Enthralling Trails

 My cabin was filled with students. There was a lot of space outside the cabin where long benches with cabinets were lined for people to sit but none wanted to do that. They had their bags on their shoulders and it was stifling. I gently opened all the windows, switched on the fan and said, ‘One at a time, please leave your bags outside…’ They walked out and waited in the waiting area. The odd semester end-term submissions were due for numerous subjects for these undergraduate engineering students. As faculty, we were responsible for courses related to Humanities and professional development. Most of our assignments happen during class hours, but we do have end-term submissions to help students update their work and submit their hard copies. Their work is then organised in files and the students have to submit these, later these files are attested by the heads of the respective departments Due to the retreating pandemic, we are still getting used to the new schedules. It is also diffic

  Every year, the month of January rings in the invocation of Lord Surya, the Sun God. We also welcome the year with a festival named Makar Sankranti that marks crop harvests, like rice, lentils, beans, sorghum, and millet. Some call the festival Maghi. This festival follows the Solar cycle and is almost constant, unlike the festivals that follow the lunar cycle. Makar Sankranti festival commemorates the transition between the winter and summer solstices with longer days and shorter nights as the sun moves towards the North. According to mythology, Sankranti is celebrated in appreciation of the divine who killed the evil Sankarasur and Kinkarasur demons. In Pune, the temple of Ayyappa located at Shasta Hills is surrounded by the Sahyadri Mountains. This temple celebrates the festivities with pomp and splendour. The temple is a replica of the Ayyappa temple in Pulmedu near the river Pampa in Kerala. The route to the temple at Pulmedu is a terrain path through dense forests. One has to t