Once my friend claimed, Bing can identify you using 128 different parameters and can store all the searches you have done so far. Though i dont bing, i know Google has control to more parameters has more data. It is equally frustrating when Facebook asks "how far from <here> do you live ?", and claims it will customize my experience based on that. Very rarely i think about these seriously. This post is the result of one such thought.
Back in college, i had the habit of doing egoistic searches. Will type my name or email address in Google and feel happy if i get few pages of search results. It gave a sense of false significance. I tried doing it a while ago, after so many years. Now it is a bit alarming when i see my name or information listed there. While i do pay some attention to this and try to keep things private, with the number of websites i have account in, this was expected. What set me off was this site called "yatedo". Yatedo is a people search engine, but how it operates seems to be a little different. Yatedo scraps information from your public profile and creates its own Yatedo profile page, will all the information including links to blog posts. If you do not want it, you have to opt out :-) Pretty cool, huh ? Atleast the creators thought so.
Who gives them the information ? It is us. Google/Facebook/LinkedIn, usually change their privacy policies, give you a two page essay to read. Never have i bothered to check it out, but i do change the settings and try to avoid displaying a lot of personal details as public. What i missed, Yatedo caught. A lot of debate is already happening in the web about Yatedo, but they manage to stay safe hiding behind some French law, which once again i never bothered to check. Read this in Quora, if you are not aware - http://www.quora.com/Is-Yatedo-illegal-How-do-I-delete-my-Yatedo-profile-which-was-created-without-my-consent. For a while I was furious about being ignorant, but when i saw most of my friends do have an yatedo profile, i felt a little ok :P The quora link has information on how to delete the information and how to make your stuff private, if you want to. After doing the steps in the link, also try to request google to remove it from search results - https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals
This is part of a big problem. It is always scary to think about what Google/Facebook/LinkedIn do with the data. While facebook does provide a way to deactivate your profile, linkedin does not even have an option. You can only disable your public profile. I never bothered to check about Google, because i am not planning to do it anytime. It is tough to get out of the web created by Google. Google has simplified a lot of things and that has made me totally dependent on it. When i store a contact in my android phone, i choose my google account as the one where the information should go. Considering that i format, root, install a different ROM or keep testing my phone now and then, storing in google looks like a good option to make sure i don't lose my contacts anytime.
As a last point, How far can companies benefit from this frivolous data. I have no clue, i have less idea about Big data, what exactly are the data they are looking at, how exactly can they use the data in decision making. Recently i received a amazon gift voucher from Amazon for Rs.100, for taking up a survey and letting them know about my shopping preference. If Amazon is willing to pay Rs.100 to get views of a guy who is not a avid shopper, may be it is safe to assume that companies are looking for data seriously. What if they have the data from which they can guess. Do companies like Google possess such data. What about governments ? Will be happy if they are not. This episode of "Numb3rs" TV serial episode seems to be on related lines - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWaxF0U5y28 watch if you have 40 minutes.
"Google is Skynet" looks like a pretty valid statement. I am not sure about that, only thing i am sure is i will not be the one that the terminators will come searching for :D :D :D As of now I am in a state of rest with incomplete data, feeding data to Google and getting few things done easily from them. As Newton said, need a external force for any change in action. Will continue to do so till acted upon by external force.
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Whats up!!!!!
Long time since i blogged. The last year appraisal(blog report) from wordpress showed 2014 was pretty bad :-) Wordpress sugar coated the report with some nice stats and encouraging words but the fact was I had a total of 3 blog posts in 2014 with the last post coming on May, 2014. Yep, it didn't make sense to trouble everyone with the details about the mundane life. While review of movies, treks and travels looks repetitive, others were too personal to share in this space. It is this thought process that blocks most of the blog posts from getting published.
A sense of ennui has crept in as years passed by and the childish excitement seems to be missing. It is tough to keep the child in you active for a long time. Without that everything looks quite normal and ordinary :-) Let us blame it on the civilization and the society :-) Civilization seems to have screwed up the priorities. Though our needs look no different from that of any other animal species, we seem to be following a very convoluted process. Enough of philosophy. From the way the human species has successfully multiplied and established itself eradicating the other species, probably it makes more sense to follow the process with eyes closed :D :D :D
Anyway 2014 has been a very interesting year with few unforgettable moments. A lot of interesting things happened personally. Few important decisions made. Reading habit has reduced a lot. I was trying to read the tamil book Kaval Kottam, and it turns out to be a book which i may not finish. Did go on few treks with the last one being Nishanimotte @ Coorg, Karnataka, but chose not to blog about them. Mullayanagiri - Kemmangundi full trek still remains incomplete, with one more attempt made during 2014 monsoon which ended again halfway at Bababudangiri. Lets see what 2015 has in store.
A sense of ennui has crept in as years passed by and the childish excitement seems to be missing. It is tough to keep the child in you active for a long time. Without that everything looks quite normal and ordinary :-) Let us blame it on the civilization and the society :-) Civilization seems to have screwed up the priorities. Though our needs look no different from that of any other animal species, we seem to be following a very convoluted process. Enough of philosophy. From the way the human species has successfully multiplied and established itself eradicating the other species, probably it makes more sense to follow the process with eyes closed :D :D :D
Anyway 2014 has been a very interesting year with few unforgettable moments. A lot of interesting things happened personally. Few important decisions made. Reading habit has reduced a lot. I was trying to read the tamil book Kaval Kottam, and it turns out to be a book which i may not finish. Did go on few treks with the last one being Nishanimotte @ Coorg, Karnataka, but chose not to blog about them. Mullayanagiri - Kemmangundi full trek still remains incomplete, with one more attempt made during 2014 monsoon which ended again halfway at Bababudangiri. Lets see what 2015 has in store.
Sunday, May 04, 2014
KumaraParvatha - II
Frequency of trekking has reduced a lot. More or less equal to the number of blog posts i manage to write in a year. So when an opportunity came up, could not resist it, even though it was mid April. Also, it was led by Captain Muthukumar, which meant most of logistics are already taken care and the only action that might be required is
walking during the trek. So trip was on, the place decided was Kokkebetta in Coorg. People joined, left, started for the trip and had to pull out at the last minute, eventually we were left with a gang of 4. Good crowd considering that it is getting difficult to get a good trekking crowd. Looks like Kokkebetta takes only 45 minutes to reach the peak, not worthy to be called a trek so on the last hour the place was changed to Kumaraparvatha. Kumaraparvatha is supposed to be tough, had experienced it once, doing it in a single day on summer looked like a self imposed punishment. The only reprieve was, we will be climbing via somwarpet route and climbing down to Kukke, and this route is supposed to be little easier.
Got down at Kushal Nagar at 4.30AM and waited for the bus to Somwarpet. The first bus to somwarpet is operated by Swamy travels and starts at 6.00 AM sharp. From Somwarpet, you need to catch one more bus (Pushpagiri Travels) to Beedhalli. The trek started at 9.00AM. From Beedhalli, it is 4KM to forest guest house. First half of 4KM is tar road till a temple, and the next half one has to follow the jeep track to the forest guest house. The real trek starts from here. We reached the guest house at 9.45AM. After completing the registration at the forest guest house it is 7KM to the pushpagiri peak. Good part was the first 3-4KM is through dense forest, which protects you from sunlight and makes the trek a lot easier. Since it has rained on the day before, it was relatively cool and enjoyable. The only problem we faced under these conditions were the leeches.. We walked fast, and managed to escape without any bites. After the forest, there is a moderately steep climb, to reach the peak. We managed to reach the peak around 12.30PM and rested for a while, helping ourselves to the snacks and juices we carried.
Anyway could not spend much time on the peak, as the strenuous second half waited and also had to consider the time factor. The rains on the previous day, had made the weather a little pleasant and there was some mist at the peak, which did make it a little awesome. Started the climb down at around 1.15PM. Considering that the last part of the trek is in the forest again, wanted to complete it before 6.00PM or before we lose the sunlight. So walked fast with little breaks. Halted for around 15 minutes at Bhattar Mane, for the butter milk and continued the race against the sun. The sight of snake crossing the path and elephant dung on the path inside the forest, made us forget the breaks. Finally the trek ended at just after 6PM but was too tired to celebrate the fact that i had completed 25KM with less breaks in a trek on a single day. The journey back home was in the last seat of Karnataka Sarige bus, the only option that was available to us. The last seat factor went unnoticed as the tiredness took over and i slept like a log through out the journey.
walking during the trek. So trip was on, the place decided was Kokkebetta in Coorg. People joined, left, started for the trip and had to pull out at the last minute, eventually we were left with a gang of 4. Good crowd considering that it is getting difficult to get a good trekking crowd. Looks like Kokkebetta takes only 45 minutes to reach the peak, not worthy to be called a trek so on the last hour the place was changed to Kumaraparvatha. Kumaraparvatha is supposed to be tough, had experienced it once, doing it in a single day on summer looked like a self imposed punishment. The only reprieve was, we will be climbing via somwarpet route and climbing down to Kukke, and this route is supposed to be little easier.
Got down at Kushal Nagar at 4.30AM and waited for the bus to Somwarpet. The first bus to somwarpet is operated by Swamy travels and starts at 6.00 AM sharp. From Somwarpet, you need to catch one more bus (Pushpagiri Travels) to Beedhalli. The trek started at 9.00AM. From Beedhalli, it is 4KM to forest guest house. First half of 4KM is tar road till a temple, and the next half one has to follow the jeep track to the forest guest house. The real trek starts from here. We reached the guest house at 9.45AM. After completing the registration at the forest guest house it is 7KM to the pushpagiri peak. Good part was the first 3-4KM is through dense forest, which protects you from sunlight and makes the trek a lot easier. Since it has rained on the day before, it was relatively cool and enjoyable. The only problem we faced under these conditions were the leeches.. We walked fast, and managed to escape without any bites. After the forest, there is a moderately steep climb, to reach the peak. We managed to reach the peak around 12.30PM and rested for a while, helping ourselves to the snacks and juices we carried.
Anyway could not spend much time on the peak, as the strenuous second half waited and also had to consider the time factor. The rains on the previous day, had made the weather a little pleasant and there was some mist at the peak, which did make it a little awesome. Started the climb down at around 1.15PM. Considering that the last part of the trek is in the forest again, wanted to complete it before 6.00PM or before we lose the sunlight. So walked fast with little breaks. Halted for around 15 minutes at Bhattar Mane, for the butter milk and continued the race against the sun. The sight of snake crossing the path and elephant dung on the path inside the forest, made us forget the breaks. Finally the trek ended at just after 6PM but was too tired to celebrate the fact that i had completed 25KM with less breaks in a trek on a single day. The journey back home was in the last seat of Karnataka Sarige bus, the only option that was available to us. The last seat factor went unnoticed as the tiredness took over and i slept like a log through out the journey.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Auroville Marathon
It all started with our friend Vanniaperumal asking us to join him for a trip to Pondicherry. He had plans of participating in the Auroville marathon. He has taken up running as hobby for some reason and is spending good amount of time discovering the streets in his village. It was long since we went for a trip together. With the trekking gang disintegrated escaping out of bangalore on some trip was becoming a rare phenomenon. So decided to join him for the trip and for some reason registered for the the marathon as well. We had not given too much of thought on whether it was possible to complete, what sort of training it required etc.
The training started a month before the marathon with a 10K run in lalbagh. 10KM on the first day was not a good idea, we realized it the hard way completing it mostly by walking and taking 1 hour 40 minutes. That day it dawned upon us that 21KM is going to be a daunting task and requires a lot of practice. Tried running in the morning for sometime but sleep is more precious than these stuffs. So hit the gym @ office in the evening for the first time in life. I had decided never to visit a gym but to remain healthy by doing routine activities. But i had no other option this time and started running 3 to 4 KM daily.
Running was fun. Running 21KM was self imposed punishment. Realized that when we decided to try 21KM before the marathon day and tried the same in lalbagh. It took 3 hours 20 minutes, with some running and lot of walking. End result was a lot of pain and walking style like a duck after that. But we knew it was achievable. Few more days at the gym and a week of rest, we were ready for the marathon on Feb 9. Atleast we thought we were.
Went to Pondicherry on Feb 8. Visited Auroville and collected the BIB. Liked the atmosphere in Auroville and how organized they were. After some roaming around Pondicherry and enjoying the TN cuisines in their original taste, visited auroville in the night again as Vanni had registered the pasta dinner. That dinner helps in running better next day it seems :-) Mani and myself assumed idly and dosa does the same and had that for dinner. Came back to room and rested. Should say, i did relish the food in pondicherry.
Auroville was bustling with activity when we reached at 5.30AM. This time there were more than 2000 participants for the half marathon alone so it was crowded. I was supposed to start in the first wave of 600 @ 6:15AM, while vanni and mani were in the wave that started at 6.25AM. The marathon started sharply at 6:15AM and i started running without much plan, with the only intention of finishing it without injuries. Soon i was running a decent pace, overtaking the slow runners and in sight of the leaders. Thanks to the gym, was able to maintain the pace for sometime but soon settled to the speed i am comfortable with, around 8-8.5KMPH. Was excited every time i crossed every KM mark, but as time progressed 1KM looked a little elongated. Could not stop thinking the organizers are playing some cruel trick and increased the distance. Anyway, at the end of an hour, i had completed 8KM. Was able to maintain the pace and completed 10KM in 1 hour 15 minutes.
10KM was a sign of achievement, soon a signal from the cerebrum asked me to slow down. I could see a lot of people from second, third and fourth wave overtaking and disappearing. Since it was expected didn't care much. But when girls overtook, there was a tight slap on the ego, but body and mind were in unison and made sure there was no increase in the speed. But no sign of Vanni and Mani. At the second hour i completed around 15KM and around here, Vanni crossed me, uttered few words hastily and ran ahead. Mani was nowhere in sight.
After 15KM, succumbed to the pressure of mind and started walking. Tried doing it at a reasonable pace, but dont think i achieved it. It was also turning hot, which was acting as a deterrent. Continued walking till 20KM in the next 50 or so minutes. After 20KM, not sure what motivated me, is that the crowd near the finishing line or the gal who was irritating me by overtaking me and then walking in front and doing the same once i crossed her, i suddenly got some energy to run again. When it was around 300 meters from the finishing line, found that there is a chance to complete the marathon within 3 hours. Was pumped up in seconds and started sprinting. It felt like sprinting, probably was running at a decent pace. Not sure where the energy had vanished after 15KM, and how it returned. Atlast the finish line was in sight, body ached, gasped a little for breath but completed the marathon at last in around 2 hours 59 minutes. Target achieved.
I am still not sure, how running 21KM is fun :-) But wont deny getting a medal and posing for a photo, though it is your own camera did give a momentary happiness. A sense of achievement and completion that is missing in this adult life. I was not comparing myself with others, nor did i find think about how will it help in future, what i had was a childish joy of accomplishing something though it could be worthless. In that way, it was fun indeed. Now i am running few KMs in gym daily. Looks like there is one marathon on the way, lets see if i run in that as well.
The training started a month before the marathon with a 10K run in lalbagh. 10KM on the first day was not a good idea, we realized it the hard way completing it mostly by walking and taking 1 hour 40 minutes. That day it dawned upon us that 21KM is going to be a daunting task and requires a lot of practice. Tried running in the morning for sometime but sleep is more precious than these stuffs. So hit the gym @ office in the evening for the first time in life. I had decided never to visit a gym but to remain healthy by doing routine activities. But i had no other option this time and started running 3 to 4 KM daily.
Running was fun. Running 21KM was self imposed punishment. Realized that when we decided to try 21KM before the marathon day and tried the same in lalbagh. It took 3 hours 20 minutes, with some running and lot of walking. End result was a lot of pain and walking style like a duck after that. But we knew it was achievable. Few more days at the gym and a week of rest, we were ready for the marathon on Feb 9. Atleast we thought we were.
Went to Pondicherry on Feb 8. Visited Auroville and collected the BIB. Liked the atmosphere in Auroville and how organized they were. After some roaming around Pondicherry and enjoying the TN cuisines in their original taste, visited auroville in the night again as Vanni had registered the pasta dinner. That dinner helps in running better next day it seems :-) Mani and myself assumed idly and dosa does the same and had that for dinner. Came back to room and rested. Should say, i did relish the food in pondicherry.
Auroville was bustling with activity when we reached at 5.30AM. This time there were more than 2000 participants for the half marathon alone so it was crowded. I was supposed to start in the first wave of 600 @ 6:15AM, while vanni and mani were in the wave that started at 6.25AM. The marathon started sharply at 6:15AM and i started running without much plan, with the only intention of finishing it without injuries. Soon i was running a decent pace, overtaking the slow runners and in sight of the leaders. Thanks to the gym, was able to maintain the pace for sometime but soon settled to the speed i am comfortable with, around 8-8.5KMPH. Was excited every time i crossed every KM mark, but as time progressed 1KM looked a little elongated. Could not stop thinking the organizers are playing some cruel trick and increased the distance. Anyway, at the end of an hour, i had completed 8KM. Was able to maintain the pace and completed 10KM in 1 hour 15 minutes.
10KM was a sign of achievement, soon a signal from the cerebrum asked me to slow down. I could see a lot of people from second, third and fourth wave overtaking and disappearing. Since it was expected didn't care much. But when girls overtook, there was a tight slap on the ego, but body and mind were in unison and made sure there was no increase in the speed. But no sign of Vanni and Mani. At the second hour i completed around 15KM and around here, Vanni crossed me, uttered few words hastily and ran ahead. Mani was nowhere in sight.
After 15KM, succumbed to the pressure of mind and started walking. Tried doing it at a reasonable pace, but dont think i achieved it. It was also turning hot, which was acting as a deterrent. Continued walking till 20KM in the next 50 or so minutes. After 20KM, not sure what motivated me, is that the crowd near the finishing line or the gal who was irritating me by overtaking me and then walking in front and doing the same once i crossed her, i suddenly got some energy to run again. When it was around 300 meters from the finishing line, found that there is a chance to complete the marathon within 3 hours. Was pumped up in seconds and started sprinting. It felt like sprinting, probably was running at a decent pace. Not sure where the energy had vanished after 15KM, and how it returned. Atlast the finish line was in sight, body ached, gasped a little for breath but completed the marathon at last in around 2 hours 59 minutes. Target achieved.
I am still not sure, how running 21KM is fun :-) But wont deny getting a medal and posing for a photo, though it is your own camera did give a momentary happiness. A sense of achievement and completion that is missing in this adult life. I was not comparing myself with others, nor did i find think about how will it help in future, what i had was a childish joy of accomplishing something though it could be worthless. In that way, it was fun indeed. Now i am running few KMs in gym daily. Looks like there is one marathon on the way, lets see if i run in that as well.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
The Dying Democracy
“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” - George Bernard Shaw
Lets say, I have 100 Rs and i want to buy something. I go to a shop pay 100 and get it. The shop owner gets the 100 rupees, but is under the assumption that the product he sold me was given to me due to his great efforts and decides to remind me about his benevolence by printing his name, family name and his photo everywhere in the product. And the cost incurred to engrave them should also be paid from my pocket. I think it is right to feel irritated.
All this comes after buying a Rs.10 water bottle at the bus station, the famous "Amma Kudineer" water bottle that is sold at the bus stations in Tamilnadu. There is a green sticker with CM's smiling photo and the word "Amma Drinking Water". Above the sticker is a symbol of two big leaves. Everyone in Tamilnadu knows that is the symbol of AIADMK party. They can't have that. So on top of the two leaves there are two more smaller leaves. Now it is not a party symbol any more, but point delivered. Towards the bottom of the water bottle, once again it has the word "Amma" engraved in English on one side and in Tamil on the other side. The only mention about a government body involved was in "Processed & Packaged by State Express Transport Corporation Tamilnadu Ltd" in very small letters, which you can find only if you want to find. To me it looked a lot despotic.
The plan as such is a good move, was received with great acclaim, considering that earlier we ended up paying 15 - 20 Rs for sub-standard low quality water. Let us also assume that since India is a developing nation, all the tax money is spent in other activities and is not possible for government to give free and hygienic water at public places. Only problem is it is made to appear like a benevolent act for which I should be grateful, while it is nothing but a duty of the elected governemnt. A name and symbol related to the government might have left me satisfied something like "Rail Neer" as introduced by IRCTC which does not carry any officer's or ruler's photo.
No i do not support DMK, i despise the nepotism that exists in that party. I do not have high hopes on the so called secular congress that seems to be corrupt, and on Modi who has pledged to take country towards progress. I do agree, this is not an issue, when compared to the blatant violation of democracy that we see in a lot of instances. This is just another reminder of what our rulers are. And when i see people happy about atleast something happening, it reminds that we have brought democracy to a very low level with our ignorance. As a kid, I believed a lot when leaders talked about the country becoming super power, but it looks more like many many assumptions that vanished into thin year when i started becoming older. The current situation looks exactly similar to the story in "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, a revolution followed by a constitution that aims at equality which eventually ends in despotism and nepotism and slavery. Recommend you to read, if you haven't done so, and you will realize that we are no different than the horses and donkeys of the "Animal Farm" :-)
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Mullayanagiri - Bababudangiri Trek 2013
This blog is turning out to be a travelogue. Will have to change it. With New Year close on the heels, think will add it to the empty list of New Year resolutions, though what happens to
Anyway this trip was the third attempt to complete full length of the jinxed Mullayanagiri - Kemmangundi trek. Having balked at previous attempts, Attempt #1 and Attempt #2 due to various reasons, was excited about this trek. Dec 14 was fixed as the date for the quest. The plan died in few days when people in trekking gang were unable to join due to different reason and got a life when Rakesh Balakrishnan kindled the thought, why not just the two of us with just two days to go for the weekend. It was a great idea, but just two of us trekking in reserved forest and camping nowhere near civilization did send shivers down the spine. Though we were excited and enthusiastic, the real test would be when we start walking. The plan looked exciting, achievable and foolish as well. The hopes died, when BMC from where we usually rent our tents said tents were not available during that weekend. But we did managed to arrange from Mars Adventures. We purchased sleeping bags from Decathlon, since it looked a better option than renting them for every trip. Bus tickets to chickmagalur were never a problem, and soon we saw ourselves packing.
Day 1 - Saturday - Dec 14, 2013
Reached chickmagalur at around 5.00AM, checked into a hotel and got ready for the trip at 8.00AM. Made sure to open the tent and pack it in our bags. Carrying tent in hand is laborious and makes the ascent difficult. There is a single bus service from chickmagalur to Sarpadhari, the trek starting point. Bus name is S.M.S but they start at their own sweet time when they feel it is crowded enough. So if you want to start the trek early, better to choose cab/auto. We went in an auto who charged Rs. 250. The trek from Sarpadhari to Bababudangiri/Galikere can be split into four parts
1) The climb from Sarpadhari to Mullayanagiri Peak.
2) Mullayanagiri to Attigundi checkpost.
3) Checkpost - BSNL tower via that knife edge that is exactly opposite to the checkpost.
4) BSNL tower - Bababudangiri/Galikere.
Our aim was to camp at Galikere and trek to Kemmangundi the next day. Knew at every part, it will be a race against time. Started the trek at 9.15Am. It was a quick climb (by our standards) to the peak and we reached the peak before 11.00AM. Mullayanagiri was awesome as usual. A little misty even after monsoon. The grasses were slowly drying after the monsoon but was green enough to make a grand sight. We spent a little time at the peak and started for part 2 of the trek. Finding the path to attigundi post from mullayangiri peak was tough. But from the previous attempt i knew it existed somewhere behind the temple. So after a little search were able to locate it. Once we find the path, the walk to Attigundi checkpost is easy, so we did it without taking many breaks. Had a quick lunch @ Attigundi checkpost. Everything was going according to plan :) Or looked like.
The twist waited when we were about to start the third part of the trek. It was Dattareya Jeyanthi on Dec 15, 2013 and due to security reasons the knife edge the direct path which goes through the gorge(knife's path) to the BSNL tower was closed. The police advised us to go via the road. We followed the road for a while, searched for a path and decided to the walk parallel to the original route and join the path from knife edge at some point. There was no path, so had to venture into the bushes and shrubs and create our own path chasing away the small snakes (exaggerated, found only one) that were resting. The next hour was dedicated to this. The good part was we were able to do it and get back to the original path, and the bad part was we had lost a good amount of time. And we reached the BSNL tower by 5.00PM.
Any trek will involve meeting a local who will claim the place we intend to go is not near as we think, but it is +x KM. Such meeting happened in the BSNL tower. We were under the impression that Galikere is around 4-5KM from BSNL
tower, but the guy there claimed it is 8KM. We knew 8KM after 5PM will involve trekking in the dark. Anyway learnt next day that Galikere is 5KM from the place and the route is not difficult either. The guy also showed us Manikyadhara, that is very close to the tower, where we can camp. Mr. Prasad, the forest officer we met during the last visit had mentioned that it is good for camping and we get food/fish fry there. I remembered the place name and the office name because of the mention of fish fry. Manikyadhara also has a small waterfalls which attracts tourists. Anyway all shops were closed due to Dattareya Jeyanthi and there were no jeeps as well. Otherwise it is possible to rent a jeep from there to Galikere. With were very little options left we decided to camp near a pond in Manikyadhara. The place was pretty and peaceful. There were no rough winds which left us in absolute silence. Still was able to manage only a disturbed sleep due to the cold weather and possibly due to the uneasy tranquility that prevailed.
Day 2 - Sunday - Dec 15, 2013
Woke up around 6
.30AM to the sound of birds. In particular there was a bird that whistled/sang beautifully. Was not able to sight it. Spent sometime roaming and exploring the area around the tent, more importantly waiting for the sun to heat up a little, so the bath in Manikyadhara falls will be enjoyable. Though Manikyadhara falls did not have much water to offer, the bath was exhilarating. Camping at Manikyadhara meant 5KM gets added to the Day 2 trek to Kemmangundi, making it more than 20KM and impossible. So we called it a day and walked towards Bababudangiri. From the "My Tracks" android app the total distance we covered was around 13KM on the first day and 3KM walk to bababudangiri on the second day. The SMS bus service was the only option available. Boarded the bus at 11.15AM which started at 12.45PM and reached chickmagalur at the right time to catch the 2PM bus back to bangalore :-)
Though the weather during december was good and helped in trekking without drizzle and leeches, it is during the monsoon or just after the end of monsoon, Mullayanagiri is at its supreme grandeur. The thought beckons attempt #4 for the full 30+ KM trek, time will answer whether it will happen.
Anyway this trip was the third attempt to complete full length of the jinxed Mullayanagiri - Kemmangundi trek. Having balked at previous attempts, Attempt #1 and Attempt #2 due to various reasons, was excited about this trek. Dec 14 was fixed as the date for the quest. The plan died in few days when people in trekking gang were unable to join due to different reason and got a life when Rakesh Balakrishnan kindled the thought, why not just the two of us with just two days to go for the weekend. It was a great idea, but just two of us trekking in reserved forest and camping nowhere near civilization did send shivers down the spine. Though we were excited and enthusiastic, the real test would be when we start walking. The plan looked exciting, achievable and foolish as well. The hopes died, when BMC from where we usually rent our tents said tents were not available during that weekend. But we did managed to arrange from Mars Adventures. We purchased sleeping bags from Decathlon, since it looked a better option than renting them for every trip. Bus tickets to chickmagalur were never a problem, and soon we saw ourselves packing.
Day 1 - Saturday - Dec 14, 2013
Reached chickmagalur at around 5.00AM, checked into a hotel and got ready for the trip at 8.00AM. Made sure to open the tent and pack it in our bags. Carrying tent in hand is laborious and makes the ascent difficult. There is a single bus service from chickmagalur to Sarpadhari, the trek starting point. Bus name is S.M.S but they start at their own sweet time when they feel it is crowded enough. So if you want to start the trek early, better to choose cab/auto. We went in an auto who charged Rs. 250. The trek from Sarpadhari to Bababudangiri/Galikere can be split into four parts
1) The climb from Sarpadhari to Mullayanagiri Peak.
2) Mullayanagiri to Attigundi checkpost.
3) Checkpost - BSNL tower via that knife edge that is exactly opposite to the checkpost.
4) BSNL tower - Bababudangiri/Galikere.
Our aim was to camp at Galikere and trek to Kemmangundi the next day. Knew at every part, it will be a race against time. Started the trek at 9.15Am. It was a quick climb (by our standards) to the peak and we reached the peak before 11.00AM. Mullayanagiri was awesome as usual. A little misty even after monsoon. The grasses were slowly drying after the monsoon but was green enough to make a grand sight. We spent a little time at the peak and started for part 2 of the trek. Finding the path to attigundi post from mullayangiri peak was tough. But from the previous attempt i knew it existed somewhere behind the temple. So after a little search were able to locate it. Once we find the path, the walk to Attigundi checkpost is easy, so we did it without taking many breaks. Had a quick lunch @ Attigundi checkpost. Everything was going according to plan :) Or looked like.The twist waited when we were about to start the third part of the trek. It was Dattareya Jeyanthi on Dec 15, 2013 and due to security reasons the knife edge the direct path which goes through the gorge(knife's path) to the BSNL tower was closed. The police advised us to go via the road. We followed the road for a while, searched for a path and decided to the walk parallel to the original route and join the path from knife edge at some point. There was no path, so had to venture into the bushes and shrubs and create our own path chasing away the small snakes (exaggerated, found only one) that were resting. The next hour was dedicated to this. The good part was we were able to do it and get back to the original path, and the bad part was we had lost a good amount of time. And we reached the BSNL tower by 5.00PM.
Any trek will involve meeting a local who will claim the place we intend to go is not near as we think, but it is +x KM. Such meeting happened in the BSNL tower. We were under the impression that Galikere is around 4-5KM from BSNL
tower, but the guy there claimed it is 8KM. We knew 8KM after 5PM will involve trekking in the dark. Anyway learnt next day that Galikere is 5KM from the place and the route is not difficult either. The guy also showed us Manikyadhara, that is very close to the tower, where we can camp. Mr. Prasad, the forest officer we met during the last visit had mentioned that it is good for camping and we get food/fish fry there. I remembered the place name and the office name because of the mention of fish fry. Manikyadhara also has a small waterfalls which attracts tourists. Anyway all shops were closed due to Dattareya Jeyanthi and there were no jeeps as well. Otherwise it is possible to rent a jeep from there to Galikere. With were very little options left we decided to camp near a pond in Manikyadhara. The place was pretty and peaceful. There were no rough winds which left us in absolute silence. Still was able to manage only a disturbed sleep due to the cold weather and possibly due to the uneasy tranquility that prevailed.Day 2 - Sunday - Dec 15, 2013
Woke up around 6
.30AM to the sound of birds. In particular there was a bird that whistled/sang beautifully. Was not able to sight it. Spent sometime roaming and exploring the area around the tent, more importantly waiting for the sun to heat up a little, so the bath in Manikyadhara falls will be enjoyable. Though Manikyadhara falls did not have much water to offer, the bath was exhilarating. Camping at Manikyadhara meant 5KM gets added to the Day 2 trek to Kemmangundi, making it more than 20KM and impossible. So we called it a day and walked towards Bababudangiri. From the "My Tracks" android app the total distance we covered was around 13KM on the first day and 3KM walk to bababudangiri on the second day. The SMS bus service was the only option available. Boarded the bus at 11.15AM which started at 12.45PM and reached chickmagalur at the right time to catch the 2PM bus back to bangalore :-)Though the weather during december was good and helped in trekking without drizzle and leeches, it is during the monsoon or just after the end of monsoon, Mullayanagiri is at its supreme grandeur. The thought beckons attempt #4 for the full 30+ KM trek, time will answer whether it will happen.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Belur Halebidu Trip
Not sure how many times the trip was planned and cancelled in the past. It was on the list for a long time, and interest accrued everytime i stumbled upon some photos in the web. Everytime a plan was made, there was a reason to cancel it as well. This time we planned it on Friday evening and started on friday night. Plan was simple, catch the last bus to Belur in the night, spend time in the temples the next day and reach bangalore before 9PM. Surprisingly we were able to execute it without hiccups. Boarded the 11.30PM bus to chickmagalur and reached Belur by 4.30AM with very little sleep. Ambled through the streets searching for a lodge, found most of them closed. After a while checked into a not so good room utilized the 1hour we had for a nap.
Went early to the ChennaKeshava temple and were able to attended the first pooja that was happening there. After that we had the whole day to soak ourselves in the aesthetic beauty of the two masterpieces of the hoysala architecture. The temples are built using soapstones. The outer and inner walls of these star shaped temples were filled with numerous intricate carvings, notable ones a.k.a the ones that we recongnised, include Lord Narasimha tearing Hiranyakashipu, Gajasurasamhara, Vishnu's varaha avatar, Arjun in his suyamvaram etc. With careful and patient observation one might be able to discover a lot of details in the sculptures. No wonder it took more than a century to build it. Might have been more appealing if they were not destroyed during invasions. The outer walls also houses 38 madhanikas statues or women statues. Each of the madhanikas strike a different pose. There are around 644 elephants on the outer walls and it is said each one is distinct. There is also a huge pillar that is not fixed to the ground but stands on its weight for centuries. There are three more temples in the same complex - Kappe Channigraya temple, Sowmyanayaki temple and an Andal temple. Spent few hours filling the camera's memory card and then started to Halebidu, to visit the Hoysaleshwara and Kedareshwara temple.
They live upto the expectations that you have set from seeing the chennakeshava temples. The base of the temple walls consist of moldings with friezes that consist of elephants, lions, scrolls, horses, scrolls, puranic scenes, mythical beasts (makara) and swans. You can see some sculptures that were in chennakeshava temple as well, but that would not act as a deterrent to explore the other sculptures. A slight drizzle did disturb a bit, but it did set expectations if we are to attempt a trek in mullayanagiri or kemmanagundi. After few hours in the temple, started the journey back and reached as planned. Overall a nice trip that went fine with little planning.
Photos @ Picasa
Went early to the ChennaKeshava temple and were able to attended the first pooja that was happening there. After that we had the whole day to soak ourselves in the aesthetic beauty of the two masterpieces of the hoysala architecture. The temples are built using soapstones. The outer and inner walls of these star shaped temples were filled with numerous intricate carvings, notable ones a.k.a the ones that we recongnised, include Lord Narasimha tearing Hiranyakashipu, Gajasurasamhara, Vishnu's varaha avatar, Arjun in his suyamvaram etc. With careful and patient observation one might be able to discover a lot of details in the sculptures. No wonder it took more than a century to build it. Might have been more appealing if they were not destroyed during invasions. The outer walls also houses 38 madhanikas statues or women statues. Each of the madhanikas strike a different pose. There are around 644 elephants on the outer walls and it is said each one is distinct. There is also a huge pillar that is not fixed to the ground but stands on its weight for centuries. There are three more temples in the same complex - Kappe Channigraya temple, Sowmyanayaki temple and an Andal temple. Spent few hours filling the camera's memory card and then started to Halebidu, to visit the Hoysaleshwara and Kedareshwara temple.
They live upto the expectations that you have set from seeing the chennakeshava temples. The base of the temple walls consist of moldings with friezes that consist of elephants, lions, scrolls, horses, scrolls, puranic scenes, mythical beasts (makara) and swans. You can see some sculptures that were in chennakeshava temple as well, but that would not act as a deterrent to explore the other sculptures. A slight drizzle did disturb a bit, but it did set expectations if we are to attempt a trek in mullayanagiri or kemmanagundi. After few hours in the temple, started the journey back and reached as planned. Overall a nice trip that went fine with little planning.
Photos @ Picasa
Saturday, June 08, 2013
It vanished, took time to understand why but it had gone. It had deserted me completely. I felt alone. Everyday i discovered new ways to kill time. Attempts to bring it back went in vain. Finally it came to me few months back, the long lost habit of reading something now and then. I was not a voracious reader who consumes several booksin a month, but i did have the habit of completing few good books in a year.
All was fine, until i picked up "The Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Around 190 pages of pure science written in a way that could be understood by normal people. The book was awesome without doubts. Not sure whether the concepts can be clearly explained in a very simple language any better. I had studied Physics @ school for 7 long years, with the only intention of scoring marks. That had defeated the purpose of learning altogether. Remembering all the details presented in the book will be difficult but you will understand why and how one should learn Physics. Though the explanation was simple enough, it does require a lot of concentration to grasp the concepts. I had to read through the pages again and again to understand the concepts better. And that was the difficult part. Gradually, my mind came up with ways to stop reading, found alternatives to kill time or better pushed me to sleep once i started reading. Finally completed the book sometime around Feb 2013. I had started reading on March 2012. Sigh!!!!
Then, it was back, the reading spree, the urge to read at-least few pages daily, the urge to sacrifice sleep if necessary. Started with two tamil books suggested and lent by Subramani. Visumbu (விசுà®®்பு) and Avvulagam (அவ்வுலகம்). Visumbu is a collection of short stories, each an attempt by Jeyamohan at science fiction. Liked a few, but was not enthralling. But Avvulagam (அவ்வுலகம்) was of different genre. It was the story of an old guy, moments before death where he gets to think about what happened in life and answers to the unanswered questions in his life. Each page had something to offer. Rightly named Avvulagam (அவ்வுலகம்), it turned out to be a different world indeed.
At this point, with all books that i had exhausted started the search for something to read at leisure. Heard a lot about "A Song of Ice and Fire" and it was in the queue and ordered "A Game Of Thrones". Aim was to complete the books and before starting with first episode of the HBO TV series which i heard is also fantastic. Did not take much time to get involved and from then on quite a few sleepless nights have passed by. Continued with the "A Clash of King" and now in "A Strom of Swords: Steel and Snow". The plot thickens with every chapter and unanswered questions continue to pile, my own theories of what will happen continue to be built, this is turning out to be a great great read. A fantasy series after a long time and it is turning out to be worth every penny spent.
There was a gap when i had completed "A Game Of Thrones" and was waiting for "A Clash of Kings". Got "The Motorcycle Diaries" to read during a day time train travel. Removing the hype around Che Guevara, it was a travelogue through unknown places in South America. Their unflinching desire to explore their continent on a 500cc bike did inspire a lot. The book also captures plight of mine workers, the native incan, the sorry state of the hospitals etc etc and how it transforms Che through out the journey. But to me it was more of a travelogue of two relentless travelers which urges you to explore the world.
As of now and for few more months from now, it will be "A Song Of Ice And Fire".
All was fine, until i picked up "The Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Around 190 pages of pure science written in a way that could be understood by normal people. The book was awesome without doubts. Not sure whether the concepts can be clearly explained in a very simple language any better. I had studied Physics @ school for 7 long years, with the only intention of scoring marks. That had defeated the purpose of learning altogether. Remembering all the details presented in the book will be difficult but you will understand why and how one should learn Physics. Though the explanation was simple enough, it does require a lot of concentration to grasp the concepts. I had to read through the pages again and again to understand the concepts better. And that was the difficult part. Gradually, my mind came up with ways to stop reading, found alternatives to kill time or better pushed me to sleep once i started reading. Finally completed the book sometime around Feb 2013. I had started reading on March 2012. Sigh!!!!
Then, it was back, the reading spree, the urge to read at-least few pages daily, the urge to sacrifice sleep if necessary. Started with two tamil books suggested and lent by Subramani. Visumbu (விசுà®®்பு) and Avvulagam (அவ்வுலகம்). Visumbu is a collection of short stories, each an attempt by Jeyamohan at science fiction. Liked a few, but was not enthralling. But Avvulagam (அவ்வுலகம்) was of different genre. It was the story of an old guy, moments before death where he gets to think about what happened in life and answers to the unanswered questions in his life. Each page had something to offer. Rightly named Avvulagam (அவ்வுலகம்), it turned out to be a different world indeed.
At this point, with all books that i had exhausted started the search for something to read at leisure. Heard a lot about "A Song of Ice and Fire" and it was in the queue and ordered "A Game Of Thrones". Aim was to complete the books and before starting with first episode of the HBO TV series which i heard is also fantastic. Did not take much time to get involved and from then on quite a few sleepless nights have passed by. Continued with the "A Clash of King" and now in "A Strom of Swords: Steel and Snow". The plot thickens with every chapter and unanswered questions continue to pile, my own theories of what will happen continue to be built, this is turning out to be a great great read. A fantasy series after a long time and it is turning out to be worth every penny spent.
There was a gap when i had completed "A Game Of Thrones" and was waiting for "A Clash of Kings". Got "The Motorcycle Diaries" to read during a day time train travel. Removing the hype around Che Guevara, it was a travelogue through unknown places in South America. Their unflinching desire to explore their continent on a 500cc bike did inspire a lot. The book also captures plight of mine workers, the native incan, the sorry state of the hospitals etc etc and how it transforms Che through out the journey. But to me it was more of a travelogue of two relentless travelers which urges you to explore the world.
As of now and for few more months from now, it will be "A Song Of Ice And Fire".
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Machanabele - Savanadurga Trip
Sleep, Wake up, eat, sleep, internet/movie, eat, sleep. Had got adopted to this routine very well whenever i stayed in bangalore during the weekend. The only way to break it was to pack the bags and get out of the city. This trip was the result of such an urge to break the laziness and do something. Manchanabele & Savanadurga was the only option that was considered.
Onward Route: Bangalore - Bidadi - Bidadi Tavarakere Nelamangala road - Manchanabele dam- Savanadurga.
This is a longer route and was consciously decided keeping in mind the Thatta idly shop @ Bidadi. Started @ 8AM and struggled through the traffic in Mysore road and reached Bidadi idly shop by around 10AM. After that the ride was smooth and pressure free in Bidadi - Tavarakere - Nelamangala road. Should say enjoyed the extra 10KMs. Thanks to the rains, the weather was pleasant though it was mid of the summer. The dam had some water too, which allowed to rest on the shores enjoying the cool breeze and seeing the birds flying around.
Could have spent more time there but we were already late for the trek. So started and rode to Savanadurga, one of the largest monoliths in Asia. Without wasting time started climbing, but it was noon already. Finding the trek route was not difficult as it is well marked. It was not very hot, but it was hot enough to make the trek difficult. I was not expecting much challenge but soon realized my stamina has record low level. Slowly climbed the peak sipping water every now and then. The trek can be divided to four stages - the outer fort walls, the inner fort walls, the mantapa and the summit. To me it looked like a single steep climb from bottom to the top. Anyway, with determination we reached the summit where there is a nandi statue in exactly two hours. Climbing down was easy, which we did in less than an hour.
Started the journey back home a little later around 4PM. The route we took was Savanadurga - Manchanabele - Dodda Alada Mara - Mysore Road - Bangalore. This is the shortest route with well laid roads. Stopped at dodda alada mara or the big banyan tree on the way. Reached home once again after struggling through the bangalore traffic. It was a nice trip at the end.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/ManchanabeleSavanadurga
Onward Route: Bangalore - Bidadi - Bidadi Tavarakere Nelamangala road - Manchanabele dam- Savanadurga.
This is a longer route and was consciously decided keeping in mind the Thatta idly shop @ Bidadi. Started @ 8AM and struggled through the traffic in Mysore road and reached Bidadi idly shop by around 10AM. After that the ride was smooth and pressure free in Bidadi - Tavarakere - Nelamangala road. Should say enjoyed the extra 10KMs. Thanks to the rains, the weather was pleasant though it was mid of the summer. The dam had some water too, which allowed to rest on the shores enjoying the cool breeze and seeing the birds flying around.
Could have spent more time there but we were already late for the trek. So started and rode to Savanadurga, one of the largest monoliths in Asia. Without wasting time started climbing, but it was noon already. Finding the trek route was not difficult as it is well marked. It was not very hot, but it was hot enough to make the trek difficult. I was not expecting much challenge but soon realized my stamina has record low level. Slowly climbed the peak sipping water every now and then. The trek can be divided to four stages - the outer fort walls, the inner fort walls, the mantapa and the summit. To me it looked like a single steep climb from bottom to the top. Anyway, with determination we reached the summit where there is a nandi statue in exactly two hours. Climbing down was easy, which we did in less than an hour.
Started the journey back home a little later around 4PM. The route we took was Savanadurga - Manchanabele - Dodda Alada Mara - Mysore Road - Bangalore. This is the shortest route with well laid roads. Stopped at dodda alada mara or the big banyan tree on the way. Reached home once again after struggling through the bangalore traffic. It was a nice trip at the end.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/ManchanabeleSavanadurga
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Sakleshpur Trip
When you look up the sky in the night and watch the stars, what you are seeing is actually the past. Something that happens today in Andromeda will take 2.5 million years to reach earth and for scientists here to realize what actually happened. So what is the point ? I am fast. It took only a month for this post to be published!!!!
Anyway, visited Sakleshpur sometime around March. This was a different trip for me, no trekking, hiking and planning too. Aim was to visit a resort, eat, sleep, relax and come back. Long time since i went on a trip like that, so agreed instantly when invited. The resort we visited was "The Hills". Tucked away from the Sakleshpur town, far away from the crowd and with nothing much around that is really worth visiting, it was a perfect vacation that i wanted to try. Reached Sakleshpur in the noon, had lunch and retired to sleep.
Evening visited Magajahalli waterfalls. Small it was, had good amount of water and more important, none around to disturb a peaceful bath in the falls. Since it was March, the water was not cold as well. The falls was ours for the next 1 hour. Spent the next hour in the falls, enjoying the force with which the water fell on our body. Returning to the resort indulged in a game of shuttle, a round of archery and other petty things the resort guys had to name as activities. Rest of the night was dedicated to some heated discussion which usually involved around house, rent, bangalore, traffic, marriage, gals etc etc.
The next day woke up around 7.00AM. It was nice to wake up to the sounds of birds and insects and compared to horns of vehicle and sound of the busy people. The only plan for the day was to visit a temple nearby and walk around the hills nearby. Did the same, visited the temple pond and fed the hundreds of fishes in the small pond and started the journey back to Bangalore after a nice trip.
Anyway, visited Sakleshpur sometime around March. This was a different trip for me, no trekking, hiking and planning too. Aim was to visit a resort, eat, sleep, relax and come back. Long time since i went on a trip like that, so agreed instantly when invited. The resort we visited was "The Hills". Tucked away from the Sakleshpur town, far away from the crowd and with nothing much around that is really worth visiting, it was a perfect vacation that i wanted to try. Reached Sakleshpur in the noon, had lunch and retired to sleep.
Evening visited Magajahalli waterfalls. Small it was, had good amount of water and more important, none around to disturb a peaceful bath in the falls. Since it was March, the water was not cold as well. The falls was ours for the next 1 hour. Spent the next hour in the falls, enjoying the force with which the water fell on our body. Returning to the resort indulged in a game of shuttle, a round of archery and other petty things the resort guys had to name as activities. Rest of the night was dedicated to some heated discussion which usually involved around house, rent, bangalore, traffic, marriage, gals etc etc.
The next day woke up around 7.00AM. It was nice to wake up to the sounds of birds and insects and compared to horns of vehicle and sound of the busy people. The only plan for the day was to visit a temple nearby and walk around the hills nearby. Did the same, visited the temple pond and fed the hundreds of fishes in the small pond and started the journey back to Bangalore after a nice trip.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Bus Diaries #1 - KPN
Subramani arrived at 9.55PM as usual 5 minutes before the departure and went ahead to check the ticket. As expected, there was a change. The Thisaiyanvillai Bus supposed to pick us up at 10PM broke down on the way and they had to arrange an alternate. This is the second time, i heard the same story for the same bus from K.P.N. Few months before, they had called me up at 8.30PM and asked me to come at 9.00PM to the boarding point. This time, they offered seats on a sleeper that was scheduled to leave at 10.00 PM. Improvement!!! Can't complain i guess :-) Boarded the bus wondering, why the Thisaiyanvillai bus breaks down every now and then or is there something fishy happening. After a few confusions with seat allocations, we were given upper berths. Sleeper bus gives you an opportunity to stretch your legs and get into sleeping position, but keeps the mind in panic state since every sharp turn gives a feeling of falling from somewhere (Thookam varum aana varathu).
Three hours later @ 1.30AM, reached Salem. 220KMs in 3 hours. Decided to set the alarm to wake up early as it looked like it may not take more than 3hrs to reach the destination. So far so good. 2hrs later, heard the driver calling for 4 passengers to shift to a new bus, 5 minutes after that learnt that bus has developed a mechanical problem. At this point, KPN one of the biggest transport corporation in South India gave its passengers only one option, shift to a different KPN bus which might pass through that route and where seats might be available. One by one passengers got down, and waited in the highway, bearing the cold weather and hoping for some KPN bus to arrive and pick them up. Amidst all the chaos, a snoring sound reverberated inside the bus. Somebody was in sound sleep. Blessed should be the one who can sleep amidst all the sound, unmindful of what was happening and not worried about the next step. Who could it be ? Vera yaaru namma Subramani thaan.
Around 5 to 10 passengers had found an alternative and around half of the crowd was still waiting. No alternative arrangements made. Spent the next one hour waiting in the cold, and hoping we would find some KPN bus with free seats. Unfortunately all that crossed were full. Few passengers could not digest the fact that they had paid exorbitant money but and left stranded in the middle of the road with no alternative arrangements and took it up with the driver and had a talk with the KPN head quarters. The only result was increase in passenger's blood pressure as both the driver and people at the head quarters remained unresponsive (pimpilika pilapi thaan). KPN transport which boasts best service and customer satisfaction neither had a spare bus nor a mechanic and no way to track which bus could accommodate us. After around 90 minutes of wait, a bus from Sharma travels had some seats left and we had to pay Rs. 250 for the remaining 1.5hrs of journey.
My roommate came in the 9.15PM KPN bus the next day and looks like his bus too broke down around the same place and the same solution was offered it seems. Seriously wonder, is this some kind of trick ? What haunts more is that the unresponsive staff.
So what next ? Though IRCTC sucks big time, and tatkal booking is near to impossible task, try to stick to train as much as possible and keep KPN as the last option.
Three hours later @ 1.30AM, reached Salem. 220KMs in 3 hours. Decided to set the alarm to wake up early as it looked like it may not take more than 3hrs to reach the destination. So far so good. 2hrs later, heard the driver calling for 4 passengers to shift to a new bus, 5 minutes after that learnt that bus has developed a mechanical problem. At this point, KPN one of the biggest transport corporation in South India gave its passengers only one option, shift to a different KPN bus which might pass through that route and where seats might be available. One by one passengers got down, and waited in the highway, bearing the cold weather and hoping for some KPN bus to arrive and pick them up. Amidst all the chaos, a snoring sound reverberated inside the bus. Somebody was in sound sleep. Blessed should be the one who can sleep amidst all the sound, unmindful of what was happening and not worried about the next step. Who could it be ? Vera yaaru namma Subramani thaan.
Around 5 to 10 passengers had found an alternative and around half of the crowd was still waiting. No alternative arrangements made. Spent the next one hour waiting in the cold, and hoping we would find some KPN bus with free seats. Unfortunately all that crossed were full. Few passengers could not digest the fact that they had paid exorbitant money but and left stranded in the middle of the road with no alternative arrangements and took it up with the driver and had a talk with the KPN head quarters. The only result was increase in passenger's blood pressure as both the driver and people at the head quarters remained unresponsive (pimpilika pilapi thaan). KPN transport which boasts best service and customer satisfaction neither had a spare bus nor a mechanic and no way to track which bus could accommodate us. After around 90 minutes of wait, a bus from Sharma travels had some seats left and we had to pay Rs. 250 for the remaining 1.5hrs of journey.
My roommate came in the 9.15PM KPN bus the next day and looks like his bus too broke down around the same place and the same solution was offered it seems. Seriously wonder, is this some kind of trick ? What haunts more is that the unresponsive staff.
So what next ? Though IRCTC sucks big time, and tatkal booking is near to impossible task, try to stick to train as much as possible and keep KPN as the last option.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Kodachadri Trek
A trek after a long long time. Kodachadri was on the list for a long time. Since it is a beaten and little easy decided to try it. The gang too pitched in and the trek was on. There are two or three ways to trek to Kodachadri Peak.
1) Starts from Karikatte. This is a shorter route and easy one. Most of them start from here and go via the Santosh Hotel/Kaka Angadi. The trek goes via a Jeep route till Santosh Hotel and the actual trekking starts after the hotel.
2) Starts from Marakuttaka (locals pronounce it differently something like Marakudukka) which is near sigandur cross. This goes via Hidlumane Falls and is a little longer route. Even here the trek goes via jeep route till Hidlumane after which the real trekking starts. Check these out - Sigandur Cross: http://wikimapia.org/118754 /Sigandur-Cross & Marakuttaka Bus Stop - http://wikimapia.org/433100/Marakuttaka-bus-stop
We decided to climb up from Marakuttaka, visit Hidlumane Falls and then trek to the peak via PWD guest house and camp at Sarvajna Peeta. The idea of visiting the "Hidlumane Falls" in the middle of the falls was exciting. And while coming back, decided to come via Santosh Hotel, and if possible visit Arashinagundi falls.
Late Start: There is a KSRTC bus from bangalore that stops at Sigandur Cross. Starts at 8.30PM and reaches there at 6.00AM. Walk back towards Nittur for 2KM and there is a small bridge with a Jeep track on the right, which is Marakuttaka or the trek starting point. Tried adding it to Google Maps, hope it is visible now. Anyway that was the plan initiallly. When one of our friend wanted to join at the end, had to replan, and choose SRS instead of KSRTC due to unavailability of tickets. SRS reached Kollur at 9.30AM after a 12 hour journey. Checked into a hotel, quickly refreshed and finished breakfast, and hired two autos to Marakuttaka. There is a bus from Kollur to Marakuttaka every 1 hour too from Kollur Bus Stand. We reached Marakuttaka, a little after 1.00 PM. And the trek started. One thing was clear, we are going to trek in the night with torches to reach the peak.
Trek to the Hidlumane Falls: The initial trek take you along the well established jeep track. All we had to do was follow the main jeep track. After a little walk, there is a small stream to cross after which it continues once again on the jeep track. There were locals moving around in bikes and cycles to help us. Soon we crossed a lonely hut, where we asked for direction and then a school. The jeep track ends at Hidlumane or Gururaj's home. To go Hidlumane falls, cross Hidlumane, and cross Gururaj's fields. Can ask Gururaj for direction too. After few minutes of walk, reached the base of Hidlumane falls. Hidlumane is a cascade waterfall with a total of around 7 cascades. Cross the first one and second one and continue on the trail on the right side of the falls to reach the main falls. The second or the third one too has enough water to take bath, but the final one is majestic. We reached the falls at 3.00PM and the water was ice cold then too. It was more like small icicles falling on your body. The bath was exhilarating.
Trek to the peak: After spending quite a good time in the falls, started the trek towards the peak. We took the path on the left(when you are facing the falls) of the falls and later learnt that there is no route there. Had to do a bit of climbing, jumping, sliding to reach that conclusion. You can try that and then go the neat trail on the right or go to the trail on the right(right when you are facing the falls). This trail is neat and leads you to the jeep track. Takes around 1.5 to 2 hours depending on the pace to reach the jeep track. Take right on the jeep track and continue to the PWD house. Jeep drivers warned us about putting tents @ sarvajna peeta. Looks like forest guards took away the tents of few people a week back. One guy said, we can camp if we are planning for camp fire. And one more guy said, we can camp, there are one or two there already. We had no other option too, so we continued to the peak. It was dark, people were descending after the sunset, we were climbing up for the camp. Few were puzzled at the idea of us camping at the peak, few had got sarcastic comments about it. Anyway we continued and reached the peak at around 7.30PM. One good thing was it is very difficult to miss the path in Kodachadri, unlike other trekking places.
Camp: Spent sometime searching for the best place to camp. After a futile search, decided to camp near the peeta. Set up the tents, finished the dinner with the food we had carried, and then dozed off at 9.50PM, only to wake up at 2.00AM. I heard sound of someone scratching our tents from outside. Pushed the tent from inside, felt a strong push from outside. And i felt i heard some footsteps. Next 30 minutes went in listening to the sounds intently and trying to guess and also envy my friend(Sai) who is having a peaceful sleep amidst all this drama :-) Blessed he is. Atlast he too woke up at 2.45AM. Together we slowly opened the tent and looked around. Nothing. Closed it, we could hear all nonsense. Open, nothing. Anyway after some investigation decided it was the air outside and the sound of footsteps could be that of the dog outside. Later learnt that our friends in other tents were awake from 12.00 to 3.00 and slept only after we woke up and started talking :-) Nice & thrilling, as long as there are no misadventures.
Sunrise & Trek down: Woke up at 5.30AM, packed the tents and waited for the sunrise, which didn't happen till 6.30. While Mohan & Anoop spent time munching snacks early in the morning, Sai was busy putting water bottle cap on a torch light!!! After a few hide and seeks, the sun emerged above a sea of clouds. Awesome it was. Clicked a few snaps and started trekking down at around 7.20PM. Trek down to PWD guest house, and then take the narrow trail opposite to PWD guest house to reach Santosh Hotel. The trek to santosh hotel was easy and we did it in around three hours, with a 30 minutes pit stop in between. Had Puttu-kadala at Santosh hotel and then enquired about Arashinagundi falls. Looks like the entry fee per head is 250 Rs and then we may have to take a guide, since the path cannot be easily found. Decided against it, took the jeep track to Karikatte, and walked for the next one hour to reach karikatte. Took a jeep from there and reached Kollur at around 12.30PM. Checked into a hotel, took bath and rested for a while. Also Kollur Mookambika temple in the evening. Think this is the second visit to the temple in five years. It was not crowded and had a neat darshan.
Started back to bangalore in the 7.00PM bus and reached bangalore in the morning after a not so tiring, nice and wonderful trek with hidlumane falls being the highlight.
Snaps: Mine & Sai's
1) Starts from Karikatte. This is a shorter route and easy one. Most of them start from here and go via the Santosh Hotel/Kaka Angadi. The trek goes via a Jeep route till Santosh Hotel and the actual trekking starts after the hotel.
2) Starts from Marakuttaka (locals pronounce it differently something like Marakudukka) which is near sigandur cross. This goes via Hidlumane Falls and is a little longer route. Even here the trek goes via jeep route till Hidlumane after which the real trekking starts. Check these out - Sigandur Cross: http://wikimapia.org/118754 /Sigandur-Cross & Marakuttaka Bus Stop - http://wikimapia.org/433100/Marakuttaka-bus-stop
We decided to climb up from Marakuttaka, visit Hidlumane Falls and then trek to the peak via PWD guest house and camp at Sarvajna Peeta. The idea of visiting the "Hidlumane Falls" in the middle of the falls was exciting. And while coming back, decided to come via Santosh Hotel, and if possible visit Arashinagundi falls.
Late Start: There is a KSRTC bus from bangalore that stops at Sigandur Cross. Starts at 8.30PM and reaches there at 6.00AM. Walk back towards Nittur for 2KM and there is a small bridge with a Jeep track on the right, which is Marakuttaka or the trek starting point. Tried adding it to Google Maps, hope it is visible now. Anyway that was the plan initiallly. When one of our friend wanted to join at the end, had to replan, and choose SRS instead of KSRTC due to unavailability of tickets. SRS reached Kollur at 9.30AM after a 12 hour journey. Checked into a hotel, quickly refreshed and finished breakfast, and hired two autos to Marakuttaka. There is a bus from Kollur to Marakuttaka every 1 hour too from Kollur Bus Stand. We reached Marakuttaka, a little after 1.00 PM. And the trek started. One thing was clear, we are going to trek in the night with torches to reach the peak.
Trek to the Hidlumane Falls: The initial trek take you along the well established jeep track. All we had to do was follow the main jeep track. After a little walk, there is a small stream to cross after which it continues once again on the jeep track. There were locals moving around in bikes and cycles to help us. Soon we crossed a lonely hut, where we asked for direction and then a school. The jeep track ends at Hidlumane or Gururaj's home. To go Hidlumane falls, cross Hidlumane, and cross Gururaj's fields. Can ask Gururaj for direction too. After few minutes of walk, reached the base of Hidlumane falls. Hidlumane is a cascade waterfall with a total of around 7 cascades. Cross the first one and second one and continue on the trail on the right side of the falls to reach the main falls. The second or the third one too has enough water to take bath, but the final one is majestic. We reached the falls at 3.00PM and the water was ice cold then too. It was more like small icicles falling on your body. The bath was exhilarating.
Trek to the peak: After spending quite a good time in the falls, started the trek towards the peak. We took the path on the left(when you are facing the falls) of the falls and later learnt that there is no route there. Had to do a bit of climbing, jumping, sliding to reach that conclusion. You can try that and then go the neat trail on the right or go to the trail on the right(right when you are facing the falls). This trail is neat and leads you to the jeep track. Takes around 1.5 to 2 hours depending on the pace to reach the jeep track. Take right on the jeep track and continue to the PWD house. Jeep drivers warned us about putting tents @ sarvajna peeta. Looks like forest guards took away the tents of few people a week back. One guy said, we can camp if we are planning for camp fire. And one more guy said, we can camp, there are one or two there already. We had no other option too, so we continued to the peak. It was dark, people were descending after the sunset, we were climbing up for the camp. Few were puzzled at the idea of us camping at the peak, few had got sarcastic comments about it. Anyway we continued and reached the peak at around 7.30PM. One good thing was it is very difficult to miss the path in Kodachadri, unlike other trekking places.
Camp: Spent sometime searching for the best place to camp. After a futile search, decided to camp near the peeta. Set up the tents, finished the dinner with the food we had carried, and then dozed off at 9.50PM, only to wake up at 2.00AM. I heard sound of someone scratching our tents from outside. Pushed the tent from inside, felt a strong push from outside. And i felt i heard some footsteps. Next 30 minutes went in listening to the sounds intently and trying to guess and also envy my friend(Sai) who is having a peaceful sleep amidst all this drama :-) Blessed he is. Atlast he too woke up at 2.45AM. Together we slowly opened the tent and looked around. Nothing. Closed it, we could hear all nonsense. Open, nothing. Anyway after some investigation decided it was the air outside and the sound of footsteps could be that of the dog outside. Later learnt that our friends in other tents were awake from 12.00 to 3.00 and slept only after we woke up and started talking :-) Nice & thrilling, as long as there are no misadventures.
Sunrise & Trek down: Woke up at 5.30AM, packed the tents and waited for the sunrise, which didn't happen till 6.30. While Mohan & Anoop spent time munching snacks early in the morning, Sai was busy putting water bottle cap on a torch light!!! After a few hide and seeks, the sun emerged above a sea of clouds. Awesome it was. Clicked a few snaps and started trekking down at around 7.20PM. Trek down to PWD guest house, and then take the narrow trail opposite to PWD guest house to reach Santosh Hotel. The trek to santosh hotel was easy and we did it in around three hours, with a 30 minutes pit stop in between. Had Puttu-kadala at Santosh hotel and then enquired about Arashinagundi falls. Looks like the entry fee per head is 250 Rs and then we may have to take a guide, since the path cannot be easily found. Decided against it, took the jeep track to Karikatte, and walked for the next one hour to reach karikatte. Took a jeep from there and reached Kollur at around 12.30PM. Checked into a hotel, took bath and rested for a while. Also Kollur Mookambika temple in the evening. Think this is the second visit to the temple in five years. It was not crowded and had a neat darshan.
Started back to bangalore in the 7.00PM bus and reached bangalore in the morning after a not so tiring, nice and wonderful trek with hidlumane falls being the highlight.
Snaps: Mine & Sai's
Monday, December 31, 2012
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.
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.
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
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 :-)
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