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Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...

Summer Vacation Begins... and a special give- away too!

Summer is here...






The golden Laburnum is blooming outside my window...



And the marshes close to my house attract the kingfishers, who probably come here for the last few areas which are still left as marshland, un-influenced by the concrete growth all over the city...



My little boy is one year older today..... For those of you who do know his date of birth, today happens to be his 'star' birthday.. And besides, as everyone in his school knows, the last working day of school is Samhith's birthday, since the actual date falls in the vacations!! So, he is off with his friends, cutting the cake, showing off the books he has received as gifts.....



And that means our summer vacation has begun.. and we are off, for another journey!! I will be almost completely offline for the next couple of weeks, but will be back soon with lots more photos and many many more posts!! I am going to a place I have hoped to visit for a very long time... Can any of you guess where I am off to? 

Now that gives me an idea!! Most of you would know I have been into sending and receiving postcards for quite a while now.... And its really fun!! It feels so wonderful to get a postcard in the mail!!!

So here is a special giveaway... Can you guess where I am off to? Please leave your comments below this post, and when I get back,  I will send a postcard to those of you who have guessed correctly.... and oh yes.. the postcard will be from the place I have been to!! So go ahead, begin guessing!!! And those of you who  know where I am going, this DOES NOT apply to you! 

Comments

  1. Wishes to your son - he's growing up fast :)
    Well, I have no idea where you are off to maybe somewhere in the South or North?, still a postcard from you would be great :)

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  2. In this summer you can only go to the Himalayas.

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  3. me guessing with all that excitement in yu...yu must be going to catch some snow?? up North??

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  4. i feel that you are going far north as the temperature is soaring high..have a great time..
    the pictures of the flowers remind my childhood. i usually went to a nearby park of our hoe to play. in that park there were many golder shower trees. in summer when they used to bloom, the scene was really wonderful. though the park is still there, most probably the trees were not. and the childhood charm has also gone.

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  5. Dwarka? Please, please, go to Dwarka or at least Gujarat, so that I can nag you into sending me a post card :)

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  6. I wish Samhith a very happy birthday ! He's quite a handsome young man! :-)

    Kya pose hai!

    And to your giveaway, that's very bad Anu, why did you tell me where all you are going? :)
    Now how will I get those beautiful cards? :(

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  7. Happy birthday to Samhit though belated. 27rg April is my grand daughters (Mehak)birth day too. Not the Starred one!. The Amaltash tree when fully laden with flowers is very soothing to look at. This happens by end of April here where as the Malayalees need the flowers for their Kani in the middle of April. I was thinking of buying a DSLR but after looking at the Kingfisher here, I have changed the idea. Have a nice vacation.

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  8. Lovley to see Samhit my best wishes for his happy life. And I loved ur pics. U are getting more professional in ur angles ;)

    Have a happy vacation where ever u go :) Also I have a small request. Can u write about the sparrows, and the ones in the city. I have brought , sunflower seeds and some grains to throw it in the terrace and compound for the sparrows and small birds. But realised they eat only - rice covered in weed and nothing else.

    We keep water too.. I would like to educate people about keeping a bit of recomended stuff for the sparrows .Thanks :)

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  9. Happy Birthday To Samhit and I hope you have a wonderful vacation. I can't wait to here where you went to.

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  10. I really love those cute yellow flowers of the golden shower tree which only blooms during summer.....uuhmmmm, I have no idea on where are you possibly spending your vacation...

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  11. Good article, nice pictures and your son is a handsome young man too

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  12. loved ur blog anuradha...
    Deccansojourn.com

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  13. THanks so so much, everyone!!!! It was a pleasure to come back to see so many comments!!!

    ReplyDelete

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