Tulsa-Day Visit

This year after New Year’s Day we decided to visit Tulsa for a day before our schools and jobs would reopen. After a few minutes of browsing through the internet and getting a feel of the weather for the next week and our schedules.

Source-meme.org

I know it was a holiday, but we had a few errands to run and visit friends. So, anyways we decided to make our visit on January 8th . The weather.com website predicted it to be a bright and sunny day. Not sure about you people, but I love sunny days during winter, because it makes the day brighter and gives me positive vibes.

Source-Dictionary.com

As we were planning for only a day’s visit so we had to be sure to choose the tourist spots that were important to our interests. We decided to visit the Tulsa Zoo, Oklahoma Aquarium and Gilcrease Museum. For the Musuem we got student tickets and the rest of the reservation were done for adult tickets.

From where we live , it took us close to three hours to reach our first stop “The Tulsa Zoo”. Once were done scanning the tickets through the counter, it was all cute animals and birds to be seen. Following are some of the photographs we clicked there-

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Soure- My Google Pixel 4 XL.

I was very scared when the tigress came so close to the glass. A side effect of watching multiple films Animal related films I guess. Well, going back to the tigress story she was growling and prowling the whole time we were there. I personally wanted to get away from her space as soon as possible.

Watching the peacock was really funny . He was definitely elegant , but was also strutting his presence there. He waited for us to click a few pictures , which I was surprised to see. Once we started walking away he followed us for a bit. It took us about 2:30 hours to walk through the whole place and yeah , a few of the animals were inside their shelters as it was a wintry day. Too cold for them.

It was close to noon so we decided to have our lunch and drive to the museum, because it was about to close soon. We were inside the museum for close to 2 hours. I mean we might have spend more time, but I was tired and wanted to sit every moment I saw a bench or couch.

Source: SayingImages.com

A few images from the Gilcrease Exhibitions going at the time.

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Source- iPhone 8.

They had quite a few exhibitions from but not limited to Native American culture and history. Some of their modern art based on pictures that we make memes out of were beautiful and inspiring.

Our third stop was the Aqquaariummmm! Well I was very giddy for that, because before starting for the place I got to nap for a bit. There were lots of exotic fish and sea animals that I had not seen before. Some pictures from the Oklahoma Aquarium-

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Source- My Google Pixel 4XL

The tortoise was a friendly guy. Stopping over that particular spot and got his photographs clicked with lots of people. In the aquarium they have concrete shells filled with water, where you can touch some of the marine animals. I as usual chickened out of that.

Finally we had a filling and delicious meal in Ti Amo Ristorante Italiano , somewhere in Park Plaza ,Tulsa. I will highly recommend that place, for couples,families and friends.

Before saying adieu. Here’s a picture of the dessert that I had.

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Source- My Google Pixel 4XL. New York Style Cheesecake.

Have a good week and a great Sunday evening everyone!

Wonders of New Mexico -Day 3

On our third day, we solely spent our time visiting the Bandelier National Monument.

These monuments preserve the homes and territories of the ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the South-West. Most of the pueblo structures date to two eras, dating between 1150 and 1600 AD.

So much for its history:

It was an hour and almost 45 minutes drive from where we were staying at the time. One our way we passed through the White Mountains which truly resembled its name at the time. Covered with snow the mountains looked amazing .

Source : My Google Pixar 4 plus

Clicked on Nikon L830

It was a wonderful experience for me as I had never seen such a picturesque view.

Once there, we first went to the Visitor’s Centre .

Clicked on Nikon L830

There we chose the “Main Loop Trail” which took us almost 1 hour 45 minutes to complete. Throughout trail there are ladders you must climb to get into the ancient Puebloan houses.

I have posted here some pictures that we clicked while walking through the trail.

When we began walking towards the Puebloan dwellings.

The houses from far. Try to identify the little ladders connecting the houses.

This well or large dug out area was supposedly used for some rituals as mentioned by the archaeologists.

View from a house. Notice the mountains opposite, covered in snow.

Mr. Long Legs sitting in one of the dwellings.

Us after we completed the trail.

I would rate this tourist spot a 5/5 . Please make sure to visit this monument when you are there in New Mexico.

Makar Sankranti-A harvesting festival

This is a puffed rice pithas its is placed in sugar syrup

Today it is the last day of the month posh as in the Hindu calender or you may say the calender started by Kanishka Maharaja.But some may consider that sankranti was on 14 January.This occurs particularly because of the tithis in panjika which are based on movement of sun and stars.On this day people take early morning bath in the rivers, thanking the Sun god.On this day according to Indic Solstice the sin enters the zodiac sign Makar or Capricorn.

Let me start with the state where I live its Assam and here people call it Bhogali Bihu.Since it is a harvesting festival ,so the food items are mostly prepared from the crop products, they are called pithas. Pit has are of different types there is Narikal pitha which is cylindrical shaped and laddoos are made from sesame. People sing and dance on bihu songs, they sit around bonfires particularly because it is winter out here.

Next I’ll talk about my native state West Bengal, even in this place various types of pithas are prepared.Traditionally there was a rule that the women of the house would bath at night and they would sit near the bonfire to prepare the pithas and their male counterparts would guard the house.On the night of sankranti thieves generally try stealing pithas and other households , so it was necessary to protect the house.

Here is a  story that I’m sharing.First hand you must know that in some parts of Assam the homes are made using and the walls are bamboo walls which can be removed when necessary.Last year after sankranti our maid servant didn’t come to work for almost a week. We were quite angry with her because we thought she had left without any premonitions.
After a few days when she visited us, she was completely devasted.When asked the reason , she said” Didi I had to construct a new house”, ” why, What happened to the old one?” I asked, she started crying and between sobs she replied “The theives they took everything with them including the walls,except the bed where I was sleeping.” This winter she had a brick walled house prepared.I guess there should be no more problem.

Coming back to food and pit has I must say a variety are prepared here .Some with rice powder,flour, milk, coconut etcetera.

Next comes the south Indian state Tamil Nadu here it is called Thai pongal.On this day people boil rice in large sauce pans in their porch under the sun and add milk , cardamom, green nuts in it.This is a sweet dish .They wear new clothes.But this traditional system is not followed nowadays.

Even if we consider the pithas of Assam and Bengal they are prepared almost two-three days prior to the main day. Its just because of the busy lives of people that we have to consider such shortcuts.

Now moving towards the state of Punjab .Here the festival is called Lohri, celebrated to mark the end of Winter.People dance bhangra and gidda around bonfire.Some people they move door to door singing songs.They are never returned empty handed. The punjabis prepare Sarso da saga,Makki Di roti, Gajak during Lohri.

Some sections of Sindhi call it as La Loi.

In andhra Pradesh the day preceding sankranti is called Bhogi on this day people forget about old things and discard them , then start on a new way.

In Gujarat Major Sankranti is celebrated by Kite flying and is called Uttarayan. Then kite or manjha is prepared in the homes of Gujarat a month prior to the festival.Iti marks the beginning of Summer.

Currently this festival is celebrated as an International festival in Gujarat.People from different countries participate here.People are served with Jalebis and Undhiyu.

So wishing everyone a Happy Makar sankranti I stop here.