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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
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Something new for a change......



There are days when I just can't write, and this turned out to be one of them. I caught up on my reading, and whiled away my time in front of the screen, and then I saw this post by Aarti. I knew she had been trying out Origami, but this rose was simply too stunning!  I immediately looked for instructions, and found them too, but decided that it was just too difficult to begin with! There were lots of pics though, and I tried out a couple..... and you can see the result above!

All Origami instruction sheets advise using Origami paper for best results, but I had none, and didnt have the patience to wait till I went to the market and got some. I debated using some good paper I had, and then remembered shouting at Samhith for wasting paper, making aeroplanes with new paper. Trying to practice what I preached, I decided to use the pamphlets which come unbidden with our newspaper everyday...... The results dont look too bad, do they? 

For those who are interested, here are links to the sites which helped me out.....

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-daisy.html

http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-lily.html

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-kusudama-flower.html

These are really easy to make...try them out! And, Thanks Aarti for the inspiration!
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