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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
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Summer Vacation Begins... and a special give- away too!

Summer is here...






The golden Laburnum is blooming outside my window...



And the marshes close to my house attract the kingfishers, who probably come here for the last few areas which are still left as marshland, un-influenced by the concrete growth all over the city...



My little boy is one year older today..... For those of you who do know his date of birth, today happens to be his 'star' birthday.. And besides, as everyone in his school knows, the last working day of school is Samhith's birthday, since the actual date falls in the vacations!! So, he is off with his friends, cutting the cake, showing off the books he has received as gifts.....



And that means our summer vacation has begun.. and we are off, for another journey!! I will be almost completely offline for the next couple of weeks, but will be back soon with lots more photos and many many more posts!! I am going to a place I have hoped to visit for a very long time... Can any of you guess where I am off to? 

Now that gives me an idea!! Most of you would know I have been into sending and receiving postcards for quite a while now.... And its really fun!! It feels so wonderful to get a postcard in the mail!!!

So here is a special giveaway... Can you guess where I am off to? Please leave your comments below this post, and when I get back,  I will send a postcard to those of you who have guessed correctly.... and oh yes.. the postcard will be from the place I have been to!! So go ahead, begin guessing!!! And those of you who  know where I am going, this DOES NOT apply to you! 

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Comments

  1. Santosh BsApril 27, 2012 at 5:22 PM

    Wishes to your son - he's growing up fast :)
    Well, I have no idea where you are off to maybe somewhere in the South or North?, still a postcard from you would be great :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaApril 27, 2012 at 8:27 PM

    In this summer you can only go to the Himalayas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SoulSpaceApril 27, 2012 at 11:15 PM

    me guessing with all that excitement in yu...yu must be going to catch some snow?? up North??

    ReplyDelete
  4. krishnaApril 28, 2012 at 3:47 AM

    i feel that you are going far north as the temperature is soaring high..have a great time..
    the pictures of the flowers remind my childhood. i usually went to a nearby park of our hoe to play. in that park there were many golder shower trees. in summer when they used to bloom, the scene was really wonderful. though the park is still there, most probably the trees were not. and the childhood charm has also gone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. zephyrApril 28, 2012 at 6:26 AM

    Dwarka? Please, please, go to Dwarka or at least Gujarat, so that I can nag you into sending me a post card :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. NishaApril 28, 2012 at 2:57 PM

    I wish Samhith a very happy birthday ! He's quite a handsome young man! :-)

    Kya pose hai!

    And to your giveaway, that's very bad Anu, why did you tell me where all you are going? :)
    Now how will I get those beautiful cards? :(

    ReplyDelete
  7. P.N. SubramanianApril 28, 2012 at 8:49 PM

    Happy birthday to Samhit though belated. 27rg April is my grand daughters (Mehak)birth day too. Not the Starred one!. The Amaltash tree when fully laden with flowers is very soothing to look at. This happens by end of April here where as the Malayalees need the flowers for their Kani in the middle of April. I was thinking of buying a DSLR but after looking at the Kingfisher here, I have changed the idea. Have a nice vacation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. sriApril 30, 2012 at 7:36 PM

    Lovley to see Samhit my best wishes for his happy life. And I loved ur pics. U are getting more professional in ur angles ;)

    Have a happy vacation where ever u go :) Also I have a small request. Can u write about the sparrows, and the ones in the city. I have brought , sunflower seeds and some grains to throw it in the terrace and compound for the sparrows and small birds. But realised they eat only - rice covered in weed and nothing else.

    We keep water too.. I would like to educate people about keeping a bit of recomended stuff for the sparrows .Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mark CrawfordMay 2, 2012 at 9:48 PM

    Happy Birthday To Samhit and I hope you have a wonderful vacation. I can't wait to here where you went to.

    ReplyDelete
  10. GurgaonflowerplazaMay 4, 2012 at 4:55 PM

    good blog...
    Gurgaonflowerplaza.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jan's Travel and ToursMay 8, 2012 at 11:20 AM

    I really love those cute yellow flowers of the golden shower tree which only blooms during summer.....uuhmmmm, I have no idea on where are you possibly spending your vacation...

    ReplyDelete
  12. CoolmonMay 10, 2012 at 9:37 AM

    Good article, nice pictures and your son is a handsome young man too

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousMay 12, 2012 at 1:42 PM

    loved ur blog anuradha...
    Deccansojourn.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anuradha ShankarMay 21, 2012 at 9:35 PM

    THanks so so much, everyone!!!! It was a pleasure to come back to see so many comments!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousMay 23, 2012 at 9:59 AM

    superb pics

    ReplyDelete

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