My new venture...

Clutch & Brake, Clutch & Brake, Clutch & Brake… Keep the steering steady, stay on the left side of the road… Apply the clutch while changing gears, check the road width while taking U-turns…control the speed at 30kmph, … give the correct hand signals, always use left and right indicators, … apply hand break while parking, leave the parked vehicle in 1st gear, stay in 2nd gear in turns and crossroads….

Yes, you guessed right, I am learning driving :)

Bangalore re-discovered

It was the end of Kiran’s exams. He needed a break and Amma decided to join him to Bangalore for a stay at our home. They reached on Friday evening. As usual I was held up at office until 8pm. Mentally though, I was home since 4pm wondering what Amma must be doing, if Kiran had started playing on the Wii, what were they talking, what was all the fun that I was missing.

Come Saturday morning, Amma got ready early and started pestering us to go out somewhere. The next two days we were out on the roads of Bangalore, armed with a Bus Pass each. A Daily Pass costs Rs.32 and allows unlimited bus travel for an entire day. We went to places far apart within the city, without having to worry about buying the ticket or waiting for change from the conductor every time we changed buses.

I mostly sat beside the window cocking out my head trying not to miss any of the happenings outside. Most of the places I had never seen before. I was excited for sure, and I think it showed on my face. We visited relatives, went to ISKON and a couple of other temples nearby. We reached home as late as 8:30 both days, priding ourselves that we hadn’t spent more than the pass fare for the entire excursion.

It had been long since I ventured in that side of Bangalore and I was both surprised and amused by the walls in the city. They were vibrant and colourful with paintings. Huge image on various topics – musicians, old heritage structures, dancers, artisans, nature, birds, waterfalls. It was an exhilarating sight. Initially I was so drawn into the artwork that it never struck me to click a pic. When it finally dawned on me, I realized my mobile was with Kiran who was sitting far away in the back seat of the bus. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Kudos to BBMP on their new initiative!! I know there are some folks who have opposed this saying it is a waste of money, but I personally feel that this is a great way of creating opportunity for talented painters to showcase their skills. I had begun to feel that India has lost all its talent to History but I guess last weekend changed my opinion.

On our journey back home from Majestic, there were two girls sitting across me in the bus. They were definitely discussing something very interesting. Unfortunately they used a medium beyond my understanding – mere expressions and lip & hand movements. They seemed really engrossed in their conversation thankfully oblivious of my stare. Insensitive though I may sound to their disability, I enjoyed the experience. One of them especially gave such pronounced expressions, it almost looked to me like a dancer in performance.

Looking forward to more trips around the city like this one. Hopefully in future I will have a fully loaded camera in hand to bring back my musings.

** Pic courtesy The Hindu

Finally

Yippee!! Just 5 days to go and then I will be home. J I am so excited…. Ah! How long I waited for this excitement to set in. Generally a month before my date of vacation, my GTalk status already carries a countdown. This time it never felt like I was going home even though the date was so close…. until yesterday. Probably the lingering thought that my leave would be cancelled considering the status of my project at work.

Yesterday, just like I expected, I was asked if my vacation could be postponed. Only after I argued, complained, fought and convinced, I was granted my will. And no sooner, the excitement was starting to be visible on my face. The whole of last night I haven’t slept a blink. My mind was drawing pictures of the forthcoming week. It was like a auto run slide show of me scurrying from office to make it to the station in time, the wobble wobble of the train journey, the peering out of the window waiting for the train to chug into Mumbai station, daddy’s happy face, visits to various houses, showcasing my favourite city to Hubs, the nice rickshaw guys returning every rupee without another thought, Mummy-cooked food and more.

Well, the fact remains that I am going home and it is natural for me to go sleepless with exhilaration. But, I am oh so worried that if all the following nights continue this way, I am going to sleep-stay in Mumbai, sleep-walking to places, sleep-talking with people and wishing them a Happy Sleep-Diwali.

Mysore - the Dassera Splendour

I am just back after an eventful and most looked forward to trip to Mysore. Being a 4-day long weekend, Hubs and I took off to Mysore to check out the Navarathri festivities in the city. We amusingly took a Rs.19 ticket to Shrirangapattana and decided to move on to Mysore by bus after sight seeing there. At Shrirangapattana, we first visited the Ranganathaswamy temple. After a quick and easy darshanam, we moved on to other places. Among places we saw were Tipu Sultan’s place of death, tipu’s summer palace – which now house a museum, Gumbaz –which has the burial chamber of Tipu. As the burning sun pierced our bodies, we decided to head straight to Sangama which is the point where a branch of the river Cauvery re-unites with the main course, and take a dip. Unfortunately, Friday being Mahalaya Amavasya, the p[lace was full of people engaged in carrying out rituals for their ancestors. Unhappy but yet hopeful, we went on to Nimishamba temple. Though we didn’t enter the temple, we had a great time playing in the river water flowing behind the temple. After lolling in the cool waters for more than an hour, we very unwillingly carried on our journey towards Mysore.

Mysore that evening was peaceful with nothing much to do except visiting a couple of houses. However we were quite enthusiastic and all set to materialize our talakkadu plan for the next day. Come Saturday morning, my poor BIL had a problem with his bike and by the time it was fixed, it was quite late to start a journey so far. So, with no further delay, plans changed and 4 bikes and 8 humans hit the road towards Balmuri. The super awesome thing about this was Balmuri being much closer, Amma and Appa also agreed to join. We just about drenched ourselves in the water there and then moved further down to Edamuri falls. This place had a nice waterfall, safe and large at once for a family to enjoy their day. Having spent a couple of hours bouncing in the water, getting a natural massage by the force of the falling water, with all the slipping, laughter, cheer and joy, we left for home, tired and famished. We stopped by at a restaurant for a very late lunch.

Back home all of us slept like logs at whatever place we could find and only woke up late to take a small bike ride to nearby places to check out the lighting which made the city look bridal. We went a couple of circles away and the first time as it was for me, the feast for my eyes had me yelling with excitement.

Day 3 at Mysore started off with a puja at home followed by a heavy meal of delicious Bissi Bele Bhath in company of 4 of our cousins and an aunt. Early evening, Hubs and I visited the much talked about flower show and I must say it was worth all the talk. The Mahishasura made of roses was spectacular as were the various flowers. I loved most the vegetable garden as I saw for the first time how all my favourite vegetables looked as they clung on to their guardian looking forward to be picked and tossed into a tawa.

Later we went to Chamundi Hills. Now, I had visited this place before but today our intention was to catch the lighting in the city from atop the hill. Half way up the hill it was pouring cats and dogs. Hubs continued riding even as the rain drops pierced at our skin. Once atop, the hot cuppa tea was relieving. Since there wasn’t much crowd at the temple we were able to have a quick darshan and we were on our way downhill. We had to wait about 15 minutes before we witnessed the breathtaking sight of the city lights coming on. The palace looked divine even as the rest of the city, adorned with lights across each and every road was glimmering.

The last event for the day was to be the Yuva Dassera which everyone told me would be an experience of a lifetime. The crowd was huge when we reached the ground. The singer for the day was Shreya Ghoshal. The show was quite a disappointment for everyone else more than me because Shreya sang melodious numbers one after the other giving no opportunity for the crowd to even tap their feet. As she progressed from one song to another, the gathering was slowly disappearing. We too left for home after the first 5 songs.

Today we were to head back for Bangalore, leaving behind the festivities and coming back to mundane reality. We however managed a quick trip to Bombe Mane which is a handicraft emporium. They had arranged an exhibition of traditional dolls for the 9 days of Navarathri. The only thing I could wish when I was there was that I were a baby who could throw a tantrum and wail until somebody bought me everything that I liked (…which was almost everything on display). There were depictions of the various stories of mythology, a model of the highly regarded Dassera procession at Mysore, and stray idols of all hindu deities in their leisure.

As I boarded the train to Bangalore my mind was already counting days before next weekend when I will be witnessing the Dassera procession for real.

Indian Art lost forever

Just back after a weekend trip to Mysore. It was a good change and I am well rested and relaxed now. (not realy!!)

This time, apart from the numerous relatives’ houses, Hubs took me to Jaganmohan Art Gallery. This was initially a palace which has been converted to house all the ancient art of India. The first few exhibits were not very impressive and I had Hubs already cribbing about the Rs.20/head ticket being all wasted.

However, once we went up to the first floor, our opinions changed drastically. The murals, the various pieces of art by Raja Ravi Verma, Haldenkar and others were all a feast for the eyes. My personal favourite is the ‘Glow of Hope’ by Haldenkar. The dark room with a light bulb set up for the painting well-complimented the beautiful piece of a lady holding a lamp. Ah! I was floored!!!

Some others which I liked were the painting of the lighting in the Mysore palace, the painting of an orchestra by Ravi Verma, the various wooden carvings, the musical instruments used by the Raja and the marble miniature of the Mysore palace. The gallery also had exhibits made of glass. Each one looked better than the other. At the paintings section, one of the attendants mentioned to us that on all the paintings by Ravi Verma, from wherever you look at the feet of the people in the painting, the toes always seem to be pointing towards you. Now, isn’t that really really impressive??

We left the gallery wondering if we have really progressed in all these years? Or should we call this regression? How many artists do we find today who can make paintings or carvings like those?

A fortnight back, we were trying to get a simple wooden almirah made for our kitchen. It was a plain almirah with glass doors for the top shelf and wooden doors for the bottom shelf we were looking for. The carpenter claimed he can make it in 1 day. It is 15 days since, and we are yet struggling to get it done. Not to mention the number of mistakes he has already committed in terms of measurement and design.

Compare this against any piece we saw at the gallery and there is no debate. Thanks to our fast forwarded lives today, we have lost the art all together. We neither have artists like we used to, nor connoisseurs to encourage them.

What is more, we cannot even be assured that our heritage will be preserved until our next generations can see. For, despite all the attendants keeping a watch on the visitors, people have yet managed to scribble names, drawings and what-not on the walls of the palace, probably trying to make themselves memorable.

A Happy Full Stop to the Year contd...

Masinagudi Day II

Sunday morning, even when it was yet pitch dark, I decided to venture out of the resort. As I reached the gate, I found myself staring at 2 deer which were hardly 6 feet away from me. It seems they weren’t expecting me just like how I didn’t expect them. They scurried their way back into the forest as I walked back to the room to share my experience with others. At 6:30 we were all set to go on a trek. We were a group of 11 people and 2 guides. The initial phase was the same trail that Karthik and I had discovered the previous day. We crossed the waterfront and moved on to the other side. The guide said he could hear elephants on our path and hence we had to change our route a bit. The trail was getting tougher and the forest, denser. There were thorny shrubs at eye level, trees had marks of leopard claws, the ground cluttered from place to place with animal bones. But the best was yet to come. As we cautiously inched ahead, we saw this HUGE skull of a bison. I wished so much to bring back atleast a small bone but I didn’t want to against the wish of the guide.

As the slopes got steeper, my fear was getting the better of me. I needed help every few minutes. I started cursing myself on having started on this expedition despite knowing that I am scared of slopes. But just as I felt it was thankless to be there, we reached a waterfall. There was still water below as the waterfall was diverted by huge rocks. Our tour guide encouraged us to wade through the water to the rocks ahead saying the water was only knee-deep. Karthik and I were the first 2 to yield. We jubilantly pulled up our jeans upto our knees lest they get wet, and set foot into the water. The water was ice-cold and soon my legs went numb. As we moved forward, the water grew deeper. The water reached a little above my knees and I tried to balance myself on a wooden log under the water. And suddenly, Splash!! I fell from the log right into the water, drenched upto my waist. Thankfully Karthik was within reach and I gripped him for support. Our enthusiasm propelled Kishore and Hamsa who joined us into the water soon. We spent about quarter of an hour sitting on the rocks below the fall and then returned. After a short photo session, we moved on.

We continued further up to the peak of the hill. At one point the guide said that the climb would get steeper on ahead and people who were doubtful of their capabilities should stay back there. 10 out of 11 wanted to go further. Yes, you guessed right... I was the only one who wanted to stay behind. But again, Karthik wouldn’t let me stay. He persisted that I join them up and ensured that he would help me all the way up and down. The sight from above was lovely. We had a view of the entire ranges of Mudumalai. After a short halt on top, we returned back to the resort.

After a quick wash, we checked out of the resort and moved on to Bandipur. Post lunch, we went for another Safari. Here we weren’t any luckier, we only saw deer, deer and deer again. Some little mongoose and eagle here and there were like an incentive for having come so far. After the safari, our glorious trip was coming to a close; we were on our way back to Bangalore. Mostly everyone fell asleep in the car except for Karthik and me who didn’t waste a single minute. We went on and on and on talking non-stop such that we weren’t even bothered where we had reached.

Our chatter only ended when we reached Karthik’s house at 9:30. By the time I was home, it was past 10. No energy left in me, I directly hit the bed only to wake up to the alarm next morning. It was a trip that I didn’t look forward to before I went coz I didn’t know too many people who joined us. But it is definitely one of my most memorable ones after I returned.

A happy full stop to the year

Masinagudi Day I

Celebrating the last week of Year 2008, 6 people went on a trip to Masinagudi forest. Let me introduce you to the group - me, Pranathi and Bhartesh from CGI and Pranathi’s cousin Karthik and two of his colleagues Kishore and Hamsa from Bosch.

We started our journey at 12:00 AM of 27th with Gopalswami Betta, a Krishna temple atop a mountain as our first halt in mind. We reached the place at 5am only to realize that the check post to the peak opens only at 7. Most of us caught up on our sleep while Kishore kept watch against wild animals which may want to party on out carcasses. Finally losing our patience, we bribed the guard at the checkpost to let us in earlier and thus made it right in time for sunrise. The view from above was a feast for the eyes.

Soon we were on our way to our main destination, The Jungle Hut at Masinagudi. The resort was comfortable in the midst of a jungle. We had two adjacent rooms and a common verandah. Our plan was to freshen up and go for lunch followed by a safari run by the Govt. of India. I was the first one to be ready and decided to explore the place with Karthik. We walked though the back of the resort into the wilderness. As we moved forward, the trail became thorny but that wouldn’t deter us. Far beyond we could hear flowing water and that was where we wanted to be. The water was chill and fast flowing. Since we didn’t have too much time on us, we couldn’t stay longer to enjoy our find but rushed back to the resort.

The lunch was a heavy South Indian meal with Sambar, Rasam, Rice and buttermilk. We reached the ticket counter of the safari at 3:00. There was a pandemonium there with everyone trying to be the first person at the counter. The tickets were exhausted within no time and we were left behind. We decided to take a private safari which cost Rs.800 per jeep. The safari lasted for an hour and a half. We didn’t see many animals but those we saw included peacocks, bisons, deer, wild cocks and eagles.

Packing dinner on the way, we reached the resort all exhausted looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Since it was too early for bed time we decided to make use of the facilities provided by the resort. I tried my hand on all games from Carrom to Badminton to TT. The TT games with Bhartesh were memorable with me losing all of them. Yet, the satisfaction remained that it was a graceful defeat. Back in the room, we decided to play a game of Uno cards before hitting bed. ‘Catch’ing Kishore whenever he was on the verge of winning was awesome fun. Poor fellow, we all kept mum and stared at him when he was asking doubts as to what he needed to do after putting a Wild card. But as soon as he dropped it, we all screamed in one voice “Catch!!”

We slept as late as 2:00 knowing well that we had a trek at 6:00 next morning!