Exotic Andaman Islands – A Photo Travelogue

A trip far from the maddening crowd to the peaceful & gorgeous tree lined beaches and clear turquoise waters along with thrill of wilderness & adventure.... added with garnishing of patriotism.... that’s what Andaman is.... EXOTIC!!

Neil Island at the Andaman

I was always fascinated seeing the beauty and national heritage of Andaman Islands on National Geographic and Discovery channels and here I was with my family for a MMT vacation to the Exotic Andaman’s. What beauty is in store for us was evident the moment our Indigo flight started its journey on the Bay of Bengal.... the vastness of the sea.... the play of clouds.... it was nature at its best!

We checked into Hotel Sea shell at Port Blair and off to Ross Island. The small island, located just across the water sports complex at Port Blair is a peaceful destination and had lush green walking trails. It stands as testimony to its glorious past with old structures almost in ruins.

Ross Island

 The next was a patriotic trip to the cellular jail and witnessing the Light and sound show which tells about the happening in the jail prior to India’s independence. I was almost in tears at the end of the show.... salute to the Martyrs! We must value our independence and freedom because it has come after a huge sacrifice of our Freedom Fighters.

Cellular Jail

Next day started with an experience of lifetime.... we were doing a ‘Coral Safari’ in a Semi Submarine experiencing the richness and beauty of the ‘Bay of Bengal’ and the treasure of Corals... its beyond words!!

After the semi submarine ride, we were in the luxurious Makruzz Cruise ship ferrying us to the beautiful Havelock islands.... 

we checked into Sea shell resort and dreamt of what’s next....

Early morning, we were proceeding in a ferry boat for an excursion in the deep blue waters to the Elephant beach and a session of snorkelling at the beach.... experiencing the marine life and touching the corals.... WOW!!

    

Post lunch, proceeded to visit the ‘Radha Nagar Beach’, one of the best beaches in India.... the vastness of the sea and the beauty of beach .... SIMPLY Amazing!!

On our return to the resort, I booked an early morning scuba diving session for my family and retired for the day with dreams of seeing myself as a National Geographic scuba diver. The Scuba diving should be on a ‘must do activity’ whenever you visit Andaman’s. A 45 minute’s training session and we were in the deep sea in full scuba gear. All kind of mixed feelings were there when I was in the deep sea - anxiety, fear, excitement.... with corals, fishes and sea horses all around. An amazing sea world!

Next, we were cruising to the Neil Island. True to its name with different hues of blue, the Bharatpur Beach at the Neil and its beautiful Sunset made me say only one thing: ‘God, You are Great! Thank you for our beautiful and wonderful Universe!’

.... and I was tempted to make a Sunset Timelapse to capture the Nature's beauty!

It's nature at its best at the Andaman Islands!!

Any trip is not complete without some souvenir buys.... time for shopping at the Andamans.... tribal figures... sea shells... jewellery made of corals!

Next day is the time to say GOOD BYE to Neil... we are cruising back to PORT BLAIR.... and the last stop at Port Blair was a visit to ‘Samudrika’- Naval Marine Museum. Great Museum showcasing ANDAMANS!!

After a Gala Dinner organised by MMT, we were transferred to Airport next morning to board our flight for the return journey.... 

Aerial view of Andaman Islands

.... we were back to our City of skyscrapers with sweet and beautiful memories of the Andaman Islands!! A Journey of a lifetime!! 

When Love met Madness

A long time ago, before the world was created and humans set foot on it for the first time, virtues and vices wandered bored, not knowing what to do.

One day, they were all gathered and bored more than ever, when Ingenious had an idea: Why don't we play hide and seek? And all of them liked the idea, and immediately the mad Madness shouted: I want to count, I want to count and since no one else was crazy to seek for Madness, Madness leaned on a tree and started to count, 1, 2, 3. And as Madness counted, the vices and virtues went hiding.

Tenderness hung on the horn of the moon; Treason in a pile of garbage; Fondness curled up between the clouds; Lie said he would hide under a stone but he lied and hid at the bottom of the lake; Passion went to the center of the earth; Avarice entered a sack that he ended up breaking....

And Madness continued to count, 79, 80, 81, 82...

All the vices and virtues were already hidden by then, except for Love, whom as undecided as he is, did not know where to hide. And this should not surprise us because we all know how difficult it is to hide Love.

And Madness was already at 95, 96, 97 and just at the moment when she arrived at hundred, Love jumped into a rosebush and there he hid out. And Madness shouted "I'm coming! I'm coming!" and as she turned, the first one she saw was Laziness, thrown to her feet because he didn't have any energy to hide.

Then she saw Tenderness in the horn of the Moon, and Lie at the bottom of the lake, and Passion in the center of the earth... Discovering them one by one, finding all of them but one. Madness was getting desperate, unable to find the last missing one, until Envy, envious for not having been discovered, whispered to Madness: "You are lacking Love, and he is hiding in the rosebush."

And Madness took a wooden pitchfork, and stabbed at the rosebush, and stabbed and stabbed, till a heartbreaking shout made her stop.

And, after the shout, Love came out covering his face with his hands, and from between his fingers run two threads of blood, out of his eyes.

Madness anxious to find Love had took out Love's eyes with the pitchfork. What have I done?, what have I done? - she shouted. I have left you blind! How can I repair it? And Love answered, you can't restore my eyes. But if you want to do something for me, you could be my guide.

From that day on, Love is blind and is always accompanied by Madness.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Please pass the Biscuits

 

Please Pass the Biscuits When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then.  And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.  On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad.  I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!  Yet all my dad did was reach for his Biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits.  And I'll never forget what he said:  "Honey, I love burned biscuits." Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned.  He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a long hard day at work today and she's real tired.  And besides... A burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!" You know, life is full of imperfect things... And imperfect people.  I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else.  What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults and choosing to celebrate each others differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. So...please pass me a biscuit. And yes, the burned one will do just fine! Life is too short to wake up with regrets... Love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don't. ENJOY LIFE NOW - IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

 

 

My Life.........

MY LIFE......

 

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,

"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;

I wasn't watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.

 

We went on our way and we said good-bye.

But at home a different story is told,

How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,

My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.

"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.

I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

 

While I lay awake in bed,

God's still small voice came to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger,

common courtesy you use,

but the children you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,

You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.

He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,

you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."

 

By this time, I felt very small,

And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;

"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"

He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.

I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."

 

I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;

I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."

He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.

I love you anyway."

I said, "Son, I love you too,

and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

 

FAMILY

Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

 

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don't you think? So what is behind the story? Do you know what the word FAMILY means?

 

 FAMILY =

 (F)ATHER

 (A)ND

 (M)OTHER

 (I)

 (L)OVE

 (Y)OU

 

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day, I hopped into a taxi and took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly, a black car, jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed the brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'

He explained, "Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. NEVER take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on with the routine life." Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...... 'Love the people who treat you right.. Pray for the ones who don't.'

A very rightly said quote: Life is 10% what you make and 90% how you take!!!!

Start Living.... Live life as you want it to be....

ONE BEDROOM FLAT.... A Thought Provoking Story

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and opportunity.. When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to select one candidate..

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was time to return to USA, after giving some money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after them, we returned to USA.

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our savings started diminishing.

After two more years we started to have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked me to come to India, so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India… But part work part monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India .... The next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there was no one to do the last rights the society members had done whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed away without seeing their grand children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my savings were short and the property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to the USA....

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to stay in India... My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my wife I would be back for good after two years. Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my son was happy living in USA ... I decided that had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India ... I had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom flat in a well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife has also left me and gone to the holy abode. Sometimes I wondered was it worth all this? My father, even after staying in India, Had a house to his name and I too have the same nothing more. I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM. Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing. This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these children are losing their values and culture because of it.. I get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. Well at least they remember me.

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will be performing my last rights, God Bless them.

But the question still remains 'was all this worth it?' I am still searching for an answer...................!!!

START THINKING IS IT JUST FOR ONE EXTRA BEDROOM???

LIFE IS BEYOND THIS …..DON'T JUST LEAVE YOUR LIFE ……..

START LIVING IT …….LIVE IT AS YOU WANT IT TO BE …….

A Love Story with a Moral - Don't take stress, Enjoy Life!!

This is a story of Parul and Rahul. Parul, a 25-year old workaholic who is working in a software firm. Parul’s came to office at 9 or 10 in the morning and left at 11 or 12 at night. Even on weekends she would come down to office. She had no social life, no friends. The only people she use to be with were her project mates. But there was no assurance that she would be having her lunch or tea with them. Basically she was all a loner. There was no love life in her life and she had no time for love. All her time was devoted to work



Rahul, use to be a workaholic like Parul 2 years back. But now things had changed. He was no more workaholic but still he use to stay in office. Office had become home for him.



One night while Parul was all alone and working at the office a mail popped up in her mailbox. The name of the sender was Rahul Mehra. She had not met him, never heard about him. Just out of curiosity she checked his mail. The content of the mail was

Hi Parul,

I see you every night sitting in the office till very late. Don’t you have friends? Don’t you feel like talking to your roommate? You should not sit very late in the office. this is a genuine advice from me.


Thanks,

Rahul Mehra

After reading the mail, Parul was very angry on the sender. She simply deleted the mail and said to herself “who is he to give me any advice?”. She again got back to her work.



After that night, every night Rahul would keep sending her mails and Parul would simply delete them without even reading the content of the mail. But one fine night the subject line attracted her and she had to open the mail. The subject line of the mail was “Hi Gorgeous”

Hi Gorgeous,

Yes today you are looking very gorgeous in this red saree. I know you don’t read my mails as you don’t like the advices I give you. So today I wont give you any advice, I will just say that I am in love with you. You know you are very beautiful and if you take care of yourself many men will fall in love with you.

I am sure someday you will also fall in love with me. And then we will go out for a date. Oh before I end the mail I must tell you that the best thing about you is your smile. Or is it those intense eyes which need some sleep at the moment.


Take care dear.


Love you.

Rahul Mehra.

After reading the mail she was shocked. A person she had never met, never seen, never spoke to was saying that he was in love with her. She started thinking was this always in his mind. How did he get her id? Where had he seen her? Many questions like this came in her mind. Finally she thought of giving a warning and replied to his mail.

Hi Rahul,

I don’t want to spoil your career but if you don’t stop sending me mails I will raise an ASHI against you.

Thanks and Regards,

Parul Jain

After this mail, the mails from Rahul stopped coming in Parul’s inbox. She thought that finally Rahul has got scared and wont be mailing her again. After several nights, Parul was resting on her chair and her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes she saw Rahul’s mail in her mailbox.

Hi Gorgeous,

With your closed eyes you were dreaming about me, right? Oh sorry for not sending any mails in the last few days. I was a little busy. I am sure you would have missed me a lot. One more thing before I forget I want to say that I am not scared of ASHI. An ASHI cant be a reason to stop loving you.


Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was twisting her hair and putting them behind her ears. At that moment itself another mail came from Rahul,

Now stop playing with your hair and leave the office. it is very late.

Love.

Rahul Mehra



Parul was shocked as to how did this person knew what she was doing on her desk. She got up to check whether anyone was there in her floor but could find only empty cubicles. She thought maybe he made a wild guess and decided to leave the office. before leaving she saw another mail from Rahul.

Hi Parul,

Searching for me??? You have started falling in love with me.


Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was shocked and scared to hell. She simply switched off her machine and ran outside the office. in the next few days she would not open any mails sent by Rahul. One night a mail with subject line “Don’t be scared of me” came to her mailbox. First she thought to
ignore the mail then she thought lets see what has Rahul written this time.

Hi Parul,

Don’t be scared of me. I can say that you are scared of me because of the way you ran out from the office the last time you read my mail. I know few minutes back you had gone to have coffee. You are thinking how I know this because I can feel you around me.

Only once you also start feeling me you will know that I am near to you. Very near. Just sitting next to you.

I will wait for the night when you start having the same feelings for me.


Will always love you.

Rahul Mehra

Now Parul started thinking was Rahul really in love with her? What he was saying was it true? But how could he know so much about her? How could he say what she was doing and what not? Parul thought lets give a try and see whether Rahul is always in love with her or not. From
that night she also started replying to his mail.



Hi Parul,

Do you feel bad if I call you gorgeous?


Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul’s reply:

Yes Rahul. I don’t like this word.

You can address me as Parul, isn’t it short and simple. and I love my name a lot.

Thanks and Regards,

Parul Jain

Rahul’s reply:

Point noted Parul. But when I am happy, excited I would call you with some special name at that time.

Tomorrow you have your certification so all the best for that.


Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was again shocked as to how does he knew about her certification. She had never told him. She replied

Rahul,

Who is the person who is giving you details about me? I had not told you about my certification how do you know it?

Thanks and regards,

Parul Jain

Rahul replied back to her

I know it because I'm in front of you. Cant you see me? Cant you feel me close to you?

I also know that after 3 days you have your appraisal. Now this you have not told anyone. Just your PM knows about it.

Do you think your PM will give me all these details?

Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul not sure of the answer. She knew her PM would not have told Rahul all this but how did Rahul know so much about her was a mystery for her. Finally she thought she will talk to her PM, Rohan.

Next day, she went to her PM’s desk. “Hi Rohan. I wanted to ask you something”.



Rohan:- “Sure Parul. Are having any issues?”



Parul:- “No. actually I wanted to know about a person named Rahul Mehra.”



Rohan was shocked on hearing that name. PM:- “How did you come across this name. has anyone told you about him?”



Parul:- “No one has said anything to me about him. Few days back he started sending me e-mails. First I ignored but then he would give such details which I did just few minutes back. He even knows my appraisal date.”



Rohan:- “Are you sure you got mails from Rahul Mehra only?”



Parul:- “Yes very much. But why do you looked shock?”



Rohan:- “Because Rahul Mehra died 2 years back. He use to sit at the same place where you are sitting. How can a dead person send mails to you.”



Parul was shocked. She didn’t know how to react to this.



Rohan:- “If you don’t believe me then you can try finding his name in the telephone directory. Maybe someone told you about him and because of work stress you started imagining that he is sending you mails.”



Parul:- “I am not imagining anything. He has really send me a mail. I can show you in my mailbox.”



Rohan:- “Okay Parul I believe you but still I think you should take a break and go home.”



Parul was still in shock with the news she got from Rohan. She just did a search on telephone directory for a name with Rahul Mehra and page returned no records. She again checked the mail id and employee number details. She did a search many times that day by putting various combinations but the search page displayed the same message “No matches found for the given search criteria”. She could not believe that someone could hack the system and send mails to her from an non-existing id. She attached the mails sent by Rahul and sent it to Rohan as a proof that she was not dreaming.



On seeing the attached mails even Rohan was in shock. He came to Parul’s desk. Rohan:- “I think by mistake his id has not been deleted and someone who knows about it is playing with it.”



Parul:- “But I checked the details on telephone directory there are no records available for this id.”



Rohan:- “Talk to the CCD people and see what they have to say.”



She called up the CCD people. They took control over her system and looked at the mail sent by Rahul Mehra. The mail was sent from the from the same computer which Parul was using. The time stamp at which the mails were sent Parul had logged in. Also there was no evidence that a remote desktop connection was made or mail was sent through web mail. Even the CCD people were clueless as to how a mail has been sent from a non-existing id and from Parul’s system itself. There were no viruses or torjans or any other kind of threats on Parul’s system. Her anti-virus was upto date. The whole day was gone in finding a loophole as to how did Parul get such a mail in her mailbox. Parul was tierd from the day’s happening and so she decided to leave early from the office that day.



The next day when Parul came back, she saw a mail from Rahul Mehra. She didn’t know whether she should delete that mail or read that mail. She was scared to open the mail. Somehow she gained some courage and opened the mail. The context of the mail was:-

Hi Parul,

Good to see that you left the office early tonight. I know Rohan told you about my death. I was also a workaholic like you. I would sit late in the office, even when no one was around me. I just being at office. I had no friends, no social life. Even on weekends I would use to come to office. I missed all the fun in my life. Even my death happened at office while I was working. My dead body was found by the house keeping guy and the security guard at the reception.

I took a lot of work stress which my conscious mind could not bear that day. I ignored all the health problems I was having. And finally on that night (20. 10. 07, 11:24 PM) all these reasons
became responsible for my death.

Now you know why I am not scared of ASHI.

But yes if I was alive then also I wont be scared of ASHI because I have really fallen in love with you but we cant be together until your death.

Now the choice is yours whether you will kill yourself on your own or whether I need to do the honors.

Waiting for your death. Love you always.


Rahul Mehra

Some love stories have ghost in it…

--- The End ---