dasi uvächa:

Ramblings about a long hiatus...

2009-02-16T19:39:00.002+05:30

We get into habits. Some stick for a lifetime. Some wear out. New ones take their place. Habit is second nature, they say. tch tch... habits are what make up the nature! the incessant ones, the not-so-regular ones, the once-in-a-blue-moon ones... all of them.

I started blogging over two years back, as an extension to my 'habit' to talk a lot, have opinions about almost everything, and let people know about them. Yes, I also hoped, it would help refine my writing skills which I needed for things more than just voicing opinions in a nice way for people to read! :-)

And I would regularly blog - obsessive compulsive blogger - some one once made fun of me during those initial days! It was fun, and yes, although not obsessive, it became a nice habit that I loved - a 'hobby' like it is called.

Somewhere about a year back, things changed. I got way too involved in work at office. And then some other things. And beyond that, some other things. I got out of this enjoyable 'habit' of mine. And to what extent! It was never that, in this one year since the last time I posted on my blog, I did not find the time to post, nor was there a dearth of topics to share about. In fact, I went on two international tours in these 12 months, watched a lot of movies, and had a number of unique experiences - basically a LOTTT of things to write about!

But I simply had gotten out the habit! Old habits die hard. Maybe this wasn't old enough. Laziness is the prime culprit, of course, no fooling myself on that. But a lethargic inertia had grown slowly. And the older it became, the stronger it became. And for one year, this part of the cyber-space remained untouched.

What made me get back onto it, this fine day? Well! Some time with just myself - no work, no friends, no distractions - and more so, an hour, for which I had to wait for my good friend to finish her day at the office, so we could talk about her latest adventures in life! :-)

I read somewhere - not sure where - that it is better to be hated, than loved for something, some times... Coz some one's hatred gives us an amazing energy to overcome it; an energy stronger than the one that propels us to gain more love and affection than that already exists.

Mine definitely wasn't a case of hatred! :-D It was the right combination of being left alone, having to wait for someone, having no other "work" to do, and for once, slightly under-control laziness! And if I can believe for myself that inertia once overcome, can resume the motion more easily, then I can hope to be bloggin a little more often hence!

Thanks Koosu, for that additional one hour of urgent work that you came up with. And twink, for those Karachi bakery biscuits, which are waiting for me and Koo! :-)

Dimmy does 10000

2008-02-29T20:57:00.000+05:30

Dimmy. My bike... :-) My Bajaj Discover 125cc. My companion everyday to almost everywhere I roam around in Bangalore. And to all those bike trips - short and long, that i've been to.

And today, she reached the milestone of 10,000 km. A few days shy of being 18 months old. Wow! What a feeling! For me. For her. She must be proud! I am! Of her :-)

And on this occasion (just a few days back) she got a major servicing done... with changes to her oil filter, spark plugs etc. That cost me 1300 bucks. But it was good for Dimmy. She rides smoother now! Whew! More miles to go together! :-)

The bike trip to Yercaud

2008-02-25T19:04:00.022+05:30

Having been used to it for two consecutive years now, a Jan-Feb period for me, now seems empty without a long bike trip. Two years back, it was Mysore, and last year, it was Kemmannugundi. When this year's February just seemed to be slipping out, this two day trip to Yercaud, kept the tradition alive for me.

Kamal and MaaNi had vowed their allegiance to any biking plan I made. Kamal then hit upon Yercaud two weeks back, and after some reasearch, we knew that it was an ideal location for a two day bike trip from Bangalore - in terms of distance, places to visit and the quality of the road, to and fro.

The trip was initially planned for the weekend after Valentine's day, but we soon discovered that every known lodge and resort in Yercaud had been booked for that weekend, owing to a function in a popular residential school located there. The trip was thence, postponed to the next week - 23rd and 24th February. The size of the group interested grew, and Ashish, his wife Rashmi, SP, Suresha, and my frens Shirish and Madhukeshwar battas joined in. Some tireless work by Kamal, saw three cottages being booked for our stay in Grange resorts, Yercaud through Yatra.com by Tuesday. Unfortunately for us, in the evening before we were supposed to leave, Ashish and Rashmi had to pull out owing to some personal problems Praveen joined the gang in their place.

Day 1: 23 February 2008, Saturday

The eight of us - Me, Kamal, Suresha, SP, Praveen, MaaNi, Shireesh and Madhukeshwar batta started out after meeting at the BTM signal at 5 am, and hit Hosur Road. The dawn was pretty cold and prompted us to take the first tea break after 25 km. The initial plan was to have breakfast at A1 Plaza at the Reliance Petrol bunk beyond Hosur. But we reached that spot at 6 30, and all voted to keep going on. Krishnagiri was the next preferred stop for breakfast, but the weather was so pleasant and conducive for riding, that we rode past it, with just one stretch-cum-photo break in between.

At 8 15 am and 102 km from the start, we reached Kaveripattnam, and were determined not to go further without getting the tummy to stop growling. Hence, despite passing through the town without finding a good hotel, initially, we doubled back and settled for the last small hotel in the town by the highway - Hotel Selvam. After a satisfying round of dosas, idlis, bread omlet and tea in a small Thela a little further, we hit the road again. With a couple of more breaks in Dharmapuri and another non-descript place, we reached Salem another hundred km later, at 11:30 am.

From here, Yercaud is 32 km up a winding and picturesque ghat road. The road has 20 hair pin bend curves which needed extra care while maneuvering. We took several stops to admire the resplendent views that were on offer and to give the cameras some great moments to capture.

We entered the hill town at about 12 30 pm, to a welcoming view of the big lake right in the middle of the town. After some searching about, we found our way to the Grange resort, four km from the town square, where three pretty cottages awaited us.

After freshening up, we headed back to the town and to Hotel Tamil Nadu, for our lunch. This is the hotel run by the TTDC (Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation), directly overseeing the big lake. The restaurant attached to the hotel was smaller than I'd expected, and was full, when we reached there. We ordered for veg buffets and a few plates of veg and non-veg starters from the very limited menu available. While the non-veg starters did come in time, the veggies had to wait for a woefully long time to get their plate of gobi manchurian. And when it did come, it looked like a dish we'd not seen before, and tasted bad too. In short, the lunch experience there was pretty unimpressive, and we walked out vowing to find another place for dinner.

The first place we visited after lunch, was Kiliyur Falls. After riding a couple of km on a road next to the lake, we had to trek down a steep path for just over half a km, to reach the foot of the falls. Although short, the steepness of the trek made it quite arduous - the way down was slippery, and the way up, very taxing. The falls were a namesake, at this part of the year, but would surely be very beautiful, during and after the monsoons. We spent some time there and came back. SP and Praveen were worn out a lot by the time we reached the top.

Back in the city, we refreshed ourselves with tender coconuts and then went to the Big Lake for boating. But since it was evening time, the place was very crowded and we retreated, planning to cover it the next morning. From here, we went to the Pagoda Point which was a diversion and three km away from the road to the resort we were put up in. Pagoda Point lies on the eastern and South-eastern part of Yercaud hill, and provides a great view of the hills around, and the Salem city. The place has a small temple and several small 'pagoda' shaped structures, made by stacking stones, which give it the name.

Next, we came back to the town square, and took another road to the West, to the Lady's seat point. This is another cliff edege, which provides a great view of the Yercaud ghat, a part of Salem city and the sunset. The heavy fog fizzled the splendid beauty of the sunset towards the end, but other wise, it was a beautiful spot. There is a telescope house at this point, which helps you get a telescopic view of the landscape below, but unfortunately for us, it was closed :-( There are a couple of other spots - the Gent's seat and the Children's seat somewhere around there, but we did not visit them.

It was 7 pm then, and we decided to go to a good place for dinner. I remembered the multi cuisine restaurant - 'Sky Roca' - the first place you see enroute Yercaud, after the ghats, and we decided to go there. This restaurant also enjoys a very beautiful location on the hill edge and is very plush. We were told that the restaurant wasn't open, owing to a corporate party it was hosting, but would probably have turned back anyways, looking at the prices on the menu card! :) Thanks to the kindness of a good natured restaurant attendant, we got a chance to go out on the balcony of the restaurant. The aisle which connects the hotel reception to the balcony had a glass floor which made it a miniature version of the the famous Grand Canyon Sky Walk near Phoenix in Arizona, USA. Although pretty small, it came to us as a surprise and was enough to give us the momentary thrills, before we decided to push out, lest we be kicked for trespassing!!

We then had dinner at a restaurant called 'Star Holidays'. This was much better than the lunch both in terms of quality, quantity and prices. We came back to our cottages, freshened up, and again went to the Pagoda Point at 9 pm to enjoy the cool evening. The view of Salem city from there, at that time of the night was simply breath-taking!! It was like a sea of lights down there, and words cannot describe the exhilarating feeling of enjoying it.

The lone car, which arrived there after us, but did not spew out any living being, inspired Madhukeshwar Batta and Suresha to let their creative minds imagine spooky stories of 'gay' ghosts!!

We returned back to the cottages at 10 30 pm, and crashed on our beds, immensely satisfied with the great day we had!

Day 2: 24 Feb 2008, Sunday

I was lucky to force myself to wake up at 5 45 am the next day morning, to go watch the sunset. It took quite some effort to cajole the rest of them to get out of their beds and make it in time. Yet again, it was Pagoda Point - which eventually turned out to be our favorite spot in Yercaud. We were pleasantly surprised to see a clear horizon, sans the heavy fog we'd expected, and hence were able to enjoy a grand sunrise. It also made up for the disappointing sunset, the previous evening. Once again, we were the only people there to enjoy the sunrise, and the serenity added to the tranquil morning experience.

As we headed back, we saw another group come there, when the sun, the good way up in the sky.

Since it was just 7 30, and the complimentary breakfast was due not before 8 45, we went around exploring the town on the bikes. The weather was very pleasant and ideal for biking and during out detour, we saw the the famous Montford School, Holy Angels School and the Holy Trinity Church.

After the pleasing ride, we came back to our cottage. Madhu, Sireesh and Maani were lucky to get some hot water from the solar water heater in their cottage, and had a bath, while the rest of us were forced to skip it.

The complimentary breakfast that was provided in the resort restaurant was one of the few nice things about our stay there, and although the service was sluggish (Praveen pointed out that they might have been using just a single burner stove to prepare the breakfast) the food was good, and we ate dosas and bread omlet to our heart's content, till we tea arrived an hour after asking for it!

We reached the Big Lake at 10 am for boating, and as predicted, had the entire lake almost only to ourselves. We took two 4-seater pedal boats and enjoyed boating for half an hour. The huge mass of water weeds in the lake told the story that the lake was dirty and not very well maintained.

The last spot we visited was the Shevaroyan temple named after the hills that Yercaud is situated on. It was 6 km from the town square on the north east side and is apparently the highest motor able point in Yercaud. The temple was in a very small cave around which a small concrete structure is built, which gives it the look - more of a small shed or shop, than a temple! We wanted to visit the Bear Cave which is inside a private estate adjoining the Shevaroyan temple area, but the parking staff told us that it is no longer open for the public.

On the way back, Kamal's great idea of a photograph was cut short by a bee that stung him on his forehead, as he was readying for the shot. We were then forced to make our way back quickly to the town, where Kamal got temporary respite by using curd and lemon. We got back to our cottage, packed up, checked out and started out. On the way, we visited a clinic where Kamal got two shots of antidote and tetanus booster for his bee sting.

Yercaud is a small town, roughly stretching 6 km at max in all directions, and with bikes, we had easily covered all the good spots, from noon - noon on the two days. After 24 hours of great fun there, we said goodbye to the place and headed on our way back at 1 pm.

The ride down the ghat was fun again, since we only needed to put the bikes in neutral gear and direct it, without needing to switch on the engines for 30 km.

We reached Salem at 2 pm, and found a vegetarian restaurant - Annapoorna - for lunch. We finished lunch by 3 30 pm, and started the 200 km journey from Salem to Bangalore. It was extremely hot uncomfortable for another hour of ride, but then got better after that.

On our way back, just before entering Dharmapuri, we took a deviation that would take us from the outskirts of the town. We had thought that this road would join the NH7 some where before Krishnagiri. But the road took a totally different course, and took us directly to Hosur, through Palacode and Rayakottai. That way, we missed the chance to ride easily on the four-laned highway for about 100 km. We reached Hosur by 7 pm, and the Karantaka border at around 7 30 pm. After saying our final good-byes at Bommasandra, we reached home at 8 pm after a very memorable two day bike trip

Acknowledgements:
Mapmyindia.com - for providing us directions.
Wikipedia - for giving us all details we needed about Yercaud.

Photos:

Fact file:

Distance from Bangalore: 234 km
Best time to visit: Feb - May, June
Means of transport - Better take your own car / bike, would be useful to roam around in the town too, and you can enjoy the good drive/ride to and fro.
Apporximate cost of accommodation: Rs 500 - 2000 per head, per day in the private resorts (Except for Hotel Tamilnadu - the TTDC lodge, which is much cheaper - about Rs 200 - 500 per head per day)

Movie Review: Mithya

2008-02-13T18:06:00.000+05:30

Name: Mithya

Genre: (Dark) Comedy !

Director: Rajat Kapoor

Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Neha Dhupia, Naseeruddin Shah, Harsh Chaya, Saurabh Shukla, Vinay Pathak, Irawati Harshe

My rating: 3.5/5

Now that I’ve watched the movie, I agree with Rajeev Masand, the movie critic of team CNN-IBN that this is one such movie, where telling almost anything in the plot is like killing the fun of watching it. Masand’s 4-star review of this movie was what prompted me to try it, and although I do take his overtly harsh reviews of movies with a pinch of salt, I didn’t mind having taken his word on this one.

So, bearing in mind not to let the cat of the bag – here’s a bird’s-eye-view of the landscape of the story. ‘Mithya’ is the story of VK (Ranvir Shorey) who is a struggling actor like thousands of other aspirants like him, in Bollywood, and nurses ambitions of making it big in the film industry, while working for tidbit roles as a junior artiste if few of the movies. A strange tryst with destiny makes him an object of interest of underworld dons Gawde (Naseeruddin Shah) and Shetty (Saurabh Shukla). A cleverly plotted plan by them, sees VK, on his looks and acting prowess, being inducted into another gang headed by ‘Bhaisahab’. The rest of the story is about how VK walks the tight rope of conducting himself so as to not be identified by the rival camp, while being forced to being a puppet of Gawde & Co, to save his own neck.

The movie is studded with some of the best and classic actors in Bollywood, and even better, is superbly cast by director Rajath Kapoor. Leading the pack, is Ranvir Shorey, who for the first time as the sole lead character, carries the film on his shoulder with his aplomb and fantabulous display of acting. From his days as a stand-up-comedian to this powerful role, Ranvir Shorey shows that he not just has a brilliant comic sense, but is also a class act, a complete actor. While he fills life into the humor scenes, his acting of the sad scenes really makes your heart go out for him. All the other actors around him, rightly look like supporting cast – and to take nothing away from them – Naseeruddin Shah, Saurabh Shukla, Neha Dhupia, Irawati Harshe and Harsh Chayya – do perfect justice to their respective roles.

The movie, although does not make you laugh as much as, say Bheja-fry – Rajat Kapoor’s previous comic flick which was a hit, and which would probably be a reference for you to try out this movie – has its moments of good natured humor that would evoke a lot of laughs. But while humor rules for most part of the movie till slightly beyond the interval, from then on, the movie takes a serious turn, and becomes more grim and dark towards the end. The screenplay of the movie, is imaginative and rides the story well.

On the flip side, I felt that the ending was almost abrupt, and that for the magic it initially creates, the movie needed a smoother landing at the end. The movie, although runs for about 100 minutes, feels much more longer than that, and could have been stitched closer, by cutting down a few ambling sequences in between. And Vinay Pathak, is utterly wasted and this would surely disappoint many of his fans, including me.

But barring these few glitches, the movie is a well made- movie, worth a watch.

kalavarahaLLi (skandagiri) again...

2008-02-06T21:23:00.000+05:30

Three months after I first went to the place, where you could literally stand atop the clouds - kalvarahaLLi beTTa or Skandagiri, 70 km from Bangalore... I went there again a few days back... this time with a different gang of friends - Kamal, naNNu (Narendra) and moTe (bhuvnesh)

I was itching to go on a bike ride, after being tied up with my mba apps since the last time I went out on a trip. Kamal joined hands, and with him, his friends naNNu and moTe... none of them had been there before. skandagiri was chosen, coz the other places for one day bike trips got eliminated for various reasons... and some wonderful photos, from my last trip helped Kamal make up his mind.

The plan was similar to the first trip. Start at 2:30. Reach kalavarahaLLi through ChickbaLapur in another couple of hours. Park bike near Paapagni mutt. Trek to the hill top in moon / torch light and view the sunrise there. The plan went well all the way, except for a very narrow escape I and naNNu had, on the way - when we just missed crashing out of the road at a road deviation which had no sign board. All of us thought we'd had it - especially naNNu behind me! I was lucky to hold on my nerves and steer to safety in half a second of a superb (and lucky) reflex!!

Last time i'd been there in October 2007, ours was only the third vehicle parked at the foot of the hill. The popularity of the place had multiplied several times over since then and it was evident from about a hundred vehicles there this time, and also introduction of 15-bucks-per-head 'forest department trekking charges'. We were able to save a couple of hundred bucks by not needing to take a guide.

We trekked up leisurely. moTe had a double whammy when his not-so-great stamina was joined by a muscle catch in his right thigh. It took a lot of breaks, the lure of the of helping make frens with one of my cute frens, and a lot of "bas... aur sirf dus minat" lies, to goad moTe into making it to the top, right in time for the sunrise :-D

After all the effort, our rosy plans of watching the ocean of clouds around, and the magnificient sunrise was ruined by dense fog which hid the sun till we lost hopes and began climbing down couple of hours later. It was not just us, but also the entire big crowd of few hundred people who were there, who were disappointed... The cold mountain winds and a few peeks to the wonderful scenery around were the only saving graces...

We climbed down by 9 30 am, and got back to Bangalore by lunch time. moTe and naNNu were dead tired and hit the sack as soon as we got home. All in all, it was a great bike trip cum trek... but if skandagiri was its legendary fervor, it would have been heavenly!!

Photos:

To see what kalavarahalli is really about, see these photos caught on a Canon S3IS by my friend Keshav Kolle in his trip about a month back, have a look at these...

KoLi's kalavarahaLLi photos: (copyrighted - displayed with permission :-))

A EBGF* day trip to hogEnakal

2008-01-12T14:39:00.001+05:30

*EBGF - Eighth Block Ground Floor, NITK Surathkal, Class of 2005 inmates :-)

It took Nelli and Argod to come down from the US, to get us, the BTM gang, to pack up and get out on an outing - something which would remain confined to just plans on most weekends. The last time we had been out together was in October '07, when all but me, had been to Hampi.

Even this time, the plans started ambitiously - as always! :-) Munnar, Kodaikanal, Ooty, Pondicherry - there wasn't one popular picnic spot in South India that wasn't considered! But finally of them were scrapped, and we settled for a one day outing to the Hogenakal falls in Tamil Nadu, on the border between TN and Karnataka.

Hogenakal in Kannada means smoky rocks. When the water falls on the rocks it looks as if smoke is emanating from the rocks because of the force of the water. Hoge in Kannada means smoke and Kal means rock thus giving the name Hogenakal aptly to the place. The place is about 45 km from Dharmapuri in TN and 150 km from Bangalore. It is the spot where the Cauvery river, after flowing through the highlands in Karnataka, falls through a ravine, forming a multi-headed waterfall, along the border of the two states. To its credit, it also has few beautiful sequences in popular Tamil movies that have been shot there - including the "chinna chinna aasai" song from Roja.

05th Jan 2008, the first Saturday of the new year. We were ten of us - Me, manju, prajnesh and Paddy from the BTM gang with Figur, Bhupi, Achari, TG, Nelli and Argod. It was a sort of reunion for the big chunk of the NITK EBGF junta. Lobo missed out, owing to some urgent work at office, while Devu was too lazy, after a couple of games of AOE till 4 am that morning.

Bhupi had arranged for a TT for the trip. He landed at our place in BTM at 8 am and then got all of us to move our butts from infront of the TV, when we were deeply engrossed in watching the 4th day play of the now controversial Sydney test between India and Australia.

We hit the road at 9 am. Stopped near the entrance to Electronics City for some breakfast. We then continued on the NH7 through Hosur and Dharampuri, and took a right there to the Hogenakal falls. It took us 2.5 hours from Bangalore, to reach the place.

A stop about 10 km before Hogenakal, relieved the old 'cooler' moments of our EBGF days at college! :-D

One of the main attractions of Hogenakal, is the coracle ride through the ravine. Although it does seem scary for the aquaphobic non-swimmers, it is pretty safe, if the water is not in spate, and you follow all the precautions while floating in the coracle. For us, it was a good time to be there, since the water current was just right.

The most difficult part of the coracle ride, is digesting the astronomical costs that the local boatmen charge, and not succumbing to it!! While some of our friends told us that they had paid upto 500-600 bucks for each coracle, we were greeted with "normally 1000 - but for you, we'll do it for 900" kinds of offers. After letting go a dozen of them, we finally negotiated a prize of 700 per coracle with a couple of best-among-the-pack guys, and hired two coracles.

Sailing in the calm waters of the Cauvery in the coracle, was a great experience. Many of us also tried our hands on the oars of the coracle, and realized that steering the boat was much tougher than it seemed by the look of it! We sailed close to several tributaries of the water falls, and kept the camera busy.

A few interesting things we got to observe during the ride, were the mobile shops, which sold all the junk food you'd like, and a few young boys, jumping off some of the peaks on the banks, into the river, at the behest of the tourists, for a fee of two bucks.

At around 2 pm, we reached a beach on the banks, beyond the ravine. Here, there were some shack-shops which served meals with freshly caught river-fish curry. Although the food looked tempting to a few of us hungry souls, the vegetarians and hygiene-conscious had their final word, and we skipped that lunch. It would have been great, if we too would have packed some good lunch for ourselves, like more than half of the other tourists who were there.

We sat down on the sand, talked about the good old days of college, and 'debated' excitedly about the "new phase of life" Argod was about to enter into. Infact this matter about Argod ruled the roost during most of our discussions throughout the day. Dead sure, by then Argod would have cursed himself a thousand times, of having let the cat out of the bag, amongst a flock cackling geese!! :-D

On our way back, we stopped by at a small part of the waterfall, and also took a dip in the water. Despite the falls being small, it had a few good currents which we throughly enjoyed, and was worth the experience for having come that far!

We started back around 5 30 pm. On the way, our cabbie took an alternate route, which was supposedly shorter, through some reserve forest. We had to pay a bribe of 30 bucks to the watchman at the gate, to ride on rocky mountainous path they called "road". The only pacifying factor, which compensated slightly for the bad ride, was that we chanced upon a couple of elephants crossing the road in the forest.
We reached Bangalore at around 9 pm. That included a half an hour break to save our starving tummies with some snacks, till we got home to a filling dinner and a good night's sleep after a great trip!

Fact File:

Ideal time to visit: October to February. Good place for a one day trip from Bangalore
Route: Bangalore - Hosur - Dharmapuri - Hogenakal
Distance from Bangalore: approx 150 km
Food: Suggest carrying your own food for lunch. Some local hotels and some shacks on the shoals in the river, and river banks provide fresh fish curry meals. Not much variety, otherwise. Other than the place itself, next closest place for food is Dharmapuri 46 km away.
Cost of one coracle (ideally): 600-700 bucks.

Movie Review: Taare Zameen par

2008-01-01T11:54:00.000+05:30

Name: Taare zameen par

Genre: Children’s movie, for adults!

Director: Aamir Khan

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi

Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra, Vipin Sharma, Sachet Engineer

My rating: 5/5

WHAT

MOVIE!

In his debut as a producer, he gave us Lagaan – one of India’s best movies and strongest contenders for the Oscars and now, in his debut as a director, Aamir ‘Perfectionist’ Khan gives us Taare Zameen par – another gem of a movie, which can as well stake a claim to the most prestigious cine award. I can’t remember any other movie in recent past, which ever made such a deep impact on me. It was truly a memorable way to enter the New Year 2008, watching this movie on the night of 31^st of Dec 07, in the 10 pm show at the PVR multiplex.

The story is not just about one dyslectic child, who despite his best efforts, does not get the necessary help and support from his parents to come out of it, and is instead scolded, beaten, and branded lazy and stupid. He is just a face of those millions of young children, who are being robbed of their childhood, in the mad race, out in the big, bad and competitive world. Children, who are shouldering the burden of increasing expectations from their parents and teachers. Children, whose natural talents get lost amidst the mad frenzy to acquire the ‘important’ skills of reading, writing and math.

And yes, it is a splendid and poignant eye opener for all those adults around them, who have created this unforgiving and harsh environment around them.

At eight years, Ishaan Awasthi, a std III boy has a world of his own – filled with colorful and wonderful things like fishes, kites, spacecrafts and dogs, and is out of sorts in the adult’s world of homework, marks, discipline and competition. He finds it difficult to read and write, because every time he attempts to, the letter seem to be dancing, and out of his control, and this in turn results in his poor performance in class. Add to this, the fact that his older brother Youhan (Sachet Engineer) is a class topper and excels in tennis too. Bogged down by the trouble of dyslexia, sky-high expectations, and parents and teachers, who don’t understand his problem, Ishaan finds it impossible to come out of his problem. Fed up of him, his parents get him admitted into a boarding school. The separation from his family comes as an additional trauma to Ishaan, and things become worse for him. He goes into a shell – so much so, that he even loses his love for colors and painting, and his life becomes miserable.

One day, Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) joins Ishaan’s boarding school as a temporary art teacher. He comes in as a fresh whiff of air, for all the students, who till then, were taught by teachers how to think and do things. Nikumbh encourages the children to set their imagination free and learn to think and create for themselves. He realizes that Ishaan is besot by some problem, and finds out about his dyslexia. Having had faced the same problem in his childhood, Nikumbh empathizes with him and also goes on to help him learn in novel ways and overcome the problem.

Everything about this movie is delightful! The story is conceived and superbly scripted by creative director Amol Gupte has wonderful music and lyrics, is edited beautifully, and is studded with brilliant performances by all the characters. The best of them all – the true hero of the movie – is the Darsheel, as Ishaan, whose acting tugs at your heart strings throughout the movie. And a great part of the credit goes to director Aamir Khan, for bringing out such a stellar acting performance from him, and also for also performing his role as the art teacher with great finesse. Vipin Sharma as Ishaan’s strict father portrays the character of a strict and demanding father so well, that even you can feel the sting that Ishaan feels, when terrorized by him. Tisca Chopra as Ishaan’s mother has also done well. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s pleasant music and Prasoon Joshi’s lovely lyrics, blend extremely well with the main story and add to the effect of the story-telling. Everything, just so perfect!

Verdict: Don’t miss this movie for anything! It is a must watch for all children, parents and their schools.

Biking to the Big Banyan

2007-12-31T18:25:00.000+05:30

MaaNi, my friend, had suggested going biking a few days back. It had been more than a couple of months since our last trek to KalavarahaLLi. Since then, Shetty, one of the driving forces for our bike trips had flown to Canada, and it was just me and MaaNi from the original gang, that were still in Bangalore.

MaaNi called at 10 am with the plan to bike to the Big Banyan tree in RamohaLLi, about 18 km from Bangalore, on the road to Mysore. I dint think twice. Having company to bike was a reason enough, infact! And no harm in seeing the place, i decided.

An hour and half later, we left from MaaNi's place, and met up with couple of his friends - Vinay and Pradeep near Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Mysore Road. Riding onwards, we took a right turn next to Sri Rajajeshwari Dental College, beyond Kengeri. The road from here to the Big Banyan was under construction and a torture both to the bikes and the riders. Thankfully, it lasted only about 3 km, and another 6 km straight ahead on the road, we reached the Big Banyan - doDDa Alada mara.

The information board at the entrance said that the tree was around 400 years old and spread over 3-4 acres. I ain't too good at such large-scale measurements, based on mere observation, but I am positive that the area was under 2 acres - this I surmised, coz my high school playground in Manipal which housed a big football ground, 2 basketball courts and 4 volleyball courts, I knew was 3 acres large. It was just about a decent place for half-a-day's picnic for families. Nothing too great, I personally felt. Clicked some snaps, lie down on the grass and chatted for an hour and started back at around 2 pm.

On the way back, took the route from the other side, through MaagaDi road. The road was very nice, and worth the extra km we had to ride. Had a late lunch at 3 pm in one of the restaurants on the way, and got back at about 4 30 pm, covering 70 km in the day. Short and mildly-sweet bike trip for the weekend! :-)

EQ??

2007-12-21T14:53:00.000+05:30

More timepass...

Your EQ is 160

Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

Seriously though, your whole "Don't Worry, Be Happy" philosophy is really what defines emotional intelligence.
You're warm, open, and very optimistic. You know how to act appropriately, even if you don't feel like it.

You are a good communicator, and you have little difficulty with personal relationships - even when you're dealing with difficult people.
In general, you are successful, capable, together person. You get what you want out of life.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Blame it on 'dosha'... :-)

2007-12-19T14:33:00.000+05:30

Pure timepass!!
But, btw... decently accurate, i would say!

Your Dosha is Pitta

You have a quick mind, a gift for persuasion, and a sharp sense of humor.
You have both the drive and people skills to be a very successful leader.
Argumentative and a bit stubborn, you have been known to be a little too set in your ways.
But while you may be biased toward your own point of view, you are always honest, fair, and ethical.

With friends: You are outgoing and open to anyone who might want to talk to you

In love: You are picky but passionate

To achieve more balance: Be less judgmental of those around you, and take cool walks in the moonlight.

What's Your Dosha?

Tum chalo... toh hindustan chale!

2007-12-14T22:44:00.000+05:30

A video that really stirred up the passion of being a part of the new-generation youth of India!

Movie Review: Jab we met

2007-11-22T10:54:00.001+05:30

Name: Jab we met

Genre: Romance / comedy

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Music: Pritam

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor

My rating: 4/5

The theme is simple – on the face of it, may even look clichéd. But the execution is brilliant! Boy and girl meet accidentally during a eventful train journey, boy and girl who despise each other initially, become intimate, as the journey progresses, girl loves another guy, about whom she isn’t sure, boy helps her get united with him, but girl later realizes that she loves the hero more than her first crush, and then – the happy ending.

Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapoor), the son of a wealthy Mumbai industrialist, who fails in love, and also in stepping into his deceased father’s shoes, aimlessly gets on to a train. In the train, he meets motor-mouth Geet (Kareena Kapoor) who gets on to his nerves, first by talking non-stop and then by landing herself into one trouble after another, leaving him to get her out of all of them. But along the journey, Aditya too gets infected with Geet’s living-life-by-the-heart attitude and they become great pals. But the end of this journey ushers in a change of fortunes for the two. While Aditya carries on with the newfound zeal he got from Geet, into his business and life, to become very successful, Geet is besot with the bad luck which forces her to become a recluse, living away from family and friends. Aditya comes back to revive Geet’s life, and a twist of events at the end makes him her companion for life.

The movie entirely belongs to Shahid and Kareena, who share an awesome chemistry on screen and have come out with great performances. While Shahid does full justice to his cute, chocolate boy kind of role, Kareena is annoyingly adorable as the girl who loves to talk non-stop and live life queen size! The movie is loaded with genuine humor interlaced with the romance between Aditya and Geet, which makes you roar with laughter, throughout. The editing in the first half is crisp and takes the movie at great pace, but one just wishes the second half was about 20-30 minutes shorter, which would have added an additional punch to the movie. Pritam stamps his royal class, in the music department, by coming up with a bunch of melodious tunes. All songs are superb and add to the flavor of the movie – especially Mauja mauja and yeh ishq hai (a fusion song).

Verdict: Must watch… and yes, to enjoy the magic of the movie, do watch it on the big screen.

The joy of giving... NVEP @ Honeywell

2007-11-20T12:49:00.000+05:30

The best way to be happy, is by making some one else happy... The joy and satisfaction that comes from giving, is unparalleled - especially, if the person receiving it is a truly deserving one. My moments of this ecstasy came during the Native Village Education Program, that I conducted in my native place Manipal, with the support from my company Honeywell Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Background:
I have been associated with the Community Service wing of my companyfor over a year now. There are three tracks under this wing - the Medical Track the Education Track and the Native Village Adoption track. The purpose of the medical track is to provide free medical aid and facilities to those who cant avail of the same. These are carried out by conducting medical camps, blood donation camps, health and hygiene camps & special camps in the remote villages, where there is no access to medical facilities.

Under the Education track, we conduct activities ranging from scholarship programs for economically underprivileged children, donating mobile science centers, conducting teachers’ training programs, mentoring, donating computers, conducting science exhibitions and much more. Most of the times, we conduct these activities while we go the villages for the medical camps

Under the Native Village Adoption Program, an employee can make a difference in his/her native village by developing the basic amenities, infrastructure and education. Funds for the project will be shared between HTS Community Service Trust and the employee. The employee/s will be contributing 20% of the funds and rest by the CS trust, with a maximum limit of Rs 32,000. Development can be done from building the rooms of village school, tank cleaning, and bridge construction to road side tree plantation have benefited from this program.

My Native Village Education Program (NVEP):

I hail from a small village Parkala, in Udupi district of Karnataka. The district has a made a mark in the education field in Karnataka district, being one of the top three most literate districts in our state, with a literacy percentage of over 90%. But this record notwithstanding, there are several schools, where several bright students find it difficult to continue their education, due to economic constraints.

Encouraged by the support that the HTS CS wing provides the employees to help support education initiatives in our native villages, I conducted surveys, and discussions with the heads of five schools in and around my village. These are villages, and schools which have the maximum number of students coming from meager backgrounds. With the help of the heads of the schools, I identified some academically deserving students, whose families face deep financial crisis, which could threaten the future of their schooling, and conducted a merit-cum-need basis scholarship program for them, and distributed Rs 40,000 of scholarship among some talented poor students.

The schools i covered, were Manipal Pre University College, Manipal - my alma mater, where I did my high schooling and pre-uvinersity, Parkala High School, Shri ViShnumoorthy High School KoDibeTTu, U S Nayak High School, PaTla and HiriyaDka P U College. A couple of months back, when I been back to my native place to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi, I had proposed this plan to the heads of the schools, and they had enthusiastically responded, by preparing the list of deserving students from their respective schools and sending them over to me. My parents made the job infinitely simple for me, by coordinating these activities locally, while I was in Bangalore.

The program was scheduled for 11th November 2007, when I had been back on Diwali vacation. It was conducted in the auditorium of my school, Manipal P U College. All (almost :-))the students, who were selected for being awarded the scholarships had been present with their parents and guardians. In the absence of my school Principal and Vice Principal (who had cooperated magnificently, but could not make it, due to other unavoidable commitments) my old Kannada teacher, Mr. Uma Maheshwara Hegde, helped me conduct the function. His experience and full support was a major reason for the awesome success of the program.

Although I knew the importance of what I was doing, to the benefiting students, the actual impact of it hit me, during that program. In my address to the students and their parents, I had encouraged them to think big, to make their own ways, where there weren't any, and strive to excel. It was an overwhelming experience to serve as inspiration to so many talented young girls and boys. The gratitude and desire to surpass that I saw in their eyes, as I distributed the scholarships, made that day one of the most memorable days in my life.

The occasion was graced by the councilor of Manipal Shri Devendra Prabhu, and teachers from the schools, who had come to see their students in their moment of glory. Many of my friends, who are also old students of the school were present, and for me, it was a double whammy, in the form of a reunion after a long time! My sister, who could not make it to the function, had supported me with her best wishes and by paying for the refreshments served during the program.

Special thanks to Senthil Kumar, one of the leads and the pillar of our CS wing, my parents who were the back bone of this undertaking of mine, and most of all, the Community Service Wing of HTS who helped me realize my dreams...
For me?? I want to continue inspiring...

Like Winston Churchill has very aptly said "We make a living by what we get... We make a life by what we give!"

More photos:

Book review: Perry Mason - The case of the Lame Canary

2007-11-05T18:37:00.001+05:30

Name: Perry Mason and the case of the Lame Canary

Genre: Murder Thriller

Author: Erle Stanley Gardener

Publishers: Master Mind books

Price: Rs 75/-

My rating: 3.5/5

A big fan of Perry Mason novels, I've read more than half the books in the series. I categorize these books I've read into just two categories - the top five, and the rest. This book, I can say, does not belong to the former category. :-)

A lady Rita Swaine comes to Mason with a lame canary belonging to her sister Rosalind, who is fed up with her husband and wants a divorce. The apparent divorce case turns out into a murder, when Rosalind's husband Walter Prescot is found dead. An accident on the road involving a coupe and a truck which occurs outside Prescot's house around the time of the murder adds another dimension to the murder. The other ingredients in the plot are Rosalind's boyfriend Driscoll, a snoopy neighbor looking into the house of murder Mrs. Anderson, the Weyman couple neighbors, a strange Carl Packard, Prescot's partner Wray, his secretary Rosa and Driscoll's maverick lawyer Rodney Cuff.

Mason, who would have otherwise dismissed the divorce case, which he is not interested in, takes it up, because of a hunch on the lame canary, and goes on to solve the murder. The ending is dramatic and sudden - typical of Erle Stanley Gardner's style - the narrative, grasping and the solution to the puzzle, absolutely breath-taking. Add to it the knowledge about court room hearings, autopsies, forensic science, guns and others that you get - its short crisp and very gripping. Go for it!

Moonlight trek at KalavarahaLLi beTTa

2007-10-29T14:22:00.000+05:30

My mamma says, when a plan gets interrupted too many times before it gets underway, then something will definitely go wrong with it.

Not really, I think... At least, it wasn't so with this trek of ours. I have lost count of the number of times the plan made by me and my friends, to trek the kalavarahaLLi beTTa (also known as Skandagiri) had been scrapped, before it was finally executed early in the morning on 27th of October. And despite the hiccups for over two months, during which we made and dropped the idea umpteen number of time, almost every weekend - the trek was simply superb.

Mamma's rule had another exception.

The gang of Shetty, MaaNi, bhatta, Kothari and me started off on three bikes, at 2:30 am on the 27th from MaaNi's place in Jayanagar. Shetty had been to kalavarahaLLi once before, and was the driving force behind the mission. In Physics terms, that force, was just a scalar, and not a vector. He knew where to go, but didn't have the direction!! Worse still, he didn't seem to see the need for it either, and i could instantly visualize a wild bull running amok in a jungle!

We rode 70 km through Jayanagar - Hudson Circle - Cubbon Park - Mekhri Circle - Hebbal Flyover and then on NH 7, thorough Yelahanka and DevanahaLLi, to reach ChikkabaLLapur. There's more than one way to get to the foot of the kalvarahaLLi hill. It is a hill next to Nandi Hills, and you can get there from a couple of routes to Nandi hills too. We chose the route through chikkabaLLapur for three reasons - firstly, it was straightforward. Secondly we could hope to find some people in dhabas or in the village to give us the directions, and lastly and most importantly, the four of us just did not trust Shetty, because his plan was to try and discover the path riding aimlessly on deserted roads at wee hours in the morning.

All the above reasons worked in our favor. We reached ChikkabaLLapur, took a left at a prominent Ganapathi temple, and rode straight for about 8 km to reach the Papagini matha, at the foot of kaLavarahaLLi beTTa. On the way, we took directions from some nocturnal tea shops and early village risers, and also picked up a guide to show us the way up the hill.

We started trekking at 5 am, with an aim to make it to the top to watch the sunrise. Despite the short time at hand, with the help of the guide, we made it right in time. The route was pretty simple from this end and we climbed up at a good pace, taking just a couple of breaks for five-ten minutes each, in between. It was extremely foggy and cold, but within half an hour, we had begun sweating so much, that, had it not been for the protection the jackets gave us, from the thorny shrubs on the way, we'd have taken them off right away. It was just a day before the full moon, but the moon was behind the clouds most of the time, giving us just a few fleeting glimpses here and there.

We made it to the top right at sun-break, and beyond that, it was an hour of bliss. Literally, standing above the level of the clouds, the magnificent view from atop the hill just took our breath away. Words can probably never explain that beauty, while the photos can still do some justice. With gales of winds sprinkling the moisture from the clouds on our face, you would be tempted to stand with your arms wide open on the mountain edge, forever. The clouds all around and below of the summit of the hill looked like a field with cotton strewn all around. It was a photographer's dream - picturesque and romantic!

We stayed there till around 7 30, and made our way down. It took us about an hour downhill, and we met some other trekking troops on their way up. Although the cloud cover remains till around 8 - 9 pm, they would have surely missed the grandeur of the place, going that late. We reached the place where we had parked our bikes at 9 am, grudgingly paid the guide Rs 250, as against the earlier agreed 200 bucks, and rode back. On the way, I got a chance to give a lift to couple of school going girls of the village. After breakfast in ChikkabaLLapur, we reached Bangalore at lunch time.

Some other key points to remember:

Don't forget to take torches (ideally, one per person) with back up batteries, if you are trekking during the night. Also carry the regular stuff like water, eatables, warm clothing etc.

If you are going for the first time, especially in the dark, it is better not to risk going without a guide. But beware of the guides who might try to fleece you. Ideally 200 - 250 rupees should be the max limit. They mostly start off with 500. If you can bargain for lesser, good for you!
The best time to go there is now - September - February. Make sure, you are on the top of the hill to watch the sunrise (and/or sunset)
While trekking in the night is one option, you may even trek there there previous evening, pitch your tents there, watch the sunrise the next morning, and come back. If you do this, please take tents, sleeping bags etc. Chances of making a campfire may not be bright, owing to the fog and moisture.

More photos:

Book review: Name: How to get into the top MBA programs

2007-10-22T15:54:00.000+05:30

Name: How to get into the top MBA programs

Genre: Management education reference

Author: Richard Montauk

Publishers: Prentice Hall Pr

Price: $27.95

My rating: 4.0/5

Ok. So you have decided to pursue your MBA from a foreign university. Or you are considering that as an option for your future plans. Presenting… a complete guide to your preparation for this goal of yours.

There are plethora of books and other resources to guide you in the arduous process of applying to an MBA program. The more you research, the more sources to consider, and the more information you collect, the better it aids you. Having said that, this book is a comprehensive one-stop reference for most of the guidance you will need.

The book consists of four major parts – The ‘context’, which helps you decide on why you would want to do an MBA, the types of MBA programs available and how to decide which program and college would probably best suit your aspirations. The second part touches on the aspect of ‘How to best market yourself’ – the nuts and bolts of the application procedure, including tips on writing essays, preparing your resumes, arranging for letters of recommendation, and handling the interview procedure. The third part ‘On road to the B school’ covers the post-application topics like handling wait lists and rejects, arranging for financial aid etc. The fourth last part consists of a huge collection of essays written by as many as twenty applicants, from various backgrounds, while applying to the various top MBA programs, and the analyses of these essays.

Along with the general advice that Montauk gives, each topic is fortified with quotations and excerpts regarding various facets of the topic, from interviews with various directors and other staff members from the admission committees of the best b-schools. While adding to the clarity of information given, this aspect also gives the differentiating factor about these various aspects of application, from the standpoint of the different b schools.

At over 700 pages, this book could intimidate you with its size. But you do not have to read the whole book if you are in a time crunch; you can read just the sections pertinent to your case. But, if you do have the time, this book provides you with a wealth of information and will be an ideal companion in your journey to the top b-schools of the world!!

Chand sifarish... @ HTS Utsav 2006

2007-09-20T11:19:00.000+05:30

Don't know why i never put this up before.

My experience of leading my company (Honeywell Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd - HTSL) music band, for the first time, at the company annual day.

16 Dec 2006

Singing in front of an 8000 strong crowd, at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore, it was one of the most heady, and memorable experiences in my life.

This song, Chand Sifarish (originally from the movie Fanaa, sung by Shaan) was the opening song of our twenty minute performance.

The team of performers consisted mostly of people who had never performed in front of such a big crowd ever in their life. Despite this, the confidence with which they performed, and the sheer hardwork they put into gaining that confidence, was what made the show such a huge success. The cheers of "Once more! Once more!" and crescendo of applause that greeted our show, made our efforts more than worth it

Looking forward to rocking HTS again, at Utsav 2007
The coutdown has begun...

The watcher in 'the' eye...

2007-09-11T14:48:00.000+05:30

Model - Canon EOS 400D Digital (SLR)

ExposureTime - 1/250 seconds

Exposure mode - Tv-priority

FNumber - 6.30

ExposureProgram - Shutter priority

ISO - 400

Movie Review: Heyy Babyy

2007-09-10T10:37:00.001+05:30

Name: Heyy babyy!

Genre: Comedy

Director: Sajid Khan

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani and Johaina :-)

My rating: 3.5/5

Boys will be boys. Or will they be?

A story of three boys, who grow up from being playboys, to loving fathers, with the arrival of an unexpected ‘Angel’ baby in their life, Sajid Khan - Sajid Nadiawala’s “Heyy Babyy!” is a comedy-cum-melodramatic flick, which will leave you with a sweet feeling tingling in your heart.

Aroush (Akshay Kumar), Tanmay (Ritesh Deshmukh) and Al(i) (Fardeen Khan) are three happy-go-lucky young men, living as a family in Sydney, mostly flirting and dating. Their adventurous life goes into a tizzy, when one morning, they find a few-months-old girl child on their doorstep. After the initial blame game, as to who the child’s father is, and a vain attempt, to find the child’s mother, they are left with no option, but to take care of the kid. But this task, not being their cup of tea, they lose their sleep and peace of mind, which causes them to mess up their jobs, and they get fired. Blaming the child for all their misfortunes, they decide to get rid of her, by abandoning her. But an unusual turn of circumstances, and a miracle, which saves the baby from death, changes the hearts of the young men, who make the child, the center of their lives, and bring her up as their child, ‘Angel’.

Enter Esha (Vidya Balan), the mother of the girl child, who comes as a nightmare, in their fairy tale life, and takes the kid away from the father-trio. This is when they realize, that the child belongs to Aroush, and that Esha wants to avenge his betrayal to her. Aroush tries to apologize to Esha, and expresses his desire to marry her, but she is hell bent on teaching Aroush a lesson. The rest of the story is about the ardent attempts of Aroush and his friends, to try and win the Esha’s heart and get their bundle of joy, back into their home, assisted by Esha’s father (Boman Irani)

While the first half hour makes you roll with laughter, seeing the endeavors of three men trying to handle a child, the rest of the movie tugs at your heart, watching their fervent attempts, to try and see the child in some way or the other, and to regain her from her mother. Akshay Kumar delivers a stellar performance both in the comic and sentimental parts of the movie and the rest of the characters evolve around him very well. On one hand, his superb comic timing will have you in splits and on the other, his fine acting in the sad scenes, especially the ones, in which he is separated from his child, will bring tears to your eyes. He is very well supported by Ritesh Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan who play their roles with great finesse. The way three of them gel together in all the phases of the film, make them very endearing. On the other hand, after the sweet girl-next-door kind of roles in Parineeta and Lage raho Munnabhai, Vidya Balan, who plays a hungry-for-revenge girl and mother, who is cheated by the person she loved, is a revelation in the new kind of role she plays. But the most memorable part of the movie, easily, is the babyy ‘Angel’ (Johaina), who looks so cute and adorable, that you can’t help but wish, that you had a child like her. Her expressions in the entire movie fill your heart with unbounded joy.

Music by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy is above average – the title song, and the ‘Mast Kalandar’ songs being the best in the album. But a couple of songs in the movie, which break the pace the story, by unnecessarily being in there, could surely have been done without. But the beautiful background score and the signature tunes in the movie make up for this, by adding flavor to the story. Although the movie does contain a few moments, which could embarrass a family crowd, it is a good entertainer, and definitely worth a watch.

Official site: http://heyybabyy.erosentertainment.com/

Book review: Q & A

2007-09-07T13:38:00.000+05:30

Name: Q&A

Genre: Fiction

Author: Vikas Swarup

Publishers: Doubleday

Price: Rs 395

My rating: 4.5/5 (Must read)

It starts with “I have been arrested. For winning a quiz show”

It ends with “I don’t need it anymore. Because luck comes from within”

And throughout the 300 pages in between, it keeps you riveted, and leaves you simply mesmerized. Whatever be the genre of books you naturally enjoy, this is one book, you will definitely enjoy.

This is the story of an 18 year old boy, from the slum of Dharavi in Mumbai, who goes on to win a billion rupees in a quiz game show called ‘Who will win a Billion’. The boy – Ram Mohammad Thomas – narrates the story of his life, and how he won the game show, and also found a wife, a life long friend and a sister – all this, despite being a poor, uneducated orphan.

Ram is arrested on charges of having cheated to win the game show, by the producers of the show, who cannot – and do not - believe, and feel that it is utterly preposterous, that he had won out of sheer luck. He is saved by a lawyer named Smita, to whom he reveals, how he was able to pull off that unbelievable stunt. For each question in the game show, he recounts an incident in his life, from which he gained the knowledge that helped him answer that particular question.

The story is told in a non-chronological fashion, and is sequenced, instead, according to the questions he was asked in the quiz. As such, there are some episodes of his life, which occur at further stages in his life, being presented earlier in the book. Each of the episodes is a short story in itself with a fresh starting, a problem coming in the middle and how Ram solves it heroically, or escapes by chance. This is followed by the question that he was asked in the quiz. This line of narration increases the charm of the story and will keep you interested and guessing. Towards the end, the there are several twists in the story, which increase the thrill-factor to a crescendo and finish it off with a beautiful flourish.

The author Vikas Swarup touches upon several evils in the Indian society like child abuse, exploitation, fraud, murder, prostitution, through which the hero goes through. The writing style is artistically brilliant. Vikas Swarup paints his characters, situations and events in a way akin to the screenplay of the movie. This adds so much of life to them, that you can actually “view” the story, and not just read it. It is a ready-to-make Bollywood movie story, complete with all the typical masala and one, you will thoroughly relish!

Resaturant review: Lazeez

2007-09-06T13:09:00.000+05:30

Name of the restaurant:	Lazeez
Address:	Jyothi Nivas College Road, 3^rd block Koramangala. (also on Commercial street) Ph: 4104271
Specialties	Mughalai and tandoori food, rolls
Average cost for two	Rs 200 – 250
My rating	4/5

If you love mughalai food, and want to taste some of the best rolls you’ll ever get in Bangalore, this is the place, you must just not miss, (rather “bookmark”). Period.

I was suggested this place by a couple of my friends here at office. But what aroused my curiosity to try it out at the earliest, was the fact I was told by a Bengali friend of mine, that this place is run by a member of the family which runs an extremely popular restaurant in Kolkatta, called Shiraz.

The restaurant is easy to spot, in Koramangala (I haven’t yet been to the Commercial street branch), on the way to Jyothi Nivas college from the Intermediate ring road, which is a one way. It is in the basement, and you need to look carefully on the right, to spot the blue board, at the level of the road itself. Parking is on the road, on the left side.

I went there with great expectations, and Lazeez more than satisfied me. Between four friends we tried as many as 14 dishes of different varieties. The menu of Lazeez is very extensive, and it will take me, on a decent estimate, atleast ten times to try all of them. But almost all of them I tried were great – so, it’s a good guess, that the others will be delicious too. Some of them I would suggest are the Chicken Roll, the Mutton kati roll, Chicken Kati kabaab, tava chicken and Kalmi kabaab. For the vegetarians, there is biryani, and some good gobi items. Although we tried just one Gobi peshawari, going by the taste of the Chicken biryani, the veg biryani, could be another suggested item.

But something, which will remain in my memory, is the rotis they serve there – in over a hundred restaurants I have tried till date, Lazeez wins hands down for their awesome, thick and fluffy rotis. Don’t count them. Just eat your fill!

One thing I was glad when I came out, was that we went for a brunch there, in an extremely ravenous condition – it helped enormously to hog a lot. And the pleasing part was that, despite this, it cost us roughly 160 bucks per head! If you eat normally, you can be done within 100-125 rupees per head.

Now why didn’t I know about this place before!!

A go at karting!

2007-09-03T19:05:00.000+05:30

Had a great time karting this previous weekend. It was the six of us - Arif bhai, Ranu bhabhi, Daada, Bhavin, @mmi and me. Amongst us, only Bhavin had tried his hands at it before and played 'coach' and motivator.

We biked our way to the arena - Grips Go Karting, on Mysore road, and reached there in about an hour. The few people who were already driving on the tracks gave us a glimpse of what was in store for us. It wasn't the best trailer we could see, since a trio of friends, who weren't concentrating too well on their karts, crashed right in the middle of the track, and were subsequently pulled up, and forbidden from driving thenceforth. Although they sustained very minor injuries, the sight was enough to give us a big jolt. It scared Ranu bhabhi so much, that she decided to stay out. It took Arif bhai, quite some cajoling to convince her, albeit, after arranging for a custodian there, to drive alongside her for a couple of laps, till she found her courage.

The rest of us found it easier, once we were on the karts, and drove a couple of laps. Apart from a particular U - turn, which was the most menacing (and in which Daada crashed into the tyre walls twice), the rest of the track was easily manageable. By the end of the first race, everyone was confident to go for it another time, and drove at much higher speeds than the first time.

The other great part of this outing was Bhavin's Canon EOS400D SLR camera. A powerful camera and a great place to shoot is an unmatchable combo. This time, tried the zoom-past effect, where the surroundings are blurred, and the speeding object is caught static in the middle.

Used a 1/60 s shutter speed for these...

Other photos

Vital Stats:
The Place: Grips Go Karting
Address: Anchepalya, Bangalore - Mysore highway (Mysore). Approx 4 km beyond Kengeri, approx 20 km from Bannerghatta road.
Cost: Rs 100 for 7 bhp engine karts, Rs 200 for 10 bhp engine karts - six laps each
Track length: Approx 500 m
Value for money: Awesome!
Ideal place for half day outings, team outbounds etc.

Friends...

2007-08-27T09:30:00.000+05:30

Wanna make friends with me?? :-)

You Are a Good Friend Because You're Accepting

No matter what a friend says or does, you try your best to understand it.
And your friends feel like they can tell you anything. You don't judge.

You know that friendship is a journey - with a lot of ups and downs.
If you and a friend grow apart, you get over it quickly... and leave the potential for future friendship open.

You tend to have many friends from many walks of life. Anyone you meet is could become a friend.
In fact, you are especially interested in people who are a little different than you. Seeing life from another perspective is something you cherish.

Your friends need you most when: They can't turn to anyone else with their secrets

You really can't be friends with: Dogmatic, stubborn people

Your friendship quote: "Love is blind, but friendship closes its eyes."

What Makes You a Good Friend?

What is your relationship status?

2007-08-22T11:07:00.000+05:30

Single / Committed / Married??

Ok… half of you, who have read the title, and the first line, will have already made the connection! And the rest of you will relate to it, when I tell this word: Orkut

Rings the bell?? That question in the profile description on the most popular socializing website around?

Started a few years back as a small online community for the youth to socialize, by a genius from Stanford, it has today become a HUUUUGE rage all around the world, inspiring a plethora of other such communities in the web world, and hogging enormous amount of bandwidth – enough for almost all corporate companies to be forced into banning it at office before long… including mine:-( (those who are still lucky – enjoy!! You too would join us soon!)

And among the several things it has revolutionized, is the paradigm shift it has brought into common parlance. From adding new meanings to ordinary words in normal English, to adding new words to our slang lexicon, to being a part of a person’s identity, and changing the way they keep in touch with people... life's changed so much, since Orkut. Among the new concepts it has enlightened the hither-to ignorant common man, is a person’s relationship status.

One of the fields that get displayed with a person’s profile summary, along with, his/her profile photo, name, age and place, it has gained so much prominence, that it has become an integral part of the picture, a person draws, about another, at the sight of the latter’s profile summary.

A “Single” status – especially if you are a cute guy / girl, and have spiced up your profile – would possibly invite lot of scraps, from ‘interested’ people, who want to make ‘friends’ with you. No offense meant… although this is one of the prime purposes of such an online community, the observation made, is in the perspective of the person’s relationship status. If you are “committed”, statistically, the chances that people would be interested in making ‘friends’ with you, and add entries in your scrap book, of the likes of ‘Your profile looks nice. Can we be friends’, is definitely less.

While the “married” status is normally the poorer and insipid cousin of the first two, the response that evokes curiosity, and raises eyebrows, probably to the greatest extent, is – ‘No answer’. Apart from those young, fresh, or unaware users, who just don’t know what it means, any other user, leaving that question unanswered, would most probably belong to the category – single and mingling :-) – someone who is going around with a person, but isn’t sure of the relationship, or doesn’t want others to be conspicuous about it – yet, cannot “bear the guilt” of claiming to be ‘single’. In other words, it is the silent way of saying – I am not available.

Open marriage, and open relationship – are status messages, which are very rarely used genuinely, alteast in the sub-continent. A person seeing this on your profile, most likely, will probably think you made a mistake, or will know, from the rest of your profile, that you are either acting too smart or funny. The bottom line is that – it is almost always ignored.

Amazed by the degree to which, this question forms a part of an Orkut-user’s cognizance, I decided to put my theory to test, by changing my own status from single, to other different options. These are the conclusions I have drawn from my experiment.

Changing from Single, to ‘No answer’ mostly, only raises eyebrows. As if to reflect the person’s preference about answering the question, scraps, probing about it, are minimal and normally only from the most active (read jobless) orkut-user-close-acquaintances of the person.
Changing from Single to Committed (or vice versa) normally sees a huge influx of scraps – manifesting either as curious and congratulatory messages like “Wow!” “Congrats!!” “When? Who?”, or sincere condolences like “Oh… what happened” “Sorry for ya mate!” “Cheer up” – based on which way you change your status.
People who want to avoid all this attention, showered by the above two cases, normally prefer to not try to be too honest to their own conscience, and show up as Single. So, if some one isn’t too nice to your overtures of ‘friendship’, despite being ‘Single’, this might well be the reason!
Changing from any status to “married” is just another event, if it is the truth. Since, normally there will be a lot of hullabaloo regarding your wedding, especially in terms of the increased traffic of good wishes (and condolence :-)) scraps, the people who ask you “Oh! Wow! When?” or something similar, are usually far acquaintances of yours, whom you either forgot to invite for your wedding, or knew you once upon a time as a hi-bye friend.

So next time you look at some person’s relationship status, you’ll definitely know to take it with a pinch of salt. For all you know, it could be as much, or even more deceptive than the rest of his profile.

PS:By the way. I am ‘married’ :-) and really lucky, that my parents belong to the not-so-web-savvy generation. They definitely would not take my answer(s) to this question too lightly!! :-)

Closing statement:

Due condolences to Mr. Adnan Patrawala, one of the unfortunate preys to the ugly side of this extremely cogent online community. Please make sure, that your personal security will be your prime concern while using them. Be responsible, stay safe.

Love is...

2007-08-21T18:34:00.000+05:30

Confidence...

"What if I love you enough…

Still I feel the need to love you more….

And what if I realized you are my life…

Still I think of you more than my life

What if you are not with me always…..

Still I feel you around here everytime…

May be I am crazy…

So what … you won’t get anyone better than me :-)"

An email that made my day... at the fag end of it...

Top 10 things about my Sunday - the 5th of August

2007-08-06T09:14:00.000+05:30

Ten:

Deciding to take our helmets with us, all around on the hill, rather than depositing it at the counter – They came very much in handy, and saved us from being frost bitten by the cold showers and even-colder wind.

Nine:

The photo of the three of us, with helmets on – ala Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty, in Herapheri – shot, while we were taking respite from the heavy downpour, on the verandah of an un-occupied guest house, just before starting back. The best souvenir of our trip.

Eight:

The bowl of hot and spicy tomato soup we had at lunch, which brought the much needed warmth into our bodies, and revived the energy in us that had been sapped by the cold on the hill station.

Seven:

Deciding to go to Nandi hills, which would have more people, and where atleast MaaNi had been to, once before, rather than the KalaivarihaLLi beTTa which, despite being our initial planned destination, would have been completely alien to us, more likely to be deserted, and a not-so-wise choice for the rainy day it was today.

Six:

The drizzle at noon, and the heavy showers in the late afternoon – both, which spread a blanket of thick fog on the hill, which truly made the experience of being there today, akin to strolling in the heavens…

Five:

Going on a bike trip after a long time – almost eight months, since my last bike trip to KemmaNNugunDi.

Four:

Escaping with almost no injuries, from the fall, at a railway crossing, on the way back, where the track was dangerously displaced from the level of the road, and worse still – was extremely slippery, coz of the rain. Had it been worse, it would have spoilt the wonderful day, we had had, until then.

Three:

The mesmerizing picturesque beauty of, and around the hill… the brilliant birds-eye-view from the various cliff edges of the hill… the intoxicating breeze which makes you want to sit there... forever, and let it speak with your soul… the paradise called Nandi hills…

Two:

Waking up at 8:30 am, deciding all at once to go biking, making an ad hoc plan, without a route or a destination… Setting out, with an always-up-for-an-adventure friend MaaNi, and a sweet-and-sporty sweetheart, @mmi… and making it another red-letter-day in life.

One:

Today being Friendship day… receiving friendship messages in the densely foggy and romantic environs atop the hill… being there with two of my closest friends, and enjoying with them… And most importantly… having some really great friends in life, who make life much more worth living, than it would otherwise be…

Happy friendship day friends!

More photos from the trip, below

A team outing at Golden Palms

2007-08-02T20:10:00.000+05:30

We were supposed to start at 11 am.
We finally started at 12:30 pm.

We were supposed to travel three hours max, both ways, to and fro, the Golden Palms resort. We got stuck up in bad traffic jams both times, and ended up four and a half hours in the cab.

We were supposed to play a lot of team building games and get to know each other much better. Time permitted us to play just one game, after an elaborate round of introduction.

Ideally, the entire team was supposed to be there. Team members in Phoenix, Madurai and those who could not join, were present only in spirt.

Hmmm... Murphy's law ruling at large, you'd say?? On the face of it, maybe yes... But just as Murphy's law didn't say the other half of the story - what other than or after, what could go wrong, did go wrong - the above half of the story, tells only the most forgettable (and at the end of the day - insignificant) part of our team outing.

Our team - the Test Tools and Test Executive team - under Sumit, had suddenly swollen up from eight members to twenty one, within a span of three months, with the commencement of the ambitious and unprecedented Core ATE project, and the existing projects getting more people on board, to handle the burgeoning work flow. And suddenly, the small conference rooms, in which we used to have our team meetings, seated comfortably, now started looking like a BTS bus in the rush hours!! So, along with the decision to move over to bigger rooms, came the plan, to 'build' the team and become more familiar with each other (read - know about their dark secrets, so that we can pull their leg some other time!! :-D )

VJ mailed to Admin team to begin executing the plan. He got replies. Mailed again. Got more replies. Sumit too mailed. He too got replies.

Finally, we, the team, got the announcement - 31st July, 11 am to 6 pm... we were going to build :-) in the Golden Palms Resort on the outskirts of Bangalore city.

31 July 11 am... came.. and went... Everyone was so busy at their desks, that it looked liked they were struck by a bolt of amnesia. Except for VJ (and may be those, who would not be joining us :-P ). VJ played sentry, and hovered all around, looking for the all-elusive cab that was supposed to ferry us. Sumit walked around to see everyone so immersed in their desktops, that he looked partially frustrated, and i guess, partially doubtful, if he had got the date of the outbound wrong!

12:30 pm. Cab apparated (refer Harry Potter!) in front of office building. 13 out of 21 from the team, after some cajoling, boarded the cab. Anamika, from the HR team joined in. The spirits of the unavailable 8 members, floated in through the windows :-) We drove off.

How about Dumb Charades, called VJ and Rama. Yeahhhhhhh... hooted the others. Start Dumb C. Everyone got a chance to mime (and the rest, to laugh at them, and guess the answers!) Sumit delved into the huge list of movies he'd watched, and came out with some real toughies... Ashish got frustrated miming the movie 360 degrees. Manu found it difficult to be dumb!! (How dumb!! he he) Lot of movies got mimed and guessed in between. And before we knew, we'd travelled a hour and half, and reached the resort.

Camera... click... click!!
Thank you!!

Tummies growled loudly. None of them spoke much. Everyone headed for the dining hall in the resort, without worrying too much about other things around, driven by hunger.

Food was good. Time was short. All ate well. I mostly talked.
Saranya ate pulav, Shenba devoured rotis, Manu had chaats... i ended up only telling stories.
Time up! called Sumit. Ashish, followed by VJ came to gag me and carry me out.

Tummies full. Smiles all around. All looking smug! The thought definitely crossed all our minds, for a moment... that we wouldn't mind getting a good fluffy bed, for an afternoon siesta.

We'd expected to be playing some games, being close to nature... may be in a lawn or garden. Instead, we were shown to a conference room, whose big deep chairs refused to lean back! Probably they expect people to doze off during conferences, if such comfortable chairs are provided, and have steered clear of taking that responsibility!!

We began with some 'Animal talk'... I mean... Anamika suggested that we identify an animal / bird / reptile / any living creature other than human, which we felt resembled us the most. Not many were ready for this, with the lights in the upper chamber of the head gone out, after the wonderful meal!! I got ragged into going first, after desperate attempts all around to make the others, the first bakra!

"Chamaleon", I said... It took a moment to sink... Why? echoed voices all around... Coz i change my colors often (what the hell was I blabbering, a voice in my brain asked me) - and before I realized, loud applause and hooting from friends, passed this resolution unanimously... I maintained a dumb silence.

Prashant went next with 'Elephant'. Everyone gasped. You need to eat thrice what you eat now for that, suggested Sumit. 'It is for the calm demeanour... i meant' Prashant continued... hmmm... we all agreed... It sure does take quite an effort to unsettle him!! :-)

Then there were the sleepy polar bear, the focussed hawk, the free-to-roam whale, the calm-until-provoked bear, the industrious ant, the sturdy horse, the kingly lion.... a tweety bird... a Superman-monkey (no guesses who that is!! )... Wow!! felt like in a zoo, with talking animals and birds!!!

A tea-break later, I was again ragged - This time, to sing a song. I obliged with 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you' and i actually got an applause for it!! And then... i did not mind having been ragged!!

Next.. it was time for a formal intro, with a rider - to tell something what no one else in the room, knew about oneself... Skeletons came tumbling out of the closet... and so did, some hidden talents, some deep desires, and some great achievements too... There was someone who had proposed to a teacher (wohhhh!), some one who could write on grains of rice, some great players of hockey and cricket, some one born in Angola (woohhhhh!) some leaders of clubs... And all of a sudden... it felt like sitting inside a talent power-house... with a pack of extemely gifted and unique individuals... A super team we are, we all realized...

The only game we played, was the one in which we had to build a pyramid with paper cups, split into three teams. The cups had to be picked up with a lasso having multiple threads tied to a rubber band, and which needed to be pulled and released to emulate the holding action.

Strategies made. Practice done. Contest started. Prashant's team was well organized, and built an awesome pyramid. VJ's team was almost there. Our team thought out-of-the-box and came out with an innovative ploy - pulled out a loophole out of the rules, built a huge base using glass cups from the conference tables, and made a big pyramid. VJ's pyramid got blown off, Prashant's pyramid held on, and got hailed... Ours... ?? tch tch... not everyone values "different" ideas!! :-P how sad!!

We all discussed what we learnt out of the game... Resource planning, co-ordination, leadership, strategy, knowledge of constraints, etc etc... WOW!! I never knew common sense had so many synonyms!! And then there were some other observations, which were derived by relating to life at office... but, ahem... ahem... can't reveal them here... coz they belong to the the category 'Those-which-must-not-be-named' and 'You-know-what' !!

After all this, Anamika and Amal left early, while the rest of us killed some time playing some snooker and carrom, and started back at around 6 pm. Somewhere on the way out of the resort, we all got "heady" and got this...

But the true team building and fun, was on the way back... After another round of songs I sang, we switched to Antakshari... An hour later we got tired of that... And then came the brilliant idea of singing songs, simultaneously, in two languages... While the Tamil buddies sung some of the most popular songs in Tamil, the rest of us, went in harmony, with the Hindi version of the same - Roja, Saathiya (Alaipayutha), Jeans, Hindustani (Indian),.... Unity in diversity, team building any one?? See HERE... See HERE!!

The rain came down hard and fast, outside... the cab crawled back through the evening traffic on the flooded roads... and the mood and songs inside... reached a crescendo, and stayed like that, until we got back into the campus.

8:30 pm. The curtains came down, on one of the best Tuesdays in my two years here at Honeywell. We sure were had grown into a closer knit team over that span of 8 hours... Now, if that was the end objective... it had, for certain, got an E - exceeding expectations...

Book review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2007-07-30T19:56:00.000+05:30

Name: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author: J K Rowling

Publishers: Bloomsburry

Price: Rs 950/-

My rating: 4.5/5

A search for ‘Harry Potter’ in Google would return you a staggering 394 million results. This review, is just one of the drops of the ocean out there on the net. This series has become such a legendary phenomenon, that the world now consists of just two types of people – those who know him, and those who want to. And it is no surprise, that the people from the latter category are moving over to the former, in thousands and millions by the day – considering that the series is the third highest selling book ever, in history, and that, it has made the author J K Rowling, richer than the queen of England, and the only billionaire author ever.

Coming straight to the point - The last book in the series, ‘The Deathly Hallows’ is my best amongst the seven books. It was really worth going in the wee hours of the morning of 21^st July, to the book store, where I had pre-ordered for it and enduring the serpentine queue, to lay my hands on it. J K Rowling has given the decade old saga, a befitting end – a wonderfully studded one, at that. She has closed several story threads, which remained open in the previous books, very artistically. Although, there are some small niggles which remain unanswered in the book, by and large, it gives a good satisfaction of having reached the end of a journey, which has held readers around the world riveted for years.

The story revolves around the quest of Harry Potter, and his friends Hermionie and Ron, to find the ‘Horcruxes’ of the evil Lord Voldermort, and destroy them, to kill him. What the ‘Deathly Hallows’ are, gets revealed somewhere in the middle of the story – and I wouldn’t rob you the suspense of finding it out for yourself. As for the question regarding whether the hero Harry, lives the war or not, I bet, almost everyone who has already read it, me included, would have definitely flipped through the last few pages, to find out the answer, before they got done with the entire book. The rest of them would know about it, from these people, who would nearly be celebrating the fact that Harry survives, as if he were a real hero, not just a fictional character.

The point is this. If you are a Potter fan, you would have already, or in will, in due course, read this book, irrespective of what I say here – be it in the form of a original copy borrowed from a friend, a pirated one picked up from a sidewalk on a street, or just the pirated pdf version which is doing the rounds in the emails. If you aren’t yet one, and if you like fiction and fantasy… or simply, are a lover of outstanding pieces of literary work… then... just don’t miss it!!

I love JKR…

A hiatus...

2007-07-26T14:51:00.000+05:30

Its been more than a month now... since I have taken a break from active blogging. My last significant piece of literary work on my blog was the short story on Global Warming, 90° N 0° W I had written for my company e magazine. And although it recieved really rave reviews from my readers, I have been struggling to get back my momentum on writing something similar - the same momentum that had helpled me slog 15 hours in 3 straight days to get that story complete in the nick of time, before the magazine went through for the month.

I do have good reasons to cite for this break... Initially, I'd been busy preparing for and taking my GMAT, which although went well, was a disappointment for me, coz i was not able to score as well had expected to. The weekend after that, I was busy with a Volleyball inter-corporate touranment, in which me made it to the semifinals in our first outing since i've joined Honeywell two years back. The weekend after that, i'd been to my native, after two months. The weekend after that, was my TOEFL exam - for which i barely prepared, and which rubbed more salt into my wounds of a not-so-good GMAT performance - I screwed up the speaking section in it (Speaking!! That too ME!!! Of all sections?? This, for a person who's the youngest trainer in the history of his company!! What an anticlimax!!). I still await the results of that test.

In between, and after these major events, i've been busy with a fresh influx of work at office - trying to make up for the short days i'd worked while busy with my exams, while remaining afloat in the deluge of new work! Add to it - release of the the much-awaited last book in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows (which i had pre-ordered) and a belated gift I got from Shalu di - The Google story - awakened the bookworm in me, which had been starved of good books for the past three months coz of my GMAT preparation... I'll take another week atleast to finish both these books...) - which means, i'm not yet done with my writing break!

Whew!! (pant pant!!) Lot of things i've been involved in lately - except for some creative writing... Realizing that i needed to gear up, and sharpen my worsmithy skills for the upcoming apping times for my dream B-schools, and to finish another story I have promised for the next edition of our magazine, i have made this desperate attempt to offload my heart and mind of a burden...

Aah.. that feels better... guess the next short story is just around the corner somewhere!

Free hugs... (INEPS Campaign)

2007-07-19T10:11:00.000+05:30

One of the most heart-warming videos I have seen in a long time... With a wonderful message at the end...

I wouldn't want to steal the magic from the video by explaining a lot about it... watch it for the impact it makes! :-)

Thanks to Divya, my friend, for sending me this one...

And here are the lyrics of the song i found on the net: (Thanks bonafide)

I don't mind where you come from
As long as you come to me
I don't like illusions I can't see
Them clearly

I don't care no I wouldn't dare
To fix the twist in you
You've shown me eventually
What you'll do

I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long are you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same

Hours slide and days go by
Till you decide to come
And in between it always seems too long
All of a sudden

And I have the skill, yeah I have the will
To breathe you in while I can
However long you stay
Is all that I am

I don't mind...
I don't care...
As long are you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's always the same

Wrong or right
Black or white
If I close my eyes
It's all the same

In my life
The compromise
I close my eyes
It's all the same

Go ahead say it you're leaving
You'll just come back running
Holding your scarred heart in hand
It's all the same
And I'll take you for who you are
If you take me for everything
Do it all over again
It's all the same...

(Translation of the message:
AIDS is not transmitted this way.
But love is.
Together let us fight discrimination.
)

Resaturant review: City Choice Restaurant

2007-07-11T10:05:00.001+05:30

Name

Location:

Pros:

Cons

City Choice Restaurant (Non – Veg)

16^th Main, BTM II Stage (Next to Udupi Garden restaurant)

Very reasonable prices, good food, good location.

No parking space of its own.

Other than the non-availability of seats on weekends, the other major concern regarding eating out in Bangalore is the exorbitant cost involved in it. A huge consumer base, consisting predominantly of the IT folks in Bangalore, and the shortage of restaurants, with good food, has driven the cost of eating in the “good” restaurants northwards.

City Choice Restaurant in 16^th Main, BTM II Stage provides you the best of the two worlds – great food at extremely reasonable rates. Sample this – Tandoor, Chinese starters – Rs. 35-60, Side dishes – Rs. 40 – 60. Rice items – Rs 50 – 60. Roti, naan etc – Rs. 8 – 15… and for the quality of food you get there, you’ll really start wondering if it you are sitting in a restaurant in such a central location in Bangalore. Some of my favorites include – Pepper Chicken, Lemon Chicken, Kalmi kabab, Methi Kulcha, Chicken Biryani and Kadai Chicken.

This restaurant probably may not be the place where you would want to go to, on a team lunch, or if ambience plays a great role in your eat-out experience. The ambience is average – nothing special to mention about. But if food is on your mind – you can still enjoy it on the comfortable couches, on tables separated by high dividers, which give you decent privacy. One more hitch, is the non-availability of parking place associated with the restaurant. You may need to park your vehicle a little away, in one of the by-lanes nearby.

So, for all those staying in and around BTM, this would be a good place to savor some delicious Mughalai and Tandoor food, without having to worry about making your purse very much lighter.

90° N 0° W

2007-06-14T11:50:00.000+05:30

(All characters in this story are fictional, and any resemblance to any person, dead or alive is purely co-incidental)

As the vessel glided northwards, in the tranquil waters of the Arctic, the number of icebergs in sight, began to increase steadily. Ryan Marcus Whitman stood on the deck of Christopher 2, peering through his 120 diopter powerful binoculars, admiring the unbridled beauty of the ice caps in the distance. As his wife, Paula came and stood alongside him, he lowered them and turned around and looked into her eyes. Words failed him. But Paula could see the tremendous sense of exhilaration he felt, in those small bright eyes of his, set deep in his face, among wrinkles. She gave him a hug, and said "You've done it, honey... you've done it!!" He held her close, and two huge drops of tears from his eyes fell on her shoulders. "No… WE have done it… My childhood dream...” He couldn't say any more.

***

In 52 years of his years of his life, Ryan Whitman had seen, and done, almost everything, he had always wanted to. From being a malnourished child, who was brought up by his single mother, after the early death of his father, on the farms of Kansas, to being one of the most influential men in the world today, as the head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), for Global Warming, he had come a long long way. The story of his life was the stuff legends were made of, and had inspired millions, the world over, in the form of his best selling autobiography. He was hard-work, resilience, business acumen, diplomacy - all virtues personified, and was known for his brilliant oratory and persuasive skills and an uncanny ability to win over people to his line of thought. As the top guy of the UNEP (GW), he played a major role in the formulation of the policies of the UN to control the menace of global warming.

The other half of Whitman, which made him such an interesting individual, was his avid love for adventure and travel. He had been an adventure freak - taking risks and chasing thrills - ever since his childhood. Many attributed his phenomenal success as a businessman and diplomat, to this attitude of his. He religiously followed the practice of taking a few weeks off, every year, from his busy life, to go on a new adventure, in a new part of the world, different from the one he had undertaken previously in his life. And both as a cause and effect of this hobby of his, he was very strong and healthy, and had undertaken several arduous ventures, which, many people, even half his age, wouldn’t dare to, or be fit enough for. In fact, he had met his wife, as a youngster, during one such adventure. They both were a part of the team that had gone cycling in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and since then, been on all adventures together, as man and wife.

Among his most coveted adventures, walking the Poles of the Earth was something which had been a long-standing dream of his. He wanted to achieve the rare feat of having traveled from one 'end' of the globe to the other - Literally! And despite having gone on numerous such escapades, to various corners of the earth, the poles had eluded him for one reason or the other. Now finally, the time had come. He had planned to celebrate his 53rd birthday, on the North Pole, and started his voyage to the part of the earth, where every direction, pointed south – The North Pole 90° N 0° W.

On 16 September 2017, he and his team were seen off from Point Barrow, Alaska, (71°18 N, 156°44 W) by his adopted son William, and a group of friends and well-wishers. His team included his wife, six other adventurers headed by ace Arctic explorer Evgeny Mikhalov who had already walked the North Pole thrice before, and Captain Donald Crowell and his crew of 18 people, on board Christopher 2. Their plan was to sail from Barrow, through the Beaufort Sea, into the Arctic Ocean, and reach the North Pole from the West, covering approximately 1150 miles along the way. Out of this, they expected the last - approximately - 160 miles to be covered by ice, which they planned to cover on skis and sledges.

***

Whitman’s walkie talkie cackled. It was Evgeny Mikhalov on the line.

“Mr. Whitman, we’d hit the ice within an hour. You wanna come in here, into the control room? – over!”

“We’re coming Eve – over and out!”

Whitman and his wife went into the control room of the ship, where Captain Donald and Mikhalov were sitting, staring at the computers.

“How’s it going, champions?!” Whitman called, as he entered the cabin.

“We should have already been on land – ice – by now, Mr. Whitman… The ice has receded far beyond last time, when I’d been year couple of years back” Mikhalov shrugged.

“That’d mean…”

“That means that the green house gases have eaten up a lot of the ice caps… And logically, it’d be fair to assume that the thickness of the ones still there, would have also reduced… That would make skiing more risky, than you’d be comfortable with…” Mikhalov said, with a slight concern on his face, his brows, furrowed in thought.

He turned back to the computers. Whitman came and leaned over his shoulder, and began studying the computers. Suddenly he saw a huge ice mountain emerge, on the left side of the display, and exclaimed “WOW! That’s huge!!”

Captain Donald, Evgeny and Paula looked at what Whitman was pointing at. It was a huge ice mountain – lying about 1800 m to left of their navigation passage.

“True…” Evgeny said, peering at the display monitor closely, “that’s one of the biggest I too have ever seen”

“What say Captain…?” Whitman turned to Captain Donald, with a sparkle in his eye “you think we can go slightly closer to that mountain to get a better look?”

Captain Donald was thoughtful for a few moments, and said… “Probably, we can… provided the path is clear. If the radars detect any huge mass of ice beneath the water, along way, we’ll have to retreat…” he finished, looking questioningly, at the three.

Whitman gave him a thumbs-up. “Cool!” said Evgeny. Paula smiled brightly.

Captain Donald turned to the navigator, and said “Mike, Lets go towards that mountain…” He turned back to the control console and continued “… and I’ll have to make sure, that everything along the way is safe”

Mike turned the ship 20⁰ to the left, away from their planned path, and the ship headed for the ice mountain. Whitman, Evgeny and Paula went out, on to the deck. Their eyes were all fixed on the mesmerizing beauty of the mammoth ice structure.

“Loving it, Mr. Whitman?” Evgeny asked.

“Every single bit of it” Whitman replied, without taking his eyes off the magnificent sight in front of him.

Evgeny smiled. “This is just the beginning…” he said, and then went to a slightly higher point on the deck, a little further, took out his camera, and began shooting pictures. The winds started getting colder and more intense.

When they were around 300 yards from the mountain, the ship slowly began changing its direction, so as to align itself to get back on to its main path, and slowed down, about 180 yards from the mountain.

Whitman’s walkie-talkie cackled again. It was Captain Donald. “Folks… that’s as close as we can get. Now we get back on to our path - Over!”.

“Okay Captain… And thanks for the favor - Over!”

“My pleasure, Mr. Whitman - Over and out!”

As the ship just began to gather speed, there was a loud crunching noise. Whitman, Evgeny and Paula looked up from the LCD display of the camera, on which, the three were admiring the pictures of the ice mountain, Evgeny had just shot.

The noise was emanating from the ice mountain they’d just visited. Evgeny rushed towards the rails of the deck of the ship, closest to the mountain, craning his neck, and straining his eyes, to see what was happening. He was blinded partially because the sun had moved into a position that caused the ice mountain to reflect the rays from its surface. When his eyes got used to the light, and he could see better, his jaw dropped. “SH*T!!” he screamed. He backed off, and made a dash for the control room.

From the sound, and Evgeny’s reaction, Whitman guessed that the worst nightmare they had ever expected to see, had come alive. He grabbed Paula by her hand and ran after Evgeny.

As Whitman and Paula entered the cabin, the emergency alarm went off and began blaring loudly. The control room was in a commotion.

“Mike… FLOOR THE THROTTLE! FAST!!” Captain Donald was yelling at his navigator. “I’m doing my best Captain…” Mike cried, clenching his teeth hard.

Noises of steps hurrying towards the cabin were heard. Within seconds, all the members were in the cabin. The noise from the mountain had now become a roar, and everyone was looking outside, through the window, at the giant creaking bulk of ice.

Captain Donald commanded “Guys… Look here. Listen to me!! Get into your life jackets and get the life boats ready! NOWWW!” Even before he completed his sentence, his voice was drowned by the deafening roar outside. Everyone looked outside, aghast!

The huge ice mountain broke, at about three fourths of its size from left, and slid down from the mass of ice still standing. This brought into view, the full breadth of the mountain – which now showed up to be about quarter a mile wide. It fell into the ocean, with a thunderous sound.

The crew on Christopher looked at it wide-eyed, too panicked to move an inch. The sound of the splash was so loud, that it felt like they were standing on an airport runway, when a plane was taking off right above their head. “Christopher calling… Christopher calling… We have an EMERGENCY!” Mike was yelling over the radio.

As they stared, terror-struck, they could see a huge wave welling up from the point, the ice mountain had sunk. “Jesus save us” someone mumbled. And before they could even realize, the huge wall of water rose like a giant in front of them, lifted the ship from underneath, and capsized it, drowning the shrieks of those in it.

***

The cold waters of the Arctic hit Whitman heavily on his face. Paula’s hands were in his, for a few seconds, and then he lost her. His entire body went frigid, and the water had entered his nose and ears. Something hard hit him on his legs. He felt a surge of pain, which made him shudder. He opened his mouth to scream, but the arctic waters gushed into his lungs.

For a moment, his mind failed him. But the expert swimmer in him, quickly brought him back to his senses. He was finding it difficult to hold on, now having lost the oxygen in his lungs to the injury on his legs. He began flapping his arms, trying to get to the surface.

“Com’on, Com’on Com’on Com’on ….” He kept urging himself. Just when he felt that his time was up, he broke through the surface. He coughed hard a couple of times, and took a few huge gasps of air in. His injured legs, which now felt like two huge blocks of ice, dangling from his hips, were beginning to fail him.

He looked around. No one! There wasn’t a trace of anyone else. He turned around, and started searching desperately for something from the wrecked ship, to float on. He found a piece of tarpaulin, a few yards away. He summoned every bit of courage and strength remaining in him, and began swimming towards the tarpaulin, constantly telling himself “Com’on, Com’on… you can do it… Com’on, COM’ON…”

He caught on to the tarpaulin in some time. When he touched it, the frost that had bitten his hands, made him feel, as if they weren’t his own. He gave a huge grunt of effort, trying to get on to the tarpaulin. The rest of his body refused to join him. He stopped, took a deep breath again, and heaved himself up again, giving out a wail. The tarpaulin wobbled, and threatened to overturn, but he managed to hold on his balance and get on to the tarpaulin. Once on the tarpaulin, he gave a huge sigh of relief, balanced himself properly, and slumped on it, utterly exhausted.

***

Six years back… June 2011 … He had been a part of the G10 (Earlier, the G8, it had been rechristened G10, with the addition two of the largest growing economies of the world – India and China) summit, for the Global Warming discussions, for the first time when a separate organization was created by the UNEP, to combat the evil of Global Warming on a war footing, and come up with drastic measures to curb it.

Whitman, like many other officials, and heads of states of the G10 nations at the meet, had his hands tied by the powerful industrial lobbies from their countries. The writing on the wall was very clear to them - They had to do more… much more than they had been doing over the previous years, to bring the situation on to the radar of control, let alone into hand!!

The warnings of Global Warming which were becoming increasingly manifested in bizarre climate changes all over the world and the pressure from Green Peace and scores of other organizations around the world weighed increasingly on them. Protests against the summit were assuming larger proportions, and becoming difficult to ignore. Add to it, the additional arm of authority created by the UN for this purpose – all these factors notwithstanding, the policies adopted at the end of the summit, left a lot to be desired. It was plain evident, that business sense was out-weighing common sense, despite the threat looming large over the life of Earth.

Year after year they kept adding more stringent measures as action points for the G10 nations, the major contributor of the Green House gases – the main culprit behind Global Warming. Despite this, the gap between the steps taken and the menace, had just kept widening…

***

Ryan Whitman opened his eyes… the memories that were haunting his subconscious had rudely woken him up, from his exhaustion-induced sleep. He took a few moments to realize where he was. His entire body had crumpled and the muscles of his stomach and hands had developed spasms. As for his legs, he couldn’t even feel them now. He raised his head with lot of effort, and looked around. There was nothing, but a few icebergs in the distance, and blue waters all around. There was no sight of any of his companions… no sight of Paula… He cringed. His mind wept, but the eyes were too weary to give out any tears…

If the harbor control room had known of their ship wreck immediately, and had flown a chopper to their rescue, it would still take a couple of hours to reach him, Too long!! I would be stone dead by then… he thought…

The flashback of his entire life, appeared in front of his eyes…The demon, which he and the world had tried to ignore for long, and fight from the back, rather than take head on, had engulfed him today… He wished from the core of his heart, to go back alive, so that he could make a difference henceforth atleast… but he knew, he had lost his chance…“I’m sorry, people of the world...” he said, looking up into the skies.

With one final attempt, he heaved his body around, and slid off the tarpaulin, into the Arctic Ocean.

*****

Self evaluation: How fair do you fight??

2007-05-31T19:23:00.000+05:30

I swear, i din't tweak this!

You Fight Fair

For you, a fight is not about proving you're right.
Instead, it's about discussing and resolving difficult issues.
You don't look for fights, but you don't avoid them either.
You realize that clearing the air is good, when you go about it the right way.

Do You Fight Fair?

Book review: Khazana of Indian Vegetarian Recipes

2007-05-29T10:53:00.000+05:30

Name: Khazana of Indian Vegetarian Recipes

Author: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor

Publishers: Popular Prakashan

Price: Rs 225

My rating: 4/5

Sanjeev Kapoor – I doubt there’d be any connoisseur of food, who’d not know this name. The name itself has been synonymous with mouth-watering food, in India, for quite some time now.

Sanjeev Kapoor is arguably the best Chef of India – not just for the thousands of superb recipes he has concocted over years, but more so, for the repute and esteem he has brought to the art and science of cooking, by his innovative efforts. The credit for invoking interest and charm in the profession as a Chef, to a great extent, goes to him, and his immensely popular TV cookery show “Khana Khazana”. Ask the hotel management grads of today, and many of them would prefer becoming the next SK, than just hotel managers.

This book was my birthday gift from my sister. She knows perfectly well, where my heart lies!! :-) And it definitely was one of my best gifts I have received in years! But this review is still, of the book, and not my gift!!

The book has recipes categorized under six sections – Soups and Salads, Snacks, Vegetables, Accompaniments, Rice and Rotis and Sweets. All of which, you’d definitely be tempted to try out, and eat. The style of explanation of the recipes, is trademark Sanjeev Kapoor – simple and articulate – that infuses confidence in even the novice cooks, to be able to make a good job of one of those complex-looking recipes.

I’ve tried just a few recipes from the book to date, and couple of them already top my all-time favorite list – Gobi musallam and Beetroot raitha… And I’m very sure, the rest would join that list soon.

The Verdict: A must have for your kitchen. A gem of a book!

PS: Sanjeev’s non-vegetarian recipes are published in another book. And I’d really love to get that book as a gift too. Is someone listening??! :-)

Ridge gourd (ಹೀರೆಕಾಯಿ / तुराइ ) chutney

2007-05-16T17:41:00.000+05:30

Another recipe, I tried last week, and got great feedback from my friends... Taught by mum, modified by me... (like most of my recipes! :-) )

Name Ridge gourd peel chutney

Complexity Level Easy

Duration of preparation 20 minutes

Serves 6 - 10

Ingredients:

Ridge gourd peels	(From ½ kg Ridge gourd)
Tomato	1
Grated coconut	1 tbsp
Jeera	1 tsp
Dhaniya powder	2 tsp
Red chillies	5-7
Pepper powder	1 tsp
Tamarind	¼ size of a TT ball
Salt	To taste

Method of preparation:

For those who are unfamiliar with the English name Ridge gourd, it is called ಹೀರೆಕಾಯಿ in Kannada and तुराइ in Hindi. Normally, most people remove the peel of turai when they prepare curry. These peels can be used for making this chutney

Boil the peels, and the tomato, in water for 15 minutes, and cool them. Grind them with the rest of the ingredients in a mixer grinder, with appropriate amount of water, so that the chutney becomes a fine paste.

ಹೀರೆಕಾಯ (तुराइ ) chutney is ready. Goes very well with both with chapathi and rice.

Fish rava fry

2007-05-09T09:06:00.001+05:30

This is another recipe, which in its root form (almost 80% of the present version) was taught to me by my aunt, who has been my primary cooking guru and inspiration.

Name Fish Rava Fry

Complexity Level Easy - Medium

Duration of preparation 30 minutes

Serves 6 - 10

(Pic will be updated shortly)

Ingredients:

Fish Bangude (Mackerel)	1 kg
Onions	1 large
Ginger garlic paste	2 tsp
Jeera	1 tsp
Dhaniya powder	1 tsp
Green Chillies	6-8
Pepper powder	2 tsp
Rava	3 tbsp
Oil	for frying
Salt	To taste

Method of preparation:

Clean the fish, and cut it into pieces (size – as per your wish). Make cuts on the body of the fish, deep enough, so that the masala can be applied and well absorbed by the fish.

NOTE:You might use any other type of fish, suitable for frying, other than Bangude (Mackerel).

Fry the jeera very lightly on a hot tava. Cut the onion into medium sized pieces. Grind onions, with ginger garlic paste, jeera, dhaniya powder, green chillies and the pepper powder, with little water, and salt to taste, so as to form a thick paste.

Apply the masala to the fish, and keep it closed for half an hour (helps better absorption of the masala by the fish).

Put the rava on to a plate, take the pieces of fish one by one, roll them well in the rava, and fry them on the tava. You can even deep fry it – but for the diet conscious, tava fry would be better.

Short story: Last man standing...

2007-04-27T14:45:00.001+05:30

Circa December 2003:

“May I come in, doctor?” he asked, pushing open the door slightly, and popping his head inside.

Dr. Rao looked up, over the thick rim of his spectacles and said “Yes, please my dear!!”

As he sat down, Dr. Rao finished writing something into a patient’s file and looked up at him. The expression on the doc’s face suggested that it might have dawned on him, just then, who the patient sitting in front of him was!!

Dr. Rao stared at him for a second, picked up a file next to his right hand, flipped thorough the latest reports in deep contemplation, and then placed the file down. He gave a broad smile and took his patient’s hand and squeezed it slightly. “Your reports are normal. That means, you are almost perfectly fine now. I declare you fit and cured, from Epilepsy”.

He took some time to digest that news. “Thank you so much, doctor… for all the help and support.” He couldn’t say any more.

“Well… it was just my duty. But I want to add, that you must continue taking care of your health. Avoid too much stress. Whenever you feel tensed, make sure you take long breaths. Take adequate sleep, atleast 7 hours a day… With all these precautions, there is less than 1% of your epilepsy relapsing. And you can lead a perfectly normal life… you know, I mean… you can get married, without any worries… because epilepsy is not hereditary…”

“Thanks for the info doctor… And I promise, I’ll take care of myself… By the way…” he said with a twinkle in his eye, as he was preparing to leave, “you lose another patient today…”

“I’m more than happy, son!! All the best!! I hope I’ll never see you back here, as a patient!!”

Tears of gratitude welled up in his eyes. He took the doctor’s hand, shook it gently, stood up, turned, and walked out of Dr. Rao’s room.

He saw the waiting room filled with patients, who were looking at him, probably trying to gauge his mood…Five years back, he had been like them… when he had come to the Neurology ward as a first time patient.

Now, as he walked out of that ward, it was with a sense of relief, pride, and a victory in a five-year old war… He was the last man standing!! … Epilepsy had surrendered to him.

He thanked God for having stood behind him all the time. In the early days of this ordeal, he used to ask God many times “Why me?” As time passed, he stopped doing that. Epilepsy had brought more good to him, than bad. He had learnt to believe in himself, and his ability to fight in situations of extreme adversity, with his back to the wall. He had made new friends among doctors and pharmacists, whom he used to visit regularly during his fight. Most importantly, he had the satisfaction of having achieved something tremendous, and hopes to inspire several more patients suffering not just from epilepsy, but any other disease – or for that matter, any sort of adversity in their life.

As he said good-bye to the Neuro ward, the memories came gushing back…

July 22 1998:

7:30 am. He was getting ready to leave for school, and was sitting on the sofa, wearing his shoes. Suddenly he had a weird sensation in his head. As if something was rushing at him, and before he knew what happened, everything blackened.

As he later would recollect that feeling, it seemed like in a horror movie, when the camera comes zooming towards the victim very fast, and stops abruptly at his face, as if something hits him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw his mother sit beside him on the bed, with a shocked and concerned look on her face.

“What had happened?”

“Nothing… are you feeling ok?...”

“Tell me what happened” he asked irritably”

“Nothing much… you just were unconscious for some time, and had a small fit”

“What!!!” he couldn’t digest it… Nor was he in a position for it… He felt very drowsy and soon fell asleep.

His mother later woke him up, and took him to the hospital, to the Neurology ward, where he first met Dr S N Rao. Dr Rao asked him to undergo a C. T. Scan and an EEG (Electroencephalogram) test. He was so drained out after the incident in the morning, that during all the time he was in the hospital, he would fall asleep, wherever he would sit. He even got admonished by the EEG technician for falling asleep during the test, coz that would give wrong results.

At the end of the day, Dr. Rao told him that since it was the first incident, and he had no history of such “attacks”, he would not be prescribed any medicines that time. If he’d have another attack, then he would have to get started on the medication.

October 7 1998:

The worst he had expected… happened. He had another attack, at around the same time in the morning.

This time when he visited Dr. Rao, he was asked to get started on the medication, and was prescribed Encorate (Sodium Valporate) tablets, one each in the morning and the night.

January 12 1999:

Another attack. The prescription now read Encorate 2-0-2.

Two years passed. He was now a student of 12^th standard. He had not had any attacks in those two years. The tablets seemed to be doing their job well. Another year of no attacks, and he would be done with them… probably for life.

January 19 2001:

The attack decided to give him a surprise. It met him, when he had walked a little distance from his home, on his way to college, after having a great time at their Annual Day celebrations, for the past three days.

He realized it was coming. Things around him got dilated, and started moving around. He panicked, turned around and made a dash for home, hoping to make it there before he passed out. He couldn’t. He gave a scream calling for his mother, and fell down and swooned.

When he regained consciousness, it was that same feeling of enervation, exhaustion…

Dr. Rao was also worried. He too hadn’t expected this after two years of no attacks. He prescribed stronger medicines this time. Epilex Chrono 500 (1-0-1)

March 24 2001:

He was submerged in his preparations for his board examinations, and CET (The Common Entrance Test) which would decide the college in which he could pursue his engineering. He was good, and he knew it. He knew he had it in him to get into 'the' best college in his state. He aimed for nothing less.

At 2 pm, fate decided to test him further. Epilepsy made another attack on his nerves, and he could feel his nerves snapping in his head, and the sinking feeling of falling into the abyss…He became unconscious again.

He had had enough of it. Dr. Rao himself had enough of it. He put his patient on main stream Epilepsy drugs – Tegritol (Carbamazepine) 200mg 1-0-1.

He took the first tablet that evening after an early dinner at 7 pm, and slept for the next 18 hours – flat! His mother woke him up once at around 10 am next morning to have some food, but his eyelids seemed to weigh tons, and he gave up, only to wake up at lunch time, still very groggy. He managed to force some food in, took another tablet, and woke up from his bed for dinner, at 10 pm.

Luckily for him, things started getting better from the next day onwards… although the tablets were heavily sedative, and he had to battle drowsiness, to stay awake, and study. Probably, without that inspiration, he would have succumbed to sleep, more often…

The Battle of Enteric Fever

The first of the two most arduous battles he fought, in his war against epilepsy.

April 9 2001 (Monday):

It was the day of his first Board Exam – Physics. He had woken up to more than normal-temperature, which had worsened since when it surfaced, the previous afternoon. Try as he did to console himself, he could not brush off the fact, that he had fever.

Armed with a bottle of glucose water, he attended the exam, in not-totally-fit condition. It went well. Very well infact, considering that his body was getting hotter by the minute.

That evening, the fever had its toll on his energy, and forced him to stop studying, and lie down. His mother came back from office, and found that his body felt like the interior of an oven. Literally!!

She took him to the hospital, and he was checked by the doctors in the Emergency ward. 105 deg Fahrenheit, they said. They asked him to get admitted. He tried to protest weakly, that he was in the middle of his board exams. He was sternly said, that if he had to have any chance to write his next exam three days later, he had no choice, but to get admitted. He broke down.

The medical staff, first tried to bring his alarmingly high body-temperature down. They turned the fan to maximum speed (since he did not complain of any problem, other than high temperatures), and they used ice packs on his body for four hours. The temperature dropped to 103 by midnight.

He was tested for malaria, typhoid and cholera. All tests reported in the negative. But one test reported abnormal levels of a particular hormone associated with the Liver. He was tested for jaundice, but that too showed up negative.

The doctors could not identify what the disease was. But when they were told of his Tegritol medication, and they researched about the effects of the tablet, they traced the problem to one of the side effects of the tablet. They named it Enteric fever.

He was put on heavy antibiotic treatment from Tuesday. It was 20 ml of Amoxicillin injection, once in a day, for five days. The syringe was enormous in size - about 2 cm in diameter - and the mere sight of it was downright scary. The injection took about two and half minutes to be injected intravenously on the hand, and by then, the blood would have had enough journeys around his body, that he could even feel the taste of it, in the capillaries of his mouth. Also it would cause the area around the vein to swell, such that he could barely bend his hands.

He took the first injection on his right hand, on Tuesday and the second on his left, on Wednesday, so that his right hand was fit enough for him to write his exam on Thursday.

April 12 2001 (Thursday):

Early in the morning at 2 am he was hit by a bout of diarrhea. By 8 am in the morning, when he got ready to attend his Chemistry exam with zero preparation, it had drained all the energy from his body. So much so, that he needed to just sit on a chair, and he’d fall asleep in less than half a minute.

His mother had lost much hope of him even being able to write the exam, and pass, let alone score anything beyond it. Until the previous day, she was quite hopeful about his condition. But diarrhea had hit him real bad. And despite, her having to be strong and encourage him, she found herself unable to control her tears, and was sobbing seeing his pathetic condition.

At around 9 am, he himself stood up, consoled his mother, and asked the hospital staff to call for an auto, and headed to his examination center. His father, who was coming from Bangalore that morning, directly landed up with his baggage at the center. They talked with the examination officials and explained his condition to them, and sought permission, to keep a watch on him, and help him, if his condition worsened.

He had literally no energy to make it through the examination, but the atmosphere at the center, seemed to have charged him up, and he braced himself, with the last bit of reserve energy he had, and entered the examination hall. He came out only after the final bell had gone, three hours later, satisfied and immensely pleased with his effort. His mother was again in tears, but this time, happy beyond words, to see him pull it off.

He went back to the hospital and was kept under observation.

He was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, April 15^th and was given strict instructions to take complete bed rest, the entire day, and not attempt to study and strain himself.

April 16 2001 (Monday):

It was the day of his Mathematics examination. He attended it, still weak from the heavy antibiotic medication he was subjected to, for the past five days. It had made his lips and throat dry, and he couldn’t risk drinking too much water to counter his thirst, since it would necessitate him to pass urine more frequently, and he could not afford to break his concentration during the exam because of it.

June 9 2001:

When the results of the board examination came out, he came to know that he had scored 99, 99 and 100 percent in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, and had topped not just his college, but also his district in the core subjects, scoring 397 / 400 , including a 99 in Statistics.

The Battle of CET

As if he had not had been tested enough, destiny chose to grill him further. The next big battle he fought was during The CET – Common Entrance Test, the competitive examination for entrance to the professional courses in his state – Medical and Engineering.

May 17 2001:

It was the day of his Physics CET examination. He had done a small mistake which had costed him 1.25 marks in the Mathematics examination, the previous day. And in an examination taken by approximately 1.6 lakh students, where even a quarter of a mark, could make a difference of around 100 ranks, it was a very costly mistake for him. Especially considering the fact that, he still was aiming for the top 10.

At the strike of the half an hour bell during the exam, (which was later adjudged as the worst paper ever in the history of CET) the ghost of Epilepsy haunted him again. He just had just enough time to get up from his seat and go and collapse on the floor outside the classroom he was taking the test.

Luckily for him, his center was in his own college where all the staff members recognized him. He later found out, that the college night watchman Pandu, who was going around distributing drinking water, had found him having a fit, in the corridor, and had splashed several glasses of water on his face, in an attempt to help him regain consciousness.

By the time, he came back to his senses, and was ready to go back and resume his test, he had lost 13 invaluable minutes, out of 70, in an exam which would decide his future. Although severely disheartened, he answered his paper for the remaining time and walked out, utterly devastated.

He went back home, and slept, like he did always, after the “short-circuit” in his neural network. His mother who saw him coming home unexpectedly, in the afternoon, knew that something had gone wrong, and broke down, when he told her what had happened.

He woke up in just in time to have some lunch and hurry for his Chemistry CET exam. He was thoroughly demoralized, but Chemistry being his most favorite subject and strongest point, he decided to put in his best effort in the exam. He walked out solving the entire paper in 45 minutes, 25 minutes before the final bell.

June 13 2001:

The results of CET were announced. The final ranking was based on 50% marks from the board exam results of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (scaled down from 100) and 50% marks from the corresponding CET exams (scaled down from 60).

He had scored 28 out of 60 in Physics, which was very good considering the average scores, and the fact that he had survived an attack, during the examination. And he had scored 60 out of 60 in Chemistry, which he had taken after his attack.

But most importantly he had secured the 99^th rank among the 1.6 lakh students, which would later enable him to secure admission in the Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Surathkal (KREC – now known as National Institute of Technology, Surathkal), and see him come out as a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics, in June 2005.

Now-a-days, he has found a new hobby. He writes short stories.

*****

(Based on a true life story)

Its values that matter...

2007-04-20T16:12:00.000+05:30

Your Values Profile

Loyalty:

You value loyalty a fair amount.
You're loyal to your friends... to a point.
But if they cross you, you will reconsider your loyalties.
Staying true to others is important to you, but you also stay true to yourself.

Honesty:

You don't really value honesty.
You do value getting your way, no matter what.
And if a little lying is required to do that, no problem.
A few white lies never hurt anyone (at least, that's what you tell yourself!)

Generosity:

You value generosity a fair amount.
You are all about giving, as long as there's some give and take.
Supportive and kind, you don't mind helping out a friend in need.
But you know when you've given too much. You have no problem saying "no"!

Humility:

You don't really value humility.
You don't have much to be humble about!
And you might as well promote yourself, because no one else will.
You're a pretty special person, and you let everyone know it.

Tolerance:

You value tolerance highly.
Not only do you enjoy the company of those very different from you...
You do all that you can to seek it out interesting and unique friends.
You think there are many truths in life, and you're open to many of them.

The Five Factor Values Test

Short Story: Pack up!!

2007-04-17T16:17:00.001+05:30

I love ajji very much… she’s nice, tells lots of stories (I love listening to them before having my nap on hot summer afternoons, although I’m well past the age for them, and have heard them a hundred times over, till now) and she cooks really good food… especially chicken…

If there’s only one thing about ajji that I get irked about, is that sack of stupid superstitions she carries everywhere with her. It surely is such a heavy burden, especially for us, the people around her on whom she forces it all the time… and inspite of being too old to learn anything new, God knows how she’d keep adding to her repertoire of these bad omens… every now and then, she’ll surprise us with something new, unheard of in ordinary adage… this is the only reason for discord between me and her who otherwise, are the best granny-grandson pair ever!

We completed the last leg of shifting from the old rented place, where we’d spent the last four years, to the house Dad had newly built, today. And thanks to ajji and her omen-presence, it’ll remain a memory for all the wrong reasons… Shifting, I know is a harrowing experience for everyone… but ours, more so, coz it was the day of ajji and her omens…

Dad was on a leave for three days, to finish the shifting business. He had some other work on Sunday, and wanted to rest on Saturday after three days of hectic work. So he wanted to finish it off by today, i.e. Friday evening itself, much to the annoyance of ajji… why?? Coz it was Friday the 13^th.And Friday the 13^th too, was bent on siding with ajji. Right from 9 to 9, am to pm…

Furniture was the last thing that needed to be shifted. And since the Packers-n-Movers guy had a flat tire on the truck assigned to us, he’d sent us a Tempo, with lesser space, and no door on the back-side. We wanted to avoid making the 14 km trip to our new house twice over, on rain-battered-and-potholed roads… So we attempted to use every cubic cm of the packaging space in the Tempo. Although we’d later come to know, that the former was a better option.

The Packer’s laborers broke the mirror on the wardrobe in the master bedroom, while moving the cot out. Ajji came running… and began yelling at them… And not an iota, because we had to pay to it to get it replaced. “You lousy, lazy chaps!! You fleabags!! (She used the native version of this word!!) You broke the mirror!! That’s seven years of bad luck!! You people can’t do your work properly!! (Blah blah…)…” Dad and I came in from the living room, and saw the pieces of broken mirror. Dad was visibly livid… and for the right reason. “You guys will need to pay for this. I’ll call your owner and tell him about this.” The laborers, Ajith and Somu, hung their head in shame. “And Amma… you please come here and sit. Don’t take too much tension. Your BP will rise!!” Ajji came out and sat on the sofa, still jabbering abuses and apprehensions of some impending doom.

Mom was sweeping the hall. Her face told it all – she was exhausted from the two days of shifting. I went to help her, and asked her for the broom. When she was about to hand it over to me, ajji shrieked “Don’t pass over the broom from hand to hand” Amma was so much taken aback by the sudden outburst from ajji, that she suddenly jerked back, trying to drop the broom down. She slipped and fell down, sitting hard on her back side. Ajji shrieked again. Amma let out a moan. Dad came running again from the living room. I helped mom to slowly get up and lie down on the divan. She was in pain. And the exhaustion made her condition worse. She slowly drifted to a sub-conscious state.

“I’d told you putta… when you stepped on the crack in the washing area two months back… that your mother’s back would break!! (Woh!! That was a new one from her!! OMG!!)… And three weeks back, there was a crow, cawing from the window sill… I think my time is up now… I told your dad… that today is 13^th … and that too a Friday… we could have shifted tomorrow… Now look at all these…”

Dad had already got some Volini gel and was applying on Amma’s back. As if to drown ajji’s voice, he told me loudly… “Go call Doctor Uncle… Quick!! And also get some glucose powder when you come back.

On my way to call the doctor, I was wondering about Dad’s patience… How could he tolerate such crap from ajji, and refrain from saying anything to her, despite not heeding to an ounce of what she said?? It was as if he was stone deaf to such stuff from ajji. I was amazed, and kept hoping I’d develop some patience like that!!

The shifting work was withheld till after lunch. Doctor Uncle came, checked Mom, suggested her to rest, and prescribed her some tablets and syrups, which I got from Robert Uncle’s medical shop down the road. He said that Amma didn’t have any major injury to worry about, and that her back ache would subside soon. Her exhaustion had done her in.

And while the work was stalled, I picked up an argument with ajji.

“Ajji… how do believe in all this rubbish… bad omens and all that?? And how do you know about 13^th the Friday?? That’s not there in Hindu scriptures?? And about that crack and Mom’s back??”

“Oh… that!! Hilda told me all this... You know... once… (Blah blah...)…” Hilda aunty was Robert’s mother. Although she was about two decades younger than ajji, both of them would get along very well… Now I traced the origins of those “global” superstitions ajji would dole out every now and then!! No wonder some one has said rumors and omens don’t need much to spread, and are more contagious than a pandemic!!

After two in the afternoon, Amma rested on the divan, while I and Dad, with Ajith and Somu’s help, tried to cram all our furniture into the Tempo. The kind of strategy we had to device, to make optimum usage of the space in the Tempo, reminded me of the game FreeCell… Both of them were so similar!!

By 5:30, we were all done. The satisfaction of having achieved something Herculean, was reflecting on everybody’s faces. We went back into the house, to see if anything was left behind, and also to say our final goodbye to our abode of three years. I woke Amma, and helped her into our car. We locked the house, and started off, with the Tempo in the tow.

Barely had we driven for ten minutes, a black cat crossed our path. And as expected, ajji shrieked again. Owww!! Here we go again, I thought. Dad stopped the car. The Tempo behind, which was following us closely screeched to a halt. “Lets take a different route… enough bad has happened today… now this cat…”, ajji pleaded. Dad turned around and looked hard at ajji. “We have already wasted a lot of time today. I want to get done with this fast. So please sit back and don’t worry. Nothing is gonna happen. Please let me drive with concentration” Ajji still kept mumbling something. Dad continued driving.

We reached our new home in 45 minutes. As we set out to unpack the furniture, Ajji came to back side of the Tempo and saw the broom. She shrieked again, for the n^th time in the day!! “Who got this broom along?? You foolish people!! Don’t you know you must not bring the broom along!!...” And before anyone could stop her, she tugged at the broom and pulled it off. Three chairs stacked in Tempo came down like an avalanche. Ajji was very fortunate that she was not standing in their way, and the chairs narrowly missed her. She was panic-stricken… “I told you… all because of this broom… I told you… lot of bad things…” she began to sob.

Dad stopped her curtly in the middle and said “Its not at all because of the bad omens that any of these happened… It was just because of how you reacted to it. None of these harmless things can spell any doom. That broom was put there, because those chairs weren’t staying in place… And they fell because you pulled the broom. Now before anything else happens, please go inside and take rest” he remarked angrily. This was the first time I’d seen Dad say anything against ajji and her omen-theory. Ajji walked in slowly, whimpering.

Another two hours, and we were all done with unpacking the furniture and arranging them in the house.

At the end, dad wanted to pay the Packers, and he emptied his wallet to settle their bill, of course, minus the cost of the wardrobe mirror. I’d asked him for some money to buy a book, the previous day, and he’d told me he’d give it to me after he paid the shifting charges. I wanted the money by tomorrow afternoon. Now, seeing that he had no more cash in his wallet, I asked him “Dad, I told you I wanted some money urgently…”

“Don’t worry beta… You want it by tomorrow afternoon, right? My left hand is itching. So it looks like I’m gonna get some money. Don’t worry, I’ll give you the money by tomorrow afternoon… He patted me on my head, and turned and walked inside.

I stood there, dumb-struck, with my mouth wide open.

*****

Banana halwa

2007-04-13T09:50:00.000+05:30

Name: Banana Halwa

Complexity Level: Medium - High

Duration of preparation approx 2 hours

Serves Many :-)

Ingredients:

Nendra BaaLe Bananas	1 kg
Sugar	3 cups
Ghee	1 tbsp
Cardamom	10 – 12
Cashew nuts	(100 g) For garnishing
Maida	1 cup (optional)

Introduction:

The bananas mentioned above (Nendra BaaLe) are a native of Kerala and are commonly known as Kerala bananas also. The halwa made from them is one of the most popular sweets from God’s own country. Although you might use other varieties, like Cavendis bananas, the taste obtained is best, when Nendra BaaLe is used. These bananas normally don’t soften as they ripen, but the evidence of ripening is rather manifested in the form of the skin turning yellow, first, and then black. This does not mean that the banana is spoilt. The ideal stage to use the bananas for this halwa is when the skin is about two thirds in black.

Method of preparation:

The method of preparation is very simple – all it needs is patience!! :-)

Peel the bananas, and grind them into a paste in using a mixer grinder, without adding any water.

Add it to a open vessel, and set it on low flame on the gas. Add 3 cups of sugar (a cup which holds about 200ml of water) and stir lightly. The sugar will melt and make the paste watery (reduces the viscosity). Keep stirring lightly on low flame, till the water content evaporates and the halwa begins to harden. This would take approximately an hour.

Optional: As the halwa hardens, you might add one cup of maida (refined flour) to it. This changes the texture and taste of the halwa, and is compulsorily used in the halwa you get in Kerala. I prefer not using it, since I like the taste better, without the flour.

As the halwa hardens, add a part of the cashew nuts (cut into small pieces), powdered cardamom, and ghee and continue stirring until the halwa becomes a hard mass.

Transfer the halwa into a open pan, smeared with ghee. Garnish using cashew nuts. The halwa can be cut into pieces, for eating, after it cools down in about an hour.

Book review: The High Performance Entrepreneur

2007-04-12T13:11:00.000+05:30

Name: The High Performance Entrepreneur
Author: Subroto Bagchi
Publishers: Penguin Portfolio

Misc: 244 pages, Rs 395

Highlights: Simple and straightforward, yet compelling - a practitioner’s guide to entrepreneurship.

My rating: 4.5 /5

There’s nothing like hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Learning from someone who’s “been there, and done that” is a valuable asset to add to your wealth of experiences.

And when it comes from the Chief Operating Officer of a company which is the youngest in the world to become PCMM Level 5 certified, a SEI CMMi Level 5 certified in just 5 years, and has hit the $100 million mark in revenues in just six years since it has been founded, you bet… it can’t get better. The man is Subroto Bagchi, COO, MindTree Consulting – who started the company in 1999, with a group of some of his colleagues from Wipro, which recently had its IPO over-subscribed 27-28 times!!

To the common man, Subroto Bagchi would be known better, as the writer of the column “The Times of Mind” in Times of India. Many others, especially students, would have had the good fortune of hearing this terrific orator.

“The High Performance Entrepreneur” is slightly different from an autobiography of a great achiever, in the sense that, the narration and explanations in the book, is in the style of a handbook, a practical guide. Mr. Bagchi explains the stages in building an enterprise from scratch, step by step, in the order that it is supposed to be done, and which has worked so well for him and his company. And he supplements each of this with experiences drawn not from the journey of MindTree. He also cites examples and lore related to many other high performance achievers like Azim Premji, Narayana Murthy, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Lance Armstrong et al.

And despite the treasure trove of wisdom he has opened for the wannabe entrepreneur who reads this book, he firmly believes "You really do not need to read this book-for that matter any book-to start your own enterprise, just like "...no amount of reading about romance is equal to the act of falling in love...the actual experience (of starting a company) is in the enactment. So, go on and do it"

If you ever dream to become an entrepreneur, this book can help you to lots of things right… and right – the first time itself!! Worth every rupee it costs!!

My favorite excerpts from the book (few of them)

“High performance entrepreneurship is not an accident. It has to be planned that way”
“Building a company is not like planting one giant tree. It is about creating an entire forest some day. You may not know how… … Yet, you must live that thought… you must be exhilarated by the prospect of doing it.”
“If you do not love to make money, do not start a business”
“When you build a team, you do not start by looking at compatibility and sameness. You look for complementary skills and diversity.
“Resilience – it is the one thing above everything else that makes an entrepreneur very different from everyone else.”
“…Winners are invariably associated with their ability to think differently, act differently and deliver differently”
“The no. 1 job of an entrepreneur is to sell his ware.”
“Listen to everyone. But form your own opinion about things.”
“Do not try to solve every problem that comes your way. See if you can change the rules of the game instead.”

Self Evaluation: Are you an entrepreneur?

2007-04-11T09:57:00.000+05:30

This may seem self-aggrandizing, prima facie ... but for me, it serves to keep myself focussed on what I want to become, and what I am doing, every moment... to get there...

You Are a Natural Entrepreneur

You're creative, driven, and full of great ideas.
You could be the next Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, or Oprah.
Keep with your dreams, even if people don't understand or respect them.
Someday you'll have too much money to care what they think!

Are You a Natural Entrepreneur?

Amen!!

Brinjal pachdi

2007-04-04T09:35:00.000+05:30

Name: Brinjal Pachdi

Complexity Level: Very easy

Duration of preparation : 15 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

Brinjals	¼ kg
Curd	500 g
Onion	1 large
Green chillies	4
Ginger paste	¼ teaspoon
Coriander leaves	For garnishing
Asafoedita powder / paste	Little
Salt	To taste

Method of preparation:

Cut the brinjals into medium sized pieces, and boil them in water on medium – high flame for 10 minutes, till the water starts simmering. Strain the water, and let the cooked brinjals cool down.

Add the ginger paste and Asafoedita powder / paste to the curd, and ensure that they are properly dissolved in the curd. Cut onion, green chillies and coriander leaves. Add them, along with the brinjals to the curd. Mash all the ingredients in the curd, either using a sauté / table spoon, or better (and simpler) with your (clean!!) hands. Add salt to taste

Brinjal pachdi is ready. Goes well with chapattis and rice.

PS: You can also add a little bit of tadka to it, if it suits you. It adds to the taste

Trical 2005 Branch Diary

2007-03-26T12:50:00.000+05:30

Back in college, i had written an account of the four years of life, I'd spent, along with my friends, as a Electrical and Electronics Engineering student at NIT Surathkal for the college magazine

Discovered the print-out this article, while digging through my old stuff, a few days back. Scanned it, and converted it to a document using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software, and put it up here... Mainly, coz this was one of my first write-ups which I was very satisfied with since I got kudos from all those who read it in our magazine

"Been there, done that". The journey of becoming Electrical and Electronics engineers from this institute, will undoubtedly rate as one of the finest phases in all our lives. Standing on the threshold of completing this journey, looking back, brings a deluge of mixed emotions and memories…

First Year

Spread in various sections in the first year, our daily menu contained warnings and jeering, from seniors and peers, both from our own, and more so, from the other branches, about the impending doom that we had all embraced. Amidst these, was the heartening rise of stars, Mochi and Sushmita, who scored whopping percentages in the semester exams of both Physics and Chemistry cycles. But the critics just said "abhi chance hai, toh ud rahe hain! Aage unke branch mein jaane ke baad, aisa kahan hoga?!" But they'd spoken a bit too early.

Semester III

The top three students applying for branch change - Sushmita, Mochi and Prasad - were from our branch. But their aspirations of jumping the boat to tronics were quashed, with no seats being offered in the already overflowing tronics class. At that time, we didn't know if we had to rejoice or feel depressed with this, but today, we're glad, we retained the gems. We were formally welcomed into the branch in a sad fresher’s party, given by our immediate seniors. The sem contained basic courses in Electrical machines, measurements, circuits and field theory, which were served to us with huge helpings of discipline. The CR elections, keenly contested between Ibrahim and Rohan ended in a dramatic tie, and a coin toss saw Rohan take the reins. But the election fever elicited stinging responses from Rao sir, the election officer, which manifested in verbal bashing the following day. The sem exams came by, and the much feared machines lab viva, by Sridhar sir witnessed an unbelievable incident - Boosnur's explanation on eddy currents in transformer cores, and related electric shocks, christened "Finger Burn Theory" by Sridhar himself, saw the latter nearly fall of his chair laughing! Another Faraday was born.

Semester IV

Determined not to be deterred by the misconception of being a no-fun branch, we decide to let our hair down and planned a class trip to Karkala, Kudlu falls, Sringeri and Kigga falls. The trip was a runaway success and helped change many an opinion, but Dasi's alleged ulterior motive behind having the dinner on the trip day at his home, was the topic of hot speculation for quite a few days to follow. The trip saw us spiritedly through the rest of the semester, with the classes plagued with more machines (ugh!), op-amps, network analysis and T&D. In the sem exams, Mochi and Sushmita hit records out of the park scoring 96 and 95 percent respectively, unheard in the history of the college. The critics, cynical about the scoring in our branch were silenced forever.

Semester V

Third year brought with it the onus of being seniors in the branch. The freshers party we threw to the second years was honestly, far better than the one we were given. We, the hosts enjoyed it more thoroughly than the guests. The party encouraged many to shed their inhibitions and come together and have the maximum fun. (Jello turned out to be the chupa rustum) In class, Smash stopped asking questions in the dying moments of Economics classes after being threatened to be beaten. Object oriented programming concepts taught using java, saw arrows flying all over the board, and made us a jack in yet another 'hot' field. j.1P by Rao, arguably the best taught course in our curriculum, saw most resumes registering it as the favorite subject - although the 'don't-drag-the-chairs' j.1P lab was seldom visited by many. And the star electronics course - Digital Systems Design, taught us an even more important lesson in human relations, when the sem paper showed who the ring master was.

Semester VI

The presence of only one examiner in the fifth sem μP lab, saw our results being held up, and a viva conducted. Although it was "rules being followed", the entire incident reeked of clash of egos. Even sem became necessarily synonymous with the class trip and with the girls dropping out, the guys had a superb time at Attur church, Jomlu and Onake Abbe falls, without having to bother to remain within limits. Mudit's DJing ("Everybody now ... aah aah") showed our true colors to our staff escort, and the look it left on his face, made the trip even more memorable!! Power systems, advanced controls and Special Machines were around in the class. But mention worthy was the DSP course, where most classes saw 'the caravan proceed' (!) and students stand as pillars unable to answer 'simple' questions, and stories about the great food at IISc. The meticulously planned Java lab went a long way in improving our position, from the previous sem, from "we've-heard-it" to "we've-worked-on-it". Placement fever started catching up, with meetings with the placement officer, Vijayan sir, pep talks, and noisy debates during the company-ranking process and a brief stint of GDs with Rao sir as the overseer. Although aptis were being practiced, refreshing the subject knowledge took a back seat, with the consolation of a two month vacation after the sem exams.

Semester VII

Final year is about a potpourri of emotions - being beneath none, placements, realization of time running out and the need to live life to the hilt... Placements ruled the roost in the initial days. Thanks largely to the wonderful effort by our own Vijayan sir (the best thing to happen to the placements) and his team, and the buoyant economy, most students were placed in the first month itself. Classes were mostly cancelled, but even later on, were thinly populated, initially, to appear for the placements, and then to celebrate the success - the 'chill out' mantra didn't spare us too. Mochi's perfect 1600 in GRE was the talk of the college. The Fuzzy Logic - ANN elective, although brilliant, mainly helped us by gifting a refined word to our vocabulary, to represent anything incomprehensible. Students given assignments in 1M class, either vanished, or rarely strayed to the class. The 'do-it-when-you-want Controls' and Power System Lab, was a harrowing experience, and most forgettable. And the computer networking (one of the most loathed subjects) power point presentation classes had few takers, most of who dozed through them. And did someone say project work? What was that?!!

Semester VIII

The most dreaded sights now in class (for the few who turn up), is the right top corner of the board, which reads: 'The Final Countdown - Days to go: 50' (a la The Girl Next Door). Roshan, one of the few trical ICONs in several years has just lead the silver jubilee celebration of INCI to a phenomenal success. The long awaited branch t-shirt, has final materialized and has been the neighbors' envy and owners' pride, and has also seen a great photo session. Prasad and Smash have redeemed their rightful place by notching up the 5th and 31" ranks in GATE. The CR leads most guys in cooling their heels back in the blocks and occasionally paying visits to the classes. And hoping a teacher does not tur'1 up, is synonymous to ensuring that Bhupesh is in the class this charm has worked for us over a dozen times, and almost always, when he's been on time!! Most people came to know of their electives on the day of the first sessionals, i.e., those who attended them! And people are slowly waking up to finally acknowledge the presence of a project and seminar.

As the time, we are left with, here in the college, is being led to the gallows, the four years spent here in college and our branch flashes back as a movie strip. And saying that, it seems just yesterday that we came in is definitely not speaking in cosmic terms. Although we'll be walking with a heavy heart, lots of memories and experiences, and electrical engineering in our blood, we'll definitely have the satisfaction of having left a unique and indelible mark in the history of our department at KREC / NITK.

The Unforgettables:-

Smash on being caught in the class - "Your class is boring ma'am" .
"They are the scum of the abyss"
“You will fail…” (and a nasty smile)
"Aakara pushti. naivedya nashti "
"I know how to cut the tails of the monkeys" .
"I think the figure is self - explanatory" .
"I don't know that. You refer senior faculty ... Do it, Do it. .. "

Proudly yours

TRICAL 05

- Subhash HS

Self Evaluation: What planet should I rule?

2007-03-21T16:56:00.000+05:30

These little surveys, which i found on this site called "blogthings", which tell you new things about you, in different ways... are, an addictive sort of pastime...

Its especially titillating, when one such survey turns up some nice things about you... this was another moment of momentary exhilaration i found today... :-)

You Should Rule Jupiter

Huge and hot, Jupiter is a quickly turning planet with short days and intense gravity.

You are perfect to rule Jupiter, because you are both dominant and kind.
You have great strength and confidence, but you never abuse your power.

You are always right. Even if you make mistakes, you compensate for them... before anyone knows it.
Headstrong and ambitious, you always have a goal in mind. You are optimistic and believe things will always work out.

What Planet Should You Rule?

Self Evaluation: Personality type

2007-03-13T18:16:00.000+05:30

Sort of getting hooked to these Blogthings self evaluation quizzes, as a form of pastime and break from work... This one pleased me a lot

This survey is based on the MBTI (Myers-Brigg Type Indicator).

You Are An
ENTJ

The Executive

You are a natural leader - with confidence and strength that inspires others.
Driven to succeed, you are always looking for ways to gain, power,knowledge, and expertise.

Sometimes you aren't the most considerate person, especially to those who are a bit slow.

You are not easily intimidated - and you have a commanding, awe-inspiring presence.

You would make a great CEO, entrepreneur,or consultant

What's Your Personality Type?

Check out this link for more details on MBTI - http://www.personalitypage.com/home.html

When i took the same test again, a couple of days after the first time, it gave me a slightly different result, which was also pretty accurate, Forrer effect notwithstanding!! :-)

You Are An
ENTP

The Visionary

You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression.
You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything.
Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.
You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments.

You would make a great entrpreneur, marketing executive, or actor.

What's Your Personality Type?

Self Evaluation: What sign would you be, if not your own??

2007-03-12T19:05:00.000+05:30

On a regular visit to Nissim's blog, I bumped into this questionnaire, which i found was pretty accurate...

As a matter of fact, i'm proud and comfortable, being the Gemini I am... but maybe, this is what i would be otherwise?? ...

You Should Be A Virgo

What's good about you: you have a quiet determination and aren't swayed by emotions

What's bad about you: you are an insane perfectionist and easily find faults in others

In love: you are obsessed with making your partner happy

In friendship, you're: helpful and giving - eager to be a true friend

Your ideal job: poet, flight attendant, or natural healer

Your sense of fashion: casual, upscale, revealing, conservative - you look good in all of it

You like to pig out on: a well prepared five course meal

What Sign Should You Be?

Review: How to make money out of thin air

2007-03-12T18:40:00.000+05:30

Name: How to make money out of thin air
Author: Brian Sher
Publishers: Penguin Books

Misc: 212 pages, Rs 195

Highlights: Real life examples, statistically backed experiences, Decisive and authoritative narration

My rating: 4 /5

One way of generating interest (read as: hype) around a book, is by giving it a catchy name – that generates enough curiosity, to convert those half-convinced into buying the book, and to grab attention of those, who might otherwise never have even cast their glance on it.

This book is FAR more than just that.

It isn’t any frivolous book on some quick rich scheme, or a bunch of rhetoric…as the name may suggest, on the face of it.

Brian Sher, an Australian, who is a specialist in marketing and business growth strategies, and has worked with hundreds of businesses, of various sizes, has delved into his decades of experience, to come out with this must read - atleast for those who ever had even a fleeting dream about starting his / her own enterprise. For most such people, it will well be a reality check about their ambitions.

The central theme of this book by Sher is the attitudinal shift, which he feels is very essential for every person who wants to become wealthy - from earning money to making money, from selling your time, and working for money, to making your money work for you.

He explains why, statistically, more than 90% of the start-up enterprises become failures - the common mistakes and follies, which lead them to their doom. He also gives valuable tips and insights, on how to go about building a business, which will be self-sustaining and saleable, and will keep improving its asset value, while making money for you, so that you don’t need to work for money! The secret, though, is not only to start a business, but to build a valuable asset that you can sell in the future for a profit, according to him. That’s the catch. You have to start with an exit plan in mind. That is, whatever you start, it needs to be of value to someone else.

The book consists of an unequivocal (and pretty comprehensive) list of the “twenty habits of the most / (and) least valuable businesses”, “twenty-eight habits of the world’s least successful business people”, forty-two habits of the world’s most successful business people, “how to make money out of (figuratively of course!!) thin air”, and finally, a checklist, which indicates “will you become a millionaire”.

This book will help you remove a lot of cobwebs of myths that your mind houses. But mind you, don’t try to take an intersection set of all that he suggests, coz you’ll invariably get a null set, and may feel that, you could never start your own business!!

Go for it!!

Excerpts from the book:

“There is a big difference in being rich and being happy. Being rich is ‘Getting what you want’. Being happy is ‘Wanting what you get’.
“Be daring… or be nothing at all…”
Never build just a ‘business’. Build a valuable asset to sell.
"For your business to become a saleable asset, it needs to be highly tradable, and for it to be tradable, it needs to be fully systemized – able to run without your personal effort – or, better yet, without you being needed at all.
“We spend thirteen years at school and leave knowing how to do little more than survive financially. Since the majority of us become employed and have ‘jobs’, the majority of us will simply sell our time for the whole of our lives” (Familiar, eh??)
The worst possible decision you could take to be financially independent, is to sell your time.
People don’t succeed because they are lucky, or make all the right decisions at the right times. They realize one thing, that others don’t – that there’s nothing like a perfect decision – they take quick decisions, understanding the consequences of their decisions, and always have a back up plan, in case this decision does not give them the desired outcome.

The color of spring...

2007-03-06T15:18:00.000+05:30

Meta Data:

Camera:	Canon S2IS
Mode:	Special Scene (Foliage) (Color Accent wasn't giving required result)
Shutter time:	Auto
ISO:	Auto
Date / Time:	4 March 2007, 12:58 pm
Location:	Lalbagh gardens, Bangalore

Last... and the most important:

The final make up: Adobe Photoshop 8.0

Self Evaluation: Who are you?? - Imagini VisualDNA personality check

2007-03-05T17:15:00.001+05:30

I've seen a few sites, which tell you about your personality... This was one of them, i received as a forward and which i found was pretty accurate...

This a what i am like... almost!!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Collection: Einstein the parrot

2007-03-02T17:49:00.000+05:30

This is the best ever animal / bird video i have, and probably will ever watch for a long time to come...

Hats off to... Einstein the parrot!

An ode of an... impending disaster???

2007-02-28T12:37:00.000+05:30

An opportunity… (red herring, is it??)

An ambition… A dreamer

Lots of expectations – most of it from the self

A vacuous ground-work, close to naught

Mostly… just Crossed fingers

A frail framework of communication

A mind barricaded from external inputs by obstinance and paranoia

A “decision”…

A talented and extrovertive, but naïve and gullible betrothed,

A shared ambition and dream

A few personal ambitions and dreams

Lack of clarity

A misplaced sense of respect

A conviction… (or is it??)

A graspable, but hazardous immaturity in handling relationships

A best friend

A witness to an edifice being built on a hollow foundation

Lots of good intentions.

Desperate attempts to save the bacon

An out of the way attempt

A punching bag for abuses from a swellhead with an inflated ego

A wounded heart…

An ‘outsider’ ... a 'conspirator'

An abettor to schemes with underlying noble intents

A maverick strategist

The chief architect of a futile attempt

A geographical separation from 'the' loved one

A sinking feeling of helplessness.

An act of benevolence given up...

Lead kindly light...