Wednesday 31 January 2018

Once in a blue moon...

Kite flying in the backdrop of the moonlit sky!
(The picture is for representational purpose only)

The whole world is witnessing a rare astronomical event that occurs "once in a blue moon", a total lunar eclipse! The Sun, Earth, and the Moon get aligned in the same plane with the Earth casting its shadow on the Moon producing the brilliant color effects! Awesome!

Watch NASA Live TV for a comprehensive real-time view of this event! NASA dubbed this event as 'Super blue blood moon', a super, a blue, and a blood-red moon visible sequentially! 

As of now, on the NASA Live TV, the Moon appears red, waiting for the blue moon to erupt!

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Monday 1 January 2018

Wish you a very happy new year

Happy New Year 2018
Wishing my blogger friends and the readers of this blog a wonderful, and awesome New Year 2018. A special day on which everyone all over the world makes it a point to greet others with a warm smile and new year wishes, a wonderful day on which numerous resolutions are made with much enthusiasm, and a beautiful day of renewed hope, joy, and fun!

Enjoy this beautiful video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6-E53zsdfI

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Monday 25 December 2017

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

Merry Christmas
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!

I wish all my blogger friends a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year! Let this joyous occasion bring you peace, happiness, and success. The whole world is celebrating the birth of a divine soul which has brought hope to the hopeless, joy to the unhappy and peace in times of trouble. Amidst the festivities let us also remember the oppressed, the less fortunate and extend help and support to such people as well so as to make them also feel better.

Please check the video that I have uploaded just now on my YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2BqS1hu5Ww 
Subscribe and scribble comments there as well๐Ÿ™‚

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Thursday 21 December 2017

Lal bagh botanical garden, Bengaluru, India

Lal Bagh lake
Lalbagh botanical garden is situated in the heart of the city of Bengaluru (previously Bangalore) in India. Bengaluru is known as the garden city of India and Lalbagh which spreads about forty acres is a huge paradise of lush greenery, trees, beautiful flowery plants, ponds, and a lake.

Nature at its best
This garden was built by Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore in the seventeenth century which was later developed by his son Tippu Sultan. Following this, the British, the Rajahs of Mysore and after the independence dedicated officials toiled hard to add more and more beauty to this amazing garden. The notable names in the British rule are Sir Mark Cubbon and Sir John Cameron. Dr. M. H. Marigowda, who was the Superintendent of the garden had put a lot of effort to develop it.

Lush greenery everywhere, a treat for the eyes!
Now it is a sprawling space of about two hundred and forty acres filled with rare plants, trees, and flowers. Truly a paradise for nature lovers!

Lalbagh lake
A must visit place

This has become a must visit spot for the tourists visiting Bengaluru. School, college students, and botanists from all over the world come here frequently as part of their study and research because this garden has a wonderful collection of rare and exotic plant species.
      
Nature in its full glory!
A beautiful park
This garden is easily accessible since it is situated a few kilometers from the Vidhan Soudha, the State legislature house at the central part of the city. I have posted only a few images here, this is a very vast place and there are so many attractions with lots of photo opportunities. Bengaluru is our neighbor State.

Check the video of this beautiful garden https://youtu.be/FS9xkI5puTU

A beautiful fountain at Lalbagh

Bengaluru is a beautiful city in India, check my old post about the amazing shopping malls in this vibrant city  https://magnificentdewdrops.blogspot.in/2013/07/shopping-malls-in-bangalore-south-india.html     

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Thursday 14 April 2016

Vishu - the beginning of the malayalam new year 2016


I wish you all a very happy Vishu!

We, Keralites, celebrated Vishu today, as usual, in a grand manner.

This auspicious day marks the beginning of the new year according to our traditional calendar. 'Kani Kanal' is an important event that takes place early morning in every Hindu household here when an elder person ushers other family members keeping their eyes closed to the pooja room to have darshan of "Kani", where 'Kanikkonna', the golden yellow flower that you see on the GIF image and many other sacred items are placed in an 'Uruli', a shining brass vessel in front of deities symbolically representing prayers and offerings for a prosperous, happy and blessed year ahead!

I have blogged about this festival before too, kindly check :

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Thursday 18 February 2016

My tea collection




This is my tea collection.
I like Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company's ( KDHP ) tea. They have an exotic collection of teas that are available for online purchase in addition to their depot sales all over Munnar, Kerala, the famous hill station. I have already blogged about Munnar, a famous tourist attraction nestled among the Nilgiri Hills of the Western Ghats.




 
       










They have some Organic varieties too.
The Purple colored one is Ripple premium Rose tea which I bought this time. It is awesome !
All these varieties are priced reasonably. I bought some of their teas when I visited there last year and thereafter I began buying many more from them. Prompt and efficient customer service; things arrive by courier smoothly. Last week I visited Lulu mall and I was overjoyed to see some of their teas on their shelves too.




















I have already outlined the health benefits of tea in general and specifically green tea in my earlier posts.

Tea or Coffee ? I enjoy both :)

Check the following links for more info about this and Munnar.
http://kdhptea.com

http://magnificentdewdrops.blogspot.in/2016/02/happy-valentines-day-2016.html
http://magicalpresent.blogspot.com/2013/07/green-tea.html


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Sunday 14 February 2016

Happy Valentine's day 2016

February 14th, St Valentine's day...๐Ÿ˜Š

These beautiful flowers are photographed at Rose Gardens, Munnar. Munnar is a famous hill resort in Kerala. This spot is studded with tea plantations, beautiful flowers, and blue hills!

 Greenery...flowers... everywhere!

 Picture perfect scenery!





 A spot where you can enjoy boating!

 Enjoyed the cool weather! Shout and you hear the echo clearly here!







Beautiful! The famous Kanan Devan Hill Tea Plantations are here. They export tea to different parts of the world. They have many outlets here from where we can buy all sorts of exotic teas! Hills enveloped by fluffy mist!

A cool place to celebrate Valentine's day!


Happy Valentine's day!

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Sunday 31 January 2016

Ladies' finger, organic cultivation at home

 

My 100th post...!๐Ÿ˜Š

This is my second post about Okra / Bhindi / Vendakkai / Ladies finger cultivation at home organically.

This variety is different from what I have cultivated before. This is giant sized elephant tusk shaped ladies finger popularly known as 'Anakkomban Venda', in Malayalam, our local language.
I ate the ones plucked today raw! Yummy!

Check my old post - http://magicalpresent.blogspot.in/2015/03/organic-okra-ladys-finger-cultivation.html

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Tuesday 26 January 2016

Happy Republic day, India

The Constitution of India came into effect on 26th January 1950 and India celebrates Republic day on the 26th of January every year.

Today we celebrated the 67th Republic day! 

The main celebration takes place at Rajpath, in New Delhi, the capital city of India before the President of India. Our Prime minister and all other dignitaries will be present and before them the Army, Navy, Air force wings, paramilitary, allied and related troops parade. There will be numerous tableau from different States and Ministries. Military hardware also will be on display.

The Chief guest this year was Mr. Francois Hollande, the President of France.

There was live telecast of the event by Doordarshan, our national TV. Their coverage was excellent! Their camera layout was awesome! They have uploaded the same on Youtube as well.

What I liked most was the Motorcycle acrobatic display by Corps of Signals, the parade of the Camel contingent about which Google doodled today and the brilliant display of the Indian Airforce flypast!

French troops participated in the parade. This is the first time a foreign country is allowed to participate in Republic Day parade, a historic event!

Happy Republic day!

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Monday 18 January 2016

Lavazza - Italy's favourite coffee

LAVAZZA is Italy's favorite coffee.
Founded in Turin, Italy in the year 1895 by Luigi Lavazza, this brand has crossed continents to win the hearts and palates of millions of people around the world. This is now available on supermarket shelves in India too.

I am a fan of Nescafe and Starbucks. Now I feel Lavazza is also competing and in the near future, I may have to include this too in the favorites. There is no Starbucks store in Kerala; hope they will start asap one here too, the potential is huge! Nearest one is at Bangalore about which I have blogged some time ago when we visited there. I have tried their blends; they are wonderful!

I love Nescafe Gold by Nestle. The rich aroma, the unique flavor, the way it tickles the palate, the feeling it gives...thumbs up! Nestle has provided unique coffee to us for years and I give a 5-star rating to it because of the consistency of that brand in giving full satisfaction for such a very long time.

Now Lavazza...let us see how it will fare in the long run.

Coffee or tea? 
I love both. In my case there are coffee days, tea days, coffee and tea weeks, that's it. I have a collection of exotic coffees and teas like these, green teas, white teas etc. all included.

Now let us look into the health benefits of drinking coffee.
  • Protection from Alzheimer's disease, related disorders, and dementia.
Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing this degenerative disease that affects the brain. You all are familiar with the serious problems associated with this disease for which there is no known cure. When our loved elders do not recognize us or start talking nonsense it doesn't feel good.
  • Protection for the liver; prevents the development of cirrhosis
Coffee drinkers are found to be less susceptible to the development of cirrhosis. Cirrhosis can develop in alcoholics, in hepatitis and also if the liver becomes fatty. Coffee may help in cases of the fatty liver due to non-alcoholic causes. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a very common problem nowadays.
  • Coffee for weight loss; burns fat
This may be due to the increased metabolic rate induced by caffeine. This is a common ingredient in most of the fat loss supplements.
  • Some protection from developing Type - 2 Diabetes
This is a proven fact as depicted by many studies but reasons are unknown.
  • Better mental performance
No need to explain about this. As soon as we start sipping the black colored liquid the general well being improves; we tend to become alert.
  • Improved physical performance, reduces fatigue
A cup of coffee after a vigorous workout in Gym will reduce muscle soreness. Moderate caffeine intake before workout boosts energy levels.
  • Lowers risk of developing stroke
Some studies have shown that in regular coffee drinkers the incidence of stroke is less.
  • Lowers risk of developing Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder. Clumsiness of movement, tremors are some of the
features of this disease.
  • Antioxidants
Coffee is rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals in the body that produce diseases.
  • Antidepressant
No doubt, caffeine elevates mood and fights depression.
  • Anti-cancerous
Coffee might afford some protection against colorectal and liver cancers.

Heart disease and BP
In the olden times, coffee has fallen into disrepute because of its stimulatory effects on the heart and circulatory system. If you have heartbeat rhythm irregularity or high blood pressure be careful in consuming caffeine. Please note that tea also contains caffeine so anything that has caffeine in it may trigger some untoward effects.

Promote Organic! If the mainstream multinational companies give more importance to organic produce it will bring the price down, will increase availability and will improve the health of everybody.

The focus on the health benefits until recently was on tea in general and green tea in particular. Statistics tell us that the numbers of coffee drinkers are huge and the tea less. Caffeine is said to be the most popular, addictive drug if we label it scientifically, and tea and coffee both contain it. But recent research has unveiled the above facts that have given coffee lovers huge relief. Nowadays, we can see many exotic tea blends in Coffee shops also and that is a welcome change. Some cafes offer health teas too like Chamomile.

Green tea, Macha green tea, white tea, all have proven health benefits. Coffee too is a winner.
If you are a die-hard fan of green tea then enjoy this poem http://magicalpresent.blogspot.in/2013/07/green-tea.html

So tea, coffee or both?
Enjoy all things good!

Note: Please read the DISCLAIMER attached to this blog.

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