Piano

My friend is a piano,
From far away looks like a zebra,
With white and black stripes,
A peaceful light flashes at first sight,
And is then ready to play along.

Piano has high and low pitches,
All sound different,
Agressive when touched harshly,
As quiet as a mouse when softly touched,
It calms me down.


Piano makes different sounds,
Boom, snap, chap, pop, bang !
feels like a glittering gold statue,
Right in front of me.
In solitude, piano is there for me.


Its sometimes as tender as the summer night,
And sometimes as stiff as a tree trunk.
It is magestic, marvelous melodious,
Mostly keeps a splendid thought in mind.
Always stands beside me , just like a true friend.

Poem on POWER

Power is to be leader,

Power can make people greedier.

Power can be good,

Power can be evil.

Power can make people rude.

You have strength and many choices,

You can definitely raise your voices.

You feel that you are honest and true.

It makes you feel dominated from others.

People get influenced by you!

No power leads to following rules,

No power can make you feel that you are a fool.

No power treats you like slaves,

No power can leave you with no choice.

No power makes you not feel craved.

We feel weak, with no power,

It can make people feel like a dead flower.

You have chaos without power,

We need power when we’re lonely.

Let’s not strive for power.

Amazing Fire

Fire, I hear, sparkled, blazed, scorching the dense forest,

It ignites wildly across the trees, faster than a leopard.

The red sun burns to ashes, under the flame we remain as dust.

Fire is a ferocious dragon, coming to eat me, it is a must.

With Fire invocations we celebrate, the festival of lights.

I just can’t wait for the delicious food to arrive,

We pray to God, it’s our tradition; fire is compulsory in them.

Fireworks are the best of all, the most awaited surprise!

We dance around fire, as if we have gained the turf  

Who can forget the flames that lit the night with verve,

It is the eternal flame of vitality that fuels the passage of life.

Fire when extinguished, leaves nothing but ashes behind.

THE VEDIC AGE

Hello friends, I am you tour guide today and I am going to be showing you the Vedic age. The Vedic age is a very exciting land and it shows us the Indian history for all.

I am entering the Aryavarta (land of Aryans) with all my friends through gate no.3 and I see rectangular barrel shaped huts with bamboo thatched roofs.

                              

                                                                        

 The first thing all of us noticed were the people (Aryans) who were dancing, playing lovely and miraculous instruments (lute, flute, drums and veena).The sound itself made me play it right away.

 The Aryans were wearing hair bands, necklaces, bangles, earrings and many other ornaments made of gold, silver and other metals.

I spotted men who were wearing a dhoti and a piece of cloth over his shoulder. The girls looked amazing. They wore a sari and an upper garment made of sheep wool. I even met a young, handsome man whose name was Rajesh.

He showed us the Land of Aryan

Rajesh, told the other Aryans to greet us with delicious foods like rice, wheat, barley, milk, vegetables, fruits, and meat. They even had ghee, in the early Vedic age which they used in their food as well. I have noticed that all their foods and eatables are like the ones which we have now in the 21^st century. There are still a lot of different improvements from then and now. There were children and women doing pottery, and weaving. Rajesh said that leather work and metallurgy was an important occupation.

Rajesh and all of us went to buy a pot that costs 5 coins. In the Later Vedic era, they had discovered iron and had made coins out of gold and silver. People were exporting sandalwood and cosmetics. Rajesh said, “I have to go now. Many goods like horses and dates are imported. I need to go and collect them”. We all bid him farewell and walked away to complete the tour. The Aryans were always busy with some job or the other. Cattle rearing and farming was very significant.

                                                   

The Aryans dragged me to the place where they were writing the four Vedas. Sama Veda. Yajur Veda, Rig Veda, and Atharva Veda. Each Veda contained a special significance. The Sama Veda is basically a collection of verses of Rig Veda set to music. The Yajur Veda contains rules which were followed during rituals, sacrifices and yajnas. They were even writing the Mahabharata and the Ramayana during that time.

               

We walked and walked, but didn’t know where we were going. Another friend like Rajesh, had come over to help us find our way. His name was Sahib. I asked him to take us to the temples.

I could hear mantras and charms being sung by the Brahmins. Sahib whispered to all of us saying that the Brahmins are the highest off all the other castes. Only Brahmins can conduct the rituals. A traveler asked, “What are the other castes. Which caste do you belong to?” He said that the next one is the Kshatriyas. They are the brave warriors to protect our kingdom. He said that he belongs to the Vaishyas. The Vaishyas are the craftsmen and the people who have a job. At last is the Shudras. They are the servants. There were a group of women being scolded by their husbands because of not doing household work. They were not allowed to attend any assemblies or rituals.

There were a group of people worshiping the gods Brahma- god of creation, Vishnu-god of preserver and Shiva-god of destroyer. They worshiped idols etc. All of us started to take few pictures. In the olden days of Vedic period the Gods were classified into three groups: God of sky, God of Mid-air, God of the Earth. They even worshiped the forces of nature and the elements, fire, water, air, sky, and earth.   

Some Aryans were worshiping the gods and goddesses:

Surya, Savitri – Sun god

Agni – god of fire

Usha- Goddess of dawn

Indra- god of rain and war

Varuna-Cosmic order

And…….. Yama- god of death

The Rajan (chieftain), raised up his voice and welcomed us to his army or area. He said that they are having the sacrifice ceremony. The Senani-commander-in-chief and the gramani-village headman all honored us and nice manner. The Raj-purohit- high priest was astonished at this sight. The Sabha and Samiti- tribal assemblies were surprised too. They were sad because they were not needed at all. The work in the administration became complicated. We were taken to the ceremony since it was happening right now. “The Rajasuya was to bestow the supreme power” said Sahib. One our group members loved horses so she cried when the horse sacrifice was going on. This was known as the Ashvamedha. The sangrihitri was also on his way to collect taxes.

Now all of us went forward and saw a person meditating and living a life of a hermit. He was going through the 3^rd stage of life, Vanprastha Ashrama. There was another child who was going through the Bhramcharya Ashrama, 1^st stage of life. This lasts for 25 years. There was a boy under a tree learning from the guru. This was known as the gurukul. Since that boy was wealthy, he used to give gifts to thank the guru for the education. This was called guru-dakshina.

Now, it was the end of the tour and we all thanked Rajesh and Sahib for this wonderful tour. They said that next time we come; there will be lot more to see!

Ooty with friends

Visit To Ooty with my Friends

It was early in the morning, all of us were getting ready to go to ………….Ooty, on 2^nd of July, 2011. Ooty is a hill station so it is chilly and cold there. We all went in a van which included our friends. During the trip to Ooty, we had a wonderful time going up into the misty mountains; it was a wavy and bumpy ride. The scenery had plenty of trees, high mountains, and as the mountains were far they faded away and when they were near they looked clear. I relished the melodious songs we sang, many exciting games we played, and the wonderful songs we listened to.

Once we reached our destination, all of us were amazed by the sight. We saw blossoming flowers everywhere, brightened up in pure sunlight. It was freezing up there; it is a hill station after all. We found nature all around us, we saw red roses, bright yellow sunflowers, and some flowers were very different than the ones I knew. These flowers were as lovely as butterflies, flying across the clear sky. We even met a cute brown dog named, Maggie and a cute black dog which was caged, his name was Pappu.

The next day, all of us were shivering. We saw a horse whose name was Catherine. Her fur was as soft as a feather. She took us for a ride; it was so much fun, I even got to control the horse on my own. It was time to freshen up; we were going to the tea gardens. The lush, green tea gardens were a picturesque view. It was definitely a feast for my eyes. We went into the gardens it felt so windy when we were rushing through them. Our next visit was to the Sims Park. This park is 130 years old and had many kinds of trees, some old, tall, huge, and some trees were big enough to give shade to plenty of people. It was time to go back now.

It was our last day, we said good bye to the dogs, Catherine, and the generous people who made our stay comfortable. On our way back it rained cats and dogs! There were some patches, which had to be endured, but later on we watched few movies on the TV.

I really enjoyed this trip together with all my friends. We returned home safe and sound. Even though I have gone to Ooty a number of times, this was my first time with my close friends in Ooty!!!    

 Visit to Bannerghatta National Park

On 20^th June, 2011, we went to the Bannerghatta National park, in Bangalore. All of us were excited to see the zoo. We had few drinks and quick snacks on our way. We were all waiting for the wonderful Safari bus ride. I felt just like an explorer when I sat in the bus. I just couldn’t wait to see the roaring lions, the hopping deer, the furious bears and the fair white tigers.

It was a long journey into the windy jungle. There were clear lakes and plenty of greenery. The sound of the wind, made me feel calm and relaxed; it made a hushing sound just like the waterfalls. The wind made the trees sway up and down. On our way, we spotted few hopping white spotted deer, and reindeer wandering around in the forest. We saw a huge bison and few sambars eating grass in the deep jungle. The gate of the wild tiger felt like we were caged. It took a while to spot few tigers, but they were too deep in the jungle. Suddenly we found a white tiger; it was as white as snow. That tiger sat on a huge stone making a stylish pose. Its wagging tail with black stripes lay down on the stone relaxed. On our way, we even saw an orange tiger taking a bath, in the pond. I have never seen these kinds of tigers that closely, in my whole life. Now, it was the lion’s gate. Right when we entered the gate, we saw a pride of lions roaming around on the road. Most of the lion’s were cubs. Some lions were sleeping, some were wondering around and some were staring at us. Now was the gate for the………FURIOUS BEARS, it was the last animal in the safari ride. There were a bunch of Bears sitting together. Some looked dull, some were sleepy, and some were angry and impatient. On our way we saw two bears fighting with their mouth wide open, and we saw them using a lot of arm actions. I enjoyed the safari ride, this safari ride was the best of all the other rides I have done in a Zoo.

After we were done with the safari, we relaxed ate few quick snacks and started to go around the zoo. We first saw the pretty peacocks spreading out their feathers. The peacocks had a shiny blue body it was so beautiful and pretty. We saw few other animals like zebras, ostrich, and crocodile. We even saw few chirping, loving birds. On our way, we saw a couple of monkeys wondering around in the zoo.

It was a wonderful experience to visit the Bannerghattta National park, in Bangalore. I enjoyed it, but it was tiring!             

   

My working Turbine