A Glimpse into My Journey

Though am a confident writer by choice and profession, who is driven by passion, I'm not comfortable facing an audience! Recently, I have joined Toastmasters International (corporate member). Now, I have the motivation to challenge myself and outgrow my limitation. As a baby step, I had to prepare for my first speech called CC1 - Icebreaker(Competent and Communication). Since I prepared a script, I thought why not document it down as a blog too! Herez the script:

Born in a traditionally conventional Sourashtra family on 5th March...during raghu kaalam, whatever the implication might be. Well, I was brought up in an energetic environment and encouraged to do stuff my way. Dad is a business man and mom is an unusual home maker. Unusual, in the sense by the time she was just 18, she had me & my brother who is younger than me by 2 years! But, that didn't stop her from chasing her dream of higher studies. By the time I graduated with a BA in English Lit, my mom had completed a degree in Commerce (BCom), a degree in Sanskrit and Hindi Grammar too! All through my life I have seen that passion was the only driving force her. Speaking about my husband, he is a Metals doctor and because of him I have had the opportunity to travel and live outside India too, which has given me wonderful opportunities. We have a teenage daughter who is in AS levels in an international school, because it his her first time getting education in India.

I grew up with my cousins, and most of them were boys...I enjoyed typical boys activities like climbing walls & trees flying kites and basically I was a ‘tom boy’. 

Applied soft-focus - but you get an idea!

Besides that, I was named as ‘chatterbox’, because I always had a lot to talk, if I was asked to do something, I had to know why and if I was told NOT to do, then I had even more things to ask, why can’t I do and what if I do that! At home, I was banned from using razor blades to sharpen the pencils, so once at school, I think I was in year 3, one of my friends was using blade and he kept teasing me that I don't know how to use it, so I was trying to snatch from him and ended up with hurting myself...well, that gave me an identification mark for life!

Throughout my schooling I was a mediocre student, who loves chatting and being a back bencher, but the trouble was, I was never allowed to sit in the back bench because my teachers knew how naughty I could be. Any noise or distraction, first I would be singled out. This continued throughout my college life as well, so I will just say that I had a gala time for 3 years. 

Well, I have inherited my passion and interest from my mom. Whatever I do, I try to do it wholeheartedly and not just for the sake of doing it. My reading habit too has evolved from comics to philosophy and fiction to factual books. When I was a kid, I was attracted to pictures, so started off with comics like Muthu comics, Mayavi series and from school library I used to get Tin Tin, later moved on to Secret Seven, Famous Five, Treasure Island kind of books and during adolescent, I was more towards Mills & Boon & Silhouette series. During college days, I graduated to reading Ayn Rand, Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robbins, Jeffery archer and Robert Ludlum and I was introduced to Chandilyan and kalki too and till date I have a strong attachment to Cholas & Pallavas. Because of this passion, just at the drop of the hat, I drive to Mahabalipuruam just to see the caves & take photos. 

Shore Temple - Mahabalipuram - Our World

 When you do anything, do it with passion, that will be the driving force. From my experience be it my naughty tricks from childhood or preparing for this CC1, I do it with passion. Passion helps you to look forward to things in life and give you the confidence to pursue relentlessly. 

Labuan - Chimney and WW II Memorials

When Airasia canceled their direct flights from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu (KK), (we had booked this flight about 6 months ago during promo), we were looking for other options to reach KK. It was a blessing in disguise! We decided to go to Labuan from Brunei by ferry Shuttle Hope, and then take MAS Wings to Kota Kinabalu.

Labuan is an union territory on Malaysia and is best known for its Japanese Surrender Point, which led to the end of 2nd World War and it is also a shoppers paradise because of duty free shopping.

As we arrived at the International Labuan Ferry Terminal, we noticed that the taxi stand was right in front. A local lady was kind enough to let us know that the island round would take less than 2 hours and recommended that we should bargain before getting into the cab. First cabbie demanded a flat RM100 for the sightseeing around the island, but when we spoke to the second, he said, if we booked for 2 hours, he could offer us RM 80! So we went with the 2nd cab offer and here is the virtual tour...

Coal mining started in Tanjong Kubong in 1844 and now only the chimney and some of the artifacts are preserved in The Chimney Museum at that location!

Locals call it 'punil'. 

This is located by the sea side.

Inner wall of the chimney shows no sign of burning. so there is a belief that this tower must have been used as a light house or a bell tower to announce the arrival of a ship.

visit to Japanese Surrender Point, which is at Layang-layang beach (South China Sea) in Labuan.

Japanese Surrender Point

This is where the Japanese surrendered to the Australian Imperial forces, which led to the end of World War 2. In this garden, there is also an inscription in memory of all those who sacrificed their lives in land and sea in and around Borneo Islands during WW 2.

Peace Inscription

With a heavy heart we proceeded to the World War II memorial, which has about 3900 burials of Australian and Indian regiments, who either died in the battlefield or at the Japanese prisoners of war camp from all over Borneo.

Cross of Sacrifice

The graves are symmetrical and looks like rows of peaceful soldiers waiting for command.

Most of these dead souls buried here were unidentified because the records were destroyed in the war camps. 

This pillar is in honor of the Indian Soldiers whose mortal remains were burned as per their religion

Terrible living conditions of the refuges in a ship from Poland described in Jeffery Archer's World War based Cane and Able flashed across when we were there. Reading the novel itself was disturbing, seeing in reality altogether was heart wrenching.

Turtle Watch @ Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia

It was an unplanned trip with short notice to Cherating, Pahang, Malaysia. Though i was aware of turtle watching in that area, I didn't know the details until I enquired @ Holiday Villa Resort, where we stayed. 

Though we booked to watch the turtles, we were told that the ranger would call us if there is a turtle landing at Telok Mak Nik in Kemaman, Terengganu, which is about 20KM from Cherating. We were lucky and the ranger picked us up around 9.30 pm and drove us to the site with another family. We had to walk about 80 mts in the deserted sparse jungle by the beach.

In hushed silence, we watched a turtle doing its reproductive process in the open beach below a muddy slope. The ranger lit a torch, without distracting the turtle, on the freshly laid eggs for for us to see.

Turtle laying eggs - unable to capture clear shot 

The ranger told that the whole process takes about 2 to 3 hours for the turtles, that includes selecting the nesting ground > digging the nest > laying about 70-140 eggs > closing the nest > go back to the sea!

As I was standing next to the ranger, I started talking to him and asked how do they scout for turtles. He told that there were 6 rangers working in that area, who are vigilant at nights on the look out for turtle landings. He walked us away from the crowd to show us the turtle mark on the beach.

Turtle mark 

He said, 'today you are seeing a green turtle and looking at the size it should be around 30 years old'. Actually, the green turtle looked blackish gray in that dim torch light. He further added, that each turtle might come to the same location for 6 or 7 times in the same season to lay eggs.

Closing the nest using rear flipperes

Another interesting fact I learned was that the turtles' gender would be decided based on the temperature of the nest. What we saw was considered as 'open beach' where the the nest was quite shallow with comparatively warm temperature, so if left naturally, it would produce female turtles.

The rangers dug out all the eggs, without disturbing the poor turtle, which was busy closing its nest. When I asked the rangers, why would they disturb this natural process, he told that they would take all these eggs to the hatchery where it would be safely hatched in about 6 weeks, thus protecting the species from predators and poachers.

Egg - flexible soft shell, resembling a ping-pong ball

In the mean time, another ranger brought freshly hatched baby turtles from the sanctuary so that we could release all of them at the same time.

2 hours old babies!

The ranger showed us how to hold a baby...

When the turtle completed its job and started to move towards the sea, the spectators in-spite of warning, used flash to capture this action. As turtles use moon/star light to find their way to the sea, this turtle got confused with the flash and started to move uphill! So, the ranger had to raise his voice among the crowd and then gently guide the turtle back towards the sea.

Trying to move towards light

Mission accomplished

Everyone cheered as it touched water and started to swim.

Home! 

Within seconds, the turtle was gone. It was an awesome, once in a life-time experience, which otherwise we get to see only in National Geographic or Discovery Channel!

By the shores of Tg Bungha - Penang

Penang, the metro island in Malaysia, brings sweet memories and I used to long for another visit. Now, the second visit also proved to be magical as we stayed in Tanjung Bungha, by the beach. It was a good holiday and our days either started or ended with a beach walk. 

After enjoying sunrise from our balcony with a cup of tea we went for a stroll and captured this awesome loner.

Gazing @ noisy friends

That day, Sun was too lazy and still trying to play hide and seek even at 7.50 AM!

Shoreline is packed with high-rises and gives a sort of Sigaporish feel, but still more spacious than the land of Lion!

This bare tree with name-cards besides Paradise Resort caught our attention...

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It had names with dates and said 'In Paradise'. The duration was anywhere between 3 months to 6 years, so I was sure that it was like a memory mark or visitors dairy, like the ones typically seen in popular spots. Instead of assuming or just wondering, I chatted up with a cleaner (ignoring the killer stare from my crazy half!), he confirmed that the resort does this as a token of appreciation for their long-stay guests!

The beach is quite well maintained...

A beach walk is incomplete without collecting shells, right?

Clouds and Reflections

Kite trying to reach the clouds!

Golden Reflection

Sea views - Melaka, Malaysia

Listening to the sounds of the sea is one of my favorite activities. Often, I tend to drive along the beach roads in and around Klebalng and stop by, just to watch the gentle waves or go to a jetty and listen to the crashing waves. It helps me to unwind. Here are some of the shots I took recently.

Pantai Putrei

For the past few days, I was not myself, sort of restless and fidgety. To clear the cobwebs, today I drove by this stretch and stopped by this spot...sat on a small rock...after listening to the gentle rustle of the waves, I felt much better!

Near Malacca Club

Though I enjoy going to the beach alone, it becomes an exhilarating experience if I make it with a good company. The next shots were taken while playing tourist with a good friend, with whom I could relate to!

Jetty @ Portuguese Settlement

View of Pulau Besar

With little imagination, you could certainly see a sleeping pregnant lady with her head on your right! This island is legendary and has historical cemeteries which is believed to be powerful. Hoping to visit soon.

Dawn @ Ocean Palm, Klebang

The bus for our day trip to Universal Studio, Singapore was supposed to start from Ocean Palm Condominium in Klebang, so we stayed overnight with a friend who lives there. Thanks for her hospitality. It was lovely to watch the sky and the ocean from the 9th floor, here are the shots that stole my heart:)

Sea view from the balcony - For SOOC Sunday and Monday Blue

Look at that beautiful back water jetty!

Shoreline view from the balcony

View from the guest room - For Skywatch

Land reclamation is in progress, which is a sad thing as it affects the nature

Cloud resembling a smoker!

Jesselton - Kota Kinabalu

A visit to Jesselton Waterfront is a must, when you are at Kota Kinabalu the Capital of Sabah, East Malaysia. Here are some of the shots that I took during my last visit.

Entrance to the water front

Besides this landmark arch, there are beautiful fish sculptures along the Jesselton area...

Mackerel?!

The above shot is taken from the moving vehicle (cab). By the time we reached the jetty, the sky was overcast and getting ready for a downpour...

Jesselton Waterfront

Here is an old photo of Jesselton, which was displayed in the side walk of the waterfront...

Our cabby said that we could go to Signal hill and get an aerial view of Kota Kinabalu.

Clock Tower @ Signal Hill

From the observation deck, which is above the clock tower, I took this shot...

Stunning view on a overcast day!

The turquoise water, and the smell of the distant rain was very inviting, so went on a short stroll and was blessed with this view!

Aerial view of Jesselton Jetty from Signal Hill

You might also like to read/see pics of my other Borneo experiences...
Poring - Canopy Walkway Bridge
Aerial Views - Borneo
Water ways of Brunei - Air Kampung, Venice of the East
The Giant Flower - Rafflesia
Shuttle Hope - Meet the Captian

Bewitching Shadows

This morning we headed to the beach in the hope of capturing sunrise, alas we got delayed on the way, so we missed to capture it. Well for everything there must be some reason, I was lucky to capture some nice long shadows!

Well, when I was actually trying to capture the kites, my shadow was distracting me. When I moved a bit, my larger than life shadow seemed to be more interesting than anything else, so I asked my husband to stand beside me n I got the above shot...

Shadow, land, water & sky...enchanting combo, I can forget the whole world and be there for hours together...

I'm smitten with shadows, I don't understand why!