A visit to Chittaranjan Park, Delhi

A few months back, we went to Chittaranjan Park. I enjoyed the visit, as always :). We had a darshan of Ma Kali, Mahadev, and Radha Krishna idols at the three temples.

A handicrafts fair was also going on in the premises.

I was quite excited to notice that a garden and fountain in the temple premises were inaugurated by Mrs Anita Pfaff, daughter of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

We also visited Market I and bought some bengali articles. And yes, we bought some Bengali books and magazines :)

We took lunch in the canteen of the C R Park mandir. Food and ambiance - both are our favourite.

It was a nice day J

Jai Shri Krishna.

Celebrating the birthday of A R Rahman

Today is the birthday of A R Rahman. So the Live music programmes on both Aakash Bangla (Good Morning Aakash) and Ruposhi Bangla (Aaji e Probhaate) presented songs of A R Rahman today. A treat to all Rahman fans :). Samayan Sarkar was the guest on Aakash Bangla and Arfin Rana was the guest on Ruposhi Bangla. I enjoyed both the programmes. 

Here are some of the songs which were sung by both the artists of these two programmes :) 

Tu hi re (Bombay)

Nahi saamne (Taal)

Tanha raahi (Bose)

Roja jaaneman (Roja)

Hai rama (Rangeela)

Vande Mataram (from Album)

Now some more songs which I heard today-

Nahi saamne, Ramta jogi (Taal)

Mera rang de basanti,  Des mere (The Legend of Bhagat Singh)

Saathiya (Saathiya)

Piya Haji Ali (Fiza)

Chhaiyaan Chhaiyaan, Satrangi re (Dil se)

Humma Humma (Bombay)

Rut aa gayi re (1947 Earth)

Mitwa (Lagaan)

And while listening to these songs I was remembering many more songs from his other films which we enjoyed back then, when they released. Still cherish many of them-

Pukar

Zubeidaa

One Two ka Four

Swades

Yuva

Jodha Albar

Ghajini

Delhi 6

These are just some of the films which I could remember now. Many many songs are still left out of this list.

What words can we use to appreciate these beautiful creations!! Uplifting music as well as the personal touch of all the singers!! Memorable!!

Now some special songs, about which I have also mentioned in one of my previous posts-

Here is the link to my previous post - "PIYA HAJI ALI / KHWAJA MERE KHWAJA / ARZIYAAN ...MAULA MAULA : HINDI SONGS"

- Now with these three songs, I want to add a new song- 'Pathaka Guddi' from the film Highway. It presents Surrendership in such a beautiful way! The depth of this song touches me every time.

Enjoyed the morning with all these delightful songs :) :)

Lots of best wishes for his future life.

Jai Shri Krishna.

Natural Beauty around Railway tracks

Dear Friends, Nature gives us so much in each moment of our life.  Recently I went to Jaipur. As usual, I enjoyed the train ride and kept on taking videos of the various landscapes, hills, agricultural lands, small villages, narrow stations - which we passed. Truly it is a treat to the eye! If we just look out of the window from any rail journey we can loss ourselves in the lush green lands, among the trees, in the midst of a small town, in the open sky watching sunrise or sunset and the various plays of the rays of the Sun in the sky. Everything is present in front of us for a fleeting moment and then it passes by. A new scenery comes alive. Thus each moment becomes valuable for the particular scenery it presents. I always enjoy journey by train. Today thought to write about it. The same experience can also be noticed from a long drive by car also :). Just we have to get out of the big city to get lost in the bounty of nature.

Here are two videos I took during my recent trip

The picture at the top is the sky when we started our journey, around sunset.



Now the picture of sunrise, during our return journey, taken from the glass window.

Jai Shri Krishna. 

Remembering Suchitra Bhattacharya

Today morning I got the news from my brother and felt sad instantly… I remembered another such passing away - i e of Rituporno Ghosh. Which also came to us as a sudden shock.


During later days of school, then college and University days- we all enjoyed many books by Suchitra Bhattacharya.  Kaachher Manush used to come in Sananda magazine I think. Or in Anondolok or in Desh. I followed it regularly along with my father.


Also read Hemonter Paakhi, some short stories. For Dohon, it was the film which I remember more. Ichchhe also - I watched the film only.


She used to portray the world around us as it is, realistic characters with whom readers could identify easily.  She was among the main writers of our time. Her creations will remain for the readers :)



May God bless her soul. Wishing her a  great journey ahead…



Jai Shri Krishna.

A visit to Chandni Chowk

Day before yesterday, we went to Chandni Chowk for some work.

This time we went to Chandni Chowk after a many many years, so we had a great time, visiting many famous/ historical shops there, cherished the memories of previous visits :).

Haldiram, Ghantewala, Paranthewali gali, Annapurna Sweets (bengali sweets) - are a few of them, which we visited.

We also visited SBI branch, which is situated in a big historical building. It has many paintings of Delhi,  nearly 100 years ago :).


We went to Chinese bazaar to have a look at many household items :). Also saw the  famous Nataraj Dahi Bhalle Shop :D, once we had Dahi Bhalle from it.

This time we did not have the time to visit the Red Fort and Jama Masjid, where we  visited last time.

I am yet to visit the Gouri Shankar temple, Sis Ganj Sahib, Digambar Jain Mandir. Next time will try to go there.

It was an enjoyable day, even in this scorching sun :D

I was reading about Chandni Chowk from Wikipedia now and came to know many details about the place. Its history, heritage and also about the famous shops/ places. The visit was a pleasant one.


Have a great time, all of you :)


Jai Shri Krishna!

FIFA World Cup 2014- The Extravaganza!

FIFA World Cup was here again :)


I remember last time, ( i. e.  - 2010),  I also posted about the same :) in this blog.

This year, for me the  excitement started  as FIFA Official Films of each World Cup were being shown everyday on Sony Six Channel from 1 week prior to the World Cup. I came to know about this programme from my brother :). I watched the films of '86, '90, '94, '98, 2002 and 2006 World Cup. For me, these films were like revisions about the Players, Matches, the Moments we Enjoyed in the past :).


Sports has so many unique qualities which contribute to develop a personality. Game planning, Team spirit, Sportsmanship, Presence of mind, Agility- all these elements Enrich the person who practices sports and makes him/ her a better person, excelling in his/ her skill.


Had a great time from 12 June to 14 July!!


Here is the link of one of the official films by FIFA-

And here is the information about all the World Cups so far from Wikipedia- 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup




Now I am mentioning some of the medium, which have helped me to enjoy this competition in many ways.


# Cup Of Joy- A daily programame on DD News as 7 :30 am daily. Anchor- Anil Thomas. Some of the guests were - Melvin D' Souza, S S Hakeem, Tarun Roy. Everyday I used to watch this programme to understand about the matches of the previous night as well as to get an idea about the matches coming ahead. From Semi final onwards they introduced Touch screen LCD to make the explanations better, which I also enjoyed!!! Really liked all the analysis made by Mr Melvin D' Souza.


# Times of India- Which made a special section for 'World Cup Carniball' and everyday the front page would have an extra half sheet telling all the updates about the WC to the readers. So helpful were those articles, diagrams, statistics, picture, all the charts and references. I eagerly waited for the newspaper everyday morning to get started :)

Like the one below- 

# Google, FIFA and Wikipedia-  The way Searching about any match on Google gave us the three categories- Timeline of the match, Match Statistics and Line Up of both the teams- I was very very happy with it. In any confusion or query it was so easy to find the answer from Google

And FIFA website- had Everything about the World Cup, every stats, info and all in the specific pages.

Same can be said for Wikipedia. Any info regarding every match was there in Wiki., on its particular page. I used to refer to it while watching the match to get many info and always succeeded in doing so.

All these three sites were of great help to all the football lovers!!


# Cafe Rio- Sony Six Programame, which had eminent football personalities like Mikael Silvestre, Peter Shilton, Peter Crouch, Sunil Chhetri, to name some of them. anchor- Joe Morrison.



# Football Extraa- A Live Call In programme in Sony Six, everyday at 8 am. Anchor- Keith Sequera, I really liked his anchoring!!!!  Some of the guests were - Sunil Chhetri, Abhishek Yadav, Peter Shilton, Mikael Sivestre. 


# Now coming to the very special step taken by Sony tv. Really really want to appreciate them for it!!  It is the Bengali Commentary of all the World Cup matches on the channel- Sony Aat. It was great to listen to them, while living in a distant place from Kolkata. Moreover, the standard of World Cup matches with the typical adda/ commenrary of Bengali culture was very very unique combination! I cherished it so much!!!  The commentarors were- Pallab Basu Mallick, Kalyan Chaubey, Debayan Sen and Debabrata Mukherjee. Their commetary made it so so enjoyable! All the trivia they shared as well as the emotions, analysis, explanations- will remember those moments :)


# Also Doordarshan aired the Semi final and final matches as well as the opening ceremony I think. Anchor was Anupam Gulati. I have seen Novi Kapadia as a guest one day. And FM Gold also aired commentary on the Semi final and Final matches, I haven't listend to them, just heard the announcement of the same once or twice.

Here I have tried to mention all the names, but please forgive me if any name gets omitted due to my lack of memory.


For me, all these have contributed in enjoying the World Cup. Had a great time! Thanks to all of them for their effort!!! Great work!! You all deserve applause for your hard work!!!


In 2018, the enjoyment  will be in Russia :) :)

Chandigarh and Amritsar Visit

We went to Chandigarh ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandigarh ) and Amritsar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amritsar) a few years ago. Today I am sharing my experience with all of you about these places.

Chandigarh is a beautiful planned city which have parallel roads, thus making it easy for the visitors to navigate through them. Clealiness is sincerely maintained by the local residents, so it becomes a pleasure to visit the city :)

Luckily it was the Kali Puja during our visit. We attended the Kali Puja at 'Banga Samiti' upto late at night and enjoyed the crackers there :).

Kaali Puja

Next day we went to Sukhna lake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhna_Lake ). We did not attempt boating, only enjoyed the beauty of the lake!...

Sukhna Lake

Then we went to Rock Garden ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Garden_of_Chandigarh )  , where many many images, idols, designs are made with home waste and rejected thrown away items .... Such a creative attempt!!! ... Mr. Nek Chand has done a marvelous job indeed!!!!

Rock Garden

Rock Garden- Mr. Nek Chand's creative hut

Rock Garden

Rock Garden

Next day we went to Amritsar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amritsar ) , where we visited the holy Golden Temple ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmandir_Sahib )  first. It was a pious experience to be able to enter the shrine and feel the blessing of the Lord! The Truth can be experienced by Any Sincere Person, who is Pure at Heart, who has Surrendered himself to the Truth!!! ...  The temple area along with its pond is so beautiful!! I felt the presence of the Almighty always around us while visiting the shrine.

The Golden Temple

After that we went to Jaalianwala Bagh ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh ) , remembered the innocent people who lost their lives, also saw the well where many of them jumped. A painful chapter from history....

Jaalianwaala Bagh

The Well at Jalianwaala Bagh

In the afternoon, we went to Waagha Border ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagah_border_ceremony ) , where the two nations open their gates, parade is done together and flags are lowered and then the gates are closed. A formal gesture/ performance, done everyday by both the nations, showing mutual respect. A MEMORABLE experience indeed!!! Wonderful!! The way people from both the nations dance together and show their excitement together, prove that 'All Are One'.... There is actually No Distinction between the people of both the nations.... We could actually see the land which belongs to Pakistan from the border. I was VERY VERY Happy to attend the function there. 

Do attend the parade at Waagha Border if you ever find a chance, it will be an Unforgettable experience!!! 

Waagha Border

Waagha Border

Recently I watched a programme on Amritsar on DD Bharti which covered all these places :) and reminded me of my visit :),  so thought to write about it today :). 

That programme also included two more places where we could not visit due to the shortage of time, they are - an exhibition on Maharana Ranjit Singh ( http://www.punjabmuseums.gov.in/museum.php?mid=8 )  and the famous Durgiana Temple (http://www.durgianamandir.com/ )  , which is like a replica of  the Vaishno devi temple.

Overall, we had a nice trip to Chandigarh and Amritsar :)

The Lord is present in each and every atom of the Universe!

Jai Shri Krishna!

Links for references- 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Visitor_attractions_in_Chandigarh

http://amritsar.nic.in/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Visitor_attractions_in_Amritsar

http://www.durgianamandir.com/