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Temples of Kashi - The Kardameshwar temple

The absence of ancient Hindu structures in Kashi is something I have always lamented about. The shrines are certainly ancient, and that is something that has always attracted me to the city. However, I miss the beauty of the ancient structures that we see at other sites. This feeling is intensified when I see marble and concrete and tiles in temples that once would have been beautifully adorned with evocative sculptures, and worn by the passage of time, touched by the hands of seekers who came before. This time , this desire to see some remnants of an ancient Hindu structure in Kashi came true when I managed to visit the Kardameshwar Temple. The Kardameshwar temple is not one of the main temples in the city. It is part of the temples on the Pancha Kroshi yatra, a pilgrimage which takes one on a circumambulatory tour of the whole city. The temple is located on the outskirts of the city, on the western bank of a tank called the Kardama Kund. The Kardameshwar temple is one of the...
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Faces in the Crowd - Budding Cricketer

Cricket is probably the most-played game in India, and the game which brings out all the emotions in us! Even as I write this, there is a match in progress on the ground outside our house, and the screams and shouts gives me a running commentary even though the regular commentator doesn't seem to have arrived. The sounds tempt the hubby who hurries to the window to see who it is who has hit a six... in a short while, I know that he will give in  and go join the crowd, and if possible, a bunch of friends will get together and start a game of their own. Which is why, this is today's pic for Faces in the Crowd....
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Games for Kids of the World

Sometime last year, I got a mail from Lucy at Pocketcultures , asking if I would be interested in being a part of a book they were planning. The topic was games played by kids around the world. The idea was to write about games that were easy to play, could be played anywhere, by any number of kids, and didn’t need any expensive equipment. The topic couldn’t have come at a better time. Download the FREE Ebook here
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Miniature Railway Museum

My fascination with model railways goes back a long way. From the time I read in books about people setting up their own model railways in their lofts to when I grew older and heard of actual miniature villages with working models of trains running through them. Unfortunately, the nearest I could get to a miniature train was one going round and round in a track. Later, thanks to an aunt and uncle living in the US, I got a small train, which chugged around on a track, with a little fellow sliding into the train midway and then being dropped off at a tiny station. It kept me engaged for hours on end, and was my prized possession for many years until I finally had to part with it when I went to college. With the arrival of the internet, I discovered the joys of you tube, and enjoyed seeing miniature trains running over well laid out railway lines, amidst beautifully constructed houses and realistic looking scenery. Going abroad to see one of these didn’t seem very feasible, so I turned ...
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Indo German Urban Mela

Its not everyday that you get a piece of another country in  Mumbai... So, when the opportunity knocks, I try not to miss it!! The Indo German Urban Mela is one such opportunity knocking at the door of us Mumbaikars... We took the opportunity to visit on Saturday, and had a wonderful time! Let me take you along with me to give you a glimpse of what it is like..........
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Sandcastle for a cause - Last two days!

Hello everybody, I am back at last! We had a wonderful time at Sringeri and Samhith’s thread ceremony went off very well. However, its been even more hectic since I got back, so I haven’t been able to write at all L This post is almost a week overdue, but as they say, better late than never! I hope with this post, I will be able to shake off the jinx and begin writing regularly once more! Mumbai might be an island, with its share of beaches, but its not often that you get to see sandcastles . in fact, samhith has yet to go to the beach here and make them! Hence, when I heard about the huge sandcastle being made at Phoenix mills as part of World Cancer day, I jumped at the chance and rushed to take a look. We had just returned from Sringeri and with guests at home, it wasn’t easy to plan the trip, but thanks to an enthusiastic friend who agreed to bring her kids, it finally materialised and we headed out to High Street Phoenix for an evening full of fun, kids in tow!
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A Tale of Weaving..

Cloth and clothing is something kids tend to take for granted. For Samhith, choosing a new dress is easy – just go to a shop, see what you like and pick it up. Considering his inquisitive bent of mind, it wasn’t long before the question came up – how are clothes made? One part was easy to explain – the stitching. For one, there are enough tailors around for him to know that cloth can be stitched in various ways, and thanks to my mom’s trusty old Singer Sewing machine, he also knows that we can stitch clothes at home! Also helpful was the fact that his uncle heads a garment manufacturing firm, and he was able to visit the factory and see how T shirts are made in bulk! However, the crux of the question remained – where does the cloth come from? How is the cloth made? Explaining about cotton and silk thread and weaving didn’t help much, and all I could do was wait for an opportunity to show him how cloth is woven.
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My stories in print!!!!!

I first started writing stories when I was in school. Of course, then, I never dreamt of being an author – it was just something I did when I was in the mood. All I was interested in at the time was physics, and all my dreams were of publishing some wonderful scientific articles in the leading journals. All those dreams came to an end when I decided to dump my Ph.D, but then my old pastimes came to my aid and I started writing again – both, travelogues as well as stories. But now the dream raised its head again – of being published, not just on the net, but in print! One part of this dream came true when my travelogue was published in the Sunday Herald (you can see the article here). But the larger dream came true this week when a collection of my stories were published in a book! I was approached a few months back by an organisation named JK Yog . They had read some of my stories for children, and wanted me to re-tell some stories from Indian mythology and folk tales for their boo...
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One for my son.....

This post is for my son, Samhith. For the past one week , we have been cooped up in the house thanks to the swine flu enforced holiday, and being a bit unwell myself, I did not want to risk going anywhere and actually getting the dreaded flu of the moment. We had no choice but to occupy ourselves at home to the best of our ability. To be fair to him, he kept away from the TV most of the time, turning to it only when we were lost for ideas. While we caught up on a lot of stories we hadn’t read in a long time, and I also managed to teach him how to turn the computer on himself, and even type a few lines by himself. Of course, that kept him occupied for quite a while… (So now you know who is going to contribute next to my blog!!!) But this blog is not about that . This is blog is about something both of us spent time making these last few days… Samhith loves blocks , and they are the only things sure to make him sit down for more than a few minutes at a time. This week, we made qui...
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