Speaking Up On Social Media

For the past few weeks I have been reading a lot about depression and mental health on social media. People seem to be very concerned about mental health these days.

It’s good that people are talking about mental health. Is it really getting the attention it deserves or is it just another social media trend that will pass once another trend arrives.

What bothered me the most is the lack of awareness among the people talking about it. I felt most of the people were posting because they didn’t want to miss out on the bandwagon.

I narrowed down the social media posts I read into two sections.

Summarizing What Section One Posted
This is for everyone. My Facebook/ Twitter/ Whatsapp is always on. Please talk to me if you need to. If you don’t feel alright, I am there to listen.

Summarizing What Section Two Posted
It’s really strange to see people posting things like they care and they are there to listen. Whereas they are also the ones who do no reply to texts and answer the calls on time. So please stop posting these things if you don’t mean it and are not going to be able to keep your word.

Some of these posts resulted into debates in the comment section.

And what happens when we run out of logical comebacks for replies?
The debates get dirty and personal.

The debate turns into a fight and what remains of the debate is just name calling. People get so involved in proving themselves right that they forget that they have hurt the other person in the process of proving themselves right. The biggest irony in all this is they end up hurting each other while debating on ‘mental health’.

Sometimes we don’t even realize that we might be the reason behind someone losing his or her peace of mind. Only because we hate to be proved wrong.

Debating and sharing different ideas is good. But not at the cost of pushing someone into self-doubt and depression.

This happens because most of us listen to reply and do not listen to understand. Advising or correcting might not be the need of the hour always.

I believe our world will be a lot better place if we start to listen.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Bangalore Rains

Every city has something special about it. If we consider food then Kolkata has mishti doi and roshogolla, Hyderabad has biriyani, and Bangalore has filter coffee. But what about anything other than food? Culture? History? Diversity?

Madiwala, Bangalore

There is one thing that separates Bangalore from most other cities of the country. That is its weather. The weather in Bangalore is pleasant throughout the year. The most interesting aspect of this weather is it rains almost eight months of the year and most particularly in the evenings. No matter how much the temperature rises in the day, it rains and calms everything down in the evening. This makes Bangalore a popular attraction to many foreign investors and likely so many companies have set up their offices in the city. This has resulted in the migration of a lot of graduates from different parts of the country to Bangalore in quest of better career opportunities. But was Bangalore ready for this sudden boom? Was it ready for this unprecedented hike in the population?

Undoubtedly the city looks and smells amazing when it rains. But this beauty is accompanied by a beast. With frequent rainfall comes regular power cuts and internet outages.

Bangalore rains and power cuts go hand in hand since time immemorial. It’s shocking to see that a city that produces lakhs of engineers every year is not able to fix technical problems like these. Is this mere inefficiency? Or is it an intentional move to promote the power backup industry? Just a thought which popped into my head on one such blackout night.

BESCOM is the board responsible for electricity supply in Bangalore 

I wish people could enjoy the beauty of Bangalore’s weather to the fullest instead of worrying about the beast.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Tirupathi – A Shrine Amidst The Hills

Six of us from Bangalore took a bus on a Thursday night and headed to Tirupathi. The plan involved visiting two temples there and returning back the next day.

It was a short and comfortable journey. We reached Tirupathi around 4 in the morning, freshened up in 40 minutes and left for the Padmavathi Ammavari temple straightaway.

The Padmavathi temple is situated in Tiruchanur, at a distance of 5 km from Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Padmavathi (or Alamelumanga) is the main deity of the temple. Padmavathi is the incarnation of goddess Lakshmi and is the consort of Lord Venkateswara.

We reached the Padmavathi temple and had to wait in a queue to get the tickets for darshan. There are three types of darshan one can avail – a free darshan, a 20 rupees ticket darshan and a 100 rupees ticket darshan.

We waited for around thirty minutes to get hold of the tickets and then another thirty – forty minutes for the actual darshan of Padmavathi.

Padmavathi Ammavari Temple, Tiruchanur

Post Padmavathi darshan, we had to change our bus as the bus which brought us from Bangalore wasn’t allowed to go up the Tirumala Hills. So we got into an APSTC bus which took us to the Tirumala Hills.

Tirumala Hill Bus

Sapthagiri, also known as Tirumala Hills, is 853m above sea level and is located in the Eastern Ghats. It has seven peaks – Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The seven peaks represents the seven heads of Adisesha (In the Puranas, Adisesha is said to hold all the planets of the universe on his hood and constantly sings the glories of God Vishnu from all his mouths. It is said that when Adisesha uncoils, time moves forward and creation takes place.). The Venkateswara temple is on Venkatadri, the seventh peak, and is also known as the “Temple of Seven Hills”.

Tirumala Hill

It was a beautiful and scenic journey. We reached there in another forty minutes and kept all our shoes and electronic devices in a shop before entering the temple. This temple is dedicated to Lord Sri Venkateswara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared here to save mankind from trials and troubles of Kali Yuga. Lord Venkateswara is also known by many other names like Balaji, Govinda and Srinivasa.

We headed straight to the temple and didn’t have to bother ourselves for queues and tickets as the Sheegra Darshan passes were included in our bus tour package.

Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala

People from all across the world come here to pay a visit to Tirupati Balaji. They stand there in queues for hours to get a glimpse of Venkateswara for few seconds. Like everyone else, we stood in queues for around 80-90 minutes for Balaji Darshan. The chants of “Govinda Govinda” accompanied us all throughout this time.

I have heard and read about people waiting in queues for 14-15 hours for this. Whereas, we were fortunate enough to complete all this within a time of 6-7 hours.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Durga Puja – Bonedi Baris of Kolkata

I have many qualities. But patience ain’t one of them. I believe I have an attention span of that of a kid. With me pondering on this thought for the past two hours, I heard the pilot announce, “We have landed in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and wish you all a very Happy Durga Puja!”.

Finally after five long years, I made it to Kolkata during Durga Puja. Homecoming is always special. It becomes more special during Durga Puja in this part of the world.

Durga Puja is a ten day festival which starts from Mahalaya and continues till Dashami. It is considered to be one of the biggest festivals in the world.

As the festivities started, we planned to visit the bonedi baris of Kolkata. The term ‘bonedi‘ comes from the Urdu word ‘buniyaadi‘ which in turn comes from ‘buniyaad‘ meaning foundation. Bonedi baris are ancestral houses of Bengali babus, dating back to the 18th century.

We started our bonedi bari puja hopping from Shobabazar. Shobabazar has two rajbaris, one is known as the Shobabajar Rajbari and the other is known as Maharaja Naba Kissen Thakurbari. Maharaja Naba Kissen was the Dewan of Lord Clive and was considered to be ‘Calcutta’s premier zamindar’ during his time and his palace in Shobabazar was thought of as the foremost in the list of North Calcutta’s great houses. Originally, built by Sobharam Ghosh in the early 18th century, Naba Kissen came to own the property in 1757. After acquiring the palace, he began a series of alterations and renovations.

The Thakur Dalan was completed in just three months, in time for a lavish Durga Puja Festival. Such was the prominence of Naba Kissen in the North Calcutta Society that other durga puja ceremonies could only begin after the firing of Naba Kissen’s palace canon. The original palace building features Mughal and medieval Bengal temple-style architecture. However, some areas that are partially restored show European influence. The durga puja at Shobabajar Rajbari is still celebrated with ample grandeur.

Shobabazar Rajbari

After this we moved on to Khelat Ghosh Rajbari in Pathuriaghata. Pathuriaghata was once the home of Bengali babus, now mostly dominated by the Marwaris. The Tagores were one of the oldest residents of this neighborhood. Babu Khelat Chandra Ghosh was the grandson of Warren Hasting’s clerk Ramlochan Ghosh. His mansion is filled with marble sculptures, paintings, crystal chandeliers and other art objects. All Bengal Music Conference is held here and is patronized by the Ghosh family. All Bengal Music Conference was founded in 1937 in the halls of this house. Indian classical music was still in a nascent stage then.

47 Pathuriaghata Street

Then we moved on to the durga puja of the Daws of Jorasanko. Late Shri Nrisingha Prasad Daw, after shifting the family business from spices to gun powder and as the business expanded, the business and family shifted here in Kolkata. Late Shri Narasingha Chandra Daw, known to the British as Nursing Chunder Daw, laid the first stones for the gun business that the family boasts of today. He handed over the family business and tradition over to his sons who took it further ahead.

The Daws of Jorasanko

Moving on from the northern part of the city, we went to Esplanade. Janbazar near Esplanade used to be known for the Rani Rashmoni Family. Rani Rashmoni was the founder of the famous Dakshineshwar Temple, who also remained closely associated with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. She is the one who appointed Sri Ramakrishna as the priest for the Dakshineshwar Temple. Apart from this, she had contributed in other constructions like the road from Subarnarekha river to Puri for the pilgrims, Babu Ghat, Ahiritola Ghat, Nimtala Ghat, Imperial Library (now known as the National Library of India), Hindu College (now known as the Presidency University) and many more.

There are three durga pujas here. One at Rani Rashmoni’s ancestral house and others at her two daughters’ houses.

Rani Rashmoni’s Ancestral House

The bonedi baris are a big proof of Bengal’s glorious past. They still stand strong holding the cultural and historical significance of the place. Sadly, Bengal, once a business center, is now struggling to keep their sons and daughters in Bengal as most of them end up leaving the state for better opportunities.

Bengalis have failed greatly to do justice to the pre-independence slogan, “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”.

But come what may, most of us find out a way to return home every year during Durga Puja.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Kumara Parvatha Trek

Pushpagiri or Subramanya Hills (also referred as Kumara Parvatha) is the second-highest peak in Kodagu and also fourth highest peak in Karnataka.

It is located amid the jungle and has two base points for starting the trek. The Eastern entrance can be reached from Beedehalli via Heggademane temple and the Western entrance from Kukke Subramanya via Girigadde. Our plan was to start from the Girigadde side and come back before it gets dark, even if we don’t make it to the summit as we didn’t want to camp overnight inside the forest.

We reached Subramanya village in the afternoon and decided to start the trek early morning next day. We set ourselves a target of completing 34 kms in 12 hours and getting back to the base on the same day.

It was 5:50 AM and raining very heavily. We were all set with our raincoats on and bags filled with fruits, energy bars and water. We started walking through the cemented road, which is the initial part of the trail. After walking for around 2 kms we reached a small gated entrance, which marks the beginning of the forest. None of the rain gods were on our side. It felt like they were taking out their wrath on the forest. Inspite of being in our raincoats, we got fully drenched within the first few minutes of our climb.

The 2-3 kms of jungle felt like it was never ending. The forest was dense and full of leeches. We tried to get rid of them, but invited more of them in the process. All our efforts of staying away from them were in-vain. The presence of leeches added to the difficulty level of the already treacherous jungle trail. It took us almost three hours to cross the jungle and reach Bhattara Mane.

Bhattara Mane is the house of the Bhatts, which is the only house within the jungle. Most trekkers seek shelter at Bhattara Mane after hours of trekking through the forest. This is also the last point in the trail where one can camp overnight. The forest check-post also lies few meters away from this point. One has to get permission from the forest check-post before continuing further.

We rested for a while at Bhattara Mane, got permission from the forest office and continued trekking. The trail from here on is less difficult than the forest stretch. It mostly has inclined grasslands and green meadows. We had planned to continue with our ascent till noon as we wanted to be back before it gets dark. We assumed that the jungle would get dark early in the evening as the forest was very dense. It being the month of August, the jungle was at its densest form as it was the peak of monsoon season.

After crossing the forest check-post we crossed a few peaks, trekked for another couple of hours and decided to make our way downwards. We didn’t make it to the Kumara Parvatha peak as getting down safely before it gets dark was our first priority.

We trekked for 12 hours continuously with few pauses here and there. It was very foggy and rained very heavily throughout the day, which made it grueling for us to reach the peak.

We almost got lost while returning back as we spotted multiple paths for getting down the hill. Those paths were not visible to us during our way up due to heavy fog. We wandered away through some other trails for sometime and had to trace back the route till Bhattara Mane and start afresh.

The trail seemed endless and felt like being stuck in some loop. But we didn’t stop and finally, we were back to the base around 6:15 PM with no energy left and full of leech bites on our legs.

It was a once in a lifetime experience to be able to spend 12 hours of time inside such a dense and dangerous forest, amidst mother nature and coming back safely to the humdrum of city life.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Torna Fort Trek

After my last hill-fort trek experiences of Lohagad and Sinhagad during the summers of 2016, I was keen to witness the scenic Sahyadris during the monsoons this time.

10:00 AM, 17th July 2019: It was a rainy Wednesday morning and we were standing at Velhe, the base village for the Torna Fort trek. It being a weekday, we were not expecting much of a crowd and our expectations didn’t disappoint.

We started the climb in our raincoats, with water-bottles and some snacks in our backpacks. It was raining on and off. It is not at all recommended to trek Torna during the monsoons unless you are an expert trekker. We were not sure about our expertise, but decided to give it a try. As the saying goes, “You never know until you try”.

The Torna trail is not one of those where you should go unplanned. If you are serious about making it to the top, you should at-least have some basic idea of what to expect from the trek.

Initially the trek starts like a normal walk amidst the trees and the slope gets steeper as you progress. The starting phase of the trek has red soil which gets muddy and slippery during rain. Small granular stones on the track make it slippery and difficult to maintain continuous balance.

Once you have crossed this area, then comes the most difficult part of the trek. The rocky part, which is more difficult and slippery if you are climbing during rain. There are railings installed at some places to help us with the grip. One just can’t climb through these rocks without holding onto any support. According to me this was the most challenging part of the trek.

Some places on the trek demands hundred percent of your focus where you can’t afford to be careless for a bit. It was very foggy and misty all along. Nothing more than a distance of fifty meters was visible, making it very difficult to predict the remaining climb to be covered.

We went on with the flow and helped each other on the climb. After an hour and twenty minutes, we reached Bini Darwaja, which is the entrance to the fort. Once you are in the fort, it is somewhat like a a flat top. But it remained slippery due to the rain. I slipped flat on the ground there after having covered all the difficult parts successfully. Kinda embarrassing to be honest.

We were happy to reach the top so quickly as we had read about others reaching the top in 2-3 hours. Reaching the top was difficult, but getting down through this slippery rocky slope was going to be a different challenge altogether.

Budhla Machi and Zunjar Machi are the two most important points inside the fort. Machis are like watch towers, which are the most important vantage points on any fort. Budhla Machi connects Torna Fort to Rajgad Fort through the Kokan Darwaja, which is a separate trek of 14 kms.

On the way to Budhla Machi, we visited the Mengai Devi Mandir, which is a temple inside the fort that can accommodate up to 25 people for a night camp.

The way from the top of the fort to Zunjar Machi is one of the dangerous parts of the trek. First you have to go down a ladder where the base of the ladder can accommodate only one person at a time, then you have to slide down few big boulders to reach to an end.

After walking for a while, you will get to see a very small door of crawl-able height which will finally lead you to Zunjar Machi. Need to mind your head here and also might need to go on all fours.

Now, if you have reached this far, a grand spectacle awaits you!

 

Breathtaking, isn’t it? It did take away some of our breath to reach here.

The view from there is massive (prachanda) and is definitely one of the best views I have seen in my life. It was very foggy, but we waited for the fog to clear out.

We explored the fort for the next hour and decided to sit and have some snacks before we started our trek downwards. The descent was as challenging as expected as there was always a threat of slipping and rolling down. Thankfully, we trekked down to the base safely.

Best things in life are unplanned. This was one of such experience for us. This trek was also an experience of many firsts and many things which I haven’t imagined to have done. This will certainly be one of those moments in life which I can always look back and be proud of.

Facts about Torna Fort – Torna Fort, also known as Prachandagad, is a large fort located 60 kms from Pune. It is historically significant because it was the first fort captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1646, at the age of 16, forming the nucleus of the Maratha empire. The hill has an elevation of 1,403 meters (4,603 ft) above sea level, making it the highest hill-fort in the district.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Kerala – God’s Own Country

The first word that comes to my mind whenever I think about Kerala is diversity. Both culturally and geographically Kerala is a conglomerate of beautiful places. The scenic beaches of Kovalam, the amazing backwaters of Alappuzha, the mesmerizing tea gardens of Munnar, the Chinese fishing nets of Kochi and many such things make Kerala the place to be.

Kerala is the cleanest state of India and also the first Indian state to receive rainfall. It also has the highest female to male ratio and the highest literacy rate in India.

Kerala is also known as the Spice Garden of India for it’s varied production of spices. If you are travelling to Munnar, then make sure you don’t miss out on the spice gardens there. Besides spices like pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and clove, they are known for many medicinal plants as well.

Last but not the least, anything about Kerala would remain incomplete without the mention of the majestic houseboats of Alappuzha. Very few things are better than a houseboat which serves amazing food throughout the day, that too riding through the beautiful backwaters of Alappuzha.

Do visit Kerala, sooner or later. Till that time, I will leave you with some photos from my Kerala trip.

Kovalam Beach

Birds by the beach

Boats near Poovar Island

Alappuzha Beach

Houseboats at Alappuzha

Birds of Alappuzha

Chinese fishing nets at Kochi

Jewish colony at Kochi

Tea gardens at Munnar

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Kanyakumari – A Photo Story

Kanyakumari, or Cape Comorin, is the southernmost point of Indian mainland. One can also see the confluence of Bay Of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean here. I was there for a weekend with two of my friends. We reached Nagercoil Junction around 7 o’clock in the morning, the muggy weather came as no surprise.

Land’s End

Sunrise

Voyage

Like everyday, that day too, the sun had set into the Indian Ocean

 

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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Going Places

What comes to your mind whenever you hear about a place ? You desire to go to that place ? You wonder about the food or the rich culture there ? Or maybe memories of the past start gushing into your mind ?

Places are filled with memories. How important a place is to a person doesn’t depend on the place itself, it depends on the memories that person has of the place. But memories fade with time, so do the importance of the place to the person. Yes, people move on.

Sometimes, you connect to a place immediately. But most of the time, you start missing the place once you have left. For example, school or college. Most people hate the idea of going to the class every morning until the day comes when it’s over. People shed tears and bid farewell to each other in the hope of meeting again someday sometime. But in most cases, people get busy with their lives, meetings become rare and eventually stop. Still ‘those days won’t come back again‘ and ‘those days were the best days of our lives‘ are the most heard lines from every person talking about their childhood or teenage. Normal human behavior, right ? People learn to value things only when it’s over.

It often happens that a person runs away from a place because of the bad experiences  he/ she has had over there. Some other person wants to go back to the same place or never leaves at the first place due to the good experiences he/ she has had there. Circumstances and situations change, but that place remains the same. It treats different people differently.

Yes, life takes us to places. Sometimes it’s thought out, sometimes it’s destiny.

Sikkim Diary : Ten Minutes Of Tea

“Is this really a wish fulfilling lake ?”, my mother asked.

“This is Khecheopalri Lake. The locals consider it sacred. They throw a coin into the lake and wish for whatever they want.”,  replied Adong, chewing on to his Haitai gum.

Walking back from the lake, we came across a tea shop. We stopped there for a while and ordered four cups of tea.

While the shopkeeper was busy making tea, I found his daughter, trying to hide behind him.

The little girl was playing with a bundle of straws. She was into some kind of mischief. She had brought these straws from somewhere and now was making the shop dirty. I approached her with the camera in my hand. She moved off, but was full of laughter. Visitors with cameras were not new to her.

She had a plump face with beady eyes, eyebrows so light that you have to look for it, snub-nosed, reddish brown hair falling on her forehead. The naughty giggle made her even more beautiful.

“What is your name ?”, I asked her.

Her father was very happy to see her daughter getting all the attention. But she payed no heed to my question, turned away her face and continued to play with the straws.

We were there for hardly ten minutes. But those ten minutes gave me one of my favourite clicks from the trip. There is definitely a lot more to Sikkim than just lakes, waterfalls and hills. People who consider Sikkim to be only picturesque and scenic, are greatly mistaken.

Akash Chaudhuri
Email Id: akashchaudhuri93@gmail.com
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