jungle mein mangal

a trek(trip) to biLigiri Ranganatha Hills

2006-06-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

The first thing that samiT ( the six-foot sloth of our trek team :) ) asks before we flag off any trek is, "do we get to see any elephants there" ?.. I remember the moment in MM Hills forest, when samiT was ahead of us all and we heard an excited shout "come here !!..soon.."..We were convinced that he had spotted an elephant..moments later, we were standing around a fresh elephant dropping !!

it's a different fun to see the wildlife in the real wild..in their natural habitat..and though we haunt many jungles, the most we get to see is pug-marks, droppings, remnants of kills.. Kaushik keeps telling me about his wild experiences in some core reserve forests..I am not so fortunate to be a part of the camera-trap mission from IISc, nor am I a relative of an IFS officer..Most of the times, we are not allowed to enter some areas of the forest and even if we are, not beyond certain times..that's when the wildlife comes out of hiding..

This sunday was special for me and mithun..We got to shoot ( photograph !! ) some wild animals in the real wild !.. I had seen a lot of wild animals up-close when i used to go for jeep ride with my uncle in Kudremukh..But, never got a chance to photograph 'em.. Mithun had arranged for a trek with his cousins and i agreed to join him..it seemed more of a trip and less of a trek..all our treks so far have been rusty..we never had the comforts of being dropped at the base and being picked up at the end by a tempo-traveller..Our treks usually begin on Friday nights..considering the fact that travelling in KSRTC buses is itself a kinda trek..

We ( 9 of us ) reached BRT ( Biligiri Ranganatha Temple ) sanctuary early morn..For the first time i was unaware of the route we were taking, for we had ample entertainment going on in the van..The folded seat besides the driver was the stage for us act out the movies..and we had 3 hours of non stop fun..

When we hit the beautiful ghat of BRT, our first spotting was a beautiful peacock.. my cam, which i've inherited from nagu, couldn't capture ( not to blame the cam ..am a novice myself :) )...
I was looking like a desperate idiot with a cam around my neck, desperately waiting for an animal to pass by..Something which u can relate to the japanese photographer in the hindi movie "munnabhai MBBS" who says "i want to shoot people..poor people"...i wanted to shoot too.."animals..wild animals.."...finally, i got to shoot a pair of wild boars !!..

The trek began from the BRT peak and the weather was just great..it was long before i had seen a misty noon..I had to suffice with some macro shots and shooting the wild flora..

There were some excitements about hearing some trumphet and noises mid way, but no animal was spotted..the trek had no ascent, and within 2 hours, we saw the base !..may be the quickest of all..

Though the trek was short and not very exciting, we had a great time in the wild..the right kind of relaxation one would need after a boring week in bangalore.. The van took us back to BRT hill..picturesque views and funny monkeys kept me occupied with the cam..Mith, kishore and me went to the IB to get permission to visit some nearby place..a movie was being shot there..the scene : the hero, dressed as a policeman rolls and shoots at the camera ..hero : namma saikumar !!..i was relieved..for, i finally got something wild to shoot :) ..sai agreed to have a photo with us and we handed over the cam to a decent looking guy..gave him fundae and instructions..only to realize later that he was a MLA !!

On the way back, the van suddenly stopped and everyone was "shhh..shhh....bison ..bison !!"...i remember snatching the cam from sonal, who was browsing the pics..and rush to the window..we saw a herd of bisons drinking water !!..it was a great sight..we came out of the van and tried to get closer, but none of our cams were equipped enough to fight the distance and poor light..But, it was a kinda satisfaction just to see them..

minutes later we spotted a lone bison..he was huge and masculine !..the van stopped in the proximity and he grew conscious..When, he started sharpening the horns by rubbing against a tree, obvious signs of charging, the driver cried "sir..if it bangs the vehicle, u must pay for the tinkering costs..!!"..very soon, we saw one more herd of bisons..this time the lighting was better and we got a couple of shots..

the sight of these animals gave us a sense of contentment...
My mind went wandering over the thoughts about their survival in the coming years..human encroachment continues to take toll of these innocent beings..the guard narrated a story of a lioness, who died after falling from a rock, and that she was carrying 6 cubs !!.. It's a solace
that the forest dept. is doing a good job by identifying reserve forests, anti poaching camps and stopping encroachment..We, as civilians can atleast help in small ways like not littering the forest trails with non biodegradable waste and more importantly, discouraging articles manufactured from animal hides and tusks..instead, admire their beauty and charm in the jungles, which is their habitat, their home...

I was woken up from these rumbling thoughts when the singing session in the van had heated up..We kept singing old songs on the way..was reminded of our singing session in rajasthan trip from delhi to pilani..mith, kishore and me sang in our high pitch - which nandita found very difficult to cope with..sonal kept prompting me the lyrics, while sindhu was still staring out of the window ( the bison hangover - she calls it )...shiri, kaushiki and the king solomon slept off in glory...

we reached bangalore faster than i had thought....for, in good times, time flies only faster....

Reaching BRT :
BRT is around 210 kms from bangalore. can be easily reached by KSRTC bus from Bangalore.
The route is Bangalore to Maddur ( on mysore road ). then reach Kollegal en route malavalli. A right from Kollegal leads you to Yellandur. BRT from Yellandur is about 30 km.
for more info on trekking in this place click here
or contact Chamrajnagar DCF @ 08226-222059 and get the permission...

see more pics here
and here

The wedding was just a "reason" ...

2006-05-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

..Mom 'n dad had come down to stay with me for a while.. and all i had to do on weekends, was to be "at home" !! great food and no treks..waaw !! a fatal combination for my pot !! ;) .My parents decided to leave on Saturday night (all my attempts to postpone it to monday were in vain)..Saturday night meant i had to be in Bangalore..and no trek ! .

KK ( my college pal ) invited me for his brother's wedding in Tumkur..I was longing for some trek or a ride and i saw some opportunity here..I convinced my mom that i'll be going to Tumkur on bike at 10 in the night..the reason given : my friend's wedding :)

Convincing mithun was easy .."hey mith, we'll go for a ride..and if possible attend KK's bro's wedding" ( note here that the ride comes first ! )...and we were all set for the ride..
I saw mom n dad off and mithun was ready to pick me up outside the station..The ride wasn't too exciting except for tunneling through trucks lined up near Peenya..We were in Tumkur at 0000hrs..KK had booked a room for us, for we were the official guests for the wedding..KK was oblivious of our hidden agenda ;)

We had plans to visit Madhugiri..but, The wedding muhurtam was at 0830hrs..We had to start very early if we had to be back in time..When Mithun said "we'll be starting off at 4 am tomorrow", KK's face was a sight to see :) ..We went to get some info about the route and distance to Madhugiri..We asked 2 lodge workers, each of whom suggested a route and started arguing that his route is the best..We realized they were drunk and we believed none..

We started off at 430 am from Tumkur without the knowledge of the road..and there was none to guide us..Off the distance we saw a shaky figure and in-spite of the last night's experience, we had to ask him..He turned out to be good guide..At 530, we were at the base of Madhugiri..It seemed "not that great" from the base..I checked out the sunrise time in my GPS and it said 0553 hrs..We started climbing as fast to reach a good height to get a good view of the sunrise..With 5 minutes left for the day-break, we found a raised gun-point..It was an architectural marvel..It seemed seamless with the rocks, an extension..The rising sun made the yonder hills more visible..

The muhurtam was at 0830hrs ! ..we had to climb real fast..If the time constraint had created a potential difference, the picturesque scenes were the resistance..Mithun was bent upon exhausting the memory in his cam..We reached a place where the wall along path was missing..there were iron railings to support on a steep side..

this is the place where a few guys following us gave up the climb..And finally, we made it to the top..i threw my bag, held the GPS and went to gauge the summit..i climbed a rock only to realize that we had "a lot more to go" !!..And we finally made it to the top this time :) ( i was still skeptical though )

The elevation of this point was 1198m, with a re-ascent of around 400m from the base..A bit taller than Savandurga..One good thing about the fort is, there's no temple on the top to attract pilgrims ( there's a temple in ruins ) and the ascent itself is kind of difficult..This has helped retaining the fort walls in a fairly good condition..The peak had a small fortress that had several rooms supported by pillars..

On the other side of the fortress ( the western side ), we could get the view of distant siddarbeTTa and channarayanadurga..The gusty winds on the top seemed to carry us..and occasionally we lost the balance too..There was a thin mist and we knew for sure, we were in the clouds..

The muhurtam was at 0830 :) ..We had to rush down..A few others were joining us for the wedding..When i called them up, it was their "wake up" call !!..and there was no way they could make it to the wedding in time ..The muhurtam was still at 0830, just that, it lost its significance ;) ..We informed KK that we'd be late too..and we had more time..We reached the base and went to a temple that was seen from the top..We enquired about the road to SiddarabeTTa..The shopkeeper gave us "written directions" for the names of the villages were confusing like "chinaka Vajra" etc..
The guy also told that madhugiri is the biggest monolith in Asia and not the Savandurga...I wasn't convinced though..He told that many doors in the fort have been locked by archaeologists and they house some mysterious secrets !!

We reached Channarayanadurga after taking a deviation on the Madhugiri-KoraTagere road via Chinaka-vajra..This fort too seemed less damaged..We had no interest to climb this one..We proceeded towards SiddarabeTTa..This one seemed swarmed by pilgrims..When asked about the place, One lady said that it had some temples on the top..Later, Kaushik told me that there are caves on the top..got to check it out once..

A small pond filled with bloomed lotus was too beautiful to be missed out..There were some guys standing on the banks trying to fish out some flowers with sticks..Mithun succeeded in forcing the guys to venture in the waters and pluck the flowers with some psyching-up statements like "hey you guys are of no use..can't you go into the water and pluck 'em ? "..Very soon, there were dozens of flowers and buds in our hands :)

The muhurtam was at 0830..it was already 0930 !..We rode back with a few photo-stops..
We were at the wedding hall even before the rest of 'em joined us from Bangalore..A heavy lunch put an end to a foggy idea that was coming to my mind to visit Devarayandurga later in the day..

KK was hinting about him getting married..I was thinking "well..I can't wait that long !..i hafta find another reason to trek in this place"..hmmm..Do, i need any "reason" at all ?? :)

see more pics here

A trek to the "so-called-Chembra"

2006-02-01T00:08:00.000-08:00

The God's own country had remained a dark area for our trek team..I'm not talking about the Godzone-New Zealand or the Australia..But, our own Indian version of the God's own country - Kerala...The long weekend after the republic day gave us a wide window for a big trek..

WyanaD, in north Kerala was the best choice owing to it's proximity to Karnataka border and it's picturesque locations..More planning went in this time..with better maps, great software ( google-earth ), and sophisticated gadgets ( gps )..believe me..i had spent more time checking out the relief of the Kundah Mountains in google earth than on the actual trek..

Malayalam seemed to be a barrier, more challenging than the 2100m high peak we were planning to scale..I got a hint of it when i went to book tickets to Kalpetta ( capital of WyanaD )..The guy sitting in the Kerala State Transport counter in B'lore bus-stand made me go through an acting session..Finally, i succeeded conveying him what i wanted, but at the end, my name was printed "PRAVINE"..sounds mallu !! Nagu, The only mallu guy in our team was our only hope..But, he had his brother's engagement to attend in chennai..Meanwhile mithun tried to boost his confidence of being able to communicate mallu..he spent half an hour over the phone with the kerala transport guy..and know what !. he lost the little confidence he had:) ..

The D-day arrived..The rest of the team - Shashwath, Nesara, Samit and Sumedha were all bagged for the trek..We had packed enough food and more than enough "good-life" milk..Our PR guy, nagu ( the reason for us to choose him as our spokesperson was obvious, He works for a marketing division and more obviously, he "knows mallu" ), was travelling from the east coast for our salvage..He finally made it in time..

We reached Meppady, the base of chembra at the day break , had tea and appams at the Taj ( un-starred ), hired a jeep for the Chembra estate and flagged off the mission.. a drive through the beautiful tea estates led us to the forest gate..We made a quick decision to dump extra resources in guard's house and disburden our shoulders..I had 3 plans in mind when we set forth
Plan A : climb chembra ( 2100m ) and trek to Vellarimala ( 2240 m ) from there.. Plan B : If the forest is too dense, scale vellarimala independently.
Plan C : if permission to vellarimala is rejected, scale a different peak in a different range..
the decision to keep a part of our resources at the base, ruled out plan A..We were on a mission to execute plan B..

The ascent was steep..the terrain was rocky, grass was burnt..the altimeter read 1000m when the ascent started..It was almost a kilometre of climb upwards !!..and with the kind of slope we were climbing on, exhaustion was evident on all our faces..half way through, we arrived at the heart-shaped lake ..who would expect a lake at this altitude, and to add to it, it has the shape of a heart !! ..after a brief session of photography ( most of them for matrimonial profiles ), the team went on..Nesara was complaining about his knee ache..but, his slow and steady pace kept him in the forefront..the climb became more steep..exposed valleys added to the thrill..the summit of chembra was clearly visible..

I have been experimenting with my gps for quite sometime now..and it shows a close conformance with the data from G-earth, some topo-maps and the actual place itself..to my disbelief, the gps started pointing in a wrong direction..and the chembra was showing up in the different direction..i concentrated more on my climb 'coz it was getting steeper..We finally made it to the peak..it was a great view from the top..the peak had a surprisingly less floor area on the top..the peak is indeed a sharp one !..

all the small hillocks were dwarfed at this height..Surprisingly, when i turned behind, i was definitely not standing on one of the highest peaks..i reached out to my navigation set, spread the map, turned on the altimeter device..we were not on peak 2100, the altitude was 1835 !!..the gps was still pointing loyally to a higher peak distant 2 km SE..THAT was chembra..and not the one on which we stood..We argued with a forest guard who was adamant that we indeed stood on chembra..the argument finally ended when nagu translated a local's statement as "your intstrument is not accurate"..i chuckled and gave up..

The google earth is not so bad..check this out.......

Sumit slept on the summit, Nesara was checking out the surroundings, shashwath was appreciating the beauty of hills while correcting his hair, mithun and sumedha had stuck their cams to their eyes, nagu socialised with the fellow climbers, while i kept marking our location in the gps..The Tom Sawyer in us took us further down the valley..we found a nice place to rest..and a water source too..I just wished we had not left our resources back at the base..we'd have trekked to the "actual chembra"...the lunch we had midst a small canopy was a wonderful experience..sleeping there was even more so..and believe me, at 3 in the afternoon, we were shivering with cold..

The actual chembra kept calling us, but we had to go...
I remember nagu telling me on the way .. "i feel we'll be coming to this place again.." i dunno what made him tell this..this thought kept lingering in my mind....
the valleys seemed more steeper while descending ..We had failed to execute the first phase of our plan..Chembra was unaccomplished..

All the trekkers who go up there feel that they've scaled the chembra..But, it's not so..the locals know it that way..and the forest officials want it that way..'coz trekking to actual chembra means entering the reserve forest and encountering the wild animals..this is a ploy to conserve the wild life and at the same time satiate the trekkers..

..we descended with the resolution that we shall climb the peak 2100 some day..this means yet another trek in the pipeline...

..back at the base, a lot of phone calls to the forest officers and tourism council guys were deciding the shape of things to come....

a purple trip to the pink city.......

2005-12-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

" To see once is worth more than hearing a hundred times "..I had heard a lot about the land of Kings - Rajasthan..But, never got an opportunity to see it..Rajesh's wedding in the Pink City gave us more than a reason to plan for a rajasthan trip.. The 6 of us : nagu, kee3, sonal, aish , kisna and me, were game for this trip.. the air and rail tickets were booked 2 months in advance - speaks about the amount of planning that went into making this trip happen..after heated discussions via mails, chatrooms, in bistros and pantries, an itinery emerged..we had to drop the jaipur-Amritsar-Dalhousie trip due to the non feasibility and time availability ( i guess nagu's ability's are still working ).. the Jaipur-Delhi-Dharamshala trip aroused transient response and died out soon..We finally decided for B'lore-Delhi-Pilani( not decided )-Jaipur( sure coz Rajesh chose this palce to get married)-Udaipur(not sure coz it'd be an overdose of forts )-Mount Abu-Jaipur-Delhi-back..But, this was seemingly the most work-out-able plan as the team was OKAY with it..

Rajesh's status message in Google-talk ( 10 more days to go...9 more days to go..) would remind me every day about the approaching day..I was as excited as the groom himself ( think straight ).. for, this was the first time for me in many ways..i was taking off the ground in an aircraft for the first time, was crossing the tropic of cancer for the first time..and for others too, it was the first time of many things..like wearing his new kurta for the first time for kee3..wearing monkey-cap for the first time for nagu..riding on camel's hump and so on....

Lord kisna, as usual was busy with his holy karmas..and he dropped out, creating a "vacancy" in the team..Sumeet filled up this vacancy with his great PJ's, nice old songs, UNO cards, big smile and a bigger a*@ ( we 6 guys were a tight fit in all those autos and taxis..but, thanks to nagu's small frame )..

the D-day arrived..we boarded the plane..i tied my seat-belt as the hoistess gave instructions indifferently ..this journey was the longest in distance, but shortest in time..we were welcomed by 2 of sonal's buddies..We spent time discussing about the possibility of going to the first "undecided destination" of our trip - Pilani..what a way to start !!..We had enough time to think over this coz the Deccan aircraft on which sumeet was aboard, was wandering aimlessly in sky or was rather SIMPLYFLYing...and we missed all our dear buses to Pilani and Jaipur..Nikhil and Tabrez, Sonal's friends helped us get a taxi to Pilani..and our first road journey began.. .it was a beautiful drive in the moonlight and we sang the whole trip..aish's tam songs, sonal's punjabi numbers, kee3's and sumeet's oldies with nagu's "desi beats" ..very soon, we were in BITS pilani..and aish was home...

It was natural for aish to jump around here and there with excitement in BITS..we saw the campus till we were exhausted, while aish and sonal continued on their nostalgic expedition around the campus..we left for jaipur later in the day..

that evening we met rajesh at his residence..his blushed face was closely competing with his red kurta..a great food and slow dance of his uncles and aunts to retro-tunes was memorable..

we spent the whole of 26th sight-seeing jaipur..hawa mahal, birla mandir, jal-mahal, amer palace.. junta spent tens of grands shopping at RTDC..i really cant believe, we shopped so much.. a visit to Chouki Dhaani - a Rajasthani theme village, was a treat to our taste-buds and eyes..camel ride was the best..and people compared it to what not !! The next morn, we shopped more in the juari bazaar..aish did not shop, rather she demanded for the materials at the price she wanted and had them !!..guess this is not called shopping..whatever...Sonal wasn't too far behind with her convincing "bhaiyya.." ....

then came the actual purpose of our visit to rajasthan : rajesh's wedding..Rajesh looked like a kid and made the wedding scene appear like a child marriage..sonal's and aish's enthu drew us all to the dance floor..and i cant believe, that my shy being was dancing midst the prying eyes of the crowd..i was reminded of my college days when we used to dance ( am not sure if i can call it dance )...having loaded our tummies in sonal's aunt's house, we could hardly eat..we had a bus to udaipur at 11, and none of us were interested to move away from the wedding scene...we spent the night travelling to udaipur with the sweet memories of the wedding..it was a long and beautiful journey..

a hoard of auto drivers and hotel guys approached us as soon as we landed at udaipur..this lake-city aroused very little interest in us..the pichola lake wasn't as great as we had read in books or appeared in master card ad..and the city-palace was much a repitition of Amer..boating in fatehpur sagar lake was a nice experience..the most exciting thing that happened this day was, India winninng against S Africa..We left for mount Abu in a Rajasthan transport bus..

the bus climbed the aravallis while the sun climbed over the horizon..a temperature indicator read 4 degrees celcius !!..A localite, one Mr gaurav mehta was kind enough to guide us to a decent hotel and negotiated the taxi price too..it's difficult to find such people, but in a place like Rajasthan, it's not too difficult i guess... We enjoyed the views of serene aravallis..the temple of arbuda, the sajjangarh fort ( a kid-guide showed us the place..his Rs.20 package included 20-dialogues as bonus !! ), gurushikhar, the mind-blowing delwara temple made a perfect mix of trek, archaeology, devotion and fun..the beautiful day ended with a beautiful sunset at the sunset point..

After a taxi drive to abu road, we took the Ashram Express to delhi..While the rest of the junta in our bogie slept, we played UNO - what an addiction !!..Whenever the TC arrived, kee3'd hide his cards and sit silent..makes me laugh when i'm reminded of it..

our Delhi itinery wasn't fixed yet. Sonal had her train to Amritsar at 1.40..Aish had her cousin staying in Noida..I still believe that when nothing is planned, things work out really well..We went to Noida..and in no time, we had a Hyundai Accent and a chauffer !!..after droppping sonal at railway station, we set out to see the newly opened Akshardham temple..and who says Accent is a 3 + 1 ?..it was 1.5 + 1.25 + 0.75 + 1 +... all in all, we 5 and the driver !!..the ride thru' Janpath was amazing..and i had never seen anything more cheap than the stuff in SN market..and the shopping frenzy continued..aish continued with her shopp..err whatever...

Sumeet's flight was at 8.10, and though we left the market at 6.35, the traffic jam cost him his flight..we tried hard to get something done, but the "dhakkan" guys were too deaf to listen to us..sumeet bought a fresh ticket for a flight next morn..our flight was scheduled at 10.10..the 2 PVC pipes that we were carrying, which had the rajasthani paintings aroused special interest in the security personnel..i was flying back with mixed feelings..i wasn't interested to go back to my work place again..the sumeet's incident..or may be i was missing something....I saw Delhi's landscape soon turn into a golden jewellery, that slowly moved away..the captain anounced.." FYI, we're travelling at an altitude of 39000 ft, ie ~ 12 km above the surface of earth..at a speed of 740 kmph..head-winds of 120kmph....."....

B'lore looked more beautiful from the night sky..it was like scanning thru google-earth..Yet another enchanting trip had come to an end..

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end"

photo album

Mysore is not far away.....

2005-10-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

Mysore was calling me for Dasara..but, Dasara was not the only reason..Staying away from home for the first time is very difficult for anyone..and for someone like my little sister, it's even more painful..So, mysore was calling me...to meet pallu..

Having decided to visit mysore alone, i planned to stay with my friend. Thanks to the overcrowded lodges and hotels..In the background, 2 of my dear friends had decided to join me, much to my oblivion !!..Sonal mails me that keerti and herself will be joining me !!..But, i dismissed the plan to take them along..thanks to the accomodation problem again..atleast for sonal, it was difficult..finally, we found a place for sonal..in pallu's hostel..

Next morn, it was sonal who woke me up at 5 am..and she was ready to go even before i had packed up !! and keerthi , as usual, came up with a surprise..he wasn't leaving home before 10..he had to attend some pooja ( no, not a girl )..I had to find out my friend's room in mysore first. So, i asked sonal to come along with keerti..I found out the house and met pallu too..But, keerthi's pooja still went on, with sonal growing more impatient..Everyting was set for the trip to be called off..but, sonal was too determined to let it go..and so was keerthi..they finally made it to mysore at 5 pm !!..me and pallu had already finished running around the zoo by then.. with very little time left, we could plan just one thing..and it had to be the the Great Mysore Palace..

The Palace was decorated and lit exuberantly for the occassion and was glittering with glory..walking with my head held high, staring at the palace, i had ignored the sight below..and what i saw was quite shocking..had never seen a crowd of that magnitude..unlike the crowd in a rock show, each one was moving in a different direction..pushing and struggling..a tumultous air with all sorts of music and announcements..To add to it, a puppet show was being staged on a makeshift stage on a truck..a scene of Goddess Chamundeshwari killing the demons was the plot..We were a witness to this great spectacle along with thousands others, who were watching it with great faith..I felt like folding my hands too..Having watched the struggle for 15 mins, with the daemon still giving a tough fight for the Goddess, we moved on to see the palace..

At the gates of the palace, people were gushing out like the water from a dam sluice..Comfort is always relative..I wish i were still watching the Goddess-demon fight..it was way better than this struggle..after a great deal of effort, we managed to enter the palace premises..I guess, if the generous Wodeyar had any idea that india would GROW so much, he'd have built bigger gates..and an even bigger palace itself.. We spent the rest of the day planning for the next day, savoured a nice meal and left for our rooms..

The D-day began with a trek to Chamundi hill..it was quite an experience to climb the hill in the mist with beautiful landscapes below..Inspite of the early timing, the queue for darshan was far stretched..we were patiently moving with the queue, and suddenly it stalled..the reason : the chief minister of karnataka, Mr. Dharam had arrived for a "special pooja"..it was time we lost our patience and the intention to quit the line came naturally, unanimously ..and in no time, we were in the bus stand..The "sea of people" of the last night'd scare any maritime voyager..I dropped my intentions to watch the famous "jamboo sawaari"..Instead, we planned to visit the KRS dam..For the fact that junta had decided to stay back for the highlight of the day ( the sawaari ), this place was spared from messing up..we had a great time walking along the dam.. with almost all the sluices open, river cauvery was flowing with all her might..it was fun to watch the water gust off the dam gates and was apparently giving a feeling that the dam was moving backwards, as if it were to be a huge ship sculpted of rock..( our brave keerthi found it scary !! )..

Amidst all this, the fact that we had gone all the way to the temple and pulled ourselves out of the queue for darshan, was building up a sense of guilt in us..Keerti was the first to react..when he told about this adventure to him mom, "how dare you guys... and something and something ..." was the reply..we HAD to go back to the temple now..but we had no time for it..I suggested keerti that we'd visit the temple some other day and it was okay to go ahead with our next plan..and afterall "Mysore is no far away"...
We dropped pallu at her hostel..then decided to have lunch. ( coz great decisions are made with filled stomachs..said keerti )..tha's true..we, the indecisive lot, made the best decision of the trip..that was to "stay back"..Pallu's roommate was back, and my friend's room was no longer vacant..we checked into a hotel, deposited our luggage and took a bus to the betta ( chamundi hill )..we entered the temple without much struggle and an air of relief surrounded us..keerti looked relaxed..for all his guilt-feeling had washed away..he could go home and proudly tell his mom about his accomplishment ..Being on the hill-top, filled with a mixture of rain and mist, eating hot "bondas"..we guys can never forget that experience.....rain, mist, hot bondas and tea.....

The next day, Pallu couldn't join us ( colleges are more strict than companies )..we took an auto for the zoo..the auto driver smiled and said "the animals wont be awake so early sir..instead i will drop you at the art gallery"..the next few hours were spent admiring at the creations of masters, shopping, watching animals, scolding the idiots who were throwing stones at animals ( it was keerti )..sonal suggested that we meet pallu again..we met her, saw her campus and it was time to leave her and leave mysore..

Though I was exhausted, the memories of the trip were too heavy to let me sleep..Keerti was still thinking of the Chamundi hill accomplishment...and guess sonal was being disturbed with the thought of buses chasing her in the bus stand :) ..

I had never imagined that this trip would ever materialize, but it did..and turned out to be one of the best..

The conscious subconscious........

2005-09-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

was the vacation of 8th std..as usual my alarm sounded at 5:30 am..I dressed up in my tracks, put on the shoes and was ready to welcome yet another day, with a jog up a hillock and see the sun wake up..
but, something was strange about this morning..things were seemingly not the same..no signs of light streaks midst broken clouds..no chirping of birds..instead, mongrels kept barking at my presence..but the urge to reach my friend's house and wake him up, kept me going ..not far had i gone, i heard a whistle coming from the direction of a dark street..this wasn't of course the "start whistle" for a marathon.. in no time, a night cop was holding me..seeing that he meant no harm, i sighed..he asked me politely :

"kid, what's the time?" ..
i had no watch..like a weatherman who'd extrapolate the time based on wind direction and cloud formations, i started looking at the sky ( was cloudy, no signs of light..but, my alram had sounded
10 mins ago..and there was my animated reply..)..
"must be 5:45 sir ??" ..
i saw a smirk on the cop's face..which encouraged me to think that the cop was appreciating my child genius :) ..soon, the smirk turned into a scowl..his grip on my arms tightened and back came the reply
"kid, it's 2:30..where do you stay?" ..

my shivering hands were pointing to my home, hardly visible in the dark..i don't remember how i dodged the dogs and mirk to reach home in record time..
i saw light in my home..my mom had woken up and she was searching for me..being a show off, I tried to hide my folly and said " get me a new alarm..it rings when it wants.."..guess i saw my dad grinning.. and no one except me had heard that alarm..
Now, i had to justify myself..to my conscience..that the alarm HAD sounded
i checked the alarm if something was really wrong..it was flawless..it hadn't made a sound, more than
the usual ticking..
when it was ringing at 5:30, i crossed checked the time with 2 other watches and made sure it was 5:30..everything seemed normal..

At times I have found myself doing things and later wondering if it was ME who really did it..

We just tend to forget how strong is a mind buried deep inside us, the subconscious mind..experienced by all of us, in varying amounts..sometimes scaring us and most of the times guiding us through..
the way we react to situations, way we behave when no one is observing us, is not a result of our conscious mind..the control sits still deep within..

now, let me come to the incident which is forcing me write this huge blog patiently....
very recently, i realized that i must be jogging in the morning..But, getting up in the morning seems impossible ( 'coz my subconscious mind drags my sleeping body to the alarm. shuts it off graciously, without my knowledge !! ).
.So, i thought I'd take the help of my friend aishwarya in waking me up.
a commanding voice on the other end "wake up..it's time"..really wakes me up ( I guess, till my subconscious mind gets used to it :) )..
2 days back, i woke up to see my cell ringing
I answered the call.."hello"..
the voice from the other end seemed familiar..but, something was strange ( my preconscious mind was at play )
it was aish calling "hello..wake up.."
I was about to thank her, my eyes fell on the alarm clock ..it was 1:10 am !! I trust my clock.. and aish's wake-up call, even more so..
i cross checked with the time on my cell..it was 1:04 am..
this is when my conscious mind took over..
I asked "whey're you calling me now? "...
"because i'm supposed to........" was the reply !!
..if my roommate's snoring wasn't being heard in the background, i'd have had an attack..
I said "aish..what's the time? " ..
"........5:15" ..the long pauses were scaring me..I knew something was fishy..
I now get the hint that aish was talking in her sleep..
to wake her up, i shouted
"..you know what's the time.."..
all i heard was sound of some keystrokes on her cell..a long pause..and "..5:15"..
i was running out of ideas i shouted again
"..you know what's the time now ?..it's 1:10 !!.."..
she says .."ya, it's 1:00 "..
i shout "sleep now !!"..
the phone is disconnected..

..The next morn, when i wanted to check if aish remembered any of this herself, i didn't mention her a thing. was giving her clues..she was oblivious of the whole scene last night !!..

and when i narrated this to her..she was laughing..not at herself..but, the one who had called me..

she says she had changed her alarm time from 5:00 am to 5:15 am..and guess she slept thinking about it..

i just marvel at the power of our minds..
the constant fight between the Id, Ego and the Superego..

i know few people who "programme their mind" to wake up at a particular time..
and they wake up !!..

and many a time, when i HAVE to wake up, i keep two alarms..one usual..the other hidden ( such that my lazy subconscious would not find it..)..and surprisingly, i never use 'em both :) ...

My worst fear ..

2005-07-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

Every morn, on the way to office, seated in the office cab ( One great thing for which i like my company ), listening to the radio city, looking thru' the window, I get to see a common sight every day : local buses, themselves overloaded, unable to decongest the bus-stops...this leaves the commuters with a few options - board an equally overcrowded cab (where one's sanity is at stake ) ,or take an auto ( where one's fortune is at stake ), or give up the idea of going to the office altogether..

It's the fear of missing the bus, the fear of losing myself in that crowd, the fear of that struggle, that doesn't let me sleep beyond 7:30 am..it's this fear that gets my sleepy body to the bus-stop on time..But, today, this blessed day, my worst fear came true..I missed the bus. I was pressing my shirt (an attempt to look neat atleast on Mondays) and this unscheduled activity cost me time..very dearly..

I was barging in thru the crowd desperately trying to catch a bus. much like finding oneself left alone midst the barbarians ..and in one of those company buses,i imagined a Caesar jeering at me, stretching his hand, pointing his thumb horizontally, which'd go up or down and eventually'd decide my survival..the shouting of " Marathalli, Marathalli" too sounded like the " Maximus, Maximus " ..

I managed to fight for myself a 12" X 8" X 6' space in a mini-cab. When i came out of it, i realized, that i had better not spent time pressing my shirt, for it made no difference in the end...atleast i'd have enjoyed the luxury of sitting in my cab.

If I had to go thru this for a single day, I just don't know how one tolerates this every other day..the authorities seem oblivious of this common man's struggle..The roads just don't seem capable of handling the magnitude of ever increasing traffic..The Peripheral Ring Road, proposed by BDA would make no difference..coz, by the time it's inaugurated, the traffic would have grown manifold..it's time the B'lore Development Authority gives thought beyond the surface roads, to underground rails and Elevated transit systems..

Chunchi waterfall again

2005-06-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Having seen this waterfall in a hurry and in the dark last time, I wanted to visit this place again with more time to explore the neighbourhood. Nothing was planned as of Friday afternoon ( as usual ) and in the worst case, i thought of joining Sonal and Co. for their trip to Hogenekkal. But, she reminded me that I had already seen Hogenekkal !!..

Staying at home, Teju always finds it difficult to move out with us on crazy treks. This time, he was determined for one. I suggested this waterfall again ( with some selfish reasons ). A bike ride was planned immediately. The next morning, we found that we were falling short of a bike. Subsequently, the bike ride turned out to be a cozy car ride ( 1 car + 2 bikes ). Teju, with his Learner's License was reaching top speeds of 120 and often Baccha'd yell "cool shiva.."and Shenvi was his sole pacifier..It was a kinda family-drive.
So far so comfortable.

On reaching the waterfall, she was more beautiful than i had seen the other day..without wasting time, me and mithun dashed ahead to find an access to the water below. The ravine was steep and slippery. We tried almost every access down and all seemed difficult. A couple of descents were almost successful but, demanded suicidal jumps to reach the waters. We came back defeated. Meanwhile Teju was attempting an adventure and he had found an easier access. This route took us down and Dal followed us soon. The cascade appeared more gigantic and more graceful from here.

On the way back, we visited the Arkavathy river Dam. Baccha had taken refuge on Varad's bike for Teju was too fast for him. He changed minds again for if Teju was fast, Varad was furious.. The journey was so very comfortable all the way

down and it finally ended with the usual great hospitality in Teju's house..We then eased out to our ways..
For the past few treks, It seems, I've traversed all along the Arkavathy's aisle. Starting from her origin at Nandi Hills, then SavanDurga, then Ramnagar and now the Chunchi not far before she loses her identity into the Cauvery. It's really sad to see the doomed state of the bithplace of this river in nandi Durga. All one can see there is a ditch with a couple of beer bottles !!..Mithun christened this river kiddingly as - the "Arrack"-vathy. It's in our hands, of the tourists, to maintain the serenity of any place. If there ain't any trash bins, it doesn't mean we need to litter around. There's no harm in carrying the trash out of the jungles for disposal. This is the least we can do and is all we need to do ...

photo album

Where Eagles Dare...

2005-06-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

After a gap of 2 weeks ( after the all consuming cycle trip ), a much awaited trek had to be planned. This time, we opted for some climbing and the obvious destination was Ramnagar, of the Sholay fame - the Mecca of rock climbers. Mithun, Badam boy, Nesara, Kee3 and myself, kick started our bikes from RV College at 3.30 pm on Saturday. Our target for the day was to scale a simple hillock and watch the setting sun. while we stood by the highway to choose our day's target, Mithun's uncle spotted us and stopped his car. His cousin narrowed down our search when he claimed to have climbed all "those" (we were eyeing) except for a few "tough" ones..It was against our dignity to aim for something which a school boy can climb..
very soon, we were at the base of one of the tough-but-scalable rocks. A shepherd welcomed us and gave us some details about the water sources there and assured us that our bikes'd be safe under. The ascent was steep and tough. the inclination kept on rising. We stopped when the peak was an almost vertical climb. Any professional climber'd think twice and without the climbing gear, it seemed impossible. Nesara led the team through dwarf bamboo bushes to the other side of the mountain. This side provided little chances of reaching the top where others provided none. A falcon sitting at the peak was giving a stare, for it was surely a place where only an eagle could dare..I was reminded of McLean's Schloss Adler..only missing thing was a cable car..

We reached a point where the rock was almost vertical, just beyond reach, beyond which there was a scope for further ascent. We were carrying no ropes and no hooks, just high hopes..One of us managed to climb this portion while the others pushed up. the guy who climbed up would hang down and the rest'd use him as a rope to climb up..these adrenaline pumping feats and deeds led us to a cozy cave just below the summit. We had to stop and this time the decision was unanimous. The peak seemed unattainable without gear.. This pit stop gave us ample time to dress our cuts and bruises, admire the heights, take pictures and listen to Nesara's jokes..
We knew the descent was going to be tougher without ropes. Visibilty was left alone to the responsibility of moon and a couple of torches. Keerthi was showing great improvement considering his apprehensive descent in the Pearl Valley. We had to make our own way through the bushes in the dark. A silver line which perhaps looked like a stream from the top was the destination we were heading towards. Thankfully, it turned out to be a stream. After having the dinner, we moved along the base of the hill in search of the bikes.
The shepherd had assured us that they'd be safe and so they were. The silhoutte of the Schloss Adler was visible against the moon-lit clouds. and from this angle, it seemed unattainable. We battled against the cold weather by burning all the old newspapers we had. The shepherd greeted us in the morning with a news for us "be careful, this is a conservative park for the dangerous sloth bear" .why on earth didn't he warn us yesterday, thought some of us..but i guess, it wouldn't have helped us much.
Mithun had to leave to Mysore and our men were wounded. The target for the day had to be a simple one. After an exquisite breakfast at the Janapada Loka, we headed towards the day's pick. It was a simple one though highest in the region. gusty winds, fast moving clouds and scary cliffs were a treat on the top. We had lunch at Kadu Mane on the way, and visited the Dodda Alada Mara( Big Banyan Tree) - a single, huge Banyan tree spread around 4 acres. While we were busy trying out our photographic skills, Keerthi took a quick nap..
One more trek ended where i didn't want it to..I bid audieu to The Schloss Adler and made up my mind that i'd conquer it the next time..The eagle still kept soaring around it..tempting me to dare one more time..
Next morn, on the breakfast table, there were the usual fights "if you don't take me next time..I .. !!!"...."why didn't you call me ?"...

Mithun's photo album

Nagu's photo album

Kannada in the global village...

2005-06-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

Kannada Chalana Chitra - with a difference

Yesterday, when i was accompanying my uncle to the CET cell, a catchy signboard caught my attention..It was that of a Kannada movie..what intereseted me most was the name of the movie - followed by a punch line..I guess this is the first attempt towards Kannada movies going global..As such, Kannada language is itself going global in this global village..
"hello saar, namma Appu avara new filam ( film ) nodidra?..super saar..beautiful acting saar..songs-oo super-u .."
"ayyo !!..nodide saar..tumbaa worst-u"
i guess you don't have to be a kannadiga to follow this global kannada..and Kannada movies I guess, will no longer be categorized among "foreign language films" in the Oscars..And Kannada language, a subject of interest for the linguists in leading universities...
here's a list of some of the recent Kannada movies, world famous in Karnataka..

Kaashi - from Village
Shaastri - for mass
O gulaabiye ( hey Rose ) - for someone
Green signal - the game begins
Sai - ready to fight
Akash - sky is the limit
Jogi - a feel that never ends

..merely by modernizing names, or placing a ban on other language movies being screened, if the Kannada film industry thinks of handling the competition, i see no future for Kannada films. I guess they realize this before it's too late.. a couple of genuine movies produced here and there do keep my hopes floating though..If not the movies, preserving the richness of Kannada language lies very much in every Kannadiga's hand..

The Night Riders

2005-05-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

The evolution continues . . and we software guys always find ways to make simple things simpler ( and for complicated things, find someone to do it) . On the weekends, it's a different story altogether. We try out things in a different and tougher way when the easier ways exist. This weekend, we planned to visit a place on cycles when there were bikes to carry us. Though the "cycle trip" was Aish's idea ( she claims it so ), it was just me and mithun who decided to go on this mission. I gave up calling people to join, when they'd exclaim back "r u nutz ?" or some'd persuade us not to go . .

The mission objective was to conquer peak 4018 ( Savandurga ), distant 60 km from Bangalore, off Magadi Road. The torrential rains on Friday evening messed up our plan. We now had to conform to plan B. Being unable to get the bicycles for rent, we picked up Mithun's cousin's cycles. They were in a pretty bad shape. We spent the whole of Saturday watching Jet Li's "Danny the Dog", getting cycles repaired and sleeping. The zero hour was approaching and we were anxiously waiting for the rain to stop. The mission began at 2400 hrs on Saturday ( ya, midnight at 12 ) with the slogan "Jai bajrang bali" . There were several reasons for choosing this odd hour : no dehydration, no traffic, no rain, no other option...

We paddled in enthusiasm and the cared little about the humps and ditches. The enthu soon died down when Mithun started throwing up. The mission seemed impossible and crazy, for we had hardly cycled 3 km. The brave man decided to continue and so we did. With the help of auto drivers and service station guys ( the only creatures of night available, for we dared not ask the cops ), we made it to the Magadi road.

Cycling in these pre-dawn hours was the one thing we never tried and this was proving very exciting. The misty moonshine was making things just visible and we used torches only to read the milestones. With the day break, we could make out the silhoutte of the mighty Savandurga ( the biggest monolith of Asia ). An elderly villager who spoke decent English gave us direction to reach the base of this peak. We cycled through narrow dirt roads of remote villages. The most backward of 'em had the most modern name : POLO-halli . .

We took our own time to reach the base. The birds were a major distraction to us and Mithun was trying out his photographic skills with his new DSC. The mighty Savandurga seemed mightier from its base. We started the ascent at 0804 hours. We were accompanied by 2 stray dogs. We planned to feed 'em only if they make it to the top with us. One of 'em probably got the message and gave up following us. The Arkavathi river was gleaming like a silver line and the sun was drowsily peeping out of the clouds. the acsent was tough and we wondered how the guys of yetser years had managed to bring about a fort on this.

The dog still continued to linger around. We kept following the arrow marks which the Forest-Dept guys had painted. The last part of the ascent was tough and the way seemed elusive. The dog suddenly started whining when we chose to follow the faint mark. I thought that the dog was perhaps afraid to jump down the creek and i ignored its cry. After a tough climbing, we realized it was impossible to reach the top via the route we chose. We had to back-track. The dog was now standing on the peak and seemed to be pointing at the path it possibly followed. We soon discovered the actual path and thought the Forest guys must have played a prank.

We celebrated the completion of the first phase of our mission at 0930 hrs. Danny the dog was still there with us ( the movie we watched the previous day, made us christen him so). Now, it was time to treat Danny for the help. But, he did not eat. Now, you must be thinking we carried rotten stuff !!. I guess, He had followed us with a motive other than just eating what we threw at him. I was missing Keerthi the most. He'd have loved this dog.

Midway during the descent, Danny escaped with some Germans. As we climbed down, we pumped up the enthu of people heading up though we knew it wasn't easy. It was good to see our cycles safely parked. We had no time to relax. 6 hours of cycling and further 4 hours of trek had drained out our energies and deprived us of our zeal. We started cycling back. It wasn't easy this time with the sun directly above our heads. We had a short nap in the woods and kept going on. There was not a single person who missed to take glance at us. I often ran my hands down to check if my shorts hadn't fallen off and checked if my cycle had both the wheels. Some dazed, some jeering, mostly sympathetic and rarely appreciating looks were giving us a mixed feedback. While John Denver kept whispering in my ears .. Magadi Road..take me home ( desperately )..to the place..I belong...hmmmm...Magadi Road...

When the milestone read 18km to B'lore, Mithun gave up. I too would have fallen off after a couple of kilometres. We hitch-hiked a Carrier Van and got a lift with our cycles for 10km. All of a sudden, The exhausted Mithun showed signs of strength and his enthu seemed to come out of the blue. He discovered an easier way to reach home and that was all on our minds: reach home, hog, sleep.... we drove the motorless 2-wheelers like bikes and traversed the chord road overtaking other motored vehicles. And, we were home. The mission was accomplished. The watch showed 1934 hrs.

The sense of accomplishment subdued the pains of sprains and cramps. And we kept on repeating 'we've done it..we've done it..'

There are many lessons we learnt from this trip.
* Never ever cram too many things in a short time ( but, it's fun doing so )
* Never over estimate your strengths ( but, we just proved it wrong ).
* Trust a dog more than a man...
* 1 Kilometre equals 1000 metres ..and it's a pretty LONG distance.

..There was one good discussion about one's temparement while riding and this is what we derived from it. This may be helpful for keeping your cool on such rides and can be generalized and applied for one's life too.
when going -
while ye ride down a hillock, enjoy it.
while ye climb it, just think " Oh !, i'll enjoy this while coming "
when coming back -
while ye ride down a hillock, enjoy it.
while ye climb it, remember how u had enjoyed it while going

The Best Laid Plans..

2005-05-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

2 days of planning, further 2 days for rope-ing in people to join, 2 more days for getting the logistics right..this is usually what goes into making a planned trek..But, the fun of having a totally unplanned trek is a different experience altogether..these unplanned activities, most of the times surpass the efficacy of even the Best Laid Plans..
....A bike trip to a waterfall in the neighbourhood was up on the schedule and almost 8 of us had marked our calenders..couple of 'em pulled back owing to their personal commitments and that eventually led to calling off the sunday plan..Paru's treat for making it to the IIM, however came as a compensation..After a heavy meal, sleep was the only thing uppermost on everyone's mind..
..I was thinking that something was wrong with the stellar positions, or the earth were traversing a retrograde path, for it was leading to a series of unusual events..The usual-lazy Paru was all pumped up to go on a bike ride and the ever-ready Shashu put down the idea.. Finally, 4 of us decided to carry out what others were referring to a fool's ride..it was foolish indeed to start a bike trip on bad roads to a waterfall distant 75 km at 4 in the eveing !!.
...love is blind, but a craze like this is even more so..by the time we decided and left the city limits, it was 5.00 pm..we had less time, lesser patience.. gap between sun and horizon narrowed and so did the roads.. our spirits were high and the pillion riders' higher ( for they were air-bound most of the time ).. the destination was near and the falling of dusk nearer.. We finally made it to the place - Chunchi falls 5 km off the Sangama-Kanakpura road.. No sooner than we parked our bikes, a guy came from nowhere to collect the parking fees..i'm afraid this B'lore-disease has even spread to a place so remote..
..All i could see while climbing down was satirical and ridiculing expressions of people returning back..some concerned brethren were shouting " be careful, don't rush.."...and within seconds, we were seeing the river Arkavathi fall down the rocks with brute force and an equal grace, trying to spread the message that patience and perseverence can cut unyeilding rocks with a thing as feeble as water..the mirk that was encompassing, left only the white stream visible and the waters seemed to be falling from void back to the void.. that was an experience..simply mind blowing..
...It always takes more struggle to cover up the folly committed in haste..we had a bigger task, that of reaching home - safely.. the roads being narrow, we had to often descend the main road to let the speeding trucks go past..it was the most difficult 2 hours of bike ride of my life hitherto..Venky further scared me by reminding me that it was a new moon day.. it was the pitch darkness that was troubling me more than the superstition behind the Amavaasya..
...the roads, i thought were designed by engineers frustrated by studying the Fourier Series during their Engineering, that they were punishing the riders with a road - having a fundamental component of 1m wavelength and an amplitude of 0.5 m and some surprise-components ( glitches ).. quite often, the natural frequency of the shocks'd match with the fundamental, tossing the pillion rider high up in the air..
...We were back to the place where we stated at 9:00 pm..The sight of a cop reminded us that so far, i was driving a bike without a license and Paru-the licensed fella was riding a bike without documents.. This thought had agitated Paru enough and when i turned back, I saw the most hilarious sight ever - Paru had apparently hit the cop trying to stop him.. a couple of female pedestrians blaming the cop for his carelessness ( make sure you read "blaming the cop" ) ..and our Paru showing his compassion by sitting on the bike and shaking his head !!..i rubbed my eyes 'coz, for a moment i could not believe my weary eyes..We managed to disapper from the scene before the cop could think of holding us back..
..Me and mithun have had many of such "unplanned treks".. but surely, this was the mother of all..

...it's said "You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way ".. though we hurried all along, we enjoyed every moment of the ride..every tick of it..

look who's eyeing the White House.

2005-05-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

I found a funny article in the TOI (dated 4th of May 05) which read, " J Lo eyes the White House " .. I re-read, just to confirm WHO ??.. it was " J Lo "
.. I read again, 'coz this time, i thought it must be " A White House " .. no no, it was " THE White House " !!.

After having tried hands at singing, dancing, gymnastics and men, J Lo is now obsessed with House Keeping. . She says she loves to clean her house ( all new things seems interesting in the beginning ) and all her stress disappears when she's striaghtening up..( and what the hell !! she had to choose the White House for it ?? )

She says "The first thing I'd like to do is redecorate the White House - it doesn't look too cozy" ..Guess how it'll look..my imagination is limited...

she claims herself to be a power house and is capable of challenging Bush and intends to be the first female President of the United States..Let's hope that this new obsession of J Lo, like any other Ojani Noa, Puffy or Ben Affleck episodes, dies away before the next Presidential election..

...till then, she can continue eyeing on the White House . ..
'coz eyeing wont cost a thing ...

..Look Who's making more profit than the TVS and BAJAJ

2005-04-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

..The technological advances have improved the health-care and have added a few years to man's life expectancy. But unfortunately, the quality of life one leads in these bonus years is not always guaranteed.. Artificial organs and support systems, feeding tubes and dangling drips - supporting a life, and keep adding more years to this life ( sometimes as much as 15, in case of Terry Schiavo )..
...It's even more sad when someone goes to a hospital complaining about a pian in left leg and ends up in the morgue, swollen twice over, after a few months of intense pampering by the cutting edge health-care services...It's hard to digest the fact that even the sacred profession of saving lives has reduced shamefully to a business..an industry...an industry which injects every posssible vitamin into a dying man at the cost of extracting all the Vitamin-M he has..
..One of my friends met with a bike accident and was taken to some X-hospital..Looking at the bruised guy, The doctor made a comment that shook me:

he says " We are making more profit than the TVS and BAJAJ " !!!!

... These are the very words a Doctor says, in the ememrgency ward of the famous X-Hospital - inspired by **** ( what ??? )...

..ages ago, when the CT scanners and pacemakers were merely concepts in great minds or were a mention in the fiction books, people lived healthier lives.. Margret Thatcher rightly says.."my grandmothers were strong.. 'coz it's not merely the technology that a dying man needs.. he needs something more ( reminds you of the pyaar ki jhappi of Munnabhai fame ? ) ..

...

..my day in the alien world

2005-04-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

..when it came to designing some poster or a T-shirt or a club-logo, people would come to Room No: 35, IV block KREC hostel..sometimes strange people whom i didn't even know..And in my college, which was a treasure house of fests, i never feared unemployment....friends and strangers (no longer strangers) used to get things done and leave with a big Thank You..and it's no wonder, i spent more time with Adobe Photoshop than the Tanner and Spice tools..
My fellow kanndigas were hosting a "kannada fest" and were all keyed up 'bout it..and like any other fest, it was supposed to have a T-shirt..i worked on the design more fervently since it was our own event..One of us had to sacrifice an internal test and get the Tshirts done from Tiruppur..I finally gave up explaining the intricacies involved in printing to the chap who had happily agreed to bunk his test..and I decided to go the "banian city" myself with a junior as tamil interpreter.. we landed on the tiruppur station, booked a lodge nearby and went in search of the printer with his address on a crumpled sheet of paper..I was busy contemplating on the colour of the Tshirt while magesh ( the interpreter of maladies..i mean the interpreter of tamil ) was busy asking the address to the locals..finally, we found the merchant guy...We placed the order and planned to get the material and return to Mangalore on the same night..That chap overheard us and started laughing..( he knew kannada, for he hailed from Bangalore and had settled there..so unlikely of him )..We were asking for something impossible..1 day was too short and my interpreter had to write his test the next day ( poor chap, had spent the whole of his previous night reading notes in the train..am not sure, may be to impess cute females around )..I bravely asked him to leave and soothed him that i'd handle..the merchant asked me to leave and see him the next day..
I went to the lodge and the sense of being all alone struck me at once..thought i'd have a look around that place and very soon i found myself in the busy streets of that city...there were strange people, talking strange language..all that was "white noise" for me..made no sense absolutely..found no difference between the vehicular horns the shouts of roadside vendors..the fear of being all alone just amplified.. The sight of a sign board in English ( a rare spectacle ) made me break loose and run towards it..it read "consumer fair" ..the rides and giant wheel did not seem to attract my tired body..i sped towards the only stall with an English board,but my spirits soon sunk to the crust when i discovered that "learn tamil in 15 days" was the only book whose title i could read in that book stall..
the next day, i broke my "moun vrat" when i spoke to the merchant in Kannada..He then introduced me to the printer and left..this printer gave me reminds of Kallu mama of satya fame..my scared mind translated every utterance of his as "bol.. aakhri khwaaish kya hai"(what's ur last wish).. i had begun to miss my interpreter badly..i was really proud when i could make out "saapadam" from his sentence and said "yes, i'm hungry"..my return ticket was booked for the night but the prints were still wet..the poor beings in the press were trying out their best to dry 'em and kept consoling me in their own ways whenever i looked up my watch and vexed..the merchant sent his man. the payment was done and he would drop me to the rly station..I left in one vehicle with 1 box while the other was being packed..i bid adieu to kallu mama who was busy packing the second box which would reach the station later..time slipped by, the train arrived but, the second box didn't..the next train was at 3 in the morning !!..
I went back to the factory with the driver and one more guy whom the merchant had asked to take care of me (that was 'coz his English vocabulary was better than the rest of the workers )..i generally don't chat much, but i went on blabbering with this guy..senthil was his name..he took me to his master's chamber..booted a PC (which had minimum configuration to run winamp).. with a lot of effort he fished out a couple of Hindi songs for me..and when i asked for some of my favourtie tamil songs, he couldn't digest it for a moment.. Soon, the clock struck 1 and we drove back to the station..On reaching the station, i asked 'em to go home..they insisted on waiting, but i ordered 'em to leave..and then i took a note of Rs.100 and tried to tip this senthil guy..that was the the worst thing i possibly did..he cried out "enna-da..friendship da.."..he blabbered something in tamil..i know he was't happy with my move.. i quickly added "i had to treat u guys..and now that there's nothing available, i thought"...i saw the other guy approaching, but was soon stopped by senthil.. i saw 'em vanish in the darkness and the train approach from the other end out of gloom..
the nasty fall i had trying to push the boxes in the moving train, the sleepless journey sitting on the doorstep of the jam packed compartment, bunking my internal...everything paid off when people came to compliment me, with the new shirts put on..
a week later, i called up the merchant to settle the final bills..and it was senthil who picked up the phone, the guy from the alien world, which was no longer alien to me..
i just wish i had known tamizh..and this is one of the drives for me learning tamizh..i have three distinguished gurus, aish, nari and nazir..who always keep arguing that one's tamizh is more authentic than the other..although, all seem the same to me.....

great idea machaa !!

2005-03-29T22:30:00.000-08:00

.....After a tired day at the cricket ground, i was returning home in BMTC bus, couched comfortably in the last seat.....to my right were seated some "yo" guys speaking english in typical B'lore accent...

...." ye what da..( pronounced as whaaaat daaa )....chumma this fellow dragged us here da..let's go to B's house okay ( wokey ) ?"
B speaks out "..No da !!..my mom will hit me only.."
C says "..we can go to my house machaa.."
A says "..it's too far da.."

....soon they start discussing about the drinks they should be buying for the party they gonna be having.. the discussion grows so loud that, it seems to include even the guy sitting in the first seat.....very soon, the discussion deviates to some serious topic...the mobile phones :

....A says "..u know what da..that X is there no ?( i don't care he's there or no ) ..He bought a recharge da.. then he and Y typed the code and sent the message simultaneously ..u know what da..both of them got the currency added da !!!"
C jumps out of his seat "..great idea machaa...!!!"
B gives a sensible reply .." it's not possible da..otherwise everyone will buy 1 recharge and add currency..it's like everyone comes and sits in one seat..." - pointing to my seat :(

..i was crying within.."ayyo !! not my seat please"... and was hoping that the driver never heard any of these ..lest, newspapers'd say the next day "Insane driving : a BMTC bus falls off the Marathalli bridge "...

A Great Trek On A Good Friday

2005-03-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

...there was a time when i never used to miss a single weekend trekking in the wild..and i guess i'd never have had an attendance shortage if my profs were to call out the roll in the jungles.. Being a habitual trekker, i can talk for hours & perhaps write a treatise on the similarities of all those experiences. But, the uniqueness of the last trek compels me to write how different it was compared to the rest....the very fact that i'm writing an account of this trip also adds to the difference....
...Unlike some holidays which overlapped with the weekend, The Good Friday this time was fortunately on a FRIDAY..and we had an extra day to spare..the planning began long before with mithun suggesting a long trek and aish suggesting a cycle trip, which was eventually scrapped 'coz we could not "jugaad" cycles.. and finally we decided to tread the abandoned track of Sakleshpur .....
....For the first time we were carrying tents..and for the first time we were having something other than maggi noodles for food ( Keerthi suggested Top Ramen as a change though :) ) ..thanks to Aish, she was adding a new dimension of "food" to our otherwise bland trek as far as the food dept. is concerned...and for the first time I was spending time to actually organise a trek....On the eve, we left the office early to shop for the resources..sitting in Le-Wild, I got a phone call from Keerthi "..somebody stop her !!..she's buying the whole of FoodWorld !!"..and i didn't believe it until i saw nagu and aish drowned a load of grocery..(which i now feel was worth carrying..)...
...As the zero hour approached,I found Deepak was the only guy besides me waiting for the bus..myself, already upsetwith the fact that Aish was dropping out, was almost broken when nagu called up saying "noop is still debugging and he may not make it..".. i couldn't think of anything & i wanted to go home and sleep.....and to add to my worries, keerthi calls up from an arbit PCO "chavan, as u said i'm on platform 1 "..and this cautious kid has kept his mobile at home...when me and Rajesh had almost given up searching for Keerthi on platform 1, a bizzare doubt struck me..and to clear this doubt, i ran towards the city bus-stand...and there was my man in platform 1 of Local Bus-Stand, arguing with the shopkeeper that the water bottle he was buying wasn't a genuine Aquafina..I was so relieved and irked at the same time that i started laughing..( much like the mamu of MunnaBhai fame )...the events that followed in the next couple of minutes were the least imagined of..noop fixes the bug..and aish is all set to join us !!.. ..the bus was about to leave and the tension mounted..the controller was announcing "seat no: 22 to 28 for 11:30 M'lore bus are requested to report immediately"..noop and aish arrive at the terminus on Sattu's and Dinesh's bikes...they did it..!! ..But, nagu couldn't..that poor chap's room was locked and he couldn't pickup his bag..but he made noop's trek possible..the back stage work he put up is worth appreciating..I heaved a sigh when i pushed in the last luggage in the bus..

..Next morn, the journey started as early as 4:30 am..and we kept walking on the abandoned track in dark without much excitement till we came across the first bridge..this rickety bridge with distant sleepers had a lot of thrill in store..screehces of the vibrating girders and screams of horrified junta ( u can guess who screamed the most ) filled the silent air till we reached the other end..back here, at the other side we began celebrating our first accomplishment...the journey continued whilst crossing screeching bridges and dark, bat-infested tunnels..we managed to descend a deep ravine at the cost of minor scratches and sprains..and very soon, we were hogging a full-course meal - thanks to the lady again...
.....the Yedakumeri station was already occupied by too many co-trekkers which forced us to move further ahead in search of a secluded place...by the time we could find a place, the light was disappearing.. me and mithun managed to push aside some bushes and made a place to pitch our tents in a bamboo canopy..This was the first time ever that I was feeling responsible for my team mates..my concerns rose when i could see a couple of apprehensive faces in the dark..But, we could not afford to get something better..and to our advantage, we had a stream nearby..tents were pitched, firewood collected and the cooking began...I remember all of us celebrating when keerthi's "kutti cooker" whistled for the first time :) .. people were imagining strange things coming out of the dark on a queer sound of rustling foliage.. though we made a bon-fire, the heavy supper and the tiring walk forced people to enter the tents and retire..it was a different experience for me and mithun who slept outside the tents exposed to the biting cold..in fact i never slept..i kept on patrolling the tents and rubbing my hands near the burning campfire..I could hear junta snoring in the tents ( and they claim they never did !!)....
.....3 of the adventurers had to pack up and keep moving for they had their classes..and for the rest of us it was the beginning of another day in the wild... The bridges that we came across on the 2nd day were even more exciting and the tunnels even darker..the tractor ride through the half a kilometer long tunnel was the best part..we met construction workers who watched us, as if we were to be some aliens..kids flocked around us begging for chocolates and biscuits....and i was busy trying to tell 'em that we weren't carrying any, in broken tamizh nad telugu....keerthi was found running at a distance with kids around him shouting "uncle uncle..photo..photo.." :)
..Deepak and Keerthi were apprehensive about continuing further and we decided to deviate from the track finally..we hit upon a nice place on the banks of a stream..had a refreshing bath and fulfilling lunch..with heavy backpacks and heavier hearts we left that place to Subrahmanya having succeded to stop a lorry after an hour of effort ( we were really missing aish then )..
....we boarded the bus ( The infamous KSRTC RED-bus ) after a great dinner at the temple..our sleepy beings were left with no interest or enthusiasm to care for the blues of the RED-bus..the tyres went flat and the brake liner was burnt..but, nothing could wake us up fully from sleep.. All in all , this was one of the best treks I've have had so far..It was no doubt a Great Trek on the Good Friday ( which was fortunately on a Friday )..
....i'll always cherish the memories of this GREEN ROUTE.. GREEN !!! this reminds me of something else..