Switzerland of South India

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings,

Natures's peace will flow into you as Sunshine flows into trees.

The winds will blow their own freshness into you

While cares will drop off like autumn leaves"    said John Muir.

This is what I realised and experienced during my visit to the Switzerland of South India popularly called as Himavad Gopalswamy Betta.

It is about 100 miles away from Mysore and can be reached by Car or by Bus.Some amount of hike is necessary to reach the hill top.

As we reach atop the hill a sense of happiness blows up from our Inner mindsets and heart, accompanied by cold wind blowing during the hike when the hike trail is taken.

With the Sun fading away making way for the clouds and Sun masking the cloud each time every few minutes makes us feel as if both the Sun and the Clouds are playing the game of Hide and Seek.The Velocity of the cold Breeze is gives us a feeling as if it is trying to take us along with it, but returns back in vain

When we looked around due to the cold breeze,the hip length grasses dance in a uniform motion which is a very wonderful site to watch and eye catching.The sense of happiness and sort of contentment which we gain by experiencing the cold breeze and seeing the grass dance cant be expressed in words at all.

As I climbed the wonderful hills,I felt as if I was reaching a very great height and the clouds were only a few steps away from me!!When looked around I felt as if I was being hugged in the arms of Mother Nature tightly and she was showing me all around the place which included tiny little ponds,many hills around all away from the city and humans habitations.

I slept on a rock gazing the sky to realise that I was away from all the worldly tensions and activities.I felt relieved of all the worries I had experienced in the near past and I realised that this is what is called as real happiness which is given naturally by Mother Nature alone.

With no heart to leave such a wonderful place I bid it good bye as it made me a new person by bestowing on me a new sense of happiness,warmth and confidence...

I have not got a chance to visit SWITZERLAND until now.But I feel Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta cannot have a synonym even SWITZERLAND I believe!!

Memorable Trip to New York!

Far across lands had I heard and read about this dream land where ambitions come true,than did I really get an opportunity to visit New York during the Memorial Day weekend. With our Wedding Anniversary being round the corner this trip became more special and close to the heart.

With all excitement we boarded our flight to the East coast of the vast country from LA.As RUK had already visited New York before, we actually had already planned our trip completely before we started. No sooner did we reach New York than were we completely jet lagged, still did we manage to visit the Empire State Building as planned.So dumbfounded were we when we reached one of those top floors of the building to catch the holistic view of the city of everyone's dreams.The audio tour provided by them really helped us to identify the places which were just seen as pictures before.

Rains had certainly decided that they would accompany us everywhere during our vacation.With Umbrellas in our hands we walked into 'Saravana Bhavan' to have an awesome homely meal after months.As we had put up in Manhattan, all the places that we had planned to visit were at a walking distance. After few minutes of rest we started to walk across the roads of Manhattan and reached Times Square. The glittering lights and the hush of people were all over the place. The panoramic view of this place is saved permanently in the folder of the best moments in my mind.Later we reached the Broadway theater to watch "The Phantom of the Opera".This first experience of Opera carved a niche for itself permanently. Such a fantabulous show it was! 

Times Square in Rains

No sooner did the Opera get over than did we reach Time Square to capture another glimpse of the same.Early next morning we took a train and reached the ferry that took us to the famous Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The Liberty Statue which we had seen from the Empire State building as a small ant was such a gigantic structure when seen from a close distance.The view of the sky scrappers from the Liberty Island was one awesome view that captures our heart.Later did we reach the Ellis Island to see the history of how powerful country US of A was built.

Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge which reminded of SRK's 'Kal Ho Na Ho' was next over the list. The local Metropolitan Trains was something which made me believe in time. The trains marched towards the track over that accurate minute and this actually made us cover all that we had planned well ahead of time.The Bull of Wall Street became our next pit stop.So big and huge are the Sky scrappers that our neck starts aching viewing them from the ground. There seems to be no end to the line of those gigantic structures in Manhattan at all.

The WTC was our next stop which made our heart melt down for those thousands of innocent lives which were lost due to the ghastly activity of few self centered idiosyncratic fanatical terrorists. Also did we see how millions pattern of living were dislocated and created panic amongst everyone then.The Museum and the videos makes us get back to that dark day of history.

The American Natural History Museum which was our next destination was planned very early in the morning as we knew that it would take a complete day.The artifacts takes us back to those high school days of our life.Viewing those awesome things in the Museum and comprehending the same to what we had actually read over text books back then, makes it even more memorable.By the time we reached Central Park it was almost evening.A Romantic walk by the Central park with the Love of your Life is what we dream of and it was a dream come true! 

Central Park

Time flew by like an early morning alarm which we snooze every five minutes until it reaches that time where waking up is the only option left.It was time for us to say good bye to that awesome place which made our vacation the best ever vacation. We then reached the Grand Central station and spent some time around that common meeting place of every New Yorker. True are the words of Tom Wolfe who says "One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years".