[jacs]

Nice snaps star, i really enjoyed the marriage thingy since there was a similiar one attended last year.

[roamingrao]

Starvegabond, something or the other in your travelogue relates to all of us. Have enjoyed your narration, pictures and the humble way of conveying your ideas and little things in day to day life ! Please continue.

Have you visited Sri Durga Parameshwari temple at Ambalapady ? If not, do visit.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

In the first pic,
is it power station at the left top corner of the pic?

Yes, that's the Nagarjuna Thermal Power Station at Nandikur, near Padubidre on NH17. The first unit of 600 MW was started on 3rd June.

Suzlon also has a windmill fan blade manufacturing unit at Padubidre.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

The long stretch of the sand reminded me the beach of Diveagar and Shiroda.

In the first pic,
is it power station at the left top corner of the pic?

I have been to Diveagar beach, it is also one of the best beaches i have been to. I have never been to Shiroda beach.

I think roamingrao replied to your question.

Originally Posted by jacs

Nice snaps star, i really enjoyed the marriage thingy since there was a similiar one attended last year.

Marriages are made in heaven is a proverb. If we really follow what these rituals teach us the proverb will be true. Marriages are moments of immense happiness, i generally do not miss an opportunity to attend a wedding of the near/dear ones.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

Starvegabond, something or the other in your travelogue relates to all of us. Have enjoyed your narration, pictures and the humble way of conveying your ideas and little things in day to day life ! Please continue.

Have you visited Sri Durga Parameshwari temple at Ambalapady ? If not, do visit.

Yes, that's the Nagarjuna Thermal Power Station at Nandikur, near Padubidre on NH17. The first unit of 600 MW was started on 3rd June.

Suzlon also has a windmill fan blade manufacturing unit at Padubidre.

Thanks for relating to the story, Thanks for your appreciation.

I will certainly plan to visit the Ambalapady temple next time when i am near by Udupi.


Moving further with the story..

29th May was a relaxing day, we did not go anywhere but stayed at home.
Good thing was my brother, his wife and their son had also come for the wedding on 28th from Bangalore and they completed "my parent's family"

One can imagine the happiness of the grandparents when they have both their grand children are home. My brother's son is 3+ years old now.

The whole house was the canvas or play ground for these two kids. The boy exactly trying to emulate the elder sister was the highlight of the stay.

Grandparents proudly took them around to temples, to neighbors, "show and tell" about them to who ever came home those few days.

Abundant pride and joy is what this is called. Bliss...what more one want ?

I am attaching two pictures here which show the innocent fun and joy.
Similar joy could be seen on grand parents face as well, but i do not have the photograph to prove it.

#333 Re-grouping after a brief fight


#335 winning team in a UNO cards game.

[SDP]

Dear StarVegabond,
Somehow missed this thread earlier and discoverd it just today. Finished it in a single sitting. There is something about you and your style of narration that touches the soul. Thanks for making my day.
Regards
SDP

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by SDP

Dear StarVegabond,
Somehow missed this thread earlier and discoverd it just today. Finished it in a single sitting. There is something about you and your style of narration that touches the soul. Thanks for making my day.
Regards
SDP

My pleasure SDP, I am very happy and honored when you say that i made your day. By saying this you made my day.

Moving forward with the story

One of my first cousin's son (my maternal uncle' grand son) was a very smart but naughty boy. He was studying in a govt school near Kundapur where my maternal uncle, his son and family live.

Few years ago we learn that this child has been admitted to some Gurukul.
We were very sorry that such a young boy should stay away from his parents and home. Since then we never met the boy even though we used to visit their homes atleast twice a year. The aspiration to meet
the boy and see his gurukul was increasing year after year.

This year we met the boy along with his parents at the wedding on 28th. Surprise..Surprise.. the boy has grown into a fine young man and interactions told me he is very intelligent too.

We were told that he would return to Gurukul next day as the schools would start from 30th. On enquiry, we learn that his Gurukul is at Hariharapura, near to Agumbe, We were planning to drive through Agumbe, hence decided to pay a visit to this much heard about Gurukul.

So we reached the Gurukul on 30th May morning. We were given a reference of the local administrator by my cousin who had called them and informed that we would be coming over.


On our way we took some pictures at Agumbe

#336 Someshwar Town


#337 Entering Agumbe town..i would like to know it as Malgudi.


#338 some milestones


#339 Previous day i had visited their website and gained a first impression how the place will look like.


#340 Entrance of the Gurukul


#341 some of the motivational books about the freedom fighters, national heros etc.


#342 Shivaji and the Notice board..must haves in any school


#343 This explains the concept of Gurukul in Kannada language. Basically it clarifies what Gurukul is and What it is not. The main point is it is not like any other school.


#344 This board talks about the 5 fundamental of education viz Veda (Ancient knowhow) Vijnana (Modern Science), Yoga (Awareness about self), Krishi (Argiculture..fundamental science), Kala-Kaushal (Arts and crafts) and what bad habits one should keep away from


#345 This board talks about what values one should cultivate viz. Individual, Human, Educational, Social, National, Family, Ethical, Caltural and spiritual.


It took me about 30 minutes to translate the three boards and explain it to my wife and daughter. I will try to do the translation and upload for non kannada readers in due course.

Meanwhile the administrator joined us and took us on a tour of the Gurukul.

Here is the virtual tour http://www.prabodhinigurukula.org/

[MX6]

This gurukula at hariharapura is new to me. I've been to hariharapura scores of times. Never knew this existed! Time for another trip.
And go to Ambalpady temple on a Friday. Especially when the priest transforms to an oracle it becomes special. It's even better if you go down there on a friday during Nagamandala. That place transforms magically. Off late, your thread is becoming like kuch khatta and bahut kuch meetha!

[StarVegabond]

#346 Administrator explained us the layout of the school, Gurukul is in the shape of octagon, each branch hosting a key function of the school viz, Hostel, Kitchen+Store room, Dining Room, Music Room, Computer room, Staff room+Administration room, Classes+Discussion rooms


#347 center of the octagon is a garden + prayer hall


#348 Prayer hall


#349 surrounding garden and lawn, one can see solar panels over each room, which provides electricity to the rooms below


#350 all gods are one


#351 Music class


#352 Kitchen : most ingredients used are grown in and around gurukul


#353 A lesson in tunneling dug by the students


#354 Tunnel entry


#355 Tunnel exit


#356 A lesson about pyramid, inside a pyramid


#357 A temple and the Krishna


#358 Football court and the Goshala cluster


#359 Jack fruit tree


#360 Aayurveda garden


#361 Cow shed or Goshala


#362 Gobar Gas Plant


#363 A visit to Goshala and some lessons


#364 Guest House for visiting parents


#365 More guest rooms


#366 Hanging Bridge constructed to cross the Tunga river. During rainy season, the water level is at the second Plinth-piller from the bottom


#367 Dear ones on the hanging bridge


#368 Details about Hanging bridge


#369 Tunga river and the crossing on food prior to the hanging bridge


#370 clock being run from the energy generated by Gomutra


#371 children learning to serve themselves and guests


#372 Children and all praying before eating food


#373 Gurukul with a different view/perspective


We interacted with few students inlcuding my dear nephew, few school staffs, few parents. We were very happy that our newphew is growning into a confident, self assured young man. He is currently in 10sth standard.

His next vacation is Diwali festival. He wanted to visit Bangalore during the vacation. He promised to would visit our home.

We spent about 4 hours there, When we drove out it was just past 3 PM.
It was indeed some of the best 4 hours spent during the whole summer.

Once we exit the Hariharpura, we started driving towards Jayapura. The discussion moved towards the systems followed at Gurukula Vs the conventional schools. We both knew that discussion/debate was never going to be ending. Only proof is when these kids grow up and be successful in the community and society we will come to know how good would be the school, the teachers and how well placesd is the confidence of the parents to invest in such a system.

Soon some breathtaking landscapes drew our attention.

Coming up concluding part of our journey towards Home and to the end of this thread.

[StarVegabond]

Home Run was just what we wanted after a two months long hectic game.
We drove through Jayapura-Chikmagaluar-Belur-Hassan-CR Pattana-Kunigal-Nelamangala-Yeshwantpur-Hebbal-Yelahanka.

What was enchanting was the landscapes throughout this journey, rains made the difference.

#374 some wonderful landscapes


#375 soon it started raining


# 376 a farm house and a machaan inthe middle of the paddy fields


#377 you will never what you see the next


#378 a very occational traffic


#379 a true village, there are 600000+ such villages in India


# 380 mera wala red


#381 inviting roads


#382 a driver's delight


#383 the vehicle is owner's delight


#384 a dream house


# 385 magnificient malenadu


#386 there is some traffic too


#387 a frm with a great back drop


#388 near Hassan it started raining again


#389 Lighting strikes some where between Hassan and Kunigal


The last 30 KMs (from Nelamangala to Yelahanka) took 3 hours due to heavy blocking traffic, rains and few brokedown vehicles and we eventually reached home by 10:30 PM.

[StarVegabond]

Before i sign off this thread and story.. Acknowledgments

* Thanks to the mango which went into my stomach and eventually convinced me to write this story.

* Thanks to all the readers, there are 6600+ views till now, i am sure there will be more

* Thanks to about 28 readers who have left comments and a note of appreciation, few have asked questions that have made me think and write more. I am sure there will be more comments in future, many thanks to those as well in advance

* Thanks to 7 readers who have rated this thread/story. This is like paying in Kind as well as Cash. I sincerely appreciate your gesture.

* Thanks to my daughter who has been missing her play time with me during last 2 weekends as i was busy writing this story, She is the person who is the most happy that this is over.

* Thanks to my wife who made this bachelor summer happen in first place

* One more thanks to my wife who helped me upload several posts since last 3 days. Without her help this story would have dragged another couple of weeks minimum. She ensured that i write the description and select/number the photographs on Sunday and Tuesday (this week) evening and uploaded it from home the next day on my behalf.

* This cartoon from Zoo-Zoo tells in a nutshell my situation at this right moment.


Thank you, Good Night



The END

[MX6]

Small correction. It's not 6 voters. It's seven including me.

[VLOCT]

What a great read... It brought nostalgic memories of my years in Kundapur and Manipal during the early 80s. Thanks again.

[mjothi]

star, i like the narration and pictures you get to support it. esp, the zoo zoo!!! superb.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

@star,
thanks for this thread.
As someone already mentioned, this story relates more or less to everyone.

[arindamray]

Somehow this post didn't get published last night, posting it once more (browser back button was saviour )

Hei Star, would have been happier if it hadn't ended and continued for ever. But i guess all good things has to end somewhere.

While reading this

Good thing was my brother, his wife and their son had also come for the wedding on 28th from Bangalore and they completed "my parent's family"

One can imagine the happiness of the grandparents when they have both their grand children are home. My brother's son is 3+ years old now.

The whole house was the canvas or play ground for these two kids. The boy exactly trying to emulate the elder sister was the highlight of the stay.

Grandparents proudly took them around to temples, to neighbors, "show and tell" about them to who ever came home those few days.

Abundant pride and joy is what this is called. Bliss...what more one want ?

I am attaching two pictures here which show the innocent fun and joy.
Similar joy could be seen on grand parents face as well, but i do not have the photograph to prove it.

a mail which I have recently read came to my ind. Though it may not be related, thought of sharing with you and others.

This was narrated at a Seminar recently on Human Relations :

Venkatesh Balasubramaniam (who works for IIT) describes how his gesture of booking an air ticket for his father, his maiden
flight, brought forth a rush of emotions and made him (Venkatesh) realize that how much we all take for granted when it comes to our parents.

My parents left for our native place on Thursday and we went to the airport to see them off. In fact, my father had never
traveled by air before, so I just took this opportunity to make him experience the same. In spite of being asked to book tickets by train, I got them tickets on xxx Airways. The moment I handed over the tickets to him, he was surprised to see that I had booked them by air. The excitement was very apparent on his face, waiting for the time of travel. Just like a school boy, he was preparing himself on that day and we all went to the airport, right from using the trolley for his luggage, the baggage check-in and asking for a window seat and waiting restlessly for the security check-in to happen. He was thoroughly enjoying himself and I, too, was overcome with joy watching him experience all these things.

As they were about to go in for the security check-in, he walked up to me with tears in his eyes and thanked me. He became very emotional and it was not as if I had done something great but the fact that this meant a great deal to him. When he said thanks, I told him there was no need to thank me. But later, thinking about the entire incident, I looked back at my life. As a child, how many dreams our parents have made come true. Without understanding the financial situation, we ask for cricket bats, dresses, toys, outings, etc. Irrespective of their affordability, they have catered to all our needs. Did we ever think about the sacrifices they had to make to accommodate many of our wishes? Did we ever say thanks for all that they have done for us? Same way, today when it comes to our children, we always think that we should put them in a good school. Regardless of the amount of donation, we will ensure that we will have to give the child the best, theme parks, toys, etc. But we tend to forget that our parents have sacrificed a lot for our sake to see us happy, so it is our responsibility to ensure that their dreams are realized and what they failed to see when they were young. It is our responsibility to ensure that they experience all those and their life is complete.

Many times, when my parents had asked me some questions, I have actually answered back without patience. When my daughter asks me something, I have been very polite in answering. Now I realize how they would have felt at those moments. Let us realize that old age is a second childhood and just as we take care of our children, the same attention and same care needs to be given to our parents and elders.Quality time and politely answering them with out making them wait is important. Now I realise that I must look at their eyes and answer them pleasantly and pretend to be reading papers and answer in mono syllables. Rather than my dad saying thank you to me, I would want to say sorry for making him wait so long for this small dream. I do realize how much he has sacrificed for my sake and I will do my best to give the best possible attention to all their wishes. Just because they are old does not mean that they will have to give up everything and keep sacrificing for their grandchildren also. They have wishes, too.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by arindamray

a mail which I have recently read came to my ind. Though it may not be related, thought of sharing with you and others.

Let us realize that old age is a second childhood and just as we take care of our children, the same attention and same care
needs to be given to our parents and elders. Just because they are old does not mean that they will have to give up everything and keep sacrificing for their grandchildren also. They have wishes, too.

@arindamray,

Thanks for the attached mail, that will be eye opener for some modern busy souls.