Sarang Cultural Exchange Center http://culture.saranghills.org Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:31:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 In the Rice Bowl (of Kerala) http://culture.saranghills.org/in-the-rice-bowl-of-kerala http://culture.saranghills.org/in-the-rice-bowl-of-kerala#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:37:27 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=1023 IMAG2728.jpgIMAG2730.jpgIMAG2734.jpgIMAG2736.jpgIMAG2737.jpgIMAG2739.jpgIMAG2740.jpgIMAG2741.jpg
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]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/in-the-rice-bowl-of-kerala/feed 0 Moria http://culture.saranghills.org/moria http://culture.saranghills.org/moria#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:23:24 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=1019 It took me some time to get into the yoga practice, but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed feeling that my body started to wake up. The whole daily routine was actually very different from what I normally do while travelling, but it was a good change. It felt really healthy to eat three set meals every day and I really loved the variety of traditional South Indian dishes that I normally wouldn’t have eaten.
It was great to stay at the centre and be part of the family. I love how Anu and Gautham want to share their life and knowledge with us. It was great to be part of this simple, but very colourful life. It was also very interesting to meet the children who attend the alternative school and see how they live and learn in a very special way.
Being at the centre after months of backpacking felt like coming to a home, finding some rest and meeting great people!

]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/moria/feed 0 Lilian http://culture.saranghills.org/lilian http://culture.saranghills.org/lilian#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:18:54 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=1015 Learning Hindi with Anu was great fun! One-to-one classes really worked well for me because we were able to go through the grammar at a very fast pace and I still had plenty of time throughout the day to go through my notes and do my homework. Although I only stayed for one week, I acquired all the basic Hindi knowledge I needed and definitely learnt more than I could have in a normal school with bigger classes.
Apart from the great course, living in the centre and spending time with the Sarang family was a real treat. I don’t think I ever ate such delicious Keralan food! But the best part was the evening Kathakali performance that Anu took us to and the beautiful and crazy festival in Abi’s village. I’m very happy to have seen all those local, hidden away sides of Kerala, way off the beaten tourist track!

]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/lilian/feed 0 Walking back to (old) Kerala http://culture.saranghills.org/walking-back-to-old-kerala http://culture.saranghills.org/walking-back-to-old-kerala#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:03:48 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=1008
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Fort Kochi

]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/walking-back-to-old-kerala/feed 0 test http://culture.saranghills.org/test http://culture.saranghills.org/test#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:31:12 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=1003

]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/test/feed 0 On AIR! http://culture.saranghills.org/on-air http://culture.saranghills.org/on-air#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:52:12 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=997 All India Radio (AIR) hosts a variety of programs including music, talks or drama. Occasionally we get chances to present programs in the nearest AIR station at Trichur, two hours from the Center.  The program was in Malayalam. We presented a drama, folk songs and classical instrumental music. We went and came back by bus and carried our food with us, so as to reduce the total cost and to stay healthy.

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]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/on-air/feed 0 Cycling trip http://culture.saranghills.org/cycling-trip http://culture.saranghills.org/cycling-trip#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:11:03 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=975 Children of Sarang School along with Gopalakrishnan and Vijayalekshmi made a trip from Pathirippala to Attappady. They covered 80 kilometers including the long hilly stretch.

]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/cycling-trip/feed 0 Class on Stars and planets http://culture.saranghills.org/class-on-stars-and-planets http://culture.saranghills.org/class-on-stars-and-planets#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:06:35 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=972 A class on stars and planets was conducted for the children from the village. The experts and equipment were from Cochin University of Science and Technology.  54 children from the nearby area enjoyed the lively classes, which included making a telescope on their own!

]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/class-on-stars-and-planets/feed 0 The ghost train! http://culture.saranghills.org/chamundi-hills-mysore http://culture.saranghills.org/chamundi-hills-mysore#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 01:11:47 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=960 We visited Mysore partially for personal reasons and partially for promotional ideas. We wanted to know where people go, what do they do etc. Chamundi hills is supposedly a place where a lot of people go from around the world. After roaming around in Mysore for a while, we took a bus to Chamundi hills. It was one of the comfortable Volvo buses. (we should have taken some photos of the buses) While returning from the hill we saw a sign board of an Ayurvedic center. We requested the driver to stop at this nowhere from we started a long walk. The Ayurveda center was not very informative. However we saw very interesting things on our way back. We enjoyed the walk of around 4-5 kilometers.

If you are interested in Chamundi hills, please visit this link to wiki. They have a lot of information about the hill there.


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]]> http://culture.saranghills.org/chamundi-hills-mysore/feed 0 Blue sky and a charging elephant! http://culture.saranghills.org/masinagudi-trip http://culture.saranghills.org/masinagudi-trip#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:39:18 +0000 Gautham Sarang http://culture.saranghills.org/?p=951 Masinagudi is a small town in the Mudumalai reserve area in Tamil Nadu. If you are interested in wildlife, this is a place we would like to suggest. The images are from our mobile phone, sorry if you expected some wildlife photos. This is basically about the place we stayed, some good places we visited and a drive through the reserve towards a dam.

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