Today has been quite boring at office. We are compensating for some holiday and hence working on a Saturday. All my friends have called me since morning and asked me "where are u? working? I thought I'll meet you today" like ya rite, you didnt feel like meeting me for the past 1 month! And there is no work too since morning! I have been chatting or reading blogs or something like that...how terrible. I wanna go home! I wanna finish of the book I am reading for the past month! I wanna go shopping, I wanna do something else!!!
I wonder how people on bench feel, I mean if this is my state in a few days how must they be feeling for like months...
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Green Valley!
Misty mountain tops, lush greenery, a lone path, a railway track, endless number of high bridges and dark tunnels, this is Karnataka’s most favorite trek route. The Sakleshpur rain road trek, a must do for anyone who calls himself a trekker. I have wanted to do this since 2 years now. This last weekend, thanks to a good friend, I made it!
We started out Friday night almost close to midnight from Bangalore. The bus took us to Sakleshpur, the nearest town, in the wee hours of the morning. After a hot cuppa and packing some breakfast, we boarded another local bus that would drop us near Maranhalli, the starting point of our trek. We took a muddy slushy path in the forest, along scattered houses for about a kilometer to reach the first bridge. This railway bridge will be our actual starting point of the 16 KM trek on the railway track. We freshened up in the crystal clear stream water and finished up our breakfast. I rolled up my tracks to leech proof my legs by a liberal dose of amruthanjan, a strong balm of sorts. I was unfortunately too late, a little fella had already crawled up and latched on and was sucking my blood. My first leech bite!!! After 4 monsoon treks in the western ghats! Took a snap of my dark parasitic friend before salting him off. After armoring with the above said balm, we go on the bridge and set off on the track.
Took some snaps at the bridge. It was quite awesome standing on the bridge at such a height and no guard rails or such stuff. Started walking, measured steps on the sleepers, almost a catwalk. Little did I know that my walking habit would need re-training after the trek! A hundred meters and we encountered our first tunnel, a good 250 meters long one. Photos shoot time again! Picked up a rusty railway bolt as a memento and moved along. The bats had all flown off as the trains have started plying, this was a bit disappointing. As we started walking into the tunnel, it became pitch dark and we switched on a few torches. But after a few minutes of walking we decided to walk in the dark for the thrill of it. Reached the end of the tunnel and realized another tunnel starts off just a few meters away! The whole track is like this, full of numerous bridges and tunnels. It’s just fantastic!
The best tunnel was close to a kilometer long, which happened to be the longest one we had encountered in the whole trip. This has some wild turns in the middle and its pitch dark, quite a challenge. The only missing element was a loved one to smooch, feel up and maybe more! As we were walking along, we heard the following sounds: “It’s going left, completely left, left yaar, left, thud, ahha!” Our foreman, an enthu daredevil had miscalculated and instead of taking a right, he had taken a left and had fallen into a not so deep rain trench close to the tunnel wall and now he sports a nice mark on his head and nose!
The best bridge was a wooden bridge, a few decades old. The wooden sleepers have not yet been replaced by iron ones and as such it is quite worn out and broken at places. This took a lot of nerve and concentration to cross. It was quite long and had a fast flowing stream underneath a few hundred feet down. It was a thrilling experience!
Towards afternoon we took a break, had just another 3 KM to our destination. We took a small path leading to a waterfall. After a cold bath and good water massage, and lunch, I slept off on a rock, head resting on my friend’s lap. It had been a while since I slept on someone’s lap… A good half hour’s rest later I woke up to a grey sky and by the time we packed and hit the track, a drizzle had begun.
We reached the destination station, Yedakumeri at around 5.30. The station master had setup quarters and the workers had moved on. After a bit of negotiation, we managed to get a room to stay for in the night. It was a diesel generator room, thankfully not running, the floor was not swept for ages and the slight smell of diesel oil hung in the air. No complaints, adjust and survive is the motto. The cook there agreed to give us hot water but no food as they were low on supplies, so just had cuppo noodles and a shot of whiskey and some vodka to keep warm and then sat down with the station master for a chat till 10 and then we hit sack.
Our initial plans for the next day was to cut across the forest, walk up 5KM and reach a near by village and catch a bus from there. Due to heavy rains, the path had an overgrowth of vegetation and would be infested with leaches. So, we made and alternative plan and kept this as a last resort. The station master told us that a goods train would be passing by at some unknown hour in the night, and he told us he could stop it briefly but it was for us to convince the driver to give us a ride. In the mean while another group of software guys had also come along and the station master refused to give them shelter and they ended up sleeping in the open-aired waiting room. People skills training does not seem to be effective enough.
The next day round 3 we were woken up and the station master told us to hurry. The train was almost there and was chugging along slowly. We all hopped on to the train and soon it started to move with a harsh jerk to warn us of its “non-passenger-friendly” way. Somehow I feel that the station master had sort of convinced the driver to take us - over radio. Oh that was the first time I saw what GSM-R is used for. And along with us the other group also tagged along. We all huddled up like sheep in the small coach and the since it was dark outside and there is not electricity in goods wagons, the other team were using all their torches. After some time all switched off except this one guy, all dressed up like a cowboy but hardly had the courage. He kept it on till I finally got annoyed and asked him to switch it off.
What an experience it was! The dark, the rattling train, the tunnels and bridges, the greenery, the mist and the emerging twilight. We reached Subramanya, a temple town with busses connecting to Bangalore at around 7. From there we took a jeep to the bus-stand half hour away. The jeep was stuffed, that’s the best way to describe it. I was practically in the driver’s seat and he in turn was almost leaning out and driving! 4 people in the front and 6 in the back and the luggage! And the man is ripping across in the Ghats! Whao! We reached the bus stand, caught the first bus to Bangalore and after a gruesome 9 hour ride reached home at 6 in the evening. The first 3 hours was in the Ghats section and man was it awesome! One fabulous trip done and many more to go!
The snaps are here by the way.
We started out Friday night almost close to midnight from Bangalore. The bus took us to Sakleshpur, the nearest town, in the wee hours of the morning. After a hot cuppa and packing some breakfast, we boarded another local bus that would drop us near Maranhalli, the starting point of our trek. We took a muddy slushy path in the forest, along scattered houses for about a kilometer to reach the first bridge. This railway bridge will be our actual starting point of the 16 KM trek on the railway track. We freshened up in the crystal clear stream water and finished up our breakfast. I rolled up my tracks to leech proof my legs by a liberal dose of amruthanjan, a strong balm of sorts. I was unfortunately too late, a little fella had already crawled up and latched on and was sucking my blood. My first leech bite!!! After 4 monsoon treks in the western ghats! Took a snap of my dark parasitic friend before salting him off. After armoring with the above said balm, we go on the bridge and set off on the track.
Took some snaps at the bridge. It was quite awesome standing on the bridge at such a height and no guard rails or such stuff. Started walking, measured steps on the sleepers, almost a catwalk. Little did I know that my walking habit would need re-training after the trek! A hundred meters and we encountered our first tunnel, a good 250 meters long one. Photos shoot time again! Picked up a rusty railway bolt as a memento and moved along. The bats had all flown off as the trains have started plying, this was a bit disappointing. As we started walking into the tunnel, it became pitch dark and we switched on a few torches. But after a few minutes of walking we decided to walk in the dark for the thrill of it. Reached the end of the tunnel and realized another tunnel starts off just a few meters away! The whole track is like this, full of numerous bridges and tunnels. It’s just fantastic!
The best tunnel was close to a kilometer long, which happened to be the longest one we had encountered in the whole trip. This has some wild turns in the middle and its pitch dark, quite a challenge. The only missing element was a loved one to smooch, feel up and maybe more! As we were walking along, we heard the following sounds: “It’s going left, completely left, left yaar, left, thud, ahha!” Our foreman, an enthu daredevil had miscalculated and instead of taking a right, he had taken a left and had fallen into a not so deep rain trench close to the tunnel wall and now he sports a nice mark on his head and nose!
The best bridge was a wooden bridge, a few decades old. The wooden sleepers have not yet been replaced by iron ones and as such it is quite worn out and broken at places. This took a lot of nerve and concentration to cross. It was quite long and had a fast flowing stream underneath a few hundred feet down. It was a thrilling experience!
Towards afternoon we took a break, had just another 3 KM to our destination. We took a small path leading to a waterfall. After a cold bath and good water massage, and lunch, I slept off on a rock, head resting on my friend’s lap. It had been a while since I slept on someone’s lap… A good half hour’s rest later I woke up to a grey sky and by the time we packed and hit the track, a drizzle had begun.
We reached the destination station, Yedakumeri at around 5.30. The station master had setup quarters and the workers had moved on. After a bit of negotiation, we managed to get a room to stay for in the night. It was a diesel generator room, thankfully not running, the floor was not swept for ages and the slight smell of diesel oil hung in the air. No complaints, adjust and survive is the motto. The cook there agreed to give us hot water but no food as they were low on supplies, so just had cuppo noodles and a shot of whiskey and some vodka to keep warm and then sat down with the station master for a chat till 10 and then we hit sack.
Our initial plans for the next day was to cut across the forest, walk up 5KM and reach a near by village and catch a bus from there. Due to heavy rains, the path had an overgrowth of vegetation and would be infested with leaches. So, we made and alternative plan and kept this as a last resort. The station master told us that a goods train would be passing by at some unknown hour in the night, and he told us he could stop it briefly but it was for us to convince the driver to give us a ride. In the mean while another group of software guys had also come along and the station master refused to give them shelter and they ended up sleeping in the open-aired waiting room. People skills training does not seem to be effective enough.
The next day round 3 we were woken up and the station master told us to hurry. The train was almost there and was chugging along slowly. We all hopped on to the train and soon it started to move with a harsh jerk to warn us of its “non-passenger-friendly” way. Somehow I feel that the station master had sort of convinced the driver to take us - over radio. Oh that was the first time I saw what GSM-R is used for. And along with us the other group also tagged along. We all huddled up like sheep in the small coach and the since it was dark outside and there is not electricity in goods wagons, the other team were using all their torches. After some time all switched off except this one guy, all dressed up like a cowboy but hardly had the courage. He kept it on till I finally got annoyed and asked him to switch it off.
What an experience it was! The dark, the rattling train, the tunnels and bridges, the greenery, the mist and the emerging twilight. We reached Subramanya, a temple town with busses connecting to Bangalore at around 7. From there we took a jeep to the bus-stand half hour away. The jeep was stuffed, that’s the best way to describe it. I was practically in the driver’s seat and he in turn was almost leaning out and driving! 4 people in the front and 6 in the back and the luggage! And the man is ripping across in the Ghats! Whao! We reached the bus stand, caught the first bus to Bangalore and after a gruesome 9 hour ride reached home at 6 in the evening. The first 3 hours was in the Ghats section and man was it awesome! One fabulous trip done and many more to go!
The snaps are here by the way.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Passport!
Today I saw this sign on the passport road.
If this is the state of the road leading to the passport then which way do we go with our passports? No wonder we have a lot of confused travellers! :)
If this is the state of the road leading to the passport then which way do we go with our passports? No wonder we have a lot of confused travellers! :)
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Reservations in India.
Today's headlines scream out to the public that "Our Prime Minister's Grandsons are ill and have Dengue". I so hope and wish that as an eye opener one of the grand child must be treated by merit students and the other by reservation students exclusively. That will I hope show to the PM how he is playing with his citizens and give him an understanding between basic education for all and professional courses on which lives depend.
According to our history, a good King would treating his citizens as his children. But our nation is in such sick political hands. Let the PM disprove this by treating his children like all his other citizens!
Don'd blame me for wanting to be under a great able king than under such lousy sick politicians.
According to our history, a good King would treating his citizens as his children. But our nation is in such sick political hands. Let the PM disprove this by treating his children like all his other citizens!
Don'd blame me for wanting to be under a great able king than under such lousy sick politicians.
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