By Arun Palaniappan

On the first Sunday after the Full Moon on the month of August, which translated to August 8^th, we held the Hindu festival Raksha Bandan in Balagokulam. Raksha Bandan was supposed to be on August 5^th, but since that was a Wednesday, a workday, we celebrated it on Sunday. We had our usual activities at the usual time up until the boudhik. We talked about Raksha Bandan and its qualities for 20 minutes, and then called the Balas over. After a few minutes of instructions, we got the rakhis and actually started tying them. We tied them to the people sitting next to us. At 12:00, Balagokulam ended and everyone left, but not for long.
Read the rest of this entry »

August 8th, 2009
-By Adhithya Rajakumar

For a long time, Subramaniya Bharathi shaaka (Bellevue, WA) was making plans for a Kishor get-together. After much thought, the decision was made: a hike in Cougar Mountain. The proposal was met with much rejoice from the Kishor, who had loved the outcome of their previous get-together—a hike at Rattlesnake Ledge.
Read the rest of this entry »

The day dawned bright and clear. It was the perfect day for a hike! Last Saturday, on August 25, Anilji, Paragji, and Devendraji took the Kishore gana of Bellevue shaaka for a hike to Rattlesnake Ledge, a 2-mile hike to the top. The group consisted of me (Adhithyaa Rajakumar), Aditya Joglekar (Version #2), Soham Pant, Arun Palaniappan, and Akshath and Abhinand Sivaprasad. We met at the Bellevue shaaka at around 7:00 A.M. in the morning. Traveling in two groups in Anilji and Devendraji’s cars, all of us had a fun 20-minute ride to the hike: chatting about boy stuff, joking around, and talking excitedly about the big hike ahead of us. Once we arrived at the site, the shikshaks, Anilji, Paragji, and Devendraji, quickly made sure we had everything ready, and set off almost immediately.

Read the rest of this entry »