View this post on Instagram Sooo tis’ no secret that I have always admired and aroused by women who dare to stand out in the crowd just by being themselves🌟You know the passionate ones🤘who “do their thing” no matter what curve balls the society throws at them, the driven ones👊who venture on their wildest dreams,and whether they are rule makers or rule breakers, what they all have in common is, they stand darn true to themselves and their ideals🦄and don’t act anything less than what they are, just for the society to “accept” them.😏 ... And Wonder Woman(fictitious or not, we will come to that soon) is exactly all that and more! She is strong (hell yes!) yet sensitive.⚡️She is badass but she doubted her strength and even gets yelled at for that.⚡️She is stubborn but she is also kind.⚡️Do you see, there is a Wonder Woman👩⚔️in each and every one of you.Just let her shine through ✨✨✨and you will be unstoppable.🤘 ... Sooo ladies, sparkling in the #pinkpositivelight 💕✨ let’s do this for the 🦋onder 🦋oman inside us. Tell me your strengths that you are proud of.🤘Not the others, but what do YOU love the most about yourself?😇And I can tell you this my Amazons,⚔️👩once you believe in the spark ⚡️which makes you “you”, nothing can stop you from lassoing your way to be a Sassy, Strong, Ass-kicking Wonder Woman.🤘So c’mon, together let us pop, fizz and clink🥂to all the Wonder Women out there and celebrate their quirks and strengths.🎇 ... PS-For the “Super Man” reading this post, it would be great if you could share with us about the Wonder Woman🤘in your life. I can’t promise if Vishnu will dress up for a post like this for the men but we’ll see 😉 ... PPS – Please be careful standing at the edge of canyons/mountains/high rise buildings. The wind gusts are extremely dangerous☠️ and your adrenaline rage is not worth your life. We waited quite a bit and made sure of this. • • • #dametraveler #ladiesgoneglobal #girlsborntotravel #wearetravelgirls #iamtb #myfavtourlina #sheisnotlost #femmetravel #citizenfemme #sheexplores #travelista #traveltales #thediscoverer #travelust #dreamscape #instagramaz #visitarizona #timeoutsociety #inlovewiththisplace #dametravelerconnection #sidewalkerdaily #travelinladies<doc-sep>SAN FRANCISCO -- A married couple who fell to their deaths in Yosemite National Park last week while taking a selfie, the man's brother said Tuesday. Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, and her husband, Vishnu Viswanath, 29, were Indian expats living in California. She was a self-described "adrenaline junkie," and he took "wow-worthy photos" of the couple posing at the edge of cliffs and jumping from planes. Those pictures appeared on social media and a travel blog that attracted thousands of followers. The couple's latest trip turned out to be their last. They set up their tripod near a ledge at a scenic overlook in the California park, Viswanath's brother, Jishnu Viswanath, told The Associated Press. Visitors saw the camera the next morning and alerted park rangers, who "used high-powered binoculars to find them," he said. This photo obtained from Facebook posted on June 26, 2017, shows a selfie of Vishnu Viswanath, right, and Meenakshi Moorthy at Skydive Santa Barbara. Vishnu Viswanath/Facebook via AP Rangers found their bodies about 800 feet below Taft Point, where visitors can walk to the edge of a vertigo-inducing granite ledge that offers spectacular views of the Yosemite Valley below. The recovery operation "involved Park Rangers using technical climbing and rappelling techniques, in addition to helicopter support from the California Highway Patrol for a short-haul operation," Yosemite National Park said last week in a statement. Their thrill-seeking social media posts foreshadow the couple's link to the growing problem of selfie deaths. A study published this month in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care said 259 people had died taking selfies between October 2011 and November 2017. The report, based on findings from researchers in India who scoured worldwide media reports, said the main causes of selfie deaths were drowning, usually involving people being washed away by waves or falling from a boat, followed by people killed while posing in front of a moving train, deaths involving falls from high places or while taking pictures with dangerous animals. More than 10 people have died at Yosemite this year, some from natural causes and others from falls, park spokesman Scott Gediman said. Moorthy and Viswanath were born in India and had lived in the United States for a few years, most recently in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cisco India said Viswanath was a software engineer at the company's San Jose, California, headquarters in Silicon Valley. They graduated in 2010 from the College of Engineering, Chengannur, in the Alapuzha district of India's Kerala state, one of their professors, Nisha Kuruvilla, told the AP. She said Moorthy and Viswanath were both good students who were fond of traveling and had married at a Hindu temple in Kerala in southern India four years ago. Moorthy described her and her husband as "travel obsessed" on their blog, "Holidays & Happily Ever Afters," which was taken down Tuesday. It was filled with photos of the couple in front of snowy peaks and on romantic trips across Europe, where they took selfies from a gondola in Venice, at the Leaning Tower of Pisa and at the Vatican. Moorthy wanted to work full time as a travel blogger, her brother-in-law said. She described herself in the blog as a "quirky free spirit" and "an ardent adrenaline junkie -- roller coasters and skydiving does not scare me." She posed at the edge of the Grand Canyon wearing a Wonder Woman costume, writing, "A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs -- and skyscrapers. But did you know that wind gust can be FATAL-? Is our life just worth one photo?" On the day the couple fell to their deaths, another couple who hiked to Taft Point captured pictures of Moorthy prior to her fall, saying she appeared in the background of two of their selfies. Sean Matteson said Moorthy stood out from the crowd enjoying sunset at the overlook because her hair was dyed bright pink. He said she made him a little nervous because she was close to the edge. "She was very close to the edge, but it looked like she was enjoying herself," said Matteson of Oakland, California. "She gave me the willies. There aren't any railings. I was not about to get that close to the edge. But she seemed comfortable. She didn't seem like she was in distress or anything." Yosemite spokeswoman Jamie Richards said officials were investigating the deaths, which could take several days.<doc-sep>A couple who fatally fell about 800 feet from a Yosemite National Park overlook last week were adventurers in the process of taking a selfie, according to the Associated Press. Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, and husband Vishnu Viswanath, 29, had set up a tripod near the ledge of Taft Point, Viswanath's brother, Jishnu Viswanath, told AP. Visitors found the camera the next morning and alerted officials, Viswanath said. The couple, who were Indian expats living in California, had a documented history of taking daring photos. In March, the couple posted one such photo of a Grand Canyon visit to Instagram, NPR reported. The photo depicts Moorthy sitting on the ledge of the canyon and its caption acknowledges the danger: "A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs and skyscraper, but did you know that wind gusts can be FATAL??? Is our life just worth one photo??" A now-removed travel blog with thousands of followers contained photos of the couple sitting on the edge of cliffs and jumping from planes, according to AP. The couple's alma mater — the College of Engineering, Chengannur — grieved their loss in a Saturday Facebook post, reading: "Our hearts go to the friends and family members of this lovely couple. May their souls rest in peace." Selfie-related deaths are a growing problem, a recent study has found. The study, published by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, documented more than 250 selfie deaths between October 2011 and November 2017. Taft Point is a popular photo spot that has made headlines recently for a viral photo of a proposal. The photographer revealed the identity of the couple in the photo, which was taken at Taft Point, in a Saturday Facebook post. In a Friday statement about the fatal fall, Yosemite officials said the incident is still being investigated and that the identification of the deceased had not yet been determined. Contributing: Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY; Associated Press<doc-sep>A “travel-obsessed” Indian couple was taking a selfie when they plunged to their deaths at a popular overlook in Yosemite National Park last week, a relative said — just months after the duo wrote about having boundaries while taking travel photos. Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, died after they fell about 800 feet from Taft Point, a popular viewpoint in the California park that doesn’t have a railing to protect visitors from the ledge. Park rangers recovered their bodies last Thursday after people reported seeing an unattended camera on a tripod, Viswanath's brother, Jishnu Viswanath, told the Associated Press. Jishnu Viswanath said Moorthy had set up the tripod by the ledge last Tuesday possibly to take a selfie. Rangers had arrived at the scene Thursday and "used high-powered binoculars to find them and used helicopters to airlift the bodies.” The National Park Service said the incident is under investigation. Viswanath and Moorthy married four years ago in southern India, said Dr. Nisha Kuruvilla, a professor who knew the couple. Viswanath had been working as a software engineer at Cisco India’s San Jose, California, headquarters. The duo’s married life was detailed in a travel blog called "Holidays and HappilyEverAfters,” where they wrote about their recent vacations and posted photos of themselves in front of landscapes and monuments such as the Eiffel tower. On the now-deactivated blog, they described themselves as people “diagnosed with the ‘curious case of interminable travel bug’ and a huge believer of ‘happily-ever-afters.’” But they also talked about having limits when it comes to taking dangerous travel photos. In a March 28 Instagram post, Moorthy questioned, “Is our life just worth one photo?” “Yeah sure it can be limitless but guys, we reaaaallly need to have boundaries(this is handy as life lessons too but we will revisit that later),” Moorthy wrote along with a photo of herself at the Grand Canyon. “A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs and skyscrapers, but did you know that wind gusts can be FATAL?? ?” “When we squirm at another selfie attempt gone south from a skyscraper, let’s remember to save that in our core memory and not the memory dump,” she added. Moorthy admitted she was “guilty as charged” for risking her life for a photo, but credited her husband for keeping her in check. The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
An Indian husband and wife who fell to their deaths from a popular overlook at Yosemite national park in California were apparently taking a selfie, the man’s brother said on Tuesday. Park rangers recovered the bodies of Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, on Thursday about 800ft (245 meters) below Taft Point, where visitors can walk to the edge of a vertigo-inducing granite ledge that doesn’t have a railing. Viswanath – who Cisco India said was a software engineer at the company’s headquarters in San Jose, California – and Moorthy had set up their tripod near the ledge on Tuesday evening, Viswanath’s brother, Jishnu Viswanath, told the Associated Press. Park visitors the next morning saw the camera and alerted rangers, who “used high-powered binoculars to find them and used helicopters to airlift the bodies”, he said. In an eerie coincidence, a man who had hiked to the same spot with his girlfriend captured pictures of Moorthy before her fall, saying she accidentally appeared in the background of two of their selfie photos. Sean Matteson said Moorthy stood out from the crowd enjoying the sunset atop Taft Point last week because her hair was dyed bright pink and that she made him a little nervous because he felt she was standing too close to the edge. “She was very close to the edge, but it looked like she was enjoying herself,” said Matteson, who lives in Oakland, California. “She gave me the willies. There aren’t any railings. I was not about to get that close to the edge. But she seemed comfortable. She didn’t seem like she was in distress or anything.” Matteson said his girlfriend, Drea Rose Laguillo, noticed that Moorthy had been captured in their images on Monday after pictures of the two victims were published. Matteson said he doesn’t recall noticing Viswanath when he and his girlfriend were at the overlook with less than a dozen other tourists. The couple left the overlook as darkness was approaching, Matteson said. Sean Matteson poses for a selfie with his girlfriend Drea Rose Laguillo. Meenakshi Moorthy is seen in the background at left. Photograph: Sean Matteson/AP The Indian couple’s funeral will take place in the US because the bodies were not in a condition to be flown back to India, Jishnu Viswanath said. The couple was “travel-obsessed”, Moorthy wrote on a blog called Holidays and HappilyEverAfters filled with photos of them in front of snowy peaks, the Eiffel Tower and tulip fields. Moorthy had wanted to work full time as a travel blogger, Viswanath said. “A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs and skyscrapers, but did you know that wind gusts can be FATAL?? ?” Moorthy wrote on an Instagram post with a photo of her sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon. “Is our life just worth one photo?” The couple graduated in 2010 from the College of Engineering, Chengannur, in the Alapuzha district of Kerala state, one of their professors, Dr Nisha Kuruvilla, told the AP. She said Moorthy and Viswanath were both good students who were fond of traveling and had married at a Hindu temple in Kerala in southern India four years ago. A Yosemite spokeswoman, Jamie Richards, said in a statement that park officials were investigating the deaths and that the investigation could take several days. In India, after a rash of selfie-related deaths, the tourism ministry in April asked state government officials to safeguard tourists by installing signs in areas where accidents had occurred declaring them “no-selfie zones”. ﻿