Thats ME

Ladakh Trip

2009-08-08T11:13:00.011+05:30

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pranesharma/Leh?authkey=Gv1sRgCI7O2qXEupD30gE

There are some things in life, that you will never realize that you have missed, until you experience it. The trip to Ladakh/Leh was one of them. It was the starting of the season to Leh/Ladakh, the roads had been cleared of the snow recently and my mind was unclear about what was happening with my life. After overcoming strong resistance from my parents n sister[resistance had to be there, after all I was travelling alone] and completing the summer internship report, I set out on the journey of my life.

A big thanks to Matter (Manish), and all the Lonely Travellers out there for inspiring me.

Sometimes words aren't enough to define the experience, hence do go through the photos to know what is in store for you when you visit the place. Also, I think I have covered just 10 percent of the places and the photos will give you an idea of 10% of what I have experienced. Keep multiplying. Remaining part of the blog consists of tips to first timers about what can be done in Ladakh.

Center Point for Ladakh Travel : Leh

How to Reach Leh: Around 900 Kms's from Delhi by road (Has an Airport, with regular flights from Delhi, costs around 10k, depending on the season). By road, there are 2 ways, through Manali and through Srinagar-Kargil. Through Manali : one can take a bus to Manali from Delhi (Deluxe - Arnd 300 Rs, Volvo - Arnd 800 Rs). From Manali, the usual 12 seater tempos provide to and fro service to Leh. The regular ones start off from Manali @ 0100 hrs and reach Leh @ 2100 hrs. They charge around 1600 Rs for one side. One way you can reduce costs is to go to Manali's taxi stand on previous day and check out the J&K registered vehicles, (i.e., contact the drivers directly) which will take u to Leh @ a much cheaper fare. Else, if there are sufficient people, book a shared taxi which starts off @ 0600 hrs and will reach Leh on day 2 at around 1800 hrs. End of the day the best way to travel is in your own private vehicle, bike(greater than 150cc) or SUV's. This will help in decreasing your overall cost. Do not go on a rented vehicle, because one cannot use it to travel in and around Leh. Did not travel by the Srinagar Kargil route, so no idea. If you are planning use flight one side, then its use it on the return. Road journey (while going to Ladakh) helps one to acclimatise and also you would be tired by the end of the trip to do a long hard return journey by road.

Time taken to reach Leh by road: 48 to 72 hrs

Best time to go: June to September( Once the road opens/ Starting of the season, u will find lesser people and hence can enjoy it more. End of season it will be colder)

What to do in Ladakh:

There are many ways to explore Ladakh, lots of things to do.

If you are one of those lazy bugs, then hire a four wheeler and start ticking off the places that you have visited in Ladakh.

Places to visit: Pangong Lake, Tso mo riri Lake, Nubra Valley (double humped camel + one of the highest deserts), Lekir Monastery, Khadrung La (highest motor able road in the world, 18,000 ft plus), and a lot of other monasteries. TsoMoiri lake is smaller than Pangong Lake but better because u can go around it. You cannot go around Pangong Lake because 2/3 rd of the 120 km long lake is in China, and due to security concerns one cannot explore much of it on Indian side also.

If you would like to travel on your own, hire a bike ( around 500 to 700 Rs per day) and go around the places in Ladakh. It gives u a sense of adventure and a lot of sight seeing.

For trekkers, Ladakh is the unending tryst that you one will have through out life. You have the "Frozen River Trek" in December. If you want to trek to an altitude of 20,000 ft and above without knowing mountaineering, there are 2 peaks, Stok Kangri ( 4 day trek to the top from the base point, Stok) and Kang Ya Tse ( 7 day trek to the peak). Other than these there are lots of treks to places no vehicles reach. That is unexplored, unspoilt beauty which has remained there for ages. Just check out on the numerous websites that offer the trek programs.

If are in a position where you do not find any trekking partners, just land up in Leh, go around the town, look at the numerous notice boards that talk about people going on different treks and just jump into one of them.

What else can you do in Ladakh? Stay in a place near any monastery and go for a spiritual journey within yourself, by learning about Buddhism and meditation.

Else, join one of the numerous NGO's which provides education to children spread through out Ladakh.

Have Fun. Enjoy.

[Untitled]: "The Illusion of Choice"

2009-07-27T01:50:00.000+05:30

[Untitled]: "The Illusion of Choice"

25 Things About Me

2009-04-12T19:37:00.007+05:30

[This is something that has been going around on Facebook. Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. You have to tag the person who tagged you.]

1. I will not be bothering 25 friends of mine with this request. Not many are going to fulfill it anyway.

2. Like everybody else, I too think that I am unique/different/whatever.

3. People want to know about me, as a matter of fact me too.

4. I love trying out new things, learn stuff which means pretty less time to specialize in one particular thing.

5. Passions in life: Adventure sports, photography, books and movies.

10. Had to copy this brilliant idea from my friend. Does base 6 ring a bell?

11. I am very bad at maintaining relationships, pathetically bad. But I do maintain a database of what my friends are upto.

12. Good at predicting people. Need to perfect the art. Which means need to meet more and more people.

13. I treasure my solitude, and also love watching people, their reactions, their behavior.

14. They say you should have atleast 1 friend who would help you when u most need it. I start counting from 5.

15. I keep changing, my ideals and values keep changing. It helps me to think that I am evolving.

20. There are few things that are better left unsaid.

21. I try not to find fault in others. According to me, people are different shades of Grey. There is not perfect black, nor a perfect white.

22. I am not into the rat race. I don't want to be first, but will give my best in whatever I do.

23. If I do not like it, then I will not do it.

24. Half of what I have mentioned is false.

25. Maybe the above statement is also false.

Freedom

2009-03-28T04:20:00.002+05:30

Freedom,

We are tied down by our ambitions,

And we beg for freedom.

We are bound by our desires,

And we desire freedom.

We are chained to our roots,

And we ask for freedom.

We are weighed down by our past,

Enslaved to our prejudices,

And still want the freedom.

We are willing to enslave others,

For our freedom.

We want the freedom,

But are willing to subject ourselves to Societal scrutiny.

Freedom from what, may I ask?

Freedom from external forces?

But what will we do with that freedom,

When we are not free, internally?

Why do we, Seekers of freedom,

Strangle our dreams,

And still ask for freedom?

Didn't we ever want

Freedom from our own desires.

We want the Freedom,

But still desire to be bonded.

Welcome to our world.....

Friendship

2009-03-21T03:20:00.005+05:30

After all a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

The problem with the way we today see friendship is it is like an unsaid promise between two people, wherein both of them do not know what that promise is. The definition of friendship for both the individuals may be different. One may have clear boundaries and the other may not. One may think friends are to be used, the other may think sacrifice is what friendship is. This where a formal deal will help. Lets get it out of our heads that Friendship is Forever. It is only in story books and not in reality. People expect more and give less in turn leads to a weak foundation and in the end Friendship collapses.

It would have helped a lot if only we could trade friendship like a commodity. Pretty much like how arranged marriages take place. You go to the person and tell them this is what you can expect from me and then the other person gives out his promise. The deal is closed. Going back on a deal would be to break the thing called friendship. It should be like an openmarket, where in people could sell their type of friendship. There would be different stalls with different type of friendships on offer and the ones attracted to the deal on offer will take it up. This would ensure that when the deal if and when broken both the parties know the reasons for the same and people would not have to go back begging for reasons. There should also be an expiry date or a date of renewal for Friendships or a provision for a change in contract. This is because humans change over a period of time due to emotional reasons and as and when the change occurs renew the contract.

The friendship between a girl and a boy is the best one to observe. Suppose both of them are single and they do want to get into a relationship, what they do is to make friends in the opposite sex (esp in India). Friendship is something like testing the waters for a few months before actually getting committed. What to do, people do not want to use the term dating. The added benefit is that one can make friendship with more than one person and then chose the most compatible one, which is not possible while dating. What happens when one of them likes it and the other one doesnot, the friendship turns sour, with the typical dialogue (I did not think about you like that), if both of them like it, they will get committed, and if both dislike it they will break away.

The Analogy of Campus Placements

2009-03-16T22:50:00.001+05:30

Was watching the film "Bolt", a Walt Disney production. In the initial scene, the dog is in the Pet home and kid comes there to pick one of the dogs. All the dogs in the cage know that the kid will pick one among them and so start putting in their best appearances. They make dog faces, i.e., the cute looking dog face, so that the owners find the dogs adorable. They just go there and show their talent. Finally, the kid/buyer selects one among them he finds the most suitable for his needs and taste.

When I looked at this scene, I suddenly remembered the campus placements that happen in our MBA/Engineering colleges.

Digital Signatures Analogy

2009-03-08T15:19:00.003+05:30

Click on the Image. :)

Did this one as part of the presentation on Digital Signatures and Certificates for our MIS class.
Story was mine. Creator was Saurabh Rana.

Explanation: The reason for the use of Digital Signatures comes out in the form of a letter being sent across by a boy to his girl. How would you protect this letter from falling into scrupulous hands? That was the idea that I wanted to present.

Cheers.

The White Tiger

2009-02-24T23:00:00.008+05:30

The White Tiger

Author: Aravind Adiga

Publisher: Harper Collins

Rating: 4.5/5

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/White-Tiger-Novel-Aravind-Adiga/dp/1416562591

This was the first Booker prize winning novel that I enjoyed reading. I did read through treacherously, Arundathi Roy's "The God of Small Things", and tried to move behind the first chapter of Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss". Tried reading Salman Rushdie but maybe I am not in that mould to like his books.

While the other 2 books mentioned above were more a kind of dreamy reality, The White Tiger conveyed a brutal honesty in the way lower class India was portrayed. It talks about how a lower class Indian gets corrupted by the things happening around him and gets ambitious about bigger and better things in life. The path he follows to fulfil his ambitions to become an entrepreneur is interesting.

Why the title :The White Tiger"? Because among the tigers found in Indian forests, white tiger is the rarest of all. And this book here is also a "White Tiger" in its truest sense.

The best part of the book is the language that has been used. The English is not a perfect one and many non Indians would be left wondering about the type of English used. But let me assure you that this is the way we Indians speak. And it sounds funny. It sounds weird but this is the way 90% of the literate Indians speak.

Why should you read this book? It gives the right account of whats happening in India. What it is to be at the bottom of the society! How people are treated! What happens when one of them wants to break the chains around his neck and throw away the burden on his head! This is what happens.

Why am I not revealing the story? Because this book is worth a read and do not want to spoil it for you by writing down the story.

Thats all folks!!!

Reasons

2009-02-17T23:18:00.002+05:30

Reasons, yes that is what makes humans happy. Reason for success. Reason for failure. Reason for falling in Love. Reason for falling out of Love. Reason for why we are the way we are. Reason for what we are doing in this world. Reason for what are we going to do, outside this world. Reason for why we live. Reason for why we die. Reasons for how we evolved. Reasons for how we are going become extinct.

Humans as a species have evolved by finding out reasons. Well, having to live for 100 years on earth, longer that 99 percent of the species in this world, and with enough free time on hands, since we never lived under constant threat, humans had enough time on their hands to develop their intellectual capacities. This meant every passing time we had a devils workshop. To think, to manipulate, to plan. Humans could never spend an idle time all by themselves, and even now we cannot. And if one does know to do it, the constant flux of this human world would not let them to idle themselves away. And if we cannot find an appropriate reason, no problem, we will create our own.

Life is not a business, to dissect it, dig through the past, asking questions, trying to find the reasons for failure, for lack of performance. Why am I preacing??

And now even I have ended up giving reason for the way we are. Just cannot get pulled away from it, can we. We just need a chance to submit our observation, and with the whole free world of internet, we will wait for the chance to submit our reasoning.

Atleast for me, the time has come to stop searching for the reasons and live life the way it unravels itself. Contemplating, Enjoying, Living.

Silent Lie

2008-12-09T00:08:00.005+05:30

Silent Lie: An Unsaid Lie.

A lie which is not said. When a person is posed with a question, gets into a dilemma whether to tell the truth or lie on the face, but ends up not saying anything. This arises because the speaker is morally inclined not to say a lie, but under the circumstances of the question thrown at him does not want to say the truth also.

The question maybe as simple as "Where are you going?". The person, who is of course not interested in answering that question, may react by not saying anything and instead stare blankly at you as if the question was never asked. Also the person may tend to diverge the topic and ask you a counter question, like, "Hi, how are you doing? Long time, no see!!!".

Wave and the Ocean

2008-08-17T21:05:00.004+05:30

The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He's enjoying the wind and the fresh air, until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.

"My God, its terrible", the wave says. "Look what's going to happen to me!"

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, "Why do you look so sad?"

The first wave says, "You don't understand! We are all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?"

The second wave says, "No, you don't understand. You are not a wave, you're part of the ocean."

Extract from "Tuesdays with Morrie"

Independence

2008-08-16T12:44:00.002+05:30

DEPENDENT, adj. Reliant upon another's generosity for the support which you are not in a position to exact from his fears.
FREEDOM, n. Exemption from the stress of authority in a beggarly half dozen of restraint's infinite multitude of methods. A political condition that every nation supposes itself to enjoy in virtual monopoly. Liberty. The distinction between freedom and liberty is not accurately known; naturalists have never been able to find a living specimen of either.
INDEPENDENCE, adj. freedom from control or influence of another or others

Yesterday, India celebrated its 62nd Independence day, but then what does being Independent or Freedom actually mean. Because any of the above definitions would surely not fit into the Independent India's image or the so called freedom earned by the Indian population.

We might have achieved our freedom from the Britishers, but now we are being ruled by politicians who are way worse than them. We might have got our freedom from the colour prejudices of the Britishers, but not from the caste prejudices, we have gained our freedom from political atrocities but not from the communal atrocities. Are we free?

On an individual level there is a big misconception about freedom. It is related to the self. It is related to personal opinions. This would only work when one is living in a remote island, alone. But in a community or a country freedom is limited only till the boundary of other people's personal space. We always have the freedom to live our own life, but those actions cannot and should not take away others freedom. The real meaning of freedom will be known only when we are able to understand that other people's freedom is more imporatant than ours.

I do hope that someday people will be able to understand this basic fact and respect other people for their beliefs and for their way of living.

Home Sweet Home

2008-07-04T22:41:00.001+05:30

Its been three hectic weeks in MDI, Gurgaon. Well that is the place where I am doing my MBA after resigning from my JOB["A real job is the job that you hate"]. Gurgaon is a very hot place, and just consider it that the temperature is just around 40, whereas it should have been around 48 at this time of the year. God Save Me, when it reaches 48. There are just 2 classes in Gurgaon, the upper class and the lower class. The best part till now has been the adventurous Public Transport System. It is the modified Auto, which normally would have carried 3 people in a city like Bangalore, carries 15 people on maximum capacity. I will remember to upload the photo when possible. The plus point is that the drive is thrilling, you get a different view of the city, and the fare is just 5 rupees between any two points.

Well, coming back to the heading of the topic, getting back to college is a tough thing. For one you have to start studying and the 2nd most important thing is that you stop seeing your account getting credited with salary on the last day of the month. [Talking about credit and debit, I have totally been bambooozled by the Accounting subject that we are having]. And on top of this I do miss a lot of the old stuff. I do miss the feeling of going home whenever Iwanted to. I miss my friends I used to meet every weekend. My roomies in B'lore. The eating spots of B'lore. I miss my old life, i.e., the one outside the JOB.......

Journey

2008-06-22T20:05:00.006+05:30

Some drops sink into the lakes,
Some drops wet the earth,
And some the oceans,
But some meet the Rivers,
And have the Journey
Of a thousand lifetimes.

Nothing

2008-03-14T18:22:00.001+05:30

100
-------
Infinity

Take 100 to be the timespan of our life and Infinity to be the timespan of this Universe.
And what we would amount to is "Nothing". That is what we are. Nothing.

We keep trying to fill up this Goddamn Nothing with something, hoping that there would be some value to it after 100 years. But then it ends up the same way, as Nothing.

We live under false Greatness, false comparison, not knowing what we want, not knowing why we live, not knowing why we suffer.

I am still searching for this answer, just like each one has to find his own answers.

C&H, Bill Watterson Quotes

2008-03-10T17:02:00.000+05:30

Bill Watterson is the one who created the Calvin and Hobbes series. Provided below is the quotes of Bill Watterson which I liked.

A real job is a job you hate.

Reality continues to ruin my life.

From now on, I'll connect the dots my own way.

Genius is never understood in its own time.

God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die.

Heck, what's a little extortion among friends?

I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone's expectations.

I know the world isn't fair, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?

I liked things better when I didn't understand them.

I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night.

I thought my life would seem more interesting with a musical score and a laugh track.

I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently.

It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.

It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves.

Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything's different.

Mothers are the necessity of invention.

Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around.

Often it takes some calamity to make us live in the present. Then suddenly we wake up and see all the mistakes we have made.

Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery - it recharges by running.

So, what's it like in the real world? Well, the food is better, but beyond that, I don't recommend it.

Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak. Probably so we can think twice.

Talking with you is sort of the conversational equivalent of an out of body experience.

That's the whole problem with science. You've got a bunch of empiricists trying to describe things of unimaginable wonder.

The problem with the future is that it keeps running into the present.

The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.

The world of a comic strip ought to be a special place with its own logic and life... I don't want the issue of Hobbes's reality settled by a doll manufacturer.

There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.

Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.

We all have different desires and needs, but if we don't discover what we want from ourselves and what we stand for, we will live passively and unfulfilled.

We don't devote enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.

Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?

happiness

2008-02-21T13:08:00.000+05:30

The source of our happiness lies within us,
so lets start searching ourselves....

The Oath,

2008-02-10T20:07:00.000+05:30

Give me a drop of Love,
And I promise you the Ocean.

Share your ocean of Sorrows,
And not a drop of will I share.

Trust me, and even God
Cannot break my trust in you.

Be my friend for a moment,
And I will befriend you for Life.

Random Thoughts

2008-01-11T08:00:00.000+05:30

I know what I don't want but don't know what I want; I know what I need but don't know what I don't need........

Hope -- the one thing which keeps us alive and makes us suffer!!!

Just because people don't want to be hurt by love,,,,, they stop loving.....

Some people are happy with what they get, and some try to be happy trying to get what they want...

I would prefer telling the truth. Why?.. Because its easier....

I don't have the fear of death, it is just that I am afraid of Dying.....

The past creeps into the dreams screwing up the sleep and then those dreams get recalled during the day screwing up the present.

Let death be the victory in my defeat......

Take the risk only if u believe that u will stand up after falling down.....

EQ (Emotional Quotient)

2008-01-03T17:59:00.000+05:30

Your EQ is 140

You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin.

You are warm and open. Even when life gets you down, you're unafraid of the world and its challenges.
You are comfortable with who you are. And you accept your weaknesses - as well as the weaknesses of others.

While you are quite stable, you don't respond perfectly to every bad situation that comes up.
But you have enough emotional intelligence to know when you need a course correction.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Lead India TOI

2007-12-26T10:09:00.000+05:30

This is the latest advertisement doing the rounds in the ad circuit. It is one of the most beautiful and creative ads made in the recent times.

But I hate this ad, because of what it makes me feel when I see this ad. What does it make me feel? Everytime I look at this ad, I feel like kicking myself. The ad throws questions at me, questions that I would prefer not asking myself. 'What have you done all these years?'. 'Have you done anything substantial to bring about a change ,anywhere in this beautiful country?'.

Someday, I hope, I would have my answers to these questions. Until then, I will avoid watching this advertisement.

Comparative Happiness

2007-12-21T18:50:00.000+05:30

Comparison starts right at the time when you are born. All the relatives stand around you and start guessing "I believe he will look more like his Dad", or "No, See, his eyes and lips are like his Mom, he will go after his Mother", then another one will say "He seems to have more qualities which are on the Paternal side". Well how can one know whom that tiny little kid is going to look like.

For the next 2 years the parents are busy looking after the child and that will be going to be his happiest time in life. Because, even if he is being compared to another kid who is able to learn to walk, talk and do lots of other things better than him, the kid is never going to comprehend all those things.

The problem starts when the child joins the nursery, because there are lots of other kids who come into its Parent's radius, to compare with. Then there is a teacher and the marks card which provide the Parent's with ample ammunition to compare the kid with other kids. The child should consider itself lucky for a lifetime, if it doesn't have a cousin practically of the same age. Else, it would have been a lifetime of "See him, he has achieved so much", "See her, she has scored this much percentage in SSLC/PU", "See him, he has got FCD[first class with distinction] in engineering". The child is even more lucky if the neighbours do not have kids of the same age and in the same institution.

The second radius of comparison will be the kids of the Parent's friends. And add to it another bigger radius of comparison that your relatives friends or the friend's friends kids you are put into. And one more influential radius are the media, the newspaper and the electronic. I don't say that they are doing a wrong thing, instead they are doing a good thing, there are child prodigy's who need to be recognized. Like the one i saw today on "Boogie Woogie", the dancing talent was exceptional for a 7 year old kid. But the society and more importantly the parents need to understand that not each kid is going to be a Sachin Tendulkar.

When we get to the age of 15, the momentum created by the society as a whole would be such that, the comparison would be ingrained in us. We would be studying, not because we want to learn but because we want to come first in the class, beating all the competition. And at this stage our parents would not need to exert any pressure, because we are doing what everyone wants us to, we are competing.

Our happiness gets entangled in our competition. We are happy when we get more marks than our competition, happier when we beat all the competition, and happiest when we get rewarded for that. We are happy, when we get into a better company than our friends, when we get a better paycheque than the people we know, when we are in a better position than our cousins. And this is what I call as Comparative Happiness. We forget that each breath of air we take can make us happy, that a smile in the corridor can make us happy, that a friend's call can make us happy, that simple old memories can make us happy, that a walk down the road can make us happy.

Basically, we are not able to get time to do things that can really make us happy, but we have enough time to do things that make us comparatively happy. We haven't been able to differentiate between our needs and our desires. Our needs define our happiness and our desires define our comparative happiness. This does not end here and later on even our children are subjected to the unending list of comparison and the cycle continues.

No, even I have been unable to escape the lure of comparative happiness. Try as much as possible I am not able to get over it. I don't compare myself with my friends. But yes,I get totally pissed off when the so called acquaintances look down upon me. Just because one is rich, has gone onsite or is reading in an illustrious institution does not give them the right to look down upon anyone.

We are in a situation wherein we do not know what is it that makes us happy. We would have to sit and think for hours thinking about the one question "What will make me happy?".

Sometimes I do feel that its better to be comparatively happy. You do not have to fight your Demons, since you and your Demons are on the same side.

Relationships

2007-12-03T18:42:00.000+05:30

Relationship is not something that you get it in the shop, where you can enter and buy the one that you like the most.Relationships are made when two people get to know each other. And then they start molding it like a piece of ART. Both the people are responsible for it. Only the ones creating it will know the value of it. Though it may look ugly to the some, the one's responsible for creating it should never care for the opinion of others. This piece of ART is never completed, because the relationship never stops building. It is at its most beautiful when both the creators of the ART know the value of it.

The best relationship is the one in which both the creators of the ART are able to leave it in a suspended state to go after their personal goals, but when they come back nothing is changed and they are able to build on it from where they had left it long back.

When one of them mishandles the value of this ART, is when it gets shattered to pieces, though the other person will still try the best not to let it happen. The mistake most of them do is they try to pick up the broken pieces and try to make the same piece of ART which they adored earlier. The question is : Is it worth the time? Because the relationship becomes so delicate that even a small variation to its present state tends to break it. You are afraid to add anything new to it, afraid that it will shatter again. It is at the point wherein one can never be able to build on the ART, and it remains the same for a long time to come. So whats the best thing to do? Either you start building it anew or just be happy for the beautiful memories it had given and carry on with your life. Never ever regret that it crashed. Because if it has crashed that means one of them went back on the promises and there's no point in crying over someone who is not ready to keep it up.

Pune Day 1, 2 n 3

2007-11-27T16:07:00.000+05:30

Pune Trip : 28th Sep to 3rd Oct
Total Cost : Around 7k, including 3.5k flight charges
Places Visited : Pune, Ratangad, Malsej Ghat, Materaon, Ganapatiphule, Mahabaleshwar, Lohgad, Lonavala

Photos Videos

This trip was in the pipeline for a long time, but finally came out of the drawing board since Sri was getting married and we wanted to give him one last trip as a bachelor. After a lot of time wasting discussions we decided that we would do both the journey by flight as it would save us a lot of time plus provide with extra time to roam around. We booked the ticket in Aug, the reason being it was cheaper at that time.

Five us from Blore, one from Chennai and one from Mys, totally 7 of us gathered at the Bangalore Airport at 3 in the afternoon. All the bachelors waited for the flight at the airport passing their time admiring the beauties passing by. The flight was just half n hour late, thats pretty good by Indian Standards, and we reached Pune at 4:30. Don't remember the name of the flight but the Air hostesses, I think, were better than the Kingfisher ones. A very good business strategy to have pretty Air Hostesses, as most of the travelers are men.

Anyway continuing with our trip, once we landed in Pune, had to wait 30 mins for Sri to come and pick us up. Aha there is some one atlast maintaining the Indian Standard Time. He had booked a Chevrolet Tavera. Actually, we had let him to do all the plans from the time we land in Pune till we get away from there, so that we could enjoy ourselves, how criminal of us, right. We dumped all our luggage in Sri's house and headed for the tour around Pune. Unfortunately, he took us to the Pune, which can be found in Bangalore also, i.e., the modern Pune. We visited the old Pune, but it was only at night and that too to Budhwaarpet. Still, had fun in Pune, and slept off for the night. We would be on road for the next 4 days, so had to catch some sleep. Forgot to say, me and Sanath gobbled up Vada Pav's in large numbers, come to think of it, we were even ready to have it for dinner.

The next day started off pretty early, 4:30, with all of us taking bath and getting ready, weren't sure when and where the next bath would be. Starting of with a cup of 'Chai' at 7, we went through the Mumbai Pune Express Highway to reach Thane. The road weaved through Lonavala and Khandala giving some breathtaking sites. We were riding above the clouds. Had our breakfast at Thane and took a deviation towards Shirdi. 8km's after a place called Goti, we had to take a right turn to Bhandaradhara. It was almost 3 when we reached this place. Had our lunch at Bhandaradhara and moved on towards Ratangad after getting hold of a guide who could take us to the top of Ratangad.

The trek actually starts from a village called Ratanvadi, where we packed our food and started off our trek at 6 in the evening. We had given our life in the hands of the 2 guides. There were times during the trek when we regretted doing that. Those two were going on this route after a gap of almost 10 months, and there being a landslide the other day, it was like they had got lost taking us with them. And on top of all this they made us cross the stream almost 10 times, and each time we had to keep removing our shoes and putting it back on after crossing the stream. In middle of all this Ashwin slipped and fell into the stream. That was icing on the cake for all of us, except, that is, Ashwin.

Forgot to mention, there was an old 11th century Siva temple in Ratanvadi. It was a beautiful temple which we visited while waiting for the food to be prepared. Took some beautiful snaps at this place.

Back to our trek. The guides were finally able to find the right route, though we did not believe in them until we reached the top, and we trekked through some dangerous route, with just 3 torches to help us through. I am finding it difficult to put our feelings in words, the fear , the excitement that we were going through while doing the trek. Finally, after trekking for 2 hours, we came to a ladder which we had to climb. Mist had formed all around us, it had rained the previous day, and it was dark. We had no idea what we were climbing or how dangerous it was. The ladder was slippery and also the part which we had to climb once we were done climbing the ladder. Somehow with great difficulty we crossed this hurdle and reached a cave where we had to spend the night. The cave was a 30X15 sized place and 10 of us adjusted here for the night, [well I cannot say slept, since I hardly got any sleep] after having our dinner. The dinner was a local variety of Roti and rice and it tasted pretty good.

The next day morning was the most beautiful views to which I have ever woken up to. It was breathtaking. Do look at the videos and the photos, the links to which are given at the top. We started off to have a look around Ratangad. The palce was really good.Lots of places to visit at the top of this hill. Also one could see a huge waterfall in a neighbouring hill. Lekin kay karein kuch logon ne kuch jagah pe 'GANDHA' kar diya tha. There is a natural hole at the top of the fort. In kannada we call it as 'NINDE'. I think the hill whistles when the wind flows through this hole. Just guessing. Once we were done, we came back to Ratanvadi, back to where our Tavera was parked. On the way back to Bhandaradhara, we had our bath [finally] in one of the many falls lining the route. I still think the guide overcharged us for the food and his services, [700 + 800 for the 8 of us] though I did not think about it at that time. And Sri was learning the art of bargaining pretty well.

The best thing to do if you are a trekking enthusiast is to make a room at Bhandaradhara and go around the places that this beautiful place has to offer. And you will get enough to fill up the days of your stay.

We had our lunch at Bhandaradhara, took some snaps at the overflow dam of Bhandaradhara, this is one place you would not miss at any cost, and started off towards Materaon. On the way we had to go through Malsej ghat and this was another picturesque place. You have a place in Malsej ghat where there is a waterfall right on the vehicles, and the drive is like a scene from an English movie where you ride through the coast, the only difference being that the coast is replaced by a valley.

We reached Materaon at 9 PM, had our lunch and fell off to have catch up with some sleep which had been evading us for the last 2 nights.

What I remember from these 3 days, well, all the jokes that Vadi was making in the Tavera while pulling other guys legs. Sanath laughing uncontrollably at the Ratanvadi temple, the town of Goti, which looked like it was still stuck in the 1960's. People traveling in the tempo, 40 at a time, while the actual capacity was only 10, actually 10 would be the min number riding on the top. Vadi jumping at the site of each and every girl that he put his eye on. The fear in the eyes of the guys when climbing that ladder at Ratanvadi.

The rest of the trip will be written in the next blog.

The Day After

2007-11-19T15:14:00.000+05:30

Its the morning after the D-day. Still in the bed, thinking.... thinking about the mistakes that I had committed. Was the answer right for the 8th problem. Was there some other answer for that particular problem. Oh no, that one was wrong, again one of those stupid mistakes that has bothered my lifetime. Okie, there another one is also wrong. Oh my God, what have I done, I have lost 10 marks because of sheer stupidity. And I am still in the bed. Of all the things, I have screwed up Quant. Okie thats it, I am going to check out my answers in one of those numerous sites than sit and think of all the numerous mistakes, that I have done, for the next 5 weeks. Atleast I will know whether I am through or not.

I get the Question paper from the mess, and open the IMS site. I click on all the answers that I had ticked and press on the submit button. That is when I get the shock. Well according to this particular Institute, I have cleared the Quant cutoff by 3 marks, the DI cutoff by some 30 odd marks, but the choker was that I had missed the verbal cutoff by whopping 12 marks.

That gets me into a position that I was in last year. Totally struck by my fate, and stuck with my fate. Maybe thats the indication for me to stop attempting this exam and just be happy with what is thrown at me.

I know the Quant and DI answers will stand, but will have to hope that the answers provided by IIM's while evaluating the verbal section are the same as that of mine...........

A day of reckoning

2007-11-18T04:36:00.000+05:30

Its 4:30 in the morning, and its also a sunday. What am I doing this early? Its always the same, whenever you need really need to sleep well, it will be the day when you hardly get any sleep. I am not afraid to take the most overrated exam on earth for the third time, but still I am unable to sleep. Maybe the fear is in the subconcius. Look, I am even forgetting the basic spelling of the subconcious, okie now i got it right.

I am just another one of the 2 n half lakh students who is taking the exam today, which will on jan 1st week provide the pass to the Group Discussion and Interview rounds for the top MBA colleges in India, and from there to an MBA degree which will push those 1600 students coming out of the college into the elite list, with payscales many of them can just dream of. Maybe it is this lure that is pushing almost all of them to take the exam.

I am not sure how the paper is going to be, not sure whether I will be able to clear it or not. After putting everything at stake for the last 2 years, not sure whether this was the right thing or not. I hope and wish that today will be my day of redemption, if not its time to just give up on the old dreams and just sail with the wind.

Off to try and catch some sleep.

Wayanad, Aug 2004 ..... Day 2

2007-09-24T16:59:00.000+05:30

Day 2 started off pretty early. We had brown rice "GANJI", with mango 'Chutney' for breakfast. For the hungry 16 guys, the food was great, and also the hospitality. We bid our goodbye's to Vadi's Uncles and Aunts and also his small cute cousins. Our first halt was an Island in the middle of the river flowing in all its glory during the monsoons. The Island had a very good flora but no fauna. One needs to be ferried across to reach the island. There wasn't much to look at in the island. Well, basically I did not like the place, thats all. The ride to that Island was good, its like the ride to all the places around Wayanad during the monsoon is something which can be enjoyed for the rest of your life by just remembering it. The kids on the roads would shout "Go fast, Go fast", thinking it to be a rally. The old people would stare at us. Its not everyday that a group of 10 bikes go one behind another in those places.

When we started off for Sultan Battery for lunch, our tryst with the Rains began once again. We reached Sultan Battery without the rain battering us much. After we had our lunch, Vadi's uncle came to take us to the place where a Dam was being constructed. The place was good, and it was really interesting to see the process of Dam construction. The clouds looked like they would pour down at us showing all the anger in them, but they withheld for the time being and just came down in drizzles. During the way back we visited the Ghaati, the scene from this place was awesome. It was 6 in the evening and the lights weren't good enough for the pictures, but the views were captured and stored in my mind, the lights of the vehicles moving through the curves of the Ghaats, the plains that were stretched across the horizon covered with clouds.

After the Ghaati we came back to Sultan Buttarey and had our dinner. Its usually not recommended for bikers to go through the Bandipur forests after 8 for the fear of Elephants and wild animals, but as usual we boys ignored those rules and started off on the return journey at 9. We asked Vadi's Uncle if it would rain during the night, and he answered in the negative. We took his word and changed into dry clothes, but unluckily for us we met the showers just a few mins into the ride. The rain was falling hard and it was like pins pricking our face. We just continued in the rain. Just a few KM's and Gowri riding Sri's bike fell down and twisted the handle, due to which few bikes had to change hands. We reached Gundlupet in another few hours, with 3 to 4 bikes competing in the head, and another few bikes accompanying each other in the middle, and Sri making up the tail [We had purposefully asked Sri to come in the last, as he had this excellent talent of leading the pack and getting lost]. Sri could not take it anymore and so after the break he took off at the start. We reached Mysore totally tired and just fell in the bed, bringing an end to our trip.

I remember getting myself and Gowri killed twice during the trip, actually while returning I did not see the check gate that had been closed.

I remember, Sri taking charge and getting lost, and Vadi going and getting him back.

I remember zipping thru the roads in the RX 135.

I remember the breathtaking sights of Wayanad.

I remember Manu forgetting his pillion rider and then going back to get him.

I remember the rains which accompanied us through out the trip.

Even my friends remember a lot, and most of them will fill it in the comments section.........

Wayanad, Aug 2004 ..... DAY 1

2007-09-14T18:39:00.000+05:30

We had planned for this trip for a very long time, since Vadi's uncle stayed in this place, it would always be easier to make the trip and go around this place. All of us were entering into our final year, plus almost all of us had got placed in some company or the other in our hostel. There was some kind of "JOSH" during that period, wherein we wanted to do a lots of stuff, including manage the Hostel Day Celebrations in style. Also one of our seniors had made the trip and we had an idea about the places that we had to visit. The day we planned for this trip just 5 bikes and few of us were ready for the trip, but on the day of the trip there were 10 bikes and 20 people including 4 guys joining us from the college hostel. It was one hell of a trip.

After a first round of photo session we started off for the trip at around 6 in the morning, [learnt this habit after the experience in the previous trip ]. In about 1 hour we reached Gundlupet and had our breakfast. This is where we had to take the diversion, the other road from here goes to OOTY. The ride that continued was one of the best ride of my life, I had changed my bike from Bajaj Caliber to RX135 for that short phase. The road was a beauty. 60 KM's of dense forest and trucks coming at us at breakneck speed was what we had to face. It was fun riding at around 80 kmph on those curving roads, which did not have much traffic. We clicked some photos on the way and reached Sultan Buttarey at around 9:30. Most of us filled our petrol tanks as much as we could (the petrol in Kerala was almost 4 rs cheaper), had our tea and started off for Edakal Caves.

Edakal Caves is situated on a small hill, and it was here that years ago, I don't remember when, humans used to dwell in the caves situated on this hill, and there are paintings and pictures on the walls of the caves drawn by those cavemen. Had some real fun out there, just think about what a gang of 20 boys will do. After visiting the caves we went treking to the top of the hill. The climb was steep but the distance was pretty less, compared to the treks that we had undertaken. The scenery from the top was awesome. After finishing off with Edakal Caves, we went to the city to have our lunch. The lunch wasn't that good. The food in Kerala hotels are really very bad. This was when our bad time started. It started raining heavily. We thought it will stop after some time, but it was not to be so. we waited for 1 hour and that was the max that we could wait. We had very less time with us and we were in a position where we hardly cared if it rained. Our next stop was Soojipara Falls, some 30 KM's from the city. The road taking us to that place weaved through the coool tea estates giving us some memorable sights to be savored for the rest of our life. We reached the falls, and we got to know that we had to get down to the falls through a real slippery route. Most of them got down into the water and had a very good time. The falls was good, very good. This was out here that I had a real breathtaking moment of my life. Me, Pratap and GP, had left the place before the rest of them and took a diversion from the actual route. Will try and explain what I saw at that place, at the right was the side of a hill, a very steep fall. In front of us was the confluence of all the hills, so it was like all the hills together had formed the road at the bottom, at the left of us were a few hills, altogether forming a wonderful sight. We started of at around 6 from the falls. While coming back, the lights in one of the bikes got screwed. So what we did was we made the guy ride in middle of the other 2 bikes and rode till the city.

It was only in the night that I could see the beauty of all the 10 bikes riding together. Being in the end what I saw was 9 tail lights, one after another in a line, and whenever there was a right turn to be taken all the indicators would go on one by one. All the people on the road would think that we were going on a rally and would start waving at us.

For the night, sixteen of us from MH stayed in Vadi's Uncle's house, and reaching their house was again another type of adventure. The road was really bad, and the drivers really struggled a lot to reach that place. But at the end of the day, we just had to reach a shelter, have a bath in hot water and fall asleep for the night. We were just thankful for Vadi's Uncle for providing the shelter and able to provide for the 16 of us for the night.

Day 2, to be continued....................................

Skandagiri, a.k.a Kalavaarahalli, 19/08/2007

2007-08-20T14:08:00.000+05:30

This was one trek we had planned for a long time but it never took place. We used to see the photos on mails forwarded to us calling it as a "Place Above the Clouds". But each time for one reason or the other it used to get cancelled.

Seven of us started off for Skandagiri, a.k.a Kalavaarahlli on saturday night at around 12. There were 4 bikes among us. There are 2 routes, one go to Chikballapur, take a left turn at a crossroad and after another right and left turn, u will be on the way to base of Skandagiri, two, go to base of Nandi hills and then take a right which will take you to Skandagiri. We reached the base at 2:00 AM. At the base there were lots local villagers acting as guides for the weekends when the crowd from Bangalore comes to visit the place. We decided against taking a guide, since we had one in Kallu.

The climb up was the best part, not knowing properly which route to take, we just go on the path made by cow's and villagers, not knowing if it will take us to the top. After some time the track would come to an abrupt end and then we would retrace our step and again continue on our pursuit of the peak. In middle we would stop to take some snaps, actually we took a lot of them. And thus moving in a zigzag route, going up and coming down and then again going up we reached pretty close to the peak, when we met a group of people getting down, and they showed us the path which would take us to the top.

We stopped at a place just below the peak at around 5, had some snacks and took some rest. Until this point in our journey there was hardly any clouds or mist, but as the time for sunrise came closer a huge rain cloud covered the hill top dashing our hopes of experiencing the sunrise. At the time of sunrise we were surrounded by the cloud making it really cold out there, and spoiling our photography sessions at the top. At around 7 we started our journey back to our bikes and again successfully were able to lose our ways. But still we managed to reach our bikes, and get back to Bangalore, as I had to write a test at 10.

The trip was wonderful with some memorable moments. If you are planning to make this trip then do avoid taking the guide with you as it takes out some memorable moments of your trip.

Freedom,,,

2007-08-14T12:50:00.000+05:30

Freedom from fear
Freedom from hate
Freedom from desires
Freedom from expectations
Freedom from irrationals
Freedom to be......
What I want to be.

Life's Abyss....

2007-08-06T19:27:00.000+05:30

Deep down in the never ending Abyss,
Shattered by the failures,
Shattered by failed relationships,
Shattered by failed dreams,
Shattered by my Goals,
Lies my soul...

Standing at the edge of the abyss,
I look at my soul,
Undecided, Uncertain,
If I can retrieve my soul,
From failures of my past,
Standing as a Goliath
In the darkness of the Abyss.....

Unable to continue my journey,
Without my soul,
I jump into the Abyss, with
HOPE as my Adrianes Thread...........

Friendship Day,,,,,,

2007-08-05T11:38:00.000+05:30

When the world is Against you,
and there is no one beside you,
That.. will be our Friendship day,
Hope the day never comes,
But when it comes,
I will keep my promise.........

Ooty on Bike........

2007-07-13T13:30:00.000+05:30

It was the month of March, year 2004, we "Baays" had entered our 6 th semester after having a long break from college and studies. We wanted to go on a trip before the summer could show its true colors. The trip got planned and decided to go on Sat and Sun, saturday being Holi, festival of colors, was a holiday for us.

Ooty is 120 KM(the shorter route, the longer one is around 160 km), from Mysore, and this was our first trip on bike. We had 5 bikes among us, and 5 more agreed to ride with us, though there were many more wanting to come, the shortage of bikes did not let them come along.

We had planned to start off at sometime around 8/9 but Maddy had to go to college and hence we had to wait for him to return. After a lot of calls, we were finally able to make him come at the earliest. But then we still could not start off, since some of the guys decided to play Holi. Finally we started off at 12 in the afternoon, 5 bikes and 10 people, with only Ravi having some experience in long distance driving. We took off, with the sun scorching on our heads, don't remember where the first pit stop was, but took few breaks on the way and reached a point where the road forks into 2 routes, the longer one and the shorter one. We took the longer one and after half hour the uphill climbs of Hairpin curves started. My bike could hardly pull us up, (what with Gowri sitting behind,went up on 1st and 2nd gear, should not have expected much). After a few hair pin curves, Sri's engine could not stand the strain and started smoking out. We gave half hour break, took some snaps from that scenic place and started off.

We reached Ooty at around 6 in the evening and since it was a time when we could not do any sight seeing, we filled ourselves up and then went and did some shopping. At around 7 we left Ooty for Wellington. That was the place where my Uncle was staying in the Military Training School in Wellington. The place was too good, and for once we thought even we could have joined the Army, to live a life like that and do something worthwile. The food was good, the rooms were even better, and the facilities were tremendous.

Since we had lost a lot of time on the previous day, we started off early, and it was very cold in the morning even though it was a summer. We visited the Sim's Park in Cunoor, and then went to the Dolphin's nose, which was a suicide spot. The scenery on the way to Dolphin's nose was too good. Then we returned back to Ooty, to visit the Botanical Garden and the famous Ooty Lake. And then we started off from Ooty at around 6 and returned to Mysore at 12 in the night after having a good dinner at one of the Dhaba's on the way.

There were a few unforgettable moments in this trip,

1. while returning form Dolphin's Nose, Sri's rear wheel tyre got punctured(His bike is like Jinxed), and it being a Sunday, we could hardly find a soul at 10 in the morning at Cunoor, but we still were able to find a fellow by the name of John or something, who was a specimen not to be found anywhere. He was totally responsible for us not being able to visit few of the places in Ooty, and who better to explain about him than, Sanath/Hegde.

2. Maddy and Ravi, got a number that they thought was a girl's and started chatting continuously. When they checked out the balance from Ooty they saw that they were not being charged and chatted throughout the night. Well, it was only next day that they found out that while in roaming, the charges are deducted once in a day, and they lost a bumper 300 bucks during the night in ooty. Their agony did not end here since they later found out that the number was one of our seniors and it was not a girl.

3. I know,the remaining 9 guys will not forget the Pongal I had in Coonoor.

Would like the remaining Baays to add their moments in the comments section.....

Chao........................................

Prisoners All

2007-06-29T19:21:00.000+05:30

Our heart is the
Prisoner of our mind....
And our mind
The prisoner of our heart.........

Road to Mt. Everest

2007-06-20T17:50:00.000+05:30

Well they are actually not building the road to the top of Mount Everest but to the first base camp.........

Who? well, who else, other than the one's who could have built the highest rail network could have thought of this idea... Yes, the Chinese..... well they could have as well built the road to the peak, dunno why that idea did not flash.

Why? It seems they want the Olympics fire to reach the highest point on earth, and for that they want the climbers to start from that point.....

When? somewhere next week....

Well, lots of environmentalists are against the idea of constructing this road, since this is an ecologically sensitive part. Google out the meaning if you want to.

What's my problem? lots......

For one we cannot stop them from building that thing.... dude they are communists and they won't listen......

For one Mt. Everest is a challenge which cannot be taken by mere mortals. It is a struggle to reach the top, which will take everything from a human being. As one of the climbers had said after failing for the second time, "You as a mountain cannot grow, but I as a human can ". For climbers it brings out the worst and the best in you.

Well by making the trip to Base camp easy, they are removing half the challenges that the climbers would have faced, and thus the one great challenge on the surface of Mother Earth would not be so.

Next, they are helping mere mortals reach places just by throwing a few bucks, which would not have been possible otherwise.

They are screwing up the environment out there which even as of now is not in a very good shape, what with most of the climbers throwing away the waste in those beautiful mountains.

Maybe, its always with us humans that we try to prove that we are stronger than Nature, which of course we are not. Maybe we should put all the places which are sensitive under someone who cares for the place and not in the hands of States which are trying to prove themselves to be great......

Looks like we will be forcing everything on the future generation which they would not be ready to inherit.................

photo from ericbolz.com/everest/index.html

Marriage-2

2007-06-19T21:32:00.000+05:30

Recently one of my hostelmate and also a batch mate got married. At a time most of my friends were planning our career and also planning for another four years of a fun filled bachelor life, the news of marriage came as a surprise. Actually it didn't, since we had got the rumours about the marriage, we were just waiting for the confirmation. The worst part was that we weren't informed about the engagement. He mailed on the day after the engagement saying that he was getting married. Maybe he wasn't sure that he was getting married. don't know.

When we saw the mail we thought the invitation for the marriage would be special, since the mail was written to convey that meaning. After staying in a hostel with a batch strength of 22, the invitation sent across was the most impersonal one ever. I accept that most of the news or information in this age are passed across through email, but when it is a marriage of one of your batch mates for whom lots of people in our batch had helped in many ways, that is not what you expect. You don't open the invitation one fine day and see that the invitation has been scanned and sent across through email.

Well for me it never mattered, since I never considered him as a friend. But there were a lot of people in my batch who were expecting a call from him so that they could attend the first marriage in the batch, and they were totally disappointed. Few people had taken leaves on the day of marriage, and then cancelled it.

Well finally on the day of the marriage there was only one person from our batch in his wedding. This was in contrast with the first engagement of out batch when 8 people had attended Sri's engagement and that too in Chennai. And I believe the number will cross 8 when the first wedding in the actual KOOLE2K5 wedding takes place...........

Well whatever happens never forget to call people who have made your life special to participate in the moments that you think are special...................

KumaraParvata

2007-05-21T11:42:00.000+05:30

Year: 2003
Date: Around 20th of the month of February
Place: KumaraParvata (near Subramanya/Somwarpet), 13 KM trek to the peak.
No. Of Days: 2
No. of Routes: 2, one form Subramanya and another from Somwarpet.

Very sorry that I don't have the Digital prints of the photos we had taken......

The Sun had started to change its course towards the north pole, we call it as "Uttarayana", and the summer had started to set in. We boys from MH (Madhwa Hostel) had just finished our 3rd semester exams. As usual did not have much expectations from the exams. We were excited and decided to plan for a trip to Kumara Parvata. I was in 2 minds. Had an offer from my Aunt in Kalimpong, which is near Darjeeling, to come to their place. I had missed out going there with my parents and sister in 2001 as my II PU exams were about to start. I believe fate did not want me to go to that place and so I ended up going to the first trek that we travel freaks of Koole2k5 had planned on. Koole2k5 is the name of our batch in MH which passed out in the year 2005.

As planned we all landed in Dharmastala on the 19th (not sure about the date so just giving one). Since Ravindra was from Nidle, which is some 8 KM's from Dharmasthala and around 50 Km's from Subramanya, we decided to start off on our trekking from his place. Got down in Dharmasthala and met some of the guys while waiting for few more to arrive. Once all of them arrived we kept our bags in Ravi's uncle's shop and went to the temple of Lord Manjunath for which Dharmasthala is famous for. Had a very hearty lunch at that place and then roamed around the small place for a few hours. The car museum was very good as also the main museum which had antiques displayed. Also visited the Bahubali statue which was situated on a small hill, it wasn't as good as the one in Sravanabelagola.

After roaming around the city we went to Ravi's house in Nidle. It was actually something like a farm house and the house was located in the middle of huge coconut trees. After the usual courtesies we resumed our gossiping while few of them started playing a game of Cricket (Cricket was still a craze at that time).

After dinner, Me, Vadi, Sri, Sanath, Ravi and his parents, started off on the task of preparing Chapatthi's for the 2 days of trip for the 11 of us. And what a night it was, preparing 120+ chapatthi's in 3 hours. It was like two of us would be rolling the dough, 2 of us would be heating the Chapatthi's and the rest would be supporting the process. That was one memorable night out!!

The next day, all of us woke up pretty early, had our bath and started off to catch the first bus to Subramanya, from Dharmasthala. Few of us had to go standing till the last stop, on a road which was fit only for bullock carts.We got down in Subramanya, and had our breakfast out there. The hills were green and it was a beautiful sight to look at the hills standing above the temple. On the temple road, one needs to take a right turn and follow the mud road, and then reach the point where there is a fork on the road. At this juncture take a left turn and then u get onto the trail of reaching KumaraParvata.

Ravi had already done this trek to the peak and naturally acted as the guide. He told us that the first break which we would take would be near a large boulder and that it was not that far. Unluckily or Luckily we trusted him. The forest was very dense and the climb was steep. This was the first trek for most of us and none of us were fighting fit. Naturally, we got tired in 30 mins of treking. All of would be suggesting to stop, but Ravindra would pull us saying that the first pit stop was just around the corner, and that we would reach it in 5 mins. Well this 5 mins got stretched to 1 hour, and we got our first rest after an hour and half.

We started off again after the break and in another 1 hour we cleared the forest and reached a place where the sun was burning the ground. And we gave mother Earth some respite by coming in between her and the Sun. It was scorching. We stopped in a few places to pose for the camera. At around 12:30, that was almost 4 hours after we started the trek, we reached Bhattara Mane. That was the second pit stop, also this was where we would camp for the night. The place was well maintained and it was developed as a farm house. That guy must have been crazy, cause that place was atleast 90 mins from the closest civilization, and u had to walk that 90 mins cause there wasn't any transportable road. We freshened up and then started off on the trail. This was the second part of the trek and in this one there were hardly any trees to give us the much needed cover from the sun. There was one checkpost where the guards present, checked the contents of our bag and let us pass through. After a few mins we halted to have our lunch. By this time most of us were wearing just the shorts and each of us were carrying sticks to support us through the long journey. The journey to the peak was getting tougher by the hour, and it took our one and only casualty of the trip. Ashoka quit 2 hours from the peak, as he knew that we were gonna come back through the same route. He said that he could not do it any more and took rest at the mantapa, while rest of us continued on our journey.

After another one hour, we took our next pit stop and had some snacks before we could continue the journey. This was the part of the route where on both sides of the trail there was a steep fall, and the trail was just 4 feet wide. The scenery from here was amazing, and it was from here that you would have the first glimpse of KP. The last part of the trek was amazing, as we had to get down through a really dense forest and then climb up to reach the peak. The climb was really steep and at one place we had to make use of our hands to climb up.

Once we reached the top the view was amazing. On one side we could see the plains of Somwarpet, and it seems there is a route towards that place and supposed to be very good, and on the other side you could see the never ending hills. We spent an hour at this place and then started off on our journey back to Bhattara Mane. It took us 1 hour to travel the distance that had taken 4 hours while climbing up. We met Ashoka at the "mantapa" and chided him for his act of stopping in the middle.

At Bhattara Mane, we had Ganji Oota, which was unforgettable. We slept off and in the morning started off for downhill to reach Subramanya. on the way there is a small falls, where we had our bath. We reached Subramanya, visited the temple and started off for our respective places. There was an offer to go to a fort near Dharmasthala, but since all of us were dog tired no one accepted it. Anyway, it was supposed to be really tough, good that we rejected it.

There a few things that come to my memory when I think of KP. The sighting of another peak, after one peak is conquered, Vadi making fun of Bhatta, me trailing in the end of the group, guys using "Chombu" to attend natures call, Sri missing out the waterfalls as he was running ahead of everyone to be the first..................

Great memories, Great trips!!!!

1857, Uprising

2007-05-10T21:21:00.000+05:30

First War of Indian Independence

May 11, 1857.... Officially considered to be the First War of Indian Independence. It was termed by the Britishers who occupied India at the time as "Sepoy Mutiny". There were many reasons why the Uprising took place, while some were personal, and some were for the freedom of the kingdom and some were for the freedom of the Nation from the British. Maybe, at that time, there wasn't the thought of a Single Nation. The term India was more like how the term Europe is being used. Thought it was thought to be one region, bound by the Himalayas in the north and the Indian Ocean in the south. So, it was more like different Kingdoms, uprising simultaneously against the British East Indian Company. This Uprising was the 'seed' that was sown for later Independence movements.

The Company was profit making joint stock company, whose sole aim in India was to make profits for the Queen and the people who owned the stocks.

Why did the uprising take place? Well there were many reasons. I am not a historian, and what I present is here based on what I have read and what I have assumed. The British East Indian Company had defeated almost all the kings at that time and thus made those kingdom pay a huge sum of money to be sent to the treasury on a regular basis. Something like "Hafta Vasooli". Maybe, they weren't satisfied with the money that was coming in and thus hit upon a new plan to Annexe the kingdom. They passed a new law, (well I haven't looked much into dates and names as such, and here my friend Sanath can comment on), according to which any Kingdom which did not have a natural "heir" would be annexed by the British East India Company.
There was unrest in the kingdoms since the 'Company' was demanding a lot from them and this new bill was the spark that set fire. All the kingdoms that did not have a heir were against the new bill. The people of the land did not want to be ruled by the Britishers, though they were fine with them being ruled indirectly. Well people used to think of the King of the Land to be the God.

The Sepoys, who fought for the 'Company', were troubled, one because, the rulers who ruled them were being replaced by the 'Company', and also because of the rumor that was being spread. The new bullets that were being produced required the soldiers to bite it off and the rumor was that the grease being used was made of the fat from Cows and Pigs. 'This' was a taboo to both the Muslims and Hindu soldiers who were fighting for the Company.

Also, most of the common people were against the Company. The main reason was the free hand given to the Missionaries who toured the whole of the country and tried to convert as many people as possible. Also, the missionaries used to deride the religion of the common man.

So all these who did not like the policies, did not like being ruled by an outsider rose against the Company and selected the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader.

So Why did the Uprising fail? How was the Company able to get it under control?

The situation in India was same as what it was 2000 years ago. There was absolutely no unity. The kings who weren't going to lose their Kingdom did not rise against the Company. Instead, they provided the Company with the soldiers required to curb the mutiny. On the mutineers part there was no planning on what needed to be done to make it a success. The people, other than those in the Kingdoms that rose against the Company, did not care about the Uprising.

Well, when you read about the First war of Independence in papers, you will mostly read about the uprising but you will hardly find any mention of what happened after the defeat. You won't know that over 2.5 Lakh people were slaughtered by the marauding Britishers.

This is one part of the history of our country about which not many would know, nor would today's generation,(me included), care for. Though we celebrate, the 150 years of Uprising, no one cares for what the uprising stood for. We are in the part of time where the values which can stand the test of time are forgotten..... And this is the future we gift to the coming generations.

Humanity....

2007-05-10T11:54:00.000+05:30

This is one forward, which I get on a regular basis, and each time I get it, I read it from the start to end, except that part, which says you need to forward it again. :-). The story is really beautiful, and shows why children are compared to GOD.......

At a fund-raising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot
understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realise true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"

Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on
their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much- needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much! The boy looked around for guidance and a few boys nodded approval, why not?

So he took matters into his own hands and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on
the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognising the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"

Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third- baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, Shay, run home!"

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."

Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Mekedaatu, 28/04/2007

2007-04-30T21:09:00.000+05:30

Mekedaatu

The Rising Sun is one of the most beautiful views one can get, and that was what received me in the morning when I started off to this place called Mekedaatu. They say that, once Shiva in the form of a Goat crossed the river at that point and so the place is called as such. Or the reason maybe that because the distance between the 2 banks at one point is so less that even a goat could cross the river. Dunno which one of these is true.

So not knowing what was in store for us that day, the 3 of us "Me, Ashwin and Ravindra", started off to this place. We had our breakfast in one of the darshini's in Bangalore and took the road towards Kanakpura, which is 50 KM's from Bangalore. Ravindra had is "Avenger" and me in my "Caliber", (time I changed my bike). Since it was a national highway, the ride till kankapura was good. From there Sangama, place where river Arkavathy meets river Cauvery, was 25 KM's ahead. But after a few KM's we saw a board called "Chunchi falls" and thought why not explore that place. 5 KM's from the diversion we reached the Chunchi falls. This was the river Arkavathy, flowing thru a rocky area, though there wasn't much water. There was something picturesque about the place. The water flowing continuously through the rocks for centuries made the stone look like it was polished by a stone cutter, and there were pits in those hard rock's, no idea how it came about to be like that. Since the amount of water was less, the falls wasn't the beauty it could have been, but that did not prevent us from taking pictures in that place.

After the short stint at Chunchi Falls, we made our way to Sangama. Well, the first sight of the place wasn't that pleasing, the water was less, and there were people already playing about in the water. Well, even that did not stop us from getting into the water. Had a great time in the water. After which we had our lunch in the hotel, under the tree shade. The food wasn't good and for that matter neither bad. Well, we whiled our time away, hoping for the sun to reduce its intensity. Finally, when we knew the sun won't give up we thought we would fight it out in the heat. And so, we took our bikes and crossed the river so that we could go to Mekedaatu, think about it, no bridge to go to that place.... Once we reached the other bank, we were shocked, cause we were charge 40 bucks to ride our own bike till Mekedaatu, not even the express highway's charge so high. Well thus started the challenging, wonderful nightmare of bike riding on the 4 KM stretch of a road, which you could hardly call a road. Well for other's there is a Dakota bus which charges 30 bucks per person, and if u wanna save money u can still go walking. The sight while riding the bike through the road was good, and I believe would be even better after the monsoons. But after the monsoon's you would not be able to get into the water, one because its one of the most dangerous places and two, there are crocodiles present out there.

Mekedaatu, is also called as Grand Canyon of Karnataka, and to experience that you would have to go there. We had spent some really good time around the hot, burning stones, took some snaps and started back to Sangama.

Have to mention one thing. The ride through the river. The banks were sandy, and it was a tough time reaching the water. Thought the ride through the water would be easy. It was not to be so. The bad part was that the water was flowing over the sand, and if the bike got screwed, we would have been stranded at that place. Luckily it did not happen.

On the way back, we were suggested to go to Muttati, some 18 Kms from Sangama. The options were to go through the TAR road ( more in distance), or the short cut, which goes to Cauvery Fishing camp and from there to Muttathi. The road after the fishing camp was one of the most challenging stretch I have ever ridden. But it was fun and risky. We had to pass through dense forest with possibilities of meeting a herd of Elephants. The risk was worth it. The ride through was too good, especially the scenery, with the river flowing parallel to the road.

Muttathi wasn't the place worth visiting. And so we spent few mins in that place and started off back to bangalore.

The trip was wonderful.

The Guide - R K Narayan

2007-04-27T17:39:00.000+05:30

The Guide: A Novel (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

R. K. Narayan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guide

Price : Rs 90
What is it about: It's about a Guide, who runs away from his past and in turn is pushed into doing something which he hasn't done in his life.....

Well one thing that Narayan does not in most of his novels is describe the physical attributes of his characters. And when you have "The Guide" in your hands after watching the film n number of times, you end up imagining the characters in the film when you read this book. Well, that is what you should not do. Because, the soul of the novel and that of the film are entirely different, even though the film was derived from the novel, and the titles give due credit to Narayan for this book.

The book runs smoothly, in the characteristic Narayan style of story telling, and one does not feel that the story is transiting between the past and the present. The story, starts with the protagonist Raju, coming out of jail and moves on like a nomad, tryig to go as far as possible from his place "Malgudi". He ends up in a ruined temple by a river which passes through a small village. The people of the village start thinking of Raju to be a holy man and shower all their love and humility on him.

And as time passes Raju, gets more than the respect he would have thought, and thinks of spending rest of his life in this place. But, for all the respect showered on him by the villagers, they start thinking that Raju can perform miracles, and in one such instance, due to a miscommunication, the villagers think that Raju will fast for 12 days, so that the rains would fall this drought prone villages. This is when Raju starts telling about his old tainted and colourful life to his trusted aide out there in the village,though his past story starts much before in this book. But it is at this point that we come to know that it is Raju who is telling his past. That is the beauty of Narayan.

Well for the remaining part of the story, you would better start reading the book.

The best part of the book is that the story is very good and also the flow of the story. The other good thing is that the protagonist is not shown as the hero, but as a human, just like me or you, with all the inherent evil and goodness present in each on of us.

The bad part of the book is the ending. Well, I for one, after reading the book thought, whether the book publisher had cheated me by giving a book which didnot have the last chapter in it. Maybe its the affect of reading the book after seing the movie. And maybe that is the reason, Narayan never liked the movie that was made.

November Rain - G n R

2007-04-07T16:53:00.000+05:30

This song is the longest guitar solo. This has one of the best guitar played, with a beautiful lyrics complementing the guitar. The song starts off slowly, with peaking into the end of the second part of the song, and then the song almost comes to zero and starts picking up from there on. The 3rd part of the song is rendered beautifully.... And in the end u can listen to the water falling.....

Guns and Roses - N...

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain
But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away
If we could take the time to lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time...on your own
Do you need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time...on my
own Sometimes I need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, ohhh yeahhh
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

The Wall - 2

2007-04-06T19:30:00.000+05:30

Finally, joined the Artificial Rock Climbing thingy. Had to wake up at 6 in the morning( after years of sleeping for that extra one hour, which would stretch till 9 ). Got ready and went to the Kanteerava stadium, which was 8 KM from my place.

I had thought that there would just be a warm up and then we would be allowed to climb the wall. But that was not to be. The workouts were for close to one hour, without any break. After years of inactivity, my body wasn't willing to take up the rigorous exercise that I was being taken through by the instructor, "Kameshwar Sir". Within 10 mins I was panting for breath. I was like, why am I being tortured, all i wanted was to climb the artificial wall. Well the realization was to come only later on.

We are made to go through different workouts, which just pushes one to the limit. All of us present out there try to finish it as fast as possible, especially the faster ones. Well the reason is simple. You get more time to rest. Once the last person finishes, we are immediately made to start off with the next set of workouts. God save the person who is finishing it last.

Once the workouts are finished, we play a small game that lasts for some 15 mins and it is fun.
And then I go to wall to give my first attempt at it. One has to start off with the beginners wall. The height is some 50 ft, there are 10 boards each of 5 feet, which makes up the starting wall.
The holds are fixed to the wall by one of the expert climbers present in the group. This is done once in a month and the route is easy, normal or difficult, and this is decided by the one's who fix the holds.

Well though the climbing looked easy, it was not to be so. I climbed just 6 boards out of the 10 boards which was required to reach the top. The first 3 boards aren't that bad, but after the 4th board there is a 30 degree steep towards the earth which makes climbing tougher. This is what is called as overhang in the Rock Climber jargon. Well what the overhang does is, it starts to throw you out, and you start feeling that you will fall down anytime, and start catching the holds tighter than what is needed. Your hands get pumped up, and before you reach the 7th board, when you try to catch the next hold, your hand will be shivering. Finally you let go of the holds and let yourself at the mercy of the person who is belaying you.

to be continued...........

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

2007-04-06T11:34:00.000+05:30

Book: Hannibal Rising
Author: Thomas Harris
Cost: 235
Rating: 3.5/5

What is it about: It is a book which tells how Hannibal Lecter turns into what he is, "a monster".

If you have read the 3 book in the series about Hannibal,i.e., "Red Drangon", "Silence of The Lambs" and "Hannibal", then you cannot stop yourself from picking up this book. In the 3 books mentioned above, Hannibal is shown to be a ruthless, cunning and talented human, who follows
Cannibalism. He is arrested in "Red Dragon",and is held in an asylum as a case study. He escapes from the clutches of the State, in the "Silence of the Lambs", and kills people who are out to catch him in "Hannibal" and makes off with the woman he loves.

The author provides glimpses of Hannibals past in the other novels, but it is in Hannibal Rising, that he comes up with the story of Hannibal's past.

The story starts during the World War II, where the family escapes the wrath of the escaping Nazis to be finally killed in a freak bombing, as the war reaches the end. Hannibal and his little sister survive the bombing only to be held captive by a group of ruthless men who would do anything to survive the cold, hunger and the attacking Allied forces.

Hannibal gets blacked out when his sister is being taken away by the captives, and does not remember what has happened with his sister, and also what has happened of the men.

Hannibal is then found by his uncle in an orphanage and taken to his home in France. There under the eye of Lady Murasaki, he is healed of his horrible dreams. But the darkness which had enveloped him once, comes back, showing him what it held. And then starts the story of
revenge that he takes upon the men who had let the Darkness envelope him.

Overall a good read. Some paragraphs are a bit over the head, need to read a few times to understand those. This book needs to be read only after reading the previous three books in sequence.

NEXT by Michael Crichton

2007-04-03T20:13:00.000+05:30

Book: NEXT
Author: Michael Crichton
My Rating: 3/5

I am the giving the rating of 3/5 since I am a fan of Michael Crichton. The book is the usual Crichton stuff. A futuristic book written in the present!

The book is about the what Genetic Engineering can do and how it is going to change our lives.Here the Author gives us a lot of instances, like, Advertising using Genetic Engineering and Nature (Like Advertising at the Coral Reefs, by modifying the Corals), Inserting the Maturity Gene to get the Addicts under control, Artists making use of Gene Therapy to create something like art, and then u have talking Chimps/Orangutans(created by inserting some specific "Speech" genes in Chimps which are found in humans),and the list continues. What the author puts up out here in the is the various possibilities that are created because of Genetics Engineering.

The Author also points out how the Patenting of the Genes found in humans is affecting the way the companies and the researchers are dealing with common people. He also points out the Nexus between the Universities and Corporates. Univ's use the cells from common people and then sell it off for very high prices to the Private companies. The Author is also critical of how discovery of Genes patented by one Univ is affecting the Research being done on that Gene by some other researcher, and also about how a researcher can find a Gene but he cannot own it, since he did not create it.

Well what is bad in the book is that it consists of a lot of characters who are interlinked and the story just moves ahead because of the details that are thrown in about Genetic Engineering.

Well if u dont have just about anything to do and if u want to know about Genetics Engineering in a nutshell, then go ahead and pick up the book.

And yeah, I don't think so that I am a good reviewer, but will try to improve it at the cost of your time......

18 Till I Die

2007-03-15T22:59:00.000+05:30

Well I got crazy about the lyrics of this song at the age of 16 or something when I did not know what it was to be like at 18......
The age of 18 is something like a rebellion starts off. One gets a sense of freedom, not having to answer to anyone but still being resposible for the actions, an age where adulthood and childhood mingle bringing in about the right amount of attitude. Well I have decided to spend my life as an 18 year old.... what about you?

BRYAN ADMAS-18 TIL...

I wanna be young the rest of my life
never say no - try anything twice
til the angels come and ask me to fly
I'm gonna be 18 til I die - 18 til I die

can't live forever that's wishful thinkin'
who ever said that must of bin' drinkin'
don't wanna grow up I don't see why
I couldn't care less if time flies by

18 til I die - gonna be 18 til I die
it sure feels good to be alive
someday I'll be 18 goin' on 55! - 18 til I die

anyway - I just wanna say
why bother with what happened yesterday
it's not my style I live for the minute
if ya wanna stay young get both feet in it - 18 til I die

a 'lil bit of this - a 'lil bit of that
'lil bit of everything - gotta get on track
it's not how ya look, it's what ya feel inside
I don't care when - I don't need ta know why

18 til I die - gonna be 18 til I die
ya it sure feels good to be alive
someday I'll be 18 goin' on 55! - 18 til I die
ya there's one thing for sure - I'm sure gonna try

don't worry 'bout the future - forget about the past
gonna have a ball - ya we're gonna have a blast
gonna make it last - 18 til I die

Apocalypto

2007-03-13T11:57:00.000+05:30

If you are going to watch this film with your family, then don't..

If you are going to watch this film with girls who are friends then better avoid it.

The first scene,the mayan hunters hunting the bore in the 14th century, sets the tone for the reamaining part of film.

The story is set in the 14th century Central American region. There is a tribal village whose residents are living on their own, until they are savaged by a group of Head Hunters who are hired by a well developed Civilization which thinks that sacrificing men on the altar of their temple will please their Gods and relieve them of the danger which seems to be hanging over their heads.

The second part consists of the chase. The hero, who is the son of the headman of the savaged village, escapes from the clutches of the head hunters and runs to his pregnant wife and child, whom he would have hidden during the attack on the village, with the head hunters pursuit.

Well the second part consists of pretty much less savagery when compared to the first part. The first part has scenes where the heads are rolled through the altar, hearts are plucked out from the body of men while they are still alive........

This is a Mel Gibson movie and you should expect all the blood letting which goes on in the film.
Well the whole theme of the film is summarised in the starting sentence of the film which goes like this " Any great civilization cannot be destroyed from without until it has been destroyed form within".

2007-02-24T17:44:00.000+05:30

In Bangalore, when one travels from Majestic to M G Road, U pass through the Kanteerava Stadium. When U reach the end of the road touching the stadium, U see an artificial wall and Guys n Gals climbing it and trying to top it.

The first time I had a look at it I fell in love with this sport. Thought of enrolling into it immediately but had to wait since I had other priorities in life. Its a different matter that those priorities wasn't completed.

After a long wait of one year, me and my friend finally went ahead and asked the people practising out there about who looks after the training and stuff, and this was how we got in touch with Mars Adventures.

Well enrolling was the easiest part of the whole thing, and the toughest grind of my life was about to start.

Continued in the next blog......................

2007-02-23T15:11:00.000+05:30

Ekalavya.................The Royal Guard

Watched this multi star cast film called Ekalavya........The Royal Guard, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, of the Parinda fame. The star cast comprised of big names like Amitabh Bachan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Jimmy Shergil and Vidhu's Fav. Vidya Balan.

The best part of the movie is that it is a 2 hour movie.

The cinematography is very good but the problem is that U feel like sitting thru a Bollywood version of a M Night Shyamalan film.

The director believes that he is doing justice to the Ekalavya of Mahabharata by making this film, but one thing for sure is that he is doing injustice to all the viewers.

There are some really good parts in the movie, like the scene where Big B hits at a string tied to the feet of a Piegon,blindfolded, and then gets into the water to get back the string which is attached to 3 small bells. This was one scene which just stands out. It is sad that the Director is not able to get this type of fire throughout the film.

Well it would be better to avoid this film. Thats the only suggestion that I can give.

2007-02-22T19:16:00.000+05:30

Hope Floats

Hope Floats,

When darkness surrounds U,

And U r not able to find the way.

Hope Floats,

When U don't know whom to trust,

And U lose faith in GOD.

Hope Floats,

When failure faces U at every step,

And U stop believing in Urself.

Hope FLoats,

When U wanna cry,

And even Ur tears Betray U.

Hope Floats,

When everything U created,

Lies Shattered at Ur feet.

Hope Floats,

When U stand on the brink,

One step from the edge.

Hope Floats,

When all U can do is,

but stare at Ur past.

IRIS - City of Angels

2007-02-20T19:46:00.000+05:30

IRIS

(City Of Angels OST)

This is one of the most beautiful romantic sound tracks, and also one of my favourites. This track was performed by Goo Goo Dolls for the City of Angels motion picture.

GooGoo Dolls - Cit...

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am

2007-01-31T15:57:00.000+05:30

The ship having fought a long battle with the seas and thus weakened by the waves, comes close to the rocks.........
Don't fight with the rocks to live another day, instead steer it towards the rock and let the ship get shattered by each of the rocks it meets so that no trace of the ship remains, let it be laid to waste, let it sink to the bottom of the ocean, let the memories of the ship just be memories, of somethings good, of somethings bad.........

Its time to build a new ship............

2007-01-24T16:48:00.000+05:30

The day had passed on as a normal day without any memorable incidents. Then late into the night when I started feelin drowsy and planned to go to bed I recieved a call from my friend inviting me for his engagement to be held next month.

I was like, Whaaaaat? It was a news which was tough to digest.. C'mon it hasn't been 18 months that we had passed out of the college, and we hadn't even had a strong foot hold in the professional world and here he was talking about his marriage. This is an age where even girls say postpone their marriage saying it will effect their marriage and this guy has plans to do an MBA after marriage.

Marriage is something like performing a Bungee Jump without knowing if the rope is tied or not, if the rope is tied and if the length is right then u r saved else screwed. So u have 2 options either u jump or u don't. And until u haven't jumped u won't know what it is all about. And this is the situation all of us are stuck in.

Well we used to call him CEO/Leader of our batch ( well sometime he used to lose his way and we needed to get him back on track), and hope that he leads all of us on the right track this time.

Anyway I can just say best of luck to my friend on this venture and also hope to learn somethings from a close quarter for the next few years about Marriage.

Thats enough for now,I will comeback with my views on Marriage some other day.

2007-01-19T20:21:00.000+05:30

Ok Guys, these was some Bullshit created by me over the last one year, thought will share it with all,

* You can hate only those whom you can love.

* forgiveness is for the timid.

* Forgiveness cannot be granted until and unless asked for

* the greatest evil is not to have any pride!!!

* Vengeance will be mine,in this life else by GOD!!!

* "I" was created first and then "GOD".

* I love to walk in the sun coz it gives warmth which i don't get from humans.

* People either underestimate U or overestimate U!!!! Just see that U don't do the same mistake..........

* Life is a game of BLUFF with GOD as the Opponent!!

2006-11-29T17:47:00.001+05:30

The first time
The first time, as a child, when u try to walk without any support.
The first time when u enter the premises of school,
The first time u ride the bicycle without ur dad holding it for u.
The first time u write the final exam.
The first time u try to learn swimming.
The first day u get to workThe first time u write a blog.

There is always the fear that is with u. The fear of failure. The fear of being rejected. The fear of not being accepted. The fear of not being able to perform to the best of your ability. And we fail most of the times in the first attmept and let the fear in us win. But for how long we let the fear stay in us is what matters finally. And some times we may never win against the fear. And some times we may never have the fear.

As Muhammed Ali had said "Inside of a ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong".And so continue to battle with ur fears.

Cheers

2006-11-29T17:45:00.000+05:30

Dear Lord,

May the Good in me Love the ones who Love me

And may the Devil in me avenge the evil done to me

But see to it that the Good in me does not bow before the Evil

And above all, Prevent the Evil in me from Hurting the ones who love me.