To All Dear Guests to People and Places

1. India bids younger brother
 Pakistan Adieu in 1947*

Welcome one and welcome all                 

I would have exclaimed, if in a hall                                                    

But smell the Floral, Rose Bouquets 

And hear the Thundering Loud Applause  

My heart does give, to all of  thee

I'm grateful  Dear Friends, for visiting me.   

                                        

Pakistan, Bangladesh, India's Wings 

2. Sand as far as eyes can see

Thank you for visits, I joyfully sing

Home of sands and vacant lands
Yet Saudi Arabia, a true treasure land**

                                                                                                            

3. Baalbeck (Heliopolis) Lebanon***

                                                        

Lebanon, Turkey, westward me

Each a delight, tourists do see

Hong Kong, Philippines, Pacific darlings

Enchanting both with maritime rings

Thanks for visits, my soul does say

Be safe, come often, my lips do pray

                                                                                                

4. All green and blue is Philippines 

                                                                      

Landlocked Czech,  European country

I salute you dear, for  high HD****                                                                                                                                                                        

With your hard work, the world has been lit

Do accept my thanks, for your kindly visits

                                   

                                                                                                      

5.Castle Karlstejn is one of the most fairy
 tale castles in The Czech Republic  

Bartholomeu, Mandela, Gandhi  in sight 

They touched, in South Africa,  eminent heights

Land of Gold and land of Diamonds******

Thanks for visits and Jai Hindh 

6. An ancient monument to Bartolomeu Dias***** 
at the Cape of Good Hope

Pictorial Sources:
1 exoticans.blog.co.in
2 scottragsdale.com 
3 habeeb.com 
4 hayatalk.org
5 citypictures.org
6 factoidz.com 


Notes: 

 *Photograph by Margaret Bourke-White from Khushwant Singh’s book 

   Train to Pakistan, Roli Books.


**Saudi Arabia has the world's largest oil  reserves  and is the world's largest oil exporter.

***Baalbek is a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon at an altitude  3,840 ft,
   situated east of the Litani River It is famous for its exquisite temple ruins
   of the Roman period, when Baalbek was then known as Heliopolis 
   It is Lebanon's greatest Roman treasure, and it can be counted
   among the wonders of the ancient world


****HD here means  Human Development and The Human Development  Index (2009),
     ranks Czech republic as a "Very High Human Development" nation.

*****Bartholomeu Dias is famous as the first European to lead a 1487 voyage 
  around the Cape of Good Hope on the Southern most tip of South Africa.
 1497:  Dias accompanied the expedition led by Vasco da Gama to India
 1500: May 24: Bartolomeu Dias dies in a violent storm in the Cape of Good Hope


******Diamond and gold discoveries played an important part in the growth of the early
 South African Republic. Diamond first discovered on the banks of the Orange River in
 1867  by Erasmus Jacobs. Gold was discovered in the area known as Witwatersrand,
 which led to the Witwatersrand Gold Rush of 1886. South Africa holds the world's
 largest natural reserves of gold (40 percent according to South Africa Yearbook 2009/10)


Roses from allindiaflorist.com

Environment - Nature Has Yet To Care

1. Though Simla
 Welcomes Me

2. And  Mussoorie
Beckons Me

3. But Crowded Simla
 Now Wakes Me

    

Morning night. What a sight!

Mighty mountains. What a height!                                               

Valley deep with sides so steep

Rain doth fall as Heaven weeps

                                                                                           

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                        
                                                              

4. Mt. Abu* Just
Reminded Me

                                                                

Fallen trees, trampled pastures

Hill stations, closed chapters

Dense settlements man does make

Nature forbids, still not wakes

Rumbling traffic, multistory

Yearly landslides, what a gory?

Rising pollution, darkened waters

Raising alarm, no more laughter

      
         All things man makes takes no time
         But nature takes its own time
        
         If creator man cannot be
         Destroyer he hath no right to be

For one generation to the next 

Nature has yet to care

5. Its Time To Reflect Upon       

* Mt. Abu is situated at a height of 5,650 ft and is the highest peak in the Aravalli Range
  of Rajasthan state in western India. If one compares its vegetation to eastern part of Africa
  specially Ethiopia and Eritrea one would be astonished to find the sheer similarity between

  the two. And Alfred Wegener's Continental Drift Theory comes alive once again!

Pictorial Sources

1 to 5 from Mary's Archive

Specially to Dear Visitors to People n Places

1. Catalonia , Northern Spain

With flower bouquets, And thank you notes  

To all my Friends I have always wished

Darling Spain, you are a dear

In my heart you shall always reign

First Guest to my humble site

May you touch the greatest heights

2. The Non-Aligned Movement was founded in Belgrade;

 Principle founders, during the Brijuni Islands summit in 

Yugoslavia (1953); left to right: Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia,

Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Jawaharlal Nehru of India.

Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, China Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina  Love to each, each one of you  May our bonds be tighter sewed 3. Serene River Danube, Bulgaria  Canada, Malaysia, Tanzania, Australia  From Polar North to Temperate South To entertain you further I hereby  vow And will rack my brain to do it how 4. Rainbow on Land, Tanzania  Sweden, Taiwan, Japan, Spain I am sure you never much lacked in rain Thanks for visits, Friends I have gained Thanks dear US and thanks my near UAE  Atlantic in between yet United You are High profile Netherlands though country low-lying * My sincere thanks  for visitors being To Singapore, where Malacca** roars To Peru, my visitor new To Israel, Biblical  Promised Land 5. Peru is  famous for creative handicrafts such as      musical instruments, jewelry,  wall carpets,  handmade     pullovers,  wood carvings,  traditional clothing etc.  United Kingdom with its Royal ring And to Italy always ready to sing With a bow I thank you all 6. People singing and playing instruments  at Harvest Festival, Rapagnano, Marche Region, Italy Last of all, I  thank my motherland*** For nourishing me, with so loving a hand          How dare I forget, The Almighty One         Thank You Lord, for all that You have done. Please get me more  bouquets and a camera too To welcome Guernsey and Ukraine too 7. Guernsey Guernsey small, although you are But, from your existence, Wisdom showers Evidences of Global warming on you And plucked off from mainland****,  You have been through Hold on dear Guernsey Soon help comes to thee Promise to protect the environment we In very near future do wait and see ________________________________________    *About 25% of its area and 21% of its population is located below sea level. **At Phillips Channel close to the south of Singapore, the Strait of Malacca narrows to 2.8 km (1.5 nautical miles) wide. *** Land of Sages now Modern India ****Rising sea levels caused by prehistoric global warming transformed Guernsey from being the tip of a peninsula jutting out into the emergent English Channel around 6000 BC, into an island when it was cut off from continental Europe. Although Guernsey is geographically closer to the Normandy coast than to the south coast  of England it is a dependency of the British Crown Thus it is one of UK's three "Crown Dependencies" along with Jersey and the Isle of Man. Pictorial Sources  1. hookedoncycling.co.uk  2. en.wikipedia.org      Belgrade is the capital of Serbia 3.  britannica.com danube 4.  trekkertime.com 5. blog.hotelclub.com 6. superstock.co.uk 7. offshorebankingtoday.com  Note: Some unique, fascinating destinations in Tanzania         are Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti          Game Reserve, and beach Islands like Zanzibar.