Kindly Adjust

The little-known Vanivilasa Sagara Dam at Marikanive

2012-01-06T12:02:00.000+05:30

Here's wishing you a very happy 2012!

From obscure Hoysala temples to large monoliths, fromquaint blackbuck reserves to the Merlion, from Madhugiri to Malaysia, the last twomonths have been the best travel-wise, and have seen me and my humble Santro goplaces all over the state! This trip, however, was done alongwith my cousins intheir i10 (which I must say, is a pleasure to drive!). The destination thistime, was the oldest dam of Karnataka - Marikanive Dam or Vani Vilasa Sagara,near Hiriyur in the Chitradurga district.

As a kid I remember visiting Chitradurga and its massivefort, and ever since, the image that comes to mind when I hear any reference tothe Chitradurga district is a wild, wild west-type barren land with the Sunburning down on you. But this trip shattered that myth for me.

We started early in the day at around 6 as we knew thetraffic would build up on the NH4 Bangalore-Tumkur Road, and sure enough itdid. But after gobbling up delicious idlis at the Kamadhenu Hotel nearDobbaspet, all the traffic woes were gone and we were set. The NH4 is part ofthe Golden Quadrilateral, and so the road is an absolute pleasure to drive. Theonly caveat is that since the road is one of India’s and Karnataka’s mostimportant roads, there is a LOT (believe me!) of traffic all along the highway.Accidents are alarmingly common here, and a lot of caution is advised whiledriving.

Now, back to the subject. To reach Vani Vilasa Sagara fromBangalore, you must take a left turn at Hiriyur, which lies on the NH4 afterTumkur and Sira. The roads are extremely good, and even the road from Hiriyurto the dam was in a far better shape than I’d imagined it would be. Thelandscape is mostly flat, dotted with numerous lakes and monolithic boulders suchas Siddara Betta and Shivagange. But almost out of nowhere, the landscape changes about 10km from Marikanive with lush green hills and tree-lined roads.

There is a Maramma temple at the edge of the reservoir, and one look at the mammoth wall is enough to inspire awe at Man's engineering ability. The dam, that is built across the Vedavathi river that originates in the Western Ghats, was built in 1898. This dam is one of the main sources of water for the entire district.

The wall of the dam. Comparable to the hill beside it!

The location of the dam is strategic, nestled between two hills, and there are two mantapas on either hills, adding to the beauty of the place. There is a Government Guest House atop one of the hills, and this isn't just an excellent vantage point but an ideal place to be one with your thoughts, and leave all behind, albeit momentarily. I spent many precious minutes with the clear blue sky, the clear blue waters and the hills that stretched to the horizon.

The serene blue waters of Marikanive are a delight to the eyes!

Just looking around for some food...

Blue at its best!

Bird's eye view of the dam from atop the hill

Lost in my thoughts, I was reminded of the grind thanks to a call from a colleague, and we soon headed back home. There're famous temples and a fort in Hosadurga, which is about 35km from the dam, but we didn't bother taking that detour. There are quite a few temples on the way back along NH4, but we didn't stop there either. So by 7pm, I was back home, all set to kick off another work week after the very refreshing little trip!

Route taken: Yeshwantpur -> Tumkur -> Sira -> Hiriyur -> Vanivilasapura. Route link

Bonus - Desktop Calendar for Jan 2012. May the New Year be all that you want it to be!

Desktop Calendar - December 2011

2011-12-01T09:57:00.001+05:30

When the south-west monsoons have receded, Bangalore and its surroundings receive rainfall courtesy depressions in the Bay of Bengal. I was at Madhugiri last weekend, and was lucky enough to see a cloudburst. This picture was taken atop the huge monolithic fort, and this view of cloudburst over the Devarayana Durga Hills made me forget the horrible roads and everything else! Happy December!

Unseen Bangalore: Lakes - Part 1

2011-11-04T23:46:00.002+05:30

Love the new Dynamic theme from Blogger.

Distinguished scientist C N R Rao had once said, and I concur - that a real Bangalorean is someone who was there before the IT boom happened. So, as a third-generation Bangalorean who has spent nearly 2 decades residing in the north end of the city, my love for it has multiplied post-Surathkal, and it really annoys me when a non-Bangalorean walks up to me and says 'Are yaar Bangalore only has like 10 malls - there's nothing to see in this city!'! So I write this post hoping to eradicate that annoyingly false notion.

For one, Bangalore is a city of many lakes. The minor river of Vrishabhavathi flows by the western part of the city, but now all that remains of it is a stream of sewage. So no, Bangalore has no river. But the presence of numerous lakes more than makes up for the lack of rivers or the sea. The city once had many, many more lakes, but they've all given way to buildings and the like. The Kempegowda Bus Station (or Majestic) is constructed on what used to be the Dharmambudhi Tank, which was created during Kempegowda's time. Kanteerava stadium was built on the Sampangi Kere ('Kere' is Kannada for lake). The now-popular Mantri Mall (which I believe single-handedly ruined the quintessential Bangalorean charm of Malleswaram) and the area beside it stands on the dried-up bed of the Jakkarayana Kere. The National Dairy Research Institute in Kormangala, beside Adugodi, is on the bed of the once-expansive Koramangala lake. There are several more such instances of lake beds being converted to large buildings. But, there's still some hope. The lakes at Ulsoor, Sankey Tank, Hebbal, Yediyur, Madiwala, Kengeri, Jakkur, and Iblur among others, offer some hope amidst rampant encroachment and land-grabbing. Before these consume whatever is left of Bangalore's lakes, I decided to see around for myself if I could spot a few obscure lakes which still had water and whose bed didn't apartment complexes towering up on them. I wasn't very hopeful, but I was very pleasantly surprised!

1. A Lake in the middle of the city!

Yes it's right. Right in the middle of Bangalore city, near a 19th century city landmark, is a lake! I was a little curious about what the area had, and happened to venture there. I was taken aback at the size of the lake, and how well the lake is maintained. Maybe it is so since it is private, and no effluents or sewage flows into it. Also, the near-obscurity of this place, made this 'discovery' all the more sweeter! There was a Rama temple by the lakeside that supposedly opens once a week. In the wetlands, I could spot egrets, cormorants, and I came menacingly close to a bunch of kites!

Impressive isn't it?!

Serene waters

Cormorant in flight

Kites ho!

Meanwhile in Sandalwood...

2011-08-24T14:41:00.003+05:30

Oh no they didn't!

2011-08-16T23:54:00.002+05:30

Do pay attention to the tagline!

Saw this on the way back from work...o_O

Desktop Calendar - July 2011

2011-07-10T01:26:00.001+05:30

Picture taken while passing by Cubbon Park on my way home on a work day. Amazing how the fact that there's a pristine 100-acre lung space right in the heart of Bangalore slips out the mind when we pass by it so often - sometimes it is important to pause and look around!

Trying to be non-plussed

2011-07-04T23:33:00.000+05:30

Ok...so the wait is over. Months of "Wonder what's Google upto?" questions were laid to rest as Google, amidst much expectation, unveiled Google+. After using pretty much most of the features of Google's new venture that makes the entire web a social network of sorts, and with the constant, handy updates from our in-house customer care representative Bharath Ravi, here's what I think of G+.

Pro's:

It's from Google - so its no-nonsense. Vic Gundotra and his colleagues at Google must've carefully observed what Facebook lacks in terms of privacy. And so circles, voila! You can make a few circles see your pictures, see what you +1'ed, view your posts or my personal favourite - you can even control your status in chat as available/busy to circles you choose! Clearly, as far as privacy goes, this is a BIG win for Google+.
The Hangout feature - video chatting with upto 10 people at once. Instant hit! Microsoft+Skype - can read 'em and weep! Facebook intends to counter that soon with Skype integration in its chat, but since Facebook chat itself is very basic and lacks features in my opinion, it'll be interesting to see how this works.
There's a lot of integration. A LOT. Picasa photos taken during early Surathkal days show up randomly in the stream and make you think - "What really? When was this taken?". A little nostalgia ensues. G+ for that!
When all these features come together on your mobile phone, the experience will be quite amazing. The Android app is already being downloaded like there's no tomorrow, and an app for the iPhone is expected soon.

Before all the google-tards, who feel 'satisfied'(TWSS!) by clicking the "Mute post' button or love the animation when you delete a circle and tweet "Google+ roxxx \m/" I'd also like to point out a few con's of Google+

The omnipresence of Google with its products in almost every imaginable domain from search to maps to shopping to Music to Scholar to 3D modelling to creating and sharing articles(which I always thought had the potential to be as neat as Quora) makes it so much easier to integrate all that you do on any Google product into one giant behemoth and bring anything you do online under the social network umbrella. And I don't think I'd be okay with that. For instance, if you'd cheaply +1'ed your own googlesites page hoping to increase its pagerank(we've all been there!) or had +1'ed something you'd rather not want to share(in any circle), or secretly +1'ed Justin Bieber, or countless other occasions, G+ still shows all those pages as part of your profile! But the good thing is, there are privacy options at each step in G+, so you can choose how a person, or a circle of friends, or anyone on the web, can view your profile, or the things posted by you. If you don't set the privacy controls at each step, you can kiss your online privacy goodbye.
From the Orkut(why is it still there btw?) days to Google+, Google and the Internet, have come a long, long way. But, Facebook has a 700 million user headstart, so Google+ has a long, long way before it can dethrone Facebook. So all the people who're busy beaming about Google+ on Google+ and on Facebook and on Twitter(and in real-life) as if Google+ is the next best thing that was ever made after the western commode, chill.
Now it means there'll be an extra tab on my browser that'll always be open, alongwith Twitter and Facebook. Great. Work productivity RIP.

Desktop Calendar - June 2011

2011-06-06T21:47:00.000+05:30

Greetings!

I return with a picture taken from the GKVK Campus, one of my favourite places in Bangalore.

Bangalore skies welcome the monsoons with open arms!

Desktop Calendar - January 2011

2011-01-05T09:11:00.000+05:30

Photo taken along the extremely picturesque Sakaleshpur-Subramanya railway line.

Happy New Year folks!

Malnad Musings III - Manjarabad Fort

2010-11-17T01:41:00.001+05:30

Here're Parts I and II btw.

Life at Chipzilla is fun and challenging and all that, but all the more challenging is to adapt to a whole new lifestyle. My routine after I joined work is simply that of moving from one seat to another – starting from the toilet seat in the morning to the chair in my cube and then the chair at home in front of the TV or the PC. I wear shorts to meet relatives and friends, my idea of a good meal has changed from Pallkhi to Barbeque Nation, I prefer Vajra buses to regular blue-coloured BMTC buses and I’ve developed a slight paunch thanks to this sedentary lifestyle and my default mail client is MS Outlook! I’m slowly becoming The Bangalore techie...

The weekdays were getting hectic and the weekends equally boring. I was itching to get out of the city and the Skandagiri night trek was just what the doctor ordered to kick me from my slumber. A weekend visit to Hassan after the Skandagiri weekend proved to be another weekend well-spent…

Sakaleshpur in Hassan district is the gateway to the mighty Western Ghats, and is, as rightly advertised, 'God’s gift to coffee'. It is where the daunting hairpin bends of the Shiradi Ghats meet the aroma of fresh coffee. I was fortunate enough to visit Sakaleshpur just after the monsoons this time around. About 8km from Sakaleshpur en route Shiradi and Kadumane is the Manjarabad Fort, which was commissioned by Tipu Sultan. Having been to Jamalabad Fort earlier this year, another fort built by Tipu which is now pretty much non-existent, I was surprised to see the fort well intact. The name of this fort is said to have been derived from the fact that it was always covered in fog. Hence the apt name ‘Manj’arabad(‘Manju’ is Kannada for fog).

There’s a sign on the NH48 that shows the direction to Manjarabad Fort. The one other signboard was completely rusted so I couldn't make out much from it except that it was built during the mid-1700s. The easy to climb stairs were dotted with wonderful yellow flowers all along the path. What welcomes us after an ascent of close to 250 steps is a well-camouflaged small fort with distinctive Islamic architecture at the entrance.

This leads to a small but extremely picturesque fort that stands on a stretch of plain land some 3200ft above the ground. The fort is in the shape of an octagonal star.

The fort is surrounded on all sides by the lofty mountains. There are two layers of star-shaped walls, and the little fort is complete with a moat adjoining it..

An eastward view from atop...

My attempts to capture the octagonal star...

The Charmadi Ghat range. north of Manjarabad. Are the two peaks Amedikallu and Ettina Bhuja?

The fort also has two tunnels, which are said to lead to Mysore and Srirangapatna respectively. Although the fort is ideally located among the mountains and offers breathtaking views all around, its a pity that little has been done to develop Manjarabad as a tourist spot. Although dozens of movie songs have been shot here, it isn't a designated KSRTC bus stop. The haphazardly grown grass inside the fort can be replaced by neat and well-maintained lawns, like the Bekal Fort in Kasragod. Once the authorities do take up the necessary action, I'm sure the fort will become far more popular among tourists, and deservedly so.

Oh, and one last thing. I still don't know what flower this is.

Desktop Calendar - November 2010

2010-10-28T09:22:00.000+05:30

Photo taken at Skandagiri(or KaLawarabeTTa) near ChikkabaLLapur.

Feels good to fill this space after a long time.

May God Help Me - Farewell NITK

2010-05-19T14:58:00.006+05:30

The NITK Chapter is officially closed. As Bangaloreans, we have had plenty of rants against college. But after the exodus dawns the epiphany that things weren't so miserable at NITK after all. Now that I'm back home, I've been able to see the very thin silver lining beneath those very, very dark clouds that made these past four years pretty rough.

The Department:

After a fairly successful series of exams(barring the JEE of course!), I landed up in a class of 73 other souls, who, like me, had screwed up just the one exam but had fared pretty well in the AIEEE and landed in the most sought-after branch in the most sought-after NIT, only behind the IITs and BITS Pilani. Although I felt from the curriculum book when I first looked at it that our courses were very well-structured, I must admit that quite a few of them were mostly rote-mugging courses sugar-coated to sound cool. The Department and Its Presiding Diety always kept us on our toes. Assignments, projects or those excruciating JeDi lab reports saw us run from floor to floor, lab to lab, burn ICs, switch from Matlab to NgSpice, from Windows to Linux and back and then back again to Windows (for CS, DoTA and WoW of course!). Exams, tests and quizzes, both surprise and announced, were, unfortunately for me, met with the same response from my great class - that of complete preparedness. Through these four years, I've seen a lot of my classmates transform from bookworms into, well, far bigger bookworms while the rest of us just photocopied their notes a couple of days before the endsems(for which I remain eternally grateful to the donors :P). But mind you, the ECE Class of 2010 was no ordinary class. The fact that our branch bagged the most admits from the IIMs and XLRI speaks not only of the people who got those admits but also of our Department, which opened many eyes who found their true calling elsewhere. The course also took a toll on quite a few students who promptly shifted loyalties from Mom's DSP to Mallya's DSP. But most of us stayed loyal to our subject, as was reflected in the many admits at prestigious US(UMD, USC, Columbia, ASU, UMass, etc.) and European(Ecole, Munich, etc.) universities, good GATE performance and placements in highly respected 'core' companies(Intel, NI, AD, TI, NVidia, Ittiam, Juniper to name a few).

Whether this roller-coaster academic ride has made me a good Electronics & Communication engineer or not, time will tell. These four years, our Department has taught us(apart from Electronics and Communication, that is!) the ubiquity of Matlab, the importance of A1 Prints and KST, good presentation skills, LaTeX, CTRL+C and CTRL+V but most importantly, teamwork and endurance. I hope to take with me all these lessons and skills. May God help me.

The location:

Surathkal, located 23km from Mangalore, along the NH-17, is pretty much the run-of-the mill coastal town with its temples, sloped-roofed houses and the streets that perennially smell of fish. There are two seasons here - rain and no rain. And when it rains in Surathkal, it pours. Like hell. And irrespective of the season, one will sweat in Surathkal. Like hell. Only in this aspect, being from Bangalore was disadvantageous in that I took quite some time to adjust to the hostile weather conditions. In the hostel, we've probably ranted about the weather atleast a million times. The location of NITK in this nondescript sleepy town has also been thoroughly questioned. But all the obvious negatives apart, I sometimes feel NITK is located at just the right distance from both the sea(less than a km!) and the mighty Western Ghats. This has allowed us easy access to Karnataka's(and some of India's) best beaches such as our very own NITK Beach, the lighthouse beach, Malpe, Marvanthe, Panambur, Kaup, Kota, Dhareshwar, Karwar, Murudeshwar, St.Mary's Island, and of course, the beaches of Gokarna. Add to this the mighty Sahyadri mountains to the West, whose few peaks we have scaled(Thadiyandamol, Kumara Parvata, Kodachadri, Kudremukh, Kemmangundi, etc.) and its innumerable waterfalls, few of which we have seen, most notably at Jog, Hebri(Sita Falls of course!), Hanumangundi, Sirimane, the waterfalls of Coorg, etc. That NITK is nestled in Nature's very lap more than makes up for the lack of cafes, malls, multiplexes or any general 'hangouts' in a 10-km radius. I personally loved the location of the campus, as it was utmost conducive to get out of!

I hope to keep returning to both the misty mountains and the sun-kissed sands time and again. May God help me.

The food:

The arachnids in 1st Block mess food(if you may call it food) were a grim reminder of what was to follow in the years to come food-wise. These four years, we've taken a lot of crap from a lot of places, but most of it was from our messes. But keeping aside all the negatives(yeah, all of them...tough task isn't it?), the lack of tasty edible food in the mess prompted us to explore all of Mangalore's and Surathkal's restaurants. Sads, Suraj, Pallkhi, Kudla, Aroma, Diesel Cafe, Amazon, Chutney, LL, Naivedyam, Delicios, Bon Bon's, Dinoo's, Pizza Hut, FOT, Domino's, Chef's, CX, Ginger, Gateway, Foody's, Cherry Square, Sai Bhavani, GNPD and Bittu da Dhaba owe a large portion of their business to us taste-startved NITKians. Not to mention the cheap-and best NC whose Vada Paos and Gulab Jamuns were, for most of us, a daily routine. Add NFC, Nescafe, the Coffee Dabba, Shanbogue, Sundar's, the beach-shack to the list and you don't have to feel sorry for us anymore! But yes, still, despite all the options, the mess food sucks. Food-wise, NITK has prepared me for the worst in vegetarian food. You can throw Hemant Karkare's bulletproof vest at me and there's a high chance I'd find that softer and tastier than the mess rotis. I am confident I can survive on(and probably even relish) anything that even remotely looks, smells and tastes like food. May God help me!

The hostel:

As a bespectacled goody-two-shoes Tairsaadham party, I entered the NITK hostel, only to see my Bong roomie smoking away like a chimney in my first week. Thus began my hostel experience. Then came Room 40, and the rest was history. The crappy mess food, ragging, the exasperatingly inefficient hostel administrations, the extremely moronic procedures for room allotment, lot picking, room politics, utterly non-responsive student unions and the utterly disgusting politics every year, night-long blackouts, perennial powerlessness and waterlessness, loaded toilets, unflushed loos, the stench of vomit in the corridor following a party - all these and more were but minor hiccups in a rollicking hostel life with absolutely amazing friends, 20+ guys in one room, night-outs, terrace night-outs, star-gazing at 3AM, poker, Thadambail breakfasts, fudging EG sheets, mafia, carrom, sports, GD, LAN, DC++. the eleventh-hour MTP, Eco and MM slog-yards, A-wing, beach, guitar, national integration(:P), TV rooms, TT room, common rooms, freshers, farewells, job treat, block parties, wing treats, floor treats, GPLs, mass GPLs, trips, treks, net, USB hard disks, anime, stuff, GB, GNPD, movies, sitcoms, series, musical nights, SAC movie nights, gaming, club fests, quizzes, dramatics, SPICMACAY concerts, Crrescendo, Incident and Engineer. Hostel life at NITK was a once-in-a-lifetime experience which I would give anything to relive again.

My time at NITK will be treasured as four of the best years of my life so far. As I step out of NITK, the one place that has given me hell and heaven, into the real world with its actual food, water, electricity, better weather and a better sex ratio(quoting Kaadu here), I hope to take with me and never forget everything that this wonderful college has taught me. In all my future endeavours, as we were all made to repeat at that wonderful ring ceremony, may God help me.

The Muted Moderate

2010-04-12T15:33:00.000+05:30

All the hype surrounding MNIK and the SRK-Kajol factor got me to watch the movie (and later rue the 2h40m spent), especially irritating was the central idea which the viewer is reminded of, every five minutes as the movie unfolded, rather painfully at that, and that is, of course - His name is Khan(from the
epiglottis :P) and that he’s not a terrorist. What got me thinking was why the same line was being repeated, reinforced and re-stated, over and over again!

Maybe there was something else to it apart from just bad dialogue. Maybe it was just an overtly dramatic way of saying that every Muslim on the street isn’t a terrorist or encourages terrorism.

Where is the voice of the moderate Muslim? Why is it that people draw a picture of a bearded fanatic when we hear the word ’Muslim’ ? Why can’t we instead picture the neighbouring Ali Uncle, who takes the bus to work at a regular office? Why do some fanatic Maulvis who decry almost anything(a fatwa on trading in the stock market?! You gotta be kidding me!) have to be the self-appointed voice of the lakhs of Muslims in India?

Similarly why does the Shiv Sena or the MNS have to be the self-appointed righteous upholders of the ’Maratha way’ and become imposing chauvunists? The resillient 30-something man who stays in an ordinary Ghatkopar colony and takes the maddeningly crowded Western line braving stampede, torrential downpour and the why, even the odd terror attack(notice how local trains have
almost always been the target of terror attacks) is the deserving mouthpiece of Mumbai, not Saamna! The need of the hour is a leader, not an opinion leader. All empathizers of the Thakerays, Muthaliks, Stalins, et all. and their 'noble causes' - kindly take note.

Detachment Theory

2010-03-29T22:40:00.001+05:30

A psychological and evolutionary theory that attempts at explaining human behaviour is the Attachment Theory, mainly propounded by a John Bowlby, whose basic tenet is that infants need to develop a relationship with atleast one parent or a caretaker for its natural development to occur smoothly. This relationship, that Bowlby talks of, exists mainly between the 'caregivers' and infants aged 6 months to 2 years old. Bowlby published the full theory in his trilogy Attachment and Loss, and his Attachment theory has since become "the dominant approach to understanding early social development, and has given rise to a great surge of empirical research into the formation of children's close relationships".

While this theory does supposedly explain attachment of infants with their 'caregivers', what still eludes my mind is the nature of the myriad other attachments we have, all of which affect our behaviour, and psychological state equally, or maybe even more than, the attachment we have as infants. From this primary 'attachment', we tend to develop intimate attachments to all kinds of things - right from people around us, folks we care about, to things, to objects - from gifts to the papyrus sheets that certify our formal education's various stages, that first penny that we ever earned, that first promotion email, that cherished gift, offer letter, that special text message(s) on our phones, or that email from a long-lost cherished friend, or anything else - attachments come in all shapes and sizes.

I'm trying hard not to sound too much like a preacher or one of them 'thinkers', but there's an inherent fear of ostracization that causes us to have these attachments. We'd probably be better off if we were dispassionate and detached enough and learnt to 'take everything as a bonus', but I know I'm not one of those types, as are most others(or if I may, all others). The Gita and a million mortal preachers talk of detachment or Vairagya as a means to attain salvation...but aren't they attached to their cause as well? So, aren't the detached attached as well? Can we be passionately attached to something, and yet stay at a dispassionately long distance from it to not be perturbed even to the slightest extent by its ripples? Is detached attachment possible? Is it possible to not expect anything and instead 'take everything as a bonus'?

P.S.: Yes, I am like this wonly. Kindly adjust.

How trains in India came to have toilets

2010-01-28T13:41:00.000+05:30

We and our bowels should all be grateful to this Okhil Chandra Sen for this wonderfully written letter, the aftermath of which saw our train compartments have toilets. :)

The letter has been preserved for posterity in the Railway Museum in New Delhi.

Re-solution

2009-12-20T14:32:00.002+05:30

Ho ho ho...

Its that time of the year when people tend to look back on the year that was and plan ahead. Just as the Christmas holidays kick in and the party spirit takes over, is when everyone tend to do some heady introspection on the year that was and of course, make resolutions for the coming year. I for one, haven’t been a very big fan of this whole procedure…I’d rather ring in the New Year on a happy note and try to put any regretful act(s) behind…

As far as resolutions go, well I’ve given up on them. Ever since I’ve been, like nine (that’s probably when I learnt the meaning of the word ‘resolution’), I’ve tried my luck with resolutions, with little effect, every year - learn the bicycle, buy a new racket, don’t fight with sisters, manage acads and co-curriculars, keep a personal diary, learn a somersault, finish War and Peace, etc., etc., etc. Well, to put it succinctly, they didn’t go very well. Not at all.

But I’m darn sure I’m not the only one out there with failed New Year resolutions. All of us are, nay, all of humanity is, in the same boat. But its not that all of mankind lacks resolve. I guess it has something to do with the whole concept of New Year resolutions. The pressure of keeping up a resolution and all the hype surrounding it is probably why we can’t keep them up in the first place. Or maybe its just something to do with New Year’s…or the word ‘resolution’ itself- heavy word, isn’t it? And pretty disheartening too. I guess they should call it something else, maybe a ‘New Year’s wish’. That way, if you can’t keep it up, its just one of the many wishes that aren’t ‘meant’ to be granted as yet (like a car, Xbox, iPhone, a mountain bike, the new Woodlands hiking shoes, etc.) and if you do somehow manage to keep up, then Voila! It’s a New Year’s miracle!

Anyway, Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year to everyone! Hopefully the new nomenclature will work for you. :)

Checklist

2009-11-14T15:25:00.002+05:30

Continuing in my new-found foreign language...excuse all errors - syntactic and semantic. Kindly adjust. :P

Take mandatory non-engineering exams - check.
Get thulped in said exam - check.
Crib about no LAN in mega block and mess food - check and Duh! check.
Clubs, committees, et cetera - check, check...and check.
See some of the best music, theatre and dance performances - check.
ENGINEER - check. :)
Projects - check.
Get a job - check.
Get GPL for said job - check, thrice (grrrr...)!
Get offer letter, freak out neurotic friend - check. :P
Job treat - check (burrp!), thanks to bhatTI. :D
Sunfeast Pasta Treat in the room - check.
Deliver GPL to 18 guys in one night (and be one of the 18)- check.
Manage to sit glued to chair during DIP endsem for more than 2hrs - check
Update blog - check.

To do:

Get an awesome camera
STUDY! for endsems!

Till next time...

Phoren hand

2009-10-19T15:43:00.006+05:30

Officially done treating English as a ‘foreign language’. So let me put my knowledge of this new exotic language to some use. The language is still very ‘foreign’ to me, so I haven’t really gone beyond bullet points since ‘bullet points are what are mainly used by teachers during lectures in an “academic environment”!!!’

•First Diwali in NITK – awesome! There’re a lot of things we miss by scampering home every festival. This is the ONLY time I’ve wished I weren’t a Bangy.

•Q. Connect - Muffins, samosas, pastries, glucose biscuits, repeated power failure, Domino’s Pizza, cardboard cartons, sleep (well, almost...almost! ), Suhas’ jinx

A – Events during my TOEFL

•Garnered Diwali foodie-goodies from home! :D

•I can finally get back to engineering, and what better a way to do that than ENGINEER Golden Jubilee Edition? Think. Create. You’ll know what to do next.

•Festive spirit aside, I’m still remorseful about one thing...

Anyway Happy Deepavali all :)

God's Own Backwaters

2009-09-21T17:48:00.005+05:30

Yeah yeah...I know its been a long time since I posted. I'm so lazy and easily bored that even ranting about it online has become boring. So much for a positive outlook! Anyway I've been wanting to write about this for quite a while now. The draft was ready months ago...just that I was too lazy to click 'Publish'.

Before final year exclusives like block parties and job treats could take over, it was our first weekend as a final year(which, I still feel, sucks!). Three of us were stuffed in one 7th Block room a la 2nd year which we couldn't take anymore. But the BIG positive was that there was LAN so we grabbed up every download slot that we could. Maadu and I were somehow more keen on getting off our asses than download movies and sitcoms. After convincing everyone else(except Chakki of course!), we decided on a one-day trip. My affair with Kerala was far from over...

Ashes(reporting for NGC!), .com, KK, Suri, Shanky, Maadu, Kini and yours truly set off from college to Bekal Fort which is a couple of hours away south of Mangalore. Bekal is Kerala's biggest fort, dating back to the 15th century. The fort is located where the coastline takes a huge U-turn so it couldn't be more strategically (and photogenically) built. A Mukhyaprana(Hanuman) temple welcomes you to the fort which offers breathtaking views of the Arabian Sea. The fort and beach below it are famous tourist spots; the waters and the walls at Bekal Fort have been captured in many a movie, most notably in Bombay whose song 'Tu Hi Re' was shot here. I managed to get some really decent snaps of the fort while NGC Ashes recorded a few good videos.

What followed after Bekal was my first backwater experience...GODLIKE!

Some 30km away from Bekal fort lie the Valiyaparamba backwaters. It still took us more than 2 hours to get there since there were no direct buses available (and more than half a day to pronounce the name right). Half a dozen buses and a lot of enquiry later, we reached the last point in the mainland - Ayitty village(God's own IT village!). And there lay the vast backwaters, calling out to us in all their serene splendour. I was awestruck by the sheer expanse of the waters and the endless sight of coconut trees. The 30-minute ferry ride from the IT village to Valiyaparamba island is pure bliss(of course it would've been more so had we not been stuffed into an overloaded ferry). Despite fearing that the boat may capsize any moment, I clicked away to glory.

The island is a treat to the eyes and the lens. It takes you centuries back where the only roads were paths and the clamor of vehicles was unknown to the ear. The island is some 7km long and is FILLED with coconut trees. After landing onto the backwaters' side, we walked the breadth of the isle to reach the beach which is(and will be for quite some time) the best beach I've ever been to!

I can exaltify it in a hundred more words but I'd rather let the pictures do the talking and compensate for my lack of adjectives that befit this place. Click here to view the full album - its the next best thing to actually being there. (plus my photography was appreciated by many so you won't regret it). All in all it was both a very economical(just 200 per head!) and more importantly, one of the most memorable places I've ever been to. For those of you who go to Bekal, the backwaters are a must-see.

Till next time...

God's Own Convention - Days 3 and 4

2009-07-28T15:17:00.005+05:30

First things first...FINAL YEAR!!! :D

This post shall have my experiences of both Day 3 and Day 4 of the convention, whose first two days have been extensively documented (In other words, please read the 2 posts that precede this one :P). My insuperable indolence has prevented me from documenting the two days separately...due apologies for that. So let's track back to the 26th and 27th of May...

The Yoga session in the wee hours of the morning went well with 12 rounds of Suryanamaskaara among other postures and asanas. Bodily ablutions (in the girls' bathroom) on both days were duly followed by queer dishes for breakfast and copious amounts of warm 'traditional Kerala herbs' water.

Talk by Aruna Roy - Social Worker

Yeah...this one was a first too. Never before had I heard a woman her age so shrill and full of zest. Although she has done commendable work for the cause of RTI and NREGS, she had me go a little ballistic over her pro-Congress and anti-BJP remarks. And she didn't even answer BadSense's or my questions!! Darn it!

Talk/Demonstration by Anjolie Ela Menon - painter

Paintings yella okay...what's with her fascination for crows, right breasts and chairs!!!???

Film Screening - The Rat Trap by Adoor Gopalakrishnan

This celebrated filmmaker was present at the centre for the screening of his 'The Rat Trap', which, maybe because of the heavy lunch, I must admit, was very soporific. I stayed awake but was quite disappointed as I thought the movie wasn't worth all the adulation it has got even though I did get his symoblism for the most part of it.

Carnatic Flute by N Ramani

One of the most melodic instruments, the flute is like a panacea for all bad moods. And Vidwan N Ramani is one of the most accomplished flautists of our times. The concert, needless to say, was thoroughly enjoyable esp. ragas like Kadana Kutuhala, Sindhubhairavi and the likes...

Akiro Kurosawa's Throne Of Blood was screened on the afternoon of the 27th. We'd rather see such movies on LAN...so while Suhas, Aane and Mahi-maa represented our college at the conceptual session, the rest of us headed out to see God's Own Capital in all its evening glory. The museum which was housed in an old palace was quite a charm and the exquisite paintings at the Raja Ravi Varma museum left me speechless. We also sauntered along to the planetarium(I still don't know why). Anyway I could get a few decent pics to shoot so I wasn't complaining.

Sitar by Ustad Shahid Parvez

This was one concert I never thought I'd enjoy so much. Ustadji enjoyed while perfroming too and the mood was light and convivial in what was one of the best concerts of the convention.

Hindustani Vocal by Shri Rajshekhar Mansur

The only performer from Karnataka(yeah), Rajshekhar Mansur kept the audience in rapt attention and enthralled us all with his vocal ability and his consummate ease with which he could sing even the highest notes.

Dhrupad Vocal by Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar

Dhrupad is essentially a poetic form incorporated into an extended presentation style marked by precise and orderly elaboration of a raga. The Dagar family has been one of the most illustrious flagbearers of this wonderful singing style for generations. And Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar kept the high tradition alive by a thoroughly professional performance.

Intensives - Kalamkari

Myriad-shaped blots, pungently-smelling bags, breaking a bench, and a LOT of fun later, my cloth transformed into something I'm still kinda proud of. While I chose God's Own Tree i.e., the Coconut as my subject, other objects that made appearances others' clothes included XKCD sticks living in an XKCD house, a vase(which I still maintain is a hookah!), a bird, a houseboat and the embroidery work of a woman's salwar-kameez(nice one Tiger Baby!). While Shaz's meticulously drawn Yin-Yang was very impressive, more so was his abitlity to pick up incentives from the intensives and dine with the aforementioned 'incentives' in thier respective hometowns. Darn him!

Pictures will be plugged in later. Till then...kindly adjust! :P

God's Own Convention - Day 2

2009-06-30T16:45:00.009+05:30

Apologies for the prolonged slumber. So where was I? Yes...

We awoke at 4.45AM. Yes, I woke up at 4.45...to do Yoga! The lengthy yoga session was in a way refreshing. So was the sight of MadSense dozing off during Shavaasana. Breakfast was followed by a talk on Kerala's folk culture by one Kavalam Narayana, which was both informative and I must admit, pretty monotonous. The talk on folk culture was fittingly followed up by a Kerala folk dance called Ottanthullal, which was rather enjoyable and to me seemed like a poor man's Kathakali.

There was also a rather queer acrobatic Tamil folk dance form called Karagattam at the end of which I was both in awe and in splits. Karagattam was followed by the seemingly never-ending Prahlad Natak which I must admit I didn't particularly enjoy very much.

What I liked a lot in the convention, and what made this a convention and not a concert series, were the intensives. These intensives were 5-day 'learning' which were conducted for us by the masters and the artistes themselves. I thought I'd dabble in art and signed up for Kalamkari under the very amicable and venerable Gurappa Chetty alongwith Tennis, Thames, Harshal, 'Thumb'elina aka Poonam, Shaz, Tiger Baby and Aane. MadSense and BadSense (who arrived later that day) chose the tutelage of the Great Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan; Mahi-maa chose Pattachitra, Sri Sri and Shiney chose Yoga and God's Own Suhas chose Kudiyattam. Our first 'class', which was was about the 'fab' process of the cloth and the kalam, was rather insightful. Its no easy thing waiting for a cloth to wash it in myriad liquids in different concentrations; it takes nearly 17 steps to transform the ordinary cloth to a bright canvas of art.

After the intensive session, we set off towards the Ananthapadmanabha Temple in the heart of the old city.

After the Darshana of the the Diety, Shiney and I set off amidst rains to the concert venue in a hurry as we didn't want to miss a lot of the next concert while the rest of them chose to hang around. And whilst we were at the temple, the rest of the coterie joined in celebrating the birthday of God's Own Suhas.

Well so far so good, but the performances so far weren't that great...until these two concerts.

Carnatic Vocal by T N Sheshagopalan

I skipped dinner to get to the venue in time...but I didn't regret it. The first Carnatic concert of the convention, that too by T N Sheshagoplan obviously had me upbeat. Though Shiney and I reached a bit late, we were treated with some of the best kritis in the melodic voice of the vidwan. The next concert however, was easily on of the most scintillating performances I had seen and will ever see.

Kutiyattam by Kapila Venu

Prior to the convention, I had no idea about the existence of Kutiyattam. A bit about Kutiyattam for the uninitiated- It is the world's oldest theatre form (and I'm not kidding!). It is a Sanskrit theatre form that uses mime and percussion far more than the spoken word to communicate. Ergo that makes it al l the more demanding from the artiste.The tyro that I was, I was more than glad I had birthday boy Suhas sitting next to me for this perfromance. I was glad he chose Kutiyattam for his intensive- he elucidated each subtlety and each expression till I could get the hang of it. The rather young artiste Kapila Venu has been trained in the moribund theatre form by one of Kutiyattam's greatest exponents Sri Ammanur Madhava Chakyar who the convention was dedicated to. Her performance, her gait, her expressions, her mastery were all simply, MIND-BLOWING!!!

End of Day 2. Epiphany of the day - Kapila Venu is THE best actress I've ever seen.

God's Own Convention - Day 1

2009-06-09T13:14:00.011+05:30

Statutory warning - Long post ahead.
This post and the ones that follow are about the SPICMACAY Annual National Convention 2009 at Trivandrum and my experiences there as a delegate. No this is not the formal report. I'm basically taking off where Suhas had left last year although I must admit - no one, yes, NO ONE can come even light years close to doing (and seeing) the things he did (and saw) at Kohima last year and still come back unscathed. If you still are a disbeliever in the inscrutability of the human race and the sheer awesome-ness in the disparity in Nature's creation, we proudly give to you the travails of Suhas in Nagaland as penned by the Man himself.

The journey
On the night of 22nd June, The Suhas, L(owe)kshmisha aka Tiger Baby, Yahoo! MadSense (minus Google BAdSense, for now), Sri Sri Praveen, Ashaji, Mahima Akka, Shiney, Harshal, Shaz and I set off from Bangalore. Tennis Ajji and Aane had left from Mysore. Poonam and Pratheeksha were to join us in Mangalore. So that was our gang. Notable absentees included all 2nd (or should I say 3rd) years and of course, DotCom.

The train journey from Mangalore to Trivandrum is extremely scenic. The wannabe wanderlust-cum-photographer-cum-birdwatcher that I am, this journey gave me all that and more with its scenic backwaters and idyllic beaches. As dusk dawned upon us, what followed was a fun session of cards, food and din until we were deemed 'a public nuisance'. With Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' in hand I went to 'bed'. Of course, some of the 'public nuisance' still continued unabated elsewhere- it saw the transformation of the docile-looking, CET-smashing loco into Thames; needless to say both the christening and subsequent usage of the name were promptly met with Raspberry Award-winning expressions.

Day 1 - God's Own Capital, God's Own Kovalam and God-like performances

We arrived at Tiruvananthapuram Railway Station in the wee hours of the morning. A slight drizzle and puddles welcomed us to God's Own Capital. We guys were put up in KV Pattom, 2nd Shift(?!) and the girls in another school which, sadly for them, was in an Army Cantonment. The facilites were, well, just Spartan (atleast we had bathrooms!). I set out after my bath to get some breakfast but was soon off with God's Own Suhas and Aane on a walk to get a feel of the place. Key discoveries - the ingenious Zoozoo bus stand, Milma milk and its curious logo, Vydhyuthi Bhavan, SUT Medical College, 7-rupee bananas and 30-rupee dosas...

After the random amblings, we set out, map and camera in hand, to the famed sands of Kovalam, where the beaches are dotted with tea stalls (like Lekshmi Tea Stall), spas, ayurvedic centres and star hotels (like the Leela, which we were categorically denied entry into by the security). The sun-kissed waters and the blackish sands (which tiger baby claims is due to thorium!) apart, we were also 'treated' to some exotic prakruti which Shaz and Aane gleefully captured on camera.

Lunch at Buddha's Delight courtesy Suhas was delightfully sumptuous. We returned to KV Pattom and had a nice nap before the magical convention kicked off...
The 24th Annual SPICMACAY National Convention kicked off with the traditional Panchavadyam (meaning 5 musical instruments) amidst the presence of Dr.Kiran Seth, Swami Viviktananda and M A Baby. What followed at the AKG Convention Centre, Palayam for the next 4 days was, succintly put, AWESOME!

Santoor by Pt.Shivkumar Sharma Easily the best exponent of the santoor, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma brought the instrument to Indian Classical music. Needless to say, he enthralled all of us with a performance that was a sign of things to follow and the kind of masters that were to perform. This concert was one of the best I've ever seen. This was followed by another thoroughly professional performance...

Kathakali by Ramankutty Nair and troupe The Padma Bhushan awardee, Kathakali maestro Ramankkutty Nair, though in his 80s, performed with a masterly ease of movement and expression. The episode involving Lord Krishna, the poor Brahmin (whose performance was excellent) and Arjuna failing to act true to his word was enacted with utmost perfection and class.

End of Day One. Truly spell-binding performances.

Life's good!

2009-05-06T23:02:00.007+05:30

Aahhh...holidays! The first few weeks are easily the best. :)

More so if you've just entered the hallowed 'final year'. The last few days at the hostel are spent frantically downloading movies and burning dvds, even amidst exams. With every passing day, trips to the mess become less frequent, partly because of the changed body routine; also the prospect of home food makes the mess food that much more inedible. And the 'Onji Vada Pao, onji fried rice and onji lime' at the Night Canteen provide the necessary sustenance. After those rather forgettable 2-3 weeks, holidays ahoy!!!

The first few holidays are just as how you wanted them to be. Haven't started with the intern yet; no mood to read anything, not even RD, so there's ALL the time in the world to laze away. So you settle on your bean bag with the laptop on your lap and stock up some foodstuff around, never to get your ass off it unless bowel movements force you to do otherwise. Movies, mobile, iPod, YouTube, Flock, Rapidshare and torrents - man, this is the life! With GG, TBBT, Scrubs, BL and 30 Rock, Lost, Chuck and more on your download queue, IPL can wait. RCB aren't doing that great anyway...

Status messages on GTalk, Twitter, Facebook, and the like reveal that you're happy and at home. Old friends take cue and drop by...and most of the potato chips and dvds disappear no time. They make you get off the bean bag to go shop for reinforcements...Aarrgh! Meet-ups at arbit cafes and pizza joints follow, where you end up exchanging pleasantries with both people you really wanted to get back in touch with and a few whom you just can't stand sometimes (or always). And parents keep telling you to get serious...your project is gonna start in a few days. But by the time the dust settles, you're back to your Lays-and-Internet existence. Aaaahhh...love the bean bag!

Before you know it, you're bored and writing blog posts.

Starry Nights

2009-04-25T22:19:00.002+05:30

Starry Nights
they really make me wonder...
how long before my laptop gets fixed??? :(

Thank you :)

2009-03-05T20:11:00.002+05:30

Chaitu, Lopa Ma'am and everyone at Prabasee Association responsible for Sangamitra - their annual newsletter, here's a BIG thank you :)

P.S.:These are the articles that made it - Who cares???, The Great Indian Tamasha, Reality Check

City Lights

2009-02-10T19:46:00.002+05:30

He hated the city and everything about it – the people, the endless expanse of grey concrete, the blinding lights, the blaring horns...

All of nine, he never understood why people, like his father, had moved from the quaint villages to the bustling city. There was so much grey and so less green. He had to walk to the park 2 blocks away just to play ball. They had just moved in a couple of weeks ago, and he had had more than his fair share of unfriendly experiences. He, who had scaled the tallest trees in his backyard, had to be content with climbing the stairs here. There was no neighbourhood tea stall where one could find the elders of the town hotly debating the Indian team’s decision to field first in the ongoing test match and half-naked urchins who had viewed television maybe a dozen times or lesser listening keenly. There were coffee shops and supermarkets and restaurants everywhere. The tongues were unusually harsh and the mouths so much louder; everyday business was marred with unpleasant haggling, and smiling faces and helping hands were so hard to find. He had made no friends in the city yet, and had made no attempts to socialize either. His parents somehow, much to his displeasure, seemed to love their new home. In all of two weeks, he saw his parents play host to atleast three hitherto unknown families. Although he had cried long and hard to go back home, the only response he got was a ‘You’ll love this place, don’t worry’. He knew was that he had to get back to the village, back to the rustic life he was so used to and liked so much.

He had made up his mind to leave back to the village to stay with his grandparents. His father was away at work and his mother in the kitchen. The only things he remembered about the bus journey to his new house apart from the fact that he was crying all along, was that the bus was red and the journey had taken about three hours. He took a look at the clock which read 5 o’clock. ‘Perfect’, he thought. ‘I can surprise Grandma and Grandpa by going to dinner tonight.’ There were some money kept on the table – 5 two-rupee coins and a 10-rupee note to be exact. He did not know the bus fare. But he was sure he could manage with twenty rupees. He took the money and set out. ‘Where’re you headed?’ asked his mother from the kitchen. ‘I’ll come back soon’ he said and left. He was going back to the village, and no one could stop him.

As he walked outside his apartment, he saw a man selling something pink and fluffy. He had seen it once before, when on a trip to the city, and had asked his father what it was. ‘We’ve got no time’ was the answer. Presently he saw a group of kids making a beeline for his cart. The cart read REAL COTTON CANDY in big, bold letters. He knew what candy was, and he liked it. He didn’t know they made candy from cotton too. But when he saw the man weave the pink magic effortlessly around the stick, he was astonished. All the other kids seemed to be enjoying their ‘cotton candy’ very much, burying most part of their faces in the pink magic in the process. He wanted one too – he wanted to see what the flossy mass had in it that all the kids liked to bury their mouths and faces in it. Although he would generally feel a little jolt whenever he heard the blaring horn of a vehicle, he didn’t care about the vehicles or their horns today – he ran across to the other side to claim his elusive cotton candy. The man weaving the magic was physically rather imposing and sported a well-kept moustache and beard – much akin to the local pehelwaan uncle back home. So he went up to him and said ‘Uncle, one for me’. ‘You’ve got the money?’ came the reply from pehelwaan uncle. ‘Yes. Here it is’ he said and gave him three coins. ‘You can’t get anything for this less. Go away’ the man roared. ‘But that’s all I have’ the boy said showing the five coins. ‘Oh alright kid. Gimme that’ said pehelwaan uncle and grabbed the money. In the next two minutes, the boy saw the greatest spectacle he had ever seen – pehelwaan uncle put some pink sugar-like things on his large spinning machine and waited. Then, slowly, the magic began to appear. Thin threads of pink ecstasy began to appear and pehelwaan uncle seamlessly ran his stick along the machine to gather the woven fluffy threads. Once the process was complete, he bit into the flossy mass – it was like heaven. Never had anything apart from pure honey tasted as sweet. Little threads of pink confection melted in his saliva-filled mouth, gratifying every inch of his tongue. The more he buried his mouth into the floss, the sweeter it seemed to get. Within no time, all that remained apart from the stick was the floss on his cheeks and his nose. He was floating in the sea of pink cotton candy beneath the pink sky with pink candyfloss clouds when he realised he had finished his candy. Without second thoughts, he handed over the ten-rupee note to the man and said ‘Uncle, one more’ and there he went again, sailing on the pink ocean of candyfloss. He scaled the pink cotton candy mountains and kissed the pink flossy clouds. But within no time, the second one was over too. ‘You’ve had enough. Go back to your house, kid’ thundered pehelwaan uncle. The boy, who was trying frantically to get the last bits of floss off his cheek and into his mouth, crossed the street, continuously looking back, hoping pehelwaan uncle would offer him another.

Still looking back, he climbed the stairs to his second floor home. His mother was on the couch. ‘Where were you?’ she asked. He smiled and said ‘Just here, taking a walk. I love this place.’

Of Spesals and Defrows...

2009-01-22T20:04:00.006+05:30

Despite the absence of malls, multiplexes, cafes, or the general lack of hangouts in any sense, one thing I do like about Mangalore is its ice-cream parlours. It is almost customary for all of us here to make a quick stopover at these parlours everytime we go to Mangalore. Surathkal, too, has its fair share of ice-cream parlours, one of which is called Melting Point. True to its name, the desserts served in this 'sweety' place are rarely in the solid state. Barring the eerie 'interiors' (mirrors all around!) and the cramped furniture, the ice-creams are pretty delectable. But what really makes this nondescript, run-of-the-mill ice-cream parlour worth a visit is its menu card. See it for yourself, I'm sure you'd want to go there! :)

Does anyone have any idea what ANY these are??? Parji, Hamderi Defrow (???!!!), Pantest, Parji, Sheck, Shek, Parchi ???

Blow Daddy - The other side

2009-01-10T19:02:00.007+05:30

With tensions rising between India and Pakistan, sense hitting rock-bottom among the Pak top brass and India trying every diplomatic trick in the box to get Islamabad to act, I cannot but wonder what it might be like on the other side of the Radcliffe Line. Here's probably what might be happening in a typical Pakistan home...

Note: This is not a strictly original post; it is inspired from an aricle by Nadeem Paracha, a highly controversial Pak journalist. Hence any resemblance whatsoever to any person or character, living or dead, is not unintentional and not regretted.

Daddy?

Yes, son.

Are we going to have a war with India?

Perhaps.

Oh, goody. We will thrash them, right? Like we did in 1857!

It wasn’t in 1857, son.

Oh, okay. But whom did we thrash in 1857?

The British, son…

And the Hindus too, right?

Well…not really...

Did Quaid-i-Azam fight in that war along with Muhammad bin Qasim and Imran Khan?

No, son. The Quaid and Imran were born much later and Muhammad bin Qasim died many years before.

Then who ruled Pakistan in those days?

There was no Pakistan in those days, son.

But there was always a Pakistan! It has been there for 5,000 years!

Who have you been talking to, son?

No one. I’ve just been watching TV.

It figures.
Never mind.You seem to like wars, son.

Yes. I like to watch them on TV.

But real wars are fought outside the TV, son.

Really? How is that possible? What sort of a war is that?

Aargh! Never mind.

Daddy, you look worried.

Of course, I am, you little warmongering pre-adolescent punk!

Daddy! Why are you scolding me?

Because TV is talking rot and so are you!

Daddy, are you supporting Hindus?

No!

Daddy, have you become a kafir?

Now shut it! No more TV for you! Go watch a movie on DVD or listen to a CD.

Can’t do that.

But we have so many DVDs and CDs, son.

Not any more.

What do you mean?

I burned them all.

What?!

I burned them all.

I heard that! But why?

They spread obscenity.

Oh, God!!! Son, go do your homework. What happened to that science project you were working on?

It’s almost complete.

Good boy. What are you making?

A bomb.

What?!

A bomb.

I heard that! But why?

Because I am a true Muslim who hates America.

But only last week you said you wanted to go to Disney Land!

That’s different.

How?

Mickey Mouse is Muslim.

No, he isn’t.

Well he then he should be. And I'll make sure he will be. I'll make him Mikail Mouse.

Son, you're insane!!!

Now Daddy, do you want to see my science project or not?

Gosh, that bomb? But your science teacher will fail you. You'll be thrown out of school!

No, she wont.

Really?

Yes. I plan to blow her up as well.

God, what is wrong with you? Go call your mother!

She can’t come.

Why not?

I’ve locked her in the kitchen.

But what for?

A woman’s righteous place is in the kitchen. I won't let her out until she covers herself up properly!

But she’s your mother!

She’s also a woman!

So?

So she should be hidden.

Hidden from whom?

The whole world and Tony.

Tony?

Yes, Tony.

But Tony’s a cat.

Yes. But he’s male.

Son, have you gone mad?

No. I'm a proud descendent of the Arabs. By the way, I’ve made sure Kitto starts covering up as well.

Kitto?

Yes, Kittto.

But Kitto’s a cat!

Yes. But a female cat.

But she’ll suffocate.

Oh, she’s already dead.

What?

She’s already dead.

I heard that! But how?

I buried her alive.

You what?

Yes. To avenge Tony’s honour. But now I will behead Tony.

But why?

To save mom’s honour!

Oh, God!

Don’t say that. Always say Allah.

What’s the difference?

Daddy, do you want to be beheaded too?

No!

Do you want to be stoned to death?

No!

Do you want to be flogged?

No!

Do you want to get your arms chopped off?

Heck No!

Then stop asking silly questions. By the way, I won’t call you daddy anymore.

What will you call me then?

Whatever that is Arabic for daddy.

I don’t know any Arabic, son.

That’s because you are a kafir.

Who the heck are you to tell me who I am, you little fascist twit!

What’s a fascist?

An irrational, violent, self-righteous mad man!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!

Why are you crying?

You scolded me...you called me a mad man. I'm going to make sure they issue a Fatwa against calling us Fascists.

Okay okay... I’m sorry. But you have to be tolerant and rational, son and not think about all this. Now be a good boy and go read a book instead of watching TV.

I have no books.

Of course, you do. I bought you so many books.

I burned them.

What???!!!

I burned them.

But why?

They were all in English.

So?

It’s a non-Muslim language!

But we are speaking English, aren’t we?

WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

What now?

You Zionists made me forget my Arabic.

But you never knew any Arabic, son.

WAAAAA! yes, I did until you and mommy gave me those polio drops… AAAAAH!

Okay, tell me, can you do me a favour?

Sure, dad.

Can you blow up something for me?

Oh, goody! Of course, dad. What should I blow? A CD shop, a hotel, a school...?

No, no, something a lot more sinister.

Cool! Mom?

No, no…not your mother.

What then?

The TV set!

What???

Blow the TV set.

I heard that! But why?

Just do it!

But Dad?

Yes. No more questions!

WAAAAH!!! You’re so unconstitutional!!!

Single bells...

2008-12-26T00:38:00.017+05:30

In case you happen to be reading this and don’t know me (I highly doubt there’s anyone like that), you’d know that I’m a nineteen-year old Bangalorean who is currently in NITK Surathkal and wears his ‘Bangy-ness’ (if that’s a word) proudly on his sleeve. A consequence of my being in Surathkal is my limited social skills. My ‘conversation starters’ include “Saw the Man U match last week?” or “NFS Undercover lags on my comp maga. Yours?” or “Saw the latest Big Bang Theory episode? Sheldon rocks!” or “Quantum of Solace sucked, don’t you think?” or the likes, almost all of which, needless to say, don’t go down very well with the fairer sex. This is presumably why I have limited female acquaintances, let alone a girlfriend. Since high school, there has always been a group of us (a la G.R.O.S.S.) who’d take potshots and make fun of other guys who went around with girls who’d be merrily digging gaping holes in their pockets. But as I went from school to PU college and then to NITK, the numbers on my side gradually began to dwindle and how! The girls are taking down my men, one by one. I fear I might be fighting a lone battle…

That apart, as I was in town the other day, I happened to be at a neighbourhood recharge store with one of my most trusted men (who I think is ‘taken’ too…darn you girls!) where I asked for a Rs.112 recharge card. Since I was running late, I hurriedly took the card, giving him exact change. Once I scratched the card after getting home, this message flashed on my cell - Dear BSNL subscriber, your account has been successfully recharged with Rs. 902 and your current balance is Rs.911.42. Startled, I turned the card around only to see that I had been given a Rs.1124 card instead of a Rs.112 card!!! Free currency! Awesome!!! I never paid the store the remaining money – I never asked for so much, did I? It was his mistake, and I really hope I was the only benefactor of his absent-mindedness. Moral issues aside, here’s the real problem – I have too much currency and I don’t know what to do with it. Apart from the daily conversations with my parents and sisters, I hardly make any calls. Here are a few possible ways of emptying Rs.750 (that’s how much I have left) within 3 months –

Make calls – That is how I’ve spent close to 200 so far. From an old neighbour who barely remembered me to my high school History teacher, I’ve called them all. Why text when you can call? The only text messages I now send are the customary good-night-sweet-dreams forwards.

2. Send pointless SMSes – Done that. I’ve voted for arbit contestants on SaReGaMaPa, answered ‘Do you think’ questions on the Times Of India, sent traffic updates to radio stations and even participated in stupid ‘win assured prizes’ contests. But it gets very boring after some time (read 1 day). So that rules out the arbit SMS option.

3. Caller tunes – I would, but the ‘latest ‘song BSNL has to offer is ‘Mausam yeh awesome bada’ from Kidnap!Need we say more? That pretty much rules out the caller tune idea as well.

4. Get someone to talk to – ‘Get a girl na… problem solved!’ seems to be the most prevalent and viable option to most of my Bangalorean friends. And I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. This is where my lack of socialization with girls and my not having a girlfriend has cost me (or NOT cost me). Besides, I’m not too keen on getting one either, not as yet... :)

So there you have it. 750 rupees. 3 months. Any ideas?

P.S. : Merry Christmas folks :)

WHY?

2008-11-30T00:43:00.003+05:30

Why, God? Why God???

Why is there religion on Earth? Isn't it supposed to make the social fabric stronger? Then why are we using religion to rip it apart? Whoever He is, I'm sure spreading terror isn't any God's way of spreading His message. If it is, then why worship such a 'God'? Why God? Why such a God? Why don't these ****ing terrorists understand this? Why do they let themselves be engulfed by fanaticism? Who're they trying to impress? Holding civilization at ransom isn't going to help their religion or their 'cause' in any manner. Then why do it? What turns a 20-something 'educated' person into a cold-blooded, remorseless terrorist? Why, God? Why God? And if colour-coding terror is the norm of the day, why aren't ALL these terror acts labelled green? Why can't we call a spade a spade?

The Creator created one Earth. Who are we to draw boundaries and make territories out of the it and fight wars over them? Why can't the pieces be joined? Are we really the acme of evolution? And we call ourselves Homo sapiens...

Aarrgh.. I just hate everything!

Keep walking... but don't move!

2008-11-10T21:59:00.005+05:30

How can someone walk and yet not move? My roommate here demonstrates

Oh, and incidentally, this is my first contribution to Youtube

What goes unsaid...

2008-10-14T19:00:00.002+05:30

Moral of the story: What's simple is sensible :-)

The Great Indian Tamasha - The Ultimate Reaity Show!

2008-10-03T22:55:00.011+05:30

Its that season again when Uncle Sam chooses its President and his deputy. This time, the seasoned White Elephant has chosen a rookie moose-catching Barracuda from Eskimo-land who seems to be the object of desire of many, including the President of Pakistan(may Ms.Bhutto's soul R.I.P). However, the media-loving Dark Donkey has won hearts (and a Hanuman statue) across America and the globe with his motto of 'I believe in omnipresence'. So as the four contenders battle it out face-to-face on American television with more than 50 million people watching, here's what might happen if our top desi netas would debate on TV...

There won't be enough space on the podium for all parties. Even if they can all somehow manage to squeeze themselves into a single stage, there will be more melee on stage than when a cat is let loose into a dog show.
Assuming the first task is complete and we have managed to get all the 'leaders' onto the podium, seating them is another issue. Our netas cannot stand each other. Why, some of them are so old that they cannot stand at all. Hence elaborate seating arrangements must be made on stage. The stage will then resemble the Calcutta Black Hole.
A few(or rather most) of them will stage walkouts, (literally)sling mud at and shout slogans against one another.
Most, if not all speakers, will unanimously call for indefinite adjournment and postponement of the debate session.
The average sound intensity in the vicinity will be no less than 120dB. That is the noise made by a jet taking off 200m away or by Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon.
If Shivraj Patil is one of the 'speakers', he will need a change of clothes every 15 minutes. Terrorism can wait, but our Honourable Home Minister's wardrobe apparently can't.
In the common interest of the moderator and the politicians, footwear, tomatoes, stones, bottles and any such throw-able materials will not be allowed inside the venue.
Choosing a moderator too won't be an easy task. Care must also be taken so as to not shameface any of the 'dignitaries' on stage by asking them uncomfortable questions. The 'chosen one' must be completely unbiased and neutral. Or better yet, prominent faces which have nothing between their ears will fit the bill quite perfectly. Contenders that come to mind are Rakhi Sawant, Karan Johar, Mallika Sherawat and Mandira Bedi.
The venue of the debate must be a place devoid of any terror threat. It must be a happy place where people don't care about religion, caste, creed or anything basically. My suggestions would therefore be Dubai, Las Vegas, Madagascar, Rejkavik or Dakshin Gangotri, the Indian base in Antarctica.
Since it will be broadcast on the one and only Doordarshan, it can be touted and marketed as Doordarshan's first reality show.

So will you be witness to The Great Indian Tamasha, the ultimate reality show in the history of Indian television?

No chinta...only money!

2008-08-30T21:54:00.013+05:30

There're many many things in life I want(read PSP, iPhone, iMac, a shiny red Ferrari and a 42-inch HDTV to name just a few), but a fundamental need for everything material on Earth is Money. Duddu. Paisa. Dabbu. Kaasu. In the endless pursuit of the ever-elusive Miss M, we resort to all sorts of things, both mentionable and unmentionable...lets not get into that. Yet there're a few things one can do for a living (and a rather luxurious one at that) being in Bengalooru or in any city for that matter, with a rather small starting capital and virtually no exit plan required.

Start a +2 /PUC/AIEEE/IIT-JEE coaching centre. And the rest is history. All you need to be is a smooth talker who can easily brain-wash parents, and that's not that big a deal considering the fact that well, everyone with children aged 16-18 are really anxious about their childrens' future and understandably so. Borrow a few questions from a few 'standard' books and voila, the material is ready. With a few acquaintances from nearby schools and colleges, you have some 'reputed' faculty as well. Needless to say, it is an added advantage if you are one of those 'reputed' teachers. And believe me, the growth of such coaching centres is as good as, if not better than, say a Google or a Facebook.
Counsellors make a lot of money, be it for alcoholism, drug abuse or just plain old general depression. Corporate depression is quite the in thing these days you see. Apart from obviously making money, you'd be helping those stressed people, so that takes care of the humanitarian aspect too ;)
Become a spiritual guru. Come to think of it, you have to be both an extremely effective counsellor and an excellent speaker. Though a lot more demanding than the other two options I've mentioned, you can break all corporate growth charts and your 'business' will thrive as long as you can sustain the people's belief, which is not that hard in the Indian context.

There're a LOT of other ways by which one can make an insane amount of money. But I'll keep those methods to myself :p Until next time...

They are the real Champions!

2008-08-21T16:02:00.023+05:30

The greatest show on Earth has been a stupendous success so far with an estimated TV viewership of a staggering 3 billion world over(which I'm not part of, thank you NITK!) and ever since Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan sang the official song You and Me on the large spinning globe at the Bird's Nest on 08/08/08, Beijing has managed to get just about everything right. And what an Olympics we've had so far, be it Michael Phelps' domination of everything that had H2O written on it to Isinbaeva raising the bar and our excitement, one centimetre at a time or the fancied American Gays who were at the receiving end of the Jamaican lightning Bolts event after event on the track. But apart form these extraordinary people, there have been a host of other great men and women who, through sheer practice and their never-say-die attitude have broken all imaginable barriers of the mind and body in dramatic fashion. Here are just a few such unsung heroes of the XXIX Summer Olympics at Beijing.

Afghanistan won their first ever Olympic medal in the form of Rohullah Nikpai's bronze in taekwondo. Nikpai could achieve this feat despite the utter lack of encouragement and infrastructure, bringing much-needed cheer the strife-torn nation. For more on this, click here.

Dutchman Maarten van der Meijden won the 10km marathon swimming event in an astonishing time of 1:51:51.6. What was even more extraordinary about his feat was that he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001. After a stem cell transplant, he made a grand comeback at the 2003 and 2004 Open Water World Championships where he swam faster than before the disease. He believes his disease made him a better swimmer "When you are in so much pain and lying in a hospital bed, you aren't thinking about the next month or the Olympics, but the next hour". The gold medal around his neck surely couldn't have asked for a better owner.

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit is no ordinary Olympian. Her first international competition was the Commonwealth Games of 1998 when she was all of 14. In February 2001 her left leg was amputated at the knee after a scooter accident on her way back to school after swimming practice. Barely three months later, she was back in the pool. After winning several medals at the 2004 Paralympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she managed not only to qualify for Beijing but also finished an astonishing 16th out of 24 in the 10,000m swim. Apart from becoming the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the Olympics, she also became the first disabled athlete to carry her national flag at the opening ceremony of any able-bodied Olympics. I'm sure even a hundred gold medals will do no justice to such a spirit. Oh, and she swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb.

The youngest male participant in this edition is an English diver named Thomas Daley who is, believe it or not, fourteen! And the youngest female participant is a swimmer from Cameroon named Antoniette Guedia who is, hold your breath, twelve!!! She finished fourth in the 50m freestyle event.

Before I sign off, kudos to Abhinav Bindra, the man with the golden gun, Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Kumar who kept the tricolour flying high . I wish and pray that we see many more Bindras and Kumars in the future. And kudos to Beijing again for the show ... it couldn't have been better. Over to London for the XXX Games! :)

ತ್ರಿಶಂಕು ಸ್ಥಿಥಿ!!!

2008-07-31T18:12:00.002+05:30

NITK. ಈ ಹೆಸರು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದದವರಿಗೆ KREC ಎಂದೇ ಪರಿಚಯ. ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ ಮಟ್ಟದ ಉತ್ತಮ ತಂತ್ರಙ್ನಾನ ಕಾಲೇಜೊಂದು ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿರುವುದು ನಾವು ಹೆಮ್ಮೆ ಪಡಬೇಕಾದ ವಿಚಾರ. CETಯನ್ನೂ ಮೀರಿದ AIEEE ಎಂಬ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆಯನ್ನು ಬರೆದು ನಮ್ಮ NITKಯಂತಹ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳನ್ನು ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸಬಹುದು. ಬಹುಷಹ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ರೀತಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ NITK ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಯಾವುದೇ ಕಾಲೇಜಿಗಿಂತಹ ಉತ್ತಮ. ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವರಿಗೆ ಇದರ ಇರುವಿಕೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೇ ತಿಳಿದಿಲ್ಲ! ಯಾವುದೋ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯವನಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಸರಿ ಎನ್ನಬಹುದು. ಆದರೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, ಮೈಸೂರಿನಂತಹ ದೊಡ್ಡ ನಗರಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಜನರಿಗೆ NITKಯ ಪರಿಚಯ ಇಲ್ಲವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಹಲವು ಬಾರಿ ಈ ಮದುವೆ-ಮುಂಜಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಎಂದೂ ಭೇಟಿಯಾಗದ ಅತಿ ದೂರದ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಕರು ಅಥವಾ ಹಳೆಯ ಸ್ಕೂಲ್ ಮೇಷ್ಟ್ರುಗಳು ಅಥವಾ ಪಕ್ಕದ ಬೀದಿಯವರು ಭೇಟಿಯಾದಾಗ ನನ್ನನ್ನು "ಏನಯ್ಯಾ? ನೀನು ಇವನ ಮಗ ತಾನೆ? ಎಷ್ಟು ದೊಡ್ಡದಾಗಿ ಬೆಳ್ದಿದ್ದೀಯ!" ಎಂದು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಆ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ಅತಿ ಸೂಕ್ತ ಉತ್ತರ ನನಗೆ ಇಂದಿಗೂ ತಿಳಿದಿಲ್ಲ!. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಅವರು "ಏನ್ ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀಯಪ್ಪ?" ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿದಾಗ ನಾನು ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯಿಂದ "NITK ಸುರತ್ಕಲ್" ಎಂದು ಉತ್ತರಿಸಿದರೆ ಅವರು "ಏನು??? CETಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಅಂಕಿ ಬಂದಿತ್ತಲ್ಲಪ್ಪ... ಹೋಗಿ ಹೋಗಿ ಅಂಥ ಕಾಲೇಜಾ ಸೇರೋದು? RV ಅಥವಾ PES ಸೇರೋದು ತಾನೆ!" ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ! ಇಂಥವರಿಗೆ ಏನು ಹೇಳಬೇಕೋ ನನಗಂತೂ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ! ಇನ್ನೂ ಕೆಲವರು "NIIT ನಾ???" ಎಓದು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಕೋಪದಿಂದ "ನಾನು NIIT ಅಲ್ಲ! NITKಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇರೋದು ಅಂಕಲ್!!!" ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿ ಹೇಳಿ ಸಾಕಾಗಿದೆ! IITಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅರಿತಿರುವ ಹಲವರಿಗೆ ಅದ್ಯಾಕೋ NITಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಎನೂ ಗೊತ್ತಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ನಮ್ಮ ಕಾಲೇಜಿಗೆ ಇದೆಂಥ ಅನ್ಯಾಯ?? ಒಂದು ಕಡೆ ಅದು IITಯೂ ಇಲ್ಲ, ಮತ್ತೊಂದೆಡೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಆರಾಮವೂ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಒಳ್ಳೆ ತ್ರಿಶಂಕು ಸ್ಥಿಥಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿಬಿದ್ದಂತಿದೆ ಈ ನಮ್ಮ NITK...

Reality Check

2008-07-23T09:47:00.012+05:30

Ask your parents what TV meant for them in their heydays and they'll tell you that the Indian idiot would love his Hum Log, Mahabharat, Chitrahaar or simply catch Prannoy Roy' crisp news on Doordarshan. Then there was a simpleton SRK in Fauji and Circus. Needless to say, desi telly has changed by leaps and bounds since then. Indian television has since then become genre-specific. From the game-shows like Star's KBC and Sony and Zee's forgettable attempts to dethrone the Big B to exceedingly deadening 'family' soaps and the Indian Idols, SaReGaMaPa's, we've now been bitten by the reality bug and how! We all know about the hype and the TRPs that these shows generate. The Shinjini Sengupta case couldn't have come at a better time to warn us that we're going way overboard with such 'reality' shows. She is but one of a million such aspirants who dream of making it big in this flagitious industry. With parents pushing their kids to unimaginable limits and harsh judges scuffling among each other, the kids are bound to give in. And the price they pay is their childhood. These innocent kids probably cannot realise that one such setback doesn't demean them or their abilities and that winning and losing are all part of life. As viewers, all we do is feel sad for the kid when he/she breaks down on stage. But we still continue to be hooked on to it. Why? Its not to see the dogfights between the judges or the pretty host but because these kids are mighty talented! And such talented kids will make their mark, reality show or no reality show.

But who is to blame for this big mess we've landed in? Judges, parents, the media or the kids themselves? I feel our media does half the damage by thriving on sensationalism. For instance, it was once considered inappropriate to broadcast any difference in opinion among the judges as it would put them in bad light. But now such tussles are shown as promotional trailers! And to a large extent, parents are to blame too. The Sengupta case should be a lesson in responsible parenting. Let's do the children a BIG favour- let's keep their childhood alive.

Malnad Musings: Part II

2008-07-02T12:26:00.009+05:30

Distant relatives’ weddings are two-faced occasions. On one hand you wouldn’t want to attend some far relative’s wedding because you won’t be involved in anything else but lunch. And for someone like me who stays in a hostel (NITK hostel, at that), no delicacy can beat home foods so there’s no point in being there at all. On the other hand, you get to hear things like “You’ll never know any of your relatives are if you don’t come to such weddings” and “We can’t ask you to come with us when you’re not at home, can we?” and other such lines. So if you end up going (as is the case with me more often than not), you feel like a complete alien in the sea of people at the party. Occasionally you’ll be encountered by relatives whom you had seen once or twice in all your life coming up to you and exclaiming ”Oh you’re so-and-so’s son! You’ve grown so big!” for which a fake smile is the best response that I can ever think of! Your only hope will be to find someone of the same generation if not of the same age-group whom you can be with while all the men hash out on stocks and shares or rue the fuel price hike and the women wax eloquently about their silk sarees or simply indulge in some gossip maybe. So all I can do is to pray that such far cousins enter wedlock when I’m in the hostel. But this time I couldn’t escape... I had to go to a rather distant relative’s wedding (believe me, I had never seen the fellow before) at Mysore. But this turned out to be a rather memorable trip...

Everyone has heard of Bandipur National Park. Located inside this park is a mountain called the Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta (‘Hima’ is Kannada for mist and ‘betta’ is mountain). The place is quite famous because of the beautiful Gopalaswamy Temple atop the peak. The lush green forest cover of the Bandipur National Park of Karnataka extends to Kerala and Tamil Nadu as the Wayanad and Mudumalai National Parks respectively. The peak is about 80-90km away from Mysore and can make up for an excellent biking trip. The peak offers a scintillating view of the national park and you can see nothing but green as far as the eye can see. I was told that to my right was Kerala and to my left was Tamil Nadu and I was in Karnataka. It sure felt good to see three states at a time and capture three states in one frame. With its rich and abundant greenery and not many people to rob it of its serenity, the place is a treat to the eyes. Don’t be surprised if you cross paths with a herd of elephants. In the far distance I sighted a group of 5 pachyderms nonchalantly sauntering along to slowly disappear into the thick forests below. For a moment I wished I were one of them, not having to worry about anything but the next meal. I was bought back to my senses by my driver who said it was time to head back to Mysore. But apart from that we had little luck sighting wildlife in the national park. All along the way back I could only think of ‘The Animal Song’...

Oh, and I did attend the wedding after all!

Malnad Musings: Part I

2008-06-28T11:39:00.010+05:30

When we think of tourism in Karnataka, the only places that come to mind are the temples and forts at Mysore, Srirangapatna, Belur, Halebid or the ruins of Hampi, Badami, Aihole and the likes... Places like Coorg and Kemmangundi are growing more popular these days as weekend getaways. But Karnataka is more than just these places...
In this post and the next few I'll try and take you to some relatively unknown yet magnificent places in the Malnad region of the state('Male' in Kannada means mountain and 'nadu' means land).

I'll start with a lesser known place called Samse. Samse is in the Chikmaglur district and is some 10-15km from Kalasa town along the Sringeri-Kudremukh road which is on the way towards Horanadu, a popular pilgrimage centre. The best time to visit Samse is just before the onset of the monsoon(that's exactly when we went). Now the journey itself offers some breath-taking views of the Ghats. I was told a family friend's relative had a house at Samse so we decided to stop there for the night. It was 7 30 in the night when we reached his place and all along the way I was thinking "God knows what his place will be like; I'd better get ready for a sleepless night with all sorts of insects climbing onto me". And I was in for a pleasant shock. The house was simply beautiful(see the pictures... they talk for themselves... but don't mind the dates on them, they're wrong). After a sumptous dinner we were shown rooms which were immaculately clean. And to add to my surprise, there weren't any creepy insects at all(God knows how on Earth he managed to keep the place that clean). I tell you, I had the best sleep in years...

When I woke up the next day and looked outside the window I couldn't see anything but white mist everywhere. For a moment I thought I was dead and this was heaven I was looking at... Being amidst the mist on a hazy morning with thick dewdrops lacing the railings with a hot cuppa coffee in hand was totally out-of-the-world! As the mist slowly cleared I was in for a bigger treat... The view out of the balcony was truly breath-taking. The view of the Kudremukh peak that the balcony offered was simply awesome. Never had I seen so many shades of green in all my life! I still can't believe I spent more than an hour looking at the hills just soaking in the rich green surroundings. I was treated to some mouth-watering authentic Malnad cuisine by my ever-smiling host Mr. Sukumar. There's something about Malnad cuisine that makes it so delicious, so rich in spices and yet... so easy on the stomach. Then we were taken to a nearby creek which was the source of water and electricity (very ingenious, I must say)
to the house. The water of the creek was arguably the sweetest I've ever tasted. I must add a bit about our host Sukumar. He is one of very few people I've seen who is the ideal Good Samaraitan personified. During our very brief period of stay at his house, atleast 3-4 visitors from the nearby villages came alongwith their children seeking his help. And boy had they come to the right place. He was more than glad to help. Mind you he didn't just give them some money and wash his hands off. He enquired if the kids were going to school and for those who had completed basic education, he referred them to places like polytechnic institutes for the boys or tailoring classes for the girls. And I also learnt later that he ran a home for the ailing elders. No matter who you are or what you do, its always good to show concern and reach out to other people who aren't as fortunate as you are. The people he helped literally worship him because he has touched all their lives in a way no one else can. Perhaps we must all take a leaf out of his book...

And so after having close to 30 hours of an unforgettable experience we left towards Horanadu to seek the divine blessings of Sri Annapoorneshwari and then back to Bangalore. The majestic mountains have a way of telling us how small we are. They invariably make us contemplate about a lot of questions that we wish we knew the answers to... Its always good to just be at peace with Nature and let the birds and the water do all the talking. Samse is just the right place to do all that and more. So the next time you plan to trek to Kudremukh or visit the Horanadu temple, make sure you stop at this house in Samse.

Fish out of the water speaks out-of-the-box!

2008-06-24T18:14:00.006+05:30

There's an application in Ubuntu called Wanda the Fish, the Fortune teller that spews out little pearls of wit, wisdom and slapstick humour on demand... some of it is arbit though. Since no good game works in Linux(THE reason why I love Windows) this I guess is the best thing to do when you're bored and you're on Linux(well you better have a good reason turn on Linux in the first place, unless of course you have people like Mr.Kini around). Here are just a few of the Wanda-isms:

You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled.

Do something unusual today. Pay a bill.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

What's a light-year?

A: One-third less calories than a regular year.

-Best of all is never to have been born. Second best is to die soon.

-Excellent day to have a rotten day.

-Q: What do Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common?

A: The same middle name.

-Your lucky color has faded.

-Caution: breathing may be hazardous to your health.

-You are a very redundant person, that's what kind of person you are.

-You've been leading a dog's life. Stay off the furniture.

-Tonight you will pay the wages of sin; Don't forget to leave a tip.

-Don't let your mind wander -- it's too little to be let out alone.

-The early one catches the worm...Big incentive. Yuck!

-Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Q: What's hard going in and soft and sticky coming out?

A: Chewing gum, you pervert!

-Q: How many marketing people does it take to change a light bulb?

A: I'll have to get back to you on that.

-It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits:

freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either.
-- Mark Twain

-My personal favourite:

Don't read too many health books. You might die of a misprint.
--Mark Twain

-You may be recognized soon. Hide.

-Don't you wish you had more energy... or less ambition?

-Writing is turning one's worst moments into money.

-Excellent time to become a missing person.

-Q: Why do mountain climbers rope themselves together?

A: To prevent the sensible ones from going home.

-Q: What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back?

A: A stick.

-You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.

-You have an unusual magnetic personality... Don't walk too close to metal objects which are not fastened down.

-You will be a winner today. Pick a fight with a four-year-old.

-Break into jail and claim police brutality

-You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend too much time reading this sort of trash.

LOL :D

Who cares???

2008-06-18T13:16:00.008+05:30

We're from INDIA. 'We're the next BIG thing'. 'India Everywhere!'.'Watch out West, here we come!' 'The next century belongs to India and China.' 'Dragon v/s Tiger'. Everytime we see such lines on news-deprived news channels or in some tabloids, we gloat blithely and satisfacorily. Agreed. We have managed to change the idea that the west has of India from being a land of snake-charmers to an extremely promising land with prodigal kids and extremely talented youth who vie for the same jobs as them and in most cases, get them too. We have arrived. But in the midst of all this growth, there's one thing that we've allowed to come into our lives so much that now we hardly seem to notice it despite it staring in the eye - the 'Who cares' attitude.

In the wake of this middle-class affluence and the new-found splurging power, we, the urban Indian youth, seem to be a rather confused lot. We slog it out at work for 5 days during which life is as miserable as it can get with the daily traffic snarls, 8-hour work schedules, less time with family, stress, back aches, mood swings, anxiety and then we unwind it all during weekends at the nearby mall or at the pub . We binge on the Big Macs, buy the biggest brands and catch the latest movie at the multiplex. What more could we want?

One thing we don't notice or choose not to notice is the fact that we have slowly and steadily begun to imitate the west in almost all ways... and mind you, we're quite good at it. From casual relationships to increasing drunk driving incidents to not knowing who our neighbours are to mall-crawling, increasing hate crimes, gun culture, sex scandals, drunken brawls, increasing waistlines and receding hairlines, Americanism has hit us hard and how! And we're lovin' it, aren't we!

That's the thing about us Indians. We tend to embrace every culture, every lifestyle as our own. We let in the Europeans and embraced their way of life when all our petty kings were busy back-stabbing each other for power. If only our kings had been as loyal to their subjects as the British are to their queen! And its this that has let us down throughout the course of our history. In time we've somehow mastered the uncanny knack of carefully picking up everything apart from the good qualities of any culture. For instance, America is a land of such opportunity that even a peanut-seller could become their President(that's Jimmy Carter). We take potshots on them and their leaders and circulate mails about Americans being stupid (Remember Chetan Bhagat, that amateur, Bollywood-ish 'writer' and his 35=10 rule?) while sitting at the desk of an American company. We love Chinese and Japanese electronic gizmos, who gives a damn about their patriotism and diligence? Most urban Chinese or Japanese don't even know English and yet they're way ahead of us. The magnitude and quality of innovation and research and flawless and efficient administration is way better than our own. China produces atleast 10 times more P.Hd's than India every year and wins as many(or maybe a bit less) Olympic medals than the number of MLAs in the Karnataka assembly(224) while we still count on the Bhupatis, Leanders and the occasional shooters and weightlifters to win atleast as many medals as the number of independents in the Karnataka Assembly(six!)

All true... but who cares??

We still have a LONG LONG way to go before any comparison can be made between India and China or the US on any other issue apart from intellect, capable human resources and of course, population(we've always been a front-runner in that!). Its high time we gave a damn...

Scratch scratch....

2008-05-07T11:19:00.007+05:30

Ours is a land of many paradoxes. Its probably only in India that you get to see an E-Class or a BMW 7 Series drive past a slew of slums (and sometimes kill a few of the slum-dwellers as well...) and flyovers built on stinking open drains. But here are a few things that I feel are utterly inexplicable to me; no matter how much sense I try to make of these. My why's and how's have never been answered so far and I keep hoping that they will be answered someday. The coming posts(including this one) are dedicated to these profound unanswered mysteries...

What IS it about mothers who won't let their teenaged sons drive a car or ride a bike through the city streets??? Why can't they trust their own children when it comes to traffic issues???

Flashback: 2004 A.D.

My Class 10 Board exams are over and the results are out. I've got a decent percentage. Soon I'll be going to COLLEGE. For us Class 10 students, PU college is like a ticket to freedom. It means you can bunk when you want(and not having to make up an aunt and then kill her off so that you can miss school to attend her funeral) and more importantly, you're no more a schoolboy! You're now a grown-up!!! So anyway I was in high spirits - I got a seat in the college I wanted and I got myself a license. Obviously I wanted to take the bike to college. BUT the Home Minister(my Mom) and her hench-women(read my sisters) slapped a stern 'NO' right across my face. It almost took me a week before I got my mom to say yes for me taking the bike beyond the nearby grocery store. And this despite having a valid license!!! And when she finally did agree, the feeling of freedom was just out of the world. I had the wheel, I had the wings, I could go where I wanted!!! I was on cloud nine... But wait, all's not well. I can ride the bike alright, but now my Mother dearest anxiously awaits for me to call her up every single day to tell her that I've reached my destination in one piece!!!

Bollywood - Have we had enough of the masala and the naach-gaana???

2008-02-24T14:00:00.004+05:30

A few days back I came across an article in which the writer, while calling for more movies like Taare Zameen Par instead of masala flicks like Om Shanti Om, felt that it was high time that Indian cinema 'came of age'. Well, having grown up on a generous dose of Suraj Barjatya(I've lost count of how many times they've shown HAHK on TV! ), Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar and the likes, I must agree that our movies must have more substance but on the other hand, we mustn't forget that the aam junta still loves the naach-gaana and the song sequence shot in Switzerland ala Yash Chopra(this is nowadays replaced by an item number featuring some exotic beauty)... We always dreamt of being there, hand-in-hand with our loved ones amidst the snow-capped mountains; we always wished that our padosan would be a Saira Banu (or a Priyanka Chopra these days); we dreamt of saving the day by hitting a six in the last ball of the match or rescue a damsel in distress from her evil stepmother - we wanted to be there, do that. And our directors did exactly that... they took the audience where they couldn't afford to go and made the actors do things we wouldn't dare to do in reality(imagine running into a blazing building just to save a little girl's cat!). And it is this larger-than-life portrayal that kept the audience coming back asking for more... While on the other hand we have brilliantly crafted masterpieces like Swades, Yuva, Taare Zameen Par, Parzania, Dor and the likes which have made us contemplate over practical, burning issues and driven home a serious point. While I feel that we should most definitely have more TZPs, I don't think Hindi cinema should give up on the Adiya Chopra, Karan Johar or Farah Khan-esque entertainment. Hindi cinema as a whole must see more matutrity and intellectual growth but our directors mustn't forget that the aam junta wants some entertainment too, documentaries don't fetch you money... When you come back after a stressful day at work and just want to relax and spend the night peacefully, you'd rather prefer an Om Shanti Om or a Mujhse Shaadi Karogi over a Parzania...