Friday, May 8, 2009

Chitti aayi hai? Aathi thi!


When life tends to become dull and tarnished, as it usually does once in a while, I take up some perilous tasks to put me back on track. Don’t start guessing now, what I meant by perilous was something like reading or helping mom in her chores or stuff like that. So what was I upto now, you ask? Well, I was into cleaning my closet – probably I do as frequently as Royal Challengers Bangalore manage to win in the IPL. Whilst I was underway in this daunting task, what I stumbled across took back me a couple of years. So what was that I tripped on? A bunch of old letters!

It was those days – in Navodaya (Oh man, I love telling stories about that!). The year that I enrolled, was ‘99 and I was in the 6th standard. It was agony, to be away from home, but had to live with it. What do I do to share my misery? I looked at new domains to spread my distress. That was when I looked upon my great family. Cousins whom I used to meet during the vacations when either they came visiting us or we visited them, suddenly became my closest of friends, with whom I shared all my feelings. That was when I started to write – a beginning of the blogger, you can say.

There were two cousins in particular, call them “S” and “V”, with whom I had these correspondence for a great deal of time. Specially “S”, with whom it continued for 5 years at a stretch. Our Navodaya, being remotely located, letters used to take nearly 10 days to reach me. Yet, the communication through letters brought so much joy with it. It was a routine, to write letters. Checking the letters in the heap of letters was a joy in itself.

What we used to write didn’t stop only at venting at feeling, but even we used to write about computer games, current affairs, actresses who looked great in movies, criticising the government, performances in class tests and so on... With “V”, the correspondence was sporadic. Every letter of his contained his address, ‘cos he changed the houses so frequently. As said, the letters between me and “S” kept on going for about 5 years. He even has a collection of all of my letters written to him. From what we used to just play with during the vacations, we became so very close friends. Even now, after the flow of letters has stopped, we 3 along with all the other younger cousins share a wonderful rapport.

Now, when I get to my apartment, there is a huge letter-stand being mounted. But alas, I have no one to write to. The technology has eased up our lives in so many dimensions, but there are certain pleasantries that we are being denied. All we do to communicate with the ones far away is either by phone or through the internet. But, the real pleasure is in writing and receiving letters. Those who did write definitely would be in accord.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The (Spoil)sports ahead of me...


In the past 1 year, since I started blogging, I have mentioned a horde of times that I am an avid sport fan. Sports, they have been a great spoil – sport, when it comes to my studies. Be it tennis, football, formula one and of course, cricket – they all end up coinciding exactly with the exams. I guess, I’m destined that way. Take the 10th exams for example; it co-occurred with the World Cup of 2003. Then on, it’s no turning back...

This season (semester, technically) it’s come back with a vengeance. When I had my minds set to make up lost ground in the last semester, Indian Prick called Lalith Modi (IPL) announced the launch of IPL2 in SA. Seeing the first match, all my calculations and plans for studying were annihilated. Even when RCB kept losing, Dravid kept playing – as he always does – brilliantly. Now, being led by Kumble, they are back at what I love them seeing doing – winning. Tout ensemble, I am the only one losing here. Come June 5, there’s the T20 world championship. June also has the French Open and Wimbledon in store. And tennis has been quite handy for me in blogging too; it has contributed 2 of my posts. There will be the Formula One as it always does. Things are pretty gloomy as they look right now. But hope the months fly by and leave me in July – my month of bliss where I get to do absolutely nothing.

Talking about IPL, I have to write about the Vodafone ads. Now, when I’m writing, I’m wondering whether I had ever watched TV waiting for the advertisements to come – and I’m pretty sure the answer is negative. The ads are so damn funny. Kudos to the creativity of the ad-makers, they manage to bring out a new ad each day. Whether the match entertains or not, this sure does. Enjoy the matches – or else, I’ll be here with the reviews, to bore you!

A jigsaw that puzzled


Of all the earthly pleasures, great sports and games to play, awesome novels to read, wonderful programs to watch on TV, a phenomenal device like the computer to sit in front... think of everything that you may feel that could keep you busy in your free time. Of course, sports and games are no fun playing alone; novels don’t always end up entertaining you, only thing that comes in TV is crap and computer, if not you are a blogger like me, is pretty dumb when you have to pass time. With all these equally probable probabilities in which I may end up wasting my precious “free” time, I chose a jigsaw puzzle. OK, I won’t stop you if you feel like laughing your hearts out...

Somewhere in a godforsaken corner of my closet, sat this box - which contained 500 pieces (Yeah, that’s right, 500 pieces!). So, when one of my younger cousins came home and kept tailing me to play with her, I had to ask refuge with this puzzle. It was around 3.30 in the afternoon when she finally gave up after trying for 10 minutes (!) To avoid getting bugged, I decided to try my hand in this. What began at 3.30PM went on till 7.15PM. And my accomplishment, you ask? Have a look at the photo attached...(The right picture being the reference)

I guess you’ve watched the Airtel ad for broadband, where they say “Impatience is the new life”. Here I am, a BSNL internet user, with a contradictory statement. Had I put the same time instead of writing this blog, I would have completed the jigsaw. At the end, I have achieved neither completing the puzzle nor writing anything worth reading. But the silver lining – my patience prevailed (Hope yours did too, in reading this!)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Give way for the responsible citizen...


You’ve heard me complaining, pointing my fingers at the roadblocks, diversions, traffic, corruption, politicians... (Well, not all of them, I agree...). But know what, I am officially licensed to do those now. How, you ask? Look at my finger in the photo, I voted!

After all the Jaago re campaign and the great list of candidates, I would say I was motivated. Moreover, there were some campaigners who had given out my electoral details like the polling booth number and serial number and stuff like that, which helped me avoid the long queues of searching for names in the finalised list.

I was through with the enthusiasm of writing this post and almost saw it through. But seeing at the voter turnout, I was shocked. My constituency, Bangalore South had a voter turnout of just over 44%. Well, I was balled over the indifference that the voters managed to show. I agree there were a certain number of voters whose names went out missing in the final list, but a 56% no show is a real shame. Constituency like mine had such credible candidates and we fail to vote, it’s a disgrace. Ananth Kumar, Krishna Byregowda, Prof. Radhakrishna, Capt. Gopinath, Vatal Nagaraj are a few names and I bet any elected MP could be seen or heard in the Parliament.

So all those who feel ‘I love democracy but hate voting to the politicians’, stop complaining. You don’t have the right. The right now rests with the able and responsible citizens like me.

Time for something serious...


April 24th. What bells does that date ring in your head? You think of Sachin’s b’day? Move on from Sachin, I’m talking about the phenomenal, Dr. Raj Kumar. He would have been 80 yesterday.

Talk about Raj Kumar to some of your elders. Not one would ever stop praising about this legend. At my home at least, I hear the movies in which all of them sat together and cried at some point of time in the movie at his plight, his movies they went to see in the ‘tents’ evading their strict parents, the effort that they took to amass the money for the tickets. The story goes on...

Every time the topic arises, the amount of respect for this idol goes on increasing. When you hear not some, but all of them sharing the same standpoint, you can’t even think of questioning the amount of regard they have on him. And why not? After hearing so much and watching so many of his movies, there isn’t a shred of exaggeration if I say he’s the best in the business, the country has ever witnessed. The sheer screen presence, the roles he has donned, the social message his movies give out, the songs, impeccable acting skills, the storyline in his movies... I can keep going.

It’s been 3 years since he passed away. And probably 3 years, since I’ve become his ardent fan. Till then, I guess I was pretty dumb. But then on, I’ve watched lots and lots of his movies. And believe me, the enjoyment in sitting together and watching the older movies is what I would pick if I had to choose between the newer and the older ones. The cliché the every preceding generation says– in our times, the movies were good and conveyed a decent message to the society, seems so obviously true. There was a time when movies like “Bangarada Manushya”, which is much more than a gem of a movie ran for 2 years. Nowadays, the only movies that gather good amount of currency and manage to stay in theatres are the ones which portray violence or some sleazy crap. His movies were so very close to reality. You could readily associate yourself into some character in the movie. And all these good stuff didn’t end with a couple of his movies. Of the 209 movies he acted, I can safely bet anyone could easily end up liking more than three quarters.

Being an extended holiday till Monday, I was thrilled that I would get to watch a lot of his movies that TV channels would air as a tribute – only to be disappointed. Only Chandana aired “Bhakta Kumbara” that day. The coloured version of “Satya Harishchandra” was today. A couple of movies I watched were “Aakasmika” and “Sanadi Appanna” – a movie I’ve watched the most number of times. Talking about Sanadi Appanna, the great Shehnai player, Bismilla Khan who contributed to the movie’s soundtrack, was deeply moved by Raj Kumar’s acting and commented that he felt Raj Kumar himself was playing the Shehnai in the movie. This was just an instance of how his acting was so close to real life. My salutes to a great man – personally and on screen.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The travelogue continued...


April has always been a great time of the year. What better way to start the month, celebrating the fool’s day. Coming to the more fun part, the holidays. The month on a calendar, in which you can find the most ‘red’ coloured dates is April. And how we spend these days is what best we do – go places (I mean, literally!) After a lot of ‘planning and scrapping’ of plans, we finally rounded up Hogenakkal to be our destination. If planning was difficult, getting together the guys for the trip was close to impossible. The reason others gave us for not coming along would have been another post in my blog! Amidst all the uncertainties, 9 of us were all set for what would be one ripper of a trip.

It was a great day, I thought, as I stepped out of my apartment – I was ready, before the sun was ready to rise (I love writing that sentence...). You’ve ever been on any trip without hassles? I’ve not, certainly, and this was no exception. The taxi, which was supposed to come at 6, came at 9. It came, fortunately! We started, at 9 in front of the temple of our college (yet again). Philosophers say, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Our journey was no less interesting. With Darshan’s songs playing out loud in the stereo, our talks became more interesting. The talks ranged from politics, chicks, gadgets, movies, college fests, MTV roadies and, believe it or not, our future!

By the time we reached Hogenakkal, it was 1PM. With no further holdups, booked two boats (what we call, teppa). Probably, this was the only time I would love to see that there was less water in Kaveri. Being aquaphobic, I would have hated to see a lot of water (especially when you have friends who think a guy less would mean more room in the cab). With the river no deeper than the necks, it was a Shangri-La to play. Splashing water, trying to swim and being carried away in the current, running against the current – we had an awesome time. We also tried our hands in rowing the boats (hoping for a part time job in this recession!). The next part was the most boring part. 3 of the 9 guys were veggies. The other 6 relished on the freshly caught and fried fished. We had to live on some biscuits and cool drinks. Refreshed with the rest, we were ready to hit the road again – now back home.

Facts that may help (or not!): first of all, sorry folks, this time around, I am not the one with the exact details. There are 2 routes to get to Hogenakkal. One comes to around 190Kms from B‘lore and the other nearly 160Kms. The boat ride costs depending on the type of ride. My suggestion would be a longer ride, which would include the time you would spend playing in the water. It would cost you around 150 bucks if you are a pretty good bargainer. And another thing, Kannada works out just fine even in this part of Tamil Nadu (if at all it is).

And, by the bye, the photo I've used here is, in fact not what we clicked. The photos we clicked are here...

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/bharaths9688/HogenakkalTrip#

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A page from a travelogue


There are a lot of certainties in life. Like the last minute preparations before the exams, the topics you leave appearing in the exams, disappointment after the results come out, swearing the examiners and so on... Similarly a certain output when you have a bunch of cool headed guys, bikes full of petrol, decent amount of money and a great place to go is what results in the trip which I had been, a couple of days ago.

The place rounded for the trip was “Skandagiri”. We also thought of visiting the Nandi hills on the way. A group of 12 gathered near the college temple (Not that we were wary and all religious, it was incidentally right in front of the gate). By 2 PM we were ready, and flagged off the trip. With intermittent stops all along the way, we were heading in a casual pace. Having stopped for lunch, snacks, to exchange bikes and so on, we managed to finally reach Nandi Hills by 6 PM. A rude shock awaited us. The entrance was closed! The entry is only between 6 AM to 6 PM. You had to see our faces... A drive of nearly 70 Kms for nothing! This was the first time I saw guards so honest – we couldn’t bribe them! With demoralized faces, we returned to our bikes praying at least Skandagiri to be kind on us. With rats running in the stomachs, we hunted for hotels at every village that we passed. Finally, got one. What appeared to be dull was a great one inside. Ate sumptuously. Asking for directions, we finally reached the village (what, I guess is Kalvaar). At the first house, we talked to a family, who warned us about the Police, who come at weekends and puncture the bikes parked. How ridiculous you think? But what if it turned out to be true? We were not in a phase to judge the person or take the risk of having flat tyres. Requested the family to let us park the vehicles in their back yard, for which they obliged.

Originally, we had thought of staring the trek by 12 or 1 AM. But the climb to the top started around 10 PM. The leader of the pack, let’s call him “The Joker” supposedly “knew” the path. He had come once a couple of months ago. Since he’s called the joker, there has to be something funny right? Well, yes it was funny. We had only been walking for about 15 minutes, he was unsure. Again, after climbing for about 15 minutes, he announced that we were heading in a wrong direction. Looking into the positive, he warned us in just as the climb was getting tiresome. Moreover, what is a trek where you don’t get lost, right? So, in a way, we had to thank the Joker.

The trek was certainly something new. First of all, it was a night trek. The other thing being I had absolutely no clue as to how the trek was or what awaited us on the top. Out of the 12, 6 of us had been in the “Kumara Parvata” trek. The comparison was evident. But in contrast, in this trek, we took rest of about 15 minutes for every 15 minutes of trekking. Not because we were tired, but we had a lot of time to kill. Yet, we managed to reach the top by 1. The trek was great. Not very tough, but enduring. Some places were a bit tricky and the first timers found it quiet hard to conquer.

The view from the top – even at 2 AM was spectacular. We could see the whole of Chikballapur and Bengaluru all lit up. Our initial challenge was to set up a fire. A couple of us fetched twigs. That was all we could find. It took a great deal of our energy to keep the fire ablaze, thanks to the wind. The wind that blew was surely a force to be reckoned with. The gang slowly diminished with many of them falling asleep. The fire kept me awake all night. It burned till about 5 AM. Only 3 of us ended up without sleeping. It was dawn and everyone woke up. It was light, but no sight of the sun! We had to wait about half an hour for the sun to rise. As always, it’s always a great sight to see (Specially, if you hardly see him rise – like me). But with all the effort we had taken to witness this, it made it a little more special. It was while descending, we could see the path we had traversed. Looked scary at a few places. Felt a sense of relief and triumph at the base of the hill we just trekked. Headed back to where our bikes were parked. It would have been a great disgrace, if we did not visit Nandi hills after coming so close. But, 4 amongst the group didn’t feel so. They returned back. The remaining 8, visited the Nandi and returned.

All in all, it was a fabulous experience. The journey was a special one; the group made it a good trip. The trek was nothing like I had guessed. It was challenging and very rewarding too. A night under the starry sky, with the chill of the wind and the fire in front – it was like living a dream, with no worries and the tensions. Hope such moments come often...

By the bye, do check out the photos clicked...
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/bharaths9688/SkandagiriNandi#