Independence Day ..2 years ago

15th August , Indian Independence Day is celebrated with great spirits of enhusiasm , and is no less than festival. For a little over 2 years ago, Aug15 to me was a synonym for kite flying , one of thousands reasons to celebrate and with the family. Had I known two years ago that the "Kite Flying Ceremony "would be probably my last for atleast next 2 years , I would have flown them for over 2 months. Here was my last Kite Flying and family regrouping ceremony , when all my brothers and sisters were together for masti time on the roof.
Apna PatangBaaz number Ek - Please Find below Mr Sachin , with red cap , and in angry mood. probably srikant had done something to irritate him ( and i really still wonder Sri did it delibratley or just to pull sachin's leg). As far as kite flying passion was concerned , sachin never compromised on anything , even if that meant for him to go to neighbour's top , or to that dangerous unfenced half root boundry over the room to do so, and i was a partner in crime , most of the time :) .

The Coolest brothers and possibly the only one Sachin ever feared. Nishant bhaiya (in green) and Prashant ( the other guy). This was the time when the air was too feeble and in wrong direction, but nish bhaiya knows how to get it going. And there was never an ego problem between the two , and they flew to kill ,and most important, with them , kite flying was most pleasurable thing around. Always full of fun , jokes and cracks ( and work for shushant :) or srikant) ..

Below is our masti gang ,(from left to right) Srikant, Neha , Bhavna and Shushant. These were the flavours . Srikant was assciated with most number of torn kites ( also the scolding) , and shushant ,ever ready to help u out when kite was mid way or down :). Neha used to bring us all food , cold drinks , and papdi chaat , though Bhavna used to be queen.


The below image shows through the dwindelling lights , the spirits still remain high , with national songs on a volume full , we flew till the kite was lost in the surrounding darkness. The sky i remember was so full of kites , that it was no longer blue, but alas , in Bangalore , the sky still is blue. Here i dont find children running after kites , climbing trees and poles to get the kite which had lost the battle. I remember those days when driving to the destination in car would entangle at least of couple of kites in the car.

And at the last moment , comes another hero. Someone other , as daring as we were was still waging a war against all others , and this time , we found a match. It was a clash of true warriors , a section of people who refused to lay , and kites went deep and deep in sky till the thread was potentially going to be over , but the battle continued. for sometime later , we understood the slack , and that the opponent had retired a long time ago , and when we rewinded the whole thread back , our heroic kite had another one to its bow.

And then came the kodak moment , nish bhaiya with his new latest samsung mobile phone with flash (a big thing at that time ) .

Last but not the least , apna sachin in action , and dare anyone come in between . That was the independence day i remember and cherish , and hope to celebrate many many more independence day in the same way.
And then there were some people whom named i missed , but were those who made this even special.
My naniji( mom's mom). She is one who always showered me with blessings , and each time i left , had my pockets heavy, At the onset of my memory which dates back to Sarojini Nagar , i used to get a Re 10/- note , with time became 50 ,and then 100. Last time it was 500 Re note. I love my naniji as all other people in the house. She is most favourite of us all ...
Then My mamaji's. all kites were ready beforehand. We were able to fly consistently and throughout the day cauz of them , and mamijis who would fuel the engines with finger licking yum yum food.
Then my mother and mausiji , who will always confirm ( and make us confess ) if we are tired , and ask sri , shushant more than what she asked me and sachin ti fly kites.
Next is pearl of us all , Swati didi. She is always there with fun , joy , masti and with her around , no boys play. she knows how to tackle us , tackle us all at one time. Think she was the one who will make us all quiet in one swift shout.
Have left out the best from the rest till the end.
she is anjali , one you have met already in my blogs ( see jan post for her marriage). She is one calm gal, use brains , not affected by anything other than her brother shushant , and she also is an expert in teaching lessons. A sweet sister , and papdi chat she makes ... and she is here in second last blur pic. She says to me that i shud come back to delhi , but i know God has better plans.... and all know it :)
Independence day has been more of a Day for me , in my life, a little more than memory. Independence day it seems was a season , which lasted 12 hours and each hour was a new life. A time when we played our hearts out , shouted like beasts , celebrated victories , conquered forts, lost battles , unison sobbing ... a feast , a drama , a family get together ... Something to truely celebrate the spirit of Freedom ...
and as said .. will look for it to be repeated , even as we all have had take our paths ,and life taken its toll , but there has been a single binder to bring us all together ... for now and forever .. and am pretty sure , its not very far when i wil repost this post with so many new characters while maintaining the old ones in more spirited forms ...

Added :

Anjali is missing from this entire stuff is a shame on writer. One of the not so enthusiasts but to live by the rule book , the cool headed and always agree to most of the things. My one of the most cherished sister, and sorry to have missed the name out earlier, glad you pointed it ....

Waiting for the day ,when this day in history will be repeated once more, again and then again.

Day 2 - Kodai

Here what happened was most unexpected . It was a sucide point , and i was fearing whether mamaji would allow to go till the end, and he lead. If i was most impressed by anyone in the journey , it had to be him. His aggression , urge to visit all places, with safety as utmost concern. He was the one who got this tour bus planned , and was leading everywhere. With an enthu not to miss anything, we explored Kodai like nomads. The path to this place was not at all easy ,with algae all around , slippery stones and no predefined path. And top of it ,no fencing at all ..

Above you can see all, it was easy to stand at place, but difficult to get down. but once at the place,it was indeed an eye candy for the natural beauty of the place stuck again.


After that spot we went to see the Devil's rock ,and the Devil's kitchen and i was sure to find some of friends there,but alas the govt has fenced the place and we cud not really go inside. There was a good scary story guide told us about the place, which i will tell in my next post , devoted to devil's kitchen

From one side of forest to other, and so many trees , and not a single snake or wild animal , i thought this jungle ride was not at all exciting. only passing through the trees and trees , and the route so clear ,as if laid down for visitors only.

where does this path lead us , here is Sri doing some soul searching in deep jungles , and one thing he regretted wearing sandals ,as the path became slippery on more than one occasions , but the raised foot seldom stopped , and this time it was we leading. A lot of crack jokes in jungle , and sri trying to find a new way .. man Stop for guide as the path split in two , and we had to wait. one more thing , sri would take big big steps , and sit en route or wait ....

See, this was diversion part i was talking about . the lady in yellow is going the correct path and one cud believe there must be some other sigh seeing down this part as this path also seemed to be very well travelled , as one may see.

Day 2 Kodaikannal again

Here in Pine Forests we find our hunk trying to lift the entire pine tree , and believe me pine trees are not that heavy , i also had a hand , but think that was not captured. though sri was able to lift the tree a few cms , then eventually decided not to disturb the balance of the jungle,and so left it there and then .

Below is the misty pic of one of the times , when the guide scared us that the trip might be in jeopardy ,in case it starts raining , as the area might not be safe. thankfully, this cloud cover came for a few minutes , as we experienced ourselves in clouds ..akka top of the world. Hazed , still unfazed , the trip is going great guns


Above is what u can see , there is just a deep valley , no fencing , and stones also slippery.
If one look closer at the image to the right , u will see people have removes sandals so as to to avoid any caser of slip that may be possible.

See the sunlight comes just in time as our smiles , for the trip will continue till evening , till our batteries die down , and we sleep off peacefully in coziness of the beds.



Below is the pic when this place was covered with fog , and then came something , Sunlight , what else . One can just see the difference what sun makes , in the lowermost pic , which was taken nearly at the same time as this one , a few minutes later the sun came and shone in full glory. See the image above for how the fog diminished in matter of minutes .

kodai Day 2 contd

Continuing the day two was this as the first thing .. the pine forests. when i first heard , i though it must be something proper forests , but they were just trees and trees. So tall , so tell , that yr caps are bound to fall in case u wanna see the top. seemes to me as planted in rows and rows together, these pine forsets didnt seem to have real tough , only because of the symmetry they exhibit as above, cause in forest one expect to be grwoing here and there.

Above is again Sri and Mamaji , and the hosts of people swarming the area

i think Sri will take most of my share in this blog , but i mind not as I spent lot of good time with this fun loving , and ever sporty fellow. Below is one of a million natural beauties we met in Kodai , really a place to be ....

Day 2 - Kodaikannal Trip

Here we see from left( mamaji, mamiji, me , srikant) in our cottage in kodaikannal. Now ready and raring to go, to explore the kodai factor. It all started at 930 AM and the trip promised to be the best , and the climate just perfect.

Below is Srikant , after the hearty and tasty breakfast we had. One thing i liked about this person is no matter what happened , he refused to drink coffee and tea ,only milk , and i really appreciate that Sri .. reason for you growing so handsome :)

This is one of the places where the buses had stopped to take the other passengers , and the bus was so empty that me and Sri took it to top of the bus.

Below pic was meant to be single , but this fellow cud not see me happy , and climbed just in time before the picture cud be clicked. soon after this photo , the driver came shouting not to stand as Sri was standing on bonnet it seems ...