Glistening Leaves and Tales of Sorrow

There grows a tree in the heart of Budapest, capital city of Hungary, that has leaves that glisten brightest under the sun but they carry on them the heavy weight of history. This tree stands as a memorial to Jewish Holocaust victims in the Dohány Street Synagogue.

On my maiden visit to Budapest, I was totally awestruck by the beautiful architecture of the Dohány Street Synagogue and the tales of sorrow and struggle ladden in its history.

The Dohány Street Synagogue also known as The Great Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue, is a historical building in Budapest and is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world (after Temple Israel in New York). The synagogue was built in 1850 ' s  in the the style of a basilica and consists of the Great Synagogue, the Heroes' Temple, the graveyard, the Memorial and the Jewish Museum.

During the Holocaust, Hungarian Jews took shelter in this synagogue and in the courtyard of the synagogue, there are mass graves of thousands of Jews.

Dohány Synagogue

Interiors of the Synagogue

 The Holocaust Memorial in the synagogue, also known as the Emanuel Tree, is a weeping willow tree  made of  granite and steel designed by Imre Vagra, with the names of Hungarian Jews killed during the Holocaust inscribed on each leaf. 

Weeping Willow Tree!

Graves of Holocaust victims in the Synagogue

The weeping willow is an awe inspiring magnificent structure but its each leaf is associated with the sad story of a person whose aspirations were cut short by some people driven by a disillusioned man.

Happiness

Happiness to me lies in the small pleasures of life and comes from within!

Happiness  is when I wake up in the morning feeling contended and stress free!

Happiness is when I work passionately for something and the outcome is appreciated!

Happiness is when I workout hard and the weighing balance shows a loss of few Kgs!

Happiness is taking my new car out for a spin while a melodious song plays on the music system!

Happiness is reading the newspaper in the morning while sipping some piping hot coffee !

Happiness is reading a good book in the light of my bedside lamp before I go to sleep!

Happiness is heading off to a beautiful destinition for a holiday to break the monotony!

Happiness is riding my bicycle in the spring when the sun is hot and wind blows cold!

Happiness is sitting with my friends reminiscing the nostalgic memories!

Happiness is tending to my plants and seeing them grow!

Happiness is watching a good movie with a bag of popcorn in my hands!

Happiness is cuddling my furry pet in my arms!

Happiness is waking up to the first foggy morning of the winter season!

Happiness is sitting by the window watching the rain drum down onto the ground!

Happiness is waking up early in the morning and taking a long walk to soak in the sunrise!

Happiness is sitting on the beach watching the ships sail by!

Happiness is feeling enjoying the water in a swimming pool on a hot summer day!

Happiness is cracking a joke and making everybody laugh like crazy!

Happiness is gorging on your favourite food when you are completely famished!

Happiness is taking a warm shower after a long day at work!


Happiness is singing along loud when your favourite song is playing!

Happiness is listening to the birds chirp early in the morning!

Happiness is to see people smile when something you did helped them!

Happiness is finally getting to see your favourite music band play live!


Happiness is drinking a bottle of Coca Cola after spending long hours toiling in the hot sun!Happiness to me lies in the small pleasures of life and comes from within!

Happiness  is when I wake up in the morning feeling contended and stress free!

Happiness is when I work passionately for something and the outcome is appreciated!

Happiness is when I workout hard and the weighing balance shows a loss of few Kgs!

Happiness is taking my new car out for a spin while a melodious song plays on the music system!

Happiness is reading the newspaper in the morning while sipping some piping hot coffee !

Happiness is reading a good book in the light of my bedside lamp before I go to sleep!

Happiness is heading off to a beautiful destinition for a holiday to break the monotony!

Happiness is riding my bicycle in the spring when the sun is hot and wind blows cold!

Happiness is sitting with my friends reminiscing the nostalgic memories!

Happiness is tending to my plants and seeing them grow!

Happiness is watching a good movie with a bag of popcorn in my hands!

Happiness is cuddling my furry pet in my arms!

Happiness is waking up to the first foggy morning of the winter season!

Happiness is sitting by the window watching the rain drum down onto the ground!

Happiness is waking up early in the morning and taking a long walk to soak in the sunrise!

Happiness is sitting on the beach watching the ships sail by!

Happiness is feeling enjoying the water in a swimming pool on a hot summer day!

Happiness is cracking a joke and making everybody laugh like crazy!

Happiness is gorging on your favourite food when you are completely famished!

Happiness is taking a warm shower after a long day at work!

Happiness is being pampered by your parents!

Happiness is picking that old photo album and going down memory lane!

Happiness is watching a India vs Pakistan cricket match and rooting for your country!


Happiness is drinking a bottle of Coca Cola after spending long hours toiling in the hot sun!  http://CokeURL.com/96jnc.

Happiness is in every little thing I do. It's all about learning to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us! It's about focusing on the positives and working on improving the negatives  :)

Driving Home A Ford!

So finally I have graduated from a sedan to a SUV! I am the proud owner of a sporty,  sleek and elegant vehicle by FORD, The Ford Ecosport!

Ford launched this vehicle in India in 2013 and since then it's been reigning the roads! I had my heart set on it for a long time now and when my company put out an attractive offer to buy cars on a company lease policy with tax benefit,  I jumped on the oppurtunity.

The hulk of a vehicle comes in a number of colours and I was in a fix between Mars red and pearl white for my own car. Finally I decided on the pristine white as it made the car look bigger and better.

My first experience of taking the car out for a drive made me feel absolutely fabulous! It offers and extremely smooth drive, an easy to handle gear box, good road clearance not to forget it's quite a head turner on the road!

I'm Love the high quality music system, height adjustable driver's for seat and steering wheel among the multitude of features that this car has!

Indeed, driving has just become a whole lot more fun for me now!

Magical Monday/12

Mondays are full of madness! Mondays for most people brings out the colour blue (Monday Blues). But like so many things, is it just a figment of our imagination? So if we change our attitute, is it possible to change Manic Monday into Magic Monday? What if we feed it into our system that Monday will be a grand day? It will be a day when our energy levels will be the higest because we will be refreshed after a break and that we will start a new week with zest and high spirits! What if we tell ourselves at the start of the week that this week we will be unstoppable, be a powerhouse and race ahead,  could it change things? I believe it could :)

And believing is the first step towards changing things for good !! :)

This is my 12th  post in the Magical Monday series of inspirational stories aimed at motivating us to bring out our best on the first day of the week! 

Tragedy strikes everyone at some point or the other. How you deal with it, let it destroy you or emerge stronger, is what matters. Today the story is about a young army widow who chose to emerge stronger from the tragedy. 

At the young age of 23 years , Ruchi Verma became a young Army widow with a 3 year old child to support having lost her husband, an army major, in an insurgency hit area in India. Instead of living the rest of her life in self pity and feeling sorry for herself , this brave girl decided to make a life worth feeling proud of for herself. She decided to step into her husband's shoes and started training to become an officer herself. After undergoing  rigorous training which included hours of running and physical endurance training,  this young girl joined the Indian army as an officer.

Hats off to this braveheart who turned this tragedy into an oppurtunity and set an example for others.

Self Love-2

My definition of self love -working towards maintaining a great body and increasing my knowledge to always have the awesome feeling of growing and learning new things. Also, appreciating art, literature and philosophy to keep on stimulating the creative side. Travel to explore and learn more about our surroundings. These are the all important things in life according to me which increase self esteem and in turn self love!

Any exercise routine can get boring after a while. It needs constant reinvention and setting of new goals! Well my lastest exercise routine includes cycling and I am loving it as I am sweating it out and at the same time getting an oppurtunity to click some amazing ones!

Here are some of those...

A cowhand in traditional attire,  herding his cattle through concrete jungles

In search of green pastures which are rapidly disappearing as a  new township emerges.

I love to read as there always something interesting to learn from books. My latest read,  Aleph by Paulo Coelho. In this book Coelho describes the interesting fact about Chinese bamboo trees. Once the seed has been sown, you see nothing for about five years, apart from a tiny shoot. All the growth takes place underground, where a complex root system reaching upward and outward is being established. Then, at the end of the fifth year, the bamboo suddenly shoots up to a height of twenty-five meters.

This is so interesting and applicable to all of us isn't it? When ever we take part in a new venture success is gaureented as long the base work is strong and has been worked on carefully.

I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I did.

And lastly my 2 penny's worth about the Oscar winning movies. I loved loved loved 'Grand Budapest Hotel'. It's such an amazing movie! A brilliant comedy with a great story line. I feel that the director,Wes Anderson, did an absolutely wonderful job and I have a new favourite in him as comedy is my favourite genre in movies. Must watch,  if you haven't already seen it.

Others that I liked were Wiplash and Birdman for its story and depth,  Gone Girl for its suspense and Interstellar for its science fiction theme!

I made it to the Guinness Book of World Records

Well, its a dream come true and I have full bragging rights! I made it to the Guinness Book of World Records! My name will be etched into the most coveted book which celebrates unique feats achieved by people.

So how did I manage this difficult task? Well, all that I had to do was to wear a cap and a t-shirt and stand in a predefined Spot :)
Never thought that getting into the book and making a world record would be this easy!

The record that was attempted was that of the 'Largest Human Image of an Organ'. It was organized in Gurgaon , a city bordering India's capital city, and approximately 900 people took part. The organisers demarcated an area of land where in markings of an human heart were made. The markings were such that the heart had all the chambers and vessels as per medical textbooks. People who took part were given either white, blue, red or pink T-shirts and caps to wear and were asked to stand in predefined spots in the demarcated area.

That me on the screen next to the stage- celebrity moment

Participants standing on Predefined spots

This what the final picture looked like-birds eye view

The formation took near about one hour and a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records inspected the formation for any short coming. After complete satisfaction of the representative we  were told that the Guinness Record had been set and that we had made history!!

It was indeed great to be a part of this fun event and earn a place for myself in the world renouned book!

Safe to say that I once had a big heart which made history!

Magical Monday/11

Mondays are full of madness! Mondays for most people brings out the colour blue (Monday Blues). But like so many things, is it just a figment of our imagination? So if we change our attitute, is it possible to change Manic Monday into Magic Monday? What if we feed it into our system that Monday will be a grand day? It will be a day when our energy levels will be the higest because we will be refreshed after a break and that we will start a new week with zest and high spirits! What if we tell ourselves at the start of the week that this week we will be unstoppable, be a powerhouse and race ahead,  could it change things? I believe it could :)

And believing is the first step towards changing things for good !! :)

This is my 11th  post in the Magical Monday series of inspirational stories aimed at motivating us to bring out our best on the first day of the week! 

Today my post is not about just one person but a group of persons who dare to be different and are ready to push the envelope to experience something new and different.

In our day to day life we worry about petty things and lose out on precious moments. Here's a group of people who have risen above these trivial pursuits to achieve something rare. These people have been selected to be a part of a mission to Mars , the Mars One Mission but here is the catch, the mission only provides a one way ticket to mars. Selected from more than 200,000 applicants, the 50 men and 50 women are a step closer to taking part in the one-way mission. 

The top 10 candidates in this mission are:
1. Christian O Knudsen

Age: 34
From: Denmark

2. Mikolaj Zielinski
Age: 38
From: Poland

3.Josh Richards

Age: 29
From: Australia

4.Etsuko Shimabukuro

Age: 50
From: Japan 

5.Dianne McGrath

Age: 45
From: Australia

6. Steve Schild

Age: 30
From: Switzerland

7. Ryan MacDonald

Age: 21
From: United Kingdom 

8.Lennart Lopin

Age: 36
From: Germany, living in US

9.Robert P Schröder

Age: 27
From: Germany 

10.Joanna Hindle

Age: 42
From: Canada 

This human expedition will take place in 2024. The Dutch not-for-profit organisation is raising money to fund this trip and the participants do not have to pay. 

 Missions are planned beforehand to do vital groundwork before the first human expedition takes place. In 2018, a lander would be sent to the planet as a trial-run for technologies that the real mission will need. That will be accompanied by a communications satellite to beam messages back and forth. In 2020, an “intelligent” rover is sent to Mars, along with a trailer. The rover’s job is to scope out a good landing site, far enough north for the soil to contain a good amount of water, but equatorial enough to get plenty of sunlight. Two years after that, in 2022, six cargo missions head off for Mars. They include another rover, two living units and two life support units. These land near the first rover, which tows them into position and sets up solar panels to power the units. The life support unit is meant to produce a breathable atmosphere in the habitat, 3,000 litres of water, and 120kg of oxygen kept in storage.

The second crew will leave in 2026.

I am so in awe of all these people who are willing to risk everything , even their lives for something new and challenging. I think this takes a lot of courage and so immensely inspiring. Would you be able to take part?

Self Love - journey of self discovery/ part 1

They say the key to happiness is self love and self discovery! I couldn't agree more to this but putting this into practice in this fast paced life requires effort.

As a part of my journey of self love and self discovery,  one of the key elements was to put my body into great shape and the second was to spend more time exploring and enjoying nature!

Baby steps taken to  achieve my goals - a sports bicycle to keep my body fit and explore the surroundings !

And a few weekends of doing this activity makes me feel a whole lot better.

Here are the some of the shots taken while cycling around my neighbourhood.

Caught The Beautiful Sunset

Idols of hindu deities in a local temple

Labourer kids and their shanties in the background

My neighbourhood is a upcoming sector of one of the biggests metros in India . As there is a lot of construction ongoing around the area where I live,  a lot of migrant labourers have moved here. However, they live in make shift shanties and the general living conditions are poor.

Cakes made out of cow dung 

In a small little village, close to where I stay the villagers use cow dung as fuel to cook food. They make cakes out of wet cow dung and let it dry in sun. These cakes are then burnt in mud stoves as fuel and cook food.

This is what I love about the area where I live...This is where the rustic meets city life!

Magical Mondays/10

Mondays are full of madness! Mondays for most people brings out the colour blue (Monday Blues). But like so many things, is it just a figment of our imagination? So if we change our attitute, is it possible to change Manic Monday into Magic Monday? What if we feed it into our system that Monday will be a grand day? It will be a day when our energy levels will be the higest because we will be refreshed after a break and that we will start a new week with zest and high spirits! What if we tell ourselves at the start of the week that this week we will be unstoppable, be a powerhouse and race ahead,  could it change things? I believe it could :)

And believing is the first step towards changing things for good !! :)

This is my tenth  post in the Magical Monday series of inspirational stories aimed at motivating us to bring out our best on the first day of the week! 

Today the story is of a brave officer of the Indian army, Colonel M N Rai, who died fighting militants in  Jammu and Kashmir, a militancy-hit region of India 

Rai, a commanding officer of 42 Rashtriya Rifles,  was killed during an encounter in Tral in Pulawama district last month while fighting militants. He was just 39.

 Colonel M N Rai

Rai along with being a brave soldier was a good leader and a motivator. He had taken a number of initiatives for the positive engagement of youth  (like organising cricket and football tournaments) in Tral, the distubed area where he was posted. He organized these matches to keep the youth positively and proactively engaged ensuring that the youth do not stray into the ranks of militancy.

Under his leadership, the narrative in Tral was changing. He earned the admiration of all the administration for his meticulous planning

Unfortunately Rai died a day after he was conferred a bravery award, the Yudh Seva medal, for outstanding contribution in planning and conduct of operations including a gun battle with militants in south Kashmir last year.

Even though he was at the rank of a commanding officer, very senior rank, he chose to fight from the front with their men at all times.

His status on a social media site stated his mindset clearly: "Play your role in life with such passion, that even after the curtains come down, the applause doesn't stop."

A New Journey Begins

So finally the cold winter wave seems to be retreating and more bright sunny days are replacing the gloomy, cold,  foggy winter days here in north India! As the beautiful spring sets in, everything seems to be undergoing a change. There is a bit more colour in the surroundings, the flowers are blooming,  the grass is greener.. its like an injection of life has been given to a patient on his death bed.

This beautiful change can be thought provoking and thus left me thinking on how to enjoy this spring to the fullest! Well, I had a moment of enlightenment where the Gods whispered in my ears and told me that the best possible way was to integrate wellness with fitness by getting a sports bicycle. This would help me breathe in the freshness of the outdoors , pay attention to the little details of the natural beauty that surrounds us while sweating it out.. After all God is in the details!

So off I went to get myself that perfect bicycle that would help me achieve my new resolution of fitness and nature appreciation.

And Voila, I am the proud owner of a Hercules Atom 18 Speed Bicycle.

It is a lean and stylish bike. It has a low stylish frame, and the seat contains high-quality polyurethane sponge that offers a comfortable seating. The seat is attached to a top-notch spring that prevents you from suffering a back-ache in case you are riding on rough roads. Having a low frame, mounting and unmounting the bike is easy. The cycle comes with 18 speed complete Shimano gear system that allows you to change the speed of your bike as per your preference. The tyres are 26-inches wide in size and are made from supreme quality rubber. These tyres are built for speed and offer high-level endurance against sharp objects on the road. So you do not have to worry about your tyres getting punctured during an intense ride. The overall frame of the bike is made of stainless steel that enhances its durability. It also comes with a stand for you to park the bike once you are done with your session.

I took this baby out for a ride today and it was awesomeness! Good suspension, brakes and comfort!

I did some 10+ kilometers in about an hour! So, wish me best guys as I embark on my new fitness and wellness journey ;)