Take off and landing.............

..............when i did the three day paragliding course, the thrill that i felt, there are very few highs in life as yet to match that.....i think adventure sports and spirituality come to a very close.......both of us push us to our higher limits.....and challenge us to overocome insecurities, fear and our lower qualities to experience what we have never experienced.........paragliding is freedom, to float in the air just by ourselves, it puts us in touch the one of the elements air which we take for granted.....here we begin to experience wind, feel it and learn to flow with it...............and most of all it puts us in touch with our inner core..........

Prayer wheels, Salt tea and Monastery

............Rumtek Monastery, the most sacred and revered place of worship......i turned the prayer wheels sending the "om mani padme hum" chants reverberating in the universe and in my inner universe.................

From zero point to NOTHINGNESS

......what am i doing ? what is the purpose of my life? What is going to happen next ?.....and all these existential questions become negated to a big 0 or shoonya......as we realise that god and nature are one....overpowering, omnipresent and omniscient and to realise the sacred presence in pristine nature is the key to discovery of the self......

Gurudongmar Lake @ 17100 feet

...........this lake in North Sikkim located at the height of 17000+ feet, is an awesome and out of this world spectacle. Surrounded by snow clad mountains and crystal clear icy water, it is a very sacred lake and it is believed that any wish you make there comes true.....here the percentage of oxygen in the air is only 4% hence to stay here for more than an hour is not possible for most tourists.....it is an out of this world experience. A special permission is required for this visit and foreigners are not allowed to visit this lake.

Yumthang Valley - a riot of rhododendrons in bloom

.....The whole Yumthang valley, one of the most picturesque sights in the whole of sikkim, is a riot of colour in this season as Rhodendron flowers bloom throughout the trekking trail in red, white, pink and yellow.......The Shingba Rhododenron sanctuary is full of flowers in bloom as sikkim celebrates Rhodendron festival from 25 APril to 15 May.....

Tsomgo, Yak, me and the SNOWSTORM !!!

................Tsomgo lake...baba mandir, yak ride ......all this is routine tourist activity....but what happened next was a life changing experience for me.....all of a sudden at about 3.30 while returning it started raining snow, and the whole landscape in 1 hr changed from black to white...all the cars got stranded and this continued till 6 in the evening...there was ankle deep snow and about 1500 tourists and 150 vehicles were stranded at various points.

My gracious host said that i have got two options - to stay overnight in the car, or walk in the snow for about 5- 6 kms till we reach the check point. Well i definitely chose the later...as this was going to be my first trek in the snow at night and who knows i may never get the opportunity again....and it was fun. Initially i kept slipping and stumbling but once i learnt the trick of walking on soft snow with my heels and at times slip on the ice while maintaining my balance. i along with four other c0 -travellers walked for about 2 hrs in the snow till we reached the point where a taxi had come to pick us up. Back in my resort i had a hot soak in tub with lemongrass oil and salt ........Well i guess i am ready for a ski course now....
.....next day there was a news item in local and calcutta newspapers.....

....and the Hoogly flows on

21 April, 12.20, Arrival in Calcutta
.....twenty years ago, that was the last time i came to calcutta and twenty years later i get to visit the city where i spent the most formative 10 -12 years of my life. In a whirlwind tour in 24 hrs i see calcutta in a fast forward mode.....this slow moving and leisure loving city. No trip to Calcutta is complete without paying homage to the Guardian goddess at Kalighat and Dakhineshwar. It was an uplifting experience. Whether calcutta has changed in all these years or not is difficult to say but i definitely have.....

View from SIndhudurg Fort

..............This fort in the sea at Malvan....is a must see.....

Snorkelling at Tarkarli

...............some 500 kms away from Mumbai.....is a place - Tarkarli...where the sand is talcum powder soft and white and the beach a dream......it feels that one is living in a boat that has drifted ashore....and to add to the excitement is Snorkelling in the sea.....and viewing some interesting corals and life under the water......

Grace at Ganpatiphule

..............my favourate gods favourate beach at Ganpatiphule is a place full of charged vibrations and grace........

Cooling at Matheran

.................Verandah in the Forest was a cool place to chillout after all the stress.......deep in the forest....

2010 - My New Farm(house yet to come) !!!

.........there was a death in the family on 31st december, hence the new year began on a sombre note of mourning and restraint.......but on the happier side we bought our new farm at Vare village near the river..... the first time i saw that place.....it really spoke to us.......and both of us felt that it was what we both wanted.........surrounded by river on two sides, with mango and teakwood trees........