially the blog had a ‘closed’ setting with very limited readership/viewership. Later, we opened it for public viewing/reading in the larger spirit of sharing.

I feel humbled that in these three years, the blog has been read more than 25,000 times. For an on-line forum, this is not a big number. But considering that it is not a commercial venture, it signifies your liking, support and encouragement. In fact, last 5,000 views came in just three months! Special thanks are due to each one of you.

It was only in Feb 2015 when we crossed the 20,000 milestone. The link: Ghumakkad Hits 20,000

Most-read Story

The story on BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus posted on 30^th Sept 2014 has been read by 1229 people so far. The only other story to have crossed the 1,000 readers’ mark is also connected with my alma-mater. It was a curtain raiser of our book ‘BITS of Success’ and posted on 18^th Dec 2013. An earlier story on BITS Dubai Campus in Jul 2012 has had 450+ viewers so far. Mind you this blog does not promote BITS Pilani or any other institution for that matter!

Just in case you missed browsing these ‘most-read’ posts, you can click the links below.

BITS Pilani Hyderabad- The Campus that Rocks  

BITS of Success- A Curtain Raiser 

BITS Dubai- Another Oasis

Talking of institutions, a story of my experiences at IBS Hyderabad as a Prof posted on Teacher’s Day 2012,  has had 440+ views so far. The link:

Harsh@IBS- Journey of a different kind 

Another recent story (March 2015) which has been read by 650+ people showcases two real life yoga enthusiasts who came together for life! If you haven’t read the post yet, please click the link below:

Learn Yoga and find the right life partner 

How human beings value their memories and friends was proven when a story of a Naval Reunion of buddies after 40 years, received 500+ views. See the link below if you wish to re-live the moment:

Naval Reunion at Valsura Jamnagar 

The readers of this blog are diverse in terms of age, gender, nationality, occupation, education etc and in turn they have welcomed and supported diversity in the blog posts. See some of the posts which have had more than 350 readers each, in diverse fields such as:

Wildlife/Nature:

Rescuing an injured Bat (July 2012): Bat story- click here

The ‘Big Five’ Live from Africa (August 2014): Africa Live- Click here 

Lessons from Life

Life is like a Switch (May 2013): Life and switch

Life Begins at Sixty (July 2014): Life@60- Click here

Thrill of a 10K Run (March 2014): 10K Run- click here

Travel

Changing Face of Jaipur (April 2014): Pink City is Changing

Obituary

Khushwant Singh (March 2014): The Pen has Dried

It has been an exciting journey. All this would not have been possible without your continued support and encouragement. Many people have contributed to the growth of Ghumakkad’s blog. But one person who gave her time, ideas and constant encouragement is Mrs Trixie Asirvatham, a media professional from Bangalore. Special thanks Trixie.

As Ben Sweetland said “Success is a journey, not a destination”, Ghumakkad marches on and will continue to share the journey with friends like you.

Thanks for browsing.

   -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/9^th May 2015

A for Alligator

A two-year old's Vocabulary

Here is a sample of Anuva's growing vocabulary. She is our grand daughter who will be two on 13th May 2015.

A for Alligator and not Apple (as most toddlers of her age would learn!)
B for Ball (as for every other child)
C for Caterpillar and not Cat!
D for Doll
E for Elephant and not Egg!
and so on...! 
Amazing isn't it? Probably thanks to a picture book which she has.

She is such a joy to be with. 
Very expressive
Attentive
Observant
and, ever ready to smile!

See the pictures.

Its a pity that we had only two weeks of her company.
Like other toddlers, she makes her own vocabulary which is not difficult to learn. Sample few words here:

Bana is for Banana
Mush-- Moove (when you are coming in her way!)
IKim-- Ice Cream (always ready to gobble!)
Cheeping-- you guessed it right-- Sleeping
Chokit-- Chocolate
My Pio-- My Pillow (is a game she plays to grab her favourite pillow before you can!)
Kia coming-- Insect कीड़ा coming
Pata-- प्रसाद after पूजा 
Paati-- Chapati चपाती (her favourite food)
Binny-- बिंदी (and she regales in removing it from her Dadi's/Mom's forehead and sticking it on her cheek!)
Bikit-- Biscuit
Manak-- नमक meaning salt 
and so on...!

Talking of her power of observation, the other day she foxed her parents in Chennai. While shopping in a mall, suddenly she shouted 'Blue Tooth' 'Blue Tooth' on spotting the magnetic security tag in a dress for sale. You would agree that the tag does look like the blue tooth which her Dad uses! Trust the kids!!

If you have nine seconds to spare, you can see Anuva in action by clicking the video link below:

Anuva-- Nunu as she calls herself-- we miss you. And your ingenuity!
Come again.

Lots of love from Badi Amma बड़ी अम्मा (Great grand mother), Dadi, Dadu and Elfo. We are all waiting for you!

For those of you who are grand parents already, am sure you saw a connect in this story. And for the young parents, you would recall when your child was this age! And lastly those readers, who are yet to taste parenthood, this story would take you back several years while you were a toddler yourself-- with unique vocabulary!

Here is wishing Anuva a Very Happy 2nd Birthday from all of us.

Thanks for browsing and sharing our joy.

    -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 4th May 2015

World Dance Day 2015

Today 29th April is World Dance Day, also called International Dance Day.
The trigger for this post came from Dr Srinivasan's invite for a dance performance by her daughter Priya in Bangalore on World Dance Day.

Courtesy Wikipedia,  International Dance Day was introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Council (CID, Conseil International de la Danse), a UNESCO partner NGO, and is celebrated yearly, on April 29. The date is not linked to a particular person or a particular form of dance, although it's also the day when the French dancer and ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre was born.

The main purpose of Dance Day events is to attract the attention of the wider public to the art of dance.

Dance has no boundaries, no religion, no discrimination. Dance is sheer joy. See the pictures below from a performance earlier this year in Secunderabad.

If you love dancing, am sure you will agree with the quotations in above pictures.

Ghumakkad's earlier post on Dance can be viewed by double clicking the link below:
Dance is Discovery 

Happy World Dance Day and thanks for browsing.

   Harsh-the-Ghuamkkad/ 29th April 2015

Golf and Yoga

Golf and Yoga

Intrigued by the title? Well, this has been my theory that golf is very much like yoga योग . My golfing partners have heard it from me many times. But you may ask 'How is Golf like Yoga' or vice versa?

Yoga is all about concentration and control of your mind or the inner self. And so is golf.

For those of us who love golf, will vouch that golf is a mind game. The day you can keep your mind under check, you will keep your scores low. But the day you let go of your mind on the golf course (and give up saying 'it is not my day' or some such excuse), you hit a 'century'. For non-golfers, hitting a century i.e. returning a card of  '100', is an extremely poor score for amateur golfers like me. Other golfers reading the blog will most likely echo the sentiment!

OK, yoga is about the mind. What else is Yoga? Bhagwad Gita भगवत गीता says Yoga is the journey of the self...


Another take on yoga is that it is 99% practice and 1% theory. And so is Golf. Practice and more practice is the only way to keep your scores low and maintain the handicap.


Talking of keeping your cool while playing golf- the new Masters Champion Jordan Spieth is a live example. This 21-year old golfer set many a record last week in Augusta Masters Tournament 2015.
 

Jordan plays a superb game. But he also makes mistakes. He also drove his tee-shots into the trees or roughs. But it was his ability to remain cool and stoic in such situations, which gave him the inner strength to recover.He was a picture of concentration whether lining up for a putt or driving off the tee box while thousands of eyes were watching.



Talking of concentration, we all need it in our lives. Whether at work or golfing or mowing the fairways in a golf course, concentration does it. See the picture of Augusta Golf Course below.




So, take up yoga if you wish to achieve better mind control in your life. Whether you play golf or not does not matter. But if you are a golfer, remember golf and yoga are alike. Both require concentration and mind control.

My yoga practitioner friends may say yoga is much more than mind control. No issues with that.

Hope you enjoyed the likeness between yoga and golf. The previous post on golf can be browsed by clicking the link below:
Why I love Golfing? 

I would like to close with a quote from Gautam Buddha:



Have a great day!
Bye till the next post,

     - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 13th April 2015


Note: Copyrighted pictures of Masters 2015 Championship and Jordan Speith from the net are gratefully acknowledged.

Rural Jugaad

Jaipur never stops surprising me.
 
While in Jaipur last week, a  vendor selling fresh sugarcane juice came selling door to door.
His machine was neither hand-driven nor electric-powered. Then how did it work? And how did he move it door to door, colony to colony?

Answer lies in 'Jugaad'  जुगाड़ -- meaning innovation based on local needs.
His vehicle was driven by an agriculture pump installed on a platform. When not in motion, it powered the sugarcane crusher. Simple. Unfortunately I could not take a picture. What I could get from the net courtesy www.carwale.com is this:

The foot pedal on bottom right enables forward movement of the platform. No driving license required.

Impressed? And his pricing was competitive too. Rs 10 for a glass with ice or Rs 12 a glass without ice! Amazing!
This is real India.

The machine was made in Rajkot Gujarat and deployed in Rajasthan.

Jaipur is a blend of old and the new. The city does have a changing face. Those who have seen it in 1970s-90s will find a change. If you wish to browse the previous post on the Pink City please click the link below:
Changing face of Jaipur

Thanks for browsing.

  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 2nd April 2015

Life is like a Bicycle

"Life is like a bicycle. To keep the balance, you must keep moving!"
Who said that? None other than Albert Einstein!

Continuing with our PQs- Picturesque Quotes series- finding an appropriate picture was no problem. I retrieved a picture of school going children in Pilani. Shot one morning in 2013 when we were in Pilani for our Reunion to celebrate the 40th Year of graduation from BITS Pilani-- the picture shows high school children on the way to school. The teenagers are riding the bicycles maintaining perfect balance.

We need a similar balance in our lives such as:

• Physical balance meaning good health
• Emotional balance-- staying calm even in times of crisis
• Economic balance-- earn a living and invest for future
• Spiritual balance-- needed when we suffer bereavements/ trauma etc
• Relationship balance-- with friends and family
• Work-life balance-- between work and personal life and so on.

Maintaining such a balance is easier said than done. However, the key is to keep 'moving'! Keep trying and never giving up.

Happy riding the cycle of life!

Just in case you missed browsing earlier PQs, click the links below:
Knowledge Sharing 
Dance gives you... 
Rose petals and life  

Thanks for browsing.
Your feedback is always welcome

    -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 24th March 2015

Postscript: For some people like our son Ankush, 'Bicycle is life!' Thanks Prabjoth our daughter-in-law, for this apt rejoinder. See the picture below with the bicycle having a pride of place in the living room in Chennai: