Happy friendship day...

Wishing a very happy friendship day! @Subhash bose park, Kochi

Wish you all a very happy friendship day!!!

I take this opportunity to wish all my blogger friends a very happy friendship day😊

As you all know, today is friendship day! It is interesting to dwell deeper into the origin of the concept of friendship day during this very cool occasion. Probably originated from an idea floated by the greeting card industry to boost their sales, this movement has picked up momentum triggered by the popularity through the social media. Now it has been recognized worldwide as an important day. People value friendships a lot and it is very true that good friends help in personal growth through mutual support and serve as anchors in times of need. It is of no surprise that the need for a unique day to celebrate good friendship was adopted very fast by the people from different parts of the world.

People from many countries including India are celebrating friendship day, today, the 5th of August. In some other parts of the world people celebrate friendship day on other days, but in Asia, the first Sunday in August remain popular as the friendship day. However, WHO has officially named 30th July as the friendship day.

Join hands, let us celebrate a very happy friendship day!!!

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Awesome, yummy pizza...!

Pizza Hut is always a comfort food destination as far as I am concerned, and there are quite a few outlets in our city within easy reach. Today we visited the Pizza Hut outlet at the Centre Square Mall in Kochi, Kerala. This is a very cozy place where you can relax and enjoy yummy pizzas, drinks, pasta, and bread!

It was a family outing with some shopping on the agenda. Being the weekend the mall was busy. The Strawberry milkshake was very tasty!

Well, one cannot go wrong with this pasta. The garlic bread side dish was yummy! We enjoyed the ambiance, the staff was very co-operative! Great hospitality!

Lime soda was another cool drink!

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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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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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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 well🙂

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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

More info: http://www.horticulture.kar.nic.in/lalbagh.htm

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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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 :

http://magnificentdewdrops.blogspot.in/2014/04/vishu-popular-festival-in-kerala.html

http://magnificentdewdrops.blogspot.in/2013/04/vishu-time-of-joy-hope-and-celebration.html

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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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Happy Valentine's day 2016

February 14th, St Valentine's day...😊

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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Ladies' finger, organic cultivation at home

 

My 100th post...!😊

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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