I’ve learnt wonderful lessons while facing way to many ups and downs in life in last few years like-
You only tend to see what you want to see in the given situation. People can guide you, advice you as much as their heart desires but YOU are the one who you listen to so beware of what you think and convince yourself…
For everything you’ve lost, you have gained something. With every bad experiences you get lessons for life and with every good experience you create beautiful memories for life.
Love yourself no matter what others think of you, you were not born just to get approval from people telling you how to live and feel who themselves are never happy and satisfied in life. This is you own life and choices you make that makes you what you are, don’t let anyone’s judgement influence your happiness. When I look back I realize how much time I’ve wasted trying to become a person that fits in the frame of perfect girl who I was not happy being. Doing what you love to do and caring more about your thoughts and choice rather unnecessary validations from people around is liberating, it makes you believe that if you love yourself you won’t let yourself suffer because of others because it’s not worth losing your mind or yourself for…
Situation that break/shatter you completely making you believe nothing and doubt every believe that you have is what remoulds you into a strong and better person. This process of making and breaking is rule of the universe that can be seen everywhere, everyone…there is no exception to that. It’s your choice if you want to be shattered for life or build yourself again again with perseverance. Trust me when I say, this takes every ounce of efforts from your end to make up your mind and face all the situations heads on…
It’s true when people say that every situation that comes up in life is a phase that has to pass, nothing is constant neither pain, suffering nor happiness and peace. But it is up to you how you mould yourself for these situations and face it or just hide or avoid it. Well, former choice is the unsaid choice that you have to make eventually because you do realize once you grow up the you can’t always run or hide, you ought to settle and face what comes for you…its kind of the compulsory question that you have in an exam that is difficult but requires you to attempt to pass through…
I like pouring my thoughts into my blogs like this because I believe many people out there might find it difficult to handle themselves in weird situations life put you through and would like to know that they are not alone facing this. Sometimes its just enough to know that there are people around who are in difficult situations but choose to fight and face it. I do appreciate how similar the points that I mention here are to theirs through their comments on my blogs. Thanks you all for the love and support…
What makes you believe someone who you think loves you actually does? Let’s frame it this way like what is your definition of love, if you are able to define what love means to you use that frame on people around you and the ones that fit in your love frame is whom you love. But how can you make a same Frame for others and guaze if you actually fit into their love frame…
Where there is affection there is love
Where there is genuine care and concern there is love
Where there is hope there is love
Where there is pain there is love
Where there is heartbreak there used to be love
Where there is a crush it might manifest into love
Where there is believe there is love
It’s difficult to understand if you can fit into the love frame of the person who fits in your frame but you do have a person for you who understands you in and out, who has been a witness to all your struggles, successes, failures, who guides your conscience to do what is right for you, you might not be present in front of you directly but you constantly talk to them and ask for their validation before making up your mind. You guessed it…its YOU.
You have validation for person whom you like and love but do you even consider yourself before them. You do fit in you love frame perfectly but you tend to believe you’ll find it outside which often leads to expectations and eventually disappointment. Why put yourself through so much? You are responsible for your own happiness and you are the one who is supposed to put efforts to achieve that. You can’t completely make your happiness others business and never goes as you think and you end up losing yourself in the process which is all you’ll always have no matter what you do. Don’t underestimate how lovely and beautiful you are inside out and you don’t people to love you to live but rather you need to put yourself first and care for your feelings.
I used to think of how if past could have been a little easy on me than it always had been how wonderful it would have been, how beautiful life would have been.
But I realized lessons in life that are learnt the harder ways cannot be forgotten so even if I think if I can go back in time and change those situations somehow I don’t thing I’d be a strong person as I am today so I do appreciate how far I’ve come and how strong I’ve made myself.
It’s more easy said than actually done but at the end of the day I believe we are responsible for our own happiness and the day you forget this and look out for a person to depend on to make you happy you tend to give up on this responsibility that you have towards yourself and so begins a series of unhappiness and disappointments. How can you look for something that you have deep within you outside! You never get it if you look for it in the wrong path.
There are millions of people and situations out that will make you unhappy if you give them a chance to do so but you need to find some way how you can make yourself happy and this won’t happen if you dwell in the past and waste your present thinking how things in past could have been better.
Always remind yourself when you wake up in the morning everyday that what lies ahead is much greater than what you have left behind , this might not make your situation any easier but it will definitely change your approach to these situations and to your life.
Don’t let your bad days that you are facing trick you to believe that you have a bad life… its just a phase that is meant to pass as time and life goes on giving you abundant of experiences to learn and grow…
Let me make my own series of mistakes to learn and grow through it… Life doesn’t come with a guide or manual so how can someone force you to believe what they say through their experience is right for me as well. We all have different ideas and prospective in life and just because I don’t agree with someone on a point doesn’t make me look stupid or rebel. Ofcourse I have my own thoughts that I have developed over years of my existence through my good and bad experiences that have shaped my personality the way it is today. It’s my choice to make to take or leave people’s suggestions based or their experience or make my own mistakes and learn from it, who knows if I don’t make a mistake instead find a better way out of it and teach these people this prospect that I have on it! In today’s world no elder can impose their thoughts on their children or grandchildren but only suggest a way which they find better through their own past experiences. If you try to impose your thoughts on them surely you’ll drift yourself away from their heart as you seem to be controlling to them and surely nobody likes to be controlled against their will, isn’t it… Instead you can just share your experiences with them rather than making them believe and do what you want and maybe you giving them your experience will help them make better choices and love and respect you more dearly since they can see that you actually respect their thought as an individual and not always treat them as a kid when they are already grown up adults… It’s a privilege to have a choice to make and learn from your mistakes and nobody can teach you better than your own personal experiences so never refrain to make a choice to choose a path and face whatever difficulties that may come your way because this process is what will take you long way and again practically speaking you can’t expect somebody to always be there to hold your hands and guide you throughout your life…
It was kind of early morning when we had planned to go to jatashankar after all the previous day exciting trek that we had to the Chauragarh Peak which is around 1.5km from Pachmarhi bus station. Jatashankar or Jata Shankar is a cave temple located in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. Also called Jatashankar Cave Temple, it is one of the popular places to visit in Pachmarhi.
Situated in a deep ravine with enormous boulders perched above, the Jata Shankar Caves in Pachmarhi are considered sacred as it is believed to be the place where Lord Shiva concealed himself from the wrath of Bhasmasur. This is a beautiful limestone cave comprising stalactites and stalagmites that look like the matted hair of Lord Shiva, hence named Jata Shankar Cave. Besides, the ceiling of this famous shrine has a formation that closely resembles the mythological hundred-headed snake Seshnag.
The cave contains stalagmites which are revered as naturally formed lingams. In fact, there are 108 such natural lingams present in this cave. There are two different types of ponds fed by springs, found in the locality, one of cold water and the other one of hot water. Water in the cave flows from an unknown point as no one has ever seen or reached that starting point and hence this stream of water is popularly known as ‘Gupt Ganga’. It is believed that the Jambu Dwip stream originates from this cave. There are idols of Lord Shankar and Goddess Parvati enshrined at a platform on the upper section of the cave.
Tourists need to walk about 1km and then climb down 150 steps leading to the cave temple. Also this walk to reach the cave is full surrounding view of beautifully cut mountains that are created naturally over the centuries because of the water and the weather changes. Besides, one can buy the local ayurvedic oils and shilajit that are being sold by vendors all along the route.
Since the Covid restrictions in Maharashtra was relaxed a bit, we 4 families together planned to take up a trip together to some place where we are safe from Covid and will get a change from the regular work from home routine. I did my little research and suggested to go to Pachmarhi which everyone agreed without a blink and that’s where it all began. We 4 families with 13 members went to Pachmarhi in second week of August which is not much preferred season to visit this hill station amidst the Satpura range in the state of madhya Pradesh. But still if you think is there any particular season that is not good to visit a hillstation…I cannot believe if there is any and we never thought this place would be so much special and beautiful than the way its mentioned in all the travel blogs that I have read on it till date. So I could not resist giving a standalone mention to one of Pachmarhi’s most daunting attractions – the Chauragarh Temple through this blog.
This is the base from where the trek starts
Located on top of the Chauragarh Peak,at an altitude of 1,330 m, the temple can be accessed after a 3.6 km ling trek. Just when you are thinking that the three-and-a-half odd kms is not really a big deal, let me just tell you that the last kilometer is basically 1,380 steps cut on the sheer rock face. So by this you can guess what we all had signed up for. We heard from people we know who had been there before about the difficulty level of the trek but these warning or stories I don’t know why gives you a solid reason to go ahead, explore and check it out for yourself if it’s really that hard to reach the Chauragarh Peak or its kind of an excuse of people who were not fit enough to reach the top. So we took this up as a challenge and all of us were ready and determined to reach the top and see for ourselves how the trek actually is. Another amazing thing I would like to mention here is that many of the members of our group were senior citizens and by God looking at them bubbling with energy determined to reach the Chauragarh Peak motivated us youngsters to not give up at all and ofcourse never to underestimate the stamina and strength of these senior citizens. Looking at them it really seemed like for them age is just a number and so it cannot define their boundaries.
You can take your car upto the Mahadeo Temple, 9 kms from Pachmarhi town. From there begins the trek to Chauragarh. For the first kilometre, you climb up and down a number of small hills till you come to the base of the main hill. See, the thing is, I daily walk around 4 km as exercise routine and I used to consider myself be a fit person as whenever given a chance to sit home and rest or go for an exhausting trek I’llalways choose the later one. We carried our own bags having the mask, sanitizer and cameras while we had asked our gypsy driver to help us carry the eatables and water for everyone since everyone of us were observing shravan somavaar ka upvas which is a kind of fast that we strictly follow to present our devotion to lord Shiva and again coincidentally Chauragarh Peak is said to be Shiva’s peak and people usually climb these four mountains and reach Chauragarh Peak to go visit the Shiva temple situated at the peak. So it was kind of amazing how the plan fell in to place such that we were able to visit the Shiva temple while we were observing the fast for lord Shiva itself. For people planning to go there, please carry your own water as there are no vendors on the way. A few tribals set up shop here and there selling gutkhas, cigarettes, chaas(buttermilk) and nimboo paani (these tribal people do stay in the valley that we can see while trekking. I am still amazed and appreciate how they climb and descend these mountains daily just to earn a livelihood).
Caves on the way while trekking
Mid way of the trek is quite easy and not so steep and makes you believe easily that whatever mention that you’ve heard of this trek is breathtaking and difficult must be from people who are not so fit to even endure such a normal trek path but soon you’ll realize that you’ve said this all too soon…
This is when the track finally starts winding upwards. On one side of the road was an unrestricted view of the Satpura valley, most of which was covered in clouds and fog which definitely made it less scary while peeping in the valley by at the same time it was feeling as if we were there walking amidst the clouds…As you trudge on higher and higher, the scenenery begins to unfold under you. At this point of time, you begin to wonder if this view looks stunning, what would the view from top be like.
Walking amidst the clouds…no valley can be seen on the left side of the railing
After two third of the climb was completed we came to a point where the steps had become narrow and steep making it more difficult to hold a grip and walk properly due to sudden rain and wind. As also due to the height it was becoming difficult to breath and to make it even more difficult during this COVID pandemic times we were trekking with the masks on as there were many country people crowd out there who were going to visit the chauragadh mahadev temple on the first shravan somavar of the year which is an auspicious day to worship Shiva according to Hindu mythology and coincidentally we choose the same day to go for this trek(well that was not a good idea since it made us keep the mask on and eventually made our breathing difficult as we were ascending towards the Chauragarh peak).
View on the way
Due to the difficulty of the climb, not many people attempt the trek. Also since we went there on 9th August which is a peak monsoon time in India we were blessed to witness all the season in the trek duration of 4hrs as we were ascending the chauragadh peak. We were able to see a pleasant cloudy weather when we were at the base, then midway down the trek it started raining heavily which made us all drenched and the wind gushing through the ranges made us experience the winter chills and ofcourse it was followed by fog which made it difficult to see the base of the valley. As it stopped raining suddenly we could feel the warmth of the sun helping us get dried up but again due to the cloudy weather we were drenched in our own sweat( which is definitely gross but who would care about the sweat and the rain when you are enjoying the challenging trek and trying to climb 4 mountains to reach the peak of Chauragadh).
Natives welcoming us warmly…
We were told that it’s quiet up there and we would only be able to hear birds chirping and panting of our own breath in the mountains as not many people visiting Pachmarhi choose to trek at this spot, taking into consideration the difficulty of the trek. But to our surprise and due to the day we choose the trek route was literally crowded with villagers and tribal people around Pachmarhi who worship Shiva and yes I could only find greedy red faced monkeys around who try to snatch your bags if you are not attentive while trekking and yes there I couldn’t hear or see any bird chirping around.
After what seemed like an endless climb, we finally reached a terrace kind of stairs which is at the neck of the hill, with one final flight of moderately high stairs (for a change) to the top. I ringing of bells were like music to our eyes making us realize that we are almost there amidst the panting and breathlessness.
The temple courtyard is stacked with thousands of trishuls, some weighing over three tons and standing nearly 5 m tall. On the occasion of Nagpanchmi and Mahashivaratri, devotees come here in droves, lugging up these heavy tridents or trishuls as offerings. These are then stuck in the ground around the temple creating a forest of trishuls. It is generally believed that the wishes of anyone who offers a trident here will be fulflled. It’s difficult by itself to motivate ourselves to complete the trek and I can’t even imagine how much dedication do these people put in to trust and believe that taking these heavy trishul up the Chauragadh peak on their feet will fulfill their wishes as blessings from lord Shiva as reward for their perseverance, dedication and worship.
Chauragad peak…mannat ke trishul
There is a Shiva temple located near the tree where all the trishuls are placed as token of the people’s mannat for fulfillment of which they bring the trishul up to this peak as a token of their devotion.
It nearly took us around 2 hrs to descend back to the base where there is a cave having a Shiva linga which is kind of hidden in the cave so it is named as ‘Gupt mahadev’ (Gupt in Hindi means hidden and Mahadev is the title that has been bestowed to lord Shiva).
Group photo at Chauragarh Peak…amidst the clouds ⛅. As you can see nothing around the group due to the foggy weather
The overall trek took us around 5-6 hrs to complete which I think would have been even faster if it wasn’t raining so heavily at the top out there and if it had not been so crowded. It was indeed an exhaustive trek altogether but it was an amazing and overwhelming and memorable experience trekking those four mountains and reach the peak of Chauragarh… No matter how much our legs were paining due to this trek the next day given a chance to go climb this peak again for sure I’ll never hesitate to say YES… Also what I learnt while coming down that how important it is for you to keep yourself physically fit amidst the mental stress caused due to this pandemic and 24/7 kind of work from home culture.
PS: Please do let me know how you liked this blog so that it will help me to write about other wonderful place I had been to in Pachmarhi…
This week I had got my first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and consequently high fever, headache and weakness kicked in. It is said that it helps if we have more liquid intake after the vaccine to lower the level of sideeffects that it may have otherwise on the body. And thanks to the paracetamol tablets that was helping with the fever I had no appetite at all!
The only thing I could think of having for meals with all the liquids and nutrients at this time was porridge and as I am not a fan of milk so it was not what I was preferring to have for 2 days straight to help rejuvenate myself from the weakness.
Being an Indian and not being able to have spicy food was not so good idea so here is what I experimented with least ‘masala’ and spices which had turned out to be amazing:
Ingredients: ( for serving 2 persons)
1) 1 whole cup of coarse oats
2) 1 cup of all finely chopped vegetables which includes carrot, mushroom, capsicum, sweet corn, beans and green peas
3) 1+1/2 tablespoon of butter
4) 1/2 teaspoon of pepper powder or coarsly crushed black pepper and mixed herbs like oregano and rosemary
5) Salt to taste
6) 1+1/2 tablespoon grated cheese
7) 1 teaspoon apple cidar vinegar
8) 1 finely chopped green chili
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Method:
1) Heat a pan on low flame and add butter/ olive oil. Once melted/heated add crushed pepper and green chili and stir.
2) Add the vegetables that we had cut finely and kept and sauté it till it doesn’t smell raw. Then add mixed herbs to the pan.
3) Add oats and stir till it absorbs all the flavors of the vegetables in the pan and become moist.
4) Add 1+1/2 cup of water in the pan along with the salt and let the oats boil till the consistency becomes like porridge. Add more water if you would like it soupy.
5) Add cheese and let it boil for a minute.
6) Turn of the flame and serve the porridge in a bowl all hot and steamy. Garnish with green coriander leaves if you like.
This porridge is more nutritional than other usual porridge as it has vegetables to take care of your body vitamin supplements. Oats is always a healthy choice whether or not you are sick. Butter, cheese will give you the energy you need to fight the weakness and chili and pepper will help you with your tastebuds.
So I would suggest you to try this once and let me know how you like it.
Isn’t it ironical that if a person is close to you, their silence is loudest that they can speak to you. This is because silence is the language of your heart…
It speaks louder than anyone can hear without even a single word being uttered. If you feel a connection with a person you may actually understand many gestures of the person or rather you can infer the mood of that person without that person speaking it out to you in words. Well this isn’t a rocket science to understand, this connection or bonding comes from the trust, understanding and time that you’ve spent together which helped you understand that person so well that words no longer remains the only medium for you to communicate or understand what the other person is thinking or feeling… This heart to heart connection makes you understand each other better. Isn’t it amazing and worth appreciating that we people can share this kind of magical connection with each other…
Silence is sometimes like a cold winter night which makes you feel the cold and emptiness in your heart while sometimes it is what you need to be able to get your thoughts together and make a firm decision.
As it’s been one year since the lockdown began in India for this pandemic and offices was shutdown starting the trend of WFH, I can remember before lockdown started in Mar-20 it was amazing going to office for your 9am-6pm shift and coming back home even though being tired working, attending meetings and traveling, appreciating time that we get after office to spend and enjoy with family. Even though it was tedious but it was fun package spending amazing time with family and colleagues even though we were working under tight deadlines.
The work from home culture has brought about change in the lifestyle of the working class both for some its good pursuing their hobbies and focusing on fitness while bad for others who tend to spend their offline hours just eating, sleeping and binge watching series without any limits.
As months and quarters passed by it is clear that during this COVID-19 lockdown many people have lost their jobs and are desperately looking for a new job and are ready to make any compromise(which may be with regards to demanding less CTC for their experience or shift to any location which might not be of their preference) The mentality of people having job is like they need even working overtime without asking for comp-off or overtime allowance appreciating the fact that they are having a job in hand in these difficult times and keeping the employers happy by doing this. Isn’t it the responsibility of the company or employer to appreciate the efforts of employees during this difficult time with a hike or bonus and incentives whether or not he is asking for it.
But what exactly is being reciprocated by the company to their employee is to be a part of mad race of thinking that since the employee is working from home he can be expected to be online for 24/7 as and when they need without being paid any extra incentives for these efforts and gestures as to make them appreciate that ‘atleast’ have a job in hand. If they want to keep the job they need to be productive(new definition of which these days is to be available to take up any task at any given time irrespective of your working shift timing).
Will this corporate culture bring anything good? It’s already affecting the mental state of employee who has no personal time left for themselves and is frustrated continuously thinking how to impress the employer and secure their jobs in this difficult times where getting new job or thinking about a job switch in this pandemic recession has become like a non fulfilling dream.
It’s the responsibility of the corporates to make sure that they provide all the incentives to the deserving employee without being asked to do so by employees by resigning.
If things goes on like this I am afraid we will need to visit a psychiatrist or counselor more often than we actually visit a doctor.
blissful_souvenirs 