Z for Zong Dog Palri Fo Brang

Zong Dog Palri Fo Brang is a monastery located on Durpin Hill in the Kalimpong region of Darjeeling. This is a beautiful place to visit, and is also known as Durpin Monastery.  This place holds great religious significance for the Tibetan Buddhist followers.

This monastery was consecrated by Dalai Lama in 1976, after 6 years of its establishment. He brought along with him the holy Kunguyar, a Tibetan religious scripture with 108 volumes, which is well preserved inside the monastery.

This Monastery is built in a Buddhist architectural style, and has some fabulous paintings decorated on the walls. This monastery has a prayer hall with staircase that have three dimensional appearances.

Located on the hill top this monastery gives one a panorama of the hilly landscapes of Darjeeling.  The entry is free here and the timing is 9 a.m- 5p.m. daily.

I am glad to find information of this place, as I have always been fascinated by monasteries, as it fills awe and reverence, reminding me that we are all spiritual beings journeying along on this earth.  The quotes of Dalai Lama is something that touches me to the core; and I like most of his quotes on compassion, kindness, religion and life… a few of my favorites are as follows:

Today is the last post of this challenge; and I feel like a winner; and congratulate myself for completing the challenge, despite all odds… I am also grateful for consistent learning for the last one month.  I am grateful for all those who stopped by with their encouraging words and motivated me not to do better.

I was not very sure how I will manage with the theme that I took, which was travel and today I am surprised that I could complete it. Thanking all the organisers  of this April Challenge, and those bloggers who I was able to connect with; and those who connected with me, also for Google that came to my rescue with information and photographs of few places i had no idea about.  - appreciate all of you and hope to be in touch.... I promise I shall continue to visit as much as I can even after the challenge; as it was difficult for me to do so during the challenge time...

Wishing all of you the very best ! 

Be Blessed & Be Happy!

 

Y for Yercaud

Yercaud is a beautiful well known hill station in Salem District in Tamilnadu, India. Yercaud is 22kms from the city of Salem.  It is located in the Shevaroys range of hills in the Eastern Ghats; this hill area is also called the Shevaroy Hills.

 It is 4970ft high, wherein a temple is in the highest point called Servaryan Temple named owing to the abundance of trees categorized as a forest near the lake, as popular tourist destination. Yercaud is also called the Jewel of the South. It is said that the temperature never rises above 29 degrees Celsius. Coffee and citrus fruits notably oranges are grown in abundance, as well as bananas, pears and jackfruit.  

Yercaud is enchanting and picturesque as hill stations on the Eastern Ghats, trekking here is supposed to be a pleasurable experience.

I have not been to this place; I have taken all the information and pictures from Google http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yercaud. Thanks to Google for the lovely pictures. The National orchidarium and botanical garden is situated in Yercaud.  There is also the local wildlife that includes deer, ant-eater rabbits, foxes, mongoose, squirrels, kites, sparrows etc.

I am happy to find these places; and it’s been a great experience to discover places for a retreat and rejuvenation. I add this place to my list.

Be Blessed & Be Happy !

X for Xian Attractions

Xian is a world famous tourist city and an great treasure house of cultural relics. People from all over the world visit this place to broaden their understanding on Chinese civilization.

I have never heard of this city, thanks to the A-Z April challenge that motivated me to look for a place to post on letter X.  Thanks to Google I not only found the place but also pictures and a lot of information about Xian.

Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses

The great archeological excavation of Qin (221 BC-206BC) Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses unfolded a strong army of altogether 7,000 life size pottery soldiers, horses, chariots and weapons arranged in battle formations symbolically, guarding the tomb of emperor Qin Shi Huang.

City wall

It is complete city wall to survive in the country as well being of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world, built by Ming Dynasty and renovated in the recent years.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

An ancient pagoda that holds the old Buddhist relics and classics taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang. Now the surrounding areas have become popular resort for the public.

The Bell Tower

Bell tower is the central attraction of the city, from which four commercial streets stretch towards the east, west, south and north.

Shaanxi History Museum is an historic museum in china located in a quiet corner, but easy access.  With few kilometers there is big wild goose pagoda is the Buddhist temple and biggest tang culture theme park, called the Tang Paradise.

Exploring further to the northeast, a small historic cultural city Hancheng, known as the hometown of famous historian and literature of China Sima Qian is home to Sima  Qian temple.  Yan an has the most typical and distinctive cave residences.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us 

or we find it not. " Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Glad to learn about this new place… never heard of and hopefully sometime in my life, I will land up even this place, so adding on to my dream list.  Another two days to go; and I will be missing this task of searching, thinking and planning for a post. Hope to visit as many bloggers as possible, wishing all of you the very best.

“Experience, travel –these are education in themselves” Euripides Quotes

Happy Blogging !

All images from Google - TravelChinaGuide.com

W for Warangal

Warangal District is situated in Telengana, India.  It is one of the largest cities of Telengana, and the largest Municipal Corporation of the Sate is in Warangal that encompasses three cities namely Warangal, Kazipet and Hanumakonda.

I have visited this place as a student – I was part of the NSS (National Service Scheme) programme in St Francis Degree College, Hyderabad.  NSS is a voluntary association of young people in colleges, organized by students themselves and both students and teachers through their combined participation in community service get a sense of involvement in the tasks of nation building.

I am glad to have been part of this programme, wherein every year we had 10 days camp, which was also aimed at developing student’s personality. I remember we had a great time in the osmania university campus where we enjoyed making cricket tracks for campus students and also planted thousands of eucalyptic trees.

Another year we assisted in laying roads in Warangal district; and we also went for sight seeing. Some of the popular places we visited were the Warangal forts which is spread over 19kms, constructed in the 13^th century.  This fort is famous for its intricately carved caves arches and pillars and four large stone gateways, the temple inside the fort is dedicated to the mother earth, swayambhudevi.

Then there is the  very famous thousand pillar temple situated on the slopes of the Hanumakonda Hill.  This temple was built by a kakatiya king and is built in the shape of a star.

I remember the good old college days with gratitude; and thank God for all these opportunities in my life, feeling a lot richer and happy !!

I am not waiting for old age !!!

Be Blessed & Be Happy!

V – For Velankanni

Velankanni is a famous shrine of Our Lady of Health, situated in town shores of Bay of Bengal and district of Nagapattnam, Tamilnadu India.

I went to Velankanni the year after my dad’s death, along with my mother, sister, brother in law.  My nephew, sunny Emmanuel who was still in school, at that time was very eager to come with us; we had already booked our tickets and were ready to depart, he worried so much that we purchased a ticket on the same day and took him along with us. 

Sunny was a very loved and pampered child among all the children in our family – and I remember how much fun we had in his company.  I found a few pictures of this trip and am glad to share here.

Then I went a few more times to this place after my marriage, then when my first child was born; and then when my son was born. This place has been a popular one in our family. As my mother in law and husband both are ardent devotees of Our Lady of Health – they prayed to Our Lady for the safe delivery of both of my children; that’s how my daughter is named as Maria Dorothy and my son was named as Mario Emmanuel.  You will find information on this website .http://www.vailankannishrine.org/miracle.php

Now again two years ago we visited this shrine and it was a great experience; we went around the shrine for prayer services, and later during the day and in the evening hours we went shopping and spent time at the beach. 

Each moment of the year has its own beauty…..… a picture which was never before and shall never be seen again.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

U – for yoU

U – for yoU

I have searching for a place in this letter; but did not find anything that I visited; and appealing to me. Hence I decided to post on “U”. My purpose for posting on this particular letter is take an inward journey. A journey into self is definitely worth travelling- and one can always take the first step. 

grateful for these pics from Google

I am glad that I was initiated early in my life to ask questions that led me to an inward journey…… which has been a challenging one and am grateful for baby step I took; faltering, unsure, frightened, gaining courage little by little; taking the road less travelled.

I am privileged to have encountered persons who helped me in taking risks, encouraging me to open myself to new experiences that led to me understanding certain aspects of myself, which otherwise I would never have known.

Grateful to Google for these pics

The great authors who enlightened me by their discourse, their writings, who triggered me to think deeply; and taught me to love, accept and forgive myself… I am still in the process of evolving, finding myself….in this journey of life.

Grateful to Google for these pics

While I acknowledge the fact that; this a short life, and we have come alone for a purpose on this earth and when its time to leave; we have to get down at the station leaving everything we have collected here on earth, carrying with us only some beautiful memories of how we have made this earth a better place for living.

So for now let us enjoy the company of ourselves in this short journey of life…. For we shall all pass this way only once…. Never to come back….I love this quote of saint Augustine who says

“Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

 What do you think of this post ?  would love to hear ...

Today was a busy day for me; I could not visit any of your blogs, will catch from tomorrow again.. thanks for stopping by, I do appreciate you.

My Gratitude list for April, 2015

This post is written for Gratitude Circle for the month of April, 2015

I am grateful for being part of the A-Z April Challenge, despite my commitment to my regular work, participating has been happy and energizing experience.

I am grateful David’s brother in law who passed away because of bone cancer, which was in the fourth stage; he has been  suffering too much. It has been difficult for his wife to manage him at home, as the doctors had given up, stopped all medication and the cancer has spread to all the vital organs of the body.

We helped him to stay at a hospice wherein the terminally ill are kept.  David agreed to stay at night with him and during the day his wife looked after, he was there only for a week and breathed his last on 27 March, 2015 and was buried the next day.  It was a relief for all of us; as he had undergone unbearable  suffering and pain. The death came as healing to his family.

This month I am grateful for the gift of water to us; we were having severe water scarcity and all the 8 family’s in the  apartment came together to resolve this issue; as it was affecting our day to day living – the decision was to dig another bore well upto 1000ft to get water; and together the family’s contributed and the bore well was dug; and lo with 500ft the water was overflowing; now we have 24/7 water in our apartment and it’s a miracle for us to have constant water supply.

This month was also the results for my daughter who completed standard VIII and now is in class IX... she had fared well and we are happy to see her transition into the next grade.

I am also glad for the April  A-Z challenge this year; wherein I got an opportunity to discipline myself to post every day; and this year I chose to post on Travel; places I visited, and the places I dream of visiting.. I am happy to meet a lot of new bloggers and its been a great experience so far… I am still in the process of completing today’s post.

Over all this month has been a great month; I went for a Telugu movie with my daughter and husband, whichI am grateful for being part of the A-Z April Challenge, despite my commitment to my regular work, participating has been happy and energizing experience.

I have been postponing is visiting a homeopath to deal with my thyroid issue... I am glad that finally I made time for myself to visit the doctor and take what is required to be healthy. 

Being grateful & happy ! would love to hear from you.


Thanks to Google for the lovely inages