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!

Debugging and Verification!!!

Verif work is really not for me. I mean finding out what's wrong with someone elses code is not the most ideal job in the world. Thats the problem with big companies that have poor documentation. No wonder they are willing to pay. Going through other people's s#!t needs to be heftily compensated. The part that I hate the most is when I have to interact with people in US and lose a whole day because they are sleeping when Im working and vice versa to get my doubts clarified. It would be a lot easier forme if my manager did send me to Santa Clara so that I could get my work done faster...

I don't like to crib in the beginning of the week, but life ain't very pleasant at office when you get stuck at work two hours after logging in. And the clincher is that I feel guilty that I am not doing work and wasting away my time cribbing and blogging about my cribbing and hoping that someone will read this and sympathize with me...

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.

Forward...Attack!!!

Before you think this is some article about warfare and Generals of armies or the rules of warfare, let me assure you that it is not...

This is dedicated to all the forwards that go around in the mailboxes of cyberspaces. Well, not to all the forwards ever sent, I dont even know 99.999% percent of them.

Anyway, wanted to point out a few of the interesting forwards that I came accross.

1. There was one with a picture of a ballerina dancing or rather rotating on one leg in the anti-clockwise direction.

The lines below the ballerina read -

Look carefully at the ballerina. 70% of the people see this girl rotating in the clockwise direction. 28% of the people will see it rotating in the anti-clockwise direction.

You look at it and go - Hmm... so I am in the minority 28%. Interesting...

Then you continue to read and it says -

Only the remaining 2% of the people in the world can actually see the girl in both the directions. They can actually will the girl to rotate in any direction they want!

So you actually concentrate on the girl and will her to change direction. And Lo and Behold, it actually does change the direction of rotation within 30 seconds. I was astonished. My first reaction was Hurrah!, I am special. Then I tried to change it back. After, a couple of minutes, it actually did change back! But I slowly realised that some idiot had actually written the program such that the girl changed directions every couple of minutes and had us believe that we were doing it ourselves. This guy must be having the last laugh. Imagine how many people would have actually believed they were the blessed 2% of the population.

2. There is the ones which ask you to concentrate on something closely and find out something. Then you are looking closely and suddenly something jumps out on the screen and you jump up from your chair and go Crap!. I know that ithis trick has been done to death, but its still fun to jump out of your seat once in a while.

3. Three was one wehre all the letetrs in the sentcene wree actulaly jmulbed up, but you could actually read all the words without any trouble. Then it actually explained that when we skim the wordswhen we read, we actually only see the first and last couple of letters in every word, and try to guess the wordin our mind. Thats why we dont actually have too much of a problem reading the words even when all the letters in between are jumbled up. That was pretty interesting fact.

4. There was one where they had a bunch of symbols on the screen and we had to pick one symbol out and remember it without actually pointing to anything on the screen with the mouse. And I would pick one and the program would actually guess which one it was. And I would be incredulous. Then I would think that maybe some way that symbol was the most appealing and everyone picked that. So I picked a new one the second time, but the program would get it right again. And again on the third time. And so on. That was very unnerving. Never did figure out how the program did that till now.

Thats all the interesting ones I can remember or care to write about at the moment.

And this is a futile attempt at writing a post. Been busy with work last couple of months. Should start posting good stuff again soon...

Stock Market Mania

Recently I got a DeMat and trading account done. So for the last one week, I have been experimenting with trading. Not with very big amounts of course. At no point is my exposure in the market more than 10k. With the recent market crash, most stocks have corrected by nearly 20 - 30 percent and its a really good time to buy right now. However, I made my first profits today. With an investment of around 3.2k, i made about 130 bucks. After Brokerage charges and taxes and such, thats probably a profit of little under Rs. 100 Considering the market went up by 800 points yesterday, this is hardly a big acheivement to speak of. But it still does feel good to have made some profits on the stock market.

A little hand and a Hoola-Hoop

Scene - Mayo Hall Junction, MG Road

Time - around 9:00 a.m. every weekday

I'm sitting snug in the driver's seat of my swift waiting for the light to go green. Its a long traffic signal; so, doing my bit to reduce global warming, I switch off the engine.

A little girl comes and stands in the space between a couple of cars. She brings out a small hoola hoop (that ring through which they can wriggle through and do some tricks, if I am mistasken with the name). An even younger boy, of maybe six-seven years, holds in his hand a rough contraption that could double as a drum for lack of anything better. And he starts beating it. No rhythm to speak of, but just some background music to help provide an ambience to the girl's performance.

The girl begins her performance. A few cartwheels and somersaults. Then she wriggles through the hoop by twisting her body through it (the hoop is extremely small you see). A short forty second performance. The traffic light is red for about 120 seconds. She has to complete her routine in that time. After that, both the kids walk around to each car and tap the glasses of the cars asking the driver or the co passenger for some small alms.

The girl makes a very sorry face. Sometimes, I give in and hand over a few coins. ( Generally, we dont think twice to pay 200 bucks for a multiplex ticket nowadays. But, now suddenly the few coins seems like an amount to reckon with. ) Now, this kid is pretty intelligent. If I hand over a few coins one day, the next few days she wont even ask you. She actually remembers your face.

Now am I stingy, I reflect? A wave of guilt washes over me. At her age, I was a happy kid with no cares in the world and spent worry free days in a great school and cosy evenings at home. At the same age, these kids actually had to work to fend for themselves. To get a square meal. No parents to provide for them probably.

Their courage was admirable. They had no other choice. Or did they? Had they been offered a seat in some government school which they ran away from? Maybe she felt the skills (of education) were of no use to her in her life. At the end of the day, she still needed a meal to survive the night and see the light of day tomorrow. Or then again, maybe she did not even know the concept of a school. I would never know. I only knew that by giving in to her pleadings and giving her money, I was encouraging her to continue this. Maybe now it was ok. But what ten twenty years from now? Continue with this forever. But the next ten years is probably far from her mind. She would probably think as far ahead as dinner for the night. Period. Then again, if I didn't give her the money, someone else would. She wouldn't be convinced into dropping this just because I refused. This was pointless.

I continue the same routine to this day. Sometimes I oblige, on others I just ignore her. Simply because I cannot decide which is the best course of action. I remember the time when there used to be a kid hanging in front of the National College, Jayanagar Coffee Day. This kid would try to extract money from the clientele of the cafe by making up a melancholy face and an excuse of not having eaten for the last twenty four hours. At first, I felt sorry for him. But then, i noticed on the second or third time that the kid was actually acting. He could change between his real mood (which was quite happy and satisfied) to a tear-stricken face in the blink of an eye. He knew from experience that the sorry face would get more takers. This chap was also equally street smart. He would always zero in on the female clientele about to enter Coffee Day. He knew that girls had a softer heart and were more likely to reward him earlier. He would even shed a year or two while he beseeched that he hadn't had a decent meal all day and tug on the girl's shirt or jeans until she relented from sympathy or just to get rid of the clinging boy. Once my friend Satya tried to be I don't know which, a saint or a wise ass. He asked the kid why he was not going to school and offered to personally enroll him somewhere. The kid retorted -

' If you get me something to eat from that bakery, do it and I'll be thankful. But i don't need your advise' - in kannada.

Satya relented and bought him a bun to eat. So the point is, maybe the kid was too comfortable in his role now. It definitely beat sitting in a school and learning something which he would probably see as useless. But I guess, at that age, if I had been given a choice, I might have decided against studying too.

Finally, the point of this article - well I guess I dont know what is the point. I was just trying to fit into the shoes of those kids. They may not be sad and depressed. For them, seeing a meal at the end of the day might bring the same amount of joy as buying a spanking mobile phone for me. But that's beside the point. They deserve more than that. I thank my stars for having had a good life till now and it makes me believe in the concept of Karma to some extent. But for now, I promise myself that when I have more money, I will definitely do something to make the lives of such kids better, so that they can have a brighter future. Wishful thinking, but I have hope and faith in myself to do something good for others.

On a High!

Well, didn't know about this combination until recently. Came down with fever and my mom handed me some new tablet to fight the fever. I don't know if it did, but the combination of this fever and this new tablet definitely gave me a very pleasant high. And its pretty long lasting. So now I have discovered a new and free way of getting high. It has a better effect than beer too! And on top of that, if you have someone special to keep you company and some really good music; well what more can you ask for especially on a weekend when you are bored anyway.

Move over Mallya, it is the days of the infectious bacteria. Fly the good times while firmly rooted on the ground.

NITK Lingo demystified...

With or without the consent of my dear friend Fish, I include here a link of my friend's post where he takes the pains to explain some of the very popular NITK lingo. Strangers to the world of NITK may not appreciate this, but if you are one of the alumnus esp. of the 2007 batch, knock yourself out!

Click here.

I am Legend!

Long long ago, yet not so long ago a piece of history was written. Well, not so much a legend that lives on in the hearts of people for generations to come, but nevertheless a story worth telling on my blog. It was the winter of 1999. It was a big day. For all the sports lovers out there, indeed, it was a culmination of all the sweating out and competing of the last month. All the team games had completed and all the shields won. They were yet to be handed over to the winning teams of course. That was part of the valedictory function.

The three day athletic meet was coming to an end. Now S. K. C. H. (Sri Kumaran Childrens' Home) had three different streams, State board, I. C. S. E. and C. B. S. E. streams. So as you might expect, there was a healthy rivalry between the three streams. Although academically, ICSE was the clear winner, when it came to sports, it was another story altogether. The ultimate test of superiority was the 4x100m relay race that took place between the three streams just before the valedictory with the chief guest looking on. The entire school was watching.

Junaid Khan was soaking in the electric atmosphere. This was his final year in school. This was his day of glory. He was quite attractive; sharp nose and jaw, centre-parted slick hair, athletic build; all the girls were already swooning over him. Not that he was complaining at all. After all, he was a gifted athlete. He was part of the his house team in the team events which they had mostly won. And he had struck gold in all the sprint and field events. It was not too much to say that he was the star of the event. Later on, he would be receiving a sportsman of the year award from his stream from the chief guest too. He was flexing his biceps now and then just for effect. State board had retained the relay gold for the last three years and so it would be this year too. Could it be otherwise, when he was the anchor of the team.

The girls' relay was first. Of course, state board won that. He walked upto the girl's team and congratulated them nonchalantly.

"Junaid! Thanks so much! All the best to you", crooned the girls team.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. He didn't need it anyways. But he went there just so he could hear the words coming out of the cute anchor of the girls team. He would flirt with her later.
"Boys teams! Get ready for the relay!", screamed the physical instructor.

Nobody fooled around with the instuctor. He was one with a foul mood most of the time. Junaid got into position at the final leg after a small ritual of shaking his team's hands and a round of masculine back patting going all around. All the drama was actually for the benefit of the audience gathered around the track. Primary, middle, secondary school kids, his friends, parents, dignitaries- they were all eagerly watching.

He started checking out the other two teams. He was upbeat about the whole thing. Taking it pretty casually. The CBSE chap had taken his position and was looking ahead nervously. No sweat, he was no problem. Then the ICSE anchor walked in. A thin wiry bespectacled youth. He didn't even look like a tenth grade guy. Eight grade looked about right for him.
'Huh? This was their best runner, common don't insult me.' he thought to himself. Then the lad removed his track pants and tees. The lad was now dressed in sky blue sports sleeveless and matching shorts. Printed in Bold white capitals across the chest was the word 'YUVA'. A roar went down the crowd. Just in time, Junaid noticed the spikes on the lad's feet. Something wasn't right. Why was this chap dressed so meticulously when he himself was only in casual shorts and tees?

And then something dawned upon him. But he had no time to react. The whistle was blown and the first leg athletes were off the starter blocks so to say although there were no blocks here. Now the crowd was going berserk. Some of the guys were even running along the track inside the field and following the race along with the runners. Baton to second leg. CBSE was slightly ahead. Second straight was tight, but the state board lad did a good run and equalled the CBSE chap by the beginning of the third leg. ICSE was lagging behind badly what with a very poor first leg. Second leg could just about maintain the gap without lagging behind further.

Third leg was on now. His third sprinter was sprinting along nicely. CBSE was close behind. The ICSE third leg was a chap named Balajee, running quite hard and covered up some gap. Come to think of it, Balajee was ICSE's best. Now, why was he in third leg? No time to think now. Junaid started off on a jog in the relay zone and took the baton at 35% full speed. He looked back to see the CBSE guy just starting off. The ICSE dude was still 15 metres behind at least and yet to start.

Junaid turned ahead and concentrated on finishing the race. He would put atleast twenty metres ahead of the second team. It would be a deserving victory. Behind him, the ICSE lad started off on a slow sprint and picked up the baton in his right hand. Then the lad started accelerating at a shocking speed. Within twenty metres past, he was at full speed and approaching him at an alraming raet. By seventy metres, a blue streak just whooshed past Junaid. And Junaid could only sprint on and look ahead in despair as the blue streak crossed the finish line almost a full ten metres ahead of him! The ICSE lad had a tough time hitting the breaks and almost collided with a kid standing a few metres from the finish line. The crowd was pouring into the tracks now. It had gone wild. But not the state board crowd that he had expected. It was the ICSE crowd mobbing the ICSE anchor. Even the physical instructor had a smile on his face. The ICSE teachers were also walking up to congratulate him too. Junaid was embarrassed.

Oh hell, what the heck, it was not so bad. He had just been beat by one *****, the new legend of SKCH. He was a budding junior state level athlete in the making and had trained in 100 metres sprint for almost two years. Junaid walked up to the lad and shook his hand meekly. He got a shy smile back in return.

The lad went to on win the silver in the relay of The Junior National Championships two years later as well as breaking the 100 metres national record at the All India ICSE Sports meet. But no victory was sweeter than the one in 1999 at school with the entire school watching on!

A beautiful life

She was born out of a world of pain and misery, trials and tribulations. During the time her birth, she had to endure the pain of what felt like thousand searing needles. And then finally it was over and she had finally arrived. She was not treated with any degree of respect. She was thrown to the side like a worthless entity. No one gave a damn about her.

From when she could remember, she was just a show piece. Lined up in front of a cheap store, she would fight for attention with others of her kind. It was a severe life, but it was survival. Some people would pass without even batting an eyelid. Others would just gawk at her and pass on by. Nobody gave her a look that showed compassion and love if only for a fraction of a second. Every night, she would be locked up in a damp creepy shed crawling with god forsaken insects and no lights. She would shiver her way through the night, never catching sleep for days at a stretch until she finally passed out of sheer exhaustion.

And then one day, a kind lady showed some interest on her. After taking a long look at her, the lady asked, "How much." I'll give her to you for this sum. It embarasses me(me - as in the author) to disclose this paltry sum to you. But the lady after some haggling which I was shocked to see, paid up and picked her up in her arms. That was the first human touch she had felt in a long time.

Thereafter her life changed. The lady would take her everywhere with her. She even introduced her to her modest friends who were all praise about her. She felt wanted and looked after for the first time in her life. She even blushed when they complemented her on her appearance. The house was by no means a palace, but it was adequate to satisfy her modest requirements. The lady would always glance it her lovingly every once in a while and pet her. She was looked after well and had nothing to complain.

And then one day, she noticed to her dismay the lady, who by this time, she started regarding as her own mother walked in with someone else. And that was it. The next day she was thrown into the gutter. After the sewer dogs had a go at tearing her apart just for the fun of it, she was left there to rot. It was a good year before the garbage dumpster picked her up and threw her into a huge pile of a recycling unit. And just before she entered the jaws of the crusher, she uttered a silent prayer to God thanking Him for her existence; a chance to to be and experience this life on Earth if only as a pair of cheap hand sewn ladies' slippers. She could only hope for another chance to visit Earth although she knew the chances were slim.

If a pair of stereotype ill-treated slippers found life worth living and thanked the Lord at the end of it all, what are you complaining about, Idiot! Go out there and live your life to the fullest. You only have one on this Earth.

Round and Round

John was an ordinary kid. In fact, there was nothing about him that was worth noticing. Even his name was the same as one out of five people in the US of A. If only his parents had named him a Joaquin or a Jabeel or a Jason, things might have been a tad better perhaps.

He just blended into the milieu without any effort. When he was four years old, his parents decided to take him to the local fair. They drove all the way to the fair in their brand new car. They walked up the ticket counter and asked for two and half tickets.

"Why do you need the extra half Sir?", enquired the polite guy behind the counter. It was only then that they realized that they had actually left John at home. And they had thought he was with them all the time.

This was not the only time he had faced this problem. There were umpteen number of times during his teenage when his friends had actually made plans without including him. They would always meet up at the local coffee shop before proceeding to their destination from there. They would invariably leave without him. Not because they did not care for him; he was after all a long time friend. But they just didn't notice he wasn't there. Not a very comfortable position for our protagonist you say. And you would be right.

After twenty years of this treatment meted out to him, John could bear it no longer. It was not that he was dumb or anything. He was a kid of about average IQ. He was modest looking. His height and weight fell right in the median of the height and weight distribution chart of America's teenage provided by the local health department. But that was the crux the problem.

One day he started to do something out of the ordinary. He wanted to prove to the world that he could do something different. Heck, he wanted to do it to prove to it himself. And he started walking in a circle. At first it was a large circle and he was just walking at an easy pace. Once he got into the groove, he started speeding up. Faster and faster he went. It was a heady feeling. He felt a little out of balance, but at this point it was getting interesting. He could feel the tug of the centrifugal force trying to throw him off course. But he kept at it determinedly. And then he did something utterly unthinkable. He started spiraling towards towards the centre of the circle going faster and faster at the same time. He was now 'high' with the centrifugal force. It was an unimaginable high that you and me cannot comprehend. And he kept at this for a long time. Until his legs could take it no longer. When he finally collapsed on the ground, this return to reality was a wonderful if painful feeling.

And that was the beginning of John 'The Centrifugal' Junkie. Whenever he got the time or the inclination, he got into his habit of doing the circle. At first, he friend's were shocked, even stupefied. But, finally notice they did of him. And what a feeling it was to be noticed. Gradually, everybody in the neighbourhood started talking about him. Crowds used to gather around to spectate this curious if bizarre incident everyday. Then the news spread to school and everybody was talking about 'The Centrifugal Junkie'. He was unstoppable phenomenon. He could go on for hours on end without food or a nature's call. It was amazing, the determination of this lad.

And then someone suggested to him, why just do circles. So he started trying out squares, rectangles, Pentagons, and Hexagons. As he got bolder, he started to experiment with irregular polygons, twisted circles, and shapes we don't even have names for. John tried it all. After days of experimenting on various shapes in the two dimensions, he looked for uneven land like slopes of hills, so that he could add the third dimension to his experiments. When he thought he had done it all, he went back to his beloved circle. He knew that he had finally found his true calling.

And that my friends, is the end of this delightful story of determination, fighting against all odds, sheer grit, rising up from the ashes and to conquer the world, and more importantly discovering one's free spirit, and above all giving vent to one's innate creativity.

"If the entire world wants to go right, and you want to go left, go left. No need to make a big fuss about it. Just go, its very simple."
- Sotiri, Yanni's father

This T-shirt just cracked me up

Get a load of this T-shirt. Its absolutely gross, but it cracks me up.

Click here.

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...

Attention to detail

Warning: Long Piece Disclaimer

We were all in Satya's house. It was one of those weekend nights that we had decided to camp out at his place. The 'maal' was there and we all smoked up. Just before coming to Satya's place, Rohit and me had stopped over at Rohit's place, and I picked up a small book of jokes knowing that it would prove to be useful after our 'session'. And I was very right. It did not crack us up with laughter as I had intended but it did pave the way to one of the most immersing intellectual discussions that we as a group have ever had.

We had settled down in Satya's living room after a round of p*t. And I picked up the joke book to read some stupid jokes that would have us all rolling on the floor in incontrollable laughter. Kitty kept on chiding me for the level of planning I had shown by coming armed with a joke book just so we could laugh our asses off after the 'session'. As it were, the jokes were not of the standard that I had expected, and I lost interest in the book after reciting aloud a couple of jokes for the benefit of the audience. I put the book down and Kitty picked it up to see if he could spot an interesting one.

Listen to this, said Kitty:
" In 5th Century B. C., a barber asks his customer, 'How would you like to have your hair cut?' And the customer replies , 'In silence.' "
What a ridiculous joke.

Satya: Yeah I agree. But why in God's name did he have to add the opening phrase 'In 5th Century B. C.'. In what way, did that contribute to the joke or have anything to do with the joke at all?

Me: That, my dear Satya is what they call 'attention to detail'.

Satya: Balls. That was totally unnecessary information. I don't call that attention to detail.

Me: Well, it still is, even if it was unnecessary to the essence of the joke. The joke could have actually happened in 5th Century B.C., I'm not saying it did, but it could have; and the author knowing this fact chose to add it in his narration, in spite of knowing very well that it would not have any effect on the joke itself. Paying attention to the minutiae, is what I call attention to detail.

Satya: I'm not convinced...

Kitty (who was incidentally the only member of the group not under influence):
Let me clarify... In our company we had a session on hospitality as part of our training. During that session, we were told, 'Imagine delegates from Schneider, France were coming to Bangalore for a couple of days. How would you show them around the city and make sure that they had a good time?'
All the groups came up similar stuff and nobody did a bad job. Everyone said they would give some small gifts which they could take back as souvenirs to France. but only my team went one step further and said that we would give them an ivory idol of the Lord Ganesha. And the instructor commended us for our attention to detail.

Me: Now that's a good example. Everybody thought about giving a gift, but Kitty's team actually put their heads together and decided on a specific gift. They paid attention to specifics. That in my opinion is attention to detail. Say you were to take them out for lunch. Thats a given. But if you went ahead and thought of the specific restaurant, decided what you would order for them in advance during the planning stage; that's attention to detail.

Kitty: The fact that we thought of a contextual present, An Ivory Hindu Idol, and not some parker pen shows that we paid attention to the context. We realized that we had to give them something that would remind them of India, not just some gift.

Nikhil: Yeah I hadn't thought of it that way, but your explanation is a greater degree of attention to detail.

Vijay: In a way, I like to think that attention to detail is something that goes to various degrees. The deeper you go, the better the level of detail...

Nikhil: The most important part is the appreciation. When you see attention being paid to detail, you will appreciate it.

Satya: There is nothing to appreciate about attention to detail. If its there, you just notice it and its there, but nothing to be happy about.

Nikhil: No, you will definitely apprecaite it as the observer. I'm talking from the observer's point of view. You are talking from the doer's point of view. A person who is setting up the environment say, in a movie, will pay meticulous attention to detail, not because he expects any appreciation for it, but just because he wants to pay attention to detail.

Me: Yes... Say I'm making a movie that chronicles your life, Satya. When I come to the scene where I show your living room, I would take the pains to make sure every book that you now have in your bookshelf are also in the set that I reproduce; and I also take pains to see that the books are even arranged in exactly the same way that you see them now. Any Tom, Dick or Harry who sees the documentary would not care less for the books in the shelf. But if you were to see the documentary, you would notice the books and appreciate it. Why? I had no need to go into all that trouble to set up the minutiae, knowing it would not make a difference to a majority of the viewers except you, but I still went ahead and did it anyway. Thats attention to detail.

Nikhil: As you can see, both the doer and the observer have to be there and know the details individually for attention to detail to have any meaning.

Me: I would disagree. Take Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He creates such elaborate sets in his movies. Thats because he is a perfectionist. But thats who he is. And as an audience, you appreciate his sets. But Sanjay would have done it anyway. Not for the audience but for himself. And he would have done it even if the set 's details did not in anyway enhance the story telling. i continue to stress the point that attention to detail does not have to be contextual. It can just be there. Its just attention to detail.

Nikhil: Hmm... Its amazing how we all had so many different points of view about 'attention to detail'. And its difficult to contest anybody's point of view here. Everybodys explanation makes perfect sense if you think about it carefully.

Rohit: Yeah, wow this was a great conversation. And to think it all started from the phrase 'In 5th century B.C.' ...

Kitty: Imagine... If the author had actually imagined a group of people like us would spot this tiny attention to detail and had intentionally put it there, so that he could spark this discussion among us.

Footnote: I don't know how many people will appreciate this piece, but the guys who were there will definitely smile when they come across this piece. And guys, I hope I have done justice to the conversation and given attention to detail for your benefit... ;)

Trip to Honnemardu

The blue sky at Honnemardu

Breathtaking Sunrise! If you observe closely, the two pictures are exactly of the same scene taken just a few minutes apart, during sunrise and after. There were no photoshop touch ups applied on any of the photographs.

After a gap of almost four months, I was finally able to make a two day junket (if thats the right word) to Honnemardu ( Linganamakki reservoir ) and Jog falls in Shimoga district. Went with a amateur albiet enthusiatic team of NCGs (New College Graduates) from Nvidia. Kudos to the Adventurers club for running and maintaining the place.

The weather was extremely pleasant and though we had to spend the night in tents at the island under pouring conditions, it was nevertheless fun. The highlight of the trip was having to coracle back to mainland from the island after night fall in order to get dinner for everyone. The peace and quiet and the dark blue water all around you is one of the best chance you can get to connect with nature. A truly uplifting experience. Another highlight was to just lie spread eagled on your back in the reservoir (we had on life jackets) right in the middle of the lake and close your eyes. You just lose all the cares in the world and its probably one of the most relaxing things that I have ever done (even more so after you have just trekked for ten plus kilometres and swam for atleast a kilometre).

Jog was a disappointment in the sense that there wa hardly any water at the falls. But the height of the waterfall still takes your breath away, especially when you look down the sheer cliff from where the water falls off.

I'm too lazy to post a detailed log, but here are a few pics for everyone's viewing pleasure.

A view of the mainland from the island

Jog in all its splendor

Cheers!!!

The 'green stuff' cycle

I knew about this thing called Mutual Funds that existed all along, but I didn't know what exactly what it was. My friend introduced me to it and I have to say that it did impress me quite a bit. By collecting and managing the funds of a large number of people and investing the funds in the growing Indian stock market, they provide very good returns on your money. Although, you are never assured of the returns, assuming that you do some research and invest in the top performing fund houses, you can more than triple your money invested in about three years time. But it of course entails having to put away your money for three years time.

And what happens when you get the money three years later? The temptation is very great to invest this money once again and triple that three years from then. And you are caught in the vicious cycle of making more money and seeing it multiply forever. While it is prudent to save for the rainy day, don't make it a habit of going like a rabid dog with your salivating tongue hanging down behind the green stuff.

And for those of you with a little bit of patriotism left in you, remember that India will prosper as an economy only when the purchasing power of its citizens increases or if we buy more with our money. So don't just grow a money plant in your compound, enjoy its fruits too before the plant finally withers and dies.

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.

To my handful of viewers, announcing the premiere of 'Ten random facts about myself that you should know!', shortly releasing for Ganesh Chaturti! Watch out for all the action this holiday season.

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!

What Kind are you!

Your Personality Is Like Acid

A bit wacky, you're very difficult to predict. One moment you're in your own little happy universe... And the next, you're on a bad trip to your own personal hell!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?