Makar Sankranti Greetings | Image Resource: teamunite.org
Makar Sankranthi : Sankranthi is a festival of harvest. This day, is also celebrated by a few communities as the day, the season of spring sets in. The day holds much prominence in the southern part of India, in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. Also, people in Nepal celebrate the festival too. Personally, it is a time I spend with the family, enjoy the delicious food and much on the sugar cane.
Diwali Wishes Greeting | Image Resource : diwaliwishes.org
Diwali Wishes 2015 : Diwali is the festival of light. It is time to light the Diyas and make each corner of your house sparkle with joy. It is that time of the year when you and your house is decked up to usher in the choicest blessings of Goddess Lakshmi. So gear up to have a blast of time with friends and family!
Chaitra Navratri Ghatasthapana | Image Resource : festivalchaska.blogspot.com
Chaitra Navratri Ghatasthapana : Navratri the festival of nights is welcomed with joy by one and all . The festival is celebrated in during nine nights and ten days with a lot of pujas and rituals. Every house is decorated with diyas and the three forms of the goddess Durga, Saraswathi and Lakshmi are prayed.
Basically being a historic lover, I have a tremendous liking towards places that are associated with the Indian history. This is the reason I fell in love instantly with the Meenakshi Amman temple Madurai. It was convenient for me to reach the temple as I stayed very close to the temple. There was so much enthusiasm that poured inside me as soon as I entered the temple.
Meenakshi Amman temple Madurai | Image resource : flickr.com
Magnificence cannot even be associated with the beauty of this temple. No wonder, this temple was one of the nominees for the Wonders of the World! The huge towers of the temple looked like it was touching the sky. Harmony is what people seek in temples and I am no exception in that. I felt totally relaxed as soon as I entered the temple’s premises.
The aromatic jasmine flowers, fruits and other pooja items were available in every shop. I bought some flowers to offer to the gods and the goddess Meenakshi. The temple’s structure was painted here and there from floor to the ceilings. The mix of yellow, orange and scarlet reflected like blazing sun and the whole place was shining like a golden temple.
Goddess Meenakshi | Image resource : templesofsouthindia.files.wordpress.com
Everyone had to wait in long line to get the blessings of the goddess. So I did the same and it took me few hours to get to the goddess idol. There were special tickets available, but I did not want to pay a fee to get the blessings of beautiful goddess inside. The place was roaring with spiritual activities and my mind was completely occupied in divine thoughts.
I was wondering how these complex structures were constructed. In those days, technology were not so much thriving and like the huge machines available in the construction sites, in those days how the kings managed to build these huge temples! Well, this question always stays in my heart unanswered.
Even after days visiting this temple, the blazing jewels worn by the goddess and the crowd shouting the names of the gods and the spiritual vibrancy of the temple stayed in my memories afresh.
If I write a book about Madurai, then it’s starting and ending would be the words of glory about this temple!
Happy Republic Day 2015Â | Image Resource : sscrecruitmentresults.in
Description :-  One thing that connects the whole nation together is the pride in our history and our motherland! Jai Hind ! Each of us can have unbridled pride on the fact that we are Indians and this beautiful nation is our motherland…Happy Republic Day 2015!
Our next destination was the famous and the most worshipped amaranth in Jammu and Kashmir. Today, it is a very significant hub of pilgrimage and besides the rough and tiresome route to the holy cave; devotees in a huge number come here to pay homage and worship in front of the Lord Shiva residing in one of his renowned Himalayan abodes. No doubt the way to the cave is difficult to negotiate; it is extremely exciting and thrilling as well.
Lord Amarnath | Image Resource : wikipedia.org
Located in a narrow gap at the edge of Lidder valley, Amarnath stands at 3,888 m height. We enjoyed tracking our way to the destination. Along with us were the numerous other pilgrims who were visiting the place. There were people of every age, from children to old. All were fighting against the odds to pay homage to the almighty. In between, there were temporary stoppages allowing people to rest and regain their energy for the further journey.
After much tracking, we reached a place called Barari at 4 PM. We took half an hour rest at the place and started all over again. The glaciers in the route were causing jams.From Barari, two ways are there to arrive at the cave. We headed towards the new and short cut route. We reached the devotee camps at around 7pm and were only 1 km away from the holy cave, but, as the darshans of the cave was closed at 7pm due to aarti, we booked one tent for the night and relaxed.
Amarnath Cave | Image Resource : besttouristplacesintheworld.wordpress.com
We covered ourselves with the quilts after filling ourselves with some eateries and slept. Atmosphere was very cold and I was shivering under that single quilt, so two of us joined our quilts. Next day, we reached the holy cave.The hike to Amarnath has the spiritual groups to this unbelievable shrine, where the representation of Lord Shiva outlined in the form of a Lingam, is created naturally of ice – stalagmite, and also wanes with the moon. Besides the image of Lord Shiva are two more ice – lingams, which are of Goddess Parvati and their son, Lord Ganesha.
Adventurous Gopal 