Captured Moments

Note: This post is my entry for blogadda which has come up with "Travel Photo Contest" with PringOO and here i am showing you my 5 best Travel shots:

Travelling and taking pics is one of my favourite thing which i like to do and over the past one and half year i have travelled lot of places. Let me show you one of the best pics or rather i can say these are the pics which i loved and captured :)

*Mysore Palace :

          Mysore, the captial city of Wodeyars and one of my favourite city :) we had been to this place last year for my hubby's birthday and this palace is one of the most magnificent building to see with these eletric lights lit up and yes all know about this palace. I took this pic from my cell in panoramic effect.

          We never knew the timings of when the palace would be lit up and we asked a localite out there and he informed us that the duration is for one hour and its from 7PM to 8PM and when we saw our watches it was already 7.40PM we had to rush to see the palace. Mysore traffic is not as worse as bangalore so we made it to that place by 7.55PM. 5mins left and i captured this magnificent palace as many as possible.

* Long Road :

           This was captured when i was travelling from Los angeles to Las vegas. Usually i never sleep in journeys how much ever tired i am for two reasons, one i would like to give company for person who is driving and the other coz i do not want to miss the scenery like this which come across suddenly in journey :) My hubby and myself we were travelling in bus,in the mid afternoon. Bus was climbing a small hill, i was eager to know what would come after this hill for which i hubby replied "of course a plain highway" but we saw long road, we both were stunned. Maybe i can say this was the first time i saw the longest road in my life and without wasting any time i captured this moment :)

*Mt Rushmore :

            Situated in South Dakota,USA. We cousins and myself, 5 of us drove 400miles from colorado to see this "United States Presidential Memorial" A granite sculpture. It was in the morning at 5 when we left. It was very sunny throughout the journey but when we were about to reach our destination it started snowing heavily :) we were not able to get down from our car, it was -4 degree celicus even during spring time in this part of the country and yes it was really tuf for us to take pics in that weather. But we really had fun time in snow played alot and took amazing pictures.

*Tsomogo Lake,Sikkim (East india):

           East india being one of the best place in incredible india, i was really lucky enough to cover few places in east :) I had been to Gangtok last year and on the way to Nathula Pass we get Tsomogo Lake. I was really shocked to see this lake on 12000 ft above and between mountains and whats more incredible is this lake is almost above clouds. SO in between two mountains and above the clouds is this oval shaped Lake. Stunning view :)

* Small Hut :

          This was captured in my village chittor, Andra Pradesh :) Why and when i took this pic was, we had lunch in my aunts house and after lunch we were relaxing in their house terrace and i was looking all round the place,mountains, greenery and this small hut captured my eyes which was just next to my aunts house :) I loved this house alot coz we being in a big city(bangalore) and staying in such big houses and having everything with us still we would like to have peacefull stay in such houses and i always wanted to build a small hut :) atleast to relax over the weekend ;)

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

Note:
* Click on the picture for better view.

USA Visit – Memorable trip of my life :)

I just returned back to India after 3months of US trip or rather I can say an official trip for my hubby and a vacation for me ;) Here in this post I would like to show all the places I visited over the past 3 months and like share my experiences :) So bear with the long post and njoy my experience, my first visit to USA, a different world.

We started our journey on Feb 7th Sunday to Las Vegas, the Gambling world :) Honestly speaking I never knew much about this place and I didn’t even have time to explore about this place before coming here but many people were telling my hubby in a surprised note “going to vegas on official trip” coz people usually go for vacation or to “Gamble”

Click here to know more about Las vegas.

I was lucky to stay in vegas for 7 whole weeks :) My hubby's work was in Casino some software engineer stuff while he was busy in fixing the issues he used to take me along with him and leave me in casino gave me some money and tell me to explore everything possible and left. So I used to roam around shop, hog. Once hubby finished his work we used to get back. I can say this was one of the best place I liked maybe coz I was able to stay here long. Most of my friends used to say “no one would get a chance to stay in Vegas for so long”

Next, Feb end we visited Indianapolis. It was freezing cold, close to 1-2 degrees and snow all over. I was really excited :) Played in snow took few pics. It was not the first time I saw snow but it was first time that I saw snowfall :) It was white all over. My hubby had work in this place for only 3 days as we had to come back again to Indianapolis later.

Then March 1st week we went to New York City :) The most populated city in United states. It was cold in this place as well. Over the weekend we covered all the possible places which we had to see. We saw WTC construction then took a boat ride to see the liberty statue, then we left to the Wall street, home for New York stock exchange, then to Brooklyn bridge walked the whole of bridge then we head to Madam Tussauds :) took few pics with famous personalities and then to Times Square :) Night view of times square with huge ads displayed on walls of buildings was amazing. Then we had dinner in Indian restaurant and by the time we reached back room it was 1am. Done with new York next day we planned to head to Washington DC but due to heavy snow fall we dropped our plan :( so I missed seeing it. All in all we saw major portion is what we felt and we started our journey back to Las Vegas again and stayed there for whole of March.

The whole of march I was in vegas covering all casinos and yes we visited in and around vegas. We had been to Grand canyon the Natural wonder of the world :) Click here to know my experience about grand canyon .

During march end we visited Los Angeles, The entertainment capital of the world :) We went for 3days, first day we visited santa monica beach, saw pacific ocean, the largest ocean in world. Next day we visited Disneyland :) played lot of games took pics with disney characters, saw movies. It was amazing :) and Sunday we visited Hollywood, Universal studios :) Played lot of games here as well saw how Hollywood works, stunts, music, action everything. There ends my LA trip.

Then April first week my hubby left to Canada and I could not accompany him as I didn’t have Canadian visa :( so I head to my cousin’s place Dallas, Texas. I had an amazing time with my cousin roamed, shopped, hogged and then I again left to Indianapolis. This time it is spring in Indianapolis and we stayed for a week here. Last time when I came here it was snow all over and now its green and beautiful all over. My hubby is great fan of Formula 1 and luckily there was an F1 track in Indianapolis so we visited and my hubby njoyed seeing the model of cars, track, pits. He was explaining me everything.

My hubby finished all his work in US and in the end took a week vacation and we visited our cousin place in Colorado Springs and we went to Dallas Texas, this time with my hubby. Let me first tell about Colorado springs. Mountains, mountains, mountains everywhere. Yes Colorado springs is famous for mountains that’s why i guess even the time zone is knows as Mountain time ;) Saw world’s highest suspension bridge, Mt Rushmore, Pikes Peak, Garden of the gods and on the last day we head to Denver Downtown :) 4 days in Colorado springs with snowfall, rain, sunny weather was really awsum. Had a wonderfull time.

Next we came to dallas and spent 5 days here, we saw aquarium, Rodeo show, did some shopping for our family and finally we head back to INDIA :)


All in all this was one of my memorable trip :) hope you njoyed.

Do share your comments.


Note:

* Click on the picture for better view.
* Kindly please do not copy the pictures without permission.

Back to Incredible India :)

I can smell the Dosa's, Idli's, Pani puri, Bhele Puri, sweets, biryani, kebab and above all mom's food :) The sheer feeling of landing on crowded streets of my hometown, Bangalore,was amazing. I got the humming sound of mosquitoes at night, i feel the zing of meeting friends and family. Trust me guys it is really tuf to be away from all these.

India Rocks :)

We spent about 3months(though its less) in US, where the people are polite and quiet. The streets are clean and orderly. I have had one of the best times in my life holidaying :) Now we are back in India. I was in US for short time and that was the first time i was out of home without anybody(except my hubby) in my own different world.

Without wasting any time though i was in jetlag, i went to visit all my relatives and above all my great friends :)
Though i'm still in jet lag worst part which makes me sleep in odd times to avoid it or rather to come out of it i am keeping myself busy with meeting people, chatting, hogging and of course blogging(sharing my feelings) :)

Mom and mum in law making our favourite dishes. My dad getting me food from my favourite restaurants :) And i'm ending up giving all gifts to family and my friends :) Just for 3 months i'm getting so much of things now i can imagine how few people who return to india after years feel....
India seriously rocks :)

Our culture our world is unique and the best :)


Note:
Please wait for my next post,wherein i would like to share the places i visited over the last three months.

Chepala Pulusu(Fish Curry) - Andhra Style

In telugu Chepa means fish, pulusu means curry so in this post i will be showing one of the traditional fish curry. Why i say traditional is this curry or recipe is straight from my village/native and my grandmother sisters used to prepare such simply curries and serve us when we used to visit there houses :) As i dont like cooking much i used never concentrate on how they prepare such yummy dish. I'm always the first to njoy food cooked by someone else... ;) but now since i'm married and my hubby being a non vegetarian lover i wanted to learn this simply authentic dish but this time i never learnt it from my grandmother but i learnt it from my cousin :) Yes i'm in my cousin's place right now for a week and she prepared chepala pulusu for me :)
So i didnt wanted to miss showing you guys this simplest curry so i troubled her while cooking by taking snaps ;)

My cousin took me to Asian market in texas. In this market my cousin told that they catch live fish and give us as it would be fresh coz rest would have usually been frozen and i was intertested in watching how they catch the live fish :) We went there at 1 in the afternoon(though it was already lunch time and we were yet to buy fish) and my cousin asked for live Cat fish.The shop person took us to the aquarium and we had to select the fish, later we told him to cut it into small pieces so we bought the 2.2 pounds cat fish and head to home to start preparing.


So here i am showing how to prepare fish curry :)

Ingredients :


Fish : 1 Kg
Tamarind Juice : 1 Cup
Onions : 2 Chopped
Coriander : Chopped
Ginger Garlic paste : 1tbs
Red chilli powder : 2 tbs
Dhaniya Powder : 1 tbs
Pepper Corns : 2 tsp
Cumin seeds : 2 tsp
Garam Masala powder : 2tsp
Oil : 5tbs
Salt to taste

Method: 

* Soak the Tamarind in water and get the pulp out of it.
* Grind the pepper corns and cumin seeds and make it a fine powder.
* Heat Oil in a pan, add the curry leaves,add the grinded pepper corns and cumin seeds powder.
* Add onions and a pinch of salt by this way water in salt comes out and allows it to cook nicley and saute it nicely till onions turn brown and then add gingergarlic paste and saute for 2mins.
*Add the chopped coriander saute for another 2mins and then add redchilli powder and dhaniya powder and saute it.
*Now add the tamarind pulp to it and allow it to boil and also add salt according to the taste. Take care not to have all the water evaporated.If the water is less then add a little bit more water and wait for the gravy to come together.
*Taste the gravy and if it is cooked about 90% add the fish to it and close the lid and let it boil for 15mins.
* Once its done in the end add the garam masala to the gravy and stir it.


Chepala pulusu is ready to serve. Serve with steamed rice and relish it :)

Note:
~ By adding the pepper corn and cumin seeds powder in oil it brings out the aroma of the spices.
~ You can add any fish of your taste to the dish.

Do let me know how it was.
Njoy

Silver Lining :)

“Every cloud has a silver lining”

There was a poem when I was in school about Silver lining though I don’t remember the poem I wanted to write about Silver lining coz I like to watch when clouds are shinning in its edges. Spring season has set in US and almost every day evening from my room I see the clouds shinning and that’s when I thought to write about Silver Lining :)

Every cloud has a silver lining means that the sun shining at the edges of every cloud tells us that every difficult situation has a bright side. As I said earlier that I do not remember the poem of silver lining in school but I remember my teacher telling that each and every child shines in his/her own unique way and that’s why we say “Every cloud has a silver lining” This poem impressed me so much and even I wanted to know in what way I would shine as you know being a kid we want to know and do many things.

My teacher used to say “Difficult times/situations are like dark clouds that pass overhead and block the sun, and when we look more closely at the edges of every cloud we can see the sun shining there like a silver lining" Listening to this I decided someday even if I don’t shine I would like to make my friends shine by telling their worthiness :) (Hope it doesn’t sound too much, that’s how I am) I like to tell or appreciate people when they have done something great atleast for me :)

 "Everybody sees how you seem, however only some know who you are”

 

I love seeing silver lining in the sky :) The way it glows. During winters when I used to return from my office at 4 or 5pm in the evening sitting in the cab I used to see the silver lining from the clouds. I captured the above pictures about 3 or 4 months back from my terrace which was really amazing, bright silver line  :)

All I wanted to say friends is “Lead your life with little hope and faith, only then we can cope up with our tensions and always remember that tomorrow is another shinning day and that Every cloud has a silver lining”

Hope you liked the Post. Do share your comments.

Njoy :)

Cartooniversal :)

Introducing Cartooniversal - My world of Sketches/Drawings/Art :)
Finally I have drawn one of my favourite charcter in disney world :)

Tinker Bell

 

Tinker bell is one of the most important branding icon of disney and of course mine too :) I like the way tinkerbell sparkles always in its own charm. Tinkerbell is generally known as a symbol of "magic of disney"

I drew the above picture when i was travelling and to kill 3hours of time in flight i started of my first drawing :) The picture is in black colour as i had only pencil to draw and i coated with black point pen :) Though i'm not so great in drawing, i tried my first sketch or maybe a simply one after years of leaving this habit.
There's more to come >>>>>


Hope you liked my first attempt :) Do share your comments.
Njoy.

The Grand Canyon - Natural wonder of the world

The Grand Canyon National park , Arizona, USA- One of the world Natural wonders of the world.Mark my words guys, one of the world's NATURAL wonders of the world. Over the weekend i had been to this place to capture the glimpse of the world's natural beauty :) Usually i have seen man-made wonders of the world but this Natural wonder of the world was an amazing experience of my life. Kindly go through this long post and njoy the beauty of our earth.

Grand Canyon - one of Earth's most powerful, inspiring landscapes overwhelms our senses through its immense size of 277 river miles (446km)long, up to 18miles (29km) wide and a mile (1.6km) deep. The immense and colourful grand canyon is valued worldwide as one of the earth's most powerful and inspiring scenic landscapes with its unique combination of size, colour and dazzling erosional forms of rocks.

The Grand canyon in all of its majestics is 1904 sq miles, inhabited with 67 animal species,16 species of fish,46 species of reptiles. Its history is so vast that 1.6 billion years rock could be found here. The grand canyon's red Landscape was created by long term erosion. It is a testament of earth's long history. Native Americans saw the canyon as holy land but for the pioneers it was a devil's valley. Nearly 2 billion years of Earth's geological history say The Colorado river and its tributaries cuts the canyon deep into the earth through layer after layer of rock.Powerful flows of water have created the landscapes. The layers of the rocks was formed with the difference in day and night temperatures. This natural bridge was formed as a result of calculus years of wind and water erosion. They say that grand canyon is getting wider and deeper each passing day.

Click here for more information on Grand canyon


The grand canyon is of four rims i.e., North rim, South rim, West and East rim. You can choose any rim you want to visit.My hubby and myself started our journey to South rim at around 7 in the morning from LasVegas, which took us about 4 hours to reach and see the magnificent Natural wonder of the world. The south rim of Grand canyon is 7400 above sea level. There are various points of grand canyon to see but i saw two amazing points of grand canyon.
The Mather point and Bright Angel Lodge, yes we had to go inside this lodge to see the grand canyon. We had an amazing tour guide/bus driver who was entertaining us throughout the trip by giving us information about the grand canyon. He said Grand canyon receives about 5 million people a year. The journey from Las Vegas to South rim was pretty long and hectic but the journey was scenic with the first few miles i could see all mountains then the next few miles it was completely or only desert all around (as Arizona is a desert) and the last few miles with beautiful pine trees and snow all over :)


Once we reached the Mather point, it was very cold and windy. The bus driver gave us an hour time to spend in this point, it was 10 mins walk to see the grand canyon. Took loads of pictures and enjoyed the natural beauty. Because of the depth of the canyon the Colorado river was not visible. They say that river is visible at only certain points.Then there was a small museum which tells about the formation of grand canyon and pictures of rocks and its formation,i was actually amazed to see that the same rock in can be seen different during sunrise, sunset or noon :)

Then we head towards bright angel lodge, and we had another one hour to spend in this point. As soon as we enter this lodge there was a shopping place and we went out to see the spectacular canyon, had ice cream in the cold weather :) There are telescopes all over the place and from the telescope we saw the rocks and its colours,depth of canyon, in the distance we saw river flowing which was not visible without telescope. All in all it was an amazing trip of my life. Hope you njoyed going through this small trip ;)

"This canyon is a gift that we experience. Its timelessness provokes a comparison to our short existence. In its vast spaces we may find solace from our hectic lives"