3 things I want to do this year!

1. Bungee Jumping

Superb video of Kern bungee jumping at Rishikesh!

2. Kayaking in white waters

Kayaking in the white waters of Rishikesh

 3. Sky Diving

My friend Shazia sky diving at Dubai with a fantastic view of Palm Jumeira!

My reading room :)

A sunny room..a large window that opens to green trees.. a cosy window seat.. and all the books I ever want to read in wooden shelves filled to the brim.. C'est la vie!

                                                              One day I will have my own space..                               Source: Pinterest

 

Staying in love

Some interesting words and facts

Some I had learnt in school and forgotten, some I discovered just recently :

• So I am an 'ailurophile' which is the word for cat lovers :). I think that is a really beautiful word!

• Group of cats is known as a clowder.

• An old female cat is called a grimalkin. So my Puchku will be a Grimalkin one day!

• Ethology is the study of animal behavior.

• Komodo Dragon is the heaviest living species of lizard in the world. And it is found in Indonesia. Komodo dragons are carnivorous. Its diet is very interesting. Mostly they eat carrion(carcass of dead animals), but they also ambush live preys like goats, large pigs or deers. It takes about 15-20 minutes to swallow a goat, but sometimes it attempts to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat(sometimes the ramming is so powerful that the tree is knocked down!). To prevent itself from suffocating while swallowing, it breathes using a small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs. After eating up to 80 percent of its body weight in one meal, it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the dragon if left undigested for too long. Because of their slow metabolism, these large dragons can survive on as little as 12 meals a year!

• Cane(also known as rattan) that is used for making furniture belongs to the palm family(Aracaceae)

• Vatican City State is a country(!) and the world's smallest by both area(44 hectares ~ 110 acres) and population(just over 800).Unlike other countries, citizenship of this country is not based on jus sanguinis(birth from a citizen, even outside the state's territory) or on jus soli (birth within the territory of the state).citizenship of Vatican City is granted jus officii, namely on the grounds of appointment to work in a certain capacity in the service of the Holy See. It usually ceases upon cessation of the appointment. Citizenship is extended also to the spouse, parents and descendants of a citizen, provided they are living with the person who is a citizen. Anyone who loses Vatican citizenship and does not possess other citizenship automatically becomes an Italian citizen as judged by Italian law.

• Goa was liberated from 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule only in 1961 when prime minister Nehru finally ordered the Indian Armed forces to take Goa by force. This military operation codenamed Operation Vijay involved air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours on the 18th and 19th dEC 1961, in which 22 Indians and 30 Portuguese were killed. Portugal recognized the annexation only in 1975.

• Hummingbirds(family name Trochiladae) are among the smallest of birds and are restricted to the Americas from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, including the Caribbean.

• Ice takes more space than liquid water(9% more), since it is less dense than water.

Enchanted woods of Anshi and Kulgi

I spent 5 blissful days in evergreen forest of Anshi Nature Park. No network, no newspapers, no TV, no elecricity and no contact with the outside world. Days were spent observing, learning and enjoying the serene forests of this region. Also went to the dry decidious forests of Kulgi and the moist decidious forest of Ulavi & Synthery. Nightfall would bring out the fireflies, the 'at times errie' jungle sounds and galaxies of stars and satellites. Early mornings, we would get out in the chilly weather to spot the birds which call out from the tree canopy with their whistling, knocking, metallic clanging, laughing, squealing and more such sounds they are capable of. Felt sad leaving it all behind on the last day and returning to our 'normal' lives. How I wish I normal life was back there in the wildlife, and everyday I could hear those sounds, see those sights and breathe only pure oxygen!

Anshi at dawn

Pavetta Indica

Ulavi

Strobilanthes ixiocephalus

Asplecias curassavica

Synthery Rocks 

Nymphaea lotus

Kulgi

Eriocaulon sp

Smiley :) :D ;)

I always use Smiley faces in every sms I send and in most of the mails I send. My husband has made it a trademark to sign his name on any greeting cards with a smiley. But does everyone know the origin of this  this popular yellow color smiley face with 2 eyes and a wide smile?  Read on for more information about it.
The Smiley Face was created by Harvey Richard Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts in 1963 for a friendship campaign undertaken to ease the acrimony between the workers of two insurance companies following their merger. It was used in buttons, desk cards and posters and became a big hit. But Harvey Ball never applied for trademark or copyright of his work and earned just 45$ for his work!

You can read more about it here and here.

Harvey Ball posing with his creation. Photographer: Michael Carroll

Harvey Ball: “Never in the history of mankind or art has any single piece of art gotten such widespread favor, pleasure, enjoyment, and nothing has ever been so simply done and so easily understood in art.”

In 1999, he started the World Smile Day  :). Since then it is celebrated on the 1st Friday of every October  in his hometown Worcester and all over the world. The idea is that for atleast one day each year, everyone should forget politics, geography and religion and devote their day to smiles and acts of kindness.

"Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile"!

After his death in 2001, the "Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation" was created to honour his name and memory. The slogan of the Smile Foundation is "improving this world, one smile at a time." The Foundation continues as the official sponsor of World Smile Day each year.

Wish I lived here..

Source: xenianova.wordpress.com

Alas I don't and its not even a real house! It's actually part of a Hobbiton movie set that was created for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

It is built on the Alexander farm in Matamata, NZ in the year 1999 and a great deal of hard work, capital, time (almost 10 months) and mindblowing imagination went into converting this traditional sheep and beef farm into director Peter Jackson's vision of the Hobbiton Town. Once the filming was over, the set was not maintained by the farm owners, their grazing cattle took over and it became a total mess. However when Peter Jackson returned to film the prequel to the movie, his company entered into a joint venture arrangement with the owners of the Alexander farm to allow movie fans to visit the newly constructed film set of The Hobbit :) Thanks to this initiative, public is open to this set property and can experience the magic of this enchanting place!!!

I am not even a 'LoTR' fan but this place is high on my list of 'places to see'. I can even imagine little dwarfs , pixies and tiny fairies coming alive in the night and living their secret life while we sleep :) WOW!

Visit this to get more information on this place.