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.