Indore, the Outdoor place

Indore the outdoor place

Indore is famous for eateries – with cleanliness.

In sarafa go to –
Vijay Chaat for Khopra patties and matar kachori, then Joshi dahi bada, then pick up bhutta kees and garadu anywhere down the street, towards the other end of street is jaisawal ka sabudana khichdi, top it up with jalebi rabdi from the guy at the corner of Chhota sarafa.

At 56 Dukaan – Johny hot dog, and shikanji, Vijay Chaat for Khopra patties and matar kachori,

Sweets

Bhawrilal mithai at South tukoganj

Gajak from Sheetal in chhawni

For next time:
Sarraf Market: Joshi dahi bada, it closes at 11pm
Sayaji kebabville for dinner
Lalbagh – It is in opposite direction.

Ujjain, Bhaaratvarsh ki Paavan Nagari

On Tuesday 07 Feb 2023, reached Indore at around 9am and rested at sister’s place. Thereafter with sister, jijaji and wife, drove down to Ujjain.

Visited Mahakal Lok, a new promenade built on a lake by the Mahakaleshwar Mandir, the Jyotirling, and inaugurated by PM on 11Oct2022. It was so magnificent. Elaborate sculptures of Shivaji and associated Gods (even Ganesh ji, Vishnu ji, etc) adorn the sides of the lake. There is an open air theatre for programs. This was just stage 1 or phase 1. There are projects underway for phase 2 as well as phase 3. It is world-class – I am falling short of words.

Night 10pm, Tue 07Feb2023: had to go to sleep.
Brahma Muhurt 02am Wed 08Feb2023: woke up. Got ready for Bhasma Aarti of Shri MahaKaleshwar. All four of us reached around 3.40am and were ushered into darshan grih at 04.07am. Reena and I got 2nd row seat on ground – next to God Nandi Vrishabh. The next 2 hours were simply magic. The rituals were so elaborate and captivating. During the chanting of Om Shri Mahakal, Jai Shri Mahakal – the reverberations permeate through the body into the soul. I did not even realize when I started singing and moving along.
Mahakal was so kind to me. He allowed me to have the best view of the Aarti.

06.40 am: we were ushered into Garbha Grih for Jal Abhishek. Time was spent to get the tickets. We went into the Garbh Grih and anointed the Jyotirling with water and touched and offered our prayers and received immense energy by “sparsh” of Jyotirling together with spouse.

0730 am: Kaal Bhairav. Offered full prayers and took photographs.

0800 am: Mangalnath Mandir: offered prayers and took photographs. Pandit ji came 10 min late. But we had completed by then.

0830 am: Sandipani Ashram: This is where Shri Krshn, Balraam and Sudama had studied together. 64 days study in 64 arts. There was a swayambhoo shivling, which I got a chance to touch and anoint with milk – a rare chance – Shiv ji was with me, and hence all this I could do WITHOUT any special efforts.

0900 am: Visited Har Siddhi Shakti peeth: When Sati had chosen Bhasm-agni, Shivji had become very angry and performed Taandav. Thereafter it is said that Sati ji’s body’s 52 pieces fell on earth and each place is called a Shakti-peeth. There is an Akhand Jyoti which burns at all times.

0950am: All temples of importance, we had seen (except Chintaman Ganesh ji). We did not know what to do next. So, the plan was to return to Indore, many hours in advance. Suddenly my sister advised to go to another Shaktipeeth, BagulaMukhi, in another district a hundred km away.

1.20pm: we spent about 40 min in Bagulamukhi in Nalakheda. Took photos. Did pooja. And returned to Indore, had tea and finished our Paavan City Darshan.

Indore The Cleanest City of India

I had the opportunity to visit Indore, the cleanest city during 6 hours flight overlay, while traveling from Nagpur to Bangalore on 26 Jun 2022. Visited my sister. City was indeed clean. Committed to myself that I would come back

Mothers in Pandemic

🙏🌹🙏
Today is Mothers’ Day. All ladies are great, mothers, non-mothers, married, unmarried. I had written a post last year on why only Mothers, why not all ladies… but will discuss that some other time.

First of all, like all mothers, I know each lady will and come out resilient while absorbing all shocks of near and dear ones either down or gone, … And it is but natural to feel despondent when your near and dear ones, are down with a serious infection like Covid.

In our childhood, we cooked every day, and left overs which were edible, were given out for crows, cows, birds, … even sugar was sprayed in a line in aangan for ants … we “co-habited”

with cementing of living spaces and de-cementing of relationships, naturally, the nature’s balance was impacted and the nature’s fury is a natural reaction … no point lamenting or cursing anyone anywhere … we are all to blame squarely

So, what now… Covid in its 2nd fury is around … near and dear ones are down …

Let us pray for them, remember the good times, remember their way of living which we inculcated, their way of living which we could not / did not inculcate but wish to, and cherish them. Speak to them gently (one way only, you only speak, because they have trouble speaking)

Also, tell them good things, even jokes, make them laugh, … as it all creates serotonin which enhances body immunity…

And keep yourself busy … sing them songs … remind of silly things which happened when you all were growing up …

Try to find good facilities around the place of your near and dear ones, and keep them updated. Find out about the 6 min walk test with oxymeter on, check pulse rate, etc etc.

-Pradeep Prasad, 09 May 2021

🙏🌹🙏

Is Bengaluru prepared for disasters?

Watch Out the Videos (pl click on the time duration)	Is Bengaluru prepared for managing disasters?
Regn & Networking – 0:13 Lighting of the Lamp – 2:29 Welcome note by Thomson Reuters – 4:54 Launch of Yearbook & Annual Report – 7:35 Welcome address by the Chairman -16:39 Key note Speaker | Ms. V Manjula, IAS – 30:52 Speech by Chief Guest | Shri. Kamal Kishore, Member NDMA, India – 1:00:16 Panel Discussion 1 – 1:45:09 Panel Discussion 2 – 3:11:36 Sponsors | Regus – 3:55:22 Sponsors | Gorisco – 4:15:27 Sponsors | Accenture – 4:28:16 Whitepaper Contest winners – 4:42:13 Vote of Thanks – 4:47:43 Dinner & Networking – 4:58:24	Bengaluru, so far this year, has been subject to a flash flood, indefinite strike of public transport staff, riots and a curfew, throwing normal life out of gear and causing significant direct and indirect losses to businesses in and around the city. The Business Continuity Institute Bengaluru Forum could not have chosen a better time to bring together Mr. K.S.Viswanathan, Vice- President and head of Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM and some eminent Business Continuity Management personalities in a panel discussion titled “Is Bengaluru prepared for managing disasters? How should the BCI Bengaluru Forum collaborate with the Karnataka State Government in managing disasters? The panel concluded that there is considerable work to be done and a public private partnership would be key to managing disasters.        Lamp Lighting                        Live interaction with Chief Guest The conference was presided over by Mr. Kamal Kishore, Member – National Disaster Management Authority, who addressed the gathering over a video call (skype), which incidently was a ‘business continuity’ strategy if he could not attend in person. He took the audience through the various dimensions of disaster management, and the various ways in which the NDMA continues to gear up to face challenges posed by nature. The Business Continuity Institute Bengaluru Forum, a not-for-profit organization that provides a platform for business continuity professionals from across industries, conducted its third Annual Resiliency Conference on 16th September, 2016. The conference was attended by over 125 business continuity professionals from 58 organizations.            Enthusiastic Participants                     KSV of Nasscom Mr. Pradeep Prasad, Chairman of the Bengaluru Forum welcomed the participants and briefed the audience about the Forum’s goals and objectives. Mr. David West, Community Engagement Manager of BCI, BCI India Chapter Head, Mr. R.Vaidyanathan and the Hyderabad Forum Chairman, Mr. Vikrant Varshney were special invitees for the event, which was sponsored by Regus, Gorisco and Accenture and hosted by Thomson Reuters, thanks to its leader Yogen Karumbaya. The Forum felicitated Ms. Bishakha Bhattacharya – Senior Director, NASSCOM, for her crusading work in the area of Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery. To encourage sharing of ideas and to benefit from collective professional knowledge, the Forum conducted a whitepaper contest. The winners, from shortlisted entries, were rewarded.  The Exec Committee members Romesh Kostka, Deepak Freddy, Deepak Singh, S. Seshadri, Madhukar Mangalvedekar, Priyank Kothari, Azhalvannan Ekambaram worked behind the scenes with Padmashree Prasad and Berna D’Souza to make it a grand evening. The Photographs are hosted on Google Drive The highlight of the evening was the launch of the BCI Bengaluru forum yearbook and key note address by Ms. V. Manjula. IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka. She listed the state government’s initiatives to ensure a safe and secure environment for companies to operate in Bengaluru, many of which were introduced for the first time in India. She called for a public-private partnership to work on issues ranging from Disaster preparedness to skill development in tier 2 cities and set the BCI Forum a deadline of 15 days to submit a proposal, which was received by thunderous applause from the audience. The BCI has already initiated discussions with NASSCOM, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the State Government in this regard.    Pr Secy IT Ms Manjula unveiling Yearbook 2016, with David and Pradeep

ISDL BCO Community Outreach Initiatives (#Swachh Bharat – Clean India)

As part of our Community Outreach initiatives, ISDL Business Compliance & Operations (BCO) & Support teams in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune locations contributed to Indian Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission.
Here’s a two minute video to get a glimpse of our contribution and activities at schools and public places (park, flyover & roads)

We proud to have made its own small contribution for a worthy cause. I urge you to do your bit towards community outreach initiatives.

ISDL BCO & Support Team’s Community Outreach Initiative: #getSocial

Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan or the “Clean India Campaign” was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in 2014. This initiative was officially launched by the Prime Minister himself  at Rajghat, New Delhi to start the clean India movement. As we all know this is the largest cleanliness drive the country has  ever witnessed, the main purpose of the “Clean India Campaign” was to make India a dirt-free country in the next five years to commemorate  the  150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi in 2017.

While launching the biggest ever cleanliness drive in India, our Prime Minister had appealed to every citizen of the country to devote at least 100 hours a year for cleanliness work voluntarily. In lieu of this appeal, as part of our “IBM’s Community outreach programme” our team members from both India Systems Development Lab (ISDL) and India Software Lab (ISL) were out driving the Prime Ministers  vision for a “Clean India”.

70 team members from both ISDL and ISL together collaborated together in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad to run the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan campaign across these locations. At Bangalore, the team cleaned up the Manyata Tech park flyover area, at Hyderabad they cleaned up Kukatpally Government school and educated young children on the importance of  having a clean environment and at Pune the teams conducted the same activities at Shivaji Park, Dangechowk.

What’s really significant is, the event was conducted solely from personal contributions by the employees. These 70 IBMers created awareness on the importance of cleanliness and educated the public on the responsibility of the keeping the roads, pavements and localities clean. As part of the initiative, they educated the neighbourhood shop vendors and the public to continue to keep the environment clean. It was heartening to see many individuals taking personal interest to support the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan programme organized independently by the employees.

Watch our team at Bangalore/Hyderabad/Pune location taking part in Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan @

IBM India facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/IBMIndiaNews?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

@IBMer_In twitter handle …

https://t.co/wBsj6oh9lM

Original Tweet:

https://twitter.com/IBMer_IN/

Dance By the Nan Chan

The quartet of Zhu Yanhong (April), Sun Ling Di,  myself, Hou Jing Ning and Li Ting took me around the Nan Chan Temple. We got again delayed to visit the temple which closes sharp at 5 pm. Please note that Nan Chan is NOT a combination of Nan Chaku and Jackie Chan. So, what to do. Opposite Nan Chan Temple, there was a band which was about to wind up, and yet, they were playing music. Zhu Yanhong (April) wanted to learn Indian dance and I was more than eager to oblige. (please put on audio head-set with noise cancellation for best effects)

. If that was not enough, a small twist was in order.

#IBMCSC China Saturday April 18, 2015 Silk Production Factory and the most famous street leading to Qing-Ming Bridge

Silk Thy Name is Wuxi

The quartet of Zhu Yanhong (April), Sun Ling Di,  myself, Hou Jing Ning and Li Ting did not know that there was a silk production factory in Wuxi (wuxi silk was famous in the silk route of Asia, as famous as Su Zhou silk or Indian Silk). I not only informed them, I also showed them where the erstwhile factory was, on which stands a museum with centuries old machinery. Chinese surely know how to preserve and showcase their culture and heritage.

Look how the school children are thrilled to be photographed with me. They were initially very shy.

By the way, the title of this blog is a misnomer (Wuxi does not mean silk). Actually, Wu or Bu means “NO” and Xi means Tin (chemical symbol Sn). In medieval times, some rulers removed all the treasured Tin of this area, and thus rendered this area with NO TIN, and hence, the name Wu-Xi.

Look at the naughty companions, they have twisted the straw into heart-shape. Only here, for the first time in my life, did I see that the tender coconut is fully shaved off before being offered for a drink. Also, the shaving off seems to have been done in a factory, rather than being done on the spot manually.

        

See the picture below left, full of boats which are landing with raw material at the canal which hosted Qin Ming Bridge. The right picture shows how the bride and the bridegroom used to carried to the bridegroom’s house. Once at the gate, the bridegroom will knock the palanquin’s door with his shoe and then carry the bride on his back, inside the house. Left in the photo is for the bride.

#IBMCSC China Saturday April 18, 2015 Silk Production Factory and the most famous street leading to Qing-Ming Bridge

Winery by the rivulet

Old Thong Garden is a less publicized destination (could not find it in the tourist guides), yet thronged by millions of Wuxians.

Just check out the picture which I took when I entered:-

Below (from L to R) : Zhu Yanhong (April), Sun Ling Di,  myself, Hou Jing Ning and Li Ting accompanied me and took me around the garden. (right photo : they had come to pick me up from my hotel)

Below: Li Ting gifted me a lovely Aashi (girl) and AaFu (boy) : who are siblings and they bring family peace. Earlier I was not purchasing it as it was very costly (@65 RMB). Li Ting finally bought for RMB 35. It was heavy, and I only know how I have brought it in my trekking bagpack which I was forced to offload to check-in luggage in Singapore.

 

Surprisingly, Old Thang had a lovely rice winery — you can see the video here

Some more photographs of the winery. The wine samples were offered to any visitor to taste. I did not taste, neither any of my companions.

Surprisingly, there is a park with entrance fee RMB 80 (INR 800 – can you believe it) which has a cable car to take you to the pagoda on the hill top (or else you can walk through the winding mountain footpath. I refused to buy such a costly ticket.

#IBMCSC China Saturday April 18, 2015 Wuxi Old Thang Garden