My trip to Jayamangali Blackbuck sanctuary

 On Monday we had gone to Jayamangali Blackbuck sanctuary.we left in the morning and reached at afternoon,when we reached appa slept in the car and I was searching for blackbucks then I thought I saw a blackbuck far away later we went forward and saw 3 blackbucks then we went to a watch tower and saw 20-30 blackbucks.I learnt that only male blackbucks are black and female are white I made a name for them, whitebucks. Then we went home

My trip to Bellari

 On Saturday we had gone to Bellari.We left at 11:30 am and reached at 8:30 pm,we went to Mr Kallan Gowda's farm. At 9 we ate and went to bed.Next morning we saw baya weaver's nest,then we went to Kallan uncle's house and then to his brothers green house.Then we ate.Then we went to the hotel.At 2 we checked out and went to his wife's house and ate amazing lunch then we went to his farm and played in the pool then we climbed up a hill after that we went home.

My Trip To Chamrajnagar

 Me,Appa,Ashoojit and Prathamesh went to chamrajnagar on monday when we reached we went to the inspection bungalow and then Samraksh came and we talked and he ate and he left,the next morning we ate breakfast they went for a walk and i attended online class and they brought food we ate and then went to IPH and saw dr Prashant,then we went to the DC office after that we ate dinner and went to bed.next morning training started so we went and sat for 4 hours, i was sooooooooo bored then we ate lunch went to ib and me and Samraksh played asphalt,then we went to the second training after that Prathamesh got me chips and they talked about training.Next 2 days same thing.On friday we went to Br hills and on the road to ib we saw Gaur,Spotted deer and Barking deer,we reached ib at 7 pm,then we unpacked and went for dinner, it was ok-ok then we slept.Next morning we woke up at 5 to see birds and animals.We saw tiger,Crested serpent Eagle, gaint squirrel etc. then we went to ib ate and went to VGKK after that we went to IPH and Dr Prashant gave me a book and then we ate lunch, then we went bird watching, then we went to pick up Dr Gundappa on the way back we saw a bear, then they had a meeting, i ate and went to bed.Next morning we went for a small a drive,ate food and went to Dr Sudarshan's house.They talked for some time and then we went on a boat ride, after that we swam in kaveri with life jackets,and then i jumped 20 feet into the water.Then we went to IPH and saw a play about vaxine,it started raining then we ate, slept.Next morning they had training after that we left.

The Greatest Achievement Of My Life

 In 2019 september or october we had gone to Sikkim for a holiday.Over there i read about magpies and wanted to see all the types magpies found in that area in that time.First we went to Gangtok,there is a site called Fambonglo bird sanctuary,over there we saw the oriental magpie.There are 4 types of magpies found in that area.In fambonglo we saw leeches, a leach came on Durga and she yelled so loud that people from another village came to see what happened.Next we went to yuksom. From the hotel balcony we saw red billed magpie and yellow billed magpie.Next we went to the 3rd tallest mountain-Mt Kanchanjanga.It was almost the end of the trip and i had read about the green magpie,it was the rarest of them all and i really wanted to see it.So we climbed up to dubdi monastry  and while coming down we saw a green bird in a bush so me and mummy searched for it in the bird book and we thought it was the green magpie,later i saw a small stream and a branch on the branch was the green magpie.After that i was happy about it for the next 2 years and still am.

Suryanamaskar at Chikkaballapur

International Yoga Day has been celebrated every year since 2014. Yoga is a mental and spiritual practice which originated in India. The theme of this year’s Yoga Day is Yoga for Well-Being. 

Suryanamaskar is considered the ultimate asana that strengthens the body and mind. It means Sun Salutation. It has 12 asanas. 

Here are some photos of my sister and me doing the Surya Namaskar in the morning at Chikkaballapura.

The first asana is called Pranamasana, where we say Namaskar to the Sun.

The second asana is called Hasta-Uttanasana where we lift our hands

The third asana is called Padahastasana where we touch our feet with our hands. Neither my sister nor I can do this very well.

The fourth asana is called Ashwa Sanchalasana. This is supposed to be like a horse ("Ashwa")

The fifth asana is called Chaturanga Dandasana where the body is supposed to touch the ground at 4 points

The sixth asana is called Ashtanga Namaskar, where the body is supposed to touch the ground at 8 points. But my sister and I like to fall flat because it is more fun

The seventh asana is called Bhujangasana.

The eighth asana is called Adho Mukha Svasana or Downward Dog. We have a dog called Perry, and she does this sometimes.

After this, we just repeat the 4th to 1st asanas again in backward order and then we are done!

Happy International Yoga Day to you!

Durga's note on our field trip on the 3rd of June 2021: The Naming of our Plot

 Hello, I'm Durga and I'm eight years old and I'm about to tell you about my new life style and the adventures I had at Chicballapure in my farm. So in the farm at dawn, you will be able to hear thousands of birds including the brain fever bird, leaf bird, peahens and peacocks. And also there is a little tree in the middle of the farm. There I climbed up and saw a fungus on the tree and when I touched it, my finger did a little gentle bounce back. And also when I was taking a little walk, I saw mushrooms growing. I was impressed and at 10 o'clock in the night me, my father and my brother went for a walk. While we were walking, we saw moths flying on a rock and in the gaps of the rock, a mouse came and caught them and took them back inside to eat them. And also on the tree, I did a monkey bar and took a two minute nap on the branch of the tree. In the morning, my brother set off for a walk, my mother went for a walk and me and my father went for a walk. And my father and I were talking about what we should name our plot. Then I saw we will call it The Secret Garden. And so from now on, we will call it "The Secret Garden"

My new favorite TV show...

is "Anne with an E" on Netflix. The quality of acting, the perfectness of the lines, the tender way in which the camera lingers on the faces and on the landscapes... it's got to be among the best shows on Netflix.

It also made me recall why I stopped reading the original books after the first two or three: after the amazing Anne that Lucy Montgomery created, in the latter books, she almost never focuses on Anne. The stories become Gilbert's, or Anne's kids'. If the main reason why L.M.M got her fan following was because of Anne, why in the world didn't she continue to write about her? It's almost as if, after making Anne question and then ultimately follow the accepted path for all women, marriage and motherhood, LMM stops being interested in her. I think she would have had a far more powerful impact if she had continued to show Anne as being curious, questioning and exploding with ideas even after marriage and motherhood. Perhaps she could have a conversation between Anne and Gilbert about whether they should indeed have seven children....perhaps Gilbert could have offered to give Anne some time to write her books by a) spending more time taking care of the kids or b) not having so many of them in the first place. How startlingly novel and blindingly inspiring that would have been for generations of girls, even today! Instead Anne is washed out, apparently even her opinions aren't worth writing about now that she has copped out and married. 

So in a lot of ways, LMM sets the stage for a brilliant protagonist and then fails her entire female fan base.

So I pray that the TV show is a bit more respectful, in some sense, towards women and their value. So far it has been that and much more.

I'm waiting for season 3 to air in India!