Seremban Immigration

It was the last  minute plan of B to drop the spouse visa - after a stretch of stressful walks to Jalan Duta and Putrajaya immigration dept. I was only a bit upset that the letters stamped was paid for is going to be wasted. Oh my smart cookie!

All I did was the extreme last minute call to Putrajaya and then to Seremban Immigration. A positive yes for application came and we thought of giving it a one last try. Hey.....! We did it, B's application was finally taken!

Trekking Mount Batur, Kintamani Volcano

Set my alarm at 3 a.m. , I was sleepless and restless. All I could think is that I don't want to miss out the trekking plan. I finally decided to wake up and get ready. The weather was freaking cold and thank god I carried an extra pair of  sports wear!

B and I are all set ready, waiting for the guide from The Association of  Mt. Batur to take us up to the starting point, at the base of the mountain. Finally, we started at 4.30 a.m. The ascent is completed in total darkness and guided only by flashlight (given by our guide). The first 30 minutes of hike is fairly flat but then it's a steep climb from there. This is my ever first experience in life, walking out alone with my partner, inside a forest, with lots of excitement and fear - I was looking out for animals! It wasn't much of a problem to hike initially as we did stop twice to take a break and drink water.


Powerful orange glow.The beautiful early morning sunrise.





 

The first part of trekking wasn't bad , but the second part of Mt Batur is tougher! It's uphill and some steps really require you to stretch hard. We got really tired and we had to stop for breaks a few times.The worse was yet to come and the final ascent was the toughest of all. It's steep, rocky and you you really have to take each step carefully.  

 

B got really tired and was in the verge of giving up, at that point completing the task and getting over it was all on my mind. I was surprised to see B struggling to climb up since I am weaker and I was suffering sinus headache that morning. As my body got warmer, the headache reduced and I felt better. 

 

I literally had tears in my eyes as I was wondering will I be back home safe, ha ha! This hike taught me a lot of things, positive thinking and mental strength to overcome come what may. We are not professionals hikers yet we managed climbing up to the peak, the only complaint was, we did not get the right guide to take us to the programme we've paid for. We are supposed to watch the sunset, have breakfast at the craters and see the hot springs and come downhill. Our guide left us alone and went up to the peak. We didn't know we were reaching the peak until we saw the hut. We finished up all our water bottles and no breakfast. However the feeling on top of the mountain is undescribable! I never thought I could accomplish this just one day before my birthday! B was tired and he took a short nap in the hut whilst I was taking photos :) Now the challenge is getting down hill.

 

I cried halfway as my toes were hurting so bad. The rocks were so ashy and slippery that I was even afraid to step forward, at some corners of the rock, I just sat and stepped down. B's reebok shoes are gone into pieces. We finally reached middle of the mountain and discovered two stalls. We were so tired, hungry and thirsty. We had a cup of  tea and a piece of  biscuit. We then started our journey back. After a while, you begin the long descent. It’s a slippery slope down (the volcano rock is very coarse and sandy at some points).  Funny thing, now that you can see where you’re going, the descent feels much, much longer than the ascent.  Your tired legs don’t help at all. I finally sat on a rock to check my painful toe, I felt the blisters are hurting so bad. I decided to take off my shoes and walk with socks. Aaah... I was right, that felt lot more better than walking in pain, though it was hot and rocky, my socks was full of sand and ashes. At a point, I was dying in thirst, I just thank god for giving us the strength to come back home safely , hey it rained! Guess what, I drank that rain water, ha ha! That rain was sent by god to save us, thank you god! We finally reached our hotel and our sweet receptionist girl was freaking out that she didn't hear from us, she thought we went missing! Glad that they actually provided us with the full breakfast that we missed out early in the morning. We're really exhausted and hey, I climbed up the freaking tough Batur volcano!

 

 

 

Bali !

Magical and spiritual is the most accurate word to describe Bali. We are now set for our long awaited break to Bali. Air Asia sucks big time, as usual the flight is delayed. We just had to kill one hour delay by walking around duty free shops. It was almost 11pm we reached the Ngurah Rai Airport and just headed to Legian for a night stay.

The long walk to board the flight.

Vennamuddu Krishna

The kondaveedu fort

Temple planned by ISKCON



Venna muddukrishna

 

 

After all these years growing up in a metro city of  Kuala Lumpur, life seems to be very fast and stressful. I never knew that there is a complete silent life existing in India. Today we decided to visit the family village, our origins and our family temple given by the King of Kondaveedu centuries ago! I was all so excited and my imagination was totally different than what I saw throughout my journey starting from Guntur. The family temple is not taken care as of now though we're having few priest in the village to conduct the daily puja. Our temple is called Vennamuddu Krishna and Baby Krishna holding butter is the main deity. He is an absolute beauty and has beautiful eyes.

We've given the temple to ISKCON to develop and conduct pujas so that everyone can benefit. Here are some pics and I saw this 2 cute kids near the temple who was so curious to know who am I. They were so polite and refused to take my 10 rupee note , how adorable are they. Certainly a trip to remember through my life as I saw the reality of farming and huge farms producing jasmines!

Amaravati's Amaralingeshwara temple.



Watched these cuties so nearby :)

The bungalow/hotel.

Now that we must sleep one night out , i.e. since we have to travel to Malaysia  to my parents home , we had an alternative way of staying a day out at any Shiva temple. Therefore , we chose the Amaravati temple for a day out.  It was like an hour drive from Guntur to Amaravati and we took a van to get there. 

This is my ever first experience on seeing a village , silent and dark night. The rain season started and thank god it wasn't that bad. By 7.30 pm we reached the hotel which is 5 minutes walking distance to the temple. Truly it was more like horror movie scene, B and I never expected such scary hotel room ! :) Nothing much to blame as the people who maintain ( I mean the employees appear very poor ). It's called AndhraPradheshTourism something.... we didn't get to see any restaurant and there was not electricity in the hotel. It was really scary and lots of mosquitoes! Finally we ended up sending the working boy to get us some chapatti and curry. Now....we've been counting minutes to pass by so that next morning we could visit the temple and go home.





Beautiful village scene , so peaceful.

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning,  Monday July 8 2013 , we had good darshan of Amaralingeshwara , a unique shivalinga which kept growing so tall ! We then proceeded to the local nearby Hanuman and Shirdi baba temple before visiting the Museum and Buddha stupa which was visited by Dalai Lama. The Buddha statue is still under construction and finally after getting burnt under the scorching hot sun , we returned home at 2.30 pm. Such tiring day!

Gow dhaanam

My dear Ammakutty and Ammukutty.



Cows are considered to be purely sacred in Hinduism , thus the worship of  Kamadhenu is normal for hindu families. Cows play an important role in our itihasas and mythological stories as they are seen as mother who provides milk , thus they have lots of significance in hindu rituals. On our Amma's name , we chose to donate the cow and calf to a temple and this ritual is called Gow dhaanam. For the ever first time in my life , I witnessed and touched the cow and calf ! I was afraid of them but finally I learnt that they are so friendly. I called them Ammakutty and Ammukutty and later on we came to know that Ammakutty was pregnant! The grass and food was never enough for her. I was wondering why is she eating so much and we could never satisfy her hunger , but looks like the babykutty inside her tummy caused all moodswings for Ammakutty. Too many things to learn in India , It is INCREDIBLE INDIA !

Applying turmeric and kumkuma for Ammakutty!

That's me standing so near to the cow, I was excited of course!

June 14 , 2013

My dearest Lakshmi Amma.

The hurry burry travel plans unexpected but I managed to book a flight via MAS to Chennai. One of my most tiring trip ever , only to know that my mother in law waited to see me before she passed away.

A true legend , Samrajyalakshmi is a women of substance. She have worked hard with her will power and faced a lot of challenges in continuing her education which got stopped after her marriage. Supplied with such courage and perseverance , she stood on her ambitions to work , which is considered a big no - no in the orthodox Brahmin families in the 1960's.

She's a passionate woman with lots of talents over languages , handicrafts and a great cook herself , she have provided me the best husband one can have as she herself is the best mother in law a girl could have. Very brave and daring , she don't even think twice to point out if one makes a mistake.

I cannot believe that I have lost my loving mother in law , whom I have seen as my mom as well. I had tears when her colleagues told me that she have always felt great me being her daughter in law! I called her Amma from the day I knew her. Amma was very courageous and have always supported my dreams and steps. I wanted to dance and she let me be myself. The home was so lively , now she is no more , I feel totally lonely to be in the home where she lived. I cherish all the good and memories as I have shared the very best of my relationship with her. I miss you , I wish I can sit next to you and talk to you , I miss your caring and comforting words , your listening ears and the knowledge you had on all the things we do. The pooja's performed next to you , I miss my confidence and strength now, how I wish you come back from the hospital and lived with us for some more time :(

I know she is in a better place now but it's such a big , huge loss for us for not having her around. May her soul RIP.


Cant believe I am lighting up fire for her final rituals for 13 days.

29.5.2013

No, we can't quite believe this day did not happen as planned. Perhaps.....we should wait a couple of months before moving. Finally I ended up in Midvalley AEON for some retail theraphy and to my fav Carrefour. I truly missed Bee and had nice fruity ice cream at our usual juice corner!

Indian mango , double choco and pure almond !

Wesak 2013

No mood for this year's celebration. I was really tired after going to Nilai early in the morning around 7.30 am. Before heading to Nilai, we managed a few minutes at Teerthatarasi Siva temple. Thank god I was back home by 12 pm, the freaking traffic jam in KL and the Wesak day chariot procession to be held at night. Later at night just jumped inside the temple for blessings. Just reminiscing last year's fun with Bee :)

SKITTLES

Do little..........to brighten up your day. Love my skittles :) Been a long day after taking mom to TAR Rd and then headed straight to the Midvalley Megamall! I need a real good pampering now.

Progress.......

The work is in progress and it's been quite of stressful months monitoring the work and just can wait to complete the task.

Full Moon April 2013

View from my balcony :)

The change of Immigration system in the US

After years of talks on the H4 controversies , I guess it's time we witness the changes for good. It's ridiculous and absurd where a set of  bills passed as law restrict one's freedom and life. If the L2 visa holders are allowed to work then why not the H4.

Yes, we are aware of the major frauds done by citizens of Asian country on faking up their resumes and work experiences but hey, isn't it the duty of the employer to have right background checks ? Stopping the professionals will only make the country to suffer brain drain and lack of expertise.

I came to know that in New Jersey, some desi's pay up money for someone else to take the job interviews. I am seriously laughing now. This is just sounding absolutely stupid. In place of restricting the entire law on freedom of an entity , it's good to have  a checks and balance on the system and the person given visa to work.

What about the dirty jobs done by the Tri Valley University ? TVU employee openly admitted to illegally bypassing the H1 regulations by fraudulently using the F1.The TVU employee also admitted of colluding with employers to depress the wages of employees.
By stopping H4 visa holders to work , the frauds done by desperate people will not stop. In place of increasing the immigration crimes and frauds, it's good if  rights are given to real genuine and capable ladies who could contribute economically to the family and country. Hey, we are paying the taxes as well !

Finally I see some light coming in by the change. Hope this just don't sit in as a mere talk but by the real change done !

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
~John Irving

Bhoomi pooja

 Finally a dream come true. Waited quite long to get all the work done and I must admit that today is one of my longest day ever , waking up by 5am to start the day. Reached Nilai by 7.45 am and it's a beautiful morning , by 8.30 am the sun was baking hot and thank god for the Syed Alina's restaurant for a quick coffee grab.