Kudhremukh - The pics
So the pics the pics the pics...I have been talking about it offline online everywhere...and here they are!
(more pics soon...keep watching this space...meanwhile...)
Batta and Chai on the way to!
I have absolutely no idea what that hand was doing there!!!
Pati Patni or woh..baccha!
Our class people are so good that they decided having a teacher on board would be great.
We started at 11pm...the journey through the silent dark night was awesome!This was where we stopped when the eggheads got lost.The sky looked awesome too!
Them countrymen get more channels than me...even Disney Channel..sheesh!
Our bus was moving at such a high rate of speed that we needed a 1000 frames per second camera to capture this notice board that said "DRIVE SLOW"
Kudre Mukh :)
A misty morning awaits us as we logout of the lodge after a long ride!
Pradeep: Official brand ambASSador of S.R.S travels (Now making million$, unavailable for other endorsements)
This not a scene from Africa...this was before our breakfast at the national park!
Thats the crowd...well not even half of it but there is a big chunk of our class
Make your own road!!
7 of the 9 brave men ( ;p) who made it to the brook far down below!
And finally...what The brook really looked like!Trust me..its much much better to be there!
You see the mountains they are facing? They are called Brokeback mountains!
They were like this when I got there 'A few good men'....That's Elton John in between!
When they saw me...they quickly changed postures!
By far the noisest bunch on the planet!
Hanumangundi Falls...what you see below!
Hanumangundi Falls...what you see above!
They say the best of drinks come on the rocks....cheers!
Take me home and you can have the hostages!
Just take me home!
Major mistake!
The blog entry titled as follows:
Kudremukh-contd: Hanumangundi falls
The 11th para was written as in the following pictures...
The Paragraph was supposed to read "Trying NOT to kick him in the face by mistake..." As you can see it was a typing mistake that can mean the complete opposite of what was supposed to be said and with serious consequences! The error has been rectified.I just thought that this has to be brought to the notice of the readers in case of any sort of misunderstanding! :)
Wanake obavva
One of the not-so-long but hard practice sessions for the play Wanake Obavva
Please ignore the irritating voice with an even more irritating tone that just doesn't know when to stop!
This article falls under Vid
Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love Truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you Smile. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should Dance...
This article falls under A thought for you
My success sweeter than yours, HAHA!
Its true,
There are somethings money can't buy.As a kid I always wished to grow up to be the richest guy in the world.Even then, it was not the money that I wanted nor the status of being the richest, but all the things that I had thought money will fetch me.True gemini, I still don't run after materialistic pleasures.
As myself, I say, a life spent in pursuit of materialistic pleasures is no life at all...but sometimes I do wish I was more like that, cause those dreams seem more attainable than mine.
"What do you want?" is the hardest question to ask me...because I don't know what I want that can be bought at a store.In fact there must be no such thing and yet I am not satisfied.
I have been an Army general.Don't jump.I have been posted at the border{(<15<)(<35<)(<60<)(etc,.)(:P)} for what seems like forever.I have been enjoying border patrol.I can drop any moment,must win the war before that!
I have tasted amazing highs and heart breaking lows.Thats why, my moments of triumph are sweeter cause I know the difference.I always thought my life was a big bad joke, but I now look and laugh at those who haven't tasted failures like mine, cause buddy, my success rocks more than yours.
This article falls under Life bindaas
This article falls under A 1000 words, A thought for you, conservation and stuff
Kudremukh
That's the place where we went for our class trip: Kudremukh.Once famous for it's splendid beauty then known for Iron ore reserves and it's mining, then known for beauty spoiled by the mining!
It was a class trip that I almost never went for.It was a class trip that none of my friends almost never went for.In the last moment everybody changed minds and seemed like I was the only one who would be stuck here in Mysore.Well..that also changed a moment later than that.
I was never given the permission to go, at home...but I went anyway!
As expected our Departure was hours behind schedule.Mind you "Behind Schedule" will be like theme of this trip rather than Kudremukh itself! The silly photo sessions right in front of our college (Which we see every single day) were not helping either, especially when everyone seemed to be taking over 20 pics there itself. The trip to, was fun..in the beginning I was just glad to play the role of a photographer during a bumpy part of the journey(And no, I wont be posting THOSE pics here for sure), but later as everyone settled ,the best of my buddies were around and we just couldn't stop chatting with(teasing,joking,laughing,poking,fighting,almost killing ;) each other.
-Some of us were just interested in cracking jokes
-Others in laughing at them
-Another in teasing Mr.Romantic ;) -No points for guessing who n with what!
-and finally he wanted to send me to hell ASAP when he went into "Thats all I can stands for,I can't stands no more" mode!
Meanwhile a lot of people at the back finally realised that I do posses a deep and clear voice
(and also probably an irritating one) when they got to hear complete details of the so-called horror story from a haunted house in Kerala (about two sexy female ghosts who were playing games in the middle of the night on their balcony) which I sincerely attempted at narrating softly to only those interested and sitting around me!
The trip was loooong 6 hours.And a few eggheads managed to be left behind when we stopped for a break at a city on the way.That delayed us about 45 minutes more!
When the trip to was over, a red-eyed bunch checked into hotel rooms supposedly for an hour.I just cuddled up and went to sleep instead of fighting for a place in the bathroom.Everyone were so brotherly that they were busy with 'massbrushing' and maybe a lot of other things that I am happy I missed when I went to sleep.The bathroom sucked...mainly because I managed to forget my brush,soap and a tube of paste in it, but also because it was too small to squeeze into and on top of that...the door was not strong enough to keep the people on the other side of it, on the other side!Sleep, I didn't really cause more people were interested in knowing who I was and why I was sleeping like that than completing their own morning duties.After I finally got ready and got down...not many seemed to be up and we were getting hungry.
It took about an hour after that to leave towards the Kudremukh National Park.Once there we had our breakfast (FINALLY!!!). And I learnt two very important trade secrets of the catering business.The first one is, "Ask all the terribly hungry people to stand in an orderly line in a civilized manner, then serve food to all the others first!".The next one I learnt during lunch and I will reveal when we get to that part!
After the breakfast (Chapathis and Gojju) we started climbing those peaks.It didn't seem like too many were interested were getting up there so soon and a couple of my buddies seemed a bit slow for me.So I just went on ahead with those who were keeping up...a bad decision as I learnt later.Because most of them never made it to all the places we went.Which was the whole essence of the journey for me.
We, and we as in 9 men,were challenged by some on our way down..." You going down? hehe good luck :P "...." Mark my words, you can never get there"..."THERE IS NO WAY DOWN THERE...HUH STREAM MY @$" .All we could say to them was
......." We make our own road"
To be Continued in the post below!To read further, scroll down or click here.
Kudremukh- Cont'd: The Brook
This post is a continuation of another ie above.To read it scroll up or click here.
All of us had our minds on a brook down in the middle of the forest that we could not see but we could definitely hear from the top!(It looked something like this -> click here ...but only better :) )True to our own words we made it down.Proud enough as it is, I led the pack ( :) ) and found a way where the not so athletic could also make it down with us...but as it turned out, not many followed us.
Nature lover that I am, the place was a paradise for me.The brook which seemed like hardly it was visited by even 3-4 people a year was free from the slightest hint of garbage.Flooded with bird calls, green, sounds of rustling leaves, babbling sound of the water and everything right that could fit in a serene place!
We washed our face and feet and finally got into the first photo op that seemed valid and the best one at that, as I realised after the trip.I made sure I caught a small animal in the water that I had seen just once before , again in a stream in Ghats, but never seen it in books,TV or net...which is why it makes me so curious everytime.Amidst girlish calls of "Please don't hurt it....please don't kill it" ( I felt like I was a wanton butcher or something)we managed to take a picture of the slippery little thing in my hands and then let it back into the brook!
We all wanted to go on ahead , cross the brook and finally climb the tallest peak in the range, but we were under the assumption that we were already late and we didn't want to hold up the rest of the group travelling with us.The way up was different from the way down since we didn't have to worry about people who couldn't climb steep slopes.After getting back up, we finally realised that we were not late at all.There were people still enjoying the beauty of the place from the top,AT THE TOP.We felt bad at missing out on the opportunity of climbing that peak.On the way back we took some rest under the shade of a tree and then the beauty of that peak sunk in.
We got back to the place where the rest of the pack had already returned.They were playing some games and were having fun.I could hear shouts of "Illaaaaaaaaaa....Illaaaaaaaaaa" (no..no) and pretty much only that from a distance.I'm serious...thats all I could hear!
We the left to a much talked about dam.We were supposed to have lunch there.And when we got there after a half an hour drive...all we could say was."DAMN!!! This is the dam?? "
Anyway...thats only because it was bone dry!But if you have a good eye, it was actually a good view to watch all the silt settled evenly on the huge stretch of land.Partly reminded me of the views from Salt lake city,Utah...but definitely not as good! I tried getting down to the bed for just-one-pic the only time in the whole trip(or in months for that matter) I even tried to get a pic of myself, but we came to know it was illegal, and I was back up in a flash.Everybody scattered around pretty fast.The were hills all around.I again turned into the photographer.It was a good photo op too...and Batta seemed to be striking a perfect pose fit to the desert like place...and was waiting for someone to take a pic soon...which I did.(This I will definitely put up).As it turned out..there was no food there yet and we had to go elsewhere for that.So the stop was over in 20 minutes...Hanumangundi falls here we come.
At the entrance of the falls...we were finally served our food.A moment before people began revolt ,protest, throw stones, burn tires, overturn the vehicles and burn effigies out of the delay.
Chitraanna and Mosranna(Curds and rice) with sandige.The first trade secret of the catering business if you recall is, ' Ask all the terribly hungry people to stand in an orderly line in a civilized manner, then serve food to all the others first! ' . The second one I learnt during lunch and it was 'Ask all the terribly hungry people to form two lines as in 'boys' and 'girls' because "It will be easier to maga", and then after 20 minutes of waiting and after one of the lines has grown a mile long ask the members of the shorter line to join the longer one, again because "It will be easier to serve maga!!" ' . Well they learnt the third trade secret from me and that is 'When the terrible hungry people are also steaming , you better shut up and serve! ' .None of us went and joined the new line from the beginning.
Anyway, the monkeys there reminded me of a lot of people.And some of them seemed to be really interested in scratching the hell outta my face!The foood was goood as was the breakfast unlike the last we went on a trip in 5th sem.
BTW, just to remind you people, the fact that I have not mentioned the words "There was a delay in getting started..." more than once, so far doesn't really mean there wasn't any.Its implied in any trip in our case.You are supposed to understand that I will have to mention those words about 7-8 times more if I have to be honest in this article.Keeping that in mind lets continue down to Hanumangundi falls.
Kudremukh- cont'd: Hanumangundi Falls
We had to climb down hundreds of steps among 'fears' of leech bites to get to the falls.I was least bothered about leeches.Obviously any leech that bites me gets all its blood sucked out from its body into mine instead of vice versa.I'm sure most leeches were aware of that, since I have never been bitten despite having visited some of the most leech infected areas before.
The way down was awesome...full of green.Green everywhere.Cool...moist!Superb!
We got to the falls...I'm being honest here...for me, it was ordinary!I heard there was a better view slightly higher.Though there were steps to it, I went there by climbing rocks(not a big deal) and that too FOR ME was ordinary!I was wondering why we came so far for that.I just ensure that my feelings didn't stop anyone from enjoying themselves, though I am usually very vocal about stuff.It was time to get wet for a lot of people and get wet they did...I never wanted to get in there, because I wasn't sure I will get a proper place to change later on.But I didn't get wet for a lot of other reasons (which have nothing to do with any promise I made to mum or anyone :) ).To top it all, I was the one took pictures of the bunch finally.I did remove my shoes, roll up my pants and wade in slightly because a few of them specifically called out to me,but returned soon.I called my pals off at exactly 4, because that was our time limit...but I never really expected them to pay heed.
Downstream, I heard my pal Shambu had hurt himself.He had chipped off a nail in a freak accident.Thats one of the injuries that suck the most!!I just recalled that while picking him on the way to college the previous night, I had promised his extremely worried parents that I won't get into the water as I had done to my mum too.They were very worried about him...now I was wondering how they would react at home when they see him with a heavy bandage on his toe.
I went back down the same route to see him.He was a mess.I just felt bad about it.A sucking feeling I can't explain.
Soon, the driver sent the cleaner or whatever to call us back up.Everybody took so long in changing into drier clothes mainly because its in their nature to cause a delay and partly because the changing room totally sucked!So some of us just decided to return instead of waiting for our friends so that the drivers and the rest of the bunch wont get restless.
Back up...back to out theme...
delay...
problems...
Finally a good reason to stop and that was to get Shambu treated at a hospital.Some pain killers and dressing, we were good to go.A few minutes of driving...beauty of the western ghats...and some pretense of being in sleep and we stopped again...this time for dinner!
Puliyogre if memory serves and then Chitranna since the mosranna was out before I got there...and lots of onions, because " Innu thumba ide" (Lots are left out).We manage to drop a wooden work of art into the sewers while eating.When are done with that and are good to go home...
The driver was delayed so much that he wanted extra pay for it.WHATEVER?????JUST GET US HOME WILL YA?
Anyway, the theme carried on and someone finally said "Lets head home".Oh really?Mann...I could never think of that!A while later I managed to briefly catch a network area to call home on Pradeep's cell.I told them go have dinner and go to sleep without me.
The drive back was sleepless..Some bloke found great pleasure sleeping next to me on the floor with his face right next to my feet.I spent the next 4-5 hours trying NOT to kick him on the face by mistake while trying to wink some sleep.The posture gave me cramps all over my body.I found out there was no way to sleep like that!In the whole bus for huge part of the trip from, it seemed like I was the only one awake and it bored the living hell outta me!At one point I wanted to slap 5-6 people off from their sleep and tell them to talk to me.
To sum up the whole trip, I will say it was good...though I would say Kemmangundi was better. But honestly..the trek down to the brook was the best for me...something I actually enjoyed.A memory of a lifetime.Something I can recall and talk about for the rest of my life.Too sad all my friends couldn't get to see it.I don't really wanna speak too much about it and make anyone jealous, but thats how good it was!
The complete trip was one to remember, considering this might be the last trip.Besides after this the "Worst year"(as predicted) for placements is set to tear people apart.'Trip' in the real sense was what this was!For the last time :|
Believe it or go to hell, our journey was supposed to be 24 hours or less!After all the dust settled the watch said 31 hours!!!Our bus pulled up in front of the college...I got my bike back from the pay and park.All friends had left home in a hurry...so I had pretty much nothing left to hang around for.I let the engine roar..and zip home.
Moments later I am inside my room,too tired to answer mum's questions...and I dive into my bed and I am fast asleep.The only thing 'fast' in the last 32 hours.I sleep like a dead man!
Apologies:
Please bear with all the grammatical and spelling mistakes that have/may have occurred in the article, I may have missed out some letters/words while typing in a hurry, which is usually the case while writing long posts like this one! :D
Libre 08
Well...a lot of good things happened here at this opensource fest.
A lot of tech talks...most good!Being the most interested- least knowledgeable about linux and opensource ;), I decided I should attend all.I did attend most!
Speakers from Solaris, Fedora, Novel software, Google were all there. It was a good 3 days.
The best was the treasure hunt where our team won second place. :)
I wasn't even in the team...I sneaked in at the very last moment before the start of the race.Half an hour later we came second.
Anyway it was said the prize money would be 1.2k and in the end it was reduced and re-reduced to 400 bucks...we are like well why don't you just keep it?
Anyway...the talks were worth the while...the speakers made them so.
The links we came to know of during the talks:
Join - Fedora Project Wiki
CIA.vc
Dive Into Python
K Desktop Environment - Be free
Home at OpenSolaris.org
We were given more links that don't work ,they went like :
http://mail.kde.org/mailmam/listinfo/kde-india
fedora-india.com
fedora-dlevel.com
kde-in.com
youtube-dl.com
kushal_fedorapeople.org/book
You can try them...maybe you will get luckier :D
Hope the links will help for some of you!
Save the turtles!
I've just written to Ratan Tata asking him to not to go ahead with building a port in Dhamra, Orissa, dangerously close to one of the world's largest sea turtle nesting grounds for the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle. I think its a good idea for Mr. Tata to move the port to another location rather than endanger the turtles.
By living up to the Tatas' environmental legacy, Ratan won't just save the highly-endangered Olive Ridley Turtles, he will also end up making Tata a better company.
The only problem is that I can't bring about that change alone. I need help from lots of people, especially you.
Please do what I've done. Write directly to Ratan by clicking here
-->Write to Tata
This article falls under conservation and stuff
Striptease!
NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE NAME