A Jolly Good Life

The Music Teacher

2021-12-26T09:25:00.003+05:30

I sat down at the piano, burning pages of painful memories into a soothing melody. My fingertips traced the piano keys softly. Music calmed my mind so easily. The world could be burning around me, but I wouldn’t even notice if I had a piano in front of me. But today, that wasn’t the case. The world was burning around me - figuratively, of course- and music wasn’t calming me down.

Sighing, I got up from the stool and got ready for another gloomy day. Sure, the sun was shining, and quite brightly in fact, but that didn’t change the fact that my world seemed to be collapsing.

I readjusted my bow tie and tried to look as sophisticated as possible. I picked up my suitcase, glanced at the mirror one last time and walked out of the small, dilapidated room that I call home.

It’s December 1940, and I’ve lost the longest job I’ve ever had. I taught music at a central school in Madras for eleven years until they decided that to cut the budget to give more to the war. And of course, the first subject to be cut out was music. According to the Principal, we were raising boys who would fight in the war one day, not sit and play the piano.

Job hunting is an unpleasant thing to do in general. Doing it in the middle of a war, now that was even worse. I had spent the last week pouring over various newspapers, looking for potential jobs for a teacher in the job section.

The last two schools I had interviewed for said they would get back to me, but so far, nothing. My mother had always said that three was a lucky number and I was counting on this third interview to go well.

It was a few minutes’ walk and I found myself in front of a huge building. Clearing my throat, I walked into the front office and knocked on the Principal’s door.

“Come in” A gruff voice replied.

I walked into the room and was greeted by the sight of an old man sitting with his hands crossed on the desk. A quick glance around the room told me that he was an extremely tidy man, one who commanded respect.

“Good morning, sir, I’m here for a job appointment” I say, holding out my hand.

He eyed me skeptically while shaking my hand.

“I saw your job offer in the newspaper” I say, cutting through the silence.

“Very well.” He pulled out a folder from his desk, “So, what subject do you teach sir?”

“Music”

He stopped halfway while flipping through the pages of the folder and peered at me through his spectacles. The uncomfortable eye contact lasted several seconds and I wished I had lied.

Finally, he got up and held out a hand, “Very well then, I believe this interview has come to an end. Thank you for coming.”

The expression on my face must have been one of utmost confusion because he sat down again and said “I hope you know that music isn’t one of those subjects we give priority to now a days. We encourage our boys to join the army and make their parents proud, not to play the piano. This is war; we have time only for warriors, only for the tough, not the weak. It’s a game of survival, and it’s one you’re decidedly losing.”

I dejectedly walked back home. It was the war that made people see everything in black and white. Maybe, one day, after the war, we’ll all learn to live in color again.

Time and Tide wait for none

2021-12-11T08:12:00.000+05:30

Irony :

(Noun)

Meaning : a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.

(Note : Nothing about what happens in this story is amusing or even slightly comedic.)

Example : “The same delicate hands with which she crafted her abode would now dig her grave.”

Random memories. The rustling of paper. The intoxicating smell of perfume that she never thought she would miss. Totally random thoughts. Infact, if she closed her eyes and focused hard enough, she could almost feel fingertips slipping away from her.

It all boiled down to one thing : Time. Time had been her ultimate downfall. She kept consoling herself, kept telling herself that her time would come. Why take a risk when destiny had her course charted out already? So she never took a risk. Never travelled, never got on an airplane, never stayed up all night just for the sake of it.

She spent her whole life just existing, not living. She spent all her time sheltered in her self made bubble, unwilling to explore the world. But all bubbles break eventually, and hers had broken now. It seemed ironic to think that ‘fate’ in whose hands she had placed her life had cruelly pricked her bubble.

Here she was, on her deathbed, regret coursing through her veins. How did she end up here? What about her destiny? Wasn’t there something great in store for her? And when she finally did realize the answer to her questions, it was too late. She shouldn’t have sat around waiting for destiny to come to guide her. She should’ve been out there making her own destiny. She should’ve known better. She should’ve known that time and tide wait for no one.

Five years ago, her friends had asked her to join them on a holiday to the beach. She remembers the scene crystal clear. The night air tasted of strawberries and thick fog that showed signs of a coming storm. Their expecting eyes shined with anticipation and then looked away from her when she shook her head. “It would be too dangerous,” she had said.

“I might drown.”

“The tide might be too high.”

“I can’t risk it.”

And so, she didn’t go. Her friends had gotten up and walked away. She and her bubble were now the only souls in the dark night. She didn’t really blame them however. Who wanted to be friends with the one girl that refused to do anything that needed her to even remotely get out of her comfort zone? And so she was lonely. Her bubble floated away to the fringes of humanity, watching and waiting for it's time to come.

But she never gave up hope. She knew that one day the universe would have something planned for her. One day her bubble would go places. How naive she was. All those lost opportunities would never come back. If only she had been wiser. If only she could tell her younger self what she knows now. She realized, only too late, that time and tide wait for none.

She was going to leave this world soon, she could feel it. The countdown to the inevitable began.

10, the ocean she’d never seen;

9, the plane she’d never flown in;

8, the pet she’d never adopted;

7, the firecrackers she’d never burst;

6, the horror movie she’d never watched;

5, the night sky she’d never appreciated;

4, the treehouse she’d refused to sleep in;

3, the pillow fort she’d never built;

2, the places she’d never been to;

1, the regret;

0, she closes her eyes for the last time.

Time and tide wait for none.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

2021-06-05T09:41:00.000+05:30

Fear crept into her and tightened its noose around her heart. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder’ the doctors had called it. Her parents and even her younger sister had nodded wisely. As if they understood anything. AS IF.

‘Post-traumatic stress disorder’- Four meaningless words. All that she knew was that she would never be like the other children. She would never get to run. She would never get to dance at parties. The other kids would stare, they would not include her. She would never get to have a friend to pass a note to during class. She would never get to pretend to take unnecessary trips to the washroom so that she could talk to a friend. Simple things in life. She would never experience them.

Post-traumatic stress disorder – the bane of her life. She would never be able to get in a car again. She had tried, really, but something stopped her each time. A cold voice inside her head telling her to stop, whispering threats, reminding her what had happened the last time she had gotten into a car.

Her parents didn’t force her either. They just looked at her, their eyes full of pity as she stared, unmoving, at the car door. Everyone else would stare at her too. Some with sorry eyes, others with cold eyes, some with inquisitive eyes and others with ashamed eyes.

Post-traumatic stress disorder – Four words that were the difference between ‘it will be okay’ and ‘will it be okay?’. In her case, however, she knew that it would never be okay. The doctors had told her multiple times that she would never be able to walk again. She couldn’t tell herself that it would be okay. But she did know that whatever happened, her family would stand by her. She would be loved.

Post-traumatic stress disorder – It wasn’t her refusing to let go of the past, it was the past refusing to let go of her.

Life is a journey

2021-06-02T16:38:00.001+05:30

He glanced up at the poster on the opposite wall of his room. On it, were the golden words he’d lived his whole life by - ‘Life is a journey; heaven is the destination’. He still remembered the day they put that up. When he was six, his father had lifted him high in the air so he could pin up that poster. And his mother had looked him in the eye and told him to remember these words all his life.

Back then, he was just a typical bubbly 6year old whose life was confined to the safety of his parents’ arms. So much had changed in those 11 years. Here he was, 17 years old, staring at the same poster and wondering if his whole life had been a lie.

Everything that he had done, was to please someone else. To make others happy. He had joined the football team at school to please his football crazy father. He hated football. He had joined the cricket team to be included by his cricket crazy friends. He hated cricket.

He loved art. He wanted to draw and paint. To color the canvas of the world with his imagination. Art let him speak a language that made him feel understood. It let him express things for which words were never good enough.

The poster on the wall stared back at him. ‘Life is a journey; heaven is the destination’. His mother had told him that he would only earn a place in heaven by doing things that people liked. Putting a smile on other people’s faces. Even if it came at the cost of his own happiness. The last line rang in his head.

Even at the cost of his happiness? Was anything more important than his own happiness? Of course, doing things for other people made him happy, but in this endless quest to satisfy others, he had neglected his own right to a happy life.

Now, everything he did in his life was for someone else. He didn’t want to play football. He didn’t want to play cricket. He didn’t want to cook. He didn’t want to do whatever his parents and friends thought he should do. He wanted to do what he loved best. Draw and paint and fill his life with color.

And, in that moment, he knew what his parents had told him was wrong. What was the point of living if you were doing everything in your life thinking about heaven, hell, death, afterlife or whatever people believed in? Wasn’t it better to live freely, doing whatever you loved and not chasing things that made other people happy, but left you with nothing?

He knew what the poster said was wrong. And, he knew just what to do. Jumping out of bed, he searched his drawers for a red marker. Walking over to the poster, he struck out ‘heaven’ and wrote ‘happiness’ in its place.

He glanced up at the poster on the opposite wall of his room. On it, were the golden words he was going to live the rest of his life by - ‘Life is a journey; happiness is the destination’.

Beautiful Imperfections

2021-05-19T18:54:00.000+05:30

She traced the scars up her hands and down her back. Those scars, that covered every inch of her body were a constant reminder of the tragedy from her childhood. She still remembered that day, crystal clear. That was the day she lost everything she had.

She remembered the screams. The screams that haunted her at night. She could hear them echoing off the walls of her room on most nights.

She remembered those few days in the hospital. The doctors and the kind nurses. Telling her that she was so lucky to have survived. Looking away from her when she asked about her parents.

She remembered hands reaching for her, patting her, trying to comfort her. But nothing could comfort her. Her parents were dead and there was no bringing them back.

She remembered the day in the court room. She dimly remembered voices arguing. Some said the men should be hanged, others disagreed. And in the end, they weren’t hanged. She remembered sitting wide eyed as they pronounced the verdict.

How could they? They had taken everything away from her. And they will walk away with just a couple years in jail. She remembered crying in her room, cursing and throwing things at the wall. Wishing she had died with her parents. Wishing she didn’t have to be alive in a place were tearing a little girls world apart called for nothing more than a few years of jail.

Fast forward to a year later, when her fussy aunts and uncles had insisted she go see a therapist. She sat, hands folded on her lap, in the therapist’s office, waiting for her turn. Soon enough, a lady walked up to her and guided her to the room.

She had expected it to be very much like a doctor’s office. However, she was very mistaken. This was nothing like all the doctors she had visited. It smelled of lemon grass and honey, not of sickness and medicines. There were hardly any chairs, all of them replaced with bean bag couches. Awkwardly, she made her way to one of the couches and sat down, smoothing her skirt. She looked at the lady sitting opposite her. The woman had a pleasant face and short black hair that settled comfortably on her shoulders. She wore spectacles, blue jeans and a white top.

She found herself opening up. This lady wasn’t like the others. She understood her. She didn’t push her to answer questions she didn’t want to. She didn’t stare at her scars.

At one point in the conversation, the lady leaned over and asked to see her scars. An uncomfortable silence followed and she debated on whether or not to pull up the sleeves of her shirt. Finally, she pulled it up a little. The lady ran her fingers alone the jagged lines. Her hands were warm and soothing.

She held on to the temporary feeling of safety while it lasted. A minute later, the lady pulled her hands back and the spell shattered. “Carry your scars proudly. They’re a sign of who you are and everything you’ve been through. In this world of perfections, imperfections can be beautiful.” She whispered to the young girl softly.

As she walked out from the therapist’s office, she found the words playing repeatedly in her head, “In this world of perfections, imperfection can be beautiful”. She rolled up the sleeves of her shirt halfway. And she carried her scars proudly. She walked out with her chin up. And people still stared. Only, this time, she didn’t care. Because she was beautiful. Thanks to her beautiful imperfections.

The Fugitive

2021-04-25T18:17:00.003+05:30

After the crash, he vanished. Some say he disappeared into the wild unknowns of the Amazon Rainforest. Crazier theories suggest that he moved to some place in Africa. Others, the more optimistic ones, say that he’s probably dead. But the one thing everyone knows - they never found his body after the crash.

The Chief Inspector sat down at his table at work and told himself the same thing again and again, ‘They never found his body.’ The others had given up, assuming that he was dead. But the Chief Inspector knew better. He had spent the last two years tracking this man down. He was dangerous. He could kill. He would kill.

A few kilometers away from the Chief Inspector’s office, the very fugitive he was musing about, had started making preparations for tonight. He had been planning for ages, nothing could go wrong.

Meanwhile, the Chief Inspector had reached home. It was just a kilometers walk from the office and most of it was very scenic. Despite the beautiful view, there was something nagging at the back of his mind. He was afraid, afraid of the fugitive, afraid that he might try and find him, afraid for his life.

And most of all, he was afraid that a ten-year long secret might come out. Something from the past. And things like these, they’re better left in the past.

The inspector turned to the only thing that would distract him – music. People would be shocked if they knew that such a huge man like him could play the piano so beautifully. He sat down at the piano seat and played a long, sad song. The quietness of the apartment intensified the sadness in the notes.

Just as he finished, a loud applause cut through the silence. He turned back and saw a man standing there.

“Y-You” he stuttered, cursing himself for saying something so stupid. Of course, it was him. Like he’d just forget that face.

He thought quickly. He had no weapons with him. The nearest gun was in his backpack which was in the other room. No way he could reach it in time. He had nothing to defend himself. A quick scan told him that the other man didn’t have any weapons either. But he could never be sure.

“Yes, its me.” The man sneered, “10 years, eh? Long time no see. We could’ve been friends you know” He vengefully eyed the inspector like how a predator would eye its prey, “If you hadn’t arrested me for a crime I didn’t commit.”

“You did! I know you did! You were the one who killed her.” The Inspector frantically clawed at the piano table and tried to look brave.

“You know it wasn’t me.” He banged his hand down on the table, causing the Inspector to jump back in fear.

“All you needed was respect, wasn’t it? You took up the biggest case you had and tried your best to find the murderer. But you couldn’t. So, you decided to frame someone. Just to get a promotion, just to get some respect.”

The Inspector stood numb, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. He knew that he couldn’t deny it.

Ten years ago, things were different. His debts were piling up, his friends had slowly stopped talking to him, he had no money to help his ailing mother, his wife had run away, his life was in ruins. He needed the money. He needed the promotion. So, he decided to pretend to crack a case by framing one of the suspects. After all, he had thought, he did need the money.

But little did he know that, his one action had totally turned another person’s life upside down.

The Chief Inspector cowered against the wall as the other man continued his story.

“Did you ever wonder, Inspector” he spat out the word inspector, “what had happened to that young man you arrested? Well, let me tell you now. His parents shunned him. His mother died broken hearted, ashamed at having raised a murderer. His company fired him. His wife took their children, packed her bags and left him. His life was ruined.”

The Inspector sat wide eyed, shocked.

There were tears in the man’s eyes as he said the next words. “You ruined my life. I have nothing left to live for.” And in one swift move, he pulled out a gun from his pocket.

The Chief Inspector shrieked, “No, no p-please don’t k-kill me. I-i have childr-ren.” Tears ran down his face.

“Kill you?” the man looked at him with contempt, “Sir, I’m a lot of things, but not a murderer.”

And with that, he put the gun to his own head and fired a bullet. The gunshot echoed dramatically in the empty hall and the Chief Inspector watched wide eyed as the man reeled and fell. It was a sight he would never forget.

Cookie and me ♥

2020-10-30T13:33:00.000+05:30

Cookie!!

With heavy hearts and tearful faces, we returned our adopted pup Cookie back to the shelter on 27^th October. She had started showing signs of aggression and anxiety and it was getting impossible to manage her. The people at the shelter also told us that we were probably doing the right thing by returning her to the shelter. As we walked to the shelter, for the first time in the last few days that we had spent with Cookie, we felt that we were doing something right.

Cookie came home sitting inside an Amazon cardboard box in the back seat of our car. At that moment, we never thought we would ever have to let Cookie go. It was a hard decision to let her go, but it felt as though we had made a mistake by uprooting her from the animal shelter and we had to rectify that mistake. Yes, we had spent a lot of our time and love on her, but I guess there are things like freedom that money can never buy and love can never provide.

Cookie came home in cardboard box

All Cookie wanted was to run around unrestricted, like she could back at the shelter- to crawl into the donkey enclosure, to play with her doggy friends, to chase the other puppies around. And these were aspects that we could not provide Cookie while she lived in an apartment complex. And we could really see her unhappiness on being denied her freedom. As we left Cookie at the shelter, we felt a big load lift off our hearts in thinking that we were giving her back all that she craved for. Like one of the dog trainers that we had spoken to told us, dogs do not care about fancy food or comfy bedding, so we knew she was not going to miss us.

Cookie in bed with all her chewy toys!

Shortly after we left, Cookie was re united with her playmates. The folks at the shelter shared with us videos of her running around and bounding unrestrained in the large enclosure. It was a bittersweet sight. We were happy that she was happy and also sad that she was happier there than she had been with us. But I guess that was a selfish thought.

This Dussehra vacation was pretty eventful and while Cookie was with us, she had taught us so many things. For starters, she showed us the cold, hard truth - we were incapable of providing what mattered most to her. As my father said, it is funny that a four legged, 2.5-month-old pup who would run around biting and chewing things was needed to hold a mirror to ourselves.

But the main thing Cookie taught me is that life holds many such disappointments for us. Many such hopes and dreams that don’t work out the way we want them to. But there’s no point in crying over them forever. Life is all about gathering experiences and moving on. Cookie was an experience. Taking her out for walks in the middle of the afternoon was an experience. Sitting with her on my lap was an experience. Being nibbled at by Cookie’s puppy teeth was an experience.

♥♥

But, Cookie has moved on now, all happy at the animal enclosure with all the other donkeys, cows, goats, horses and dogs. And so, we must move on too. We must accept this fact and cherish all the happy times we had with her.

It’s been three days since we gave her away, and things are already starting to fall into place. School and offices have reopened, and there is hardly any time to think about her. Life does move on..

Cookie has left her mark on us. From the scratches on the sofa and chewed up edges of the dining table to the place we all have in our hearts for her.. this was one unforgettable Dussehra!

Cookie's only belonging that I have retained with me is her name tag. One day, when I get a dog of my own, I hope to put this name tag on her! ♥

My visit to CUPA, an animal rescue and rehabilitation center

2020-10-07T16:23:00.003+05:30

A few weeks ago, my parents and I had visited CUPA, an animal rescue and rehabilitation center. In simple words, it’s a place that provides a home for animals that have been abandoned or are injured. Now, given the circumstances (COVID and all), travelling anywhere is a highly risky affair. So, you may wonder, why did we take the risk to go to a place like this?

Well, after years of begging, my parents finally agreed to get me a puppy!! It’s been my life’s dream to have a pet, and I was finally close to getting one. It all started off as a joke when we all were looking through pictures of a bunch of puppies up for adoption. I used this opportunity to deliver to my parents a long and emotional speech about why I wanted a pet. One thing led to the other and believe it or not, my parents actually agreed!

So, as I was saying, we were on our way to check out a particular puppy that was up for adoption at CUPA. When we arrived there, we were greeted with the sight of dozens of dogs crowding around a small gate, and two women feeding them (sambar and rice!) all patiently. Praying they wouldn’t bite; we made our way past them and went through the gate. Inside, an even more amazing sight met our eyes! Not only dogs, there were all kinds of animals. Cows, donkeys, horses, goats. They had them all!

One of the volunteers at CUPA, whom we had made an appointment with, offered to show us around. We walked past many cows and donkeys, but I wasn’t really paying attention to any of them. My mind was fixed on my soon to be pet puppy! 😉

He led us through another gate, where we met a lady. Sitting in her lap was the cutest puppy I’ve ever met! The puppy (it was a female puppy) had those cute flappy ears and the shiniest of eyes. She was squirming in the arms of the lady who was holding her. Clearly, she wanted more action!! In the same enclosure were many other dogs of varying ages. All of them stood up in attention as we walked in.

She had the shiniest eyes!

My mom froze behind me and I saw her looking at the many dogs. Have I mentioned, my mom is dead scared of dogs? She absolutely doesn’t feel safe around them. I’m still surprised as to why I’m getting a dog, but I figured it would be best to keep my mouth shut before they decided not to get one.

I walked up to the puppy and bravely held my hand to her. She leaped for it and nibbled on my hand. I wanted to pull back at once, but I saw my mom watching me and didn’t want to make it look like I was scared. It took me few seconds to be fully at home with her! I petted her a lot, and gave her belly rubs! I was even allowed to hold her in my lap. This was my best dream come true, and I just couldn’t believe it!

Now, this puppy had a playmate, a few weeks younger male puppy that was naughty as hell! He would snatch away her dinosaur chew toy and take off with it to a hole he was diligently digging in one corner of the enclosure! It was such a cute sight, and I fell in love with this other pup as well!

Her playmate!

I then spent the next one and a half hours playing with the puppies. And soon enough, tired of all the excitement, she was fast asleep in my arms. And guess what her playmate did, he kept trying to wake her up and get her to play with him. After some time, he gave up on her and found a corner to snuggle up and go to sleep!

And... they're asleep!

With no one to play with, I looked at my surroundings and saw all the other dogs there. One of the dogs literally crawled up to me. He had long, shaggy, brown hair. As he came closer, I noticed something. I realized that both of its legs had been hurt, and so he had to drag himself from place to place. His name was Golly and he melted by heart. We learnt from the people around that he had been in an accident, and his hind legs were permanently damaged. I petted him for some time and moved a bit to look at my puppies.

Golly

As soon as my hand left his back, he nudged closer to me as if to remind me that he was still around. All he wanted was a little attention and some petting. It made me sad, to see a dog in this condition. I really, really wanted to take him home but we knew it was not a practical thing to do. After all, it was our first time having a dog and we weren’t sure if we would be able to care for it in the right way.

We also made our acquaintance with the ‘leader’ of the place. She was a fierce looking German Shepard with a sad past. She had been forced to breed, then her kids were taken away from her and sold to make money. Once she couldn’t produce any more babies, she was abandoned, and here she was now. It was all so sad, it’s cruel, what all we humans are capable of doing to defenseless animals.

Soon, it was time for us to leave. And as we walked back to the front gate, I noticed things that, in my excitement, I hadn’t noticed before. I saw cows with missing legs, limping donkeys, hurt dogs and so many more such animals. Some of them had been left on the streets to die and some had been in accidents and some of them were rescued on the way to the slaughter house. All of them had been ill treated by humans.

Though the visit to CUPA left me with happy memories of our soon to be pet puppy, it also left me with a disheartening view about how we humans ill-treat animals. Every day, thousands of animals die at the cruel hands of man. They are just used to satisfy the greed of humans and then when they have nothing more to offer, they are dumped on the streets to fend for themselves. Don’t animals have as equal a right to live with dignity, as us?

The people at CUPA are so devoted to their work. Most of them drive many hours to get here every weekend and spend time with these animals. I am sure they all have their own jobs and busy lives. Yet, they are doing this for those poor animals who have nowhere else to go.

And I learnt something that I had never given thought to before - when people adopt, they save a loving animal by making it a part of their family and giving it a home. However, when you buy a pet from a pet store, you are indirectly promoting cruelty towards animals. There are breeding factories that force dogs to breed artificially and then take their puppies away. When people decide to have a pet, they mustn’t judge it based on how it looks. A lot of times, I have seen people buying dogs that look cute or are of a particular sophisticated breed rather than adopting a dog that actually needs a home.

It is not feasible for everyone to adopt. But everyone can make a difference in their life by sponsoring their food, medical needs etc. Then hopefully, one day, animals will be able to live a life alongside people who love them and treat them well.

As I walked out through the gate, I sincerely prayed that every animal there would find a kind and loving family. The world really needs more organizations like CUPA.

My Experiences With Online Classes

2020-05-16T19:17:00.002+05:30

Corona virus - an infamous name now permanently engraved in our minds. It has befuddled scientists and doctors, all of whom have no idea how to control this mysterious virus that is now spreading at an alarming rate!

This virus has changed the lives of millions of people all across the world. Even when people didn’t have anything to eat, they couldn’t step out from their houses for the fear of catching the virus. The death toll has risen up dramatically and the world superpowers are desperately trying to control it!

Corona virus, also known as COVID – 19, has in some way or the other affected each and every human being on this planet. Let me tell you about how this virus has changed many things for me – especially schooling.

In the absence of in class education, online classes have begun. Online classes were something I hadn’t heard of before. Now it’s a regular thing. Every morning I sat in front of the computer for 5 hours straight, attending class after class via Zoom. And by the end of the class, I was so exhausted!!

The first few days were all fun and games. Sitting there in front of a computer with a headphone, looking all professional, made us feel like grown-ups. However, after a week everyone realized that this was no different from normal classes, and we were mere students after all! The teachers would still call on us, we still had to do our homework, lessons were still going on, and at a faster rate too! And then, it wasn’t fun anymore. Despite all these problems, online class has also left me with some really fun memories!!

Whenever the teacher asked the kids questions and they didn’t know the answer, some of them would leave the meeting, imagine that! It was quite funny for the rest of us. Others would act like their mic wasn’t working. Yet others would keep asking ma’am to repeat the question and act like they couldn’t hear her clearly! Such clever tactics, don’t you think?!

It took people about a minute to discover private chatting on Zoom. And then, no one payed attention to ma’am anymore! Unfortunately, the teachers found out and disabled private chatting after day 1 of classes on Zoom. So then, the students found another way to kill time during class. Many of them turned their videos off and chatted during the whole class. I figured this out because we have a class group on WhatsApp and it would be flooded with messages during the class. All of them commenting on how sad it was that private chat was disabled!!

It’s another thing that our teachers soon caught up with our tricks! They then told us that it was compulsory to turn on our videos. This, unfortunately, quickly bought an end to texting in between the class. Truthfully speaking, I was kind of happy that we were rid of yet another distraction because I was finding it really hard to concentrate on class with so many funny messages coming in!

And, that’s when a lot of people started tinkering with their setting in Zoom and discovered how to add a virtual background. They would change their backgrounds to jungles, dinosaurs, Marvel and all sorts of other things that also proved to be a constant distraction! Soon our teachers banned this too.

And guess what the students did next, they started annotating on the shared screen, making teachers mad! This continued for some time until everyone got bored of messing around with the screen. That’s when our school decided to shift from Zoom to Microsoft Teams. In Teams we didn’t have to turn on our videos so people had a good time doing whatever they wanted to do other than studying!!

This new way of studying via Zoom, thanks to the extended lock-down, wasn’t as fun as in-class studying but it still left me with fun memories and experiences. I really missed all my friends too. Seeing all of them, even if it was a virtual picture, made me feel so nice. All the fun and pranks, though often distracting, was such a refreshing change from the usual, boring routine!!

How I Learnt To Sleep Alone

2020-03-27T18:45:00.001+05:30

I was surrounded by inky darkness. Not a speck of light anywhere. No sound and no living being in sight. It didn’t even appear like I was standing on solid ground. Suddenly everything felt heavy and I started tumbling down into infinity at breakneck speed. Yes, I was going to die! And then I woke up with a start, all comfy on my soft fluffy bed. Ever had dreams like these?

Well, I would regularly have such dreams till I got over my fear of sleeping alone. This is the story of the various phases I went through before I learnt to overcome my fear of sleeping alone. How I changed from being scared of the dark to absolutely loving the idea of my own room and my own bed.

When I was about 6 years old, my parents got me a fold-able bed which they would place at the foot of their bed. I was so excited about the whole idea of opening and folding the bed that I just couldn’t wait for night to come. Every night my mom would read me bed time stories and put me to sleep on this bed. Later in the night, I found myself all alone and jump on to my parents’ bed and cuddle up between them. When they realized this wasn’t working, they came up with a plan, bribery! They said that if I slept on my bed all through the night for a whole week, I would get a brand, new story book.

The trick worked. Some nights, I would still jump out of my bed, but then remember about that book, and go back again. So gradually, I got comfortable with this situation.

After around a year or so, my parents sold me the idea of my own little bed in my very own room. I was overjoyed. My mom even got me a nice, pink, Disney princess bedsheet. I even discovered an old rag doll (that I had named Pinky just because she was wearing a pink frock), whom I could snuggle up to at night! Wow, I was all set. But then things didn’t turn out the way I had imagined they would.

Ever remember waking up in the middle of the night, scared of every shadow you see and jump at every creak you hear? Well, after shifting into my room, this was my everyday midnight ritual.

I tried many things to ease my misery. One thing that particularly comforted me was sleeping with my back to the wall. Another trick was to cover my head with the rug. And then there was Pinky, off course.

Pinky with a newly stitched dress!

To add to all of this, the horror stories that I heard from my friends weren’t exactly helping. Once I heard about a ghost called Bloody Mary who appeared next to a mirror exactly at the stroke of midnight. And guess what was there right in front of my bed? Yes, a mirror.

Every time I woke up, I would take a peek to check if Bloody Mary was in the room. Thankfully I haven’t had the good, or rather bad fortune of seeing her! And then, to get back to sleep, I would put my blanket over my head, and that always seemed to help. But this was until I watched the movie, the sixth sense!

The Movie- The Sixth Sense

The boy in the movie was also scared of the dark. And once in a while he would see gory, oozy ghosts under his blanket! This absolutely freaked me out. I did not want to see ghosts every time I put my head under the blanket. So, from then on, my head was above the blanket. Always!

Then, I saw parts of this movie called Annabelle. Now Annabelle was a rag doll, who went around terrorizing people and haunting houses. But when there people around, she looked just as quiet and comforting as my dear little Pinky. After that, it was not so comforting to have Pinky around anymore.

Despite these movies and scary stories, I have managed to get over my fear. After all what is fear – but false evidence appearing true. FEAR.

Acronym of Fear

I have realized that all of these fears are just part of one’s imagination and definitely not real. And it isn’t like I have stopped thinking about Bloody Mary or Annabelle and stopped listening to the horror stories. And sometimes I even get freaked out.

But then, think about it, don’t we all know that a rag doll can’t come to life or a ghost can’t just appear next to a mirror at the stroke of midnight. I mean do ghosts even have watches?! Our minds are just trained to believe whatever we see in these movies or hear in these stories. Like someone said, being brave is not the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it.

Over a period of time I have learned to just take a deep breath and assure myself that all of this fear is just my imagination. Like they say, it’s all in our heads. And that realization is what finally helped me overcome my fear of the dark!

Hansel and Gretel - in my own words

2020-03-16T22:02:00.000+05:30

Last summer vacation, on one of the days when i was really really getting bored, and couldn't find any good ideas to write about, I decided to write a long poem narrating the story of Hansel and Gretel. Hope you read and enjoy my version!

In a village outside a wood,
there lived two children nice and good
Hansel and Gretel lived alone with their father,
due to the untimely death of their mother
Their father, depressed and sad,
married a woman, mean and mad
The women hated the young children,
and they hated her too
And one day a cunning plan she drew,
she planned to take the children out
And say, "I'll be hereabout",
then leave them on their own
To die in the woods all alone
Hansel heard this and ran outside
and he filled some stones in his bag

Next morning when they got up,
their step-mother grinned and said
"We're having a picnic in the woods and here's your sup,
now wash your face and make your bed!"
Hansel walked behind,
and occasionally dropped stones in a line
All they did was roam and roam,
until their mother finally went home
Hansel and Gretel waited for some time,
feasting on oranges and lime

Then they followed the stones on the lane,
and went back to their home again
Their step-mother with anger turning red,
said, "no food for you, go to bed"
While the brother and sister slept,
quietly to the door she crept
And shutting it she cried,
no more stones for you tonight!

Next morning when they got up,
their step-mother grinned and said
"We're having a picnic in the woods and here's your sup,
now wash your face and make your bed!"
Hansel and Gretel feeling scared,
quickly grabbed a loaf of bread
Hansel slowly walked behind,
and occasionally dropped breadcrumbs in a line
All they did was roam and roam,
until their mother finally went home
Hansel and Gretel waited for some time,
feasting on oranges and lime

They looked for the bread crumbs at nightfall,
and realized that the birds had eaten it all!
They walked around all day,
again and again they lost their way
Hansel and Gretel gave up and cried,
until a strange house they spied
Walls of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry,
and golden dripping honey!
A chimney with marshmallows and cherry,
and windows made with orange jelly!
Hansel and Gretel stood staring and staring,
after a day of hunger, it looked inviting!
They ran as fast they could
and started to eat the delicious food
They ate and ate and ate and ate,
until they heard a slam of a gate!

There stood an old hag,
her body covered in pieces of rag
She hobbled up to them and cried,
"Enough, enough now go inside"
Turning bright red with rage,
she put Hansel inside a cage
She made Gretel scrub and scour,
make dinner, and sweep the floor
And so they went on for many days,
till one day the witch cries and says
"Gretel, I want to you to bake
a delicious chocolate cake"
Gretel said, "can you help me open,
this very hot and heavy oven?"
The witch crouching on the floor,
opened the oven door
Gretel quickly pushed her in
and shutting the door let Hansel free!

The sister and brother danced in glee,
then they sat down and fed themselves
with lots of butter and a loaf of bread!
In the cottage they found many chests,
filled with rubies, emeralds and diamond crests
Putting all they could grasp in a bag,
down to the road they drag
Then they walked down the lane,
back to their house again
There they found their father,
had got rid of their evil step-mother
Their father hugged them and said,
"your absence filled me with dread!"
With all the money they now had,
they built a mansion new and grand!
Then they lived happily ever after,
without a worry about their evil step mother!

A magical evening with Harry Potter

2020-02-16T22:03:00.000+05:30

If I was asked what my best memories of my trip to Edinburgh was, undoubtedly the Harry Potter walking tour would be in the top 3. If there is one place in the world a die hard Harry Potter fan must go to, it is Edinburgh - the very birthplace of Harry Potter! So, after months of grueling research, we found a good tour guide that would take us around the city, showing us the prominent Harry Potter attractions. The places that inspired the settings of the films or the people who inspired a few characters in the series. I just couldn’t wait to see it all!!

This was a trip I was planning for months in advance. I had re-read all the Harry Potter books and packed my Harry Potter sweatshirt and scarf. I was all set to enjoy the best evening of my life!

We spent that morning at the National Museum, looking at various ancient artifacts. I was so excited that I barely remember all the things we saw there. My eyes were on my watch, waiting for it to turn 4. Quarter to 4, we walked across the street from the museum to the statue of Greyfriars Bobby. This was where the tour was supposed to start.

Bobby

The statue is of a dog named Bobby. Bobby was a Skye terrier belonging to a man named John Grey. When his master died and was buried in Greyfriar's Kirkyard (meaning churchyard) Bobby guarded his grave faithfully for 14 years, till he himself died of old age. And so, he became famous for spending the rest of his life guarding his master's grave. In Bobby's memory, the local people build a statue for honoring his loyalty to his master.

I took this opportunity to explain to my mom why dogs were amazing pets and yet again begged her for one of my own. She shook her head and gave me the same response that she gave me the last 101 times I had asked this question - ‘when you grow up and have your own home, then you can have a dog’. I made a face and turned back to look at Bobby.

I noticed many people rubbing Bobby’s nose. I asked my parents about it. They told me that rubbing Bobby’s nose brought good luck. I too rubbed his nose and wished that the dog’s good luck charm would rub on me! Hopefully, this would get me a dog of of my own soon!

I looked at the other people who had come for the tour. There were two other girls huddled up in sweaters; it was a cold day. I was wearing my Gryffindor sweatshirt and a Gryffindor scarf. Yep, you guessed it right, I am a huge Gryffindor fan. I smiled politely at the other girls, and soon I got talking with one of them who had come from Netherlands with her uncle just to experience the Harry Potter tour. We talked about our most and least favorite parts in the books and realized we had a lot in common. And we walked together for the rest of the tour!

We had waited next to Bobby’s statue for about 5 minutes when we saw a woman in a flowing black cloak walking towards us. She looked really smart in the cloak. In her hand was a brown package that she wouldn’t reveal to anyone. She introduced herself as Charlotte, our tour guide.

After a brief introduction, we all followed our humorous guide away from the crowd into a slightly isolated place. Our first stop was a graveyard. As soon as we entered the graveyard, a cool breeze seemed to descend upon us. Here we all huddled up around Charlotte and she pointed out the graves of various people whose names inspired J.K Rowling. Like Riddle, Moody, McGonagall etc.

The tombstone of a man with the name McGonagall

The Riddle family that inspired the Dark Lords first name

We also saw the shabby graves that Harry Potter fans had made for Sirius Black and Amos Diggory. They definitely hadn’t put much effort into these. In fact, on Amos Diggory’s tomb, they had only written Amos Dig- on a piece of rough stone. Looks like the ‘gory’ part was forgotten! Sirius Black’s tomb was slightly better. I was kind of disappointed that there was no tombstone for Severus Snape, he’s my favorite character in the series!

The tour was going great and I couldn’t wait to see the other sites. We saw another bunch of places that inspired the Harry Potter film setting. One that I particularly liked was a street that looked exactly like Diagon Alley. To add to the slightly uncanny resemblance, this street also had a big marble structure on one end that looked exactly like Gringotts!

Soon, we were in front of a cafe called "The elephant house". The cafe had the words - Harry Potter, 'The Boy Who Lived’ written in front of it. We were told that this was the place where J.K. Rowling wrote a part of the Harry Potter books. No wondered it was so highly decorated. It even had a picture of Harry Potter on all paper cups in which they gave out their coffee! Talk about wanting publicity!

The Elephant House the 'Birthplace of Harry Potter'

A few minutes later, we stopped in front of another cafe. No one could figure out how this cafe had any connection to Harry Potter; it didn’t look like any building in the movie and it didn’t have any tourists flocking around it. Charlotte told us that this was the actual cafe where J.K. Rowling actually wrote the first book of the series in. So this was the actual birthplace of Harry Potter! On looking closely, we noticed a tiny sign engraved on the side of the shop that said ‘J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series here’!.

Just before the tour ended, Charlotte herself showed us some magic and asked us to try it out. She handed each of us a wooden wand and taught us a simple spell that would change the traffic lights to green, enabling us to cross the road. The name of the spell was Roccio Lumos. It was pretty cool, she would tell us when to say the incantation, and voila, after we swished our wands the traffic light would change from red to green! After using the spell to cross a couple more traffic lights, I figured out that she knew the exact number of seconds that it would take for the signal to change lights and that is why the spell seemed to work! She almost had me fooled with that one!

Next stop – the hotel where J.K. Rowling wrote the last few books of the Harry Potter series. I pondered on how she changed from writing in a cafe to writing from a 5 star hotel, from being a single mom hardly able to manage all the expenses to an author of a best-selling series. She is truly an inspiration for all of us. Despite facing failure uncountable number of times, she never gave up and that is why she is what she is today. As someone rightly said, every failure is a lesson, if you are not willing to fail, you are not ready to succeed. If J.K. Rowling had given up, then we wouldn’t have had the blockbuster series that we have now!

This was going to be the last stop of the tour. Looking at my watch, I was surprised to see how fast 2 hours had passed! Initially, my parents had thought that this tour was going to be a waste of time. But by the time the tour ended, even they grudgingly agreed that the tour was amazing!

For me, this tour was more than amazing. It was a memory that I would cherish forever! At the end of the tour, I was filled with an inexpressible sense of happiness and thrill that I always experience whenever I read the Harry Potter books!

Trekking up Arthur's Seat

2020-01-25T14:21:00.000+05:30

Imagine standing on top of an extinct volcano. One that had erupted millions of years ago. People say that it is extinct, but who knows when it will erupt again. Imagine seeing an entire city from the heights of a towering mountain with the graceful ocean at the far fringes of the city. Imagine icy cold wind hitting you on the face, and sending your hair flying in all directions. And above all, imagine breathing fresh, clean air, and the feeling of being on top of the world! Wouldn’t it be an amazing experience? I definitely thought it was, as I trekked up to the peak of Arthur's Seat.

Today I would like to share with you my experiences while trekking up Arthur’s Seat during a trip to the scenic city of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland is a city of brooding castles, towering churches and ancient cobbled streets. Arthur's Seat was a refreshing and cheerful change after all these serious sights.

There are many, many interesting legends regarding Arthur’s peak and what it stood for in the ancient times. Here’s an interesting one. An ancient Celtic story talks about a dragon who used to fly around the sky, terrorizing the region and eating all the livestock. Eventually it ate so much, that one day it had to lie down to sleep, and never woke up again. And the mountain that we see today is this sleeping dragon! Imagine trekking up a sleeping dragon!

Moving on from the legends, let me now tell you about the first time I saw Arthur’s seat, which was from the window of our living room at the place we were staying in Edinburgh. It appeared as a slanted table rising up from the urban sprawl of Edinburgh. Looking closely, I could see tiny human figures walking up the slant. Then one sunny afternoon, we set out to climb up Arthur's Peak. As per the weather forecast it was to be a fine afternoon, but soon we could see dark clouds building up in the skies, and the sun play hide and seek. But then, we just decided to go ahead with the trek anyways.

The trail was long and winding. The initial few minutes were very nice and easy, and my parents and I walked up full of excitement. I could see many other tourists just like us, all of them waiting to get to the top. As we walked along, I saw a few local families had brought their dogs along, I guess to give them some good exercise! The children kept throwing balls and sticks for the dogs to fetch. At that moment I really wished I had a dog for a pet!

Once in a while as the trail curved, I could see lush green grass growing on the mountain slope, and a lot of snow white and fluffy sheep grazing. They appeared like white polka dots on a green carpet! Did you know, the number of sheep in Scotland is twice the number of its entire population?! That’s way too many sheep really! Don’t you think?

Coming back to the trek, as we walked uphill, it started getting colder and fierce wind was almost pushing us back. At this point the trek was beginning to look difficult. I was able to keep walking somehow, but my mom seemed to need a break at every corner! Just as we were trying to keep up against the wind, it started raining. We zipped up our jackets and continued walking. My fingers were numb with cold, and I just couldn’t feel my nose any longer.

Now that it was raining, the climb had become even more tiring, but the promise of the breath-taking view was our motivation to keep at it.

Finally, after a lot of huffing and puffing, and stopping at every turn, we made it to the top. The summit was just a collection of uneven, black volcanic rock. The uneven rocks, plus the howling wind was making it difficult to walk without stumbling. At one point I was scared it would blow me off the mountain.

Just as we reached the top, the sun peeped out of the clouds and illuminated the city of Edinburgh down below. The view was perfect, and worth the climb. At this point I wondered how people climbed up tall mountain peaks, while it took all my energy to climb a small hill!

After taking some pictures, and resting for a few minutes we started our descent. What I like best about climbing down a hill is seeing tired people huffing and puffing to get to the top! The trek down was nice and easy, and now we could concentrate on the beautiful views. The sloping sides of the mountain were covered with bushes full of bright yellow flowers. They were a treat to the eyes.

We could see rolling meadows and lush green grasslands towards the outskirts of the city. And further beyond we could see the North Sea. The sea, the mountains, farmlands, castles, building, skyscrapers – a perfect balance between nature and mankind. As we were reaching the bottom of the hill, we saw couple of lakes, around which the locals were playing and having picnics.

Finally, our trek had come to an end. For me this trek up Arthur’s Seat was one of the best parts of the Edinburgh trip. At this point, I couldn’t help but wish that we had a place like this in Bangalore where people could find calm in the chaos and unwind! Then wouldn’t we all be lining up to trek up our very own mountain peak every weekend?

Here's the route map that we followed for our trek - https://www.earthtrekkers.com/arthurs-seat-volcano-edinburgh/

Trip to the awesome Ajanta caves

2020-01-12T21:30:00.001+05:30

It was yet another busy day in the city of Aurangabad, home to the awe-inspiring Ajanta & Ellora caves. My parents and I had come to Aurangabad just the previous night for a short vacation. And today we were going to see the first UNESCO world heritage site in India, visited by thousands of people from all over the world - the Ajanta caves. It was a trip which we were all looking forward to for the past month, and we couldn’t wait to get started.

We had booked a taxi and a guide and were all set to go. Our guide Mr. Golati was a very nice and knowledgeable person. He explained about the paintings in the caves and the history behind them. He also took extra interest in explaining all the concepts to me. He told me that he would be asking me questions at the end of the trip, so I took out a paper and pencil, ready to jot down everything he was saying. Being a big fan of history, I couldn’t wait for the tour to begin.

Travel to Ajanta

Our journey started around 6 in the morning. Breakfast was to be on the way and I hoped it wouldn’t be a long wait, as my stomach was already grumbling.

We drove past the Delhi Gate, a gate build by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb to fortify his city, Aurangabad. An old gate in ruins, all its glory lost, it was now crowded by vendors trying to sell their products. I could barely see the Western Ghats all around us due to the pollution and smog that covered it. As we went further away from the city, the air became cleaner and the Ghats clearer.

Soon we stopped for breakfast (thank god!) at a place called Sai Restaurant. We were the only ones there, probably because it was really early in the morning. After quickly giving our order, we settled down in the chairs and looked around. I could hear music but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Around us were a lot of trees and a few swings hanging down from them. Then I realized that the music was coming from a radio placed between the branches of one of the trees. Just then our order of poha and poori bhaji came. In this cold weather, the warm food felt refreshing. We gobbled up the food gratefully and just as we finished, a big group of people arrived in a bus. Thankful that we had finished just it time while it was still calm and peaceful, we hit the road again.

Quick intro to the caves

As we approached the caves our guide Mr. Golati gave us an introduction to the caves and their history. There were 30 caves in all. To compare, the Ellora caves are from a slightly later period, although Mr.Golati pointed out that from a close study of the art and architecture involved we can make out that some of the later caves in Ajanta were worked on around the same time as the early Ellora caves.

Ajanta flourished due to the patronage of not just the royals, but more importantly due to the support and generous contribution of the merchants and traders. Sadly, when there were no more Buddhist patrons in India, the caves were deserted and left to rot. The jungle grew around them and they were soon lost to the outside world for a thousand years before they were discovered by an Englishman, John Smith. The story goes that when he was out hunting tigers one day, he saw the top of a vihara jutting out from dense foliage. Upon clearing the forest, he found all the 30 Buddhist caves.

All the caves were arranged on the hill in a horseshoe shape. Each cave was cut out of a single piece of rock.

The 30 caves of Ajanta in a horseshoe shape

Out of these, 25 were viharas (place where the Buddhist monks used to live) and the remaining 5 were chaityas (place of worship). The type of rock that was used to build these caves are igneous rocks – in this case Basalt.

Paintings

There are mainly 3 types of paintings in these caves - narrative, decorative and portrait. Narrative paintings usually depict a story, decorative paintings are used to beautify the look of a wall while portrait paintings show the picture of a particular person. All the colors used in these paintings were made out of minerals. The color blue, as we would notice later, was very sparsely used since blue came from Lapis Lazuli, which was very expensive at that time.

Bus ride to the cave

After this brief history lesson and buying the tickets, we headed towards the caves. Since the caves were at a height, we would have to take a bus to reach it. After waiting in a line for a few minutes, an old, rickety bus came tumbling down the road. I was having second thoughts about getting into the bus but I was pushed along with the crowd before I could protest.

The bus took off at flying speed, up the winding mountain slope. The seats creaked and the roof looked like it would blow away any moment now. Since it was the only vehicle on the road, it could drive however it wanted to, without any risk! Finally, after a very bumpy ride, we reached the top. I am sure even in the absence of a bus, the artisans who worked at Ajanta had a more peaceful morning commute 😊

Cave no.1

Main highlights : Bodhisatva Padmapani, King Mahajanak, Bodhisatva Vajrapani

The first cave we visited, Cave no.1 was a vihara. This cave was probably the most important cave of Ajanta. One of the walls had a beautiful painting of Bodhisatva Padmapani, where Padma means lotus and pani means hand or ‘the one who holds the lotus in his hand’. The posture in which he stood is called ‘Thribhanga’ - posture with three bends. You wouldn’t normally see people standing in such a position. In fact, try it now yourselves. Stand up and tilt your head to the right, your hip to the left and your leg to the right! If you can do it and stand in this position for 30 seconds, then consider yourselves extraordinary flexible!

Bodhisatva Padmapani

We also saw an entire wall covered with the story of King Mahajanak. The story is from the Jataka tales recounting the story of one of the previous incarnations of the Buddha. Every scene of the story was painted so vividly that just by paying a little attention, we could understand the entire story. We also saw Bodhisatva Vajrapani where Vajra means thunder and pani means hand or ‘the one who holds the thunder in his hand’. Unlike Padmapani, who had a serene and peaceful expression, Vajrapani had a ferocious expression on his face!

In the center of the hall, there was a huge sculpture of Buddha. I wondered how in the earlier days, they got any light at all inside these dark caves. Our guide Mr. Golati told us that they would fill the caves with water and then sunlight that falls on the cave floor would get reflected to the ceiling and there would be light inside the cave. And then when the work was over, they would drain the water out. Phew! Such hard work!

Bodhisatva Vajrapani

I wondered what would have motivated people to spend an entire lifetime on a project that they may not even live to see completed.

Faith was the answer. Faith can make people do almost anything! As they say, Faith can move mountains!

Cave no.2

Main highlights : Miracle of Sravasti, Padma nidhi and Shanka nidhi

Moving on to the second cave which was also a vihara, we were greeted by an intricate design at the doorway itself and an interesting sight! We saw the God of wealth Jambhala and his two potbellied faithful assistants – Padma nidhi and Shanka nidhi wearing modern clothes. Then we saw a painting of two people who were wearing clothes the same color as their socks. They did have an amazing sense of fashion after all in those ages!

Men wearing modern clothes like blue socks and matching caps!

Amused, we went in and saw a painting across a wall explaining Buddha’s birth and the miracle of Sravasti.

The wall depicting the Miracle of Sravasti was covered with a thousand carvings of Buddha himself. It is said that in Sravasti, Buddha was challenged by a few people who didn’t believe in his divine powers. To make them believe in him, he created a thousand forms of himself and this is what was represented on the wall.

Miracle of Sravasti

We also saw yet another funny modern concept – a guru sitting under a tree and teaching. One half of the class sitting in the front was paying attention and taking notes. The other half or the ‘back benchers’ were fighting. That is just like how it is now – front benchers pay attention while the back benchers have fun!

Cave 3
Main highlights : Bodhisatva Avalokateshwara

In this cave, we were greeted with a very intricate carving of Bodhisatva Avalokateshwara who was the person people prayed to before embarking on a journey. They believed that he would ward off the dangers of travelling. Beside the statue, carved on either side were 4 dangers of travelling (that totally made it 8 dangers of travelling). They were – wild elephants, lions, demons, shipwreck, jungle fire, snakes, thieves and pangs of childbirth.

Bodhisatva Avolakateshwara and the 8 dangers of travelling

Despite the impressive entry, the inside was unfinished because the roof had collapsed.

Cave 9

Main highlights : The mixing of Hinayana and Mahayana.

This cave was a chaitya (the place of worship for the Buddhist monks) and it had an interesting aspect – the mixing of the two sects of Buddhism, the old and new Buddhism, that is the Hinayana and Mahayana sects. For those of you who haven’t heard about them, here is a brief introduction – the Hinayana’s or the old Buddhist don’t believe in idol worship. Rather they worship the various relics of Buddha. Generations later, the Buddhist who hadn’t ever seen Buddha, wondered how he actually looked and started creating pictures and sculptures of Buddha. And the Mahayana sect came into being.

This cave is a merging of old and new Buddhism. It is indeed unique. The paintings on the walls are from the Hinayana times and show common people going about their day -to – day life while the Mahayana pillars show sculptures and pictures of Buddha.

A sculpture of Buddha on the pillar

Cave 10

Main highlights : Vashistiputra Satakarni, John Smith

The 10^th cave had inscriptions in the name of the king Vashistaputra Satakarni (for those who have read my previous post on the Satavahanas, you would know that he was the 2^nd greatest king of the Satavahanas). Here we found 2200-year-old paintings. We also saw a graffiti by John Smith, the same guy who discovered the caves. He had carved his name and the date 28^th April 1819 on the wall - this was the date when he rediscovered the caves. I think this started a history of people carving their initials into the centuries old rock, and many of the walls are defaced by tourists and travellers over the last few centuries!

Graffiti by John Smith - look carefully and you can see his name, the year 1819 when the cave was discovered and the Army unit he was a part of (Cavalry)

In this cave we also saw another interesting site, a picture of a baby. Now you may wonder, what was so unusual or special about that picture. Well, the baby had four hands and wherever you stood in the room all its hands and its face would magically re-adjust and it would appear that the face was looking at you. It looked so cool. This shows us that we Indians were so skilled that we managed to create a three-dimensional figure in such an age where even drawing two-dimensional figures were hard.

All these concepts of 3-dimensional paintings, showing different degrees of perspectives, and being able create them on hard Igneous rocks is so amazing. And we always thought that that these techniques had originated only during the Renaissance in the 15^th century in Europe. Imagine the ancient Indians had already mastered these things in the 2^nd century BCE itself. We were the most advanced civilization in the world at that time.

One of the many paintings in Ajanta showing perspective in different levels

After seeing these caves and many more, we headed down via the same old rickety bus, had lunch at MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism restaurant), brought a few mandatory fridge magnets and hit the road again for a long journey back.

As we drove, I kept thinking about all the wonderful things we saw there- Padmapani, the baby with four hands, Shanka-nidhi and Padma-nidhi(the potbellied assistant of the god of wealth). I couldn't comprehend the fact that the artists managed to forget cut, but actually sculpt out such symmetrical figures of unimaginable beauty. And that too at a time when there was no advanced technology to cut the hard basalt rock.

I truly believe that this is a site worth seeing, a true wonder of the world.

Loch Ness and the Scottish highlands

2019-12-15T22:24:00.000+05:30

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

- Robert Burns, My Heart is in the Highlands

The Scottish Highlands, an unmissable destination for all those who have gone on a vacation to Scotland! The Highlands are a historical region of Scotland, sparsely populated due to its mountainous terrain and home to a huge number of Lochs (Scottish for lake). The most famous of these Lochs is Loch Ness, home to the Loch Ness sea monster – Nessie. To our great disappointment, we didn’t have time to stay in the Highlands but nonetheless, we decided to go there on a day tour.

5.30 AM in the morning found us struggling to get up in the cold Scottish weather. You see, the cold there is unlike any other cold that we have experienced. We had to get up early to make sure we got good seats on the bus that we were travelling by. Talking about buses, I have a motion sickness problem. So before the trip, I was worried if I would puke and embarrass myself in front of everybody in the bus. Since music helps me in such situations, I decided to carry my music player and headphones.

All of us were so enthusiastic that we arrived at the boarding point super early, or at least we thought so. Turned out, we weren’t the only people who were excited to see the Highlands. There was a long queue in front of us. Because of this, we faced some problems with the seating arrangement. Since all of us couldn’t sit together, my dad and I sat together and my mom took a separate seat. Often when my head aches in the bus, my dad works some of his magic and it disappears in a flash! So, I was glad to have him with me.

Laura was our driver and guide all rolled into one! She was really funny and managed to add some humor into every story she told. And her stories were captivating - especially about the hidden legends and the forgotten clans of the Scottish Highlands. Her humor was one of the things that made the bus ride tolerable for me.

The Hairy Coos...

Our first stop was at the quaint village of Kilmahog. We were there to meet the ‘Hairy Coos’ as the Scottish call their very, very hairy cows. When we stopped at this place it was gloomy and raining very heavily. At a shop there, I bought a bag of sherbet lemons. (For those who read Harry Potter, you might know that this was Dumbledore’s favorite Muggle sweet. Now you know I was really desperate to try them and I think they really lived up to the expectation!)

As we came out of the shop, I zipped my jacket till my nose, buttoned up my coat, tightened my gloves and stepped out into the rain to make my acquaintance with Mr. Hammish (the biggest Hairy Coo) and family. We stood around watching the Hairy Coos soak up the rain and looking utterly bored. I am sure they were tired of watching tourists gape at them all day long!

Mr.Hammish, the hairy coo

I observed that the locals were only wearing a thick cotton shirt. No jackets, no mufflers, no gloves! How did they manage? Brr, it was so cold! Our time at Kilmahog was over and we gratefully hopped back into the bus. Overall, it was a very depressing stop (apart from Mr. Hammish of course!). I wondered whether we had chosen a wrong day for a tour. Though the places we saw were very scenic and picturesque, I found it hard to enjoy it because of the gloomy weather. I hoped that other stops wouldn’t be as chill and miserable as this one.

Harry Potter in the Scottish Moor

After a short ride, we stopped amidst the Glencoe (these are the narrow, dark and deep valleys in the Scottish Highlands) at a place called Rannoch moor. This was the place where the most interesting scenes of the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were shot – like where Harry sees himself conjure a Patronus to save Sirius and himself. This made the place extra exiting for me! As we walked a little ahead, I could see a bridge across which, there was an old Scottish farm with loads of Hairy Coos and fluffy white sheep. Laura told us not to disturb any of the sheep as it would be a sufficient reason for the farmer to shoot us down! And then I thought about back home where no one seems to mind a even a bit at getting stared at!

It had stopped raining by now and the sky was clear. The whole farmland looked pretty. I was quite ready to live in a place like this for my whole life. A place nestled among the secretive mountains, where you would be only with yourself, the highlands and nature.

Rannoch Moor, truly breathtaking

Our next stop was for lunch. We hopped out of the bus into the chill Scottish air and ran into the restaurant. After the chill air outside, the warm and cosy restaurant felt like heaven! And the aroma of the rich soup, and freshly baked bread mmm... got my stomach rumbling. After two helpings of an unforgettable vegetable soup (I still remember the rich, creamy taste!) and bread, we hit the road again. Though I had enjoyed my lunch, I was worried it would increase the possibility of throwing it all up because of the winding highland roads.

Clan Wars

Time flew by as Laura told us stories about the various clans that lived in those mountains. She told us the story of the Mc Donald clan and the McGregor clan and their continuous fights. And then the English king William III ordered the assassination of all tribes in Scotland, considering them barbaric. After this, the clans migrated to Australia and the United States of America. This brought an end to the Scottish clans.

When we met Nessie, well, almost..

Within no time, we had reached our next and the most interesting destination of the day. Welcome to Loch Ness!

Laura told us many interesting stories about Loch Ness. It is the biggest and most famous of all Highland Ness’. She told us about the sea monster Nessie. As per Scottish folklore, Nessie is a creature that lives in the deep, dark waters of Loch Ness. It is described as huge monster, with a long neck who shows herself occasionally to a few lucky people. While one part of me knew that this was a totally made up story, nonetheless, the other part kept an eye out hoping to catch a glimpse of dear Nessie! Unfortunately, that didn’t happen!

Our next stop was the Urquhart castle ruins. When we got there, we went through a visitor centre where, in addition to the mandatory gift and souvenir shops, was a small movie hall. Entrance to the grounds included a movie screening – we waited for our turn to be seated in the hall and saw a short film about a castle on the banks of the Loch, the numerous wars it had faced and how it had stood its ground. The end was the most fantastic/dramatic part. The curtains in the dark movie hall parted to reveal a picture postcard like castle in ruins – the Urquhart castle, old and forbidding! It was situated on the banks of the Loch.

Urquhart Castle

My parents, always enthusiastic about ruins, went down the hill to the Loch shore to see the castle. There were dungeons, ramparts, torture rooms – everything you expect a medieval castle to have, minus the roof!

Once we were done with the castle, we took a boat cruise on Loch Ness to get back to the bus. I thought that the best part of the cruise was at the rear where all the water was splashing on your face! The cruise was so much fun that I didn’t even get sea sick, which according to my standards on motion sickness is a huge accomplishment!

Urquhart Castle, seen from Loch Ness

We were back on board after the cruise. This time we drove through Inverness (a small laid-back town considered the capital of the Highlands) but didn’t stop.

Salted Caramel Ice cream!

We turned back to Edinburgh and on the way stopped at the charming town of Pitlochry where we were given a lot of time to explore the place. There was this really nice ice cream shop that Laura recommended to us. I decided to buy a salted caramel ice cream and licking it; we walked around the small city looking at the various shops there.

It was a quaint little place. Few people, few shops, such a laid-back kind of life. I started to wonder whether living here would be better than the farmlands!

Grudgingly, we bid Pitlochry goodbye and went back to the bus for a direct return trip to Edinburgh. We thanked Laura, shook hands and even got a gift from her. It was a postcard with a picture of a Hairy Coo! Laughing, we got down from the bus and walked back to our home. As soon as we reached there, I hit the bed. It was such a tiring, but interesting day. I went to sleep full of dreams of Hairy Coos, Nessie and salted caramel ice creams at Pitlochry!

Inner Voice

2019-12-07T11:10:00.000+05:30

If you have ever been confused on what to do
Tell a lie or tell what's true;
Then listen to your inner voice,
the one that's giving you advice.
If it says: go ahead;
then without a worry you must tread.
For your inner voice knows everything
and from it you can hide nothing..

Written on 19th March 2018

Summer Vacation Stories - The Secret Hiding Place

2019-12-07T10:40:00.002+05:30

One fine summer morning, as Meera and I sat on the steps, we heard someone approaching. We were scared, for we were eating a chocolate and if someone noticed us we were surely 'gone'.

“We must conceal ourselves somewhere” Meera whispered. Ammamma will surely kill us if she found out. There was no time to waste. We had to hide ourselves somewhere. The first place we thought of was behind the door. No, we would be found out too easily.

Suddenly, I saw the idol of lord Krishna. In front of it were two chairs. I pulled Meera, hauled her to the chair and we crouched there as quiet as a mouse.

We were probably a second early. As soon as we crouched down, Ammamma came in. Meera stifled a giggle and Ammamma turned around. She smiled to herself and looked behind the door, our usual hiding place. We took a breath of relief, thankful that we had not hidden there!

Upon not finding us there, Ammamma shrugged her shoulders and continued with her work.

Meera couldn’t stop laughing now. She was shaking with laughter. I clasped my hand over her mouth and she smothered another giggle. I looked at her crossly, she was sure to give away our newly found hiding place.

Ammamma was surprised. She had heard Meera’s restrained giggle but she didn’t know where it was coming from. Keeping her bucket full of clothes down, she started looking for us. She started with our room. Behind the cupboard, under the bed, we were not to be found. She went to every single room upstairs. Finally, she took up the bucket and started putting the clothes on the stand.

After that she came to the idol of lord Krishna next to where we were hiding. The situation was very tense. I could have sworn that her sari had touched my leg. Then to our relief, she carried the bucket and went downstairs.

We slowly got out of our hiding place, thankful that we had not hidden in any of our usual hiding places. After finishing the rest of our chocolate, we went downstairs.

Ammamma saw us and enquired, “Where were you people?”

Giving me a meaningful look, Meera replied, “Oh us? We were in the verandah with Muthaccha.”

Fortunately, this explanation seemed to satisfy Ammamma.

She said, “I thought that both of you were upstairs”.

And later that day we heard her asking Muthaccha to look for rats upstairs. 😊😇

I hate sleeping in the afternoons!

2019-12-01T20:10:00.002+05:30

I hate to sleep in the afternoons. So, does my cousin Meera. But my grandparents are old and so they need to sleep in the afternoon. During the summer vacations, my cousin Meera and I, spend at least a month with our grandparents, in Calicut. During the afternoons, we are often told to sleep because there is no saying what mischief we will do if we have the whole house to just ourselves! Especially when we were small.

For the first few days, we would creep out of the room after they had slept and play around the house. Meera and I would make sure that we returned to the room five minutes before ammamma and muthaccha would wake up. My muthaccha is a stickler for time, he does everything on time! So no confusion there.

After they woke up we would grumble about how boring it was being stuck inside a room trying to sleep. After a few days, one day, muthaccha woke up early and we were caught. Then on wards he would lock the door of the room to make sure we stayed inside.

Now, that door used to creak a lot. We all know that it is very, very hard to open a creaking door, run out, come back and shut the door again without waking up two people sleeping in the room. To top it all muthaccha didn't really sleep, he was alert all the time and mostly he just lied down.

Meera and I would have to think of another way.

After days and days of thinking, we came up with an idea. The idea was that Meera would say very loudly that she was going for a drink of water. Then she would open the door and we both would slip out. After some time, we would shut the door so that muthaccha thought we are inside while we were actually out playing. This idea worked for a few days and we try this even today.

But honestly when I think about it, I think muthachha knows exactly what we are up to all the time, and he is just humoring his very naughty grandchildren!

Do ends justify means?

2019-12-01T19:54:00.002+05:30

Do ends justify means ? This was the topic of the speech that I gave as part of the Bangalore Gavalier's Championship, that was held in October of this year. I did not win anything, but I think I am quite proud of the speech that I gave , this being my first ever speech in front of so many people! :)

Hindi has never been my strong point, especially the KAs and the KIs. And to add to it, for the life of me I couldn't recollect the answer to a certain question. It was so tempting to just take a quick peek into my neighbour’s notebook and get through the ordeal. I am sure this is a situation many of us have been in. Isn’t that right?

So, do ends justify means? Is it ok to cheat in order to be victorious? How about breaking rules or working around rules in order to win a game? Well, I am sure that all of you will agree that the answer to these questions is a big NO. But life often teaches us that this is not always as straightforward as it seems.

So, let me take you through some thought provoking instances where it’s often difficult to decide on what after all is morally right. Let me start with the Epic Mahabharata which is full of instances where rules were broken and then the act was justified.

It was the 14th day of a long and terrible battle. Just the day before, the Pandavas had lost their brave, young prince Abhimanyu. He was lured into the chakravyuha and trapped inside it by Jayadratha. And then, he was slain by the Kaurava army, using deceit and treachery and breaking every rule that a kshatriya must follow.

In a fit of rage and despair, Arjuna took upon himself a terrible vow -to kill King Jayadratha before the sun set the next day. He also vowed that if he couldn’t accomplish this task, then he would walk into a blazing fire and take his own life.

Now the Kauravas ensured that Jayadratha was kept well hidden in the battle field. When Jayaratha was no where to be found, Krishna, Arjuna’s charioteer and closest friend came up with a magnificent plan. He would cover the sun for a few moments with his Sudarshan chakra, tricking the Kauravas into believing that the sun had set and hopefully Jayadratha would show himself.

And then, just as planned, Jaydratha showed himself, Arjuna raised his bow, drew an arrow and let go – severing Jayadratha’s head.

So, Arjuna fulfilled his vow and eventually, the Pandavas won the war. Just as the Kauravas the
Pandavas used every trick in the book during the war. Yes, the Kauravas were the bad lot, but, does that justify what the Pandavas did? Was such a victory morally right?

We can find many other such instances in our history books. During World War II, the Allies fully justified the killing of thousands of German civilians, for knowing that it would break the morale og the German army. Just as Germans justified the killing of thousands of Jews. And then later, the Unites States of America justified the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And what was their justification? That, this would bring a quick end to the bloody battle. More lives would be saved that way, so they believed.

Why just mythology and history, I am sure each of us can look into our own lives and find many such day to day dilemmas. Like the quick glance into the neighbour’s answer sheet; telling yourself that you surely know the answer and a quick confirmation will do no harm. Or, you have got full marks in your Maths paper. The teacher hasn’t realized that though you have answered all questions right, you have forgotten to attempt one. Its ok, you tell yourself, if you had attempted it, you would have gotten it right as well. I am sure many of us have done some of these at some point - right?! Well, if you deny it, then, like Mark Twain said, your clear conscience could be a sign of bad memory!

But seriously, how does one look at success that is not achieved through honest means? I for one do believe that more often than not, the end does NOT justify the means. Not at all ! How you get to the end matters more than the end itself. I believe long lasting success can only be achieved when both the means and the end are noble. I am not sure I would feel great about those full marks in Maths, knowing that I was not honest with my teacher. I think the prick of the conscience is a difficult thing to ignore and it can take away all the joy and happiness from an achievement.

Finally, philosophical questions like these are something that each of us should answer for ourselves. And the guiding force here should be our moral values, our sense of right and wrong and the need to have a clear conscience.

Echoes from a forgotten past - Satavahanas

2019-12-01T19:40:00.003+05:30

One day, I saw this interesting video. It showed a map of India with a timeline. As the timeline changed, the dynasties in India came and went. I looked on as the Vedic period came, the Aryans, the Mauryas and many more. At that time I saw an empire called the Satavahanas. My curiosity grew. Who were they? I had never heard of them. My father suggested that I read up and find out more. Soon I discovered that this was a glorious empire. That's when I decided to write an article. And here it is....!

Warning: Not for those who find history boring!!

But do watch this video, its awesome - https://www.facebook.com/officialindiajaiho/videos/2439760136258103

The age of the Satavahanas

In the 1^st century BCE, a local chieftain Simuka comes to the throne of a small area in present day Maharashtra, to lay the foundations of an empire that would last for centuries and leave its indelible mark in the fields of art and architecture. They were the Satavahanas.

The Satavahanas were feudatories of the Mauryan Empire and slowly as the Mauryan Empire started declining; the Satavahanas rebelled, broke free and got their freedom.

The Satavahanas ruled from 1^st century BCE to the 2^nd century CE from their capital city of Paithan also called Pratishtan (their capital was later changed to Amravathi). They ruled over parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and parts of Karnataka and Gujarat. Their 1^st capital Paithan was famous for its honey, silk and cotton.

Post-Mauryan political landscape

Around this time, in South India the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas were ruling. As the Mauryan Empire began to disintegrate the Indo-Greek empire in the north-west and the Shungas in the east also grabbed power. During their rule, many great empires came and went - the Indo-Greek empire, the Indo-Scythian empire, the Kushans and the Shungas. Around the 2^nd century CE, the Satavahanas faded out of existence and were replaced by the Vakataka dynasty.

Trade and Commerce

The Satavahana Empire was situated around the river Godavari. They had their capital at Paithan, also known as Pratishtan. This was geographically a very important place because the Dakshinapath (the route that connects north India to south India) passed through Paithan. Whoever controlled the Dakshinapath, controlled all the trade between north and south India. All this trading made the Satavahanas very rich.

The Satavahanas had trading ports on the Arabian Sea and trade with Rome from these ports also made them rich. At that time, Rome was the most powerful place in Europe. Trading across seas took place between India and Rome. Various ports like Kalyan and Sopara became hubs for trade.

Kingdom – Early period

The Satavahanas had around 12 kings over 3 decades. The statues of 8 of the most famous kings are found in the caves of Naneghat along with one queen – Naganika. Naganika wife of the 3^rd king, Satakarni I was a very famous queen. She was the first queen in India, and probably even the whole world, to mint coins in her name. Her husband, Satakarni I, patronised Hinduism and conducted yajnas and made handsome donations to Brahmins.

Fight for Malwa & access to Sanchi

Satakarni II, who succeeded Satakarni I defeated the Shungas and occupied Eastern Malwa. This gave him access to Sanchi and the stupa there. Satakarni II contributed immensely to the restoration of the Sanchi Stupa. The architects of his court have inscribed information about the king on the southern gate of the Stupa.

Inscription on Southern Gate of Sanchi Stupa (By Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand - Detail of, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61815443)

Golden era

Under Gautamiputra Satakarni, the greatest king of the empire, and his successor Vashishtaputra Satakarni, the Satavahana kingdom expanded to its maximum point. Gautimaputra Satakarni ruled for around 21 years. According to various inscriptions, it is said that he defeated the Shakas and Yavanas.

After defeating the Shaka king Nahapana, he saw that Nahapana had coins minted on his name. So, Gautamiputra Satakarni minted coins in his name, a trait that the Shakas had learnt from the Greeks.

Gautamiputra Satakarni's coins

Extent of the Satavahana Empire

Decline

The Satavahana Empire fell shortly after the Roman Empire fell. It became poorer too, since its revenue was mainly trading. After Yajna Satakarni, the empire faced lots of threats and this resulted in them finally collapsing.

Contributions to Art & Architecture

The Satavahanas were the first kings to get coins struck in their name. They were patrons of Buddhism, who helped in building the Sanchi Stupa, in present day Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh. This stupa was constantly repaired by Satakarni II. Their famous paintings on the Ajanta caves can still be seen today.

The Buddhist Chaitya in the Karla caves in present day Maharashtra were also made by these kings. It was used as a prayer hall. These are few of the masterworks of this kingdom.

Buddhist Chaitya in Karla caves in Maharashtra (By Kevin Standage INDIAN TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY)

Art and literature

The kings were also a patron of art and literature. They encouraged spreading of the language Prakrit.

Many of the inscriptions in Naneghat are written in Prakrit.

King Hala's poems

King Hala, one of the kings of the empire, was famous for his poems. The 9^th and 10^th cave of Ajanta and Ellora also have painting patronized by the Satavahanas.

Main locations (archaeological sites)

As mentioned earlier, the Satavahana kings supervised and gave funds for the construction of the Sanchi stupa. Being propagators of mainly Buddhism, they have built numerous stupas. Others include the famous Amaravathi stupa, the stupa at Goli, Nagarjunakonda, Gantsala and many more.

Southern gateway of Sanchi Stupa

The 9^th and 10^th cave of Ajanta and Ellora also have painting patronized by the Satavahanas. Naneghat is also an amazing site to get to know more about the Satavahanas.

Naneghat Caves

It used to be a trade route and it has caves with Hindu and Sanskrit inscriptions written in Prakrit. There are many museums all around the world that have many paintings and sculptures of this time and are a must see:

- National museum, Delhi
- Amaravati museum, Amaravati
- British museum, London
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vaastu Sangrahalay, Mumbai
- Ashmolean museum, Oxford

Enemies

The main enemies of the Satavahanas were the Shakas, the Western Satrapas and the Yahavanes.

An empire, however strong it is, will eventually fall. The Satavahanas fell to the Vakataka dynasty. The Satavahana Empire was a great one. It is a pity we know so less about it. The glorious history of the Satavahanas is known to very few. This empire influenced art, architecture and literature in many ways. It is definitely one that everybody must know about.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satavahana_dynasty

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzokPBxvoYw

2019-07-07T23:07:00.000+05:30

Friendship

Friendship, a precious gift without which life would be so boring. It is the very joy of our existence. Friends may come and go, but you will always carry them in your memories. True friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget. Can any of you imagine life without friends?

Full of similar thoughts and feelings I wrote this poem about friendship when I was in 5^th grade. The motivation for this poem came from an old and dusty memento belonging to my grand father, that said "of all the gifts great and small, friendship is the best of all"!

FRIENDSHIP

Of all the gifts great and small

Friendship is the best of all

Friends make you happy and gay

And take from your life the drab and grey

Friends if they are real and true

Will always, always stand by you

Friends help you when in need

They are the best gifts indeed!

I have many friends in my life, but three of them will be forever in my heart. Let’s call them R, D and F. I have known F from my daycare days. Recently we moved into the same apartment as hers and now we both get to spend a lot of time together. Our love for the same kind of books, similar music and the same subjects at school gives us a lot to do together. We make up stupid parodies and silly games in the school bus and all the way when we walk back from the bus stop to our homes. But we certainly do not agree on everything at all times and then we end up arguing with each other. But thank God we make up and move on in no time.

During my 3^rd grade I made another close friend, R. We both were best of friends for a year and then D joined our class. In the beginning we were not sure, but then slowly she became part of our gang. R took a while to warm up to D. In the initial days she would talk to me for ages, but when D came around, she would just go on mute. Finally the three of us settled down nicely with each other. Things were going great, and we were having a good time in class. Then, the next year our classes got shuffled, D and I are now in the same class and R moved to another section. But we never stopped being the threesome that we were. We regularly meet during the snacks and the lunch breaks. We occasionally have sleepovers and then we stay up all night talking! Our friendship and trust for each other is as strong as an iron rod, and I hope it never rusts, ever!

Talking about trust and friendship, here’s another poem titled "Trust", that I wrote during my summer break last year, at my grandma’s place.

                                            TRUST
                      Trust is the most expensive thing
                      More costly than a diamond ring

                      It takes years and years to gain
                     Years of hard work, toil and pain

                         A mistake however small
                         Lets trust break and fall

Hello Edinburgh!

2019-06-05T22:02:00.000+05:30

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller” – Ibn Battuta

Getting there

It was that time of the year - our yearly visit to places far and wild, to savour new cultures and experiences. To live out a dream that we, as a family, had been dreaming about for nearly a year.

Sorry, that was a bit dramatic, but hey we were headed for a couple of weeks to Scotland & England. It had been on our wish list for years, and summer of 2019 is when we finally set foot on the lands of our former colonial masters.

25^th April late afternoon found me, my parents and our mound of luggage at 1 Abbey hill Crescent, Edinburgh, taking in our new home. After 2 flights, a 25 minute bus ride to the city center and a 15 minute walk, and we were transported from Bangalore to the scenic city of Edinburgh for 5 paradisaical days we were sure to enjoy. Our house was quite quaint. My dad is an Airbnb fan and we nearly always end up staying in a house or an apartment rather than a hotel room, and I must admit that I too like the thrill and adventure of staying in a foreign land in a native house than in a sterile hotel room. Think about this – our ‘house’ in Edinburgh had a bedroom with loads of cupboards, a living room with a pull - out bed, a bathroom and a fully functional kitchen. Not a cramped hotel room, but a single bedroom, very comfortable house, yay!!

Bird's eye view of the scenic city of Edinburgh from the castle

We quickly deposited our clothes in the cupboards haphazardly, excited to explore Edinburgh and more importantly, have dinner. The most important road in Edinburgh is the Royal Mile. One end of the royal mile is the Edinburgh castle, the other is the palace of Holyrood House. Being the most popular street, we decided to head there for dinner. It was supposed to have a lot of eating options!

As soon as we stepped out a gust of cold wind struck us on our face. Edinburgh was way, way, way colder than Bangalore. It would definitely take me a while to get used to this weather! We walked along the road for some time. The thrill of walking on the streets of a foreign land is inexpressible. At that time, I felt like the happiest child in the world. 😊

Tolbooth Kirk, Royal Mile. Kirk is Scottish for church.

Buying groceries was the first task to complete. Staying in Airbnb means no ‘hotel breakfast’ in the morning, you need to go purchase ingredients from the nearest shop and cook something up. We went to this supermarket called Sainsbury’s and bought yogurt, bread, eggs, fruits and a bunch of other stuff for breakfast. I always love the shopping during our trips. It gives me a weird sort of excitement when I read names of various foreign brands. I love all that stuff we got for breakfast - noodles, croissants, yogurt. With the exception of bread and egg. Did I mention, I hate bread and egg, it always give a tummy ache...

For dinner, we went to this cool fish and chips shop called Benes and bought – no prizes for guessing - 3 fish and chips. Little did we know that the portions were way way too big. We were barely able to finish two of them and we put the third one in the fridge for the next day.

So, with luck the next morning’s breakfast was bread, croissants, yogurt and fish and chips from Benes. Yes, we had quite an appetite. After figuring out how to use all the contraptions in the shower and the kitchen, we finished breakfast and finally stepped out of the house in to icy cold weather and walked over to the Edinburgh Castle.

The sun stopped playing hide and seek as we exited the castle.

Was it James or Charles or...

Edinburgh Castle was so huge! As we visited the first few floors, I felt super interested. But truthfully speaking, after some time I got so bored. A lot of people were looking at me weirdly when I was yawning. Ya, its okay for those interested deeply in Scottish history, but for me every king looked the same. They would probably say the same thing about Indian Kings 😐). It’s either a James or a Henry or a William or a Charles. And the queens are either Catherine, Mary or Anne. Less diversity for the queens. No surprise.

Cemetery for dogs, one of the many sights in Edinburgh Castle.

Right outside the castle, we spotted this shop called “The Boy Wizard”. Yep, you guessed it right, a shop that sold Harry Potter stuff. I was so excited; I literally sprinted down the stairs.

I was so happy when I got my own Gryffindor sweatshirt 👍👍. The place even had a real live wizarding chess model. I could have spent hours there - trying out various types of wands and posing with them - but, sadly, my parents had other plans.

Greek tour of the underground

We stopped in front of this rusty, dusty place with a sign ‘Real Mary Kings Close’ written over it. Didn’t look so great from the outside, a bit spooky to be honest. We went inside and waited for a while. Apparently, there was a guided tour to the underground life in Edinburgh that my dad had read about and thought it would be a great thing for us to go see. The tour would take us through underground streets that belonged to a lady called Mary King. In Scottish, "close" meant a narrow street. Soon two women, one in a frilly gown that made her look like she belonged to the middle ages, came up to the waiting people.

They took us to this small room and we were left with the Middle Age woman. She was Greek; I forgot her name, so let’s call her Athena for now (because that is the only Greek name I know 😁). 'Athena' had an amazing sense of humor and kept us giggling as well as captivated all throughout the tour.

The story goes like this - the rich used to live in luxurious flats with 2 or 3 bedrooms on upper floors, while the poor used to live in dirty 1-bedroom houses on the ground floors. She told us that the streets were littered with garbage and sewage all the time. The streets were less of streets and more like a open drain, very very unhygienic! This is why the rich wanted a house in the higher floors so they could be away from all the garbage. So, basically the richer you were, the higher you lived! Thousands of rats bred in these dirty streets and was cause of the deadly plague in Edinburgh.

The room I liked the most was the plague room. Here Athena told us how people lived during the time of the Black Death, a deadly plague that ravaged through Europe, killing millions. There were models of sick people belonging to a family. The father was dead, his wife and daughter were having an incurable form of plague and the son was being cured from his plague by the plague doctor. It was a sad scene indeed.

Athena told us that people would hang white flags on the doors if anyone in their house had plague. On seeing the flag, the plague doctor would to go to the houses and treat the sick. The plague doctor was dressed from head to toe in black and even his face was covered with a raven mask because they thought that the mask would shoo away the spirits that caused the disease. Little did they know that because the doctor was covered from head to toe, he wouldn’t get bitten by the rats and hence was safe. It would take the medicine men in Europe many, many years to associate rats with plague.

Then we saw a room that was supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a girl named Annie. Legend goes that once a tourist, who was exploring the close, walked into this empty room. She immediately felt cold and wanted to walk out of the room when she felt a hand touch her. And then she saw a little girl who told her that her name was Annie and that she was left all alone in this room because she had the plague. She was also upset because her parents had taken away her most favorite doll.

As this story spread, tourist started bringing dolls for Annie and very soon there was a mound of dolls there to keep Annie happy! Athena told us that just the day before our visit, someone had stolen the original doll. How weird!

Athena finally took us to a room called the quarantine room where people who were recovering from the plague would stay for 6 weeks. She talked to us for some time about this and that. After that she told us that our 6 weeks were over, we were cured and now we could leave! What a witty way to end the tour, don’t you think?!

Finally the tour of Mary King's close ended. Till our last day in Edinburgh, every time we walked this spot, I would think of our amazing underground tour and all the spooky stories Athena told us!

A bagpiper on the royal mile.

Food, finally...

After all the walking around, I was ready to drop. And on top of that, I was starting to feel really hungry. So, we paused our sightseeing for food at this small place called Frankie’s and Benny’s. I remember everything about the place, as in like everything. Let me prove it to you. As soon as you get in, there is one big step which is kind of easy to miss because it sorts blends with the tiled floor! The first time we went there, (yes, we went there again twice!), we sat in the third seat to the left of the entrance. There were two waitresses, one of them had long nails with black nail polish. I ordered a Chicken and Mushroom pasta; mom ordered a Penne Arabiata and dad a Spicy Chicken Americano pizza. 🍕
And… the food was awesomely deliciously scrumptious. See, I remember everything about Frankie’s And Benny’s. I will definitely remember this place for “CENTURIES” because my pasta was just heavenly!

Next stop was an adventurous climb up Arthur's peak, more of that for later. 🌄