Rewind 2006...

Everybody is busy shopping, few making plans where to head to and many more things happening, for we can hear the bells ringing to welcome the NewYear!!! But here i am introspecting how has the year been !!! As i see over the years transforming myself into a better individual adapting to the changes around me, year 2006 has much more than this. I should say i have become more open, going towards the greater degree of being Extrovert, new add ons being diligence and perseverance into my life. I have learnt a lot with the people around me in the companies i worked and the social groups i volunteer- all the factors mentioned i attribute them to the groups i have been working for. Also this year has been the year of HIA ('Huge Information Assimilation) which i have been constantly trying to catch up on over the last 25 years and i think this quest for knowledge will be alive and will grow as has been happening the equation being directly proportional . Yet again this year i volunteered for another group called "Clean & Green" where my whole perspective of looking at life has changed and this group has actually transformed me into something which i cudnt believe myself.

If year 2004 Dream-A-Dream has imbibed me Empathy Not Sympathy , 2005 VODO has instilled me the some the best time - risk- management - networking - and many more soft skills which i apply at my daily work , 2006 C&G made me realise Beyond everything there's something called "Nature" and you need to embrace it, care for it as you care your mother, this group indeed has brought me an attitudinal change within myself as it made to get down to my knees and made me feel "A big problem is to be treated as a Big Oppourtunity".

As i always reiterate the fact every passing day is learning expereince for me and so is an year. Like all those beautiful moments you do have some off days and some incidents which make you feel bad , i realised i need to live with it and probably learn something out of it than cribbing over it for we can never escape out of Murphy's Law.

I have travelled a lot this year - trips to MekkeDaatu, Sangam, Galibore, Pearl Valley, Muttathi, Bheemeswari on a regular basis, then trip to SITA, Masina Gudi, Top Slip and a business trip to singapore along with the two trips i made to Vizag this year and recent one to Kanva reservoir.

On the theatre front i have been given the charge of "Production Manager" though burdened with extra responsibilities i have enjoyed it a lot be it closing the sponsorship deals, back stage work or co-ordinating with the cast, PR work and also giving music for the plays. We were able to pull off 8 productions succesfully this year and i enjoyed every moment of it.

On volunteering with Dream-A-Dream computer workshops i thoroughly enjoyed teaching kids which tested my nerves but in turn developed lot of patience, co-oridnated couple of workshops, monsoon miracles event and now part of the fund raising task force designing the strategies on the same to envisage the organizations vision.

On the Social entrepreneurial aspect, formed "power of we" with friends -as part of which conducted a traffic workshops, interfacing the NGO's with their needs and most importantly ran the "Bangalore Marathon" for the first time in my life - A real feel good Factor till date.

Switched company after slogging in for year and half to a Bigger MNC with a new profile and slowly got adjusted to the work environment but still lot be explored and yet to contribute my full fledged efforts.

As mentioned earlier volunteering with C&G - trying to mimize the "litter menace" at the often visited public places across the caurvery basin - learnt very good stuff and met some wonderful people who had an tremndous impact on me - be it on appreciating the beautiful places of nature or those long hours of treks or on how sensitive we need to be on human relations and a lot more.

Over the years though have been very sensitive and sentimental i have never showed it out. But few meetings with this wonderful person has actually made think where i was going wrong inspite of doing all the exciting things in my life - i have been a good engineer, good volunteer, good friend but not a good son.. for me my family has always taken a back seat. And having spent a day with this person's family i realised the missing link and when i shared the same she comes out with this beautiful lines which still echoes as i re-read it several times - "after all that they have done for us if we cannot give them what makes them happy, what is it that we have achieved in life?" though soundz simple yet a profund thought. Now that i roped in this person let me dedicate few lines confering a title "influential person of the year" :

I have known her for the past 9 months to be precise 9 months 9 days cutting the HH:MM:SS. For the First time when i met her i have titled her as an "Angel" - indeed she is, i discovered it over the period of time when I got along . Those hours of talks over the luncheons we had( though embarassing i have to say i made her pay always), minutes of chats on a regular basis be it general or for the cause we were working for have always had some valuable gyan with few funny moments of ayyooo...yupppaa...non-offensive blunt shut ups etc.. I have come across many women in life but never met such a sweet person, a person whom i always look up to. She has been the same sweet person every time I have seen her or talked to her and that says alot about her character. I was always amazed by the way she priortises her chores with due importance to perosnal relationships with family - relatives and friends. Always ready to extend that helping hand even before asking for it. I have many more incidents to narrate but would like to keep it to myself as i read somewhere which i rephrased it to my convenience "Don't ever tell everybody everything. If you do, you start missing everybody". I know for sure our paths are different may not have the same stories as i had over the year but how this person walked into my life and carved a niche in my heart is a story i will tell my grandchildren but for now i adore her dearly for she has touched an untouched corner of my heart with those beautiful lines making me realise where i have been going wrong.

Overall It has been great year so far with many interesting people around learning a lot from them . With all those sweet and sour moments that went through the year i hope the odd numbered Year 2007 will be evenly balanced and has much more exciting stuff in store . Since the dawn of the year happens to be an year more wrt to my age - i would like to make simple birthday resolution of - sleep less, gain more gyan, see new places and be more socially responsible.

Give Me A Break HoneY!!!!

Suddenly all the love songs on the FM are uninteresting to you, you feel like shutting the doors, spending most of the time alone , thats for you to realise the relationship has gone awry!!!. And the more you try to be in solitude without any discussion with your partner the more it deteriorates your condition. Everybody knows the break-up of a relationship is emotinally difficult for both the parties. I have seen couple of break-ups in my family where the concerned had really tough time for GOI (Getting Over It). Though i beleive in the institution of marriage which is supposedly according to Hindu Myth - is a relationship for 7 lives - off late the very belief in this institution has gone for a toss. Just when you are getting associated in a realtionship you think this would last for ever, you would see places together, you would do things together. But what happens after the marriage - soon you discover he/she is not the same as before and you start realising you need a private space and many more dreadful thoughts all leading to "Break-Up". But couples should realise a break-up is a loss the end of something that was special and important to you.The grief you feel can be similar to the grief you experience when someone dies. You will miss the person -the special things you did together, the long talks you had, the private jokes you shared. You may wonder what might have been or simply miss being part of a couple. Maybe your he/she is the only person you've ever met who shares your passion for a certain type of music or art. Until the thought of dumping each other crosses your mind there are still chances of re-aligining the relationship. Even otherwise i strongly feel you should give it a try to see if you can recitfy what has gone wrong in the realtionship. Probably if you dont feel like discussing it - write it down what are the cirumstances that instilled you this dreadful thought, what are the expectations - write down everything possible. Each of the couple should know this and should probably strike a solution rather than merely dumping each other. You have to remember when you can break one you can break another one too (even if you think you can get over the previous one with a new relationship). If you feel guilty for each other for breaking up thinking that you hurt him/her you should realise that still there is a room for you to get attached.
I have never heard of couples breaking up in my father's generation, but lot many in the generation after him : Is it because of the the sweeping structural and cultural changes - the scoiety to which we are exposed encourages this kindaa stuff. If that is the case i would defintely want to live in the era of grand parents than in this so called "metro-cosmo" culture.

Probably the break-ups before marriage makes sense than after - atleast in the earlier case you have had good study on the realtionship - and thats when you decided to take it forward or not , and once you decide and enter into the instituion of marriage - breaking up after a few years is something that needs to be pondered over and over again.

Though at this junture of break-ups people talk about the self-dependance and all that crap - you should realise the emotional trauma that you would have to undergo for you to come out of it. At the same time i dont say you need to just stick to for the heck of it - my appeal to those publics is give it a thought - nobody is perfect - A simple s/w analogy -We do design systems and you introduce bugs - that does not mean you scrap the s/w - instead you go over it - analyze it and check if it can be rectified. - Though might not sound a good one to defend - but you have to give a thought of analyzing it to every detail before breaking the marriage - my worry is about all the future citizens who have to live without one of them and undergo so called one parent relationship and definitely the break up is a catastrophe as he is growing.

Though I dont have the expereince of the marriage i am strongly against the marriage breakups probably bcause of the situations that i have expereinced. So i would definitely vouch for "Honey letz take a Break - .....to Mauritius"

For all the Bongs And Non Bongs Also!!!! (A plagiarised one)

For your reading pleasure and to Ignite you if you are a bong ;-) (Definitely not my writing)

Overview:

There are two kinds of Bengalis that we know. Probashi (or Expatriate) Bangalees... a fairly large and diverse group and the other is the Bengalees who are from Kolkata. This group is incorrectly known as Bongs, as they are merely a subset.

However, this is the only group, which matters. Gokhale said of them, long years ago, "What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow."

To which Rene Descartes responded, "I think (today), therefore I am (Bengali)." Like all other Nobel Prize Winners, Oscar Awardees and most successful Indian cricket captains, Rene Descartes was also a Bong (this fact is not known outside of Kolkata).

Physical Description:
The Bong has a large head, glasses, glistening hair and dark skin. Older Bongs develop an ample stomach to balance their large heads. This happens by the age of 25. They smell of Keo Karpin. The average life expectancy is 65 years. What is even more impressive is what they do in those years. Outside Kolkata, regardless of weather, sex or age...Bongs can be seen in their Monkey Caps. This is a must-have accessory as well as a sign to recognise other Bongs.

Early Years:
While most Bongs are born with innate talents in singing, dancing, painting, film-making, cooking or embroidery, their creative talents are honed even before they can start speaking. Frequent meets are organized between infants and their successful ancestors and other relatives. MA degrees (preferably from Cambridge, or at least from Presidency or Jadobpoor) are displayed over the cots. The infant is exposed to the best of Bengali thought - Marx, Bentham, Kalidas, Tolstoy, Chekov*.

This increases the size of their heads and the height of their ambitions. Similar examples, though rare, can be found in European tradition as well, as in the case of Mozart. In India, however, Bongs have the sole preserve on such activity during infancy.

Soon, when they grow up a little, their characters are further honed in the best of schools. Here, I am not referring to the St. Xavier's, La Marts, Don Bosco's et al. They are important in the nurture a Bong child goes through. What is even more important are the schools the Bong child passes through before school and after school. Many a Bong child wakes up at five o'clock in the morning to attend swimming classes. After one hour of swimming, he attends tennis coaching before rushing off to one of the first heaven schools mentioned above. School finishes by three or so, from where, he scoots along to Singing/Instrumental Music/ Dance Classes , followed by tuition (in at least three of all five subjects). He rounds off the day with coaching on either Debating or Quizzing.

Many a Bong mom, after the mandatory afternoon nap, will carry the child along through this day, feeling equally energised with uncommon zeal. This behaviour is again not restricted to Bongs. It is also seen within kangaroos in Australia who rush along from one clump to another bush.

Growing Up:
Soon the Bong attains adolescence, doesn't find friends of his age (since not everyone is competing for the Nobel Prize or the Indian captaincy) and finds intimacy in conversation in his/her parents or the poems of T.S. Eliot and Pablo Neruda. When school ends, they move on to the good colleges - St. Xavier's, Presidency or IIT Kharagpur.

The best of them, though, move straight to Joo (Jadobpoor). However, in recent years, Dilli (Stephen's obviously), is becoming the preferred destination for some escapists. In colleges, they decorate their rooms with books or portraits of Robi Thakur (Tagore). On the opposite wall, they will have posters of Che/Maradona and Enrique Iglesias, thus expressing solidarity with Latin American culture. All of them share equal interest in the Bong-Rock (Bhumi, Chondrobindu, Cactus, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple).

Later Years:
Bongs mature early. Critics have said that they grow old early, but that is nothing but old hat. Years of toil and Eliot would obviously bestow wisdom. The reason they look older is because the sole purpose of a Bong's life is to win the Nobel Prize or the Oscars (and in recent years, captain the Indian team). With great responsibility comes great age. Add to it, the chlorine in the swimming pools and you know why Bongs grey prematurely. As far as their mission in life is concerned, they have been very successful at it.

Every Indian Nobel Prize winner has been Bong. So have the Oscar Awardees. And yes... the most successful Cricket Captain. And you have my favourite Bipasha Basu too?

Once Bongs have kids though, their mission on life changes.

The only raision d'etre for them is making sure that their progeny achieves the heights that they could (or couldn't). Hence, parent Bongs are mostly found outside of schools, colleges and tuition classes.

Diet:
Diet is as important as Robindro Shongeet. There's nothing that a Bong can't eat. However, they prefer protein over other food groups. The largest source of protein for them is fish, then meat, and then mishti (sweets) made from milk. More than fish itself, it is the knowledge of fish, which is coveted and enjoyed. Carbohydrates are tolerated if they are deep-fried in oil or if it is an accompaniment to fish. Luchis (equivalent of a Puri), Telebhajas (pakoras) and Phuchkas (Paani Puri) are the favoured source of carbohydrates.

The young Bengali though, invariably, always lives on a diet of Farex, Lactogen and Waterbury's Compound followed by Horlicks in later years.

Mating and Procreation: A few Bong end up being in relationships, which lead to love marriage:) This is sometimes shown in movies and song. However, most do not have any such social malignancy and end up marrying the woman of their mother's dreams or men of their father's choosing.

This results in mixing the right genes for the next cycle of Bongs. Love marriage, by its very nature, is random. It sometimes results in tragedy, like marrying an alien (into unknowns of another country... like India ). Hence, it is avoided, wherever possible.

Social Life:
Adda, Robindro Shongeet and Cha. Repeat. Do note that the young Bong doesn't have a social life (at least not till he wins the Nobel or gets a Government job).

Habitat:
While you may find a Bong in other places (like occasionally in offices), the best time to observe a Bong is in his natural habitat - the best of colleges, the best of schools, the best of coffee houses. It is here that he will tell you about Balzac while she will recite poetry with gay abandon. To mix in with the Bong, apply Keo Karpin to your hair and carry a jhola.

Hopefully, they won't notice your small head. Do not worry about not knowing the language, as the Bong likes being heard.

Famous Bongs:Many famous Bongs have been referred to in this extract. Hence, this section is used to debunk that big myth about Bongs. People believe that Bong men can't be hunky. If so, then what about Abhishek Bachchan (via mother,) Saif Ali Khan (via mother), John Abraham (via girlfriend), Hritik Roshan (via grandmother)... ...?? It only goes to prove that Bongs are good guys, despite their love of cracking jokes about every other community but completely lacking the ability to laugh at themselves... ha haa

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS ?

Following is an excerpt that i came across recently apparently sent by - Azim Premji, CEO- Wipro to thier employees:

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay
or profile.

Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office,and the very best technology,even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave ? Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules".

It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss .Immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he 's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge,experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Mostly manager drives people away?

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave,but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don 't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious,too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Talented men leave. Dead wood doesn't. ..

Immediately I went and looked at this article : http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/jul/08bspec.htm

My Take : I shifted two companies - the first one though was something unavoidable, the second shift in a way i agree with the person who wrote the article. So indeed me too a talented man :-)

Unveiling my First travelAbroad

Well I am not sure how long this blog will run into but you have to bear with me. "If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." Well this was something i picked from Henry miller's quotes and dedicated to my friend when she was about to travel to Singapore as i was sure i cannot make it to wish her for the bonvoyage. However that quote really intrigues ones self when you are out of the country. Here it goes...I had been to singapore last week on a business visit. I was excited as its the first time i will get to see a different culture altogether which i had always heard of but never felt my presence there. I was mentally prepared to expereince th culture shock ofcourse with help of my dear friend who had been there earlier. Every moment of the trip is amazing.

First things first..I landed up at the airport (after a day long hectic schedule) well in advance so i was the first one lead the crew to board the plane. Though nobody was there to bid farewell for my first international travel i was just waving my hands at the people who turned out for the fellow passengers. Had to go through a long process of secuirity cheque and finished it at reasonable time than expected. Had to kill another 2 hours, called up who can bear me and managed to bore for half an hour. The next 1 hour passed just like this for i met a veteran techie from HP based in US of A..playing the "Gyan Gyan" game. We talked and talked - ofcourse it was all about how technology changed the world , how HP & ORACLE are different. Luckily i finished half the book of "World is Flat" and i gave my gyan from that. Soon it was time to board the flight. All the while i have heard of boeing read abt it and now i am flying on Boeing...The journey was about 4.5 hours. I was a satisfied man with the hospitality of the crew inside the flight. Though had been on a jet lag over the last 2-3 days(For those who thin jet lag is caused only if you travel is sheer misconeption. It can be caused even due to mere physical exhaustion) i was exhausted by the time i reached singapore. But here i go..i was amazed at seeing the Aiport. This is something beyond what i actually heard off. That was an "infrastructure shock" for me having been in blore over the last 4 years. I thought for myself way back i will spend as much time possible in the airport. Though it takes a pretty long time to get out of the airport you will never crib for it since the surroundings are so soothening that you will enjoy every moment spent. Got out of the airport took a taxi to the hotel. I was fasicnated by the skycrapers - if singapore is like this imagine how will the city of skycrapers look like. Passing throught all those huge buildings reached the hotel. Quickly checked into the hotel - my room is in the 27th floor - and very nice view of the city from my room. Had breakfast, took a quick shower and opened my laptop to see what was my plan (courtesy prepared my dear friend). I thought i will have walk around the suntec city where i am put up and then leave to SENTOSA ISLAND. Suntec city is the place where all the BIG corporates are put up..and you have Only the BIIIIIIG MALLS around. It has got 4 towers and each tower is has a mall. Added to this there couple of other Big Malls Around. In between all these towers there is huge fountain called "fountain of wealth" a must see place supposedly the largets fountain in the world. Took a walk around all those big malls,big towers,buildings etc. Landed up at the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport if i remember it correct the automated metro trains).

And the system they have in place to get the tickets is amazing. You need not have to do any preparation in order to get to any place, just look at the map - figure out where you want to go, if no direct train interchange - all is in the map - only thing u need to know whats there in the map. Drop in your coins,key in your destination and thats it you get a card for the day. Swipe it and wait for the train, "Mind the Gap" when the train stops hop on to it and by the time the couple next to you finish smooching you are already at the place you want to be and the door is wide open for you. Reached Harbour front took a bus to Sentosa Island Resort - a major tourist attraction. Has a few beaches, some theme parks,luge.. and lot more exciting stuff including Palawan Beach which lies in the centre of the southern coast of Sentosa. There is a suspension bridge that leads to a small islet off the coast which is said to be the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, or Asia's closest point to the Equator.. If you want to lighten your wallet and have fun at the same time this is Sentosa is the place. I could just chill around this place for more than 4 hours. Went around the place tried few of the stuff had some exotic food. Everybody who goes there has to wait till 7.45 pm for the fountain show musing the reflection and refraction of the lasers hitting the water particles creatinf a 3-d image is something worth waiting to watch explaining the importance of Sentosa. After an exhaustive day got back to the Hotel preparing for my actuial business. The rest of the three days of my stay was equally good with the majority portion of the day being spent for the purpose and the evenings going around the unexplored parts of singapore like Orachard Road (on parrallel to Brigade Road....wll lit up...since christmas is approaching with good shopping stuff)...marina square...mustafa (one of the largest and cheapest store to do your shopping. You get everything on earth here.). There are couple of pure eloctronic malls like simlin square where you get you can freak out if you are a gadget savvy. Though in the evenings it was raining i could manage to check out everything has been planned except few. The best part of Singapore is the infrastructure, the traffic system - everybody follows the lane disipline so religioulsy you can hardly hear any honkings, every vehicle rips on an average speed of 80-90 kmp and the best part is they give respect to pedestrians (even at no zebra crossings) which is quite amazing. You have digital automated system in place which let you know how much time will it take to reach you if its a peak hour traffic (ofcourse we do have RJ's doing the job in blore..). Truly i was taken back by a surprise with the traffic system in place. Added to this the place is so clean everybody takes that extra step of walking 10 steps to throw the litter which is hard to find in India. Though its quite humid and we do sweat, In the evening when i get back to my room i see that my collars have no shades of dirt at all thats the level of dirt free zone they maintain, also I had polished my shoe only once and it was neat and shining until i reached bangalore. Another quick fact i came to know is that nothing is grown in Singapore even the electricity and water comes from the neigbouring malaysia including the food nad other stuff..no wonder they have such a huge harbour. Though i was feeling lonely (it would have been nice if there was one more atleast to click the snaps for me) the people are very friendly there they smile at you whenever you exchange a glance at them. Needless to say the culture is weseternised with so many pubs and coffee shops openings up the youth spends most of the time either in the malls or at these places.

On the last day of my stay i went to MerLion Park - Statute with Head of a Lion and body of a fish - a strange animal though recalls the story of Sang Nilama Utama who found a Lion while on hunt in this Island and named the place Simhapuri. Probably he has a taste of the Sling which illusionise the body of the lion in resemblance to fish. Anyways its the trademark and awesome place to visit and you can the boat ride around the bay which covers most part of the city. Right opposite is the staute of Stamford Raffles - the founder of Singapore..no wonder all the places predominatnly are suffixed or prefixed with raffles. A nice place to walk around till the Esplanade mall where i came across a bunch little kids spent some time with them finished the last minute shopping checked out of the hotel at 5 pm. Luckliy since it was a business travel i had the chance of travelling in merc and limo around the city on couple of occasions. Reached airport well before time. Checked in my luggage and was just freaking out in the airport for almost more than 2 hours. Took every snap of it browsed internet, tried the Baileys caramelle flavour, had a foot massage covered every angle of Airport. Its just different earth altogether i felt.

I wished the indian government send some of their beuracrats , the politicians to these places learn how the government here works, how they designed the system , how they built the infrastructure etc. I would defintely like to see atleast couple of cities in india having this kind of infrastructure in my life time. Its not a magic that the Singapore has created (if you see the population in singapore is predominantly domindated by tamilians no wonder you have sign boards written in tamil along with english- the entire labour is migrated from india.- they knew how to harness the skill) it all depend on how to tap the exisiting potential and utilise the fullest extent in creating such infrastructure rather than being occupied in filling their pockets. Thats a different topic altogether will key in some other time.

Finally after 30 mins delay the plane took off. The view of the city in the night from the top is simply superb. Soon it was dinner time..I had been asked to try out repeatedly - Singapore Sling so tried this in the craft pretty nice drink. Reached bangalore and finished all the checks but had to wait for an hour to claim my baggage...we defintiely need provision of stress busters in Bangalore Airport. And now in putting down my expereince in brief with the circadain rythm in action, so please bear any typo's. Well as stated initially one's destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things hopefully i see a better infrastructure rich bangalore in near future just to avoid the cribbings by all these foreginers , for when we are foreigners we boast about the place left right center like what i did above but when we are mainlanders we along with foreiners crib, well that should not be the case.

And finally A big Virtual Hug to my friend who took her time out in making a detailed plan, knowledging(plz recommend this word to oxford) me abt the place and the timely help in every possible way right from handing the lock n key in the last moment to the USD's for xcange ( I guess i have to return the equvalent rupees:-) ) without which i would have had to forgo my shopping.

Entertainment and Gyaan Mixed in the same glass!!!

After my last review on omkara i didn't have an oppurtunity to blog on any of the latest bollywood movies for 2 reasons Rajeev masand of cnn ibn does all the job for me and there were no substance movies also to watch. However ever since LRMB released i had been wanting to watch having heard of the all those reviews and the ripples it created across India. Thanks to my friends for voluntarily pulling me for the movie yesterday. Though it was a second show (generally tend to sleep) i was enjoying every moment of it. The way movie takes off with Janavi's punch dialogues of GenX knowing about what happening in the daily life of SaasBahu serials but not caring about our very own parents lives is completely relatable. Well i dont want to get into the mundane story telling of LRMB as many people have already done it but i want to confess that LRMB has tocuhed me in many ways. Just like the prequel MBBS has taught us to think with a smile this time its been delivered more with a punch. Baapu really made a comeback with LRMB. Gone are the days of sunny deol with his Daadagiri kindaa movies now its only sanju's gandhirgiri. "GandhiGiri" i salute the person who came with this stupendous name. In this though gandhiji is not real, munna is obssessed with the very idea of gandhi which in other terms munna under plain halucination or chemical lochcha has been protrayed fanstically making all the superstitions and illusions clear.
Apart from gandhi there are several take aways from LRMB, would like to mention couple of them - when the girl meets to choose a guy in a restaurant with her own apprehensions she calls up munna for a suggestion...and the idea of behaviour with lower strat os society triggers. The practice of sussh...sshhhhhhh which most of us use to call the waiters was denocuned and made us realize we are no different. The other scene where this old man wants to get the pension, and the officer demands a bribe that very scene of giving all his belongings with numbers though funny has hit the deck straight.

Though want to write more on Sarkeswar aka circuit i want to put it in one line his histrionics are amazing and his comdey timing is impeccable., indeed he is the show stealer. Overall the dialogues are first rate, captivating cinematography filled with vibrancy, innovative songs are the stepping stones for the scripts flow, and taut screenplay. All the elments of the movie were truly fantastic. Great job and a big bow to the entire team of LRMB.

Gundagiri to Gandhigiri forms the crux of the film, so if you are thinking its a movie of zealous preachery...A stern "NO' from my side ...Entertainment and Gyaan can be mixed together and LRMB is cocktail of the two which indeed is a repleting and I am sure you would have learnt a thing or two.

So generations to come Munnabhai and circuit series will be saluted and i am proud that i am part of this era though watched it after the entire nation has watched and is defintely gonna be added to my all time favourites.

Now that my dear friend you have finished reading this , having told me you would take me out for this which didn't happen - i am eagerly waiting for you to buy me LRMB DVD so that i can watch again and again again.....tension nahin lenaa kaa...watt nahin lagane kaa..sirf DVD denaa kaa...:-)

SMS 'L' if you liked this else 'NL' to XXXX

Offlate you switch on any channel - be it a news channel or soap channel or movie dhamaka one - all you see is competing to receive as many sms's as they could get. Even the advertisements being shown now-a-days have adopted this wierd startegy of sms, 'let ananth reach safely home sms to xxxx' or 'big boss key ghar sey beghar karne keliye sms 1 to xxxx...' or 'to vote diwakar sms .....' or 'buy a choloromint ans sms to win nokia phone every hour.." I always used to wonder why is it that they want to sms, Is it to generate the interests among the publics or they luring them with some strange marketting fundaa behind. Is it that only if you are smsing only than you are following the serial religiously, is it that if you sms to the news channel the kid who got kidnapped will escape from the hands of the kidnappers having known that there is huge wave of sms's for his safe return to home. You can generate sms for anything the news channels are experts on this you name the topic and they are ready with the smsq - sms question. Forget the news channels and tele-serials even the advertisements - assume you want to buy a toffee worth half a rupee and you want to win a Rs 1 lakh you sms to so and so certain number - just think the cost of the sms is more than the cost of the toffee. Assume 30 crore toffees being sold over a period of 2 months that means over 50 lakh a month. At a conservative estimate let think atleast 3-5% of cosnumers will send sms which will be roughly around 2 lakh sms's. And the cost of the sms varies over the service providers - rs 1 to rs 3. So this toffee company is sure to get atleast 40-45% of the revenue share. So that means that 1 lakh a day give away pays back for itself. if the amount of sms is huge in number than sone pey suhagaa only - for the advertisemnet costs are also covered. In the end who is contributing to the 1 lakh give away - its the aam junta....its like playing lottery in a more sophisticated way since in india its only the govt which is allowed to do the lottery stuff...so hey mere desh key log its a strange kind of advertising fundaa to make you fools get money from you cover the companies costs and give some money to the so called luckier ones. No wonder today whatever you see its all driven by sms. The more the new technology reaches the common man the more he is digging grave for his self :-). I guess its time for me to ask all the readers of my blog to sms me if they like thought its not advantageous to me unless i strike a deal with the service provider even otherwise it is for him the moment the sms leaves ur outbox :-) or use a cdma connection where the sms is cheaper .

A special week!!!!

Last week had been a special week!!!. It was hectic just like any other week but something new had driven into my routine . Firstly as part of my business visit to chennai had an oppurtunity to stay in a 5 star hotel overnight. I stayed in taj connemera in chennai. After our tech briefing sessions had been to the marina beach. Hardly spent more than 10 mins for there were too many people and i hate so much of crowd for many reasons primarily too much crowd too much littering takes place and its difficult to reach out my voice to too many people out there saying "plz dont litter" . Came back to the hotel, was looking through the dinner menu , gosh everything is too expensive though i know as a matter of fact that i was at the so called *ed hotel. Though my company will pay for the food i was not convinced to spend so much somehow managed with the least borne item costing me 450 only :-) .Iit was too sophisticated for me to pass on the night - having getting used to sleep on a mat and a pardigm shift to sleeping on a well cushioned bed. It took hours to catch sleep. The next day after finishing off the session reached bangalore in the evening and rushed to office since i had to attend the global orientaion programme at oracle. Here i had the opurtunity to catch up on new people at oracle working in different teams. Spent an entire 2 days in a resort seeminlgy far from blore. Though the emohasis by the instructor was on imbibing the oracle values on us..i was chilling out with the new friends i made. Also there team building activities like rappling and other things which i enjoyed a lot, also came up with a skit and abstract add of Fevicol mixing the likes of hemish Reshimiya!!!!. Reached back blore late evening had been to the Dream-A-Dream computer session (guess need to write a separate blog on this) which i was supposed to cooridnate, famliairiased with the people who are going to take the sessions for kids and left to the our NGO (Power of We) head quarters . As part of this NGO (visit www.powerofwe.in for more details) i was supposed to organize the Blore marathon. Though managed quite a bit because of my hectic travelling schedule the other guyz in our group took over it from where i left. I went there to find out where we stand on marathon (which i advertised in my earlier blog). To my surprise we had 42 people registered through "POW". That was something great. Though i was tired having done too much of outdoor activties i was just waiting for sunday to participate in the marathon. Finally the D-Day had come !!!. Intitailly was planning to a walkathon since my body was already aching like hell. We were participating the celebration for 7 Kms. Was sure that i was going to walk. We reached kanterava stadium which is the starting point for the run. There were lotz of people roughly around 11K ....seeing the crowd there was a sudden rush in the adrenaline...i decided come what may i will just keep running until i finish the 7 kms run....and the moment has started..started running ofcourse at very less velocity.....but never stopped...i spotted people who started running with full enthu and started walking..while others just kept running. There were quite a number of kids filled with so much of spirit running along with indivcating the never give up attitude. Our group was running for "Traffic Safety and Road Awareness" - I wore T-Shirt saying "Dont Drink And Drive" . There were many good looking ladies whom i overtook..but all the while i was concentrating only on my Run. Finally i finished the run of 7 kms without any stoppages without having water in a decent time of 45-50 mins.
Aah..what a feeling i couldnt believe that i ran for 7 kms. I was wondering from where did this potential come from?? Frankly marathon till some distance is a physical effort beyond that its all the mental strength . Its based up on your will power how much can you push your self once your body is tired. We keep wathcing in movies even the hero is beaten up left right and center..still he gets up and wins over the villain., though this situation might be slightly exaggeratted..but if your will is stronger and you the have never give up attitude nothing is impossible (Take the instance of Kill Bill) !!!!. Running a martahoon is something you can cherish for long time. Now i am willing to do "Half Martahon" which is about 21 kms next year.
this run indeed has inspired me many things - importantly Nothing under the sky is impossible - its all in the mind!!!!
"If you want to run run a mile. If you want to expereince a different life run a marathon". Truly this marathon is a different learning expereince altogether!!!!

Run in bangalore marathon for "Traffic Awareness and Road Safety"

In today’s world we all are running a rat race in our lives for success, spending most part of the race seated on our desks.

When we get out of our seats and try and do something we face the wrath of bouncy rides and bad traffic…

“Power of We”, an NGO working on road safety in Bangalore gives you a chance to run for a cause… We will be running in the Bangalore marathon for “Traffic Awareness and Road Safety”.

You all can contribute by running in the marathon and pledging your support for improving the traffic of namma bengaluru!!

Details:
Celebration Run of 7kms on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 10:00AM starting from Sree Kanteerava Stadium and will be supported in this cause by Maruti Driving School and Bimal Auto agency.

Together We Can…. Together We Will !!
http://www.powerofwe.in

Mail up vijaykumar.yenne@gmail.com or harmanbatra@yahoo.com if you want to participate. For queries contact 9845883912/9886179901.

Cheers!
For Power Of We Team
Vijay


P.S:

1. T-shirts will be provided to the participants one day before the event and banners on the day of the event
2. Participants have to pay a fee of Rs 150/- for registration.

"OMKARA" - A Brilliant Adaptation

If you have ever read "Shake the sphere's" "OTHELLO" you would definitely like "OMKARA". Its a brialliant adaptation however the regular film goers may not get the movie since they are more carried away by regular saas -bahu soaps or KJ's "Big Family" setup's based in UK/New York.
Vishal Bharadwaj needs to be appreciated for his bold direction for the way the movie was setup in the rural areas of UP. Though there is much usage of abusive language it really suits the setup the director has chosen. Those who havent read "OTHELLO" would find "OMKARA" as an average flick about a man poisoned with jealousy with his sub-ordinate , kills his own lover and later himself.
Shakespear's Tragedy && Bhardwaj's Crew:
DarkSkinned Moor of Venice (Othello) - half Brahmin, Dark Complexioned chief of the outlaws (Omkara)
envious, conniving and cunning Iago - limping, tobacco-chewing, cursing, Langda Tyagi
handsome, charming and self-pitying Cassio - Kesu Phirangi
beautiful and madly-in-love Desdemona becomes the fair-skinned Dolly Mishra
The jealous, revengeful Roderigo becomes Rajan.
The seductive Bianca becomes Billo.

Thoough Vishal has taken the independence to change the script slightly, he has maintained the concept intact.Actors have outplayed their very characters really well. Saif was at his best and takes off a way ahead for he has the most number of dialogues. Kareena's role is definitely role of substance then the regular glamourous role she does and no wonder people feel pity for her character as the plot starts revealing. Oberio is has justified his character for he has been a bakra in his real life as well as the movie :) And Ajay's role looks he has tailored himself for "OMKARA". Though half the dialogues are OHT (Over head transmission) but there are moments of humour song and dance, especially the lyrics of some songs were too poetic - in the regular gulzarish style.

Overall the movie is very shakeshearish too its core. Vishal made a laudabale attempt adapting a literary work that was written some 400 years ago , it may not be a "BOX OFFICE" hit unlike the regular "Family Antakshari type movies" :)

Give me the freedom!!!!

Well i am not going to write about the freedom struggle just because 59th indpendence day celebration has gone by. It all about a concept of "FREEDOM" or "INDEPENDENCE" that has been well depicted in a gult movie "BOMMARILLU" that i watched recently. To put in a nutshell about the movie its about how parents restrict the freedom to take decisions of their children be it in the matter of "selecting a dress, buying a cycle/bike, choosing a career or choosing a girl" . Most of the decisions in our lives are influenced by our parents - sometimes these decision might nurture their children to be great souls and at times it may be other way round. There might be certain instances in our lives where you feel that the decision taken was against your will and at this point of time we feel that our parents are restricting our freedom and we are not given the oppurtunity to excercise our own will. But why do parents do such things?? From their perspective they think thats in the good will of their children and also the age factor comes into picture - they feel that we are too young to take any decisions. This is accpetable till certain age, but some decisions are still driven by them even though you attain that maturity in your life. So does this man they want to exhibit some kind of bossisim? or it it purely out of sheer love for their kids? Well it depends on what the parents feel about their kids. Atleast wrt me i felt there were certain instances where my i was deprived of independence. For instance i have always been insisted by my parents never to get into water nor go for swimming classes - no wonder i have been to the beach once or twice having spent 16 years in vizag :) I do understand their apprehensions, but such restrictions will make yourself confined to not taking certain risks and when situation arises you will be land up in trouble. Had only i been allowed to go for swimming classes i would have gone for more rafting trips:) Inspite of this i still go on for treks N rafting trips just i make sure that its not informed at home :) Most parents want their children to take up professions like doctor or engineer or a lawyer. But if the kid is very much creative and wants to take up a course in fashion design you would see that there hardly less population of parents which encourages to do so. What can the parents do they themselves are driven by many people - be it their relatives or the society around them. I feel parents should give full freedom atleast in 2 aspects of their children's lives : One choosing the career to land up and two choosing the girl of their choice . Parents need to be liberal at times probably give atleast a thought when the kids puts forward his thoughts rather than rejecting them striaght away. Not all parents are of the same kind, but not all parents are liberal either :)
So the point is why should we as kids be deprived of freedom of in choosing certain aspects of our life the way we want to take up our life : to end in a lighter note : had only Tendulkars parents restricted him to concentrate more on studies than on cricket he would have been an another uninteresting techie like me than what this independent nation adores him for :-)

Lets invest for a social Cause!!!!

GMAT!!! As the name suggests its something most of the juntha is kicked about. Crack the gmat, Apply for the b-schools abroad, get into one of them, slog for 2 years get into a good MNC. Though it looks like a simple cycle its indeed a tough one to go through right from taking the exam to landing up with a job after you finish your studies. Overall you would spend around 40-45 lakhs of indian rupess for all this and probably land up in a job which ofcourse pays you handfull which eases the pressure of clearing the loan you have taken to pursue your studies. But why would you want to spend so much? And why MBA?? Why Abroad??? if you ask these questions to any b-school aspirant you get here answers like i want to be a successful entreprenuer or i want to get into McKinsey etc. Well MBA does add value to your life to your CV or whatever and indeed 2 years of life spent in a b-school is worth expereince for a life time which moulds you into a different individual altogether. However I feel if you want to become a good entreprenuer you dont need to have an MBA. Why would you want to invest 40 lakhs of rupees??? Why dont you invest in some social venture in your own country India?? Why dont 3-4 guyz pool in and start something new?? As we know India is a Land of Big Problems?? And lets us see these Big Problems As a Big oppurtunity and why not set ourselves to revolutunize and be change to see the change. Right away I can think of Big problem is "PLASTIC" the word itself is so scary. Imagine with the all the monies you earn with those Big MBA's for your generations to come spend their lives in loads of polythene covers and plastic dump lying around. Why dont you guyz come with some great venture if not eradicate atleast reduce this so called problem of "PLASTIC" and help the society in turn. "No work if not socially relevant is worth working for it". So all you folks aiming for those big MBA's think, come up with new ideas, invest the money in new ventures be it a plastic recycling plant - making a litter free society , or a sports school tapping the potential of the rural and atleast get few medals in the olympics or an education programme which reaches out to all those underpriviliged kids, or some kindaa counselling trust which encourages the educated youth to participate actively in politics..just do something you have ample of oppurtunities in India - come up with something constructive & do Something useful to the society.

Gult Marriages!!!!

The other day i had been to one of friends marriage. Since he was a close friend of mine i had to take off from work to attend the function. And this has given me an oppurtunity to go through the entire process of a gult(for the uninitated its the Andhraites) marriage. I never had a chance to witness one though not even in my family :) . Somehow this whole process of marriage seemed very strange. Though i don't remember the exact sequence of steps it looked like its a big stack of events lined up without any breaks in between. As i was witnessing the whole process several questions were popping up in mind. Firstly why should the so called "muhurtham" be at those odd hours, say somewhere between 11pm - 04 am. I have rarely seen any gult marriage being conducted in broad day light other than the regular run away bride type of marriages. So why should the pandit decide this strange hours as good time to tie the knot? Well i am really not sure of the planetary physics involved in calculating this equation. Thats one aspect of marriage. But for this to occur the bride and the groom have to cross many hurdles. Imagine lotz of people attending the marriage wishing the blessed couple a prosperous and healthy life, while until the ceremony is over they have to starve and this depends on the events lined up on the day of marriage. some times the couple have to wait for food until all the poojas are perfomed and this may go on for hours for this is the only time where the priests mint money ( They feel that the longer they perform the pooja the more satisfied are the older generation and they are paid heavy tips) . While the couple is starving there are huge number of people who attend the marriage just for food :) For the couple and also the audience ( i mean people who attended the marriage) not to be bored there are some games designed soon after groom ties the three knots ( still not sure why it is restricted to only three) . This is a very nice strategy invented to keep the couple engaged otherwise who will sit for that many hours without food and without any entertainment. One of the games include searching for ring in a big bowl (where only 2 pairs of hands can pass through) of water, and who ever gets the ring wins the game. another game includes pressing each others foot - i guess this should be a nice stress buster along with pouring lots of rice on each others head. But one thing crosses my mind why would somebody spend laksh of money to perform this occasion. Probably same reason why you would treat somebody when you got your first job or got your first car etc. The finale of the functions ends with the priest showing a star (so called Arundati ?Nakshtra) to the couple. But i could never spot one during the phase when there are no stars in the sky - and the priest still aiming his pointed finger in the whole empy dark say and the couple desperately trying to spot the one. The couple tries to bear all this tiresome sequence of things for they know this is the beginning and in the coming days they have many more jhanjats in life to come across!!!

A chaotic night @ free of cost!!!

It all started because of the comment passed on Shamala a good frd of mine ....by Baichung @ Rupak the rafting guide which made me to put the comment as status message in my gtalk!!! Now here starts an interesting story...though dont want to mention about the status message it actually tells so much abt the personality that she filled with lotz of energy blah blah..

But somehow she didnt like the message her claim is that she wants to be modest i shouldn't glorify her...and the discussion went on and on..and finally she struck a deal...since i was involved too much in politics @ college and it was i who used to make the deals sometimes deals with double games included :)..but this time it came from the other side so agreed up on..wondering whats the deal.."remove the status message for "pirates of the carribean" i thought for a while..its been months i have been to any movie..and this deal give me oppurtunity to look at the big screen..no matter how the movie is Since my office is close to FORUM..i have booked the tickets...though it was supposed to be sponsored from her...now i have to get the tickets money reimbursed :) (pradeep i manged to get it reimbursed...she maintained the decorum :) from my side i have planned pretty well...since movie starts @10 and probably ends at 1 AM or so..i thought i will come back to office book a cab and go!!! and the M-Day has arrived....Since i knew that she has to go to forum via my office..and i didn't want to burn extra gasoline..i asked her to pick me up at my office...now here started the confusion....i gave her very good instructions on how to reach my office from hers. Though she wanted to start at 9 Pm..since i was confident at my instructions i asked her to start 10 mintues later to this ..this added more fuel to the confusion..she started...and even after all those hulla-bulla instructions she couldnot trace my office.. Called her..somehow traced her...and we had some 5 more mins...in these five minutes she wanted to withdraw some dosch from the ATM...just before that i called up her frd..who was supposed to join us..and since there was some communication gap between these 2...he thought that movie program was called off..hmm some more confusion here..

finally we reached forum..were rushing along with the escalator to reach the audi-7.... here the security guard tells.."you cannot carry the helmet along" dumping some more confusion into her....though i read the instructions when i bought the tickets..somehow i missed the helmet part...anyways..helmet needs to go into the baggage room..she went to in search for this room..and it seems like there was quite a big queue...after 10 mins we finally enter the audi..and we missed the first few reels....have to get along..we were having good fun...and after an hour or so..she suddenly realised that her vehicle key is missing....this is like "khulaadi pey paav marna.."..i thought we already had enough of chaos so far...but this one just too much...she went and checked if it was left along with the vehicle itself..fortunately..it was not..and the vehicle is still there..that means..in all the hurry-burry in order not to miss the trailers..she dropped the keys somewhere...hmm..there in the movie "Jack Sparrow wants the key for the CHEST"...here our lady wants the key for her vehicle"...atleast something in common to both their lives :)

though we couldn't enjoy the movie much..over all movie was quite good..bit boring at times...it got over at 1 AM..now here the circus starts..how will she go home...she doesn't want to take an auto...i dont want to drop her ( so mean of me...for its too far form my place its almost opposite ends..) since she is brave enough to ride alone at this hour of the nite....i offered her my vehicle (luckily i drive a kinee)....we informed the control room guyz abt her vehicle..he assured that 2 wheeler will be safe..we took an auto to my office..though its hardly 2-3 kms from forum..we paid him 50 bucks....i gave her my vehicle..asked her send an sms the moment she reaches home...the roads were absolutely deserted..she must have been psyched....and ultimately she reached home..i was desperately waiting for the sms with fingers crossed...aah...great she reached home...now what i do..now that i expereinced such a wonderful chaotic funny nite i have to share this expereience...so here i am in office composing the mail..stayed at office for couple of hrs...made the draft version of the mail..since the expereince has not yet ended since we have yet to collect her vehicle...somehow managed to go to my frds place...close to office...caught sleep for a while...and suddenly i get a call in the morning..at 8.30..that she is in forum already.. so immediately rushed..there...lucky to spot her keys with the security....finally the she got the keys that she lost...now only pending thing is her helmet..but the bagage room opens only at 10 am..and we couldnt wait for so long..i thought let me help her here atleast in this case.. i assured her i will pick the same...since her office is close to my home...i parked my vehicle at my office..asked her to drop me near to her office(again want to save some more gasoline :) ..so that i can take a walk for atleast 2-3 kms....
i reached home..got ready...and my room mate was going to forum to catch up some morning show it being holdiay for him..i thought ok great....asked him to drop at forum...picked up her helmet and back to office composing the rest of the drafted version i left this early morning :)

while writing this my mail..i was introspecting over the events that happened last and i thought "if only i hadn't put the status message....all this mess would have happend" but i guess such things do happen in life unknowingly..and u r just a normal being who can't control some things lined up ahead :)

though i mentioned it as a chaotic nite for pirates was free of cost for me..it was a funny expereince..otherwise i wouldn't had so much to write...

and this incident reminds me of my fav song

"Somethings in life are Bad...they can really make u mad..
other things just make u swear and curse...
when u r chewing on life's gristle..dont grumble give a whistle..
and this will help things turn out for the best...
And always look on the Bright side of life..."

Inspite of all the confusions...chaos..she was at ease abt the whole things happening all the while...

Great shamala...letz have more confusions and more fun :-)

Exhilarating rush of Adrenaline...a life time expereince

Last weekend i had been to a trip to River SITA with few of my new friends. Sita river is famous for white water rafting. Therz a myth that when Hanu-Man was carrying the jewel of Sita given by Rama it fell into this very river- this is why it has been named after Sita!!! When karthik (frd of mine) sent me a mail regarding the rafting i thought for a while and decided that i am in the game. However i had my own set of apprehensions. First thing i was strictly cautioned by my parents that i should never get into water - probably river or sea...some kindaa "Water Ganda". Secondly i heard the river has an average depth of 40 feet so there are good chances of being drowned for i dont even know the abcd's of swimming theortically itself forget the real time expereince. Finally its monsoon and we may have chances of doing the rafting in a deluge. With all these fears in mind i was still in the game for taking a risk - for i thought therez no meaning to life without taking those big risks. Karthik a new frd of mine (probably 2 weeks of fship!!! ) has arranged the logistics and other services for the trip. There were 2 of his other frds Jai & Pradeep who joined with us for the trip whom i met for the first time. Rest 2 i have know them for quite few months. So total 7 folks set on for new adeventurous and thrilling trip who don't know much about each other and most them its the first expereince of white water rafting . This place where we were supposed to go is roughly around 370 kms from blore...towards Udipi!!! Though the ride in the bus was slightly tedious the moment we entered Udupi..it was like a heaven. I just fall in love - love at first sight!!with the surroundings...what a thick vegetation does the someshwara wild life forest has...We reached the base camp late than expected so there was a slight change in the plan...the rafting activity was shifted to the noon...With in the camp we had a small trek..played a ball game in the shallow portions of the river !!! All this while my apprehensions were going on somewhere at the back of my mind!!!

Atlast the real moment has come. We were given the life jackets, helmets, oar and a Raft which can hold 10 people including the guide. Some how managed to pull in 2 other folks just to make sure that our group is intact :-) The expereince started off with the instructions which seemed to give me some confiedence to overcome my apprehensions...and finally the moment had come to get our raft into water...we were taught how to hold the oar and row the raft..and the rowing started....soon we encountered the first Rapid ( i guess its of level 3 )...and it was an amazing feeling after i was compeltey involved in the activity leaving behind my fears....after few encounterance of the rapids we reched a portion of river where we were allowed to get into the river...and i guess the depth should atleast be 30.. i like a major dude just dived into it from back...and i started getting deep into the water...that very second all my fears crept into my mind... i didnt even remember that i was wearing a life jacket which can hold upto 160 kgs and float the body even in a whirlpool... i thought i am out of the game...for i had gone atleast 14-16 feet depth....then immediately the instruction given at the beginning struck to my mind just float backwards... there was lotz of water entering into my body through my ears nose and mouth ..and the moment i reached to the raft i felt like i just got a new life!!! After this episode i felt like i can take on anything its just matter of how you follow and execute the instructions by the guide...and i started enjoying myself in the raft - rowing...and water splashing on me when we were encountirng the rapids....it was real rush of the adrenaline...it was an different kindaa feeling that i had never expereinced before!!



We did the rafting for about 4.5 hrs for a stretch of 22 kms..and its was a non stop fun all the way... By the time we reached the camp it was 7 PM. And one of our folks AJay had leave. We goodbyed:) him!!! had enough number of bhajji's..went to the so called farm house which actually is a normal house without a farm freshened up and returned to the camp for dinner. dicovered that the other group had finsihed the dinner..and the food is being cooked for us!! So we had to wait for food..meanwhile we joined this group playing dumbc's...we started giving movies to them,and they were treating us as a god level in this game!!! somehow managed to get food and by the time we reached the farm house it was around 11 PM. Though planned to sleep since we had to for trek the next morning....i dont from where the enthu popped up.. we thought of playing a game of cards...soon it ended and followed by couple of game ofmafia..probably will write another blog on mafia..though i was victim in both the games i enjoyed this game very much. The night ended with dumbc's and realised that it was 2AM already..then decided to sleep..though it took me a while forme to sleep..for i dont adjust to new sleeping envrionemnt very easily...

got up at 6.30...time to join the trek..though initially we were reluctant to join for it..for we had go with another 40 people..we wanted to go on atrekfor ourselves..having had enough number of poories..we got the route of the trek from the guide...and leaving the guide and those 40 odd people behind we moved ahead for trek..we reached a river crossing point which has thin log which can hold only 1-2 person at a time..and is supposed to be the life line of the villagers in and around this forest area... there we met three guyz who were really worried since 2 of their friends were missing...(just called him up and found that they could trace back their friends )...
since the terrain was slippery and also the trail was not that obvious we were advised to go in a group...which we were anyway adhering to that always..it was raining then sunny..again raining..the trek was really good with this sort of climate...finally we reahced the koodlu theertha falls....what a beautiful falls...just enjoyed watching them..since the entire trail was full of leeches..once we reached this place everybody was busy clearing the leeches and enjoying the falls...after a while headed back...and this was more fun....there was deluge for most of the time..and i was just enjoying it...getting drenched..singing to myself..oohh...first time in my life i felt that i was very close to the nature!!! as if nature is happy to see me there and pouring so much....this was an ecstasy of rage which cannot be expressed......i just loved it...by the time we reached the camp it was 2.00 Pm..had a quick lunch...for the next activity lined up was mountain biking..intitially i thought of missing it...but realised if not now than never..so gave it a go..by 3.30 we were ready with the head gear,knee gear..and elbow gear (not sure if its the right terminology) and with a geared cycle...it was so uncomfortable....though i knew how to ride a bicycle..but never tried a geared one..however after few couple of rounds..i felt at ease...we entered the biking terrain..there were couple of steep slopes...and really had to push hard for the challenge is not get down..but just go on and on!!! one of gooddies shilpa was feeling dizzy..so had to stop at couple of places..for we didnt want to leave her behind...the guide who was accompanying was tired..he made a comment on one of the gooddie shamala.."yeh rafting karthi hain..trekking karthi hain..biking bhi karthi hain...yeh kya ladki hain yaar thakthi hee nahin hain" and ofcourse the entire group was filled with lotz of energy..and even after doing so much of much of biking for more than 2 hrs we were still in game for another one....

However there was no activity for the the time had come for us to pack up and leave to blore..
we did a rafting of 22 kms..then trekking a round trip of around 12-14 kms...and biking for 10-12 kms..over 2 days and still at the end of the day we were still not tired...had a quick refresment at the farm house..packed the luggage..had the bhaaji's..and now ready to leave to blore at a more uninteresting note....

And now its time for vote of thanks : )


3 cheers to karthik (if u r reading this) for making this trip successful for he organized it so well that every moment of this trip is memorable in the years to come. Though most of us were new to each other you can see that i had known karthik hardly for 2 weeks..then pradeep and jai first time..though known shamala and shipla for quite a while this trip has bonded the fship futher!!!...we jelled in together so much as if we had known for years...The rafting ,trek and biking we did together and the room that we all shared together to sleep is symbolic of our togetherness and willingness to fight against all adversities and still wake up smiling and ready to face new challenges all over again!!! Couldn't have been such a wonderful expereince without these guyz!!!

The innumberable stoppages for tyre changes...the bumpy to & fro ride from mlore to udipi..
the leechy bites ( for one went into almost my unde) ...the slippers that shilpa lost beacuse of which she had to return barefoot...knowledge feed by jai on different kindaa birds ...hot bhaajis' on both the days..the casual fall's by pradeep..ajay and shamala during the trek..the lighter moments of water-fights in the raft (and of course shamala's "natural and synchronzied paddling" -- read as pouring of water on people behind her ), walking in the dark from the camp to the farm house...cramps i developed bcause of the morning jog..wonderful trek decorated by the intermittent rains to see the Koodlu falls (with the much-hyped river crossing), mountain biking with a faithful canine follower, and finally the 16-people-in-a-jeep ride to Hebri....

Though the trip ended with quite a few aching muscles, really tired eyes, moderately damp, mildly soggy and really dirty clothes/shoes/socks. ....the mental happiness we got out of this expereince is something memorable in the years to come

truly its a life time expereince for me....always ready to take new risks..and counter life's tides with more positive attitude!!!

PS: Karthic i have taken few lines from ur mail to make the blog a better read!!! Hope you dont mind!!!