I’m Happy and Thankful!

I have been quite busy lately. But through this short post, I wanted to thank you all for the birthday wishes. Your responses to the last post (as well as to others) made me immensely happy. Loved them!

I hope you all are having great time. Good wishes to you! Will update soon with some photos.

I also noticed the addition of two brilliant new themes (Sunspot & Triton Lite, cool names, right?), but changing from this AWESOME Twenty Eleven is so hard. Hehehe. But may be later I would change my mind, or may be not!

My favorite flower photo so far – (just felt like sharing again!)

A post without a photo is so boring, isn’t it?

Bright Sunday – Blue, White & Green

Yesterday morning, I woke up to a beautiful and bright day. While lying on my bed, through the window, I could see the brilliant-blue sky with almost no clouds. Without even putting my specs on, I took my camera and went out to shoot. It was hard to focus with my eyes still sticking together. Every other day it used be cloudy outside and so inside the house it would be dull and lazy. But this Sunday, it was totally different. I only wished that I had woken up at 06.00am.

The only cloud dust in the morning sky

By afternoon, clouds started ascending from behind the green mountains. Still it looked so beautiful as they were rising gradually with milky white appearance. I actually love the blue-green combination. The picture below was taken around 02:00 pm.

After an hour around 3.05pm, the cloud pattern changed entirely. Neat boundaries.

 A close look-

Cool breeze made me feel more good even though the sun was shining bright.

I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to capture this incredible view (esp., when it reminded me of Kashmir valley), and I was so happy for that, as by evening it was all dull, gray and humid.

I hope this day (9/11/2011) was peaceful for everyone.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
~ George Washington Carver, American Scientist, Inventor and Educator

 

A Cow and a Boy- My Sunday Picture

Almost every evening I watch this kid taking his cow back to their home in the village down the hill. He doesn’t even have to force her to walk, she just walks along with him, as if he is following the cow and not the other way around. I feel like waving and smiling to him but he never gives me a single glance or, for that matter, to any of the houses. He just walks playfully with his eyes down or facing straight, as if thinking something or just nothing. I wonder what..

“SSS: Seven Short Stories” Sunday

There were lots of stories, but I wanted to share just seven of them [according to the SSS title of my post].

These are thought-provoking real-life happenings shared by people from all over the world on the website MMT [Makes Me Think].

1. Today, after a 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug.  When I tensed up, she realized I didn’t recognize her.  She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and said, “On 9-11-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center.”

2. Today, I pulled into a small gas station in the middle of the desert in New Mexico and realized I had left my wallet at my girlfriends house 5 hours away.  I had no money and

Believe in Yourself.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same.

- Nelson Mandela.

Give it a thought. I most certainly need to.

Good Day everyone!

My Mom Loves Birds, Esp. Sparrows!

We ,if we are lucky enough to have an open mind, interact with nature. Flowers, birds, or other natural wonders around us. My mom has these special friends which come over in the evening almost at the same time. These sparrows stay in the balcony near the flowers (My mom’s gardening) and search for food. They chirp until my Mom opens

So This is True, Yet Again

I knew it and now I know it again. That one negative emotion leads to another and then there is no stopping until you deny them to enter in your mind. Here in my case, the negative emotion is “irritation”. I guess, I would have rather sung a song instead of listening to irritating words.

Anyways, I should not talk about it much.

Have a nice time. And here is the smile

A Dream Come True!

Wonderful.
Miraculous.
Strained.
Sensational.
Touching.
Emotional.
Memorable.
Historic.
Unpredictable.

OK now I’m running out of words. Our World Cup 2011 win was simply BRILLIANT! Any more words which can capture the whole feeling?

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Hard work always pays off. So much to learn, so much to do.
It just FEELS SO GREAT! To Sachin… CHEERS! Wah Wah!!

[Pictures sources: ESPN & Yahoo]

P.S. I literally prayed on each ball when India was batting. But I never lost my faith. I just kept asking God- “So you are not gonna make this an easy win, haan?”

To Afridi, with Love [by Maheen Sadiq]

I came across this article (which is actually a letter) today on Facebook via a friend (J.J.) of mine. I found it really touching. Such lovely words. It really is worth sharing.

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There’s a lot to be said about the cricket tournament, especially our match against India. And it has a lot more to do with Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Gul’s bad luck, and Sachin Tendulkar’s good fortune.

Cricket speaks to our nation in a way our government never has.

And Shahid Afridi addressed the nation in a way our president never has – unselfish, genuine, modest. So when Afridi apologized to Pakistan, millions listened and were humbled by the gesture. Our eyes filled with tears and our hearts with love and strange kind of sorrow. Shahid Afridi, you need not apologize to the nation. We are proud of you and our entire cricket team! You didn’t bring back the cup, but any excitement, any happiness, any hope that Pakistanis have felt in the past few months is because of your brilliance. We’ve been hearing a lot of “Pakistan needs something to celebrate,” but

Why Kashmir Tops the List of My Favorite Places in India

It was back in 1994 when I first time went to Kashmir. I was just 6 years old. It was the first long trip of my life. Aah Kashmir. The name itself gives me lots of smiles.

My Dad was posted in Uri (J&K) which was quite near to LOC and very much prone to militancy. That’s why my rest of the family including me were staying at my Grandma’s home in Palampur for those four long years while my Dad was there. So in July 1994, when I