TERRACE FLOWERS

                    PINK AND RED BLOOM
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मधुमालती 

PASSION FLOWER (KRUSHNA KAMAL)

PERIWINKLE (सदाफुली)

GLADIOLUS  (कर्दळ)

OLEANDER(कण्हेर)

IXORA 

HELICONIA (PARROT'S BEAK)

शेवंती 

ROSE (गुलाब)

GERBERA 

BOUGAINVILLEA 

ADENIUM

गोकर्ण 

Dried bougainvillea flowers used for candle decoration on Papa's Birthday.

yeoor hills

laburnum

spot sword tail

spot sword tail

Before the short termed relief after the exams gets,that is before the results arrive I decided to explore yeoor hills thane . I had heard about them and according to the photos I have seen I knew they offered quite a treat for photographers and I also wanted to click some pictures of butterflies which are mostly found in jungle. With guidance of Sundansu kaka I got the address of yeoor hills.

When I entered the forest my expectations were served And there were quite a lot things to photograph. Visiting it the first time we did not enter the main forest which lies after the yeoor village.

Sharing

Hi folks!
Few of our parents are in teaching profession. A few days ago they had got a huge task on hand of checking exam papers. One may feel it is just another job of the teacher. Actually they are under immense pressure of completing it on time ( not to forget the quantum ) and also doing justice in their evaluation. Not to forget the balancing act at the home front. While on the other side, the child who has appeared for the exams, also is in the same state of mind. Given this tough equation, Nand kishore ( Shivani and Vaishanvi's baba ) had got an added dimension, his Dad's demise during this period. His patience and perseverance was tested, however he not only managed the home front but also completed the evaluation of papers on time with proper justice and satisfaction.
This speaks a lot about the family as a whole. All played their part mentally and physically which had a timely, peaceful and balanced approach.

Second instance is of another baba, Girish ( Ishwari and Sarvesh 's dad ) accomplishments in his career. In a short span of 15 + years of Police career he has maintained a clean record and had got 380 meritorious medals for exemplary and remarkable performance. His list of achievements is big but the point is he has survived in this tough world of bureaucracy, Corruption and Politics and still stood there with his head high. Hence he has now been awarded the topmost Police award. He is one of the youngest officers who will receive this Police commissioner's award on 1 st May during the Maharashtra day parade.
Recently when Sachin completed his 100 th 100, he mentioned in one of his interviews, that he wants to continue playing cricket with his feet on the ground and without a swollen head. This is the similar case with Girish as well as he goes on to perform his daily duty without the ask for medals and recognition as they just come by and he with his humble approach and behaviour has become a role model in his own way.
Hats off to these examples of patience, perseverance, integrity, honesty and humility
Mahesh

Vacation ideas

Dear All,

Idea for Teenagers.

Make a group of 3-4 who are staying in near vicinity. Take a BEST bus, go to last stop where bus terminates. Come back in same bus-route. This way you can explore Mumbai in a better way.

If you are interested in any hobby, try to do it with some like-minded people. whereby fun will be more. For example, if u are interested to watch European Cup semi-final, try to watch it alongwith group.

Blossom at Hanging Garden

Hello Everyone, Few days back there was an article in TOI about a beautiful flower blossom at hanging garden. From that day had a great desire to go there and capture all the beautiful images in my mind more than in my camera. And finally the day arrived and we visited Hanging garden yesterday.

It was a beautiful soothing experience for our eyes given the scorching summer around. For some time we just watched in sheer amazement and tried to capture as much as we can in our mind, as I knew that these beautiful images would cast a lasting impression to hold on to, which is so beautiful and close to nature. I felt that our day to day life is full of hectic running around, reaching office on time, meeting deadlines, rushing back home, and squeezing time for family that we fail to look around the beautiful things around, which may help us wind down, connect with nature and ourselves.
Such small getaways are the need of the hour and hence, I felt like sharing with you all, some of the moments that I captured in frame...so, enjoy :-)

Thanks
Meghana -Jayant.

AATHAVANEENCHA KHEL

काही दिवसांपूर्वी मी आणि ओम काही गाणी शोधत होतो . शिबिरातीलही काही गाणी (जी 

कॅसेटमध्ये नाहीत अशी) मिळाली. आम्ही ती एकत्र म्हंटली.खूप खूप मज्जा आली. पुन्हा एकदा

छान आठवणी जाग्या झाल्या.नंतर (आनंदवनाच्या दृष्टीहीन मुलांच्या शाळेच्या बाहेर जी ) कविता

लावली होती ती सापडली. ती वाचल्यावर आनंदवन व तिथली ती शाळा डोळ्यासमोर उभी राहिली.

आपल्या सर्वांच्या डोळ्यांत अंजन घालणारी अशी ही कविता; तुम्ही सर्वांनी सुद्धा अनुभवावी

म्हणून इथे लिहीत आहे. शब्द्लेखनात प्रयत्न करूनही काही चुका झाल्या आहेत. त्या बद्दल क्षमस्व !

दृष्टीहीन मी - सृष्टीहीन मी

-------------------------

कसा दिसतो पक्षी? कसे असते हिरवे झाड?

सांगा ना हो कसे दिसते निळे निळे आकाश??

सांगा कसा गरुड मारतो आकाशी भरारी?

तेवत असते नयनी माझ्या राज नेहमी अंधारी

डोळ्यापुधाती दिसती वलये काळी तर कधी चंदेरी...

कुठले फूल गुलाबाचे,कमळाचे नि निशिगंधाचे?

आम्हीच का फक्त वासावरून ते ओळखायचे?

दाखवा ना त्या 'दवाचा' मला एक थेंब तरी

तेवत असते नयनी माझ्या राज नेहमी अंधारी

डोळ्यापुधाती दिसती वलये काळी तर कधी चंदेरी...

कसे वडील माझे, कशी आहे माझी आई?

सगळे म्हणतात गोजिरवाणी..म्हणजे कशी दिसते ताई?

निदान मी दिसतो कसा सांगा मला एवढे तरी

तेवत असते नयनी माझ्या राज नेहमी अंधारी

डोळ्यापुधाती दिसती वलये काळी तर कधी चंदेरी...

खरच....जल्मास मी आलो कशाला?

सृष्टीतला फक्त काळोख पाहिला...

का चितारले देवाने नुसतेच माझे डोळे तरी??

तेवत असते नयनी माझ्या राज नेहमी अंधारी

डोळ्यापुधाती दिसती वलये काळी तर कधी चंदेरी...

डोळ्यापुधाती दिसती वलये काळी तर कधी चंदेरी..............

Inspiration from the Kids

Cracking the Rubik cube

Hey I too solved the Rubik's cube!! I would have never imagined that the 3D thing is my cup of tea. Saniya saw to it that I learnt how to do it. She taught me step by step and showed extreme patience while teaching. To make it simpler, she wrote down the algorithms on a sheet of paper. Though I still need help of the sheet, I am able to solve it and I really enjoy doing it. So whenever I have some time to spare, I grab the cube. I dare not mention the time I take, but I can proudly say that Saniya takes about 2 mins.

Another incidence of inspiration from the kids:

Few days back while going for morning walk, wonderful fragrance of Kailaspati or Cannonball flower, in another lane, made me change my path. The bark of the tree was full of flowers. And the ground too was full of flowers. I started picking up the flowers when one flower almost dropped into my hand. The aroma filled our house and office too. I frequently walk those extra steps for the sake of the beautiful, exotic and fragrant flowers and for the sight of the tree in full bloom. And let me tell you that every time, I think of Sarvesh who used to change his path to school to see the beautiful flowers. Further, inspired by Sarvesh, Omkar, Om and Swarupa too, I tried clicking a picture of the tree and posting the same for the pleasure of all others. Just to remind you, this tree is also there in Lata Aji’s lane.
PS. There seems to be a problem in my uploads.Will post the pic later on.

09.04.2012
Dear Children,

Hi ! Most of you must have finished your exams by now and now you must be looking forward to do many things that otherwise you are not able to do. Since you have many hobbies and are interested in doing several things I am sure your holidays will be a great fun.

But I wish your holidays should also be a whole new experience. When President Barak Obama was your age, his mother once asked him what his future plans were like? He narrated a whole band of his dreams which really seemed to please her. However she did not say so. She told him that, that was all fine but he would need to have a set of values for himself if he wished to realise his dreams. If you wish to be an achiever it is essential to have a set of values that can provide a solid concrete foundation.

All of you may feel that you already have good values. Let me make you aware that at your age everyone including Barak Obama does feel that he or she has good values. They do not understand that they simply believe in good value structure. It does not meant that they have imbibed and practised those values.

To give your life a value based structure it is not enough to talk about or believe in good values. They must become part of your personality.

To make this happen you must start living by these values. When at the end of the day you relax and watch a TV serial, your mother who is much more exhausted than you, is finishing her chores, it amounts to violence.

When you have a hearty meal everyday and your half starved maid does the cleaning of your dishes you don’t bother to share at least your icecream with her, it shows lack of compassion. You may not be able to feed her everyday but you must share something with her to make her feel that you care.

According to Gandhijee there are only two values: Truth and Non-violence. He says truth is love. Now I would request you to start giving love actively. By doing so, you will be able to discipline your love and automatically imbibed non-violence. Because according to Gandhijee, anything that is against love is violence. You must make every member of your family feel that you love them and this you can do by showing them that you care. Your neighbours, relatives, family friends all love you unconditionally. Use this free time to make a happy call to them. See the difference it makes to them and more than that, the difference it makes to you.

Enough of my sermon now. I stop and good luck. Bye!

Lataaji

SHIVANI's achievement!

Shivani has achieved 'A' Grade with '19th' rank in Intermediate drawing exam at Maharashtra level.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations !!

Mokshada,

Many congratulations for winning the award of most progressive (Upakramshil) teacher.

Anand and Archana

common mormon

pupa looks like a green leaf

Hello! friends
One day a beautiful butterfly came and laid plenty of eggs on our kadhipatta plant . After five days they turned into caterpillar and started eating the leaves of the plant.On the same night after dinner we went to see and say good night to them ,at that time we saw one lizard came and ate all the caterpillars and she was going to eat the last caterpillar, my mother had hit the lizard with water to scare it. Ishwari and i told my mother to take the plant inside our house to protect the caterpillar from the lizard .After two days caterpillar started making the pupa. Every day we had observed the pupa.The pupa was looking same as kadhipatta leaf. We were eager to see the baby butterfly .One week was passed the pupa turned into dark colour.Yesterday our joy knew no bounds that in the morning butterfly came out and rested on my hand.The name of butterfly is common mormon.

Congratulations Mokshada!!!

Mokshada has been awarded " Sane Guruji Upakramshil Teacher" by Shikshak Bharati (Teacher's association of State Govt.).
Hearty Congratulations to her for this well deserved award.
We are poud of you !!!!

Steve Jobs

Steve was a visionary.He was someone who faced ups and downs but he overcame everything and became the person we know as Steve Jobs.This poem is just a tribute to that Steve -

He was a person,

Who used to do what he can.

For a normal person,

He looked like a common man.

He wasn't as charming as some,

He wasn't rich as others.

He was neither as intelligent as his sisters,

nor as strong as his brothers.

He was neither great in studies,

Nor was he good in any game.

He was kicked out of his college,

And sent to the place from where he came.

But he had a vision and

he saw things differently.

He had dreams, which to be fulfilled,

He worked laboriously.

He,by doing this,

Stood above the daily mobs.

He came,He saw,He conquered.

His name was Steve Jobs

poem on studies

Dear all ,I have written a poem on studies

Civic is full of Administration,

History is full of tradition,

Geography is full of trasportation,

Maths is full of algebraic expressions,

Science is full of inventions,

Hindi is full of dictation,

Marathi is full of confusion,

All in studies in all are TENSION !!!!!

-RUTUJA THAKUR

poem on studies

CHAITRA cha RANGOTSAV

Dear All,

All of us must have celebrated Holi with lots of colors. From last few days, I was capturing different colours of new leaves of our plants. Just wanted to share this nature's beauty with you. I do remember -Several times Lataaji asked all of us to watch the soft color of the new leaves (specially PEEPAL tree at Sion).

CHAMELI PLANT

ROSE PLANT

AASHUPAL

PEEPAL

MADHUMALATI

MADHUMALATI

KADIPATTA

DURANTA

To, be there

It was many a times

I, walked past and had gazed

dreaming of the grandeur

that lay beyond those

facing the bay.

I, longed to go there

The hidden glares

casting their serene glows

beckoning of the aura

for whom, who could be there

I, wished but once

my stares to rest

just, for being a part

I, hoped to be there

And so it was destined

a meeting of leisure with friends was held

passions, overtook my enthusiasm

I, had to go there

expectations were being unfurled

the ambiance was amazing

wonder struck, I stood

that, I was now there

the glistenings and the glitters

the gourmets and the wines

the delights and romances

the pleasures spread

were all over there

Special, I felt

pampered, wasn't I

they made me belong

for, just being there

Content to my absolute self

the melodies, warming my heart

I, looked thro' those to see

Twilight, caressing the bay.

The sails down the harbour

rocking gently on the waves

It was splendid to sit there

Many, I saw them passing by

overwhelmed by the majestic mystic

enshrined in the glory of the rays

Oh! how wonderful I felt

that, now I had been there

-Kiran

Paraprosdokians .......

Dear friends,
Yesterday I learnt about this term and was reading about this term.....and thought that I should share this with all teenagers.....

PARAPROSDOKIANS: (Winston Churchill loved them!)
Here is the definition: "Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous situation."
"Where there's a will, I want to be in it," is a type of paraprosdokian.
1. Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.
3. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left..
7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
8. Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.
9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
10. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.
12. Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, 'In case of emergency, notify: I put 'DOCTOR.'
13. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.
17. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
18. Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
19. There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
20. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.
21. You're never too old to learn something stupid.
22. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
23. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
24. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
25. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
I hope you will like them.

Anand Naik

hoopoe kingfisher

rufous backed shrike

its been long since I have not posted anything. But after few days I resumed it again. This time I captured 2 new kinds of birds through my lens. I am also proud to tell you that some of my classmates and me recorded OUR first song.The experience of recording in the recording studio of IIT. The whole atmosphere of the recording studio was amazing.

03.03.2012

Dear Children and Parents,

Grandchildren

Om is fourteen
And Ananya is two.

They are our grandchildren
Who keep telling us that
They are there to love
Love everyone and everything around.

Me and Anil seem to be
More blessed ones than others
We have many more lovely
Grandchildren in the Shibir,
As also in the family.

All of them reveal before us
The grandeur around
And we realise that
This grand time is entirely
Because of grandchildren.

We, me and Anil, both are in our seventies - a ripe age. Most of our friends have had equally good life. But we often see them complaining about life, people, the worst of all about their children and grand children.

After meeting them, sharing their sorrows and agonies, both of us come home and automatically discuss where the things could have gone wrong.

Everytime the discussion is different but conclusion we are drawn into has remained the same. They seem to have failed to perceive the grandeur of life all along. As one grows he learns to love in a disciplined fashion and grows through the give and take of love in his/her youth. Most of us genuinely feel proud of our achievements. We often start believing that it is our own singlehanded achievement and inadvertently start feeling that we are extremely capable and this success and capacity both are permanent. The vigour of youth makes one overlook this greenhorn. Due to this, we fail to perceive the love our near and dear ones are giving us. We fail to accept the effort our children make to keep us happy often at their own cost. This deprives us from seeing the grandeur of life all along.

As a result, the grandest thing that happens to old people i.e grandchildren also become a burden instead of a prized possession.

We both are thankful to you, all parents for giving us so many grandchildren.

With love,
Lataaji

The half glass is filled!!!

Hello Friends! This incident happened before the Christmas vacation. Our school was taking us for a three day camp to Silvassa. The experience mentioned below is my experience before I went to the camp.
This was our first camp for such a long duration. Everyone was very excited because we could stay with our friends in a room and chat with each other all the night without any restrictions.
There is a girl in our class whom I knew since last year but she was not a very good friend of mine. She is an only child in her family and thus is a pampered child. She has a habit of finding flaws in everybody. This was a first camp for her without her parents and as she does not have any other friend in the class, she wanted to join us in our room. Our group did not want her in our room as we thought that she would be a great interference to our privacy. Also, we were of the opinion that as she is from high class family, we could not be “Ourselves” in the room. We were praying that something will happen and she would cancel her plan of coming to the camp. I was talking to Aai and Baba about this at home for last few days. Both were of the opinion that we should accommodate her and should not be so mean but I was not ready to change my way of thinking. That day our luck smiled back at us and our teacher announced that each room will accommodate 4 students. Our group was very happy as we were four of us as close friends. That day, this girl was absent in the school and my friends gave me the responsibility of informing her about this. A mixed feeling of happiness and guilt ran through my mind while telling this to her. Suddenly her excitement went down and she said that she will not come to the camp as she could not adjust with anyone else. I including my friends felt very guilty of our selfish behaviour. That day when I returned from the school and was thinking about this matter gravely, suddenly a thought came to my mind which changed my way of thinking. I remembered the time when my colony friends used to ignore and exclude me in everything. I suddenly started feeling very guilty of my mean behaviour and I felt ashamed of myself. I immediately called this girl and told her that if there would be four people staying in a room we were ready to adjust. She was very surprised to see the “sudden change” in my behaviour. After a lot of pursuing (even here I was mean because this was to satisfy my guilt) she was ready to come. I also spoke to my friends about this and they were quite fine with it (maybe because they were going through the same feeling as I was going through).
The experience mentioned below is my experience after coming from the camp.
There was a drastic change in me after returning from camp. One reason for this was obviously because I returned home more responsible and wise. When Baba asked me the second reason for this the following is what I told him:
“Baba I was very wrong in judging this girl. In the camp instead of four we had to stay seven in a room. We had three more girls staying in our room; two of which were quite good friends of ours but one of the girl was not very co-operative. She wanted to be first in everything. Due to this behaviour of hers everyone had to adjust a lot but the most surprising thing was that this girl (whom we were not ready to take in our room earlier) adjusted the most. She did not even take bath for two days. Also she adjusted a lot while sleeping. (I forgot to mention before that I was a bit ill while going to the camp so Jayant Kaka had prescribed some medicines for me to take).This girl everyday used to remind me to take my medicines and also used to remind me of what to eat and what not to. Actually she took more care of me than my friends and not for a moment did she let me feel that my parents were not there.
Really ,Baba until now Lata Aaji used to always tell us to see that the half glass was filled rather than seeing that the half glass was empty but I never used to understand the real meaning of this but after this camp I really know what she meant by it. The reality is that we never gave this girl the opportunity to show her good side. The problem was in us and never in her. She just reacted to the circumstances which took place in the school but in the camp we got to see how she reacted to a circumstance as took place in the camp. Really Baba I am wiser than before.”
Now this girl is a very good friend of mine along with my other friends and even now when asks me that was it out of guilt or sympathy that I suddenly changed my mind about her coming to the camp, I tell her the same thing that I told Baba and on hearing this she just smiles. I suppose this smile is because of her good experiences and memories which she had at the camp due to us.
So just see that the half glass is filled!!

Not a penny more, not a penny less

On Tuesday evening, after my nap, I saw a book lying on the table. My Dad had mentioned that it was an international bestseller. The name read 'Not a penny more, not a penny less' by Jeffery Archer. When I asked my mother about it, she said that she had picked it from the library on my father's advice.She had also brought a Marathi translation for herself.We discussed about the book, not in detail, but a broad outline of the plot.
Dad had read the book in his college days and recommended it, as it was good to understand the Share Market. At first, I was slow to grasp the procedures and vocabulary related to the Share Market and Stock Exchange.After reading first 15-20 pages 2-3 times, I asked my mother about it.She had read it from her translated book and told me about the details. For the next two days, each of us read his/her own version, nudging ahead of each other in a spirit of healthy competition, discussing the next chapters en-route.
The story is about a person named Harvey Metcalfe, who was poor, but through betrayal and deceit, became very rich by investing in the Share Market. He earned millions of dollars and spent it lavishly in his annual trips to Europe. He floated a company called 'Prospecta Oil' and hired some marketing men like him and telephonically controlled them.The chief told an unexperienced youth that they had found oil in the North Sea. This youth walked into their trap. The chief told him that when they announce this find, the prices of their shares would skyrocket.The young man asked four rich people to invest in it and finally he realized that the company was a fraud. The four of them lost millions of dollars in this way.They decided to get the money back from Harvey using well-thoughtout plans, but on one pre-condition:-'not a penny more, not a penny less'.Three of them carried on their plan successfully. The story changed after this and there was an unexpected turn.It was a game of suspense and surprise and my imagination was stretched at each event.
I realized that everyone in this vast world is not as loving, truthful, and helpful as we experience in our relation at Anandmewa. When venturing into unknown, unexpected fields, one must take proper advice from a counseller, guide, well-wisher or one whom we trust.
This book is a sort of an eye opener. A must read.
P.S.:-I have deliberately not discussed the later half of the book so as to tickle your curiousity and compel you to finish off reading the book by 2am on a Saturday (the 4th day) as I did. GO AHEAD...

LOOKING AT THE NATURE

Hope you all have seen the previous photograph of the shoe flower(ANGEL flower). This is another brother/sister of the Angel flower (both from same plant)which you have seen before.This flower had five stamen (PARAG). Few flowers had three and few had four. Everyday nature tells a different story. It shares a lot of happiness.
How can we make the nature happy ? That was a question coming in the mind.

Now the Summer is on. So we started keeping water for the birds around. We have used tender coconut shell for the same.