54, 55, 56... Beautiful Girl... Pause.. The costume suited her perfectly. Her command over the language was excellent. If you don,t pay attention to the subject being discussed, you can just keep seeing her jaws go up and down accompanied by beautiful reactions. Soon a guy joined the discussion. Even to someone who would not understand the language, their tone will set the context that they are discussing about something that they consider as the burning problem. I waited, for i knew soon they would soon be joined by another five other guys who claim to be experts on the subject being discussed. As expected they joined and discussions ensued and the guy and gal worked hard to make sure the discussion continued without reaching any consensus. Looked like a nice job to me, let two people talk, keep adding fuel to the fire on both ends, make them make mistakes, focus on the mistakes for the next hour and conclude something stupid at the end.
This is the scene in any private news channel in the country. They seem to be spending more time in playing with the people emotions than reporting news. Every news is a breaking news. While they talk in length about the victory of Indian cricket team in some match, praising the captain and players, they discuss in depth about the incapability of the players and the captain if India loses the next day. It is undeniable fact that they work hard to report few problems that we have never noticed, and make sure it gets the due attention. But most of the time, it looks like a carefully scripted drama enacted by high skilled actors.
Enough. 57, 58,59 .. 89. There it was, DD National. Gives me what i wanted, just the NEWS. News readers are old, monotonous and read without reaction. But they just report what happened. Nothing else. Also noticed a program for 30 minutes about astronomy, with neat pictures and graphics and clear explanation.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Super User of Android
Not out of interest, but out of compulsion, ended up rooting my android mobile. The 180MB of internal memory in my galaxy ace was too less and it took very little time to run out of space. Decided to root my phone and move the apps to the SD card. Roo
ting of galaxy ace was simple. The internet is full of step-by-step tutorials for the same. The only problem i faced was the universal rooting package for samsung galaxy ace failed to root my phone. Few sites mention about AceGingerRoot.zip, and it did the trick. Check this link - http://rootzwiki.com/topic/23138-how-to-root-your-galaxy-ace-gingerbread/
After rooting the phone, wanted to move the applications to the SD card. The best possible way is to the link2sd app. For this to work properly, you need to create a secondary partition in the SD card. Looks like Android unmounts the first partition of the sdcard, when you try to access the sd card connecting your phone to the computer. By creating a second partition, we make sure we can access the apps all time. There are tools to create the partition in windows like minitool. I used fdisk in GNU/Linux and partitioned the sdcard. Installed link2sd and moved most of the apps to the sdcard. Check these out - http://tutorialfor-android.blogspot.in/2012/06/link2sd-complete-tutorial.html & http://www.xperiablog.net/2011/12/12/link2sd-guide-never-worry-about-internal-memory-limits-again/
Now all i have to think about is the next app to download!!!
ting of galaxy ace was simple. The internet is full of step-by-step tutorials for the same. The only problem i faced was the universal rooting package for samsung galaxy ace failed to root my phone. Few sites mention about AceGingerRoot.zip, and it did the trick. Check this link - http://rootzwiki.com/topic/23138-how-to-root-your-galaxy-ace-gingerbread/After rooting the phone, wanted to move the applications to the SD card. The best possible way is to the link2sd app. For this to work properly, you need to create a secondary partition in the SD card. Looks like Android unmounts the first partition of the sdcard, when you try to access the sd card connecting your phone to the computer. By creating a second partition, we make sure we can access the apps all time. There are tools to create the partition in windows like minitool. I used fdisk in GNU/Linux and partitioned the sdcard. Installed link2sd and moved most of the apps to the sdcard. Check these out - http://tutorialfor-android.blogspot.in/2012/06/link2sd-complete-tutorial.html & http://www.xperiablog.net/2011/12/12/link2sd-guide-never-worry-about-internal-memory-limits-again/
Now all i have to think about is the next app to download!!!
Alive, in memories
Had sneaked this Indian Mongrel 14 years back into our home where we had strict "No Pets" policy. All policies were broken in few days as he carved a niche for himself in the house. Was supposed to be a guard dog, but ended up being treated like a kid. Adapted well in the house and became a member of the family. Playful as a kid, dominating and attacking during his prime time, and very matured towards the end. Too many pleasant memories to pen down. Anyway he left his last breath on October 30, at a time when nobody was there at home. Had shown signs of sickness that morning, and died before afternoon.It does feel difficult to recover from the loss, but they say time is powerful. Life moves on. The sweet memories will linger for lifetime.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Lapwing Incident
I approached after a tiring 10 hours journey, listening to the sound of the newly arrived visitors to our area. This time it was a pair of birds with light brown feathers, with patches of black and white on other parts of the body. Spent some time in google to find that the name of the bird is red-wattled lapwing. Reaching home, took the binoculars and started observing them for a while. Soon forgot them, and returned to the most important work of changing channels in the television from 0 to end.
After few hours, the sound of the lapwings increased. It was more like a sound of distress. Apart from me, looked like it has also attracted the attention of a old shepherd and she was doing something peculiar. She started going near the birds and kept checking the bushes. Pieces began to fall in place, and i realized that the egg or the chick is in danger. Looks like the lapwings lay eggs on the ground or depressions in ground. The eggs have very little chance of survival and the chicks little better. I kept watching, hoping she does not get what she was searching. The
birds continued to fly around making wild noises. Soon it was all over, She found the chick and its desperate attempt to escape was foiled with the long stick she had in hand. I watched!!!
She wrapped the chick carefully and left, the birds left with nothing to guard and i stood there thinking hard. The birds look better adapted than men. For the old lady it is a chance to taste meat which she may not get often. But still could not accept it. it felt cruel. Funny in a way, considering that i have no trouble in eating chicken every week :-) It is just like how vegetarians convince themselves that they are not killing anything. Civilization, most of times makes us forget what we really are. Most of the time the rules are twisted. Anyway, my affection towards my area grows exponentially with every incident like this. Looks like when i feel bored with Nat Geo all i have to do is come out of my house and look around :-)
After few hours, the sound of the lapwings increased. It was more like a sound of distress. Apart from me, looked like it has also attracted the attention of a old shepherd and she was doing something peculiar. She started going near the birds and kept checking the bushes. Pieces began to fall in place, and i realized that the egg or the chick is in danger. Looks like the lapwings lay eggs on the ground or depressions in ground. The eggs have very little chance of survival and the chicks little better. I kept watching, hoping she does not get what she was searching. The
birds continued to fly around making wild noises. Soon it was all over, She found the chick and its desperate attempt to escape was foiled with the long stick she had in hand. I watched!!!She wrapped the chick carefully and left, the birds left with nothing to guard and i stood there thinking hard. The birds look better adapted than men. For the old lady it is a chance to taste meat which she may not get often. But still could not accept it. it felt cruel. Funny in a way, considering that i have no trouble in eating chicken every week :-) It is just like how vegetarians convince themselves that they are not killing anything. Civilization, most of times makes us forget what we really are. Most of the time the rules are twisted. Anyway, my affection towards my area grows exponentially with every incident like this. Looks like when i feel bored with Nat Geo all i have to do is come out of my house and look around :-)
Monday, September 03, 2012
"Screwed"
Personally, in my life, August is the month of fall :-) August is when i got my bike. After an year fell down for the first time, on August 4th, when my bike skidded off a muddy road. Escaped with a few scratches that time. This year, i was not all that lucky on August 21 :-)
A confused guy on the bike, decided to take a hard left from middle of the road.No indicators, no signals and no botheration about the traffic behind. Unfortunately, i was closely following him with a decent speed. Too close for even disk brakes to be of any use. Brakes, crash and i was on the road. Fortunate there were no other cars behind, unfortunate that i landed on my left knee, taking the full impact on it. I had followed all the traffic rules, except for the most basic one, expect idiots on Indian roads. Expecting people to adhere to traffic rules is a luxury that is not to be expected on Indian roads. I do see a lot of super geniuses daily who feel that the red signal is for the weak and stupid, and choose to ignore it.
Anyway the guy was little considerate, stopped and asked sorry repeatedly and asked whether i need a drop to home. I was feeling ok that time, so i picked up my bike and started home without help. The bike also didn't suffer any major damage except for a scratch on the body guard. Later realized, he had given me all the burden of his mistake with the apology. What started as a small pain in the knee, became a huge swelling. The trouble started with a night without sleep and in pain. Next day, went to the hospital and the x-ray revealed fracture in the knee cap. The only fix was screws and bolts and threads to fix them up. Sad part, I will have to spend considerable time in hospital, after so many years.
The operation happened a day after and the knee cap, patella was put on place using screws. It was fun to see how doctors and helpers prepare for an operation. They were relaxed, discussing about their vacation leaves, cracking jokes, just like how I start fixing a bug in the code. The guy being operated on was usually referred by the bone he has broken. So my name inside was patella :-) Learned that they do around ten to twelve operations daily most of which are result of bike accidents and quite serious.
The post operation effects were a matter of concern. But when you are in pain, all you have to do is look around. I was surrounded by people with even more serious injuries in the post operation care unit. To name a few, people with broken rib cage, broken hip, crushed leg bones, hips replaced etc etc. The guy with crushed rib cage was not able to swallow a tablet. The most horrible one was a twelve year old kid with amputated leg after a bike injury :( Half of them can be averted if people start paying a little respect to traffic rules, change lanes with little sense and try driving a little predictably.
Slowly recovering from the injury and the operation. It is going to take a few more weeks to get back to normal. Life moves on, may it is just a reminder that you can be shaken and broken in less than seconds :-)
A confused guy on the bike, decided to take a hard left from middle of the road.No indicators, no signals and no botheration about the traffic behind. Unfortunately, i was closely following him with a decent speed. Too close for even disk brakes to be of any use. Brakes, crash and i was on the road. Fortunate there were no other cars behind, unfortunate that i landed on my left knee, taking the full impact on it. I had followed all the traffic rules, except for the most basic one, expect idiots on Indian roads. Expecting people to adhere to traffic rules is a luxury that is not to be expected on Indian roads. I do see a lot of super geniuses daily who feel that the red signal is for the weak and stupid, and choose to ignore it.
Anyway the guy was little considerate, stopped and asked sorry repeatedly and asked whether i need a drop to home. I was feeling ok that time, so i picked up my bike and started home without help. The bike also didn't suffer any major damage except for a scratch on the body guard. Later realized, he had given me all the burden of his mistake with the apology. What started as a small pain in the knee, became a huge swelling. The trouble started with a night without sleep and in pain. Next day, went to the hospital and the x-ray revealed fracture in the knee cap. The only fix was screws and bolts and threads to fix them up. Sad part, I will have to spend considerable time in hospital, after so many years.
The operation happened a day after and the knee cap, patella was put on place using screws. It was fun to see how doctors and helpers prepare for an operation. They were relaxed, discussing about their vacation leaves, cracking jokes, just like how I start fixing a bug in the code. The guy being operated on was usually referred by the bone he has broken. So my name inside was patella :-) Learned that they do around ten to twelve operations daily most of which are result of bike accidents and quite serious.
The post operation effects were a matter of concern. But when you are in pain, all you have to do is look around. I was surrounded by people with even more serious injuries in the post operation care unit. To name a few, people with broken rib cage, broken hip, crushed leg bones, hips replaced etc etc. The guy with crushed rib cage was not able to swallow a tablet. The most horrible one was a twelve year old kid with amputated leg after a bike injury :( Half of them can be averted if people start paying a little respect to traffic rules, change lanes with little sense and try driving a little predictably.
Slowly recovering from the injury and the operation. It is going to take a few more weeks to get back to normal. Life moves on, may it is just a reminder that you can be shaken and broken in less than seconds :-)
Friday, August 17, 2012
Antharagange Trip
Few calls between Sai & Subramani at around 11PM and the plan for Independence day was done. Decided to start at 7AM next day to AntharaGange, which is around 60KM from Bangalore and provides an opportunity for some hill climbing and exploring caves. This has to be the most quickly decided trip without chain of emails, reading websites and planning logistics. Mohan & Anoop made the decision to join after 7AM, so we started at around 8.00AM in our bikes.
The morning ride was blissful as it is always and since it is just 60KM it remained enjoyable till the end. Took KR Puram -> Kolar -> Antharagange route and as usual at speeds between 80 and 110 KMPH. No interceptors in this roue :-) :-) Had a lavish breakfast at Kamat Upachar, which is around 18KM before Kolar and atlast reached the place around 10 or 10.30AM which i dont remember exactly.
The climb starts with a series of steps that leads to the Kashi Vishweshwara temple. The temple pond gets water from a perennial underground stream or spring, that comes from the mouth of a stone bull. While people take the holy water in huge cans we were loaded with suspicions and doubts :-) Can't help it.
There is a flight of steps behind the temple, that leads to the hills above. We continued and soon reached the important part of the trip, a cave. It was fun exploring the cave and was cool inside. Finding way through the narrow path, climbing and balancing between the boulders provided a little sense of adventure. It was fun. After spending some time inside the cave, came out and continued our journey towards the top. Relaxed for a while, and then started the journey back. Visited the temple on the way and then started back home. The trek was not difficult as mentioned in few blogs.
The return journey was once again during the afternoon in hot sun, the only time where i feel an I20 might be a great option when compared to my bike :P Reached home at around 3PM. It was day well spent, a short trip after some time, and a trip to remember.
Photos: Click Here
The morning ride was blissful as it is always and since it is just 60KM it remained enjoyable till the end. Took KR Puram -> Kolar -> Antharagange route and as usual at speeds between 80 and 110 KMPH. No interceptors in this roue :-) :-) Had a lavish breakfast at Kamat Upachar, which is around 18KM before Kolar and atlast reached the place around 10 or 10.30AM which i dont remember exactly.
The climb starts with a series of steps that leads to the Kashi Vishweshwara temple. The temple pond gets water from a perennial underground stream or spring, that comes from the mouth of a stone bull. While people take the holy water in huge cans we were loaded with suspicions and doubts :-) Can't help it.
There is a flight of steps behind the temple, that leads to the hills above. We continued and soon reached the important part of the trip, a cave. It was fun exploring the cave and was cool inside. Finding way through the narrow path, climbing and balancing between the boulders provided a little sense of adventure. It was fun. After spending some time inside the cave, came out and continued our journey towards the top. Relaxed for a while, and then started the journey back. Visited the temple on the way and then started back home. The trek was not difficult as mentioned in few blogs.
The return journey was once again during the afternoon in hot sun, the only time where i feel an I20 might be a great option when compared to my bike :P Reached home at around 3PM. It was day well spent, a short trip after some time, and a trip to remember.
Photos: Click Here
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Visit to Muthyalamaduvu/Pearl Valley
Stupified, I sat there in silence looking at the water in the falls. The gentle breeze brushing the skin was soothing and made
me stay. I sat there in silence, looking at the water in the falls and at the tourists. There were quite a good number of tourists coming and going. For some reason, i could read their face. As i observed them for some more time, a sudden thought emerged somewhere deep from the convolutions. After all Google & Wikipedia are like gal friends, who give you a lot of suggestions, but eventually you need to apply some level of discretion. Point is, Muthyalamaduvu does not have water even during the rainy season as mentioned, so might be a big disappointment for those who travel from Bangalore. Fortunately, for me it was just a 20KM trip which saved a lot of frustration. The place is serene and does look good, if there was water in the falls, it would have made it a fantastic weekend getaway. But that seem to depend more on luck than rain :-)
Driving Direction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthyalamaduvu
me stay. I sat there in silence, looking at the water in the falls and at the tourists. There were quite a good number of tourists coming and going. For some reason, i could read their face. As i observed them for some more time, a sudden thought emerged somewhere deep from the convolutions. After all Google & Wikipedia are like gal friends, who give you a lot of suggestions, but eventually you need to apply some level of discretion. Point is, Muthyalamaduvu does not have water even during the rainy season as mentioned, so might be a big disappointment for those who travel from Bangalore. Fortunately, for me it was just a 20KM trip which saved a lot of frustration. The place is serene and does look good, if there was water in the falls, it would have made it a fantastic weekend getaway. But that seem to depend more on luck than rain :-)Driving Direction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthyalamaduvu
Cine Time
There are times, when you may be sitting peacefully at home and relaxing, and some weird plans pull you out, slowly and steadily into disaster. Dont step into wild imaginations, i am talking about usually ending up watching a totally crap movie. Around two years back, we woke up on a sunday morning, skipped breakfast and rushed to a theater to see a movie. When we reached the theater, learnt that they timings are changed and they were running a different movie. At the end we watched Sura, which was running in a different theater in the same area. Sura was a movie which i had decided not to watch it at all. Tamil people will understand the feelings better :-)
Today was one such day. Myself & Subramani were sitting in my home with absolutely no plans for the night, other than dinner and peaceful sleep. Sudden plans, quick actions, 14KM travel and we were at Balaji theater for the night show of the movie, "Eppadi Manasukkul Vanthai". I heard about the movie just an hour back and wondered whether that was a right decision. Director of the movie helped a lot in arriving at a conclusion very early. It was a disaster. We had spent 100Rs, around 4 hrs of the time, a good dinner and the probability of getting a headache was terribly high. Tried watching, with the hope that i would find something good somewhere. Should admit my defeat, the director was very skillful in hiding the good things. Somehow didn't like the heroine too :( So qualifies to be called a perfect disaster. Had decided not to post movie reviews in blog, but realized there could be exceptions. What was more disturbing was, trying to justify murders that the hero commits in the name of love. Abusing the mysterious word called Love, it is only in this part, the movie is like other tamil movies.
Anyway for the records, i have seen around 10 tamil movies released this year in theater so far. Impressive, considering the number of times i used to visit theater during my school and college days :-)
Today was one such day. Myself & Subramani were sitting in my home with absolutely no plans for the night, other than dinner and peaceful sleep. Sudden plans, quick actions, 14KM travel and we were at Balaji theater for the night show of the movie, "Eppadi Manasukkul Vanthai". I heard about the movie just an hour back and wondered whether that was a right decision. Director of the movie helped a lot in arriving at a conclusion very early. It was a disaster. We had spent 100Rs, around 4 hrs of the time, a good dinner and the probability of getting a headache was terribly high. Tried watching, with the hope that i would find something good somewhere. Should admit my defeat, the director was very skillful in hiding the good things. Somehow didn't like the heroine too :( So qualifies to be called a perfect disaster. Had decided not to post movie reviews in blog, but realized there could be exceptions. What was more disturbing was, trying to justify murders that the hero commits in the name of love. Abusing the mysterious word called Love, it is only in this part, the movie is like other tamil movies.
Anyway for the records, i have seen around 10 tamil movies released this year in theater so far. Impressive, considering the number of times i used to visit theater during my school and college days :-)
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Coorg Trip (July 5 - July 6, 2012)
It was like a switch on the hands of a kid - On, Off, On, Off, On, Off. Discussions continued and at the end the trip did happen. Coorg welcomed us with a slight drizzle and cool weather in the early morning. Checked in and did what felt best at that time to do. Sleep. The morning had washed the city and left it clean and green. If not for the buildings, it would have been a fantastic sight. Got ready and visited Abbi falls. While the auto guy convinced us that we will get auto for return journey from the falls, later learnt that that is not going to happen. Walked for a KM before taking a Jeep, and sight of this black headed snake made it a little interesting. Visited Raja's seat in the evening, an impressive viewpoint. The evening drizzle made the weather fantastic. On the way back, packed some spices which were little cheap there and retired for the day.Next day, booked a cab and proceeded to Dubare elephant camp. Spent some time in the camp posing with the elephants, feeding them and watching them taking bath. The interesting part of this trip was 7KM rafting in river Cauvery. Plunged into the river with the life jacket and had fun swimming and floating. After the rafting, visited Namdroling Buddhist monastery/Golden Temple. Ended the day with a visit to Nisargadhama, a small picnic spot which is surrounded by the river Cauvery. With that ended a peaceful and happy trip.
Own transport would have allowed us to visit a few more falls and TalaCauvery, which is claimed to be the birth place of River Cauvery. While i was thinking about it, mind suggested Bike Trip / Trek at Brahmagiri hills as future options. Would be happy if that happens.
Bike Trip to Lepakshi
Lepakshi was on the list for a long time, partly due to the some random reviews that claimed it to be a great place and partly due to the curiosity to see the world largest monolithic Nandi statue. So when Mr. Jeyahari wanted to go on a long bike trip, it was the first suggestion i made and it was accepted without any concerns.The trip started at around June 24, 2012, 7.00AM and Rakesh joined us in Hebbal around 7.45AM. Decided to take NH7 through Chickballapur, Bagepalli followed by a 16KM ride on the narrow Lepakshi road. It was surprising to see Bangalore traffic police ready with interceptors at 8.00AM to catch the unsuspecting tourists who are driving over the speed limit on the free roads. I see traffic police more on weekends and rarely do they try to impose any traffic rules on weekdays during the wee hours, when people run amok. Anyway, i had learnt my lesson during the Nandi Hills trip and we were going slow at 50KMPH on the free roads, where 100KMPH was not difficult to achieve. Stopped for breakfast at Kamat and then reached Lepakshi after sometime around 11.00AM.
Stopped first at the infamous Nandi statue. And the first doubt that comes to people from TN is, is that bigger than the one at Tanjore ? Info is that the Nandi statue in Tanjore is actually the third largest. The second biggest monolithic bull is at the Bull Temple in Bangalore near BMSCE. Lepakshi was architecturally rich but after visiting Hampi, i was expecting more. The murals in the ceiling were interesting. The nagalinga was a little fascinating. Soon we finished roaming around and taking photos. Took a little rest, finished our lunch at a small hotel since there were not many lunch options around and started our journey back in the hot sun, which made us wonder whether 120KM in bike was really worth for what Lepakshi has to offer.
Decided to compensate it by stopping in Lumbini gardens at Hebbal. Looks a like a good place for a family and kids to spend a evening. The view of sunset was great. Never knew bangalore had so much to offer. Clicked few pics, had some snacks and returned home after what turned out to be a exhaustive ride and what turned out to be an ok trip overall.
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