Chandra Grahanam( Lunar Eclipse)

This Saturday 10th December 2011 Lunar Eclipse was visible (happening?) in Malaysia where I live. For quite some years now the Eclipses, Lunar and Solar come and go without me noticing it or just reading about them and seeing the images in the internet news reports.

This time the timing was such that the Eclipse started at around 8.40 p.m. and continued till after midnight. So after long long years We followed the beliefs/rituals and had our dinner before 7.30 p.m. and next day morning had our coffee after having a head bath!

This immediately set me to think about two distinct Chandra Grahanams ( Lunar Eclipse in Tamil) one Surya Grahanam. (no marks for guessing it right yes it is Solar Eclipse).

During our School days One Lunar Eclipse started in the evening and we could not watch the moon going into the shadow as there was still sunlight. But the closing time was convenient for us to watch.

Since we were learning science in school we were all ready with smoked glass pieces to watch the moon come out.

As there was no school in the afternoon (probably we were let off as it was the 'grahanam') me and my friend visited all the near by temples one of which is a cave temple. I still remember feeling scared as we have to go underground which used to be very dark int the Garba Griha, the main deity being Siva . People used to say that there are underground passages which could reach to Kasi' (yes the Benaras) . This temple is quite famous now and is called the Gavi Gangadareswara temple in Bangalore. Next we trotted to our famous, Nandi temple in Basavanagudi and also the Big Ganesha temple. (All these places are now huge tourist attraction in Bangalore). We were told that the temple would be closed during the Eclipse period. We had to hurry home as , according to the custom we were not supposed to eat anything during the eclipse period and wait till the Eclipse is over. We were all playing outside waiting for the Grahana to be over. At around 8 p.m. we could see the moon coming out slowly on this full moon day. We could see that clearly from naked eye and it was such an excitement. I do not remember how long it took for the whole moon to come out may be it took half an hour to forty five minutes.

We children were relaying the data as to how much more moon has to come out to our mothers who were waiting to have a bath and prepare some food for the big household who were all feeling more hungry as all were conscious that we did not have food for around three to four hours!

The moment the Eclipse was over there was lot of activity. Mother had to go and light the fire for hot water for all of us to bathe. Yes we used heat water with firewood. There used to be a big round vessel (copper?) which was fixed/ buried in Cement and under the vessel there was provision for the firewood to burn. Any body who grew up in Bangalore during 60s and 70s can visualize this as each house had the some contraption.

Once mother took bath it used to be a big fight as to who would go next as we were not allowed to eat anything unless we had a bath! It always was might is right and I was a weakling but sometime I used to cheat by taking help from my dad who had the Veto power. Just by his words I could get a chance to bathe first. (It is another story that in winter my mother had to cajole and scold us/especially me to go and have a bath).

My mother used to prepare what is called uppuma/uppittu or simply Rava kichidi. It used to be very simple devoid of any vegetables (other days it had lots of vegetables as ingredients) and it used to taste so good. Even now the rava kichidi prepared without any vegetables we call it 'grahana uppuma'

The next Full Lunar Eclipse I remember is the one which came on December 30th 1963. My Sister was Pregnant with her first child and she was supposed to sit inside a room with all the doors windows etc closed as no ray of light during the eclipse is to fall on her. She was sitting in one of the rooms with all the doors closed and even small openings were closed with cloth and what not.

To give her company we were all playing 'daya kattan' with her (which is a kind of board game which is played with dice.) My grandmother, mother, sister, my brother and myself were playing and every now and then I used to go out to watch the moon and the eclipse.

Poor sister, was having pains which was refuted by my grandma saying it is false pains. At last the eclipse was over and after hurridly eating the grahana uppuma my sister went into real labour pains and was rushed to hospital and within two hours my first niece and first grand child to my parents was born .(that is why I remember the date so vividly).

My grand mother was 60 years and she got her first great grand child who was born on the same tamil year as herself.(In tamil calender there are 60 years and each one is named and the names repeat after 60 years) .

The Solar Eclipse I remember is the one which happened in 1980 which was a very huge thing because it was to be visible in India and it was almost full solar eclipse as a full solar eclipse is very rare. Many Westerners were coming to India to watch the eclipse and they were showing it live on TV. This time I was in Chennai in my brother's place and it so happened that I was pregnant with my son and my sister in law was also pregnant with her son.

Already there were lots of advice to people not to see the Solar eclipse with naked eye and media covered it as a huge thing.

Now it was our turn to get into the bedroom with all the doors windows and little holes closed with cloth so that not even a single ray could come and reach both of us. Both of us being good friends had a great time together. Later on we were never allowed to watch the eclipse even on tv. My grand mother who was nearing 80 and my grand father were there and saw to it that we followed the rules correctly. But I do not remember eating any grahana uppuma!

US open 2011

Yes I did have a chance to see the US open this time but it was a very different kind of experience.

After spending time, in Santa Barbara and Miami our next destination was New Jersey where Anu lives. As hubby dear is a great Tennis fan (he also plays Tennis) we had decided that we would see the US open match in Flushing Meadows this time. Anand had arranged tickets for one of the semi finals match on 10th of September in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

At that time we did not know as to whose match we are going to see and we were wanting to see Roger Federer or Rafeal Nadal and were keeping our fingers crossed as to whom we will see.

We never knew that Rain God had different plans for us and the whole schedule would become very chaotic due to heavy rains.

We ventured to go on 10th evening to Flushing Meadows to watch the match after seeing the Liberty of Statue from New Jersey side. It was raining on the way and Anu was driving in the rains and the traffic. We were in touch with my friend Saroja who was informing about the condition of the court by watching TV. By the time we reached Flushing Meadows Saroja informed us that the match has been abandoned. So we directly went to her house to stay over night.

Anu returned back as she had hospital duty (she was also supposed to see the match with us). Next day we went to the stadium with Saroja to see if they would allow us to see the match with the tickets with us.

The weather was beautiful and the atmosphere inside the Arena was so festive and lovely. After some confusion we could not find out anything about what would happen to our tickets. We went to Arthur Ashe Stadium for which we had tickets. They said they would not allow us as we did not have tickets for that day and we can go into any other stadium and we need to buy new tickets to enter this stadium.

While we were standing and discussing as to what to do we saw many people rushing towards another small stadium. We came to know that a match between Andy Roddick and Ferrer was to happen in the court no 13 as there was water seeping in the bigger court in which they had started the play.

We ran there and managed to get a seat for hubby dear.

This was a tiny, primitive court and we went near the fence side and stood up on bench and managed to watch the game. This court was so unlike a US open tennis court I almost felt that I was watching my two sons playing against each other in the Railway Club.

After some time Saroja and myself managed to sit in the second row near the fence and we were so near the court that we could almost touch the players.

We started shouting hoarse and it was like our younger days where we both used to have such fun together. I am sure our kids would not have recognized us if they had seen us shouting and cheering and what not.

By sheer crowd support Andy Roddick won the match and he came around the court to thank the crowd. It became an unforgettable experience for me.

Later we went into all the other bigger stadiums just to see them as there was no match being held there.

We came to know after inquiring from the proper place that the ticket money will be refunded through internet as my son had bought the ticket online.

So we had the pleasure of watching seeded players play the fourth round for free.

We had to return to New Jersey the same evening and so may be watching the big match in the famous courts for me will have to wait for some other time.

Miami/Everglades

From Santa Barbara we both flew to Miami to be with Tejas and Srini.

In my last visit, I had been to the famous South Miami beach.

This time I was very particular to go to the Everglades National Park.

I had read about how the Swamps are so important for ecological balance and Miami which was once a swamp was cleared to make it for human (these humans!!!) habitation and later realized that the swamps are very very important and they are the primary first stage in the food cycle. They are trying to restore the swamps even though more than 70 percent of the swamp has been lost.

Now Everglades is one of the biggest National Parks in USA and this is a World Heritage site.

We initially went to a privately owned place to go in air boat ride. I had imagined this as something which will be an air ride because of the name. It turned out to be a ride in a boat which can travel in the swampy area and the rota tors ( or what ever it is called) are outside the boat and which makes lots of noise.

There was a buggy ride also inside the swamps . Both the rides were good and some reptile shows were there which were not that good.

I had heard so much about Mangroves and when I inquired about the Mangroves I was told that they grow in fresh waters and the private swamp we went had only sea water.

I found out that the Mangroves always grow in the areas where the rivers/canals join the sea and even though they can withstand salt water they need the fresh waters to survive. In such areas even though salt water inundate the canals during high tide they have plenty of fresh water also to survive.

The next day we went to the National Park Welcome center collected the details and went into the National Park. The whole area is about 1.5 million acres and we were guided as to where we should go.

We went on a short guided trail. We were advised to use mosquito repellents and promptly we bought the mosquito repellents and oh how useful it was once inside the trail. We saw lots of Alligators in this trail and also some birds. We were told that we could see both Alligators and Crocodiles live in this Everglades which is a rare phenomenon here as the habitat of both are different. (salt water/fresh water which species is used to what I am confused still)

We proceeded inside in the car for 26 miles to reach a place called Flamigo to go on a boat ride inside the waters. On our way to Flamingo we stopped in between to see a beautiful big lake approach of which is through a trail full of Mangrove trees. It was beautiful but in spite of the mosquito repellent the mosquitoes almost ate us. So we had to retreat fast to the car.

Once in the boat it was an hour's lovely ride. We saw Crocodiles while we started out in the canal. Both sides had thick growth of mangrove trees which the guide told us are called walking trees as they spread out fast and the roots look like long feet.

He showed us some trees and told us that the leaves of these plants are so poisonous that even if some one rubs on it , the person might die.

Our ride took us to a wide water body which is called 'Coot's Bay' and then to 'White Bay' which is where the fresh and sea water mixes and this he said was like a mixing Bowl. Forty miles and canoeing up North is allowed in these waters. They give only one day's reservations to stay and every day, fresh reservations have to be made for that night. (There are some specific land (water) marks in the water so that the people who canoe will follow these marks. ) The reason the guide was telling us was that there are so many places and niches in this area that people can easily get lost. He said it will take a week to complete this water trail. It would be so great to go on canoeing.

We were very lucky as we spotted some Dolphins near our boat jumping up and down. The guide said that they must have had a very good lunch and now they want to play with us. They kept following the boat for some time and it was a wonderful sight.

We could see some Manatee vaguely under water. It is also called as Sea Cow and it is huge. There will be plenty of them here during the breeding season. This was not a breeding season so we could not see many. Everglades impressed me very much.

We went to see the South Miami beach later in the evening and since it was raining and the rain had just stopped we had the whole beach for ourselves. Very few people were there. I was told that this beach is one of the most crowded beach and last time also it was not crowded as it was winter when I went there. I was just looking at the clean water of Atlantic Ocean thinking of the Pacific Ocean I left behind in Santa Barbara.

We visited a place called Coral Castle which was built by a man all by himself in memory of his lost love. It is remarkable that such a structure was built without any body's help.

Yosemite

In continuation of my visiting the Mosaic Canyon we stayed in Lone Pine as per our plans. On 21st August 2011, We got up early to see the Sun Rise from the base of the Mt. Whitney. We drove there and could see the sunrise rising in the opposite direction of Mt. Whitney, rising midst a range of mountains. Lovely sight.

 We got  down at the base and A said that is where the trek starts for climbing to the top, which he had done the previous year. All I could do was just watch the Mountain top from there and be happy.

We proceeded towards Yosemite National park after break fast. It was about two hours drive from      Lone Pine  to reach the entrance of the National Park. The National Park is real HUGE and it has many entrance points.
 It would be another two and half hour drive on mountainous terrain to reach Valley Yosemite from here, where we had planned to stay for the night.
 This was a very relaxed drive , we stopped in between when ever we felt the place and view looked good and had a coffee break in a very small cafe on the way.

We went to the park office where there were very friendly rangers helping the visitors with all the information they need and guiding them as to how to go about inside the National Park and what to do etc. This entrance is called Tioga Pass entrance . This route will be open only in summer and will be closed in winter as it would be completely covered with snow.

We entered the national park and it was a beautiful drive . Lots of Pine trees are lined up on our way and it is  such  a beautiful sight to watch.
 We reached a meadow called Tuolumne Meadow which is 9000 ft above sea level. There is a place here called Soda Springs. This is a small place where bubbled water flows up comes out of the soil which is carbonated bubbled water.
 The beauty is more in the huge surrounding, where there is a small rivulet flowing nearby. The trees, the meadows and the river looks very enchanting . We walked around and there are lots of smooth rocks which we tried to climb. We both tried while A climbed farther which reminded me of my childhood where we used to climb what we used to call in kannada as 'Bandes'.

Our next stop was Tenaya lake . There are huge rocks near the lake and we saw two people climbing high up with rope. The lake is quite shallow near the shore and I enjoyed standing in the water.
 Next stop was Olmstead point from where we can see the view of 'Half Dome' a big granite rock which is a very famous rock . I do not know what to call this , as it is so huge which can me called a mountain which happens to be made in granite. People come here to climb this sheer Granite.

There is another famous Rock! Granite mountain in Yosemite which is called 'El Capitan' which is a sheer drop on one side and people climb this also and it takes three days to reach the top and people pitch tent (can I call it a tent) on a flat vertical surface and sleep? and then proceed up.   Humans must be crazy to do such fetes and the enormity of the fete can be understood only when you look at the mountains.
 When we see from down it is impossible to locate them,  so people bring in binoculars to watch the climbers. When we see without binoculars , the climbers look like some small insects and only the movement make us 'guess' that there is some body up climbing.
 Oh the endurance of Humans! I can only salute such people. These Rocks/Mountains do have characters of their own . I was just fascinated by looking at them.
Actually all these comments about the Rock Mountains were made after seeing the Half Dome.  I saw  both the rocks, after getting into the Yosemite Valley and watched those climbers. 

Each area where we stop over, the meadows, etc in itself is like a little town with such vast area. There is a lovely sandy area (beach) near the Tenaya  lake where people sit and relax.

I can not but think of how our Ooty/Kodaikanal and all other hill stations are so crowded and ugly.
 It all started with Brits when they built dwellings as the weather resembled (in these hill station)  their native weather. We took from there and now it is all completely spoiled and beyond redemption. We hear about land slides every monsoon .When we visit , it is so pathetic to see ugly structures every where in the hill stations.

I could not see any structure any where except some wooden dwellings here and there for the resident rangers/wardens. Only the Yosemite village is crowded but there also it is very basic structure.

The Americans will not allow a spoon of sand or a small rock memorabilia to be taken from their National Park and conserve it with such fetish.

Alas! my river beds in India are bled by Poclain Machines every day.

After all these thoughts we went  to the area called Crane Flats.

Here we stopped for our lunch and have the packed lunch we brought in the ice box . I ate hurriedly as I see signs not to expose food as this is a Bear Country every where. Bears can smell any mild  scents of food and come for the food. There are big Bear proof Canisters in the camp area to store the food .

We parked the car and walk down to 'Toulame Grove' to see the 'Giant Sequoia' trees. This is a trek which is around one mile distance and 400 ft down hill. The Giant Sequoia are the World's biggest trees.They are the same species as Red Wood. The Trees are very old and Giant sized . Again I struggled to come up hill and stopped now and then even though the trail is one of the easiest.

We headed towards 'Glacier Point' instead of 'Yosemite Village'. We wanted to see the sunset from this highest point in the whole valley. This is about 26 miles uphill (7200 ft above sea level) on winding roads. The sight from Glacier Point is breath taking. We can see, the 'Half Dome', ' El Capitan,' the Huge
Water Falls, two of them one below the other (must be the upper and lower yosemite falls) .
 All these are on the other side of the valley. In spite of the huge valley separating the falls and where we stand we could hear the sound of the water falling. We could see the cliffs from where the water is falling as we were in a higher level. I tried to fill my eyes as much as possible and keep all the sights in my memory as it is one of the sights to be memorized.
 Once the Sun set into one of the cliffs, we headed back to the Yosemite village in the valley. We had bookings in a camp, and though it was pitch dark, A managed to locate the route and reached the camp.

We stayed in a room which is a stone base room, which had a tarpaulin like material as door with a double cot and a bunk bed. A small light was provided. Outside there was a table and a pit and for campfire. Common bathrooms are built near by which were extremely neat. Shower place and launder-mat are near the entrance. Lot of people were eating their dinner by the side of the bonfire. We had not brought the fuel to light the fire. We ate our food and the food was still good as we planned the menu in such a way. In this place food is   available , might not be that user friendly especially to a person like me who is a vegetarian.

Paranoid about Bear I kept even the tooth paste inside the Canister. A teased me a lot for this, but later on, one of my friends told me that she did see (freeze?) a Bear while here which was trying to locate food from the garbage.

We slept very well after such a lovely day, but alas my Sonny could  not as both of us are great snorers who do not hear each other's snore!

Next morning it was very cold and we had a nice hot bath in the clean shower place. After breakfast, we vacated the room?
 We went to misty trail to see the water falls. It is just 0.8 miles up to the bridge but it is quite steep.
 I struggled, so we just went up to the bridge and A went up further to see Vernan Falls. For our sake he adjusted himself to be like a tourist and not as a trekker.      We came to this place by   Bus from the           Curry Village parking our car there.
 We came back to our car and went to the 'Lower Yosemite falls', then to the 'Bridal Veil falls' . The water, falls from a very great height and due to heavy wind the water sprayed on us as droplets. It was such a lovely feeling when the chill water droplets fell on  us.

Now it was time for us to start back home. Our food was getting over and here I have to record that the powder (puliogarai powder) which my friend Nalini prepared and gave me came in very handy. I had mixed it with fresh cooked rice and kept it in the icebox. The savouries my sister Janaki gave for A ('thattai') was relished with gusto.
We returned on a different route and not the Lone Pine Route.

On our way back we stopped in a place called 'Mariposa' to see some more giant Sequoia trees . We were hooked on to these lovable trees.  So I fell in Love with them!  The trees here were Too good . That is all I can say.

We came back to plains and stopped in a city called 'Fresno' around 3 p.m. and had lovely food in an Indian Restaurant. We packed some dinner and when we reached Santa Barbara it was around 8.30 p.m. Lovely three days.

Mosaic Canyon

We went to USA this time to visit Anand. at Santa Barbara. He took us to Yosemite, via part of Sequoia National park.

We started on 20th August 2011. A, my hubby and myself started in a rented Chevy. I prepared food for our road trip idlis with milagai podi, uppuma, curd rice, vetta kulambu rice, puliogarai rice, chapathis with alu curry and fruits.

Our plan was to go to Lone Pine, the base of Mount Whitney and go trekking and stay at the motel in Lone Pine for the night. Mt. Whitney is the Highest Peak in the United States outside Alaska.

The terrain on our way was wonderful. It kept changing, forcing us to take stops and enjoy the scenery . We stopped in between to have coffee and A told us , that if we deviate our route and travel 60 miles we can go into Death Valley and see the Mosaic Canyon.

I had visited Death Valley, ( which is so big that it is almost the size of a State in USA) about eight years ago from a different entrance and was fascinated by the Desert which once used to be a Sea Bed!

Oh it was a sea bed millions of years ago.

I had never known that I can love a place which is just a Desert and has nothing, for long long miles.

This time when A mentioned Death Valley immediately we agreed.

The moment we entered the Death Valley again, I could witness the serene nothingness.

The sun was scorching with temperature soaring to around 107 F that is more than 40 C. We stopped in between and ate our lunch inside the car as there was no shade what so ever .

I should mention here that lovely roads are built inside this nothingness and the whole area is preserved as it is part of their National Park.    In USA they call these places National Park and preserve and maintain it extremely  well. We proceeded further and parked the car at  the entrance of the Mosaic Canyon.

There is a narrow entrance and without expecting anything I just entered the Canyon. We walked into the Canyon and we had to climb up in the middle of the Canyon, both sides of which are high walls of natural rocks.

This was Simply Amazing and out of this world. Nature is at its best here and it was so beautiful.

Millions of years ago , there was a water body flowing in this narrow valley. Mosaic Canyon, ends up after a climb of two miles in a place where there was a water falls. We did not go till the end but went upto some distance.

The waters which had flown through this place has created a Natural Mosaic like features with two three types of Sedimentary Rocks overlapping each other in a haphazard way.   I could see Granite, Shining Marble , (polished by the flowing water) and Rocks which looked as if it was created by sands and pebbles embedded in it.

It looked as if Nature simply painted itself at its will and it was so much better than any man made object.

I could imagine water flowing in this place and was wondering how nice it is to walk here which once had a heavy water body .

Though it was a very very easy climb I was gasping for breath due to Sun and heat. Felt that I should go for check up in my next India trip.

We left the place after clicking away lots of pictures and on our way back we could see Sand Dunes forming its own design in the Desert.

We reached Lone Pine  late in the evening and we could see the Mt. Whitney from the windows of our room.     Lovely sight.
 I was told that the lowest point in North America is around less than 100 miles from here within the Death valley called Bad water which is 282 ft (86M) below Sea level.

This place was so different from Death Valley, green with so many tall trees around and what a magnificent sight to see Mount Whitney. After a hot bath went to bed after having an amazing day seeing such different sights.

First picture is of Mt. Whitney

Second one is of Sand dunes

The other two pictures of Mosaic Canyon.

A Sunday morning spent with Nizal Mayyam people

I have already posted about Nizal Mayyam which does Voluntary work and Go Green Projects. I am on a short holiday in Coimbatore and decided that I will contribute some money to this organization. When I called the founder Mr. Murugan, he was happy about my gesture but told me that I should go with them on Sunday morning to feed the poor.

I agreed and as per prior arrangement went to his house in the morning at around 7.30 a.m.

I could see quite a few volunteers and 'Sambhar Rice' ( cooked Rice mixed with South Indian Gravy with Lentils) readily kept in very big vessels. I was told that the food was cooked by Mr. Murugan in his house with his wife's help. He had two small children who were running around the house.

I was offered the rice and though it was an early hour for me to eat rice, I readily agreed and had a plate (biodegradable disposable plate) of rice which was really very tasty. All the volunteers also had their share of the food.

One group of volunteers moved to some places with the food and We as a group of about 8 people went in another direction in a small tempo which was driven by Mr. Murugan himself.

We first went to a home for small children who were street children abandoned by parents or some children who had parents but were very poor to support them. This is run by a semi Governmental organization and the children live there and go to school also from there. The children looked quite healthy and were all smiles.

They were made to sit on floor with their clean steel plates in front of them. First one packet of glucose biscuit was distributed to them and then the food was served. I was asked to serve as I was the sponsor for the day. When they asked if there is any occasion like birthday etc in my family I suddenly remembered that the next day that is 8th August is the birthday of my son Anand. So I told them it is my son's birthday tomorrow. All children joined together in wishing my dear son for his birthday before eating their food. The wishes coming from so many young kids made my eyes moist.

Our next stop was in a place where about 30 mentally ill patients are homed. these were people who looked quite ordinary but very forlorn. I was told that a doctor comes and gives them medicines weekly and many of them are fine but nobody is taking them back into their homes. After serving them the food we went to a near by Beggar's home.

This place housed more than 30 people. All old and worn out. They are kept there so that they don't go out in streets to beg and some sort of food is being provided for them everyday.

Our last stop was an Orphanage which was in a very lovely surroundings. Lots of trees were there around this place and children, disabled people and also very aged people were there . Some of them were not able to move and so others collected food and took for these aged people.

I was very impressed by the way this was done. We quickly distributed the food and kept some more in each place for second helping and moved on. By 9.30 the whole trip was over.

Murugan said that some of the other volunteers have gone to dig the pits to plant the saplings and Murugan and company will go and plant the saplings in the pits which are already dug.

I thought I should join off and on when I visit Coimbatore in this and contribute what ever money and also my time to this even though it may be just few hours.

Maldives trip

Yes I have decided to blog the trip I had about two years (July 2009) ago to Maldives with hubby dear and Tejas. I was wanting to do this for a long time and some how could not sit and write. At last here I am trying to do justice to the lovely time we had with our friends who hosted us in their Country.

(Please click on the pictures to see the full view.)

On July 16th 2009 we three started from KL directly to Male' the capital city of Maldives. Tejas was leaving Malaysia and starting his school in his home country US of A from this academic year.

Male' the Capital city as seen from the Boat.

My friend Ayeysha her hubby Thoufeeq and her daughter Nur were waiting for us in the airport.

We had to take a boat ride of less than half an hour to reach the capital city which is a small place where you can just go around the city by walk in say 2 hours. Sham was not aware that the airport is situated in a different island and was surprised.

We understood that we were going to experience a very different kind of life style,  where the land space is small and water/Ocean surrounds all the inhabited small land spaces .

Maldives is a Country which comprises of some 800 islands or Atolls as they are called and about 200 plus islands are inhabited. Some of the islands are exclusively resort islands.

We went to their house in a taxi and we could see that the capital is crowded with lots of motorbikes and quite a few taxis and cars.

Next day morning we started for one such island resort called 'Kuramathi' .

Kuramathi the Island Resort

              My favourite battery operated cart in which we went to our staying place

                                                        View Point

                         
                                           Water Bunglows where we stayed.
 We had to travel for an hour or so by boat to reach this resort. It was raining and the sea was quite rough. I for one is always very scared of water even the swimming pool. One can imagine how I felt. But I felt very secure with my friends around who are good swimmers and father and daughter trained Sea Divers.

We reached 'Kuramathi' which was a small, sweet island. We stayed in two adjacent water bungalows which were built in the edge of the sea.

               
                                 Some of the water creatures we saw near the Bunglows.  A small Shark...

                            A Crane which looks like it has come out of a Children Story book.

             A shell creature which I have never seen alive.  I used to collect it (even now I do when I go to Beaches,   what we call 'kilinjal, in tamil and 'kappe chippu' in Kannada.

 The whole island was full of trees and plants and lovely greens on sandy area and we went to the bungalow in a golf cart which made me think of my ideal village where I will have a golf cart to move around in a dense vegetation.

There were few restaurants in the resort and we went to one of them to have lunch and it was lovely.

the other type of accomodation which looks like  a hut

                                                        Tejas in front of a "hut"

In front of the water bungalow the sea waves were moving up and down and we could just sit and watch from the wooden bridge varieties of fish in the shallow water. we saw some small school of fish which forms its own pattern formations and moving around in groups. We saw some small sharks moving around suddenly chasing the small fish and moving inside the formations and all the small fishes moving and regrouping to make another formation. It was fascinating. More colorful fishes were also moving around and it was like watching 'finding Memo' in reality. Amidst this we saw a lonely crane waiting patiently to catch its prey I suppose.

Shallow water in front of the water bunglow.  a Small shark can be seen in the right front corner.

                                            The nicely done room such a warm welcome

                     The Feeding of the Giant Rays.  It was amazing how such huge rays came to eat.

Evening we just took a leisurely walk around the island and went to see giant sting rays being fed. The Rays were all very huge.

                                     The Shark(s) which were coming again and again to eat the fish.

                   The School of Fish can be seen around the Shark.

Next day after breakfast we went to ' Sand Bank' which is a strip of sand in the edge of island which gets covered by water at certain times (as tides change). Suddenly Thape decided that he would take us to a neighbouring island called 'Kandhalu'. It was half an hour ride by motor boat but the ride was very bumpy and the sea was rough. My heart was in my mouth but I just managed to smile but it was a great experience.

                                                                The Speed Boat

                                      The Very scared Me trying to look brave.

                                            Aah. We reached the Island 'kandhalu'

                                         The lovely corals in the shore.

This island is very exclusive and small. We were given a room for changing and to take rest and the room was very nicely and ecologically decorated.

We were taken there to go for snorkeling as the corals are very near the shore/beach. We three wore life jackets and the snorkeling mask. I was very scared but managed to go floating holding ayeysha's hand tightly. I did not understand that I should breath through the mouth and so could not manage to be inside the water for long. But hubby dear managed to float nicely and did snorkeling better than me. I could see wonderful corals layers after layers like some coral park extending till my eye sight could reach. I don't think I will get another chance to see corals so near the beach.   I wish I would get one more chance to do snorkeling so near the shore.

                                                             Trying to Snorkel

                                 Every body is comfortable.....

       oops the picture is turned.  but the point to be noted is the structure looks so ethinic but with all                                                lovely gadgets done so tastefully

Tejas did very nicely with Thape and Noor on both sides swimming near the corals and careful not even to touch them accidentally with their body. That way they are all very careful in maintaining the corals and are very particular about how we do the snorkeling. We could see lots of colorful fishes in this island also.

We had lunch in that island and returned to 'Kuramathi' while Sham and Thape played tennis I managed to teach Nur and Ayeysha the game of 'dayakattan' which I had taken with me. This is a traditional game played in Tamil Nadu which is one of the  traditional board games. Nur said she liked the game very much.

A Bat we saw hanging in the tree.

 A lovely Sunset.

                                                         Waiting to see the Sunset.

Thape decided to extend our stay in this island for one more day and we were all very thrilled.

                        Some special fish we saw.  one of the Fish of Finding Mimo?

                               Another silky creature comes  near this to say Hello?

the Greens are so refreshing. 

Walking out from the Bunglow.  me looking for special type of fish.

again this isa picture gone horizontally.  survival of the fittest.  the coconut tree bent itself so that it could catch the sunlight for its survival.

The Beach.

                                                The formation of the school of fish.

  The Banana Boat.  we are just watching the fun from the shore.  Tejas is enjoying every ride and      every dive.

another type of boat ride.

                                                          The Blue Waters.
When Thape said he will take Tejas for Diving I thought he was joking. When he was taught how to breathe I understood he was serious and they all wore life jackets, weights in belt/packets so that they can dive deep and an oxygen cylider on their back and also mask.
Nur and Thape also divied and each person was accompanied by a trained driver. Tejas dived upto 1.9 meters and he got a certificat bubble diver. I felt very proud.

                                                                   The Instructions..

So Cool about Diving.

The Certificate for Tejas.

After lunch we went to the beach and sat inside the waist deep water. The waves which were slowly swaying and hitting was such a nice feeling. Because ayeysha was sitting there next to me I was not scared. We came out and buried Nur and Tejas in the white sand. Evening again it was the sun set sand back.

The back side of the Bunglow was quite deep waters and Tejas , Nur and Ayeysha jumped into the waters giving me such a scare.

I was forced to come and sit on the steps with my legs in water and me holding the rails like crazy.

                                               Trying to scare me more.

The Sand Bank sun set.

                                 Burying Tejas in the White sand.

Now Nur is also under the sand.

Lovely Sunset.

Next morning we left early for Male' . We could see some corals in the clear water while getting into the boat. We saw some sea cucumber and also some squids. I was seeing squids for the first time and had read about them in the novel 'sphere'. What we saw were small squids in a group and when the water was disturbed purposely by Thape they let out a jet of an ink like liquid in the water which is their defense mechanism.

We went to a neighboring island and waited for the 'Sea Plane' which lands in water and takes off from water. It is a small plane which can hold about less than 20 persons. The captains of the sea plane wore 'shorts' as uniform. We reached 'Male' the capital in just 17 minutes . We could see from the plane lovely round or elliptical Atolls surrounded by light shallow blue water and then the darker deep blue sea. Wonderful Experience.

The Sea Plane

In front of the Plane with the Captains of Plane in the background.

Atol seen from the Flight.

                                               Male' a sky view

                     We are landing.  we are almost there. How many high rise in such a small place .

Evening we went to the beach which was crowded and lots of locals were surfing in the waves.

I always say that where ever I go I find some body known to me directly or through some body. (This happened when I was in Jullundar/Punjab where I had met people whom I had known in Bangalore). Here also my theory about myself proved right. Even though Male' is such a small place my friend's son in law was working as a financial head in a Company. We went and met him in the evening.

Next day we went to the neighboring Island which is made of reclaimed land which is called 'Hulumale' It has very nicely laid roads . Again lovely sea and lovely fish near the shore. We took a taxi and went  around the Island. This island is just 10 minutes ride from Male' by boat. By now we were getting used to travelling by boat like we travel by Bus in our country.

The name anu seemed to be very common in HuluMale which happens to be my daughter's name so we just clicked the pictures of these shops.

                              Nice lovley roads in HuluMale built on reclaimed land.

            A tree in Willangili.  I also climb tree.  remembering where we come from.....

           Children! they both are enjoying weather it is the Beach or the Sea or the Tree.

                                                                In HuluMale.

Next day we both went  for walk on our own in the morning. Afternoon we all went  to another neighboring island called 'wilangili' It has a kind of village atmosphere and has lot of low branched trees. Nur and Tejas climb the trees and had  a great time. The sea was very rough as that day was solar eclipse (which was  full and seen in India) so I just wet my feet in the ocean. We ate  ice candy which is the specialty of that village. I like that island/village very much.

We started  back home to KL in the evening, by flight. we went  to the airport by boat . My heart is heavy after a lovely memorable holiday which was made memorable because of the great hospitality shown by my adorable friends.

We came to KL via Colombo (we were not allowed to disembark) and the flight was very bumpy and turbulent.