Swaranjali performance @ Chinmaya Mission, London

Swami Tejomayananda's (current head of Chimaya Mission worldwide) birthday celebrations were held in London at Chinmaya Kirti on July 1st, 2007 with the Swaranjali group performing before the visting Bramhacharini from Paris - Brni. Bhakti Chaitanya.

We (Swaranjali group) are a bunch of people interested in Indian music. Its not always classical.
So we performed for an audience of say 100. Accompaniments included Tabla, Dolak, Harmoniums and Manjiras and lots of hands to clap!

Except for the fact that the uploaded video needs to be seen with your head rested on the left hand section of the neck, the audio quality is pretty good.

Batsford Falconry Centre

Last but not the least was the falconry centre in Batsford. No doubt it was great knowing how the different birds of prey hunted, but it impacted me a lot to see how these birds who were born to freedom have been so caged and bound. This poem by Wanda says it all -

How can you enslave me when I was born for the open blue sky.

How can you shut me in this gilded cage,

Where I am trapped cannot fly,

Round and round I go hitting against the sides.

Along with love a certain cruelity abides,

True you derive pleasure watching my grace.

You feed me fruits and seeds in that little space,

What of my freedom my desire to fly.

Let me spread my wings and soar high,

I was born to sing freely soar high in the sky,

Admire me from below singing happily on a branch.

Bourton upon the water and Batsford

This is the last leg of our biking journey on day 1, through a field. Talk of countryside! It was awesome, if we had let go the bike, we would have ended face down in a lake, because the field ran downwards and had no fence between it and a lake which separated Bourton upon the hill and Moreton.

This gentleman here was the guy who rents bikes - The Toy Shop owner, in our hour long chat with him, we figured there couldnt have been any adventure sport that he hasnt tried out in life, he must have been notoriously crazily madly passionate about speed!!! He made us aware of the fact that we have been so 'supercautious' all our lives and we though biking was adventerous!!!! Hahahaha!

If you are in Moreton, even if for an hour, forget about sightseeing and instead eat at a place called Siam Cottage, we havent had such yummy tasting Thai food anywhere in London. It was addictive, once in, you wil want to go there again and again till you have tried everything on their menu and then start all over again!!!

On the second day we headed off to the more tourist abundant village called Bourton upon the water. I am gonna skip descriptions and pics of the motor museum, because its nothing but loads of hype!!! Not worth it. The Perfumery cenre would have been worth it if the processing i.e how its made sessions were open, but sadly it wasnt for Easter. This dog posed for my camera and its beseeching eyes lured me into following this huge canine for a while!!! He reminded me of the lovely large life like St Bernard soft toy that my bro got for me from South East Asia!

Bourton boasts a birdland where we spotted penguins. They were quite a sight especially during feeding time! But better still, more engaging and interesting was solving the drangonfly maze and puzzle. Like true managers, we split up, each with a cell in hand, calling up one another from different parts of the maze when we spotted clues, meeting up finally to put the final pieces together. It was great great fun! Makes you a child all over again!

But the model village was such a disappointment, I would have expected something better.

This particular photo is simply in here for its photographic beauty, look at the blades of grass from sharp focus to fade out. We lay on the grass on the 3rd day, sipping fruit juices, each with a book with a captivating story in hand and soaked it all up till felt the first pangs of hunger which too us to a ghost like Batsford village.

Memories of St Mont Michel

These sheep here reminded us of the trip to St Mont Michel in France in the company of our very dear friends from INSEAD, when a walk on the sandy bed of the ocean can be managed before the the tide comes in.

In actual fact, in the days of yore, Cotswold prospored from its trade of sheep, wool and of course limestone. All the universities and houses at places in and around Cotswold including Bath are built with the very famous yellow limestone found in abundance here, which is why it came to be called the 'Honey pot region'.

Notice how the farm barricades have been created just by arranging the stones in a manner that they allow water to seep through and do not need mortar for cementing them together!!

In Stow on the wold, (where he wind blows cold) which is 15 miles away from Moreton, where we started biking, we visited the gallery of paintings, Ranjit's new found interest and in born talent.

The best part of the trip was always te downhill biking, when the sheer speed and the wind rushing at your face just sends your adrenalin soaring high. (of course, also it was the easiest on our not so well trained , stocky, legs :)) We stopped at a bed and breakfast to request the owner some water after a very tiring uphill stretch, the sun shining bright as though sorry and rueful for the snow we saw last month, sending London airports to a screeching halt. He directed us to the Donnington brewery where, wonder of wonders we see pheasants and peacocks!!!

On the train to Moreton in the Marsh

This is Ranjit in the train from Marylebone to Moreton at 8 pm. Since we were going away for 5 full days, I cleared the fridge of all veggies by

cooking them and packing it into a nice meal for the 2 of us. It looked like a takeaway parcel conceptualised by a creative chef!! This was Ranjit's expression after the meal. Want to see one before dinner... Coming up.. :)

Ok, a very important note. As a prelude to the trial biking that we wereplanning to attempt in the hilly Cotswold area, we searched high and low for a rented bike, on which to learn, how to ride one in the first place!!!! After having covered an area from Hammersmith t Ealing, when we had given up hope and were on the way back home on bus, we spotted the OYbike attached to a station. So get off the bus in a hurry, rent this bike for 3 days but spend only 20 minutes practising in all!!! On the first day, after a meagre breakfast, in Ranjit's words, we rent a bike, helmet and all and elated like a pair of school kids upto some mischief. We figure out the route we wish to take, its partially hilly and a solid climb, but one look at our growing belly awakens the spirit of challenge and resolution to exercise and so we

set off through narow roads to broader route taking us through the quaintest villages ever visited by us in our lifetime.