THINGS OF SUMMER # 3

The third thing for the summer is Smell !!

To me its the fresh smell of air while my drive to Cascais, the smell of the salty sea in Cabo de Roca, the smell of Mediterranean food, the aroma rushing to the streets from the restaurants of Alfama, the smell of the soil in Sintra mountains when hit by rain, the smell of the Kitchen garden in Bariossa, Serra d'estrela.

The smell of plants, the smell of the yellow flowers in the highways, the smell of sardines in Bairro Alto, the smell of the Tagus river, the smell of Castelo de Sao Jorge. The smell of the cork trees of Alentejo, the smell of rain in Arcos de Valdevez, the smell of barbeque for the Santo Antonio party.

This commercial of Vodafone is celebrating smell as one of the beautiful things of a Portuguese summer.

THINGS OF SUMMER # 2

TASTE

As mentioned earlier, the summers in Portugal brings along many beautiful things. Another beautiful thing of a Portuguese summer is, taste.


For my time in Portugal, I think of many tastes. The taste of Banana topped with Orange juice at Marta Rebelo's house, a very fresh drink called Pedras, the taste of best chocolate cake of the world(O melhor Bolo de Chocolate do Mundo) in Lisbon, the best ice-cream from Santini again from Lisbon.

Then there some very typical tastes of Portugal.
The taste of a fresh Bacalhau from my sister Vera's restaurant called Bica de Sao Pedro, the best pork barbequed called Bifana at my friend's Mom's house in Sintra, the taste of delicious duck rice near the Oceanario, the taste of a capirinha after dinner in Bairro Alto, the 1 euro beer with Sardine for Santo Antonio, a soup of river shark in Vila Vicosa, the famous green wine(Vinho Verde) of Portugal, the taste of fire water called modronho from the Serra d'estrela with fried mushrooms by Carlos, the crab cakes of Luso.

Then there is delicious Tripas from the Porto which is an eww moment for all Portuguese,
the sweet and crispy Churros from Primavera Sound, the porto special Frascesinha, the cheese and olive salad with red wine in Guimaraes, the sandwiches in Ponte de Lima.

The list goes endless. Lets celebrate the beautiful thing of summer, taste with this Vodafone commercial.

THINGS OF SUMMER # 1

COLOUR

Its summer. So everything looks different for its colour. I was there last year for the summer.

While I was worried about getting over tanned and my skin peeling off, everyone was excited for the heat of the summer. They were ready for beach to smile, to celebrate and to get tan.

For colour, the Portuguese summer reminds me of the bright blue sky, the shinning pastel colour buildings of Lisbon and coimbra, the vibrant black - white streets around the country, the colourful walls of Porto loaded with Graffiti, the colourful hearts with various patterns hung around Guimaraes and the people switching to colourful outfits at the cocktail party by lisboa na ponta dos dedos.

The beaches of Sintra which is full of colours, the landscape turning into gold from green in Alentejo, the orange of the juice , the pink of the Sangria, the yellow of Sumol, the green of a river and the blue of a pool in the hotel Sintra Jardim. It reminds my love for the yellow trams of Lisbon.

This Vodafone commercial is celebrating, the beautiful thing for Portuguese summer as Colour.

RELIVING PORTUGAL !

 Summers Of Portugal !!

There has been a little shift in the past!!
 That is from Portugal to India to celebrate the 66th anniversary of Indian Independence.

Now we are back to the 1 year nostalgia of Portugal. I am not there yet and don't know when I will be there again.
But I am almost there for my memories and my friends who often write to say how much they miss me.

Portugal is currently celebrating summer. So there will be another shift now, from one celebration to another.  That is from Independence day in India to freedom of Portuguese summer.

What is that one thing that comes to your mind when you think of summer in Portugal. The list is endless for me. I have a dearest aunty from Portugal whom I fondly call Tia Minan told me that currently Portugal is having the best summer in last 90 years. So, lets share the ideas of summer with the three videos of Vodafone.

INCREDIBLE INDIA # 3

Yes, India is Incredible!!
But is it really Incredible if we spoil its beauty.

There is poverty, population problems, pollution etc. Many challenges to be covered and yet it rises every day to a sunrise. But how long? In between no one has time to think about what we are, what we have risen from and what we have. We feel proud to be Indian but do we really care to keep it clean ?We all contribute in spoiling our incredible India.

For an example, the Elephanta caves is about 20 mins by a ferry from India Gate in Mumbai. In this ride, I witnessed a group of boys around 20 years brought along a huge polythene full of snacks for the day out. It started well and all the day, what ever they took out of the packet to consume was thrown in the sea and around the caves. The future of India hardly cares about keeping its environment clean. Is it very difficult to keep the garbage in the packet and through it in a bin?

Couples and youngster who goes for a cozy moment to the monuments spoils it by writing on them in return. We go for picnic with huge shopping and leave the garbage while we return. We enjoy a beautiful sunset with a bottle of beer and leave it back or throw in the sea.

Lets join hands to keep our India clean and make it incredible forever .

INCREDIBLE INDIA # 2

The mood is on!! Dreams, ideas and thoughts about India are on.

The memories of various journeys are playing in my mind, both old and new. So many places I have been, so many people I met, so many friends I made.

While watching many videos and reading articles on India, I miss two friends from Portugal. They are Ana Barbara Simoes and Ana Cepeda Alves.

I had met them in Mumbai and we traveled in Bangalore and Cochin.

My friends who are currently doing a project to travel with friends, friend's friends and their friends are traveling around the world. They chose India as there first destination to start the project and went all around the Asia, South east Asia,North America, Central America and South America. At the moment they are in Valparaiso, Chile. 

They were traveling through out India with a unique theme called "THIK HAI". Every Indian is different but they have somethings in common. One of those things is the way all Indian nod their head to say yes or "THIK HAI" and that was ambitiously picked by my friends.

This video is for my friends as the girl in the also nods her head, something she picked while her travel ;)

INCREDIBLE INDIA !!!

The spirit of India is on and would stay all the year. Not only all year, I hope it stays all my life.

Here is a video to share what is to travel in India. It is fun and full of challenges. There are times to quit and flying to another country is the biggest urge. But those who stay, fall in love with this land of extremes and its people.

This video is dedicated to all my friends who wants to come and visit India, to the fellow Indians who have to leave their cities and travel and also my friend Jorge Vassallo Fragoso. Like the traveler in this video he is traveling in India for last 10 years and says that India is an incredible mix of ethnicity, cultures and peoples from many different countries. I feel proud to say that he is an Indian in heart and finds his second home here.

VANDE MATARAM to our MOTHERLAND

CALL OF OUR MOTHERLAND

There is a love.
The love has power.
Yes, it is very powerful! As vast as the oceans of this world.
This power is running in us.

There is a call.
The call of the Motherland.
Yes, it has the biggest strength! As mighty as a Mother.
This strength is immortal.

Courtesy : Bunty

PATRIOTISM

I went around the city on the Independence day to bring some pictures related to Patriotism.

On the occasion of Independence day, I have to confess that I was too tired from my birthday celebrations. I decided to make my sleep longer and in that way I missed the national parade. I regret as I have always been part of it and represented my School and University in the Parade.

Call it laziness or tiredness, after my birthday party I could not get up on time. Hence I decided to go around the city in the late afternoon to collect some symbols, flags or who knows may be there could be still some crowd.

But to my surprise, my city got too inspired from the speech of our Honourable Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik and started the cleaning process by the afternoon. When I was near the State Assembly or the Rajpath for the state parade, there was no sign of dirt or mess. Everything was cleaned up and only the barricades were being removed.

Yes I was happy for this change and bit disappointed too as I did not get those beautiful pictures of Flags flying, hanging from everywhere.

Never the less, I still have couple of pictures which I found interesting.

 The King of Orissa.

                                                 The State Assembly with the Indian Flag.

                                               The State commiserate of Orissa

                                                              The Ashoka Chakra

                                                        The National Emblem of India

                                                           The National Flag of India

PROUD TO BE INDIAN

Indepandence day .

Today is the Independence day of India. This day in 1947, a new country was added to the world map.

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2013

The day is very special. Even more special than the day before.

Yesterday was my birthday. Yes I was happy, enjoyed, ate, party and celebrated in every possible way. But today I am thrilled as its the day of my country.

15th August 1947, my country found its place in the world map. The day which called us Indians.

Congratulations to everyone, whose heart is beating today for the colours of India.

A MINHA ALDEIA PORTUGUESA !!

A minha aldeia Portuguesa !! My Portuguese Village !!

Here we turned to the little yet very beautiful village in Portugal. Now when asked, often I say Barriosa is one of my favourite places in Portugal. Forget Indians or Europeans, even the portuguese would be riddled if I name this little village and not say Serra D'estrela.

Of course its normal as I would not know many places in India. I am even stupid to not know the capital cities of all states in my country. Still I would translate one of the saying in my local tongue, Oriya to summarize my feelings for this village.

"Nije na gale, Swarga dekhibani".
It means, if you dont travel yourself then you don't see the Heaven. This is a very satirical way to say that few things, one has to do himself.

Similarly one has to go Barriosa to live the heaven.

DO YOU KNOW AN ALDEIA ?

Aldeia, sounds likes a fancy word, isn't it?
In Portuguese it means a Village. In India to visit your village is full of experience as we always want to escape from the horrible and hectic schedules of the city. But for the same Indian traveling in Europe and has to visit a village, the excitement may not be similar.

This is exactly why I fell in love with this Portuguese Aldeia. So if it is still difficult to guess what I mean by Aldeia then here is the first amateur look of a beautiful little village of Portugal.

VRUMMMMM.......#2

The highway was calling.
It was too late for lunch, so we stopped by a small bakery for a small bite. The glass window of the bakery had a big sign of a Cow. Hence before taking my bite, I ensured with Jorge and Tiago if there is no Cow meat in what I am eating. I made them confirm with the vendor too. Sorry guys!!


Both the car and our tanks were refueled. So again it was the road, the music and the endless conversation about the history, geography, mythology, politics, religion etc.

We stopped for another cup of coffee and I still had no idea how would be a village in Europe.
How similar or different from India!!
In Portuguese they call it Aldeia. 

CHURCH OF THE SANTISSIMA TRINDADE, FATIMA

The church of the Santissima Trinidade is called the Church of Holy Trinity in English.
Wikipedia conflicts between its own texts to say if its the 4th largest or 8th largest Catholic church in the world. The construction started in 2004 with a marble from Apostle Peter, over which Saint Peter's tomb was built in Rome.

It was finished in the year 2007 for the 90th anniversary of the appearance of our lady of Fatima. This church was was very different from the churches I have been before. The architecture is very modern for the time it is made.

I saw more people praying in this Church and crawling on their knees to the Sanctuary. My friend Tiago told me that they do like this when a wish comes true or if some one is guilty of his/her sin. From kids around 6 years to elderly persons around 70s, all walking on the their knees.

In order to remember this day of my life, I got a rosary and a fridge magnet.

SANCTUARY OF THE LADY OF FATHIMA

 The town is called Fatima, which is an Arabic name coming from the name of Moorish princess and originally from the name of the daughter of Muhhamad, the prophet of Islam.

 While arriving at the shrine and many times before I had heard about Fatima. So got more details from wikipedia which says, Our Lady of Fatima is the name for the Virgin Mary due to her appearance to the three little shepherds Lucia Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta in the local village of Fatima called Cova de Iria while they were herding sheep on 13th of May 1917.

The events at Fátima gained fame due to their elements of prophecy particularly with regard to possible world war and the conversion of Soviet Russia.

The entrance of the shrine opens up to a huge space. To the left end is the Sanctuary of the lady of Fatima and the right end is the Church of Satissma Trindade.

Fatima is huge pilgrimage for Catholics around the world. But being there and what I saw is more relevant than the extract of Wikipedia. I was completely taken aback for the devotion of the people. The scene was not very different from the Hindu temples. The religious shops outside the Sanctuary, there were numerous candles burning, the devotees with their palms together to focus on their faith, people making their wishes with closed eyes etc. To my shock I saw the devotees crawling on their knees all the way from the church to the Sanctuary like the Hindus who visit the temple on their knees. The moment was completely spiritual for me and walked on to the Church.

THE ROAD FOR THE FAITH

There were Highways with exits and entries. Some big roads and some small.Sometimes it was necessary to take big curves to reach almost the same spot. There was no joys of shortcuts like in India. No wrong ways. No breaking rules. No matter how big was the hunger we moved on.

I believe in all religions and all Gods. This faith always drives me to my prayers. From India to Sri Lanka, South East Asia and Europe, I always believed in temples, churches, Monasteries etc. My friend always told me that I must go to a place called Nossa Senhora de Fátima when in Portugal. It means Our Lady of Fatima. Here we were driving to it.

But with full of hunger we were looking for a restaurant to eat first. Somehow, we could not find a suitable place anywhere until we arrived at the gates of Sanctuary of our Lady of Fatima. Assuming that its in our cards we decided to visit the shrine before our lunch. It was strange that none of us spoke about the lunch after. We started to march towards the Sanctuary

 

 

VRUMMMMMMM ......#1

Here we go!

Jorge starts his favourite car and we were driving between the city to hit the highway.
I was at the front seat to make best pictures and Tiago was sitting behind singing Portuguese Songs in Chorus with the Car radio.

Very soon, the landscape started to change slowly. The highways were very well planned and numbered. Even if you do not have a map and do not have the highway numbers still you can reach a destination with little difficulty. Something we badly need in India. But to be honest for we laid back Indians stopping in highways for 101 reasons isn't that bad.

So the drive is non stop between beautiful landscape of cream - yellow rocky mountains with yellow flowers and greens. Jorge was always maintaining the speed between 160 -180 Km/Hr. There were hardly any traffic or any car passing by. No one running before the car to cross the highway and no peeing by the highway. No bridges, poles, walls pasted with posters of Bollywood movie stars. Most importantly no cows in middle of the roads. The experience of Europe is absolutely different from my country.

We had rats in our stomach jumping for food and still we decided to drive till the next stop ...>>>