Back on a weeklong vacation and in my sister's home with nothing to do actually. So you know why i am typing this now. The trip was in fdoubt till the last day, since there were too many issues on my plate to finish. Burnt a lot of midnight oil on thursday, transferred a few cases to few kind people in the team :) and i was on railway station to catch the train. Boarded S7, and got an unexpected welcome. Looked like Mom and Dad have already given a good introduction about me. Even if i travel for 4 days, there is a very little probability of getting friendly with someone. The same does not hold good for my parents. Two days of little sleep pushed me to sleep in few minutes. Thought of setting an alarm, but once i saw the tiny toddler in the lower berth, decided not to. Knew he would wake me up at 4.30 or 5.00. He did not disappoint me, and he let out a loud cry at 4.30AM. Now i had 12 long hours to kill with very little options. Tiring, boring, sweating, disturbing, thats how the journey was.
When i started browsing the pages of Anantha Vikadan, the expected problem in this train has already started. In the south, boarding the Reserved Compartment with open ticket is not approved and the rule is strictly adhered to. But it is the reverse in North. So it happens in every train running from South to North. The issue was resolved soon. Anyway coming back to Anantha Vikadan, looks like i am reading it after 36 weeks. Think should start the habit once again as it seems to be more informative.
Found a lot of people to be sleeping and tried it. But could not since the train was more like mobile oven. What else can be expected during Indian Summer ? The tiring journey ended finally at 4.30 and now i am once again bugging you people with this post :) One guy warned over phone not to post about this, but i had already drafted spending my valuable time. Anyway BFN :)
What awaits in office after the vacation, is a bit scary to imagine. Lets see how it goes.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Rail Payanangalil
Policeman: Is there a round table conference happening ?
We: No sir, just a small chat
Policeman: Dont feel sleepy ?
We: No sir. We will not get opportunity to meet only during train journeys. So just having a little chat. We will sleep in another fifteen minutes.
Policeman: Ok. Keep an eye on your belongings.
We: Sure.
Hmmm, things like this happen when you stay awake and keep chatting even when the clock ticks 12.00 or 1.00 in train. Though it invites cold stares from most of the policemen and ticket examiners we choose to ignore them and continue. Anyway thought these train journeys deserved a mention. Journey to hometown nowadays resembles a mini tour, with ten to twelve of our friends in a single coupe. It is a heterogenous crowd consisting of juniors, seniors and colleague friends. The discussion starts with update on what has happened to each and every guy since we last met. What could have happened to a bunch of s/w engineers who spend most of the time in front of the computer. So it is always the other guy who talks about his friend, with imagination playing a major role. The noise we create is at its peak, since most of the times all people talk together or laugh together. The crowd slowly disperses after lights are switched off in all coupes. But it does not end there. Only after 12.00 people get realization and start talking about company, present situtaion, future plans, recession, india, world, college etc etc inviting cold stares from the roaming policemen. Trips were boring when i used to travel alone and books usually help in passing time. Now i take books but seldom read them. I dont feel bored or dont have a feeling that there is some time to kill. Hope it continues.
P.S. For those who donot understand the title, it is a title of a famous tamil movie which roughly translates to happenings in train journey.
We: No sir, just a small chat
Policeman: Dont feel sleepy ?
We: No sir. We will not get opportunity to meet only during train journeys. So just having a little chat. We will sleep in another fifteen minutes.
Policeman: Ok. Keep an eye on your belongings.
We: Sure.
Hmmm, things like this happen when you stay awake and keep chatting even when the clock ticks 12.00 or 1.00 in train. Though it invites cold stares from most of the policemen and ticket examiners we choose to ignore them and continue. Anyway thought these train journeys deserved a mention. Journey to hometown nowadays resembles a mini tour, with ten to twelve of our friends in a single coupe. It is a heterogenous crowd consisting of juniors, seniors and colleague friends. The discussion starts with update on what has happened to each and every guy since we last met. What could have happened to a bunch of s/w engineers who spend most of the time in front of the computer. So it is always the other guy who talks about his friend, with imagination playing a major role. The noise we create is at its peak, since most of the times all people talk together or laugh together. The crowd slowly disperses after lights are switched off in all coupes. But it does not end there. Only after 12.00 people get realization and start talking about company, present situtaion, future plans, recession, india, world, college etc etc inviting cold stares from the roaming policemen. Trips were boring when i used to travel alone and books usually help in passing time. Now i take books but seldom read them. I dont feel bored or dont have a feeling that there is some time to kill. Hope it continues.
P.S. For those who donot understand the title, it is a title of a famous tamil movie which roughly translates to happenings in train journey.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Malpe, St.Mary's Island and Udupi Trip
After a lot of confusions, and lengthy discussions, and around 300 mail discussions we decided upon Malpe, St. Mary's and udupi. Started from Bangalore on friday night for the first time with a group of 12. After a sleepless journey, reached kudremukh early in the morning when sleep was about to conquer us. The scenary brought us back to our senses but soon we lost ourself in the virgin beauty of mother nature. We could see green tea plantation on one side and a pool of cloud on the other side. The whole journey through kudremukh was like that but we missed a bit of it because of the tablet that was taken to get rid of the vomitting sensation managed to successfully put us into sleep. Could not avoid taking the tablet, since the sleepless night journey combined with sharp turns in the ghats did a lot of damage.
Finally woke up at Udupi where we booked a room in a decent hotel. First visit was to St. Mary's Island near Malpe beach which is famous for basalt rock deposits which look like hexagonal cylinders. From Malpe the isle can be reached by ferry. The island is small and secluded and the serenity is disturbed only by the noisy tourists like us. We had a good bath there in the sea waterddddd. The waves seems to love visitors and When the waves recede they try to take you away with them. After a long time i had opportunity to take bath in sea like that. After spending one hour there we returned back to malpe and went to have lunch. We tried fish there but it did not meet our expectations.
Next halt was at Maravanthe beach to see the sunset. Once again there was little human activity in the beach, which meant it was time for some football action. Next one hour was devoted to football. As usual it turned out to be interesting. End result: Arsenal beat Manu 5-3. Funny, anyway thats how we named the teams. I contributed two goals to the winning side :) One hour of football was too much for people like who rarely involve in physical activities. After the sunset, we went back to hotel after having dinner at Udupi.
Next day i.e sunday, we went to the world famous Udupi Krishnan temple. The architecture looked different. It has a history associated with it which i am not aware of. Anyway after visiting the temple, started to Kaup beach. Kaup was not an exception, and there was not much human inhabitation except for tourists and couples who donot want to be disturbed. It remained comparatively clean. We could not visit the Kaup lighthouse since it is opened only between 4 to 7 in the evening. Around six of our people started playing volleyball, we resorted to cricket with plastic bat and ball. One good thing about cricket is that you can convert any available wood to stumps and bat. Only thing you need is a ball, but we have also played cricket with something that looks like a ball :) This time, we had a plastic bat and a plastic ball, and water battle served as the stump with cap serving as bails. Still it was good.
We decided to go to kodachadri after that, but decided against while on the way to kodachadri. Thoughts about office next days always disturbs and the same thoughts managed to reconsider our decision. Soon we decided against since we might not have enough time to go to kodachadri and return back. So we restricted ourselves to a visit to River Tunga at Teerthahalli and came back to Bangalore. Once again it turned out to be a fun filled trip as it is always. Digi cams gave us the liberty of clicking everything that we thought would be good. People looked a lot generous while taking pictures, and here are the links,
http://picasaweb.google.com/sens2003/MalpeTrip#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kpraveen85/Malpe#
http://picasaweb.google.com/rajesh.kalaivanan/MalpeStMarysIslandMaravanthae#
Finally woke up at Udupi where we booked a room in a decent hotel. First visit was to St. Mary's Island near Malpe beach which is famous for basalt rock deposits which look like hexagonal cylinders. From Malpe the isle can be reached by ferry. The island is small and secluded and the serenity is disturbed only by the noisy tourists like us. We had a good bath there in the sea waterddddd. The waves seems to love visitors and When the waves recede they try to take you away with them. After a long time i had opportunity to take bath in sea like that. After spending one hour there we returned back to malpe and went to have lunch. We tried fish there but it did not meet our expectations.
Next halt was at Maravanthe beach to see the sunset. Once again there was little human activity in the beach, which meant it was time for some football action. Next one hour was devoted to football. As usual it turned out to be interesting. End result: Arsenal beat Manu 5-3. Funny, anyway thats how we named the teams. I contributed two goals to the winning side :) One hour of football was too much for people like who rarely involve in physical activities. After the sunset, we went back to hotel after having dinner at Udupi.
Next day i.e sunday, we went to the world famous Udupi Krishnan temple. The architecture looked different. It has a history associated with it which i am not aware of. Anyway after visiting the temple, started to Kaup beach. Kaup was not an exception, and there was not much human inhabitation except for tourists and couples who donot want to be disturbed. It remained comparatively clean. We could not visit the Kaup lighthouse since it is opened only between 4 to 7 in the evening. Around six of our people started playing volleyball, we resorted to cricket with plastic bat and ball. One good thing about cricket is that you can convert any available wood to stumps and bat. Only thing you need is a ball, but we have also played cricket with something that looks like a ball :) This time, we had a plastic bat and a plastic ball, and water battle served as the stump with cap serving as bails. Still it was good.
We decided to go to kodachadri after that, but decided against while on the way to kodachadri. Thoughts about office next days always disturbs and the same thoughts managed to reconsider our decision. Soon we decided against since we might not have enough time to go to kodachadri and return back. So we restricted ourselves to a visit to River Tunga at Teerthahalli and came back to Bangalore. Once again it turned out to be a fun filled trip as it is always. Digi cams gave us the liberty of clicking everything that we thought would be good. People looked a lot generous while taking pictures, and here are the links,
http://picasaweb.google.com/sens2003/MalpeTrip#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kpraveen85/Malpe#
http://picasaweb.google.com/rajesh.kalaivanan/MalpeStMarysIslandMaravanthae#
Thursday, February 26, 2009
SMB Saga continues
This is entirely useless to those who donot travel by Train in India. This is a continuation of my previous post Side(u)-Middle(u)-Berth(u).
When i read the news that side middle berths are going to be removed from the trains, i felt elated. The Side middle berth concept did not go well with me as it created more confusion and problems and made the trains more congested when compared to the older system. So the news meant it alleviated all the worries about the concept. But looks like Indian Railways will not drop it so soon. It has already tasted some success with this. Though newspapers carried the news that SMB will be removed, Indian railways is conducting a survey to check the response.
To attend the survey visit, http://www.indianrail.gov.in/. If you travel by train, and would like the SMB concept to continue or removed, better respond to the survey. So that atleast the response of the majority of the people get reflected instead of some independent decisions.
When i read the news that side middle berths are going to be removed from the trains, i felt elated. The Side middle berth concept did not go well with me as it created more confusion and problems and made the trains more congested when compared to the older system. So the news meant it alleviated all the worries about the concept. But looks like Indian Railways will not drop it so soon. It has already tasted some success with this. Though newspapers carried the news that SMB will be removed, Indian railways is conducting a survey to check the response.
To attend the survey visit, http://www.indianrail.gov.in/. If you travel by train, and would like the SMB concept to continue or removed, better respond to the survey. So that atleast the response of the majority of the people get reflected instead of some independent decisions.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Nothing But Repetition
This is just a pure repetition of what was flashed in news and already posted by numerous people all around the world and from India. Yep, as you might have guessed correctly, it is about the Oscars. Nothing much, wanted to remember this day, as ARR fan. He deserves it, no wonder he has achieved it, hope he continues it. This was the moment the whole country was waiting for. Finally he has fulfilled the Indian Dream. Hope he does a lot more and brings more laurels to the country.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Yelagiri Trekking
This trip deserves a special mention as it exposed me to some hardcore trekking for the first time. I was totally out of energy yesterday to post it, and gathered some today to post about it. Saturday morning, 3.30 AM we were awake and successfully disturbed those sleeping in our friend's home. At 4.50AM we were out and on the way to Majestic. Luckily we got a bus to Majestic. Thats where our luck ends. Reached Majestic at 5.30 or so to see a three loooong queue for taking tickets. Waiting to get the tickets meant, we will have to travel to Jolarpettai standing for two hours. Since we travelled together as a group, the trouble was esily overshadowed in the fun we had during the journey.
After finishing the breakfast at Jolarpettai, we were on the way to Yelargiri. One unique feature of the route to Yelagiri is that the hair pin bends are named after tamil poets like "Pavendar valaivu", "kabilar Valaivu" etc. Yelagiri seems to be a small town, left undisturbed till now and Yelagiri people seem to live closely with the nature. First stop was at Poonganur lake, a small artificial lake which looked ok and did not attract us very much. After that we started our trek to Jalagampaarai falls. We trode along examining the reasonably developed Yelagiri, with hotels lining both sides of the road. We had a different opinion about Yelagiri before we went there.
The trek to Jalagampaarai was a lot tiresome as we started at around 11.00 AM when Sun was ready to suck the full energy. On the way we found Mr.Raman, who from then acted as our guide. Good that we met him, it could have been really difficult to find the way. Mr. Raman, who could be easily around 55 to 60, astonished us with the stamina and strength he possessed. He rarely stopped in the 10KM trek. We were left with no other option than to run behind him :) Anyway we covered around 10KM trek in around 4 hours with very few stops except for the a long stop for lunch. It was sad to sight few plastic papers even in those untrodden hills.
We were lucky, since there was some water was tickling in the falls, hence we were able to take bath and derive some satisfaction. The most important part of the trek is that we stayed in tent. This is the first time i had stayed in tent. We started back to Bangalore the next day after having "Kaara Panniyaaram". Together we managed to eat 50 panniyaarams. To our surprise it costed us just Rs. 50.Yet another sign, Yelagiri is yet to be spoiled. We made sure that we don't disturb Yelagiri by throwing the plastic covers, and carried dozens back to bangalore to be disposed safely. The only disappointing fact about the trip is that there are not much scenic spots that would gather the attention.
Before i end, people in the trip include Muthukumar Anna, Deivapalan, Rajaguru, Sai, Nachiappan, Praveen and myself. Check out my picasa and stay in touch with the same, as there are more snaps to follow,
http://picasaweb.google.com/sens2003/YelagiriTrekking#
So there ends yet another memorable trip.
After finishing the breakfast at Jolarpettai, we were on the way to Yelargiri. One unique feature of the route to Yelagiri is that the hair pin bends are named after tamil poets like "Pavendar valaivu", "kabilar Valaivu" etc. Yelagiri seems to be a small town, left undisturbed till now and Yelagiri people seem to live closely with the nature. First stop was at Poonganur lake, a small artificial lake which looked ok and did not attract us very much. After that we started our trek to Jalagampaarai falls. We trode along examining the reasonably developed Yelagiri, with hotels lining both sides of the road. We had a different opinion about Yelagiri before we went there.
The trek to Jalagampaarai was a lot tiresome as we started at around 11.00 AM when Sun was ready to suck the full energy. On the way we found Mr.Raman, who from then acted as our guide. Good that we met him, it could have been really difficult to find the way. Mr. Raman, who could be easily around 55 to 60, astonished us with the stamina and strength he possessed. He rarely stopped in the 10KM trek. We were left with no other option than to run behind him :) Anyway we covered around 10KM trek in around 4 hours with very few stops except for the a long stop for lunch. It was sad to sight few plastic papers even in those untrodden hills.
We were lucky, since there was some water was tickling in the falls, hence we were able to take bath and derive some satisfaction. The most important part of the trek is that we stayed in tent. This is the first time i had stayed in tent. We started back to Bangalore the next day after having "Kaara Panniyaaram". Together we managed to eat 50 panniyaarams. To our surprise it costed us just Rs. 50.Yet another sign, Yelagiri is yet to be spoiled. We made sure that we don't disturb Yelagiri by throwing the plastic covers, and carried dozens back to bangalore to be disposed safely. The only disappointing fact about the trip is that there are not much scenic spots that would gather the attention.
Before i end, people in the trip include Muthukumar Anna, Deivapalan, Rajaguru, Sai, Nachiappan, Praveen and myself. Check out my picasa and stay in touch with the same, as there are more snaps to follow,
http://picasaweb.google.com/sens2003/YelagiriTrekking#
So there ends yet another memorable trip.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Naan Kadavul
Naan Kadavul, the much waited Bala's movie created a lot of news even before it was released and continues to do the same, three days after it got released. I did go through the reviews, and everybody seems to be enthralled by the movie. I belong to the small group which seems to have a different opinion, AFAIK.
So is the movie so bad ? No, not at all. But it failed to impress me for reasons i am not sure. Probably since cruelty and brutality was a little more than my tolerance level. Before going to the movie, i heard that the movie is all about Aghori Sadhus. I had even read the wiki about them (Preparations for the movie :)) but it turned out to be a film about the beggars and the pitiable life they lead. Bala has handpicked each and every character and has sketched athe role with full perfection and i failed to find a flaw. He also deserves an applause for tuning Pooja and make her look exactly like that of a blind gypsy. It took minutes to realize that the girl singing in train is actually Pooja. Pooja, is exceptionally remarkable in her performance and can hope for an award.
I know i haven't said anything about Arya. Blame Bala for that. Arya's role is very minimal except for walking at a rapid pace like a sadhu, uttering few slokhas and two fight sequence at the end. Though Arya shines in the Aghori sadhu role, he does not get much opportunity. Wondering why it required three years during which Arya did not act in any other movie.
A lot of work has gone behind each and every scene. Bala has sculptured it a lot carefully. There are many situational comedies through out the movie but it gets overshadowed by the acts of the merciless villain. I don't know his name but he has done a commendable job. Though it is a wonderful depiction of the cruelty mended to the poor, think it has bit too much for me, hence i could not get myself to the position of liking it.
I usually don't mention the story. Sorry if you had come here searching for it.
So is the movie so bad ? No, not at all. But it failed to impress me for reasons i am not sure. Probably since cruelty and brutality was a little more than my tolerance level. Before going to the movie, i heard that the movie is all about Aghori Sadhus. I had even read the wiki about them (Preparations for the movie :)) but it turned out to be a film about the beggars and the pitiable life they lead. Bala has handpicked each and every character and has sketched athe role with full perfection and i failed to find a flaw. He also deserves an applause for tuning Pooja and make her look exactly like that of a blind gypsy. It took minutes to realize that the girl singing in train is actually Pooja. Pooja, is exceptionally remarkable in her performance and can hope for an award.
I know i haven't said anything about Arya. Blame Bala for that. Arya's role is very minimal except for walking at a rapid pace like a sadhu, uttering few slokhas and two fight sequence at the end. Though Arya shines in the Aghori sadhu role, he does not get much opportunity. Wondering why it required three years during which Arya did not act in any other movie.
A lot of work has gone behind each and every scene. Bala has sculptured it a lot carefully. There are many situational comedies through out the movie but it gets overshadowed by the acts of the merciless villain. I don't know his name but he has done a commendable job. Though it is a wonderful depiction of the cruelty mended to the poor, think it has bit too much for me, hence i could not get myself to the position of liking it.
I usually don't mention the story. Sorry if you had come here searching for it.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
"Record Breakers"
"Record Breakers" is how i fondly call the Indian cricket team, the most acclaimed team in India. Do they break records so often ? No, Not at all. So why that name ? They break the dreams of a team which is on the verge of setting a record. AFAIK, i would quote breaking the conitnous wins of Australia in test cricket.
I am thinking about adding Nadal also in the list :) But the difference between, Men in Blue and Nadal is that, Nadal himself is on the path to making history. Atleast thats what i feel as i could not see any other "Record Breaker" grooming. Enough of Nadal, i am not a Nadal Fan. I adore the way Federer play. Since i was at home, i did see the final match between Federer and Nadal. Great match, both played well. Federer was one victory short of making history and he succumbed to that pressure :( Other than that his shots were as beautiful as they used to be before few years. Still at 27 he has a long way to go. Hope he comes back strong and wins few more titles and continues to be the king.
I am thinking about adding Nadal also in the list :) But the difference between, Men in Blue and Nadal is that, Nadal himself is on the path to making history. Atleast thats what i feel as i could not see any other "Record Breaker" grooming. Enough of Nadal, i am not a Nadal Fan. I adore the way Federer play. Since i was at home, i did see the final match between Federer and Nadal. Great match, both played well. Federer was one victory short of making history and he succumbed to that pressure :( Other than that his shots were as beautiful as they used to be before few years. Still at 27 he has a long way to go. Hope he comes back strong and wins few more titles and continues to be the king.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Licensed to Drive
Got my four wheeler driving license at last after months of self imposed delays.It came as a birthday present as i chose that date for taking the test. Experiences in the RTO office was the same in the past, and it has not changed now, hope it changes atleast in the future. If you don't go via a broker or Agent, you will never be able to get what you want in a day. Though there are boards advising not to go via agents, it falls on the deaf ears of the employees and also the people. Though there are counters, there is absolutely no information about the steps you need to follow. Agents and the employees seem to be reaping rich.
Hope situation changes. Anyway i think i will not be stepping into RTO office for another 15 years.
Hope situation changes. Anyway i think i will not be stepping into RTO office for another 15 years.
Monday, January 05, 2009
2008
Just after the 8 days vacation i am here back in bangalore. With few minutes left to start to office, i am trying to recollect what happened during 2008, that is worth to post in this blog. So it is going to be a bit personal so you can stop reading here if you wish.
Anyway 2008 was an uneventful year and not much happened through out the year.
Not much to comment about the job.
Saw too many movies in theater and through CDs and DVDs. No new year resolution to reduce that also :) So i expect the same situation will prevail in 2009 also.
The best part of last year is the trips along with my friends and seniors, lets see whether i can get them in the correct order.
Jan - Kollimalai, Shivasamudra, Bandipur, Mysore
Feb - Chennai
April - Goa
September - Jog, Murudheshwar
Oct - Tirunelvezhi
Nov - Trichy.
For the first time in lifetime saw a cricket match in stadium. Went to the IPL T20 match between Chennai Superkings and Banglore Royal Challengers.
My sis was blessed with a baby girl and i had a great time playing with the kid.
Attempts to learn hindi and kannada went in vain and almost dropped the idea by end of the year.
For the first time started reading tamil novels with Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan and soon completed Sivagamiyin Sabatham and Parthiban Kanavu.
I am not sure whether i have missed something. Since memory is not willing to cooperate, ending the post now.
Just one resolution for 2009,
Try to come home early :) I tried and failed a lot many times last year trying to do this. Lets see whether i can make that a habit this year :)
Happy New Year.
Anyway 2008 was an uneventful year and not much happened through out the year.
Not much to comment about the job.
Saw too many movies in theater and through CDs and DVDs. No new year resolution to reduce that also :) So i expect the same situation will prevail in 2009 also.
The best part of last year is the trips along with my friends and seniors, lets see whether i can get them in the correct order.
Jan - Kollimalai, Shivasamudra, Bandipur, Mysore
Feb - Chennai
April - Goa
September - Jog, Murudheshwar
Oct - Tirunelvezhi
Nov - Trichy.
For the first time in lifetime saw a cricket match in stadium. Went to the IPL T20 match between Chennai Superkings and Banglore Royal Challengers.
My sis was blessed with a baby girl and i had a great time playing with the kid.
Attempts to learn hindi and kannada went in vain and almost dropped the idea by end of the year.
For the first time started reading tamil novels with Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan and soon completed Sivagamiyin Sabatham and Parthiban Kanavu.
I am not sure whether i have missed something. Since memory is not willing to cooperate, ending the post now.
Just one resolution for 2009,
Try to come home early :) I tried and failed a lot many times last year trying to do this. Lets see whether i can make that a habit this year :)
Happy New Year.
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