URL: http://www.pgsem.net/index.php/Convergenz-09/Upcoming-event-Convergenz-09.html

Date: March 15, 2009 (Sunday)

Venue: Auditorium, IIM-Bangalore

Events:

1) Alchemy
The biz plan contest for all with a focus on technology innovations.

2) Case Contest
The case contest for all those with a passion to solve multiple challenges.

3) Quiz
A business quiz with a difference, conducted by the Karnataka Quiz Association this event, with its high profile prizes will be a quizzers delight!

4) Panel Discussion
A lively discussion with a focus on future growth on the following theme: “Search for the next business model in the Indian IT Industry – A wild goose chase or the need of the hour”

THEME – Innovation – Leading the Way:

The world is increasingly looking to the emerging economies to drive future growth. The days of seeking jobs and guidance from the developed countries are fast coming to an end. Our moment of reckoning is here.   India is poised to take the leap – a leap of courage, conviction, energy and imagination. In villages, towns and cities, small but progressive changes are taking place at every level. India has sprung to life, throbbing with expectation and vibrating with new ideas. Changes in every industry, every sector, are taking place at breakneck speed – revving up the economic engine like never before.

“Innovation” is the new buzzword – to increase efficiency and create new directions for growth. From the farmer in Ujjain who uses the internet to plan his produce, to the fisherman in Chennai who uses satellite data to find his next catch, to the taxi driver in Bangalore who uses the GPS to choose the optimal routes, India is finding homemade solutions to its domestic problems.

But as the recession gets deeper, India is also feeling the heat, as evidenced by the recent downward forecasts of GDP growth and mounting job losses in a few sectors. The world is indeed flat, and no country is completely insulated. However, the good news is that the key drivers of growth in this new golden age – Domain knowledge, technology ownership, flawless execution, creative marketing and charismatic leadership – are all found in abundance in India. We have the tools to beat the recession. Recession can be our opportunity.

What is required, though, is a common focus to streamline our thoughts and synergize our actions. Convergenz ’09 provides that focus by bringing together some of the best thought leaders in Indian Business to address the compelling issues of the day at both a macro as well as micro level .

· How can innovation help us beat the recession?
· What will the winning strategies look like?
· How will the world shape up in the coming decade?
· What are the major changes required for our businesses?
· Which are the most exciting tech startups in our country?
· What’s the next disruptive idea?

Convergenz ’09 promises many such fundamental insights that impact the dynamic world of Indian Business. Come March, the masters of the game descend on the sprawling campus of IIM Bangalore to chart the course of the future as they see it. And if you have seen the future a little differently, you belong here. PGSEM welcomes you to unleash your imagination in all its elegant fury. IIMB dares you to Innovate.

All three leads (no, Bobby Deol aint a lead) ooze sexiness. And more sexiness. And boy, do Priyanka and John show of their well-toned/muscled bodies. In one of the scenes when Abhishek goes “bum?” look at Pri’s derriere, one reckons that he could have done it over and over and still meant it for Priyanka’s derriere looks that fabulous (and who’s the costume designer for such fab clothes?). John of course, wears the least clothes, and displays oodles of musckle (note: if going with your lover, make sure you both get seats at different ends – you’d both wanna enjoy the display of all that opposite sex rather exclusively)

Now that I have finished with the sexiness bit, lets talk about the other bits that I did like – moojik. And forget the current chartbusters – look at Maa ka ladla – if that aint a situational song, nothing is. And boy are the lyrics great! Loved the way all the songs are written, pictured – acted/directed, of course. Talking of cinematography – lovely. Camera just hugs the skin (tones) although in someplaces I felt it could have been better – but top notch.

The movie moves fast – and doesn’t bore one at all – not even the faux gay bits – in fact the entire movie pretty much moves without a blip and boredom – with the faux gay bits being very funny cos of the inside joke ‘tween John and Abhishek’s characters.

The only flaws? Bobby Deol, and the ending.

Everything else rocks – especially the ideas of including some Hindi film superhits in the dialogues – whodathunk! (wont give away too much though – except that I found Jhumma Chumma the funniest of ‘em)

Enjoi the movie!

Not an experience I’ll forget anytime soon. It was totally one to savour for some time! The first hurdles were locating a place that’d lend hogs at a decent rate – and also be close enough to my hotel. It took a bit of time, but I finally got there – after half a dozen phone calls!

The eve of the day (weekend) of reckoning, comes news that weather’s gonna be not so good – and 80% chances of rain. Ah great! Rain. Just the thing I was hoping for. But, there was this tiny voice that said “wait a minute, your last ride which was highly enjoyable was partly in the wet too…”. But a 140 kilo 180cc animal is slightly different from a 250+kilo Hog with 6 times engine capakitty, innit?

Well, Saturday morning opened to a nice surprise – it was sunny!! for the first time in a week nearly! And the change in weather signaled a good ride – in nice sunny weather.
So out I went to get the hog – got all the paperwork done, which, by now, it was kinda familiar to me.

Well, it was only till getting onto the bike that it was familiar territory. From then on, it was unexplored and very, very sensory. They don’t say “you know its a Harley when you hear it” for no reason! (more cliches found true, but we’ll come to that l8r) And I discovered the pleasure of hearing the hot-rod throbbing when I fired it up. Now THAT sounded sweet!  As were the vibes from the bike – I’d gone there expecting a bike that threatened to throw me off at first start-up, but the vibes were muted, pleasant -and gave the right amount of feel. Perfect!

The first ten miles back to the hotel, were SWEET. I had a mile wide grin plastered over my face for the whole journey. My cheeks didn’t hurt even after having that grin plastered over my face for ten miles. The initial turn-in seemed a bit laborious, from the Pulsar’s sporty stance – which’s what I was used to. After the first couple of turns trying to figure if I was on the right street, the rest of the time was spent, cruising, being stared at. (Helped that I’d dressed as a propah “biker” – leather n denims). Cruising on the hog with a full lane for me, hogging the attention of folks around me, in cages – was sweet. The cool Pacific Ocean draft set it out to be the perfect ride. (That the draft might be a bit too cool, I found out later).

Lunch dispensed with, maps printed from G-maps, and all-set to go, only to see the sky opening up. Rain. A short nap was beckoning when I discovered that the rain had stopped.  For good. Hoo-hah! Time to hit the California-1.

But now it was time for a bit of reality check. The first was the IRON of the clutch. Eooww! If someone wants to build up(?)/exercise their palm muscles, nothing better than the Harley’s clutch. It’s not so apparent when in normal traffic, but a 3-car pile-up meant I was forced to use the clutch a lot, and as a result my left palm took a good beating. Round 1 to the Sportster, for reminding me to have got some gloves along as well. Should try it Bangalore’s traffic. Palms and fingers sure to toughen up, and we can just junk the protective gloves after that, maybe.

But, the pile-up was soon dispensed with, and I was now onto CA-1, or the Pacific Coast Highway. One of the best roads I have been on, till now – ocean and beach on one side, tiny hamlets on either and the mountains opposite the ocean. Add in the ocean draft and it was perfect weather for cruising. Or so I thought.

Trouble was, I didn’t have gloves. And at a steady 50mph, that ocean draft bites in a while(and it was 8 deg C). But a Pizza/coffee /directions stop kinda took a bit of the sting away, and we’re on the road again – trying to find my way to the temple located amongst the hills in Malibu – which I’d heard about from my pals of being located in an awesome location.

Turned out that the temple amongst the hills, or, the Malibu Venkateshwara temple, if you so prefer, was just a couple of turns from the PCH. Ah nice, that meant not so long a ride – and an easy ride. Or so, I thought. Trouble was, one turn was into the hill country, the second one put me bang on the hills, with a signboard reading, in a rather friendly manner, “Landslide zone, next 4.6 miles”. 4.6 miles? Ah, not so bad. I’d get off the road in that time. Time to check the map again. “4.6 miles on that road, before the turn to the temple”. Yeah, so much for calculations. The first few corners were spent trying to avoid my fear of heights, and thinking of the rock that might send me and a 250kilo hog plummeting down. After those initial fears seemed a bit too much, out came a small tunnel to set things in sweet motion again – Nice! The roar of the bike on the tunnel was good. My hands were somewhere between being numb and totally numb, but trying to pull the levers made of IRON helped in bringing them back to life, in bits.

And finally, there it was, nestled in the hills, amongst the best locations for a temple that I’ve ever seen. The most delightful part of it, of course, nestled inside. And that was the tap with hot water streaming out of it. With fingers back in motion, and paying my respects to the deity there, I headed back home, er, to my hotel. The ride back was mostly eventless, and an actual cruise with just one break to see a panoramic view of the coastline all through Malibu up until Santa Monica(or so I guessed). The only sad part was that I didn’t have enough time to snap it – a slight drizzle and a cloudy sky meant I didn’t want to tempt the gods into dousing me with water.

The Sportster’s lights were just about okay. If I had one, I’d complain about it as much as I’d complain about my 180′s lights, or maybe slightly lesser.

Fuel consumed: 1.8 gallons

Rental paid : 106$

The Experience : Priceless.

Which’s why whenever someone talks of riding gear, I sometimes think back to that incident all those years back and wonder how much better it would have been if we’d riding gear back then.

Back then, folks my age only wore helmets cause

a)  Their  parents forced them to

or

b)  It protected them when in rain.

Jackets were only worn due to rain. There was hardly any awareness about injury prevention, defensive riding/driving etc., Things have improved but still not to the extent they should. Which’s why this post.

This is what happened then. I was a *very* inexperienced rider, but full of b__s. Or so I thought. So there I was doing 60kmph which was not far off from the top speed of the scoot, the front wheel hit a rock, and I took off. Luckily for me, my helmet saved my life. But, one of my arms lost a chunk of skin – about 8 inches in length and 4 inches wide – just a light tee-shirt. My right ankle took a hit (I was wearing sandals only). Both palms got deeply bruised. Luckily nothing was broken, and nothing ran me over.

It took 45 days for all the skin to grow back. Even now,  I still have a 6 inch scar on me arm to show for it.

I had probably a 1000km’s under my belt then. I now have more than a 1000 times that experience. But still, I need my riding gear, and I wear it too.

Consider how lightly my friend got off, the other day. We were out on a 1000km ride. On the first day we’d done quite a bit of riding – about 350km. the last 75-100km were mostly on bad/no roads. And then, when returning back to the hotel that day, my friend – veteran of 50,000 km+ fell. Probably at about 50kmph, front wheel hit a ditch, instinctively hit the brakes, wheel locked, fell.

Whats the damage?

Helmet took the full blow, chin part and the visor scrathed, visor partially broken. Gloves okay, just scruffed up. No major impact to the jacket – but apparently it slid up a bit, and a slight tear in the riding pant. Steel toed boots take the hit, and now we could see the steel inside.

And he? A scratch, on the elbow. He’s slightly dazed because it was his first fall. Nothing else. That’s it. A couple of nights’ rest, some painkillers and he was good enough to ride back home!

The bike has a 6,000 Rs repair bill.

Helmets save lives. The rest of the riding gear minimizes recovery time from an incident. (More posts to follow in this direction…)

For this year’s event, I’m currently not able to exact link of Fireflies Music Festival 2008.. However, found some info on www.couchsurfing.com via samasmedialab.net.. Thanks for that buddy !

The Fest:
Fireflies Festival of Music begins at 6 p.m. on 23rd Feb and will go on till 6 a.m. on Sunday.

* The fest is ‘inspired by the World Sacred Music Festival, held annually at the mystical city of Fes, in Morocco’.
* The stage is set around the base of a massive banyan-tree. A beautiful amphitheatre overlooks the stage and a lake where beautiful people are sprawled on their colorful mattresses, right under the stars, completely enchanted by the melodious sounds coming out of the banyan tree.
* The sound from the Jamo speakers and colorful lights give the 2000-strong audience a celestial psychedelic effect. It’s a night where culture meets nature, east meets west, passion meets fusion.
* The festival covers a wide range of musical genres: Baul, Qawwali, Hindustani/ Carnatic Fusion, Jazz, Folk, Sacred/ Mystical Music.

[See my fireflies music festival 2007's review for more details of the different genres on show]

Location:
Fireflies, Dinnepalya Village, Kaggalipura Post, Off Kanakarapura Road (approx. 20 kms), Bangalore: 560082

A Brief about the location:
Fireflies is about 80 acres of nature where organic farming is applied. There is a variety of trees. There are about 5 dogs on the ground but only Gaali (meaning Wind in Kannada) entertains the guest. He is a 3 yr old Labrador, a treat for dog-lovers and bitches!

Other Activities:
* tarrot reading!
* Get introduced Indian Handloom fabrics
* A Walk in the woods

Food and Beverages:
* Food will be arranged on the venue.
* Only water will be available
* bring your own beverages

Things to Bring:
* mattresses and pillows
* mosquito repellants.

Tickets:
Last year, we got it at the venue itself and if i remember correctly it was priced around 100-200, don’t remember exactly..

Disclaimer:
I haven’t found the direct source of this news. Kindly confirm from other sources or look-back for updates (if any). Course, do let me know, if you find it yourself..

To my surprise, I found google ads both on top of the page and at the bottom of the page..

I thought it was just the wordpress guys (matt and others) testing some new ads platform.. i thought it could be exciting.. coz the WP guys usually come out with some really cool stuff.. I wanted to know if any posts on their ads model already out there..

Then to my surprise, I found matt’s post “on ads“:

We very occassionally show Adsense (contextual text ads) on post and tag pages. Why? To allow us to focus on free features in addition to paid and to offset costs of rapidly rising traffic.

These were relevant ads on volvo and bangalore, unlike others who got nasty ads..

IIM Bangalore will present its annual cultural festival Unmaad on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of February 2008 . With over 100 corporate organizations & 500 colleges invited to participate, this time the events are bigger and better.

With events ranging from Rock Shows, Fashion Show, Choreography, Pro-nite Performances to Debates, Jam, Quiz, Art events, Dramatics, Street Play, Music and Games, Unmaad this year will be 72 hours of non stop action and fun that promises you the experience of a lifetime. With a host of new workshops, new events, online games and the ‘War of the Corporates’, Unmaad 2008 is all set to be a roller coaster ride for everyone.

check out http://www.unmaad.com for more details on the events

The Pro-Nite shows (Music Concerts) this year:

1. Feb 1st – Rock show featuring Motherjane and Zero – Time 7 pm

They are among the most popular rock acts in the country. This being a rock show, there will be no separate enclosures or categories, nor there any seating provided. The ticket prize is Rs 100 and gates will open at 6.30 in the evening.

To buy online http://www.iticket.in/CinemaResult.asp?MovieList=715&TransDate=2/1/2008

2. Feb 2nd – Unity concert featuring Strings and Mrigya – Time 7 pm

We are proud to be host to this unique concept called the Unity concert, of which this is the 3rd edition. Strings is one of the most popular bands to emerge out of Pakistan and their shows are known to be simply mind blowing. Mrigya, with their incredible blend of classical and modern instruments, is one of the most well known fusion bands in India and have numerous international concerts to their credit.

For this show there will be 2 categories priced and Rs 100 and 200 respectively. The Rs. 200 section will be further divided into 2 categories, seating and standing. The seated section will be mostly reserved for Profs and sponsors.

To buy online http://www.iticket.in/CinemaResult.asp?MovieList=716&TransDate=2/2/2008

All ticket enquiries can be routed to Ankit Baveja ( 9986507020) and Shekhar Gupta: 9243444363.

Some of them also lead to some funny comments. Like one biker pal saying “I was just waiting for someone to buy the Hunk so I can pass some comments on it!”. Yup, a silly name like the “Hunk” would inevitably lead people to get smart!

But, that is the name, and that is what the “Hunk” owner – male or female – would have to live with.

All is not lost however – the bike looks pretty good, on its own – though not as modern as say the Pulsars, or as Racy as the RTR, it does hold its own ground -which’s somewhere in between modern and racy. Thankfully, it certainly is not styled extremely like the Xtreme! It has got nice sculpted body panels to go with the fuel tank. These help one grip the tank easily – giving for much better control over the bike. What I loved was nice tough to the Speedo – by giving it a red background. Slick.

Most people who rode the bike were rather pleased with the handling – and yes, Hero Honda has got it spot on.  The ergonomics is pretty much on the ball – while I’ve often felt the CBZ to be smaller than my P180, this one didnt seem smaller – and the seat to foot peg to handlebar positioning was just right.  As was the knee recesses. You’d grip the fuel tank just so – and the result was amazing flickability.

The Hunk also did not feel so much underpowered compared to the P180 I’d just ridden – which meant it was a good one in performance – although I did not drag it too much. But a longer ride should convince me on the performance aspect – but it’s gear changes are spot-on and go thru with a convincing air – except for the first to second – which is rather hard – and involves a good deal of effort.

Is it the best in the 150cc segment? Not sure – but it sure as hell is good – and just maybe something I might consider – if buying a 150cc bike.

First stop: Hidesign, 1st Floor, Garuda Mall
There were 4-5 Jackets and I found exactly what I wanted, great styling, exact color, thick leather.. But alas! Rs. 9000 (Hidesign, does it go on sale anytime ?)

Next stop: Shopper’s Stop, Garuda Mall
Surprise, Surprise.. We were sent to the 2nd floor by a salesman in the ground floor.. When we reached there, we were shown few denim jackets.. I spelt it out again, “L-E-A-T-H-E-R” jacket.. Then, he came out with it, they didn’t have any..

Next: Lifestyle, Richmond Road
We were sure, they would have good ones there, suspected that the price would be out of the budget, but you never know.. Surprise again, just one brand and one jacket to show for the “grand” Lifestyle. I was very disappointed..

Next: Bangalore Central Mall, Near Mayo Hall, Residency Road
Took the slow escalator towards the third floor. Just two brands, pathetic design and material is not the word..

Next: Brown Shop, Commercial Street
The guy showed us three basic designs. It cost around 3k. Had elastic at the bottom and not very well-designed. He over-heard us telling that and pulled out an in-fashion leather jacket. The ones with metal rivets that you see the road romeos wear. Not exactly what I wanted..

Next: <Forgot the name>, Commercial Street
He had a good collection of jackets in the top store-room. But alas, nothing in brown.. Sold out, I guess.. Price: Rs. 4k

Next: Thunderbird (exclusive leather store)
#118, 1st Floor, Commercial Street (Opposite Westside) Ph. 080-255979971, 080-41472673
As we entered the store on the 1st floor, I saw a lot of jackets in the corner of the store. Ding ding ding, Jackpot !!
We had hit the mother-ship, found quite a good collection of well-crafted jackets. Found the jacket we wanted.. a bit thin though. Price: Rs. 4500 (after 10% discount). Good choice of jackets and good service !!

Some trivia (you may or may not know):

Hidesign, a premium leather product brand from India has made clear its ambitions to become one of the top brands in the world. A strong competitive position in the domestic market, coupled with a global presence in retail stores like the House of Fraser, Selfridges, and John Lewis. Hidesign could boast of celebrity clients like Nelson Mandela and Steven Spielberg.. “Too cool or what !!” [Source: www.icmrindia.org]

Lifestyle is part of the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based retail chain. With over 30 years’ experience in retailing, the Group has become the foremost retailer in the Gulf. Positioned as a trendy, youthful and vibrant brand that offers customers a wide variety of merchandise at exceptional value for money, Lifestyle began operations in 1998 with its first store in Chennai in 1999 and now has 12 Lifestyle stores, 5 Home Centres and 1 Babyshop store across Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. [Source: www.lifestylestores.com]

If you know of other stores in bangalore, do add a comment.

It also means you cannot carry most things you want to – a shoulder bag containing all your documents and other stuff neatly, a cell phone etc.,

Now, it seems that the US Govt has finally woken up to this hardship and is doing something to address it.

They’re calling it – surprise, surprise – the Stars and Stripes Lounge.

For a list of Amenities and facilities there, I quote (link) :

* A comfortable air-conditioned waiting room protected from the weather.
* A Café Coffee Day counter which offers you a cup of tea or coffee and a sandwich at no extra charge.
* Free storage area for your baggage and items that cannot be taken inside the Consulate.
* Free use of changing rooms.
* Free use of clean restroom facilities.
* Free return coach transfers between the Lounge and the U.S. Consulate. Coaches leave the lounge every 30 minutes.
* Privacy and safety: The Lounge is protected by security staff, with access restricted only to visa applicants and accompanying persons
* Snack Bar for refreshments and light meal priced most reasonably

So if you wanna talk to your sweetie, or loved ones, you can do that and leave your cellphone in the storage area.

Entry charge is 200Rs/- per person – including food and drink coupon, but considering that I once had to shell out the same just for the darned security person to gimme back my cellphone, I think its worth it!

(I havent yet had a chance to review the arrangements, but it seemed worthy enough of publishing)

Greetings !

PGSEM (@ IIM-B) & Cisco take immense pleasure & pride in soliciting your august presense at Convergenz-08, a forum for interaction between Industry, Academia & Alumni. It is on this day, in the environs of IIM Bangalore, that some of the best minds from the Industry would discuss on challenges of the day.

Date: Sunday, 13th Jan, 2008

Events:

1. Business Quiz (Starts: 1 PM)

• Open to all folks of the hi-tech companies from Bangalore
• Organized by Prof. Rajeev Gowda (of Karnataka Quiz Association)
• Prize Money worth Rs. 40K to be won
• Over 100 teams to participate

2. Panel Discussion (Starts: 6: 30 PM)

Topic – ‘Building an Innovation Ecosystem in India’

Panelists:

• Mr. Vinod Deshmukh, CTO, Mindtree
• Prof. Sadagopan, Director, IIIT
• Mr. Rajeev Mehtani, MD, NXP Semiconductors

Other potential panelists:

• Mr. Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies
• Mr. Bobby Mitra, MD, Texas Instruments
• Mr. K.B. Chandrashekhar, CEO, Jamcracker

3. Case Analyses (Starts 1:30 PM)

• Participation open to IIM-B students
• Business Challenges faced by the hi-tech industry in India on product management
• Analysis by students who handle technology and business with equal poise
• Judged by industry experts and the eminent academia in IIM-B

[Slides above: Convergenz 08 Invite]

What is PGSEM all about ?

• Executive general management education program offered by IIM-B
• Developed in close partnership with Software and IT industry
• Customized for mid-career professionals in the Software and Information Technology industry

For the patient souls, few videos about PGSEM:

The Airwave is a station wagon model based on the Jazz platform – and its ordinary at best, boring at worst.

The Airwave is a model exclusive to Japan, but based on the Jazz platform, pretty much like the City. Except, that its got a boot, a big boot.

How’s it like to drive? Well I drove it for a lil over 200kms and following are my observations.

When I started out, I feathered the loud pedal as we’d just been caught speeding (wasn’t me!) and the acceleration was generally sluggish – not all that unexpected from an automatic – importantly, it wasn’t progressive at all. But when the revs built up, i.e., I hit the loud pedal hard, the acceleration was marked, with a kick at the neck(but still not progressive).

The engine really didn’t exhibit the “smoothness” that’s apparently Honda’ strength. It was actually a pretty unrefined unit. NVH characteristics were rather bad, considering that the windows were up – and a lot of noise filtered through. A lot more than even in any small car! Getting maybe 4/10 in my book.

The dynamics of the car, would be slightly different I suppose. Being the first stationwagon I’ve driven – and fully loaded with 5 people and lots of luggage, I was careful not to upset the applecart.

It was nothing great to write home about though – having driven it among the twisties on the way to Fuji, it was okay – didn’t corner like on rails, but didn’t really give too much cause for concern either. Was generally okay (was on unassisted brakes and steering as we’d nearly run outta fuel!) .

One thing I really hated abt the car was the driver’s seating – everytime I had to get out, my legs fouled with the steering stalk – a real pain, adjustin the seat back and then forward again. The Jazz better have decent seat positioning!
And the driver’s seating was kinda okay when driving, but the “auto gear” lever did not fall to the hand well. The armrest fouled with the left arm (thank god, it was auto!). Imagine driving in an Indian city where every so often you get a thump on your elbow because you’re trying to shift gears!!

It was slated to seat 5, but, thats only if the people sitting on the 2nd row are all of slight build. Add even person of slightly heavier build and it began to get cramped – very cramped – more so than most Indian hatchbacks (Santro, Wagon R et al) Not a good thing for a stationwagon.

We didnt really test the fuel economy as it was our Japanese colleague who was managing that.

But there was one awesome feature of the car – and that is its sunroof – or a glass roof at the top. I’m not sure how safe it is, in a crash, but boy, it gives you an awesome view. The whole of the top of the car above the passenger rows would open up to a glassy roof – great thing on a ride! I wish they bring it to India too – subject to safety constraints, of course!

The looks were nothing to write home about – it was an average stationwagon, with the modern angular lights, curves. Nothing that distinguishes it from any other car. And the design of some parts – and especially the illumination provided by the headlights was nothing to write home about. The lights were absolutely useless – most Indian compacts have better lights!

Overall, its a just about okay car, that doesnt simulate ones senses, nor the brain. If the Jazz or equivalent is similar, then I’d say buy it only if you have no other choice!

Note: This post does not give away the movie plot, coz I recommend you see this movie.

The movie is a must watch for every mom, every dad, every teacher, every kid and everyone who has ever been a kid.. It will mostly make you cry at moments when the characters are sad or even happy.. You most probably will identify with the kid “Ishaan Awasthi” played by Darsheel Safary in the movie in some way or the other.. The kid has acted really well and will mostly win a few awards this year for this performance..

This movie breaks away from the usual singing and dancing around trees sequences of bollywood.. This movie will definitely increase the awareness of dyslexia in India.. But I suspect it will definitely change the outlook of parents towards their misunderstood (so called academically weak) kids in this unforgiving materialistic competitive world..

The music and songs for the film are just brilliant and very moving.. Especially the song “Maa” will have your tears rolling down your cheeks.. Super stuff “Ehsaan Ehsaan Loy” !! I was crying and foot-tapping while seeing the songs

Debut director & Actor Aamir Khan and all the members of the crew.. hats-off to you guys !!

What is Dyslexia ?

Source: wikipedia

Recommendations to parents/teachers: http://www.ldonline.org/article/14907

Watched movie at Fun Cinemas, Cunningham Road, Bangalore

Official movie site: http://www.taarezameenpar.com/

Updates:

Found this good review on the reviews of this movie by the GreatIndianMutiny guys !!

Also read Review Rip Off – II by Sanjukta

Guess the (paintbrushed) image says it all..

Happy New Year Folks !!

Hope you succeed in finally finding the happiness you always were seeking this year..

Hmm.. 2008 New Year’s Resolution: Must post more often..

“Sun Soaked Departure – Rain Lashed Arrival”

Any trip log starts with the description of an ‘itch for a ride’ reason. So, lets go ahead and say that a bunch of bikers/wannabes wanted to ride and ride long.

[image above: the team]

Introducing the riders (from right to left)
1) Kamlesh aka ‘Sherpa Kamli’ –> the snow trekker –> Bullet 350 (Standard)
2) Guru aka ‘Guru bhai’ –> ice cool biker –> Bullet Machismo 500
3) Sai aka ?? –> Pulsar 180 (UG3)
4) Nasir aka ‘Nazi bhai’ –> team photographer, fog clearer, super entertainer, official account keeper (MBA works!!) –> Pillion on Kallu’s bike
5) Joe aka ‘Joe Rocket’ –> globe trotting navy man –> Bullet 350 (Electra)
6) Calvin aka ‘Kallu mama’ –> true dreamer (the one responsible for all 7 of us in the above frame) –> Bullet 350 (Electra) (getting a pillion who does not happen to be your girlfriend is a true achievement … its friendship … hats off to you)
7) Sumesh aka ‘somer sault man’ –> official timekeeper –> Bullet 350 (Electra 5S)

Life is very funny.
It gives you a lot of friends and lot of TIME to play around with when you are studying (ie., not financially INdependent). And now, you have a decent sum in your pocket not knowing how to get back those engineering times.
We are a lucky group (touch wood) and this discussion would always happen when we met at least twice a month. This trip is a very pleasing conclusion to that question and i pray that i keep concluding like this frequently on our future trips.

Kallu and Joe took the initiative and planned out the trip. The below power point presentation being a testimonial to that.

Day 1 (15th December)

Me, Joe, Kallu+Nasir and Kamli meet up at HAL and ride to Madivala to meet the others (Sumesh and Guru). After an initial chat we start our road trip at 5:30 AM.

[image above: Band of bikers (including the photographer) at the starting point at madivala]

The ride from Hosur to Krishnagiri was very flat & smooth (literally speaking). A very well maintained road. Nice cruising, being invited by the dawn. Calls for another butt break right?

[image above: "N the road becomes my bride", the bikes thundering down hosur road]

[image above: We cross Krishnagiri where Joe, 'rocketed' ahead and found us a good place to have hot hot breakfast for the morning]

Finish breakfast and head out towards Salem. The road WERE GOOD (more on that later). We keep a good pace and stop for narial pani + celebrate a milestone.

[image above: Guru's 500 doing a 1000 for the first time]

This is the point where the evolution of ‘seating arrangements’ begin.

[image above: Nasir being coaxed to reinvent the wheel again - a butt cooling mechanism for our only pillion rider]

Once we get moving, we observe that the road widening has forced everybody to ride only on one side of the road and given the TN bus drivers’ penchant to push off the bikers from the road (yes i am stereotyping… any body want to refute?) one bullet goes tumbling to the ground while trying to avoid a beast bus coming head-on trying to overtake and being very indecent to the oncoming traffic.

We all stop to comfort the rider, access the damage, thank God that nothing serious happened. We resume our ride, simultaneously planning the stuff to be taken care of regarding the damaged bike – a completely broken left footrest and a cracked crash guard.

Destination Salem. Bike repair and food.

[image above: Happy biker without any postoperative trauma]

[image above: "Chilli Parota.... WHAT THE HELL..." the waiter chewed on it before it reached our table???? (pardon me... still a n00b, learning photography)]

A pretty uneventful ride till the foot hills of Yercaud. Then starts a very pleasant, cherish able ride uphill through the 20 hairpin bends to the top.

[video above: riding up to yercaud]

[image above: Mother nature, view from road leading up to yercaud]

[image above: Reached the top before the mist descended on the hill, to be invited by eager eyes who thought we were a "bunch of insanes coming on bikes to this place"]

Now, what happened after we checked in…
What would you guess a group of friends on bikes would indulge in? Lots of food and lots of liquid to quench our thirst!

Day 2.

Ready to go!!

[image above: Glued to the TV and sharing a good moment before we left..]

[video above: warming up the engines in the very chilly morning at yercaud]

The ride to Munnar was stop go, stop go, since it involved a lot of enquiring for directions. Scorching heat of TN, to the point of driving us to dehydration. Our average speed dips and gives rise to the general apprehension regarding our arrival time at munnar. Hence the group decides to ride nonstop through udmalpet (the awesome swarms of wind mills) all the way to Munnar. I did not like the sudden rushing up. But an individual decision comes second when compared to a team decision.

The uncomfortable heat is replaced by a pleasant chilly green atmosphere of the Chinnar forest. The best forest road i’ve travelled on. Till now i had only heard of the good Kerala roads. Now, i’ve experienced it first hand.

Lots of ‘picture postcard’ moments lost.
The mix of the setting sun, the mist, the mountains, the forest and then the small waterfalls here and there was just divine. Wish i had a cycle and stamina to ride through this stretch all the way to munnar. The waterfalls were like these gold watches embellished with diamonds. Sometimes the clouds focused the sun rays on some mountains as though God held a flash light in a dim surrounding to show us the beauty of nature. Also spotted some black faced langurs waiting to be snapped on camera, but alas, i aint stoppin now monkeys

[image above: An unsatisfactory try to quench my thirst]

Once you cross the chinnar forest, there is another check post after which you reach Munnar through the tea estates of Kannandevan. The good roads don’t seem to end at all. They keep getting more and more twisty turvy but the grip and quality of the roads were worth applauding.

[video above: ride to munnar]

We reached Munnar by 6.

[video above: reached munnar & view from balcony of our home stay]

We walk through the temporarily put up weekend eating stalls of munnar and purchased some food. The night spent on food and some hydrating and dehydrating liquids The round table discussions were full of things ranging from Joe’s foreign escapades and other stuff… no details, censored you see.

Day 3.

Kallu comes back from the Mass in a church at the foot of the hill we stayed on. I am basking in the sun to get off some hangover. Every one else is asleep, its 7 and the sunlight is playing with green tea estates and white mist, which made us pull out our bikes and go out on a small ride. By the time we started our bikes there were two more companions on the mini ride. So, 4 bikes head out.

[image above: Our home stay bungalow basking in the morning sun]

One of the bullets makes the cardinal sin of using the front disk brakes on a high speed, super leaning, tempting, well-tarred corner. The fall was a scary one, the first one i’ve seen first hand. The bike takes a lot of damage and luckily the rider is safe. We cut short the ride and get back to the lodge to find to our surprise that there is a small tin hut with a bullet and its internals opened up for repair.

out comes Jerry, a student of MS Ramaiah college and a very knowledgeable mechanic. All of a sudden everybody start seeing problems in their bikes which weren’t talked about till then. He gets on with every body’s problems patiently while i take a tablet to stop the headache and dose off for an hour or two. Getup after that to watch the group still with Jerry, in the hot afternoon sun.

A proposed short munnar trip got postponed from 11 to 4:30 due to the heat.

We take a beautiful ride through Munnar – Madupetty – Eco Point – Palar – Kundala – Top Station and back. The view at the Dam was amazing and so was our group dynamics while on the ghats…. evenly paced and evenly distanced, with every bike in view and riding up and down the roads like a snake with red dots on its body (our tail lights!).

[video above: Ride on amazing roads from Munnar to Mattupetty dam]

[image above: view of mattupetty dam]

[image above: "Nature's playground", anaimudi peak in the distance]

While biking back from the ‘Top Station’, there was one sunset, which was half visible due to the tall trees. This was the only time my mind got into destructive mode … it wanted to chop down the trees so that the view was a complete one. I can understand why heavy pocketed celebrities buy villas and want to cut down trees for a better view.

[video above: Night ride from Mattupetty dam to Munnar]

[video above: Dinner at "Lonely planet recommended Rapsy Restaurant", Munnar]

Day 4.

The sun bathing ends here. Give way to the rain lashing!

I decide to leave a bit early than the others so that i can catch up with the lost opportunities on my way to munnar. Kamli and Sumesh agree to do the same.

We leave Munnar at 6:15. The weather is dry and we cross the first hill. All of a sudden we are in the mist of munnar and getting pretty wet too. I am confused, we were not mentally prepared for a rainy weather. We still force ourselves into assuming that its just mist charged with water… hence the wetness.

We cross two more hills and the truth finally hits us. I forgot that there was a camera pouch dangling on my shoulder. Take a quick stop, and put it inside the saddlebag which i always water proof from inside no matter where i go.

Now, when its raining cats and dogs in a beautiful forest, what do you do…. i saw a sign board reading the direction to a water falls 2 Km ahead and i grabbed this opportunity with both hands!

A wonderful experience. Thigh deep, crystal clear water… all the pebbles washed and laid out as in a costly aquarium. I always think twice before getting my feet wet (given the distance we have to cover in a wet sock and wet shoe). But here? No second thoughts. I readily jumped into the stream, which initially sent a shock through my spine due the chillness. Enjoyed the water while Sumesh was mobbed by a big band of monkeys… it had spooked him enough… he was ready to hurl his helmet at them in case they had come anymore closer to him.

Me at the falls (shot on a K750i)

By the time we were out of the falls and heading to the check post at the tea estate we see the rest of the bikes already heading towards us… we were overjoyed since it was raining heavy and now the group is complete.

We had the best breakfast of trip in the smallest of the huts with the smallest expenditure.

Freshly made vada… what more can you ask for when you are soaking wet and a hotelier is ready to entertain you with hot crispy food. The icing on the cake was ‘Palam Puri’ which Nasir’s probing eyes discovered. They are hot crispy banana fry whose taste cannot by described.

Holla?! Whose there??

A camera less journey ahead.
We take nearly 13 hours to cover the total 336 Km to our destination – Yercaud.
You would ask, why come back again? Well i asked myself the same question even before the trip started. You need to look logical, so i put it this way. Every good place has to be visited twice no?

Destination Yercaud. Every body is wet to the bone. The only consolation till then was a very good food served at a ‘irani hotel’. Me, Kamli and Sumesh had waterproofed our luggage. The same was not the case for the rest. We immidiately ordered for room heaters and then for an iron box.

Kallu gave us a scare by showing us black fingers when he pulled out his biking gloves. And to our relief, it was no frost bite or what ever, it was just that the new glove’s color had given way and got on his skin

We get warm, have food, no one wanted to have a conversation … so we hit the bed pretty fast.

Googled up the weather map for that day (thanks Sumesh)

Day 5.
I had enjoyed every bit of the rain infested ride, but was feeling bad for the group who were shivering with no dry clothes to wear. I can understand the discomfort they have been through. I just hoped that every thing would be back to normal by the morning and i was right. Every body woke up with a smile and determination enough to get us back to Bangalore even though we knew that the rain would not stop.

A chilly one, tough to capture on camera

Joe, Nasir and Kallu went out shopping for raincoats and were back by 10:30. We decided to leave by 11 since the checkout time was 12 noon. But to our surprise we find that the checkout was 24 hours from checkin. Hence we decide to leave Yercaud at 3 in the noon so that we dont have to bear with the traffic after hosur towards madivala. We did this factoring in the ok experience we had with the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

After having the most comfortable lunch of the trip at the hotel itself. We leave Yercaud as planned and reach Salem.

We did not expect the roads on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch to change so drastically in a matter of two days. It’s surprising that all the seven of us had a doubt that we had chosen the wrong route. This niggling thought was despite watching the same landmarks on our way. The stretch has changed that bad.

The roads looked like mine fields laid out for the bikers riding it. Again the rash TN bus drivers gave us a hard time. I say hard because, you are not riding alone, but are riding as a team. Any bodies weakness is your weakness. This stretch, with the rash driving busses were hell bent on exposing those weaknesses… and adding to the complexity was darkness.

You had only two options:
1) Ride with the helmet visor down…. find yourself in a pothole.
2) Ride without the visor down…. bear with the slush hitting your face when you overtake or get passed by an oncoming vehicle.

Obviously, we chose option 2.
We took nearly 6 hours to cover the first 100 Km (all the way to Krishnagiri). But even the good roads ahead did not help and we took three hours to cover the second 150 Km.

Reached Bangalore at 11 in the night. Exchanged celebratory hugs and headed back home. Not a memorable way to call it a day. But we were tired and shivering, and could manage only that much jubilation.

A lot of firsts on the trip.

1. Group dynamics. It gave me a good perspective of team work, role of a leader, what it takes to keep a team as one. The birth and death of conflicts. Importance of formation riding, laying out the basic rules, forcing to conform to it (i am much better prepared for all the three in future). The importance of a close interaction b/w the first and the last person in the formation – i was ten minutes from peeing in my pants since we lost contact with one bullet while on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

2. The joy and scares of riding on a fog filled ghat section with visibility to less than 5 meters.

3. Stretching my mileage in the rain. New experience with the hostile bus drivers. Hadn’t done a 13 hr bone drenched trip so far.

4. A journey covering three states (my previous being only two)

5. A trip that gave me many more biking buddies

6. Finding the weak links in my waterproofing armour. The cramster jacket needs a lot of tinkering around and so does the saddle bag. Finally found out a comfortable way to protect my neck using a muffler – 5 days gave me a lot of time to ‘live test’ my ideas.

The ‘dry feet’ idea – contributed by guru and sumesh

7. Need for new methods of cleaning my visor quickly for improved low light visibility. I will have to purchase an AGV due to the famed protection and the ease with which you can pluck out and snap the visor back in. This way i can keep the tinted visor on the present helmet and use an AGV with a clear visor.

8. Need for a spare camera (the best would be a mobile phone camera – water proofing would be very easy).

9. Importance of a small umbrella in case main camera is required.

10. Pair of sandals. Without them on a rainy day and a wet floor in the hotel, you are screwed.

————————————————————————————-
Trip Stats.
————————————————————————————-

14th Dec
Filled 11.65L of fuel (Rs 600 @ Shell)
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km

15th Dec
Odo Reading 28594.8 Km
Started the trip at 5:31 AM
Reached Yercaud at 4:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 261.3 Km
Distance travelled – 261.3 Km
Time taken – 10 and 30 Minutes

16th Dec
Left Yercaud to Munnar at 8:02 AM
Reached Munnar at 6:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 571.5
Distance travelled – 310.2 Km
Time taken – 10 Hours

17th Dec
Second day in Munnar
One trip in the morning
One trip in the evening
Tripmeter reading – 653 Km
Distance travelled – 81.5 Km

18th Dec
Left Munnar to Yercaud at 6:25 AM
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 2.17L (Rs 100 @ Maryoor, Kerala)
Tripmeter reading – 113.3 Km
Reset trip to 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 6.32L (Rs 300 @ Palladam, TN)
Reached Yercaud at 7:15 PM
Tripmeter reading – 223.0 Km
Distance travelled – 336.3 Km
Time taken – 12 Hours and 45 Minutes

19th Dec
Left Yercaud to Bangalore at 3:05 PM
Refuelled for 4.2L (Rs 200 @ Yercaud)
Reached Bangalore (Madivala junction) at 11 PM
Tripmeter reading – 476.6 Km (Including the distance to my house from madivala)
Distance travelled – 253.6 Km
Time taken – 9 Hours

Total Distance Travelled –> 1242.9 Km
Total Time Taken –> 42 Hours
Average –> 27.7 Km/H

Pulsar Mileage Statistics
Mileage for the initial full tank
Fuel 11.65 Liters
Distance 653 Km
Mileage 56.1 Km

Mileage for the second refuel
Fuel 2.17 Liters
Distance 113.3 Km
Mileage 52.2 Km

Mileage for the third and fourth refuel put together
Fuel 10.52 Liters
Distance 476.6 and counting

Projected average mileage (worst case scenario for the third refuel) – 51.2 Km

Added attractions of the festival, apart from over a million books on show, are the cultural programmes that happen everyday – ranging from children’s dance programmes to carnatic jugalbandis.

The added sweetener for Book lover is the hefty discounts offered on all titles – including the latest releases – I bought Dev Anand’s autobiography at a neat 140 Rupee Discount!

There over 300 stalls in the book fair – with a sizeable representation of all classes and languages of books. I had gone there with my family – and there was something for everyone. My parents were rather delighted to find the range of Kannada books and magazines on display – and they bought quite a few, with discounts ranging from 10 to 20%.

There was a stall with Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings displayed – and with reproductions available for sale as well – at reasonable prices – starting from as low as 50 Rupees!

There was this gorgeous paiting – printed on Canvas, which I thought would fit right onto my wall, but at 4,000 Rupees was slightly beyond my means – so I bought a paper reproduction of the same! (Unfortunately no web link seems available!)

There are also various book publishers – Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice Hall India, Navkarnataka, Cambridge University Press, and many more!

For the spiritually minded, there are various stalls from publishers and spiritual organisations alike – Ramana Maharshi Ashram, ISCKON, etc., – although notable absentees were Art of Living Foundation.

Exclusive stalls on Islam, Gandhiji, on rare books etc., were among the niche stalls

Kannada Language book, littérateurs profiles are available in a wide range – stalls from Navakarnataka, Sahitya Parishad and the like display the best of Kannada literature available – so if you want to discover Kannada literature, head straight to the Book Festival.

Update: Another Book Festival is on at Palace Grounds, off Mekhri Circle. 2 & 4 wheeler parking is widely available, and hassle free. Open on weekends till 9pm from about 11 in the morning

[Image above: Trail from Mullayanagiri to Baba Budan Giri (located near distant mobile tower seen above)]

Mullayanagiri is part of the the Baba Budan Giri Hill Ranges. It stands at 1930 meters and is the tallest peak in Karnataka. There is a small temple (matta) on top of the hill. The small hillock in the temple compound is the highest point in Karnataka. It is around 250 kms from bangalore and 12 kms from Chikmagalur.

Baba Budan Giri : takes its name from the Muslim saint, Baba Budan, who resided here more than 150 years ago and reared coffee from the seeds he had secured from Yemen. The Baba-Budan range has taken its name from the 1895 meters high Baba-Budan Giri, situated just 28 kms north of Chikmagalur town.

Baba Budangiri shrine is also called Dattatreya Peeta. It has been controversial due to communal tension (claimed by both hindus and muslim groups).

[Image above: Bus-Top ride from Chikmagalur to mullayanagiri]

[Image above: Sarpa Dhare, starting point of trek]

[Image above: steep climb-up mullayangiri]

[Video above: Height sickness at mullayanagiri ]

[Image above: explorable bat cave (obv. beware of bats) just few steps before mullayanagiri temple]

[Image above: Mullyanagiri Matta /Temple where free lunch was given to us by the very sweet temple care-takers (obv. don't demand one)]

[Image above: Scenic route from mullayanagiri to baba budhanagiri/dhathatreya peeta]

[Image above: Be very careful while using petrol for camp fires (notice the bottle lid that caught fire in his hand while spilling some petrol into the fire) ]

[Image above: Tent at Gaali Kere, which is at a small distance away from baba budangiri shrine]

[Image above: Jeep-top Ride to Manikya Dhare waterfall]

[Image above: The very badly maintained, but religiously important Manikya-Dhare Water fall, Tip: there is nothing to see at this place, so avoid it]

[Image above: Chilled-out bath in a chilled-out stream, that we found while exploring a stream when we were waiting for a bus somewhere between baba budangiri & chikmagalur]

Other links:

1. http://usandeep.com/trekking/mullayanagiri.html

2. http://www.dreamroutes.org/dreams/mullainagiri_kiran.html

3. http://purana.csa.iisc.ernet.in/~mbk/Mul/Mullayanagiri-Bababudangiri/

[NOTE: I did this trek in May, 2006]

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Spiderman’s bestfriend becomes enemy.Spiderman loses girlfriend.
Spiderman goes bad, er. black. Spidey’s girl gets ‘napped.
Spidey fights 2 enemies at once – and gets the arse kicked all over the place.
Ex-Best Friend turned enemy comes to the rescue, dies saving Spidey. (Friends again?)
Spidey’s Enemy says “sorry!”. Spidey gets girl back.

like the movie? hate it?
cant decide – it was interesting all right, but walking out of the theatre, those lines above were my reaction. The start has some of the haziest graphics I have seen. I could hardly make out what happened – just goblin and spidey flying thick and fast, in blurs. Spidey black, I like – entertaining, uncool-ly cool, and quite funny. If Spidey is supposed to project innocence, then Goblin Junior beats him hands down. He looks like an innocent lost puppy thru’out. Heck, even dies for the best friend!
Sandman, Sandman, Sandman – what do I say about such a boring character? I said too much already.
And Venom is fun – before, he becomes venom.
In fact, the best, most interesting “villian” of the piece is Spidey himself, in black.
CG aint to spectacular, the score’s okay. There’s some doses of being “good” in the movie, which are okey-dokey. But, Bollywood handles it better anyday!
If you havent watched it, maybe watch it wid yer pardner… if you’re out with friends, watch it for the smartass comments u gonna get/make!

[Image above: Painted Platters @ Koramangala]

I am sure everybody in Bangalore has been to the Corner House ice cream parlours and also had the very famous mouth-watering DBC (Death By Chocolate). But few know about this hidden dessert parlour called Painted Platters in Koramangala, Bangalore.

Here, each plate used to serve the desserts is spray painted with chocolate paint and comes decorated with witty messages like “You can never make a crab walk straight” (on our plates), “My reality check has bounced,” “If there’s a will, I want to be in it,” etc.. Hence the name, Painted Platters.

Painted Platters was founded by Joe Manavalan of Oberoi Hotels. Joe’s passion for food and desserts (especially the presentation of it) is palpable from the article on Hindu:

Style, the visual appeal of food, is important because it is the first impression. To be a good stylist, you’ve to know your food well. It is like architecture, where the architect has to know the materials well. “The right side of a plate (like the right hand page of a book/newspaper) is the high visibility one. So, put the main or most colourful item there. I also use odd numbers regarding food articles on a plate or chairs for a table, number of colours in the food, interior décor of restaurants and whereever there is mix and match.”

[Image above: the very unique menu printed on cds]

The must try desserts here are Mississipi Mudpie (a favorite of mine), Champagne & Berry Mousse, Cherry & White Wine Mousse, Dark & White Chocolate Sushi, Apple Pie and Mango Mousse.. Its also priced quite reasonably at around Rs. 100, which make them a must try, if you are around Koramangala.

[Image above: champagne and berry mousse]

I found the ambiance to be just right too, with very good light music playing in the background. But all this only adds to the very yummy desserts (see the photos, but obviously you need to taste them and find the melting in your mouth to really appreciate them)

[Image above: new york baked cheese cake]

Address: 1st B Main Road, 7th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore (near Adyar Ananda Bhavan and opposite The legend)

FYI, there is another Painted Platters at Jayanagar too. I’ve heard that the first one at Indiranagar is closed now.

For more info: good detailed articles on Hindu and Hindu Business Line.

[Image above: First Aid symbol]

Following up on the CPR training earlier, we attended a first aid training conducted by the good doctors (got to really thank them to take some time out on a sunday for us) at NIGHTINGALES LIFESAVING SERVICES (NLS) *.

One would have the question: Why do you need to learn First Aid ?

From NLS material:

Many lives are endangered and subject to needless agony due to lack of timely and correct initial treatment. This is primarily due to lack of awareness about correct techniques of First Aid and its benefits and the non- availability of trained people.

In many emergency situations due to accidents on the road, in homes and workplaces, rendering immediate First Aid will help prevent further damage and promote recovery. Delay in timely First Aid leads to greater complications, longer duration of treatment and often loss of life or damage to body parts in addition to greater expense.

There is, hence, a great need for increasing the awareness among people about the need for and correct measures in providing First Aid.

What I felt about the training:

• helped me to understand the very vital need for first aid in some life threatening situations and how it could help to promote recovery and relieve pain in other normal situations.
• taught me a step-by-step approach towards providing first aid.
• to name a few situations we were trained to handle: bleeding & shock, burns, electrical injuries, fractures, bites/stings, asphyxia, poisoning etc..
• trains one in using the first aid kit (available in automobiles and offices) effectively.
• debunks (exposes) first aid myths and faulty home made medical solutions.
• gives confidence in handling emergency situations and avoid panic.

Please REMEMBER: first aid is only initial assistance/treatment, further treatment by a doctor is a must.

* For training please contact :

Dr Asma
Project coordinator
NIGHTINGALES LIFESAVING SERVICES
(a project of Nightingales Medical Trust in memory of Shri.Harish C Mahindra)
337,2nd Cross, 1st Block, R.T.Nagar, Bangalore – 560032
Ph: 23548444/555/666/777 Fax: 23548999
E-mail: nhhs@bgl.vsnl.net.in

[Image above: The poster outside William Penn, Koramangala]

Not much to say really… This ad poster just reminds me of my college notebooks
let me know if you felt the same..

Rotary Bangalore IT Corridor and Crossover Sports are organizing Bangalore’s first midnight marathon on May 19, 2007. For more details check: http://www.coindia.com

Claims to be the first ever midnight marathon in the world. However a simple google search says otherwise (brought to notice by Charles Haynes of bangalore metblogs). I wonder how they ever came up with the “world’s first” thing.

For the true marathoner/leggers or first timers, you should get in touch with the runnersforlife guys. The article written by Arvind Krishnan is also a useful read before doing the marathon. These guys do regular practice runs in different parts of bangalore. Atleast, they did when I took part in the 2005 Bangalore Marathon. Checked their mailing list, apparantly they still do.

There is also an inter-corporate “relay” marathon contest to be held to get the corporates on-board. No harm in getting some corporate money !!

My blog entry for the 2005 bangalore international marathon:

Yippedee.. I made the finish line..

History was made, the first Bangalore International Marathon. The race began at 9.15am, flagged off by our CM, Mr. Dharam Singh. It all began with loud cheers and thumping of feet, 12000×2 of them. My friends Poon-Poon and Amshu were also doing the run with me. The 12000 leggers took some time to cross the relatively narrow gate of the Kanteerva stadium. The initial 1km on kasturba road was the easiest upto cubbonpark. The crowd on the way was crazy, it was unbelievable, there were few women running in their sarees and salwar-kameezs and more surprisingly making good time. But that went on only till the 1km mark, after that they were irritatingly blocking our way.

After that, the people still running were people like me. All these guys and gals mostly in their teens, twenties were running and sweatin hard and most of all on a sunday morning!! The marathon was being run for different causes: HIV/AIDS patients, street children, environment, old age homes, etc. Some were running for the cause, some just to see if they can make it, some just to lose weight overall it was a challenge.

An inspiring nice thing that I saw, was of a person in a wheelchair on the move. Later I met an old friend named Pushkar and his friend. Its nice when you run with company, you really don’t know the distance then. Later in the course, we were stopped by few women on a jeep with Radiocity tshirts for an interview. It turned out to be Fiona and Basanti. Hmm.. now I have a face for the voices that have been rocking the city.

At around 10.15am, (thats an hour for the course) we were back at the Kanteerva and made the finish line. It was a great feeling to finish the course. Tiring but very Satisfying.. I could do it.

Next time I will do the 42km one, wonder what I would be upto then.

I have not been much of a cricket fan, ever since India’s dramatic loss in the 1996 world cup against Sri Lanka. That was the last straw. But when I saw this billboard, I was pissed !! They didn’t shy away to rub it in.. I liked the Foster’s “Australian for Beer” ads before.. But I don’t think this ad is gonna help the image of Foster’s in India (the cricket crazy country that it is..) But wait.. Foster’s India is owned by SABMiller, the UK based company. Hmm.. What are the Brits upto ??

But think about it, this world cup was little more than joke to me. Felt like the Aussies stole an ice cream from a bunch of kids. Even ICC chief Malcolm Speed has admitted that 2007 cricket world cup was too long. So they have decided to shorten the duration of the next world cup and keep it short & sweet: opening ceremony, photo session and presenting the world cup to Australia !! (I received this as a forwarded SMS joke today, thanks subhash)

[Image above: Printo's flagship store in Koramangala, Bangalore]

The nice-looking (good logo) store in Koramangala with an aptly named printo (simple and well communicating name) aroused my curiosity to check-out what the store was all about. On entering the store, I was quite impressed by the BPO kindoff ambiance (with youngsters) behind the counter on their respective terminals. Anyways, my excuse to be there was a simple color printout for a project report. I was totally surprised when the sales person brought up a form on the terminal and started filling up an online form where she needed to fill my name and contact details (whhyyy.. I just needed a simple single print). Then I was given a choice of paper size (reasonable question) and various paper types (which reminded me of selecting a Cappuccino, Macchiato, Chococinno or Espresso at a coffee day). When I asked for the price, I was told she would have to look it up (how tough is it to remember that ??). On enquiring, I was told that the price varied with the number of pages (ah !! that way). Then, she fired the print and it took about 10 mins for the printer to warm up before it printed out my precious page. The quality was very good actually, no complaints there. Then it was time for the billing and I thought, there would be no more surprises. But like true printing professionals, the lady pulled out an adobe software for the bill and kinda checked it for something (alignment/formatting maybe) and fired a print.

It was quite a first experience, but a look around made me realize that this is a store for more specialized needs (like to print business cards, invitation cards, greeting cards, calendars, photo albums, stickers, certificates, brochures, annual reports, presentations, training manuals and posters). Woww.. quite an offering. This place must be heaven for people who are into personalized stuff like calendars with your friend’s photos, stickers for your sports teams, personalized festival greeting cards etc.. Maybe, this will catch up with the general public and corporates. But definitely not for a regular single-page printout

A look at their website printo.in throws up more surprises.

Look at the board members:

Sridar Iyengar
President, TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) & Ex-CEO, KPMG;
Currently serves on the boards of ICICI, Rediff and Infosys, among others.

Pravin Gandhi
Co-founder Hinditron & Partner, Infinity Ventures & Seed Fund;
Also serves on the boards of Mindtree, Microland and a few other large IT firms.

Naresh Malhotra
CEO, Café Coffee Day (India’s largest F&B retail chain)

Raju Venkatraman
President & COO, ICICI OneSource

These entrepreneurial biggies must have come together surely after seeing a big opportunity here. The Hindu article says the Printo estimate for the domestic printing and documenting market is a whopping Rs. 15500 crores (which now lies with the largely disorganized brick and mortar printing firms). Does Printo want to pocket a big pie of this ? It surely has major plans like 200 stores by 2009 and radical new-ideas like “online document storage” and a “distribute and print” offering. Yet to see it working though.

Or on the other hand is it just a rip-off idea from US’s Kinkos (similar color combination too . Actually, nothing wrong with that, as long as they can make it work in India.

Anyways, I had to pay Rs. 20 for the single page color printout (which falls to 14, 12 and 8 with increasing number of pages)

Is almost typical in the kind of BULL CRAP movies one used to get in the late 80s/ early 90s.
Reality is an illusion caused by lack of alcohol – or so some wise soul said. The movie lives it up, aptly. And apparently everyone was totally floating in alcohol there.

Well, we werent on alcohol, so we had to deal with reality. And in reality, its a nice premise but utterly butterly bad execution.

A Posh restaurant is next door to a slimy residential area. Racers race on 800bhp cars that can do 200mph and try to win by taking each other out. “I dont like you. I am gonna slam you into the next barrier, and NOT be penalised for it – so am gonna win!” And from eating a burger that was just then thrown into the garbage bin, the kid gets a piece of glass into the stomach. (Of course they only use styrofoam in that canteen is a different detail altogether)

Is there anything gud about the movie? Hmm, Saif looks like he could really use some “toning down”. DUDE! You’re short, that kinda beefcake on you aint good!! Rani looks dead for a few scenes, then smiles, then looks dead.

right, we were trying to see if there’s anything gud about the movie. Its the premise. Its that you have to have masti all the time – you have to be cheerful even when things are going down. That is the only saving grace of the movie. Pity, it cant save it much though.

Stay away from this one, go listen to some pep talk, or something like that.

[Image Above: "The Keep West-aSide. Make a smart choice !" Billboard on Hosur Road (Just Before Forum Mall), Bangalore]

Apparently its part of Big Bazaar‘s (owned by Biyani’s Future Group) new Guerrilla Marketing Strategy according to agencyfaqs.com Surely one must have heard about the guerilla warfare strategies during one of those boring history sessions in school (generally its boring!!), wherein guerrilla force is divided into small groups that selectively attacks the target at its weak points. Wah lah, enter the future and in the world of cut throat competition, corporates use extension of the same strategy in marketing…hmmmm never imagined this while we were in our shorts !! Corporates like coke, pepsi, etc have been using the same for quite some time now and the latest entrant is our very own ‘Future Group’- Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Future Bazaar, eZone are all part of this group and they are taking on the biggies like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Tata’s Westside.

In order to do the same, Future Group have come up with 3 catchy/cocky and cheeky ad campaign which surely does catch your eyes (whether one changes their loyalty or not, only time will tell) and surely one cant resist appreciating the same..

Keep West-aSide. Make a smart choice !

Shoppers! Stop. Make a smart choice !

Change Your Lifestyle. Make a smart choice ! (See Image Below)

Not surprisingly; according to the latest release in ET the campaign has made the competition very uncomfortable because they somehow feel “the ads make a subtle reference to them”. Heloooooo, subtle is a very weak word used here !!

With retail market in India especially in metros where standard of living and disposable income is at an all time high, competitors will vie for the market share and can stoop to any levels while marketing their products. Guerilla marketing is just one of the strategies and surely one can learn a lot from the ongoing battle, especially people interested in marketing/marketing techniques.

Things have already started to boil coz of this ad campaign and both Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop are analyzing the effect of the strategy used by Mr Biyani and Future Group. Lifestyle are even planning to take Future Group and their ad campaign to Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). I just feel, Future Group have done a very creative job and surely time will tell the effect of this strategy – by this I refer to both Future Group and their competitors.

Keep watching this space for more cuz I am sure this is just is just the beginning !!

For more on Guerilla marketing strategy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_marketing_warfare_strategies

About the author:

Guru Prasad is a marketing consultant by profession and hopefully will be a regular guest blogger here.

BPF commenced in all its glory on 15th of April at Leela Galleria. There were photographs of the professional lensmen like Balachandar, Mahesh Shantaram, Pallon Daruwala, Rudra Sen, Ramya Reddy, Neha Bajaj, Shibu Arakkal, Vivek Mathew and others. Balachandar’s work was mostly from Shravanbelagola and he had published the book “Gommata”, which was kept for preview. Mahesh Shantaram had featured his works from Srilanka, which were quite green, and few works from Bangalore (Air show I presume). Ramya Reddy’s artsy-craftsy works were as charming and gorgeous as her; I immediately fell in love with a backless lady on the couch. Neha Bajaj’s portraits were mesmerizing; I particularly liked the composition and lighting in the portrait of a smoking man and the cute street kid. Vivek’s few works were displayed but all three were magnetic, especially the rooster one had nice colours and vivacity. Rudra Sen’s landscapes were amazing, the dawn at Manipal was so aesthetic and artistic that many people reckoned it to be a painting and the black and white Himalayan landscape was brilliant. Sai Darshan’s photographs were simple yet elegant. Dazzling by their novelty and brilliance, Wasim Khan’s works grabbed maximum attention. The genre of fashion photography itself is so alluring, add to it Wasim’s creativity, a perfect combo for the viewers. Pallon Daruwalla, an alumnus of Brooks, had displayed mostly his black and white works; they carried a huge price tag along. His sunset shot tremendously impressed me, it was his masterpiece. The ambience of the exhibition was decent, mellifluous music of the grand piano performed by artists with deft fingers soothed and pacified the people watching photographs

Finally there was one section that I was breathlessly eager to have a look, the amateur section. The reason for my eagerness was my participation. I’ve got two friends alongside who also start searching for my photographs, first row NO, second row NO, third NO, not present in the whole set. There is something behind, again first row NO, second row NO, third NO. Disconcerted and dismayed I spoke to the Crossover crew, with a wry smile on the face he said that the photos were put up randomly, if not today I can find it tomorrow, day after or sometime during the whole week.

Third day I was delighted to see few of my works among the amateur section. I happened to meet the beautiful, graceful and accomplished fine art photographer Ramya Reddy. She was kind enough to spare few minutes for my photographs and gave valuable comments. Happened to talk to few of the media students doing their internship in Indian Express and Deccan Herald. I ran into a bunch of my colleagues, whom I didn’t know personally before that moment.

Fourth day I could meet exquisitely simple Vivek Mathew. He gave me priceless tips about photography, spent considerable time on my photographs and critiqued it like a true professional. He introduced me to Sai Darshan and Meister of photography – Hellmuth Conz, who were very kind hearted to give technical comments on my photographs. My photograph titled “Field of Gold” – the one with silhouette of a skating kid received good amount of praise and appreciation.

Fifth and sixth days were again disheartening for I couldn’t find any of my works. But with intense interest I spent considerable amount of time on amateurs work, for many were as good as professional ones. Difference was it was not framed and given lesser space.

Seventh day was the party day. The ambience looked nicer and brighter with lit candles at corners, tables neatly draped with red cloth carrying a bowl of chips and peanuts. Wine and whiskey glasses in rhythmically arranged pattern. Between the pillar and a photo stand I happened to see a face, I recognized in a jiffy. It feels great and joyous to meet a friend in an exhibition whom I had not met for four years, better still, she had grabbed a couple more of her friends to show my works. Fortunately two more photographs of mine were on display. Mahesh Shantaram spoke to me for a while about his photography, career. I ran into veteran photographer Ram Panjaabi, he remembered his early years of photography when the idea of digital was not yet conceived, difficulties of printing and publishing, difficulties of reaching out to the people. We exchanged our contacts and bid good-bye to each other.

Final day had the workshop conducted by Apple on Aperture software. It was an hour spent in Nidhi hall of Leela palace learning about Apple in general, Aperture in particular. The knowledge acquired there would require me to spend a fortune to put that into use, for I’m no Apple user. Post workshop I spoke to Prem of Crossover who gave me some tips and tricks of life and career, and in return I told him that the show was useful and a debut hit, but could be greatly improved. Another close friend of mine barged into the exhibition hall who was kind enough to spare his precious Sunday evening for the exhibition.

Overall the exhibition was a great hit. Crossover sports was overwhelmed with the response they received despite having a per category fee of Rs. 250. It feels good to know there are so many mortals out there doing happy clicks. We amateurs got great exposure, happened to meet some cool people, exchanged thoughts and cards. I guess many professional photographers were brought into limelight here, they could sell their stuff, meet people, get published. I was a tad disappointed about the way amateurs’ works were handled but when compared to the good it has made, my qualms are negligible. But my suggestion to Crossover (for the next show) would be to filter the amateurs’ works before they are displayed, so that only few good photographs are displayed. I saw few works that were technically not up to the mark to be exhibited – out of focus, unintentional blur. It was a great debut and I hope it ushers in many more photography events in Bangalore.

About the guest blogger of this post, Sachin B:

Describes himself as “A Natgeo wannabe photographer, a person who loves to be in Tundra photographing all those wild polar bears and wolves, who loves to wander in the Sahara to capture those landscapes, who loves to be in the wilderness of Amazon basin, who loves to roam Central Asia for photographing its various Ethnics.”

Photos links: http://www.photo.net/photos/Sachin%20Bharadwaj

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sachinb

Image Above: While at shanghai, he was invited by Cityweekend magazine to their studios and made to stand in front of lens for the first time. “It was a fun filled hour, where we realized its hard to models than being photographers. Finally the issue came out and here we are.”

A sample of his photos:

TITLE : Four Horse Men

TITLE: Road To Town

TITLE: Lake in the Desert

Sachin Dude, you’re gonna go a long way.. Keep up the great work !!

Its raining bands in bangalore and this time its one of the greatest rock & roll bands of all times, Aerosmith.

Yes its true, though earlier there was news that Aerosmith would be performing in Mumbai. It appears now that they will be performing in namma bengaluru at palace grounds on June 2, 2007.

Still, don’t believe me.. Check out the link: http://www.aerosmith.com/tour.cfm

Aeroforceone.com, the official fan club site also says “STATUS: Please Note VENUE and CITY CHANGE”

I don’t think you wanna miss this thing !!

UPDATE:

www.ticketpro.in says tickets will be available from May 10, 2007

Tickets are priced at Rs. 1200 & Rs. 1800 (Rs. 300 more than the Iron Maiden concert)

Apparently tickets can be bought online at https://shop.ticketpro.in/event_detail.asp?evnt=37 (i’m yet to try it)

Latest Update:

Tickets available in select Nokia, Planet M, Reliance Web World, Baskin Robins, Opus outlets..

[Image above: Tala Vadya, Percussion Band]

The Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music was held on Saturday (April 14, 2007) at the Fireflies Ashram, off Kanakapura road in Bangalore. It was earlier called as Bhoomi Jathre and this is the fifth year that the festival was being organized. The theme for this year is “Business and social/ecological responsibility.”

My experience at this event follows:

I got a forwarded email about this event and was recommended as a must see by my friend Subhash, who had been there for the previous edition in 2006. However, our only plan after watching the movie namesake was to enjoy a 18 km drive on Kanakapura road and hang out at the fireflies centre for an hour or so. So, we reached the place at around 9 pm. By the way, this event was from 6 pm (sunset) to 6 am (sunrise), which demanded a night out. However, we stuck around till 2 am and believe me, it was totally worth it..

The ambiance for this all-night event was just amazing. The stage was built around a huge banyan tree, below which the various bands performed. The audience (about 500 of them) were seated on concrete amphitheater like seats and comfortably looked down on the bands. I could see that few people had come prepared with shawls and even pillows for the night out.

The first musical event we saw was the “Tala Vadya” percussion group. I am not much of a classical musical expert, but that did not stop me from enjoying the different rhythms and thallas played by the musicians playing on different percussion instruments like mridangam, tabla, gatam, percussion pad etc..

[Video above: Tala Vadya (Karnataka College of Percussion)]

Next, was a performance by Clio Karabelia on the harp. Her hand and finger movement on the harp strings looked quite complicated and I appreciate her talent for the same. But, there was something wrong with this fusion performance, my views:

• The sitar and tabla was more dominant and audible
• She had some trouble tuning the harp (which we were told is a complicated process, because of the size and number of strings)
• She singing the hindu hymns honestly wasn’t working

[Image and Video above: Clio Karabelia (French Harpist), accompanied by Indian classical Music (Sitar and Tabla)]

Just when we wanted to leave, we heard about the next performance by the Jazz revival band. Leaving, No way !! What can I say, you had to be there to have enjoy the moment, which transported you to some other world..

[Image and Video above: Dr. Thomas Chandy with his group - Jazz Revival]

The next event of dollu kunita (drum dance in kannada) was definitely the highlight of the night, in terms of energy and sheer excitement it brought among the crowd watching. Later even after the event was over on stage, the crowd joined the drummers and danced like crazy to the beats of this dance form from Karnataka.. hats-off to the troupe member’s talent and stamina (to dance and perform continuously for an hour or so)

[Image and Video above: Dollu Kunita, watch for the building tempo of the drum beats and exhilarating dance movements in this video]

Other performances were to follow, like the famed oikyotaan, but it was time to go.. I will be there next year, prepared and ready with a better camera..

Fireflies music festival 2006:

• photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jace/sets/72057594103824468/
• review: http://aravind-krishnaswamy.blogspot.com/2006/04/fireflies-festival-of-sacred-music.html
• The Hindu: http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/31/stories/2006033100510200.htm

A Different World called Iron Maiden.

“Tell me what you can hear,
And then tell me what you see,
Everybody has a different way to view the world.
I would like you to know,
When you see the simple things,
To appreciate this life, it’s not too late to learn.”

These are the exact words that put Maiden fans in a “Different World”, a world filled with untainted adulation, a world of awe for this legendary Heavy Metal band from Britain! With these very words put into practice about 7 years ago, we begun our journey with Iron Maiden. I vividly remember a college rock show where a band covered “The Trooper“. This was during our pre-Maiden (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Metallica) days and this was our first association with a Maiden number! What followed was a friend lending us the tape of “Best of the Beast” and asking us to start off with “Hallowed be thy name“, “2 minutes to Midnight” and “The Trooper“. A compilation of some of the “best” (while compiling a list for Maiden, the word “best” would include nothing lesser than their Discography) Maiden tracks, we instantly took a deep liking to this form of music, personified by the name Iron Maiden. And as they all say, the rest is history!

The Ides of March, sorry…the 17th of March.

[Image above: Anxious crowd waiting, as soon as gates were open at 3 pm]

On the 13th day of February ’07, our dreams had begun to materialize, the minute it was officially announced that 6 Gods were going to bless their disciples in Bangalore. The 17th of March!!! The day of reckoning!!! The day when over 30,000 fans would eventually lose their “Iron Maiden virginity”! It all began after a number of sleepless nights leading to the 17th. Armed with the invaluable tools (tickets) for entering the king’s courtyard (for the uninitiated, the show was held at the Bangalore Palace), we were there at the Palace by 11:45 AM. And yes, we were not alone…a thousand other Maidenheads with soaring adrenalin levels had positioned themselves as close as possible, to the entrance gate which was to be opened only by 3! Phew! After a(n) (im)patient, never-ending wait, the gates were finally FORCED open by relentless Maidenheads at 2:45 PM. This was where it all started. The security guard who was supposed to frisk people at the gate, never knew what hit him. Hundreds cannoned through and sprinted towards the stage in a manner not too different from an army charging towards it’s target.

[Image above: The human wall and the chaos to get to the front of it]

The human wall starting from the stage barricade, thickened in no time and we were in the midst of it, getting pushed, moshed…basically crushed, all to occupy a place as close to the stage as humanly possible. Middle of March, the temperature soaring to almost 35 degrees (the temperature inside the human wall was at least 2-3 degrees higher), the 8 of us were firstly separated, then pushed and we were dehydrated in no time! We would give anything for even a few drops of that life saving liquid – water! After an hour and a half of this extremity, we could take it no more. Making our way through the hordes of Maiden armies, we finally reached the sound console, where life was a little less hectic and we finally breathed freely. This was the way it all started, before even a single note by the opening band was played!

The Wasted Years before the Revelations.

[Image above: A thousand fingers in the air for FTN]

After 90 more minutes, the first opening act (don’t even bother about what they called themselves…in short, F*** The Name) took the stage and they SUCKED! In the thought of what was to come 2 bands after this, we patiently ignored this band. After being booed off, the next band was Parikrama, which was much better. They played an own-comp setlist which was well appreciated by probably the biggest crowd they’ll ever get. They were really good, with a couple of acoustic songs, with well timed violin pieces in their numbers. After another 45 minutes of this, just after sunset came Lauren Harris and her troupe. Their songs were not that bad, but Lauren Harris has a lot to work on, regarding her vocal duties. Going off key several times during the show, she didn’t steal many Bangalore hearts as far as music was concerned!

A show Brighter than a thousand suns!

When Iron Maiden announced that they were playing in India, the excitement levels soared. But the interim period between Lauren Harris and the Intro for Iron Maiden, saw the 25,000 strong crowd screaming like there’s no tomorrow. Groups of people taking their places at various parts of the ground, some of them rushing to the food/drink stalls to grab a quick one before they get ready to face reality, some others mouthing lyrics of the innumerable Maiden anthems…this was the scene, which can be best described as the lull before the storm.

Suddenly, all the lights were off, as a forewarning of things to come. I’ve been a part of many a rock concert, but THIS was the moment thousands were craving for. THIS was reality. THIS was the time to scream out LOUD. THIS was something else. THIS was Iron Maiden!!! The lights on stage turned bright red and the Intro begun. I’ve never heard louder screams in my life and I’m not sure if I ever will, in future. The Intro lasted about 25-30 seconds, with crimson red lights flashing all across the stage. As suddenly as this had begun, the Intro came to a halt and the stage was again enveloped in darkness for 2 seconds.

Immediately, the stage lights were turned on, with a brilliant display of flashing white, and the first notes of “Different World” were belted out. Thousands of mobile phone cameras were held up, focusing on the stage to capture the moment! For the first time in history, India got a glimpse of 5 GODS in front of them! As soon as the initial notes were played, the 6th GOD (yes, Bruce Dickinson) came running on to the stage, jumping over a monitor screaming out “You lead me on the path, keep showing me the way…”! THIS WAS IT!!! The decibel levels in the crowd were something that would be best explained ONLY by being a part of it! The Iron Maiden experience had kicked off, and in the most INCREDIBLE manner! In short, Bangalore was transported to a “Different World”!!! The Gods were their usual self, unleashing note perfect energy to all parts of the crowd. Their energy on stage was something which India has never previously experienced. Bruce Dickinson, 49 years young, was running to all parts of the stage, and yet not missing a single note! He sounded exactly like he did in the studio version of the song and this went on till the last note. The first song came to an end. We had just seen Iron Maiden play a number live!

The crowd was just warming up, when Steve Harris struck the beginning notes of “These Colours Don’t Run”. Needless to say, the decibel levels reached another record, while the band was going about with such ease, alike a stroll in the park. We all sang along with Bruce, those powerful lines which portray the scenes just before a war and the situation after it begins. For another 6 odd minutes, the Gods became soldiers in the battlefield…Bruce the commander in chief, Adrian, Dave and Janick with their machine guns, Steve with his missile launcher and Nicko with his battle tank with many arms, definitely capturing the 25,000 strong crowd in a vice like grip!

The end of this number signalled the start of “Brighter than a Thousand Suns”, one of the epic tracks from Maiden’s 2006 release, “A Matter of Life and Death”. This track had Bruce taking the highest notes with such ease, that it really left us stunned! The commander in chief had lit up the environment to an extent that would make even the sun a little coy. After all it was “Brighter than a Thousand Suns”!

The first 3 tracks of the latest album were thrown open to us in succession. It was time for Bruce to address the crowd. This he did and he was extremely positive about the scene in India becoming “a lot different after tonight”. He went on about how he met a person who had waited 17 years for this day. The remark that brought out the greatest cheer in the concert was “the next time, you won’t have to wait for 17 years, not even 17 months. We will be back here in another year”!!! We got goose bumps when we heard this. Truly amazing! Just after this, Bruce spoke about Moksha’s vocalist, the late Leon Ireland and he dedicated the next song “Wrathchild” to this person. A world famous band dedicating one of their songs to the vocalist of a local band in India? Yes, we were all humbled at this nice gesture by the Gods.

“Wrathchild” was the first of the older songs that Maiden played. Can this song start without Bruce’s siren-like announcement? Never! And so, “Wraaaaaathchhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiillllllldddddddd” begun and it was as hard and filled with chorus as ever. The crowd made no fuss in assisting Bruce with the chorus and so “Wrathchild” came out of 25,000 mouths, whenever Bruce pointed the mike at us.

The next song needed absolutely no introduction and without a warning came the opening beats/notes of “The Trooper”. There were several things noteworthy in this song – The brilliant backdrop on screen, in which Eddie stood in the battlefield, holding the Union Jack. Just for this song, Bruce had put on a red jersey and he too waved the Union Jack in command, as his co-soldiers fought the war, blasting out galloping sounds and firing canon shots. The atmosphere was again like a battle ground, and the crowd was jumping in unison, making it look like the Gods were leading a 25k strong army towards the enemy! This was absolutely magnificent!

Benjamin Breeg died in the above battle and he was reincarnated! “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” was next and the band marched on with pin point precision, as Bruce unleashed those note perfect lines filled with emotion. He is in that league of vocalists who can portray emotion excellently with variations in voice. When he sings “Someone to save me, something to save my from myself…” in the song, it portrays an emotion in itself! His vocals were absolutely mind blowing on this track!

“For the Greater Good of God” was the next epic from Maiden’s 2006 release. Another extremely catchy track by Steve Harris, it started off with the Iron Maiden founder’s bass lines. The sound emanating from ‘Arry’s bass is always powerful and it wasn’t different this time. The crowd sang along, describing war and it’s aftermath. The lines in this song pose questions about war and about how stupid and nonsensical the concept of war is. In the song, Bruce was as hyper-active as ever, running from pillar to post and belting out the lines. He repeatedly positioned himself on the right and left pillars on either side of the stage and remarked “Tell me why, tell me why”, questioning all parts of the crowd the purpose of war. We were absolutely thrilled to watch such activity live. It was a classic!

When a particular bass voice (known to all Maidenheads, worldwide) starts off with the words “Woe to you Oh Earth and Sea”, it is but natural for any Maiden fan to become possessed and start acting like the devil himself. This was what precisely happened. “The Number of the Beast” was what caused the noise level to reach another record at the Bangalore Palace. Extremely catchy, with a chorus that goes “Six, Six, Six…The Number of the Beast“, the entire crowd joined Bruce in those sacred chants. The lines “I’m coming back I will return, And I’ll possess your body and I’ll make you burn. I have the fire I have the force I have the power to make my evil take it’s course” in this context have so much meaning, in us expecting the Gods to return and possess us again in 2008!

“Fear of the Dark” has to be the song which evoked the loudest response from the crowd. Even the casual listener will hum the tune and sing out some lines of this track. Such is the popularity of this song! By saying that 30,000 people (yes, by this time of the concert, there were a few thousands added to the crowd) sang along with Bruce, every line in unison with exact timing, I’m not exaggerating, one bit! Yes, the atmosphere was electric and the band, I’m sure were pleasantly shocked to realize they were this popular in India. In short, this sounded really like the live version of the song, we are so much accustomed to hearing. A memory to cherish forever!

“Run to the Hills” started off after just a 2-3 second pause, with Nicko really giving the bass drum several powerful beatings. Being an old number, the crowd instantly recognised it and the mass singing began, with the crowd volume going a bit higher on the chorus. Bruce held out the mike several times and the crowd didn’t disappoint him. Another classic!

The next track was special. Very special. Many fans will know that Bruce is nicknamed “The Siren” for his wailing, screeching voices and for his sustenance of this pitch for a really long time. With this would comes his characteristic “Screaaaaaaaammmmmmmmm for me…” followed by the place of the concert. This statement is exactly like the commander-in-chief giving out an order for a war cry and his army of thousands screaming out before the final charge! This is what we were waiting for! The track I’m referring to is “Iron Maiden”. It is usually preceded by the war cry order and the war cry. This time, it was “Screaaaaaaaaammm for me Bangaloreeeeeeeeee, SCCCCRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAMMMMMM FOR ME BANNGAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE” and then the army screamed out and the charge, oops sorry…the song began. In the middle of this, the music suddenly came to a halt and the stage was lit up by flashing lights and sounds of bombs/grenades/gunshots. There was a battle on stage. After about 30 seconds of this, there came the canon arm of a tanker, which turned to point to the crowd and then, a loud canon shot – BOOOOOOOM! All was quiet on stage and then “Iron Maiden” resumed! It was spectacular! What a display! What a stage setup! We were stunned into silent admiration!

After the final notes of “Iron Maiden”, the thank you, the throwing of plectrums and drumsticks into the crowd, etc was done and the Gods returned for an encore. Bruce introduced the band members starting off with Janick, then Dave, Adrian, Steve and Nicko. When Bruce was about to introduce himself, the crowd did the job for him. 30k fans screamed out “Bruce, Bruce..” in unison! The frontman was stunned into silence and announced the time – “2 Minutes to Midnight“! Another old Maiden classic, this song was known by most of the crowd, as they sand along the lines with the Gods.

The next in line was “The Evil that Men do”. This track is very special, for a reason. In most concerts, the Gods prefer to get their mascot Eddie, out on the stage during this song. It was expected, but still when the 15 feet tall Eddie came out from behind onto the stage, it was a sight to remember! With blood red-lit eyes, looking evil as hell, Edward the Great walked, but not too late. This was another crest in the sinusoidal of crowd participation. Edd-Fest was alive and rocking!

Can Iron Maiden ever play a concert without their ’82 classic “Hallowed be thy Name”? No way! One of the most popular tracks of Maiden, ever! This was never missed in any Maiden live show and will probably never be left out in future! With each old classic, the intensity of the crowd reached new records and this was the highest! The song started off slowly, picking up in intensity, but the crowd was jumping and shouting, with raised arms and extreme enthusiasm. In the middle of the song, where the tempo slows down and again picks up with the drums, just before the solo, Bruce for the final few times let out orders for war cries and the crowd was only too glad to oblige.

THIS was Maiden! THIS was their intensity! THIS was what brought out the best in thousands gathered for the single cause – IRON MAIDEN! They came, they saw and they most definitely conquered! Playing for about an hour and 45 minutes, it seemed like they just started 15 minutes ago! Bruce himself remarked “It was very special…too good, but too short“. He couldn’t have put it better! As we left the venue, we hope these Gods return in a year, as promised! In their own words,

“I’m coming back I will return
And I’ll possess your body and I’ll make you burn
I have the fire I have the force
I have the power to make my evil take it’s course”

We, at India definitely want THIS evil to take it’s course back here!!!

A review by my friend thedeviltopay

Super post man.. Thanks !!

So after getting a brief test ride from Khivraj’s Indirangar outlet in Bangalore, here are my first impressions.

It is a big step up from the P180 – and in all the right directions – okay with just the seating, maybe.

Design & styling are in the by-now familiar Pulsar family mode. Although the P200 gets most of the same attributes of the 180DTSi, it sports some additional – and very welcome changes. The foot-pegs are rear-set - and this is heaven-sent to anyone who complained about the foot-pegs on the Pulsars -

I hate the way one has to twist their ankle towards the brake pedal, it should’ve been more straightforward, or at least, the recesses in the tank should’ve been better.

The rear-set pegs combined with just the toe-shifter meant shifting, and riding was a breeze – especially for the knee. The brake lever falls right into the space. Its the first time my legs have snugly fit around the Pulsar’s tank – and it made for delightful riding. The original Pulsar, or at least the DTSi should have had all this. Better late than never?

The seat is split – and that robs some joy from the sweet riding position. There didn’t seem to be enough cushioning or space – I wanted to slightly move back, but couldn’t. There’s a split grab rail as well – looks cool, hope it is useful too. Oh, there’s the lovely looking Tank scratch pad too.

In sum, a sporty, comfortable design.

Onto the engine and mechanicals then – this is essentially a 20cc upgrade in terms of capacity from the P180, but boy! Does it seem like a different beast altogether! There’s the nice growl when you accelerate. Now, you’re talking, baby! There is definitely more power on tap on 200 vis-a-vis the 180, even though it has a weight disadvantage – it accelerates harder.

The accelerations is smooth, comes in a hurry almost all the time – and with the sweet exhaust note for company. The ‘box is slick, and precise. No missed shifts, no false neutrals, nothing. The brakes are very good – both for bite and feel. There isn’t the sudden bite one found in the 180 with the front brake – it is more linear. No vibes up until 8K rpm – that’s all I pushed it to before shifting up.

One difference between the 200 and 180 was that the 200 wasnt screaming its guts out at 8k rpm – although that impression might change when more time’s spent with the machine.

And the whole package is just 3000Rs dearer compared to a 180. IMO, well worth the money!

Update: Spec sheet up here, at Bajaj’s site. Brief overview – 200cc, 18PS, 15 litre fuel tank, oil-cooled engine, 145 kilos, tubeless tyres on both ends ( F 90/90, R 120/80), brakes (F 260mm Disc, R 130 mm drum)

Related post – The 2006 Pulsar 180 DTSi

A war – 300 men versus a million. No hoper, right?

But then, that would be under normal circumstances, in a normal movie. And in this movie isn’t by any stretch of imagination, normal. Cliched at times, maybe. Biased, yes. Political, yes. But in the end, good entertainment.

This is a movie where the Victor goes back home to lick his wounds – and quite thankful that he didn’t have to take more mauling.

That, is just one aspect to it. There are others – by which I do not refer to somewhat graphic references to sex (without the actual act being shown). There’s, for example the computer generated imagery, where at one point I wondered if I was actually playing Age of Empires, on the big screen. It was real, yet unreal.

The movie tries to cover many bases but for the most part delivers on two facets – sound & visual effects and well crafted fight sequences.

There’s a cursory homage paid to storytelling – and, a now usual homage to the concept of “freedom”. Our hero is apparently fighting for freedom. Immense glorification of the Spartans is one of the main themes – along with vilification of the Persians. It seems to be in the 9/11 mould – “You’re either with us or against us!”

The Spartan king is an idealist, stands for freedom, but yet pays homage to corrupt, almost paedophilic priests – and, as per the movie, “more creature and less man”. A reference to the way of the present day Church, perhaps? or Maybe not. The King shocks and awes his way into the Persian camp, with Xerxes being shown as gay (and hence the worse for it).

If George Bush Jr. were to make a movie, this should fit in well with his constituency. And his politics – except for perhaps the dig at the priestdom.

Without the politics, its mostly raw- and appealing – action. With it, is a sad, bad gimmick. The movie is a mish-mash of many things good, but doesnt make a fist of it.

Ignore the politics to enjoy the movie!

Recently, I had attented this training and found it very useful. I feel everyone should undergo this training, coz god only knows when & where it could be useful ?

Thousands of precious lives are lost every year due to cardiac arrests that occur at home, workplaces, schools and on roads unexpectedly. It is found that in such emergencies almost always no proper medical help is available on time. People around are mere onlookers and helpless. Such situations can happen anytime and anywhere and to anyone. Many of these valuable lives could have been saved by the timely administration of Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). Therefore it is vital that as many laypeople as possible are trained in CPR.

The American Heart Association estimates that 1,00,000 to 2,00,000 lives can be saved each year if CPR were performed early enough. The numbers for India could be several times larger. Also millions of adults and children suffer disabling injuries resulting from accidents which may require CPR.

CPR is the process for artificially maintaining blood circulation to the brain when the heart stops beating due to heart attacks, accidents, drowning, choking, electrocution, poisoning etc. CPR, if administered immediately, can save almost 1 in 2 victims. Each minute’s delay in starting CPR reduces the victim’s chances of survival by 7 to 10%.

The Nightingales Lifesaving Services, a project of Nightingales Medical Trust, in memory of Shri Harish C. Mahindra, was started in February 2000 with the objective of increasing awareness about CPR and creating a community of trained and confident lifesavers who can save precious lives during emergencies.

The project has, on date, trained over 11800 socially conscious people including doctors, nurses and individuals from corporates, social organizations, police, auto drivers, hospitals, educational and other institutions.

TRAINING :

In the training the participant is given a hands on experience on a medical manikin (Annie). The training is scheduled on a Saturday/Sunday .

For the people with no time here is a happy news, the training does not take more than 5 Hours. At the end the of the training the participant is given a CPR certificate which has to be renewed annually.

For training please contact :

Dr Asma
Project coordinator
NIGHTINGALES LIFESAVING SERVICES
(a project of Nightingales Medical Trust in memory of Shri.Harish C Mahindra)
337,2nd Cross, 1st Block, R.T.Nagar, Bangalore – 560032
Ph: 23548444/555/666/777 Fax: 23548999
E-mail: nhhs@bgl.vsnl.net.in

[Image above: Tandiyandimol, the highest peak (5,724 ft) of kodagu district, Karnataka]

As usual we took the Rajahamsa bus of KSRTC to Virajpet (a town in kodagu district). We started from bangalore at 10:30 pm and reached Virajpet at 4:30 am. We checked into a local hotel to freshen and take a small nap. However, due to few people oversleeping, we checked out of the hotel, quite late at 8 am. Sorry about that, I had to work late the previous night.

[Image above: Trail towards Tandiyandimol Peak, see dried up paddy fields]

From Virajpet, you need to take the bus towards Nakoplu and get down at the Armanne (kannada word for palace) bus stop just before Kakkabe.  From the bus stop, take the road towards Honey Valley Resort (which is also takes you towards the palace and other resorts). At Coffee Country Home Stay, we took the road going up which takes you past few drying paddy fields.

[Image above: All geared for the "attack"]

[Image above: Local hockey team]

On the way, we saw few kids playing “rural hockey” just like we had read on the dreamroutes site. What is rural hockey anyway ?? Do let me know.

[Image above: beautiful lotus in a local's garden]

Further up, on the side of winding tarred roads (suprisingly) , we saw a house with a well-maintained garden (see lotus above). We replenished our water bottles here.

[Image above: Nalina and bodyguards]

There is a well-defined trail all the way to the peak. So, we found it very easy to just walk slowly and take in the scenery. Of course, we could have done without the intense heat.

[Image above: The last attack]

We found a small stream near a sholl forest just before the final ascent. Here, we had our lunch (packed chapattis with chuttney) and also parked our rug sacks behind a rock. The last ascent towards the peak is quite steep and took us about an hour.

The scene at the peak is worth the sweat and weight lost. After taking rest by quite literally sleeping on the rocks like logs of wood and surveying the layers of mountain ranges seen from there, we took few photos, which came out quite well (see below).

[Image above: Kamalesh on the peak]

[Image above: Thinking Man / Mr. Lonely ?? ]

Wish we could have stayed there for the sunset and sunrise. But, we had to descend towards the stream to pitch our tents before it got dark. [Tip: There is a very good spot for pitching tents behind the huge boulder next to the stream. The same can be easily identified by campfires left by previous trekkers. However, please refrain from starting even a small campfire in the summer. The dry grass and trees could easily catch fire and start a massive forest fire]

[Image above: Pitching tent, see clouds covering peak behind]

[Image above: cooking dinner (pulliyogare)]

We cooked our dinner that night on a portable gas stove (quite controlled in a corner behind the rock) and was quite tasty and spicy. Mmm.. my mouth is watering even now, maybe coz I haven’t had my dinner yet.. Darn !!

We spent a lot of time in the night on top of the huge boulder next to our tents. The scene of the sky and silhouetted forest and the mountains in the full moon night was quite amazing.

[Image above: sunrise at Tadiyendamol]

In the morning, after tea and a quick breakfast, we left Tadiyandimol. We took a bus to Mercara (Madikeri) and checked into a hotel for freshening up. Later, we headed towards the East End Hotel and had a chilling time where we drank and laughed for hours.

[Image above: Chilling at East End, Mercara]

[Image above: Gang at Dayara Bugyal, Uttarakhand]

The journey started from New Delhi, after waiting for 3 hrs at the bus terminal in the dead of the night. We parked ourselves in the front seats of the bus to Haridwar and had the scariest bus journeys of our lives. After a bit of clear roads, the fog literally started to flow onto the roads. Our driver turned out to be a brave one (to our shock) and drove with ease even without a metre of visibility. His plan was simple, watch for the dim lights of the vehicles from the opposite direction and just pass to the left of them (in the process, sometimes confusing two truck headlights for two bikes and just managing to steer away in time). Once, he even tried to chase down a car which managed to overtake him (and piss him off) in this extreme weather. I hereby, nominate him for the national stupidity award and request the Uttarakhand Govt to please take him off the force. Add the bitter cold to all this and this bus journey was quite an adventure in itself.

[Image above: The gang geared for the fogged-out bus journey]

The bus journey from Haridwar to Uttarkashi, thankfully was much more relaxed and enjoyable, coz it was along the (curvy blueish green coloured) river Ganga. At Uttarkashi, we stayed for one night at Hotel Bhandari. The next day morning, after a bath (last one for the next five days) and breakfast (Alloo Paratha), we started the onward journey to Barasu (Base-camp) in a Mahindra hardtop (4 wheel drive).

Barasu, a small village on the foothills of the (Kumao) himalayan range was very picturesque with prettier villagers. Here, our leader, Lakshmi Narayan Rao (Lacchi) taught us the basics of pitching a tent. Here, we also met our guide Kishan Bhaiyya(a local) and our cook Dipender (a Nepali).

[Image above: View from Barasu]

[Image above: Cricket in Himalayas]

[Image above: Bhadal, the shepherd dog which followed and sometimes led us from Barasu to Dayara Bugyal to Raithal]

[Image above: Waterfall on a stream from a glacier, near Barasu Village]

The trek started at around 8 am with a steady hike up, till we saw our first snow. First response was obvious excitement and throwing of snowballs at each other. Even more excitement, on first snowfall (a light one though). But later, we were walking in about 2 feet of fresh snow and were struggling. Our guide had walked ahead of us and had created a path of big “footstep-holes” in the snow for us to walk in. Even then, snow was getting into our shoes and our feet were getting numb.

[Images above: snow trekking]

[Video above: snow trekking]

The view around us was great and we were all very surprised to get so much snow on the first day of our trek. We reached the huts at Dayara Bugyal at around 12 pm after about an hour of good snow trekking. Here we were told to warm up our feet over the fire immediately to avoid “frostbite”. Later, we came out of the huts to realize that we were on a mountain surrounded by snow covered peaks and.. I have no words to describe the view. Maybe the picture below will help.

[Image above: View of the peaks surrounding our huts at Dayara Bugyal]

At night, it was -10°c outside and inside the hut, we managed to get some sleep thanks to the fire, our thermals, woolens, jackets and the thick sleeping bags. In the morning, I realized that I had forgotten to put my shoes in the sleeping bag and it was as stiff and hard as a brick and the water in the bottles had frozen. We ran to the neighbouring hut to warm ourselves over the fire.

On the second day, we went for a small walk around dayara bugyal and take in a 360 view of the mountain range around us. We had a good photo session and was a defining moment of the trip. We were surrounded by a 28 square km snowfield. My only regret was that weren’t skiing. I was told by our guide Kishan Bhaiyya, that it was fresh snow and we wouldn’t be able to ski on it yet. He said during summer, lot of tourists come here for skiing. He was surprised that we had planned to come here in the winter, because the weather was very harsh then.

[Image above: Photosession at Dayara]

[Video above: 360° view of Dayara Bugyal]

Due to the heavy snowfall, we decided to take a detour and walked down from the mountains towards a village called Raithal . We were back on solid ground (land ahoy!!).

[Image above: On the way to Raithal]

From Raithal, we took a taxi to Sangam Chetty. On the way, the nepali porters sang few nepali folk songs for us. I was amazed at the pitches, they were singing at. I suppose, the folk song was a type of story telling.

[Video above: Nepali folk song by our porter friends]

[Image above: Scenic Road]

At Sangam Chetty, we were told that it was a 22km hike to our destination, Dodi Thal. So, with a challenge our hands, we started the hike towards our first stop, Agoda (distance of 7 km from Sangam Chetty). Agoda, was an isolated village with about 30-40 houses built on the steep mountain slopes. On the way to Agoda, we had a lot of fun playing “20 questions” and hardly felt the steep hike.

[Image above: Our tough porter team]

At Agoda, I was surprised to find a very well built building for the guest house. We stayed at this guest house and had a good sleep after a long time.

[Image above: Bed (sleeping bag) Tea]

Next day, we started towards Maajji (distance of 10 km from Agoda). Maajji, was an uninhabited (for the winter) village, very close to the snow line. On asking about the path ahead, our guide told us that it was only slightly steep. But, he had only tricked us, to build confidence for the path ahead. The path towards Maajji was actually was very steep for a about 2-3 kms. But I feel, we all did quite well to not lose confidence and we kept climbing up. At Maajji, we stayed in huts again for the night. At night, Dipendra, our cook told us a lot of strange stories about foreign trekkers. We felt that these guys were really professional and humble at the same time. They took good care of us. They also managed to have something different for our meals: from fruit salads to Pakodas to even Jelly (even at this heights and extreme weather).

[Image above: Yummy pakodas at Maajji village]

Next day, we walked for about 5 kms towards our final destination, Dodi Thal. Dodi Thal is a partly frozen lake and is the source of Assi-Ganga, a tributary of Ganga. It is also a religiously relevant place for it is the “Ganesh Janma-bhumi”, where according to mythology: Lord Shiva is said to have beheaded Lord Ganesha and later given him the elephant head.

[Image above: Ganesh Janma-Bhumi temple]

[Image above: Dodi Thal Lake]

[Image above: Team, victorious at final destination of trek]

[video above: Ganesh Janma Bhumi @ Dodi Thal]

After praying at the temple, a walk around the lake, an attempt at fishing, snowball fights, sliding ice over the surface of the lake and a photo session, we made a quick return journey (As Kishan Bhaiyya says, donne-donne-donne = down-down-down)

We did the return journey from Dodi Thal to Agoda in one day itself. At Agoda, my friends made me a birthday cake and I had a memorable birthday celebration. Thanks Guys !!

[Image above: Cutting Birthday Cake at Dayara Bugyal]

[Image above: Full team photo]

Next day, we returned to Sangam Chetty and took a taxi to Uttarkashi. At uttarkashi, we celebrated the new year by screaming “Happy New Year” at 12 am on our hotel balcony, even though the whole town of Uttarkashi seemed to be asleep.

From Uttarkashi, we returned to Haridwar. At Haridwar, we witnessed the Maha-Aarthi on the banks of river Ganga. At 6pm everyday, all the priests of all the small and big temples together worship the Goddess Ganga with huge aarthis (holy flames) with the song “Jai Jagdisha Hare” being played aloud. The sight is quite an experience. However, I was not very pleased at the large-scale commercialization of such a historic holy place.

[Image above: Maha-Aarthi at Haridwar]

Later, we found the New Delhi airport fogged-out. The spicejet flight at 8 am was delayed by 4 hours. However, I was quite satisfied with the spicejet people, who had called and texted us before hand to inform us about the delay.

Finally, after a most memorable ten day adventure, we were back home, Bangalore (home sweet home..) Back in the best weather of the world !!

Last, but not the least.. We have to thank Lacchi (Lakhmi Narayan) for organizing the trek and being the humble and fun person he is.

On request uploading Trekking map of DodiTal:

Air Dhakkan Deccan is India’s 2nd largest carrier – and we follow a thousand ways in which to cut corners costs so that you get to fly cheap. We mean really really cheap.

We’ve cut costs so much that our fare for a ticket can start as low as Rs 7. (pre tax, which becomes more than 1000 Rs post tax n other charges). Now thats cheaper than a bus ticket no? Yup, you can FLY cheaper than a bus. But dont worry saar, madam (henceforth myadum), we replicate the total feel of the bus, totally.

For example, our in flight crew have been taught to smile the same way your headmaster did when he caught you doing mischief in 2nd class. They talk to you like a bus conductor would too, saar. Ask anything twice and they frown – or snap.

And like a bus too, everything we provide is chargeable. Did you say cotton? For the ear a? Why saar? Chumma, waste of money no? so we dont provide that at all. See, if we do, how can you get a ticket at 1300Rs, er 7Rs? you think no saar. And why do u need cotton anyways saar? All our planes have A/c. We keep temperatures just like its in Indian cities - warm n humid. What more you want?

We do everything in our power to make you feel safe, comfortable and secure – and take the BUS experience to a higher level (34000 ft, actually). See myadum, we have such nice seats – they dont even recline! And look, look, do you see those stains on those seats? Just like the beat-up buses you see plying here and there, no? We introduced that concept myadum. Is it any wonder we are number 2 by market share?

We do other things too, to make you feel good. Like we put crew on the flight who dont know (or are just learning) which switches to hit to switch off all the lights, or switch them on.

Just like in those Godly STC buses, we make sure that you pray enough times to God. nice no? Your kids will learn praying just by being on Air Dhakkan, er, Deccan.

Now please belt up, saar, myadum. We are going to take off. Please dont forget that when we land, it will take between an hour and 2 hours to pick up your baggage. After all, we flew for an hour. We should give same time for luggage to follow you, no?

Happy SimpliFlying!

[Image above: The gang resting on chembra peak with other peaks visible in the background]

We took the bangalore trekker’s official transport the (KSRTC) Rajahamsa to Kozhikode, Kerala and got down at Kalpetta, Wayanad District, Kerala. There, we checked into the PPS Tourist Home for freshening up, where we also met our guide for the trip, Mr. Pavithran.We took a jeep down to the chembra estate which was the starting point of the trek, which is about one hour from the hotel. The trek starts through a route which was a beautiful valley on one side and a lush green tea estate on the other.

[Image above: Chembra Estate (starting point)]

[Image above: Hiking through tall grass]

[Image above: One of the several beautiful scenes on the way up]

[Image above: The gang resting, with the heart-shaped lake visible in the background]

After a hiking up for a while, we found a heart-shaped lake. I really wonder, how such a large natural perfect heart shaped lake was formed. I won’t be suprised, if I get to know that it’s man-made, coz the sight is unbelievable.

[Image above: The gang taking a timeout on a rocky cliff]

After a brief rest and unloading our gear, we climbed up towards the chembra peak. The path from the lake towards the peak is quite steep. So, we stopped every 15-20 minutes to take in the amazing scenery behind us. Also, the heart-shape of the lake was much more clear from up there. [Tip: Take atleast 2 bottles for every 3 people, coz you would get really dehydrated during this hike, preferably avoid carrying heavy food, fruits like oranges would be a better idea]

[Video above: The last part of the hike, very close to the peak]

The view from the peak too is quite amazing and only adds to your sense of achievment (course, this was my second time on the peak) In the monsoon season, you would find the clouds kissing the peak and is quite a sight to see.

[Image above: On the way down]

[Video above: On the way down]

[Image above: Victorious and ready to "retreat"]

Later after getting down and a good rest next to the lake, we got down to the chembra estate and returned to the hotel.

[Video above: Amazing view from the cliff next to the lake]

[Image above: chilling next to soojipaara waterfalls]

The next day we visited Soojipaara Waterfalls, which was about 2 hour drive from hotel. (Sooji-paara translates to needle rock in malayalam, named after a vertical needle shaped rock in the vicinity)

The return journey was unexpectedly quite eventful too. We footboarded on a crowded bus from Kalpetta to Kozhikode, which passed through the breath-taking ghat section called “Thamarasheri Chorum”. I was lucky to be on the footboard to take in the full view of the ghat section and the thick rainforest.

Other attractions of Wayanad: Edakkal Caves, Kuruva Dweep (Island), Pookote Lake, Banasura Sagar Dam. For more details: http://www.wayanad.org/

Not exactly a review. But I had to yell it out… The beasts are coming !!

Yes, it’s official. After hearing a lot of rumours about this for a while now, it turns out that its really true. The Gods of Metal “Iron Maiden” will perform in Bangalore on March 17, 2007.

Still don’t believe me, here are the links:

BBC: Iron Maiden plan first Indian gig

IronMaiden.com: Iron Maiden announce summer tour and ground breaking show in India

Tickets (Rs. 1500 and Rs. 900) : www.ticketpro.in (currently only reserving, when I checked)

Update: Read review of the concert

Always keen to take Metal to new places, Maiden will for the first time ever play in India, on the spectacular grounds of Bangalore’s Palace on Saturday 17th March, marking the first time a major metal band has ever played in the subcontinent.

Iron Maiden’s new album, ‘A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH’ reached No 2 in the Indian album charts after debuting at No 4, which is believed to be the highest chart position in India ever for any rock act. Maiden will be the first to bring in a full massive western style stage production – air freighting in almost 20 tons of backline equipment and their huge stage Production for this one show.

Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson commented “To say we’re all really looking forward to going to Bangalore is something of an understatement. It’s very special to us to be able play to new fans in countries we’ve never been to before, and we hear the Indian fans are very loud and into their metal. The whole trip will be an exciting time for us and we intend to enjoy every moment there. The fans should know that we are bringing the whole stage show we used in Europe and America and that Eddie will definitely be joining us! We are crafting a special set to include both songs from A Matter of Life and Death and a load of other favorites. It promises to be an absolutely amazing atmosphere playing outdoors in front of the palace.”

A spokesman from the promoters DNA Networks explained, “As this is the first show ever in India to feature three other acts in addition to an international headliner, it will be our first ever festival of sorts and as such an historic occasion. As the setting is the beautiful open site in the palace grounds we thought the occasion should be marked with a special name so we are calling the event ‘EDD-FEST’. We are confident that Maiden and ‘EDD-FEST’ will encourage more Western bands in the future to join us and play here in India, something which would greatly please the huge number of Rock fans in this country. The appearance on the bill of Britain’s Lauren Harris will also be the first time Indian fans will have seen a rock band fronted by a girl”

Movies these days don’t want to let you get settled into the Cinema hall before they start on you, apparently. Casino royale starts with a brilliant action sequence – a snake fighting orgy that quickly goes onto be a cat n mouse chase, with Bond ending up more than ruffling diplomatic feathers(no, not of birds).

If the makers wanted to take the focus away from the way the new Bond looks to the movie itself, then they succeed very well.

This follows with Bond breaking in, to M’s office! And getting it good for being “reckless, and letting his ego rule”. For a movie that supposedly sets the tone for the rest of the Bond movies, this one’s certainly a very good attempt at it – and succeeds most of the time.

Bond as a reckless, but suave, arrogant spy is great characterisation, if you look at the series as a whole (thanks to Star Movies for that!!). Among the best things Daniel Craig brings into the Bond franchise is the way he carries his chip on the shoulder. The makers have brought out Bond’s character fantastically well – the chip on the shoulder, his falling in love, the eventual betrayal and how that shapes his character. The unpolished arrogance that Bond as a newbie spy carries – the list goes on.

The movie is engaging no doubt. It flows seamlessly scene to scene, and keeps you rooted to the seat most of the time. The action sequences are very well choreographed and shot (although one hopes next time the camera work will be better, much better) . The only Bond girl looks rather fetchin – the eyes, oh the eyes! Oh the sounds, the cars. One gets more than their money’s worth, with all the aural pleasures of vee-12s in full throated glory.

On the whole, the best Bond movie in a decade, certainly. But one hopes that the makers wont take that as a affirmation for Daniel Craig as the new bond - or their way of dismissing previous Bond movies. Bond’s grisly, and grimy – get in the dirt – phase is nice, entertaining and is good when he’s protrayed as a new “00″ recruit, but if the makers want to go the same route later on too, it would probably not come off as well.

If you are still reading, and havent got your tickets, I’d say RUN and grab yourself tickets -this is certainly aint a bond movie one should miss! (And that is from someone who thought he’d not watch this movie because of Daniel Craig, well he stands corrected)

Raghu Rai is, according to grapevine, India’s ace photographer, who is part of Magnum photos – apparently* the most prestigious snapper clique. He is a PadmaShree awardee. Magnum photos bio on Rai is here.

The exhibition hosts pictures mostly from the 80′s, 90′s and some from the 00′s. None from Rai’s Bhopal Gas Tragedy or Kumbh Mela coverage, but plenty from other places – tons of nudes, actually – most, which this author found rather tasteless.

Some of the pictures I liked were a pic taken after a flash flood, pic of a child holding onto its mom’s bare breast, a man with his flute against the backdrop of the ocean. The better pictures were the ones which made one feel as though you were there, looking right at the image, than at some photo.

Tasveer also has a prescence in Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta.

Bangalore address:

26/1 Sua house,
Kasturba Cross Rd
Bangalore – 1

Ph: 2212 8190

The gearbox – silken smooth. Knife thru hot butter, call it what you will, but its the slickest gearbox I have seen. And after having ridden the earlier Pulsars you’d be forgiven for thinking Bajaj stole someone else’s gearbox! Shifts are very clean, precise. No judders, false neutrals.

Power delivery is very linear, although this author felt that Power wasnt coming with the hurry that one is used to on the older Pulsar – maybe it was just need for running-in on the test bike.

The engine has, I’m sorry to note, a very weak note(no pun intended). You can hardly hear it at times – which can be good sometimes, but wouldn’t you wanna hear your baby screaming as you rev it up? I sure would!

The suspension seemed better. The bike’s slightly heavier – about 4 kilos or so which might have helped matters just a wee bit.

Looks. The new fairing looks all the more aggressive. The tail-light is very unique, but looks kinda wimpy, and if my experience is any guide, one cant really see it, if one’s in a taller vehicle. The illumination of the tail lamps is lovely.

The digital speedo looks great with orange backlight, but unfortunately the idiots that they are, folks at Khivraj have disconnected the speedo cable – but NOT the rev-counter cable. So one could see the revs going up, but nothing on the very good-looking dash!

On the whole, a better bike indeed, although one hopes the note of the older(2005) model can either be retained or re-introduced on this model!

Read the long term review of the 2005 180 DTSi.

Update: The Pulsar 200 DTSi is reviewed here

“Little vice, even less spice.“

That should be the tag-line for the movie. Colin Farell and Jamie Foxx are the lead stars. and Gong li is the female lead. The story is apparently based on a 1980′s TV series, of the same name. With farell and foxx playing two cops who go undercover.

The plot is very thin, and intended to be racy, which it isnt. Cops get killed. Undercover cops deployed. Cop gets involved with Gangsta’s chick, gets double-crossed. Doesnt get killed in shoot-out.

Ok, typical 1980s Hindi movie, right? Well, almost. Except the chick’s let go.

The action. A Motorboat cruise to Havana – very, very picturesque. Great cinematography. A chase in a Ferrari 360 (I think) – just about okay. Hmm, nothing much else. Unless you wanna count random acts of shooting. Some acts of playing hard-ball.

A Note to Colin Farell – changing hairstyles doesnt constituting ‘acting’ or of picking up new roles. Maybe you should get back to acting and forget about the changing style.

And Foxx to Farell “I’ll never doubt you!” Oh yea? Who’re you kidding?

Should you watch it? Yes. If you’re a jobless uncouth idiot with nothin else to do, and some cash to spare, or friends who have some cash to spare, rush to it.

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.

photo: mist covered mountains

Silent Valley Resort:

We reached silent valley resort, kudremukh at around 8 am. We checked into our cottages which could comfortably accomodate three persons per cottage and had attached bathrooms. The whole resort could accomodate around 50 people, i was told. The cottages are ethnic styled and had tribal paintings on the walls.

Breakfast at 9 am was herbal dosa, shavige bath and strawberry juice. The pool along the sky-light cafeteria was quite relaxing.

photo: cafeteria
River-Crossing:

Around 11 am, we left for river crossing over the river bhadra. On the way, we stopped at the picturesque tea estate for few photos. The river crossing was organised by Dev Balaji from Nature Admire. However, we realised that river-crossing had turned into “river-landing”. The video below should explain it better.

video: River-Crossing over river bhadra

video: kudremukh road

View-Point:

We returned to the resort for lunch and went for local sight-seeing. First stop was the banks of river bhadra, where we took few photos sitting on the rocks in between the river. Next stop was a view-point, from where we searched for the setting-sun which was hidden behind the clouds. However, the sight of the whole kudremukh moutain range from this point was quite awe-inspiring.

photo: View-Point & Shambu Maharaj

Camp-Fire:

Later around 8 pm, we had camp-fire with dance music. Most of them screamed & danced with few hiccups during music selection by our in-house “DJs” Raja, Siva & Satish. Tip for others: Plan your dance music and burn your audio/mp3 cds before you come to the resort. You will save a lot of time.

The first day thus ended with dinner and a good sleep in our cottages.

Hannumangundi waterfalls:

Day 2 began around 8.30 am when we left for Hannumangundi waterfalls. The falls is located around 32 Km (One & half hour drive) from the resort. Water falls from a height of more than 100 feet. Reaching the falls involves walking down about 500 steps and takes a bit of effort while coming back up. We were not allowed to take bath in the water because of excess of water in the stream and very slippery rocks.

After few photosessions, dipping our legs in the chill water and bombing each other with huge water splashes using rocks, we climbed back up.

video: WaterFall

Lakya Dam:

Next stop was Lakya Dam which is a pollution control dam used by the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL). However after stiff agitation by environmentalists, the supreme court of india had ordered the closure of mining activities by KIOCL by Dec 31, 2005. So, the Lakya Dam had no water but had tons of tailings (Mud) from the mining activity.

photo: KIOCL

Forest Walk:

Post lunch, few of us headed for a forest walk (3km) up some mountain close to the resort. The walk was a first leech-experience for many. The highlight of the walk was the view from the hill-top of the cloud covered kudremukh peak at a distance. In the meantime, the others enjoyed a game of volleyball, badminton & rope walking.

photo: forest walk

photo: on the mountain-top

Pool:

Later all of us, had the grand finale of the trip by jumping into the swimming pool. Shambu entertained the group with acrobatics like reverse-somersault jump into the water. Later, everyone joined in games like swimming race, walking race (in the water), coin finding (with the feet), tube capsizing and breath-holding contest.

video: group diving into pool
video: walking race in the pool
At 8 pm, we had checked out and assembled for dinner. Finally, Prashant Chawda gave the vote of thanks to all and to Raghavendar & Rohit Chaudhary, who had put in quite an effort to plan and arrange the whole trip. Thanks Guys !!

Other places to visit at kudremukh:

http://www.silentvalley.net/places.htm

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.

The result? Each of the old songs sounds like a badly remixed version more suited to be produced by someone like Instant Karma, or some silly DJ, than a major bollywood movie! Main hoon don , Yeh mera dil are bad, bad copies of the original, in pure musical terms. The videos are quite rotten too.

Kareena Kappor is so much like a lifeless doll in “Yeh Mera Dil” that you wonder if the folks making it, and then retaining it, also made the campaing for the CBZ Xtreme!

In SRK’s imagery of the Don dunking champagne onto himself, its not the Don we see, but SRK of Darr, Baazigar, DDLJ. The character has been sacrificed for the star – and what a bad sacrifice it has been. Coming after SRK’s performances in recent movies like Kal Ho Na Ho, Main Hoon Na, Veer Zaara, Swades, this one is regrettable.

Then, that song.

Khaike Paan Banaraswallah is amongst the best songs to come from the 70s. Everything from the Banarasiya lingo, to the dance, the music is spot on. What we get in this movie is a remixed version that will make Kishore Kumar, Anjaan(lyricist) and KalyanJi (of Kalyanji-Anandji) turn in their graves. And the video has SRK playing an idiot wannabe.

It is such an insult to fans of the movie, and the song to be foisted upon with such utter rubbish. I just hope(against hope) it puts an end to crappy remakes of cult classics.

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.

First, the power – reportedly a increase to….14bhp(from 12.62)! Didnt you jump with joy? No? Not even for that extreme hike in power? Well, never you mind, I have more info for you to jump with joy on.

The snaps, courtesy Xbhp. All of them showing how xtreme the product is, indeed.

Tank from the Ambition, side panels, wheels from the TVS Apache, Tail lights from the Libero probably, and a grosteque fairing + headlamp. Add in garish stickering and the dials, and you get – an Xtreme-ly bad looking bike.

No wonder they call it the Xtreme. It disappoints Xtreme-ly!

Update: Hero Honda has specs up at the CBZXtreme site. 150cc 14 bhp 143 kilos and claimed 0-60kmph time of 5 seconds. When it arrived, the original CBZ was a 158cc, 12.6 bhp, ~130 kilo machine. With the same 0-60 claimed time. Thats what Hero Honda call progress!

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.

Ranga Shankara is a commitment to the art of Theatre, to the social fabric of our city, state and the people. To keep utopian dreams like these running it is essential to have a real partner. We are fortunate and proud to have Hutch as that solid partner who stands by us and gives us the strength to be who we want to be. As we enter the third year of our partnership/association I really believe Hutch has displayed to the world how a Corporate sponsor can be a silent supporter of the Arts without using the art as an event that tells their customer base how magnanimous and wonderful they are.. There’s something more powerful in the art of understatement and I must say Hutch makes the effort to do so and also succeeds wonderfully.

With added pomp Hutch joins hands with us this year to bring yet another festival. This year’s festival runs between 8th and 15th Oct and features eight of the best productions of the country today. Like always, the fest is multi-lingual – it unfolds two plays in English, three in Hindi, and one each in Kannada, Bengali and Marathi.“

-Arundhati Nag

For tickets:

Ranga Shankara, J P Nagar
Sankar’s Old Madras Bank Road
Hutch Shop at Indiranagar, Seshadripuram and Koramangala

Venue:

Ranga Shankara
36/2, 8th cross,
(Next to J P Nagar Post Office)
2nd phase, J P Nagar
Bangalore 560078
Phone:26592777/26493982
Email: rsfest@rediffmail.com

Oct 8 Sun
Flowers
Language: English

Oct 9 Mon
K. L. Saigal (A Musical play in Hindi)
Language: Hindi

Oct 10 Tue
Cotton 56, Polyester 84
Language: Hindi

Oct 11 Wed
Bankubabur Bandhu & Samudrer Mouna
Language: Bengali

Oct 12 Thur
Makdachya Hati Champagne
Language: Marathi

Oct 13 Fri
Kanase Kanasu
Language: Kannada

Oct 14 Sat
Numbers in the Dark
Language: English and Hindi

Oct 15 Sun
Jameela Bai Kalaali
Language: Hindi

MORE DETAILS : http://www.rangashankara.org/rangashankara_festival_microsite/plays.html
SEE YOU THERE !!

Review of atleast one play to follow. Kindly send in yours.

Got a review? Do write in!

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.

Dishes to try are Hara-Bara Kabab, Bhindi Rajastani, Aloo Parathas, Jal Jeera and other north-indian usuals. Also, food can be ordered to be made for Jains specifically. Can any jains, explain what that means ?

I remember a year back or so, they hardly had any space. Now they have managed to expand and add another floor on top. Still a bit crammed though, but this is koramangala, so Swalpa Adjust Maadi !! At lunchtime, you will find a hoard of techies at this place, so be expect to wait for around 10-15 mins. There is always someone outside to take your reservation and order though.

All in all, the ambience of a rural north indian village house is great, the food is delicious and service was reasonably fast.

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.

A group of volunteers get together at a common point in town proceed to Pearl Valley, collect plastic waste and return to back to town. We are looking for volunteers who would like to join us for the trip.

Venue for start of the Trip : KFC on CMH Road – Indira Nagar 100 Ft Road Intersection

Time : 10 AM (assembly time, Depature : 10.15AM, Return back at KFC : 4:30PM)

Contact Person for Coordination : Anitha Majji +91 98867 65898

Transportation : If you have bikes please get them, others can ride pillion

Logistics :

• Snacks, Sticks, Garbage bags and Gloves will be provided.
• Bring water for yourself (depending on consumption)
• Cap

For information about us do look us up at : http://cleanngreen.blogspot.com

Or to join the group subscribe to : cleanandgreen@googlegroups.com

Regards, Roopa

[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.

This was our first trek along with KMA (Karnataka Mountaineering Association)
KMA Office Address: No 6, Gurunanak Bhavan Complex, Jasma Bhavan Road, Vasanthnagar, Bangalore-560 052

[PHOTO ABOVE: The beginning of the trek]

During the introduction circle, we met the whole team. There were techies from SAP-labs, HP & Infosys, two lawyers, few students, a business-woman, a HR consultant, a B-school teacher, a guy who was after the leeches, a man with one-wife and of-course experienced KMA trekkers Lakshmi Narayan, Mohan Rao, Prasanna and Ravi.

[PHOTO ABOVE: On the way up the stairway to heaven]

The journey through this part was beautiful, lush green grass everywhere and thick sholl forests between the mountains. We were all really eager to reach the cloud-covered peaks. Our encounters with leeches had already started, most people were armed with hunter boots and salt. So, the leeches didn’t bother us much.

Bhattra Manne at Girigaddhe (half-way point to kp peak) was the destination for the first day. Bhattra Manne is the only accomodation in these hills, if you don’t have tents of your own. The Bhattra Manne can accomodate a maximum of about 30 people.

We reached Bhattra Manne around 1 pm, just before the rain got really heavy. After taking bath at a close-by stream, we had a stomach-full of rice-sambhar lunch, courtesy: the ever smiling, very-friendly Bhat household.

[PHOTO ABOVE: Outside Bhattra Manne]

Post-lunch, Ravi kept us busy with games like Pointing Game (“This is a pointing game…”, never figured out the solution though), Stick (number) Game and Johny-Johny

In the evening, we all sat around chit-chatting and singing songs led by Prasanna & Kamalesh. Later, the Bhat household performed few devotional songs. They sang with great devotion and was a great experience (even for the people who dozed-off). The candle-lit ambience only added to it.

After dinner, the tired lot slept in their sleeping bags with only the soothing musical snores disturbing the pitch dark silence.

We woke up in the morning around 5.30 am. “Ma, can you believe it ??” After a chitra-anna breakfast, the whole team was ready for the trek to the peak by around 7 am. The path to the peak was through the clouds and was literally a heavenly experience.

[PHOTO ABOVE: Among the clouds and almost on the peak]

On the way, we stopped for rest at a small rock-contructed “Mantappa”. Here, Sumathi was very brave to decide to keep going up, inspite of developing cramps in the leg, the night before.

The next stop was at a rock cliff, which was good photo-op point. However I believe that the mist and nature there has to experienced in self and can hardly be covered enough by the photos. This was called “Shesh-Parvatha”, if I remember correctly.

Next the path took us through what we called “leech jungle”, a very dense and moist forest heavily infested with bigger than usual leeches. But to our relief, it ended with a mountain stream where chill water can be collected in bottles.

The last leg of the trek to the peak involves a very steep rock face, which was very slippery in this monsoon season. After carefully maneuvering around the lose rocks and large boulders, we reached the Kumara Parvatha Peak. The peak was covered with a number of man-made stone conical pyramids called “cairns”, made for the purpose of giving directions to people who lose their way.

[PHOTO ABOVE: The gang leaving Bhattra Manne]

After a 20 minute rest and refreshments close to the shiv-ling temples, we returned to the Bhattra Manne. On reaching and after lunch at around 3.30 pm, we left for Kukke. We reached Kukke at around 6.30 pm. After a refreshing bath at Anugraha Lodge (Rs. 25 per head), we went to pray at the Kukke Subramanya temple at 8pm, but it had just closed by then.

After dinner, we boarded the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus to bangalore at around 10 pm and reached majestic bus station in bangalore at 6.30 am.

Overall, we made a lot of new friends at KMA and the Kumara Parvatha trek itself was one heck of a challenge.

Till the next time when we push our limits again, take care.

More photos of trek at http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/71333.f71db471c09/overview

One of the latest FM radios to hit bangalore is RADIO INDIGO @ 91.9 MHz. They call themselves the first international radio station in India. This means they are going after the market which listens to english music only. Still genre-unlimited though: Pop, Rock, Trance, 70s etc. Bangalore being the rock-capital of India, really needed this kind-off a channel. But why do we need to wait for 8 pm for the good rock songs ??

Radio Indigo is not new to the business. They had been broadcasting on Worldspace, the satellite radio. I was not into worldspace, so not commenting on that.

The good part for now is that, the ads are yet to creep in. “The color of music” punch-line is not really working though. It does not match “sakkat hot maga” of radio mirchi. The enthu level of the radio can be improved a bit, maybe with more interactive events.

My favorite shows are:

Weekdays:

7 am to 11 am, The Big breakfast, RJ Cindu Chandrashekaran (Great morning songs)
2 pm to 5 pm, Indigo Jukebox, RJ Ayesha D’souza (Good RJ, but rumoured to be sponsored by backstreet boys )
8 pm to 12 am, Night Patrol, RJ Geoffrey Thomas (Classic & contemporary rock)

Saturday:

7am to 10am, Retro Rockets, RJ Tommy and Madhuri
3pm to 7pm, American Top 40, RJ Ryan Seacrest

SMS : 2919
Phone : 25502919
Email : request@radioindigo.fm

What can I say abt this guys, they were the best-ever Mad-Ads team in VTU. They have won at most of the college fests they have been to. They have amazing co-ordination and superb team work.

They are getting geared up for their first ever radio show (details to follow).

I wish the engg courses were like 8 yrs long, so that i could get enough of them. Its sad that i got to know these guys only at the end of my engg course and that too thanx to my pal Sandeep. This Sandeep guy will make u laugh the moment u meet him even for the first time. He is just too goood.

You have to just watch them in action to know how good they r. Superb theater artists !!
Keep watching this space. Will write more abt them.

himesh at his best

[courtesy: my pal, anoop @ newsmakerz]

Just read an article on The Hindu about a new indian internet radio station RadioVerve dedicated to independent indian music. I am hooked now !!

I’ve always been aware of the amazing musical talent in India, who showup from nowhere at few of the rock shows (bit rare these days though). But the tragedy in the Indian “Music Industry” is that you are forced to play in hindi and shift to “pop” genres to break into the market, which is just not acceptable for most indian bands. Hindi is debatable but pop, no way !!

Now, radioverve has put this amazing thing together with a good listing of indian bands for a start. This includes some of my favorite bands like Moksha, Kryptos, Myndsnare, TAAQ , Sceptre, Asura etc..

Forget it, stop reading, just logon to Radio Verve at http://radioverve.com

How to listen-in:

Free Operating Systems

* XMMS: Ctrl-L > http://play-hi.radioverve.com/ (Make sure you enable “shoutcast-style-metadata” in your mpeg input plugin)

Windows

* Windows Media Player: Ctrl-U > http://play-hi.radioverve.com/
* Winamp: File > Play URL > http://play-hi.radioverve.com/
* iTunes: Advanced > Open Stream > http://play-hi.radioverve.com/

My Wish list:

* A live RJ introducing the bands/atleast an automated voice for a start..
* More bands, maybe even from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Nepal and SriLanka..
* Seperate playlists for death, hard, soft, hindi etc..

This movie is second of the trilogy of the Police stories which he is directing. The first one being Kakka Kakka (An episode in a young police officer’s Life) and this (Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu) one being the story of a Middle aged Police officer’s lifestory. And the last one yet to come is of a senior police officer’s life story.

This movie will easily win the best Villain award. Gautham (director) manages to bring out the best of the villains. Even for his previous movie, the actor won the best villain. Even though the villian comes in the second half of the movie, the scenes are scary, gruesome and gripping, all credit to the villain (he is just toooooo goood). His dialogues with Kamal and Jyothika in the climax is to be watched. Its very funny at the same time terrifying and scary.

Kamal should shed some weight and continue his world class acting. The matured romance between Kamal and Jyothika needs a special mention.

Would’nt want to reveal the movie details, just in a line, its a chase for two doctors/serial killers. The execution of each and every murder is very very gruesome and scary and haunting. Its a must watch for everyone, even for non-tamilians. Very solid technical details. The way new york is pictured is simple superb. Hats off to Ravi Varman for his cinematography. This movie is not inferior to any Hollywood one. Tamil movies are catching up with them. Great direction by Gautham

Prakash Raj is superb in the cameo which he comes. Its Kamal all the way. Too bad the other heroine Kamalini Mukherjee didn’t get much attention. Absolutely no comedy sequences at all in this thriller. Thats a great attempt by the director in these times when comedy is given lots of importance in Tamil movies. Background score by Harris Jayaraj is simply superb. Music is outstanding once again by Harris Jayaraj. World class. I wasnt a Kamal fan, but now after seeing it, certainly yes.

The serial killers are gays (homosexuals) but they rape all their victims? (All victims r women) ??? So just wondering???

An excellent movie. Worth a second watch. I am gonna drag my friends 4 this movie (kamu, nara and sumesh, be prepared)….I have already promised Raj & Sri for another watch..(My other set of frnds)..

I participated in the SportzVillage Inter-Corporate Basketball Tournament. Here is my review on the event:

12 Corporates teams were participating: Infosys, Ocwen, HSBC, Wipro, Oracle, Tavant, TransWorks, iflex – Solutions, Reuters, SAP, Honeywell.

The venue was the Sree Kanteerva Stadium basketball courts. The league matches were held on Aug 26- Aug27. The finals are yet to be held on Sept2. From what I know Infosys, SAP Labs India, Transworks and HP seemed to be the top teams in their respective groups.

The crowd support was very less, but that didn’t really reduce the enthu of the players and display of some good skill. I was suprised there were just 12 teams though..

Blooper Video : My attempts to dunk or atleast layup !! Aaarghh..

KARAN JOHAR’S multi-starrer KANK grossed 72cr in its 1^st week of worldwide release.

Although having a storyline that’s not been appreciated by everyone, the movie now targets cracking all the overseas records (these days – the strategy of bombarding screens with a large number of prints).

(PVR Hyderabad has 2 screens running the show at the same)

Quick walk-through/summary of the movie:-

Story begins with Rani (Maya) getting married to her childhood friend Abhishek (Rishi). SRK (Dev) actually just hops in before the wedding and gives her a hint that its better to marry/live with someone whom you love, instead of someone whom you don’t love –

even if your already married. Well that’s what happens at the movie where Dev & Maya come out of their married life and stay together. But all this “liking-ness” between both of them starts off when they start sharing a friendship to help each other out in sorting out their unhappy married lives. On a lot of occasions its shown as though Karan Johar goes on to prove that its better (atleast hoping in the Indian context) to stay back with the person you’ve married, but the exactly opposite happens. Both Abhishek and Preity get together to unite the lovers (what crap!!!).

Few special moments of sheer class is seen, especially in Amitabh’s yearly party scene. However there’s absolutely nothing in Big B’s role in fixing the relationships (In which case I think the movie would have been an absolute cracker)

Movie plot is something that can get criticized a lot, but some are gonna say it’s pretty common these days for Indians settled there to get into extra-marital affair(s).

Comments & Feedback are welcome!

Engine : Awesome. Sheer delight. (add superlatives). It just begs to be revved, and boy, its got a good tune too! I have taken it to 8,500 rpm (redlines at 9K rpm) and there wasnt even one bad vibe (in all gears except the 4th and 5th - havent gone beyond 95kmph even at 105+ in 5th). And its deceptively smooth and silent when you’re taking it nice and easy – rev it, and it turns into the hooligan that it is! 16 horses are more than par for the course. The best part about the bike, is its seamless acceleration. Traffic lights are a delight, cos you’ll always be leading the junta. (There’s a new 200+cc engine supposedly for the bike)

Brakes: Will stop the bike on a coin. Really. The front brake has MASSIVE bite – and the rear’s good as well. But one should really get used to the braking before you try stoppies or hard braking – the rear brake pedal isnt positioned right, so a lil slip there, and you’ll end up getting deep bruises(gravity and inertia arent always good).

Ride & Handling: Its amongst the best in class, tackles the bad roads well and is very stable at all speeds, thanks to the new longer wheelbase and the lower ride height (because of the smaller 17″ wheels). The wind is pretty much directed at your shoulders, so there’s not much wind hitting your chest, even at 90+ speeds.

Looks and design: Well, its a great looking thing, especially head-on, with that “I’ll chew you up for dinner” looks – that beaky fairing. The rear lamp’s good – and the new Pulsar this year will probably sport LED taillamps and ducatesque headlamps, which’s amazing. The current 180’s also come with an all black look on the mechanicals – something that I dont quite fancy, though the black wheels look cool!

Living with it:

The engine’s grunt and growl are awesome. The lights are great. The headlight beam is even and pretty well spread. The average is good too. I’m getting about 48km to a litre of unleaded – driven sanely, start revving it and expect more like 38-40kmpl. The mirrors are okay, I would’ve preferred wider ones.

The best part about the bike is that you can leave it idle for a few weeks, and then get her started on first kick, or on first thumbing of the starter. And there’s no change in the engine note either. You can take it out for a revving session, just like that.

I hate the way one has to twist their ankle towards the brake pedal, it should’ve been more straightforward, or at least, the recesses in the tank should’ve been better. The tyres are pretty grippy in the wet, and on most dry surfaces, but if there’s a bit of sand around tend to easily loose traction on sand/sandy surfaces.

One more thing to watch for – the bike doesnt appreciate fast gear changes from 3rd to 4th.

As a parting shot, I’ll let the Business line caption the bike:
Suave but savage

Local Bajaj Dealer Information can be found at Planet Bajaj

If there’s a ProBiking showroom in your city, I recommend that you buy from them – it is Bajaj’s premier company showroom for their premier bikes.

Few bajaj dealers in bangalore:

KHIVRAJ BAJAJ, 10/2 KASTURBA ROAD, Contact: (080)2214753 , 2213781 , 2212397
(Khivraj was the only dealer to sell the P-180 back in 2005)

POPULAR BAJAJ,
No.123/107 2nd Main 7th Block Jayanagar
No. 515 20th Main 8th Block Koramangala
Contact: (080)26689845 , 26689846 , 26689847 , +91 9845589079

JATTI BAJAJ, 73 BASAVESHWARA ROAD , (MILLER ROAD), Contact: (080)2264403 , 2264404 , 2252743 , 2252743 (spares)

Update: A comparo between the old and the new Pulsar 180.

Patel’s Inn :

http://www.patelsinn.com/aboutus.htm

Address :

38/2/2,15th Cross, 2nd Block,Govindaraj Garden, R.T Nagar, Bangalore-560 032, +91-92434 13880, +91-080-2333 0182, 2333 7575

Landmark:

3-4 Kms from Funworld, Palace Ground, Very close to R.T. Nagar BDA Complex

Single Seater:

monday to thursday: Rs. 120 for 7 laps
friday to sunday: Rs. 120 for 6 laps

Twin Seater:

monday to thursday: Rs. 180 for 7 laps
friday to sunday: Rs. 180 for 6 laps

Timings:

monday to thursday: 11.00 am – 9.30 pm
friday to sunday: 11.00 am – 10.30 pm

Review to be added.. Any reviews can be added as comments.

More Kodachadri Trek Photos at BubbleShare

[travelogue of trek to Kodachadri Peak (near Kollur-Mookambika Temple, Coastal Karnataka)]

The gang of 3: Nara, Kamu and me (sumne), took the Sugama Travels “J” bus (why not just Kundapura bus, nearly missed the bus, when I thought it was the “G” bus) from Bangalore to Kundapura (Rs. 300 x 3) which left Jayanagar 4th block at 8:15 pm. The bus reached Kundapura at 11.30 am late by 3 hours. Blame it on the bad roads from Bangalore to Mangalore and the caravan of trucks parked on the ghat sections (of the all the places), while the truck drivers slept, causing massive traffic jams. And I thought, I had left the traffic-jams in bangalore

After refreshing ourselves and a quick breakfast, we took a local bus (Rs.25 x 3) to Kollur which reached there at around 1.30 pm. We then hoped on an autorickshaw, which dragged itself about 14 kms upto the starting point of our trek Gari-Katte (Rs. 170). The local bus would have been too late for us, which would have charged us Rs. 30 (Rs. 10 x 3). The Kodachadri peak is about 10 km from here.

The beginning part of the journey was a walk through a jeep-trail in jungle territory, which is quite comfortable and scenic. After about 3 kms you will find an Ashram and a school to the left. We were later told its a HareRama-HareKrishna ashram (probably belonging to Iskcon ?) But, keep walking along the jeep trail though. After another km, you will reach a “Malayali’s tea shop” and you can stop for tea (obviously) and snacks before the uphill journey after that. Reminds you of the “Malayali-tea shop on the moon/mt.everest” jokes.

This is monsoon season and we were prepared for it. In fact, we had taken up the trek even after warnings from lot of people about the rains and its peril. Anyways, the growing mist, rain showers and the leeches only added to the adventure. The lessening of any one of those only disappointed us, mainly Kamu who complained whenever the rain stopped

It was about 3.30 pm now. The hike up was now challenging since the rain-water flowing down had sometimes created multiple trails and fallen trees had blocked the trail. Our commander/leader Nara, like always had taken the lead to find the correct route to the top. Though we lost our way once, into a lone farm amidst the jungle, the tribal farmer there gladly helped us to get back to the trail.

At around 5.30 pm and still no sight of the top of the mountain due to the thick mist, the tension was building. Do we pitch our tent before it gets dark or keep walking towards whatever our current trail was taking us to ? We discussed the issue and took a call to keep going. Now, we never stopped to take photos or remove the leeches on our legs nor enjoy the amazing scenery of the lush green grass and clouds/mist below us. Our persistence paid off and we reached the Bhatra-Manne (Poojari’s house) at around 6.45 pm.

The poojari didn’t look very suprised, just welcomed us and asked us to wash-up and change to our dry clothes. On asking if we could pitch our tent, he laughed and told us “there is no way a tent could survive this extreme weather”. Soon we were having hot upit (upma) and chai. The whole house was covered in the mist and the smoke from the kitchen fire was burning our eyes. On asking about possibility of watching the famed kodachadri sunset, he laughed again and said “I don’t know where the sun is for these 3 months, the place is constantly covered by the mist and clouds”.

Over dinner, we met three malayali guys Rajiv, Ranjith and Sujith from Mallapuram, Kerala. They had done the same hike in their typical style, in rubber slippers and with black umbrellas. They had left their luggage with their family, who were visiting the Kollur temple. We were soon asleep in our rented sleeping bags (Rs. 50 per day).

As planned in the night before, we woke up early and started at 6.30 am towards “Sarvagya Peetta” which was still higher at a distance of about 1.5 km from Bhatra-Manne. The trail up was along a narrow ridge and we could only see misty-clouds below and around us. Visibility was upto about 5 metres. The beautiful mountain flowers only added to the “Stairway to Heaven” feeling. Soon we were at “Sarvagya Peetta”.

After a small prayer, we started towards “ChitraMoola“. Its a cave where the “Shankara Charya” did penance for Mookambika Devi. The view from this cave is famed for its breathtaking view of the Kollur forest, clouds and Mookambika temple itself during normal weather, I suppose

A caution: the path towards the “Chitramoola” cave is very steep, slippery and is not advised for unfit people.

On reaching the cave which is like half a km downhill from “Sarvagya Peetta”, we found the cave and suprisingly found a Sanyasini (old pious lady) in it. On conversing we found, she was from Kerala and came here once every year.

Back at Bhatra-Manne, we had dosa and paid him about Rs. 250 for the three of us (for the room and food). We started at around 9.45 am and aimed to reach the road (Gari-Katte) by 12.30 pm, when the shimoga bus comes by. The journey down was much faster, inspite of the rain, leeches etc. But even the record downhill walk was not enough. We reached at 12.35 pm and had justed missed the bus. We decided to walk down and were entertained by Ranjith, who was a good singer and had just released a Malayalam album. Later, we got the 2.00 pm bus and visited the Kollur Mookambika Devi temple to thank her for our safe journey.

We took the local bus to Kundapura and took the last 8.15 pm Rajahamsa bus to Bangalore. This bus was supposed to reach bangalore at 7.30 am, but reached the Jayanagar Depot at 3 pm the next day. A record 7.5 hours late. But we thanked the driver who kept his smile and patience through the ghat traffic jam (3 hrs at Sakleshpur), highway traffic jam (1 hr at Nellamangala) and lalbagh traffic jam due to IndependayDay flower show (30 minutes). Take my advice, take ur time, but please take the shimoga route to Bangalore from Kollur !!

All in all, an unforgettable monsoon adventure !!

I am a regular customer at JJ, Koramangala [close to jyoti nivas college (JNC)] during lunch time and sometimes in the evening too. As a result, I am a partial Fruitarian now. Anyways, I was suprised today to find another one in Jayanagar 9th block. On enquiring further, I found out that its a chain with around 15 JJs all around bangalore, pretty impressive !!

For a guy concious about the diet “these days”, JJ being so close to office is just great. Of course, existence of the JNC crowd at JJs during lunch time is just a coincidental boon, i guess (FYI for non-bangaloreans, JNC is one of the major women’s colleges in bangalore with great crowd).

My favourite at JJ is definitely the “Fruit bowl“, which is my main-course for lunch. Its a bowl full of fruit pieces of pineapple, mango, water-melon, papaya, sapotta (chiku) and bananas. Fills the stomach and very healthy.

Occasionally I have the “Fruit Grill (sandwich)”, obv. its a grilled sandwich but with fruits inside. Tasted wierd when I had it the first time actually. Also the regular “Veg Plain” Sandwichs and fruit juices. This is one place where you are assured of the taste of the fruit juices which is quite thick and without added water like in other places.

Another thing I am amazed about this place is the “main guy” at JJ, Koramangala. He is very keen-eyed and skilled at accepting so many multiple orders from the major crowd, passing the order to the kitchen and again routing the food/juice back to the exact customer. It may not sound like a big deal, but with such a big fast-order crowd, I would have surely screwed up the billing. But thats just me.

Do leave a comment if you know of JJ near you.

[IMAGE: the lovely tree house]

DESTINATION:

Eagle Eye Holiday Home is located at Hoscodu Estate, which is a sprawling 130 acre plantation land situated in Chikmaglur District in Karnataka, India. Eagle Eye Holiday Home is exactly 48 Kms. from Chikmaglur and approximately 300 Kms from Bangalore.

CONTACT:

G.H. Monis, Managing Director, Eagle Eye Holidays
Hoscodu Estate, Kadavanthi, Sangameshwar Pet Post, Chikmagalur 577136, Ph. 08262-252153 Cell. 9448317760

HIGHWAY STARS:

The journey began with antakshari. It was the front-seaters Vs. the back-seaters. The songs ranged from loud enthu songs by the backers and almost audible senti-numbers by the fronters.

Songs were being created on the fly.. Papa Kehte bada naam kare ga, “QA” mein apna naam karega.. a bit of techi-touch there. Courtesy: Gurvinder Paaji.. Later Antakshari was followed by shayari with the famous radio line “Babar Sher”..

ROAD TRIPPIN:

At first light, I could see the bus was going through a narrow ghat-section road. There were jungles as far I could see. But something was wrong.. the bus stopped near a small hut, some of them got down including the driver and were asking directions to the Resort we were heading to.

We were told to “GO LEFT” but the guy seems to pointing to the right direction.. Luckily after more R&D by the driver, we found the bus traveling towards two waiting jeeps. The jeeps took us through a narrow path in a coffee estate to “EAGLE EYE RESORT”.

RUN TO THE HILLS:

The sight was amazing from this resort. The most appropriate name “Eagle eye”, the view from here was a beautiful valley between the blue ranges of the Western Ghats and clouds and mist stuck between the mountains like cotton.
The Resort also had a beautiful Gazebo, badminton court and a fishing pond.

Most of us were given cottages and one lucky bunch got to live in a tree-house. The tree house looks straight out of national geographic special or a webshots wallpaper, actually better.

The cottages given to us were beautiful, actually quite smartly built. It was covered on the roof by hay and the inner walls covered by bamboo sticks, gave a simulation of an authentic jungle cottage. The day began with badminton between the mist for some and others still admiring the soul pleasing view. Next stop “rock climbing”.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN:

The King of snakes “Naga-raj” got the responsibility to lead the team up the thorny path with a huge knife (machete kinds) to cut any thorny bushes off the path.

The stairway to the peak was a knotted nylon rope and that’s all. They must be kidding, it was solid 20 feet to the top. After a lot of inspiration, coaxing and suggestions and ideas almost all including the three women Reetu, Rashmi and Samreen conquered the journey up.

The climb down the vertical rock face is technically called Rappeling in rock-climbers jargon. Other Jargon for rock climbing gear I learnt: Harness, Carabiners, claw knots. The whole Rappeling and heat experience tired us quite a bit, luckily we were given a energy drink nope.. not “RED BULL”, it was a sweet white toddy like drink obtained from the elephant palm tree it seems.

MUDDY WATERS:

The pond near the resort was originally meant for fish farming. But for us “tourists”, its being used for coracling and fishing. Coracling was quite tricky actually with 3 people in and 2 of them rowing with paddles in opposite directions, most of the time we ended up with rotating boats goin nowhere. The backwater boy Sambhu was swimming like an ace while some others were floating around in deep “3″ feet of water. That was a good laugh!!

At the other end of the pond, “the fishermen” were waiting patiently with their fishing lines in. The king of snakes struck gold and caught the only fish of the day. A small but great catch for us newbies, he did throw the fish back in the water and it leaped around in the water as though celebrating its new freedom.

STAR WARS:

Two teams, yellow and blue marked by corresponding bands on our arms.

The first game, “screaming contest”, won by the blue team with the super-enthu people in it. The next game, “passing the ring” while holding each other’s hand, won again by blue team, thanks to some good teamwork. Next was, “crossing the river (not literally)” walking on wooden planks which needed good coordination was won by the yellow team. Next was, “break the pot”, while being blind. Team yellow, too slow, confused by the screaming blue men, taking almost 10 minutes. Team blue, thanks to some strategic ideas and coded telugu communication cracked the pot in less than a minute.

SCARY MOVIES:

Fast forward to the dark night and all of us were around the camp fire. In spite of the mood-dampening music (which was too slow, and the crowd wanted some fast dance numbers), we managed to have some fun playing dumb charades.

Thakshak – Dhak.. Dhak.. Bevafa.. Shak.. was a hard one. Another movie name split into five parts and the third part indicated by the bird from Samreen. It was quite confusing for them. Ha.. haa.. that was a good laugh. Schindler’s List – Feet.. shin.. tough one.

JUNGLE ALL THE WAY:

The next day began with a walk in the jungle. We were armed with our cameras to shoot anything that moved. Unfortunately or fortunately, we had to make do by shooting each other.

During the walk, the guidelines were simple “keep walking along the trails, keep the chatter to a minimum and try to enjoy nature. We were told “nature will change every minute”, never understood that. Anyways, these guidelines were courtesy our adventure sports specialist, Ishwar.

We walked through thick jungle mainly bamboos, rosewood and those tall mountain trees covering about five to six kms. The view from the hilltop we reached was amazing and at a distance we saw a single jungle bungalow nestled among the green valley. Its another holiday home, we were told.

BLACK:

Next the reenactment of the hindi movie “BLACK”. We were blind folded and led through the trail, led by one of us, whose blindfold was removed.

We walked like a train holding each others shoulders and hands. Communicating just by talking about the path ahead big rock, small rock, rolling rocks, on the left, on the right.. Eventually the leaders changed one by one and we made to another hill, were we had our breakfast. Hot idly and sambar, yummy!

LOST:

On the way back we were told to find the way back to the resort ourselves. Now, this was a challenge. Some of us took the lead and made our own way through the jungle, sometimes even ignoring the fact that we had split from the crowd and were lost. After about an hour, the sight of a plantation and a hut at a distance cheered us up and we found ourselves shouting like tarzan and mowgli.

THE BRIDGE ON RIVER BADRA:

Fast forward to the evening, after a delicious lunch at the resort and Ellakhi bananas (small and really sweet bananas, a crowd favourite). We were at the banks of the river Bhadra. The sight and touch of water was most soothing after a tiring day. Most of them were in the water either swimming or floating with their lifejackets. Slowly one by one, we crossed the river sitting in the harness and pulling ourselves. Below one could see the gushing water, thundering down the small waterfall, but I think we didnt want to wait long to see it. We were more happy to cross it safely in one piece.

WORLD FAMOUS IN CHIKMAGLUR:
The two days were most satisfying; I think most of us needed a break from the concrete and electronic jungle. However the fun wasn’t over yet. At the place where we stopped for tea, few kids from the local village were most excited as they realised that Harbajjan Singh had stopped over there. They had mistaken our Gurvinder for him.

He was questioned by them kids “why didn’t you take enough wickets against Pakistan in the recent series?” The older kids didn’t want to miss the chance. “How do you bowl the doosra?”, they asked. They ran around to get their bats for autographs and also took photos sitting next to their superstar.

Note: This post is renewed from my sumontour blog

Just to introduce the topic, I am bit of a trekker (more of a hiker actually) and plan to blog with details here soon about the places I have been to, hopefully it will be useful to others.

Anyways, my friends and I are planning for a 3 day trek for the upcoming long independence day weekend (Aug12-Aug14). Here are the options we are exploring right now:

• Agumbe
• Other spots on western ghats
• Yellagiri
• Red Hills
• Avalanche (ooty)
• some place in kerala
• or a long beach walk from karwar to goa

One of my friends wanted to buy a trekking bag, so we met up at “Somari Katte” at Jayanagar 4th Block (BDA complex). We looked around for stuff and this is what we found:

Trekking bags:

• Space Planet, #7, Eastern Block, 10th Main Road, Jayanagar Shopping Complex Ph: 080-41210496
• Adventure Works, 121, 8th Main, 3rd Block, Jayanagar
• Wildcraft, Cambridge Layout, Indiranagar (close to sai baba temple)
• Vachan’s, #35 & 36, 1st Floor, Jayanagar Shopping Complex, Ph: 080-41503219

Bag Brands (50 L capacity):

• Fantasy (around Rs. 1500)
• Wildcraft (from Rs. 1800 to much higher)
• Ozone (around Rs. 2000)

Trekking shoes:

• Woodland (Aero Club), No. 240/27, 9th Main Road, 3rd Block, Jayanagar. Ph: 080-26341406
• DreamRoutes suggests “Army Surplus Stores near Russel Market in Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore”

* There is an “upto” 50% sale going on at woodland, jayanagar, good shoes come in range of Rs. 2000

Adventure links:

• http://www.dreamroutes.org/etc/adventurecommorgs.html
• http://www.bangaloreit.com/html/aboutbng/outdoor.htm

I know there is a lot of BMTC-bashing going on everywhere about various issues. I agree there is scope for lot improvement, but lets face it, bangalore is the one of the fastest growing cities in the world and the infrastructure is not able to keep pace with this growth.
But the very debatable BMTC volvo buses is sure to evoke a “cool..” from most of us. Ravikumar took a “cushioned ride” on one of these bmtc volvo bus and has also posted some lovely inside photos of the bus.

Shruthi also has a very interesting post on her first ride on the bus.

For people interested what is under the hood (in the rear in this case), here is the technical spec:

The Engine is a rear-mounted 7-litre, six-cylinder diesel engine with a turbocharger and an intercooler. This engine delivers an incredible 260 hp, with a maximum torque of 1100 Nm. It is fitted with disc brakes (with optional ABS, not sure if the BMTC buses has them). The riding comfort is provided by full air suspensions, which effectively compensates for irregularities in the road surface and offers a high degree of ride comfort. Stabilizers are fitted as standard on both the front and rear, minimizing the tendency to roll over. With a 6.2 m wheelbase, the B7R has a small turning radius of 10.25 meters. Tubeless tyres fitted on B7R ensures higher mileage, good road grip, wet-rolling resistance, better braking, stable driving and longer tyre life.

More details can be found at Volvo’s India site.

BMTC volvo routes and timings:

• V2 – [Kempegowda Bus Station (Majestic) - J P Nagar 6th Phase] – min: Rs. 12, max: Rs. 20
• V331A – [Shivajinagar - ITPL] – min: Rs. 12, max: Rs. 36
• V335E – [Kempegowda Bus Station (Majestic) - Kadugodi Bus Station (close to ITPL)] – min: Rs. 12, max: Rs. 48
• V356C – [Kempegowda Bus Station (Majestic) - Electronic City] – min: Rs. 12, max: Rs. 36
• V500D – [Hebbal - Central Silk Board] – min: Rs. 10, max: Rs. 40

Detailed departure times can be found at http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/volvo.htm

So here goes, this is the scene there at around 1 PM:

Tables are all setup beforehand for the first round of lunch with empty banana leafs and a glass of water. People (many of them techies) occupy their places and clean their banana leafs with water in typical south indian style.

After most tables are occupied, the “SUPPLY CHAIN” begins.

First comes side-dish guy and serves 3 to 4 side-dishes. Then the big pappad and the spicy fried chilli is served (any idea wat is called ?). The next guy serves (plain) rice. Then follows the hot pure ghee for the rice. Then follows the curry guy. First round of rice with sambar, next round of rice with mor kollamb (a yellow curd based curry) or rasam, final round of rice with curd. It ends with your belly full and one last sweet.

In between the meal, like a typical south indian marriage feast, there is one guy who is generally overlooking all the tables and tracking which items are needed and directs the rice guy/curry guy/side dish guy/pappad guy/water guy towards you. Sometimes, he comes to you and asks “How do you like the lunch today ?“. Remember its unlimited, so have a light breakfast in the morning to completely enjoy the feast.

If you observe the crowd on a typical weekday. You can hear a lot of discussions on projects, technologies, office politics, job openings, business discussions etc.. Its bangalore’s equivalent of silicon valley’s pubs were VCs and techies hangout.

Address: 1st Floor, 143, KHB Colony, 5th Block, Koramangala (close to Anand Sweets & GK Vale)

Map:

• Go to URL: http://www.koramangala.com/gokora/default.asp
• Select Restaurants from the drop-down menu.
• You will find Sri Krishna Kafe’ in the list.
• Click “Locate” to get its location in koramangala’s map.

Price:

Lunch Unlimited Meal = Rs.58
Weekend Unlimited “Special” Meal = Rs.68

NOTE: This post is renewed from my earlier post at our other blog Swalpa Adjust Maadi

Authors : Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
ISBN : 006073132X
Publish Date : April 2005
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers

The introduction says “The hidden side of everything“, which actually captures the whole theme of this book. The hidden economic reasons in different aspects of life.

Let me briefly describe the best case study in the book, involving an analysis of the hidden reasoning for drop in crime in the US in the early 1990s.

The authors writes “it was not the innovative policying strategies, tough gun control laws or strong economy that led to this drop. Steven argues for and against every such factor and concludes that none could cause such a major drop“.

This is their reasoning, “In 1973, the US supreme court extended legalized abortion to the whole country. In the first year some 750,000 women had abortions in the US. By 1980, the number of abortions reached 1.6 million. Poor and single-parent household is the strongest predictors that a child will have a criminal future. The crime rate fell because an entire generation came of age minus the children whose mothers had not wanted to bring a child into the world.“

This reasoning is sure to evoke extreme reactions and you may totally disagree with this view. But the authors have done their homework and supports their view with a very detailed analysis.

They further write, “typical economists believe that the world has not yet invented a problem that he cannot fix if given a free hand to design the proper incentive scheme. There are three basic flavors of incentives: economic, social and moral.

economic : an overhead “sin-tax” on cigarettes
social : “shaming offensive” with pictures on tv against prostitution
moral : asserting that terrorists raise money by selling black-market cigarettes“

I found this to be a very unique and promising idea.
But he then gives a caution, “an improperly designed incentive can also cause havoc”. He illustrates this with a case study of high-stakes testing for teachers. “If a teacher’s students are found scoring poorly, the teacher’s promotion/raise was to be withheld and on scoring well, the teachers stand to earn bonuses of upto $25,000. This became a powerful combination of incentives for the teacher to cheat or help the students while they are taking exams.“

Few interesting case studies covered:

• Ku Klux Klan, superman and real-estate agents !!
• Quid Pro Quo agreements between Sumo wrestlers in Japan
• Life of drug dealers
• Parenting: what is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool
• The science of naming a child : trends in the names of the white and the black/ names of the the rich and the poor.

Few of my favorite book stores in Bangalore:

• Book paradise, 75, 8th E Main, NIIT Tower, 4th Block, Jayanagar, Ph: 080-26637466
• Landmark, Forum Mall, Ph: 080-2206-7777 / 78 / 80
• Blossom, #84/6, Opp. Amoeba, Church Street, Ph: 080-25320400

Watched at: PVR cinemas, Forum, Bangalore

[NOTE: continue reading, passage below does not expose the main plot details]

Jack Sparrow (Johny Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) & Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) are back with the second part of the trilogy pirate-adventure POTC (Pirates Of The Caribbean).

This time, “Captain” Jack Sparrow is commandeering his beloved black-sailed ship “Black Pearl” (from POTC-1) and has to fight the new villain “Davy Jones” who controls Kraken, a giant octopus like sea-creature. Will Turner, joins the action to release his father Bootstrap Bill from Davy Jones and Elizabeth, though being the lover of Will, has quite a confusing relationship with Jack Sparrow.

Davy Jones doesn’t feel very threatening with his dive-capable ship “Flying DutchMan” except for their wierd animal-parts fused bodies. The additional threat of “East India Company” didn’t make much sense, may be it will in POTC-3.

Johnny Depp continues with his amazing comical performance of Jack Sparrow. I specially enjoyed the very funny sequence with the tribals in the first half.

All in all, the people who loved the first part will surely enjoy this pirate-adventure. The others, swalpa adjust maadi !!

Camera:

The K750i allows you to tweak around with features like auto-focus, 5 shoot modes, special effects, adjustable white-balance and self-timer. The daylight shots are of great quality and would please most people who plan to use the same to capture memorable moments without their beloved digital cams. The 2-LED FlashLite is helpful in closeup shots in the dark. However, there is a major loss of quality in night shots and slightly dark conditions even with night-mode. Here is an interesting comparison with the 2MP Nokia N90.

Other nice-to-have features are the comfortable camera-style button on the side of the phone and the slide-cover for the camera which immediately shifts the phone to camera mode when the slide cover is opened, even when the keypad is locked.

Music:

On the music front, the K750i supports MP3/AAC files with an audio quality comparable with the more costlier walkman/w-series series. However, maybe just to differentiate with the walkmans, the K750i comes with a very ordinary earphone instead of the comfortable suction earphones. With an official maximum memstick capacity of 1GB, you can load upto 200 mp3s (128kbps). However, the K750i by default comes only with a 64MB Mem Stick. An obvious cost-cutting scheme. The media player is quite comparable usability-wise with the w-series, except for the orange colors.

The in-built FM system is RDS enabled (not useful in India though). However, for a person like me who hates using a hands-free, it is quite annoying to know that the phone still needs the hands-free to listen to the FM. I hope the sony guys come up with a better way in future phones.

Video:

Though the K750i supports mpeg4/3gp files, obviously I still don’t see the 176×220 pixel screen to be useful for watching videos except for previewing the videos taken by the fone itself.

Connectivity/Data:

The usual features of BlueTooth 2.0, GPRS are very useful and can be used as a bluetooth gprs modem. In fact, I am successfully using the same with Airtel Mobile Office enabled which costs me Rs.149/week. The k750i can be used as a USB mass storage device using the provided data cable. Strangely though, it needs the drivers to be pre-installed which is available on the provided CD and is easily downloadable from the net.

One major point that still plagues the sony ericsson phones vis-a-vis the nokia phones is the usability of the keypad which really irkes the serious SMS user.

Few Retailers around Koramangala, Bangalore:

• Global Access, 80 ft Rd, Koramangala, Ph: 080-22229244
• eZone, 100 ft Rd, Koramangala, Ph: 080-25520243
• Sangeetha, Forum Mall, Hosur Road, Ph: 080-26707111

Price Tip: Bargain for a price Rs. 11,600 (bought at one of the above stores on July 30, 2006)

[IMAGE: Arjun Halappa, Captain, Bangalore Lions]

Amidst all the sports stories, there is one snuck in that reports that the Bangalore Lions have won the PHL, or Professional Hockey League.

The Bangalore Lions triumphed in the second edition of the Premier Hockey League after a brace by Hari Prasad helped them down local favourites Chandigarh Dynamos 2-1 in a pulsating third match of the best-of-three finals.

reports Sify.

Well, while yours truly is not a huge fan of sports that involve “goals”, well done Bangalore Lions.

If you can read/write Kannada, I strongly recommend this site – even if you are not a blogger!

Oh, btw, I do have a blog there too* – its present here.

*I almost never seem to run out of blogging options. O3, blogger, wordpress and now Sampada! Aargh!

I had a heated discussion on what the right strategy for garbage collection should be in bangalore with my colleagues. So I thought, I’ll throw the debate open here.

Can people get away with littering the roads with the excuse that there are no dustbins?

I agree, many public places do really need dustbins like even MG Road etc. However, being a bangalorean forever, I have seen the problems plaguing the system with dustbins only for garbage collection. I think, the current system of door to door garbage collection was a major improvement to reduce the garbage in the city.

An article on Bangalore’s own Deccan Herald with some statistics on this issue. Hoping you are not part of the 7.3 % dumping garbage on the roadside.

But, I certainly agree bengalooru has a long way to go to improve the system, may be also privatise it and bring in some global best practices. Until then, Swalpa Adjust Maad Beddi..

Do comment on this issue.

Anyways, I had a chance to do parasailing, which was a first for me (Rs.200).

Links for the event:

Anurag Jain’s blog
ToI’s Bangalore Edition

Adventure Sports Links:

http://www.careadventure.com/
http://www.teamadventure.info/
http://www.karnatakatourism.org/sites/company.html
http://www.dreamroutes.org/
http://kstdc.nic.in/wild.htm
http://junglelodges.com/

http://www.indianadventureportal.com/

FYI, “GETHANAA” is the major organisation that promotes adventure sports in Karnataka.

GETHANAA – General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure State Youth Centre,
Nrupathunga Road, Bangalore – 560 001. Karnataka, India.
Tel: 080-2210454

Its happening at a range of places across Bangalore – the Chitrakala Parishat to a Cafe Coffee Day outlet. The reviews I have read of it, when I wasnt in Bangalore were very laudatory – and I was sore that I had missed it! I’m hoping to catch on at least a couple of theatre or dance shows. If you’re around then, let’s catch-up there!

One thing I forgot to mention – the main sponsors this time are Bangalore Central(Pantaloon Group). Its great that a large retail group is sponsoring this. This makes a good business case for them to sponsor, as well as gives a good boost to the Habba.

See you at the Habba!