Frank Lloyd Wright has rightly said "I believe in God, only I spell it nature". Imagine sleeping on the banks of Kapila river watching the sun change into its divine dawn color and the birds drifting right in front of the sun bidding it goodbye.Just the thought brings so much peace within us.I recently happened to enjoy this peace in Kittur.No, I am not talking about the one in North Karnataka. This is a remote village in the Mysore district,Karnataka near Kabini dam  http://g.co/maps/z99xx.

 I am married into the Kittur family. We are basically Vadama Iyers having migrated there.We have a Ravi Rameshwara temple there where every year people in large numbers gather to celebrate Shivratri festival with immense faith.This year we were lucky to be there to seek his blessings and thought the experience is worth a share. Lets slightly dwell into its history.

 Sri Ravi Rameshwara temple, part of the Taranimunti (Kittur) village, has a history of around 1500 years. Kittur village was the capital of the Punnata kingdom, the first kannada kingdom. Punnata kingdom is believed to have been established prior to 345 A.D and they were the first to use our Kannada script. The temple was built between 430 A.D. and 450 A.D during the reign of Ramaverma. Around the year 1960 the Kabini dam project was taken up and this made it inevitable to shift some villages adjacent to the dam as these would be submerged.Kittur and our temple were one of those affected. The caretakers of the temple were the Arasu families of Mysore samsthana. They decided to shift all the Devi-Devathas to another temple.But this did not go as planned.Instead,these vigrahas were sold for a price. However, the main Sri Ravi Rameshwara idol could not be touched as the Nagaraja (king of snakes) was guarding it. Hence for about 40 years, Sri Ravi Rameshwara remained in seclusion and provided shelter for wild animals In the year 2000,group of our people made a suggestion to assemble all the migrated Kittur families and form an association. A few members from the Kittur family visited Taranimunti and the old Kittur village. The Sri Ravi Rameshwara temple was in a dilapidated condition. It was difficult to even enter the temple premises.This was the starting point of Kittur Balaga. With the efforts from Kittur Balaga, its family members and others, the Sri Ravi Rameshwara temple has been cleaned and restored to the current state. Work on improving the temple is still in progress. From 2010 onwards, the Mahashivarathri pooja is celebrated in a grand manner. The Kittur Balaga family and the villagers of Taranimunti come together to celebrate the Mahashivarathri pooja.

The Balaga has also built a guest house in Kittur, according to the village standards.It has a large dining hall with 2 rooms and a bathroom. The reason why I specified the 'village standard' is, people well accustomed to city luxuries should not expect the same here. After all we are seeking peace in a village. Balaga families and their acquaintances can stay here with a minimal price though. Food arrangement needs to be taken care of by the families.
Now getting back onto the track, let me shed some more light on this year's Shivratri celebration. On the morning of  20-02-2012, Rudrabhisheka was performed. Few days before the festival, villagers of Kittur had requested the balaga to marry off a couple who were economically unstable. So, in the evening necessary arrangements were made for the marriage to take place. This is just one of the examples which makes clear that the balaga also intends to uplift the village families socially and economically along with the welfare of their own. Following the wedding was the teppotsava, where the lord's utsavamurthy is relaxed on the coracle and taken on a blissful ride on the waters of Kapila river. This sight is beyond words.

On the Shivratri night, arrangements had been made to entertain folks intending to do jaagarane(staying up whole night). Harikatha and bhajans were performed by Sri. S. R. Narasimhan and we also engaged the saxophone specialist Sri. S. V. Narayan. Next day we had early morning poojas which extended till 11AM. On both the days(20 Feb 2012 and 21 Feb 2012) there is annasantharpane(serving food to all the devotees) in the temple. This was just a gist that I have provided here. One should experience and enjoy the above in person.
Any further details about our village/temple/balaga, please feel free to mail me. Suggestions and comments are open.

Our 5th wedding anniversary celebration this year was in the 'coffee land' of Karnataka. Its about 4hrs from Bangalore by road. http://g.co/maps/d3532 We drove there by ourselves. Left Bangalore at around 8 AM. We took the Magadi road from Kengeri Satellite Town and reached Kunigal around 9.Further near Yadiyur we stopped for breakfast in Hotel Mayura. This is nice place to rest. Has a children play area and enough of parking. It was 10:30 when we started from here. From then we drove non stop to Chikmagalur. We had booked our stay at Scenic Acres Homestay. This is 5kms from Chikmagalur on the Mulyangiri road near to the Mountain View School & College. Belongs to the Sargod family and is maintained well. Had a memorable stay here.

I am sharing this information for a reason and that being, I never encountered any problems during my trimesters and also I have a healthy son (touch-wood) .
My LMP(Last Menstrual Cycle) was 15/01/2010 and EDD(Expected Delivery Date) was 22/10/2010
First Trimester:
                       I was asked to take complete rest in this trimester. I did rest but not completely :). I quit my work as a software engineer but did all the household chores like cooking, washing vessels, cleaning. After every 2 hours I would rest for a while and get back to work. During this trimester in case you observe any slight bleeding then do not hesitate to check immediately with your gynecologist. I took
MCBM69 - 30 tablets, Sasten 300mg - 30 tablets, 3 injections of Sasten 200mg and 30 Becadexamine Multivitamin tablets. Usually an obstetric ultrasound is performed to check the live fetus with a heartbeat.
Second Trimester:
                            -->I started taking SukumaraGrita(Ayurvedic medicine) with milk in the morning. It gives the baby a healthy skin and is also good for our uterus.
-->Occasionally  used to drink powdered amla(Indian Gooseberry) water as it is a rich source for Vitamin C and we all know Vitamin C improves immunity in our body.
-->Used to go for a 20 min walk
-->Drank tender coconut water
-->Started taking 2 strands of kesar(saffron) with hot milk after bath
-->Used to eat sprouted green gram and fenugreek seeds in the evenings
-->Took Celol calcium tablet, Ferium XT iron tablet and Casein, a nutrition supplement with milk.
-->In the fifth month Antenatal Profile test( check my blog post) and ultrasonography is performed. In this the baby's weight, functioning of kidney, spinal cord, heart, length of the  nose, information about cleft lip and various other measurements are taken.
-->Took 2 tetanus injections.
Third Trimester:
                           I changed my iron/calcium tablets to Meripol and Alcal D 500. Stopped taking coconut water. Rest was the same as in my second trimester other than the anxiety part :) .

Throughout my pregnancy I ate leafy vegetables at least twice in a week. I constantly gained 1.5-2kgs per month and 10-11kgs overall. All the while my BP remained normal. I never gorged on extra sweets/oily items and kept a check on my salt in take. Even if you did help yourself with your favourite eateries, to avoid indigestion you can  have a glass a warm water with 1 tsp of powdered amla powder and 1/2 tsp of ginger powder.
Good luck and God bless :)

These two are Kate Morton's books. I had not even heard of her before I read these books and once I read Distant Hours I fell in love with her work.
Distant Hours is about the Blythe spinsters who leave in a decaying Milderhurst castle. The character Edie Burchill has to unravel the secrets behind those walls of the castle. I don't know how to describe her work. Its not spooky yet there is a mild scare in her words. While I was reading this book I felt my own room speaking to me... eeeiiikkkk...
Forgotten Garden is about a tiny girl abandoned on a ship and is adopted later. When she knows this truth on her 21st birthday, she is shattered and sets on a quest to find her original family which in turn leads to the Mountrachet family.She dies before knowing the truth. Her granddaughter continues her search and unlocks the secrets.

According to me both the books are


Must Read               Give a Try               Don't Bother

First of my David Baldacci books and I wasn't disappointed. Its about a daring kidnapping which turns into a national security issue. Two secret service agents turn into investigators in this matter on the request of the First Lady. Its a complete entertainer. But, half way through and I could tell whats in store next. So, though not disappointed with the book I wasn't even very excited.

According to me this book is

Must Read               Give a Try               Don't Bother

This is a real nightmare for every mother :( . All my nails are eaten up before our planned visit to the PD for his immunization. Keeping the sentiments apart, details of the immunizations that we administered are
1. After 2 days of our son's birth he was given:
                           > OPV(Oral Polio Vaccine)
                           > Hepatitis B injection(against liver infection)
                           > BCG(Bacillus Calmette Guerin, against tuberculosis)
2. After 6 weeks:
                          > OPV
                          > Hepatitis B injection
                          > DPT(Diptheria Pertussis[Whooping Cough] Tetanus) injection
This really caused a lot of trouble. Firstly he was not able to take 2 continuous injections and above that as he was colic, one of the injections reacted very badly on him and he was crying the whole day. So, next time we administered injections with no side effects. This cost us around Rs.1250.
3. After 10 weeks:
                          > OPV
                          > Hepatitis B injection
                          > DPT injection - INFANRIX, HIBRIX, ELOVAC were given. This had no side effects.

4. After 14 weeks:
                          > OPV
                          > Hepatitis B injection
                          > DPT injection
All the above immunizations were given in my hometown. When I shifted back to my husband's place, our PD here told us that OPV nowadays is not very effective and that its always safe to give IPV(Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccice). So, we again gave him 2 doses of this vaccine too.
5. 9 months:
                        > Measles vaccine
                        > IPV1
6. 10 months: IPV2
7. 15 months: MMR(Measles Mumps Rubella) or MMRV(Varicella, against Chickenpox)
    After 7-10 days of getting this vaccine he had cough, cold and fever. This lasted for about 4 days. Am not sure whether this happens with everyone.
As of now this is all the information that I have to share.

ಸೋಮವಾರ - ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆ, ಜಾಜಿ

ಮಂಗಳವಾರ - ಗುಲಾಬಿ, ಸೇವಂತಿಗೆ, ಕೇದಿಗೆ

ಬುಧವಾರ - ತುಳಸಿ, ತಾವರೆ

ಗುರುವಾರ - ದಾಸವಾಳ, ಸಂಪಿಗೆ

ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ - ತಾವರೆ, ಕನಕಾಂಬರ

ಶನಿವಾರ - ತುಳಸಿ

ಭಾನುವಾರ - ತುಂಬೆ, ಕನಿಗಳೇ, ದಾಸವಾಳ

     

My, this experience with the ulnar nerve cant be forgotten. It was in August 2009 that I suddenly felt a tingling sensation on my right little finger. I ignored it for a week and continued with my usual chores. Later I found that all my fingers on the right hand had swollen. It was then that I was diagnosed with ulnar tunnel syndrome. Thanks to the bad ergonomics at my work place. Simplest of all cures would be
1. Use of wrist splint.
2. Hot water therapy - This is a must.
I had not taken any pain killers or anti-inflammatory drugs. These are the only  two things that I followed regularly for 15-20 days and I am sure it would help others too.