Magnificent rock stacks that rise up majestically from the Southern Ocean on Victoria’s dramatic coastline.

Created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland beginning 10-20 million years ago, the stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore.

(source: visitvictoria.com)

Great Ocean Road – 1 of 2:

Great Ocean Road – 2 of 2:

Silhouette of the Tanjai Periya Kovil. Tanjai is short for Thanjavur and Periya Kovil the big temple dedicated to Shiva in the form of Brihadeeswara. Built almost 1000 years back, when the Chola dynasty was reigning supreme in the South of India. The crown, shikharam, on top of the main tower, vimana, is carved out of a single stone and weighs more than 80 tons.

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

~~~

A Contre-jour view of the Mecca / Makkah Masjid mosque, built originally during the reign of Qutub Shahi Sultans of Hyderabad in the 1600′s.

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

~~~

San Thome Basilica is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Santhome, in the city of Chennai (Madras), India. It was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers, and rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today. It was designed in neo-Gothic style, favoured by British architects in the late 19th century. Source: wikipedia

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

~~~

View article Planet 100: Top 5 Green Houses of Worship (Video News) on discovery.com

Background music is track Siddhi Vinayakam from the Album “Ganesha Murali” by Kudamaloor Janardanan. Video shot using my iPhone4 camera, on a recent visit to Ciudad de Mexico.

First Day (on the day of arrival at the hotel):

Next Day:

First impressions do matter .. particularly when it comes to toilet paper!

Pura vida literally means "pure life", but the meaning is closer to "full of life", "purified life", "this is living!", "going great", or "cool!" It can be used as a greeting, as a word of farewell, to express satisfaction, or to politely express indifference when describing something. The phrase has become widely known; this highly flexible statement has been used by many Costa Ricans (and expatriates) since 1956.[5] Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time, and of wanton friendliness. However, Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike. (Source: wikipedia)

A photomontage of vignettes from my home state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India. Made from pictures taken from my many trips between 2001 and 2008 to the place I used to call home. Set to the film song sorgamay endrAlum by I.Ilaiyaraja from the Tamil movie Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu (read, left one place to be at another) that basically tries to say, “Heaven is but no comparison to home!”.

Lyrics (Tamil) of the song:

sorgamay endrAlum, adhu nammoora pola varuma
ada ennAdu endrAlum, adhu nam nAttukkEdaguma
pala desam muzhudhum pesum mozhigal, tamizh pol inithiduma ..

yerikarai kaathum yelelelo pattum inge edhum ketkavillaye
paadum kuyil satham aadum mayil nitham pakka oru solaillaye
vethalaya madichi maaman adha kadichi thuppa oru vazhi-illeye
odi vandhu gudichu mungi mungi kulichu aada oru odayillaye
ivvoru enna ooru nammoru romba melu
ada odum pala kaaru veen adambaram paaru
oru dhaagam theera yeedu moru

sorgamay endrAlum, adhu nammoora pola varuma
ada ennAdu endrAlum, adhu nam nAttukkEdaguma
pala desam muzhudhum pesum mozhigal, tamizh pol inithiduma ..

mAdu kannu meikha meyuradha pArka, mandaiveli ingu illaiye
Adu puli Attam pottu vilayada, arasa maram medai illaiye
kAla rendu pUti katta vandi Oti, gAnam pada vazhi illaiye
thOzhigalai azhaiccu solli solli rasiccu, Attam pOda mudiyalaiye
oru yandhiratha pOla, ada inge ulla vAzhkai
idhe enge pOyi solla, manam ishta pada villai
nam oora pOla, oorum illai

On October 2nd 2009, two brave photography (and coffee) addicts set out to hike to North Dome in Yosemite for a sunset/moonlit view of the Half Dome. On our way we stopped at Starbucks in Oakdale, CA for some bean juice and was challenged in a taste test between Pike’s Place and the VIA (what?). We won and left with a few packets of Starbucks Via in our pockets.

This is what happened next…

Click here to see this video on the Starbucks “Share Your VIA Experience” page under the “Far Out | In the Wild” category.

We are waiting to hear back from Starbucks if our submission is going to be rewarded with some goodies!

“Onam is the State Festival of Kerala. It is celebrated in honour of Mahabali (also Mavaeli, Balichakravarthi or Bali, not to be confused with Vali), the mythical Asura king of ancient Kerala. According to legend, Mahabali returns to visit his (former) subjects on the day of Onam. Also a harvest festival, it falls in August/September. It was officially declared State Festival in 1961. Onam is now celebrated by everyone in the region irrespective of caste or religion.”

It is to Malayalis (people of Kerala) what ThanksGiving is to North America .. of course, including the big TG Dinner (sadya, in Kerala).

Below are pictures that I had taken during Onam time four summers back.  They are mainly from Thrissur and Aranmula (boat races).

These are photos that I had tagged Onam on Flickr.  I see that Flickr has titled this mashup as Onam Tag, which coincidentally means Onam Day in German.  Unintentional but very appropriate!

Events captured in the above slideshow are:

• Puli Kali or Cat Dance.  See http://www.onamfestival.org/pulikali-kaduvakali.html
• Kummati Kali or Masked Carnival Parade.  See http://www.onamfestival.org/kummatti-kali.html
• Vallam Kali or Boat Race. Famous is the Chundan Vallam or Snake Boat.  See http://www.onamfestival.org/vallamkali-boat-race.html

Here are links to some posts and photoblogs on Onam that I found interesting:

• Onam Ashamsakal = Happy Onam!
• An American’s Journey to understanding Onam
• Global Onam Photos Group on Flickr

Here is wishing a very Happy Onam or Onam Ashamsakal in Malayalam!

Last month, some of the bHive core team went on a weekend hike up White Mountain Peak (wiMp, 14,252ft) in INYO National Forest. The third highest peak in California, it is both fair weather and friendly… only insofar as you do not take it for granted. Boy, were there simple lessons learned from this day hike? Certainly, and all are as applicable to practicing Web Presence Management (WPM) as they are to life!

All Sugar and No Salt is as fatal to your Customer as it is to the Hiker
By some miscalculation, we all carried and snacked only on sugary stuff on our uphill hike. Big mistake. The idea was to ease our way to the top on “power” snacks, eat one of those ready-to-cook “real” hiker meals and cruise on the downhill hike. Not only did our systems reject the sugar even before we reached the top, but there also was not one tiny sheltered spot for us to light our backcountry stove. The terrain was barren and winds howling. In hindsight, a few saltines, nachos or even junk food like chips/crisps snacked periodically would have helped a lot.

What’s the parallel here to WPM? Corporate communications are like sugar. Customers, like your system, will reject it to the point of fatality if that’s the only diet they are fed. However, a contextual Social Media (SoMe) practice will keep your Customers trusting and engaged, just like the right pinch of salt snacked periodically keeps the system healthy and balanced. In salt, we trust (in just the right doses, of course)!

“Done that Altitude” is PAST, “Must Do Attitude” is PRESENT
Our hiking team has had its moments. Latitudes stretched, longitudes tested. And, some record altitudes attained, all in good health. All, however, in the past still did not adjust our attitude, what’s a wiMp by any other other name?

What indifference! Continue to be stuck in the past on the only ways you have talked to Customers, taking them for granted, and rest assured the wiMps will become IMPs – InsurMountable Peaks (or, Problems). What worked then is past. What must be done today is to engage in each uphill task with full transparency and deference (or, empathy). Always respect the Mountain, high or low. We need to Listen and Learn from our Customers – and give them a Voice — daily … today, everyday!

The Curious Case of Turtle Tao
We met a septuagenarian on our climb. He was on a solo road trip from Colorado to hike in Utah and California. Let’s call this gent Turtle Tao. He was ahead of us in the morning when we were driving from the campground to get started on the hike. He was driving slow-and-steady on the single-lane dirt road. Needless to say, us can’t-wait-to-calculate-return-on-investment-(ROI) types “forced” him to yield so that we could get there sooner. We started the hike much ahead of Tao. Surely enough, he caught up with us within the hour! He gave us company for the next 1-2 hours and then moved slowly ahead even as he seemed to accelerate without increasing his speed – walking or breathing. Finally, when we reached the summit Tao was there, again pleasantly inquiring after us. Offered me a sandwich bite and did take some summit pictures for our ROI. We lost sight of Tao shortly thereafter in our downhill delirium. He was the proverbial Tortoise, seemingly slow but surely steady and earnest. We were the insolent hares…already at the finish line with ROIs and dashboards!

There seems to be this raging, current fixation on SoMe ROI. Hopefully, we all do not forget that the main goal of Social Media (and WPM in general) is the trusted ongoing engagement it facilitates. Not the arrival at any specific end points or summits. To twist a famous traveling quote: “the point of this WPM journey is not to arrive.” Instead, the engagement and participation it enables are to be enjoyed, to be learned from, and ultimately… to be continued.

###

Here is a short slideshow from this hike: