I was at kanyakumari on 19 and 20 of February 2003. I had gone there along with 4 of my friends. Its a place where the waters of the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea meet. The sight of the 'sangam' or 'union' was extremely marvellous...I had not seen such a beautiful sight in my life! Nature is so perfect! It chose three different colours to the three seas and then made them meet. The waters meet without having any quarrel or hesitation.
The waves were roaring and drenching the rocks. The waves used to splash over the rocks with a lot of roar. Very quitely, the water used to drain out through the tiny fissures and pathways on the surface of the rocks. Everything seemed as if nothing had happened! the rocks seemed dry like desert sand till the next wave used to do the same. The sea was so vast. We were on the southern most tip of India. No where to go beyond this. We were facing the mighty seas! I felt like stretching both my hands wide and to hug the whole of the sea around me! It was an experience of a life time!
We were on top of the 'sunset tower' at 6:10 pm IST waiting for the sun to set. The sun was still bright and well above the horizon. At that time the sun looked the same old one to me....always bright and hot.....never ready to give up. Gradually, the sun started sinking towards the horizon. The whole sky turned orange and red. The sun seemed to be boating on the horizon with a orange lantern in the hand. For the first time in my whole life I felt that the sun was so very beautiful!....I mean, how can an object which you see everyday .....a common one....suddenly become so catchy to your eyes?....For a moment I fell in love with the sun. The sight of the beautiful sun, made me happy, and the fact that it will dip into the horizon and spread darkness everywhere, made me sad. The waters turned orange as the sun took a slow-motion plunge into the seas. The sun finally got completely covered by the water.my heart felt heavy.
But, after all the sun will come again tomorrow!
This is the continuation of my previous article. As i was telling, I was at kanyakumari and was delighted seeing the sunset. The next day morning, we were early at the sunrise spot to view nature's another important creation - sunrise. We were at 5:30 am IST near the sea. The moon was still full and bright. There was still 45 minutes to go to take the first glimpse of the sun. The moon spread its milky-light on the seas. The waves were gushing towards the rocks on the shore. The sight seemed amazing! The sea seemed voilent!...scientists call it high tide due to the gravitational attraction of the moon.
We were patiently waiting for the sun to show its face. The light ray from the light house was circulating over the waters and it seemed as if some one was painting over a large canvas with a long brush of white paint. It was 6:40 am IST now. the sky turned orange. The sun was about to appear within a few minutes. The moon stayed strong and said,' i am still bright'. the whole sight looked like a big and prolonged fight between the two - sun and moon! I was thinking, "why at all should the moon fight with the mighty sun when it knows that it has to lose?". The sky turned more and more orange and I felt excited. My eyes kept on oscillating between the sinking moon and the rising sun...both happening simultaneously....wow! what a sight it was! Its as if seeing a glimpse of the heaven! The sun slowly came out of the horizon saying 'hi!' to all the tourists who were eagerly waiting. I too said "hi!, happy to see you again after yesterday's departure." I was happy!
But, soon the sun came right above the horizon and became amazingly bright. I started feeling the cold rays of the moon fading and the bright rays of the sun hurting me! How come the sun become so voilent,so harmful?..."are you the same sun who very quitely sank yesterday without complaining?" we returned back to our hotel room with a feeling of achievement that we had seen the sunrise....and with a feeling of heaviness that the sun was so scrotching and its going to shine whole day bright and hot...making us to sweat and feel thirsty!
Well, here it is...your wait is over...I'm back from a lovely trip to Goa. (Note: The whole description is written in childish language. This style is called Innocent Narration. I learnt this style from a prose "The Ultimate Safari" from my grade 10 CBSE English text book. Hope you'll find it interesting.)
Day 1: My family and I started for Goa on 10th evening. We reached Panaji (Panjim) at around 9:30 AM the next day, 11th. We checked into the hotel where we had booked two rooms. We are four members (mom, dad, sis and myself). Each room was very spacious and had three beds. I took up one full room because the other three decided to stick to one room (I don't know why!! - anyway good for me!) As I have told you before, Goa isn't new to me. I had stayed there with my family for three years, but that was long ago (from '86 to '89!!). We first visited the office there where my dad worked. Surprisingly, even after 14 years (vanvas!!), my dad could recognize all his ex - colleagues, and even they could. We took some snaps with them. Then we visited the flat where we lived in an apartment. It is near the Santinez Church. The whole environment there seemed unchanged, as if time had stopped. The color of the paint was same, the trees were same, and the garden was same. But 14 years is supposed to be a long time, right? May be it resisted change, for us to recognize and remember the old memories! Anywayz, all that was very touching.
So, we were into the evening of 11th. It was late to go for any sight seeing there. We booked tickets for a one-hour drive on the cruise Paradise. There were other cruises like Santa Monica. Santa Monica is a very old one; it existed even 14 years back! Paradise is the biggest one presently. It started at 7: 30 PM. There was lot of dancing and singing going on. The sitting capacity was 400! The host was a sick guy! with his cheap and old jokes at which no one laughed. Many danced on the podium there, including myself. It was great fun. After one hour of singing and dancing, we were back to our hotel rooms. My parents decided to order dinner at the room itself, while my sis and myself went to a nearby restaurant. By around 9:45 PM, we were back. I came to my room like a king and decided to call up a few friends. And guess what? I called that person up about whom I was talking in my previous posts!! I do not know how this happened. But it happened! It was a 20-minute talk (May be sufficient to start with). However the conversation has put me in an impasse. I shall write about that soon; firstly let me finish up with my trip description.
Day 2: It was 12th and we decided to go on a sight - seeing tour of Goa. Usually such trips are divided into North Goa and South Goa trips. We decided on South Goa for that day. Our first destination was St. Xavier's Church. It houses the preserved body of St. Francis Xavier, which is nearly 400 years old and is kept in a glass box. The church is a fine example of the old Portuguese architecture. The ceilings are kept high with huge chandeliers hang down. The whole structure is made of red-black stones and parts of it have turned green due to algae. This gives an eerie as well as antique look. Opposite to the church, is a citadel and museum. The museum hosts a lot of Portuguese paintings and some antique sculptures. Our next destination was a series of temples. The first in the line was the famous Mangeshi temple. And then the Nageshi and Shanta Durga temples. All these temples depict a combination of Maharastra, Goa and Karnataka architectures. There is a huge tower in front of each temple and the roofs are slanting. There are huge halls and corridors. Usually there is a pond in front of each temple. Then we reached the Mayem lake.We had a lovely boating on the lake. It was a four-seater peddling boat. It was great fun. Then we reached a beach of silver sands. Its called the Kolava beach. It was very sunny when we reached there. We enjoyed the waves, which looked lustrous due to the noon sun. Then we had our lunch at a good restaurant there before we left for Dona Paula. On the way, we saw the Zuari Industries, a major producer of agro - chemicals like fertilizers. We also stopped at a spot from where we could see the Goa port. Huge ships were docked and iron ore was being loaded into them. Goa is one of the major producers of iron ore. This spot was at a great altitude and we could see the vast, unending and silent sea with tiny ships sailing far near the horizon. The sight was very alluring. On the way to Dona Paula, we even saw the Goa ship - building factory. We traveled on the Zuari Bridge where the shooting of Dil Chahta Hai was done.
Dona Paula is a spot on a place surrounded by rocks and sea. It is said that Dona and Paula, two lovers whose love wasn't accepted by their families, had committed suicide at this spot. There is a statute of Dona and Paula on the rocks. It's the same place where the shooting of the film Ek Duje Ke Liye starring Kamal Hasan and Rathi Agnihotri was done. If you have seen the film, there are many scenes shot on the rocks of Dona Paula, including the final suicide scene. When we were in Goa 14 years back, a ship had sunk near Dona Paula and only its rear end was visible half-submerged in water. It was then removed using sophisticated cranes to prevent oil leak and subsequent pollution. The famous and lavish hotel Cida de Goa is also near Dona Paula.
We then rode back to our hotel room and had a good night's sleep.
Day 3: We visited North Goa on 13th. This is full of beaches. We first visited two temples: Dattatraya and Pandu Ranga. They had similar architectures as that of the previous temples we had visited in South Goa. In the Dattatraya temple, we met an old man who had planted two African trees decades back inside the temple compound. The speciality of the trees is that the leaves, which fall from them, get mixed with the mud and earth and vanish away and so cleaning is not required. We next visited the three famous and alluring beaches - Vagatur , Anjuna and Calangute. Anjuna is a basically is a rocky region with the violent waves of the Arabian Sea gushing against the rocks, while the other two are true beaches with sand. Calangute is a family - beach with a lot of restaurants nearby. People visit in large numbers here and enjoy the waves. Many youngsters were playing beach volleyball and enjoying a swim against the gushing waves.
We then visited our favorite Baga beach. It is a calm beach with shades of trees for resting. The waves are less violent and smooth. We then reached Fort Aguada. This is the place where the trio in Dil Chahta Hai sit on the fort and watch the vast sea. I took some snaps there. We then drove back to the main city and visited the Miramar beach. This has a special importance for me. I studied in a school just in front of the beach. I was in my 2nd grade then and the name of my school is Sharda Mandir. The school still exists and has a huge campus to boast about. I stood in front of the main board and my dad took my snap. It was a childish plus emotional experience. The beach has swings, slides and other things to play. I used to play for long hours on the sand 14 years back. There is a huge cement fish with an open mouth. I used to get into it from the mouth and come out of its gills. It still exists now. A friend of mine used to live in a home in front of the beach and next to my school. He had a huge dog in his home and I used get frightened of the dog. His family has shifted to some other place now, but the house is still there. During my school days, there were two school buses, which were called Ramu's Van and Aaya's Van. I used to travel in Ramu's Van. Once I had missed the bus and ran behind it on the road. I had fallen down and bruised my forehead before I managed to stop the bus and get into it. My class was once taken to a picnic. Guess where? To the beach in front of the school!! There was also a small jungle near my school where I used to go for 'adventurous trips' with my friends. I had once claimed to my friends that I had spotted a cheetah in the jungle after which my friends never went there again and I was crowned the Brave Boy of the group! This is all I remember about my school and the Miramar beach.
We then returned back to our hotel rooms.
In the evening, we visited the Panjim church. This has also appeared in lot of films like Josh, which stars Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. Then we visited the Mahalakshmi temple. Finally we were back to our rooms.
Day 4: We went for a small walk down the market and streets. My dad met an old friend of his in the market. After some shopping, we returned back. In the evening, we left back for Bangalore. We reached Bangalore on 15th.
I would like to mention one thing specially: Goa has developed a lot. The roads are excellent and clean. All beaches are very clean and use of plastic is discouraged. The people there told us that the present Chief Minister, who is a graduate of IIT B, is a very efficient person.
Hoped you liked my description of Goa visit.
I am back after a lovely trip to Mumbai. Enjoyed a great Diwali there. I left to Mumbai on 22nd night. The train compartment was full of school students. They had come on a trip to Bangalore. I did not feel the strain or duration of the journey as I kept chatting and seeing the 'masti' they were doing. I again realized how much the fashion/trend is changing looking at these 'aaj-kal ke bachche'.
I reached Mumbai on 23rd night. My friend had come to receive me at Dadar. We went home (at Goregaon). There were three more of my friends staying there. I freshened up and then we sat down to cook dinner. We prepared 'aaloo ki sabzi', rice and some rasam. I got an opportunity to cut vegetables and prepare rasam after a long time. After dinner we went for a late night walk.
The next day morning, two of the friends were supposed to go to Calicut for writing some exams at college. They had no ticket and were to travel by the general compartment for 26 hours. We left early in the morning towards Lokmanya Tilak terminus. On reaching there, we found that the general compartment was full and there was no way to travel in a crowded compartment for 26 hours. It's really difficult and causes a lot of strain. I remember myself traveling for 9 hours standing near the toilet in the general compartment of Karnavati express right from Mumbai to Ahmedabad during my first year of engineering. It was really too too tiring. I had also traveled for four hours hanging from the door from Palakad to Calicut in March this year. My friends then decided not to go by this train and that they would try for 'tatkal' ticket for the train the day after next. We then returned back home as we roamed Vile Parle and Nehru road.
In the night, at around 8:30pm, we left for Marine Drive. We spent time till 00:15am there as we watched the waves of the sea and the pre-diwali crackers. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant and had some fried Chinese noodles. We caught the last train and reached Andheri. Had some vada pav and juice there. Two of my friends were to stay in the station whole night to book the tatkal tickets. The rest of us returned home.
The next day was Diwali. In the day time, two of us went to Juhu beach. Sat for some time there and had pav bhaji. On returning home we found that our friends could not get a tatkal ticket inspite of standing in the queue the whole of the previous night. They had bought two 'waiting list' tickets. Well, I remember myself waiting whole night at Ahmedabad station to get a ticket. That was a long time back (five years). From this we can easily realize the population problem in India.
In the evening, we went to Bandra. There we went to BS and also at the shopping malls. We visited the newly opened Globus Showroom, but I did not like anything there. None of the garments seemed special and the normal ones were highly priced. We then went to Marine Drive to witness Diwali. Wow! That was amazing. It seemed as if the whole of Mumbai was there bursting crackers. The decorative rockets filled the air as the 'phool jhadis' and 'zamin chakras' and 'bambs' dominated the road. The Queen's Necklace and Nariman Point seemed glowing. It was one of the best 'masti' times I had.
I could see the drastic economic disparity. There were families spending 15K on crackers and there were slum children collecting un-used and un-burnt crackers from the road-side and bursting them. We then caught the last train back and reached home.
The next day, we did not go out anywhere far. I roamed around Goregaon. At night, I came to CST and caught my train back home. Since I was traveling alone, I had to exchange my seat thrice under the request of passengers who wanted to remain with their families and hence have continuous seating arrangement. This seems to happen to me almost every time I travel alone. He he he. I reached home on 27th night at 11:15pm. I had not visited Mumbai since many years and this trip brought back and refreshed all my memories of Mumbai.
I am back from a long trip to Rajasthan. It has been my sixth long trip in the past one-year. However, this has been the most different and mysterious of all. There were many moments during the trip that made me contemplate a lot on various things. Don't worry, I am no where on the path to gaining Nirvana!
#22nd Jan, 2004 to 24th Jan, 2004: I shall start off with the two-day journey in the second-class compartment of Bangalore-Jaipur Express. I initially thought that I should have flown and then claimed LTA. But, I was wrong. I got to meet so many people. We formed a lovely family during the journey. There was a retired engineer from the Indian Air Force and his wife who were traveling to Jaipur to attend a marriage; both so kind and ready to share their rich experiences of life. There was a young ambitious businessman dealing in buying and selling of gold; going to Udaipur to meet his would-be wife. There was a smart, music-loving businessman dealing with electrical goods in Secunderabad; going to Jodhpur, his hometown. There was a carpenter who was carrying a huge dhabba of Fevicol and a suitcase. And surely everyone had something to say. Discussions beginning from the sweets of UP to IT of Bangalore and from business versus services to ghosts and love. Pata hi nahin chala ki do din kaise bheet gaye! We exchanged visiting cards and well wishes. By staying in Bangalore it becomes very difficult to come in contact with the real India. This two-day journey surely had a lot of teach me.
24th Jan, 2004: I reached Jaipur in the morning and the day was booked for visiting places within the city. The Jantar Mantar and Mahals ofcourse fascinated me. But, the most fascinating thing is the Amer Fort. The mammoth structure has its own charm. And ofcourse the Jal Mahal with its beauty adorned with water on all sides.
In the evening I went to meet my dad's colleague and friend. I had to give him some sandalwood pieces that are widely available in Bangalore. Had a long evening-night stroll round the city. Once a person gets used to facilities and easy-availability of needs, it becomes very difficult for him/her to adjust in a place lacking or scarce in these. That's what happened to me. I had to go in search of an ATM for long and also an Internet browsing center. Started contemplating on how much I have changed in the past six months in Bangalore - getting used to availability of facilities within arms-reach. It's certainly good that India is very diverse; we get to see all things in all measures!
25th Jan, 2004: Well, this day has been discussed a lot by Sheetal, Neha, Aparna and Richa. But, as S puts it, it's tit-for-tat now! So, me too going to write about this day - the day when we had a small bloggers' meet at Banasthali. On my way to Banasthali, I stopped at a place called Niwai at 8:30am. There was some time left to board the bus from there, and so decided to have a cup of tea there at one of the roadside shops. This brought back my memories of college life, when we used to go at 2am for tea at the roadside shops outside our REC campus. Our favorite used to be tea and mixture (namkeen). There was a superstition in our hostel that if we eat namkeen at Veenu's roadside shop, then our exams would go well. Well, I don't know whether its good to be superstitious on namkeens or not, but all my exams during engineering did go well! Infact, the namkeem became so famous that many articles and photographs in our college magazine were based on this! The bus then went through a long road stretching across the BV campus. I could experience the calm, serene environment (though the gals claim that its not calm inside hostels…obvious!). I got down and my first glance made me feel that I am in midst of a studious 'beautiful' (pun intended) environment with girls of all ages carrying books in hand and walking. I went to a small girl who was busy sketching some thing on a chart paper. I asked her where was the nearest intercom. And to my surprise she asked me to pose for her painting if she told me the way to the phone booth! Well, yehi cheez baaki reh gayee thi mere liye! Luckily I saw the phone myself and called up N. N's voice sounded as if her excitement would pour out of the receiver! I waited sitting under a huge tree, for the lazy gals. My first opinion of the environment was like this is a place stretching for thousands of miles, very calm and occasionally some people moving across. But, it wasn't as dull as I thought because the gals had arrived. I could recognize Richa and Neha. And was introduced to Sheetal and Aparna. As it is said that the first impression is made in the first thirty seconds, I felt that S was the most cutest-sweetest person I had ever met. And I still hold that viewpoint.
We then moved on to the canteen (or market...whatever they would call it!) I ordered for the most-discussed burger! Well, the patented burger of BV isn't that disgusting what the buddies claim! I liked it! It can surely be made a staple-food at BV!! We got N to sing a song. And then started the campus-safari! Sitting on the steps along a poolside watching birds (the ones that have wings and beaks!) catching prey in the water - wow what a lovely sight it was! One can never get that calmness in a place like Bangalore! Though I had a lot to say but somehow let the buddies speak. They spoke of the typical college talks - "usne aisa kiya aur meine aisa kiya aur hostel me yeh hota hai aur classes mein yeh karte hai" kind of stuff! It feels so great to hear such things - the same things that I used to be engrossed in when at college. It makes me feel that life changes so fast - we tend to feel a lot more serious and responsible once starting to work, and thereby losing all the innocence and childishness we have within! R and N were exactly the same as I thought them to be. R is cool, talkative, kind and a bit emotional, while N is cool, a bit shararti, kind, and sweet. Appu, too a cute and typical masti-type gal. But S surprised me a lot. She speaks very sweet and is very sweetish cute - a person with whom you could sit and talk for hours. Then came the turn to get back to the canteen. I had only a cold coffee. I guess the buddies are waiting to stuff me with pizzas and other eatables, next time! And then I was shown the computer science department. And then I left back to Jaipur by the 3pm bus. I want to tell a huge 'thanx' for the lovely gifts you people gave me! And it's a great pleasure meeting you people. We surely had a great day!
26th Jan, 2004: One good thing that I had done on 24th was to book a deluxe bus ticket to Jodhpur for 25th night. So, on 25th night, after returning from BV, I left for Jodhpur. The bus was very comfortable and the ride was very smooth. I would like to state one point here that the state highways in Rajasthan are pretty good. It reached Jodhpur at around 5am. I was fast asleep and did not notice that I had reached Jodhpur. I was asleep in the bus for almost 15 minutes after reaching Jodhpur when an auto-rickshaw driver entered the bus and woke me up. I was supposed to meet my friend there. But where in Jodhpur will I go in search of him at 5 :15 am !? He was supposed to call me, but hadn't done so. So, I decided to take up a room in a hotel. The driver took me to a hotel, where to my surprise and sheer coincidence I met my friend!
Jodhpur is a lovely place. I would say, better and cleaner than Jaipur. We arranged for an auto-rickshaw to take us to all tourist spots. I would say that Umaid Bhavan, the royal palace, now converted into Welcome Group hotel, is an amazing place to visit in Jodhpur. And so is the fort of Jodhpur - truly magnificent and mammoth. Jodhpur gave me a feeling that I am truly in Rajasthan - those sandstone structures with rustic look! The houses are painted blue to give an effect of coolness because Jodhpur is the hottest city in Rajasthan (I guess that's why its called the Sun City).
In the evening, upon returning to our hotel, I met a Swede girl named Fida. With just a small introduction and talk we became friends and went for evening tea. I learnt a lot about the life style and culture in Sweden from her. She works in a departmental store in Stockholm and is also attending the University there. She is 21 and stays with a guy Daniel away from her home, which is in a remote part of Sweden. She started narrating how she felt about the Indian culture. She also started telling about how girls like her in Sweden have the dreams of remaining beautiful, rich, and have a home. About how people in India consider her to be rich just because she is a foreigner, even though she is actually poor back home. Shopkeepers quote higher prices just because she is a foreigner. Well, the currency exchange rates might make her cash expand in India, but not to a very large extent. We exchanged ideas and views about India and Sweden. It was almost dark when we parted. I was supposed to catch a night bus to Jaisalmer. So, I packed my luggage and set off to Jaisalmer.
27th Jan, 2004: This is undoubtedly an amazing place to visit! We reached Jaisalmer on the morning of 27th and checked-in to a hotel. A jeep was arranged for visiting all the tourist spots there. We visited the various Havelis and forts. The Jaisalmer Fort is an amazing creation - the sandstone gives it a rustic bright look thereby creating an ambience of roughness and dryness - the one for which this desert-land is know for. From the top of the Fort, the whole city of Jaisalmer is visible. Though not a vast city, the sight is fabulous.
We visited the five Havelis of the Maharaja. They are seven floors tall and have a cryptic darkness within. There are mysterious passages to walk though and narrow secret steps to climb. We then visited a Haveli of the Darbar. It has decorations in the form of flowers made of sandstone. The interesting thing of these decorations is that they are removable! The stones are just screwed into the walls and are detachable easily. Due to lack of water, the walls are built of sandstone fastened to each other by iron rods. Interesting!
I met a person who was in charge of the maintenance of the Haveli. He seemed to be a frustrated man. He was not happy with the Indian possession of Jaisalmer and wanted it to be under Pakistan. He was reasoning out that Nehru wanted Jaisalmer to come under the Indian territory because it would be difficult for the Pakis to cross the desert and enter into India. However, I remember that the guard of the Umaid Bhavan Palace in Jodhpur had told me that during the 1971 war, Pak was successful in bombing even up to Jodhpur, thereby crossing over Jaisalmer. In the afternoon, we proceeded towards the Royal Cenatophs and the places where some archeological excavations were going on. We also had a look of the giant wind mills erected along the way to the desert.
By around 4pm, we started moving towards the sand dunes on the desert. We met two foreign tourists - Mr.Peter from England and Mr.Massalimoss from Italy. Peter is a software engineer and Massalimoss is a historian-archeologist.
The desert safari was a truly amazing experience. Unforgettable! I thoroughly enjoyed the camel ride. I reached the sunset point in midst the sand dunes by around 5:10pm. Since there was sufficient time left for sunset, I decided to go on the camel for further distance. I have now learnt how to ride a camel! :D Its so trained that you pull the left rope and it goes left, you pull the right rope and it goes right, you pull both and it stops and you rotate the rope and it runs. I went a long way till the army helipad. Also saw some bunkers of the 1971 war. The person, Albak Khan, who owned the camel, was telling me details about the desert life and his village. He came from a village called Sum, which is 40km from the border. His only earnings are from the tourists who come for camel rides. His camel on which I was riding is only 8 years old. It's going to participate in the camel race during the Desert Festival held now. Camels usually are able to work till 20years of age, after which they are taken and abandoned in the Rann. Later I returned back to the sunset point and had a lovely view of the sunset on the desert. Though the view is not as marvelous as the sunset on the oceans at Kanyakumari, but it did make an exotic sight!
We then returned back to our hotel. In the night, we went out with the two European tourists for dinner. We had a splendid time out there. I ordered for some Chinese Manchurian and Tibetian Tappo and Spinach-Garlic soup. We spoke a lot about the Indian and European cultures. Massalimos told me that Indian beedis are very famous in Rome and they are very expensive there. Peter had a lot to tell about the culture in England - the social structure, marriage, lifestyle, etc. He is 41 years old and has been staying with his girl friend (who is from Warsaw in Poland) for the past 15 years. Yet, they haven't married. They would marry only if they decide to have a child. He had visited more than 50 countries and loved traveling. We later exchanged visiting cards and also had a snap clicked of us. It was late night 12:30am when I returned back to hotel room. We had a lovely day in Jaisalmer!
I guess many of you have seen the desert pics that I have sent to you people. Aren't they fabulous? :D
