Recap 2016: Through the Lens of My Yatra Diary...

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day,

a fresh try, one more start,

with perhaps a bit of magic

waiting somewhere behind the morning.

- J. B. Priestly.

(Picture courtesy: desi Traveler)

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They say time flies.
Sometimes I wonder...

Where exactly does time fly?

That time... that makes up one moment, a minute, an hour, a day, a year... our life. Is it in the great mountains that loom large over us with their dark grey crevices and green patches in between or is it in the vast expanse of the horizons where darkness and light dissolve ever so perfectly to create something so precious and beautiful? The eternal traveller time... wherever it might fly, one thing I know for sure, it never stops, it is forever on the run, even now, when another year is all set to end and bid us goodbye.

The dusk of a paling 2016 is upon the horizon marking a wonderful moment in this journey of time to pause, ponder and reflect on the year going by… the memories made, the goodness cherished, the journeys embarked, the kindness encountered, the authenticity striven, the lessons learnt, the truths discovered … to the wonderful life that was, it's time to gratefully bid adieu and make way for the prospect of something fresh and new.

As the pinkish glow of 2017 pours over the twilight abyss of dark blue... youthful, radiant and bright – loaded with a tinkle of hope, goodness, cheer, optimism and faith in its character - inspiring a thrilling feeling of awe all around; My Yatra Diary… stands at the edge of stillness to turn back the pages... to see all that 2016 was for her and to hope for all that 2017 will be.

Presented below is a calendar recap of 12 posts from the 12 months gone by in the order: Month / Snippet / Picture / Post Link. Most of her posts also had quotes this year along with the write-ups so I doubly hope that you will like going through them.

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JANUARY

Wash me, cleanse me, purify my heart and set me free.

~ Psalm 51.

Shri Ramanathaswamy Shivlingam Temple Darshan and 22 Kund Snanams, Rameshwaram.

FEBRUARY

The sea is where I belong.

Meet me that place -

where the music meets the ocean.

What to do in Rameshwaram? Walk the Shores of Agni Teertham!

MARCH

I survived because the fire inside burned brighter than the fire around me.

~ Joshua Graham.

This Festival of Holi... Birth A New YOU!

APRIL

And I learned what is obvious to a child.

That life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time.

That each day should be spent finding beauty

in flowers and poetry and talking to animals.

That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered.” 

― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook.

Seduced With A Sunset: My Boat Ride in Rameshwaram.

MAY

What about barren, abandoned, obsolete, uninhabited places is so intriguing to us?

Us… you as well as me. Is it simply the emotion of intense melancholy that we feel in those moments when we walk through such places, or is it the dive into an unknown mystery, of all that in life that is beyond visual comprehension, that which we call death or is it something else, something more?

The Ghost Town, Dhanushkodi.

JUNE

This little girl down here inspired me.

She didn't mind me clicking her picture.

In fact, did I even matter?

She was totally immersed,

how happy and joyful... in her own little world.

That world, where she sprinkled a handful of puffed rice in the water

And they would all be gone, less than a minute!

Places to see / Teerthas of Rameshwaram: Rama Teertham.

JULY

“Why a widow, even if Mani were untouchable, or something worse,

she is still a gem of a woman for me.

We look for experienced people,

but when it comes to choosing life partner,

we don’t consider experience a good thing.

I am not one who would strangle justice.

No school can impart experience as adversity does.

The person who has a degree from this school

can easily be trusted with the reins of your life.

In my eyes, being a widow is not a sin for a woman…”

~ Munshi Premchand.

In the Memory of a Great Writer: Happy Birthday, Munshi Premchand!

AUGUST

As the blazing fire reduces wood to ashes,

similarly, the fire of Self-knowledge reduces all Karma to ashes.

Krishna Janmashtami Special: ISKCON Hare Krishna Temple, Chennai.

SEPTEMBER

It's the first day of one of the most awaited festivals of India and one of the most popular in Mumbai, Ganesh Chaturthi. The much loved elephant God, the cute and mischievous, and one of my favourites - Ganpati Bappa will be home soon, seated like a bosom friend, an intimate confidante, amid His favourite people - with you and me.

A Photo Story from the Streets of Mumbai: Ganesha Comes Home!

OCTOBER

She made broken look beautiful

and strong look invincible.

She walked with the Universe

on her shoulders and made it

look like a pair of wings.

― Ariana Dancu.

Navratri Special: She's A Woman!

NOVEMBER

The resting place of the mind is the heart.

The only thing the mind hears all day

is clanging bells and noise and argument,

and all it wants is quietude.

The only place the mind will ever find peace

is inside the silence of the heart.

That's where you need to go.

― Elizabeth Gilbert.

... And Therefore I Blog: 7th Blogging Anniversary of My Yatra Diary...

DECEMBER

Who doesn't love to be beside the seaside?

There is something very beautiful about beaches and oceans.

Those waves in the ocean rising above in full furore, they march towards the shoreline, bubbling and tumbling with all their worth, as if with a thousand stories hidden carefully in their heart, opening it all at once as they kiss the shoreline, then gradually dissolving and dispersing in fragments, in peace, only to rise up again in the distance. There is birth, death and renewal, and love, hope and understanding between everyone involved - all in a matter of seconds.

Beside The Seaside: Celebrating Beach Holidays!

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......... In the year 2017,

May everything we think, say and do (and write) ... we do it for the pure love of God.

May our life unfold magnificently for us and for all the others around us.

May the new year take us closer to our own selves in our hearts

bestowing on us an inner clarity, a loving nature, happiness, peace, success and simplicity.

May it reinforce our belief in the goodness of human nature,

and May it transform us in ways we may have never known.

......... In the year 2017,

May we always remember that...

there is magic waiting somewhere in the Universe...

and we just have to believe, hope and hold

that one day we shall cherish it for real.

Happy New Year!

Keep Loving and Keep Smiling!