Taking Wing Part 2 (Paragliding at Yelagiri, Vellore) - May 30-31, 2009

Did I mention the practice flights from the BSF hill that we christened as the "Firing Hill or Bullet Hill"? Perhaps I did not. That is for another day and time. Now, shall we concentrate on our latest achievement of successfully completing high altitude solo flying? Yes, I suppose you must listen to what I have to say for you have the misfortune of chancing on my blog at this opportune moment.

Take off at roughly 1100metres above sea level and landing at 450 metres above sea level. Need I say more? Indeed I must. Yelagiri came to our rescue while Nandi repeatedly played spoil sport with the weather. One weekend saw us getting up at absurd morning hour to set off on the drive to Yelagiri. The highway is brilliant I might add, letting one cover over 150kms in less than two hours in the morning when traffic is sparse.

Saturday was not a very good start. My tandem flight with Vrata was barely ten minutes while Bharat and Naveen had both managed 45min+ tandems from Nandi2. I was not very happy with my short flight. The tandem glider it seems is a beast to control. You need to really pull at the brakes with all your might and even then the glider responds slowly and almost in protest. The landing happened right in the middle of thorny brush and Vrata happily used me as a cushion and got away unscathed. :)

The evening saw us waiting for the winds to settle down from the Hanuman takeoff but to no avail. I spent the time catching up on some reading of Ashok Banker's Ramayana Book4.

On Saturday night, I was still not sure whether I was ready for my solo the next morning given that my tandem was of a very short duration. However, I decided to take the "leap of faith" alone the next morning since I was fresh from a good sleep the previous night.

Wiggling into the harness proved a challenge on my first solo flight. I finally gave up and decided to fly standing. Landing went more or less according to plan with Vrata guiding me on the radio. Didn't really enjoy much of the first flight since there was a lot going on through my head at the time. We came back to RK take off in the afternoon for a second flight. This time, once in the air, I let go of the brakes and pulled myself into the harness with both my hands. (Its really amazing to see that the glider which can be packed into a backpack can actually carry your weight in the air while holding rock steady. You really begin to appreciate the engineering marvel. ) After that, it was really smooth sailing. I turned back to catch a view of the Yelagiri range which I am told extends for about 8kms from one end to the other. It was really a sight to behold. I was flying at the level of the mountains and from up there and close, you could see that the mountain was really lush green and beautiful as compared to the hazy brownish green look that you get when you look at it from the ground. Up there in the air, everything is very calm and pleasant and you can hear the whishing sound of the air through your glider. I only wished that I could ridge soar, so that I could stay up in the air for about an hour. Impatience, my lad. All in due course of time. Landing went well again with me landing on my feet after completing a couple of eights above the landing site.

The third flight in the evening happened in low winds. The landing site was much further than the previous sites and the lack of wind meant that I sank faster than I expected. This meant I could not reach the designated landing site and my landing turned out to be less than perfect. :P However, its all part of the learning experience I guess and I escaped unharmed.

Vrata says that we graduated to the flying club with "flying colours". Personally, I think there is quite some way to go before we perfect the landing approach. Take off seems like child's play now in comparison. But I guess thats only because I have now had seven take offs while I have only done two proper landing approaches. I guess I can maintain a flight log now. I could probably log about 50 minutes of flying time total in the book now. :P

By the way, Bharat gets adventurous on his second solo flight and gets a in-flight video. This is a must see!

To sign off, I must say that I have always been a little scared of heights and overcoming this fear was indeed an "uplifting" experience (and how!) and memories I will cherish for a very long time to come.

Thanks to Vrata, Rajesh and Robin for helping make my dream successful. And of course Bharath for learning with me and also for taking my videos.

Soaring in the skies (Part 1)

I always wanted to go to Kamshet in Pune to do the Paragliding course. However, I could never find the correct time or the company to go all the way to Pune. Then BMC comes as a saviour by organising the course in Nandi hills right here in Bangalore! The moment I read about this, I pounced at it. After aggressive marketting, I convinced both Kitty and Bhat to come along. Starting this weekend. I can hardly wait for the weekend to start!

Meanwhile, this is a link to a solo flights partaken by one of the students who trained under Vrata last week at Nandi hills. I was blown away after seeing this!

http://pgmassala.blogspot.com/2009/01/alisons-first-flight-at-chota-hill.html

I'm sure anyone who's seen this will want to take the course and learn for himself. More updates and photos on my experience after the weekend. Stay tuned!

The Chukki brothers, a plundered temple and an 'oceanic' reservoir on August 16th, 2008

The second trip of the 2008 monsoon season turned out to be a trip to a lot of places in one day. After a lot of deliberation and trying to gather a crowd for the trip, the plan swung from Dandeli to Hampi to Chikmagalur to Hogennakal and finally settled on Shivanasamudram at the very last moment. The people were also see-sawing all the way with people like Raghu pulling out because of Varalakshmi and Arun citing a lack of crowd.

Finally Girish, Anirban, Anuj and I set off in a hired Indica with a driver at 6 am from office. Now, my first trip to this famed waterfall was on December 29th, 2007. Although the place seemed not to impress visually at that point of time (we saw two trickles on each branch of the Gaganachukki waterfall at that time. Of course, the first trip holds a special place in my heart for another reason), this time around I was totally mesmerized by the sight in front of me.

Breakfast was bisi bele bath and masala dosa and super strong coffee at the Shivalli restaurant (MTR branch at Channapatna) for me.



The Gaganachukki waterfalls were at their visual best. The recent heavy rains in the whole of Karnataka made our timing to the waterfall perfect. We arrived pretty early and there was a thin crowd which was good. There was a thick mist rising from the base of the waterfall and the waterfall looked like milk gushing down the rocks. I think it would have been even more special if it had been in the middle of a forest and we had to trek a couple of kilometers into the jungle. Would keep all the other noisy tourists away and keep the place pristine clean too. I'll let the photos do the talking since I dont have the repertoire of words to do justice to its beauty.


Bharachukki is less taller, but makes up for it by the sheer breadth of the waterfall. On every side that you turn, you'll see a waterfall gushing down the rocks. If not for the some of the spaces in between where there are trees or vegetation growing, we would have our very own Niagara falls right here close to Bangalore. Simply magnificent! Girish had a Digital SLR from Canon (my own camera fades in comparison) and we spent some time to get a panoramic view of the waterfall using the stitch option. It took us 6 photos side by side to get the entire stretch! (Will be uploaded here once Girish completes the stitching) The places where we took bath in the water the last time was all under several feet of water this time.


We did find one branch of the waterfall where we got close and got a mist spray. Very nice place. I was really tempted to jump into the pool below the waterfall here but better sense prevailed. Currents were really strong and the rocks posed a danger even if I wasn't scared of the water depths. We enjoyed the quiet of the place for a while there.


Posting here a view of the waterfall where I sat right beneath the waterfall last time. No chance this time. There was no chance of even taking out a coracle to the base of the waterfall this time.

A picture of the janardhana idol in Somnathpur garbha griha

We then went to Somnathpur. 40kms from Bharachukki but the roads were so bad, it made it seem like a 100 kms. Have heard that the place resembles Hampi. It was plundered by Tipu Sultan and is now an abandoned temple, but most of the temple is intact. The carvings are exquisite. So are the idols of the Lords. Pretty well maintained heritage site, I was impressed by the beauty of the lawn outside as well the cleanliness of the place.


We then proceeded to the Blue Lagoon island (which is actually the backwaters of the KRS dam) in Mysore. Water, water everywhere. This reservoir is massive! Much much bigger than the Linganamakki reservoir that Honnemardu is famous for. When we asked Anuj if he could swim, he siad, "I feel that I can." We were all bent over with laughter that time. How can you feel such a thing. We remarked, "Lets see how you feel in the water today." I personally felt that we need not have travelled all that distance just to swim. We could have spent more time at the waterfall instead and maybe visited the Shivanasamudram temple where there was place to swim apparently in the river Cauvery.

The entrance to the reservoir is through a private plantation. Before we could enter, an old man with a stick insisted on an entrance fee. He got away with Rs. 100/-. In Anuj's opinion, we paid for an annual membership! Some twenty feet away, another guy stopped us. He also wanted money. We were really pissed off. Told him we already paid 100 rupees. But he said, "You paid my brother, now you have to pay me too!" After much cussing, the chap would not budge at all and Girish sent him off with another 20 rupees.

Of course if you want to swim, which I love to, this reservoir has an endless oppurtunity to swim all day long. Water is quite calm and I am pretty sure there is no danger except for the depth of course. I ventured about 100 - 150 m out, but then returned as the water started getting way too cold in the middle and I was the only one there. Didn't want to suffer a cramp because of the cold.

All in all, a good trip and although there was no strenous trekking or getting into the waterfall, the trip is worth it just to see the waterfalls at their best. To give you an idea, I leave you with a picture of Gaganachukki as we saw it last December!

White Water Rafting? at the Sita Nadi, Agumbe, July 19-20, 08

After a two month break following the Wayanad trip in May, we finally got together again for a WWR trip at the Sita river in Agumbe. While this is probably not the best sites to be doing this, it is the closest, one that we could go in a weekend and come back.

It is generally an uphill task to get everyone to be free at the same time and after a month of advanced planning the dates were set for the third week of July. By the way, this was also the first trip that I organised fully on my own right from finding out details of the trip, book the rafting and the bus tickets. Phew! Tiresome work, but I was determined to make the trip see light of day.

Agumbe is known as the Chirapunji of the south understandably because of the rainfall that it receives during the monsoons. This water is supposed to feed the Sita river as it gushes its way to the Arabian sea forging its way through rapids (or thats what we thought).



Since we had the Saturday to ourselves, we got off at Someshwar. This is a view of the Agumbe ghats from Someshwar at eight in the morning. By the way Adarsh tells us that the hills are not exactly Ghats but just the end of the Deccan plateau from where we descend to the coastal plains in the west. He could be right. Agumbe is just about 850m high which is actually the same height as Bangalore. We initially planned to stay over at Anil's uncle's place at Someshwar but then decided to stay over at the top.

Agumbe has four very scenic falls - Kuudlu Theerta, Onake Abbey, Sirimane falls and Jogi gundi. Of course all of them can only be accessed by a trek which is a very good thing because we don't want bumbling tourists to spoil their pristine beauty by littering the place. However since I was with a group of friends who prefer beer slugging to a three km trek anyday, we had to go the one which had the least trekking to do which was Jogi Gundi.


Nikhil, it is in fact Jogi Gundi and not Joga Gundi like you insisted. Check it up on the net. Don't simply argue unnecessarily. Apparently a rishi 'Jogi' meditated here after which it got its name. Hardly a big falls, but it was a very secluded place surrounded by really tall trees on one side and a fast flowing river on the other. And we had the place all to ourselves. The last time we came here, Nikhil and I jumped off the rock some fifteen feet high straight into the Gundi. This time around, it was too slippery to venture up the rocks. Although the guide/driver told us not to get anywhere near the falls, I usually cannot rest until I have had a dip right below the falls wherever it is. So we did make it there and pose for a few pictures too. Adarsh had the brilliant idea that we should all take off everything we had on. The adventurous lads that we were, we all dived in, removed our undies and even waved them in the air in exultation which was captured on camera for posterity. The difficult part is to try and put the undies back on while staying in deep water since you have nothing to balance on and you can't afford to come out of the water with nothing on!

All in all, a refreshing experience to swim in ice cold water with nothing but nature around you. A delight for the cubicle sitting techie.

Adarsh knew a bajjiwallah near the Sunset Point since his native place is close to Agumbe. Our next stop was there. We quickly became his VIPs and were treated to 58 (35 mangalore bajjis which tasted more like uddina vadas and 23 masala vadas) vadas. With six guys, thats an average of almost 10 per head! We were all confident that it would have touched three digit figures had we not ordered lunch at our hotel in advance which we had yet to eat! Just to give you a comparison, our bajji bills came up to Rs. 160 while our full plate meal lunch was Rs. 108!

This is one photo of the trees by the road to Shimoga on Agumbe which I feel resembles Switzerland, thought to be honest I have never visited yet. This is just to reiterate to people that you don't need to go all the way to Switzerland to experience beauty like this. Its right here in Karnataka.

Dinner and breakfast consisted of piping hot neer dosas, buns and steaming idlis with some lip smacking sagoo at the Hotel Ganesh Prasad. Amazing food! Glad we didn't stay over at the Sita Nadi camp. Would have missed all this amazing food. When we go back to Agumbe the next time, there is no doubt as to where to head for food.

Even the crappy 'Mallya Residency' that we stayed at had this beautiful view from the balcony early in the morning on Sunday. We were initially given to understand that this was a 'resort' which we naturally assumed was Vijay Mallya's. We only later discovered that it was a run down two story lodge. But it served our purpose well enough. We are not luxe travellers in any case. A warm bed and a roof will suffice.

Sita Nadi as seen from the camp. The rafting was a far cry from white water. Poor monsoons this year played spoilt sport and 80% of the time we had to row hard. The biggest rapids lasted a couple of minutes at most. However, the small blue raft that we used for the first half of the run did splash enough water to excite us once every while. We dived into the cool waters for a swim every half hour to break the monotony of the rowing. Our rafting guide Karan from Nepal introduced us to the back somersault of the raft which I was convinced to learn. Once I had got a hang of it, I couldn't stop doing it and this became the adrenalin thrill of the ride. Nikhil and me even managed to get videos of us doing the back flip. Learning how to pull yourself back onto the raft was also a big thrill. I was the only one in the group who could manage it. Others had to be pulled back on by someone inside the raft.


In the beginning all of us were fighting to get the front seats in the raft since that was where all the action would be. Nikhil and me even pushed each other of the boat even before we started off. But post lunch, people were fighting to stay at the back since they wanted to nap! The second boat after lunch was a bigger grey boat which felt like a Merc and we could hardly feel any of the rapids on it. They seemed like supressed speed breakers. Our guide Karan did get friendly with us after a while and told us a lot of interesting stories about the rafting in the north. In Nepal, there is apparently a rapid named 'Dead Man'. Any guy who falls of his raft in that raft is a dead man. Which is how it got his name. He also said that the Nepalese rafting guides are very much in demand for their services throughout the world.

The entire rafting actually lasted from ten in the morning to five thirty in the evening! Thoroughly exhausted at the end of it. But the trip was definitely a change from the usual trekking trips. Around four o' clock in the evening, we got off the rafts and lay down on a island rock in the middle of the river. All of us dozed off for almost half an hour under the warm sun. After that Macy was reluctant to get back into the raft and get wet again. But he had no choice. After the end of all the rafting, we had to carry the raft on our heads uphill for about 100 metres to load it back on the jeep.

As I edit this piece a couple of weeks later, Agumbe reported heavy rains in the last week of July and the first week of August. My only complaint is that if we had gone there a couple of weeks later, the rafting would have given us a better thrill. Oh well, there is always a next time!

Wayanad - May 23-24, 2008

Who would have thought that May would be the time to go for a trek. The peak of summer and I was expecting everything to be looking brown and dead or at least half dead. Kudos to Satya for landing up in Bangalore from Pune and insisting that we go on a trek while he was here for the weekend. After several attempts to book B. R. hills resort by Adarsh was a failure, we had no choice but to go to Wayanad. Two cars it was- a brand new Red Swift that Nikhil had recently purchased and Rohit's 'new' second hand Esteem- these were our rides to Wayanad.

I will not go into all the minute by minute details of the trip due to the lack of patience on my part and also because I am writing most of this sitting in my cube in office on a Monday morning when I am supposed to be working diligently. Therefore, only the highlights of the trips will be exposed to the limited readership of my blog.

We started off on Friday night, and inspite of our plans to start off at 6 PM, we only left Bangalore at 8:30 PM. Night halt in Mysore with the notable event being our dinner. We had idli's at a gaadiwallah outside the bus stand! We asked for four plates of idlis and he gave us four plates with four idlis each. My joke for the day was that if we had asked for ten plates, he would have given us ten plates with ten idlis on each plate. Dumb, I know, but that is the level of my jokes usuallly. Four idlis per plate plus masala vada plus tea!Total dinner cost for 10 guys came out to 135 rupees!

We stayed in a very dilapidated cheap section of Mysore, but the lodge rooms were dirt cheap and we only needed them for the night, so we can't really complain. Besides, we also had a lot of fun that night, but that part is not public domain knowledge. Contact me personally for details. ;)


This pic below is a view of the Muthanga wildlife reserve once we enter Kerala. This is actually Kerala's part of the Bandipur wildlife reserve. As you can see, the roads are a pleasure to drive on and the bamboo canopy that formed overhead was a treat for the eyes. Everything was actually lush green because the pre-monsoon showers had hit about two weeks back.


We ignored the signages which asked us not to stop on the way through the forest (supposedly because animal crossings could happen across the road). All of us spent time posing for individual and group pics in the forest. Rohit tried to prove why he was assistant director for Kuselan by attempting to show us his prowess with the camera. This pic here is a great group pic, probably the only one in the trip with Satya being notably missing since he was the photographer for this pic. Notice that the guys without the cool shades are the ones who are naturally cool and don't need any extra apparel to look 'cool'. ;)


I kept insisting that the forest office at Mepaddi would give us trouble. I told Satya they wouldn't let us climb Chembra citing one excuse or the other. Told him to call up the office from Bangalore itself to arrange for permission in advance. He didn't and I chided him for it. We walked into the forest office late morning on Saturday without giving any prior notice. Surprisingly, the officer didn't even try to stop us. We told him - "Sir, we want to climb Chembra today." He said " Sign in that register with your address and you can be on your way. Also add the registration number for your cars." That was it! I almost went red in the face. It was so simple this time! Last time they said forest fire problems and what not. Just wouldn't let us go up. Finally, we did go up and camp near the lake for the night last time, but that's another story.

This is one of the pics on the first stage of the climb. I had read on someone's blog that the climb to the peak was done in seven stages. In Sundi's words, Chembra is an ideal example of a pseudo peak. A 'pseudo peak' is one in which the actual peak is always hidden from your view. You always see some peakish thing and think thats the end, but when you get there, you realise its only a temporary maxima, and the peak lies behind and higher. So as I was saying, we were expecting seven stages of this with the lake at the second stage. I diligently kept count of the stages and kept egging my friends on. But after I had counted almost 9-10 stages and the peak was still out of reach, I gave up counting since it no longer made any sense. Nobody was believing me anymore.

A sneak peak through the fog at the peak from the heart shaped lake or at least what you think is the peak at this point. The real peak is in fact several stages away and probably not even visible from the lake.

Half an hour on the way, we reached a lake that was actually more of a puddle. And the guys were really pissed that this was the lake I was talking about. The guys had even brought along their swimming trunks expecting to jump into the lake. I was pretty sure that wasn't the lake since I knew that the lake never dried up throughout the year and the position of the lake was also different from what I remembered from the last time. But I wasn't sure enough to insist that this was the wrong lake. Ten-fifteen minutes later, we finally hit the real lake and I was jubilant. I pointed out the lake to Macy and declared - 'See, the lake doesn't dry up. I knew it wouldn't violate that rule. Its the law of the lake!!!' And Macy gave a smirk but I had turned out to be right!

A beautiful view of the heart shaped lake from above, half-way to the peak. The weather by the way was absolutely amazing. Can you believe this picture was actually taken around 2 PM in the afternoon!!! It also drizzled a couple of times during the trek and made the path slippery. Thankfully, not enough to make the water start flowing down the path. That would have really made things dangerous.


Some amazing pics again as the clouds closed in around us...

Thirty minutes more to the peak and Satya gave up. He actually would have made it. But the soles on both his shoes were almost missing and he wanted to save what was left of it for the climb back down. So we shed our bags where he stayed on and continued up. It was a huge relief to shed the extra weight. I have to say Satya's experience there alone would also have been equally worth dying for. Imagine being alone on the mountain with only silence around you. Freaky! Satya told us afterward that though we were far away, he could hear us all clearly talking like we were just ten metres away!

We finally reached the peak at exactly 3:30 PM. Two and half hours to the top just like I had promised to Satya and Macy! Macy and Atul were the first to make it. They finally reached the top and declared that there was nothing ahead to scale. We were on the peak finally! Only five of us made it to the peak - Macy, Adarsh, Atul, Mithun and me. We all gave out whoops of joy and I removed my sleeveless tee ( actually its just a vest) and flung it on a nearby rock.

The last time I came to Chembra with NITK guys, I didn't make it all the way to the top. The wind speeds were really bad and I was scared to death. Besides, we were also carrying heavy loads that time.

After that, I did some 360 degree videos of the peak accompanied by my critically acclaimed commentary. It was really silent up there and we were on top of Wayanad. We were on a high, 2200m to be exact! :) (Think i flicked that line from someone.)

Ten minutes after we reached the peak, the clouds closed in all around us and we were actually engulfed in the clouds. It was raining below but we were above the rain!

This was were we had our most dangerous encounter on the trip. Lightning and thunder ensued. Suddenly, Adarsh exclaimed that he felt something. Like something brushed past him. We didn't really understand what he meant or was getting at. Then a couple of minutes later, another lightning strike in the distance. And suddenly all of us felt it (except Macy); it was like some electric charge passing against us. Static discharge happening around us due to the lightning strike! Then Adarsh clicked a photo of my hair, and sure enough, it was all standing up. This continued two-three more times and Adarsh and me were getting really freaked out. We originally planned to stay on the peak till 4:30 at least. But I talked him out of it. Then we all decided to just sit silent for five minutes, close our eyes and enjoy the silence and the clean air. We were in the middle of that when suddenly it hit us again; the discharge, and it was huge this time! Literally like a small slap on the back. Three seconds later, thunder rumbled in the distance. We remembered our physics- light travels much faster then sound. All of us cried out in unison. Macy also felt it this time. We made a beeline for the path and started scrambling down as fast as we could go. It was only after we came below the cloud line did we heave a sigh of relief. I remarked that we should all go to a temple after we reached home and thank the Lord for getting us back down safely that day!

The climb down was uneventful except for this fearsome lad below. Spotted by Satya, a big dark green shiny scorpion, larger than the size of my palm. This picture shows you his fearsome claws and tail pointing upwards in a 'warrior pose' ready to strike. I have to say that the scorpion had actually scuttled to the side harmlessly. But then Adarsh threw a stone at it just to scare it away just in case. Instead of scuttling away, it broke into a defensive pose ready to strike. Even if I took one step forward, it countered by moving towards us. Finally, the five of us (Satya had already passed ahead) had to abandon the path and move through the grass to avoid the big venomous guy. Credits to a dear friend of mine for using some editing skills to remove the blur in the picture. Needless to say, I should have taken the photo in Macro mode to get better detail, but I wasn't really thinking clearly at that point of time.

We finally reached the watch tower at 5 PM where we joined the remaining four people who had not even made it to the lake because they were too tired. Lack of physical fitness and some vices to blame for that. After recounting our experiences to these guys, we made to car and back on our way to Kalpetta to get a hot bath, some much needed dinner and a comfy bed to sleep on after. We did stop on the way where i caught this heavenly picture of sunset. I could only imagine how good it would have looked from the top!!!

Next day was Soochipara waterfalls after getting up really late and a lazy breakfast. Nice falls with scope for bathing and getting some massage for the sore limbs. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves here. Only complaint was that the falls was a little too accessible to the public, so there was a crowd at the water. We could have gone to Meenmutty which is a much better falls and secluded since its not that easily accessible, but of course no one was in the mood for a trek that day.

On our way back to Bangalore after that. We did stop once in Muthanga wildlife reserve since there was a rumour of a Bison spotting. And though we could see something in the distance in the forest, we couldn't say for sure if it was a Bison or just an ordinary ox.

At one point during the drive back, it did pour so heavily, that visibility was nearly down to zero with the rain actually moving sidewards.

Dinner at Shivalli Tiffin Rooms where I had the tried and tested Bisi Bele Bath and Masala Dosa to round off the memorable trip.

Thanks again to Satya for inspiring all the guys to make it to the trip. Here's to hoping we can do atleast one trip a month from now on! Keep up the enthusiasm guys!

True Success

There is only one success in life - that is to live your life the way you want to.

I don't know who said that or remember where I actually came across that statement. But there could not be a statement that has moved me more.

I wish that I had the courage to live by that. There is probably 1% percent of the entire population that lives by that law, at least in India. Still one wishes one could actually practice that and be part of that lucky few.

But it does take a lot of balls to do it. I am mostly bogged down by the money factor. What if I pursue photograpy or writing or ad making and I dont make enough money. What if I am not good enough at it? What then? And however much I may deny it, I cannot claim that I am totally free from society's influences. No one is. If we were, words like power, prestige and status would be truly non-existant. I think that gypsies and hippies are probably the only people who can really live that way ignorant or impervious of all the worldly influences.

Life is too small to waste away only working all the time. I do like my work on at least 40% of the days that I am working right now. Which is actually quite good a ratio. But even then, work is not the end of the world. There is so much to experience, so much to see, so much to travel, so much adventure that can be had...

I have always wondered that it is the people who have all the money that dont have any time to actually enjoy it and it is the people who have all the great plans for enjoyment that dont have the money to do so. In that way, I think some how God plays its hand in making everyone ultimately equal. I wish I could find that fine niche where I have just enough work to make just enough money, yet grow professionally, and yet have enough time to do all the travel and do all the adventure sports that are always on my todo list. Hmm... a tall order indeed.

Ten years from now, I dont want to look back and say, oh well I should have done that and that and that. Ten years from now, I want to say, oh wow!, I have done so much; now its time to take the next step....hmm

Only time will tell. And I hope that I am pro-active and sit up and take notice and change my path when I need to and not just dull my senses and become oblivious to everything and then realize one day that it is too late.

Architecture @ Nvidia?

They pay a shit load of money for a fresher out of college although it has to be a college of outstanding repute. My manager tells me she hand picked for her team after going through 50 resumes of all the NCGs (New College Graduates). The food is great as they say. We have free lunch and breakfast. A break room always stacked with cornflakes, biscuits, tropicana juices, bread, butter, chakkalis, cool drinks and hot beverages, fresh fruits and recently, they also added pastries to the break room. Did I forget to add additional snacks in the evening on alternate days, also for free. And Non veg for lunch atleast twice a week.

My mom says, they are looking after you better than me, you better work sincerely. Meanwhile I have such a light workload that I am leaving early on half the days for salsa, and come late on the other half because I go for a swim in the morning. And if that doesn't suffice, I also have the option of doing Yoga on mondays, wednesdays and fridays since we get an in-house instructor. And while the back-end teams are slogging their asses off staying late nights, being in the architecture team, I have to beg my manager for work.

Some people call this heaven... maybe I am a workaholic...

Ten Random Things About me that you SHOULD know

1. When I was still about five months old, my sister apparently got jealous that I was getting all the attention in the house. All the guests were all clucking their tongues and making all the cooing sounds at the crib to make me smile. One day, she walked up to my crib and and bit my nose! And from that day onwards, I have to live with a big nose. So if don't bag a nice girl in the future, you all know who's responsible.

2. I was state level athlete/ sprinter in school. I was highly respected in school for this feat. But little do the people know about the level of dedication that went into this. My mother claims that I started running when I was all of seven months old. In fact I didn't know how to walk at that time yet but I could run! No wonder then that I went to become a sprinter huh!

3. I was part of the gang in high school that planned the 'acid spilling incident'. We were bugged to death with all the nonsense 'educational' videos that were shown to us in the audio/visual room in school. So we decided to destroy the TV by pouring concentrated Sulphuric acid on it out of fun! Although I was not part of the execution committee , I witnessed the incident. However, I managed to get out without any trouble while my friends faced a week of suspension. The school also bought itself a brand new LG TV out of the money shelled as fine from my poor friends' parents' pockets.

4. I once went to athletic practice without wearing my athletic shorts. I had on my track pants but had totally forgotten my shorts as I was in a hurry. After warm up, our coach asked us to put on spikes as we had time trials. Without thinking, I donned my spikes and then pulled down my track pants as usual. And to my horror, I had on no shorts. To make things worse, my senior (a girl) sitting next to me was putting on her spikes at the very moment. She was just speechless. I pulled up my pants in a flash and walked away embarrassed. I had to do all my workout with tracks on that day.

5. My first job offer came to me when I was still in Tenth. After I broke the national 100 metres sprint record at the All India National ICSE and ISC meet at Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, the team manager of the Bihar team walked up to me and offered me a salary of 12000 p.m. to run for the Bihar team. I declined. After that, our team manager started fussing all over me and offering me all sorts of things like juice, food and stuff. Till then, our manager had totally ignored us guys and concentrated all his efforts on impressing the girl members of the contingent.

6. When i was still in the third grade, a friend of mine came to my house. He challenged me to a game of boxing. Being the man that I was, I stood up to the challenge. His first shot went towards my face and hit my spectacles (yes, I started wearing glasses from first grade itself). They crashed to the floor and broke in two. My friend disappeared in a flash and was missing for two weeks there afterwards.

7. That brings me to the story of how I got glasses at a very young age. When I was a kid of about three, I used to get so fascinated about the TV that I used to go stand six inches from it. My mom got so exasperated that she once tied me up to the chair with rope so that I wouldn't get any closer to the TV! Looks like she was a bit too late, I screwed up my eyesight anyways.

8. I very rarely show any aggression with anyone because I am strong believer in the principle of non-violence. My elder sister has been known to use this to her advantage as she knows that I invariably give in to have peace. Once I wanted to get hold of the TV remote to watch something on TV. My sister had the remote and refused to give it to me in spite of the fact that she had been watching TV for the better part of the day. I got so furious that I walked up to her and dragged her off the sofa. She fell on the floor with a plop. She was so shocked, she handed me the remote without any further comment. So guys, better not mess with me taking me for a docile guy!

9. (With inputs from Mojosrising) When I was in 9th grade, fuelled up with hormones and testosterone, I had a crush on a senior girl in tenth grade...mojosrising alleges that I proposed to her, but I did not. Sadly the girl committed suicide two years later (again speculations are rife that the incident took place after she found out about this fact.) May her soul rest in peace!

10. Once I got sooo high after a session of g#$!% that I actually (assumed that I could think faster than the speed of light says mojosrising) begin to think faster than the speed of light. So much so that even with my eyes closed, I predicted that the tubelight was going to be switched and lo and behold, split milliseconds later, the light was actually switched on by Tango. Can you believe that, you better!

More to come...

I tag Mojorsrising to declare to the public ten random facts about himself for the pleasure of his readers.

A scratch a week on my Swift keeps my dad on his toes!

That's the mantra that I have been following for the past three weeks. It is said that only fifty percent of the accidents are due to a fault of your own. And, so far the statistics have matched it up. Two scratches (more like gashes) were due to the fact that I misjudged the width of the car and tried to push the car into a space where it didn't fit. In both cases though, I managed to escape only with the scratches and no hassles with the other party since these minor accidents involved parked cars whose drivers were thankfully not in the driver's seats when the incidents happened.

The other two incidents were purely due to the over ambitious steering circuses of two wheelers. I agree with Mojosrising on this one completely; but asking everyone to drive/get a car is a bit far fetched. In fact going by the adage, 'If you can't beat them, join them.', I too plan to get a decent bike once the monsoons are over 'and' my dad feels he can no longer salvage his beloved car if he lets me take the car to office.

In any case, I have made up my mind to try and limit the number of scratches in the near future. Driving in the MG Road traffic can really get on anyone's nerves, esp. if it is everyday in rush hour traffic and you are tired out already after a long day of work at the office. Luckily, the Sony Xplod stereo rigged in the car helps to alleviate the tensions and make the driving a little less irritable. Its surprising how much you are dying to drive a car when its forbidden and when its finally allowed, it loses its sheen and you realise that owning a car is just over rated. The only good thing about it is that you don't need to wear a helmet which kind of atleast slows down your hair fall/ balding rate and that of course is a big boon for guys like me and Mojosrisng! Now I know why people get Mercs adn Skodas and then let their drivers drive the car. The pressure of trying to keep your car scratch free nullifies the pleasures of driving altogether.

Signing off with a toast to the Bangalore roads five years from now; and hope I'm not on it!

The Eagleton Experience

It was on the occasion of employees day that we went to Eagleton golf resort sans the golf facilities. The first thing that struck me was the huge acreage which they had managed to buy. And this was excluding the golf course greens. I was of course wondering why anyone would bother driving thirty odd kilometers out of the city in order to get to this place. Thats when I saw that along with Nvidia, there were five other companies celebrating some occasion or just giving a breather to their stressed out employees by taking them out to the reaort.

The facilities were pretty impressive too especially for a sports enthusiast like me. Billiards, Squash courts, table tennis and badminton, Foozball, multi level swimming Pool, and of course Golf. They even have rooms if you plan to stay the night at the resort. So its quite a tempting experience for the sports junkies. Personally, I felt that the time we had there was not enough to explore all the facilities. I could only use the squash, swimming pool and the foozball. Squash was really a great experience, probably the game I have enjoyed the most after tennis. I'm really looking forward to playing it again sometime soon.

The new thing I tried was flying a kite. There were two experience kite flyers there namely Harpreet and Sahil and they managed to get the kite so hgh up that it became merely a speck in the sky! What was even more exciting was to see that the kite was even higher than the bird which was flying right up there. I never imagined that flying kites could be so good. And evening there was a DJ and we did some good old dancing on the dance floor. Although there were a little too many punjabi songs on the playlist, I had a good time. By the end of the day, I was thoroughly exhausted and now that i think of it, I would definitely like to go there again.

Oh and by the way, this was the first Nvidia party that had drinks on the house.

The Good Manager

Well I joined Nvidia and so far its been great. Probably because they haven't given me any work yet! But, anyway within a month of joining, I've already had four, five star lunches, two movies and Eagleton Golf resorts coming up next week. Well if working is really this fun , I really have no complaints!

Anyway, the purpose of this article is not that. I do go to office by car, which happens to be my dad's car, but he doesn't mind my using it , I've already scratched his baby twice, poor guy , so he's given up. Anyway, there was this evening that I left the company a little early in the evening. There were still a lot of cars left in the parking lot. As a consequence, it was a daunting task to back my car out of the cramped space. While I was still struggling, one of the managers, a one Mr. P (whose name I shall not divulge due to confidentiality reasons), walked into the parking lot. Seeing me backing out of the car, he broke into a sprint and was at my side in a jiffy. Then he started assisting me with the backing up of the car. I was pretty surprised, shocked even to see such a senior guy going out of his way to help me, a fresher he didn't even know. As I waved a thank you, he walked across and got into his Honda Accord, I think , which was parked next to my former slot. And then it dawned upon me, he feared for his car! He didn't want his baby to get scratched which explained the sprint. I broke into a broad grin and was laughing all the way home.

Anyway, Mr. P, all said and done, you are still great. I hope that one day when I am in such a big position, I still remain as humble and down to earth as you.

Going Hi Tech

After almost 3 to 4 years of having to put up with outdated technology, I am finally getting a new computer which I could declare as almost state of the art. Well it does cost close to 50k and has all the works. Hope that I make good use of the hardware. The truth is that you only need to constantly upgrade only if you want to play the latest games and devour all those eye candy graphics. I haven't played games in a long time on account of the fact that my previous laptop wasn't sufficiently equipped for the task. So I'm looking forward to the new gaming experience which I should be, given that I'm in the business of designing high end graphics cards now at Nvidia! Hopefully, my enthusisam won't fizzle out soon.

Romancing The Rain

Everything associated with rain is so romantic. The cool breeze and the swaying of trees just seconds before the downpour starts, the kiss of the first raindrop on your cheek, the earthly smell rising up with the first showers to embrace the falling droplets, the sight of a peacock with all its plume arrayed in a wondrous display, a girl dancing in the rain with her arms spread eagle and chin pointing heavenwards with those lustrous locks plastered to her face... oh so beautiful!

In fact everything is so rosy and heavenly that I feel it is my duty to shatter this myth. For all of you who didn't know, rain also brings to the dense forests and slopes of the Western Ghats wait for it... Leeches. And if you think we didn't learn this the hard way, check out these pictures captured on our 6 Megapixel Digital cameras en route to Brahmagiri.







Those are actually the poda of our very friend Bhattiem who daringly or rather foolishly (although we strongly suspect its the later) decided to venture into the forests of the Western Ghats in floaters smack bang in the middle of the south-west monsoon. I kid you not, these are real photos. If you are daring enough, click on the photos to view the leeches in all their glory.

Another group of trekkers consisting more of the fairer sex were outfitted in thick jeans, thick soled calf length boots, and double and triple packed woolen socks to avoid our sucker friends in stark contrast with our shorts and ankle length cotton socks. This incident was reported by eyewitnesses-

One girl whispering to another girl after seeing our revealing outfits: Are they crazy! Don't they know there are leeches here? Why are they in half pants?
Us to one another smugly: Duh!!!

Who said anything about rain being always romantic.

Disclaimer: No harm was imparted to the leeches in the shooting of these photographs. However, they were salted, tobacco-ed, bleached and ground to a fine pulp with a vengeance until every last drop of sucked blood was gleefully forced out of its slimy body after the shoot was over. And although Bhattiem probably fed an entire kingdom of leeches, we also bravely did our part by accepting some bites ourselves even though we don't get a Blood Donation certificate and free Tees from Rotaract Club for our benevolence.

Credits: We would like to thank all the leeches for patiently clinging on to Bhattiem's smelly legs and sucking his toxic blood for hours and posing for the photographs. We could not have done this without you.

Nostalgia Part 2

A tribute to the four most wonderful years of my life 'studying' engineering at the hallowed portal NITK Surathkal...

Its not so much about the college but the great friends I made there, the crazy times we had there, the beautiful places we went to, everything was just so. Like enjoying a well done steak, the taste lingers for a long time. It saddens me deeply that this phase of my life is over and I have to become an adult with responsibilities. That totally sucks. Oh well, on a more philosphical note, all things good in life have to come to an end...

Remembering shenoy's spoonerisms and mispronunciations, his stupid smile and the shine in his eyes when he tells a white lie that it's practically a no-brainer to catch him at it, Sundi's goofy smile and his undying enthusiasm to reach the top of a a peak, to give Kandu hero poses for the camera so that he can show them off on orkut, Mabhi's shady dialogues and his blanket, his premature love for PZ, Bhattiem and his bhatru stomach, his gangster behaviour when he gets drunk, Raghav's fishy smile, his craze for all things that smell and look and feel Led Zep, Tanay with his oh so beautiful music and his Ibanez, his temper tantrums, Vyas with his craze for changing girlfriends, his sweet smile with which he escapes from his crimes, vada seller slap receiver, Nikhil and his sleep and F1 and his affinity for the 'high spirits' and 'smashing attitude', Su and his worsht jokes but amazing creativity, Sri ram and his always Im bored and the most popular guy on campus, Vikram and his jive moves, Brat and his literary genius, Bacat and his graphics eye candy and his all nighters, Rishi and his pranks, his mango face, his assumptions, lets pitch the tent on top of Chembra, Rasho and tongue sticking out photos, Russell Peters' and his 'Doggy Style'...

Me and my bathroom escapades, my long hair in the second hair from which lethal mistake I lost half my hair, getting shit scared on Chembra due to the wind, the early morning by the kabini reservoir by the tent with all the mist rising from the river, my first time getting sloshed at a placement party, getting smashed and being able to 'see' the music, all the headbanging at the concerts, the sun kissed sands of Gokarna, experiencing heaven at Munnar, discovering Floyd and Porcupine Tree and A Perfect Circle and Knopfler, the excruciating train rides to Calicut in the general compartment, trying to build a robot unsuccessfully, trying to coax music from my guitar...

And to all the laughter, all the worldly wisdom acquired, to all the pychedaelic moments, to all those brilliant times I played tennis with Sundi and Rasho, and discussed cuisines with Kulin, and his mom's delicious chocolate balls, falling in love with Salsa, to those lip-smacking steaks at Diesels, to the beautiful beach and light house in front of our campus, to digital logic and design which hopefully I won't tire out of within the next year, teaching electronics to Mechanical peers, Goa with Macy and Modi and Mithun and Nikhil, Lep zepplica with fish at IITM...

To Prison Break and Lost and Desu noto and 24, to The Blairwitch Project and Pulp Fiction and Fight Club and The Shawshank Redemption and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and all the mind blowing entertainment the LAN had to offer...

And to all those pains and sufferings - omnipresent water shortage, power failures and hence sleepless nights during the exams, the tepid mess 'food' in all its diabolical glory, the pain of being betrayed by people you trusted, the joy of rediscovering yourself and kicking back harder, the ligament tear and its aftermath, the heat and all the sweating, PSB announcing his voluntary retirement from service, getting our asses kicked for not paying enough attention to our final year project...

To all those moments that I hope I can remember for a very long time...

A humbling Police Encounter

By 'police encounter', I don't mean that some gun wielding policeman tried to finish me off instead of arresting me in order to avoid all the hassles and legalities of capturing me legit and trying me in a court of law. By Gawd, no! I am a God fearing, law abiding citizen. I had lost my driver's license and the RTO refused to issue me a duplicate without an acknowledgment from the police.

I dreaded going to the police station because I knew that they would try to fleece me off before they handed me the letter of acknowledgment. Maybe I would have to use up all my refunded caution deposit(all 6k of it) from college on these lathi wielding officers.

Anyway, I was accosted by a non liveried officer at the entrance of the station. Maybe he was just a clerk.

Me: Sir, I need to get a blah blah... and explained what I wanted
Officer/clerk: Where did you lose it?
Now I had really misplaced it at home itself. But even I knew that it would be a dumb thing to own up on the truth to this guy.

Me: I umm..., lost it in the Jayanagar swimming pool.
Gun wielding constable listening in on the conversation: You have to go to the Tilaknagar Police Station for that. The swimming pool is their jurisprudence. (Now of course, he wasn't using such fancy words, I'm only using them to impress my fellow readers about my vocabulary skills.)
Okay, they were at it now. Typical technique used to put you off. I was too lazy to go to Tilaknagar station you see, so I would be willing to bend some rules to get things done here itself. In short, give them money in exchange for getting it done here itself. I would be damned if I gave in to their play. And so was I damned.

Me: Sir, can't I get it done here itself somehow?
Officer/clerk: Nope. What are you doing by the way?
Me: I'm a student sir.
Officer/clerk: Besides, you need to get an affidavit to prove that you really lost the DL. That will cost you about a hundred bucks, so you might as well pay the amount here and rid yourself of the difficulties of making an affidavit.
So that was it took, a hundred bucks. I shouldn't stand upto all this corruption. I must fight it off. Give them a piece of my mind. Even if it means walking back home empty handed and facing the ire of my father. Or I could just pay him a hundred.

Me: Show me how it's done.
Officer: Right this way. I'll tell you what to write in the letter.
While we were sitting at his table and he dictated the letter to me: What are you studying?
Me: I just finished my Engineering sir, in Electronics.
Officer: Where?
Me: KREC sir, Surathkal.
Officer raises his eyebrows in admiration. Wow, this guy recognizes KREC. Boy, KREC rules. The college brand did bail me out on another occasion although I can't tell you that incident now.

Officer: So you looking for a job now?
Me: No sir, already got one.
Officer: How much they pay you?
Now, I'm going to get an obscene amount for a fresher at Nvidia, but I figured if he heard the amount, he would decide to fleece me more. So I played it safe.

Me: Oh, about three and a half to four lakhs.
Officer: Per month!!!
Me: Whoa, no way! Per annum sir.
Officer: You guys are well educated. Me, I'm just a tenth standard pass. Here, hand me the letter. You stay here while I get the signature from the Sub Inspector.
True to his word he gets the job done and hands over the letter to me. My hand goes to my back pocket to fish for the purse but he gives no signal for money. In fact he takes me to the Police Inspector and introduces me.

Officer: This here sir is THE software engineer.
The inspector grunts and goes back to what he is doing. Although I was offended for being labelled a Software Engineer(you see I am a Hardware Engineer), I took it in good stride. I thanked the officer/clerk for his help and left almost overwhelmed that I had accomplished the arduous task without spending a pie on bribery.

Maybe the police force was improving. Too early to tell. Anyway, I walked away with a spring in my step and hope in my heart.

My name is Red: Whodunnit? The Deduction

I write this a personal note to myself and the handful of readers of my blog can give this one a miss as it is irrelevant to you.

Is it Olive, Butterfly or Stork. Although I would describe the characterization of the three suspects by Pamuk as scanty and insufficient, there is sufficient detail in the middle chapters to give a hint as to who the murderer of Elegant Effendi. I will now try to hazard a guess as to who the culprit is at this stage of the story and come to see if my logic worked well enough.

We know for sure that Elegant was a mediocre guilder who nevertheless believed in the Master's sense of art and was against the Frankish influences that seemed to be corrupting Enishte's work slowly and steadily.

Lets consider Olive first. This miniaturist's striking characteristic that differentiates from Butterfly and Stork is that he illustrates solely for his self satisfaction and for the sake of art. He is also the only one of the trio who has an independent thinking and is not bound to the dictates of the masters of old.

Butterfly has a lust for lucre like none others and wants to succeed Master Osman as the Head Illuminator. So these two sins are sure to spell doom for his character. He believes the old masters truly and also believes that he is truly gifted like the masters of old or the next Bihzad.

Finally, there's Stork. Again like Butterfly, he lusts for money and has hardly any scruples. This is further proven by the fact that he bribes the page boy and copies a picture of a horse from a painting that he had hidden. He is not content at knowing that he is the best miniaturist. He wants The Sultan to acknowledge this fact too and is ready to go any lengths to achieve this.

Hint 1: There is no actual money at the site of the Elegant's death which proves that miniaturist who drew the horse didn't possibly do it for the money.

Hint 2: The one who drew the horse for Enishte is in all likelihood Elegant's killer. So all we need to find out is who drew the horse.

Hint 3: The horse bears its own style which is a violation of the masters of great.

Hint 4: Before Enishte was killed, the murderer had a burning desire to see the final painting. Only a miniaturist interested in the art itself would be burning to see the last painting.

Hint 5: The murderer regrets having killed Elegant.

Given the three hints, Butterfly is eliminated as Butterfly is believer of the masters and there is no money factor here either. And killing Elegant will in no way bring him closer to his goal of overthrowing Master Osman as Head Illuminator.

Stork is a strong contender. His only desire was to be known as the best. But was that a strong enough reason to kill Elegant? I think not. Also Stork's character has me believe that he would repent having killed Elegant if he did indeed do it but we know that the murderer repents having killed Elegant.

So my logical conclusion is that the killer is Olive. If Olive was convinced that he was doing the greatest horse of all times and this involves drawing a real horse like the Frankish masters, he probably would not let Elegant get in the way of true art. And he is likely to repent for killing Elegant for he has the clearest conscience among the trio.

Therefore, my money is on Olive. So lets see if my prediction turns out to be true. Then I can claim that I have truly understood the characterization.

Its all about the 'potato basket'!

Well, if you are in a metro and have cash to burn and are above twenty years of age, you must be going to Pubs frequently. Replace the 'and' condition by an 'or' if its applicable to you. Anyway, I'm one who prefers fine dining to the high spirits anyday, but my friends think otherwise. And the good friend that I am, I am often bound to accompany them on their nightly odysseys to mojos or pecos or mojos or pecos or mojos or pecos or mojos or mojos... the list goes on and on, you would think bangalore was strapped for pubs.

So this time, I finally convinced them to go a new place and we settled on LoR or Legends of Rock for the uninitiated. Personally, I like LoR better for its mango-bience (pronounce the mango in hindi, if you used to pronounce it as me-bience (replace me by am) then you have been wrong all your life.)

I order a peach schnapps just for the sake of drinking something. Now if you think thats a gurlie drink, I can't change your mind because India is a free country and you have the freedom of thought. There was a live band playing that night, I forget the name of the band, but the vocalist was pretty good. We order some dragon chicken and paneer tikka along with some drinks.

Ten minutes later,
I say: I say, let's order the potato basket.
Macee: Are you drinking some more?
I say: Nah...I have to go back home.
Macee: Then no need.

Five minutes later,
I say: Let's order the potato basket.
Macee: Are you drinking some more?
I say: Nah...
Macee: Then no need

Two minutes later,
I say: Umm, shall we order the potato basket?
Modi: How much you want to eat man, if you are ordering another 60 then...
I say: Nah...
All three in unison (shouting): Then no NEED, go home and eat dinner.
Ok ok guys, I get the point, no need to be so repetitive.

Modee: Waiter, bill!

Waiter appears with the bill.
We all calculate our share of the drinks. We add it all up and the bill is only Rs. 24 more! We examine the bill closely and realise that the waiter forgot to charge us for the food! We were out the place in the wink of an eye, although it takes a little bit more time to wink when you are drunk. The waiter must have looked at the bill and the cash on the table and gone: aha, i got a fifteen buck tip! That's enough for a masala dosa and coffee in SLV (a fast food restaurant known for its dosas and coffee)! Wait till he realises he has to pay two fifty bucks to pay for our food from his own pocket. We dash out of the parking lot with tinted windows of our car all rolled up.

Once we are out of danger from any any hand thrown projectiles from the waiter,
I say triumphantly: you guys, we should have had the potato basket, we would not have got charged
with an I-told-you-so glint in my eye.

So you agree with me that LoR is better than mojos or pecos?

Pool and Prejudice

It was a lesson to be learnt - that you must not be prejudiced against anything, even if your initial opinion towards any subject or action is negative, which itself may be due to various reasons.

In my case, there was no apparent reason for me to dislike pool other than the fact that pool parlours are generally dark and musty and have a pubbish atmosphere. Maybe that was the dominant reason. It caused me to reject pool as a dirty game and made me come up with false excuses to not play the game.

It's so similar to carrom, only you play it with a stick. So why do you have to pay and play? You may as well play carrom at home for free instead.

How naive of me to make such a comment. There is simply so much more that you can do in pool. Carrom doesn't even come close. However, this naivete prevented me from playing for nearly five years while my friends were enjoying the game thoroughly.

The reason I finally started playing can be regarded as an extremely silly reason. When I got placed at Nvidia, I asked the HR what sort of entertainment was available in the office. I was expecting TT tables, tennis courts et al. But all I got was pool tables for an answer. I was appalled! However, I resolved that if I had to make maximum use of the facilities available, I had to learn to play pool. And so it started. I slowly discovered the game. Initially, its a little tough to learn, but once I got the hang of it, there was no looking back. Nowadays , I'm playing pool almost daily given that its vacation time.

And it was a good lesson learnt. Never underestimate the value of anything or form an opinion on something without trying it out first. You must burn your hands in the fire, even if it is painful sometimes.

Salsa, its hot baby!

Joined Salsa classes last weekend along with a friend (sorry folks, just a guy friend). And would you believe it, the day we sign up, there are five guys including us and only ONE ,yes you read that right one girl. Imagine my consternation. I must be doomed for life.
Luckily, on the second day, there was a girl from the intermediate class who was lazing around before her class, and the instructor asked her to grace the occasion with her presence and come dance with me. So finally, I got some decent action.

Hurrah, the curse of the Black Pearl is finally broken!

A Phone call from a Secret Admirer (yeah, you wish!)

This happened about three weeks ago on the penultimate week of my B. Tech programme in the hallowed NITK engineering institute...

I was sitting on the front steps of the fifth block hostel (also known proudly as the final block) sipping on the packet flavour milk that claimed to be elaichi flavour. As usual, I had to bite on the tip of the plastic cover unsuccessfully for five minutes to get it opened. The stray dog sitting on the porch must have been staring at me lazily and smiling sarcastically inwards -'Oh the inefficiency of these humans! And to think he'll have a B. Tech degree in a fortnight!'

Anyway, I finally dropped the straw in and took a sip. Was all the effort opening it worth it I wondered as the milk touched my tongue and went down the throat. Arghh! Anyway I'm paying for the mess bill, might as well drink it (we are shettys you know, now is that spelled shetties for plural I wonder). Then my MotoSLVR rings. An unlnown caller. 'Hello?'

On the other end: Who is this! ( a sweet female voice!)
To self: Aha! A female, hope not a salesperson.
To the female: You called me, please identify yourself first.

UFC (unknown Female Caller): No! You tell me who you are first.
To self: talk about indecency, anyway, since its only a harmless sweet sounding (maybe beautiful female...
Me: okayyy, this is Vijay. How may i help you? ( I'm always the purrfect gentleman you see).

UFC: You better stop harassing my cousin Priyanka. I know you have been calling her up and troubling her consistently. Even her parents know about this now. if this continues, we will be forced to lodge a complaint with the police!
To self: ???????
Me: I'm sorry, you must have got the wrong person. I don't know any Priyanka. Please check the number you dialled.

UBF (at this point I must rename her Unknown Belting Female to better represent her role): Yeah right. no point trying to covering up. i know who you are, you are Suresh right. I know all about you!
To self: Is this girl gone off the rocker? I told her barely two minutes ago that my name was Vijay. Lemme try again. Maybe she suffers from short term memory loss like the antagonist of the film 'Memento' by Christopher Nolan (if you haven't watched it yet, please do.)
Me: Sorry, my name is Vijay. I'm telling you that you have the wrong numb...

UBF: Yeah right, don't think you can put on a fake identity!
To self: What the !@#$ ! What's wrong with this not so sweet anymore female?
Me: I repeat, you have got the wrong person. Please check the person you have dialled.
UBF: Don't tell me what to do....

Click. At this point I cut off the phone, mildly offended that this female besmirches my reputation and amused that she could actually say I was using a fake identity. Then I got thinking, maybe I have an alter ego, the darker side who calls himself Suresh and goes around harassing females for time-pass. If Edward Norton could have one in 'Fight Club' by David Fincher (If you haven't watched this one yet, You haven't lived at all!). But I quickly dismiss the notion thinking, if I did have an alter ego, he surely would go by a more suede and stylish name, not a Suresh (ughh!) and he would be more darker, not a useless girl-harasser. Maybe a con artist or something like Danny in Hustle ( again watch this BBC series please). Thus satisfied, I walk back into the block.

Ten minutes later, I'm back in my room thinking I can't have her have the last word in that demeaning conversation. i pick up my phone and start typing, 'You better apologise to me or ill be forced to lodge a complaint against you with the police.' And i lay down on my bed waiting for a reply.

Bbeep. Ah a message from who else but the UBF- 'im extremely sorry. i dialled the rong no by mistake. me was in a lot of tension. dialled urs instead of 3455. soo sorry.' There, thats better.

I type back -' Apology accepted. in the future, be more careful. hope suresh stops harassing ur cousin. i do appreciate your standing up to ur cousin though.'
(Always the gentleman, and who can resist a small chance to flirt.)

Reply back - 'she not ma cousin. jus ma friend. she was very anxious, so i decided to help her.'
I type - 'wow! that was a nice tactic covering ur back in case he tried to trace u back! and probably the thing abt her parents knowing was also crap.' (Trust me, she'll be flirting with me now.)
Reply back - 'sorry, culdn follow wat u said'

To self: Oh, another of those good looking dumbo bimbo.
I type - 'i meant u saying u were her cousin and all instead of revealing ur true identity.'
Reply back - ' Oh that! Yeah, thanks. '

And thats all folks. I live on gallantly and with an unblemished record.

I did mention this episode to my friend the lizardking half an hour later in his room. I could see his eyes sparkling with mischief as he said, 'As an apology, you should have asked her to have #$% with you.' Yeah right, if things in the real world were that easy...

Anyway, that evening I was feeling quite bored and suffering from a headache until this episode lightened me up. Thank you, UBF!