Silent Valley Resort, Kudremukh, Western Ghats

Kudremukh is a mountain in Chikmagalur district, in Karnataka, India. The name literally means ‘horse-face’ and refers to one picturesque view of a side of the mountain. It is noted for its scenic beauty, located in midst of mountains. Three important rivers, the Tunga, the Bhadra and the Nethravathi are said to have their origin here.

Journey Begins:

Two buses started from our office at around 10 pm. One of the buses, watched the movie X-Men2, while the people in the other bus partied and danced to kannada, tamil, telugu and hindi songs. The bus route was Bangalore – Hassan – Belur – Mudigere – Kalasa – Kudremukh. The morning mist and cloud covered valley was just amazing.

Badly Don(e)? Don, a Preview.

I had written about the Don being remade by Farhan Akhtar nearly a year back and then said that it wouldn’t work because

The biggest reason for these two remakes(ed: Sholay, Don) not going to work is that unlike Sanjay L Bhansali, or Vidhu Chopra(or whoever directed Parineeta), these folks have chosen stuff that is mostly fresh in the minds of people – and that is the biggest challenge – which was why, until small B found his niche, he just couldnt do things Big B was doing/had done!

Well, Farhan Akhtar has almost proved me right – going from the previews at least. The storyline, though set outside of India, apparently, retains the same characters, and remains mostly true to the original. And Farhan Akthar has made the crucial mistake of retaining the old songs, but in their own 2006 versions.

(E)Xtreme fudging. The CBZ Xtreme.

Nothing pisses one off more than products claiming to deliver the moon. Heck, even space agencies dont make that claim!

So in comes Hero Honda Motors with a new product that it advertises as the CBZ Xtreme. Taglines like “Blink, and you will miss it!“, or “Once you see it, impossible to forget!” hyped the product up, like never before. If you had followed the Indian biking scenario, and saw this kind of advertising, you would be thinking the CBZ Xtreme to be at least a quarter-litre bike delivering 25+ bhp (One wouldnt expect litre class bikes from HH, after Honda has entered India on its own).

Ah! But that is the twist in the story. The CBZ Xtreme is a bike in the 150cc class, which is.. the same class as the original CBZ was! Shaking your head in disbelief? Dont, not yet! There’s more to it.

Ranga shankara Theatre Festival : 8th-15th October

From www.rangashankara.org

“The festival itself is a celebration of our existence… of the selfless contributions made by so many donors to make it a reality…of the invisible friends who stand by the project and silently work everyday without any expectation of rewards or fame only because they also believe that this is an unique project that needs very special attention…of the relentless theatre that happens every evening at Ranga Shankara, of a community that has embraced the space and made it their own…

The phenomenon of a space like Ranga Shankara when placed in the community is truly fascinating a welcoming world-class theatre facility, the most affordable in India today, dedicated to theatrical performances.

INXS, Switched On in Bangalore

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Gramin, North-Indian Veg @ Koramangala, Bangalore

Location: Ground Floor, Raheja Arcade (close to forum mall, next to sunday to monday), Koramangala

Contact : 41104104

The theme of gramin is rural north india which includes the traditional brass vessels and paintings on mud plastered walls. Keeping with the theme, few of the chairs were low, though a bit uncomfortable, its a minor sacrifice to enjoy the rural ambience.

Its one of the better places for north-indian “vegetarian” food. They claim to add zero artificial preservatives to any of their food. As usual, we ordered north Indian thali (priced at Rs. 60) which is quite reasonable for the food quality and ambience. The lassi at the end made this meal totally complete.

“Clean And Green” for Plastic Free Bangalore

“Wait a go guys, Really amazing stuff !!”

VISIT: http://cleanngreen.blogspot.com

“Clean And Green” is a group of young and not so young but all the same very enthusiastic people. Working together towards achieving a plastic free environment. They go on small treks and clean these places as most of us are regular trekkers. Through this group, they are trying to spread awareness about a clean environment Reduce, Reuse and ReCycle concept which is being adopted as the motto of the group.”

Mail received about next trip on Oct 8, 2006:

Hi,

This is the Clean and Green Group – announcing its 10th Trip to Clean. On Sunday 8 Oct – to Pearl Valley – Annekal – Muthyalmavudu.

Kumara Parvatha Trek, Karnataka

Kumara Parvatha peak with a height of about 4000 ft is the second highest peak in Karnataka after Mullayanagiri, but is said to be the toughest trek in karnataka.

[PHOTO ABOVE: Kukke Subramanya temple with cloud covered Kumara Parvatha hill in the background]

The trek starts from Kukke Subrahmanya, which is an important hindu pilgrimage center.

Kukke Subramanya can be reached by road (we took a KSRTC special dasara bus) from bangalore. The route to Kukke is off NH-48 at Sakleshpur. We reached Kukke around 7.00 am. After freshening up and an idli-vada breakfast, we started the trek at around 9.00 am.