Friday Gyan: Patience and Persistence

When we are demotivated, a little positive push is required. Here's the Friday Gyan to keep you all motivated. Be motivated and motivate others.

PC: Prashant Bhandare

Story:
In an Indian temple, when the priest had gone for lunch, the Idol of the Lord and the Stepping Stone (stone used as a step) were conversing. 

Stepping Stone: What a good fate you have. We both were the same lump of rock for millions of years. The sculptor carved an idol out of you and everyone is worshipping you. Look at me, I am a stepping stone and every one stands on me and stamps on. What kind of life is this?

The Idol kept smiling and never bothered to answer this now and then routine murmur from the stepping stone. But the stepping stone will never stop his constant bickering.

The Idol replied: But do you remember that when the sculptor set out to carve an idol, it was you he chose, first. You were so impatient. In one strike, you broke into two. But when he tried on me, I grinned and bore all the hammers and chisel strikes with PATIENCE. Here I am the worshipful and happy Idol and you are the Stepping Stone.

Moral:
The difference between success and failure is patience and persistence!

World Wildlife Day!

Today’s World Wildlife Day! 

Conserve nature and protect wildlife, making them comfortable in their environment. Few days back in Bangalore, there was an entry of Leopard into a school or vice versa there was a school in the Leopard’s environment. In the last few years Bangalore is developing drastically resulting in destroying the forest, cutting down the trees; moreover we have scorching hot summer, no rainfall, absolutely no winter in the last few years.

Wildlife, they need their environment and isn't it our responsibility to conserve nature bit by bit? 

PC: Prashant Bhandare

#FlipkartOutdoors - IndiMeet at MangoMist Resort

#FlipkartOutdoors - Last month, I was active on IndiBlogger and that's the reason I was able to register for the IndiMeet, coz IndiBlogger was smart enough not to send an email invite about the meet. ;) After attending the #FlipkartImageSearch IndiMeet at HRC, Bangalore I did not want to miss the blogger event. One for networking with the fellow bloggers and two Flipkart always has so much to give and three it's my first IndiBlogger Outdoors meet.

Here it begins, on 20th February Saturday morning we left early following the Google maps and it suggested an easy route through Electronic city - but it did not advise about the narrow roads. We reached venue on time, this time we had a mobile reporting through IndiBlogger and it was cool. They just had to scan the QR Code from our IndiPass and we receive a welcome message on our registered mobile. We also got time to time updates about the meet over the phone. Jai Ho technology. We then collected our wrist band and headed for the breakfast. The breakfast was decent considering there were two huge teams, 125+ IndiBloggers and a huge family team outing from one of the IT companies (Lucky they). 

After breakfast, our activities begin. Anoop as usual lively and energetic briefs us through the events of the day, continued by Vineet's hilarious warm up exercise. We were then divided into 7 groups and we dispersed to different Flipkart partners' counters. They were from Garmin, Samsung, Red Chief Mens shoes, Polaroid, AltecLansing, Sony,  and Coleman. We spent quality time understanding the products they had to offer, trying the devices, verifying and providing feedback if the device did not work well. 

Garmin - Our first visit was to Garmin counter where they had spread various Garmin Fitness Bands, we tried them and one of us were handed the device to test the features for rest of the day. The Garmin Fitness Bands are awesome and pocket friendly. The Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band which we tried monitors your moments and record your calories, heart rate, sleep with lot of easy to use features. And it's sleek and adjustable any wrist size. 

Samsung - A well known brand in India, who wouldn't want to own these smartwatches. They had variety of smartwatch collections with different price range obvious that a little heavy on the wallet but the features are awesome and reliable. It's a must buy for a fitness freak and one wouldn't regret buying Samsung smart watches.

Red Chief - They had variety of corporate casual shoes on display, cool shoes, we girls couldn't try them as it was manufactured on for men. So men's had an add on during the #FlipkartOutdoors.

Polaroid - Polaroid counter seemed cool to me, I was reminded of the olden days when they used to take the instant photographs after seeing Polaroid ZIP Zink Photoprinter. I'm sure I'm going to own this soon. 

Another cool device they had and the USP of the outdoor event was their Polaroid Cube, an apt device for your Outdoor ventures. They had a variety of add-on accessories to support the cube they were Helmet Mount, Body Strap, Monkey Stand, Tripod Mount, Waterproof case, Bumper case, and Bicycle mount. When we visited the counter only accessories left was the body strap, however, I tried them on my hand and I was able to shoot the action videos. It's a cool device, shock proof and easy to use having just one button for all actions.

AltecLansing - Altec Lancing Mini LifeJacket Wireless Speakers and Altec Lancing Bluetooth Active Earbuds were stealing the show. They were pouring water on the bluetooth speaker and the music still playing uninterrupted. This demonstrated that the device is apt for outdoor activities on any condition rain or shine. There was a contest for Altec Lancing Bluetooth Active Earbuds, they claimed that the gadget would not fall out from the ears with any kind of body moments. But our adventurous bloggers made sure to shake their heads as much as they can to drop the earphones down.

Coleman - Any outdoor adventure wouldn't be complete without the Coleman products. They had the Coolers, Tents which are easy to assemble, Quad chairs, and lot of takeaway for the winners like water bottles, head torch, tiffin boxes and so on. Each team had to participate in assembling the tent, Prashant's team won as they were able to assemble in 90 seconds. 

My team assembling the tent

Victory: Look at the satisfaction after entering the tent what we assembled

Sony - Sony action cam, one of the best during the #FlipkartOutdoors. They were rough and tough in the action camera category, also waterproof. I'll have you decide on the Sony action cam features seeing the video shot by Prashant Bhandare here:

After the entire product demo, real fun begins with the activities lined up at the Mango Mist resort. We tried Bamboo walking, hilarious land zorbing, paintball activities, and to end with a relaxing fish spa and the mist dance. Thank you #IndiBlogger and #FlipkartOutdoors, you rock.

P.S: Thank you #Flipkart for the coupons on #FlipkartImageSearch contest.

Wedding Moments: Silver Anklets – One of the sixteen adornments

PC: Nithin Suvarna

Jewellery is something that has to do with emotion.

That aspect of jewellery really interests me. - Ann Demeulemeester

Anklets (Payal in Hindi) is one of the sixteen adornments (Solah Shringar) of an Indian bride. I always believe that there’s some reasoning in  Indian beliefs so here’s a transcript of my understanding about wearing silver anklets. I’ve referred many blogs or website’s from where I got this information and translating as per my understanding.

Majority of women wear silver anklets and I believe this is the right metal to wear on your ankle. People say by wearing silver anklets one’s energy is not wasted and re-vibrated back to one’s own body. The wind chime like effect of the anklets might be the reason and Silver is a good conductor of energy and work as a mediator between the two forms of energy, earth and human body, it makes a woman more energetic while sending the negative energy to earth.

Anklets improve the womb, reproductive system, stomach, liver, and the feet. Women usually are involved in a lot of work more than men, who have to do a lot of running around or have to work standing up wear heavy anklets as it increases activeness.

Wedding Photography by: Dreamframes, Balmatta, Mangalore

Friday Gyan: Poisoning Mother-in-law

PC: Prashanthe Bhandare

During Lunch Break, Mother in Law will be the centre of attraction in my office cafeteria. And the ladies everywhere find so much joy in venting out their frustration by cribbing over the lunch. Somehow, they need to take this out. I've even witnessed words like I want to kill her but I don't want to go to jail kind of statements and my mother in law somehow wants to get rid of me but she doesn't know how to kind of statements. Well, they don't mean it but this is the level of frustration with them. Well, it's kind of entertainment for us who are not privileged to stay with our Mother in laws. We have a good laugh. 

Since, I used to share weekly Friday Gyan's earlier and now being intermittent with these gyan's, here's this weeks Friday Gyan dedicated to all those ladies. Enjoy the gyan:

Poisoning Mother-in-law

Story:
Long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law’s habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.

Moreover, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing the poor husband great distress. Unable to stand her mother-in-law’s bad temper and dictatorship Li-Li decided to see her father’s good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all. Mr. Huang thought for a while, and finally said, “Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.”. Lily nodded and accepted his request.

Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, “I am giving you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. To avoid suspicion, you must act very friendly towards her. Don’t argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.”

Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to plan her plot. Weeks went by, months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. After six months, the whole household had changed.

Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She never had an argument in six months with her mother-in-law, who now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with. The mother-in-law’s attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love her like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. They both were treating each other like a real mother and daughter. Li-Li’s husband was very happy to see all this.

Li-Li started feeling bad about poisoning her. So she went to see Mr. Huang to ask his help once again. She said, “Mr. Huang, please help me to stop the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She’s changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.”

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. “Li-Li, there’s nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.”

Moral:
We take quick and random decisions in life based on our prejudices and judgments, most of which we end up regretting later and wish if we could not have done them. Letting go of a negative attitude, however hard it may be, can help us turn things around better down the line. Always keep a positive attitude and a proper state of mind while you take important decisions in your life. And remember to treat people with love and care because you always get treated by the way you treat others... 

Originally posted in my other blog: http://cutemorningalways.blogspot.in/2016/02/friday-gyan-13-poisoning-mother-in-law.html

Wedding Moments: Hairstyle of a typical Mangalorean Bride

Mangalore is famous for few things: The Ideal Icecreams, Beaches, Temples, Seafood, down to earth people and yes, Mangalorean Jasmine - Mallige. You get anything anywhere in the old but Ideal icecreams and Mangalore Mallige is really difficult to transport and get it anywhere in the world. However, these flowers are sent often to Siddi Vinayak temple in Mumbai. 

Any Mangalorean wedding is incomplete without the presence of Jasmine. No matter what price of Jasmine on the day of wedding, people afford to buy Jasmine. Based on the local demand, the price is fixed daily. So, in case there are religious festivals and lot of festivals in a day, the Mallige price can go up to 1500 for an Atti. It seems 800 flowers make a chendu and 4 chendu makes an Atti. 

Hairstyle of a typical Mangalorean wedding:
Around 5 Atti Mallige is used for the Jasmine Braid (Mallige Jade) for a bride in Mangalore. And bridal hairstyle pattern is typical and specific to Mangalore. Check few of the pictures of Mangalorean Mallige Jade.

PC: Nithin Suvarna, Nayan Kumar
Wedding Photography by: Dreamframes, Balmatta, Mangalore

Bridal Hairstyle at:
Diva Beauty Salon
Address: 1st Floor, Somayaji Building, Bunts Hostel Road, Opposite Hotel Woodlands, Mangaluru, Karnataka 575002
Phone:0824 244 3086

Refer the links below to know more about Mangalore Jasmine:
http://lifeofgujarat.blogspot.in/2014/04/shankerpura-mallige-jasmine-flower.html
Refer this site: http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=176944

Wedding Moments: Your word!

We do not remember days. We remember moments.

Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence. - Minor White

PC: Nithin Suvarna
Wedding Photography by: Dreamframes, Balmatta, Mangalore

It's time I setup a home library

Yesterday while I was setting my things at home, I realized there’s lot of books I own majority of them are novels. I'm crazy about books and great fan of Nora Roberts and Nicholas Sparks books. Books are one of my precious possessions I have and I do not want them to be destroyed or spoiled. I read and stack the books on the shelf and mostly it gives me very less time to re-read the books over and over again. Until and unless it’s some kind of reference books, which are very sparse in my collection.

While I set my books in the aluminium rack which was available at home, my major concern was the dust that stained the books. This worried me for I don’t want to lose my books. I'm eager to lend my books to my friends or anyone who would love to borrow but most of the times they end up not returning me back or they just forget about the book. Most of all, nowadays people prefer eBooks and rarely opt to read books but for me no technology can replace books. So, my next step towards the love of reading is setting up a library where my books can be safe from dust and other particles which can harm the books. Happy reading!

My collections!

Kaiga Bird Marathon 2016

Image of the White-bellied Sea-Eagle which was spotted by almost every team. 

This image was photographed by Prashant Bhandare near the Kadra Dam. 

P.S: Image is copyright protected to Prashant Bhandare. Anyone who wants to publish or use these images for any purpose, please contact the concerned for permission.

Early in the morning, before the sunrise, while I entered the lawns near the Nisarga Guest House at Kaiga, there were hundreds of birders assembled at their respective transects with their group members. All were wide awake, exited for the Kaiga Bird Marathon. I joined my group, Group A - the transect which was within the Kaiga forest. And yes, I’m one of the privileged birder who was lucky to be in this transect for no one is allowed inside this forest otherwise including the site co-coordinators who were visiting this forest for the first time.

At 5:30, they had a flag off session and few words of encouragement and each group left the lawn area to board the bus. There were four teams in my bus, where everyone were dropped in their respective transect areas and we were headed towards the Kaiga site area. It was a beautiful route, peaceful and serene. I so envy the people having the chance to live in such a beautiful place.

My team:

I was in the 1^st transect which is Group A who were all lucky visitors to Kaiga region. Other teams have visited the nearby villages like Hattuga, Virje, Halga-Ulga, and so on. Our team was also lucky because we had Dr. Raju Kasambe from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) who heads the Important Bird Areas (IBA) Programme and Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) along with the coordinators who worked at NPCIL. We were 12 in our team, of which only 4 were visitors and others were working in NPCIL. Dr. Raju Kasambe has every minute detail about the birds and we had Harish Kulur a birder who works at NPCIL who could identify each and every bird. We had a great team and with our team effort we could identify 76 species with the Kaiga forest area.

We were allowed inside the Kaiga area after verifying our identify details. Yes, we had given prior permission to enter the Kaiga forest, our Photo ID and electronic equipment details were provided earlier to the management. An escort from the NPCIL team who knew the forest area was with us. Only our team coordinator and the escort had the phones with them, we were enjoying our time without mobile phones. We were dropped at the NPCIL site gate and we were not allowed to use our cameras until we entered the forest area.

As we entered, we could hear a danger call from the Monkey. Our guide alerted us there should be a leopard and that’s the reason the Monkey is afraid. We were all looking the other side of the fence while my team members witnessed leopard running in front of us. I missed that sight. As we moved around, we had birders who were able to identify the bird species with their calls and some birds we could spot. The sun was out by then and birds had started their daily routes.

The birds which we spotted initially were among Barbets, Bulbul, Swifts and Swallow species. To make our day even brighter, the Great Hornbill flew over our head. All were so excited to see this bird and I was very much excited as I was seeing this great bird for the first time. Later as we moved further, we spotted couple of Great Hornbill sitting on a tree and few Malabar Pied Hornbills flying at the height. I was also blessed to find the Stork-billed Kingfisher, such a beauty. God has created variety with the colors, marvelous creations.

Bonus to the trek was the pug marks which we found on our trek route. The pug marks indicated that must have walked against our direction after the night patrolling.

All in all it was a great day with well organized birding event. The organizers at NPCIL have taken care of each and every minute requirement and we did not find any difficulty or issues in this event. We were very glad to be part of the annual Kaiga Bird Marathon and hoping to be there for the next bird marathon. Special mention to the NPCIL team who were with us during these two days, they were all down to earth, loving people. We must appreciate them for the knowledge they have in birds, everyone has utilized the opportunity of being within the nature. I was really surprised for everyone had great knowledge of birds and that’s the reason bird marathon gets great response with every passing year.

List of birds from our transect – Transect A – Kaiga (List taken from eBird posted by Dr. Raju Kasambe)

6	Indian Peafowl
2	Grey Junglefowl
3	Woolly-necked Stork
1	Indian Cormorant
1	Gray Heron
19	Cattle Egret
1	Indian Pond-Heron
1	Black-shouldered Kite
2	Oriental Honey-buzzard
2	Crested Serpent-Eagle
1	Legge's Hawk-Eagle
1	Rufous-bellied Eagle
1	Black Eagle
1	Shikra
1	Black Kite
1	Brahminy Kite
1	White-bellied Sea-Eagle
3	Spotted Dove
2	Emerald Dove
2	Gray-fronted Green-Pigeon
2	Asian Koel
1	Brown-backed Needletail
8	Crested Treeswift
1	Eurasian Hoopoe
3	Great Hornbill
4	Malabar Pied-Hornbill
1	Stork-billed Kingfisher
2	White-throated Kingfisher
4	Green Bee-eater
1	Malabar Barbet
2	Coppersmith Barbet
1	Brown-headed Barbet
1	White-cheeked Barbet
1	Brown-capped Woodpecker
1	Black-rumped Flameback
5	Plum-headed Parakeet
2	Malabar Parakeet
4	Vernal Hanging-Parrot
1	Common Iora
3	Orange Minivet
1	Brown Shrike
6	Indian Golden Oriole
2	Black-hooded Oriole
3	Ashy Drongo
1	Bronzed Drongo
2	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
2	Black-naped Monarch
1	Rufous Treepie
5	House Crow
7	Large-billed Crow
60	Red-rumped Swallow
4	Gray-headed Bulbul
2	Flame-throated Bulbul
2	Red-vented Bulbul
4	Red-whiskered Bulbul
7	Yellow-browed Bulbul
20	Square-tailed Bulbul
1	Greenish Warbler
1	Blyth's Reed-Warbler
1	Zitting Cisticola (Zitting)
1	Common Tailorbird
3	Plain Prinia
10	Jungle Babbler
50	Asian Fairy-bluebird
1	Asian Brown Flycatcher
1	Oriental Magpie-Robin
2	Verditer Flycatcher
40	Southern Hill Myna
16	Malabar Starling
3	Jungle Myna
3	Golden-fronted Leafbird
4	Thick-billed Flowerpecker
5	Nilgiri Flowerpecker
1	Purple-rumped Sunbird
2	Crimson-backed Sunbird
12	Purple Sunbird
20	White-rumped Munia

About Kaiga Bird Marathon:

Every year the Kaiga Bird Marathon is organized and enthusiastic bird watchers come in huge numbers and participate in counting the bird species of the surrounding areas. There are 8 transects and each transect is allocated to a nearby village around Kaiga Generating Station.

Towards the end of November, I found an Invite regarding the Kaiga Bird Marathon in the Yahoo Bangalore Birders group. Without any second thoughts I had registered for the event for me and Prashant. Later on due to wedding preparations I had totally forgotten to check about my registration status. End of December I received a message from ESP team at Kaiga regarding my confirmation as they were having many participants on waitlist. Me and Prashant confirmed our participation on 10^th Jan and were excited that we were selected for the Bird Marathon.

The organizing team had made all the necessary arrangements for all the birders including accommodation, food, and transportation for the marathon. This event was very well organized and I was amazed with the coordination among the organizing team. We were also given the participation certificate and memento. I am eagerly awaiting my next participation at the Kaiga Bird Marathon.

The most discussed bird at the Kaiga Bird Marathon Himalayan Griffon - Juvenile which was earlier confused as Indian Vulture. Thanks to Ramit Singhal for the right identification.

P.S: Image is copyright protected to Prashant Bhandare. Anyone who wants to publish or use these images for any purpose, please contact the concerned for permission.