My very own poetry book............7.............Cyclone Phailin

Uprooted trees, overturned trucks,  dead power  lines on pole

Almost  12 million humans tormented,  death numbers  taking  toll

All because Mother Nature, had played her  vital role

In causing Cyclone Phailin to injure every soul!

At  220 kilometres per hour speed , it struck ‘Odisha’ ground,

Damages caused thereafter, no place else  to be found!!

Cos two lakh dwelling houses , two lakhs of agri land,

Disappeared in a jiffy with the wave of the  “Phailin “wand

The Defence forces deployed,   to help out day and night

In evacuating so many,  they had put up a brave fight

Inspite  of  all the valor displayed,  should  efforts go in vain

Or will then, those be nurtured , who  dwell in  grief and pain!

My very own poetry-book......6..................The Muse.

In the corner of  an old museum,  lay this very old crate ,

With olden golden artifacts,  and statues  delicate

Inquisitive  was I to see why they  were of  no use

To my pleasant surprise, in it, I found this pretty little  “muse”

Dressed in a robe  of  exquisite fabric,  on her  head a crown of gold

She seemed to be gazing at the violin in her hand, which, however looked old

The bed she sat, weaved in  golden  straw,  the quilt that lay on it too,

The   litte dog that sat beside,  seemed to watch her every move.

I looked up here and there  to see, if someone was around,

Sure now that I was alone, I swung her up, on the ground

How long had she been there now, I started to wonder,

Only   a year or two was  it,  or many years yonder?

Gazing at her intently, I wished to know her tale,

As also of the sculptor who carved this damsel  frail

Which child of Zeus and Mnemosyne, did he have in  his mind?

Of all their nine daughters, which one was of his kind?

Was she the one from  Literature or Science or from Art?

Or  was she  just a “water nymph”  he sculpted part by part?                                                          

Greek goddesses these  Muses are, their  tales as child, I'd heard,

For source of inspiration they’re known,  in myths or in  poet’s words.

Why  does it feel,  standing there , that she may come to life?

Or the  silent hall re-sounding, with her violin strumming rife

Would she walk away from here then,  to where she’s meant to be?

To the heavenly  abode where her  heart  is, to her World of melody?

And what about the sculptor,  the one who carved her  charm

Was he still  somwhere around here, or had he come to any  harm

If only could I meet him someday,  for over an hour  or two

To hear his tale of this creation and give him his deserved due!!

(C) Archana Tambe

My very own poetry-book......5..................In retrospect!

Watching  the evening Sun on the beach,  one  cold wintry day,

My thoughts drifted to the past, in a soft and breezy way

Some memories so vivid and clear, some so dull and hazy,

Enough though to paint before, a picture bright and rosy!

With schoolbag in her hand and hair tied in pigtails,

Off  to School and friends she went,  to share her girly tales,

where a  life she lived and thought, was her centre-stage,

Oh what a time that it  was, what an era, what an age!

At every  School  event, her participation was a must,

Tried to put on a great show, no talent  she let  rust!

Her strength were her parents,  encouraging to the core

“never will  I let them down,” was something to herself, she swore.

That she was true to her oath, was something she did prove,

Honoured by School  as the Best-student, what more could she do?

But  honour brings with it, responsibility of a lifetime to shoulder

A character to hold upright and never to let it molder

Thus school days  soon  over, College days came on,

New horizons to   conquer,  olds bygone;

To struggle just as hard once more, to ignore power or pelf,

To do  all  those things just as right, to be able to boost herself.

Lots and lots of work then, and  also  lots of play,

Moments were  so joyous, moments  were so gay,

Thus rolled on sweet  Life,  but all good things must end

Once again the” best student,” here,   her onward  “life” to fend

In all these lovely years,  she realizes today,

T’was the family and friends, that helped her make her  way

Pray , who is this girl then, whose tale I am writing?

Gosh, none other than  ‘me’ it is,  with my continued spirit of fighting.

Fortunate, am I not then, to have a family so loving and devoted?

No wonder then, that I stand so tall, with my values so deep-rooted!

Straight from the heart.............7.............(Domestic chore...whose task?)

 Sometime ago, I was visiting some of my friends.  One of the friend’s children a boy and a girl, now  grown ups, working at their respective jobs were in a heated discussion. I have seen these  kids grow and more out of the friendly relation we share, I intervened to find out what their topic of this heated discussion was.  I wasn’t very surprised, though, to learn about it. It was the most common situation seen with the young working couples of today ie in a marriage, which of the two, must take on the domestic chores since both were almost equally qualified, both worked fulltime and both reached home, almost at the same time. And all this, when they are still to begin on family!!!!

I have seen so many of these couples adjust with each other in whatever ways they can, when they live alone ie as a nuclear family but when they are subjected to adjustment in a joint family system, problems start cropping up, as the “lady” in such situation is expected to take on all of the domestic responsibilities, never mind, how much and how hard she works outside of home. Of course, there are some girls who manage all of that and how, some willingly too,  while some others, maybe a little grudgingly, and why not??

Everything in the environment is slowly and steadily changing, so isn’t it time that we too change the age old customs with which a boy and girl were brought up sometime ago? Yes, few of the elders in many such joint  families, today, have accepted this fact and we therefore see that the  older women in many a home, do  try and help out their working daughters-in-law, in whichever way they can!! But still, a major portion of  our Society’s  older generation are driven to believe that whatever a lady may take up to endeavour outside of her home, the domestic chores have been, are and should be, only and only her responsibility. “Sons will be sons and men will be men” is what these people are bound to say. Now whatever does that mean? Today, a girl spends an equal amount of time and effort to acquire the degree that these “sons” and “men” do!!Therefore , she too aspires to make it big in her chosen field of work, as much as  the boy does. Therefore, she not only needs but deserves to be helped out by her husband as well as others in her family,in  all the domestic chores!

Having said this this in her favour,   more so, because of need of change expected to be seen  in the  behaviour of present day family system, does it mean it is alright for her to deny all her domestic responsibilities and feign complete ignorance about them? I know of some girls who  take pride in saying that they neither know to cook nor do other house chores.  “I am an Engineer or Doctor  or 'some other professional', you know,” they say (as if what they qualified to be is unique and the only thing required to be done in this life(?)) and therefore I have never had the time to learn to cook or be familiar with any household chores. In fact, I have never done any domestic chores in my home before I was married!!" True that this could possibly have been a very difficult time to manage “educating” oneself both ways, but, sometime later,  would it not be necessary to be as competent and qualified in this 'career'  as much as in a 'career' of their choice?

Aren’t our very basic necessities food, clothing and shelter? Yes, we do have restaurants, dabbas, dhabas etc to cater to our food arrangements as a couple alone, but will this continue even after we begin our family? Would we have our infants and todlers eat  foodstuffs from the outside? Would these “qualified” parents have enough time to learn about coping with these “life learnings” with a growing family, when they  did not seem to have enough time in all their years of growing up?

So then, will the 'Parents' of these boys and girls  insist on these “learnings” without pampering their “professional education seeking wards” ?? Because, as I see, it is not only the  children but also the parents who have a casual approach towards this attitude of their “work shirking” children. Instead of downloading domestic tasks on their children from a very young age, they protect their wards from even getting exposed to them. I know of some people that find it weird that a child has to be taught to   shop for the daily vegetables and groceries. They feel that asking their child to do a domestic task will put the child off from their studies. Both the girl and the boy children are heavily pampered!!! I think we, as parents are equally responsible for seeing that both our children are brought-up in the same way in respect of everything, be it education or be it the domestic chores! We cannot expect to take stands only when issues wrt the above crop up in their marriage. Today, it is more important that the parents make their wards understand that there is no difference between their boy-child or girl-child, that there are no defined codes of domestic responsibilities, rather “sharing” them together lovingly as one unit will go a long way in  creating a strong familial bond. It is not the “who” but the “how” that will make happy homes.

Just as the “ working wife” will partner her husband in all fiscal matters of making a home, the “working husband” too must do his bit in sharing the domestic chores for the family, not to mention, the children coming in later, must, also be moulded in to contribute their bit and gradually to take on these “true and necessary life learnings”.

Having said all this for and about the “educated and both working” class of the young, let us also not forget the fulltime housewife, the woman having the “ultimate career” of them all!!!......That she does not work outside of home , does not mean that she is any less occupied!  Infact her duties are both timeless and thankless!! She is on duty right from the moment she wakes up till the time she can finally make it to bed and call it a day!! Please do not think that she does not need you all to put in your bit to help her help you each day.

In the words of C.S.Lewis,

"“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. ” 

My very own poetry-book......4..................Silver bounty

Silver bounty

Have you walked in the dark, on a moonlit night?

With the silver shine making all things bright?

Has the beauty of that moon, ever touched you so

That it completely grips you, from head to toe?

Have you felt like reaching out, to embrace this silver moon,

Whose intoxicating silver charm, makes you almost swoon?

Have you thought of your love, being beside you then?

Or love appearing suddenly, on a quick count of ten?

Has “her” beauty dazzled you so, that you continue to stare?

No pangs of hunger nor thirst,  no, nothing to beware?

Did you gaze at yourself then, or the silver in your hair,

Or the silver trees with silver leaves , silver everywhere?

Just beyond this  road you walk, a silver beach you will see,

Further on, as you go by, silver waves will greet ye!

Priceless than, isn’t this silver, that money cannot buy?

No GoldMarts can display this, its only in the sky!!

No shopping for this silver then, no going on a spree,

This beautiful Nature’s bounty, bestowed on us for free

Storytimes: FB 5 : Straight from the heart ......3..........Fr...

Storytimes: FB 5 : Straight from the heart ......3..........Fr...: Just a few days ago, a young friend of mine asked me to write about how much people were getting addicted to "virtual friendships&...

Storytimes: Straight from the heart............5.................

Storytimes: Straight from the heart............5.................: We had a family get together a few days back. It was a gathering of Moms of almost three generations, should I say?? I love these gathering...

Storytimes: STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART.......6.......(Are we real...

Storytimes: STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART.......6.......(Are we real...: A couple of day ago, I saw this movie named Rush.....Most of you reading this one, already must have seen and read a thousand good review...

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART.......6.......(Are we really be Masters of our "own will"?)

A couple of day ago, I saw this movie named Rush.....Most of you reading this one, already must have seen and read a thousand good reviews about this movie.  The passion, grit , determination and above all, “a strong will” makes this movie more than just “inspiring”, true,  but after I watched it, what I realised apart from all of this was what was it that most of our Country’s youth of today  and the future of tomorrow, our little men and women, lack!!!! And I find , it is nothing but the power to be the “masters” of their own will and be able to follow and live up to that!!

And all not because they dont have a "wiil", but  because of the a solid family-value based,  strong traditional culture following and an equally responsible social and political environment  which makes up for the Society we live in!!

Every child grows up with a dream of who he/she would like to be in the years to come. Professions coming only out of academics is not every person’s  dream, rather, barring a few,  in that young age one would like to be just anything , that does not  require a person to  have to dig in their  giant-sized, uninteresting  books, all the time........ Not to mention that most of us parents too wish we could let the child just take on their dream and live it.

But in reality, does this happen? How many common children we know who liked to be musicians, dancers, sports persons, artists , actors and so on so forth actually get there? At some point in the earlier stage of life, when we have seen/met them , we have see that passion oozing out of them, for that , which they aspire to be!!! Why then, after some time, is this all replaced by only academic degrees and jobs for most? And when I say this, I am not talking of those few children,  who have the strong  emotional, financial and every other support and backing,  from their immediate well-to-do family and/or friends  neither am I speaking of the child prodigees. I am talking of the "common  child" of a “common man” who works 24x7x365 and who has also every  “right” to his/her own dreams.

So then what really happens that the child has to be dragged back to thinking  not about “living a life” but “making a life” for themselves? My thoughts around it pushes me to draw the following conclusions:

1  1) In India, there is nothing as important as getting an academic degree because , getting a degree means you will surely get a “job” of sorts and that will ensure that you “make your life”, somehow!!! Doing anything different form this “set-code” means taking a very big risk. What if walking on the path of one's choice,  you fail in the eyes of the World, your peers and you  don’t earn enough to sustain for yourself and your family?  Of course, today, due to media exposure, reality shows etc , wherein they   show children participating and winning dance, acting, music, photography,  cookery etc  , both parents and the children are motivated to resort  to other options but the question of  whether this would finally result in carving  “livelihood”  remains like a hundred , nay, thousand dollar question!

2    2)In some rich orthodox families, even  if the child has both a passion and a flair and wants to give a try to his dream, will the traditional families allow them without threatening the child with dire consequences like   being thrown out of the family and family inheritance  or boycotted or some such equally ruthless act. Remember the Hindi classic ,"Parichay" days?
3    3) If  a child does decide to “act” as per their  will,  are the government and other bodies geared with enough equipment to support this dream vide monetary assistance to him/her if and when required at any stage? ie would, they ,at least, provide for the basic necessities for  survival of this child,  as and when required, right from the time he/she starts till the stage he/she settles down in the passion and makes the best of it? Would it provide some kind of reassurance to the parents that there is nothing to fear wrt the future of this child?

4   4)Can “emotional blackmail”to the child  be avoided by the family? In some families a child is not even allowed to join “Defence Services” leave alone, pursue another  line.
y The  point I am making here is , the West where the young (in their early teens  too) are the “masters” of  their own will , unafraid of  what the future will be and living by the day is because the socio-political environmental factors are so very conducive to their approach towards life. The family bonding too isvery different from  her, because it is commonplace for the children,  in the first place, to leave their homes very early and to take on the responsibility of their own life . On the other hand, In our country, we are molly-cuddling children even after they have attained adulthood and the children too thrive in it....They choose to be "adults" or then, "dependants"  as per convenience of which of these suits them best at a given point of time!!!

 Therefore, by and large, in our type of countries, such grit, motivation , determination and passion along with one’s own strong will is found  mostly of those that generally suffer from lack of basic amenities and necessities required to pursue a good education, are put in charge to take care of family at a very early age or lack of food , clothing and shelter or some equally horrendous reason!

I am not saying that a few from the well-to-do families too may not come up with something different  and spectacular, but, in most cases,  it is “one in a million situation”. No wonder then, that we suddenly see a student from the hutments topping in some board exams or doing something equally unexpected of him/her! As for the rest, we find they do exactly what is expected of them, ie the rich and funded class of children graduating from best technical or management  schools abroad, some others taking the age old professions of teaching, engineering, medicine etc etc, which they qualify for, after spending their best years of life with their heads in their books and the others digging into whatever they can lay their hands on, academically to “make a living”

Thus, while I agree, that the parents must “gift” our children their life to do what they they“will” to do and not live their life as per the “standard” norms, I must also stress on the point that, then there  is so much else in the environment  that  must simultaneously change to give every parent  that confidence , that whatever the child takes on, there will always be hundreds and thousands of “opportunities” for the child in that sphere, and at no point will the child feel despair or regrets about doing what they chose and set out to do. We, as parents, will always stand by our children in every walk of life, but we cant hold their hands till the end, can we? What  all parents want or ever wanted is the happiness of their children, not short-term but very long-term, ie until till life’s end,  and while nobody other than them would be happier to let the child have their own will. However,  given the present circumstances, they can only hope and pray for a  change of environment, conducive to suit the child’s “will” and hope to see and experience, all of that,  in their lifetime as well!!!

Straight from the heart............5.................. (Being Mom!!!!!)

We had a family get together a few days back. It was a gathering of Moms of almost three generations, should I say?? I love these gathering where the family catches up on so many happenings from old times (our childhood) vis-avis today. There are also discussions (sometimes even heated.........:)) on the “how’s” of the unforeseen future of their children. The do’s and dont’s that you grew up listening to then and learning to value even today, are once again hammered through you! But the learnings from such discussions have been useful tips to me in “parenting” a profession taken for granted, but, not even understood by many!!! Like I always say to myself, had I worked harder, been more capable of handling the Corporate politics better (which I personally loathe), probably done many refreshers and so on so forth, achieveing a better work status would have been a “not-so-difficult” task, but if I had failed as a Mom,(of course, I mean in my own eyes) I would not have been able to leave this planet in peace.....
So what is this success all about? Success, even in parenting, is different things to different people and therefore people may relate to it differently. In simple words what I mean is are we able to be a “fair” if not a “good” parent ie are we capable of saying ”yes” and “no” to children as and when we feel it is needed to be done for their own good or are we in “popularity contests” with our peers who may think that we are too strict with our children? Do we take cognizance of “their” counsel on how we must “behave” with our children? Is it not enough that since we know our own child from birth (and better in all ways than anybody from amongst them), we will do all to give him/her a good life?
To cite a few examples to share the point I am making...........
There was this little boy whose Mom gave him only Indian balanced diet in his lunch-box right from when he was a little boy. Now, there were some family/friends of his mother who “aww....ed” it, as if it were an issue. The lunch-boxes of their kids always carried junk foodstuff, and their Moms explained with pride(?) that their children did not eat “such stuff” as our little boy here did! Today we see them all grown up and the Moms moan about the children not eating anything healthy as they must!!! If we think about it deeply, are these children really to blame? Why did the Mothers not be a little more strict with the nutrition and dietary habits of these children??Was it to escape from the trouble “they” would have to go through to both make and feed the child that food or from the “nagging” of that child? Yes, It is a very time consuming and boring affair to some, as, every little child is different from the other in so many ways, he/she may be have to be told a story or may have to be actually spoon-fed as he/she ran around, I know , but is it not worth it? Especially since “taste” for anything develops at a very young age? You, the parent may not be the “creator” but you certainly are the person that has the then required influence to “mould” that creation? Health aspects, which come up in life , ages later, are already there today with so many young people .We blame it all on the stress factor alone , but truly that is not all!
Food habit inculcation, alone, is only one aspect of “Being Mom!” There are many others , “material possessions” too, being one of them!!! Peers again.................The second and most important aspect is how you jell with your child ........In other words , are you and your child comfortable with each other in respect of all aspects viz social, environmental and most importantly personal? Are you, as a parent, vigilant enough to notice your child moving away, behaving in strange ways, being lonely or unsocial at home, not “responding” to you or anybody at home, in the way he/she must? Do you actually “go away” when asked to, by a teenager, who wants time alone, like in the West? Will you not go to him/her at such times and get out that , which bothers their little mind because they are “unaware” of their own feelings/reactions and to that so much happening around them?I hear most Moms tell me, “but you know what, the child is not comfortable to do that” and I ask myself, what, why do you even address him as a “child” then? As a parent, I think it is my duty to pursue my child’s happiness and I must go all the way to break into that wall..........I know a couple of Mothers, who go around counselling the whole World but are oblivious of what is happening to their own child! How, I ask myself, can one counsel all others, when one is not even aware of what his/her own child is going through? When we take such trouble to counsel others about their children and so on and so forth, how then, do we miss on that one that means so much to us? Are we blind or do we deliberately ignore that which is easily seen by all others? I know a child is always prepared to easily listen to another person than his own Mom/Dad but that does not happen suddenly! And if it has, it means , somewhere along the way, you missed on being “that friend, philosopher and guide” to your child or have been caught with your own personal agenda too much?? Then there are some others who love to socialise or go roaming around so much that their own commitments towards their own children becomes an “agenda” for them. They are so taken in by the appreciation of the “”World at large” that their “own small World” gets out of hand and I hear things like, “we have so much to do that there is no time for anything at home”. Such people confuse the most important agenda of their life, their child, I guess!!
There are many more aspects which can be looked on at a later day but I will say so much that maybe our Moms and GrandMoms did not make great career women in the eyes of this World but a career that even our generation is not capable of, “PARENTING” was something they did fantafabulously and while I am overwhelmed everytime I think of it, I feel like asking them, “Hey where are your Parenting Workshops please? I want to join and excel still, yet!!” They not only preached but practised all of that for their children to see, disciplinarians that they were!! KUDOS to you gurlz on your super career achievement “Being MOMS!”
And so I conclude In Ron Taffel’s words and Roy L Smith’s words which spell;
“Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It’s about hanging on during a bumpy ride” and that
“We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching”

Straight from the heart......4 ............(Trekking too much...the how come?????)....

A recent question that I thought worth answering (by sharing here) to all those that asked about how we manage time/effort/money to trek so much and so often. We have always wanted to do so, but what you see today and and getting there in our circumstances, ha really taken that much time to get there and how..........

Sports in my school days meant only the physical education activities conducted by the School teachers or the then available indoor or outdoor games in the halls/grounds of such educational institutions or some sport gymkhanas. Badminton, Table-tennis, carrom, cricket, Athletics, football, hockey, base-ball, throw-ball and similar ones, being the most popular games to play, then! During those times the likes of today’s famous gym franchisees like “Talwalkars”, “Gold gym” “Solaris” “Endurance”, not to mention a hundred others strewn across all cities today, were never thought, seen or heard of!! So in my school times “adventure sports” , trekking, mountaineering etc were almost ruled out.............Of course , College gave us the chance to participate in NCC, which gave us an interface to airgliding, para-jumping etc, but in a limited capacity!!

Sure, trekking did exist to an extent, but going out to faraway destinations with strange people was ruled out by parents (more due to their peers than anything else!!!!). I remember my mother being in awe of her superiors in the family and was always careful of not offending anybody!! So that anybody pointing an accusing finger at her for going against the “said and set” way of life of children, was nothing she would have tolerated. So whatever trails/treks were arranged by and from Schools is all we were allowed to go to..........

I was both a voracious reader and a dedicated sportswoman at that time......Actually enjoyed reading about anything and everything that I could lay my hands on........though, it had to depend on book libraries and not search engines or Amazon.com..... So also, was with sport that was easily possible and affordable!! All in all, we did easily “do-able” things.

One got to read a lot of books /articles on geography and hence dreamt of places one wished to travel......But yes, these could only be dreams then, as travel was an expensive as well as a complicated affair, especially if you meant long distance travelling. So in those days, we made the best with whatever was available and inspite of it all, was very happy to be doing that much.

Time flew fast and I was now married.............

Marriage brings with it a lot of responsibilities. In the beginning, between the day to day juggling of home, work-life and family-life, not to mention other innumerable other commitments/responsibilities of a then joint-family, sport and travel took a backseat!! We worked our way through life and with the salaries of those times (some 22 odd years ago), managed to save just enough for any unforeseen contingencies apart from running a home and family with its forest of relatives and friends.... Anything extra for a long-distance lavish travel was not affordable...... Still, being a hard-core sports enthusiast, I used to reserve an hour of my day for an aerobic activity, which I love, even today!!!We also did some weekend spend in the places near to Pune such as Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar, nearby kokan spots, day outings etc!!

Slowly the days went by and the responsibilities grew bigger(if not larger). We are a very big family and therefore a lot was expected in terms of celebrations and giveaways at the innumerable family functions , not to mention the monies to be kept aside for expenses that were to be assumed for my son, his education and other extra-curricular! Saving up for making a home on our own(which is I assume is every person’s dream) too, with no monetary help from anyone, also took a chunk of the money earned!!!

So by such time, we, as a couple, thought , we were ready to do our thing, in terms of affordability angle, work commitments had taken their toll and so planning beyond tomorrow was always out of the question.......Also work circumstances were such that my husband had to not only travel but also stay in another town for a couple of years......Thus rolled life and so in the time when we had loads of our other friends and relatives travelling, trekking etc, we both were struggling to make our time/effort and money ends meet.....

Then, I always dreamt of doing so many things. Sometimes, I even felt that I may never have the time left to do the things I want to do, but nothing is permanent and that phase of life ended too!

Suddenly my son was a grown-up , working individual and I decided to call off “working for money” way of life!! Money, how much ever earned, is always less, needed and welcome but for me , now, my life priorities have changed. Now, its mostly about my time for me, ie. the time has come for me to take life one day at a time!!! 

Finally I am there and for the last couple of years, I have been doing what I always dreamt of doing.................working on and off, trekking, travelling, just lazing, reading , writing, counselling the young, doing workshops I like.....the list continues and I hope for this time to last for a long stretch!!

So people, there u go.......................

Reaching here has not been really easy and therefore I value this newfound free time very much!! 

I know that some of the people would say that just because I could manage it, it may not be possible for all. The reasons for saying this may be not only both the ‘health’ as well as the ‘monetary’ aspects, but some other binding responsibility of an elder or a young person, either dur to old age or because of their being physically/mentally challenged , demanding a 24 x 7 x 365 days attention span...........But I don’t think this would be true of all my fellow-readers here, and if one concentrates more on keeping good health by giving oneself some time to do any kind of physical activity of one’s choice(and it need not be something you have to pay for); such as an hour of walk and/or some bending-stretching excercise at home, you will all be able to do much more than I could ever dream of!!!

For those of you who are not bound by circumstances beyond your control, I would say, It is neither the time or money that takes what you feel upto; (cos travel can be arranged within those constraints) but, It is merely your strong and determined will combined with your good health which will take you a long way and help you undertake all that you wish for and much more!!

So to all of you there.............”Happy trekking!”....cheers....