The butterfly garden,Thane.

cosmos
blue tiger

common wanderer common baron
common jezebel
common mormon (female)
small branded swift
peacock pansy in (wet season form )

On sunday my mother,father and I visited the butterfly garden in Thane. On his 2 to 3 acre land in owla village Rajesh owalakar utilised the land to make a wonderful butterfly garden. We reached there around 10am as usual late.
Numerous of butterflies fluttered there. Some basked in the sun while some skipped around flowers. We weaved through the aisle of the vibrant flowers of cosmos and starchytarpheta which lured the flying jewels in.Bees buzzed across the path,dragon flies sailed and the flowers swayed on the gentle breeze.
I lost the track of time and catured the wildlife around. Clutching the camera in my hand i wandered alone through the garden deeper and deeper until I.........

blooming life from my garden

geranium

tailed jay

paper wasp

parizatak

plain tiger

lime butterfly



shevanti or chrysanthemum


Just after the rains my garden wore a cloak of colours.All the plants bloomed with life. Pentas,lantana,ixora,zinnia,marigold put on new clothes as fragrance emnated from sontakka.A variety of pollinators gathered around for treat. This is just how a garden should look.

Attendance for the Nisarga Pooja..

Sanket Latpate is unable to attend the Nisarga Pooja...
sorry for the delay..

Nisargapooja Attendance

Simran Mangale will attend Nisargapooja.
Sorry for delay in informing.
-Sandhya Mangale

Eshaan's family will not come for Nisargapooja.

NISARG POOJA

Shivani will  attend  Nisargpooja  on  25 Sept.  along with aai ,baba and Vaishnavi.

Chinmay Dani,Sanika Bagwe,Aradhya Naik and Radha Yederi cannot make it for the Nisarg pooja.

They called me up as their internet connection had faults so I am writing in their behalf.

Attendance for nisarg pooja

As I have my class at 11.00am, I will come by 9.15am with my parents and Shubham but, I will leave by 10.30am.

Attendance for 25/9

Only Suchitra and Jayant are attending the nisarga pooja

Nisarga Pooja on September 25, 2011

Sorry we will not be able to attend the Nisarg Pooja on Sunday as we are likely to go to Pune to meet Eesha.

Divya

Attendance for Nisarga Pooja

2 of us will be attending the Nisarga pooja.

hope to meet you all!

OM VAKNALLI

Nisarg pooja on 25.09.2011

Only Anagha Karanje shall attend the pooja.

nisarg pooja

Our family will not be attending the nisarg pooja due to our classes

nisarg puja confirmation

Hello,

For nisarg puja please take confirmation for Vedant, Mahek, Mamma and Baba.

Thank you.
Vedant.

nisarga puja

I would be the only on from the khaches who is attending the nisarga puja

confirmation of attendance for nisarga puja

hello everyone.
we recieved swarupa maushi's message that we are to confirm our presence for the nisarga puja on this sunday, as discussed in the shibir on sunday.
i will be coming, but not aai or baba. so its one chitnis, confirmed.
will be there, hope many of you make it too. ;)

Winner vs Loser

Subject: WINNER VS. LOSER

The Winner is always part of the answer; The Loser is always part of the problem.
The Winner always has a program; The Loser always has an excuse.
The Winner says, "Let me do it for you"; The Loser says, "That is not my job."
The Winner sees an answer for every problem; The Loser sees a problem for every answer.
The Winner says, "It may be difficult but it is possible"; The Loser says, "It may be possible but it is too difficult.
" When a Winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong"; When a Loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault."
A Winner makes commitments; A Loser makes promises.
Winners have dreams; Losers have schemes. Winners say, "I must do something"; Losers say, "Something must be done."
Winners are a part of the team; Losers are apart from the team.
Winners see the gain; Losers see the pain. Winners see possibilities; Losers see problems.
Winners believe in win-win; Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose.
Winners see the potential; Losers see the past.
Winners are like a thermostat; Losers are like thermometers.
Winners choose what they say; Losers say what they choose.
Winners use hard arguments but soft words; Losers use soft arguments but hard words.
Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things; Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values.
Winners follow the philosophy of empathy: "Don't do to others what you would not want them to do to you"; Losers follow the philosophy, "Do it to others before they do it to you."
Winners make it happen; Losers let it happen.
Winners plan and prepare to win. The key word is preparation.

'Hari Om'

Brahmakamal

Bandra Ganapati

My Ganapati

Hello dear friends,
This is the picture of the ganapati which came at my house this year. It was a replica of 'Lalbaghcha Raja'and a complete eco-freindly Ganapati.

This picture I have displayed as this was our last ganapati. My ganapati has completed 10 years and we have also shifted to Bandra.There was a big ganapati at my new colony in Bandra. It was about 10-15 feet tall. Now every year I will spend my time down the building during Ganapati. When I will grow up I will continue the same tradition in my house. I will make sure my Ganapati and decorations will be Eco-friendly.

After the visarjan of our ganapati we went back to Bandra, and one pleasant thing took place one night. We saw 3 beautiful Brahmakamal on a plant which was planted by my Aaji. We took one flower and offered it to the ganapati of our society. I would like to share those snaps with you which are clicked by my baba.

Thank you,
Vedant

Discussion on TV addiction.

As omkar has explained in the previous post,we had a discussion on how can we express our gratitude as we used to in the shibir on thanks giving day.
Before that we celebrated Simran's Birthday.
Then moving on to the discussion of how to reduce or put a break to the addiction of T.V,computer, mobile and so on . Each person was a willing participant during this session and was sharing his/her thought freely . Many parents and children gave their opinion and some points are as follows:

We get tired and are exhausted and for the moment want to relax our minds.At that moment we try to interact with the big screen and start afresh. But its not that easy. We forget the whole world and by the time we realize it is more than 1/2 an hour .
To this problem others suggested to put an alarm if the time is a issue. Or if nessasary to relax just sit and concentrate on your breath . Still if any temptation remains atleast watch some quality programs . Then be it some national geographic,news or tennis and cricket matches.

A issue came forword that not only the modern generation but all the age groups have a developing will of playing ,messaging or chatting on the mobiles when the fundamental use of it is calling and communicating . The adults commented that in their times they were free to roam and land in some friend's house,but now the children themselves are so involved in studies and other activities that they do not have any time for themselves and hence whenever they get freetime they start off with these addictive things .
Sania tai also added on "Whatever free time we get is only between half an hour to 45 minutes which is between two classes. In that period none of the activities get completed. Aai(swarupa mavshi) said,"You all like to share many things on the blog.Whenever you get such little time, you can very well make a draft on a paper of whatever you feel like sharing on the blog. Next time when you will get such free time'it can be utilized for typing on the blog . Even if the whole post could not be finished ,the next time you open it you could continue from the point you had stopped."
Soham Nadkarni also explained that,
"When I commence watching T.V,it is irresistable and I cannot control it . But when I put an end to it , I don't watch it for days together . But I have intentionally tried to control it and have succeeded ."
Milind Kaka (Chitnis) made a very valid point to which most of us agreed . He said,
"We as parents have observed 2 types of solutions which some of you have only discovered on your own . One ,which Soham and some others are applying and is made with extra intentional effort which is a good way indeed and the second which evolved with Omkar and it was naturally formed because of his increasing and sustaining the hobbies ." He did explain it in the previous post .
The girls also put forward their opinions.One of them said that whenever her Aaji is watching her serials and my books are in her room .So when I go to take them, some interesting scene (like fighting or someone is dying) is going on and then I too get involved in seeing it.
The parents & some children said that rather than just playing some useless games of fighting and war,it would be creative to draw or paint or play sudoku . Sure enough it would be better to play sudoku on paper than on a screen .

I also have a experience to share .
MY EXPERIENCE:I was extremely addicted to T.V and computers even a few years ago.They used to be a question of life and death . Gradually I developed a number of hobbies which helped me get a little out of it but still it was hightime I needed to change myself . So I started keeping no freetime for if I would keep myself busy I wouldn't even think of getting bored and coming in contact with any screen . I then scheduled myself, from the time I get up to the time I go to bed . So because of this time table I have reduced my T.V a lot and use computer only for studies and blogs . Side by side I am trying to still sustain most of my hobbies like origami,gardening,cooking,photography,bird and butterfly breeding/watching,reading,painting/drawing etc. Still a liittle television should be reduced and I am working towards it.


At almost the end of our discussion Saniya tai decided that she likes litreature and writing hence whatever excess time she gets in hand ,in the next month to come she will increase her writing and reduce her attention towards the screen .

So this discussion in short formed a base for the session with श्री अनिल अवचट in the following months to come .

28th of august: the meeting

The torrential rains canceled our plans of going to Pali. In return it gave us ample of time to hold a meeting over some issues. We all gave our views on how are we going to express our gratitude towards the world. As we proceeded we landed upon the issue of watching T.V.


Many of us had a problem of watching television(computers included)for more than 30 minutes. All of us tackled different causes for exceeding the limit.for example,Aniruddha lacked for playmates. While he was free the others were'nt. This forces him to sit in front of the computer screen. There was a question raised how do you get rid of this habit,and told the ones who already got rid of it. My father indicated towards me as I would have a good solution with me as I aleady got rid of it.I was asked to narrate my experience..............





My experience: In the days of grade 7 and 8 television used be the fundamental part of my day,and I could'nt resist my self.This was my daily routine.As soon as I came home from school,I threw my bag down and used to either watch tv or used to play on my PS. In summer vacations I started photography. My time of watching television was covered by time I gave to my hobby. Now when I am in grade 9 naturally theres lack of time to spend in leisure. Recently I also started planting trees on my terrace now there are 47 plants. The time between 4:30 (thats when i reach home fron school) to 7:00 is donated to rest and for maintaining the plants.Thats how I got rid of my habitof watching television. It was a natural process not a forced one.

sparrows

Hey friends,

This is the first time I am contributing on the blog.

Few months ago, a pair of sparrows started building their nest in the shoe box which we hung in our window grill. In the attached video, we(I and Shubham) tried to record their activities like the male sparrow chirping to attract the female, the sparrows feeding their kids inside and outside the nest. Also the sparrows having bath in the puddle formed after rains and lastly the kids soon started living independently.

In case if you are unable to watch the above video, kindly use the link given below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qtq6CmYSFU

Quick Shots...

The Land Of Peace... (Ahmadnagar)

The Land Of Peace... (Ahmadnagar)

My birthday bash

Hola friends.With my birthday coming on 2nd I am already planning to have all the fun in my life.But this time my Bday will be special.2 months ago I read a headline in newspaper "MESSI COMING TO INDIA"and as I read further I came to know that he was coming to play an international friendly on my 2Nd September.Any die hard football fan would want to see Argentina play in India.But my dreams came true when ESPN bought broadcasting rights and not Ten sports(as our cable operator doesn't have that channel in his Catalogue).It would be like a best birthday gift for me as I will watch the South American football gods play in India on my TV.

ashy prinia

common picturewing dragonfly

Waking up early I saw I waited till my sight cleared. I went to the window only to be surprised by the cloudless sky. Rejoicing I after all the morning habits,decided to pay a visit to the gardens near us after a long time...a large part of photographing butterflies started in this garden at juhu church. The new look of the garden was'nt as pleasing as it was before. many plants which attract butterflies were cut short. As i strolled along aisle of lilies I saw a butterfly sailing over a spiral of plants. I cautiously went near it.My guess was proved wrong instead it was a picturewing dragonfly(3rd 4th picture).

Shravan

Dear all,

This is my first attempt to write on this blog. Through this, I am sharing some of my feelings and memorable moments of Anandmeva Shibir during the month of Shravan.

I know some of you may be wondering why I am sharing this on the last day of Shravan but I feel it is always better to be late than Never and incidentally today is the most important day for all mothers as everyone celebrate Matrudin today.

I still remember first day of this year Shravan …… As usual I switched on Radio during early hours of morning as per my usual practice and first song I heard was tuneful song by Padmaja Fenani ‘ Hasara Nachara Jarasa Lajara’ ….and the song took me into my initial years of Anandmeva Shibir. We used to dance alongwith our children on this tune all Saturdays of Shravan. As Shravan is the month of festivals like Nagapanchami, Rakshabandhan, Gopalkala and so on…, we used to have many interesting programs in Shibir and not to forget delicious khau served at the end of program.

As Shravan is month of festivals, nature is also at his best. Rain prefers to dizzle rather than pouring and shower fills the air with coolness. As soon as we step out of Mumbai, everywhere we see our motherland appears green which represents its freshness. Sprouting of grass makes land appear like a green bed sheet spread just for us. Different colours are splashed as variety of flowers bloom during this season. Even markets are filled with fragrances of flowers like Champa, Chameli, Bakuli and so on.. Nature looks so fresh and youthful like our teens.

I am hopeful that every one of us would have experienced various dimensions of Shravan and would have stored great memories of this season . Lets sing together, dance together and say “Thank you Shravan. Come again Soon..”

Priyanka Navare
28th August 2011.

Dear Friends,
It has been a long time since I have posted on the blog. Today I want to share with you an unforgettable experience of my school trek.
Few days before a circular had been circulated in our class for a Trek at Naneghat. Naneghat is one of the difficult mountain, to climb in the Sahyadri ranges. We were informed by our teachers that this trek would not be an easy one as the slope at Naneghat is a difficult one. But many of the students decided to join the trek.
On August 23, Tuesday we all gathered at our school at 6:15 am. We sat in the bus and left for the trek at 7:30 am. We reached at the base of Naneghat at around 10:30 am and started for the trek. We went through the muddy ways, narrow rocky roads and also through the small brooks. Exhausted and perspirating, we reached at plain grassland. There we were about to have our lunch. Surprisingly, no one really was hungry even after an exhaustive climb. After the lunch break (so called), teachers announced that those who have strength and are willing to climb to the top should follow the instructor and remaining students can rest there. Most of the students preferred to stay back and only few of us decided to go further. I along with one of my friend was walking ahead with the instructor very enthusiastically. After panting for some time we realised that it is not that easy to climb the remaining portion of the trek. The drinking water we carried along was over, our legs started aching and for fraction of second we felt that we can’t climb anymore and literally wanted to jump down the valley as there was no place to wait and take the rest. Somehow we reached at the top and ................ we felt as if we have climbed Himalayas and we were on the ninth cloud. The atmosphere was cool and pleasant. We felt that the Earth had dressed in green. We all were extremely thirsty and saw a quite narrow brook coming down the rocks. Everyone ran towards it and started plashing the cool water on their face. We also filled our bottles with the refreshing water of the brook. After resting there for a while we decided to climb down. Surprised as we were, we saw that the atmosphere was filled with thick fog and we could not see anything beneath us. It became difficult for us to come down but we took it as a challenge. Catching hands with each other we started climbing down. No one had worn a watch but at 2:30 pm it seemed as if it was around 7:00 pm. At last we reached the plain grassland where rest of the class was resting. After taking a break for some time we started walking back to where our buses were parked. We felt that this last stretch of our trek is very long as we were totally exhausted. In spite of the tiring hike, we were dancing and singing in the bus on our way back home. Due to the city traffic, we reached back at around 10:00 pm instead of scheduled time of 8:00 pm. Bidding good bye to our classmates we went home carrying lot of excited memories with us.
I must admit that this was my worst as well as the best trek until now.

Letter from Lata aji

Dear parents and children,
It is 5 o'clock in the morning and here I am writing to you.
I am seeing my " NOW". What do I see ?.
In my" Present"I am focussed on my "NOW"i.e.my "Present"is providing a cheerful background.
Mr Anna Hazare's movement has awakened all of us.It has rekindled the fire within us.Candles have become redundant now."Now" is a beautiful moment for a person who respects democracy.This movement , the media say is "Kranti".The kranti these days picturises destruction,revolt,violence in our mind.It is expression of a volcano of emotional turmoil within the being.I feel however this kranti is different.It is kranti of Jagruti.It is an awakening within.So an expression of kranti is going to be different this time.A drop of salted water in the ocean goes up in the sky as gas,vapour ,as high as it could ever reach due to scorching heat. It reaches the skies and jumps back onto the earth totally rejuvenated. It has become sweet. It can enrich life. I am feeling like that drop of water in the ocean.I am small but I "am".I am going up in the sky with my fellowmen.Moment of awakening helps one to shed off ego and selfishness and suddenly one starts living as a part of whole life in the universe.
We all awakened citizens are in our "NOW".This is the moment of action.This is the moment to shoot the arrow from the bow.
How should we shoot ?.It should be a responsible person's action.My action now has to be effective.Democracy is said to be "of"the people.Therefore all of us collectively are going to react to Anna's call rationally,reasonably and respectfully."NOW" is always divine but one seldom realises it to be so.We have got the rarest opportunity to handle the divine "NOW". Divine "NOW" needs to be handled with utmost dignity. I am sure we can do it. First of all let us be careful not to undo it. Any impulsive,rash reaction can be detrimental here.Our actions are in synchrony now.Synchrony enhances the effect.So the impact of our smallest good act will be exaggerated and so will be the impact of our wrong inappropriate action.The smallest reaction from us is very vital.Our action should not disturb peace at any cost. So far the movement has been peaceful.We citizens have to maintain that peace so that the government is able to perceive the proper dimension of our awakened collective conscience. Though the government is a body,it is not inanimate. Everyone there also is a human being like us. "NOW"both the government and the common man are experiencing that bond of collective conscience and hence those persons in the government who are legally responsible for preserving the frame of our democracy must be allowed to work in peace. It is our duty to allow them to be.So also our policemen and security people be allowed to work peacefully.
Democracy is said to be "By" the people. I feel I am the government "NOW". Each one of us is shaping his own destiny through our "action".Our individual destiny "NOW" is going to be part of our future idol of our democracy. So our individual action and reaction is going to affect the future idol.Each one of us is shaping though the tiniest part of our own destiny, it is going to be an integral vital contribution to our future idol of democracy.Let us strive to
make an icon.
Democracy is said to be "for"the people.Let us get to act "NOW".With utmost humility and faith let us honour the privilege of shaping our democracy for us.
Get, set, go.

honeylicious

conjoined swift black banded bee

gram blue male upperside

salmon arab
gram blue female
salmon arab

Hola! here I come introducing few of the honey loving creatures in my garden. On a sunny morning (which a rare sight in monsoon) bees buzz around flowers as butterflies flutter around plants.At the slightest movement they fly only to settle on another flower.

The happiness of a Guava

On a Parsi new year morning ,I woke up,delaying my breakfast by an hour . As I sat by the bed room window having my bit of fresh air,my eyes went wide as I saw a thick fleshy fruit hiding midst the branches of our old guava tree . My heart leaped up to see the fruit . The tree had always been my favourite as it bore delicious red guavas all year round . But I rarely get to eat one of them as a company of Barbets and Parakeets [bird] always gobble all the guavas up as soon as they commence to ripe. Each time I have to fulfill my hunger with some snaps of the Barbet , relishing each tender morsel of the Guava .

Incidentally, Omkar and Sunita Mavshi from Khacche family came home.

''A perfect opportunity'', I thought and took Omkar straight near to where my target was. The guava was unreachable and so we had to get a stool in order to get hold of it . After all our efforts and bearing a couple of mosquito and ant bites,we managed to get an unexpected number of 8 guavas; 1 unripe , 6 ripe but small sized and THE ONE LARGE WHICH I HAD SEEN FROM THE WINDOW . Teasing the Barbets we came home satisfied. While relishing the guavas I felt like sharing the same tasty happiness with all my shibir friends .

This is when we really '' FELT '' the happiness . After taking great efforts and then achieving happiness is really the feeling of happiness is what we got.

I have even seen some papayas and sitaphals hanging low on trees in our compound . Wish to give you all more tempting experiences in future.

Here are just a few photos of that I clicked of the barbet and guavas I'm praising . Hope you all experience the same pleasure that I had,while clicking these snaps.