#top public schools in goa

[neerajedunext]

The Ardee School: The Best School in Goa

The Ardee School is a leading co-educational institute in India that offers an inspiring, enriching, and inclusive academic environment to its students. The school is one of the top schools in Goa and is known for its Montessori-based curriculum, which is designed to provide a strong foundation for students to excel in their academic and personal lives. Curriculum

The Ardee School follows the Cambridge/IGCSE Board and offers an Elementary Montessori program. The curriculum is designed to provide a well-rounded education that prepares students for the challenges of the future. The teaching methodology is student-centered and encourages students to be active learners. The school's tie-ups with international institutions provide students with a global perspective and exposure to diverse cultures.

Assessment

The primary purpose of assessment at The Ardee School is to support and enhance student learning. The school uses a variety of assessment methods, including formative and summative assessments, to evaluate student progress. The assessments are designed to be fair, transparent, and objective, and provide students with feedback that helps them improve their learning outcomes. Extracurricular Activities

The Ardee School offers a range of extracurricular activities that help students develop their talents and interests. The school has a well-equipped sports facility that includes a swimming pool, basketball court, and football field. The school also offers music, dance, and drama classes, which provide students with a creative outlet to express themselves.

Admission

The Ardee School offers regular admission to students who meet the eligibility criteria. The admission process is designed to be transparent and fair, and the school provides support to parents and students throughout the process. In conclusion, The Ardee School is the best school in Goa, offering a world-class education that prepares students for the challenges of the future. The school's Montessori-based curriculum, student-centered teaching methodology, and focus on extracurricular activities make it an ideal choice for parents who want their children to excel academically and personally."

[hiimanshiiitsolutions]

Flats for Sale in Panvel, Maharashtra: A Growing Hub for Homebuyers

Panvel, a bustling city in Maharashtra, is witnessing a significant rise in demand for flats, making it one of the top emerging locations for property buyers. Situated in the Raigad district, just 30 kilometers from the bustling Mumbai, Panvel has been evolving from a quiet town to a rapidly developing urban center. Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or looking for an investment opportunity, flats for sale in Panvel, Maharashtra, offer a range of options suited to diverse needs and budgets.

Strategic Location and Connectivity

The main attraction of Panvel is its excellent connectivity. Located near Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, Panvel benefits from proximity to essential urban centers while offering the peace and tranquility of suburban living. With the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, National Highway 4, and the Mumbai-Goa Highway passing through the city, residents can easily travel to various parts of Maharashtra.

The Panvel Railway Station serves as an important transit hub, connecting the city to major locations in Mumbai, Thane, and beyond. The ongoing infrastructural projects, such as the Navi Mumbai International Airport, are set to further enhance Panvel’s connectivity, making it an even more attractive location for real estate investments.

Affordability in a Growing Market

For many prospective buyers, affordability plays a major role in choosing a location for purchasing a flat. Flats for sale in Panvel, Maharashtra, provide an excellent opportunity for buyers to own a home at competitive prices, especially when compared to the high real estate rates of Mumbai. The city’s affordable housing options cater to various buyer segments, from budget-conscious individuals to those seeking mid-range or luxury apartments.

While the prices in Panvel are lower than those in more established areas of Mumbai, the city is witnessing significant appreciation in property values. This makes it an ideal time for prospective homebuyers and investors to buy flats in Panvel, as it offers both affordability and the potential for high returns on investment in the future.

Developing Infrastructure and Modern Amenities

Panvel has experienced a surge in infrastructure development, transforming the city into a well-equipped urban area. The development of new roads, improved public transport facilities, and the establishment of schools, hospitals, and shopping centers have elevated the city’s livability quotient. Many modern residential projects in Panvel are equipped with top-notch amenities like swimming pools, gyms, landscaped gardens, and recreational spaces, offering residents a comfortable and convenient lifestyle.

The growing number of commercial and retail spaces has also added to the city's appeal. From malls to local markets, Panvel has become a one-stop destination for shopping, dining, and entertainment. The presence of essential services and leisure facilities ensures that residents enjoy a balanced lifestyle, blending work and play.

Green Spaces and Quality of Life

One of the key reasons why flats for sale in Panvel, Maharashtra, are becoming increasingly popular is the serene environment and abundance of green spaces. With sprawling parks, nature trails, and scenic views of the surrounding hills, Panvel offers an idyllic setting for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.

In addition to green spaces, the city boasts clean air and a relatively lower pollution level compared to urbanized areas like Mumbai. This makes it a great choice for families and individuals who prioritize quality of life and well-being. The presence of ample open spaces also allows for a wide variety of outdoor activities, promoting a healthy lifestyle for residents.

Proximity to Industrial and Employment Hubs

Another significant factor driving the demand for flats for sale in Panvel, Maharashtra, is the city's proximity to several industrial hubs and employment centers. With industries and businesses spreading across Navi Mumbai and the Pune-Mumbai corridor, many working professionals are increasingly choosing to live in Panvel for its convenience and lower cost of living.

Moreover, the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport is expected to further boost employment opportunities in the region, leading to an influx of professionals who will be looking for residential options in the area. As the city continues to develop, it is poised to become a major commercial and residential hub in the coming years.

A Bright Future for Real Estate

With its prime location, affordable housing options, modern infrastructure, and high quality of life, Panvel is undeniably an attractive choice for anyone looking for flats in Maharashtra. As the region continues to evolve, the demand for flats in Panvel is expected to rise even further, offering homebuyers a lucrative investment opportunity.

Whether you are a first-time buyer, a growing family, or a real estate investor, Panvel offers an exciting array of options that promise both comfort and potential. Now is the perfect time to explore the flats for sale in Panvel, Maharashtra, and make an investment in this fast-developing city. As the area grows and prospers, your investment will continue to appreciate, providing you with long-term value.

[plotbuygoa]

Plot for Sale in Goa, India: Your Ticket to a Tropical Retreat

Goa, India's coastal gem, is celebrated for its sun-kissed beaches, vibrant culture, and relaxed lifestyle. Now, envision owning a piece of this stunning paradise—a plot of land that offers endless opportunities, whether for building your dream home, starting a business, or making a sound investment. Here's why buying a plot in Goa is a choice that blends lifestyle with potential growth.

Why Choose Goa?

 Unmatched Natural Beauty

Goa is a haven for nature lovers, boasting golden beaches, lush greenery, and serene backwaters. Owning a plot here lets you immerse yourself in the beauty of this coastal destination, with the ocean as your backdrop and tranquil surroundings to call home.

 Cultural Richness

Goa's unique blend of Indian and Portuguese heritage creates a culture that’s truly distinctive. From its historic architecture and vibrant festivals to its world-famous cuisine, living in Goa means being part of a community that knows how to celebrate life.

 Booming Real Estate Market

The property market in Goa is thriving, driven by demand for vacation homes, rental properties, and commercial spaces. Investing in land here isn’t just about lifestyle—it’s a forward-thinking financial decision with promising returns.

 Business Opportunities

With millions of tourists visiting annually, Goa offers abundant opportunities for businesses like vacation rentals, cafes, and boutique hotels. Owning a plot here could be the first step toward building a profitable enterprise in a high-demand area.

The Appeal of Goa’s Plots

Buying a plot in Goa offers freedom and flexibility unmatched by pre-built properties. Here’s what makes owning land in this region so attractive:

Prime Locations: From beachfront properties with spectacular sea views to quieter inland plots surrounded by nature, there’s something for everyone.

Customization Potential: A plot gives you the creative liberty to design and build a property that perfectly aligns with your vision, whether it's a cozy retreat or a commercial space.

Close to Amenities: Goa's well-connected infrastructure ensures that essential services like schools, healthcare, and shopping centers are within easy reach, no matter where you buy.

Top Areas to Consider

North Goa

The northern part of Goa is vibrant and bustling, making it ideal for those interested in nightlife, tourism, or rental properties. Areas like Anjuna, Vagator, and Calangute are hotspots for commercial investments due to their proximity to famous beaches and popular attractions.

South Goa

South Goa is known for its peaceful environment and scenic beauty. Ideal for building private villas or second homes, locations like Colva, Betalbatim, and Palolem offer a more relaxed and exclusive vibe.

Inland Regions

For those seeking a quieter life away from the coast, Goa’s inland areas like Margao and Ponda are perfect. These regions provide a mix of traditional Goan charm and modern conveniences, surrounded by lush greenery.

Key Factors to Consider When Buying a Plot

Owning land in Goa can be rewarding, but it’s essential to do thorough research and plan carefully. Here’s what to keep in mind:

Verify Legal Clearances: Ensure that the land has clear titles and proper documentation. Verify that it’s free from disputes and compliant with local regulations.

Zoning Laws: Different areas in Goa have specific restrictions on construction, especially in eco-sensitive and coastal zones. Check these before making your purchase.

Accessibility: Choose a plot that’s well-connected to roads, public transport, and essential services like hospitals and schools for convenience and value appreciation.

Budget Planning: Apart from the cost of the plot, factor in additional expenses like registration fees, development costs, and legal charges.

Eco-Friendly Considerations: Opt for sustainable building practices to preserve Goa’s natural beauty and comply with environmental regulations.

Why Now Is the Right Time to Invest

Goa’s real estate market is on a growth trajectory. With increasing interest from investors and tourists alike, property prices are expected to rise steadily. Investing now means benefiting from both current affordability and future value appreciation.

Conclusion

Buying a plot in Goa is more than a financial investment—it’s an opportunity to embrace a lifestyle that’s as enriching as it is relaxing. Whether you’re envisioning a beachside villa, a thriving business, or a serene retreat, Goa offers the perfect canvas for your dreams.

Take the first step toward owning a piece of this paradise. With the right guidance and a clear vision, you can turn a plot of land in Goa into your personal oasis or a lucrative investment. Start your journey today and make Goa your permanent slice of heaven.

Source Link :- Click Here

[realestateeee]

DLF Villas Goa | A Prime Residence For Luxury Living

Nestled amidst the serene landscapes of Goa, DLF Villas Goa offers a haven of luxury and tranquility. These luxury residences are meticulously crafted to offer a luxury living experience. Immerse yourself in the beauty of Goa while taking part in the comforts of modern living.

A Symphony of Luxury and Nature

It is more than just houses; they may be a testament to architectural brilliance. Each villa is designed to harmonize with the herbal surroundings, growing a feeling of peace and serenity. Lush greenery, breathtaking perspectives, and a gentle breeze create an idyllic atmosphere.

Indulge in World-Class Amenities

Experience the epitome of luxury with an extensive variety of world-class services. From non-public swimming pools and connoisseur kitchens to cutting-edge health centers and spa facilities, It cater to your every want and preference.

Private Swimming Pools: Enjoy fresh dips in your private pool, surrounded by lush greenery.

Gourmet Kitchens: Unleash your culinary creativity in spacious and modern-day kitchens prepared with top-of-the-line home equipment.

Fitness Centers: Stay healthy and wholesome with contemporary gym equipment and personalized schooling options.

Spa Facilities: Pamper yourself with rejuvenating spa treatments and massages to unwind and relax.

Landscaped Gardens: Enjoy leisurely walks or picnics in fantastically landscaped gardens.

Security and Safety: Rest assured with advanced protection structures and 24/7 surveillance to provide safe and stable dwelling surroundings.

Discover Nearby Landmarks

DLF Villas In Goa  is effortlessly placed close to several of Goa's maximum famous attractions:

Anjuna Beach: Experience the vibrant ecosystem of Anjuna Beach, regarded for its flea marketplace, seashore events, and stunning sunsets.

Vagator Beach: Explore the secluded coves and rocky cliffs of Vagator Beach, a famous spot for surfing and swimming.

Chapora Fort: Visit the historic Chapora Fort, offering panoramic views of the Arabian Sea and the encircling panorama.

Old Goa: Immerse yourself in Goa's wealthy history and way of life by exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Goa, with its impressive church buildings and cathedrals.

Casino Royale: Enjoy a nighttime of pleasure and glamour at Casino Royale, considered one of Goa's premiere casinos.

Embrace the Goa Lifestyle

Experience the laid-again and colorful way of life of Goa. Indulge in scrumptious local cuisine, explore the charming markets, and absorb the sun on pristine seashores. DLF Villas Goa provides the best base to discover the splendor and variety of this mesmerizing state.

Make DLF Villas Goa Your Home

Whether you are seeking a luxurious vacation home or a permanent house, DLF Project In Goa offers a living enjoy. With their first-rate design, world-class amenities, and prime location, those villas are the luxury and comfort.

[emaraldhotelsandresorts]

How To Plan A Budget-Friendly Vacation In 2023

Travelling is one of the greediest hobbies where any number of destinations is not enough and you keep asking for more. However there is an option to add more experiences for less by planning budget-friendly vacations. The following discussion would help you plan affordable and economic vacations with the help of some research and travel without compromising on quality.

Choose Destination

Within India one could travel to States like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala for an extensive vacation without hurting your purse. These places are known for their interesting cultures, beautiful nature and mouth watering food. One could explore the less known tourist destinations of these States and enjoy their holiday without denting the quality of the vacation.

Set Budget

Arrive at a realistic budget after considering your income, savings and other expenses and try to fit that with the accommodation, transportation, food and activities that you wish to experience.

Using cash motivates you to spend prudently and avoid overspending. Separate cash to multiple compartments and carry only what you need for the next few hours. Avoid using public Wi-Fi since it is notorious for its security risks.

Consider Off-Peak Season

In India, the months of January, February and March are considered as off-peak seasons since they coincide with school working days. Likewise summer seasons are also off peak seasons owing to the hot climate.

Many airlines in the country offer discounts during these months when you can expect great deals. Besides saving money, the vacationer also avoids crowds and the stress that accompanies the rush while staying in top resorts in Kerala.

Affordable Transportation

Affordable transportation during budget friendly vacations, are materialized by booking flights well ahead and opting for trains and buses wherever possible. While staying in Cochin hotel rooms, using local buses and ride sharing services saves a lot of money.

In another case, even if it takes 12 hours to reach Manali from Delhi if you travel by bus, think about the scenic beauty spread all over en-route. Also use self driven rental cars if it could save money for you.

Budget Friendly Accommodation

Look for budget friendly hotels which are clean and comfortable to sleep and possess only the basic amenities and facilities. After all, you are not travelling to indulge in a posh hotel room for a few hours.

Apart from popular cities like New Delhi and Chennai, budget hotels in Kerala like those in Cochin and Calicut offer the best stay at competitive rates. Read reviews and avoid unwanted amenities that are added to your room tariff by asking for such deductions.

Food

Enjoy local cuisine, eat at local restaurants and try street food. Ask suggestions from friends and relatives because the true taste of your holiday lies at these places. Avoid restaurants in tourist-heavy areas and those with fine dining options since they are prone to be costly.

One could try ‘Thali’ or Indian plate at Indian resorts which have a wide spread of dishes in a single plate. The platter varies among States, but is filling, nutritious and tasty all together. Also you could look for combo meals.

Activities Like Sightseeing

Find out the local attractions like beaches, temples and historic places which offer free admission and explore the rich tradition without paying for it. Avail free or cheap walking tours from your accommodation in Delhi, if available, which are usually guided through by locals.

Such tours lead you to the unique architecture and history of your holiday destination. Opt for hiking in hills and forests which charge minimum entrance fees. Take part in the ongoing local festivals and feast yourself with the dance and music that are staged there.

Travel Itinerary

Strategic planning which involves expenses and prioritizing activities in the bucket list helps a lot in executing a budget-friendly vacation. Consider affordable destinations and try to travel in weekdays or off-peak seasons when flights and hotel rooms cost less.

If you are travelling to hill resorts in Western Ghats, try cheap hotels in Kerala which offer value for money without damaging quality in food and accommodation. Choosing a hotel which is centrally located works if it is walkable distance to destinations.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance defends the traveller from unforeseen medical expenses during the holiday, theft, trip cancellations. Without travel insurance your vacation to premium resorts in Kerala  is highly susceptible for a catastrophe.

Travel insurance also safeguards you from the financial loss incurred by the cancellation of flights or the entire holiday by itself. That way, your purse is defended from an unnecessary dent.

Budget Travel Apps

Be it Ooty places to stay or visit to Chennai, employ budget travel apps and online travel agents who help you to access the best deals in flights, hotel rooms and other activities. By doing this, you can leverage the information that they collect from various sources and compare prices and amenities to reach the best deals.

The user reviews and ratings found here are extremely useful to make decisions and also give less known tips about where to eat and stay.

Negotiating With Service Providers

While in hustling places to stay in Chennai which is busy enough, negotiate with vendors concerned when they are less busy and check if the accommodation could be bundled with air transfers if possible.

If negotiations do not work, gently walk away or ask for other value added services and upgrades which are complimentary.  Compromise a bit so that you could reach a centre position which is acceptable to both.

Conclusion

Emphasis on local sim cards or activated roaming plans to stay connected and yet cut communication costs, using reusable water bottles instead of buying packaged water are some of the huge range of options to save money on a vacation. But the central idea is to stay alert and invent ideas spontaneously to spend less and enjoy more.

[tejastravography]

Visiting Goa During Monsoon – All You Need To Know !!

Best Hospital In India

We may also use this information to periodically contact you with news or important information or to request your feedback on our site. In addition to these periodic updates, we may email you additional materials, but only if you specifically request them. These might include opt-in newsletters and other materials that you proactively request. From experiential tours for the thrill-seekers to something for the ultimate road-trip lovers, we have listed all the offbeat destinations for vacations. Picturesque locations, experiential tours to the vineyards of Nasik, valley treks to the mesmerizing Munnar, don’t miss out on these exotic experiences with magicpin.

The hearts of one and all were filled with delight at the Annual Junior Sports Day. The KG. Sports Day was held on Friday, 1st February, 2019 on the School Grounds. In excitement and anticipation, the students lined up to put their best foot forward and win the coveted medal on the race track.

I bought this bike on 1 July, and then I travelled 1300 km. After my first service, I felt its mileage became much..... 5 Ways to Tighten Your Loose Skin After Weight Loss Ms.Swati Kapoor One of the most common problems of weight loss is loose skin. This occurs especially when you lose too much weight too q ...

This public transport makes sense if cost is not an issue and comfort is on top priority. It is best not to share taxis with strangers especially in the downtown regions. Mostly the drivers in India are unskilled and untrained, some even drive vehicles after consuming alcohol, and this is one important reason of the frequent accidents in India. Also there are no rest areas for long distances, so the driver tends to drive continuously, he gets tired, fatigued, starts driving carelessly and this also sometimes lead to accidents. 4.1 As per the available information, a large number of employees are not found wearing uniforms while on duty.

Most of the beaches and water sports activities are closed due to the rough seas and very few beachside shacks stay open. Swimming and venturing out into the sea is strictly forbidden during this season. The disadvantages of Visiting Goa in Monsoon is winter calendar of Goa is packed with parties, festivals and cultural events. Goa rouses from its “susegad” and gets busy in doing what it does the best. Pampering the visitors with the best parties and catering to their every whim. Though the average temperature in winter months stays between 15°C to 32°C, the sea breeze cools everything down during the day.

On Tuesday, 5th July 2016 Gourima Babbar and Vickram Peter accompanied by Staff Member Ms. M. Karkera represented our School in this event, at Greenlawns High School, Breach Candy. On Friday, 15th July 2016 Sanjana Gupta and Rushabh Kapasi accompanied by Staff Member Ms. P. Pawar, represented our School in this event, at Jankidevi Public School, Andheri. The students took a pledge to not smoke, avoid passive smoking and support those who want to quit. His talk also highlighted the importance of striving for excellence and not being afraid of failure, sparking philosophical and life-changing thoughts in every student's mind. Everyone who attended this conference went home convinced that each of us must change our lifestyle to save this planet.

The evening ended with an endearing and nostalgic Power Point Presentation which took the students down memory lane and left many with a tear in their eye. Mementos were distributed, and the students were bid a fond farewell by our Principal, our Senior Academic Co-ordinator, and all their teachers. The dance session and dinner that followed was enjoyed <a href="https://tejastravography.com/goa-during-monsoon/">can we visit Visiting Goa during Monsoon </a> by all. The surprise of the evening came in the form of a video which showcased Std. A.S.K. Veer Karan secured a Silver medal at the Homi Bhabha Young Scientist Talent Search Examination conducted by Mumbai Science Teachers Association on 9th March 2019. The competition was enjoyed by everyone as the children recited poems expressively and confidently.

Through Case Study Method, students learnt about the physical features, flora, fauna, minerals, threats to Antarctica in terms of research and tourism. Students watched a video on the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore.They, then, went on to create their own creative version of the National Anthem in 4-5 lines and presented the same to their class. The students had to design a monster, state the qualities their monster possesses and the threat it poses to mankind. They did this to further their understanding of the lesson, ' The Capturing of the Iron Man'.

The students were divided into groups and asked to research on the chemicals used in fire crackers. Their usefulness or the harm caused by them was illustrated by the groups in the form of a poster. They were sensitized about the harmful effects of firecrackers. Students discussed and compared present day Mumbai and the well planned city of Harappa. This set them thinking on the benefits of proper town planning.

It can be more than a mess to deal with Goa monsoons, the windy weather and heavy rainfall can be a huge problem. You might end up getting stuck at places if you don't keep these important factors in mind as it's better to be safe than sorry. We're not denying that Goa looks the most beautiful during the month of monsoons but it comes it its own pros and cons.

[mysticdelusionblaze]

Are You Dreaming of Your First Internship 2021?

Internships are the perfect way to boost your productivity, abilities and gain major experiences. This year I am interning at CollegeTips.in. It is my first internship and is a lot more than I thought.

Facts About CollegeTips.in

Launched in 2017, by Bhopal based Vipin Tripathi, CollegeTips.in is aimed at creating content for students. It is the fastest growing start-up in India with the greatest number of followers in its domain. So far CollegeTips has reached 25 lakhs students with the help of 200+ members working as a team. It is also the biggest recruiter of interns in India, with a record of providing internships to over 25000 students. In just 4 months of lockdown (due to Covid-19 Pandemic), CollegeTips has recruited more than 5000 interns. Apart from this CollegeTips.in also has Training Programs (CT Classes) and Volunteer Program for Society (CT Care Volunteer Program).

Currently physical offices of CollegeTips are located in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Indore and Bhopal and they are planning to step into few more big cities including Raipur, Jaipur, Gwalior, Ahmedabad & Goa. Also, internationally in Hungary.

Top 5 Reasons Why CollegeTips.in is The Coolest Start-up in India

CollegeTips.in is India’s fastest growing start-up company whose Mission is to Make student’s life easy and happening. It is a popular platform and several publications like Times Now, The Economic Times, Outlook & The Business Standard published about them. Be it the influencers or the Union Minister CollegeTips.in remain the talk of the town.

1. Whether you are from Science, Commerce, Arts or any other stream. CollegeTips is for everyone. They even provide internship to school students.

2. CollegeTips make you grow in every area. The internship is a multi-domain one, which includes various tasks from various fields in one internship. Contrary to other companies where selection is strictly confined to one particular field.

3. There are no interviews for the internship, as CollegeTips believes in giving chance to everyone. Whereas in the other companies there is always a selection process.

4. CollegeTips lets you work with likeminded, creative & innovative people in a stress free and cool environment. Also, they are the only platform where one gets to work with people belonging to various states.

5. CollegeTips provides easy and confidence boosting tasks, which require a very short duration of time for completion and ultimately preparing you for the upcoming challenges.

Conclusion

CollegeTips helps you to develop what’s inside you. It is the only platform in India where you get a chance to grow & explore in every area. Highly recommended for the applicants looking for a cool Internship.

 By: Soham Mondal

For more information please visit- https://www.collegetips.in

#CollegeTips #CollegeTipsinternship

[chibivesicle]

Koito Otonoshin is from Kagoshima; what does the city and area reveal about his character.

While on holiday, I was very lucky to have a chance to visit Koito’s very own hometown of Kagoshima, in Kagoshima Prefecture on the southwestern part of Kyushu.  I’ve grown more attached to Koito’s character as the manga has developed and I’m more curious to try to figure out what he will do in the manga now that he has been “reunited” with Tsurumi.  So, I figured why not go visit his hometown in January when the weather will be lovely [it was]. I will admit that I tricked my Mom to go with me not knowing it was a Koito research trip, but at least told my brother.  He was fine with it since he had wanted to visit the nearby Miyazaki prefecture anyways.

This will be a little bit of a different meta post as I’ll present things I observed and try to place Koito in the context of them.  This is based on my opinion and how I interpreted and observed things around me. Please keep that in mind when reading!

To get to Kagoshima, I took full advantage of the JR Rail pass for tourists and left from Kyoto to Kagoshima-chuo, the main train station with a transfer at Shin-Kobe.  I went down in early January and it was lovely to see the scenery become more green as I went further south.  Kyushu has a different feel than the island of Honshu, you see subtropical and tropical plants and it really feels different than other parts of Japan that I have visited e.g. Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.  This was my first time visiting Kyushu and I really loved the southern part of the island.

If you are using a rail pass to get there, it will take you some time, it was about 5 hours or so in total from Kyoto.  If you go from Tokyo, it will take at least 7 hours and that is just from Kagoshima-chuo to Shinagawa (Tokyo area) station.  If you are unable to use a JR pass, like my brother who is currently working in Japan, or you have very limited time, the best option is to fly, say from Tokyo-Haneda to the Kagoshima airport (40 min bus ride from downtown Kagoshima).

The most obvious thing about Kagoshima and the area, is how different it is than parts of Honshu.  The entire area has that tropical/subtropical feel.  It was January and the weather was quite pleasant, around 14-16 degrees C as the high during the day and lows around 7 or so.  It was sunny and there were flowers blooming everywhere in gardens and parks and you are right next to the bay!  It was so lovely.

I have somewhat limited travel experience in Japan only able to previously visit cities like Nagoya (for work), Gifu (for work but Oda Nobunaga!), Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima, Tokyo and Shizuoka (for maguro tuna) before this trip.  What I can say from the start is the feel and look of Kagoshima is different than these other cities.  There are more colorful buildings in Kagoshima, some were green, lime green, light pink, magenta and orange intermixed with the more standard, black, grey, white of the modern Japanese landscape.   The urban landscape was more varied and interesting than other cities I’ve been to in Japan.

There were many older western style buildings and street lights / lamp posts that looked like they were from 1880-1930. For example here is a public building that clearly looks like it is from 1900-1930 or so.  I tried to figure out what it was, but it simply said civic building and likely was now associated with the performing arts center right next to it from about the 1950s/1960s.  You can see lots of cycads(!) planted out in front of the building.  

The city still runs streetcars that have old lamps as a part of the posts that hold up their electrical cables.  I forgot to take a picture of some of the streetcars; half of their cars were old, ~1940s-1950s at the newest as well as sleek modern streetcars.  I snapped this photo of the streetcar operator while riding in the city.  Yes, it is an old lever operated drive system!  It appeared to be made by Mitsubishi, and you can see the flowers blooming in the background.

A great example of a more western style building was this large department store in the downtown part of the city.  It is the Yamakataya Department store, and after some quick online searching it appears to have been built around 1917 with other parts added on over time.  You can find more photos of it on TripAdvisor.

I spotted other older Victorian and turn of the century buildings in the city which added to the unique vibe of the city.  While wondering around the local shopping arcades looking for a restaurant, we stumbled upon an interesting glass ceiling at one of the intersection of the arcades.  Four locations are shown on the map, Kagoshima, Malacca (Malaysia), Goa (India) and Basque (Spain).

This one shows Kagoshima and Malacca, with ships, churches and random people meeting missionaries, specifically Jesuit missionaries including Francis Xavier, who visited and converted people to Christianity in Kagoshima in 1550.

The Basque region of Spain, where Francis Xavier is originally from, though he worked throughout Asia.  He was a pretty successful missionary all things considered.

It highlights his time as a missionary in Goa, India

And of course in Kyushu, including Nagasaki and other places as well as Kagoshima.  I find it quite curious they have the classic Greek constellations on the sky and not the Japanese ones.  It is quite clear that the Jesuit missionaries had an important influence on many people in Kyushu and they still have the highest number of Christians in Japan.  I would guess that local people commissioned this artwork since it clearly celebrates the life of Francis Xavier and connects Kagoshima to the other places he lived and worked.

Kagoshima is uniquely situated as how far south it is from both Kyoto and Tokyo [Edo].  By road it is between 800-900 km to Kyoto and 1,300-1,400 km from Tokyo.  This implies that it would take a long time before modern technologies in transportation to go between the places of power pre-Edo period and during the Edo period.

I was able to visit Sengan-en an estate of the Shimazu family.  The Shimazu family held power in the region since around 1300 and were both powerful warlords, but also successful in international trade due to their location on  Kinko Bay.  As the Shimazu family were still under the power of the Tokugawa shogunate they were required to journey to Edo, but as a result of the distance, they had the longest overall travel time out of everyone in Japan.  I’m sure you can quickly realize that having such a distance from the central government also resulted in the Satsuma domain having more freedom than say a powerful samurai family in Shizuoka.

Even when the Tokugawa shogunate closed off most of the country, this region was still able to trade internationally by proxy through the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) and developed more international style cuisine as a result.  Sweet potatoes were introduced via Okinawa and the Satsuma sweet potatoes are everywhere.  I bought and tried some dried-ish sweet potatoes that looked like twizzlers, but were underwhelming (I think this was a tourist trap, oh look sweet potato things, I’ll try them!). At Sengan-en, we ate some of the baked sweet potatoes of the local variety which were incredibly delicious as just plain potatoes.  I’ve had baked sweet potatoes elsewhere in Japan and outside, but this was the best plain baked sweet potato I have every had!  I also got sweet potato candy which is delicious, a variant of the famous Bontan Ame (a citrus caramel candy), also invented in Kagoshima!  Bontan Ame is also a great candy, I love the subtle citrus flavor.

The sweet potato are the purple caramels on the right and the citrus Bontan Ame on the left.  quantivore’s Koito is excited with Tsukishima in between! (quantivore’s artwork can be found on instagram @quantivore ). 

Bontan Ame are popular with high school girls . . . for some odd reason I think that Koito would like them too!

I was able to sample some local Kagoshima shouchu, which again, is not surprisingly made from their famous Satsuma sweet potatoes!  It tasted good and was pretty strong. I may have had more to drink than I should have with my yakiniku. There were soooo many varieties of shouchu to choose from in the area and they were sold at pretty much every gift shop!  I did not buy a bottle since I was afraid to haul it all around Japan and break it on accident.

Recall that the manga highlighted that the Sakurajima daikon are cultivated in the area around the Sakurajima volcano and are the largest daikon in the world as introduced in chapter 197.

I was unable to see a full daikon in the flesh, while visiting the Sakurajima Geo-Park, I did spot some growing in the ground and you could see large leaves!  I really wanted to see a Sakurajima daikon, in person.  The daikon was found on public city artwork and designs.  I had to settle with only seeing their leafy tops while on a bus, though I bought a small daikon charm and my brother found me a plushie at the airport.  I did eat some daikon (already cut to a much smaller size) with the regional black pork which was delicious.  The pork was richer than normal ground pork and the daikon melted in your mouth as you ate it cutting through the richness of the pork.

The daikon is important to Koito’s flashback as it helps to introduce his contrast to his older brother, who had a pale complexion like a Sakurajima daikon and tolerated Koito calling him that.

The last major regional produce of the area is citrus!  There is so much citrus in the area! The Satsuma oranges (as they are known in the UK) came from the Kagoshima region after they went to war with the British in 1863!  As a result of a naval battle between the Shimazu family and their fellow Satsuma retainers, this war only lasted a few days and resulted in great damage to the Kagoshima area.  The positive outcome of this was increased positive relations between the Satsuma region and the UK as opposed to the influence the French government had on the dying/declining Tokugawa shogunate in Edo.

Here is a Satsuma orange tree at Sengan-en.  It had an info plaque about how after the Anglo-Satsuma war they were popular for import to England.

In addition to the Satsuma oranges (aka mikan), there is a distinct variety from the area known as komikan or small mikan.  These are grown both on the volcano, Sakurajima (桜島小みかん)  and around the Kinko Bay as well (小みかん).

Look at the tiny tiny tiny komikan!

The regular mikan were quite easy to peel and delicious.  Throughout the southern part of Kyushu there were lots of different citrus species and cultivars grown.  In the neighboring Miyazaki prefecture, they had a yuzu x pomelo hybrid known as a hyuganatsu (also tasty in things!).  I digress, the point is Kagoshima as the former Satsuma domain is a place that was able to interact with western nations and it is in part represented by the movement of the citrus fruits from the area to places like the UK and the USA as well where the States actually imported and grew cultivars from the Kagoshima area.

This region was also much more forward thinking that the government in Edo.  The Shimazu family were the second largest book publishers in Japan for a very long time and they reprinted Western imported books that included science, technology and maps.  I was able to see some of their moveable type for their publishing with both Japanese kanji and kana and the Latin alphabet as well for printing foreign books (I did not spot any Cyrillic, but the museum display was small).

They were the birth of industrial manufacturing in Japan, first trying to build equipment via imported books and later sent students abroad against the rule of the government to study in the UK and the USA.  At the grounds of Sengan-en you can visit the first factory in Japan which gives a quick guide in Japanese and English about the development of industrial manufacturing.  Unfortunately, you were unable to take pictures in the museum, but they produced various goods including cannons and whatnot which helped in late Bakumatsu period and gave them a weapons advantage over the outdated technology of the Shogunate government forces.

When you get off the train at the main Kagoshima-chuo station and walk towards the bus and streetcar stops, there is a statue erected in honor of all of the young students who risked going abroad to help the growth and development of Kagoshima. 

These students also attended a World Fair in Paris or some of them not quite sure if all of them attended it was after their trips abroad.  They also circumvented the travel restriction for Japanese by registering not as from Japan but representing the Satsuma domain as an independent delegation.  I may not be 100% accurate with all of this info, since I couldn’t take photos in the museums, yet it gives you a good idea of what the Satsuma domain was doing to improve and modernize.

There is also a strong connection between Satsuma and Hokkaido - many of the leaders during the Meiji era that pushed industrialization were from Satsuma and used Hokkaido as the source for raw materials to power the factories in the south.  Plus, many people from the region moved to Hokkaido to work either as the frontier soldiers or as laborers in the “frontier”.  This has been mentioned before in regards to GK as Noda’s own great-grandfather was a frontier soldier from Kyushu (whom I’ve wondered was also a practicing Catholic based on how Noda depicts Christian theology). I recall reading this in some interviews with him translated by GK Central, but I forget which ones right now.

Another industry that grew up in the mid 1800s was the development of Satsuma cut glass (kiriko) which become more industrialized during the late Edo early Meiji period.  Unfortunately, the technology was lost and in the 1980s, it was finally determined how to manufacture it again.  As a result production started again and it is only produced in Kagoshima.

On the grounds of Sengan-en they have a fully operational glass works.  You can watch the glass being blown, shaped, cooled, marked and cut.  It was pretty neat!  I thought about buying some; it was more expensive than I expected - small pieces started at about $200 USD and it only went up from there.  There were gorgeous sets of two glass that sold for about $500 and it was clear they were wedding presents.  It was really amazing and if I had more money, I’d be tempted to purchase some myself.  My Mom did purchase a small green and blue bowl after looking at it at the glass works, and then looking at it in a Satsuma local goods store two more times before deciding to actually purchase it.

Since it was unique, the distribution of this from Satsuma helped with international relations and was considered neat by those in Europe who could purchase it.  I think the best way to look at the cut glass is that it was an excellent example of a Satsuma [Japanese] product that combined with a European product, illustrating how this region was changing to adapt to modern times outside of Japan.  There was also Satsuma porcelain that was made for the European market and it was very successful around the time of Golden Kamuy as an export.

To get an idea of the type of house that Koito likely grew up in, it would be something similar to, but obviously smaller than a place like Sengan-en.  The house was quite large and the gardens and other buildings around it made for a place that was large and significant looking.  It also had a mix of a Japanese and more Western style for some of the buildings as well as Chinese and Ryukyu influence. 

This is the main gate that leads into the area where the house is in a large courtyard.  It has a much more Chinese style with the bright red and slightly different roof shape.  The English info said it was Chinese style, but I wonder if it wasn’t more Ryukyu since they were the domain that was essentially “controlling” *ahem* them at the time.

This was the inner courtyard of the house.  The house had been added onto over time from the 19th into the 20th century as well as some parts being removed like household secretary rooms and other stuff now outdated.

The Shimazu family often hosted foreign dignitaries including Tsar Nicholas II (obviously before the Russo-Japanese war)!!!  There were two large vases that were gifted to the family from Nicholas II on display in one of the rooms with lots of historical information about how the family hosted many people from around the world.  Many of the people hosted here were from the UK and the Netherlands as well.  If I recall correctly, the highest number of foreigners were from the UK (again, that Sastuma orange link).

This is an example of how the table would have been set for dinners for hosting European guests.  The vast majority of the house was still completely Japanese in style in regards to the furniture, but this dining room and another (sitting? living) room had Western style furniture.  The table setting appears to have Dutch plates, Western cutlery and several types of glasses including the local Satsuma cut glass produced in the local glass works.  I believe my Dutch Canadian friend has the exact same plates that you can still buy today.

I took tons of photos of the grounds which featured many tropical and subtropical plants like these cycads and palm tree.  You can see some of the buildings in the background and a Western style lamp post as well.

I have no idea what this building originally was, but it was clearly based on a European inspired design and a part of the estate.  It is now a Starbucks and I didn’t investigate it any further.

The style of this house makes me think of the house that Koito lived in when his family moved from Kagoshima to Hakodate.  There was also a “foreign engineer” house close by where English engineers lived and helped with the development of Kagoshima.  I was a moron and forgot to visit it . . . but I did see it from the road.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/documents/136169

I would say it is a toss up if Koito lived in a modern Japanese style house/estate like Sengan-en in Kagoshima or in a more modern house like the white one on the Sengan-en estate or the “Hakodate” house above.

What you get from visiting a place like Sengan-en is what it would have been like to be an elite from the former Satsuma Domain/Kagoshima.  Including your personal doctor inspecting your poo everyday . . .  These [predominately] men in power were hosting and having dinners with foreigners and were very passionate about the modernization of Japan in the face of the world colonial powers getting closer to them.

This connects with the fact that Koito owns the motorbike.  Now it is unclear if this came from a Japanese individual in France or directly from a French person.  When I did my chapter meta, I assumed it came directly from a French person but upon reading it again, the translation is unclear what the nationality of the acquaintance is, just a person in France not actually French. What it does show is that Koito’s father is connected internationally as a member of the Meiji elite many of whom came from Satsuma due to their pro-Western technology slant so that the could expel the barbarians [and freely make use of their science and technology for Japan].  I would guess the fact that Koito Sr. served the Meiji government well, indicated he was more in favor of modernization and less about a more hyper samurai opinion to maintain the old ways during modernization (e.g. Saigo Takamori).

Another thing is how the men in power from places like Satsuma linked themselves to the former shogunate through marriage and likely married women from the “losing” side to further integrate themselves into the power base in Tokyo.  You wouldn’t want to completely cut out the losing side completely. Instead, with those that likely switched sides sooner integrate with them as you had the “in” to the old government which would become key for the new government fit into for stability.  Completely cutting off members of the former government would lead to future issues since many of those individuals were still clearly wealthy and had more local connections in Tokyo than someone from Kyushu may have had.

Recall, when Hijikata fights Inodou, he mentions Enomoto Takeaki in chapter 135 as noted by EHS scans.  He was a member of the Shogunate government who was key in founding the Imperial Navy that Koito’s father is a member of.

Another thing I learned at Sengan-en is that one of the Shimazu daughters married the last shogun in part to politically sway the shogun to transition and make way for the new Meiji government.  This again shows that those from places in the south were positioning individuals to allow them to create a new government as easily as possible.

Since Koito’s father is a tall, darker complexion Satsuma man, as Koito is, his flashback highlights how different his mother looks.  She’s very light in complexion and Koito mentions on his older brother looked like a Sakurajima daikon with very light skin tone.

Koito and his brother got their eye brows from their mother, yet he did not get her lighter skin tone, so on top of his Satsuma accent, other characters can tell that he’s from Kagoshima (or at least someplace in Kyushu).

I find it interesting that Koito’s mother is wearing a kimono in a house that is completely Western in decor and she almost looks uncomfortable in her surroundings.  I can’t help but think it would be more socially appropriate for Koito’s mother Yuki, to also adopt Western style dress to fit with her position and role as the wife of an important member of the military and modern society.  It is clear they are hosting foreigners in some fashion.  When I was visiting Sengan-en, there were many photos of women wearing Western style dress ~1900, so many of them also adopted their fashion like their male family and friends did.  Yet, instead, she seems out of place as though she didn’t grow up with this style (somewhere around Tokyo perhaps) and is unsure how to fit within it.  Koito in contrast since his introduction at 14, is shown wearing full Western style dress and he’s sporting a much more Western style hairstyle than any other character had as a kid.  Does he have an English style haircut? 

I always get the feeling that Koito being raised in a more Western learning environment as a child in Kagoshima and being surrounded by a greater mix of people and seeing more differences he is just more comfortable in his role as a future military kid.  He may not even realize it, but compared to many of the other GK cast members he’s both sheltered and open to things with his education.  He has been spoiled and it shows in his dependence on Tsukishima, yet at the same time, he’s one of the most educated members of the group and has to be multilingual.

His bratty behavior which does not result in punishment from his father is also interesting as I sometimes wonder if his father was hoping he’d out grow things or come to his senses. It sounds like a more Western way to parent, but it is still the early 1900s so I could totally be off the mark here.  Plus, in Koito’s flashback he seems to imply his brother’s death resulted in his father detaching himself from Koito, perhaps out of fear that if he did what his older brother did, he too would die?  I think this makes sense with how Koito Sr. does rescue him and also when he tells Koito he’s glad he’s alright post-Karafuto-Sugimoto stabbing.

Some more general observations from walking around Kagoshima.  People there seemed more relaxed, I observed people jaywalking, crossing a street against a “no crossing” sign and cars honking at each other!  The feel is completely different than very stoic cities like Tokyo or Kyoto.  Not surprisingly, there were also people with complexions that were darker like Koito and his father as well in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, so he really is a character based in reality.  Not that I doubted Noda, but he really does try to make his characters as realistic as possible.  I’m sure with current beauty standards people are more aware of this and try not to tan as much as they would have in the past, but there were quite a few people who just had a different skin tone and it was January, so not a lot of long days of sunlight. 

The other aspect of Kagoshima is its relationship with the volcano, Sakurajima.  The daikon and komikan are both grown on the slopes of the volcano due to the soil and are important local products.  The volcano dominates the region as it is visible from pretty much anywhere in the city.  It is also a very active volcano, with ash coming out almost continuously and with multiple eruptions per day.  When you walk around the city there is ash everywhere on the ground, under bushes and in corners.  The city has active street cleaners/sweepers to remove the ash from the roads. 

Here is my first good view of the volcano taken around 5pm from the Dolphin Port area.  You can see a little bit of the ash coming out of the right side of the southern peak.

Here is a view of Sakurajima from Sengan-en.  The ash is mixed with the light clouds but again it is moving to the left (a southern direction).  If you look closely you can see the electric rail line above the wall for the JR Kyushu local lines.

This is the best scenic shot taken from Shiroyama, a view point in a public park again around 5pm. Unfortunately, the trees and bushes obscured part of my view to include the northern part of Kinko Bay (to the left).  Yes, that is ash from the volcano drifting off to the right.

A similar shot from the manga is here in chapter 197. 

Here is a bit more zoomed in photo showing how the city is right across from the volcano.

I was able to take the ferry across to the volcano a quick 15 minute ride.  The volcano was a separate island until an eruption in 1914.  Hence the name of Sakurajima even though it really isn’t an island (-jima) anymore.   Interestingly, during Koito’s time (pre-1914), the volcano was dormant for most of the previous century but since they were growing the crops that thrived on the volcanic soil they were more than aware of the power of the volcano. 

Here is a picture of one of the four ferries in action.  These had space for regular passengers as well as cars for the lower decks.

The entire bay and surrounding area are a large caldera.  I’m failing to explain this well, but the volcano really is a major presence in the area.  Kind of like how you feel when you see Mt. Fuji, Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon etc but more personal.  This is from the lookout point on Sakurajima. The volcano rises up in the background.

From the viewpoint you can look back across the bay towards Kagoshima.  It was cloudy and overcast the day I visited the volcano; this is looking towards where Sengan-en is.

This is looking south towards the base of the bay eventually leading toward the ocean (it curves towards the left for the ocean).

As we took the ferry back to Kagoshima port, the sunset highlighted the cloud and ash covered top of Sakurajima.

What I’m really trying to highlight is how Sakurajima is a fundamental part of the Kagoshima area (it is part of the city) and it has influenced this area for a long time.

Unrelated, there are lots of stray cats on Sakurajima that are friendly and like to be petted.  About 50% of the population all have these stubby tails as I got this shot of an orange and black cat with the volcano in the background.  I did pet this cat.  My brother also petted some of the cats too.

With all of the things that I learned in my visit to Kagoshima, I will use them to try to understand parts of Koito’s character and what may happen in the future for his character.

1.) Koito as a Satsuma elite -

It became very clear to me visiting museums and walking around the city that Kagoshima is a very European influenced city and prized including a Western education.  My Mom also remarked that it appeared much more diverse in architecture and more Western looking (and she had no idea that I was observing this for my meta). 

It is no surprise that Koito would have been a well educated young man and also interacting with foreign visitors on a regular basis.  Before his older brother died he sounds like he was energetic but likely much more well behaved than his 14-16 year old self.  Once he realized he wanted to go into the Army after his “rescue” by Tsurumi, he was an excellent student and excelled at his courses and passed his exams to enter the military college.

He trained in Jigen-ryu and based on his skill he has shown so far in his fight with Sugimoto on the airship and when he attacked the random Russian prisoner.  Even if he was a wild child, he must have kept up the practice as demonstrated when he encounters Tsurumi in Kagoshima.  He states that he’s the son of an important man, so he’s of course using that to his advantage and he’s upset.  (special thanks to @goldenkamuyhunting​ for letting me use the new volume 20 pages!).

He then challenges Tsurumi with the old man’s cane instead of a sword.  Sure he loses for all sorts of reasons - using what appears to be a lightweight cane, letting himself get overly emotional . . . the fact it is Tsurumi.

But after Tsurumi slaps him and leaves him in shock both failing to defeat him and using jigen-ryu, Tsurumi flatters him on his form.  I take this to imply even if he is rebelling, skipping school and whatnot, he’s still practicing his jigen-ryu.

Previously, many of us avid readers of the series wanted Sofia and Koito to meet in Karafuto as we wondered if he was fluent in French as required for a military officer.  However, after leaning that many people from Satsuma were aligned with the UK and also interacted with the USA around this time, I’m wondering if Koito can speak English instead.  Tsurumi purchased weapons from a foreign arms dealer, Mr. Thomas (chapter 31).  It is pretty damn obvious with the name of Thomas this man is an Anglophone.  Though he’s based on a Scottish man, so he’d have a unique accent.

It is clear in this chapter that only Tsurumi and Tsukishima are meeting with Mr. Thomas in an isolated location.  Based on the fact that Tsukishima and Tsurumi are both speaking with him, I would assume that they are speaking Japanese.  This does not rule out that they also corresponded with him in English as well.  I wonder if Mr. Thomas will reappear in the manga again as an arms dealer.  Will the Anglo-Japanese relations of that time period come into play?

@goldenkamuyhunting​ has previous written about the fact that Mr. Thomas is likely based on Thomas Blake Glover a very successful merchant and business man in Japan who started out in Nagasaki.  He also was one of the allies of the Satsuma domain families and involved in sending the students abroad to the UK.

Since Glover was more than willing to work with those in the Satsuma and Choshu domains, eventually leading to the overthrow of the shogunate government, perhaps we are to read that he’d be okay with another rebel faction in Hokkaido?  Or since he became successful through relations in Kyushu does Koito Sr. know him?

2.) Koito is a citrus fruit.

This is a bit of an unusual angle, but I’m going to follow Noda’s lead here.  Koito refers to his older brother as a Sakurajima daikon.  It is clear that was his teasing nickname for his older brother, but it also something that he associates with his brother as a way to remember him now that he is gone.

If Koito Heinojyou is a large white daikon, than there are two options for Koito Otonoshin; sweet potato or mikan/satsuma orange.  Sweet potatoes are more of a commoner food (alternative to rice) so a mikan makes more sense.  I’m sure rich people still ate fancy sweet potato things, but likely in 1900 not all commoners could eat all the citrus grown in the area.  Fresh fruit is always expensive.

Citrus fruits are brightly colored and energetic.  All of the ones in Kyushu are various shades of orange and yellow.  The mikans are a rich orange and are sweet and tangy.  The aren’t a root vegetable like daikon or sweet potatoes, they grown on trees. Citrus need lots of care and attention to thrive.  Citrus can only grow in warm climates and until modern industrial agriculture are in coastal regions (we are not discussing the central valley in California for various reasons).  They also have fragrant flowers and are associated with people who are fresh, exciting, colorful and energetic.  When you eat any type of citrus; lemon, lime, grapefruit, pomelo, yuzu, mandarin, mikan, clementine . . . etc no one would describe the flavor as weak, dull, or subtle.  They are sweet, tangy, sour, bitter and aromatic as well.  There is a lot of emotion and depth in citrus.

He’s charming and canonically an attractive male character.  Sei Kobiyama has tweeted about this when the Vol 16 cover came out and the red eyeliner is linked to him be an attractive young man.

He’s got upper class manners and enjoys his Russian tea time.

Sei Kobiyama also noted that even when he tries to be angry and mean he doesn’t swear like the rest of the cast.

His deadpan upon his realization that he set Sugimoto up with his sabre blade.

The look of absolute horror that he may rip his skin off when trying to remove the cold hammer.  I feel sorry with the volume edit where it is clear Sugimoto chased after him and pissed on him . . .  why didn’t anyone suggest pouring some hot tea on his hand?

All of these aspects of citrus apply to Koito.  His brother was a solid first son, well behaved and stable just like the large Sakurajima daikon.  He is a native of the area, but his mother’s background is reflected in him as well.  When Koito is rescued by his father and Tsurumi, we learn that Koito Heiji is also a much more dramatic and energetic man rushing in to save his son.  These are passionate men who when at their best radiate this energy and warmth.

Koito’s older brother is a boring old root vegetable while he and his father are clearly sassy citrus, needing their sunshine and pruning etc etc.  They may be capable men but face it, Koito Sr. spent too much time hiding his feelings and Koito is a very pampered guy who is very concerned about his appearance.  Sure, he wanted Tsukishima to get his hand mirror so they could locate Vasily . . . but . . .

. . . but not without fixing his hair before looking!

And one of my absolute favorite jokes in the entire manga.  Yes, I think Noda watched the classic comedy/parody “Spaceballs” for inspiration as a Princess has a ton of luggage that she insists on taking with her to the annoyance of commoners who rescued her.

I predict 50% of this contains personal care products for him.  He’s so far north he’ll need to moisturize, and his hairstyle likely requires all sorts of products to keep it in such tip top condition.  Okay, I’m jesting a bit, but I’m sure a lot of his stuff is for him to pamper himself.

Maybe as things change he’ll become a sweet potato?  His hair color is pretty much the same color as one of the local Satsuma varieties - I kind of want to send Noda a message if Koito’s hair color is sweet potato colored.  According to Sei Kobiyama he’s supposed have crow feather colored hair, which is considered very beautiful, but I see sweet potato.

3.) Koito comes from a region where people have recently questioned authority.

The most famous individual who helped shape Meiji era Japan and was from Kagoshima was Saigo Takamori.  Tsurumi (as Hasegawa) tells Wilk, Kiro and Sofia about the 3 main founders of modern Japan.  Sofia was compared to Saigo and he is from Kagoshima.  Despite the fact that he lead to the change in government, he found himself in disagreement with the Meiji government and eventually returned to Kyushu to lead dissatisfied samurai of the region in a rebellion against the government.

It was clear visiting Kagoshima that he’s still a very famous and respected man, with many of the sites that you can visit are related to him.  There is a statue of him along the art & culture road and he’s found everywhere; in shops, on o-miyage, products.  If you see his statue in Tokyo’s Ueno Park, he’s portrayed in a less positive fashion (he’s got a bit of a beer gut as we’d say in English).

What is interesting is that Saigo worked in the Meiji government for some time.  He didn’t just immediately fight against those he should be serving.  Instead, he worked as a part of the government for some time and his somewhat both logical yet flawed ideas attempted to deal with the rapid social and societal change that the Meiji government was forcing upon everyone.  He however, seemed more focused on the military than industrializing which would be counter to what he would have ultimately wanted.  I’d say the soft power of the Shimazu family was much more forward thinking as they wanted to pursue industrialization.

Koito has spent a long time of his “focused” life trying to serve Tsurumi and prove to his father that he will be a good soldier.  With the flashback in chapters 197-200, and his confrontation with Tsukishima in 210, he almost had a nervous breakdown.

He started to put things together and when Tsukishima threatened him and told him how Ogata killed Hanazawa he just was in complete shock.  He was screaming in a non-Satsuma accent as he just did his best to behave how Tsukishima would anticipate he would behave.

I think in part when he got stabbed by Sugimoto when Asirpa escapes is in part due to the fact that he was still in shock.  He lacked the usual energy and passion and overall “Koito-ness” that he’s shown in many other chase scenes.  I honestly felt Koito was going through the motions when pursuing Asirpa and Sugimoto.  Based on his mistake of approaching Sugimoto, I really think this adds to how he wasn’t quite with it during that chapter.  He didn’t know what to think or do so he just went with the flow and relied on his training to cover up the fact that he clearly was a mess inside learning about Tsurumi.  Even though he’s quite passionate and emotional at times he clearly does hold some of his emotions in and indicated by his distance/sulking post Ogata escape.

He stubbornly tries to get Tsukishima to keep pursuing Sugimoto as he weakly tries to waive him off.  He’s trying his best to be a tough Satsuma Hayato (which I think is what he thinks he should be doing/acting as), and he made a mistake fighting Sugimoto even though he did the best he could do.  He’s likely feeling very ashamed and still trying to determine what is going on with Tsurumi anyways.  I also agree with Sei Kobiyama here that even though he’s a Satsuma Hayato, he’s too “nice” to really be one.  I just keep coming back to him and Enonoka.

When we finally learn about his health he tells his father that he’s pitiful.  Is he pitiful since he tried to stop Sugimoto?  That he realized he’s been used by Tsurumi since he was 14?  That Ogata gave him enough information that he sees what Tsurumi is doing isn’t for the benefit of the military and instead it is for Tsurumi’s own personal goals?  The good thing about Koito being injured is it will give him a lot of time to think and rest.  I really think him cornering Asirpa less than 12 hours after he learned part of the truth from Tsukishima was not a good thing for him.

That pained look on his face as his father looks away before telling him that he’s glad that he’s okay . . . and thankfully when Inkarmat finally reappears, she’s giving him his daily fortune as well as Tsukishima.  His blush likely indicates he’s got some sort of crush on Inkarmat.  He’s an extroverted guy, so he’d likely get along with someone like her.  Even though he doesn’t interact with many females, I get the feeling that he relates to them better than men.  I just think of how he was so sweet and respectful of Enonoka and he clearly enjoys Inkarmat’s company.  I get the feeling that Inkarmat in canon is supposed to be a very attractive woman and we know she is both charismatic and independent.

Koito has kept himself going by trying to follow the military order and establishment up to this point.  For him to question the system and go against Tsurumi, he will have to shatter his entire view of the military and how it operates.

I think Koito will want to seek out the truth as to what is really happening with Tsurumi. We know when he focuses on something he’s successful - just dealing with Tsurumi is going to be very difficult for him.

Thanks to @goldenkamuyhunting​, I was able to see this change to volume 20 chapter 200.  Koito is able to help himself up by himself from the blows that Ogata dealt to him.  Battered and bruised he is able to exit the small hospital and we see a determined yet rough looking Koito.  He gives the feeling of a man who wanted to catch Ogata to ask him more.  I think Koito is thinking “What do you mean about the Manchuria Railway Ogata?  What happened to Hanazawa?  Why do you know the word a Russian kidnapper told me?” . . .

We later learn in chapter 210 that Ogata mentioned the Mantetsu (Manchuria Railway) so that Koito would link Hanazawa’s death to Tsurumi’s plans.  I think Koito wanted to know what Ogata was referring to.  He’s also likely had to rethink his opinion of Ogata based on chapters 200 and 210.  He is an officer in the military, he’s an educated elite and he’s putting together big picture concepts that Ogata is dropping him hints about.  I think he’s got the potential to be a clever character as well if he can gain confidence in himself.  In the revised flashback with Tsurumi when he was 14, he was confidence using his father’s name.  He needs to be 100% confident in himself.  I hope he can get there! 

Really the biggest determent to Koito’s character is how his bratty rich kid attitude prevents him from connecting with others.  Time and time again he is not nice to others since he can get away with it.  This is the aspect of Koito’s personality that I like the least.  The only time that I liked it, is the fact that he is the only character to call out Sugimoto’s bullying and to go head to head with him.  I think the rest of the characters may want to stand up to Sugimoto, but they can’t since they aren’t as privileged so they don’t know if they can.  Koito however, just uses his baseline sense that he can push back at Sugimoto since “How dare he?” treat him poorly.  His reasoning is a bit flawed but his response is what I would like to see others do as well.  He really is just like Ogata in that regard, both of them have personalities that developed as a result of their background that makes it hard for others to connect with them.  Ogata since he’s so distant refusing to connect with others and being too sarcastic for a lowly superior private and Koito since he’s just used to others obeying him as a result of his family and privilege.

So to stick with the local food analogy - I want Koito to go from being a citrus fruit to a sweet potato.  Still important but much more humble. 

Another Kagoshima analogy would be that Koito is like Sakurajima.  His true potential and skills are dormant, but like the volcano does in his future, 1914, he reaches his full potential and is an amazing leader and force within the country.

Well that is all for my Kagoshima-Koito post.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it.  I felt that visiting Koito’s hometown gave me a better perspective on him and where he came from.  This is something I wouldn’t have know if I hadn’t visited it!  I had a great time visiting and learning about Koito, so if you have a chance to visit do so!  If people are more interested, I could do a more detailed Koito tourism post in the future.

[brajeshupadhyay]

08:28 (IST) Coronavirus in Goa Latest Update Seven Mumbai-Goa train passengers tested positive Three more passengers - a total of seven people - who travelled in Mumbai-Goa train on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 during TrueNat testing. The total number of active cases in Goa has reached 29. 08:13 (IST) Coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh Latest Update 95 new cases in Madhya Pradesh's Indore Indore reported 95 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the total number of positive cases in the district to 2,565. 08:12 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Update Dont' criticise, hold talks with Opposition: Ashok Gehlot to Centre Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot responded to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement urging the Congress to work with the Centre and in a humane manner towards solving the migrant issue. "Instead of criticising Rahul Gandhi, Centre should have held talks with opposition on what help they need for arranging facilities for migrant workers. It'll take six to eight��months for them to reach home if migrants travel by train. We should arrange vehicles for them," Gehlot said. 07:56 (IST) Coronavirus in Maharashtra Latest Update 9 deaths, 223 new cases in Pune district Nine new deaths and 223 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in Pune district over 24 hours, as of Sunday night. The total positive cases in the district are 4,018, including 206 deaths and 2,014 cured patients. 07:44 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Update Lockdown 4.0 begins today: Activities that are allowed Hospitality services meant for housing health/police/government officials/healthcare workers/stranded persons shall be operational. Canteens at the bus depots, railway stations and airports will also be operational. Restaurants will be permitted to operate kitchens for home delivery of food items. Sports complexes and stadia will be permitted to open; however, spectators will not be allowed. Online distance learning shall continue to be permitted and shall be encouraged. Inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses, with mutual consent of State(s) and UT(s) involved, except in containment zones. All States/UTs shall allow inter-state and intra-state movement of medical professionals, nurses and para-medical staff, sanitation personnel and ambulances. All States/UTs shall allow inter-state movement of all types of goods/cargos, including empty trucks. All shop owners must also ensure that customers maintain 'do gaz doori' (minimum six feet distance) and that not more than five people are allowed inside at any given time. Persons below 10 years and above 65 years of age, those with co-morbidities, and pregnant women shall stay at home except for essential and health purposes. 07:39 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Update Lockdown 4.0 begins today: Prohibited activities All domestic and international air travel of passengers. The movement of individuals will remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm and 7 am, except for essential activities. All metro rail services will remain suspended. School, colleges, educational/training/coaching institutions etc, will continue to remain shut. Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services shall remain suspended. All cinema halls, shopping malls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars and auditoriums, assembly halls will remain closed. All social/political/sports/entertainment/academic/cultural/religious functions/other gatherings and large congregations will not be allowed. All religious places/places of worship shall be closed for public, and religious congregations are strictly prohibited. 07:36 (IST) Coronavirus in Goa Latest Update 4 test positive in Goa, taking state's total to 26 Declared a green zone last week after it reported no new coronavirus cases and all patients were discharged, Goa now is witnessing a resurgence of infections. The state reported 19 new infections, taking the state's total to 26. The new cases including four persons who had travelled in the Mumbai-Goa train on Sunday and TrueNat tests had given a positive result for them. The samples have been sent for confirmatory tests and 100 passengers who had travelled in the train were tested. On the same day, another train passenger had tested positive for coronavirus. At the time that Goa was declared a green zone, seven patients undergoing treatment were discharged. Ever since then, 19 new cases have been reported. 07:33 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Update Confirmed cases climb to 90,927 According to figures released by the health ministry, the number of coronavirus cases in India stood at 90,927, including 2,872 deaths as of Monday morning. India had seen the highest spike in cases between Saturday and Sunday over 24 hours, even as the nationwide lockdown was extended till 31 May. Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Three more passengers - a total of seven people - who travelled in Mumbai-Goa train on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 during TrueNat testing. The total number of active cases in Goa has reached 29. The country is set to enter the fourth phase of the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus on Monday, as the National Disaster Management Authority issued an order to continue the lockdown measures till 31 May. Subsequently, the home ministry issued a set of guidelines for the fourth phase, in which it directed that air travel, hotels, restaurants and public gatherings will remain prohibited throughout the country. Earlier in the day, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the fifth and final tranche of the government's stimulus package to revive the coronavirus-hit economy. She said the stimulus package includes the Rs 8.01 lakh crore of liquidity being made available by the RBI. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 90,927 Sunday morning, registering an increase of 120 fatalities and a record jump of 4,987 new cases in 24 hours, since 8 AM Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 53,946, while 34,108 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. Lockdown guidelines The Union home ministry issued guidelines listing the dos and don''ts during the lockdown 4.0 that has been clamped in the country to cut the chain of coronavirus infection. The guidelines said all domestic, international air travel of passengers, except domestic air ambulance, will remain prohibited. Metro rail services, schools, colleges will remain closed till May end, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. Hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms will also remain shut even as all social, political, religious functions, and places of worship will be closed till May 31, it said. The MHA said inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, buses will be allowed with mutual consent of states involved during the COVID-19 lockdown 4.0. States and Union Territories have been given the powers for delineation of Red, Green and Orange Zones as per COVID-19 situation, the MHA said. All shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0, it said. Further, state governments and Union Territories have been asked to decide on the demarcation of red, orange and green zones based on the parameters set by the Centre. Also significantly, the new guidelines permit inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses with the mutual consent of the states or Union Territories. State-wise cases and deaths Of the 120 new deaths reported since Saturday morning, 67 were in Maharashtra, 19 in Gujarat, nine in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, six in Delhi, four in Madhya Pradesh, three in Tamil Nadu and two in Haryana and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan Of the total 2,872 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,135 fatalities, Gujarat comes second with 625 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 243, West Bengal at 232, Delhi at 129, Rajasthan at 126, Uttar Pradesh at 104,Tamil Nadu at 74 and Andhra Pradesh at 49 The death toll reached 36 in Karnataka, 34 Telangana and 32 in Punjab Haryana has reported 13 fatalities due to the disease, Jammu and Kashmir has 12 deaths while Bihar has registered seven and Kerala has reported four deaths Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each, while Assam has reported two deaths Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data. The ministry's website says more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 30,706, followed by Gujarat at 10,988, Tamil Nadu at 10,585, Delhi at 9,333, Rajasthan at 4,960, Madhya Pradesh at 4,789 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,258 The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,576 in West Bengal, 2,355 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,946 in Punjab It has risen to 1,509 in Telangana, 1,179 in Bihar, 1,121 in Jammu and Kashmir, 1,092 in Karnataka and 887 in Haryana Odisha has reported 737 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 587 cases. A total of 217 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 191 in Chandigarh Tripura has reported 167 cases, Assam has 92 cases, Uttarakhand has 88, Himachal Pradesh has 78 cases, Chhattisgarh has 67 and Ladakh has registered 43 cases, so far Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Goa have reported 17 COVID-19 cases, while Meghalaya and Puducherry have registered 13 cases each Manipur has seven cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each till now. Sitharaman announces final tranche of economic stimulus The Centre has announced suspension of new bankruptcy filings on loan defaults for one year and raised the threshold for insolvency as it moved to ease COVID-19 pain for the industry. It also announced a new policy for companies under state control saying public sector undertakings under the non-strategic sector will be privatised while those in the identified strategic sector would be capped by not more than four by merging some of them. In the fifth and final tranche of the economic stimulus package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised allocation for employment guarantee scheme by Rs 40,000 crore over and above the Rs 61,000 crore budgeted earlier for MGNREGS, to provide employment to migrant workers moving back to their states. This, she said, will help generate nearly 300 crore person-days in total. For industries, she said the minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings will be raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh, which largely insulates micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from bankruptcy on defaulting on loans. Also, a special insolvency resolution framework for MSMEs under Section 240A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will be notified soon, she said adding that fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings will be suspended up to one year depending upon the pandemic situation. Coronavirus-related debt will be excluded from the definition of "default" under the IBC for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings, she said adding that the changes will be effected by promulgating an ordinance. Additionally, minor technical and procedural defaults under the Companies Act such as shortcomings in CSR reporting, inadequacies in board report, filing defaults, and delay in holding AGM will be decriminalised. Last week, the government pledged a Rs 20 lakh crore (nearly 10 per cent of gross domestic product) package to support the economy headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades. With inputs from PTI

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronavirus-outbreak-live-updates-goa.html

[naughtynecromancer]

Mori and Michael (or M&Ms lol)

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME! (Also omg that ship nameeeeee!

Send in two (or more) names and I’ll fill all this out about the ship!

General:

Rate the Ship -  Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - Forever

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - At first sight, she walked into a wall

How was their first kiss? - Amazing, sweet and slow then a bit wicked and wild

Wedding: To Be determined

Who proposed? -Mori is planning on it

Who is the best man/men? -

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? -

Who did the most planning? -

Who stressed the most? -

How fancy was the ceremony? -Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? -

Sex:

Who is on top? - They take turns

Who is the one to instigate things? - Mori typically

How healthy is their sex life? -Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? -Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Varies

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - They try

How rough are they in bed? -Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? -No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children: In Discussion

How many children will they have naturally? -

How many children will they adopt? -

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? -

Who is the stricter parent? -

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? -

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? -

Who is the more loved parent? -

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings?

Who cried the most at graduation? -

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - Their kids would not get caught

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Both

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Mori

Who does the grocery shopping? -Mori

How often do they bake desserts? - All the time

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Both

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Mori

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Either

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentally while cooking? -Mori she gets distracted easily

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Michael tries

Who is really against chores? - Neither they like clean spaces

Who cleans up after the pets? -Mori

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Michael

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Mori

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Michael

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? -Mori

Who takes the dog out for a walk? -Michael

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - All the time

What are their goals for the relationship? - No goas-survive?

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? -Michael

Who plays the most pranks? - Both

[saintaugustinerp]

Congratulations C! You have been accepted for the role of The Fallen Angel with the faceclaim Zoë Barnard.  Please be sure to check out the accepted applicants checklist! Also be sure send us a link to your blog within the next twenty-four hours. Welcome to St. Augustine!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name/alias: C

Age (18+): over 21

Gender/Preferred pronouns: Cisfemale, she/hers pronouns please

Timezone: GMT/GMT+1

IN CHARACTER

Desired Skeleton: The Fallen Angel

Character Name:  Lady Alexandria Georgiana Fox

Age (18+): 7 June, 1997

Gender/Pronouns: Cisfemale, she/her

Hometown: Chelsea, London, England (via Somerset, England and Panjim, Goa, India)

Major: Art History (with a heavy emphasis on the Baroque period in Europe)

Desired Faceclaim: Zoë Barnard

Character blurb: She always used to wear the most pristine little miniskirts, even in the snow, with only diaphanous stockings to keep her warm, her jumpers tied at her waist. ‘Hot blooded,’ her boyfriend would call her, leaning in close and kissing her and then you could only stare longingly at those lips of hers. That thin, almost imperceptible white line that divides her top lip into a quarter and three of them was there before all the others, impossible to miss in a snarl and even more so in a smile, a wound that had stitched itself back together and left a mark. She cut it on a broken wineglass someone was running around with in first year, and everyone laughed at it bubbling over and bloody, bleeding profusely until it didn’t stop and she went to bed drowning in the stuff. Of course, that scar is of little consequence now, not with that fat, pink one encroaching on her left eye. I heard some people calling her Princess Die, but she was the one who crashed her convertible in Corsica. Not a driver outrunning rabid paparazzi. She has only herself to blame. Don’t look at her, misery would kill for some company at this school.

Developed Head Canons:

Note: The subtitles are stolen from Rosalía’s El Mal Querer (it translates to like, The Bad Love), a Spanish-language concept album released last month with this very cyclical, ancient narrative. You can listen to it here as you read if you so choose.

ALEXANDRIA Cap. 1: Augurio (Omen)

Her parents met when they were both on holiday in Egypt in the 90s, a spitfire and the not-quite reserved son of a Duke. She was the firstborn, but her brother, James, born two hours (and a few minutes no one ever bothered to calculate) after her, will inherit almost all — their father’s title, the estates, the townhouse. It’s not common knowledge at Augustine she has any siblings, let alone a twin who could be a mirror image of herself: he’s studying economics at the École normale supérieure in Paris, and Gia is far more likely to visit him than he her; in Switzerland they tend to meet to ski in Gstaad or Verbier. James, Jamie, is half her heart, and when they both chose to go to different universities she was some kind of agony. It was the first time she was ever alone, truly alone, since the moment she was conceived, but gradually, she blossomed in Switzerland, alone, magnetic in her own right and beloved even without her complement.

FRANKFURT Cap. 2: Boda (Wedding)

She was going to marry him, Gia swears, had they survived to his graduation, had they survived the weight of courtship outside of Augustine, had he not fucked her over. Her parents had met in Egypt when they were nineteen and twenty, and she was supposed to meet her husband then too. And Théo, he was their dream, he was hers, when she held her head close to his heart and listened to it beating she could have sworn it was hers, lovesick (sickening) and naïve. She held her head high, arms slung around Théo and Julien, her boys. The revelation that called herself Sylvianne (the slut) was magnificent in her cruelty, they shared classes and once, sat next to each other in a mixed-year lecture, but Théo was on fire. He reduced her to tears, shaking, dropping to her knees unable to breathe in his bedroom. She hadn’t loved him enough. That was the worst thing. She loved the way he made her feel, she loved his name and the way he spoke hers and she loved that he was hers but she didn’t love him enough. It would have been easy to liken their breakup to an imperial divorce between loveless royals if not for the humiliation, brutal and public and unbearable. Théo and Sylvianne made her something ferocious and wounded and yowling, begging after it was over in the silence not to die alone in the mountains.

ZÜRICH Cap. 3: Celos (Jealousy)

She was beautiful, and she knew it. Thick, long, glossy hair, wide doe eyes with thick lashes, full lips and freckles. Gia cared deeply about her appearance, how she presented herself to the world, and her mother brought her to spas across the continent in search of youth, to halt time in its tracks, placing an emphasis on beauty above all else. Her mother is more than Botox injections and collagen boosters, she knows, Astrid was top of her class at her boarding school, she speaks four languages and was an au pair for an aristocratic family in Spain, but all anyone ever refers to Gia’s mother as is beautiful. She epitomises aristocracy and post Chelsea mummies, married by twenty-three and pregnant by twenty-four, a celebrated hostess and the curator of the Somerset house’s beloved collection. Losing Théo was more than a betrayal, it was more than him cheating, it made Gia a failure, someone with a first love and not an only love like her mother has, it brought her beauty and charm into question: if she wasn’t enough for him, would she be enough for anyone?

BRUXELLES Cap. 4: Disputa (Argument)

The aftermath of the betrayal was as ancient as the idea bearing a cross on one’s back as punishment. A last supper. A resolution. Body and blood and disciples. When the semester came to a vicious end, well before her last class (and for that matter, before she sat any exams) James chartered a plane from Paris-Le Bourget to Zürich, and she boarded an empty train car and uncrossed her legs and pointed her toes at the seats opposite hers, the wetness that lingered on the soles of her calfskin boots in the Alpine spring making them damp and dark. She bought a triptych from her iPhone, texting the Sotheby’s dealer her parents kept on retainer her bids. It was easy to proclaim that the Reveller was a naughty, stupid little thing, stood across from them, but the Oxbridge students she had gone to primary school with in England beckoned her closer the second she stepped off the Gulfstream and wandered back into their territory. Before, it had always been so easy to justify her abuse as use, as necessity, never addiction, it was a line when she needed to focus, a drink or four so she looked like anyone else, she was never high, she was never drunk, never foolish enough to even so much as make herself look like she was either. An old friend called her, in June, in the middle of a fête at the Tory Whip’s daughter’s penthouse flat in Canary Wharf, and she answered, eyes shining and glassy and rimmed with red, a slur dogging the ends of her sentences. She wasn’t addicted. Not so fast. She was being reckless. He wouldn’t hear it. When Diana divorced Charles, she became a queen in her own right, despite severing herself from eligibility. When she died, she became a goddess. When Gia divorced Théo, she drowned herself in wine and white powder and didn’t die. She spent her sympathy long before she ever needed it, never kind enough to be anything but elite and untouchable and once she could be touched, she was unwanted.

CORSICA Cap. 5: Lamento (Lament)

The 5th Duke of Westminster had a villa in Corsica, Gia and James’ childhood palace that lay abandoned as they grew older and realised London was, as they had suspected all along, the centre of the universe, and also that they had a country estate in Somerset and sand was stupid. But their family decided, as Gia’s three-month-long implosion (that didn’t birth a new star, otherwise it would have been acceptable) continued, that she needed some sun, a wholly English cure. She was meant to be forced through some kind of rehabilitation, both for her heart and the whisky, her brother was meant to watch her around the liquor cabinet. The Duchess had not laboured so long to give birth to a daughter who had her heart broken once and became nothing. In the dark the morning of 8 July, sober and awake and alive, Gia left the villa with the keys to the convertible she’d learned to drive on the winding Corsican roads in her palm. The car roared to life and shot out of the garage before anyone could wake up and realise what had happened, its top down in the balmy island heat.

CHELSEA Cap. 6: Clausura (Cloister) Trigger warning: severe injury, car accidents.

Recovery was a bitter process. She was evacuated from the dingy (but needlessly expensive) hospital in mid-August, forced into hiding in Chelsea — it would have been Somerset if not for the necessity of her doctor’s appointments. She broke ribs, if the car had crashed into anything more solid than a grove of olive trees she would have broken vertebrae. But it was the glass that did the most exquisite damage, shattering into a thousand pieces and destroying the side of her face she turned to face it, the left side. She underwent reconstructive surgery and skin grafts, her leg fractured even as they took skin from her thigh, the evidence of what she had done visible. A plastic surgeon did his best to repair the scars, but some were too delicate to even begin to touch in the week before she was meant to return to school. The scars remain visible, almost a dividing line between the old and the new, her freckles shifted by pink and silver lines, her left eyebrow in two. She’s meant to have another appointment, over the summer, to finally repair the repairs and erase the worse of the scars, and ease the severity her headaches, an aftereffect from the concussion she received when her forehead slammed into the steering wheel, but a surgeon in Zürich warned her that her demand, to return to the way she looked before, was impossible to meet. She returned to Saint Augustine like something out of a Bond novel, a villain, and they shied away from her, all of them, hanging their heads as if they knew they had done it themselves (they had).

SOMERSET Cap. 7: Liturgia (Liturgy) Trigger warning: extremely brief and not graphic mention of suicide.

No one was ever blunt enough to tell her what she had done wrong, but she figured it out herself. She was hysterical. Hysterical women were unattractive, unwanted, they always had been, soothsayers or not, beautiful or not. She should have handled the end of her relationship with Théo Rothschild with grace, with her head held high, then they would have adored her, called her back to them, cried for her when she crashed whether she had done it to herself of not. There were whispers she had been in a relationship with the dead boy, something like that, maybe, that she had tried to kill herself when he had died. And the opposite, that she had hungered for attention so much so that she stole what should have been his, or tried to, anyway, vicious and starving. Gia walks with a limp and keeps her eyes on the ground, retreating, retreating, retreating. No rumour could be as cruel as someone telling her the truth, even just once.

TOKYO Cap. 8: Éxtasis (Ecstasy)

Before, she was defined by how dazzling she was. She learned how to fly planes in the summer before university, with James in the cockpit beside her so she wouldn’t dare crash. She loved ski weekends in Gstaad and summering at Lake Como, and she was a half-decent figure skater with a penchant for old noir films and gore and westerns. Gia loved art, it wasn’t just the acceptable degree chosen for her by the sort of people who expected her to be a wife and mother and party guest, she spent hours dissecting the evolution of Caravaggio’s technique as he gained students and imitators in first year and presenting a paper so exemplary the professor urged her to submit it to peer-reviewed journals (she didn’t). She drank, but not to excess, holding bottles of Château Cheval Blanc, her favourite, aloft and making promises of vacations in the Loire Valley. She fit perfectly into the hollow under her best friend’s arm, or her boyfriend’s, and she never made trouble. She was adored, however shallowly, and after, with her face wet and stinging, in the dark she prays that she is exalted, that she is adored again, for someone, anyone to love her the way she was once loved. She wants that even more than she wants suffering.

SAINT PETERSBURG Cap. 9: Concepción (Conception)

She was forged in her mother’s image the way James was moulded steady-on by their father, a rosy-cheeked maiden bred for slaughter-by-marriage and utterly excited for it. She attended a boarding school in Surrey for primary school, chased by a Swiss education for secondary, following in her parents’ footsteps. They were both Oxbridge students, dry and unencumbered by society’s ills. Her mother, despite being born to a nouveau riche half-Indian banker and his wife, an immigrant from Goa, caught her father’s eye and never left his gaze, settling in in his mind. They were lullabies, her parents, fairytales, their marriage impeccable and undeniable, a perfect union of two understated powers. And, her mother’s daughter, her accompaniment to the opera in Vienna and spas in Lucerne, she begged for the same, to be something, to marry someone who was something, because she was told, again, and again, but never so explicitly, that was all she could ever want and the only thing she had to live up to: James had the difficult task.

BERN Cap. 10: Cordura (Sanity) Trigger warning: car crashes, suicide (not graphic).

It weighs heavy over her, the second before the crash, when she made the decision to turn the steering wheel and pitch over the side of the road into the sea of trees below. She hadn’t set out to die, or be crushed by the vintage convertible she had coveted for five months before it became her birthday present, she had meant to inhale the salt and drive in the dark until she was exhausted enough, without a dram of whisky necessary, to collapse into her bed and finally sleep for the first time in months. It was assumed she had something in her system when she crashed. No one ever checked her blood alcohol, neither of her parents spoke enough French and James had sworn to protect her, telling the Corsican nurses instead that she was allergic to penicillin. They whisper that she wanted attention, and she did, if anyone would ever think to ask that she wouldn’t deny it. She just wanted attention, for someone to ask what was wrong, to ask why something not quite unexpected had nearly killed her, and her shame makes her eyes burn and one cheek striped white and the other pink and no one meets her eyes anymore but she never even tries to meet theirs. He’s a boy, for fuck’s sake. A boy. Not a man. Not a God. Not worth anything she did to herself in want of someone, in want of him, to ask, ‘what have I done to you?’

PARADIS Cap. 11: Poder (Power)

She has a plan, face half-scarred, teeth too white, skin stained with iodine under her school jumper, newly cruel in disposition herself when once she was, at the very least, civil. She should punish Théo, yes, and she will, but the slut knew who she was fucking — neither of them should go without blame. Georgiana watches Bas Décsey, her old boyfriend’s old friend, not reverently, but hungrily, flashes of something sharp in her smile, that wild, untamed thing once so easily caged. He’s better suited for her, anyway, no platinum-plated spoon between his lips (only a gold one, it’ll match hers), his interests align with hers. A simple, easily soft spoken question — ‘I need your help.’ The overlap of Theology and Art is undeniable and endless, their knowledge overlaps. Vengeance shines when sworn, she thinks constantly of the slut’s realisation that the poor creature she wrote off has taken everything from her: her own boyfriend, her dignity, her degree. An eye for an eye. Bas would know better than anyone, that’s what God would want. She relies on rumours of his grace and magnificence, and her own wretchedness — this is the time to prove he is a true prophet. (He won’t. He’ll never see her coming.)

(There’s another route, too, she could take: Théo slept with Sylvianne. Sylvianne sleeps with Bas now. Bas and Théo could so easily be torn apart by that fact, couldn’t they? Couldn’t she make Théo lose as much as she has? Could anyone even hate her if she did? It’s revenge. And they can claim piety all they like, but everyone hungers for it. Everyone.)

Writing Sample: Must be IC, should be at least two paragraphs

LATE JUNE 2018

She’s in a nasty mood, hovering on the edge of a violent strop, a wet, heavy feeling in the back of her throat, choking her.

These are wild lands, the mountains (are they mountains? they look nothing like the ones she knows so well) like rows of jagged teeth rising out of the sea, the cliffs cut black and white. An old Aznavour song in a language she doesn’t understand croaks through the radio, staticky from the distance. She leans forward, flicking it off, pressing back into the leather and tracing the steering wheel’s stitches. She’s alone. The girl and her car. James thinks it’s haunted, the car, the way the villa is, the way the island is. When they were little lights would flick on in the middle of the night, and something that sounded like dogs would bark and howl even though they had none. A Nouvelle Vague starlet had owned the villa next to their great-grandfather’s and drowned herself in the pool and she had German Shepard, according to Jamie, when he was older.

The car speaks for itself, top down, never playing the right songs, the leather always frigid even in the Mediterranean heat.

Gia inhales through her nose, the edge of her fingernail sliding under a loose look of stitching and pulling. Her nail breaks. She swears, bringing the split, ragged edge to her teeth to even it out. She’s ruined her manicure — that was her mum’s doing, a hundred pounds for an emergency appointment at DryBy, the soft pink shade easily mistaken for her own nails from a distance. Something whistles. The wind.

She turns the radio back on, taking her foot off the car’s acceleration but leaving the key turned just so. To her left, a brief walk and her door opens out onto the salt, a vivid, vibrant, aching blue in daylight; a churning black sea, the stuff of monsters, of Grecian legends and Napoléon, when the sun goes down. To her right, the dirt. This road ends here. It gets steeper and steeper until it’s too treacherous for a car, even a small one barely suited for two people, like hers, to drive without pitching backwards and succumbing to flames.

It’s dark. She needs a light. She’s never gone this far before.

Gia takes her phone with her, on silent, its brightness turned down, and raises it to take a picture.

An endless grove of olive trees stares back, illuminated by the sudden flash of light. She turns. Above, the road that leads back to the villa, haunted. This is why she came down here. That distance, the gap between the road above and the road below, if she was going 100 kilometres it would cease to exist and all there would be to catch her would be the yearning arms of the olive trees.

It’s a good thing she knew to drive slowly through uncharted territory.

Other: Anything else you want to show us or say you can put here, including any desired changes or questions you have for us.

One last note  — in terms of timelines, determining what the ‘fall’ was is difficult, but I tend to place it as a gradual process rather than all at once. It began, of course, with the revelation she had been cheated on, but she failed to act (as she desired) on the information for a good week. It was a slow descent (here’s where this blog’s title comes from, “An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards”, Terry Pratchett, though sauntering is a nice word for it) from recklessness to Corsica and the crash. So while any of these things could be the fall, I tend to find that starting at the beginning is what I prefer, in terms of before and after. But the scars are a great visual marker of change, so I can hardly protest any other interpretation!

[squaredreamhomesgoa]

Know Top Features of Luxury Villas For Sale in Goa-Square Dream Homes

Enjoy private luxury in one of Goa's finest homes. Every time you come, this might occur. Finding the greatest villas is

most definitely not a luxury. They are available in countless numbers. They are lovely to view. There are many amenities there. There will never be a single complaint from you, Goa not only has the top tourist destinations, but also top-notch villas nearby! Most importantly, it provides you with a reassuring list of villas that make you grin with delight. Renting a Luxury Villas For Sale in Goa allows for a more individualized experience. Make reservations for both you and your family at the places you enjoy the most.

Make reservations for both you and your family at the places you enjoy the most. The Luxury Villas in North Goa are roomy locations with all the amenities a fan of luxury and refinement could need!

Features of Luxury Villas You Must Know

View-oriented villa

The view from the Premium Villas in Goa should reflect the kind of holiday you like, whether it's a romantic sunset from your cliffside villa overlooking a spectacular ocean with panoramic views or a secret hideaway on a hillside in a jungle setting sheltered from the sun and surrounded by flora. If you enjoy viewing the sun set over the water, a beachfront villa will be ideal. If you find it intriguing to observe the nightlife, people, and culture, pick a location close to the action.

Public Facilities

All of the family's demands are met by the ideal villa. It is essential to be close to important public facilities like hospitals and schools. ATMs, daily needs stores, and medical supply stores should all be within easy walking distance for maximum convenience. Finally, it should just take a short drive to go to entertainment and leisure options including restaurants, theaters, and shopping centers. Before selecting your Pool Villas in North Goa, think about these possibilities.

A lifestyle you desire

You can live the life you've always wanted if you choose to reside in a villa. Nobody can stop you from enjoying your unique tastes or from doing anything you've always desired. Whether it's a quiet family gathering, a boisterous birthday party, or a romantic dinner, you have the right to make your own decisions and live your life accordingly. Villas give you the freedom to select the way of life you've always desired.

Great Future Investment

Luxury Villas For Sale in Goa provide you a luxurious and roomy living as well as a high return on investment. Due to the constant fluctuation in real estate values and the rising demand for villas, your family may find this to be a wise and successful investment in the future.

Conclusion

The top Goa rental villas include maid and maintenance services. You can request daily housekeeping as well as a two-day linen change. You have the option of renting a car from the property. You have access to the Luxury Villas For Sale in Goa 24-hour security service.

For More Details visit : https://www.squaredreamhomes.com/

Homes For Sale in Goa: Features of Premium Villa- Square Dreams Home Square_dream_homes  November 9, 2022  modify  comment

You'll be aware that we have some expertise designing homes in Goa if you stay up to date with our work. Square Dream Homes constantly emphasize the crucial design elements that are suitable for Luxury Homes For Sale in Goa, such as emphasizing the site's natural features, safeguarding the trees already present there, designing indoor-outdoor spaces with roomy verandahs and spaces with plenty of natural light and cross-ventilation, and using sustainable building methods to reduce the building's ecological footprint.

Why Choose Square Dream Homes?

Cost of Living

When compared to larger and more developed urban regions, the average cost of living for necessities is quite low. Of course, that depends on the place and your way of living. The cost of living is typically lower nevertheless.

Tourist Hotspot

Due to the fact that the state's economy is based primarily on tourism, both women and men can travel freely across the state without fear of being attacked.

Indoor–outdoor spaces

Look for indoor spaces that are flanked by generous outdoor spaces in the form of verandahs and courtyards. Buy Luxury Villas in Goa that can be opened to connect these indoor and outdoor spaces and make them work as one place should ideally be incorporated into the design of the walls separating these indoor and outdoor spaces.

Affordable Prices

Purchasing a home in Goa is more reasonable than doing so in other big cities, with the added benefit of having spacious rooms and the chance to live by the beach or have a beautiful mountain view from your balcony. During construction, Premium Villas For Sale in Goa are also accessible for less money. While real estate in North Goa's Morjim, Ashvem, and Siolim is less expensive, Canacona and Agonda offer the extra benefit of being removed from the bustle of the city.

Return On Investment

Buy Villa in Goa from Square Dream Homes that offers a significant return on investment. People are constantly looking for opulent locations to organize intimate gatherings or private parties. When you're not using your villa, renting it will guarantee a high return on investment. Consider the area carefully before making your decision because the location you choose will have a significant impact on the return on your investment.

For more information visit : https://www.squaredreamhomes.com

Luxury Pool Villa of Goa

[manishakotnala]

How to Select A Yoga Teacher Training Program in India

No matter how long you've been a yoga practitioner, you may have considered becoming a certified teacher. Curiosity is only natural given the large number of people who claim that certification has improved their lives.

In addition to validating your experience, a yoga teacher training programme may encourage you to delve further into the philosophical and spiritual foundations of yoga. You can learn about the origins and development of yoga, develop personally, and discover your actual universal self. However, none of them will be feasible until you are able to select the yoga teacher training programme that is best for you.

But don't be concerned. We're here to help you make the best choice possible.

Where to Learn Yoga Teacher Training in India:

Why Rishikesh Is the Best Location?

Given that India has a long history of connection to yoga, many foreign students enrol in India's yoga teacher training programmes. Yoga classes are offered all over the country, with well-known centres including Rishikesh, Mysore, Goa, Kerala, Gokarna, and Dharamshala.

But Rishikesh seems to be the greatest location to practise yoga for a number of reasons. Rishikesh is said to have a spiritual connection.

The city of Rishikesh has reached unprecedented spiritual heights as a result of the legend surrounding Rishi Raibhya's penance and meeting with Lord Vishnu.

Any yoga practise should be learned close to the natural world, whether that be next to a body of flowing water or in a mountainous area.

What more is there except the beautiful Himalayan Mountain Range and the Ever-Flowing River Ganga?

After many yogis chose Rishikesh as the site of their sadhanas, Rishikesh rose to prominence as the centre of yoga in India. Last but not least, Rishikesh is situated by the Ma Ganga and is encircled by the majestic Himalayas, making it the ideal natural and attractive setting for practising yoga. Thanks to the tranquilly of the surroundings, students may focus more effectively on their academic work.

Considerations When Selecting A Yoga Teacher Training Program

While India has a large number of yoga schools that assist students in becoming the best versions of themselves, not all of these facilities has the resources necessary to provide top-notch yoga training. Not to mention the numerous fake yoga schools that exist.

To get the most of your money and prevent being taken advantage of, consider the following points when selecting a yoga teacher training programme:

Certified by the Yoga Alliance

Everyone is aware that Yoga Alliance establishes criteria for what the ideal curriculum for teacher education should include. If you want to take part in one, try to pick a teacher training programme that has received certification from the Yoga Alliance.

It's not necessarily a bad idea to work with someone who is inexperienced, but Yoga Alliance certification could be your insurance.

Schedule

Choose a training programme whose class schedule is suitable for your objectives. For example, if you believe your regular activities might interfere with your studies, take a month (or several months) off from them. Instead, devote all of your attention and effort to the yoga training programme. If you feel comfortable juggling yoga with your daily tasks, you could sign up for a programme that permits breaks in between courses.

Authenticity and practises

Yoga is typically regarded to be an experience rather than something that can be learned. Experience is gained by fusing the proper and Classical Yogic Techniques from a Modern perspective. The more established yoga schools have built a reputation for upholding this yogic wisdom.

Anatomy

In addition to helping you tailor your practise to your body's needs, a thorough understanding of human anatomy will also enable you to teach more carefully whether you are giving private or public lessons. Make sure the programme you chose will allow enough time for teaching anatomy.

The program's past

Any of the many institutions that have been teaching yoga for years in India can easily organise a teacher training programme. Additionally, certification from Yoga Alliance does not always signify the highest calibre.

Therefore, it is essential to research the yoga school's founding history. Read course evaluations, talk to former students, and only enrol in the course if you are satisfied with it.

Curriculum

The program's syllabus is another consideration. It is frequently necessary to assign a specific amount of time for subjects like anatomy, posture labs, philosophy, and history. However, varied programmes give them a distinctive flavour and emphasise various areas. Your choice of programme is entirely up to you.

Faculty

How well the yoga programmes are managed by the instructors affects a lot. You could find it more beneficial to work with an instructor who has years of experience and is able to assist you than someone who has just begun instructing. To obtain a sense of the instructors' degree of experience, you can look up their profiles on websites. A Classical Yoga Acharaya who has studied at an Ashram is superior to one who has studied in a claustrophobic brick-and-wall studio.

Why Rishikul Yogshala is the Best Location in Rishikesh for Yoga Training Programs?

The Rishikul Yogshala in Rishikesh offers the greatest yoga instruction programmes. It has a lengthy history and the perfect natural location for effective yoga practises.

The yoga teacher training programmes at Rishikul Yogshala also offer the following benefits:

. The programmes uphold the essential requirement by being Yoga Alliance certified. . The instructors were trained in the most traditional yogic ashram setting and have a minimum of 10 to 15 years of experience teaching abroad. . You learn about the ideas, background, and practical applications of yogic science. You can visualise yoga using the applications in a distinctive way. . Whether it is history, philosophy, postures, or anatomy, each significant subject is given adequate attention while maintaining a comprehensive curriculum. . The teachers are very capable and really interested in the welfare of the students. To make it simpler for students to keep up with the study pace, they might even alter the syllabus. . Depending on your schedule and the program's flexible hours, you can choose from a variety of courses. . Not to mention, the Rishikul Yogshala in Rishikesh transforms you. Yoga Off the Mat and on the Mat setting up yoga as a way of life

Now to You

Rishikul Yogshala is a wonderful choice for a yoga teacher training programme. We really hope we can be of assistance to you in your yoga journey.

[hiddengemsadhub]

Razia Writer hidden Gems Client: Raziya Begum is a resident of Goa, India, originally from Mangalore. She is an Early childhood educator, Teacher trainer ,English Tutor, Blogger and a Writer. Wow, that is so wonderful isn't it?

Razia Writer Sprism Client: She completed her Diploma in Fashion Designing after her marriage, after having 2 children she was able to persue Diploma in Teacher's Education with her husband's guidance & assistance . Hats off to such men, who support their wives to fulfill their dreams, and understand and respect their individuality. she is the owner of Begums Online Store. You can read her articles on begumraaz.blogspot.com and links of 2 of her blogs are given in description below.

After being a teacher & trainer in institution as Pandamic hit she started teaching English to many students from India & abroad thus

She has influenced many people with her teachings & inspirational works on social media .Now providing contents on youtube channel for her audience related to Educational motivational posts.

Name of her youtube channel is

Learn English and success tips by RaazHiday..& link is given in description below.

With the help of supportive life partner she was able to study after her marriage, became teacher & trainer ,practiced life of a working woman, impacted many people with her teachings & inspirational works on social media.

Link of YouTube channel

https://youtube.com/channel/UCWcXtvG9EAZJX4gpYc094BA

She believes that social media is very powerful tool, and we can use it for learning, teaching and earning by using it in right way ..so if you wish to discuss the same with her, please get connected with her on youtube and Facebook

Other than writing , She got many prizes in drawing, art& craft since school days ,even in Teachers'Training days.

She was elected as ASPL in highschool (ASPL stands for Assistant School Public leader) was also the topper in SSLC hence got Prathiba Puraskar award by state board of Karnataka, finished PUC or 12th grade with top score in Statistics & accountancy and she had scored 94 and 96 percent respectively

[daniloqp]

Why India Failed | MIT Technology Review

Why India Failed | MIT Technology Review

https://theministerofcapitalism.com/blog/why-india-failed-mit-technology-review/

But voices like hers were drowned out by messages from the federal government, which suggested that India had somehow overcome the virus. The hype was so strong that even some medical professionals acquired it. A Harvard Medical School professor told the financial newspaper Mint that “the pandemic has behaved in a very unique way in India.”

“The real damage in undercutting is that people will take the pandemic lightly,” Arun says. “If supposedly few people die because of a covid, the public will think it doesn’t kill and it won’t change its behavior.” In fact, by mid-December India had reached another bleak milestone: it registered its 10 million infection. It was only the second country to do so, after the US.

The government had not used the first closure intelligently, but December was its chance to fix things, says Gagandeep Kang, a professor of microbiology at Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. He says a number of tactics: increasing sequencing, studying public behavior, collecting more data, denying permission for superextension events, and initiating vaccine deployment earlier than expected would have saved many lives during the inevitable second wave.

Instead, she says, the government continued its “top-down approach,” in which bureaucrats instead of scientists and health professionals made decisions.

“We live in a very unequal society,” he says. “Therefore, we need to engage people and create high-level partnerships if we want to provide information and resources effectively.”

In December, the Goa government dropped the guard completely low. The state is heavily dependent on tourism, which accounts for almost 17% of its revenue. Most tourists show up in December to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve on sandy beaches with radishes and fireworks.

Goan journalist Vivek Menezes says the state’s reputation as “the place where it is” had not faded during the pandemic. “It’s the place for the rich in India and for Bollywood and therefore it’s the place for India,” Menezes says. The pandemic had prevented the visit of foreign tourists, but domestic holidaymakers entered. Some states, such as Maharashtra, had imposed restrictions on their borders; others, such as Kerala, had a strict policy of tracking contacts. In Goa, visitors didn’t even have to show a negative proof of covid. And the state’s masking policy extended only to health workers, health center visitors, and people with symptoms. “Goa was left by the dogs,” Menezes says.

The largest superspreader in the world

India started in 2021 with almost 150,000 deaths. Only then, in January, did the government place its first vaccine order and it was for a surprisingly low amount: only 11 million doses of Covishield, the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine. He also ordered 5.5 million doses of Covaxin, a locally developed vaccine that has not yet released efficacy data. These orders were far below what the country really needed. Subhash Salunke, a senior advisor to the Independent Public Health Foundation of India, estimates that 1.4 billion doses would have been required to fully vaccinate all eligible adults.

On January 28, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Modi he declared that India had “saved humanity from a great disaster by containing the crown effectively.” His government then gave its approval to the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival that draws crowds of millions to the holy city of Haridwar, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, famous for its temples and places of pilgrimage. When the former chief minister of the state suggested that the festival should be “symbolic” this year given the circumstances, he was fired.

A senior politician from the Bharatiya Janata party of the Prime Minister he said the Indian magazine The Caravan that the federal government had its eyes set on the upcoming state elections and did not want to lose the support of religious leaders. As it turned out, the Kumbh was not a superspreader event, with 9.1 million people in attendance, but the world bigger superspreader event. “Anyone with a basic textbook on public health would have told you it wasn’t the time,” Kang says.

The Indian government only placed its first vaccine order in January 2021, after registering nearly 150,000 deaths. Even then, it was for a surprisingly low amount: 11 million doses of Covishield and 5.5 million doses of Covaxin for a country of 1.3 billion.

In February, Salunke, the public health expert, was working in an agricultural district in the western state of Maharashtra when he realized the virus was transmitting “much faster” than before. It affected entire families.

“I felt like we were dealing with an agent who had changed or who seemed to have changed,” he says. “I started researching.” Salunke, it now turns out, had found a mutation in a variant that had been detected in India the previous October. I suspected that the variant, now known as delta, was about to run. He did. It is now in more than 90 countries.

“I went to everyone who is responsible and who matters, whether it’s district-level officials or bureaucrats at the central level, so to speak. Everyone I knew immediately shared this information,” he says.

It appears that Salunke’s discovery did not affect the official response. Although the second wave accelerated and after the WHO designated the new mutation as “a variant of interest” on April 4, Modi maintained his hectic schedule ahead of the state elections in West Bengal, presenting himself personally at numerous public gatherings.

At one point he gloat about the size of the crowd he had attracted: “In all directions I see large crowds of people … I have never seen these crowds at a rally.”

“The rallies were a direct message from the direction the virus had gone,” says Laxminarayan of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy.

The second wave filled hospitals, which quickly depleted beds, oxygen and medication, forcing patients to aspire to wait — and then die — in homes, to parking lots, yen sidewalks. Crematoria had to build makeshift piers to keep up with demand, and there were reports that the spill of ashes drifted so far stained the clothes a mile away. Many poor people could not even afford to pay for funeral rites and submerged the bodies of their loved ones directly in the Ganges River, which led to hundreds of corpses being washed on the outskirts of various states. Alongside these apocalyptic scenes, came the news that deadly fungal infections were overwhelming covid patients, probably as a result of lower infection control and an over-reliance on steroids in the treatment of the virus.

The chaos continues; Delta extends

And all the while, there’s been Modi. The prime minister had been the face of India’s fight against the pandemic, literally: his shot prominently appears on the certificate given to people who are vaccinated. But after the second wave, he mocked his premature triumphalism and his unpreparedness was widely ridiculed. Since then, he has largely disappeared from public view, leaving his colleagues to blame them elsewhere, mostly and inaccurately, for the government’s political opposition. As a result, Indians have been left alone to face the biggest national crisis of their lives.

This abandonment has created a sense of camaraderie among some groups of Indians, with many use social media and WhatsApp to help each other sharing information about hospital beds and oxygen cylinders. They have also been organized on the ground, distributing food to those who need it.

“He [BJP] the concentrations were a direct message from the direction the virus had disappeared. “

Ramanan Laxminarayan, the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Politics

But the leadership gap has also produced a huge market for those who take advantage and scam at the highest levels. In May, opposition politicians accused a BJP ruling party leader, Tejaswi Surya, of participating in a vaccine commission scam. And Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane was forced to disprove claims he had been involved in a scam related to buying fans. Even the prime minister’s coveted assistance fund, Prime Minister Cares, suffered a fire after spending $ 2.25 billion (more than $ 300 million) on 60,000 fans that doctors reported after they were defective. i “Too risky to use.” The fund, which attracted at least $ 423 million in donations, has also raised concerns about corruption and lack of transparency.

A successful vaccination program could have helped erase the memory of the series of wrong steps, but under Modi it has only been one technocratic mistake after another. In late May, with far fewer vaccines on hand than it needs, the government announced plans to start mixing doses of different types of vaccines. And at the height of the second wave, it introduced Co-WIN, an online booking system that was mandatory for all under-45s trying to get vaccinated. The system, which had been under control for months, was disastrous: not only did it automatically exclude those who do not use computers and smartphones, but it was also affected by mistakes and overwhelmed by people desperate for protection.

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[karpagam-architecture]

THINGS YOU CAN DO DURING YOUR SEMESTER BREAK TO HAVE FUN

http://karpagamarch.in/things-you-can-do-during-your-semester-break-to-have-fun/

Semester breaks are fun. Ask me, I have done a lot of things unimaginable during this time. Like swimming, rioting with paintball, go-karting and what not? Majority of the class had decided it will study for the next semester while me and few friends formed a group and jumped on to make some trips to places as we had very little time to squeeze the maximum fun out of limited time. Even some of those who stayed back to study did squeeze time for some activities and here is a list of lit things you could do in your semester break:

Go for a long staycation

However long you get the holidays, use it to wind up into a cocoon and go on to somewhere as a staycation. Staycation is like a vacation but you mostly spend your time in a single place rather than visiting multiple places. You’ll be mostly finding yourself with inner comforts like SPA, Swimming Pool, playing golf etc. Set yourself up a good resort or a good hotel with VIP Facilities and your staycation will be super awesome.

Try adventure sports

This one is for those who can’t control their nerves. If you’re an adrenaline junkie use your off days to get the best of yourself out. Adventure sports are a growing trend and you can be part of and have bragging rights of telling your friends about how high the cliff was or how scenic the waters were when you were rafting. Adventure sports include anything from mountain biking to jumping off cliff to dining at a zero degree temperature while you try to finish an ultra marathon. Not only this will be fun, this will also help you remain healthy and alert. When you’re back at college you will be a gemstone.

Read Books

This one is for all those friends who like being bookworms. Reading books essentially doesn’t make you a geek, but helps you learn something different. My recommendations would be to read some historical classics, anything to do with literature in your native language or learn about people whose cultures have perished in this modern world. Books are not just pages filled with words, they’re enablers of that core imagination that brings your true self out. A book a day will keep misinformation away and also, you’ll be away from social media and be at peace.

Learn a new skill

Learning skills are essential in the modern world. You never know what you are good at unless you try it. Why not take some time and get out there and learn some skills that will help you out. And you never know you might become expert other than what your major is.

Head out on an unplanned trip

Unplanned trips are one of the greatest boon in human life. Remember that Goa trip you planned since you graduated from high school? The time is now for you to hit the road. Pack some essentials, take whatever cash or card you’ve, take public transit or hitchhike but complete that trip. Unplanned trips will help you do more in the short time as you’ve very less distraction and no schedules to focus on.

Community Service

Community Service is a highly overlooked part in our human society. The days you get must be used productively to give back to the community that has fostered a positive environment around you. Helping the less fortunate and the homeless will be the best thing you will do with the free time you’ve got with you rather than whiling it away.

The blog is written by KAHE – Architecture, a top architecture college in Coimbatore. Our mission is to promote the art of Architecture and Town Planning to the youth, so that they can contribute to our sustainable future. For more info mail us at: info@karpagam.com