The Greener Past

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Stood there at the terrace feeling the cool and gentle breeze from the east. It felt like a child's light kiss. Saw a few cranes, and a peacock searching the fields for food.  Delighted, i stood watching the vast expanse of land in front of me. I wished it would remain like that forever. And i knew i would not get a single soul in that area who would similar feelings.

Anyway, quickly traveled back in time and the old memories emerged from the rusted mind. We had shifted to our home from the every crowded, ever friendly colony life. Our home looked remote and desolate, and i quickly decided that the area is lifeless. Soon i was proved wrong.  The first rainy season was special. When it rained, the area was became a scenic spot. To us it was like Venice. When we get out, it is just water everywhere. Usually the canals breach their boundaries, and it becomes difficult to differentiate the lake nearby and the area. As usual man made boundaries, wiped off by nature's fury. To others houses floating in water looked funny, to me it was fun. For i got to watch snakes for the first time & crabs too. Anytime i was able to see around 10 snakes in water. Snakes of different colors, different textures. Remember the time, when i ventured into water and a snake slithered in between my legs.  Lost in childish enthusiasm, killed a lot when they ventured to land. Should be more than 25 i think. The only snake i have hit and left without killing is a Cobra :-) As myths have it, Cobra's dont forget their offenders and take revenged and kill them. Anyway, I am Still waiting!!!! FYI, i stopped killing snakes after that. Once i saw Cobra mating with another snake in real. Early in the morning, when i am starting to school, would see Mongoose leisurely crossing the street. Everytime i wished, i would see it fighting with a Cobra, but it never happened.

As water drained, different varieties of birds & cranes used to visit the place. Few looked like they had migrated from nearby places. When it becomes dry, we get a flock of peacocks as visitors. Around 10 or 11, used to visit the fields nearby. It was here i was first introduced to Quails (Kaadai) and Grey Francolins (Gowthari). Nomads, occupy the area around the lake with their ducks and we used to visit them at times to get Duck's egg, Cucumber, Brinjal which they grow.

Once as usual was aimlessly watching the fields nearby from the terrace, suddenly saw three dogs in a line running hard with their tongues out. Soon found a wild rabbit at the front. It was mesmerizing to see the rabbit's effortless jumps and the agility. Had the effect of watching Nat Geo in real. After a while, they dogs came back disappointed. At times saw rabbits searching for food and hopping away, when i walk aimlessly through the fields. What i missed that time was a digital camera.

I was lost in those thoughts when sound of the bulldozer brought me back to reality. The land was being cleared and will eventually give way to some apartment or bungalow. The rabbits are no more, the peacocks have reduced, so are cranes, Kaadai and Gowtharis, snakes i haven't seen for a long time and crabs are extinct i guess. What was once a home to snakes, crabs, peacocks, country birds & Rabbits is now an opportunity to make Lakhs & Crores.  What if a 4th grade guy shifts to a house in this area now ? What will he do ? Will he lose himself in man made toys and the virtual video games? Will he miss something ? What made man constraint himself to a walled prison and feel proud about it ? With few random crazy thoughts, i watched the bulldozer returning from work. Atlast, the area was slowly turning lifeless!!!!

De-Spectacled

Woke up in the morning, and looked around, and thought for a while how can it look like this now. It took a second to realize and remember. Got down from my unicorn, was about to remove my helmet when something stopped me for a second. Realization. Same happens multiple times, when the hand scratches the space between the eyes. Habit, that i had got used to in the past 12-13 years of wearing spectacles.

There is a short story as to why i went for eye checkup before 12 years. Confessions have to be crisp and unclear. If you have any doubts, keep it with yourself, as i wont answer any of them. Anyway, when i was in 7th or 8th, we had a maths teacher, who teaches with great interest and care. And obviously she was strict. Silent whispers, gossips during the class were treated with heavy punishments. It was internal test that day, and i had not prepared well, sitting in the last desk was asking my friend something. Since the rest of the class was in full silence, i was caught. True to the name of friendship, my friend gave all the credit of the mischief to me. End result was i got around 12 out of 25. I Now that was enough to get my mom mood out when she returns from work and for an hour discussion at home. I was thinking about a reason, could not think much, just told the i wrote the question wrong since i could not see it clearly.The discussion ended and the life with the spectacles began.Soon i was adorned with a big, round spectacles. First it was weird, then it became part of life, soon it was the third and fourth eye. Have slept with specs on, not intentionally for dreams, but unintentionally which would leave me with bent specs. Never felt bad for wearing specs, or without specs also it was equally horrible, fortunately/unfortunately ;)

Anyway, thought about the option of lasik once i came out of college. When my parents brought it up, i was against it, as i didn't want to play with eyes. After watching few friends in safe state after years of surgery, decided to go with it. So before one month, did it, and gave rest to my spectacles. Very few friends bought the above reason. Can blame them, at 26 purchase of a pair of kerchief will also be considered as preparation for marriage. May be parents had it in back of mind, to me it was a good opportunity to get rid of the specs.

 

KumaraParvatha Trek - A walk above the Clouds

A blog after a long time. Finally accomplished one of the trips that remained hidden in the convolutions for a long time. And we accomplished it on Oct 15, 2011. A quick plan and fast action saw us boarding the Kannur Express on the weekend. With tents and sleeping bags, packets of bread we were all set to conquer the highest peak in South India, KumaraParvatha. The route we chose was from Kukke Subramanya to KumaraParvatha. Looks like there is a also a different route via somwarpet and is a bit easy to trek. Few people start from somwarpet reach kumaraparvatha and camp there, and then start to kukke on the next day, essentially covering both the routes. But we started from Kukke, since it looked like the most beaten track with very little opportunity to get lost.

Day 1

6.00AM to 10.00AM - Preparing for the trek - Woke up at 5.00AM to see the train cutting through the western ghats in full moon light, with the valleys resembling a sea of clouds. Beautiful sight indeed. Reached "Subrahmanya road (SBHR)" railway station, wasted no time in hiring a taxi and soon we were in Kukke. And this place was busy, and finding a lodge to just take bath and get ready turned out to be a tough task. Finally had to settle down for a home stay. Spend some time getting ready, finished breakfast and then it was only after 10.00AM we started the trek.

10.00AM to 2.00PM - Trek through the rain forest - A right turn just before the temple takes us to the tar road that leads us to the trekking path. Spent a little time equipping ourselves against the leeches which seemed to be in abundance. The real trek started with a steep climb in a rain forest. It was fun trekking in the rain forest. Since it was just after monsoon, could see the bark of tree covered in green by algae or whatever it is. The difficult part was climbing. Though the hunter shoes bought from Russel market, Bangalore broke the leech attacks, it started causing more damages than the leeches. I slowed down a bit. After around three hours of trek in the forest, we reach the grass lands. A beautiful place offering too many scenic views, but the time was wrong. We entered the grasslands after 1.00PM and it was terribly hot. It makes sense to start the trek early and cross this grassland well before afternoon. At 1PM walking in the scorching sun was nowhere near enjoyment.

2.00PM to 5.30PM - Bhattar's Mane to Mantapa - To our relief reached Bhattar's Mane and it was time for some rest. Didn't have food since we wanted to reduce the weight on our bags. The trek started after a short lunch. Few 100 metres from Bhattar Mane, is the forest checkpost where we have to pay the entry fee. Looks like the entry fee has been increased to 200 per head. We continued our trek through the grasslands with the highest peak at distance in sight. Few people returning, warned us the KumaraParvatha/Pushpagiri is not the one that is visible but will have to trek beyond that. Also the peak that is visible is not as easy as it appears. We crossed peak after peaks, the highest visible peak looked near but there were still few small peaks to cross. As it approached dusk, the clouds started settling, and it was awesome, for we were walking above the clouds on the lush green grasslands. The trek was fun. I loved this part with the mists brushing our face, green grasslands all around and clouds beneath us. We were at the pint which was visible from the Kukke temple. Beyond this, we could see a rocky mountain, which needs to be crossed to reach Pushpagiri.

6.00PM - 7.30PM - Lost in the forest and crawl in the dark t highest point in South India - Think we relaxed a little too much. The HP gang took the lead with the task of setting up the tents in the next flat land. We continued after a short rest engulfed in mist, the HP gang was nowhere in sight. Rakesh, Chandra and myself, walked slowly. It was alalmost dark and interestingly there was a small forest in front of us. Time for fun!!!! Trekking in forest in dark would be foolish, staying there with just sleeping bags would be equally foolish too, since the tents were with HP gang. Used our intelligence to choose a less foolish decision and entered the forest. Had also read in a blog that to reach pushpagiri, you need to cross a forest and climb a small slippery hillock, so was a little sure that we are on the right track. The forest was pitch dark, fortunately had few torches. The torch showed us the way, but at no point we were sure whether that was the only way.

Aim was not to panic. Imagine a thick rain forest, full darkness, no people around and occasional sounds of rustling leaves, howling wind, remote sound of water. Believe me, it did cause a little fear. But we marched on, and a little later we were welcomed by remote shouts from our friends. Sai was shouting my name on top of his voice. Poor fellow, he looked a little frightened. I did relish the fact we had just had a night trek in a rain forest. Dont think i would get a chance to do it in future. This was followed by a steep ascent on the slippery hill, where a small stream down. With just few torches and no clear way, we crawled to the top. We had reached the second highest point in Karnataka.

Wasted, no time in setting up the tents. Generous Rakesh had donated a few units of blood to leeches. Everyone was too tired to check anything, and dozed off asap.

Day 2

3.00AM to 7.30AM - Sunrise - Woke up at 3.00AM the next day. Mohan from HP was hungry and his noise had woken up half of the group. With not much left to do, laid idle till 4.00AM and then ventured out after that. It was bright outside due to the moonlight and spent a little time outside enjoying the chillness of western ghats, waiting for the sunshine. The expectation was that sun would rise majestically above a sea of clouds. What we got was disappointment, as Sun decided to play hide and seek with the help of mist & fog. Not a great sight after a strenuous 14KM trek.

7.30AM to 12.30PM - Pushpagiri to Bhattar's Mane - Started the trek back at 7.30AM. Soon we saw the path we had trekked/crawled in the dark. At times ignorance is bliss. We had climbed a narrow, slippery hill where miscalculated step could have taken us direct to heavens. The rain forest was thick, it is still surprising to see that we had crossed it in pitch dark. Anyway the initial trek was fast and with occasional pit stops, reached Bhattar's Mane a little faster. Had a sumptuous lunch which i finished with six cups of buttermilk and started the trek back through rain forest.

1.30PM to 4.30PM - In Rainy rain forest - The hunter shoe i bought for trekking and preventing leeches was causing more damage than the leeches. Had to slow down and i had Rakesh for company. We walked slowly through the last 2KM in the rain forest.  Every step ached at 6 or 7 points in each feet. Woodlands would have done a better job. I walked like a tortoise. How a trek in rain forest would be in heavy rain ? We were shown that as the heavens opened up. Yet another amazing experience!!!! It was surprising to see that it took around 15 minutes after start of rain for the few drops to reach us. The trees leaves were acting like umbrella till then. We continued walking slowly through the rain forest enjoying the rain. It was yet another wonderful experience.

End of 28KM trek - Soon the rain stopped, and we had also reached the end. Our gang was waiting for us. Looks like they reached around an hour before us. Anyway, we had completed the 28KM trek, trek to the highest point in South India successfully. What about leech attack ? Fortunately i didn't suffer any during the trek, but at the end of the trek, discovered a leech sucking blood near my ears. I hate leeches. Checked into a hotel and had plans of visiting the river for a cool bath. But rains forced us for a rest which we did with full acceptance.

KumaraParvatha turned out to be most satisfactory, interesting and adventurous trek. The gang as usual was rocking!!!! The gang - Rakesh, Chandra from my company. Sai, Mohan, Anoop & Mahesh Kinni from HP.

Photos at - https://picasaweb.google.com/sskganesan/KumaraParvatha.

The Broken Rules

The bus was inching closer towards the destination, taking me away from my Home after a well spent 5 day vacation. I sat there in the last seat, my favorite one, staring blankly at the road, mind clogged with memories. The last seat, the seat where family people and ladies try to avoid, the seat where usually people don't come and ask you to change to another one so that they can sit with their spouse/fiance/lover. The last seat, the seat of the singles. The bus had halted at a stop. An Activa on the other lane caught my attention. The right indicator was blinking and buzzing and he was moving intelligently towards the left for reason known only to him. BAM. The van driver efforts went in vain, and the guys in bike were on the ground in pain. Fortunately, both the vehicles were slow, and could see that there were no serious damage.

Time for drama!!! An onlooker decided to play the role ofjudge and was questioning the van driver and was giving free session on traffic rules. The van guy was furious, he could have landed behind bars for no fault from his side. We have some weird rules, out of syllabus but very much in practice. If a two wheeler decides to commit suicide by jumping from nowhere, the guy in the four wheeler will be held accountable, even though the car is just parked on the left most side of the road possible. Thankfully the Activa guy accepted it was his mistake and apologized.

Anyway watching all these, i felt like a god (you can imagine a yellow animated ring on top of the head). I had saved atleast three people who wanted to commit suicide in front of my car on three different occassions during the five day vacation. Pure luck. Driving in Madurai had become a challenging and stressful task indeed. It is still hard to believe the rate which traffic in Madurai has grown over the past four years. People who were satisfied with just a two wheeler for the family, now have a bike for the son, scooty for the daughter, activa for the parents and a car for the family. Great!!! No issues, but the traffic sense has been the tortoise slowly inching towards the destination.

So now we have two wheelers drawing Rangoli on road, share autos who sincerely maintain just an inch gap between you and your vehicles, driving in car has never been peaceful like the bike. The rule seems to be simple, keep moving forward and if there is an obstruction move to the left or right without watching the rear view mirror.

With luck in favour of me, managing to drive without action and adventures. While i enjoy each and every bike ride even in traffic, with car it has just been the reverse. You also get the additional responsibility of protecting morons on road. Patience has grown a bit, as i continue to imagine the idiot in front as responsible parent or a studious son or a loving husband or a lover boy running to his little girl, and try not to get tensed by the way they drive. And the learning process seem to continue endlessly.

After four years

Woken up by the cold weather, I stared at my watch. 5.45am it was. joined my cousin standing near the door. the railway track cut through numerous buildings on both sides and the city looked peaceful. Was not sure how long I will have to stay in the city, but heart ran back to my home town, the only place I knew, the place where I had left all my friends the last night, the place where I head spent all my 21 years.

I had entered bangalore, the it hub of the nation. My life was no exception from the the usual indian life. Had dutifully studied till then, completed my bachelors, got job offer and I was all set to get settled. I had chosen hp over tcs among the two offers I had, and thats the reason I was here. All this happened 4 years before. While the ultra modern cosmopolitan city attracted on one side, a peaceful life looked like a remote possibility. Money was the master and also the least respected stuff. Brigade road, mg road, malls and multiplexes attracted for a while. Soon I found ways to lead my life, in the way I preferred.

More college friends joined, met a few more good people @ work. Life had returned back to normal. Few trips made it more interesting. Life in hp too was great. Nothing to complain except for the traffic, started liking the city. Few things remained unclear, like why gals who look so rich remained misers when it came to their dresses and roamed around the streets with very little clothes to cover them. Anyway not our concern, so life moved on. Juniors joined, few friends left for ms, few seniors got married, but I had got used to bangalore. The climate made me cling to the city. The city and the people continue to rock.

First job change after three years. moved out of hp where I was very comfortable. few good people around made life easier. No strong reason to move out except to explore the outside world. I moved. So I am here after four good years. I rarely talk about the present job. There are few things to be
happy about the current job. Few things proved that I am still a kindergarten in the school of life. Few troubled me. Whatever it is life continues and continues to amaze me.

If the post looked long and boring, blame BESCOM, for cutting power in the middle of the night, leaving me with no other option.

Mullayanagiri Trek

After two year, around the same time, we were there again with the same goal, to complete the Mullayanagiri - Bababudangiri - Kemmangundi trek. Started the planning with 6 people and the count suddenly soar to 17 in the middle with Eric anna and his old HCL team pitching in, finally we were 15. Tickets booked, tents arranged from BMC, foods stuffed in backpacks we were ready on friday night. Weather report said, 30% chance of storm on friday, saturday and Sunday, we decided to try our luck on the remaining 70% -  optimism :-) Few stuffs like Western ghats, south west monsoon, windward side, lee ward side which i had learnt in geography lingered in my mind for a while, but the trip was on.

Reached chickmagalur @ 4.45AM, checked into a small hotel (selection lodge), paid 850 for two rooms and we were ready for the trek at around 7.30AM. Booked a jeep for 700Rs to drop us @ Sarpadhari, the starting point of the trek. Additional Info: there is also private bus available next to chickmagalur bus stand, and it starts at 8.00AM.

Start of the trek: After around an hour journey reached Sarpadhari and around 8.30AM. As we had expected, he was waiting for us. The moment we stepped out of the jeep, it rained :-) Undetterred we started the Mullayanagiri ascent from Sarpadhari (sarpa - snake, dhari - path). The rain was brief but enough to make the path slippery. The ascent turned out to be pretty tough and drained a lot of energy. Remember the sleeping bags, tents and food items which added to the weight. Thanks to the rain, We were soon engulfed in mist. Beautiful green grass, misty white backgroun, cool breeze and soft drizzle. What else do you need. It was fantastic. Better felt, than explained.

Anyway the trek to the Mullayanagiri peak sucked a lot of time. Fortunate we didn't have leeches to suck blood too. Atleast we didn't care about them. At around 11.45 to 12.00AM we reached the peak. Explored the two caves a bit, recharged with a bit of snacks and started the next part. The walk to BSNL tower.

The Confusion: From mullayanagir, finding the path that would lead to BB Hills became a tough task. Tried my phone GPS, explored a few paths it didn't help. Map reader, Sai tried with his compass and map, but we were stuck for a while. Discussions started, should we continue was the question ? It just reminded me about the last trip to Kemmangundi, where we climbed a peak, and when the discussion started and the trek was aborted. Thanks to Mani(HCL), he found a path and started exploring. I ran behind him. We explored for a while, and walked a few KMs and found there does exist a neat and clean path. Met a few BMC guys, who were stuck too. Told them about the path and came back to our gang. And the trek started again.

The Trek Continues: So we started the trek again at around 12.55PM. We started walking towards Attigundi. The path was neat and clean, and the trek was not at all difficult, when compared to the Mullayanagiri ascent from Sarpadhari. Enchanting views through out the path. The path continued to play hide and seek with the help of mist, but it was not tough to stay on the path. Around 1.30PM we were reminded about the Sun, and that gave us the opportunity to see the beautiful ridge in the front. The ridge is the next part to be covered to reach BB Hills. After around 30 minutes we reached the police checkpost, ending the first part of trek and the ridge in the front to be covered after lunch. Time was around 2.20PM

The Interruption: We were having lunch, when a forest officer met us with a smile. We had met him at Mullayanagiri peak, where he had given us some suggestions. Interacting we came to know that, we still have around 4hrs to cover (if we walked fast). And if it rains we would be stranded in the ridge, where we cannot camp too. So he suggested going to BB hills and camping there or booking a room there. With that he left, and rain arrived. So we decided to try our luck at BB hills. With the help of few forest gaurds, booked a jeep to BB hills. The forest gaurds were very very helpful. The jeep journey was fun, as i got an opportunity to travel, standing on the jeep steps and hanging to the back of the jeep. A wise decision, as the torrential rain would have wrecked havoc, if we had continued with the trek.

End of Trek: When we reached BB Hills, it was raining cats and dogs. The option of camping out, was ruled out. After some heavy lunch at a local hotel, looked for a room. Rooms were horrible. So decided to get back to chickmagalur to decide. Going back to Kemmangundi again next day, didn't sound like a good option, so booked KSRTC tickets to bangalore. It was at chickmagalur i discovered a leech has managed to suck good amount of my blood. Can only wonder at the way they manage to suck blood without pain.

Though the trek ended, it was satisfactory when compared to the previous one. But still the place continues to amaze me. Should plan for the next trek to this place soon after the monsoon ends.

Photos @ https://picasaweb.google.com/sskganesan/MullayanagiriTrek#

Its over

Its over, after four good months.. started eating non veg again with my moms special, fish curry. nobody to blame and no reason to contemplate. Just that its over.

But I did like this four months. It was great. The first month was tough. Chicken and fish danced in front of me and I did find it difficult to keep my hands off them. Adding to these were few treats in barbecue nation and malgudi, my favorite hunting grounds. I stayed on. After that it was a cake walk. Staying veg was not difficult. The difficult part was answering the world. What, why, when etc etc.

So why did I end it ? Well I am not going to answer that. Just that, its over. I will start it again, but don't expect any announcements :)

Looks like will need illaiyaraja's help to sleep tonight. Will have to try from now on. Bye.

Its all about her

She stood there in the sun, glittering like a finest diamond on earth.  Mesmerized, i looked on. Bored friends around me reminded, there is nothing special about her. Of course not to them, but to me she was special, very special. Going back few months, remembered the day she walked into my life, or rather the day when i walked into her life. I liked her at first sight. It didn't take longer to develop into admiration. Everyday i look at her, she looks new. The twinkling eye captivated me, looks stunned me, but it was the calm and quite nature that attracted me the most. Calmness is her distinguishing feature. With her, life seems to be ultra fast and smooth :-) Around nine months have passed and the admiration has not reduced a bit. I still spend some time admiring her, whenever i get a chance. This admiration will vanish away with age as time flies by, so decided to capture it and keep it safe in a wordpress server with sufficient backups :-)

So what about her ? What she thinks about me ? Guess it should be lots of dislike considering the way i handled her. Anyway have very few pictures of her in my laptop, check them out here,https://picasaweb.google.com/sskganesan/Assorted#5617026010912652098

If you got any other thoughts while reading this ,, try reading this again with context after seeing the picture :) If you still have doubts, hmmmmmm.......

Lunch @ Cholayil Sanjeevanam

This short stint of veganism is taking me through a totally different world, which i would not have stepped into otherwise. For the first time, i am looking at dishes which i had never looked at so far. Visted Krishna Cafe once, and most weird thing was ended up eating in Sriram Mess in Madurai. Adding to the list was Cholayil Sanjeevanam. Saw the name first in few tweets of my friend, and this time decided to go for it with <a href="http://saikrishbe.wordpress.com" targer="_blank">Sai</a>.

Located the hotel near Madiwala, "Cholayil Sanjeevanam". The tag, "vegetarian health restaurant" did frighten me. I was not expecting "medicine" food on a sunday afternoon, but once i entered, i realized there is nothing to fear about. The ambience was good. The waiter walked us slowly through the menu items and tried explaining each one in great detail. It started with a slice of banana, followed by five different soups. If i recollect them in the correct order, they were, Date Juice, Nut Milk, Veg Clear Soup, Harita Buttermilk and juice of Banana stem.

This was followed by four uncooked vegetable dishes, of which i remember just puttu, a dish made of banana stem i think and vegetable pickle made of carrot and onion. After uncooked vegetables, it was semicooked vegetables, with White Pumpkin, Papaya, yellow pumpkin and Olan which was made of banana leaves. This was followed by Fully cooked vegetables, which were greens and cabbage.

After this we feasted on the usual rice, sambhar, rasam with brown rice being an addition. To end it was payasam and Butter milk. Looks like having food in order, has a lot of benefits. I dont remember much of what i read about each item and their benefits, so i will stop with just this. Cost of "Rajakeeyam" was 300.

Now, coming to the important question, did i like it ? I would say it was different and good but definitely not the one i would prefer. Sai had visited it in Chennai already, and being a genuine grass eater, liked the food to the core. Anyway I would be grateful for my decision, bcoz for the first time in life, i ended up eating Pumpkin, banana leaf and few other item, which i am sure i would not have touched in lifetime :-)

Bike Trip To Mysore

Few last minute changes in plan, i was left alone to travel to Mysore to attend Nandan's marriage. Most of the time, if i am left alone, i will leave the plan alone and continue with my work. This time i wanted to attend the marriage. Was breaking my head over Bike/KSRTC for a while. A crazy idea just needs a gentle push from a more crazier head, and my roomie took care of the job. Thank to Jebasingh, we were on my Unicorn the next day morning with 140KM to cover. The trip did start with few resolutions like will maintain 50KMPH, will not change lanes unnecessarily, will reach home before dark etc etc.

The first resolution to go was 50KMPH barrier, it was lost somewhere inside the city only. The weather was awesome, as it had rained the day before. So the ride was enjoyable in the morning. Reached mysore in around 2 hour 30 minutes. Next few hours was great, as i met most of the DP folks, the people with whom i had worked for around 3 years.

After the marriage, went straight to Chamundi Hills. Bad idea, considering that it was around 2.00PM. Qualified to be called hot and horrible, still there was enough enthu left to click a few snaps. After that proceeded straight to Brindavan gardens. Would have atracted more, if i had seen before visiting gardens around bangalore.

So it was at 7.50PM, we realized the need to go Bangalore. The night journey did spark some fear. Combined to this, it rained in few placed. Ended up searching for the road at few places, when light from the opposite lane, blinded us completely. Whenever a city passed by, we got excited, as though we had discovered electricity. Finally after a tired jouney, reached Bnagalore around 12.30PM.

This happens to be the first long trip in bike. Wonder whether i would be able to do 388KM in a single day later :-) Uploaded a few photos at picasa, those who are interested check it out.

Delhi-Agra-BITS-Shimla Trip

Wanted to post a detailed day by day post about the trip, but as usual it stopped with the thought. Cause is laziness but i think most of you would be thankful for the same :-) Anyway that happens to be the first trip beyond Pune. Three guys with hindi knowledge limited to "Hindi Nahi Maalum" planned for a 9 days trip. It did turn out to be great. Will try hard to keep it short.

Day 1 : At Capital City : April 2, 2011 the day i had the first flight journey of life time. The only thing i liked was the initial acceleration when the flight sped on the highway, other than that it was horrible. Bike is fantastic and even journey in SETC is better compared to the 2 hour journey amidst the clouds. All the hype about Air Hostesses too vanished. They were extremely beautiful. Would not deny the fact, but their well trained actions reminded me about robots. Brain is so tuned, that it produced a curve in the lips when some words were uttered. Few called it a beautiful smile. Landed in Delhi at around 2.30PM, went to Karol Bagh for the hotel. Thanks to the wise decision from Nirmal's relative, for choosing Karol Bagh. It resembled more of a Tamil Area, and we felt at home. Later visited India Gate, and it did look great. Returned back to see the final, and what a moment it was :)

Day 2: Agra Trip : Had booked the trip with Panicker Travels. The trip started at 6.00 AM in the morning. First stop was at Agra fort followed by visit to the world wonder, Taj Mahal. Too crowded to enjoy the beauty, but it did look great. Stopped at Mathura on the way back to see Lord Krishna's birth place.

Day 3, 4, 5: @ Pilani : Anyway thats the reason behind this trip. Prepared for the trip to Pilani, for the viva on tuesday. Thanks to our junior William, he made the trip and stay in Pilani a pleasant one. Roamed around the campus like college students, but the students there gave a weird look :-) Viva is something i like to forget and visit to the campus is someting i would not want to do again, but would take the memories with me for a long time. BITS seems to have given its students a lot of freedom, and walk on the college roads in the night was interesting. Anyway on wednesday we were on our way back to Delhi, and got a chance to test the North indian village transport :) It rocked, literally ;)

Day 6, 7, 8: Trip to Shimla : Day 6, once again booked trip to shimla with Panicker travels and it did start exactly at 6.00 AM. We went via Chandigarh and was impressed with how well it was planned and built. Stopped at a lake, rock garden and rose garden. Nothing of interest for adventure loving bachelor crowd. Reached Himachal later in the evening and cool weather created some interest. Reached Shimla in the night and it was awfully cold. Next day morning, visited Kufri and in the afternoon, went for shopping in the city. Day 8, we started back to Delhi, and visited Pinjore Garden and Kurukshetra on the way. Was happy to get down from Shimla. Reached Delhi in the night.

Day 9: Last day of the trip, roamed around Delhi. Tried Delhi Metro, visited Raj Path, roamed around Jamma Masjid, Red Fort and then around Connaught's place. Flight was in the evening, and after the two and half hours boring trip, we were back,

Through out the trip, feasted well and it is during this time i would have ate a lot of panneer and pizzas. The trip was fantastic over all (i am not takign into considertion the viva though) !!!

And it continues

I am back from home, and believe me i didn't touch Non-Veg. Yep i consider it a great achievement, considering the consistency with which i have eaten Non-Veg for around 24 years. So this is what happened in home.

I entered my home on saturday morning, there were a few changes in the menu. Saturdays usually go with Fish, but that day it was Mutton and my mom was busy preparing it. Not a good time to say that you have decided to eat only Veg for a few days :( Still i told. What i got was a piercing look from my mom. To me it looked like "Have you fallen into the pit, my son ?". I just smiled. Her reply was pretty awesome. "You will lose your health, they compliment their diet with ghee, dal etc etc, which you dont do". Whats so awesome or puzzling was she used feminine gender. To say exactly in Tamil, she said "Avalga nei, paruppu nu ethavathu saapiduvaalga, unakku ethukku da intha mudivu". Probably she didn't mean anything so didn't give too much of thought about it.

Later my father joined, and i was asked repeatedly "Whom did you tell ? Why this sudden decision ? How long ?". I liked Dad's perspective when he asked, is there any stomach problem and were you advised by some Doctor ? Soon one of our relative arrived and was equally stunned on hearing this. And she went ahead and asked "Are you in love with brahmin girl ?". Appreciate their belief that i will fall in love that too with a brahmin girl. Anyway that was my response to them too.

Sunday, it was more fun. It was fish, something that i like more than other non-veg dishes. When i didn't eat, it got escalated to my sister and she asked a set of questions over phone :( Too many questions, too many doubts for just a simple decision :( :( :( My friends have gone a level up, and have decided upon a few names too.

Whatever it is, i came back from Madurai, without eating Non-Veg. The first weekend went fine.

Anyway, when a non-veg guys decided to eat veg, only strong reason the world accepts is a gal behind that. Or probably you feel for the animals that die. I dont have a strong reason, i dont feel pity for killing animals too, its just a change, just a test, to see how life goes without Non-Veg, how people respond etc etc. Till now, it has proved to be fun ;) Lets see how long it goes......

Things that don't work with me

Few things which i have attempted many times and failed,

- Sleeping for 8 hours in the night daily.

- Remaining awake in the afternoon at work.

- Avoiding visits to facebook when there is work to do.

- Driving within the speed limits in bike.

- Pretend not to look at beautiful creations on earth when they are walking in front of you.

- Coding from the scratch without looking whether there is already an implementation that can be copied.

- Accepting "vi" as the editor to edit source code.

- Starting early from Office daily.

- Reading a book lying on the bed and not sleeping.

- Trying to remove few thoughts from the mind. I usually endup thinking all day/night about it.

- Recollecting everything that has to be listed down

- Writing a short and sweet blog post ;)

Four years with 6030

It laid there in my bed, silently, with its blue eyes twinkling. It was my four year old Nokia 6030 (think i got the name right). One of the most basic models from Nokia, without any special features. But it was a bit special to me, since it came as a present from my sister, when i was doing my final year.

It was fun then, final semester, with Airtel offering 100 free SMS daily, texting was what i did with that phone back then. Sending SMS inside classrooms when class is going on, reading the funny forward messages forwarded from my friends. Never knew where it originates, but they were absolutely funny. Funny one liners, fantastic stories, innovative mokkais, it was fun. Absolute fun. At times had to face the wrath of my parents for having book in one hand and mobile in another hand, and texting all time. They should have felt weird seeing their son smiling seeing the mobile. Few days it used to go past 100 sms but still continued. Inbox had to be cleared daily along with sent items. I had managed to save a few of them, and it amuses me a lot when i read them now, with a bit of nostalgic feeling.  To quote a few

"Life is small, live it ! Troubles are momentary, face it ! Memories are sweet, cherish it ! You are good, I agree it ! I am too good, Accept it"

"You are a rose for all trees, you are a smile for all faces, you are a waterfall for all hills, you are a brother for all beautiful girls"  - I got this as one of my senior decided to stress this to his friends in the middle of the night.

"Karpanayei Nesi, Kavithai Pidikum,
kavithayei Nesi, Kaathal pidkum,
kaathalai Nesi, Pennai pidikum,
Pennai Nesi, paithiyam pidikum"

"Loving what you get is compromise, Getting what you love is success, Loving even after knowing that you wont get is pure love".

Few of the above quoted have a huge history associated with them. Probably a few of my friends can realize it. I do have a few more, but cannot be shared ;)

Now that was past, coming back to what is happening at present. Lying in my bed, i was looking at my mobile. I had just one SMS in my inbox, a worthless message that i forgot to delete. So that took be back to all these memories. I do receive a lot of SMS now, but they are all just notifications or advertisements. They just irritate and get deleted as and when they arrive.

I used to talk a lot when i initially started working. I was without laptop or TV. My friends were in the same state. As time progressed, it slowly stopped, with few of my friends not even in the same country. My Nokia 6030 is sleeping silently near me, rarely disturbing me,  and at times with its blue eyes twinkling when the screen saver gets activated just reminding me of the past.

I have no intention of replacing that until it decides to commit suicide. Get a feeling it just initiated the process.  Just remembered that i haven't changed even the theme from the day i got it. Good that it doesn't have many features, i like to stay away from the virtual Net world at times, to lose myself in thought of my past, the thought of few people close to my heart, gals who have disturbed me so far, crazy buggers i see daily, gods, dogs, cats, bats, rats  and if not anything else the universe in general.

Weekend Hosur trip

I joined the elite club of idiotic bachelors in bangalore, who get terribly bored on weekends and decide to go to Hosur to watch a movie, when it is running in nearby theatre in bangalore. The first trip was on Dec 11, 2010, a saturday, with Jeyahari, Arang and Nagarajan. Could not make it for the movie, but watched Circus, first time in my life time. Few things were interesting but the artists were terribly sad, for some reason. The final Bar was breathtaking.

The next trip happened recently on republic day, Jan 26, 2011. Once again holiday in the middle of the week. So once we embarked on our journey in Unicorn and Activa. Day ended beautifully with Aadukalam in the morning and Sirthai in the afternoon. Aadukalam was good, Siruthai was a mass masala. Thanks to the director's attention, the logic was cleanly wiped from start to end. Anyway, movies were enjoyable and it does sound illogical to search for logic in movies when it is purely for entertainment. Both the movies had something in common, a beautiful & fair looking gal falling in love with heroes, who are at the lowest level in the society. Planned for lunch at Janani Garden, but as usual, family crowd led by the homely TN women chased us away. Can understand Bachelors's crowd in hotels, but off late we do get a very stiff competition from family crowd in large numbers on weekends and holidays. Evening, we spent time in the Chandra Soodeshwarar temple, that was on a very small hillock near the bus stand, with the full view of Hosur in sight.

In both the trips, the desire to eat Bhajji with Coconut chutney in the evening, made us roam around Hosur streets. On the second trip, we managed to find one, but still without chutney. Freshly prepared super diluted Tea in glass tumbler, was refreshing and i do miss them in Bangalore. Though a pure waste of time, energy, money, i do like these one day trips to TN, with TN breakfast, lunch, snacks.

A look back at 2010

This happened sometime in final semester in College. I was arguing with my friend about blogging. My take was that i would blog often after i enter the corporate world too. He was firm on the point that i would get bored and wont do it frequently. What he said is turning out to be right :-)

At the end of 2010, i had a feeling that nothing had happened in the entire year, but when i slowly look back, a lot has actually happened.... (Apdi ennada aachu, ethavathu set aayiduchaa nu kaetkatheenga).

January went fast, remember attending Prabhu anna's marriage and Sriram's anna marriage at Chennai.

Feb, the valentine month, only interesting thing was my mid semester exams. March, i cannot recollect anything. April was interesting with a trip to Yercaud and IPL match. Also attended Pramod Anna marriage at Chennai and non-veg food was amazing. May was important to me, as we upgraded from two wheeler to four wheeler, as we purchased a car for our family. Thought it would be easy to drive in Madurai but i was soon proved wrong as it turned out be a lot lot difficult. This would need a separate post so will skip it for now. It was in May i quit from my first company and ventured out. It was a very tough decision, made tougher because of the huge set of friends i had there. Thank god, i was a little selfish, so finally decided to move out.

Went to Bheemeshwari trip during september. Also purchased Bike here to commute to office. Slowly gained experience and confidence and by the end of the year, i was flying at high speeds ignoring the risks. Also attended FStival and visited college for that.  October was important as it marked the marriage of a guy from our set. Vanni got married on Oct 24. Nov, once again visited college and had night lab after a long long time. It was fun. Also went to Mekedattu during November. During december for the first time went to Hosur, just to roam around and spend a day of weekend. And then visited Nandi hills for the first time in three years.

Also, 2010 was the year, where i ended up seeing a lot of movies. Probably a lot more than the total number of movies i might have seen in theatre from my childhood. 2010 was wonderful, few significant things had happened.

Lets see what 2011 has in store for me. Few things might changes, few things i know for sure won't. Let me wait and watch as it unfolds.