Lost in Adventure, Found in memories forever!

With all enthusiasm, we kicked off our trip to Coastal Karnataka!🥳🥳

Day - 1: 

Took a zoomcar and started from Whitefield, Bengaluru to Dandeli , driving  nearly 450 kms, quite a long drive covering flat roads, hills, plateaus, valleys, river beds,etc.,

Along side, we had chit chatting and laughter all over the journey and we had our packed home made breakfast (Idli with Yummy tomato thokku prepared by me and my friend 😋😋) 

By around 2 pm, we reached our stay at White Petals, Dandeli.

We got refreshed and had good lunch (North Indian Thali - Chapathi with Karamani gravy, White pulav, Cauliflower gravy, rice - dal, fryumes). Then headed towards water activities in the famous Kali river.

We started with Kayaking, it was so funny that one person has to do row the boat and other one can simply sit, click photos and enjoy leisurely.

Next came Water Zorbing 🌊.Inside the giant inflatable ball, the three of us tumbled together in a full 360‑degree roll under water. We were tossed right and left, unable to control our screams, laughing and shrieking at the same time. Every attempt to stand up ended in another hilarious fall, and we just kept rolling endlessly. It was a mix of pure fun and a dash of fear — a wonderfully chaotic experience that drained us completely but left us grinning ear to ear.

We thought of going for rafting , but it was closed, so we planned to go by next day! 

It was around 6 pm and the climate was so soothing .We all badly wanted a nice cup of tea/coffee. 

We stopped near a bakery.we had vada-pav paired with hot coffee/tea.

Then we drove back to resort and it was half an hour drive in ghat section and it was so fearful as well. 

We had a private pool party, like only our gang of 6 members were there. We took our speakers and vibed with our favourite songs, danced, enjoyed the pool to the core.

It was much refreshing! ☺️ 

Dinner was simple yet satisfying — chapathi with beans sabji, rice with dal — followed by a cozy campfire. The warmth felt like a gentle massage against the evening chill. We ended the day with cheerful conversations, laughter, and memories.

Day - 2: 

Had a pleasant sleep on day 1 night in the stay and woke up early in the morning around 6.30 am (without any alarm 😜), as we were in trip mode. Went for a Nature's walk for more than 3 kms and the weather was so soothing and mist around. Had nice cup of coffee and had a photoshoot on the abandoned railway track 🤩.

Got ready,had a mild breakfast (poha, idly - sambar(sweet😜), chutney,Bread-butter-jam)and checked out the stay and heading towards the much awaited activity - The River Rafting, Dandeli!🥳🥳🥳

It was a fantastic experience for all of us, especially in the downstreams. Before hitting the downstreams, we were given enough instructions to row the boat unanimously like left, right, down,etc in all directions. When we entered, we were like flying in the river, adrenaline rushing and the moments were captured so nicely in the cameras too. To our surprise, when we go deep in the mid of the river, the boatman asked us to jump in the river altogether! The moments were so giggling, some of my friends(including me 😜)  are short, we were like sinking in the river, but somehow boatman gave right instructions to hold the rope in the boat and lie down in water completely. It was so relaxing, sunlight gently warming our faces as we were floating in the river  for more than 20 mins.Then, we came to the riverbed. It was so thrilling and unforgettable even now!🥳🥳 A must try water sport!🤩🥳

After Dandeli, we planned to go to Gokarna - Yana caves, Vibhuti falls. But, unfortunately,one of our friends had to leave the trip for family emergency. So we had to drop him in the nearest airport/railway station. 

We don't know whether it's fortunate/unfortunate, we had to drop him in Goa Dabolim International Airport. We were all in one motto that he should reach on time, so we had mild snacks in between.Though it's nearest from Dandeli, the drive took time around 6 hours as it's 2- ways around hilly regions.We reached airport on time around 6.15 pm and dropped him in the right terminal. 

For most of my friends, It's the first time that we are visiting Goa. All were like, "Finally touched Goa soil"🥳😜😜😜

We drove from South Goa to North Goa through Atal Bridge, it was so delightful🥳💥🎉🎊 and thereby  the roads were so clean and well maintained, on the way, looked into Casinos and the Goa vibes all around!

Finally we landed in Goa's most famous beach - BAGA.🎊🏄☃️ We had dinner in Britto's restaurant  (Mushroom pasta, Laccha paratha - mushroom gravy, French fries with 4 different sauces & mayos, Masala Papad, Lime Soda, Apple - guava mocktail🍟🥘🧋🍩). Dishes were so yummie 😋😋😋😋  and we really enjoyed as it is like "Candle Light Dinner with Beach Theme🍽️🍹🎉". 

Roamed around Calangute and Baga areas, did shopping then enjoyed the sea breeze, waves,etc., till 2 am in the morning. Time well spent in BAGA beach and the day ended in happy mood in an expected venue!🥳🥳🥳

Day - 3: 

We woke up refreshed in our Baga stay and kicked off the morning with a fun photoshoot — the candids turned out beautifully 🤩 , then had breakfast and went to one of the oldest Forts - Aguada Fort. It was built during Portuguese's Era , located on the south of Candolim, at the shore of the Mandovi River. A freshwater spring within the fort provided water supply to the ships that used to stop by and basically it acted like a defense for Portugese the then. 

We had wonderful photoshoot sessions, it has its own scenic beauty as from the fort's wall, one will be able to see the vast Arabian sea on another side stretching endlessly.

The weather was so sunny and in order to quench the thirst, we had some refreshners like Kokkum juice and Jaljeera. 

By then, lunch time had come, so we wanted to try some Goan type cuisine, we chose Kutumbh Restaurant! Food was so yummy like we had Konkani Veg Thali (Potato - Rava fry, green gram with coconut curry, cluster beans curry, Rice - Dal, Curd, Kesaribath, Papad) and Konkani Fish Thali (Fish - Rava fry, Fish gravy, Prawn curry, Rice , Papad)

Then we visited one of the famous churches in Goa - The Basilica of Bom Jesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As it was X-mas time, it was so crowded and we stood in line to visit an important place in the church. We were told like ,we would be able to see St Francis Xavier's dead body still there in the church who died on 16th century but it remained undecayed. It was really scary when we were about to reach near the body, it was kept in a glass coffin, kind of half-decayed body still able to see fingers and all. People were like touching the top of the coffin, peeping around, bowing down to him.

We travelled for some 20 kms and then decided to have dinner there as we planned to go Murudeshwar and stay, it was around 150 kms but travelling time was 4 hours. So, we started from Goa around 7.30 pm, while on the way, we had dinner in Bharat Cafe, Margoa. It's a nice restaurant in retro style.The cuisine was so good and tasty, we tasted Manglore Buns (must try) - a fluffy, well fermented buns along with its own chutney, Cheese Pav bhaaji, some Rotis with mushroom and paneer gravies. 

Had been travelling for continuous 2 to 3 days, we were so exhausted and we all slept as soon as we boarded the car, except the driving friend. we reached Murudeshwar around 12 am in the morning. 

The day ended with a sound sleep!😊

Day - 4:

Started the day with a nice breakfast at Naveen beach facing restaurant, Murudeshwar. Murudeshwar’s Shiva temple🛕 must have been an awe-inspiring experience, especially from the Raaja Gopuram's view point - One will be able to see Lord Shiva as well as the beach. It was a very hot day🥵 and crowded too. We had darshan and then enjoyed sometime in seashore near the temple. 

Next on our wishlist is Honnavar🌳, we travelled for an hour and had a great meal at Baba's Cafe,  rooftop restaurant (highly recommended). Then, we visited the Honnavar mangrove forest boardwalk along the Sharavathi River and Walked 1.5 km to reach the narrow walkway. We went for boating together on the backwaters near the river for around 40 minutes. Witnessing the beautiful sunset🌅 on the Arabian sea from the river boating must have been magical🤯💫✨. 

After Honnavar, We started travelling towards Udupi and stopped for a tea break☕ on the way. Checked in in our stay near Malpe Beach🏖️🏝️, then had dinner (Neer Dosa, Mysore Masala Dosa, Dahi Puri, Cheese corn nuggets, Caramel custard) at famous Woodlands restaurant. 

Day - 5:

On the Brahma Muhurtham around 5 am, we visited Udupi Krishna Mutt. The temple atmosphere was serene, filled with divine chants and the gentle glow of lamps. The Darshan of  beautiful baby Krishna was truly enchanting and it is still reminding in my mind and hearts.💓

Then we had breakfast (Ghee Puttu, Udupi special idli, kesaribath, Idiyappam, Udupi special buns - must try) at Woodlands. 

Then we started travelling back to Bengaluru.

It was a beautiful blend of fun, adventure, relaxation and spirituality 🛣️🚗😇💆🏻‍♂️ — exactly what a coastal Karnataka journey promises.

Memorable trip with memories to cherish for a lifetime !!!👏🏻🌀💤🏖️🌅🚗🧳✨

This adventure wouldn’t have been possible without my loving husband - Bala and my amazing friends - Karthi, Priyanka, Hema, Arun  — forever thankful! 😍💖🙏🙏🙏

Captured, not copied 📸

Every picture you see here is clicked by us during our journey—nothing is taken from Google or any other external sources. These moments are completely our own!!!

The Civic Leader Whom I Admire The most

Whom do we call a civic leader?  

The one who thinks for the society or country’s development for the next 5 to 10 years, who does things out of box that works for the betterment of the people, who foster thoughtful ideas within everyone, who leads by example, who is more compassionate about every living being. In a nutshell, a civic leader puts others' well-being above his own.

One such leader was born from a farmer’s family who had completed his Engineering and Management studies, cleared his UPSC exams in 1st attempt with determination & resilience. His roots in farming life shaped his character and sense of responsibility. During his policing, he maintained law and order with utmost sanctity and discipline. There happened an incident where a woman came to a police station which is under his control to log a complaint on sexual harassment. Instead of filing complaint, the other policemen thrashed the woman in his’s absence. When he found out, he transferred all of them to several rural stations within that night. Due to his integrity, commitment and excellent service, he was getting promotions and soon became the Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Once our leader had a chance to go to Kailash-ManaSarovar Yatra where he had an eye-opening experience that made him realize his actual purpose of life as to serve the people. He returned, decided to quit his police job which is one of the most powerful and esteemed jobs. Being lived with his wife and children, changing the current Status-quo is an Herculean task. Though he made it possible, as he gave the confidence to them.

As per him, to make India go to next level, lakhs of young leaders are required. Once stepping down from policing, he began to create such leaders in his own motherland. He founded 2 NGOs to train and bring up such leaders. He joined a National Party and served as the State President of that party. He went for a yatra throughout the state, covering all constituencies. He spoke to people, addressed the gatherings, collected the requirements of each constituency and the problems faced by the people in ground level. His popularity had been increased, his speeches were so clear and he presented everything with factual data. He is more dynamic, outspoken and openly criticizes the faults/corruption done by the state government. Being honest in his words, sooner his voice becomes voice of the nation.

Our leader had contested 2 elections and gave manifestos based on the constituency requirements. Though he lost elections with less difference in seats, he never gave up. He kept focusing on his fundamental agenda. There was an issue after these elections where there was a metal-Tungsten found in some of the villages and government projects were planned to mine the metal. So people had to evacuate their birthplace. Villagers started protesting for days and it became a revolution. On hearing this, our leader visited the village, met with Panchayat leaders and assured them to cancel the project after discussing with concerned central minister. He took some of them to Delhi and enabled them to put their concerns to minister and smoothly handed over the signed order for the cancellation as promised. The villagers whole-heartedly thanked our leader and lakhs of people celebrated that day as re-birthday for their lives.

Though our leader doesn’t hold any powers, his words are so effective, they are the reflection of people’s thoughts and needs. Will this leader’s dream of bringing changes to people’s life come true?

Let's wait and watch!

Are we feeling enthusiastic?

Most of our textbooks say that there’s nothing in the universe that could match the velocity of light. But on the contrary, our thoughts have huge power. Every day, we have enormous thoughts rolling for 24x7, even in our sleep as well. At one second, we live at home and within the next ample of seconds, we live beyond the universe. Recent research conducted by National Science Foundation says that an average person has about 12k to 60k thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts.

Why do negative thoughts show the upper hand? That’s because the amount of enthusiasm that one possesses at the moment is not even bare minimal. There are several instances that prove the above statement. At times, in scenarios where we need to speak in front of a group of people, one expects that the audience must hear what we deliver. If one is not able to speak properly in spite of having rich content, ultimately the audience won't be impressed. The primary reason for disability is, we are not trusting and feeling enthusiastic within ourselves. Also, we fear what the receptors think and what if we couldn’t deliver our words properly and so many negative thoughts rolling at the moment.

In our day-to-day life, there are days where we get through the time just like that with no schedules/goals. And there are certain other days, where we think through, plan things out clearly and take steps to fulfil it by giving attention from time to time. When we compare our thoughts on both sides, the second one would give us much more fulfilment as we would have done the things with more enthusiasm, whereas for the first one, at one point, we would have not felt so lively or negativity would have surrounded us. 

Our best will look different each day like in the graph shown and that's totally okay as we are humans and not a machine.

Here is an instance that shows how enthusiasm saves one’s life itself. Once there was a king ruling his country successfully for quite a long period of time. Like several emperors, he had several corps in his military. Among which, one of the elephants named, Eddie had been the mastermind behind all his victories. Eddie was so powerful, well-practised, and very good at fighting abilities. Whenever the king sent Eddie to the battlefield, he came out with flying colours. In fact, the king considered Eddie as his lucky charm for years. Like every living being, Eddie also was getting older and the king stopped Eddie to participate in the war, and he just kept on maintaining him on his primary corps side. On a fine day, when Eddie went for drinking water, he fell into the river unfortunately and he couldn’t come back. He tried hard to take out his legs but went all in vain. Eddie became tired and assumed that he couldn’t come out and he started making a trumpet sound so painfully. On hearing the weird sound, the people in the surroundings gathered near the river. They also tried to help Eddie and meanwhile, they informed the king about Eddie’s situation. The king was shocked on hearing the news and reached near the river banks and urged people to take Eddie out. Some of the strong men tried hard for a long time, but they couldn’t succeed. The king even gave an announcement that whoever brought Eddie out would be rewarded with gold coins and prize money. But even that couldn’t help. Then king became so sad and sat near the river bank.

There was a priest who went alongside, noticed the crowd and the painful sound of the elephant. He understood the situation and suggested the king to create an atmosphere with the sounds of war all around the river. Though it appeared odd for the king, he implemented it immediately. Several soldiers surrounded the river and started playing the drums. As soon as it was played, there was a slight variation in Eddie’s body language. The king however observed it and asked the troops to play the drums vigorously and mimicked the battlefield atmosphere.  All of sudden, Eddie felt so powerful himself as if he was going to conquer the enemies, he lifted his legs up and came out successfully. All the villagers and the king were dumbfounded and became happy at the same time.

This story tells us the truth that there was no change in Eddie’s stamina, it was only his positive thinking and enthusiasm that were lagging. There are certain challenges that we all face every day. It's obvious that we tend to get struck at some point like Eddie. The war sound is the impulse for him and it's varying for each one of us.

When we show continuous enthusiasm within oneself and within others, the same graph that was shown earlier will be like the one below with astonishing results:

Let's remain energetic all the times, feel the enthusiasm and spread it to every other people that we come across in our life till we are alive.

THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT

 

“Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action.”

On a fine day, Dr. Abdul Kalam was teaching his students about “Vision Mission” at Anna University and that class got prolonged for around 2 hours rather than the usual, as he was super excited to clarify the students’ doubts. When he was returning to his stay area, Prof. Dr. Kalanithi, the then Vice-chancellor, interrupted him in a hurry saying that the Prime Minister of India had been waiting to talk to Kalam. He further insisted him to say only ‘Yes’ whatever the PM asked him for and urged him to go as early as possible. Kalam was quite bewildered and when he had rushed to his room, he heard his phone ringing. He picked up the phone call and someone from the PM’s office told him that Prime Minister Vajpayee Ji had wanted to talk to him and asked if he was free. He said okay and asked the person to connect him to the PM.  In the meantime, N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, had called him and asked him to say only yes whatever the PM was going to ask him later. There awaited a surprise!  Vajpayee was connected to Kalam and he had told him that the NDA party and some of the supported parties were planning to nominate him for the presidential candidate and urged him to say ‘okay’ and nothing else. He got stunned for a while! He asked him if he could tell his decision after a couple of hours. PM agreed and asked if he had any more concerns about it. Kalam further asked him if all the parties (both the ruling party and the opposition party) agreed to his nomination. PM replied like, some had agreed, and he had been waiting for the latter’s reply and based on which he would circulate the matter to all parties.

Kalam spoke to his friends, Professors, Bureaucrats who were from different fields like research, teaching, Government departments, etc., All suggested him to take up this offer and it would be an extraordinary opportunity for him to serve the country and this way he could be connected to the people of India in all means. After 2 hours, he was connected to Vajpayee and he expressed his affirmative reply to him. He also stressed that he would file his nomination, if and only if all the parties would agree for his candidature and he would be nominating on behalf of “The People of India” and not from any political party. Vajpayee smiled and concurred to his words, told him that he would speak to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the opposition party leader, and get her official consent.

 Once the PM ensured Kalam’s conditions after discussing with all parties, the latter had filed his nomination. Ultimately, Kalam came out with flying colours and was elected as the 11^th President of India in 2002 and came to Rashtrapati Bhawan. During his oath-taking ceremony, he took around 30 members from his side, including, his own brother and his family who had brought him up and helped him during his studies, then the Archagar (Priest) of Rameshwaram-Ramanthaswamy temple, who taught him about Moon and the Universe, sowed seeds towards his thoughts on space exploration, then his college Professors, and his mentors and friends from ISRO, DRDO, and several Government departments.

As soon as he had pledged as President, he digitized the way of reading and responding to people’s petitions in the President’s office. Before his term as the President, all the petitions were paper-written, and many went unnoticed. It was Kalam, who brought the digitization of the whole process by taking necessary actions for each petition sent by Indians, either redirecting it to several departments for action, or he had helped them with monetary support, or he had created several opportunities for their requests. Then onwards, it took only 5 hours for the President's office to reply to the petitions and they started maintaining a database for them. Within his term of office of 6 months, he had conducted several ‘Breakfast mornings’ with MPs/MLAs from all the states and Union Territories of India, to know about the people needs, infrastructure requirements, agricultural developments for their areas. As per him, the country’s vision towards growth was in improving rural areas and he had formulated a strategy called PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas) to provide urban infrastructure and services to rural people to generate economic opportunities, which in turn would stop the migration of labours towards cities. This way, Kalam took every move for the betterment of the people of India during his tenure as President.