September the 5th, 2011

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”

Like the famous virus named "Sunday" ended up printed the above on every February the 13th and also deleted all the files from the computer memory; for us it was September the 5th, when we deleted all the escalations and the cases from our memory & jumped into the pool of outing (that too on a working day). Special thanks to our new director for the innovative idea and also to the organizing team for a wonderful arrangement.


Everyone was confident that there would be loads and loads of fun in store for us and the place was right; Treasure Island - one of the oldest resorts in Hyderabad. To add to the fun, we gathered in the office and set out to our destination in a spacious bus where we had a special :) introduction to our new hires which included our new director.

To further cherish the memory in our hearts, a customized coffee mug was given as a memento and everyone said cheers with the welcome drink. We were wondering what comes next!!! We were asked to pick up some unknown thing from a bag. To our surprise it was only a coloured ribbon grouping us into three teams (Yellow, Blue and Pink). The events followed...

The first event led us to think --- What to do when we land up in an unknown situation? We learnt this from the Blind Fold Chase where we learnt the below language on the spot.

Two members were picked from each group, one of them would be blind folded and the other member would have to guide him with the direction (as above) to reach an object placed on equi-distant chairs and return it to a person standing in the middle. While all the people not participating had nice fun shouting out the same instructions to confuse the members further. Well it is always fun to make the situation tougher for the other person ;-). Team Yellow closed the chase in the shorted time closely followed by team Pink. Hurray !!!!

Tug of war
Once done, we were wondering ….. what’s next, and saw the long thick rope and guessed it right. As they say – “If It Was Not Art, The Strong Would Always Win”. You guessed it right too, it was indeed –The Tug of War. As always, it’s a great fun and also makes us realize the above quote. Nine members from the three teams had a tough task on their hands. Blue team won the contest with 2 consecutive wins followed by Pink with 1 win. After two games, the total points for the all the three teams remained equal proving that no one is less and it is that we always can learn from each other.

From Being the Champions in Tug Of War we jumped to being the Champions to another game soon. What best than the game of the World Champions. So, Could we skip the game of Cricket??? “No” would be the answer. We had a good game of cricket soon after. It was a high scoring 8 over match with the side batting first winning the game; ladies included in the whole play and they scored too.

In the middle of all of this, we could see some of us working with their laptops and support phones on some critical cases. This reminds me of the last part of the proverb stated earlier ‘All play and no work, makes Jack a mere toy’.

Tired and fatigued a rest was definitely needed. But more than the rest our body demanded fuel. We were damn hungry. A wonderful Buffet Lunch of Biriyani’s and Roti’s came to our rescue.

Lunch by the Pool side
After the nice leisure luxurious dining, the second half of the day added more life to the party. It was time to go Vroom Vroom Vroom………..How could we miss Go-Karting!!! It was fun all over with few of us trying to be Michael Schumacher bumping their karts into the boundary tyres. As usual free time was a time for posing; On of our official photographer was busy with special requests for photoshoots. Meanwhile, in the sidelines, the other expert cameramans, was silently clicking natural moments. Though it was not summer, yet the heat forced us towards the path leading to the swimming pool. We got drenched and jumped again and again into the water; But time seemed to be too short as it was already getting dark. Unwillingly everybody had to come out of the water for our return journey.

But oh!!! It was not all over yet and there was more excitement to come. We had a slot booked for ourselves in the Discotheque. We shook our hips in the Ecstasy Discotheque with the DJ playing all the popular English, Hindi and Telugu numbers.



When people are having fun, they get into the flow and it seems endless. However, as any other day, the day had to end. So tired, yet refreshed; We started our return trip from Treasure Island low on energy but high on LIFE.
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Ladakh - The land of Gompas

Ladakh is rightly called the 'Land of Gompas'. Almost every small village in Ladakh has a Gompas or a Monastery. Monastery or a gompas denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace(s) of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone (hermits).

Hemis Monastery is considered to be the largest monastic institution in Ladakh. It belongs to the Drukpa Lineage or the Dragon Order of Mahayana Buddhism, with His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa as its supreme spiritual head. It is located around 45 kms from Leh after crossing the Karo Military check post. The road to Hemis has its own beauty.

Hemis Monastery

Hemis has a wonderful museum which is a treasure house of more than 200 ancient Buddhist Thangka paintings and rare Gandhara icons. There are different murals all over the courtyard.

Hemis Museum

The courtyard of Hemis Gompa is the stage for the famous 'Hemis' festival which celebrates the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava. There is a huge statue of Guru Padmasambhava in the monastery.

A little ahead of Hemis is the Chemrey Gompa. This is another monastery which belongs to the Drugpa Order.


While returning from Hemis Monastery, we can see Stakna Monastery to the left.

Thikse Gompa or Thikse Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Yellow Hat (Gelugpa) sect, located on top of a hill, approximately 19 kilometres east of Leh.



The monastery is located at an altitude of 3,600 metres (11,800 ft). It is a 12-storied. One of the main points of interest is the Maitreya (future Buddha) Temple. There is also a 15 metres (49 ft) high statue of Maitreya, the largest such statue in Ladakh, covering two storeys of the building. Thiksey Monastery also has a Tara temple and shrines of Cham-spring - the protector deity of Thikse. There is also a Gold and Silver Stupa temple.


Maitreya Buddha

Shey Palace and the adjacent monastery about 15 Kms from Leh is the next in line located on a hillock east of Leh Town on the same Leh-Manali road. It was built by the king of Ladakh, Deldan Namgyal, also known as Lhachen Palgyigon and was as a summer retreat by the kings of Ladakh. The Royal family later shifted to Stok Palace.

This palace is mostly in ruins now and is not properly maintained. This monastery is famous for its giant copper guilded statue of seated Shakyamuni Lord Buddha. It is about three storied and said to be the second largest statue in Ladakh. The palace also has the largest Chorten (Victory Stupa), the top of which is made of Pure Gold.

Spituk Monastery is situated 8 kms west of Leh. It is situated in the top of a hill at an elevation of about 3,307 metres. The main festival is the annual festival "Gustor Festival" on the 30th day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar. The main image inside the Spituk Monastery is that of Lord Buddha. Along with that is a sacred image of Amitayus, about a finger high in length. There is also an impressive image of Mahakaal. We reached the monastery around 1.30 PM hence the monastery was closed.

Phyang Monastery is another Buddhist monastery located just 15 or 16 kilometres west of Leh. Gang-Sngon Tsedup Festival is the annual festival organized at Phyang monastery.

Other than these other monasteries like Alchi monastery, Likir Monastery and Lamayuru Monastery (or Moonland) is also very famous. All of these are located very near to the city of Leh.

Nubra Valley is also the home of few famous monasteries, like the Diskit Monastery at Hundar and Samstanling monastery at Sumur.


Diskit Monastery also known as Diskit Gompa is the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery (gompa) in the Nubra Valley region. Adjacent to the monastery is a 35 metre statue of Maitreya Buddha.


Karsha Monastery or Karsha Gompa is another Buddhist monastery in the Padum Valley of the Zanskar region.

There are several others which might not be as famous as the ones above and attract less tourist attention...
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