How seldom or frequently do you express your love to you partner or family?
You may think that whatever you do for your family and/or partner like earn money for them, give them a better lifestyle, care for them, protect them, try to understand their needs before they say it and fulfill it, plan a vacation for them, stay together with them, spend time with them, go to the hospital with them for their treatment if they are ill are all clear expression of your love for them. It seems more like fulfilling your responsibility rather than an expression of love.
You may think expressing your love to someone in words is awkward, or what is there to say as they might already know, why do you need to reiterate it every now and then as it won’t change love and affection you have for them.
Love always have a need to be expressed, it is not something you can expect from your loved one’s to understand through your actions or assume that they might already know. If you love someone wholeheartedly, you never fail to express it to them in every possible occasion you get, this way you make them realize and appreciate that you have them in their heart and still hold that importance in their life. They are the one you have in their heart that they cherish and you don’t shy away from admitting it to the world. This confession of love every now and then is a glue that holds the essence of your relationship and never lets it break or fade away.
I believe if you think you love someone maybe for years but you do anything less than making them feel special by expressing it frequently you tend to make them feel you no longer love them or cherish them the way you did before or they are just becoming a burden or responsibility to you, you start to drift apart and if this continues and if you do not act promptly you might realize that you are not able to fill in the rift that has formed in your relationship.
Isn’t this the main reason why most of the relationships that we think as our ideal that would last forever doesn’t even last till lifetime, this is because the relationship loses the essence of expression of love in it as both the party involved finds it awkward and unnecessary after staying together for decades if not years…
Appreciate and cherish the people that you love in your life and never put them in a tight spot in your relationship where they feel unwanted, unappreciated and lonely even though they have you.
we all have an unspeakable secret that we want to take to our graves,
an irreversible regret that we never be able to make up for,
an unkept promise that might have hurt the person who loved and trusted you,
an unheard request that was obviously loud but you never tried to heat it out,
an irreplaceable loss that makes you feel empty in your heart even today no matter how much you try to keep yourselffrom hurting on thinkingabout it,
an unreachable dream which always inspired and motivated you to get up and work for it but not being able to become a reality has shattered you to the Core and added it in you list of regrets
and an unforgettable first love which might bringa smileonyourfaceeven todaywhen you think of it but it’s too good to be real.
Still life is being about happy anyhow because everything in life can be summed up in 4 words “life must goes on” no matter what.
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…
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It’s the one that is the most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin
Survival of the fittest. The phrase is best understood as, survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations. While physical fitness is an attribute of ‘fitness’, it is just one of many. You must learn to adapt to change in order to not only become successful in your life, but to survive.
Nothing good can come to you if refrain yourself from changing with the pace of the world. Ofcourse it’s difficult to motivate yourself, come out of your cozy comfort zone to pace up everytime with the Change but that’s what keeps you on your toes and helps you achieve better things in life that you want for yourself.
I think I learnt this lesson in a hard way in life through my past experiences but learning it hard way is what made it memorable and worth it. And if I would get a chance to go back in past I would not like to change any of it as I know what I was going through at that time and how I came out of it, changed myself completely in an attempt to become a better version of myself…
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…
Never did I ever thought I would be able to go to this lovely place and witness how beautiful rainy season can be so far away from the crowdy city amidst the clouds in this beautiful town of Pachmarhi…
Please stay tuned to my blogs while I share few of my amazing experiences through my blogs in the coming few days…
When you love what you do, you tend to put your soul in it and people do notice such efforts that you put in it and appreciate your passion in doing it…
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.
There are times when you come across people who do not think before speaking in not a good way and you have no way to make them understand how rude and insensitive they can be to others and make them hear themselves when they speak.
It specifically becomes difficult if you have an emotional and sensitive approach to thinking and action to stand these kind of people around you and its inexplicable how difficult life becomes everyday if you happen to work and connect with these kind of people everyday as part of your job.
You start feeling exhausted in the morning thinking how to escape from these people and how to avoid getting hurt talking to them. On the other hand these kind of insensitive people have no clue how impossible they are to deal with and how ruthlessly they behave with others keeping a stand that they are straightforward.
Well everybody knows if a person is being straightforward or being rude just to showcase their power trying hard to mask their insecurities and inferiority complex. People who avoid talking or use ignorance as a medicine to deal with these people are knowingly or unknowingly feed their ego making them believe they have a right to be rude to supress other people and pave their way…
First thing to do if you have a misfortune to work with these kind of people only tolerate what you feel you can ignore but once it starts mentally affecting you stand up for yourself and speak up. Its not your weakness to be sensitive, rather its a virtue that makes you compassionate and makes you kind enough to empathize with people around you and indeed makes you a good person. Also its not that only people who are rude or insensitive are straightforward. Its a matter of person choice if you respect and be kind to everybody around you or not.
If things go beyond your control and it becomes intolerable to deal with such people just SPEAK UP…Since your silence would make your life difficult and also you would be forcing yourself into a toxic environment which might affect you physically and mentally as well. If you need to work with them everyday just make them realize how wrong they are thinking that you silence was because you were easy target to bully and it was testing your tolerance…You are responsible for your mental well-being so don’t let anybody invade and ruin your peace of mind because of their toxic and supressing attitude…
You need to be smart enough to not go down to their level to make them taste their own medicine but make them realize how wrongly they treat you with your goodness and kindness…
Don’t give people chance to make you live in a toxic environment amongst toxic people, you deserve better and you need to know that you really do.
blissful_souvenirs 