Here I stopped by, to reflect my yesterdays, being an observer of my own life...Past is like a dream...past incidents:favourable and adverse, experiences:ecstacy and misery, feelings:pleasure and pain, are all dissolved, incorrigible and cease to exist now.Present is all about awakening from the dream, being in the current moment fully awake and preparing for a future of our dreams!!

Success is an on going process. After one success there is another greater challenge waiting to be overcome...there is no time to rest on our laurels, life is a continuous strive to meet expectations, both ours and of the world-----Bindu----- More of it at http://portraitsofyesterday.blogspot.sg/p/as-i-see-it.html

Here I stopped by, to reflect my yesterdays, being an observer of my own life...Past is like a dream...past incidents:favourable and adverse, experiences:ecstacy and misery, feelings:pleasure and pain, are all dissolved, incorrigible and cease to exist now.Present is all about awakening from the dream, being in the current moment fully awake and preparing for a future of our dreams!!

Yesterday's portraits of my ardent journey through the miracle called life!!

Here I stopped by, to reflect my yesterdays, being an observer of my own life...Past is like a dream...past incidents:favourable and adverse, experiences:ecstacy and misery, feelings:pleasure and pain, are all dissolved, incorrigible and cease to exist now.Present is all about awakening from the dream, being in the current moment fully awake and preparing for a future of our dreams!!

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Footprint!!

15 June 2009
Yesterday at bedtime Achu was trying to hide something and I just acted ignoring that. But once she was on bed I just looked at the side table and found that she had spilled some water from the cup and was hiding that from me and the spilled water had created a whitish mark on the table and from experience I knew that it will fade off in few minutes time, but she was worried that I will scold her. I acted angry and asked her "Aishwarya what have u done? what is this?" She replied calmly "Amma dont worry, thats just the footprint of the cup!!"

Monday 8 June 2009

Off to the country side of Singapore!!

07 June 2009
Last week was a marathon outing week. Covered Riverside fruit park Sengkang two times, Punggol park, Pasir Ris park and as a grand finale visited Kranji countryside on Saturday. River side fruit park is near my home and is great for a good stroll in the evening with family. Its a newly developed park with cycle tracks and a small pond is there in the centre. The hustle and bustle of expressway can hinder the serenity 24/7.Punggol park is just 10 minutes drive from our home. Its frequented by people. There is a pathway surrounding a large pool and is frequented by joggers in the evening. Pasir Ris park is quite famous and it is great to entertain kids. Lot of swings and slides and kids parks are located there.

Inspired by one of our family friends, we set out to visit Kranji Countryside on a bright Saturday morning. We have never been to countryside of Singapore and couldn't imagine a spot in Singapore where we don't bump into people every other minute. Sajeev enjoyed driving along the unfrequented road and I was checking the printed map and giving him directions. We took Mandai Road,Woodlands Road, Kranji Road and Kranji Way to reach there. Along the way there are many sign boards indicating different farms. The countryside gives an 'out of Singapore' experience. There are no HDB flats, no high rise buildings and over all no crowd. Its calm, quite and serene. We drove until the last farm along Lim Chu Kang lane3 which is goat farm, Hay Dairies Pte. Ltd. There are hundreds of goats and live demo of milking goats were going on. Free breakfast and balloons were available for kids due to school holiday promotions. Goats were categorised according to the age and were kept in different cages. It is maintained quite well and Achu badly wanted to touch the lil ones.

From there we went to a farm full of cacti and other vegetables. Since there were no sheltered car parks available we had to park our car under the scalding sunlight. Bought some fresh vegetables which are not available in Singapore markets and I bought one Pistia stratiotes, often called water cabbage or water lettuce and is considered to be a native of Africa.It floats on the surface of the water its roots hanging submersed beneath floating leaves. Got one plant for 50 cents. There was a medium sized pond of Singapore's very own Koi fish and Achu, as usual, wanted to buy fish food and feed them. We let her do it, so that she will be happy. At one instant she put it all at one corner and told us that the fishes are still hungry and they need more food. I convinced her that other people are waiting out there to feed them and escaped to our car.

From there we drove to 'Max Koi Farm' . This farm impressed me a lot. One side was open and had few open ponds with green water. The landscaping was beautiful with bonsai plants on the shore. The other side had lots of deep ponds in which different groups of Koi fishes of different colours and sizes were bred. The ponds and surroundings were surprisingly neat and clean and fishes appeared healthy. Apart from Koi fish there were Arowana fishes as well. We rested there for a while since the breeze from the open pond was cooling and was much welcomed in such a bright weather.

Next was the organic farm where organic product sale was going on. Now a days whatever is labelled organic means expensive. Mushrooms,noodles, dried fruits etc were on sale. We got mushroom and dried olive, mango and prune. Outside there were different plants and veggies grown organically and wheat grass and mushrooms grown under shelter. There was a small creeper plant which caught my imagination and I took a small piece for my tiny garden back at home.

Next we went to Gardenasia ,a secret garden sanctuary,where we were welcomed by Morchoo and Titoy, two cute mascots. There were different events organised for kids and on 6/6/ it was Kampong fishing. It cost S$10 per kid. Friendly staff were helping us. We were given a small container of worms and the fishing equipments which is the old fashioned bamboo stick, a plastic thread and a hook, a bucket of water to put our catch, a

high chair and a round table. Sajeev and me conquered our fears of touching worms by touching it and carrying it in our hand, but Achu was not at all willing to experiment. She managed to touch but was far from comfortable in carrying it in her hand. She made us all laugh when she said worms are 'junk food'. We had to call for help each time we needed to hook the worms. The fishes were very smart and just took the bait and avoided the hook most of the time. We managed to catch three orange Lohan fishes. Even though a bit reluctant initially, Achu managed to pose with her catch after our constant encouragement. That was an enriching experience. She was a bit disappointed because we were not allowed to take the fishes home, instead had to put it back in the pond. There is a museum and lot of plants grown and maintained well. We were strolling along seeing plants when Sajeev pointed to a big dog sleeping peacefully in one corner. Suddenly, I felt hungry and wanted to escape. My inherent fear of dog always brings laughter to Sajeev, but I don't care as far as I am at a non-reachable distance from the dog.





Now, time for lunch and we wanted to find out a nice cosy place. On the way we found a board indicating 'Sungei Buloh wetland Reservoir'. We targeted that and paid S$1 per adult and 50 cents for child. Achu reiterated to the receptionist that she is a child and not an adult and also that she is a girl not a boy. Lots of people were coming out after trekking and photography. We could see lot of professional cameras hanging around peoples neck. We had our Pav Bhaji peacefully and rested for a while. Achu made friends with an uncle from Delhi visiting his daughter in Singapore. Finally we decided to trek for a while and went in the trekking direction. There were lot of wetlands and mangroves were growing on the banks of a beautiful river. We could see lot of life inside the river and a type of fish which was constantly trying to swim against the water current. It appeared to stand still in water, not sure whether that's the whole aim in their life or not. We could see Malaysia clearly. Because of my physical situation we didn't go for much walk and walked back.

Our last destination for the day was 'Bollywood veggies' . The name has an Indian flavour. We could see lot of tropical veggies and herbs plants. We can buy organically grown vegetables and herbs, but I found it a bit expensive. One tapioca root cost S$1. The sun was not merciful and so we sat under the shade of a large tree for a while. Natures ways are always amazing, the cool feeling the tree gave amidst the blazing sun was amazing. For a while we forgot that we are in Singapore. I had an ice cream -vanilla coated with chocolate from the Bistro.

It was a wonderful day. A day of going back to mother nature and its serenity. When we live in a country like Singapore such a retreat is essential for a family to enrich the coming generation and to remind us of our childhood days when we played in the sand and didn't mind getting hands dirty and when we ran after butterflies and grasshoppers , catching it, inspecting it and letting it go!! Yes, it was a true positive retreat for the whole family!!

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Thursday 4 June 2009

Survival is for the fittest, is Earth fit to Survive?

3 June 2009
I have always believed that whatever needs to be extinct has to go extinct. Survival of which is going to be a pain for itself or the people helping it to survive. But when it comes to the survival of Mother Earth there is a second or third thought regarding my belief. Can we let anything to go extinct if we love it? Probably not. So when environmentalist are trying hard to protect an animal or bird species to prevent it from disappearing completely from the face of earth, there is a lot of love and empathy and affection behind their action.

Now, 'go green' is a slogan heard in every continent. Recently, I happened to watch a travel programme on TV. It showed massive parts of glaciers of Antarctica melting and falling down several times a day, baring the mountains of its ice clothing!! That was a scary scene. This is the ultimate result and proof of global warming now. The ice melts and the water level increase. And places which are close to sea level are under the threat of being submerged in water in near future!!. One by one will the continents disappear and will there be a massive extinction of all the species on earth?? Is there a need for a 'Noah's Arc' to be send to space to preserve all the species?

One step at a time, what can an individual among 6,784,247,386 people do to help it? I found few steps from the net and thought of jotting three of the easily doable ones for you and me.

1. Bring reusable bags for shopping. I haven't done it yet. Will definitely start this week
2. Reduce electricity usage. Clean and repair damaged appliances on time to save more.
3. Start using a reusable plastic bottle which u can always refill instead of using single use mineral water bottles.

List is long... but lets start with one tiny step at a time. Join me!! If we can increase the age of mother earth even by a single day, its worth trying whatever it takes!!