From what i see..

2011-04-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

Marine Drive

2011-04-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

It is one of those phases in life when you get numb as a result of monotony , become slave of routine and end up being at boring best . I wanted to change this so ,i decided to get back to my first love, cycling!It never failed to enthuse and clear my clogged thought process.

So here i embarked on my 3 month old cycle , with my fancy headset on , started off around 4 am . As soon as i ventured out , was greeted by howls and incessant barkings of a pack of rowdy dogs .Quite peculiar is their behavior , during mornings they play "Jerry" , At the stroke of midnight they guard their territories like Afghan warlords and treat me like i am one English man in their Indian lands. Best way deal with them is to keep your head at one distant point and march ahead , despite their war-cries , i did the same . At a turning i took a rough census ,good god , around twenty of them .Was glad to escape their wrath.

After the unsavoury encounter ,Started cruising down the lanes , whizzing past early birds of the day, some had queer expressions when i met their eye , May be they don't understand my quest , or they would have wondered what on earth does this young man cycling for at this unearthly hour?Well, i answered them with similar queer looks.

Twisted , turned , rode with mad rage when i hit those roads which i normally would be waiting endlessly along with co-chennaittes cursing the signals and people who breach the yellow lakshman rekhas . There is some pleasure when you ride a bicycle , especially when you have the liberty to travel bothways , in a oneway, park in a noparkings, using the bell repeatedly indicating your grand arrival in every other turn and narrow alleys , But i didn't give specific attention to these pleasure giving details, which gave me immense pleasures during my school days.

The journey swallowed half-an hour and while Chennai still sleeping i entered the beach road , parked my suzuki carelessy and went towards the shore . The beach didn't look any different from 8 pm , the difference is, you can see sea of humanity sleeping on the sands at this hour ,which is normally occupied by sooth-sayers, forlorn singles , lovelorn Couples and other assorted groups in the society . It is actually bad to see those homeless people sleeping under their roofless bedrooms . But dare not ask them , during these hot hmonths ,Chennaites are put to greatest amounts of discomforts , they would do anything for a waft of fresh breeze .Considering the adjacent areas of the beach are congested , these people could be from those localities . Siphoning off with the aforesaid conclusion, i waited for Mr. Sungod to bath the sea with light.

It was around 5:30 am ,i realised that my wait is going to be wasted, for the sun hid behind the massive clouds for a long time .So, Headed home from the place which is a solace for every troubled human, the wonderful Marina bathed in morning light , faded faraway from my sight .

Reached home around 6:20 am , discounting the amount of time i spent relishing the tender coconut , it took 35 minutes to reach home and covered around 28 Kms .It was a refreshing ride and it did clear my clogged mind and am now well prepared for the adversities of life

Success after 28 years

2011-04-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Wow moment for the team had come at the right moment . The events preceding tthis moment, over a year and half were overwhelming. There were plenty of hurdles , expectations, hopes prayers .With those prayers ,answered , hopes fulfilled ,niggles, gently managed, team India arrived at a place where every other cricket team would dream of.

Dhoni's captaincy has been the talk of the tournament .He was always been questioned about his moves and choices , luckily , he got all of them right! He couldn't have been more categorical to his naysayers , when he explained the possible questions that might arise if the team ended up in the losing side .This shows how the captain is not overwhelmed by the triumph , but also looks into what ifs and what nots ( like 12 bmovie huh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12B ).Dhoni the man is lauded here, a true leader. With all the passion running high , only god knows what would have happened , if the team had lost. My fullest respects to our captain .

Sachin ! is the unifying factor in the team, it was very good of the young boys to dedicate this victory to the master. Sachin couldn't have asked for more . More than the cup the dedication and respect shown by his team mates is one worthy thing none can get that easily. HE is one true god of cricket !

Now what , the the team is having a windfall from this world cup.There are some people questioning the volume of gifts being given to the players. It should be understood that, half of the present players in the team had chosen this profession during their early days of childhood just for the passion of the game rather than for earning money ,unlike the present MBAs, ( MLAs too ??) , Software engineers , bankers etc. The distinction here is very clear, it is passion vs money. If the cricketers are to be questioned for their windfalls, then the entire society is to be questioned.

1983 winners were paid some meagre amount when compared to the professions of that time, but still they played on, enthralled the spectators with their athleticism .The momentum gained then ,had now ended as one phenomenon . So here, instead of getting into this issue of why cricketers being more ,the topic should be shifted to get into the details of what takes for any sport to get to the stature and the following cricket had got in India.

People ,The Gift of Egypt

2011-02-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

Been a while since i posted. It is a result of long paucity of thoughts, but not until the recent Egyptian revolution . This unity factor in the Egyptian uprising was mind-boggling

From Egyptian Revolution , what iminent is the fact that, any force met with opposition of a true force of democracy is bound to fizzle out. Even though plenty of other factors played in toppling the dictatorial government , like say, Military's cooperation , west's non-intervention( which otherwise would have added the unwanted "color" to this revolution ) ,what stands out is the fact that people resorted to non-violent means in achieving the unachievable. Vital facts are not at my disposal to elaborate and analyze this democratic phenomenon and that is not my intent in this post too.

It is about the intangible force that a society possesses to safeguard its interest and the 'reasonable' interests of the world. The force of unity which is largely absent in our country , gave way to many social evils , eviler than the pre-independent India. The vices of corruption, bribery,violence,continue to co- exist with the structures which are meant to correct them . This sort of existence not only fails to correct the evils but also leads to many other problems .

There are messiahs in our society who fight against the societal evils and end up on the receiving end as if they are misfit in the society , the recent Binayak Sen's case standing testimony to this .Why such a positive interventions are pillorized ? The answer is Unity or the connivance of the evil forces on the other side, the evil side !. Why the society does not want an just , safe and secure environment? doesn't it want the children to thrive in a society devoid of ills?., if yes ,then why is the cohesiveness is a big amiss ?,if a evil force can 'unite' to thwart good, why can't the so called good unite too? and why does that unison happens only during candle light marches , and debating during aftermaths of tragic events? All these questions are not new .they have been asked repeatedly only to be turned down by the same disinterested "candle-light marching , debating, all talk no action people "

The recent murder of a college girl in a broad day light gives frightening picture of what this society is evolving into, and , what is more shocking is that, no mortal came forward to give eye-witness. What are we really?

No leader , no Politician, can bring about a change for the society that doesn't want to change.

Problems are not human specific , or religion specific , or caste specifc, If a person from a particular religion is mobbed, it is not religious problem, It is a scoietal problem

With the world cup around the corner, I see advertisements flashing with, young and old charged up with 'so called patriotism' cheering for India, but ,fail to do so when the same Cricket is ridden with controversies. How long will it take to convert the same energy into this. How long will it take to protest against discrepancies in cricketing world (read IPL) .

Keeping aside cricket , taking day to day events which have serious effects on the society invites lackluster response . Candle light marches and subsequent anniversaries of bizzare events that follow, are definitely a blunt response to a very serious problem . How long the society is going to tolerant and self-centered . It was'nt the way it is during the pr-independence era. Barring a few, majority of the Indians were united in demand for independence .Why was independence was such a necessity then? How different is the free India now .I feel it(society ) is still ridden social evils , repression etc very native to the colonial era.

Egypt , a case to be referred in each and every democratic forum . A MILITARY government enjoying the support of THE west was overthrown in a matter of 18 days is no joke. optimists may argue that we Indians are tolerant race , and time will come when the tolerant Indian will turn into a torrent against the evils , but a strong disagreement to this also prevails . Disagreement because of the direction in which world is shaping in to and the increasing role of India in the Worldly affairs.

The growth and soft-power status and west's interests in India , makes the people search for their share in the increasing economic activity . There can only be less moral factor in attaining the economic goals in this set-up

I see there is no problem with various systems, Procedures and structures in India . There needs to be an "attitudinal shift" rather than a political shift. Shift from Saffron,Red,Green and an attitude that accomodates the diversity , question (with unity ) the ills ,relentless pursuit for justice.

Jai Jawan,Jai Kisan , Jai Hind

--------

The above post was written Pre- Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption . Was expecting something of this sort, Though were involvement of some comical elements ,(like say, unwarranted participation of Bollywood faces and why do they show their made up pretty face n every other occassion?? Phew!) ,It kind of reflects the common man's anger, but not fully . It is just a spark to ignite the ignominy of corruption and its cousins . Hope the movement moves in its destined path .

Ashtama sanee

2011-02-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Yes! What happens when the staunch non-believer of astrology and its associated superstitions ,encounters a series of failures . And what remedial measures are suggested for course correction ? Hmm ..Yeah! i can hear people shouting astrology!! ( defects ) .

Yes!, my earthly existence is decided by some ruddy 9 planets [(a) sad that pluto is no more , but astro-gurus still use 9 b) Why no comets , i think they are cute with a tail c) Why not the asteroids, they aren't cute though d) why not the objects of the neighbouring galaxies? )] , And their eliptical ( path is altered and given some place along the veritices and edges of a star drawn on a small book , And This shall be my life-map which shall decide my social patterns, logical reasoning , marital prospects, core competence, and brighter n darker sides . Damn! i dont understand how is that possible . No i did not go through sufficient literature in astrology , But still i cant understand this astrological propositions and predictions . But , then i decided to get into the merits of astrology.

The recent predictions say June is moment of triumph in my life, and that is when all is going to be well .

fingers crossed !

P.S . for the uninitiated http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shani

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bertrand_piccard_s_solar_powered_adventure.html

2010-08-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bertrand_piccard_s_solar_powered_adventure.html

Bend it like Murali

2010-07-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

10 and odd years back, with my narrow views, and unflinching support for nation's cricket team, i strongly disagreed each and every show of talent against our cricketers. I didn't accept Murali either, So did thousand others and prominents of the cricketing fraternity . Well, was he bogged down by those criticisms, no !or did he lose his enthusiasm.? no! no!. His focus coupled with dignity and grace is a thing to be learnt by the sportsmen of the generations to come.

800th in his final test is a fitting end to this man's illustrious career. Still ,there could be people criticizing this man, while i changed my views, and I am in full of admiration for this man, more for the way he carried himself all throught his 18 year career.There are less chances for anybody to break his record for at least say 20 years ,or more!!

Murali tussi great ho !!!!

confusion

2010-06-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

The mind begs for coherence, the heart longs for that youthful effervescence , the persona gets disoriented, while the fighting continues to reason out and prevent the impending chaos. Nothing concrete happens, the buzz continues , it continues...

Addicts of aftermath!

2010-06-04T01:59:00.001-07:00

The recent events of mishaps and accidents is really disturbing. The proposals of agencies and parastatals are reigning the aftermath of such incidents , and the debate regarding the efficacy and legality of the proposals is staged and altogether the core issue is side stepped .

182 , 54 ,74, 56 . though the number of casualties of various accidents varies, the response more or less remains the same. foresight and sound infrastructure combined with monitoring mechanisms, could have avoided , at the least could have minimised the casualties in the recent incidents.Safety concerns crop up , only after the barrier of safety is breached. The barrier obviously a product of lackadaisical effort of god knows who.

The charred remains of the bodies , the lifeless battered remains of juveniles, gives sad picture of how fragile a human life is. The state has a major role to play in avoiding such incidents.Considering the things after these accidents , blaming the pilot or spinning the mystery factor , can save the government , but the immediate role of the state to safe-guard the lives of innocent civilians would largley remain unaddressed .

Welcome to national unsafety aboard!

I, PHEW AND YELL!!!

2010-04-25T13:50:00.001-07:00

I, PHEW and YELL!!! ,for ?.. phew for the controverisies. Yell for CSK's victory!. But, it was rather colourless .The presentation ceremony was one of the boringestestest!. Ravi shasthri's age is showing, he lost his charming self. If not for Harsha bhogle, the commentary box would 've made the television, really look like an idiot box!.

Dhoni,was saying about how well he loved being with the team members and getting to know each of them.Hope the re-auctions doesn't ruin the team's chirpiness and combinations, one of the best teams without any intra-team peskiness , cudos for the captain and team management.

Modi, is yet to churn out more controversies for us to consume and enjoy, Lets look forward to that too.The rest of the year without IPL is the most difficult part.Couple of tournaments to follow, but none can have the flavor of this league.

WHISTLE PODUAAAAAAAAY!!!!! Great going guys, Hope CSK has a victory march in Chennai.

madrasapattinam

2010-04-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

It is quite uneasy and curious for me, when people say they miss Chennai badly, For, i have never been out of this city for more than ten days. I have come across many social networking sites, displaying words in bold caps ,conveying how badly they miss this city and the thrill it offers, the grumblings of my friends in their sojourns outside Chennai , In addition to it, I am seeing the foriegn players of CSK ( and non-sporting foreign brethren too ) have endless deliberations with the media of the city's charm.What makes this city so damn special. Does a Mumbaikar feel the same when he ventures out of his city too? Or for that matter it could be anyone , who had their lives entwined with a particular place ( I hear a donkey bray at this sound analysis , or friends would politely ask "Are you Mr Socrates's blood relation ?).

But, What charm does Chennai has for its citizens? I am planning to discover these aspects, and of course, post it along.

Saving public ryan

2010-04-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

With the disinvestment threats looming large, the PSUs are on the verge of being wiped from our social landscape. PSUs are the evidence of state's presence, and in the past the welfare state is identified with the number of product and services it offered to its citizen. All was well!, we were able to do justice to our NAM (non-alignment movement ), we could say that we 'the socialists' in spirit and theory (constitution ) ,We stood alone amidst hostilities from western corners of the globe .The west grew! it engulfed the smaller states infected them with its privates ( not with STDs ), it had its say, bullied the naysayers, It continued till we were forced to surrender due to external pressures.

Economics replaced the social commitments during the liberalisation era, The PSUs were seen as failed organisations and many changes were brought reduced their number . The present state is pretty confused , whether to comply or not comply. if complied what is the meaning of the presence of the word Socialist democratic republic in our preamble ?. ok now that we had tasted the so called 8% growth , we are bound to show-off to the world. So disinvestment and like measures may follow to contain the deficits .

The recent crisis showed even the so called Pvt Corps, are vulnerable and if they fail , the result is more nastier than when the PSUs fail. The thing about private corps is that, they are saved , nursed back to their exploiting best , at the cost of tax-payers. The same crisis when looms on PSUs the matter is dealt with iron hand, and bullying . The moral obligation of social service and liabilities are largely missing in the services of Pvt corps, and when events such as BHOPAL gas tragedy , Deep horizon oil spill happens, we search for laws and sub -clauses to punish them.

A re-think is needed for reviving the PSUs or bringing the spirit of service morals to Pvt corp.The latter if happens, then Sahara would blossom. The good old PSUs now parnering with the Pvt is another viable option in this present irreversible globalisation era. It adds the 'moral servicing' factor to the pvt and also has the whip when the Pvt ,errs.

The increasing interdependency between nations ,especially between the Developed and under-developed can be used to tie their national organisations through technology transfers for global and local service deliveries, this could minimise the complexities that frequently crops up in WTO issues , will also smoothen the regional integration processes, and totally eliminates the Pvt corp intermediaries.

Now,The great Indian perestroika awaits increasing public character in service delivery to wipe the ills of poverty , malnutrition and exploitation. Innovation and bright minds , can bring about drastic changes in publics, altogether going private gives room for future problems , especially for a country like India.

IPL appeal

2010-04-01T02:06:00.000-07:00

Whoa ! not even half way through, the revenue meters for this 3 year old tournament , have already shot up. Seems this is not enough!.Kochittes and Punaittes have registered themselves to this tournament for the next year. The number of matches to be played next year is gonna be around 94! (why not a century here?? ).

This year was no less fun !.Mandira Bedi was missing (should i call that fun or loss) , Lanky Gaurav and few good boys have joined to anchor the tournament . This year Cuttack was under attack of the IPL's entertainment bandwagon , so was Ahmedabadh and Shimla (no match was played there yet) .

The advertisements!. Innovative ways were found to insert the advertisemnets here and there.

1. In one match a ball was lofted to the boundary , The ball was about to meet the head of a policeman near the boundary, the policeman avoids the meet .The commentators , announced that it is definitely a' citi 'moment of success. citi here is citi bank i think. similarly many such successful moments were tagged with citi.

2. Karbonn catches. letting some people who lack the required amount of dexterity to catch the ball. who at times do disappoint and catch the ball , to snatch the karbon mobiles.

3. Blessed are the advertisers , when the bowler takes a long run-up. in that 15 seconds , couple of ads are gingerly inserted.

4. DLF maximum sixes .Karbon Kamal catches!

5. Tactical time outs.! wonder how much one could stratergise in the given 2 and a half minutes. Unmistakably thats for the benefit of the advertisers .

6. Not to forget that MRF blimp hovering over the stadium! and frequent thrust from the camera men and commentators to show a close up of it, on the pretext of admiring it (for each and every game)

What was missing in this IPL ?

The camera that hovers over the pitch , controlled remotely . Quite a good innovation, but cant really dodge the blitkreigians of the IPL, perhaps thats the reason it was removed.

The gender equity in cheer-leading was done away with. Only ladies this time!

Sharukh has limited presence, So KKRS are feeling good about their presence at top of the points- table (superstition is that, Sharukh present = game lost).

IPL has definitely brought extra- appeal ,that cricket already had . This had done lots of good for the welfare of the domestic players , Who now have additional space to showcase their talents and get into the 'national team' . IPL is here to stay!

Being human

2010-03-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tracing our origins back to 10k years.We were A lonely ,unsociable , sky-clad race benefited from the evolution , stood erect , chin up , from then on never looked down and never failed to look down upon the fellow beings. . This race defied the common rules,turned a workaholic to stand-out among other races , among themselves. The race divided, fought for supremacy , ran after fame, shattered the earthly rules, the other earthlings revered and feared this race's lunacy . The race did not have the slightest regard for the environment, while the nature stood watching in silence .

The nature showed some signs of protest, in form of calamities. Then the race's race slowed down ,It stood and watched the mess it had created. The nature's determinism grew (growing ), the race protested against this injustice, cursed the rain god , sun god, the remaining elements, but, never failed to correct itself. The fellow earthlings continue to pay the heavy price for the human race's folly. The protests(nature's )came in form of climate change, This race didn't budge . the protests continued in form of calamities , this race didn't bother.Luxury became a basic necessity for one part of this race, while basic necessities are at the farthest for another part of this race, A determined group of this race tries to correct this anomaly, but ends up far from the faintest form of success, as a result the 'unfortunates' of this race had lost the race (the race for mere existence).

So strange are the ways of this race.The nudity then (pre-historic times ), was seen as obscene and uncharacteristic of the race possessing the 'sixth sense' , the nudity now is seen as a creative expression .This race is a vociferous proponent of peace , and struggles to arrive at it by waging war!. Every aspect is now subjected to economics (it's favourite subject), be it a life threatening disease , a war, the under-lying motive would be money and more money.On the pretext of working up the economics , it works up selfishness , greed, creed, arrogance and what not!.

The bond between mother and child is determined by whether we use 'j & J ' soap or some other XXvita nourishing drink . The friendship is determined by , bands ,greeting cards. love is determined by V-days, so on for the other remaining relationships and emotions. At the backdrop , is, a determined group of money-making goons, who , undoubtedly belong to this race.

This race (for nothing ) will end , only when the materialism ends and a wave of humanism begins. Warming up the earth and living in an air-conditioned room is not the answer for the present condition of the earth nor the nuclear tests ,the weapon for peace. The harmony with nature is the way ahead for a sustainable future. Being human , and not being humane is the cause for all this disorderliness. Ample usage of the sixth sense , in-sync with the nature's laws , for the benefit of all is an immediate necessity .

Any effort to correct the faults ends up in political,social , economical mangle . Going by the present trends, this race is heading for a finish , which may not be a good one, though.

butchered

2010-03-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Things came as a shocker to me.. not cleared the mains exams this time.Dont know what went wrong.

The dream of being a civil servant exists in a distance . My rhetoric was not accepted by the examiners. A lakh other desperadoes are going to appear this year along with me ,wonder how things going to shape up. What did success really mean to me?Is it a product of hardwork or just random probability of one's lethargy ? well i did my hard work , cant blame my dedication to get through this exam.

The next step , is again a big step .courage and efficiency are crucial for ending this butchery . I am sitting now lost for words , ideas and sleep. Things would 've been really easy , if i had opted for an easier career. Now easiness or uneasiness is really out of question , considering the hopes of well wishers and my parents in particular. From now on i shall make a point to drop in a word or two in this virtual space .

The north east

2010-02-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

The north-eastern part of India, unlike any other part of any other country is totally unique. The demographics , terrain, resources, social problems constitute the uniqueness. I used to wonder why such uniqueness still maintained .

I had been to Sikkim during the last november.What i noticed is, the people of Sikkim are a educated lot, honest and hardworking! And also well informed about other parts of India.I was taken aback when one taxi driver essayed his view-points on Mr karunanidhi's arrest.. and also had strong views on politics. I found it strange when all had similar views.

Further going east we have Assam, Arunachal pradesh (yet to be explored by me ).Smitten by insurgency , terrorism , violence political instability and what not..
and the other sisters also share similar stories. The reasons for their obscured and disintegrated presence in the country's development process is largely because of geographical separation < and this cannot be a acceptable reason considering the fact that India is going to occupy the top slot in the world's "power-map" which houses one of the most sophisticated technical expertise in the world. these technologies can be used to reintegrate or rather integrate with the main land.

The integration can be made through various ways . Before exploring the ways the loop holes in the governance of the country should be patched up, namely the bureaucratic overreach, corruption , etc etc. The development shud be the top criteria , but on the pretext of development, the rich biodiversity in the north east should not be compromised..

a year and a half

2010-02-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

Not many changes since i last posted.. the very thought of treading a uncertain path is scary.Nevertheless here am cocooned , awaiting the results due next week..

I was just wondering how the things going to shape up from next week ..Last one and a half ., had been busy preparing for exams, charting out weekly tasks and goals. These three months have got the impatience out of me.But, anyways it is part of this endeavor. Hoping for right things to happen for me.

Well this post is basically to say that this blog is alive!!

The climate is yet to change

2008-06-04T10:46:00.001-07:00

Winter goes, Autumn comes,Autumn goes Spring, springs! spring goes summer comes this rythm is predicted to go and thus, one long spell of summer is to stay.This can be the best and simple way to explain the major catastrophe called the climate change!.. so when people on earth are making hay while the sun is shining , the green house gases up above ,are refusing to make 'way-up' for the sun's rays .Roughly some ten years back ,major powers of the world, have made some bold moves to control the green-house gases . the developments gave birth to objectives, that were to be met some twenty years later, these objectives formed the skeletal system of kyoto protocol.. which plans to curb to control the carbon emissions by 2010.

Then followed by this,Copenhagen turned out to be 'uncopeable -haggen ', But now the divide is clear, The Top billion are not coping up with the demands of the bottom-billion . The outcome is a brilliant transformation of a environmental issue into a political one.

Atmosphere doesn't have a boundary folks! It is combination of loose molecules and atoms, it doesn't bother to add as much Co2 or as much methane to it, it embraces all. The intricacies of pollution is unknown to it.It gently glides from one continent to another continent, from a pole to another. It respects gravity , and doesn't care understand human's laxity.All it does is a mere existence, for a billion years. The living beings are blessed with a quota of 25%, and are destined to live with it throught their subsistence. All this thing revolving around this issue is quite comical.

Imagining a scenario , in which an amicable solution had been achieved and, the recalcitrant states have obliged to the demands of each other, what will follow is ,climate offences, one state pointing other for emissions and others denying. This will snow-ball into another cold-war and situations like nuclear apartheid (they call so!) The elites will reign again through this carbon trading system, and others will be denied to pollute . The notion of development through pollution is the reason for this. The search for alternatives are on.

Now,to pollute or not to pollute is the question. The question whether we want to see our progenies live in the same environment we lived.If so , then the course to follow is, wiping off the political color and considering ,climate change as a 'pure environmental issue', to maximum as an, developmental one. Decisions should to be made in unity with equity and without vanity.

IPL

2008-06-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Whoah! The cricket fans were took for a roller coaster ride for six weeks!!.. the six week ride comprised sudden turns ,twists, slaps,cries..oohs and aahs! the whole package was made and marketed in such a manner that it guaranteed 100 %entertainment!...The ipl discovered new fan following, right from aunties to grannies who were lured away from the 'evergreen' soaps.. It was alleged that, at some homes , the TV remotes was punched atleast two to three times between the breaks of the 'mega-serials' switching between IPL and the prime soaps.. The success rate of IPL was 100%,As a result, it(IPL) made almost everyone wait to for the next season..

The IPL is actually a replica of ICL which again is a imitation of English Premiere league. As a result, the franchises were devoid of english players, It was speculated that the 'English' might come up with their own league in future, but, does it have all the money BCCI has ? this question makes it(english version of IPL) a distant dream for the english..

So ,the Final which was no ordinary match, went on till the last ball was bowled, finally the team rajasthan royals which showed impeccable performance under the 'stewardship' of the spin legend 'Shane Warne' clinched the the Inaugral IPL Cup. However the performance of Chennai Super Kings cannot go understated!.. which put a tough fight throughout.

Lalit Modi,Chairman and Commissioner of the Indian Premier league, President of Rajasthan Cricket Association, Vice President of Punjab Cricket Association and Vice President of the BCCI..was called the brain behind the IPL format.He might be called so, assuming that very less we know how far the IPL resembled with the rebel league ICL.. which was ridiculed and bullied just because it brought a format which was about to bring huge revenues to the essel organisation. The attention and reception IPL got, sidelined the rebel league which went without a trace. though ICL has chances of coming up with new seasons with more flashy-fundas, chances of the equal attention and reception IPL got, is quite bleak . But, there are players who had opted for ICL also , consequently ICL starts to a be refugee camp for understated ranji players.

Many feel that the cricketing greats such as Lara ,Cairns and Bond should have waited for the IPL to materialize. there were players like Mohamad Yousouf sitting along with the cat on the wall, ended up staying on the wall . ICL future seems to be bleak with the rise of IPL and the players, especially the foriegn players might choose the greener side of the this format,called IPL which will render ICL colourless , which might lead to the end of ICL and noway can the rebel league unseat the national league, the IPL!

Here !

2007-11-29T04:51:00.000-08:00

After another brief dormancy, i shall let my ideas and proceedings sprout here again, regularly if possible...
And where were we?.. yeah, my stint in CTS started and ended!.i was able to restrict my aversions to C++, C, Java only for four months, in that four months, i should say, i had FUN!.These four months ! very crucial period in my life. one among ten thousand and odd is acceptable in a country,city, but in a building?..thats how i spent my four months in the IT world. fun factor revolved around some wonderful people i befriended with in my batch, 8 fun-loving people who made my stay,a pleasant stay.

I entered the IT with a pre-notion that 'i am not going to be here (the IT company) for more than 5 months', after that?.. yeah! after those dreadful months with java ,Now! I had started my preparations for UPSC exams..Initially, i thought it is brave and sensible decision, but my thoughts differed with me .i suffered enough conflicts, after much scrutiny, I submitted my resignation.Now,I really dont know what is in store for me , often i had thought that i 've made a hasty decision.But, what is life, without risk? This not a point to decide, how worthy is your decision said my mind , therefore i agree with what my mind says..

Back

2007-07-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

yeah ok! long time since i mailed ,lots of things happened, blah blah!...finally one of the most important phase in one's life came to a very nice end!....yes my college is over amigos! that was 2 and a half months back.. since then, i wasn't busy,i wasn't held up anywhere but still I restrained myself from blogging, because I felt it is a quite complicated process when compared to eating and sleeping. I am to yet to join CTS ( Cognizant Tech Solutions)..i ‘ve been waiting for two months for them to call us..for CTS, the next influx is on August first week (like that I was bombarded with many other rumors, for the last 2 months) .from then on I ‘ll be called as a ‘ Professional’.

In that two months, after college really lot of things had happened, those wont be brought here for re-cap ( however, will be included in forthcoming posts) . ‘Lets get on with the present’ says my mind. Very recently ( two days back only) one of my relative asked me, what are your plans for the future? ..i stood there with my mouth searching for things , which one would say after completing college. MBA! There, three letters came to my mind , I jut spat those letters and stood there grinning .But, you know, people just don’t get satisfied. Followed by the initial killer question, another series of questions testing my views futuristic ambitions were fired at me, as expected, I was caught amidst the fire, it took some time for that fire to be extinguished (blurted out some satisfying answers). Phew!. But after that, a huge burnt question mark was etched all over me, that, relative of mine indeed had left a mark. MBA is not my kinda thing, please! Don’t want to follow the craze.. and nor do CTS gives me a heavenly feel.. a job has to give one a complete satisfaction, a sense of responsibility, that completeness is absent when I think of IT industry. Animation! just couldn’t hold on to it anymore. Next venture will be notified soon…

2007-04-29T08:18:00.001-07:00

Some five days back , I was commuting back home from college in a mtc bus.seated in the not so comfortable confines of my window-seat ,absorbed in the buzzing activities of the city..The rapport between the driver and the conductor, evident from the sound of the whistle, the lamenting passengers, smell of sweat and damp, everything caught my unawares when a lady, shabbily dressed with a child about three year old sat next to me..both looked dirty, poverty ridden…the lady must be in her late teens..the child dozed off immediately!,after acquiring the seat next to me..i understood their need for a seat , despite the ‘gender’ division prevalent in the mtc buses of the state.. Atleast, in buses they (ladies) were allotted 60% seats over the males..(Including the long back seat, yeah they are meant for ladies only)..but,generally I ‘ve seen some arrogant females conquering seats meant for the gents also, my blood boils when I see that,especially when I travel after playing ..more when I am in a bad mood!..i grit it out, anyway!...
So,this lady I am talking about, must ‘ve faced difficulties of sorts. And destined to face many. appeared to be cool and undeterred at my presence, at this proximity.. absorbed in some thought staring at some point in the ground..and the child sleeping sweetly. The child hung her head,twisted turned , and at this point , our lady turned brutal, she caught a good lump of the child’s hair and disturbed its roots and scalp fiercely by pulling! At a moment, I thought her neck was ripped off her body!..i was shocked, the child let out a deafening cry!..i realized that, she did that to make the child to be awake.and.again the child hung her head and attempted to rest, again a pull!!.. This time accompanied with a slap! ..i felt like yelling at the lady!..the child again tried a sleep, again a fatal treatment!..i badly wanted to abandon the seat and stand in some corner of the bus, since it was not welcoming sight .unfortunately, the bus was jampacked!..luckily I had a chance to glance at the lady , at that brief moment I conveyed my thoughts….’Why the hell are u treating your child like this”.?? As if she got what I tried say suddenly kept the child between us and laid the child on my lap and she stood and continued to gaze at the point in the ground. now the child, sleeping on my side and I promised the child a disturbance-free nap. After some 20 mins, the child was shook to sanity by a slap on the head!..oh my god!..the stop has come!..when I was about to get down, after giving a disgusted look at the female, i felt a tap on my shoulder,turned and saw that lady thrusting me my cap , which I’d left in the seat by mistake..and she shed one congenial smile, I didn’t !.. I heard people talking about child abuse and all that! And I just saw it live.. I failed to stop it, perhaps I should‘ve stole that one brief moment

bat and ball

2007-04-09T01:59:00.000-07:00

Well,Mahathma Gandhi wouldn't 've ended 'march',if he had known 'April' is hotter...(please,ignore this statement)...In this heat one can only afford to be lazy, and stay indoors..but ,i tried to be different.i always fancy this sport,called cricket,and this fancy earned me a sun-tan! how??. I attended CTS practise match in Anna university grounds,hoping to be picked and squeezed into the playing eleven . got a few acquanitances in the team and came to know that most of the team mates were younger to me,after knowing this some sort of arrogance creeped into my timid mind..the team was divided and the play commenced .After the openers ate some initial overs, i was given a chance to wield the willow.. without formal exposure to standard cricket(Apart from viewing and cheering),i donned the pads and gloves and ehmm..what they called a bat..(i speculated the possible reasons for the absence of,the bottom chunk of the bat, given to me, could be..er (a)starving rats,that mistook bat for grains (b) rebellious termites,that dared to eat up the termite repellant bats)..so,with half a bat,and an uncomfortable diaphragm guard, stepped into the crease..the bowler,bowled his ball, which he thought over ,while i was getting ready, that ball, made me walk back to the place,from where i came with all eagerness to bat..A good-length ball,kept low sneaked in-between my bat and pad and found the stumps and dislodged it!Later, my bowling wasn't worth commenting,two wides!..hmm,well, to get selected in team, performance is a crucial factor,which didnt happen to me...
need to learn the intricacies of playing, with a cricket ball!..

2007-04-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

i am given 15 days to get the 'car driver' in me, out!.. driven by laziness, one can end up doing something useful..hmmm, like say, going for driving classes ..more than the three alarms , i set to wake up early, the 1800 bucks i paid for the 'Driving classes' makes me to wake up early!. yeah!. its true ! its true!.. 5:50 am is the time slot, i 've chosen.. i never dreamt of learning the intricacies of driving so easily ..just got thefunda , in my third class.. but, nothing can beat the comforts of riding a bicycle !..

so, it was just my fourth class, somehow, the guy who coaches me, found some flaws in the way i drive, so, he promised extra attention, extra classes ( without the owner's notice), extra coaching, extra ttips, etc etc.. only for , only for some exchange of money!.. that fella asked me flat!, in turn i was taken aback!.. whether to say 'yes' or to say 'no'.. lots of movie dialogues suddenly raced in my mind for a split second!to quote from a tamil movie, " bribing is also wrong, receiving the bribe is also wrong" (Courtesy: The movie Indian). while my mind thinking , my reflexes reacted to the request , positively!. yes! i said, yes!!.. but why??.. really dont know.. its just a matter of fifty bucks going out of my hand, reaching the driving coach's, just fifty!, but that means a lot to him, but!.. there are around 10 such driving coachs, working for the guy who owns the driving schoo!.. just imagine his plight!.. if the coach scraps one class for a student, it means a day's fuel cost gone waste!.. when things like this continue, the owner might face a bad time!.. so should i be selfish , take up the class , should i be like.. what people might call this act , smart!.?.. hmm , well i paid him the money! didnt get an extra class!.. just asked him to teach me properly!.. sensible isnt'it?..

Way to Wayanad - 4

2007-03-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

The bus arrived at 1:10 am, we rushed in to secure a seat for us, and the bus seats were no way attuned for a sleep. Our ‘spell of sleepless night in Kannur’ started we felt like we were in a coffin, not an inch to move about.After 2 hours or so, we reached ‘Kannur’ , the time was 4 am . We scouted for another bus to a place called ‘Kasargode’, this place fell in the last part of our itinerary. The journey was 4 hours. We got a bus around 4:30 am… I struggled for a spell of good sleep, so did my other friends, couple of them were seated on the floor of the bus. After tiring journey , we reached this place called ‘Kasargode’ we scouted for place to rest and refresh . after sometime we found a place called ‘Udupi hotel’ located a Km away from the railway station. The owner of this lodge was a difficult person, he failed to understand our need, he would allow two rooms for five us, whereas our requirement was only one room and a toilet, after much argument we settled for the deal and then a Lungi clad old man was summoned and, he escorted us to the rooms. When that man opened the room , I could smell fungus , cobwebs and dust, the man wasn’t embarrassed a bit, very coolly he went inside and started sweeping the floor, guess this rooms must be last used by our freedom fighters… and a cot was also broken! The same man started mending the furniture, which annoyed my friend who was lounging in another rickety bed, and he asked this workaholic gentle old man to leave the place and continued his sleep. So , now we had two double bed rooms and the old man said , we need not pay for the broken cot, that means a discount of 30 bucks!.

After sometime, we took the essentials and left the rooms at 10:30 . we had our brunch at a restaurant nearby, and boarded a bus to a place called ‘Bekal Fort’ which was some 17 kms away from ‘Kasargode’

Some Facts:

The fort, a circular imposing structure of laterite rising 130 ft. above sea level, stands on a 35 acre headland that runs into the Arabian sea.

This fort is more than 300 years old and is believed to have been built in the 1650's by Sivappa Naik of the Ikkeri dynasty.

There is also another belief that it was originally built by Kolathiri Rajas and later captured by Sivappa Naik. The fort was occupied Hyder Ali of Mysore in 1763 A.D and then the Huzur of Canara during Tipu Sultan's reign and later the British. During the British rule, the erstwhile Bekal taluk was part of South Canara district and encompassed the present Kasaragod and Hosdurg taluks.

At the entrance is the Anjaneya temple, dedicated to Sree Hanuman. Said to be as old as the fort itself, the shrine was recently renovated and attracts hundreds of devotees from far and near.

Best time to visit : Throughout the year

How to get there

Air: Nearest airports are at Mangalore (50 km); Karipur International Airport, Calicut (Kozhikode) International Terminal (180 km)

Rail: On the Kozhikode-Mangalore-Mumbai route. Enquiry Ph: 430200

Road: There are regular buses every 30 minutes from Kanjagad to Bekal. An excellent network of roads connects Kasaragod to major towns in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

We reached the place after half an hour, the weather was too too humid. This fort was well shot for a song in a Manirathnam movie called ‘Bombay’. The song was shot during the monsoon season I guess. we stole splendid views of the ‘Malabar coast’ from the sentry towers.after exploring taking few pictures of the fort, we decided to rest for a while under a peepal tree , which stood near the shore. Couple of boats were anchored in the Arabian sea. One of friends tried spotting Saudi-Arabia with the binoculars. We consumed many bottles of local soft drinks , similar to our own ‘Bovonto’. I realized that I was a bit worn out because of the journey, I slept-off under the tree , I wasn’t aware of the surroundings, only I could feel the cool sea-breeze. After some time, the sun was little low, we, decided to walk along the shore. The shore was lined with countless coconut trees!..After sometime, we ventured out of the beach area to the bus stand. After a brief period of travel we reached our rooms!.. we went for shopping some goods. Tasted some native snacks , which were sold by the roadside hawkers.we had ‘Chicken shawarama’ ( an Arabian snack , in which a roti is stuffed with shredded and roasted chicken) I restricted my dinner to chicken shawarama. ]
The train to Chennai is at 10:15 we were to board west coast express. We reached the rooms at 8:30 pm, and vacated our rooms. We had little problems here, the proprietor of the lodge refused to discount the 30 bucks , we were promised. The amount is small and not at all worth for a fight. But, we fought for it, called the proprietor by names, our tongue turned foul..he was that cheap to frame a sudden rule that took us off our money. We didn’t fight for the money , we fought for for … eh, I don’t know what, can be called as prestige or pleasure. Completely unaffected by the hustle, we left the place. Reached the station around 9:45 pm. The train started immediately as soon as we got in, this station must be of least importance, iguess.
So the next day, at 8 o clock we reached Erode, which is the native of one of my friends, traveling along with me. Had been to his house twice, once for a leisure visit and another visit which happened during the start of this year, the occasion was bakrid.. His family is promising when it comes to food and hospitality. Biriyani and non-veg is their speciality.! So, our lunch menu suddenly turned out to be grand because of the neatly packed biriyani packets brought by the relatives of my friend, they took pains to feed us , that too early in the morning!..hats off to them!..as soon the train left the station, we started to gobble the food!..after finishing of the dish! We played cards, chatted , slept, stretched!.. by the time ,we entered the premises of Chennai.

At 3:o clock I got off ‘West coast express’, waved at my friends in a goodbye like gesture! And they reached Chennai central at 3:20 pm. This is one of my memorable travels till date, though I didn’t get a chance to spot the wild cat, atleast I am happy that i had a glimpse of it's pug-marks and captured it on my cam also!..i am happy with that, meanwhile, the plans for another forest trip had already started! May be this November!..

Way to Wayanad - 3

2007-03-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed the cozy confines of the ‘Alaskan room’ previous night , the clothes had dried by now , The time was 5:30 am, I woke up to see my friends already busy with their chores. We finished the chores very soon and we were prepared for another busy schedule for the day. We boarded the first bus to ‘Thirunelli Temple’ which is 30 kms away from ‘Mananthavady’( the place where we stayed for the night), The ticket fares were quite costly, the KSRTC( Kerala State Road Transport Corporation) bus conductors procured an instrument for issuing tickets, when the destination and the starting code is typed, a printed paper is vomited in a jiffy, containing details like, ticket fare, Distance, starting and ending place…

We reached the temple after sometime, The temple is a modest one, I would call it ‘a typical keralised temple’.One common feature of these temples is that, the male devotees have to be topless before they enter the shrine, really don’t know why such a necessity, while the same god can tolerate t-shirts, and shirts, kurtas etc in our land. thinking on these lines, after much hesitation I removed my shirt and tucked under my arm, and gazed around for a while, to make sure ladies are at a good distance, unfortunately they were only few millimeters away, if only the temple had thousand pillars like The ‘Temple in Rameshwaram’ I would sneaked between them , but, there wre no such provisions here. The offerings and pooja delayed our worship, after sometime, we scurried in, clapped our hands and muttered some prayers, ran out and slipped into our clothes.

Some Pointers

- Sree Thirunelli Devaswom, Thirunelli, about 32 km north-east of Mananthavadi, Wayanad district, north Kerala.
- The temple is also known as the Sahyamala Kshetram. It is believed to be more than 3000 years old. Legend has it that this temple dedicated to lord Vishnu was built by lord Brahma (The Creator) himself - an architectural marvel with 30 granite pieces supporting the shrine and the floor paved with huge square granite blocks.
- Papanasini, the holy mountain spring believed to have divine cleansing powers to absolve the soul of all its sins, flows nearby. Also in the vicinity is a sacred rock where ritual offerings (known as bali) are made for the ancestors on the New Moon days of the Malayalam months Karkkidakom, Thulam and Kumbham. Besides the rituals during the two-day festival, art forms like Kathakali and Ottanthullal are performed.

- Getting there:Nearest railway station: Kozhikode about 72 km from Kalpetta

- Nearest airport: Karipur International Airport, Kozhikode about 23 km from Kozhikode town.
-
After loitering around the temple premises for a while, we decided to have our breakfast near the temple, meanwhile, we were informed by my native friend’s uncle that , we can visit the another forest reserve, we had our breakfast, I had 4 thick dosais and a tea, we headed for ‘Tholpetty ‘ which is some 7 kms away from Thirunelli Temple . Initialy,our stay in the forest was destined to this place. Due to unavailability of the watch towers , we opted for’Muthanga’. We reached the spot in a very short while, we hired a jeep for 500 rs and we were prepared to enter this part of the forest, the forest officer warned us that, spotting animals at this part of the day is rare, but, we took it lightly. Along with us, an interesting man came, whom we met in the bus while heading to ‘Tholpetti’. He claimed himself as a ‘Nomad’ and for the past 33 years he‘d been visiting various forests in the country. But, not even once he had spotted a tiger, I can feel his agony! So, the jeep entered the forests and I again started squinting at each and every bush , squinted more when I saw the water bodies..ocassionaly couple of deers and Langurs disturbed my concentration.

Some Facts:

- About the Sanctuary:- Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary is situated in Wayanad, in the lower hills of Nilgiris, 300 Kms north east of Cochin (six and half hours journey ) and 100 kms south west of Mysore. Being part of the Niligri biosphere reserve of the Western Ghats, Tholpetty is one of the largest protected areas and best places to see Asian elephants and Indian bison. The sanctuary cover an area of 345Km.

- Accommodation:- Accommodation is arranged in a sixty year old homely bungalow Pachyderm Places (just opposite to the sanctuary). The well furnished and comfortable rooms have attached western toilets with hot water shower. Traditional and authentic Kerala food will be served.

- Wildlife Tour: - Wildlife tour is organized in a jeep everyday morning and evening. Photography is allowed. Visit to tribal villages, waterfalls and ancient Hindu temple is also arranged.

- Visiting time: 0600-0800 hrs and 1500-1730 hrs. Ph: 04935 240233.

- http://www.wayanad.net/forest.html.

After 7 kms we reached a watch tower and took some snaps with horn of a Deer and we traveled further for another 17 kms after three hours , we emerged out of theforest a bit disappointed. The forest officer was right!. Later we rested for a while in a local tea-shop, had fruits and spoke with the proprietor of the tea-shop, who claimed that, he had spotted Tiger for 5 times, he must be around 17 years old!.. he just spotted outside his shop it seems!. Only when the bus arrived, I closed my mouth, which, I kept open, after hearing how and where the guy spotted the ‘Wild cat’…We headed to a place called ’Kuruva Island’ . The Island was made, coz of the back-waters...

Some facts:

Kuruva island is situated 17 kms east of ‘Mananthavady’,. This 950 acres of uninhabited, evergreen forest on the tributaries of east flowing river Kabani is an ideal picnic spot, far away from the disturbances of city life. The wooded land is a home to rare species of birds, orchids and herbs. Occasionally, wild mammals can be observed by the riverside.

There are two islands , each can be reached by boats and a raft. Negotiating the river with help of ‘raft’ was quite exciting!. We were told that , the calm waters are infested by alligators!
Later then we left the island around 5:30 pm, we had to walk 1 km to the bus stop. From there we boarded a bus to ‘Mananthavady’. After we reached the place, we enquired about the buses which will take us to the places included in our next plan of action. After a formal enquiry with the bus drivers and locals we narrowed down on one particular bus , scheduled for, next day at 1 am. For that, we have to retire early.
We had our last supper at ‘Mananthavady’ in a restaurant called garden restaurant..
After a good meal we returned back to our rooms and vacated around 11 and left for the town bust stop. The town bus stop was busy even at this juncture, I tripe-checked my watch to make sure it is not 8 pm. We sat down monitoring the surroundings, that particular lace was preparing for some Communist meetings , the place was buzzing with activity. Drunken men exlplained their views on world matters..the bus came at 1 o clock, we had a brief travel of about 45 mins to a place called ‘Kannur’.

Way to wayanad-2

2007-03-14T10:14:00.001-07:00

After breathing the forest air for 5 long hours I woke up at around 4’o clock to attend the nature’s call, so, I had to come down the tower, the surroundings were so dark and couldn’t figure out anything, I flashed the light into the bushes nearby. was able to see nothing, so went up to continue my sleep, actually, I didn’t feel like sleeping so sat down monitoring the surroundings took some shots in my handy-cam. Yawned, stretched, and tried waking up my friends by flashing lights on them…

At 6 : 30 am , we prepared to leave the watch tower!. We took couple of snaps with the tribes and started our trekking .This particular morning was one of my favorite! at this hour,the forest was pretty polluted with assorted noises produced by the insects and birds!.. All my thoughts were to spot a tiger!. so , I squinted really hard at each and every bush adjoining the trekking path, which made me to lag behind others. After walking a few distance, away from the watch tower, I saw my friends excited over something, they were pointing at something on the ground.. I tip-toed as fast as I could, and the reason for the excitement was the discovery of the footmarks of elephants!!!..Previously,We were told by the tribes that an elephant was standing just nearer to the trench!. I initially didn’t believe them, as I was on constant vigilance except for the stint during my four hours of sleep, I thought the tribes were lying to aggravate our interests, now, these footmarks prove that the tribes were right, they have no reason to aggravate our interests.. so took a couple of shots of these foot marks in my cam.. There was also elephant dung, on the path, fresh and soddy!…so , with my head hung I retained the lag , with great difficulty I made my head to turn, left, right, and down, left , right and down…and again , I saw my friends excited. before I reached them , I discovered and identified the marks on the path, myself ..they belonged to that of the TIGER's or may be of the leopard’s.. These pug marks were fresh!. the wild-cat must’ve prowled along this path, the previous night!!..we continued the trekking further into the forest!. we rendered ourselves mute, as our talks might distract the animals!.... while walking, apart from the thoughts of ‘spotting a tiger’, I thought about various stories in and about jungle, it started off with topics such as Mowgli’s encounters and ended with poaching, and terrorists activities in the forests…I strongly condemn poaching and deforestation!, only because of these activities, I wasn’t able to have a glimpse of the animal I love the most!. after some good walking!,, we started to experiencing the heat of the morning sun on us…we took routes , which the guide suggested..we reached a particular point where, the borders of three states (Karnataka,Kerala and Tamil Nadu) meet.. this place is called as triangular point!. This forest is named as ‘Mudumalai’ in TamilNadu, ‘Bandipur’ in Karnataka and ‘Wayanad’ in Kerala…after taking a few snaps and shots of this place we headed further into the path…till this time we didn’t talk much..one of my friend , didn’t appreciate this morning hours to be spent walking, he felt so, because he was hungry!. So, couple of biscuit packets were opened and consumed!. we saw couple of jeeps along the paths, as the safari was open already, I cursed the jeeps for making loud noises, which diminished the chances of spotting animals.. the guide took a diversion , leading to another trekking path, which was undisturbed by the intrusions of the jeep.. While we were walking we crossed couple of watch towers…and suddenly we saw huge black mass!.. it is the great Indian elephant!! it was standing alone munching its morning meal!. It is a known fact that, elephants move in herds, I guessed that this elephant must be a mad-one, the herd must‘ve kept this elephant away, even the guide felt so… this elephant had a tusk! And was pitch black, the trunks weren’t spotted with pink dots, so it means that, the elephant is young.. we were comfortable distance while watching it, and we further moved away to avoid any dangerous encounters.. After this we didn’t see any animals. We reached the dormitory after trekking for three hours , we refreshed in the rooms, and started to Sulthan Bathery, our next schedule was to reach a place called ‘Edakkal caves’ which was four thousand years old and it was discovered by the british .. we reached ‘Sulthan Bathery’ at mid-day, we finished our lunch in a modest hotel , then, we boarded a bus to the ‘Edakkal l caves’ it was some 12kms away from Sulthan Bathery.. so, we reached there after 45mins..the place we were dropped is 1 km away from ‘Edakkal Caves’..we initially thought that, covering 1km is not a big deal, but, we found it pretty strenuous, as the path was very steep and drained a copious amount of energy!...

Some pointers

- There are two caves which are located at a height of 1000 m on Ambukutty Mala near Ambalavayal.
-
- The New Stone Age pictorical writings on the walls of these natural caves at Edakkal are evidence of the civilisation that existed in these regions in prehistorical times.

- The caves can be accessed only by a 1 km trekking trial from Edakkal.Morning hours are the best time to visit the caves.Entry is permitted only up to 5pm only.

- Inside, one finds ancient stone scripts, cave drawings and pictorial wall inscriptions of human and animal figures with peculiar head dresses, the swastik forms and symbols.
- Archaeologists consider these as one of the earliest centres of human habitation. Similar straight line cave drawings (considered 7000 years old) have been found only in Stiriya in the European Alps and a few rocky places in Africa.

- The drawings at Edakkal depict the human figures, stars, wheels, bows, knives, palm trees etc.

After staying inside the caves for a while, we walked back to the bus stop, we boarded a bus to ‘Sulthan Bathery’…phew !!! we had enough of sulthan bathery, I felt ,even the sultan himself wouldn’t ‘ve visited the place this many times!...from there we boarded another bus to a place called ‘Mananthavady’ where we decided to spend the night in a hotel!. we reached the place after a travel of more than one hour! , we dined at a place called ‘Indian Coffee House’, which was one of the bad hotels , we had food.., we scouted for a place to spend the night!.. we found a hotel called’ Alaska’ just opposite to the bus depot!..we struck a good deal with it.. we took two rooms for two hundred rupees each!.. the rooms were new and really clean!. we were really surprised!. We took bath, washed some clothings and retired for the day!..

Way to Wayanad!

2007-03-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

Whenever I sit and think about the things I like the most, Forests and wilderness, stand tall among my other worldly obsessions… This obsessive nature of mine with the nature, landed me in one of the famous forest reserves of the nation along with four of my friends..
The place is Kerala, in the district of Wayanad which is located in the northern part of Kerala, apart from forest reserves, Tea-shops and Mamooty fanatics ( the southern Keralites support Mohan Lal; this fact was told by my friend, a native of the Land.
So, this trip was planned when I came to know that my friend’s uncle is a forest ranger who is in charge of the sanctuaries. This trip was possible only because of that man, who, I haven’t seen yet... Leaving behind the loads of work to be finished, the bags were packed amidst tension.. Five of us, boarded the train at Chennai Central, we have to land at Kozhikode (Calicut), form where, the expedition starts. We decided to compromise on comforts to avoid any monetary constraints in that place, so, we traveled in unreserved compartments. Luckily, we got seats but very soon the seats were occupied by twenty other people, who promised to get down at the next stop, we experienced little discomfort and irritation at this juncture. In addition to the our fellow occupants ,The wooden seats ripped off our pleasure of ‘being seated ‘ .I was thinking of the railway budget, that promised cushioned seats for even unreserved compartments! But alas!, we were little too early for enjoying it!.
Rubbing-off the discomforts we experienced during the previous night, we finally landed in the god’s own country, the next day morning around 8:15, We had our first sight of array of coconut trees along the water bodies, autos , streets filled with chatterings of the native language!.. We finished our ablutions in the Railway Rest-room., which was very clean for a railway rest-room. After that, we broke our fast in a restaurant suggested by a native , The food was pretty cheap, we had variety of non-veg dishes. Five of us are very good eaters, we were surprised when we saw the bill!.. Delighted, we discovered that the food is cheap in this land...
We had to reach a place called ‘Sulthan Bathery’, quite an unusual name for a place, the reason for this name is, Tipu Sulthan used this place for storing his weapons, hence the name!. And yes, this is so close to Mysore , this place can be reached via Mysore also. The Bus Network was a bit uncertain at that point of time, so, the locals suggested us to take a detour to another place called Kalpetta and, from there to Sulthan Bathery, we humbly followed their instructions. One of my friends found the Hair-pin bends little uncomfortable as his stomach suffered a violent churning. Quite a talkative person he is, was rendered silent and inactive during the journey till Kalpetta! I am used to traveling in mountain ranges right from childhood, so I was pretty much comfortable than my friend.. This journey swallowed a good chunk of the Day, and we landed finally at Kalpetta...From there we have to fetch another bus to Sulthan Bathery, The native friend, had relatives in this place (sulthan bathery), so, he was instructed to visit them, which made us to have an acquaintance with them.. As we reached the place, we enquired about the exact geographical position of my friend’s relative’s place and headed towards it with some fruits…His relative is a Doctor who owns quite a big hospital in the town, so, it took very little time to find that place. As we reached the place we had a warm reception and greeted by the hospital smell and chattering of the patients with assorted problems!
After a brief introduction of selves, we were guided to the house, which was in the backyard of the hospital. The house was fairly big and showed signs of a very good architecture, with a mix of modern and native art!...We had a brief stint of lounging in the room, allotted to us. Later, we were treated with lunch, which had a impressive menu and it was purely “KERALISED”.My palate had encounters for the first time with some new stuffs, like, chamandhi podi mixed with rice and chicken gravy mixed with chopped capsicum donning pepper flavor, I crowned the latter , the best among its fellows!.. After that, we let ourselves to chat about for a while and we took snaps of the house along with its inmates... My friend was instructed to call anytime for help by his doctor relative! After this good reception and hosting, we headed towards the main itinerary of our plan, staying the forest! We are supposed to take bus which was scheduled at 5:30in the evening, for which we had to wait for 1 and half hours, which would delay our entry into the forest!, which means we wouldn’t be allowed to enter into the forest!..So, we opted to travel by a jeep. We headed to this place called, Muthanga!.This place is known to be free of tourists and promising for those who visit here, hoping to see some animals. This place is 13 kms away from sulthan bathery. The journey was quite enjoyable as the busy town life faded away and made its way into the wilderness. The jeep halted after 15 mins in the check-post, we reached the place finally!
We acquainted with the officials , Mr.Gopalan was in charge of this particular area .After a formal speech , we were asked to speed up our pace , as it was getting dark already!.. we were supposed to stay in a ‘Watch tower’ deep inside the forest for the night and next day, we were to trek for 10 kms.. Delighted with this impressive schedule, we packed dinner for the night in a local restaurant named ‘Malabar restaurant’, the menu was simple, Parrotas and curry!.. We had tea and took bath in a dormitory, and left our baggages in the rooms and took only essentials in a separate bag which contained all our things needed to spend the night inside the forest!.

We were , guided by person named ‘Rajeevan’, who will be accompanying us during trekking,, so we started our journey deep inside the forest of Muthanga. The jeep took us some 14 Kms inside and dropped us in the watch tower and left immediately to avoid any mishap in the darkness of the forest… the dusk slowly gave way to Night, we could only hear distant chirpings and funny musical compositions of various birds... The watch tower was looked after by the tribes of the forest, there were two of them, who updated the visitors on the prowling of animals.. last evening the tribes claimed that they spotted a tiger near-by the watch tower, my heart gave a lurch, as I loved to see a tiger right from my childhood in its natural habitat, I was disappointed to miss the opportunity to spot it… we settled in the top of the tower, while the guide stayed in the ground floor…the
Watch tower was surrounded by a man-made trench to avoid the inmates being disturbed by wild animals!, especially elephants!.. The night replaced the dusk, as we settled and we rubbed ourselves with copious amount of Mosquito repellant creams, but then, guide just said that this forest is free of mosquitoes and there is no need of such vigorous pre-cautionary efforts against things which really don’t exist.. the animals are lucky!...the watch tower had no electricity , we had to stay in dark, only source of light we had, is our torch and the fire made by the tribes to cook food...we chatted for a while about the forest with guide,Rajeevan..He is visiting this place after 2 months, he is working for 12 years and he spotted the tiger only 3 times! And these were some info we gathered from the guide, actually he wasn’t a talkative person, he retired soon in his room after dinner. The dinner, as I said already, was simple and we ate it under the light of three slim candles! We then searched with the lights in the direction of any peculiar noise from the forest! Chatted for a while... And were prepared to sleep in the terrace, we spreaded four newspaper sheets, for five of us to lounge. We lied down gazing the night-sky which was bathed with countless stars! A beautiful sight! We spent some quality time in identifying the constellations taught to us in school. Occasionally, we heard strange noises. We woke up to find the source, this hapened once or twice ,at a point of time we got tired of it and slept-off!

Here are some facts about Muthanga

Area: 344 sq km

Location: Bordering the Mudumulai Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu and Nagarhole and Bandipur Sanctuaries in Karnataka .

Climate: thanga enjoys a healthy climate. During the hot weather the temperature goes upto the maximum of 35o C and during the cold weather the temperature goes down to 15o C. The average rainfall is 250 cm per year.

Getting There: the nearest airport is the one at Kozhikode, nearly 120 km from Sulthan Bathery. The nearest railway station is also Kozhikode, about 97 km by road from Sulthan Bathery.

When the food turns Poison

2007-02-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

..Yep!..it happens in everybody’s life. its inevitable when u have an appetite for your night course..it is unstoppable when u are stuck up outside after a lot of shouting and sweating out in an average concert. its absolutely unavoidable when u left with only a not a very ruddy fast-food joint during odd hours at night..even the ultimate Bruce Lee didn’t escape!..

After long days of a clandestine ( I love this word) lifestyle I decided to hang-out with my friends for a night, The occasion was Techofes ( my college culturals), Vasundhara Das concert was scheduled for the eve…so after attending all my CTS tests ( I don’t fancy explaining them , they are dull) I prepared my mind , my soul, my eyes , my ears , and of course my STOMACH, for the later part of the day…well! it is a custom of the celebrities to arrive late and build up the hopes of the people,like a mother expecting a child during the last part of her gestation period!..(An exaggeration of course).. so, as we waited, we searched for a good view of the stage which is obviously somewhere near the stage!..One of the organizers was well known to my friend!. And with his influence we landed, just 30 meters away from the stage.. After further waiting. Our much awaited guest of honor landed in a white car ..Very soon she hid behind stage’s green room preparing herself for a grand entry.. the show started off with reckless dancers shaking their legs according to the beats .. Suddenly Vasundhara entered and continued singing the numbers, the spectators went wild !.. quite a good amount of crowd gathered , they obeyed Vasundhara’s orders. swayed, danced, sang… and during breaks we had mimicry artists staging their scripts. Which were quite interesting than the concert…and in the end Vasundhara captured the crowd’s attention by singing all of her best numbers! The concert ended with crackers decorating the night sky ( the organizers had spent a fortune for the crackers it seems)…so after that, as scheduled we headed to my friend’s room for the night’s stay..which was quite near to the college..

As I told earlier ‘it’ is inevitable if one has an appetite for dinner, I do ‘ve a good appetite, so , we searched for a restaurant .. I didn’t expect any hoteliers inviting us at this point of time , the time was half- past eleven..we found a modest fast-food joint nearer to my friend’s place… and we were urged by the waiters to order for the meal…and we abided by his request, during that process of our submission to the waiter’s request , we ordered a Lamb-fry, chicken fried rice, a clear soup as an appetizer, and one of my beloved vegetarian friend went for veggies..we ‘d a sumptuous dinner I should say!.. had our mouth fresheners and gulped a soda for digesting the food..and retired in the room..heard some songs and dozed off!..

Next day , as pleasant as it could be.. drenched my head with morning showers when we stepped out, home ward…I sat along with my veggie friend in the bus and traveled home..and as soon as I reached home, I finished my ablutions.. and went out !.. and returned home after a while..and during the night, my body started shivering a lot!..my mind refused to think what was the reason…shivered all night!..next day, was weak! Very weak!..(even Bruce Lee would ‘ve felt the same symptoms) .. I ran a good temperature, not less than the boiling point of the water..! And headache also. Slept throughout the day!. Unmindful of sleeping for 18 hours, I woke up in the evening still the same uneasiness.. And then, I decided to visit the doc… the sight of that hospital I visited, wasn’t pleasant.. The doc prescribed some medicines… punctured my rear with two dispo-van syringes. I hate docs who choose the rear spot to insert the needle! That too ,when a female takes up that privilege! the situation is very embarrassing!. I Lowered the pant not to the level asked by the nurse, after much negotiation we came to a particular spot, I felt the medicine in my blood…and left home sitting in not a comfortable posture on the bike.. all this because of the lamb-curry. the lamb with toxins should'd been spared!.. it had my food poisoned!, or it could be the restless waiter also... Bruce Lee would‘ve been unmindful of the dangers in his food too, although I didn’t match his fate!. Poor guy!!...so , moral of the story, No non-veg after concerts or during late nights…I am feeling a lot better now!

Field of Vision

2007-02-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

Where is sachin???..must be a the "Back"!!!!

The LANKANS were 54/5!..i visualized shreesanth , bowling a good length delivery pitching on the right spot and uprooting the stumps…huff! Undoubtedly, I m quite uncomfortable and restless when I don’t get to watch my favorite sport (cricket) on tv.. The television I own , dates back a long time in the past .. got to punch and slap very often to keep it going, for the past one week been practicing certain kung-fu and karate moves with my tv..as dumb as it is, received my blows with great honour! And gave us not a prolonged view ..And three days back, it conked !..i can see only a red light indicating that the current is still passing through the circuits.…oh dear what can the matter be! Oh dear what can the matter be!.. Yes! I am a media student, and I ‘ve acquired a decent bit of knowledge on working of various electronic components (my conscience pricked me when i typed the above sentence) and I know the intricacies of television and its working goes on like this , when something like electronic signals. Hitting drum like something called Cathode Ray Tube and it does some wonder to create visuals on the picture tube.. with this abundant knowledge in working of a television.. I thought of laying my hands on repairing my TV.. cricket matches ahead, mom’s anxiety with respect to those mega serials , dad’s movies. All came to a screeching halt last week!..phew! Frustrations galore!

Hmm.. Seriously, I doubted the dust accumulated over years inside the tv can be the possible reason for the TV’s malfunction. ..so, after dusting it, I expected the TV to function properly!..no it didn’t!.. I unplugged and and plugged all the wires, shifted the plugs to another switch board …no change!.. I twisted the co-axial cables nipped it fine plugged it again! Tapped! Punched! No change!.. my TV stood there dumb and docile !..so left it! Perhaps , it needs retirement after a long years of service!.. well,it had been a week since my efforts of making the TV to function!.. even today morning,I tried banging and slapping!.. nothing happened!....Lankans fixed a target of 260.. I visualized Mahela Jayawardene the Lankan captain fixing Dart boards at good distance..on the other side, team of Indian players stood with their Bow and Arrows targeting at bull’s eye hmm...ya kinda Ramayana only! Or can be like Robin Hood also......i saw the rest of the innings at my friend’s place!...

Keeping the worries of my TV’s redundancy, away.. watched the match..got absorbed into the intricacies of the game ..Sehwag re-gained his touch!.. Robin Uthappa being consistent and aggressive in playing shots and shining! .. some problem with Ganguly, hmm Chappel would 've already mailed to the board of selectors regarding Ganguly's fitness..and fat controversy to be staged for another month!..(hmm. too much of imaginaton,in the absence of TV!) so, what more does a aspiring team want?..of course a fit Tendulkar 1 he'll be back too.. so , chances of indians winning the cup is still bright as the summer sun!..Filling myself with delight of Indians winning, I took-off to my TVless home..while drivng back, I decided to call for a guy who repairs television ,professionally!..

Taj Mahal!..

2007-02-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

This is a 3D model of taj mahal!.. i took a day to finish it..

The One!!

2007-02-13T09:02:00.000-08:00

Not a bad day! Not a bad night!.. the thought of project makes me jump with fright!.
Hmmm..
In an effort to find the fittest politician for my funny project… I had to plan the selection process very tediously!. if I’d been in some other country my task wud ‘ve been like moving a mustard, but in India, my country, multi-party system is present… there are ,that much political parties , such that,. The names of which can be sufficiently placed on all the branches of a fully grown banyan tree! That many parties! So, bringing out and analyzing the apt politician to be animated or modeled is strenuous! …my preferences are apart!...so, how am I going to sort out these politicians. I jus gathered pictures of various politicians .their faces have some sort of identity restricted only to the politicians.. Well! I am not going to segregate based on appearance, whereas, I am going to select and analyse based on an age old method of random sampling… it can be like bringing politicians under different geographical locations..Phew not that! I am not going to adopt any complicated methods to simplify the already complicated process…. What am I am going to do is , a phrase !.. Repeat it often till I get, ‘The One’…

Well the phrase starts off like this.. ‘Inkey Pinkey Ponkey, Saddam had a Donkey, Saddam died , Donkey died.. Inkey Pinkey ponkey .. PONKEY!...well, this how it goes ( its Re-Phrased )….my face grim, fingers crossed !.. situation is serious!..in front of me is the collection of photos of all the politicians.. young, old.. famous,infamous, handsome,awkward..honest, corrupt!.. all sorts!..

Here we go!.. the situation is as same as in Mahabharata when the dice were rolled for the first time involving the Pandavas in the gambling!..( just to show u how serious I am )and.. Inkey,Pinkey,ponkey saddam had a donkey………PONKEY!..ooooh!.. my finger, which is meant for pointing at people landed on fat little nose of a politician ( in the photograph of course..).. well name says he belongs to congress!..and he is famous for his smile!.. not because he smiled often.but, becoz he didnt in his entire life!...Yes P.V. Narashimha Rao!.. (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was the twelfth Prime Minister of the Republic of India, and led one of the most important administrations in Indian history…This man has an impressive personal n as well as professional record..he is said to be a “Polyglot”.. Which means, a person who is capable of speaking many languages our man knows 17 Indian languages..? After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the general elections of 1991, Rao was chosen to lead the Congress party. He was elected from Nandyal with a majority of 5 lakhs Votes and his win was recorded in Guinness Book Of World records… hmmm impressive isn’t it?.. I am definitely ruling out this able man.. he deserves some respect particularly for the fact that he is no more.. it is not ethical to criticise a person who is no more…. So, rules like this are bound to develop as the process proceeds…

So again…Inkey,Ponkey…..Ponkey!!!!.this time even before I touched the nose of the person , there was a common house-fly sitting on it…why? This person… I can’t understand.. I just collected politician’s photos. Why him?Hmm? The person is Rajinikanth..! .. why him?. He hasn’t entered politics yet! …but he might! Might not!. But with all his might, surely he might end up being a politician. But, also considering’ might-not’…he might not.!. But. He often speaks as if he is gonna come.. he might seem to confuse us..but, let me not do the same here... I guess he must be sharing a place bedside the famous ‘Cat on the wall”.. so ruling him out…next

Inkey, Pinkey…Ponkey!!!!..no no no.. guess some Chaat menu item was replaced for a person’s name..it says Chenna Reddy.(how rude!!).so, again…inkey,Ponkey…wow! A cute little kid!..named as Rahul gandhi!..why is he hiding behind is Mom?? And how cum he is in this field?.. hey come here Kid!.. come here!.hmm ok! Poor kid!...next…Inkey,Pinkey…next!.. oh this time!.an MP of Amritsar, a star cricketer!. And also alleged murderer…Navjot Singh Sidhu!..no, I am not going to animate him, he is always animated! ..so not him.. Seems like , I am not going to end up choosing The one.!!...why not Oomen Chandy?..why not Rajashekar Reddy? Why not vijayakanth?.. or why not Our Laloo. these are my preferences and nd why not our ex-CM . Jayalalitha fraudulent yet assertive and bold..hmm seems like she is already booked by Dreamworks for Shrek, she plays princess fiona!..not the pretty one!. And again I start. this time I am determined to select the person whoever it is,..Inkey pinkey….hmmm let me analyse how exactly I want my politician’s features must be…once I saw in Mad magazine Prince Charles ‘s face was neatly transformed from a frog ..it was displayed in four steps …want to do something like that..ok bout the features.. he/she must be an amalgamation of Laurel and Hardy. .dexter and dee dee,. A T-rex and a cute kitten!…and so on… hmmm will notify the developments soon….

who is the best!!

2007-02-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

Who is the best!.

Early riser i am...cultivated the habit of waking up not before 8 o' clock.. during my prolonged sleep ( after 6..) i am well aware of the surroundings..i can hear clinking of the vessels as a result of my mom's activities in the kitchen , dad's efforts to fit his razor in to watever it is called( not that noisy to be heard though).. and monotonous voice of my bro's attempt to by-heart a para from one of his subjects, which is bound to b tested during the later part of the day.. hearing all these activities I lie supine on my bed, wondering am I forcing myself to be lazy… well! this inactivity is due to an activity called project….. for which , I ought to be working throughout the destined period of six months!.i am not doing it obviously…why? Well I can say its coz of the lethargy I gathered very carefully for the past four years of college.. Phew! So this project!.. What am going to do?..i always wanted to do soemthin in animation…so, currently I forcing myself to work on project titled..”effects of photorealism in Animation”..i came thru another person doing somewhat similar to my research..thats where I got this idea from that person…anyway I am not that keen in doing this project I had other ideas!,with which the department of media sciences wasn’t that comfortable…so had to do it!!,So I had to visit Madras Universit today with few of my friends …we reached there at the middle of the day when the sun was right above us.…we walked for a few paces along the pavement to the Old buildings of Madras University..

The topics done by the students over there were quite good and were very sensible.!.. I didn’t get much related to my project… and I left the university very soon and boarded a bus home..!.. Suddenly! A funny thought came to my mind , I simply was awe-inspired by the way the politicians liked to flash an “attempted-meeky” smile to advertise them and their parties all over the city…so, the thought is who is the best among the Politicians to be animated and made fun of.. quite a weird thought!, but I am just thinking on the same lines as that of R.K Lakshman or Keshav or Surendera… so , I wondered , why didn’t I take it up as my project…?? Ha ha only when I run my own college ..!.

So! WHO IS THE PEST POLITICIAN to be animated? Did I say pest, sorry its BEST its BEST.. will be featured in my forthcoming posts…

PS: LAST POST WAS TYPED IN A HURRY..THE TIME I TYPED was directly proportional to the back-up time of my UPS.. the current went off!

Trip to Tripati - 2

2007-02-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

this pic was taken in Bhima's hotel in Tirupati..

some facts about tirupati :

The idol of the god Vishnu was believed to have attained its form on its own by self- manifestation ( suyambhu).. it wasn't sculpted by any human it seems!

Tirupati is the 2nd most visited holy place after Vatican city!.

The mountains of Tirupati had born because of the movement of tectonic plates. The area had risen from the sea due to the motion of Indian plate. The proof of which, stands the stone arch which is said to be formed due to erosion by waves. And this incident is attributed(by geologists) to Lord Varahaswamy lifting the earth from under the sea.

And lots of other interesting facts are there, but i doubt their credibility so, didnt bring it in this blog..

The next morning we woke up and got ready to ascend the hill .. some of my friends stayed back in the rooms promising that they would join later at the top.. so, leaving them behind we stepped out at 4.30 am.. we fetched a jeep in which 19 of us squeezed in ( i 've got photo evidence).. we reached the foothils within 10 mins .. the journey to the temple will take five hours and we have 3550 steps to cross..!

we started to ascend the hill... every 100th step had the number of the step engraved on it.. so, when i was in my hundreth step half the people were out of my vision...wnly a few were with me, with them i started temple wards.. occasionally i stopped here and there..

at 7:55 am, i stepped on my final step, the 3550th!.. and i was the first and waited for the rest to join...after having breakfast we went to the stand in long queue!.. after waiting for an hour rest joined us including those who stayed back.. after joining them, we flourished our tickets to the guards and stood in the queue.. unlike last time, the queue moved very swiftly without any stop, occasionaly we were squeezed and waited for a long time.. after 1 and a half hours we 'd a the darshan and after that we 'd our lunch at a restaurant.. i wasnt able to eat anything! ..couple of my friends tonsured!..

After 45 mins we reached the foot-hill by bus, went to our rooms refreshed and rested for a while and we boarded the bus at 5 :30 and reached Chennai at 9...

Tthis is one of my memorable trip!

Trip to Tirupati!-1

2007-02-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

,.. this post will feature the trip, to the holy land of thirumala..

25 of us, 16 boys and 9 girls, boarded a bus to thirupathi from cmbt.. The interesting thing bout trip was to reach the shrine atop, by foot!.. This excited me the most, as I just love walking that too with my friends!.. Last time year I’d been to thirupati with my family, the trip wasn’t that appealing to me, may be because of the thought of returning home bald!.. yes, last time I tonsured my head…. So, the travel was for five hrs and i was seated just before the last seat, was talking bout various things ( I wud call that as guys stuff).. while the bus tore the evening air in a moderate speed. the interesting thing bout this bus was , it kept me in my seat despite of bad roads, while in my previous trips the bus engages my head in kissing the roof of the bus, very often!..... so, after a lot of talking , got a little pain in my temples, and realized that it is the result of long days of non-talking!.... meanwhile we ‘d a pitstop at a roadside restaurant , and its name was Parkinn( no no, its not a star hotel) we filled our stomach and some of us did the dew!.. and the bus started again.. headed to thirupati.. we reached there around 8 15 pm.. we ‘d to visit a temple dedicated to godess alamelu which is about 5 km from Tirupati. The temple of Sri Padmavathi Devi, the wife of Lord Sri Venkateswara is situated here. It is said that a visit to Tirumala is fruitful only after visiting the Sri Padmavathi Devi temple... You may wonder why Sri Padmavathi Devi's temple is away from Lord Sri Venkateswara's. Legend has it that the Lord (Sri Maha Vishnu, who later took on the incarnation of Sri Venkateswara) showed his reverence towards the sage, Bhrigu Maharshi, even though the sage had insulted Vishnu by kicking Him on the chest…ok!ok!..and finally , we entered the temple when it was bout to close, we had darshan and went to ve our dinner at bhimas hotel!.. I just love Andhra food , known for its spicy nature.. so hoping for a good meal, I even forgave the person who made us walk for half an hour!.. while walking, I discovered that, the walls of the city were no longer white washed , but were covered with wall papers , wall papers were nothing but, colourful posters of newly released movies! The people were mad bout movies, its just a humble effort of the film makers to attract them, I thought!..and then we walked for 20 mins. Then finally! Reached! tummy rumbling!. Tongues twitching , mouth watering!, settled in the cushions n glanced at the menu card!! ….dreams shattered! One meal was priced at Rs 70!..Forlorn! some of my friends an I opted for dosai! And found out that its not a step down to meals! It was amazing.. however, we helped ourselves from our friends who bravely ordered Andhra meals.. while doing so, we had a difficult task of avoiding the glares of the waiters!... the meal ended with beedas and saunfs! And started to hotel or as it is otherwise called in thirupati as devasthanams (The statutory authority which manages the affairs of temple.).. after a good walk.. we reached the place .. and rested in the rooms alloted to us .and we ‘d to get up early tomorrow at 4…..( will be continued)

Preface!

2007-02-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

Never in my wildest dreams i thought i am going to start a blog!.. but, my boredom pushed me into wilder than the wildest of my dreams!, in that i saw myself starting a blog.. with my little knowledge of 'interpreting the dreams', i still thought that i wont start a blog... i 've interpreted my dream wrongly!!.. as u can c, i ve started a blog ...

well! i ve named this blog as vishcocity,! the visitors will find some of my animation works in it!.. and of course will it with my analysis of various events and my proceedings in life!..