Not missing dads or being alone.
The saddest is when extremists attack and bring blame to a whole community who have got nothing to do with violence.
Another saddest is when they bring hate and suspicion among people who live in harmony and peace.
The hope is alive when we come together as a nation holding hands and show the evil-doers how much we love each other and that love is too strong to be broken by heinous crimes.
The prayer is that we can make it through the bad phases of the country and have a future as one single,united nation.
The happiness is when we believe in each other, no matter which God we may believe in.
Hoping to spread the love,
Raphael.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
What's saddest...?
What's saddest about having an expat dad?
He leaves for Hajj (pilgrimage) and you can't even hug him goodbye.
:(
He's having a birthday on this coming 3rd of December, and you can't throw a simple party for him.
:(
You miss those dad-daughter times you spent together, and wish it were that time of year again.
:(
Ah well, I'm getting too bluesy.
Anyways, to all those who are on pilgrimage:
Hope you have a makbool (accepted by God) and mabroor (blessed) pilgrimage.
Have a safe journey!
He leaves for Hajj (pilgrimage) and you can't even hug him goodbye.
:(
He's having a birthday on this coming 3rd of December, and you can't throw a simple party for him.
:(
You miss those dad-daughter times you spent together, and wish it were that time of year again.
:(
Ah well, I'm getting too bluesy.
Anyways, to all those who are on pilgrimage:
Hope you have a makbool (accepted by God) and mabroor (blessed) pilgrimage.
Have a safe journey!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Vignettes of the tour
Day 1:Crossing the Kabani river, leaving the idyllic Kuruva Island behind. Scaredy cat Nauman watches from distance, all the while smoking his hundredth cigarette.
The Kabani River. Fantastic clicking from Prof Efthikar.
Pretending to call evil spirits in the candle light. Ouija Board thing. [Power cut follows us all the way to a small tea shop in Wyanad, Sulthan Bathery]
On the left side you see the street-fast-food-joint. It's not everyday that we girls get to eat off from a street food joint at night!
Day 2:At the Wildlife Sanctuary at Wyanad, Kerala, India. Beautiful. Us Offbeats were like ready to give up everything and live somewhere like here.
Heading for the Edakkal caves. The caves were worth all that huffing and trudging we had to do to climb up there.
Feet lapping in the Kara River, watching the sunset with best friends. Only thing that pissed me off? The jeans I wore got wet and thus muddy after all that wading in the water.
Prof Babu [left] and Prof Efthikar returning to bus after some cigarettes. Shot is foggy 'cos we took it through the rear window of the bus.
ps- the wind was so strong that everyone was worried that I might get blown off! point to be noted since I'm the skinniest. :\
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The tour that felt like a lifetime
Sun burnt, freckled, a 9000 times more happier than before...
That's me, post the MUCH awaited trip!
Though it lasted a 3 days, the tour sure felt like a lifetime in itself. An experience! Adventure!
And might not happen ever again... :(
Unless the promise of our cool professors happens, that is! They loved the time spent with us sooo helluva much, that they want another one with us! Wow!!
17 students and 3 uber cool professors.
Day 1:
We just made it to one place. But, as we always say-
it's the people and the time we spent together that matters in the end. Not the destination.
Same here. We just grooved to a lot of music and screamed our throats out for the most part.
Went to Kuruva Island in Wyanad. Mother Nature never fails to blow my mind! Crossing the river in old fashioned boats (with boatmen!) and bravely waded halfway across a fiercely flowing Kabani river. Thanks to our heroes of the day, the boys, we made it through without too many mishaps. Especially Prajeesh. So so so strongg!
erm... I slipped and fell quite a few times. Sheesh!
Came across elephant footprints and a monkey. Prof. Efthikar tried scaring it, but our simian dude wasn't impressed at all by sir's antics! ha ha!!
Night we reached our dorms where we had be staying the night. The person who organised our accommodation in Wyanad was Prof Babu's friend Eldo. Namitha and Vrinda had an instant crush on him. (Which lasted the evening only. Both were disillusioned after seeing him in broad daylight the next day.)
Dinner was street food. Everyone was actually demanding that the dinner be from some street food joint. Finger-lickin' gooood... Welcome to the original fast food makers! They whipped us up our dinner so cracking fast!
Day 2:
Wyanad again.
Morning was real cold. So cold that we breath out and mist comes off!
Wildlife sanctuary visited. Which meant, everyone was staring at the monkeys and calling them by our names. Like, Akhil: "Look, Namitha is up there!!"
See?
Saw monkeys, deers, foxes etc etc. Tall trees. Unpolluted cool climate. Verdant landscape. Streams, rivers...
I am in a happy dream. Friends, myself, great place, cool profs...
Had fun teasing Prof Efthikar about his age which is 38 as per Prof Babu and 33 as per Efthikar Sir.
Edakkal Caves archaeological importance. plus hill climbing. multiply the fun involved!
Vinaya, Nimisha, Praveen made it almost to the topmost. Vrinda,Akhil,Prajeesh made it to the topmost. You can see all 4 states from up there! Kerala,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh!! ain't that wickedly!
River Kara a bath and a lot of fun. Well, most of us couldn't swim, so we just let our feet lap the water. The rest did swim. Caught a glimpse of Prajeesh's 6pack body. Vinaya&I are so much in awe!
We wanted to do Pookod Lake too. But time restriction.. so had to give up on that idea.
Dinner was excellent. Not street food though. Posh hotel and all.
Day 3 is already here! @%$^%$*&^(!!:
Off to Ooty. Way so cold. Jumped off at tea estates, sang Pehla Nasha, Chale Jaise Hawayein.. Ooh-ed and aah-ed at breathtaking scenes all the way round the scary hair-pin bends. Touched sheep. Off to Botanical Garden and Lake. Vrinda gets instant crush on a cute guy at the Garden. Prof Babu allows her to look back at him. finally we had trouble shaking him off from following her! Arre!! How could I forget those awesome pani puris and good bhel puris we ate at the lake. You don't get them in Kerala, y'see. Vinaya,I,Ragitha loved 'em!
We got on to the mini train and sang "Aditi" and "Kaataadi" a Malayalam song. Cheesy to the core! Shopping session upto night. Camp fire in the freezing cold midnight in Gudallore or somewhere's woods. Pretty emo feeling riding all over. now that the thing is almost over.
Wrapped up the night with a crappy comedy movie before finally falling asleep inside the bus.
Day 4:
Goodbye, Au Revoir, Auf Weidersehen, Alvida etc... Everyone hops off at their places in the morning. Things have changed. We are hell more closer and attached than when we began the tour. The tears aren't rolling yet though. I don't wanna prick the happy bubble in me now.
Photos to follow up soon in next post!
Ciao!
That's me, post the MUCH awaited trip!
Though it lasted a 3 days, the tour sure felt like a lifetime in itself. An experience! Adventure!
And might not happen ever again... :(
Unless the promise of our cool professors happens, that is! They loved the time spent with us sooo helluva much, that they want another one with us! Wow!!
17 students and 3 uber cool professors.
Day 1:
We just made it to one place. But, as we always say-
it's the people and the time we spent together that matters in the end. Not the destination.
Same here. We just grooved to a lot of music and screamed our throats out for the most part.
Went to Kuruva Island in Wyanad. Mother Nature never fails to blow my mind! Crossing the river in old fashioned boats (with boatmen!) and bravely waded halfway across a fiercely flowing Kabani river. Thanks to our heroes of the day, the boys, we made it through without too many mishaps. Especially Prajeesh. So so so strongg!
erm... I slipped and fell quite a few times. Sheesh!
Came across elephant footprints and a monkey. Prof. Efthikar tried scaring it, but our simian dude wasn't impressed at all by sir's antics! ha ha!!
Night we reached our dorms where we had be staying the night. The person who organised our accommodation in Wyanad was Prof Babu's friend Eldo. Namitha and Vrinda had an instant crush on him. (Which lasted the evening only. Both were disillusioned after seeing him in broad daylight the next day.)
Dinner was street food. Everyone was actually demanding that the dinner be from some street food joint. Finger-lickin' gooood... Welcome to the original fast food makers! They whipped us up our dinner so cracking fast!
Day 2:
Wyanad again.
Morning was real cold. So cold that we breath out and mist comes off!
Wildlife sanctuary visited. Which meant, everyone was staring at the monkeys and calling them by our names. Like, Akhil: "Look, Namitha is up there!!"
See?
Saw monkeys, deers, foxes etc etc. Tall trees. Unpolluted cool climate. Verdant landscape. Streams, rivers...
I am in a happy dream. Friends, myself, great place, cool profs...
Had fun teasing Prof Efthikar about his age which is 38 as per Prof Babu and 33 as per Efthikar Sir.
Edakkal Caves archaeological importance. plus hill climbing. multiply the fun involved!
Vinaya, Nimisha, Praveen made it almost to the topmost. Vrinda,Akhil,Prajeesh made it to the topmost. You can see all 4 states from up there! Kerala,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh!! ain't that wickedly!
River Kara a bath and a lot of fun. Well, most of us couldn't swim, so we just let our feet lap the water. The rest did swim. Caught a glimpse of Prajeesh's 6pack body. Vinaya&I are so much in awe!
We wanted to do Pookod Lake too. But time restriction.. so had to give up on that idea.
Dinner was excellent. Not street food though. Posh hotel and all.
Day 3 is already here! @%$^%$*&^(!!:
Off to Ooty. Way so cold. Jumped off at tea estates, sang Pehla Nasha, Chale Jaise Hawayein.. Ooh-ed and aah-ed at breathtaking scenes all the way round the scary hair-pin bends. Touched sheep. Off to Botanical Garden and Lake. Vrinda gets instant crush on a cute guy at the Garden. Prof Babu allows her to look back at him. finally we had trouble shaking him off from following her! Arre!! How could I forget those awesome pani puris and good bhel puris we ate at the lake. You don't get them in Kerala, y'see. Vinaya,I,Ragitha loved 'em!
We got on to the mini train and sang "Aditi" and "Kaataadi" a Malayalam song. Cheesy to the core! Shopping session upto night. Camp fire in the freezing cold midnight in Gudallore or somewhere's woods. Pretty emo feeling riding all over. now that the thing is almost over.
Wrapped up the night with a crappy comedy movie before finally falling asleep inside the bus.
Day 4:
Goodbye, Au Revoir, Auf Weidersehen, Alvida etc... Everyone hops off at their places in the morning. Things have changed. We are hell more closer and attached than when we began the tour. The tears aren't rolling yet though. I don't wanna prick the happy bubble in me now.
Photos to follow up soon in next post!
Ciao!
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