Deepika Padukone on ftv!!!

Places to visit around bangalore

There are lot of places to visit around Bangalore.There are a few one day trips and a few that can be done in 2-3 days.
One beauty of Bangalore is, you find hills all around Bangalore. 50-70 kms in any direction going out of Bangalore, you fill find hills.
On Tumkur road, you will find Devarayana Durga, Shivagange etc.
On Mysore road, you will find RamNagar
On Bellary road, you will find Nandi hills
On Hosur road, you will find KrishnaGiri.
On kanakpura road, you will find kabbal durga
On Magadi Road, you will find Savana Durga

There are a lot of pilgrimage spots to visit as well.

-----Place------Dist----Type
-----------------------------
Sri-Ram-Betta---50--Piligrim
Rangasthala-----60--Piligrim
Savana-Durga----60--Hill
Ghati-Subramanya70--Piligrim
Nandi-hills-----70--Hill-stn
Revanasiddesh-be70--Piligrim
Shiva-gange-----70--Piligrim
Antharagange----75--Piligrim
Chikka-Thirupath75--Piligrim
Kanva-reservoir-80--Dam
Mekedatu--------80--Ravine
Kaivara---------85--Piligrim
Sheebi----------90--Temple-Paint
Devarayana-durga100-Piligrim
Kokkare-Belluru-100-Birds-sanctu
Kudumalai-------100-Piligrim
Melukote--------100-Piligrim
Muththathhi-----100-River
Vidurashwatha---100-Piligrim
Sri-Rangapatna--120-Piligrim
Bheemeswari-----125-River
Karighatta------125-Piligrim
Shivasamudram---125-Water-fall
Ranganathittu---130-Birds-sanctu
Adi-chunchanagir140-Piligrim
Lepakshi--------140-Piligrim
Mahadevapura----140-River
Mysore----------140-Historical
Shravana-Belugol140-Piligrim
Hogenakal-------150-Water-fall
KRS,-Balamuri---150-Barrage
Mudukuthore-----150-Piligrim
Talakadu--------150-Piligrim
Chunchana-katte-160-Water-fall
Kadiri----------160-Piligrim
Nanjanagudu-----160-Piligrim
T.-Narasipur----170-Piligrim
Sathanur-dam----175-Dam
Somanathapur----175-Archeology
Hemagiri--------200-Water-fall
Ramanathapura---200-Piligrim
Tiruvannamalai--200-Piligrim
Halebeedu-------210-Archeology
B.-R-.-Hills----220-Hill-station
Bandipur--------220-Wild-life
Gopalaswamy-bett220-Piligrim
Harangi---------220-Landscape
Nisarga-Dhama---220-Land-scape
Kabini----------230-Wild-life
Nagarahole------230-Wild-life
Belur-----------240-Archeology
Mudumalai-------240-Wild-life
Yercaud---------240-Hill-station
Bababudangiri---250-Hill-station
Irpu------------250-Water-fall
Kemmannugundi---260-Hill-station
Kudrehabbe------260-Landscape
Talakaveri------260-Land-scape
Bhadra----------270-Wild-life
Manikyadhara----270-Water-fall
Muthodi---------270-Wild-life
Subramanya------275-Piligrim
M.-M.-Hills-----280-Piligrim
Bisle-----------300-Hill-station
Gajanur---------300-Barrage
Horanadu--------300-Piligrim
Mandagadde------300-Birds-sanctu
Shringeri-------350-Piligrim
Ulvi------------300-Birds-sanctu
Nagar-----------320-Archeology
Ooty------------320-Hill-station
Coonoor---------340-Hill-station
Ikkeri----------340-Archeology
Keladi----------340-Archeology
Dharmasthala----350-Piligrim
Hampi-----------350-Historical
Hampi-----------350-Archeology
Kudremukh-------350-Hill-station
Mantralaya------350-Piligrim
T.B.-Dam--------350-Dam
Varadahalli-----350-Landscape
Agumbe----------357-Hill-station
Moodabidiri-----360-Archeology
Gudavi----------375-Birds-sanctu
Humbucha--------380-Archeology
Jog-------------380-Water-fall
Karkala---------380-Archeology
Kaup------------380-Beach
St.-Mary's-Islan386-Landscape
Katil-----------387-Piligrim
Devarahole------400-River
Magodu-falls----400-Water-fall
Mrudeshwara-----400-Piligrim
Satodi-falls----400-Water-fall
Udupi-----------415-Piligrim
Honnavar--------425-Piligrim
Gokarna---------460-Piligrim
Maravanthe------467-Beach
Badami-&-Aihole-500-Caves
Kollur----------500-Piligrim
Kollur-forest---520-Wildlife
Yana------------580-Landscape
Gokak-falls---------Water-fall
Varaahi-------------Landscape
Koravangala-----200-Archeology
Ridge-----------250-Landscape
Mosale----------200-Archeology
Doddagadduvalli-200-Archeology
Munnar---------550--Hill-station

A BRIDGE TOO FAR

A BRIDGE TOO FAR ……Awesome…..!!!!!!!!!

The Lord surveyed the Ram Setu and said "Hanuman, how diligently and
strenuously you and your vanara sena had built this bridge several
centuries back. It is remarkable that it has withstood the ravages of
the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It is indeed an
amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge at Hyderabad
built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other day even
before they could stick the posters on its pillars."

Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of your
grace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the
sea and they held. No steel from TISCO or cement from Ambuja or ACC was
ever used. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now."

Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people down there want to demolish the
bridge and construct a canal. The contract involves lot of money and lot
of money will be made. They will make money on demolition and make more
money on construction. "

Hanuman humbly bowed down and said "Why not we go down and present our case"

Ram said "Times have changed since we were down there. They will ask us
to submit age proof and we don't have either a birth certificate or
school leaving certificate. We traveled mainly on foot and some times in
bullock carts and so we don't have a driving license either. As far as
the address proof is concerned the fact that I was born at Ayodhya is
itself under litigation for over half a century, If I go in a
traditional attire with bow and arrow, the ordinary folks may recognize
me but Arjun Singh may take me to be some tribal and, at the most, offer
a seat at IIT under the reserved category. Also, a God cannot walk in
dressed in a three-piece suit and announce his arrival. It would make
even the devotees suspicious. So it is dilemma so to say."

"I can vouch for you by saying that I personally built the bridge."

"My dear, Anjani putra, it will not work. They will ask you to produce
the lay-out plan, the project details, including financial outlay and
how the project cost was met and the completion certificate. Nothing is
accepted without documentary evidence in India . You may cough but
unless a doctor certifies it, you have no cough. A pensioner may present
himself personally but the authorities do not take it as proof. He has
to produce a life-certificate to prove that he is alive. It is that
complicated."

"Lord can't understand these historians. Over the years you have given
darshan once every hundred years to saints like Surdas, Tulsidas, Saint
Thyagaraja, Jayadeva, Bhadrachala Ramdas and even Sant Tukaram and still
they disbelieve your existence and say Ramayana is a myth. The only
option, I see, is to re-enact Ramayana on earth and set the government
records straight once for all."

Lord smiled "It isn't that easy today. Ravan is apprehensive that he may
look like a saint in front of Karunanidhi. I also spoke to his mama
Mareecha, who appeared as a golden deer to tempt Sita maiyya when I was
in the forest and he said that he won't take a chance of stepping on
earth as long as Salman Khan is around."

Jai Shree Ram


PS: Not sure who the original author of the post is. I got it as an email forward and posted it. I found a couple of links on the net posting the same article.

http://markets.moneycontrol.com/india/messageboardblog/16/51/message_thread/1922761/2222807
http://whimsicalmind.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/a-bridge-too-far/

Balle Balle - India won the T20 world cup

What a great day for Indian cricket. India won their first Twenty 20 world championship. What a great show by the players. They played as a team and held their nerve till the last. There were too many anxious moments in the match. The match was never over until the last over. I was thinking that Misbah almost pulled the match away from India. Thanks to some sensible bowling and fielding from Indians. Good catches were taken.
There was heavy traffic today evening after 4.30 p.m. Everyone trying to head back home to watch the match.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has achieved a one of the greatest success in his life and that too while serving his first series as a captain of Indian cricket team.

The team which won the world cup

G Gambhir
Yusuf Pathan
R Uthappa
Y Singh
MS Dhoni (captain)
R Sharma
I Pathan
J Sharma
Harbhajan Singh
S Sreesanth
RP Singh

Source of photos http://www.cricinfo.com/

Indian Idol 3

I am forced to watch some of these programs like Indian Idol, Nach Baliye etc. The TV gets hogged during these shows at home.
Yesterday, there was the finals of Indian Idol 3 program on Sony TV and we were all watching the show. The anchor said that people of India were voting to chose the winner of the contest. What surprised me was when he said that they had received more than 7 crore (70 million) SMS votes. First reaction would be - WOW.

But then, if you put your thinking caps on, what occurs is -

In a country of 100 crore, 70% leave in villages. So I don't think that they would vote.
That leaves 30 crore people to vote.
Of this 30 crore, I guess the whole of TN, Kerala and many of the other south Indian states would not be watching Hindi channels.
So, we can reduce another 5 crore of the urban crowd.
That leaves only 25 crore people to vote
Assume that most of the people from other states, would like to watch Tele serials in Hindi and their local language. And also assuming that there are many poeple who would watch other music, sports etc channels, I can conveniently reduce the audience watching sony TV to less than 10 crore - I find this number to be very big too ( Unfortunately, I don't have any live statistics or any TPC numbers - all these numbers are arrived by me by some guess and logic).
Now there are other similar programs (song and dance competition) on STAR TV and other channels which are telecast at the same time. These programs attract good number of audience as well.
Many of the remaining viewers are students on prepaid and other middle class folks with a lot of them on life time free incoming scheme (this scheme doesn't have any messaging or outgoing facility).
Now the voting crowd (in my opinion) is definitely reduced to less than 7 crore (which is the number of votes received). Now think, how many people out of this lot would have cell phones.
With the SMS charges to these programs costing between Rs 3 - 5, how many people would send SMS to make someone win a contest. Even if we go by the logic that some people (5 percent of voting crowd) vote multiple times, 7 crore votes can't be reached.

I think, the numbers are just built up by the TV channels to generate curiosity amongst the audience. 7 crore votes NO CHANCE.

Spiderman Ganesha

Click on the image to Enlarge

Yuvraj 6 Sixes vs England Twenty20 World Cup Match

What a match it was between Indian and England. Yuvaraj Singh was at his best, scoring 6 sixes in an over. Thats a World T20 record. No one has done it before.
When Yuvi got out, commentator said, that Yuvi came like a Thunder and went like a lightning.










Watch the video ball by ball where yuvi scores 6 sixes



Hope India beats South Africa today and go over to the next round

Bangalore Rains

It has been raining continuously in the past few days in Bangalore. Rains are good signs, but can Bangalore handle so much rains. Infact Bangaloreans fear rains.
Rains brings Bad roads, overflowing drainages, pot holes, traffic jams, flooded roads, power cuts and lot more agonies. Bangalore is one of the world's most preferred destinations for IT, BPO and call centers. This city has created jobs for lakhs of people. There is money flowing everywhere. Govt is collecting a lot more taxes. But where is all the money going. Why is Bangalore infrastructure so bad. I won't talk about how Govt should wake up to improve infrastructure. This gets discussed every day in the media. I just hope that something will be done to address issue and we can enjoy the rains in the coming days. We used to enjoy the rain a lot when we were kids. I hope that our kids too enjoy the same. Bangalore should take cue from Mumbai which receives a lot more rains than Bangalore and that too for months.
Just a glimpse, of what happened to our roads last week.

Silk board junction

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Reenactment

New announcements from SUN

Today Sun Microsystems made a couple of annoucements. These two announcements will help SUN expand its business with customers where it doesn't have an account.

1. Sun and Microsoft have announced an expanded relationship including Sun becoming a Windows Server OEM Read more on this at
http://www.sun.com/software/windows/
Sun Streams Through Windows

2. Sun Acquire Assets of Cluster File Systems, Including the Lustre File System

About Cluster File Systems, Inc.

Cluster File Systems, Inc. (CFS) is a leader in high-performance, scalable cluster file system technology. Extensive experience, innovative insights, and proven engineering have enabled CFS to dramatically surpass the scalability limits of modern computing. The Company's premier Lustre File System currently powers clusters with ten of thousands of nodes and petabytes of data, delivering groundbreaking parallel I/O and metadata throughput on many of the world's largest Linux-based supercomputers. CFS provides technical support, training, and engineering services, and is actively working with storage and cluster vendors to develop the next generation of intelligent storage devices. The Lustre File System for Linux is open source software developed and maintained by CFS. For more information, visit www.clusterfs.com.

Read more on this on
Sun Microsystems Expands High Performance Computing Portfolio




Additionally, there were more announcements earlier
The technology landscape shifted again earlier, with another announcement between Sun and IBM - IBM has joined the OpenOffice.org community.

Get a life

click on the photo to enlarge

Sun Seeks 1-For-4 Reverse Stock Split

If the reverse stock split is approved by our stockholders, Sun will exchange one new share for every four outstanding shares. As a result, Sun would have one-fourth as many outstanding shares, but each share would be worth approximately four times as much. In general, a reverse stock split will not impact the market value of Sun as a whole

Read more on
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070905/sun_microsystems_stock.html?.v=3

How JAVA got its name

James Gosling the father of Java says, how it was named

------------
Begin forwarded message:

From: James Gosling
Date: August 24, 2007 8:16:58 PM PDT
To: Jonathan Schwartz
Subject: How was Java named?

The story goes like this:

We needed a name. We had been using "oak" (which was selected essentially randomly by me), and while the team had grown attached to it, the trademark lawyers ruled it out. We had lots of email debates about names, but nothing got resolved. We ended up in the awkward position where the #1 thing stopping us from shipping was the name.

Our marketing lead knew someone who was a "naming consultant" (I don't remember his name, but he was great). We could neither afford the price nor the time of a conventional product naming process. He agreed to do something rather odd, but effective and quick: he acted as a facilitator at a meeting where about a dozen of us locked ourselves in a room for an afternoon. He started asking us questions like "How does this thing make you feel?" (Excited!) "What else makes you feel that way?" (Java!) We ended up with a board covered with essentially random words. Then he put us through a sorting process where we ended up with a ranking of the names. We ended up with a dozen name candidates and sent them off to the lawyers: they worked down the list until they hit one that cleared their search. "Java" was the fourth name on the list. The first name on the list was "Silk", which I hated but everyone else liked. My favorite was "Lyric", the third one on the list, but it didn't pass the lawyers test. I don't remember what the other candidate names where.

So, who named Java? Marketing organized the meeting, the consultant ran it, and a whole pile of us did a lot of yelling out of random words. I'm honestly not real sure who said "Java" first, but I'm pretty sure it was Mark Opperman.

There certainly wasn't any brilliant marketing mind who went through a coherent thought process.

------------

Sun Ranks amongs Top IT Employers in India

Sun Microsystems with an employee base of about 1,000 made its entry into the Dataquest-IDC Best Employers listing at No, 10 largely driven by a high employee satisfaction score. It scores high on compensation and topped the rank on the new age priority, work-life balance.
Read more India's top IT employers http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=43817&lmn=1

Sun Rising

Recently Sun Microsystems announced that it is changing its ticker symbol from SUNW to JAVA.
Today more people know Java than Sun Microsystems. Company is using the popularity of Java for it branding. This has not been received well by SUN fans and other techies. Read the comments on Jonathan's blog http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/java_is_everywhere#comments
Sun, once the darling of Wall street is trying very hard to stay profitable, after years of bleeding. Recently it announced a partnership with Google, in which they'll be distributing StarOffice for free as a part of their Google Pack.
Sun has always come out with very cool technologies, but somehow not been able to convert them to revenue. Hope these new marketing gimmicks will help SUN to be back on top as the most preferred Hardware/Software vendor.

How Men Talk to their Wives on the Phone

Easy Auto in Bangalore. So no more auto rick problems

I found out about Easy auto from a friend of mine today. I have not used their service. If someone has used this service and has had any good/bad experiences can post their comment here

How does Easy Auto Work?
Passengers have to register themselves using Passenger Registration Kits (PRK), to avail door-to-door service at a cost of Rs.75/-. Any one in the family can avail Easy Auto using the same registration. That is, using a single PRK you can register up to ten phone numbers, which will be used as identifiers by the computers.

Registered passengers can use Internet, Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) or Short Message System (SMS) to hail an Easy Auto. Others can simply hail one, at any of our Easy Auto Stands or on kerb side.

For hailing Easy Auto using SMS, you will have send in your location code to 9844-11-22-33. You will get a receipt confirmation message along with request code. If this message does reach in 5 minutes after your SMS, you may have to try again. Please remember any network congestion can affect smooth flow of SMS. After the confirmation SMS, you will get another in a few minutes along with Easy Auto number followed the auto driver's mobile number. To complete the procedure a parallel SMS will be sent to the auto driver. Please ensure to call the Easy Auto driver within 5 minutes or else he will be assigned to another passenger.

For hailing Easy Auto using IVRS, you will have dial 9844-11-22-33 and follow the instructions told to you. To complete the procedure a parallel SMS will be sent to the auto driver. Please ensure to call the Easy Auto driver within 5 minutes or else he will be assigned to another passenger.

Who can use Easy Auto?
Easy Auto can be used by anyone. A registered commuter gets door-to-door service. For registration, the user will buy a kit from any of the Spice outlets in the city at a cost of Rs.75.00. This is a one-time fee to be paid by the commuter.

Visit http://www.easyauto.in for more details

Happy birthday India

India completed 60 years of Independence on 15th Aug 2007. Here is a small video wishing the motherland a Happy birthday

Code for Freedom Contest from Sun Microsystems

Code For Freedom is a 6-month campaign in India's academic community. With a theme that ties Open Source to Freedom. Sun Microsystesms is launching this campaign during the 60th year of Indian Indpendence. The associated contest is open to any college student in India and provides laptops, iPods, equipment, and T-shirts as prizes. The goal of the contest is to catalyze academic community participation in Sun open source projects.

SUN is showcasing OpenSolaris, NetBeans, GlassFish, OpenPortal, and Apache Derby. http://in.sun.com/codeforfreedom

Accident I witnessed

Today morning, I left home early and was on the way towards Mysore road. I was at this junction where roads from 3 residential areas converge towards the Rajarajeshwari nagar main road. All of a sudden, I heard a big sound and when I turned towards the direction of the sound, I could see 2 people on scooter skidding on the road. My view was obstructed by a passing BMTC bus. I heard some commotion and some screaming. I quickly parked my car and went towards the accident zone.
I first thought the BMTC bus had hit the scooter, but no one in the scene claimed so. What I figured out was that, due to continuous rain the previous night, the road was wet and the gentleman riding the bike had applied breaks at the junction and skidded.
I saw that the man who was riding the bike was up on his feet. He was wearing a helmet and wasn't hurt. His clothes were a little dirty. The other person was still on the ground and was screaming in pain. As I approached, I noticed that he was bleeding from his leg, as his leg appeared broken. People had started gathering and discussing on what could have happened.
The victims seemed to be BHEL employees going to their workplace in the morning. Now a few more BHEL employees appeared on the scene. A lot of people had gathered but not a single person was ready to do anything. They were all mute spectators. As no one cared to bother, I thought of taking him to the hospital in my car. Then someone called for an Auto Rickshaw. I thought auto rickshaw would be a better option to take him to hospital than a car as getting in and out of the rickshaw is easier. Even after a minute the rickshaw driver did not come. Then, one of the BHEL employees said that he would get his car. I rushed forward to help this man to the car. To my surprise, I did not get any help from anyone else. One person lifted him by the shoulder and I lifted the victim by his legs and waist. We needed more help as the man's other leg was hanging. I kept asking people to come forward and help, but it all fell on deaf ears. After asking a couple of times, one gentleman came forward, but with a cigarette in his mouth. He wouldn't let go of the cigarette, but atleast he came to help. The 3 of us put the injured in to a Maruti van. I asked the owner of the car to take them to Manipal Specialty hospital which was around 2 km from there. Now a couple of other employees joined the victim in the car and they drove to the hospital. I did my little part at the spot and left for my office.
I had seen in Indian movies that when an accident occurs, people stand watch. No one comes to help. It wasn't that bad this morning, but not good either. We need a system like 9-1-1 like in the US, where one can expect help within minutes of making a call. We took more than 5 minutes to get the person in to the car before he was rushed to the hospital.
I wish that man a speedy recovery.

At Big Bazaar

We generally visit Reliance fresh store for our vegetable shopping. They have given us a 'Reliance card'. Every time we shop at Reliance store, points get accumulated which can be redeemed later.
One day I happened to visit Big Bazaar, and was looking for some toys for my kid. One gentleman wearing a Big Bazaar uniform approached me and asked me if I needed a Big Bazaar card. I was not very keen but he kept asking. So, I asked him, how I would benefit. He told me that every time I shopped at Big Bazaar, I would be accumulating points which could be redeemed later. I was wondering how it was different from a reliance card. He told me that every month, I could just walk in to any Big Bazaar store and pick up 1 kg of sugar free. This got me interested. So, I thought, why not try it as I wouldn't be losing anything. I asked him what I had to do. He presented me with a form and asked me to sign it and give my visiting card and he would fill up the rest. I did so, without even reading the form (what a moron I was). The guy was courteous and told me that the card would be mailed to me and walked away thanking me. I totally forgot about it.
After a couple of days, I started getting cards from ICICI executives asking me if I had applied for a credit card. I answered them in negative. I got a couple of more calls regarding the same which made me think. I then realized, what could have happened. By signing for a Big Bazaar card, I had actually signed up for a ICICI credit card. The ICICI executives confirmed my thoughts.
I had made a fool of myself by not realizing that it could be a credit card and not a card like reliance card. I can't blame the Big Bazaar totally, but they sure did hide facts from me. Never did that person tell me that I was applying for a credit card. He kept repeating that it was a Big Bazaar card. A good marketing trick, as the word 'credit card' would chase many customers away. I am sure many people would have become Bakras like me.
After nearly a month, I received the credit card with Big Bazaar photo on it. During that month, I had to answer too many calls from ICICI who kept calling to confirm my date of birth and my address, Grrrr. Any ways, I am enjoying free sugar every month. Today, 1 kg of sugar costs around Rs 15/-. So, I will be benefited by Rs 150 over a year.

Funny error

Internet is fast catching up

Click on the image to enlarge

Everybody makes way for a Bullet

A few years ago, there was an Ad on Indian Television for a Bullet Electra.The Ad shows a train approaching a railway crossing which slows down. Then a man comes on a bullet and crosses the railway track. And the we see the caption 'Everybody makes way for a bullet'. Yes,that's how the
Royal En-field Bullet is treated.



These days, I posses one - a 500 CC bullet - The most powerful bike on Indian roads. For long, it was my dream to get one. I had driven a 100 CC bike for many years and it was time to graduate. I was hoping to buy a 350 CC, but to my surprise, I have landed up with something more powerful.

The best part of riding a bullet is not speed or acceleration. The feel is different. The rich humming sound is a music to ears. It is a pleasure going at a the steady speed and accelerating gradually. The body resonates to the sound of this machine. With those wide handles and a
cruiser seat, I get a royal ride. With a 22BHP, the rides are ecstatic.



When I go on the road, people give me way as I approach them. At traffic signals, from the corner of the eye, I notice people are staring at my machine with admiration. Somepeople even have a friendly chat with me and enquire about this beauty. When I stand next to a bus, I can notice that people from all the windows are watching. It feels good to be the center of attraction. I know that they are not watching or admiring me, but it still feels good as you are the owner of the
wonderful instrument.



There was a time in Bangalore, when bullets were used by all police officers. So, whenever a bullet sound was heard, people gathering in the dark corners of the street would disappear. So, even whencommon man rode a bullet, he got the same respect. Today, the Bullet has become more common with the introduction of user friendly Thunderbirds and Electras which have eliminated a lot of problems that a classic bullet had.

In many ways, I can compare a bullet to girl friend or wife
- People on the road give you an envious look.
- High maintenance.
- You have to be very gentle while starting. If you are rough, she will backfire and hurt you.
- You will enjoy her company and want to be with her more often.
- Weighs a lot.
- Not easy to handle. You need to master the art.
- Loud :)

When I speak to my friends, I get some interesting thoughts

- Bullets are like (old) buses, you have to roll/rock in gear a bit for the gear teeth to get
the idea of shifting anywhere.
- Talking about fixing things is fine, actually doing it will be trouble.
- Tyre pressure 20 Front 25 Back
Anything more it is assrured that superb shocks in bullet will take you
directly to HOSMAT !
- Are you not able to change gears ?
If you can .... ignore it.... its like software... more closer you
look more money you will spend with diminishing returns and at the risk
of introducing new defects to a previously working piece :-)

Power of makeup

Click on the image to enlarge

Before



After

The beast did a 150

After doing a 140 KPH on my Baleno (read: 140 kph and going), I had tried to cross the barrier on a few occasions, but some how it had not happened. Yesterday, on an emergency, I had to go to Mysore district. I started at 5.00 am from Bangalore in a light drizzle. I cruised smoothly at around 80 as I didn't want to take a chance in the dark, that too when it was raining. After 5.30 am, the lighting condidtions improved and I hit the accelerator. Within an hour I was at Mandya (90 kms from Bangalore). We took a small 10 min coffee break. The light was good now and traffic was low. As, I started towards, Mysore, I was already back in 140s again. I crossedSrirangapattana in less than 10 min and then the BEAST Baleno crossed 150+ kph. Reached Mysore in around 1.5 hours, which is the quickest I have done

Virtual barber shop

Hear the audio, make sure you use a headphone (not speaker)
For the uninitiated, its about a new sound technology, a very
realistic audio experience without fancy h/w



The technology behind this is Binaural recording

Tips on medical insurance

Medical Insurance is very neglected in India. When I talk to many seniors I know, they say that they are strong and healthy and don't need an insurance. But they just don't realize that when lightning strikes, they will be left pleading for mercy. In many cases, when don't people plan their medical insurance, land up being a burden on their dependents. In my opinion in today's scenario, one should at least target an insurance for a 3 lakhs sum assured. If a higher premium can be managed by the individual, then he/she should target for at least a sum of Rs 5 lakhs.


-> Take a medical insurance when you are healthy.Once you fall sick, no insurance company will give you an insurance. Even if they cover that ailment, they do it at a very high premium
-> Take medical insurance before you are 40yrs. After 40, people generally develop diabetes, BP and other heart ailments. Also, insurance companies won't give you insurance before they subject you to some medical tests
-> Make sure that you take family medical insurance. Covering your spouse through your insurance is very important, because when you are not there, getting an individual insurance for the surviving spouse is not very easy. Insurance companies prefer giving group insurance over individual insurance.
-> Getting insurance for aged parents is very difficult. So if your company provides parental insurance, then please take it. While changing jobs, make sure that your new employer provides this option.
-> Insurance premiums can become a burden when you pay them annually as the premiums will run in to thousands of Rupees. Make an RD (recurring deposit) in banks or post offices and continue saving every month. You can withdraw the sum once a year when you have to pay the premium. This way you won't feel the pinch of paying the premiums. You can start saving from Rs 200/- Rs 500/- per month to get a decent insurance coverage (depending on your age). It is easier to save Rs 200/- a month than raising 3lakhs one shot during an emergency.

I found a good article on medical insurance on rediff.
It is a good read for anyone who doesn't have an insurance and also a
good read for people who have insurance and going for a claim. The
article gives some tips on getting medical insurance.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jul/10mediclaim.htm

Some of the leading insurance companies in India are
The new India Assurance co. Ltd
United India Insurance Company
The oriental Insurance company Ltd
ICICI Lombard
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

DO NOT ignore Medical Insurance.

A letter to Reliance Industries

I posted this comment on Reliance website. If you agree with this, or have anything to add to this, please leave a comment on this blog. May be someone in Reliance will realize the importance of preserving our environment and act soon.

__________
Hi
This comment is regarding the Reliance Fresh stores. First of all, Congratulations on the big success of Reliance Fresh stores.
I stay in Rajarajeshwarinagar in Bangalore and go to Reliance Fresh store in my locality regularly. What I have noticed is that, at your store there is a lot of usage of Polythene bags. There are big rolls of Plastic covers kept for the convenience of customers, which is being used thoughtlessly. I have noticed that hundreds of customers visit the stores during evenings and on an average every customer buys more than half a dozen variety of vegetables and fruits. As polythene bags are freely available, people segregate their vegetables and fruits separate plastic bag. At the billing section, all these items are added to 2 or 3 more plastic bags. As the customer leaves the store, he/she is walking with nearly 10 plastic bags. This is definitely not environmental friendly. We all know that plastic is non degradable. I would request the big organizations like Reliance to think about our environment and not promote the use of plastic at this scale.
Lets preserve our environment for our future generation.

Some Recommendations from my end:
1. Use Paper bags instead of Plastic.
2. Give polythene bags to customers only on demand.
3, Spread awareness amongst people and ask them to get their own shopping bags.
4. At reasonable cost (less than Rs 5/-), sell good paper or cloth bags which can be reused for shopping, You can have reliance Ads on these bags which will even help you promote your store.

Regards,
Nagendra HK

_____

Idli Vada

Idli and Vada are one of the most favourite South Indian breakfasts. Crispy Vadas, soft Idlis , with a Chutney and
Sambar make a deadly combination for breakfast.
Yesterday, I had been to Malleshwaram
in Bangalore to see my friend's new born baby. When we were about to leave, my friend and his mom asked me if I was going to stop at 'Veena Stores'. I told them that I had not heard that name earlier. They gave me a strange look and told me that it is the store next to the
hospital. I told them that I had noticed it while stepping in to the hospital and thought it was just a tea stall. My friend told me that it is a very old shop which is very famous forIdli and Vada . People flock at this place for a bite
whenever they pass by that street. It has been running for decades. This made me curious and wanted to check it out before I left. It is a very small shop, but a very busy one. I could seeat least 2 dozen people on the foot path either munching something or waiting for their turn to get food tokens. I too had to put up a struggle to get my token. Though it took me a while to get my token, the service was very fast. Because there is acontinuous demand for the snacks, the kitchen is busy continuously and hence there is a steady supply. And yes, I was not disappointed. Though Idli and Vada is a very simple snack, the chutney that is given with it makes it tastes good. The crispy Vada was really mouth watering.

I have decided that from now on whenever I go towards Malleshwaram, I will make it a point to go to Veena stores and eat Idli and Vada and also check out other snacks that he makes.
This place is also known for Shavige Bath, Uppit (Upma), Kesari Bath etc
Location: Near Malleshwaram 15th cross, Next to Lakshmi Maternity Home, Margosa Road.

Ayurvedic chikitsa

click on the image to enalrge

Traffic Gaadegalu

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Open High Availability Cluster

The product I worked on for 2 years in SUN, is now available for the open source community.

Solaris Cluster made first contribution of source-code to the OpenSolaris community.

http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/ha-clusters/


check out these cool videos on Solaris cluster

Customer satisfaction and Indian Banks

As there was never any competition, Nationalized banks in India never cared about customer satisfaction. But today, the Indian customer is more demanding. He has a wide range of banks to chose from. The Nationalized banks have to gear up for the competition.
I have a bank account which I have been operating from my childhood. As I grew up and started working, I started banking with private banks in India. The banking experience is so different now. The biggest advantage that the privatized banks have over the Nationalized banks today is phone banking and Internet banking. Nationalized banks are catching up but have a long way to go. I am really happy monitoring my account status, transferring funds, paying my utility bills, credit cards, etc., sitting in one place. I don't have to go to the bank. Now most of the Nationalized banks have core banking installed. I can transfer funds from my accounts with private banks to these, but I am still afraid to do so. The reason - no customer support (call center). Today, if I transfer funds between two privatized banks, I have a transaction number, through which I can always track the status by phone and Internet. But with nationalized banks, I have to run to the bank which is located in the other part of the city and when I land there, I have to go through a big Que, figure out whom to talk to and go past other hazels, only to realize that no one in the bank has a clue on whats happening. I have sometimes come across bank managers in Nationalized banks ( I really don't want to name the bank, but it is one of the biggest banks in India) who don't know how ECS works. For the same reason,I have to go to the bank every month to deposit cheques to repay my loan.
I do most of my personal work on the weekends including my bank work. But, when I land in these Nationalized banks on a Saturday with queries, the bank employees and managers (including chief manager, housing loan manager, and other managers) rudely ask me to come back on a weekday, because they have a lot of customers to cater to on the weekends. Is it my problem that the bank has more customers on weekends and they cannot handle them. Is it my problem when bank employees take vacation during other long weekends and summers. I always thought that I (customer) was the king. But, while dealing with these banks, one has to forget it. It was a surprising that when I went to the bank manager for a personal loan, he ignored me. Upon insisting, he asked me to come after a month and he would think over it ( couldn't expect that from a manager). I had to go to a privatized bank. They even sent a person over to my office. He made at least 4 visits to my office, to give the application form and collect it. He even filled up the form for me. Now who's the loser. And yes, I do repay my loan through ECS. Today a big chunk of the corporate world goes to private banks for housing loans, due to convenience, even thought the rate of interest is a little higher. People are ready to spend a few extra rupees for more services.
When I speak to some of these bank employees about why they treat their customers like this, they say that most of their staff is old and won't change their way of work for today's demanding customer. One classic defence they have is, 'we cater from pensioners to farmers. Does your MNC bank cater to them. Because we have a huge customer base, we can't scale up to those levels of MNC banks. MNC banks only cater to corporates'. Well that's your business decision to support farmers and pensioners. You have now a bigger reason to change. You have a huge customer base, don't lose them.
As a final note to these banks - Wake up and act fast. Customer is the KING. Treat him well, else he will chose some one else.

Mungaru Male review

Yes, over all a watchable movie. A movie that can be watched with your family.
My personal rating - Average
Actor Ganesh and director Yogaraj Bhat have tried to replicate the Sharukhan-Karan Johar combination. Ganesh has desperately tried to imitate Shahrukh khan, putting up that sympathetic look/smile in every scene. He reminds me SRK when he tries to spread his arms wide open and the camera revolving around him. He has done it atleast a 2 dozen times.

There are lots of reviews on the web which are full of praises for this movie. This had set a very high expectation, though I had been asked to watch the movie without too much expectation.
The movie sequences were quite predictable. By interval I was under the opinion that the movie was crap. I even messaged some of my friends who had recommended this movie to me about how I felt. Some messaged back that I should watch the movie till the end before I passed my judgement, and some said, that I don't deserve to watch a good movie like this and should get out of the movie hall.

What created the above impressions are the following scenes.

- When a man falls in to manhole, does he think about cleaning himself or does he think about the girl.
- Hero sees the girl only once and that too for a short while and later makes heroic attempts (thats his job) putting his life in to danger, to recover a hand kerchief, when his mother is waiting alone for him in a deserted street. We see such stupid scenes in many Indian movies.
- When the hero feels very deeply for a rabbit just within 2 days of meeting and makes that desperate attempt to save its life by running on a railway track (even if you and I don't, the heroin is definitely impressed by this).
- when you see a train which is less than 50 mts of stopping not to slow down.
- I don't know any temple in karnataka where people carry their loved ones till the top of a hill. All the men were carrying women so effortlessly (my wife was giving me those nasty looks)
- When people speak to him, Ananth Nag replies as though he heard everything even though he is deaf.
- A scene is created where both hero and heroin get wet and the heroin has to change her clothes and look hot (an old movie trick used in many Indian movies. How can one forget Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore in Aradhana)

People generally tell me that I pass above comments because it is a kannada movie. I wouldn't have done that if it was a bollywood movie (they say). But thats wrong. Anything that is not up to the mark and take the movie goer for a ride will be critisized.

What pissed me off most about the movie was the death of the rabbit. Why did the director have to kill an innocent creature which really didn't have any significant role.

The Jog falls scene has been well shot. Songs are excellent. It is a good attempt from the director, but has to work on these small issues. The movie goer cannot be taken for a ride. I am happy that a kannada movie is breaking all box office records. This movie has pulled not only kannadigas but also non-kannada speaking crowds to the theathers which is remarkable. The movie industry should go ahead and make a lot more good movies.
Feel free to put your comments on the post, but please read the first line of this post before that.

volunteering at SUN

Working at SUN is not just about coming out with cool technologies, but also contributing back to the community.
We mobilize employees to visit a blind school, senior citizen home, and school for poor children. They do this at least every quarter. They support the old age home, "Shambavi Home", by sponsoring all the medicines required by the residents throughout the year. Last year, school children from an orphanage were invited to the Sun campus giving them a sense of what work is like in a corporate environment. The volunteer team also treated the children to fun--complete with a movie, magic show and sweet feast.

The volunteer team in India is committed to social responsibility. Their commitment, high spirit and team work is something to emulate. They make a difference!!!

Read more about Sun India volunteering team. I am proud to be a part of this team.

whats new on my blog

Yesterday I have made a few changes on my blog.

1. ClustrMaps
Site meter kept count of how many people visited my blog. Many people complained to me that they could not view my blog completely as the site meter was stopping them from scrolling down.This was mostly the problems faced by IE users. The blog worked just fine with Firefox. Now I have decided to try ClustrMaps. It gives a pictorial represntation of the site hit count from different geographies.
I had around a 1000 + hits on my blog before I removed the site meter

2. Google search
I have added google search tool bar on my site. One can search the web, as well as through my blog.

3. Google Ads
I have added Google Ads on my blog. If one visits my blog, then he/she will see ads from Google. If anyone clicks on it, I make money. This is a cool feature introduced by Google. All one needs to do is sign up for it and Google will take care of placing the right Ads on your site.
Read more about Google Ads on https://www.google.com/adsense/

Let me see if I can make some money here ;)

Hilarious... Lovers converstaion over phone

Got this as a forward.Don’t take seriously….Just for fun…..



THIS IS A TYPICAL CONVERSATION of Lovers in Kannada.....

Note: 1. Conversation madhye within brackets irodu manasina maathu

2. Love maaDtha iroro baykonDre naan enu maaDakke agalla


She Gives a Miss call to Him....and he calls her back..

She: Hello!

He: (Ayoo..ivatten kuiytalo.... ) Hi ...en helu..?

She: enu illa sumne call madde...

He: ( Call yavag madde.. Miss call thane kotte... ) oh...ok ..en madtidde chinnu??

She: ig tane oota aytu honey..nin en madtide?

He: nandu ig tane oota aytu.. iga...."kunidu kunidu bare" haadu keltide
Fm nalli

She: nice song..

(And then she hums the line "Mungaru maleye enu ninna hanigala..")


He: ( Allen eeli kichugdtidya?? ) hey!!!! Nin isht chennag haadtiya? Nang gotte irlilla

She: *giggles*

He: Hey. Innond sala hadu pls!

She: illi ella malgidare..amel ella bhaya padtare..

He: ( Correct...Avru yavdo mohini pishachi ankotare... ) Come on! Please!

She: hogo. I don't sing that well

He: ( Adu oorge gottu... :-) ) It was really sweet. Please hadu dear

She: nangeno odd agide anstide chinnu

He: adral enide chennage hadtiyalla

She: neene helbeku

He: ( Nana? Nan bere daari ildira helde.. ) iga haadtiya ilva?

She: yako thale tintiya

He: Sigh! Ok

She: I don't have that great voice

He: ( Donkey kooda nachkolo voicu.. ) hmmmm

She: sari ishtond keltidya... onde ond stanza hadtini ayta??

He: ( Innen kaadidyo.. ) Great!!!!

She: yaav haadu haadli ?

He: ( Nin yaav haadu hadidrenu...nan nidde antu haalagoytu... )Hmmmm. "Nimmbe hanninanta" from Premaloka?

She: Nice song. But nange lyrics gypka illa

He: ( Text book bitre ningen gypka irutte helu... ) santoshakke hadu santoshakke?

She: illa ade haadu haadtini

He: ( Ella onde yaav haadadru kivi kedutte?... ) Cool


(She clears her throat, hums a line and then)


She: hey beda chinnu. Am feeling very shy!

He: haadu haadu.. nina haadina savige nanu mulgi mulugi telabeku

She: nodu galatey shuru madtidya...

He: ( Gottaytu thane ... mattinenu..: ) )No no. neenu shy andyalla adke. Trying to make u cool

She: Hmmm

He: please haadey

She: naale haadla?

He: ( Haaaaa tappskonde guru.. Escape... ) sari maa ning yavag haadbek ansutto avagle haadu

She: Hmmm

He: Good night

She: Good night

She: Sweet Dreams.. Take care...

He: ( Jeeva ulitu... ) Sweets dreams to u too...


After a while She calls He (tat never happens, she gives only a missed call),,,,


She: Hey..Malagbitya

He: ( Illa current kandu hidita iddini... ) Illa ma.

She: En maadtidya..

He: ( NaDu rathirili enn ice-pice aa aadakagutte... ) Match nodta idde

She: sari neen Match nodko

He: ( Avaglinda ade madtiddey... )Hey. Its ok. Hale match thane.

She: alla. Did u feel bad I didn't sing?


(Since it is a tricky question, He thinks for a while)


He: (Bad ah, this was the luckiest day in my life, since you didn't sing :- ) Bad anta nanenu helta illa. But I want you to be comfortable first. naale hadtini andyalla. So, me waiting..
(ivattu tappskonde ankondidde .. :-()


She sings 1 stanza from the song

Thoooo......... ....


He: Wow. Too good!

She: sullu. Nangottu nan voice eshtu kacchadvagide anta

He: ( Ningu Slef realization ide antaytu.. :-)... )Hey you really sing well.

She: hogo helbekalla anta hing ella heltiya

He: ( Chi Kallli, Correctag kandu hididbitte..... ) Che! Che! Nin voice sari illdidre nanu istott keltane irlilla

She: Hmmmm

He: nin ishtu chennag haadtiya anta gotte irlila ( Matte gottagodu beda.. :-(:-( )


She: Hmmm! Sari good night.. ninu malko..

He: ( Nin haad kelde mele .. innenu nidde kathe ashtte..) Good night!

She: Take care

He: You too

She: Hey....

He: ( Ahaa... ivlu bidolla thande,,, )Ah.. helu ..

She: chinnu nijvaglu nan voice chennagidya

He: ( ....halagogu, nin voice record madi ondsala kelu ) nijvaglu! Ofcourse.

She: bari sullu

He: ( Ivlajji !!!!!!! inn nidde madok bitilandre......... ) Not at all. You sing very well

She: Hmmm. Eno heltiya. Good night.

He: Good Night!!

What Is Rally About - Climb Dance - Peugeot 405 T16 - Pikes Peak - Ari Vatanen

Kedarkantha Trek

For many years, I wanted to go to the Himalayas for trek. The time was never right for it. Finally this year, I made up my mind, to touch the Himalayan base. I had been hearing about the trekking programs conducted by Youth Hostels Association (YHA). This year YHA had a new program to kedarkanta peak (earlier the same trek used to get extended up to Harkidun). We made our bookings for the trek from May 1st to May 12th. The group was set. Padmanabh, Nanda kumar, Vijay, his wife Geeta, Raghavendra (Rags) and myself registered ourselves for the trek from Bangalore. Our friend Chaitra too registered for the same trek from Hyderabad.
Summers are very hot in North India and thats why decided, NOT to stay at Delhi. So, we booked our evening flight from Bangalore to Delhi. From Delhi, we had booked a cab to Mussoorie, Uttaranchal which was our reporting camp.

Day 1

We were on our way to the airport to catch our flight when we received a call from the airlines telling us that our flight was canceled and we had to take an earlier flight departing to Delhi. Upon reaching the airport, the lady at the counter told us that our flight was delayed by an hour. After checking in our luggage we were relaxing at the lounge when we received another call from the airlines telling us that the flight might get canceled. We rushed to the lady again who told us that the flight is just delayed by and hour. When we told her about the phone call, she spoke to someone on the other phone. Then she asked us to go through the security check and meet another gentleman. Without a clue on what was happening, we cleared through security checks and met the person whom we were asked to meet. He asked us to proceed towards the aircraft. When asked if the flight was on time, he, without replying to our question, just asked us to board the flight which was ready to take off. The scene was like any city bus stand, where the bus conductors look out for passengers and pull them in to their buses. Without much choice, we boarded the bus which would take us to the aircraft where, we noticed that there were atleast a 100 people fighting with the flight attendants. Upon inquiring, this is what we found. There were 2 aircrafts departing to Delhi, of which one was delayed. So, the airlines was trying to fit all the passengers in to a single plane. One of the flights was supposed to fly via Ahmadabad. So the airlines wanted to fly this aircraft via Ahmadabad. But, the passengers to Delhi were not allowing it. Also, the passengers to Ahmadabad were fighting to take the plane to Ahmadabad. Amidst all the confusion, one airline attendant asked us if we wanted to fly to Delhi and upon nodding our head, he quickly ushered us in to the plane. There were no seat numbers. Just like a city bus, one could occupy any seat that was vacant.
The fight continued outside the plane. The angry passengers wouldn't let the plane take off. Some of the passengers inside the plane were watching the fight (fun) happening outside and meanwhile, the plane was filled with tons of mosquitoes. Now all the passengers got busy swatting the mosquitoes in the plane. What a comic scene it was. It was good 2 hours entertainment for us as we had decided to fly in a low cost airlines.
The rest of the journey was less eventful. We reached Delhi and waited for Chaitra who was supposed to join us from Hyderabad. She reached at 12.30 am and we took a taxi to Mussoorie.

Day 2

We reported at Youth Hostel,Mussoorie at 9.00 am. We took some rest, and then headed towards Mussoorie shopping area . After having heavy brunch, we bought for gloves, monkey cap, Rambo knife (!!) etc.
In the evening, myself, rags, chaitra and vijay went Paragliding. Later, there was a briefing session conducted by YHA. There were a total of 29 participants in our batch. Out of this 29, atleast 23 were from Karnataka (from Bangalore, Mysore and Shimoga) and 17 were school boys (8th to 10th std). We chose a team leader and an environmental leader. 'Yours truly' was chosen as the Master of ceremony for the programs to be conducted at the camp fire every night.

Day 3

We were served breakfast and our lunch was packed by YHA. We departed to our base camp at Sankri, which is around 175 kms from Mussoorie. It is 8 hours journey by bus to Sankri through the ghat section. We reached the base camp by 5.00 PM. Sankri is a small village surrounded by mountains. Ours was the first batch for the trek. After evening snacks and tea, we settled down for some rest. We were served dinner at 7.00 pm and later we had camp fire, where I had to call up on people to perform.

We were informed about everyday timings.
5.00 a.m. wake up. Bed tea would be served.
6.30 we had to return the sleeping bags and blankets provided to us.
7.00 a.m. break fast
7.30 a.m pack our lunch
8.00 a.m. departure
5.00 p.m Tea/snacks
6.30 - 7.30 p.m Dinner
8.00 a.m - camp fire, Milo/Boost served and then go zzzzzzz.

This is generally the practice in most of the YHA camps. This being the base camp, we had to spend one day getting acclimatized to the height. Sankri is at a height of 6470 ft (1970 mt). At higher altitudes, some people develop breathing problems and other high altitude sickness.

Day 4

We were woken up by a familiar tone shouting 'baeteeee .... baeteee', which was to be understood as 'bed tea'. We woke up and got ready for morning exercises. At 8.00 a.m we were off for a small trek and rappling course. After coming back ,at 1.00 a.m, we had lunch followed by orientation program. By evening, the second batch arrived at the base camp. Together we had a camp fire and later hit the bed.







Day 5

This was the big day. We had to start our trek to the next camp Juda Talao. Talao means lake in the local language (Pahadi). The trek distance was short. We had to cover only a distance of 4 km, but a steep ascent to a height of 8465 ft (2580 mt),i.e., a height gain of 2000 ft. The route was very picturesque with lots of greenery around. There were some small streams and meadows on the route. During summer, the snow melts and many streams get formed. Also, it was raining every day from the day we landed which added up to more streams.
As it was the first day, we trekked slowly. We took a lot of rest in between as there was no hurry to reach the next camp. Some of the boys were facing problem climbing. After around 4 hours of climb, we gave a break for lunch on one of the meadows. By the time we finish our lunch it started raining. From that point onwards, we did not stop anywhere and completed the rest of the 1.5 kms of steep ascent in less than an hour to reach our camp site. Camp site was located in a beautiful meadow with a small lake by the side. We saw some hail stones around the camp site. Our camp leader told us that there was a hail storm the previous day and the hail stones hadn't melted still.
By evening the sky cleared. Some people stayed back in the tent while others went out for an evening walk in the forest. Rags got busy with his bird photography, while we were busy with landscape photography.

Day 6

We were woken up by the sounds of birds. We started our trek at 8.00 a.m. after a nice breakfast (Upma). The next camp site was kedarkanta which was at a distance of 7 k.m. We had to gain nearly another 2000 ft. The camp was at a height of 10,032 ft (3058 mt). The trek was relatively easier than the previous day as the gradient was lesser. On the route, we encountered snow. This was the first glimpse of snow during the trek. We all dropped our bags and started playing in the snow. We reached the camp site by afternoon. Rains were holding up, but it was very cold. The camp site was on another huge beautiful grass land. There were beautiful mountain peaks in front of the camps. Behind the camp was the kedarkanta peak. The valley in front of the camp was facing Mussoorie/Dehradun. Mobile signal was available from Himachal Pradesh as we were on the borders and everyone got busy calling their family and friends. How often in a trek do we get mobile signal :)

We played cricket at a height of 10,000 ft. It was fun playing with the boys who were very friendly and easy going. We were finishing our game when a hail storm started. It rained heavily for more than half hour, after which the lush green meadows got converted to a sheet of white blanket. The entire place was covered by hail stones. During the rain, one of the boys who was venturing out and did not come back to the camp. His brother went in search of him. There was no sight of both of them for quite some time. The camp leader went in search of them and brought them back. They both were shivering as they were drenched in the rain and hail storm. The temperatures were close to 5 deg C. Both were in a state of shock. Cold temperatures and icy winds added to their misery. They were taken straight to the kitchen and made to sit in front of the fire. After a while, the weather cleared up and it was time to click a few more pictures.

Day 7

It was a beautiful morning. Kedarkantha peak was in sight. We had to climb around 2,500 ft to reach a height of 12500 ft (3815 mt) on a steep surface. We started climbing from the word GO. In between, we had to cross small stretches of snow. After 3.5 hours with sufficient rest in between, we summited the Kedarkantha peak. From the top we could see a lot of snow peak mountains. It was a breath taking view. After spending half hour at the peak, we started our descent. Our next camp was at 'Lohasu Thatch' (Thatch means grass land) which was at a height of 9481 ft (2890 mt). There was a 100 mt stretch of snow which we went down sliding. After this point we were caught in hail storm again. The hails were hitting us like bullets as we marched towards our next camp. The route was slippery at places as the snow had melted in many places. Rains had stopped by the time we reached our camp. We were It was quite cold as we were closer to snow peaks. All our warm clothing came out. Few people were wearing 6 layers of clothing. Sky cleared up and we had one of the most beautiful view of the mountains. We had a 180 deg view of a lot of peaks which included Kala nag, swarga rohini and Har ki dun. We could witness beautiful sunset.

Day 8

We were heading towards Dhundha which was the coldest camp of our trek. Dhundha is around 5 kms from 'Lahosu Thatch' and at a height of 10100 ft(3078 mt). The weather was very y pleasant. We had a cross a few glaciers and grass lands. As the trek was quite easy, we trekked slowly enjoying the view and stopping often for photographs. We reached the camp quite early in the afternoon. The camp was surrounded by snow. It was another day of hail storm which was quite heavy. Again the entire camp site was covered with snow. There were pipes getting water to the camp site from a near by stream which froze. Luckily we had filled drinking water in bottles earlier. I wore all my warm clothing and got in to my sleeping bag in the night waiting for a long trek ahead of us the next day.

Day 9

We were informed earlier that this was our longest and toughest day of trek in the entire program. Initially, it started with crossing a few glaciers and then we started climbing up. The route was very similar Tadiandamol in Coorg district in Karnataka. The route was very foggy and the visibility had dropped to around 50 mts. We had to ascend to a height of 11,500 ft before reaching the next camp. We were on our way to the top when it started snowing. The icy winds from the snow mountains around, took the temperatures to below zero degrees( may be to -5 or -10 deg C). Al l our shoe was wet with ice cold water. Fingers were freezing. To avoid frost bites, we started marching in the same place, waiting for the blizzard to stop. After half an hour of continuous pouring the sky cleared up. People sighed relief thinking that now things are under control. Little did we know that this was just the beginning. What we experienced from here on, was an experience of lifetime (atleast for a few of us).
We started marching forward when we came across snow mountains which we had to cross. None of the participants knew for how long they had to cross the snow. There was no way we could stop or even head back. So we formed a line and started walking on the snow one behind the other. It was quite difficult to walk there as most of us were walking on the snow for the first time. Due to every day rain/snow, there was a few feet of snow. At every step, our legs would go 2 to 3 feet in to the snow and at places more than 4 ft. We had a few experienced mountaineers as our guides. With their help, we started walking steadily, but slowly. People were getting tired. The children had started experiencing high altitude sickness like breathlessness, head ache, giddiness, etc. Couple of people even started fighting. Some boys were crying to go home calling out for their parents. Bulk of our group constituted of young boys. Some of the senior trekkers started helping the junior members. We would hold their hands and guide them through or talk to them continuously to cheer them up. For the seniors, holding hands and guiding others was more tiring than actual trekking. It was around 2.00 pm and we had still not taken a lunch break. Lunch break had got canceled because of the blizzard. The only thought on everyone's mind was to reach the next camp. After a long march, we crossed the first mountain and were relieved thinking that that trek was coming to an end, but only to find that we had to cross another mountain, where we had to walk on a 60 deg steep slope. On one side, there was a deep 1000 ft drop. There was no support and the snow was quite slippery. Our mountaineer guides quickly put anchors in the snow and tied ropes. Then we crossed the 50 mt stretch on a steep slope holding the ropes. We crossed the slope only to find another similar one. There were no ropes here for support. We had to wait for all the members to cross the previous mountain slope, so that the ropes could be brought on to this slope. Again the ropes were tied and we crossed the peak. While crossing, one of the boys lost his balance and started sliding down. We were all shocked and thought that we lost him. He had gone down by atleast a 50 mt, when two guides from two different ends quickly went down to grab the boy. Luckily the boy did not hit himself against any rock. They helped him back to the track. When this was over, another boy and later even vijay lost balance and started sliding down, but were caught by our guides quickly. When we were all done crossing the peak, we dropped our bags to relax. Soon, one of the trekkers went ahead to see the route ahead. He came back and informed us that there were atleast 3-4 slopes that we had to cross. Some people were having blisters on their feet due to long walks on the snow.

By now, people had got a hang of walking and balancing on the snow. Now, we didn't wait for the guides to make route for us in the snow. We started making the route and others followed. At one point, my legs went 4 ft in to the snow and when I pulled out my leg, I didn't have my shoe, it was stuck in the snow. I couldn't even turn back to pick it up as I was balancing my rucksack weighing close to 10 kgs on a 60 deg slope. I called out for the guide, who pulled out my shoe. I had to sit on the snow to wear it. After one more hour of trek, we reached a clear spot where there was no snow. It was close to 5.00 pm. We had taken 5 hours to cover 3 km trek in the snow.
It was finally the time to breathe easy. The view was awesome - clear blue sky, snow peaked mountains, grassland and eagles hovering over. From that point, the camp was just 0.5 km and there was no hurry to go there. Though others rushed to the camp, some of us stayed back to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery. After all, this what we had come for . We reached the camp by 6.00 p.m to be greeted by nice cup of tea and hot Alu Bondas. This camp - 'Talhouti' is at a height of 10,000 ft, surrounded by more snow peak mountains. We finished our dinner by 7.00. This was the last we saw rain

Day 10

Next two days to the base camp was very relaxed trek, mostly down hill. We had to descend 4,000 ft to reach the base camp at sankri. Camp leader had informed us that we could relax till late in the morning and head towards the next camp at our own convenient time. So, everyone woke up late. By the time we had our tea and breakfast, the news broke out that the route to the next camp was damaged, as a bridge on a river was broken. So we were cut out from the base camp and had to head back the same route we came from - i.e. the snow route we took the previous day. There was a panic in the camp. No one wanted to go back in that treacherous route.Some people started protesting that they would stay back in the same camp till the bridge was re-built. The guides were getting ready. There was a big reluctance to start the day. One of the ladies - Mrs Rama Joshi ( an actress, who has acted in many movies and plays. She has also acted as the mother of Urmila Matondkar in 'Ek Hasina Thi') started crying in her camp. Camp leader thought that it was enough and told us that it was a prank. The route was clear and we could go to the next camp 'Giangad'. Everyone was happy with the new.The route was mostly descending, passing through the villages. The villagers met the trekkers to ask for medicines like crocin and other pain killers, which our trekkers gave them.

Day 11

Another boring day of trek. The trek was on a jeep track from Giangad to reach the base camp Sankri which was quite boring. After walking through some of the beautiful routes, it was a bad feeling walking on the road. We reached Sankri by noon and took rest till evening.

Day 12

Another boring day's journey back to Mussoorie in a bus through the ghat section. After reaching Youth hostel at Mussoorie, we went to Mussoorie town for dinner.

Day 13

We started early from Mussoorie to reach Dehradun which is 25 kms away. We left our luggage in a hotel and went out to see the Forest Museum at Forest Research Institute. After that we shopped in Dehradun. We took the evening bus to Delhi and reached Delhi by 3.00 am

Day 14

We took our early morning flight back to Bangalore

All pictures - CLICK HERE


- Nagendra HK