Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

The advent of the creepy - crawlies....

Its pouring out there as I write these words, the windows tightly shut to prevent my computer getting wet! No words today, just pictures...... taken a couple of days back.. Yes, now that the rains have begun, I have started carrying my camera along as we wait for Samhith's bus, managing somehow to click pictures of creepy crawlies, juggling with my mobile and camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other, not to mention trying to stop Samhith from running off into the rain!

Here's our first visitor - a beetle scuttling off in the water......



And these aren't visitors - these are permanent residents - centipedes - but they look a bit more attractive in the rains (If u can call them attractive, that is..)



And if you were wondering how many of these were around, here's a glimpse... that's just one small patch of the wall!!!



And here are a few mushrooms... they grow and disappear miraculously soon!



That's all for now, but the monsoon has just begun... and more creatures are sure to appear soon!

Comments

  1. yikes !!

    I'm sorry but centipedes and other crawly creatures are not something I love to see...

    But yes, the monsoon has been great till now. I loving every bit of it...

    sitting at my french window, having a hot cup of chai with pakodas and a good book to read... Aaahhh heaven !! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anu
    very nice post...mentioning these creatures which are also part of our life...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anu,
    On rains I agree with shyamgovind here.
    Thanks for sharing these creepy creatures. I generally freak out seeing them. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I used to live in a room bordering the Malad Creek some years back. And there was a treasure trove of creepy crawly life on my window sill every day. Pretty scary.

    ReplyDelete
  5. eek! Anu!seriously gross pics!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Juggling with too many things (mobie, umbrella and samhith) and u stil manage to capture these ? I end up dropping my mobile most times even without a camera around :)

    but centipedes and other crawly ones are not my fav too !

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anu at the moment I won't mind them if I got some rain along with it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This post reminds me of the bite once I got from a centipede.it was really painful

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a wonderful insight into the monsoon season!

    ReplyDelete
  10. We are still waiting for the rains. The pictures are great.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great photos! It's nice to see the rain since it's so hot and dry here now. My chickens would like some bugs but not beetles or centipedes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie