Russia

Here I come Russia after waiting & trying to find out ways & means to go to this It is exactly 4 years ago that I started planning a trip to this country When i was young I had read Tolstoy then later saw the film WAR & PEACE which I liked very much about the 2nd world war this film was Audrey Hepburn--Oh such a beautiful woman I still remember i line from the film when the daughter -Audrey tells something to her mother & her father comments''the chicken teaching the hen'' I loved the Idea of the daughter teaching her mother This has stuck with me all these years
I will be meeting Preethi in St Peters-burg on 25th July Looking forward to this We both had a good time in China & Japan I am sure we will here too she also being a pure Veg we share the food problems too though fruits yoghurt & bread & buns are available in plenty
I hope to see a Russian ballet & Russian circus The circus being made famous by Raj Kapoor in his film JOKER
After this one more on my wish list will be ticked off
Life[read GOD] has been very kind to me after the gruelling difficulty we had as kids & growing up which is now all behind me . Now it has become History-this history has helped me to be what I am now, so NO REGRETS at all
Every cloud has silver lining -how true
the dark clouds always will have to pass by no matter what & the beautiful Sunshine will shine through Just like the dark night is always followed by the beautiful day

Problem

I could never understand the great computer sometimes it works very well sometimes it just go berserk & lo everything that went buttery utterly smooth sailing U r faced with nothing is going right
today it happened again when I tried to open this blog It said username wrong ,password wrong
I must have tried at least 20 times -nothing worked then I clicked on HELP & it asked me to reset my password & I did the same --the old password & it worked-EUREKA How I do not know & do not have the patience to try to know the why's & how's of this EUREKA
In the bargain I opened a new gmail account as at sometime Google said New Bloggers should have a Gmail account So I ended up with
completing all the details even wrote a small blog on ''problem '' so I now have 2 BLOG sites but i want to continue on this-the old one as long as Google/Gmail allows me to do so Anyway I can always fall back on my 2nd Blog site if the need arises
''

MORNING WALKS

MORNING WALKS I love the morning walk in the walking track close to my home in MANIPAL
The Morning air is crisp clean& cool. With birds too waking up Hopping & calling each other chirping some nudging & encouraging the babies to hop & fly It is a beautiful sight -a feast to the eyes Sometimes if one is lucky peacocks too come at the edge of the track .Even in hot weather it is so cool & refreshing The walking track borders on to the valley below & I can see Malpe beach--or the Arabian sea in the very distance The sleepy Udupi town has become a bustling place with high rise buildings dotting the valley Thank God there is still a lot of green forests in between. The smoke rising from chimneys from early morning cooking in homes who do not have the modern gadgets.
There a green benches to sit if & rest around the track after my 5 rounds I like to sit & chat with the other walkers -Many of them I know only by faces but a good camaraderie between all walkers
it is good to sit & do Pranayama or just let the mind go over random thoughts. One thought leading to another & weaving a web & at some time I have to stop my process of thought & try to trace back how I reached this particular point!!It is like going in/out of a maze
after about an hour I walk back home .By then I can see kids ready for school waiting for the bus or others ready to start the working day
The day started happily shoulod /will end happily always -I firmly beleave this

Ceylon --Srilanka

Aibovan --greetings to all

I grew up in such a beautiful place that it has remained with me all these many years Nostalgic memories of our house -No 4 fountain house lane Colombo 10 Our neighbours all different sinhala Tamil Gujarati Berger Hindu Muslim Christian Buddhist a mixed neighbourhood taught me to live peacefully with anyone I wonder why all this fuss about the different caste language religion that people fight over for even murder all in the name of what/why? I wonder Is it not possible to live in harmony just as human beings --all being created in a similar manner by the supreme power above -GOD whom we all pray to in different forms Depending to which family we are born to A child is born caste-less without any religion just a human being How then can one grow up & be nasty to anyone all in the name of religion language & different caste? the more i think about it i say to myself -well to each his /her own
we as kids played together & had a real rollicking time a very happy childhood we had sports meets drama cricket Gulli danda ,seven stones Hide& seek Make believe stories were told to all creations/imaginations from the mind of a innocent child

Our school AnandaBalika Vidyalaya was about 1/2 walk from our home, me my two elder sisters walked together My eldest sister had to nudge & prod me on as i had the habit of just standing & watching anything on the way to school if it interested me -forgetting that i had to be in school on time school was from 8am to 1pm & were back home for lunch then homework & ready to go out to play at about 4pm Coming home time was about 6pm After coming home & a wash we lighted the deepa & we all sang -Ragupathy Raghave Raja Ram, Patita pavana seeta Ram'' Looking back I thing my father was a Gandhiji follower We did not know any other to sing together Then a bit of silent prayer I do not remember what I prayed for but I am sure in my very satisfied life there would not have much to ask for from GOD

every Full moon day we visited the Buddhist temple just walking distance from our school I just Loved this & waited for this day every month

school was a 5 day week with Saturday & Sunday off we had somewhere to go -either to the Town hall with its spacious unending green lawns I loved this & loved to just roll on the lawn! what simple joys the thought still fills my heart with warmth we went to Gall fa ce the beach temples dance classes -learning Manipuri dance we never had any toys as it was the 2nd world war raging on nothing was available but some vegetables &; bread--this was in plenty that by the time i was 10 years I was fed up with eating bread cheese /butter After we moved to India for the next 15 yrs or so I did not eat any bread if I could avoid it !! Now I again have started liking bread as it is handy when I do not cook- here I should say that I am now a ripe 70 year old<
In the good old 2nd world war days I can still hear the siren blaring & cutting into the night & my mother collected her herd & rushed us in to a bunker built by the government very close to the house Most of our neighbours also occupied it & for us kids it was like a midnight party -but without any music or food, later I do not know the reason we were herded in to the store room of our own house & were made to lie down prone with a spoon in our mouth & I still remember mostlt we slept off with saliva drooling from the mouth!! the spoon i still remember was to avoid biting on our tongue why & how we would bite our tongue I always pondered

life went on peacefully & very happily till my father decided that it was time for the family to move on to our home land India

again being a child I was very excited moving to a new country

Now India is my home & I have no regrets I think my outlook as a kid in Srilanka has helped me to shape my life<

Sri Lanka

I was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a beautiful island known as the "Pearl of the Indian Ocean".