From the Heavens

Its such a happy feeling to watch the clouds. It never seizes to excite me, especially when I fly above them:) Here is a heap of cottony clouds that I shot from my recent flight...

I guess nature was happy too, as it was showing its colors ranging from azure to pale blue...

Gopura Darshan

Elders say that Morning Gopura Darshan is punniyam. Here is the view of Therku Gopuram (East South Tower) of Meenakshi Amman Temple...

Each sculpture in the tower depicts Purana stories. I have bought the Sthala Varalaru (History of the Temple) in Tamil & this includes pictorial explanation of all the stories am hoping to translate and pen down these stories in my blog, wish me luck...

October for Vegetarian Awareness

For many, it seems to be very difficult to be a vegetarian even for a day. As a die-hard vegetarian, I try my best to make my family eat vegetarian food. Luckily, as per our family custom (also followed by many Vaishnavites) my kid and hub are forced to be vegetarians as a kind of fasting, during the Purattasi month which is from 17th of September to 17th of October.

During this period, I have heard many talking about non-veg, and how they miss it. What is the use of fasting, when one can't stop thinking of what they have absolved from? I wish they could change, at least after seeing the benefits of having vegetarian meal.

VEGETARIAN DIETS:

• Reduce the risk of major killers such as heart disease, stroke and cancer while cutting exposure to foodborne pathogens
• Provide a viable answer to feeding the world’s hungry through more efficient use of grains and other crops
• Save animals from suffering in factory-farm conditions and from the pain and terror of slaughter
• Conserve vital but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources
• Preserve irreplaceable ecosystems such as rainforests and other wildlife habitats
• Decrease greenhouse gases that are accelerating global
  warming
• Mitigate the ever-expanding environmental pollution of
  animal agriculture

Courtesy World Vegetarian Day website

Recently I was told that Lantong is a Malay vegetarian food, so I ordered one...

This is served with rice cake and a coconut based curry. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat it because, they had added a spoon of sambal, which has shrimp paste!