Petals!

Chinthavishtayaya Seetha poem:  Mahakavi Kumaranasan began writing 'Chinthavishtayaya Seetha' in August 1914 and it was published in 1919. One of Malayalam literature's true gems, this great poet did not have an easy life , found himself subjected to considerable travails one after the other, particularly in the field of literary greats. [Read: Dark Night of Soul]                              [Source: Pixabay] The tragedy of Mahakavi Kumaranasan life is also that he was not given the due recognition that a person of his literary brilliance truly deserved.  Among his finest works, 'Chinthavishtayaya Seetha' takes the spotlight always. Rather than portraying Sita Devi solely from the perspective of being the wife of Lord Ram, the poet views her as emerging from her Goddess-like stature to experience the travails of womanhood and motherhood as she inhabits earth as a divine being in sync with Mother Nature...

2012 summer vacation will remain memorable for many reasons. One reason is that this was our first trip to a beautiful place called Gavi. It is part of the Periyar Tiger reserve and it is located near Thekkady. Since the entry passes to Gavi had to be obtained from the Forest Check Post and advance booking is required, we didn't want to get into the long winding booking process and took an easy way out. We had the resort's travel desk to get this done for us.  Thus, we started at 4 am, a time when the sounds of the forest seem to awaken in a natural way. It was pitch dark while we were taken in a sturdy jeep with a friendly driver who knew the place inside out. The sounds of the forest fascinated me and yes, it frightened me a bit. Like a child, I kept looking out for an elephant to jump out at us from nowhere. :))  Gavi Superstition: First Vehicle at Checkpost We had to stop at this checkpost for a while. We were told by our delighted driver that there is a superstitio...