Lost in Time

This December has been the fastest month for me this year. Time has fled past at supersonic speeds, and here i lay wondering what the **** did i do this month. Why is it that we dicover only so late that we have been wasting time ? May be whatever you really do is done because you feel it is the call of the moment. Everything seems so important when you are actually doing them, but afterwards the same thing doesnt even seem to be worthy of making a note in your diary. So at the end of the day, there is never a satisfactory answer to the question "what did i today ? " . Well i find this intriguing may be because i am over- ambitious about things or i do not have better stuff to be thought about..

Now i have an even tougher question in my mind, what did i do in 2007 ? Well sometimes life seems to be so short that you want to strike something big in every episode of it, to say to yourself at the end "wow ! what a ride! ".... for me 2007 has been a very plain ride but for most of you around it might have been a roller-coaster one.

Well, while i try to come out of december blues and become ready to welcome 2008 with a bash, i wish you all a VERY HAPPY 2008 IN ADVANCE

Mindblowing innings by Yuvraj

Fifty runs of twelve balls, fastest fifty ever in international cricket. Six sixes in an over for the first time in twenty -twenty...two recocrds in a single match..

I am sure this record will not be broken in near future, though there is a threat from the ongoing t20 world cup..

It was a treat to watch Yuvraj in vengeance, six sixes in an over is not a joke, it needs great amount of technique and power by the batsman and some amount of stupidity by the bowler as well...

however i am sure Every crickect lover (with the English as exception) would have enjoyed it..

Great going Yuvraj..

MY CROSSWORD

Here is my funda ::

Life is a crossword, every moment you are at a crossroad , use your knowledge and wit to take the correct road, THE ROAD to SUCCESS ..

Across

4. this begins on the new year day and ends when a person stops absent mindedly writing the old year on his cheques.
5. a spy who makes fake passports and documents
8. yet another hierarchial officious ...
10. A 3D pixel
13. all the day i dream about sports
15. companies wont fly it,but they spy using it..
17. this is not held responisble for people falling in love
18. You may thank God only on fridays, but many people thank it everyday
19. ...a glorified town; the christmas tree is made of this
21. Is Apple=Ipod,then Microsoft =?

Down

1. the first bank to start ATM in India
2. in Rugby, this group in the front struggles to get the ball
3. not synergy..this is when sun,moon and earth fall in the same line
6. the crop that is grown after the first crop i sharvested
7. A day on this planet is longer than its year
9. the art of riding on horse back
11. well,the question is "who do you know?"
12. the caller ID technology was first called this
14. highest possible temperature on earth,35000 degrees celsius is caused by this
16. the founder of this famous website has a record of becoming a millionaire in four days
20. IBMs personal computer division is bought by this Legend

Why is Kerala "Gods own country?" --go to WAYANAD

Hi Folks,

I am back after quite a big gap, but with a nice trekking experience. I went to Wayanad district in Kerala last week (30th June-1 July) along with friends from IISc. Its been long time i went for a trek/tour and i decided to give myself a break. We were 11 people in total , and we booked a tempo. The plan was to start from iisc on friday night around 11.30 pm. So i left at 8 from house, reached their by 9 ,had my dinner there..and spent some time around in the campus..

I carried along a racksack with 4 pairs of clothes and all basic amenities. We all assembled as planned on time near to the main building.We put all our luggage in the back, and soon settled ourselves as we started to reach the outskirts of Bangalore.

The route to Wayanad is via Mysore -Nanjangud – Gundlupet (Right turn) – Sulthan Bathery – Kalpetta – Vythiri . Vythri is town in wayanad district from where most of the tourist spots are nearby.

We bought all the snacks required along with a carton of water bottles. Soon we started singing songs from various languages, from 60s to 90s and the latest ones too..It was great fun singing out loud in whatever voice u have, not bothering about anything..

We decided we will detour at mysore to check out the bandipur sanctuary as well, though it is an overhead of about 50km, it is a worthy experience. It was about 4 in the morning when we reached bandipur, we tried to the best of abilities of eye to catch any animal...n efforts were awarded when we saw bisons, deers, antelopes ...no tigers thou.(they say its very unlikely to see them even in proper safari during the day)..

It was about 6.30 when we reached the RTO check post and we paid 700 bucks to allow our tempo into Kerala...n thus we entered Gods own country ..(there is a legend behind this..well but the beauty of the state is enough to silent any person who has any doubt).

The state is all plush with greenery, you see all kinds of plantations, ...banana, rubber, coconut, tea, coffee..n not to forget the spices.. There were two keralites sumesh n varun in the group who guided us and explained about the constructions, gardens and estates on the way... It being rainy season ..it was drizzling all the while..wayanad is famous for its incessant rainfall...i saw it an believe me it is only next to chirapunji...though ppl say it is not the correct to time to visit the place, getting drenched and to play in the pouring water is FUN.

Sumesh has a friend Nathal who is localite there-who boarded along with us at Wythri. He took us along to Tushara hotel, where our stay was booked. It was nice cute motel, 1000 bucks for 2 bed room...we checked in, got ourselves fresh. We went to a local small hotel to eat PUTTU as our breakfast.It was yummy and i had three of them with Kadal (the sambar sort of stuff made with chanas). Soon we started our trek.

We reached the base point of EDAKKAL caves . The caves are not very far from basepoint only 2Km altitude..n a decent trek... To reach the top of EDAKKAL hill is definitely a herculean task which we all have achieved with quite a lot of team work...

i like adventures n have done quite many treks, but this one is for sure the toughest of all, as there was no proper track, no slits or hooks to find a grip and above all, its raining n the rocks are god damn slippery..But we were a obstinate junta ourselves n none was had slightest doubt in our minds either about our abilities or the task ahead...It took us a long 1 hr to reach the top ..perhaps around 6000 feet..n we are on the top most point in the region...we could see kerala,karnataka n tamil nadu from the peak..

We stayed ther for sometime n soon started downhill...n this was more tough...just a sight of the valley down you will kill you for sure...we managed the same way very carefully every one helping the other..n slowly reached down...never felt that sense of achievement...n happiness had no bounds when we came down n have just taken a look back at what we just conquered...

we finished whatever snacks we carried n started off to see SUJIPARA waterfalls..we had lunch at 4.30 Pm near the falls..This place was again amazing..the waterfalls are too good n i have never seen water jetting with more force than that..may be because of the rains..soon it was dark n we sped fast to place where our tempo was parked..

soon we retired down to our rooms n had a nice dinner in motel itself..we had one more day ahead n it was not as tough as the first one..we decided to trek nearby hills..n then visit Banasura water dam in the evening.

We started off secondday at 9 AM..we had APPAM as breakfast today and then reached base of a hill..this being rainy season...they were leeches all around...n i alone had removed 5-6 from my shoes n body...u dont even know one is on top of you..though they wont harm you or so..but the idea of something sucking ur blood is scary...we trekkecd two hills n it was a tough task too as it was slippery everywhere n then we had to battle these leeches...as we finally got down covered completely in mud, wet in rain....it was great relief when it started to pour down cats n dogs....

as dat was the only we we could get ourselves clean...otherwise galloons of water was necessary to get rid of mud we had on us...we welcomed the rain n they we played in it on the road, n the way we played water on to the vehicles reminded of childhod days...

we came back to hotel to fresh up... n there was a big leech near my knee..it sucked waht all blood it can for easily n hour...n it was blown up to biggest of the sizes..it was big pain stoppin the blood..as the leech drills a hole,...it is not like any other injury u have..blood takes time to clot...thou it doesnt pain at all...

soon i dressed my wounds n started off to see the last place..ie the banasura dam..This is the largest earth dam in India..It is awesome place surrounded by hills and water that comes down from them...amazing plac e n the cool breeze was too good; we spent around 2 hrs there n started back to our hotel...on the way we purchased few handicrafts at the Pookot lake...

N we got back to hotel .packed our stuff n started by 8.15 back to blr..We dined at Jubilee hotel in sultan batera...it was nice food.. n after eatin in blr, the rates at restaurants in kerala seemed to be negligible...

we started back after dinner at around 11 to blr...reached iisc by 4.30./... it had been a fantastic trek all together n my first ever trip to Kerala...

link to the pics :http://picasaweb.google.com/sumeshnn/WayanadTrip?authkey=2wKfdS3-Oj0

To Kill a Mocking Bird

I recently finished reading this book "To kill a mocking bird " , it is a masterpiece of story telling, i really loved the way Scout narrates her childhood saga. It is a smooth story of a father and his two young and sensible children. Atticus (the father) helps his candid children to lead a correct life of high values and great principles in those days (early 20th century), when the coloured people were ill treated and womens role was restricted to a wife or a mother.

Both the children look up to Atticus whenever they are in dilemma , and the way Atticus answers their questions is simply amazing and touches your heart...the gist of the story is as Atticus says

"shoot all the bluejays [they] want," they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". Ms Maudie Atkinson, the children's neighbor, later explains that it is a sin because mockingbirds do no harm. They only provide pleasure with their songs: "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us". The mockingbird is used as a recurring motif to symbolise innocence and victims of injustice throughout the novel.

It is a symbol of innocence and beauty against racism and hatred.

J'ai accompli mon cours français

Yahoo...I succesfully (hope so..marks are not out yet) my 1A course in French today.

It was a great experience. It convinced me that i can wake up early in the morning at 6:30...What made me more happy was that i attended it on almost everyday except when i was outta Bangalore..

Overall, French is a nice language to learn..n no better place than Alliance Francais if u wanna learn it..Had gr8 fun learning it,made new frenz too...

you can find the details and timings of any course you want at the website below :

www.afindia.org/

for Bangalore ppl ,

http://www.afindia.org/bangalore/home.htm

avoir l'amusement apprendre le français

abient'ot

attending the CONVOCATION

Finally, it struck to the BIT (the very college i studied in), administration that this year they have not organised convocation to award degrees to the 2006 passouts....so it took them good amount of time to plan the solemn event in a student life...to fix a date..the result they eventually convened it on 23rd may...wednesday...

For the students who have now started working,it was really tough to decide..the day being in the middle of the week...and Ranchi being as remote a place as it can be..But somehow, junta decide to meet their frenz...arey degree kisko chahiye yaar...

n they come up to spend n recollect their good old times...the most wonderful n happening four years of their life..yours truly too is such poor chap..who initailly thought its not worth spending 10000 bucks to get awarded officially with a BE...well its an year and i really forgot that i didnt get my original engg degree...

but then..one fine day it sudddenly struck how important the convocation is ,in anyones life...i spent four years --studyin (dats wat othrs think atleast) to earn somethin..n here comes the time when i m expected to receive it..n its really bad not to make a presence...

bang i decided n booked the tickets immediately..sent the filled form which is supposed to reach in a week by the first flight courier...managed to convince few of my other friends who were too in the same dillema as i was in...n finally there we are at BIT Mesra...which taught me how to LIVE LIFE...on 22nd May..

21st nite is when i met most of my frenz after an year gap---at the Kolkata railway station..no sooner memories started flashin in my mind...well the whole nite was not enuf to recollect the loads of masti we had...

well i spent those two days 22 nd n 23 rd in the best way i ever could..was in a state of bliss with the loved ones around...it was great to dressup overselves on the day in black coats...n hoods to receive the degree....

Felt really happy that i took right decision to be there on the day for which i spent most energetic years of my life...thanks to my bro n mom for encouragin me to go attend the convocation..

manobhavana

so much i want to write, but there is so little i can ,

everything i want to do, but nothing i really do,

all the time i wish to learn, never know when it will help me earn,

lot of love i want to share, only few people ready to bear,

and all the life i want friends, God you gave me them,

i dont want anything else

why should you have some sense of humo(u)r?

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not;

a sense of humor to console him for what he is.


Francis Bacon

Learning FRENCH (Francais)

Bonjour frenz,

Recently i have started to learn french language, it is 2 hrs a day on all weekdays during mornings from 7 to 9. The course is provided by Aliance Francaise, in Bangalore. They have classes being taught at many places by experienced faculty...well enuf of branding...

What i realized offlate since i started working, is i am kinda losing my learning power and becoming reluctant to absorb anything new...Like learning some new subject has become quited difficult owing to many reasons from lack of available time to some sense of complacency with whatever petty knowledge i already posess...

I quickly decided to revive my learning process, and thought of learning a foriegn language...for it is going to be fresh, organised and back to school kinda of learning activity... I did not have any interest before for any specific foriegn language...and i just questioned myself if i took a right decision to learn some foriegn language...

Trust me friends, it is been 3 weeks now that i have joined, and i am enjoying it to the core. It is real fun and challenging to learn a language which you dont hear anyone talking around nor can you find any writings...
You feel some sense of achievement from time to time ,say when you learnt a new word, or found out how to say "I LOVE YOU" or when you find something which is the same or similar to the usage in your mother tongue... Very soon you want to prove your prowess and start looking for a listener...

the attempts you make to frame something meaningful and somehow they end up meaning the opposite, the efforts you put in to understand a line in the text by broogling (googling ur brain) for some matches in ur own vocabulary are all very interesting and will only enhance your thinking power and creativity.

Overall, it is very nice feeling , good break (if you realise u have become a workaholic n looking for sm change) nice exercise for the brain (which by nw must hv got used to the "ctrl+C and ctrl + V" techinque) and also you get to meet some new frenz who share similar interests...

au revoir

Heights of Indian Cricket .!!

funny stuff...got it as a forward....

What did the spectator miss when he went to the toilet?

The entire Indian Innings.

Where do Indian batsmen perform their best?

In Advertisements.

When would Agarkar have 100 runs against his name?

When he is bowling.

What is the most proficient form of footwork displayed by Indian batsmen?

The walk back to the pavilion.

How to increase the chances of Indian batsmen playing out the entire 50 overs?

Try giving them two innings to begin with, then try three and so on.

What is the Indian version of a hat-trick?

3 runs in 3 balls

What is the height of optimism ?

Sehwag coming out to bat applying sunscreen on his face.

Phone Call for Sehwag:Indian Team Manager : "Hello"(over Phone)Wife:"Can I talk to Sehwag, this is his wife."

Indian Team Manager:"Sorry, he is just going to bat"

Wife:"No Problem Manager, I will Hold on"

GO GO GO to shivansamudram waterfalls...

BIKING to NANDI HILLS

BIKING TO NANDI HILLS
DISTANCE : Around 65 Kms from Bangalore

DIRECTION : ON the HYD Highway. Yelhanka--> Hyd Highway--> chikbalapur--take left

PREFERED TIME OF THE YEAR : JAN to DEC

MODE of travel :TWO WHEELER

FOOD/LODGE :AVAILABLE RATING : 3/5

I always heard of this place ever since i came to bangalore..I decided i will visit this place the moment i get a chance. Well the idea abt going to nandi hills started nagging me ever since i heard abt it from Phani..who said it can be a perfect place to go biking..and now that i have a cruiser bike ..i was justin waitin for the time to come..to watch beautiful sunrise n spend some quality time away from the crowded blr..
Then luckily for me, one of my good old college buddies,Tanima has come down too..to Blr for her project..we decided to go to Nandi hills..one sunday..n thats the begining ...

It was Feb 18th,2007.Sunday. I told Tani to get ready by 8.15 and i went to IIsc to pick her up..We had a backpack with water bottle,some eatsbles n ofcourse a cam to capture the nature.
It was 8.30 by the time we started at IISc.We took left from Mekhri circle to join the outer ring road which eventually is the hyd highway. The weather was perfect, some what cloudy but with breeze around.It infact drizzled for few miutes.Having started early in the morning we didnt find much traffic on the road, or may be due to the cloudy atmosphere,people didnt feel like coming out.In around twenty minutes we were at the outskirts of blr,crossed the Yelhanka airbase.

The Hyd highway is perfect to jet out.I was enjoying the ride driving around 80-100Kmph. Trust me guys there is some thrill n joy in overtaking every vehicle that you see around..some achievement which i am sure only bikers would feel.

We rocketed for around twenty minutes to enter into completely green and hilly neighbourhood, we could see all green fields and faraway hills.THey were appearing spectacular and thanks to Mr.Sun that he has not lost his cool yet.We were enjoying the surroundings,great pleasure you know like some wise man said "a thing of beauty is joy forever" ..i swear you should experience it to enjoy. I was no more racing but maintained a consistent speed of 60..just to get the feel of beautiful panorama..

WIthin an hour we are almost near Chikbalapur, we crossed a railway lane and i started looking out for some wayboard poining us to Nandi hills.I knew that i had to take a left turn some where around and was driving slowly looking for the pointer. Yes, we found the board, took the left turn to enter a straight,little bumpy road thru villages, and on the same road after 2km,we come across a market kind of thing and a junction.I stopped to find out which way to take now,and the warmhearted ppl volunteered themselves to tell us to take a left again for Nandi hills..and we happily followed their directions.

We started seeing the chain of hills to our right,it was so beautiful, there was some marathon takin place and we could see guys dressed in khaki running opposite to us.It is a straight road now till a junction where we have to take a right.There we find many shops and we halted to drink coconut water and bought some chips and biscuits.
From this point started the Ghat road,on to the top of the hill.we paused at some panorama points to take snaps and njoy the terrain. it is out of the world. We finally reached the top of the hill.Parked my bike, n started off on a small trek to reach a place they call as "TIPPUs FALL"
Folks,forgot to tell you,Nandi hills was summer resort of the Great Tippu Sultan, the legend syas that all those who committed severe crime were pushed down to death from that peak and hence the name TIPPus Fall. It was around 10:45 now, and we sat downon the rocks to chat abt our happy college days n then almost evrythin under the sun.
Slowly started again to visit the Nandeeswara temple-Lord SHiva mandir. After that we took a small round around the Garden. There is a bugalow called Nehru Nilaya, it seems the erst while rest house of Tippu has been repaired to make this.SOme SAARC summit took place in the same bungalow in 2004 and that when they gave it a renewed look. By now it was 12.30 and we thought of havin Lunch. Went to Karnataka state tourism restaurant. The food is good and decent price. I should say cheap when compared to blr prices.
The best part is the beautiful view of the valley we could have from the glass walled restaurant, It was amazing,we gave some work for the camera we carried. SOOn after lunch,we started back on our way. It was around 1.30 now, and we took few snaps on the DANGER point, confused what it is..well there is rock which stand apart near the TIPPus fall, on which was painted DANGER in red..may be because the rock might topple down any time.
Slowly we started moving down,and reached the place where i parked my Avenger.we started off around two pm..on the way back we took a shorter route..which somehow we missed out while coming. Actually while coming,on the highway,we missed the first left turn but took the second ( n the last one) which can take us to nandi hills.. Now we are again bak on the highway bak to blr..Both of us had some shopping to do n we drove down to MG road..IT was 3.30 When we reached central..
Thats how our fantastic BIKE RIDE to NANDI HILLS was done.

My COORG trek

Well,i should have written this long back, but was busy with work ,then was out of town..

I am gonna write here about my (well 2 months back) trek to COORG.It is kind of a travelogue or a trek report whatever name you give...
My interest for trekking and adventures is by the birth and in every droplet of my blood...n thanks to the Backpacking trekking club we have in our office that i can pursue my hobbies inspite of busy work schedule..
HERE it begins:
DESCRIPTION of the place: for those who dont know COORG
COORG is a beautiful district in southern karnataka, border of kerala,famous for the Picturesque hills of the western ghats..They are long and contiguous hills spread over a vast geographical area,interspersed with valleys and small tributaries. There are coffee and tea plantations ,u know the famous COORG coffee...
The architecture of the houses is like those in Kerala, good looking and big castles , in middle of estates...Many retired beaurocrats have constructed there houses there ...and are living a peaceful like far away from the pollution and city chaos.

Climate is pleasant and so are the people...warm hearted ..and quite helpful though not gregarious.
Our climbing started from a palace at the foot of the hill ranges.It belonged to the mysore king and he used to rest there in summers.It also used to be the seat of administration for people living in and around coorg.

We have taken few snaps near and inside the palace.And then started on embarking to top of the second highest hill in the state of Karnataka.The TADIYANDAMOL peak. We already were told the basic principle of trekking: Slow and steady ascent. Iniitally the enthusiasm to reach the top first and high energy levels will tempt us to hyperambulate on the terrain,but they wont last for more than few farlongs.

So medium pace with small breaks inbetween can only lead you till the finish.
So keeping those basics in mind,we slowly moved up and after we reached one fifth of the height,we were on almost a plateau with mild slopes .We halted for a while and took snaps of us and the surroundings for we were already at a decent height around 200 feet.
Then our trek leader asked those who were at the begining to get back and those in behind were asked to lead now. Then we trekked now for 2-3 kms more and passed thru water streams and light patches of jungle.We could see the leeches inbetween.The most gorgeous scene was that of the sun rays finding their way through the pathces of the forest and luminating certain parts of the water stream down hill.Who would miss a pic in that background??
After 3km stretch,we took a major halt again on plateau which contained rocks for us to sit down.Then few of us who had mp3 players in their mobiles started playing songs.Having heard splashing sounds of water..we went in the direction of sound to find a water stream flowing down hill through the forest. That water seemed to be the purest on the earth.We quickly filled all our bottles for we needed water badly for our yet to be finished lunch on the peak.
We again slowly started, and now began the steepest and would say the toughest part of the trek.As from that point,there was no indication of any used path/way and we had to literally climb small rocks assuming them as steps.After trekking on for a km,we refilled ourselves with instant energy chocolates and wafers.

The fundamental principle of trekking is DISCIPLINE and is to be followed in every step. We collected all plastic wrappers that were dropped down by those who trekked before us and we carried a bag to put all such non degradable waste.
Having reenergised ourselves,we started on the final stretch,as i already said the toughest..this time through a thick forest (around half Km upclimb) ...Jagadeesh who was leading the team till then got bitten by a leech and had to slow down...i continued my decent pace thru the forest and the steepest stretch to finish second to reach the hill....
waited for all others to come,then we digged in a stick and tied a TI flag to it mark the finish as another feather to the cap of TIs trekking saga.

After enjoying the beatiful view and takin hundreds of snaps..we slowly rested down to open lunch packets which everyone carried..The rule was that everyperson should taste what the second person has got and that was a proper culinary mix for a lunch.. After staying for around 90 min on the peak we started down climbing.This seemed to much tougher for there was a fear of sliding down and the inertia that pushes you when you take larger steps without proper resting for your feet....
Everyone trekked down fast to reach the stream again and get refreshed...
We slowly followed the same path again now with no break till we arrived at palace where we had snacks...Then we continued till the bootcamp....
We were quicker and there is still half an hr for the bus enroute madikeri to come.We played frisbee and finished what all grub we got and the bus comes.All of us couldnt find a seat to sit...but those who could had the best nap of the times for evry1 was dead tired... It took around 2 hrs of bus journey for us to reach madikeri....

We go to the famous Yatri nivas hotel near the bus stand to fresh ourselves and to have some breakfast. We then visit the famous Coorg shiva mandir famous for its medeival coorg style of construction...That was a beautiful temple with a pond infront of it...
After bhagavan darshan..all those who were still feeling hungry had quick buffet dinner at Yatri nivas and it was already 10Pm..the time for our bus to start...
We get into the bus,..play few games like antaakshari and no one knew the finish of the game cause every dozed off unknowingly...
By the time i wake up i hear bus horns and people brisking fast...yes i am in Majestic the BLR bus stand...every parted now to take rest the whole sunday..Thanks to the leaders for having planned the trek on a saturday leaving the whole of sunday to be best utilised....