Eid Mubarak!

It is Eid-ul-Fitr tomorrow! The greatest festival of the Muslim Ummah /Community all over the World.

On this happy occasion I wish to convey my Greetings to all my Muslim friends and readers – “A very happy Eid…Eid Mubarak! - I Wish you and your family, good health, happiness, peace and prosperity”.  

And may this Eid-ul-Fitr bring peace and harmony to the entire world.

Ramzan festival shopping at night in Hyderabad.

VIDEO:

This year’s month of Ramzan is coming to a close and the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr is three days from now on Tuesday, 29th July 2014. So the frenzy of Ramzan shopping in Hyderabad is at its peak. It is said that Hyderabad seldom sleeps in the month of Ramzan. And in the last few days of the festival, it even stops blinking.

This article is about our recent Ramzan shopping experience; late in the night around Charminar. As you can see in the attached pictures and video, some shopping areas are virtually bursting at the seams! The crowding around Charminar simply defies expression; the photographs are an indication of the crowds, the shops and the glitter but your physical presence there though mobility is very difficult is entirely different, very wholesome, as you can witness and feel the festive atmosphere, the joy of shopping and happiness among the crowds, the vendors shouting to attract customers, the huge variety of merchandise on sale and the glitter of merchandise and lights.

On sale are a variety of items for the young and elderly, bright-coloured glittering Garments, shimmering Bangles, Jewellery, fancy Slippers, fashion accessories like Scarves, Purses, Pins, Clips and for men Sherwanis with intricate embroidery, attractive Kurtha-pyjamas, Atthar, Surma, Perfumes, Caps, Chadaavs (ethnic slip-on shoes) and so on.

A variety of items for house decoration and home needs like Table cloth, Bedsheets, Carpets, Wall-hangings, Kitchen Utensils, Dinnerware, Glassware and Electrical appliances are also available.

Then there are also shops selling Dry fruits, seasonal fruits, a large variety of Dates, Semiyan/Vermicelli and a number of ingredients for making lip-smacking dishes for the festival.

These shopping areas are also dotted with eateries at the night, serving Hyderabad specialities and Ramzan specialities like Haleem.

Though these places are very crowded and driving and parking here are cumbersome a visit to these shopping areas is a fantastic and memorable experience.

Will a snag in my flight, a pilot error or a S-A-Missile kill me?

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 mysteriously disappeared on 8th March 2014 with 239 passengers aboard, and beyond doubt it is declared by all investigating agencies that the flight has crashed into the Indian Ocean killing all the passengers. And three days back on 18th July, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 has been mercilessly shot down by a missile over Ukraine killing all 298 passengers. These recent aircraft tragedies have hurt me, caused much sorrow and have led to great anxiety, worry and fear of air travel…whether it is me, my family or friends travelling.  As for the 537 precious lives lost in these two tragedies, I feel very sorry for them and wish to convey my sincere and deepest condolences to their families and friends. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.

These tragedies have led me to make a study of fatal flight tragedies. And as a result I have narrowed down to these two charts below, which are very reassuring and have re-imposed confidence in me.

The first chart explains the “Odds of anyone being involved in a fatal air accident”, which as you can see is one in several million!

And the second chart is a graph which shows that over the years (until 2013) the number of accidents per year has gradually reduced and the fatalities too.

So I have decided to stop worrying and advise you not to worry. Just trust in God, say your prayers and enjoy your flights and return home safely. You may now see the charts below:

Celebrating A Milestone!

Celebrating a milestone!

Of my 800 blog posts!

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You may see my blog post No. 800 and 801 by clicking on the following links:

My 800th Blog Post! - Is About My First Camera!

A Statistical and Pictorial Summary of My 800 Blog Posts!

Rain Means Partying! Happy Rainy Evening!

Happy rainy evening!

Enjoy lots of snacks,

Every time it rains,

Rain means partying!

The pictures above!

Depict today’s at-home.

As it is raining outside,

Snacks got ready inside!

You see hot Manchuria,

Spicy Methi Mathri,

Soft Vegetable Noodles,

And Grilled Sandwiches!

What you don’t see,

Is a Mango dessert,

Biscuits and cookies,

And refreshing Tea!

Happy rainy evening!

Enjoy lots of snacks,

Every time it rains,

Rain means partying!

A Statistical and Pictorial Summary of My 800 Blog Posts!

I am happy to announce that I have just completed posting 'My 800th article' to my blog – Raghu’s column! After I posted my first article to this blog site on 20th April 2009, I sent an email to my family, friends and relatives as follows: “Hi! Everyone, I have just started blogging under the title: ‘Raghu’s column!’ I strongly wish and hope I would find time to contribute regularly to this column on wide ranging topics: My views, memoirs, parties, forthcoming events, local issues / news, family announcements and many more topics. Please visit http://srisrilara.blogspot.in/ from time to time, please read my articles and post your comments for me and others to benefit”.

At the time when I began blogging, I never thought I would reach a figure of 800 blog posts. As events came up and ideas, thoughts and memories sprang to my mind I kept writing as and when possible and in these 5 years, to be precise in 62 months and 19 days, I have posted 800 articles with well over 6,000 photographs.

My youngest son, Srinath is abroad in UK since six years, my eldest son, Srikanth is in Bangalore since two years and my nephew, Dr. Uday Bhasker is away from home since several years in Pune, Delhi, Lucknow, Saudi Arabia for six years and now in New Zealand and similarly a number of my friends, relatives and ex-colleagues who are all far away are very happy to read my posts on current events of Hyderabad and those concerning me and our family. And the blog is serving as a ready reckoner for me, our family and friends over various subjects related to us and I presume it is helping a large number of other visitors reaching my blog in search of information.  

I wish to continue blogging as long as possible, as I am thoroughly enjoying this hobby. 

With a modest number of registered followers but a very large number of unregistered regular followers and hundreds of random visitors to my blog there have been 8,25,509 page views so far, from every nook and corner of the world, as you can see in the blogger statistics I have provided below. Actual page views are more than double or treble of 8,25,509! because many computers these days have complex firewall protection which do not allow Blogger to register their page views.

Here are pictorial glimpses of my blog statistics and my 800-blog posts: