road trip

Lately, I have realized that I am a nature lover and I am a devoted foodie. I was born to eat. Luckily, blore has amazing restaurants and unluckily I havent tasted at even 20% of them. But for sure one day I will have a restaurant of my own.

After a hell of a month with absolutely no holidays(sundays is no more a luxury) , we had a break, And we decided to GET OUT THERE. We thought of kerala or coorg but the monsoons have eaten up the roads. So then we finalised on a place called mekedatu( u must hv hrd of it) at about 100 kms from blore.

So we set out - 3boys,3 girls and 3 bikes on a typical chill blore morning at 5 30 am. We hit the kanakpura road from electronic city and soon we were out of the blore coverage.
Stopped at this dhaba , had bread omlette and tea. It was wierdly chill..not tat i needed something warm but something that had an ice cool effect.. We were all totally energised and vitalised and as the wilderness began to take its grip on us we stopped and clicked anything that looked different from what we see everyday. Amazingly smooth NH-209 with no vehicles at all we passed a dozen of houses and temples which pass off as a village. And then we diverted to a plce called the chunchi water falls( courtesy google maps). And after many ' Anna,chunchi falls yel idde' we finally came to the place. No water fall, just mountains of piled granite rocks stood still.. But there was a distant sound of water coming. No souls around so we decided to follow the sound of the water. We began descending, on the piles of rocks. Wild flowers bruised us but we wanted to see the damn waterfall. And after withstanding the scorching sun for 45 mins and wading through the rocks we finally saw the waterfall. No we couldnt see it..because we were at the origin of the waterfall. The top of it. And behind us lay calm the water body which was giving away to gravity to create the force. The best part was not the beauty of it but the efforts that had gone to get a glimpse of it.
Then began the uphill task of getting back. This time it was boring .

Water is the tastiest drink ever but you need to have it with 'thirst'. We began our journey to mekedatu.
After another stretch of road we reached the ghat. This was a different ghat. We were not climbing up but going down. Steep hair-pin curves , a narrow road with forests on both sides I was feeling like we are falling into a deep pit. And as we had reached the bottommost point of the ghat what welcomed us was the 'sangam' of kaveri river and Arkavathi river. It was something differnt. I felt like I were inside a large hole. There were coffee plantations and coconut trees on the land and some small shops. Guarding these two rivers were huge mountains. Mekedatu is a waterfall where the river kaveri carves its way through a valley. We had to cross the river and then take a bus in the forest to reach Mekedatu. There were these local fishermen who took us on the other side of the river on their round straw boats. Once we were on the other side there was this paid bus service which would take us to 'Mekedatu'. The bus looked like it belong to pre independece era with a long row of seats facing each other. It was a 6 km drive where on one side just you had the river kaveri( just about 5 meters from the bus at the same level), the other side had a lush forest.

Mekedatu was quite a sight to see, the force of the river and the deep cuts that it made in the valley was something else. It was a combination of a mountain on ur one side and deep valley on the other. And we standing in the middle of it. Something was eerie about this place which I havent felt at any other places I have been to before.

The return journey was tiring obviously and I rode almost half of it and since it began to rain heavily, rushing home and rushed home.

Dedicated to the monsoons of 2006

We all have those times which we can still feel and relive again and again by remembering them and capturing every moment within.
My that time was the year 2006. The days were so beautiful ,the niceness of which I can still feel. The endless rains of Pune, NDA road, cappuccinos,James blunt, Dire straits,the freshness,the sense of contentment,the excitement......
3 years have passed and lots of new things have happened with their share of excitements but nothing brings in the same essence.

" Bajay pyaar ki shabnum mere gulistaan mein
baraste rehte hain har simt maut ke saye
siyahiyon se ulajh padti hain meri aankhein
koi nahi .. koi bhi nahi jo batlaye
kitni der ujalon ki raah dekhe
koi nahi hai koi bhi nahi
na pass na durr
yeh pyaar hai
dil ki dharkan
apni chahat ka jo ellan kiye jaati hai
zindagi hai jo jiye jaati hai
khoon k ghoont peay jaati hai
khwaab aankhon se siye jaati hai"

Amazing Amazon

The Amazon River, according to many accounts, was named by Spanish explorer Fransisco de Orellana in 1541. The name was in honor of the female warriors he encountered on his voyage through the territory previously called Maranon.

The Amazon rain forest occupies 40 percent of Brazil's total geographical area. It is the drainage basin for the Amazon River and its many tributaries and covers 2,722,000 square miles.

Geologically, the Amazon River and basin are contained by two large stable masses of Pre-Cambrian rock, the Guiana Shield or Highlands to the north, the Central Brazilian Shield or Plateau to the south; the Andes Mountains to the west; and it flows eastward to empty into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Amazon River basin is about 4,195 miles long, covering about 2,720,000 square miles in area, including its 15,000 tributaries and subtributaries (four of which are in excess of 1,000 miles long). It is the largest river basin in the world.

The source of the Amazon is the lake, Lauricocha, in the Peruvian Andes. The river is still known as the Maranon in its upper course, in the Andes. The length of the Amazon is measured from the source of the Ucayali river, which joins with the Maranon to eventually form the Amazon.

Much of northern Brazil is drained by the Rio Negro, which joins the Amazon to give it full strength before flowing into the Atlantic. The flow of the river has an average velocity of 1.5 miles per hour, which increases greatly at flood times.

The powerful discharge at the mouth of the Amazon measures about eight trillion gallons a day, 60 times that of the Nile and eleven times that of the Mississippi. The annual average discharge is 6,350,000 cubic feet per second ("cusecs") into the Atlantic, rising to over 7,000,000 cusecs during a flood. The mouth of the Amazon is more than 250 miles wide.

Most of the Brazilian part of the river exceeds 150 feet in depth, although some parts near the mouth have recorded depths of as much as 300 feet.

The width of the river ranges from one mile to 35 miles.

The city at the heart of the basin, Manaus, has an altitude of only 144 feet. The average level of the basin is 300 feet above sea level.

In the Amazon Basin, flooding often occurs between June and October.

The climate is warm and humid, with an average temperature of 79 degrees and an average yearly rainfall of 80 inches. Temperature differences between day and night are greater than those between seasons.

The Amazon Rainforest is thought to be the oldest tropical forest area in the world, perhaps as much as 100 million years old.

The forest areas are described by amount of flooding that occurs: not flooded, occasionally flooded, or regularly flooded.

The floral provinces of Amazonia are marked by geographic variations in sunlight, rainfall, temperature, and soils.

The trees, of which 117 species have been counted in an area of one half of a square mile, are of enormous variety. The uppermost layer of the rainforest is called the canopy. It receives most of the light energy from the sun and is a zone of extreme profusion of life.

Frankly this summer has been a waste of time in a distasteful office with obnoxious set of characters( except for Vinay and Satya ofcoz). The only solace besides mangoes has been the tea-time in the grueling ten hours of utter nonsense and boredom. And thanks to tea-man as henceforth he will be known I have something to look forward to 'thrice' during the day. I literally wait for him and he oblivious of the importance he holds,walks in with his pot of tea and set of plastic cups. He serves them and goes off leaving a trail of satisfaction and freshness in the dull cubicles and amongst the labored desk-workers.
Thats the dream! And I am stuck in a no-mans land. No wonder I blog.

Mistake-free since '93

Maaan some people blog so tastefully. You know, they poetically describe their art museum escapades. And then have intelligent remarks about slumdog millionaire. But are they missing the point? Yes blogs are for public viewing and the moment that dimension creeps in ,self-consciousness and the urge to impress takes priority. Feelings and expressing them take a backseat.
No, I m not saying my blog is like my personal diary. I am just doing what I am best at..being judgemental about the rest.
Six sigma is affecting me. I am seeing defects in everything and the need to standardization is looking attractive.
Like hell...six sigma is for the robots. Yeah, Japan you hear it right( like the Japanese are reading my blog).
OK the theme of the blog is:"please err". Otherwise life will be too perfect and beauty is in imperfection( chaand pe bhi daag hain). If God hadn't made any mistakes there wouldn't be any poverty, hunger,natural calamities. You see these errors maintains the balance...hehehhehe

PS: I don't make sense at 1 am, but 1 pm is no different. So, stop judging!! Just have fun and be safe( don't make that mistake !!)

I am born in the wrong century

Today in one of our post-lunch marketing class our prof showed us the video of doordarshan's "Mile sur mera tumhara". We were all probably 3-4yrs when this video was first aired. India has truely come a long way from doordarshan to IIFA awards and Slumdog millionaire and Roadies and IPL. Entertainment is one of the well-sustained industries during this recession period.
No wonder, 21st century belongs to era of networking and online connections.
The Internet has managed to shift the entire eco-system of sustainance and pleasure.
Where are we heading? My best friend once told me while we were sitting on a beach at Kuwait enjoying the sunset that technology and science is taking us closer to the Supreme being. The rate at which evolution is happening is having a multiplier effect. I'm just waiting to see whats God's next invention after the Internet.I'll be a part of atleast 60% of this century. I shall make my evaluations and conclusions for sure about this funny,ever-changing darwin's gyaaan.

Score!!!!!!!!!

Nothing can remotely match the anxiety before an exam result. Surprisingly, I was'nt having any pit feeling today before our semester results. A dash of casualness in me seems to be doing the trick. And "luckily", I am through with a 2.41 GPA on a scale of 4.
I am 2 point someone now. However, I don't feel like having even a mellow celebration. Guess, I am looking out for bigger things. I like "ambitious shabri". She is manipulative,smooth and rocking.

Hey Miss blogger

A year long hiatus!!!

In my defense I'd say, the three dimensional inspiration was missing. Not that its back now, but now I don't need excuses. As the saying goes "Excuses are the nails used to build houses of failure".

Things have changed:my age, my location, my relationship-status. What has'nt is the chaos,wants/desires,dreams,the important people. But I have anchored somewhere now.Atleast, in my mind.

Yes,there are going to be many interesting stories in the pipeline. Cause the party has just started!!

Get the drinks.....Cheerz!!!!!!

My hands are trembling while I type. The habit of typing at some characters per minute is lost. Now I stare at the keyboard in the search of alphabets which will develop into words and further culminate into beautiful sentences. Okay done with the part of self-encouragement. What next? To ponder on what should be the topic. Should it be a serious one dealing with environmental issues, rape victims or maybe Mumbai polity. Should it be a movie review of TZP. Should it be a sensitive one like whaaaat is love and how were cupid and Goddess Venus related(today being Valentine's day). Should it be something personal but then who is interested. These days I can't fail to notice but people find me daringly boring(You would have inferred that by now after reading my previous lines).

And now I have nothing more to write. Have my thoughts dried up or is it that I never could write well. Why do I ask so many questions to 'SELF'? Infact why do all of us torment ourselves with so many rugged questions. Why can't we be more animalish. You know, less intelligent and more basic types(food,water,sleep and sex). But are'nt we all that covered with a imaginery fur of intellect. And time and again the fur unfailingly fails to wrap us completely and the world is able to peep into our animal instincts. These days the above mentioned event happens rather frequently. Then we say it's 'human' to err.

I would like to bring spirituality into all this as I feel it's coherent enough in this context and these days a lot of spiritual leaders are in print and picture. The essence of spirituality is the search to know our true selves, to discover the real nature of consciousness. This quest has been the foundation of all the great spiritual teachings. But I think we 'humans'(Yes ,its purposely in quotes) don't deserve all these teachings and thoughts. We are too busy faking ourselves and playing hide and seek with reality. But when the lightning will strike the 'FUR" will fail to protect us and..I suggest you all should watch the movie I am legend of Will Smith. They have explained this better there......

Jab we met

When I saw the promos I thought of the movie as a wannabe tongue-in-cheek kind of comedy. I thought that Shahid kapoor was trying too hard to look sophisticated , prim and no nonsense guy. And Kareena was screechy , trying to be overtly bubbly and subtly beautiful.

So , I decided not to pay and watch altogether. But then I had to choose between the "OSOs" and "Saawariyas" and Jab we . Hence okay ed on it.
But the movie had a surprise. And by the end of it I felt the need of watching it all over again which I did. Presumptions and preconceived notions huh!

The story is not new but the treatment is. The two people opposites in every action and reaction end up falling in love which happens slowly but convincingly.
The hero of the story has been back-stabbed by life with respect to his girlfriend, mother and his career. He almost attempts suicide by "jumping of a moving train ". But life is a box of surprises and nobody knows whats next. The heroine makes an entry at that time in his life when he has decided to end it . She talks , enthralls,surprises,shocks ,confuses him. She makes him smile,sing ,dance and rejuvenates the hero back in his life. But in almost doing that she herself his betrayed by her lover whom she has decided to marry . And its a swap of situations again. But this time the new breather is the hero. He brings her back home to her family and also brings back her lover.
He loves her now and is unconditional about it. The ball is in her court .
Well the expected does happen at the end with a happy song.
The director takes us on a journey where we find ourselves relating our lives and feelings to that experienced by the characters. Brilliant acting by the characters and good music makes the movie a two-time or maybe a three-time watch.

Untitled

"Don't live for the heck of it and don't write for the heck of it".

Something which I have abstained from. Still most of my posts are meaningless. A person writes what he lives or feels. So, does that mean my life is meaningless too.

Hmmm..enough now. Things have to be taken seriously and in the right stride.  I have made the Decision. 

One thing which never fails to amaze me is a human being.  Even a chemical element's reaction to experimental conditions is empirical. Like Carbon along with oxygen will always make things hotter. Thanks to Co2. and Co And no thanks to the green house effect. 

But we ,us,humans - unpredictable is the word. Leading to various cultures,political parties,religions,Saints,Prophets,Laws,Fashion .................

It's always 300 bones,32 teeth,75%water,one heart,one brain,two intestines. Then why a 7 billion different opinions.  And we are all part of one universe or one proton.

Superb!! I think The Creator is the best manager. He must get down on writing a few management theories. It definetly will be titled a best-seller .

Abruptly ended.

Why!

Phew!
Finally , it's over.
Normally we sigh after the completion of a task which has been taxing on us . When it's done (successfully or unsuccessfully) we get a breather.
But in my special case I am feeling palliated because I could almost manage to allocate a purpose to myself. I am making it sound emotionless with less empathy because I sense a aridness within.I want to find a good reason for my listlessness. Life ..yes...leaves all questions unanswered.
I hope I get buoyant like before. Only time will tell.......

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved - Franklin Roosevelt

I have been visiting blogs ,a lot of them these days. To know what people of my age think, to know their likes and dislikes. I am surprised ,happy and inspired to be enlightened that the 20 somethings are well-read , opinionated,aesthetic,colorful . There is a whole gamut of 'bloggies' who write about dire straits ,world cup coups,Indian mythology,British and Indian history,wilde and the likes. It's almost like an encyclopedia but with a fun tag.

So ,I have decided to make my page more romantic . I know my data interpretation skills are too jumbled to get one right conclusion.Nevertheless, I manage most of the times to infer.

Now the blog.........

After a lot of coaxing and comforting I agreed to watch 300. English movies don't feature in my wish-list hence the head-banging persuassion is required.

There is something about the Greeks. Besides illiyad,homer,plato,the peloponessian war,
homosexuality,the spartan anarchy,the trojan war,Herodotus,Olympics,Logic there is more to this great civilization.

The movie takes us back in time around the 400 BC. King Leonidas of Sparta with 300 of his finest soldiers goes to war in an attempt to hold the pass of Thermopylae against the hundreds of thousands of Persian soldiers who had invaded from the north under King Xerxes The Great. Leonidas took his small personal fighting unit because Spartan religious customs forbade sending an army at that time of year. In addition, he was deliberately going to his doom: an oracle had foretold that Sparta could be saved only by the death of one of its kings.

Acording to books , Sparta had the strongest miltary. The boys were trained since the age of 5.
However, what astonishes me is the 'do or die' spirited army. Truely , this was inborn and then grooomed. Sacrificing ones life for freedom of land.

And today wat does freedom mean to us ?
The freedom to make 'my' choices in life and not dictated by society or image. Freedom of decision. Freedom of speech. Freedom of expression

What if we were restricited in entering some part of our own country? What if we were treated like outsiders or unwanted guests in our homes?
To what extent would we go to achieve freedom of land, freedom of living,freedom of self-spirit?

Would we 'do or die'?

Wat is it with us..u knoe....us indians?
Especially the 20 and 30 somethings. Ofcourse a self-righteous attitude is not what is expected.....
But somewhere this whole come close globalization has made matters chaotic and confusing.
We have our traditional ethos, our ever-supportive parents, our loyal set of friends on on end and on the other edge we have this gist to put ourselves on the top,to be on the cover .
So much has been spoken and written about the western ideas getting into our system. It gets quite complicated actually.
After having sounded very vague for the uninitiated now let me bullet my views.
-->Marraiges ..againg sub-divided into love and arranged..so many choices and just one to choose ..and for the next 50 years. How to trust? How to adjust? How to compromise? How to deal(generally)?
-->Career..MBA,IT biggies,Enterpreneurs,Modelling,Cooking classes..hikes,intra-office politics,Allen solley's trousers,buy a car...just randomly
Basically its this prsseure from parents,peers,teachers,colleagues,relatives which we have learnt to live since childhood,teenagehood,pre-marraige adult hood,post-marraige adulthood,early parenthood.
-->Politics (including Law and Order).. No fixed rules, no fixed bribing amounts,ST-SC and their envious reservations.
Well this is for the general 'public'. There are other categories too like
social issues
animal welfare
hashoholics
dowry deaths
across the border junta
feminism
The list could be appended further.
Anyway is this beacuse we have a 50 languages, a 50 castes,a 50 dances,50 cuisnies..Unity in diversity..
Also Insanity in diversity.
My next post will talk about How to feel better,look better and do better? Atleast it will not test my sanity quotient.

I want to appreciate the finer things.

We are expressive. We are confused.We are unsatisfied.We are happy. We are sad. We are in love. We are lonely.We are screaming.After all we are just humans.

Coming to expressions , it is one of the human quality which has led to art and its forms. After all its a stimulant for human senses,mind and spirit.Truely one needs skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects which can be shared with others alike. It's a two-step process.To express ones creativity and to engage the audience's aesthetic sensibilities. The ideas and motivation could be political,spiritual,philosphical,sense of beauty,nature of perception,pleasure.

Coming to its forms which cannot be limited to painting,drawing,sculpture,music,poetry,architecture,drama,theatre,
prose,fiction. The genres and styles adapted by the artists is again quite fluid.
Its the right hemisphere of the brain as they say.
However,curiosity evades me. Does one have to be craftsman to see the God of small things? What are the classifications? What are the boundaries ? Or is there a poet ,writer and musician in all of us? Maybe its dormant,maybe there is a deliberate masking,maybe its unfamiliar.

Cheers to Da Vinci, to the Hussains, to Homer, to Danial Powter, to Ruysdael, to Arundati Roy,to Us.

Me happy and crazy

I love being a romantic.
I love to feel the feel of music.
I love to take a break.
I love excitement.
I love getting up late.
I love not feeling guilty about being lazy.
I love having my 4 pm cofffee at work.
I love peals of laughter.
I love the night-time.
I love the freshness about the colour yellow.
I love fair-skinned wrists.
I love mehndi.
I love to see people eat.
I love getting a hug.
I love expressing.
I love the sun.
I love the moon.
I love lighting a lamp.
I love change.
I love holding hands.
I love groovy ring-tones.
I love Abhishek Bacchans smile.
I love madness.
I love taking a 30-minute shower.
I love to say 'I am always right.Isnt it?'

and people say that I can't fall in love....

And now Dalits get into action....

Absolutely unprecedented and uncalled for - the mob scene and damage caused to National and private property.

The Haves v/s the Have nots? Looks much deeper than that. The administration has tried to turn the tables on the Dalits by arresting a Dalit in Kanpur, obviously the community is more upset.

Now what - we live in more fear from terrorists, mobs, goons, hooligans, politicians, common man and what have you. The Indian saga lives on.......

The Willam S

HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

Lyrics of 'If I could fall in love' - Lenny Kravitz

When I was young

I fell in love

She was a goddess

With a world inside of her mind

When she moved on

Something went wrong

She took my power

And the love I had inside

Now that I found you

I don't know how to

If I could fall

In love again

I'd fall in love with you

If I could change

A grain of sand

Into a pearl I would

I pray in time

I'll come to find

Away to break through

And save this heart of mine

You've waited long

If you can't hold on

I wouldn't blame you

I don't think I'd be that strong

What am I to do

If I can't have you

If I could fall

In love again

I'd fall in love with you

If I could change

A grain of sand

Into a pearl I would

You love me so

Even though I don't know

How do you deal

With a man like me

If I could fall

In love again

I'd fall in love with you

If I could change

A grain of sand

Into a pearl I would

I would, I would, I would

Cook cook u fool!

RICE AND CURRY SIZZLER

A meal by itself. Cooking Time : 15 min. Preparation Time : 10 min. Serves 1. For the rice 2 teacups cooked rice 2 pinches saffron 2 small sticks cinnamon 2 cloves 2 tablespoons ghee salt to taste For the curry mutter dhingri, or a curry of your choice Method 1. Warm the saffron in a small vessel, add 2 teaspoons of water and rub until the saffron dissolves. 2. Heat the ghee on a tava and fry the cinnamon and cloves for a few seconds. Add the rice, saffron water and salt and mix well. How to sizzle 1. Heat a sizzling cast iron plate or tava until red hot. Keep the rice and curry warm in separate vessels. 2. When you want to serve, put a large leaf of lettuce or cabbage on the red hot cast iron plate so that the food will not stick. Then, spread the rice on the sizzling plate first. 3. Make a well in the centre and put the curry into it. Mix 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of water and spread over the rice to get the sizzling effect. 4. Serve with papad, sweet mango pickle and tomato-onion kachumber (salad).