Back in Hyderabad

 Back in Hyderabad, home sweet home. But this was after experiencing the coldest day of the century in Delhi. On 29th December came to know only at 12.30,that the flight to Delhi is cancelled. Hence, rushed in a taxi to Delhi to catch the nine o, click flight. Drove through the dense fog, through, Rampur, Muradabad, Gajrola, Amroha, Gaziabad, where visibility was poor and still could make up the time. The beautiful new, Honda taxi that we were in swam like a fish on the road. However, again missed the flight at Delhi for though we had made up enough time earlier, we were stuck in the Delhi traffic and could not reach the airport in time and the flight left with out us. We were then the guests of Air India. We were lucky that the booking through out was on Air India. The staff at the airport was very nice and booked the flight for the next morning at nine. Then they took us to Centeaur hotel, which was very comfortable and we landed at the airport on 30th morning at eight. The flight got delayed and then we finally boarded at 10.30. We were made to sit in the aircraft for there was a dense fog and eighty flights were in que  before us. Finally left Delhi at two. At Hyderabad Airport the layers of warm clothes started coming off. Enjoyed the weather here. But it looks like that we have brought in some of the weather of North here for today seems to be a cloudy day and we have also had some rain.

The Panic Button

 I was very impressed by this panic button for I have seen nothing like this in Hyderabad. In Uttarakhand in the two cities of  Dehradoon and Haldwani all taxis must have a panic button on the right and left side infront of the doors at the back. Of the driver seat. These are directly connected to the Police station. And if a passenger  presses this the nearest police station is immediately informed and the police reaches and intercepts the car. The driver told us incidents of how these were pressed and for what and what followed. He also told us we have tension that a child can press it for it is accessible to the passengers and not the drivers. All the cab drivers have to pay Rs. 3000 per year for this app and they are monitored regularly and renewed yearly.They also have to pay a charge for installing this and getting it activated. Very impressive and it can play a great role in Women's safety. I wish we adopt this all over the country. Only a Computer Scientist can tell me how this app functions and how it is developed.

Enroute to Kausani

 Enroute to Kausani Almora. Enjoying  the first view of the Himalayas. The peaks of Nanda Devi, Trishul and Pachashuli peaks. The magical, mystical, awesome, majestic mountains of our home land.

Baby and Anil joining us

 Happiness and Joy is when your sister and brother in law give you a surprise and come from Ahmedabad  and join you for three days for the  holiday in the Himalayan mountains.

Christmas 2019

 A Merry Christmas to every one from Nainital. Coming to Nainital is always very nostalgic and brings back a flood of memories of the beautiful childhood days spent here amidst this beautiful lake, jungles and the mountains. My dad was in the army and we kept getting posted all over India but when, I was in sixth and seventh class we stayed at Nainital and I had my schooling here. We would come running down to the flat from Nainital club where we lived. With the constraints of having money as children, the evenings were often spent in going to the flat, watching others  doing  shopping at the Bhotia market and just listening to the music being played at the Bandstand. Some times young people would shake a leg to popular Bollywood movie songs of the sixtees. When we could afford it and the children pooled the money to have a chat or tikiya at the stall in the flat felt like royalty. Before any exam or test, a visit to the Naina Devi temple was a must and one would pray to Hanumanji and Naina Devi for good marks. We would also spend time watching in amazement the skaters skate on the floor in Capital cinema. I have memories of some beautiful movies seen at Capitol and Ashoka. Today, the theatre at Ashoka is not there. Some times we would go for boating in the lake and visit the temple at Pashan Devi. We often saw the Ramlila at Bada Bajar in Mallital near the mandi and stayed awake for the nights. We would spend the week before the Ramlila preparing different kinds of churans to keep us awake and have it while shedding a tear when Ram cried in agony for not finding his wife Sita. We would also laugh and have this while Hanuman delivered his peppy dialogues and made every one laugh while he confronted the royal court of Ravan and burnt Lanka. Now, today, I went around the lake, the flat reliving those beautiful memories. Nainital continues to be a favourite place in the world and has an immense attraction unlike any other cith in the world.May be since this is associated with childhood memories. A time with out any care in the world. A time of fun and frolic amidst the lap of nature.

 Christmas time and Nainital by night.

The Centre for Women's Studies in Kumaun University

 The Centre for Women's Studies in Kumaun University in Nainital is located in a beautiful building called the Hermitage. Had a lovely meeting with the Director of the Centre Prof. Divya Upadhyay Joshi. Thanks a lot Prof. Nirmal Bora from the Department of Economics, Kumaun University for taking me and introducing me to  her. Prof. Bora kept telling me, I must meet Divya and we had a wonderful meeting that continued till lunch time at Boat house Club in Nainital. Though a new Centre Prof. Divya has brought in a lot of activities and has even remodeled the Centre and made a seminar hall. The hermitage building is a summer retreat  house of the  Nawab of Sadabad an estate near Agra, Mathura and  Hathras and gifted to the University. It  has an amazing structure with beautiful wall papers and lovely wooden panels. Located amidst the lush green jungles if Nainital and in the close vicinity to the lake this looks an amazing place to just be away from the maddening crowd and do some creative writing. Met some students too pursuing their Ph. D. Amazing ambience and a lovely visit.