Modular Dreams...

Whirlpool...

Thought Process...

Enjoy your Coffee...

Just another forwarded parable that caught my interest...

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead.

The Demon Within...

hay...

Pic I clicked in Darmapuri when I went to visit my friend Architect Sasi Kumar. The amazing colors and freshness of rural Tamil Nadu...

Bird on the Bathroom Window...

Chaos...

Mind Games...

Butterfly hunting...

The Wheels of Life turn on...

Kids , Kites and Kabul ...

Afghan days 01 ...Tapa Maranjan 2006

on a snowy day...

My first trip around Kabul took me to the top of a small hillock called Tapa Maranjan. Right on top you find the mausoleum of King Nadir Shah who ruled between 1929 and 1933. I didn’t take the risk of going down to the basement chamber where the actual tomb is kept. The wars had totally battered the once beautiful building.
The hillock is a famous summer destination for flying kites. The locals come in hundreds to fill the sky with amazingly beautiful kites of different shapes and colors.

From my Office Window...

Kabul Lake in Summer...

Afghan summer snaps...

Colors...an Indian Terrace !

Colors...an Afghan shop

Virtual food!?

I got a surprising call from Chennai today. It was my classmate from college (Architect Saravanan) who rang up to inform that he found my name mentioned in the Hindu Magazine yesterday. Instinctively (though asking for too much) I thought it must be one of my buildings that's been featured...but darn! on the contrary and quite unexpected, it was about my food exploits in Afghanistan. Of course I must agree with Viji that at one point of time Ashokism was mistaken by many to be a 'food blog' . I had to force myself from posting more on food and focus my Cam on other equally interesting things in Life.

Viji is at her best when she writes about her favorite subject - Food!
Read her article here...

short break...

with so many things happening in Life in recent times, I couldnt keep my blog ticking ....Ashokism will be back in top gear in a few days...

Change is the only thing thats constant in Life.

PS: G O O D B Y E ......A F G H A N I S T A N !!!

Swedish Mission Hospital Campus at Thirupattur...01

The Swedish Hospital at Thirupattur was started in 1909 by Dr.F.Kugelberg, a Swedish Eye Doctor . The land was gifted by the Raja of Sivagangai. It was patronized by Raja Sir Annamalai chettiar and also other wealthy families from the chettiar community. A host of Swedish doctors dedicated their service to the upliftment of this once backward area ..The campus was gradually handed over to the Tamil Evangelic Lutheran Church (TELC) and run by Indian doctors after Independence. The campus houses a nursing college and a blind school aswell. But due to mismanagement and internal politics of the Church in recent times, this once reputed institution has been closed down and has become a part of history.

The main entrance of the Swedish Hospital... a sad sight! 

the quite corridors that connect various wards & departments...now used only by cows, stray dogs and snakes

Stone laid in 1930 ..in appreciation of 25 years of Dr.Kugelbergs' service 

The Memorial built on the spot were the Marudhu Brothers were executed and burried by the British in 1801.

UPDATE : Good news! The Hospital is in the process of revival...Pls click "SMH" for more updates