for those who were not there right then, and because i am thinking about those rather lovely two days in 2004, here are a few pictures of nova's birthday from that year.

all of this was at bakkkali.
the first picture shows us trying to negotiate a birthday cake for nova.
then there is the one of a rather picturesque bit which wasn't really a beach camp, but in fact a result of tent pitching practice. and we had a game of it, i'll tell you that, for what with the wind and the lively sand, it was anybody's gueass whether we were pitching the tent or the tent was pitching us.
the next photograph shows the woods on the beach which we used for our talks and our practice. and a rather fine day it was to be out there, as you can possibly tell. sun, wind and sea make for a lovely background to stories from the high altitudes.
the next photograph shows our efforts on the occasion of world environment day. that was 5 june.
finally, that's romila jumaring (this photograph comes from parthada's pentax. the rest are mine, from the tiny digital, which has finally made its retiremnt).

birthday

oh, and there was one more thing i wanted to say before the month was out.

it seems to me rather a nice thing that the blog is a june event. as most of us know, nova was born on 6 june 1999, the day following the world environment day.

here's wishing ourselves the best of climbs.

graduation ceremony, journal, and expedition 2006

first things first,then.

here's announcing to all novarians that the graduation ceremony is nigh, and that in all probability will take place in early august. we are looking to have at least one, and probably two, lectures at the meet (possibly one on glaciers and the other on the weather), besides the usual distribution of certificates to the kiddies and the formal reports of club proceedings, like the camps, the course, and of course, the trek and the expedition. and need i mention that there will be slide shows to drool over...?

also, the first fresh winds about this year's expedition are stirring. and along with those, talk of the second issue of the club journal. the plan, as we wanted to do last year but had not the time to, is to raise funds for the expedition while also raising funds for the journal, through advertisements and other means. the idea is to publish the journal immediately after the return of the expedition team. that way, the expedition gets to use financial help from the journal, and the journal gets to document the expedition. it is hoped that the forms for advertisements for the journal will be available soon, as also will be the raffle sheets for minor collections for the expedition. all novarians are urged to send in their write-ups for the journal at the soonest possible to partha_mountain@yahoo.com or anna_climbing@yahoo.com. articles may deal with any of the areas that nova vests an interst in -- like nature, the environment, and of course, techniques and/or experiences of any aspect of mountaineering. and for the information of those who have not seen the first issue, this time too, the journal will be at least a bilingual production, if not trilingual. contributions are therefore welcome in english, bangla, and hindi.

meanwhile, the graduation ceremony will require preparations of its own. nova, happily, now has a comprehensive mailing list, and once our guests and lecturers can confirm their time with us, and the date for the event is finalised, the invitations will be on their way. the venue, in all likelihood, is our familiar charukala bhavan. the show begins punctually at six in the evening.

climb on.

about us

the following, written from before my days at nova, provide what i think is a fairly comprehensive overall, if not a VERY compact comprehensive overall. we all know the broad outlines, but i'll post the black (red)and white here anyway:

Nature Oriented Venturous Association: Registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act 1961 (Registration nº: S/96432) and affiliated to Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi, the Nature Oriented Venturous Association as its name suggests, is an association which endeavours to promote not only the spirit of adventure among the youth but also to create an environmental awareness among them through its varied activities.

as for the details, would the members please rouse themselves and write? say, would parthada write on the expeditions, please? and madame on the children's programmes? and someone again about the rock climbing camps? and someone about the treks? and someone about the environmental awareness programmes? and so on... pick your subject and start. it would probably be a good idea to be able to comment broadly on the idea before moving on to details and specific programmes, though.

and upload photographs, too, please. with the mountians for our subject, we simply cannot have too many of those . i think i'll start that off, if i may.

and i believe i speak for all of us when i say we are waiting for the photographs from the kuari pass trek and from the japan exposure.

cheers.

climb on.

really, i am not so high. just to make sure, heh! commanded once again, to declare that the trek people should post the photos. really people, so tardy, shame. when will you learn

as commanded by hrh, i've joined the blog. i think it is an absolutely ingenuous idea to call ourselves NOVARIANS

our blogspot, if you please. mountainlovers get up and going.