My Rides : Trip-IV; Malavalli

Where: Kurigaavlu, Malavalli, Mandya

Total Distance: 300 Kms. (150 Kms. one way)

Vehicles: 9 Vehicles - 5 Bajaj Pulsars, 1 Hero Honda CBZ, 2 Hero Honda Splendors & 1 Bajaj Boxer

Total Expenditure: Rs. 6000/- (Rs. 350/- Approx. per head)

Travel Duration: May 25 (Evening) to May 26 (Evening) 2005 (24 Hours)

Reason for Trip: Friend's Brother's marriage

Route Map: BEL Circle - Kengeri - Bidadi - Ramnagar - Channapattana - Maddur - Malavalli - Doddi - Kurigavlu.

Travel Team: 17 members (Class Mates)

Pilots: Nitin, Bhuvan, Sunil, Raghu, Harish, Kiran, Mahesh, Praveen, Narendra, Sandeep, Channe Gowda, Roopesh, Prashanth, Rajeeva, Sunil Babu, Kupendra and Shashi

Tour Diary:

Wednesday: We start off from Bhuvan's house near BEL Circle. Initially, only 7 bikes and 14 members start off. The other 2 bikes and 3 members start off next day. We are off at 6 PM. The plan of course was to start off at 2 PM. Forgetting that, we set Kengeri ORR (Outer Ring Road) Junction as the rendezvous point for a team of 2 boys who were taking the mysore road route instead of taking our ORR route. We meet them by 6:30 PM. Then by 9 PM we are in Maddur. We reach Harish's house. There we have Tea and Maddur Vadas. We leave from there and about 5 KMs from there, it starts raining heavily. We manage to Reach Doddi. It is around 10:15 PM now. There we have a small break to heaten up our bodies with Tea. The last warmth for us until we reach Kempe's house. We ride almost all the way till Kirugavlu under intense rain and misty conditions. The only major Joke till then was Kupendra's actions. We stopped a KM away from Kempe's house under utter confusion. It is around 12 AM now. Kupendra started answering the nature's call there in front of a house. Unfortunately for him the lights of the house went up and the owner came out hearing to the commotion created by 14 people. We reached Kempe's house soon. We had dinner and went to sleep.

Thursday: Bhuvan & I wake up early and go for a small trek before our routine chores. We are ready by 9:30 AM. Our gang of 6 have our breakfast. We are the first batch. We eat Chitraa anna and finish it off. Leaving only Uppittu for the remaining members of our tour batch. They eat it up, cursing us. Finally, at around 10:30 AM, we leave for Somnathpura. My I am really proud to have visited such an amazing temple. That is one real art work which can be compared to the likes of Belur-Halebidu. We finish our Lunch by 2 PM. We bid Kempe farewell by 3 PM. We are joined by 3 more members this time of course (2 bikes). The overall strength going up to 17 on 9 bikes. We have many near miss incidents on our way back to Bangalore. We are in Bangalore by 7 PM. after a 1 hour break in Harish's house for tea. But by the time we reach home, we have reached 10 PM due to heavy rain. Awesome? Aweful?

Try This Song : Kannada Naadina Veerara (Naagarahaavu Old)

My Rides : Trip -III; Shirdi

Where: Shirdi

Total Distance: 2000 Kms (1000 Kms One way)

Vehicles: 1 Yamaha RX-135 (2000 Model), 1 Hero Honda CBZ (2002 Model)

Total Expenditure: Rs. 7500/- (Rs. 1875/- Per Head)

Travel Duration: Mar 19 (Evening) to Mar 22 (Morning), 2005 (62 Hours)

Route Map: Nelamangala - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Bellary - Ilkal - Bijapur - Jhalki - Sholapur - Ahmednagar - Shirdi

Travel Team: 4 members

Pilots: Nitin S. Bharadwaj, Shashidhar Inamdar (Shashi), Raghavendra Kulkarni(Ragya), Sumanth G.(Sumthae)

Tour Diary:

Friday:- Hmmm. The very feeling of continuous travelling planned by our senior Shashi gave us a nervous feeling but also a totally hidden excitement that a dream of a hardcore endurance was becoming a reality. We reached Yeshwantpur by 4 PM. Shashi later told us that his bike was missing the ignition and handle lock keys.The keys had jumped off the ignition switch somewhere. What we did was took the bike to a key maker. He brought out a key and in less than 5 minutes, he had filed up our key for us. No doubt you outta be safe while parking. We left there and reached the Nelamangala toll gate for the Tumkur 4-Laner. We, Shashi & I being the key drivers, thought we'll take rest for the night long ride to come. So our other two pilots took over. We slept for the good 40 odd Kms. stretch. We reached Sira and had some light tea-time snack. From there, we reached Chitradurga and made out our route map. On the way to Bellary, Ragya and I have a near miss by a load-less trucker overtaking us at nearly 120 Kph (Too fast for Indian Highways at night). We reached Bellary and again the key riders went back to sleep.

Saturday:- Morning by 5, we were near Bijapur. We stop at a roadside Dhaba. We get some tea, wash our faces and we have 3 Jolada Rottis each. Then we have some more tea and set off to the toughest part of our journey. Making out the exact route to Shirdi from Bijapur. We refuel in a bunk and ask him what the route is. He is unaware. We reach Jhalki. From there, we are supposed to go to Sholapur. Or Kolhapur? Or Pandarapur? We somehow lure some locals to tell us the exact route. We go to Sholapur and from there continue. The worst shock of our lives was that every time we reach a new city, people still keep telling that we have more than 350 Kms. to go. Somehow, we reached Ahmednagar. 70 Kms. off Shirdi and Shashi is complaining that I drive too slow. Then, I take over the bike and Shashi is lost behind me. We wait for them at a place and without our awareness, we are overtaken and they are waiting for us ahead of us. Finally, at around 5 PM. SHIRDI!! We really made it. Amazing. We book a room for ourselves. A huge room with 4 large beds. And have a bath. Go for Darshan. We buy eye drops and put it in our eyes before going to sleep. Ahh! What a sleep we are going to enjoy now....

Sunday:- Morning we are up by 7:30. We clear the room and leave back towards Bangalore. We again have Shashi fading away in my rare-view mirrors until we reach Ahmednagar. We barely fill our breakfast with Samosa and Coffee. We again leave and begin our true race-pace towards Bangalore. Sumthae is almost riding the wheels off that yamaha. We continue our ride for a long time until we are just around 70 Kms. off Sholapur, where Shashi is desperate to visit the loo. We stop and have tea. Now, our stints are growing longer and longer still. We are covering minimum of 140-150 Kms. per pit-stop. We reach Bijapur and eat some snacks. The bill soars up to around Rs.120/-. We continue and reach Bellary by midnight. There again we eat some dinner. Or maybe late supper. Three people eat around 12 rotis and 2 Tomato masalas. Then we have 4 half-tea. The bill.. Guess!! Just Rs. 30/-!! Yes.. this is no typo-error. It was that cheap. Then no breaks till Chitradurga

Monday:- We reach Chitradurga by 4:30 AM. There Shashi and I are looking at the dog-tired Sumthae and Ragya as they sleep and we are making fun of them. They are in a deep trance like sleep. For one hour, they snore like hell while we have tea after tea, little by little. We also find a shop for eatables like Nippat and Chakkli (Indian Brownies). Then I say to Shashi, we are running too less on cash and we need to save them. So I'll come slow. Shashi says OK but he has to leave early as he needs to go to office. He rips off after we divide the remaining amount of Rs. 400 amongst ourselves. Rs. 200/- for each bike. Then near Sira, we find Shashi's bike but only Sumthae is there. We find out that his bike ran out of gearbox oil and they almost nearly missed a siezed engine. Phew!! Then, Shashi returns in a truck with 1 Ltr. oil. Then we leave, again with Shashi belting the roads heavily. Ragya & I are cruising away until I realise that I'm short of Engine Oil. We use Rs. 50/- for fuel and Rs. 100/- for Oil. We top up the engine and make our way back to Bangalore. We are there at 9 AM sharp and with only as little as Rs.30/- in our pockets.

Well, God is Great to have helped us reach Bangalore without a single extra pie expenditure. But finally, we all made it. To go to Shirdi and come back to Bangalore in 62 Hours is no child's play. As far as it is concerned, even Volvo bus drivers were astonished at the way we were pacing ourselves on the trip. The most important factor to note was the air temperatures which rose to 40 degrees C. The roads had molten tar due to extremely high track temperature. During the days in Maharashtra, our bikes could go no better than 70 Kmph. While during the nights in Karnataka, we could do well beyond the 100 Kmph. After all this, we can easily say:

"This stunt is/was performed by professionals. Kindly do not try this at home!!"

Try This Song: Aa Tayar Ho Ja (Asoka, Sunidhi Chauhan)

My Rides : Trip -II; Sahyaadris

Where - Western Ghats

Total Distance - 1600 Kms. (Round trip)

Vehicles - 2 Kawasaki Bajaj Calibers (2000 model), 1 Hero Honda CBZ (2002 Model)

Total Expenditure - Rs. 12500/- (Rs. 1700/- per head)

Travel Duration - Aug 5 to Aug 11, 2003 (7 days)

Route Map - Nelamangala - Halebidu - Belur - Sakleshpura - Hanbal - Devrunda - Wajige - Kukke - Dharmastala - Agumbe - Shringeri - Koppa - Teerthahalli - Jog - Honnavar - Gokarna - Sirsi - Shimoga - Bhadravati - Tarikere - Tiptur - Tumkur - Bangalore

Travel Team - 6 members (start), 5 members (end)!!

Pilots - Nitin S. Bharadwaj, Retesh Gowda G., Sunil Kumar T.S., Raghuveeran K., Kiran C., Nirmal Kimar.(Returned Mid way)

Tour Diary:

Day 1:- Ahh!! What a thrilling start to our longest bike journey so far. Longest in terms of time, not distance though. Started off at Bangalore at 8 AM. 8:15 AM, pit stop for fuel. 8:45 AM, we are near Kunigal cross at nelamangala. Kiran is found changing to a loose Track pant against his ever tight jeans. 10 AM we are near A dhaba at yediyur. Too slow to start off. We eat our brunch and move off towards Hassan. Kiran takes Sunil's bike for a scary ride over and above the foot-path, back onto the road. Crash Lands safely. Nirmal is fear stricken already. Finish Belur and Halebid. Another scary incident for Retesh. Almost crashes into a moped who darted into the highway. Ate Masala Dosa at Sakleshpur and reached Retesh's uncle's farm house at 9 PM in Wajige. What a spooky Place.... BBrrrr!! But what pollution free..!! What calmness!! It is raining like hell now.!!

Day 2:- We wake up at 9 am. Retesh and I are only ones left to go to the forest for Loo. We go there, finish everything and comeback after bath. We have rice Rottis with great banana sambar. Then retesh finds his ass leaking blood!! Yes of course!! A deadly Leech monster!! We go for a trek in their plantations. Then we come back by 7 PM and have some great chilled beer. Some people also have rum and local liquor. End the day with good Omlettes and Bamboo Saaru. Amazing!!

Day 3:- We visit the local oora-devaru in a hill-top. Another amazing trek. Then we leave for Kukke by 1. We visit Tipu's Manzarabad Fort on the way. The Ghats were too good for our bike. With rain and water falls all along the road, our ears are clogged. We leave Kukke at 4.30 PM. The road is so dark. Amazing. We again top up our fuel tanks in a BP bunk. We reach a Mallu hotel on the cross from Gundya which forks to Dharmasthala and Mangalore. We eat parathas and some also get to feast on Fish. We are delayed and start off again at 7 PM. The rains begin to lash heavily and the roads are flooded. Not with rain water but with Pot-holes. We have a horrible time wading to Dharmastala. We book rooms and stay in the Nethravathi Guest House. We have a time in trying to find places where we can hang wet clothes.

Day 4:- We leave Dharmasthala after darshan. This time, Nirmal couldn't bear the fear of the dangerous drive we had on the way from Kukke to Dharmasthala. He takes a bus back to bangalore. We carry on and Sunil's bike dicky nut has fallen off. We take time off to get it repaired, 20 Kms from Dharmastala. We keep driving and reach the most amazing places of all. Agumbe ghats. We are required to cover a distance of 30 Kms. from one Forest Security post to the other in 1 Hour (For bikers). We drive through the thickest canopy sections of South Karnataka. We reach Shringeri by 4 PM. We leave there by 6 PM after a good walk. Take the Koppa route to Teerthahalli. We stop there in a Udupi Brahmin's hotel. Have lunch and retire in a lodge. Another chilled beer among 5 people.

Day 5:- We pack up and leave towards Jog Falls. Another drive through some bad roads. We are helped out by a Sumo who manages to take us through the roads, avoiding pot-holes to the maximum extent. At Sagar, we refuel again. We reach Jog by 12 PM. We enjoy there and leave there by 3 PM. Raghu and I quarrel like kids for Maggi Noodles. He's upset with the same. Next we leave towards Honnavar. At honnavar, raghu drops my dad's helmet and a furious me again blast upon him. His mood is totally down. Kiran has a near miss in the highway after a blazing truck almost brushed past him. Kiran's mistake. Then Sunil's bike is out with Electrical problems. Spark plug re-conditioned twice within 10 Kms. We manage to reach Gokarna. Sunil has a small doze of brandy as he feels cold. We have food and cool-drinks.

Day 6:- We bathe and take a visit in the temple before leaving to the beach for some fun. We are never daring to enter the shallow beaches. Somehow, we have some fun. We fill each one's undies with wet sand. Raghu falls down in a huge wave, hurts his own ass. We pack our baggage and leave. 1 Km away, Sunil's bike is back in Electrical problems. This time we make sure the repair will hold off till Bangalore. We somehow reach Shimoga before Sunil's dicky screws fall off. We eat Bonda Bajji in the cold for Rs. 15/- each. Raghu develops an aversion towards Braking!! We halt in Bhadravathi after 3/5 riders are out tired.

Day 7:- We leave for Bangalore at 10 AM and reach Bangalore by 4 PM.

That was really tiring. Tiring not only physically, but also mentally. All that adrenaline, all the excitement certainly had the heart beat like hell. But this was a week of damn good memories. And also great experience of riding. 5/7 days, we were in the thick of the rains and that certainly improved our riding abilities.

Next Trip: Kurigavlu (Malavalli, Mandya)

Try This: Manavanaagi Huttidamele Yenyen kandee?? (Annavara haadu)

My Rides : Trip -I; Tirupati

Ahem! Who doesn't like to go for long drives. Of course not many like to go for long rides (on Motorcycles that is). But I like to share my experience with many people here who would be interested in long rides. As far as drives are concerned, that series will be a separate one. My first drive was a one-bike-two-riders trip. This series - "My Rides" are those sweet memories of my bike trips.

Where - Tirupati and Back

Total Distance - 600 Kms. (300 Kms. one way)

Vehicle - Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber (2000 model)

Total Expenditure - Rs. 2200/- (Rs. 1100/- per head)

Travel Duration - Aug 15 to Aug 17, 2002 (3 days)

Route Map - Yelahanka - Vijaypura - Vemagal - H-Cross - Kolar - Mulbagal - Nangali - Palamner - Chittoor - Tirupati - Alipiri - Tirumala.

Eat outs - Deepika Dhaba, Bheema's Hotel, Annapoorneshwari, Bheema's Deluxe.

Pilots - Nitin S. Bharadwaj, Retesh Gowda G.

Tour Diary:

Day 1:- On the Indian Independance Day, we left Yelahanka, Bangalore for our very first long ride expedition. The thrill was so much that we stopped near our college, 7 Kms. from Yelahanka. We went to our usual adda, "Uncle Angadi" as we call it. There we collected some batteries and a head-band to keep our ear-phones in place under our helmets. Then we started off from there along with a route map to Tirupati, the Temple Town. Lots of Breaks went all the way upto Mulbagal, 100 Kms. off Bangalore. After Mulbagal, near the Karnataka - Andhra border, we managed to find ourselves a suitable Dhaba at Noon. We stopped there and after 1 hour of pigging, we managed to pile a bill of Rs. 85/- including 2 phone calls. We reached Tirupati at around 5 PM. Too late after starting off at 8 AM. We booked a hotel room at Rs. 150/- per 24 Hours. We unloaded all our luggages and went for tiffin. Again another round of shameless hogging. This time, at Bheema's Hotel(Not the deluxe one in basement), the bill was around Rs. 160/-. Next, we called up home and took a 2 Ltr. Fanta bottle to spend our night.

Day 2:- We woke up very early; at around 10 AM. We managed to do our usual routine of morning chores. Listen to music, dig our ears and nose. Finally, at around 10:30, brushed our teeth and left for breakfast. A very mean city, Tirupati couldn't cope with our never-ending hunger. At Rs. 80/- bill, our stomach was in no-way touched by breakfast. We had a cuppa tea in our usual moosh-wala tea bunker. Went back and took bath at 1 PM. Then went to Bheema's Deluxe hotel and again literally stuffed our tummies for nearly 3600 seconds. We went back and slept, knowing that Darshan is at 8 PM. Woke up at 6:45 PM. 22 Kilometers of Ghat Roads separate us from the 7 PM queue. I rode like a lunatic to reach Hill-top Tirumala at 7:10 PM. With our disgusting Telugu, we compromised with a Cop and parked in the temple authorities' parking lot. Entered the queue at 7:25. We were out at 9:30 after a 20 minute Darshan behind some handicapped. Thank them and God Bless them! We set out at 10 PM back to Tirupati and again, 20 minutes was all it took to reach foot-hills, of course with the smoking brakes of the bikes. Phew!! Some riding that was...No Dinner as we still had the Bheema's food working in our tummies. Settled with 1 Laddu.

Day 3:- Committed to start back to Bangalore by 5 AM. Hence woke up early again. This time at 9:30 AM. Packed up the baggage and again, started off for Bangalore, at 10 PM. Another zippy ride. We rode and rode until the same Dhaba reminded us that we hadn't eaten a decent meal for 24 Hours now. Stopped again in the Dhaba at 1 PM and made a bill of Rs. 85/- only for food. We regained our journey and reached Bangalore at 4 PM. Some improvement in terms of Race-pace...errr... Journey duration compared to onward journey. We can never forget this journey in our life-time. This being the start of a biker maniac's adventure life.

Next Trip: The Sahyaadris

Try This: Aaja Meri Gaadi Mein (Apache Indian)

Trust Love; Trust God...??!!

What is going on in India is that people are becoming more aware of criminal activities and their results. Thank the government to be a little stringent or strict in making or at least trying to make the country a safer place to live in. Nowadays, the criminals are getting punishments which maybe harsh but fair enough.

The above photo depicts the daughters of Shakereh Khaleeli who was murdered for gain by one fake person who calls himself "Swami Shraddhananda". Now why do people have to cheat in the name of God? Can we call God as the root criminal? I'm sorry to say that these people have made things a lot worse for people who believe that God's followers are the only people other than God himself who can guide them to some divine light.

Fine. For those who don't know what happened, here's the story. A gruelling incident which destroys all ideas of love and lovers' purity. The lady (the victim) was the grand daughter of the once renowned Sir Mirza Ismail, from the Royal Family of Mysore. This creepy criminal who once visited her, started developing relations with her. Soon, they both wed and one day (in 1991) this man did a shocking act. Buried the woman alive!! The victim's daughters Sabah and Esmath managed to lodge a complaint with Ashoknagar police only 11 months later...

The police managed to trace out this man and all his activities by some help with one of the servants of "Shree Swamy Shraddhananda". Very unfortunately, the man so famous for his cool and calm composure, was pronounced a death sentence "May he be hanged by neck until death". Now, what remains to be seen is whether the justice that has prevailed so far remains or will the culprit challenge the hearing in the high court and win for injustice. I hate putting up such blogs but this is a decision well taken by the sessions court.

Try This: St. Anger (St. Anger, Metallica)

What a Birthday....Sick!!

This is no way to celebrate a birthday. I certainly have no idea what has happened to me in the last 2 days. Things aren't the way they were before. Usually, on my birthday, I manage to take my friends out for a treat. Not this time though. None of us are in a mood for a party. I just returned from college, dog tired like I was on a trip; To shirdi and back in 62 hours. That's an endurance test. Well, come down to Bangalore and you'll know what I mean by the phrase "Endurance Test".

Ever been to places like Hyderabad or Bellary in the peak summer? No need for a special mention of the heat there. Mid 40's. But in Bangalore, for people who observe the Thermometer, things will appear a lot cooler. But for the people of Bangalore, life has all of a sudden become as miserable as eating bread without anything else. Now, the problem which has for long loomed large around Bangalore has been the Humidity. The rains are expected to fall. But nope. Not a hint. And adding salt to injury is the fact that even if it rained, it has not happened where I am.

Now, another "-" in this year's birthday has been my elimination in one of the campus interviews which needed people to have 70% aggregate (In BE) till date and many people without this result attended the campus interview.

This is how the things went for me on my birthday:

• I wake up in the morning only to find myself so very exhausted that I forgot my birthday and cursed the day like hell
• I didn't have sufficient time to eat the sweet prepared by my mother as I was already late for college
• I manage to reach college only 45 minutes late and I felt it hard to ride my bike with my illness
• I attend the Final Internals of my B.E. educational career with utmost difficulty in remembering things. Luckily I am gifted 25 /25
• Time doesn't permit me to present my long pending Project Seminar. I feel sick of having postponed the same now for weeks
• I realise that Yesterday was the last day to collect my Aptitude test's Hall ticket and had to drive in the scorching sun all the way from north to south of Bangalore
• I take my Friend Sunil with me who was sicker than I am. He was feeling dizzy and unable to sit. He's out with a mild doze of fever
• I find out that I have to present a Power Point Show to my HOD today, SO I also have to go to Office for the same
• When I finish my work, I go to my friend's room and swallow a tablet which is supposed to induce drowsiness. With Apthamitra playing on the system, the long needed sleep is not yet in me

I am not happy with the way things went for me on my birthday. This makes it 1 of 22. I hope the second number increases and the first remains 1.

Try This: In the End (Linkin Park)

Don't Mess with a Child...

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "then you ask him".

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead. "

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face.." "Yes," the class said. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples.

Try This: Chota Bachha Samajhke Hum Ko (Film not known)

Ah...What a Dream!!!

Today on a wednesday just near the eve of the commencement of my 22nd year on this holy planet "Earth", well what more could I have expected from Nature? Nothing could be this frustrating. I may be well awake but have realised that whatever I experienced for the past "X" minutes or even hours probably was just the dream which I had craved for a couple of years now. But now that I have dreamt it, I want more of it. Hopefully, when I get more of it, I'll even experience that in stark reality.

For those who are confused of what I am telling, this is the holy, and most amazing part of life. Love. I don't know who the dream girl is or will be. But I am sure that one day, she'll be mine. Or I'll be hers. For me, this is quite new. But for those who experienced this, let me do all the learning, the hard way. This morning at 7:45 when My cab-mate started giving me the routine missed calls (hint that the cab is approaching my place) I really felt my tempers soar, the mercury rise like never before. That's because, He had shattered the climax of my....Fairy tale .... I only had to exchange the rings while this stupid call woke me up. (#$%!$%#$@@....)

But, At least I realised that this is certainly my kinda girl. Soft spoken but logically strong, traditional and well cultured, not too orthodox and of course, beautiful (in my words, no matter what the world thinks of the word). I know I can consider her my friend for company, mother to get back while going astray, daughter to play with and wife to share my gains (hope not losses) in any circumstantial necessities. I am certainly here putting up this blog hoping that someday (maybe today) I'll meet this friend who has for long hidden from me. The sun is beating down the road, but still I'm lost in the darkness of this thought. My heart still thumping as hard as ever. The picture of the gal, though only a blur image, still fresh in my mind. Things are a lot like a tsunami in my minds. Gods!! pacify my mind with the proper medication at the earliest.....

Try This : Jab kisi ki taraf (pyaar to hona hi thaa)

Laugh, laugh, laugh....

Well, some real fun is all what I needed and this is what I managed from my friend. First time, I really felt it humurous. Try it.....

Wife : Do you want dinner?
Husband: Sure, what are my choices?
Wife : Yes and no.

---

Man : How old is your father?
Boy : As old as me.
Man : How can that be?
Boy : He became a father only when I was born.

---

Teacher : Correct the sentence, "A bull and a cow is grazing in the
field"
Student : A cow and a bull is grazing in the field
Teacher : How?
Student : Ladies first.

---

Waiter : I've stewed liver, boiled tongue and frog's leg.
Customer : Don't tell me your problems. Give the menu card.

---

Customer : Waiter, do you serve crabs?
Waiter : Please sit down sir, we serve everyone.

---

Teacher : Peter, why are you late for school again?
Peter : Well, Miss, I dreamed that I was playing football and the
game went into extra time.

---

Customer : If I post this letter tonight, will it get to Delhi in two days time?
Post Master : Yes sir, it definitely will.
Customer : I bet you, it won't.
Post Master : Why not?
Customer : It's addressed to Mumbai.

---

1st thief : Oh ! The police is here. Quick! Jump out of the
window!
2nd thief : But this is the 13th floor.
1st thief : Hurry! this is no time for superstitions.

---

And Last but not the least, Water has been discovered on mars!!!

Back to Logic...

Sitting in my cube, this is the most boring moment of my Intel career so far. No TL around, no job to do. Finished all what I could do in leisure. Finished all jobs. Blog is the only thing pending. Now, even that is being fulfilled.

• If your father is a poor man,it is your fate but,if your father-in-law is a poor man,it's your stupidity!!
• I was born intelligent -education ruined me!
• Practice makes perfect.....But nobody's perfect......so why practice?
• If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
• Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak.
• How come "abbreviated" is such a long word?!
• Money is not everything. There's Mastercard & Visa!
• One should love animals. They are so tasty!
• Behind every successful man, there is a woman and behind every unsuccessful man, there are two!!
• Every man should marry. After all, happiness is not the only thing in life!!
• The wise never marry; and when they marry they become otherwise!!
• Success is a relative term. It brings so many relatives!!
• Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today!!
• "Your future depends on your dreams". So go to sleep!!
• There should be a better way to start a day than waking up every morning!
• "Hard work never killed anybody"But why take the risk?!
• "Work fascinates me"I can look at it for hours!!!
• God made relatives;Thank God we can choose our friends...
• The more you learn, the more you know; the more you know, the more you forget; the more you forget, the less you know! So.. why learn??
• A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station....what more can I say........!!

Try This: Kya Kare Ke Na (Rangeela)

Me and my Englees; Err...English

Your Linguistic Profile:

40% General American English

35% Yankee

15% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Phew!! It is phun to realyse dat my inglis is bettr thann wat oders takk owt der....

Well. Understood anything? Guess not because my language is a frantic mix of many different linguistic profiles. Try the link above and see what you can do. Found it in Akshay's blog.

Try This: Apne To Aise Jaise (Laawaris, Kishore Kumar)

Insane Workers.......

It is now at least 2 months since i joined Intel Technologies as an intern and it is now evident that the people here need to get the pay many think as an exaggeration. Always, people start working from late in the day and go all the way upto late in the night and maybe upto the wee hours of the next day. It is almost a double of the call-center job. No condemning the call-centers who are always there to support people.

But many a times we manage to see gents and ladies here working upto late in the night, minimum of 9 PM. It even extends to something like 3 AM. Intel most certainly deserves all the laurels which some one may give to the best work environment. People should and will never feel the necessity of any thing. Sometimes, instead of complaining, people take pleasure in working that long in this A/C office which is nothing next to a 5-* hotel. Frankly, I'm one of them.

Whenever I manage to see my team leader early, consider one fact. He's free! Usually I can see his long drooling eyes which appear something like that of an Addict! Not of a drug addict, but that of a super geek. One who's addicted to working for long hours. And why not. Intel makes sure you get everything to work. People can even make arrangements to login to the Intel network from home and yet work from home.

Now, a question may arise as to why all the people need to work out at the office when they can work from home?! I'd say, people here are also trained to cut down costs. Only those people who carry out net meetings and the like on a regular basis do that. Others would prefer working from office. That actually makes a serious impressions on our managers as well.

Now, Intel also makes arrangements for pick-up and drop at any insane hours which of course would be risk free. One can find people taking a lift back home at around 6 AM. The only thing missing here is what are known as BUNKERS in call centers where people can take time out and go to sleep for a few hours. With that, I am sure those insane workers (maybe including me) would be loitering here all night and more.

Try This: Khit Khit Khit Kare [Kishore Kumar, Film I have no idea about]

Love at First Sight......

Have you ever believed in love at first sight? Well... I guess the answer of many as ..... Naah!! I can't guess. As far as I am concerned, it is highly impossible. But what happens when you see or realise some incidents which make sure that you believe something you have so far thought as some Crap??. Well, for example, you spook up yourself into some incident and a brave person also gets involved into believing in Ghosts. Just an example. Not deviating from the track, I would like you people to visit the photograph below and know for yourself why I so much emphasise on believing in Love at first Sight.

Hey!! Cool down. That is just a joke. Well, people can love anything or anyone. Even friends are loved by friends. I just said love at first sight!!!

Laziness.... More and yet more!!

When I started engineering, I realised that Laziness is not all. Lot of struggle to the first semester exams and there was the result. A Fail? Yes of course, I had failed in one subject which others would have not even dreamt of scoring less than 45 in. Civil Engineering. But as months went by, I realised that Engineering in India, especially from VTU, Belgaum, is just a cake walk.

Now, don't get carried away by my words that Engineering is easy. Easy it is as long as you have good facilities in the Labs and some understanding lecturers who make up your internal marks for the bare minimum at least without too much of a fuss. As far as my college is concerned, I need to study 2 hours before the internals and prepare just hard enough to score well in the final exams. That's during the study holidays.

So, Laziness started creeping in after i settled down in college. Who expected 3 semesters down the lane, I would be going to bed at around 10 PM after freaking out like hell everyday, visiting Barista but finally managing to wring out the book by burning the midnight oil!! Now, the heights of Laziness has only increased

During the middle days of engineering, I had some sort of work to do. They include washing my bike, looking after the house construction work and thinking about what can be fitted in the house during construction so that things don't get messy later on.

Also, I managed to force my dad to buy a new Television set for the upper floor of my house. I was thrilled with the same and used to watch T.V. like hell, be the program interesting or not. Finally, all those days of thrill is now settling down into a mature professional's life, deep down under.

Now, all I need to do is sit and think lazily as to what I have to do. Every weekend, I visit my friends after a week's anonymity with them. We have a lazy night. All of us don't even visit the Dhabas these days like in those days. We assemble near the bed and sleep like back-less patients and talk. I manage to be lazier even. I dont talk. Just listen. Sometimes, even that is not possible. I just sleep off.

Now, I somehow managed to buy a Bean-bag myself and whoa! I think that the bean bag has somehow increased my scale of measuring laziness. I just lie there like Garfield the cat and at times I somehow switch on the T.V. (Only if one of those interesting Formula 1 races are on) and then, don't even bother to switch off the mains. To assist my laziness, I can set my Comp also to "HIBERNATE" after 10 minutes of idle time so that I just manage to play a song list and go to bed. When the play-list ends and when the comp shuts down is up to its destiny to decide.

Just hope that my destiny doesn't have too many of these lazy years in the future so that I can make best use of my time.

Try This : Pyaar Hame Kis Mod Pe [Satte pe Satta]

Have Money? Score More....

Yup! You've read it right. Never has this problem had a solution. This time of course, it is arounf 40 Engineering students who were caught tampering about 109 answer sheets in Tamil Nadu. The Chennai Crime Branch police have managed to catch 11 of them apart from 3 daily wage workers in the Anna University in connection with the paper tampering case.

These students are all from Anna University and from highly respected branches like Electronics and Computer Science. These people had allegedly paid the Anna University workers at Rs. 4000/- per paper for 109 answer sheets. According to the police, the deal was that the original answer sheets which were filled up during the examination will be switched with answer sheets that was written later.

How were they picked up? The police from the Crime Branch raided many students houses, all the students being bonafide to SRM College, Crescent Engineering College and Velliammai college. The police have raided homes in Chennai and Kancheepuram. Kancheepuram being so famous, this is a shame on the town of temples and silk. The people need to realise the same. Not to mention the name and fame of Chennai for all what it provides.

And even in Chennai, I now feel sick to mention this, but places like Vandalur, Adambakkam, Anna Nagar West and West Mambalam, some of the places which are associated to my early days, are also raided by the police for such a miserable crime!! The university has managed to find out that the students residing in this area being Tagore engineering college students and Bharat engineering college students have also managed to do the answer paper swapping!

Of course, as usual, the management of these institutions claim that the money flow in the students is responsible for the same. In Karnataka, if a student does some sort of mal-practice, the University would pounce on the person and debar him or suspend him for a given period. On the other hand, there can be no way that such a serious issue becomes a scam or a racket sort of a thing when even minor paper leaks will be considered seriously. I guess that the other education departments need to wake up and learn from us!!

Criminals die; Yet rise in crimes??

It is clear that Bangalore Police, even Indian Police for that matter have managed to pull up their socks and are upbeat about eliminating anti-social elements, slowly but steadily. But where is the action needed to eliminate anti-social activities? The Police are nowhere near even controlling the ever-rising crime-rate.

People who once had struck terror in the minds of the civilians are all becoming easy prey to the police bullets, or atleast, that's what the police say. But, if these criminals' death is still not able to control the rise in crime-rates, the whole problem is with the police not doing right things at the right time.

Late on saturday night, a criminal named Narsu was shot dead by the police. So what? This man had struck terror in 1999. This is 2005, nearly 6 years. During this period, he was only hunted down. The Police need to strike terror in these terrorists' minds. That's when the city would be safe.

But, as far as I can guess, this is impossible in the next decade at least. Yes, I am damn sure. I am that confident because of a funny, yet unexpected incident that took place with me and the police yesterday night.

I had been to visit my friends. On my way back, a crime officer (a 3* Inspector in our area station), with the usual over-sized pot-belly, flagged me down to stop. I did as he said. He came up to me and took a good look at the vehicle. He asked me to produce all the documents of the vehicle and my DL. That I managed to talk a bit boldly and produce him my license promptly made him go one step back and in the usual darkness of the Indian Roads, that Inspector was literally struggling to make out which vehicle I was driving. I responded that I am driving one of those late 90's Kawasaki Bajaj 4S champion. Later he asked me nothing and let me proceed.

The first problem is that these drunkards work from 7 PM to around about 10 PM at the max everyday for the same. Next, These guys used to ride one of these 4S Champions which used to make (and still makes) an aweful lot of noise as against today's near silent (4-Stroke) motorcycles. That means, they dont realise which bike to look for. Next of, they were looking for a Red colored Yamaha motorcycle in the vicinty which is responsible for many chain snatching incidents and robberies. Well, these guys are nowhere near to stopping the alarming rise in crime, let alone eliminating it.

Try This: Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna [Legend of Bhagath Singh]

Exotica : A Region Divine....

Sahyaadri!! One of those Divine Ghat Sections in India. Being located in the most fabulous Western Coast of Karnataka, this Ghat section extends from Gokarna to Kodagu for about a 1000 Km. About 250 Kms. minimum from a Bangalore, this is considered as one of the perfect get-aways for Bangaloreans who love to enjoy the weather and the scenaries apart from the many other holy piligrimage places which occupy this awesome landscape.

Guess this falls? No! You just can't guess if this is the one near Kukke or the one near Shimoga. But this one's Hanumangundi, near Bajagoli. The whole Western Ghat area is filled up with many such road-side water-falls which vary from size and prowess. But each one accounts to the ut-most beauty of this range.

Well, who says only Assam grows Tea? Why not Kudremukh? The competitor for the best ever hill station in Chikmagalur district (district only mind u, coz the state has too many such beauties) is the host to such amazing Tea estates. Sahyaadri is not only host to tea estates. It also manages some fabulous coffee plantations. These coffee plantations often play host to INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) and APRC (Asia-Pacific Raclly Championship). That way, they are quite international apart from the fact that they also produce Export quality Coffee seeds. The home? Of Course, Kodagu or as they call, Coorg!

Jog falls - Who doesn't know this massive foursome falls? Raja, Rani, Rover and Rocket. These are the names given to those four falls. Amazing height and really awesome power. These phrases can best describe the Jog Falls. Located about 100 Kms. approximately from Bhadravati (400 from Blr approx.) this is by far the best waterfalls in India and for most of Asia!

Finally, one must watch place on the Sahyaadri Getaway, The Beach sections. This photo depicts the Malpe beach which is about 70 Kms. from Mangalore and about 5 from Udupi. This has its own shelter and has a quiter atmosphere than all the fan-fare like in Mangalore beach. But one thing to bear with here is the awful smell of Fish! That apart, it is a worth-while holiday spot. With that, I've managed to cover all the holiday spots of Sahyaadri. We can have another blog for all the holy piligrimage places in Karnataka

I leave you with the above picture as a hint of how pleasurable driving will be on the Ghat sections here in Sahyadri. Courtesy of these pics can be obtained by clicking on the links.

Try This: Jogada Siri Belakinalli [Nizar Ahmed]

Theorem + Proof! Girls are evil.....

Well, many people comment upon Girls that they're evil and many also manage to argue upon this long standing theorem. But does anyone have the proof for this ill-treating theorem?

Basically, I am against this cruel statement. But being a Boy, I surely ought to prove the theorem. So, lets go through this theorem's proof, Step-by-Step

We know that Girls need Time and Money (Axiom)

So, Girls = Time X Money ----- (1)

We also know the age old saying

Time = Money (Axiom)

Hence, we can derive from (1) that

Girls = Money x Money,

Girls = (Money)^2 ----- (2)

Another famous statement our elders say that Money is the root of all evils. Now, substitute the same in statement (2)

We arrive at the following

Girls = ((Evil)^1/2)^2

According to simple mathematics laws, the square of the square root of anything will cancel the square and square root fair and square.

Hence,

Girls = Evil.

Hence Proved. Now, Guys, use this theorem to prove that whatever you say about Girls is proven factually, mathematically and by elders themselves.

Try This: Main Yahaa Hoon [Veer - Zaara]

Entrance Time Again.....

The Common Entrance Test (CET) 2005 will commence on Tuesday with 87,020 students from across the State taking the test at 182 centres. The test, for admission to government quota seats in BE, MBBS and BDS courses, is open only to Karnataka students this year.

Over 2,000 students are appearing under the Horanadu or Gadinadu Kannadiga categories. In Bangalore alone, over 21,000 students will be appearing for the test at 48 centres.

With the test in the optional subjects of biology (10.30 am to 11.50 am) and maths (2.30 pm to 3.50 pm) scheduled for Tuesday, students may write either of the two subjects, depending on whether they aspire for admission to engineering or medical and dental courses.

Of course, they may write both if they have not made up their minds on what course of career to opt for. Wednesday’s tests in physics and chemistry are compulsory for both the streams.

This year the cell has made arrangements to issue duplicate hall-tickets to students at the exam venues. “Students do not need to panic if they have lost their hall-tickets. All they need to do is carry their photos,” said the CET cell official.

The deputy chief superintendants (principals of exam centres) are authorised to cross-check the photo as against that on the nominal rolls sent by the cell and issue a duplicate ticket on the spot,” said the official.

All this for the year means that things would be a lot smoother than the previous 2-3 years which really spelt havoc in the minds of those aspiring to take the Karnataka CET. Now, there are also different schemes against KCET like the Comed- K etc. But all in all, the CET has now pacified.

Lets wait and Hope for the best this year.

Try This: Chale Chalo [Lagaan]

MG Road .. Shocking!!

Safety of women in the city is at stake. Incidents of stalking, molestation and rape are on the rise. Leering men, standing at kiosks outside shopping complexes is a common sight around the busy, ‘up-market’ M G Road, Church Street and Brigade Road.

Women, who are subjected to all this and more, choose to keep quiet on most occasions. Even more shocking is the indifference of some of the city policemen who shrug away complaints from women.

Places around M G Road, Bangalore’s favourite hang out, are distinctly unsafe at night for women. The stretches which are not well lit are the major trouble spots, like Church Street or the M G Road pavement bordering Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground which has a lush growth of plants for cover.

There are many instances where men just loiter or stand around on roadsides and leer at women. Many pass denigrating comments, and even walk away scot-free.

The policemen who patrol these areas do not help either. Most police constables seem indifferent or uninterested when it comes to women’s issues. Age is no barrier to these lechers. Middle aged women , young professionals or schoolgirls, they all stand threatened by their lewd behaviour.

Unless the city authorities wake up to this stark reality, Bangalore stands to lose the fair name it has always had.

Try This: Main Ek Ladki [Chori Chori]

Vietnam's V-Day.....

Vietnam celebrated the 30th anniversary of the end of “The American War” on Saturday, baking a four-tonne cake for “Liberation Day babies” and staging a military parade without a real tank in sight.

The communist nation’s top leaders, as well as retired General Vo Nguyen Giap, the 94-year-old military chief whose tactics subdued first the French then the Americans, attended the key celebrations in the city known till the war ended as Saigon.

Breaking with the military ceremonies of past anniversaries, Vietnam — which once boasted one of the world’s most feared armies — this time mustered only a single fake wooden tank and no missiles as hundreds of soldiers made a march past.

Concerned that too visible a show of “triumphalism” could harm crucial economic ties with the United States, now Vietnam’s biggest trading partner, the country made sure that this year’s celebrations were as much about the future as the past.

On the eve of the anniversary, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai urged all sides involved in a conflict that killed two million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 Americans to close the past and look forward.

US troops withdrew from Vietnam two years before the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, but Washington supported the South Vietnamese administration until the end and established diplomatic relations with a united Vietnam only 10 years ago.

Try This: Another Brick in the Wall [Pink Floyd, The Wall]

Pics Courtesy: Deccan Herald