Animals forever and ever !

Having your live pet dog prance around you is one thing. Now imagine your pet - stuffed and mounted on the wall in your living room?

Clearly….Taxidermy is NOT for all.

Those unfamiliar with this territory ought to be told that Taxidermy is considered as a fine mix of science and art world over – a process by which dead animals are preserved for educational purpose. Taxidermy is also a fetching profession if you do it right. Full mounts, trophy heads and skins of the deceased animals – popular ones being of Lions, Tigers, Snow Leopards, Crocodiles, Polar Bears, Black Bears, Red Deers, Eagles, Ostriches make a multi-billion dollar industry across all geographies. In fact, the older the ‘mount’ the more it is valued.

If you think this is weird and can’t help making faces, think of the alternative to Taxidermy. Do we just let the dead animals go without a trace? How else to preserve a race? It follows the same principle as does the mummification.

While mummification might have been started by the prehistoric South Americans and Egyptians to ensure that deceased’s soul continues into the afterlife, these same ‘mummies’ are our window into a race, a culture, a kingdom, an era – thousands of years ago!

Who knows? Today’s taxidermy could open a window to our world few millenia from now!

And for now….we can take solace in and marvel at a Taxidermist’s skill at keeping a deceased animal looking alive!

A pleasant break in a long walk....

We were on our way to do the Circumambulation of Tiruvannamalai and visiting the Lord Arunachaleshwara in Tamil Nadu.  Six of us started off by mid day of 6 Jan 2012, on this 17km walk; it was a hot and sunny day.  We kept crossing many foreigners on our way and one of them a school teacher named Voila from Canada was also walking along with us.  She told us that after reading the teachings of Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi which impressed her deeply, she came down to India to spend a couple of months here. We were pleasantly surprised to note that she is checked into a small home stay at Tiruvannamalai and does walk up and down to the Ramanasramam daily. After walking for 3 hrs we reached Ramanasramam and walked in with lot of expectations. 

First we stopped by the big hoarding detailing the Asram site map. After checking out all the places to visit we went on to Bhagavan Samadhi Shrine.  It is a huge and peaceful hall where a Shiva Linga is placed on the Samadhi of Bhagavan and a close to real life idol is also there.  Black and white life size pictures of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi adorn the walls of this hall.  Every picture leaves you spell bound as the eyes are so full of life and seem to look through your soul. 

We sat in that hall along with few others and meditated for a while.  It was interesting to note that surroundings make a huge impact on the state of mind, as I found it was easy to focus and meditate positively here than usual.Our next stop was of Mathrubhuteshwara temple which has the remains of Bhagavan’s mother.  This was inaugurated by Ramana Maharshi himself. We found a group of people singing some very pleasant and melodious Tamil songs in the hall of this shrine.  We all found them so interesting and sat for a long time listening to that rhythmic and captivating music despite not understanding the language, it is so true that music has no language barriers to enjoy.

We went ahead and looked around the dining hall, meeting area, well and the residential quarters of the Asram.  Everything is excellently maintained and we found many residents cleaning, sweeping and mopping these places as part of their routine. Then we visited the soul of the Asram, Sri Raman Maharshi’s personal chamber where he used to live and the articles that he used were also kept on display.  The area was kept intact and gave a feeling as if He is still there and spreading some positive energy around. From here we went towards the Cow sheds or Gosalas.  All the animals here are named and reared with love and affection.  The helpers and the residents of the Ashram take good care of these cows and showed us around the place. We fed the cows with the fruits we carried after taking permission to do so, took few pictures and were surprised to see the way each cow responds when called by name.  We were told that even Bhagavan had a favorite cow named Lakshmi that always stayed outside His quarters and grazed around close by.

 There is a Veda Pathasala (Vedic School) where the mid day classes were going on.  We waited outside and listened to the clear, rhythmic way of pronouncing the Sanskrit Shlokas. There were many Peacocks around this part of the Asram and we were lucky to see a Peacock dancing in very close quarters, it was so magical that we forgot to capture it on roll.

On our way back we visited the Book stall which stocks Books on Ramana Maharshi, Books written detailing his teachings and many other publications on Hindu religion, Vedic transcripts and many more.  All the above books are available in different languages as well including Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and English. Cotton hand bags with long strap were on sale here with the logos of the Asram.  They are so useful to carry along that I bought many to gift my friends and family.  I also bought the Diaries that carried Pictures and quotes of Ramana Maharishi.  

With that we walked out of the Ashram and were back on to the Parikrama of the Arunachalam Hill.  My experiences of this walk deserve another blog altogether hence I will detail them later.

Fancy these foxy, full-bodied foursomes?

Call it a fancy or a fixation….but I’ve always wanted to fill up my flute with a fine five-star fermentation and fulp it…..sorry…gulp it! Yup you heard it right.

This is a classic case of fostering a fetish whose facets you know nothing of!

No….I’m not fumbling but consciously stating my super long cherished dream of putting to lip – 4 sips….in the RAW.

A sippa Tea.

A sippa Coffee.

A sippa Saffron.

A sippa Wine.

The first two were relatively easier to find. Tea in Darjeeling and Coffee in Coorg - on my summer vacations to these geographies. But I want the balance two to be more than just a chance happening. I’m going fishing for them to the father (mother doesn’t rhyme here) of all places in which they are available. Pampore for Saffron. And Nashik for Wine.

So why all the fuss over these frinks…sorry drinks…. you ask?

Well….first off…

All four exotically-bitter tasting and liqueurs (minus the alcohol) are among the world’s top ten most expensive productions:

a. It takes 1,75,000 Saffron flowers to make 1 kilogram of consumable saffron and costs about Rs. 75, 000 per kilo.

b. It takes 22, 000 Tea shoots to make 1 kilogram of consumable tea.

c. It takes 800 grapes to make 1 bottle of wine.

d. 100 kilos of coffee beans will produce about 15 kilos of export-ready coffee.

Why? Because I’m worth it. Plus, each of them have health benefits. And last but not the least....I just love all the glamour, pomp and the paraphernalia that comes with the territory of stylishly sipping these ‘raws’ in crystal twist stem glasses.

And one word of advice to the spirited – if it’s one for the road – have coffee! Hic!

All pine for the Alpine….

My love-affair with mountain ranges and all things alpine started recently and seems to be growing more passionate and diverse by the day. First, I used to browse the blog-sites and view lots of personal videos of true-travelers’ lowdown on high altitudes. Then I remember driving up in the rain to a book store and buying books on mountains of India and the seven summits of the world….just to be able to read about mountains in bed endlessly which is difficult with a laptop. Then came a phase when I started painting, art-journaling and paper-collaging with a central theme of the mountains. By this time….mountain ranges started getting so etched in my mind that I became a virtual curious-tourist so I took a nose-dive into mountaineering and started researching technology that aided humans in discovering and exploring the mountains and their terrain. That’s when I discovered that there is a formal course that teaches the knack of climbing mountains plus all the mountain’s moods which basically decides whether or not one would return from them in one single piece….or…..not at all!

The fact that you’re reading this topic speaks of your ‘inclination’ towards the snowy-slopes. Don’t know which milestone you’re at but maybe you need to lap-up some knowledge and know-how before you sign-up or fizzle-out. Did you know that the Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering in Darjeeling offers month-long and on-field training in Mountaineering and costs less than Rs. 5000??? This should put to rest your delusions that mountaineering is for James Bonds and Yash Chopras. Anybody who has a fetish for adventure of treading lesser traveled angular roads running in his veins, has the grit to take on a risky challenge of climbing unpredictable powder slopes, longs for the adrenalin rush that comes with uncertainty of the mood of the mountains and someone who wants to stand closest to the sky….qualifies!

If you’re that someone or you want to know if you’re that someone….there is one good way to find out. Do what I’m going to do. Enroll for mountaineering training.

My inspiration? Jordan Romero, 13 – world’s youngest climber to summit Mount Everest at 29,035 feet altitude.

Source of my confidence? The 4000+ successful climbers who made it to the top of Mount Everest.

My preparation? Relentless training, gaining 360-degree awareness and focus.

They say the best way to focus on a goal is to visualize your goal frequently by forming mental images of your goal in your brain and by recalling them often in a day.

My method? Come to the Tiger Hill Watch-tower. 4 AM. And see for yourself…..