bph: 2020

Thankful

Gratitude - such a powerful word! It has been the highlight of this year for me! Being thankful for everything we have is the only mantra that will get us through life! We face and see lot of things, but at every step, at every stage of life's journey there will be at least one thing for which we can feel thankful.

For example, so many people are involved in building the houses we live in, schools, offices, the list goes on and on. But how many of us really think about all the people who made this happen. Yes, we have paid the people who worked, but is that all? Can we say a 'one second' thank you in our minds to people? Most of us explain to our children why we do not waste food. But do young children really understand the reason? I have started explaining to my little ones about how food reaches our plates, how food travels from the farm to plate - how much effort a farmer has to put in to grow the crops, how they grow and sell - there are so many people and processes involved to ensure we have our yummy food. Should we not be thankful to all the people? Doesn't it make sense to say a 'one second' thank you everyday?

Being conscious about what we have makes us open our eyes to a different world around us. Let us try it! It helps us find joy in the little things that we often tend to ignore.

It is Christmas time and end of the year 2020 - seems like a oxymoron? Let us make a choice - to find things to be thankful for, no matter what!

Here's bidding farewell to 2020 and welcoming a fresh new year - 2021!!

My early morning 10km walk!

Morning freshness

So grateful for amazing friends!

Cubbon park picnic

Merry Christmas :)

Yummy plum cake made by my friend's mom

An amazing trek to Makali Durga

Cubbon Park

Happy Children's Day everyone and I treated myself just like I would treat a child! Indulged myself! Indulged in the luxury of nature 😍

Woke up at 5.20am sharp (did not snooze the alarm today), and was out of the house by 6.05am after gulping a glass of milk.

There is something about Cubbon Park that makes me want to go there every single day if possible. The first glimpse of the pink Tabebuia gave me the fuel needed for me to start running. I ran for 30 minutes, covering around 4.5km, all the time gawking at the gorgeous flowers. There is no way I can explain the beauty of trees and flowers I saw today. Hope the pictures do the talking.

The main reason for today's post is for me to cherish everything I saw.

After 30 minutes of run, I walked with my friend for 90 minutes and this time clicking pictures like an over excited tourist 😂. I am trying to think how I can explain the beauty of nature in all forms at the park, and am reminded of my all time favorite Hindi song "Suhaana safar aur ye mausam haseen, hume dar hei hum khona jaye kahin. Ye kaun hasta hei phoolon mein chup kar, bahaar bechain hei kiski dhun par, kahi gum gum kahi rum jhum, ke jaise naache zameen. Wo aasman jhuk raha hei zameen par, ye milan hamne dekha yahi par, meri duniya, meri sapne, milenge shayad yahi."

I know, I know, but that is how I felt 🙆. I guess that is what nature does to us.

Here we go, the colors of Bangalore -

First glimpse

Sun rays

Carpet of flowers

Can you spot me?

Love this!

And This :)

Feeling blessed and grateful!

My Story

We come across so many proverbs on a regular basis, some we understand, some we don't, some stay in our minds forever.

One of the proverbs,

- When life gives you lemons, make lemonade - I never understood this till I heard another version of the same - When life gives you a rainy day, play in the puddles - it suddenly hit me what it meant 😁 I am not sure if I can explain, but when I was complaining about something to my brother, he said you decide what kind of story you want to tell about your life.

I gave an example and said that it was not in my control, but he said the same thing in such a different way.

And ever since I have been thinking about "narrating our own story".

Whatever life throws at us, can we not see a brighter side to it and narrate a beautiful story around it? We may not agree at first, but if we consciously try to, WE CAN! I am saying this from my own experience. What happens in life may not be entirely in our control, but the way we narrate our story is in our control. I am not saying we have be in denial, or lie, but there is always a different way to narrate our story, a different way to look at life.

Can we all try it from today? 😊 Any situation life throws at us, let us pause, and see how we can say the story in a way that makes us smile. Sometimes it may be easy to do so, but other times it may take some extra effort, but still WE CAN.

WHEN LIFE GIVES US A RAINY DAY, LET US PLAY IN THE PUDDLES :) and have fun!

My house the way I look at it 😛

Is this real or just a reflection or both?

Bheemanakindi

What was supposed to be just a trek turned out to be a bonus outing with a bike ride as well.

We left Bangalore around 6 am - 4 of us on 3 bikes and 5 by car. The weather was lovely, and it was a good ride. We took a ten minute break near Bidadi, where we got idlis parceled for breakfast. We were headed to Bheemanakindi, near Halagur, which is after Channapatna. We reached the base of the hill around 8.30 am and had breakfast quickly before starting our trek.

We started climbing around 9 am. The route gets steep right from the beginning. It was a good trek, with beautiful scenic surroundings through out. The trek is steep till we reach the top.

Starting

Sneak peak

Up up up we go!

Just before we reached the peak, there was a huge rock that was kind of hidden behind bushes/trees. We climbed that and the view was breath taking. We spent sometime here clicking pictures and enjoying the greenery. It was a peaceful place to sit :)

We reached the top in 1 hour 30 minutes. There is a Nandi temple at the top, below the huge arch. It is said that the hill got the name "Bheemanakindi" because 'Bheema' hit the rock with his 'gade' - mace and formed the arch :)

We spent sometime sitting here. It was a lovely place.