Life time Achievement Award for Suresh

 Very happy  to share with every one that on 31st October, 2017, Suresh Pande has received the Life time Achievement award  and an Award of Honour for his contributions to Plant Pathology. This was conferred on him at Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University at Solan in Himachal Pradesh. It is a very happy moment when one is recognised for one's achievements and contributions to academic life and help in bringing some change in society. The moment becomes all the more special when the award is conferred in a University where one has studied and whose portals one had entered as a student and just started dreaming of having a  career. Indeed  a very happy  moment and proud of your achievement.

Press Club of Hyderabad

 Spent an interesting evening on 27th October, 2017, at the Press Club of Hyderabad where Prashant Jha a young journalist from Hindustan Times discussed his latest book, How the BJP Wins. This is an interesting analysis of how BJP won 282 seats contesting 428 seats  of the total of 543 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Some of the issues that came up for discussion included the  making of the BJP' electoral hegemony, the building of the cult of Modi, the organizational building, the caste coalitions and the role of NRI's. Jha also focused on Amit Shah's school of election management. I am now looking forward to finishing this book in two sittings for it looks very engrossing.

Deepawali 2017

 On 19th October, 2017 celebrated Deepawali. A very happy Deepawali, 2017 with family, friends and students. Only missed my younger son, Varun Pande who could not come home for Deepawali.

Other Temples in Tirupati

 Tirupati temple journey continues. There are a number of temples in Tirupati which one can visit locally during the day. After a visit to Padmavati temple, the ISCON temple reached Kapileswara. This is a beautiful temple  of Siva established by Kapil  Muni, on the foothills of Tirumala hills in Simhachalam. The temple is nestled under a waterfall, Pushkaram and has a beautiful view.There are references to this temple  in the Vijaynagara period too. Also visited the Kodanda Rama temple which is stated to be 1500 years old and has a lovely courtyard surrounding the temple. I have  come to Tirupati many times on official trips, finished my work and return to Hyderabad but this time really enjoyed the visit to the temples and the spirituality that is found in abundance all over the place.

Tirumala Tirupati

 In Tirumala Tirupati for darshan on 16th October, 2017. The uphill drive is beautiful and the sounds of Govinda, Govinda reverberate in the hills.

Happy Birthday Nidhi

 A very happy birthday to Pande Nidhi on 10th October, 2017. May that smile of yours be there for ever.