The day Pharaoh visited..

Yesterday I had a surprise in office! After a lazy lunch, as I went to our break out room, a colleague of mine showed a picture she clicked on her mobile of what she thought is an "eagle" perching near the window of the women's loo. Seeing at the visual I jumped... it's the Pharaoh himself!! I exclaimed, goodness it's the "Egyptian Vulture"!!!
(more info on wiki- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Vulture)

My office is very close to ITPL (precisely 1 km away from ITPL, on the main road ) and knock knock, we have an Egyptian vulture resting near the window pane today. (place similar to where blue rock pigeons nest in apartments). This is so exciting, since people travel all the way to Ramangaram off Mysore road to get a glimpe of a nesting pair there and we found one in our building.

I struggled hard to held back my temptation of breaking into a women's loo. But had to settle with a view from far when few kind women colleagues opened the door for a long glimpse. (to stop your imagination going elsewhere, the window where it perched is dead opposite to the loo's door). So near yet so far for "men".That fella must be male..grr

Upon my request the ladies brought us this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSsdOPtXCEE

Smart fella he knows that we can't touch him because of the window glass and let people come very very close !! So, my earlier suspicion of sighting one at my office is true. So you all know where I will be peeping everyday after lunch time.. just kidding!

Priceless....

Distance traveled... 30+ kms
Movie tickets... 400 Rs
Popcorn & Snacks... 100 Rs
Happiness on wife's face... "priceless" :)
*Note:-Never knew that there are hidden costs behind the word "priceless"

Being simple...

I want to share a story, a real life story about someone I met last year. Yup, a post pending from one year! Today, I am in the right mood to share it with you all since they never fail to inspire me. Ok, now into the details:

The year was mid 90's when software just started to take off a big way all over the world.
A mechanical engineer from IIT and postgraduate from US university was working in US as a software engineer along with his wife who is a product of IISc (bangalore).

Guess what would the couple be doing NOW??
Well a fair guess would be the person would have become a CTO or a Divison head "enjoying" life in the US with a big house, a big car and most probably a green card!

Well if that was the case I would not be telling you this story!

So here is what they are doing:
They live in a thatched roof hut in a small tribal hamlet off a small village in INDIA practicing agriculture, encouraging afforestation, working on water conservation and learning about traditional ayurvedic medicines and all this by CHOICE!

Mr Nagesh and Aparna are the couple I am referring. I am fortunate to meet them in person and "experience" their hospitality and life style over a weekend. This is the first time in my life I came across such an idealistic people! The couple came back to India in late 90's and started living in a hamlet with the tribals and took up agriculture, experimented and worked with another visionary of the village.

Later they formed a forest protection committee along with villagers and started afforestation. They had dedicated some acres of land to plant commercial trees, the yield of which can be taken back by the committee and benefit the villagers. They went through lot of tough times. I personally saw the place and witnessed the land and the trees. Besides these I practically saw how check dams and rock filled dams can prevent soil erosion.

The live in a simple house, with basic amenities. Their daughter Turiya goes to nearby village school along with the children of the hamlet, far from the cartoons, sops, theme parks etc, yet brilliant and speaks impressive English since her mother tutors her along with the kids in the hamlet. I learnt how simple life can one live, how humble a person can be, how committed an individual can be, how idealistic one can be!

That made me think, what do I want out of life?What stops us from being dedicated for a cause? I know each of us had our own commitments, promises and things that keep us sticking to our current life. But sometimes I feel there are more things one can do in life than we can think of! Being simple is no easy job, I would say, being idealistic is even tougher!Kudos to the couple and may god bless them with more good things!

Back to Bangalore

So after well spent 2 weeks at home town, spending time with family and relaxing, I am back in bangalore. Weather is OK. Office looks new. It should be a week before my body get used to this weather and couple of days before getting used to work.

Thanks almighty for the learning, realizations and for taking care of me.
All I need is some positive energy and some work!

Best gift in Life!!!

If god suddenly appear in front of you and asked you to make a wish, what do you ask??
Think...
What is that one wish...?
What would you ask??
The only wish..?

OK on any other day I would ask:
"Appear whenever, wherever I wish and fulfill my wish there and then"
well kind of infinite loop. huh? :)
Well on serious note and after one week of sick sickness I have decided I would ask
HEALTH.

Yes, someone rightly said "Health is wealth". I realized this after a marathon one week of painful experiences and still going. This nasty viral fever brought me down with strange pains and acts and made me run to hospital every day with the swine flu scare round the corner.

Finally, I made an appearance to the swine flu testing center and had a consultation. The doctor much to my relief told me that this is normal viral fever and I don't need to panic and gave some tabs to relief and asked me to check back if needed.

I realized how important health is over this week. Strange pains, irritation, restlessness forgot to tell doc about some symptoms, what not!Imagine a restless guy made to confront to home with confusion for one week. Finally I am relieved to hear the news that this is normal virus. So yours truly is going to be at home for an extended holiday taking fluids, tablets. You can touch the monitor sicne I hardly had any swine flu syptoms, no runny nose, no cold, no cough, just this bloody nerves connecting neck and head itching, almost normal temperature and worst weather outside. Guess I never hated rains like I did today.

Ok some gyaan for people who want to get swine flu test done:
Only Rajiv gandhi Chest hospital, off Nimhans campus is eligible to do tests. Rest of the hospitals only treats you if you have symptoms.Now the procedure is like this:

1. Go to Rajiv gandhi chest hospital. If you are arriving from Christ college side, at NIMHANS signal, take left turn, hit dead end, just keep going straight till you reach the Chest hospital.
2. Go to room no-7, fill a form and register yourself (they give you a card and a form)
3. Carry the card and the form to the consultation ward 50 mts past this block.
4. Wait for your turn
5. Go in meet the doctor, answer his questions, explain your problems. Only if the doctor is satisified with your symptoms, he will recommend tablets or X-ray or whatever.
6. Your swab samples and X-ray would be taken only in the case of perfect symptoms or if doctor diagnosis it to be H1N1. Otherwise they recommend medicines.

Wish me happy recovery

Bheemeswari -Part 2

So where did we stop...??? aah we started walking back! On the way back, 2 of us along with my manager took a de-route and missed the others. Only after walking for another 200 meters we realized that there were no traces of humans walking past that way! So we turned back thinking in a worst case we can take the route we took while climbing up and but we soon realized that we missed a deviation enroute. We took that and after few meters caught up with rest of the gang.Reached back to the resort and rested for a while and had yummy lunch.

Besides the lunch I like the concept of tips in JLR. They have a box where you can drop the tips so that every one shares it later. I found this fair and good practice. Fair play! All men were wishing to celebrate with beer and thankfully our manager had no problems!I too joined them with coke and well that's the moment of the day ;)



Now comes the best part, after a heavy meal the hammocks are too tempting! Guys posed as spider man, lazy man what not! Walking on a hammock I tell you is a good adventure and these group hammocks are huge that are tied together in a swollen W shape. What a fun!! Our manager B's hile lying on the hammock almost touched the ground(i am not guilty of over weight any more!). Then came the rafting part.



I overcame all my inhibitions and doubts and opted for rafting and I am glad I did it. The guy who took us for rafting is from uttaranchal and he feels that Cauvery rafting is peanuts, but he is glad that we al are beginners, so it can be a good start with only Class 2 and Class 3 rapids! The next one hour, we had good time, rowing, pausing, rowing, screaming... The best part was watching a grey hornbill(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Grey_Hornbill) fly over our heads perpendiculary from one end of river to the other end while we were on a patch of still water. Thanks to yasvanth who ventured to bring his camera in the dry bag of the raft! We had some good snaps while rafting.



With life jacket hanging around, yours' truly jumped into water holding the roap and had few dips at a location where water is still.The 2 ladies on board kept on bugging mukesh bhai (our raft guide) with 2 questions "how far are we now"? , "How deep is it here" and they screamed at every rapid. Finally mukesh bhai pushed them to the front and asked them to row while we are busy acting and shouting behind. Poor ladies did it for the last rapid and 100 metres.



While 5 of us are busy doing this, rest of the "careful" ,"lazy", "no-risk"souls went for a coracle ride which they claim to be scarier than rafting!Whatever we were picked up some 8 kms down the stream and driven back in a jeep. I then realized what kind of vehicled does one need to drive in that terrain- A mahindra 90's model jeep! We were lucky to spot a jackal and surprised to spot a homosapien couple inside the forest (now don't ask me what were they trying to do inside with a liquor bottle hanging around). Unfortunately most tourists in Muthathi (place on banks of Cauvery) litter a lot and their idea of picnicing is more of littering and loitering around disturbing the wild! Anyways our driver informed the forest gaurd to take care of them. Although I am interested to know what happened next, I had no chance :)



Back to resort, we had tea and some snacks and time to depart. With wet trousers (I didn't carry my swimming trunks) and antakshari to keep us occupied, finally I reached home at 9-00 pm. Almost forgot to add about the sighting of Grizzled giant squirrel which resides on the banks of Cauvery, none of my team mates except sap is interested and they don't know that it's a rare species. Here is it munching on something.

Bheemeswari - Part 1

A post pending from 3 weeks. Finally a 4 day leave on grounds of ill health helping me post this.

All right here we go - as usual our manager B was grinning wide when our partner confirmed funding for team outing and with no second thought the option to choose the place has been passed on to yours truly. After being tired with the usual city resorts, I thought this is the time to try Jungle Lodges and Resorts day visits. Quickly checking facts of JLR we zeroed in on Bheemeswari on the banks of Cauvery. In fact JLR had 3 nature and fishing camps located on the banks of cauvery - Doddamakalli and Galibore being the other two.

Off late our team had become more family centric- hence I starte calling it AUT, well nothing to do with Applicatin Under Test, but it's the "Aunties n Uncles Team". The moment guys hear about a trip they start it-"only day trips","I can't leave my husband/wife, but I can't bring them either", "I have a baby to take care"! "My in-laws won't let me go", "we are expecting guests"..... the list goes on. Whatever, we realized that we cannot afford an overnight trip with team anymore! Hence the day trip is best for us. Once we finalized the place the usual games of "Who's IN" and "Who's OUT" for the trip started. Finally 2 people dropped out. So we ended up with 9.

Let me stop this crap and start the drive. Soothing the nerves of our manager, sap(my best buddy at office) and I made it just in time for the 7-00 am deadline for transport and for a change everything went smooth with transport and breakfast and bloody hell I again endedup counting money, collecting bills, maintaining accounts! WTF!? When will I relax and enjoy the trip as a member than worrying about money, food for driver, route etc. We hit Adigas at Banashankari for some yummy breakfast and started off.

The travel till Kanakapura had no surprises and the tiny town of Kanakapura which seems to have got some inspiration from Bangalore with roads being laid and expanded! Guys reminded about the Water rafting and i went searching for an ATM. I was in 2 minds on water rafting but on a safer side carried enough cash to try it just in case my decision changed. After travelling down to Satahanur we took the right turn to Muthathi. The terrain started changing and we didn't feel that its been hardly 1.5 hours away from bangalore. This is the beauty of bangalore, travel for 2 hours in all 4 directions of bangalore, you end up seeing different jungles and eautiful landscapes!

Finally after traversing mini ghat roads, we reached the place - "Cauvery Fishing camp aka Bheemeshwari Fishing and Nature camp" at 10 am after paying a 50 RS village developement fee which I wonder where it ends up. The moment we entered the resorts, we are in for surprises.. 1. The resort manager was not informed of our arrival (I made payment just the evening before the day we left) 2. Cauvery is in full flow!! Man you gotta see the beautiful cauvery which appear to be flowing slow and silent but a closer look tells you that it's a strong current! The monkey menace has to be noted here, these guys having used to visitor littering have become smarter. One chap jumped into the van and despite of Shalini's balooned body and trying to converse in English with him/her, he/she didn't give a damn flicked a packet of chips!! Evolution hmmm..

The bird watcher and the naturalist enthu in me could no longer be hidden. I started with bird watching pulling the whole team into watching the Green bee eater, the king fisher and the red rumped swallows! Most of them wondered how to use the binocs!!Whatever after a refreshing welcome drink (my favorite- lime juice), we were asked if we are game for rafting since another team are leaving for rafting then, we choose to do it in the afternoon after lot of debating. The first activity was a trek up the hill to the view point.

While yasvanth and I were busy chasing the butterflies with cameras, rest of the team walked half a kilometer and were shouting. So we ran and caught up with them. I soon realized why we were served lime juice. The sun is blazing and trek at 11-00 am is not a good idea espcially with 90% obese persons in the gang!! (uff including me). I was dissapointed that this camp do not have a naturalist! But still, I love JLR camps for the ambience, the places and the food! Although I have been to only 3 (Bandipur, Bannerghatta and Bheemeswari.. oh wait all B's). The log huts make me think wild and feel like staying back there for some more time.

Before you forget about the trek, let me go back,.. so with lots of huff and puffs we reached the view point after 45 minuts. I was the last one to reach clicking pictures and complaining about the trek not being a walk. Well there is a big difference between a nature walk and trek. A trek is something you start early in the day (to restirct loss of energy due to sun) and your aim is to reach a particular place by so & so time and come back and time is the utmost thing. But a nature walk is where you hardly walk... yes if you have the keen eyes and the company of a true naturalist like Karthik, every step shows you something and catches your imagination and attention. Every flower had a story to tell every bird makes you think about it's behavior, every thing in the jungle tells you a story if only you can hear! Unfortunately our urban souls could not hear or understand those and half of our team mates think I am crazy and they hoot, shout and scream.. thinking it's a picnic place.


The view from top is just amazing... with cauvery flowing full, it's just WOW! Here is how it looked like. Imaging one sititng here and enjoying the view.

The late monsson showers ensured good patches of grass on the hill.

here is the watch tower

and the butterfly that made me wait and wait to pose like this..

Finally the JLR guy who accompanied us thought we had enough fun and just before we started back, we spotted the water rafting group and the 12x zoom + digital zoom helped me click this one at the "splashing moment"More to continue in Part 2...

Expectations

Learning lessons.. Expectations are real reasons for trouble.

When you expect someone to be like this or like that or react that way or this way, but they won't !!.... you get disappointed. Dig in more and you will find the reason is expectations!

Wonder why we build expectations, why we expect people to do something or to react in one way! May be it's better to accept the fact that everyone had their own way of taking things and may be sometimes people needs more time.. or may be they will never change, may be they will never understand, may be they have their own set of problems, may be it's good to leave them as it is.... well, whatever!!! ... there is no point pondering too much and ruining one's mood, especially when there are better things to do in life...

life just goes on....

All paths leads to ONE

All prayers reaches the ONE, no matter who you are!


One of those photos where I personally do not worry about clarity/colors/exposure while posting. Clicked on my mobile in a hurry not to invade their privacy. While this unison works here, 200 kms away their brothers are fighting for wrong reasons! I love india for these moments and for the truth that we still live in unity despite of some fools trying to interpret religion in a wrong way !

Why.. What?

Why am I here?
What am I supposed to do/achieve?
What do I love most?
Why can't I change?
What makes me passionate?
Where am I destined to go?
Why can't I love my work?
Being instinctive or Being thoughtful- which is better?
Where exactly should you use heart and where should you use head?

Questions and more questions grilling my mind.
Few realizations:
I realized that my left brain is killing my right one at most of the times! (so says the neuro signals from my right brain)
I realized that I had been instinctive when I am supposed to be thoughtful and vice versa :)
I should stop taking words to heart, it's the job of head to analyze, filter and pass on!
Reaction won't help Respond makes things better!
I need to listen more although the fear of forgetting the thought/idea hurries me to interrupt!

Finally, I think time has come for things to change....

Man's best friend

Clicked on my mobile @ Koshy's off MG Road !!

U-turns!

"If life was like driving on a road, I have been negotiating a ghat section from past 2 years.. too many U-turns! ":)

My business trip at office came from no where, got surprisingly approved despite of not so encouraging financial restrictions, was postponed, then just when I got my last document needed for visa submission and on the day when my application was supposed to reach the embassy, the news came that it's CALLED OFF! My passport has never been lucky ;) (Assumption: Travel abroad = have fun)

So re-planning and restructuring has been the order of the days.. no years! Someone rightly said, life is something that happens while you are busy planning! Of late, the success percentage of my plans went awfully bad or may be I became too imaginative., whateva! My poor manager wondering how to put the news across was surprised not to see any "oh god!, oh sh***, I am upset" kind of phrases from me, if only she knows that I am getting used to this bumpy ride and no more feeling nausea out of this travel!

Life is still a celebration, cousin's wedding this month end calls for a big fun time, monsoon trip is ON, survey in the Melagiri forests is a bonus! What an exciting monsoon time ahead! I pray it rains enough not to trouble the people by floods, but enough to supply enough water to survive the next summer. Hope your journey is pleasant! Enjoy the rains....

The world we live...

Irony, yesterday i wrote about food and today I received a link to this video.
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

The world is not the same everywhere and for everyone and I pity the one's living in their own little world thinking that life is just what they are experiencing and nothing much!

The maggi gal

Yesterday, i went to a grocery shop to buy something that mom asked me to fetch. As I parked my bike, I saw this 4-5 yr old girl standing with a maggi packet and negotiationg something with the shop keeper. As I waited to collect my order, I saw the shopkeeper explaining the gal that she doesn't have enough money to buy a milk packet.

Apparently the cute little maggi lover was sent by her mom to buy milk packets. She ended up buying a maggi packet first and kept on requesting the shop keeper "uncle, please give me milk packet.. phuleeez" and the shop keeper , a 50+ old person tried explaining her that she doesn't have enough money to buy a maggi packet+milk packet, all in vain. She refused to give the maggi packet back and was ready to take another biscuit packet. After little while she lost her cool and started demanding that she needs to go home and wants the milk packet. I was enjoying this episode of innocence and perseverance.

Once i finished my shopping, before moving I offered to pay for the maggi for the cute angel, but the shop keeper politely refused and told me that this is a ritual that happens frequently with this cutie and added that, if he offers her the maggi, her mother will be upset and he will be in trouble. I left the place laughing at the way she is hiding and refusing to handover the maggi. Another maggi lover... Tell me aren't you one of those maggi lovers! hmmm reminds me it's been long since I had maggi and the weather now is perfect for one!! mom are you listening...?

Biryani, Work, W/L, Tiring..

Those 4 words sums up the whirlwind official trip to Hyderabad which suddenly popped up from no where on the afternoon of Wednesday and ended on Sunday evening. Definitely hyderabad is catching up quickly with other cities. With the kind landscapes one can ogle at near Madhapur, with the kinds of roads that my friend kept praising.. many more. do read on..

A list of things that I would cherish from this trip ....- gup-chup aka the pani puri of Hyderabad, samosa's (unknowingly I tasted mutton samosa's), the shared auto's and the cheating auto-walas(although very few and way way way better than chennai and bangalore autowalas), the "newly-bought-cars" on the roads that my friend kept pointing out,the tasteful houses of Jubilee hills,the tension with the wait-listed train tickets, the absorbing last day at work that made the trip worth it.(officially)

On the other side, the visit to Blue cross society along with my cousin who took an year off from being a Techie and decided to work with the less cared creatures of the world. I had a chance to listen to his plans watching an overcast Hyderabad skies from the Blue cross office and couldn't resist appreciating him. Man!! one needs real passion and most importantly should "love" what he/she is doing and before that realize what he loves. I tell you,this chap did realize what he loves and is after that. Wish he will be successful one day! I had no doubts, especially after knowing that despite of his broken finances, he is happy deserting the techie tag and passionate about the work he is doing.

Despite of little time to roam around, these things made the trip memorable. So yours truly is now trying to negate the unavoidable sleep, all credit to the tiring train journey despite of 3 AC and typing this all. Hyderabad you are charming as ever!!

Wish I had 48 hours in a day!!

Here is my schedule for the next 2 days on my office outlook:



To top this all, mom is going to be back with me tomorrow. I need to pick her up from station and drop her off and most importantly clean the house!!! I have become lazy off late and things at home are not helping either. I need to clean up house and then rush to office and then pick up mom and again rush to office and attend all those meeting. The list does not include the impromptu meetings that are "expected"!

If weekend would be a relied, it does not looks any better. The weekend starts with unpacking, packing and shifting. long and tiring weekend. Wish Monday lands tomorrow and I will be done with all shifting, cleaning packing and unpacking! duh... life is at time too busy!How is yours?

Jst like dat

As I sit alone in office typing this jst like dat, the skies are overcast and it is all set to rain (probably it might have already started while I was typing this). Feeling lonely at home, I am ending up staying back in office and killing more time in office off late. Finally the good news is that I rented a new house to shift.

Now what lies ahead?? A great weekend, especially the packed Sunday! The 10k Run followed immediately by the NGC photography work shop(guess I need to continue my run and reach the British library), then need to collect new "rented" house keys and finalizing things with the house owner. I am tired of typing it, wonder if I feel same after doing all these. Life is becoming monotonous and the change of house and company of mom should make me feel better and let me start new things!!

Work has become more interesting off late or Should I confess that I started taking a little extra interest in office work? I am badly looking forward to the day when the shifting and arranging things at new home gets over! Hope mom loves the new place and finds it comfortable and good. Suddenly I felt, I realized(do you actually "realize" suddenly?) that I am stressed out. I am wishing to change lot of habits in life now. Exercise is right on the top of the list.

But, before all those, may be it's time to head to Agumbe and spend lovely time amidst the ever green forests doing nothing but enjoying the monsoon. That should make me feel lot better, besides meeting gowri shankar and witness the wonderful work they are doing. Of course how can I forget the charity work of donating few ounces of blood to the leeches.

Birding might take a back seat since monsoon is in, but boy oh boy I am hooked on to it. Exercise, birding study, time management, financial management... are a few to name off the list of things I would like to start very soon and I am waiting for life to be event full again!! Wish me success and offer your free suggestions and thanks if you are still reading this this as 'this'.

Love-d--song

Finally got some time to explore the lyrics of this song....
LUKKA-CHUPPI
Love the song and lyrics... should thank the person for the translation!

Beat d heat..

What are you doing this summer to beat the heat??

Here is some cool thing to do this summer!!




If that was not enough, spend the evenings at a beautiful place with your loved one's



For the non-bangaloreans reading this, that's the lung space of bangalore named lalbagh

Well, house hunting is eating my free time and more on that in a detailed post.For now, wish me a good spotting (read house)

Monday mania

No.. No...NO. I am not going to talk about Monday traffic of Bangalore, not about Monday blues of going to office. let me explain, every time this little absent minded brain of minegets serious and starts thinking about "what do I change in LIFE" or "what "improvements' can i do"... I always bank on Monday.

For instance,
"Go for jogging" (to self), (resolution:Ok let's start it on Monday)
Similarly
Clean the house .. ok from monday
Start making a T2Do chart.. ok will start from monday
WORK in office in between mails, chat and blog .. ok will ONLY work in office and use Airtel connx at home to best, but from MONDAY..

Then comes the MONDAY gleaming with hopes and aspirations of starting so many new things... and eventually what happens....? Realization dawns on me- Monday is as good as any other day. I end up feeling - ..bloody I could have started it already and to add that when I look back, I had forgot all those START-ON-MONDAY things, since no records exist.

then what happens? Ok, a resolution will be passed into mind register to start noting things down and a resolution is made to buy a white marker board at home to bug mom, to write messages, to kick myself up , to feel good by STRIKING Off "things-to-do" and most importantly to REMEMBER THINGS by writing them on the board. But the White-marker board is waiting to reach home from past 2.5 years! Phew heights of procrastination...!

Another Monday is getting over, so let me stop choosing Mondays, since sundays are ending up as sleeping late, bird watchings, meeting friends, mondays always start late and lazy and no time to think about what to start on Monday... here goes another monday..

Citizen de responsible

Yaaay... Finally..
..after 10 years of reaching the elgibility...
...for the first time in my life.



Hail BEL for the EVM's, that made life easy!!! I did it!! The early bird needed just 5 minutes to cast the vote. Whom did i vote for? shhhh... the one whoever wins in my constituency :P

I thought my application was reject-ed and I was deject-ed, but was elat-ed to find my name in the edit-ed electoral rolls, just few days before the much await-ed D-day!!Although, I haven't collected the much deabt-ed voter-id card, my passport help-ed and I cast-ed my vote! chandu... "citizen de responsible" .

Perfect Evening

Chips, kurkure, soft drinks, friends, IPL, what else can you ask for?
Spent a lovely evening at friend's place watching IPL and gulping snacks n sprite..
Thanks PV and Aarthi for hosting us....

Closing this post with pics..

Aiming Higher..




Does this look like a bungee jumper..? Clicked @ Nandi Hills.

Perfect Symmetry



1Der Jack



Too Tender.. so a wonder

Go Bro Go..

Like Brother, Like Brother

>>>>>> www.mongolrallyrustics.com <<<<<<<

Crazy guys.. out on an adventure of a life time! 14 countries... mini engine... less heard countries... unseen landscapes... unheard languages... it's wild,dusty,risky,adventurous 5 week drive with a noble cause in mind. go bro go...

Can any of you help them get a sponsor!?(request on behalf of my brother).
They have a huge advertising space and bought a SUZUKI engine!!


**I am dreaming of joining the RICK rally by the same guys. Kaush, are you still "planning" like you were last year? We can try the 2010 slot?**

T 2 DO

Few things I would like to..no.. should.. no no.. MUST do
- Hunt for new House.. tough ask in bengaluru
- Exercise.. ooh too much fab
- Stop Procrastination.. already started, see I updated my blog "NOW"
- Plan for the day.. hmm after the post
- Impress manager to secure a 10 day leave.. so shimbul-cyaarry shum byanana cheeps to offeez

- Start maintaining Birding notes.. (to self)lazy bum start practicing writing with pen
- Buy a new jacket before the heavens start pouring in bangalore.. spare the drenching for Agumbe trip!
- Organize the 1000's of snaps clicked till date.. aaah tiring task, whoz gonna buy my snapch?

- Dump the cover in the bin at the street end.. true it started smelling, time to give the street doggies some diet food?
- Go to office.. who invented office?? anyways manager is on leave today, who cares?
- Have breakfast.. ok mom i remember that! anyways mango juice @ juice corner in office will do. But hey wait isn't that the place where the density of gals in cafeteria is high * wink*
- Enough , go have bath.. yuck!! me smelling rotten fish, sweaty summer, love d winter!
- Keep updating the blog.. AMEN!!!

tlank u uncul

deayl deyal GOD,
thlank you velly velly much. mommy iz byack ach home chmiling. i am tiled and lotch n lotch of wolk iz waitchin por me atch offich. But am hyappy pinally. i am cho glatepull tu you. thyank you por lichening tu my playel uncul.

I will giveyu 2 chocklatch next time. I will shale that hyaf-eatchen licked 5 stal. do you like to lick chocoltch wlappel? I have chum with me, half-half ok ok?? keep hyelpin me for chum more time, i have 3 mole chockyolatch wich me, eclaich ok?

luv yu uncull
chyandu

Work .. huh!

Who wants to work after 3 weeks of vacation!? that too a tiring vacation!

When it rains, it pours!!

After the lull, the storm brewed and brewed and finally it started pouring as anticipated and it slowed down and appeared to be clearing the coast. Exactly when you think it's all over, it suddenly seems to be taking a different turn. I am sure these moments of my life can clearly go to the TOP OF the CHARTS of TESTING TIMES list.

Insults, appreciations, bad-words, impatience, sleepless moments, furious mumblings, confusion, worst-is-here-moments, it's-all-over-thoughts, stupidity, insane, foolishness, love, hatred, ignorance, tears, few laughs, celebrations, meetings, discussions, debates, thinking and thinking and flooded by thoughts, moments of hope, moments of despair...Those are "few" words to describe what I have gone through in the past week.

Overall things went smoother than the worst they can get. Of course they did not go as smooth as they can either. But a feeling of clarity in thoughts emerged and it enabled few bold decisions. Physical and mental strengths have been tested and targeted. A well-wishers advice to pray god did worked.

It's a see-saw journey. A moment of hope followed by disappointment. The moment you realized that you guessed the next move, the one next to that goes beyond your wildest imagination. Your best prayer comes true followed by your worst fear. All these proves how ignorant one can be when one says "I CAN TAKE CARE OF THINGS or I KNOW EVERYTHING".

Thanks for praying and being with me, things are still under control (there I go again) or rather appears to be not very bad!( how much we wish we can control someone's -- love hatred and thoughts! )...

I am in the middle of an dark ocean...
witnessing a looming stormy night...
rocked by tides of thoughts...
clinging to a plank of hope...
driven by a divine light...
heading for unknown...

Thank you god.. thanks for being there.. if not for you, there is no hope!

The Mist-erious journey....

....called L~I~F~E !

Lull

A lull before the storm... back to work

D-day is arriving!

Finally, the D-day is fast arriving. I kicked it off today. I am trying to choose my destiny. TNot the d-day you thought, the DOOMSDAY in relationships in my LIFE is fast arriving. No looking back, no regrets. A huge emotional and may be physical battle ahead!

Truths might be deformed, Truths will be morphed, Truth might not be accepted, but ultimately, let TRUTH emerge and prevail..!! God give me the strength to face hostility, to face the MORPHED TRUTHS, to face the inhumane behavior, to face the mindless humans, to face one of those "best-to-forget" moments of my life!

I might have been wrong last time and I might not be right this time, but the big difference is I am following my HEART. I heard it and I am following it now. I know that I need to face a huge consequences. I know LIFE is not going to be the same after this. I guess I am PREPARED, may be I am wrong, but well when you follow your heart you need to face the trouble, you need to be afloat, you need to be positive, you need to be stubborn... you need to be calm!

Let pain be there, let suffering be there, lest how can one become better. May be a one time suffering is better than a pain in doses. I might be broken , I might be out, I might be down, I might go insane, but I think I am taking the right path at this crossroads. God, may be I am ignorant, I might not be rude with people, I might not remember things, I might not be argumentative, but be with me and take me through this journey....

Just weird

Sometimes, I can't help but feel that life is unfair. Sometimes I feel it's fair. But why is that this weird feeling creeps in me, chokes me and few moments later, one phone call, one hi, one thought, I will forget about it. But the wounds it leaves are deep.

Confusion is such a thing that it lands in at unwanted time. To follow one's heart or to follow a "positive" way although it looks rubbish is my dilemma! Am I scared of a bleak future or Am I running away from the problem? Am I doing right? Pounded by questions and a zillion thoughts in mind and a painful heart, I wait to hug my destiny, well on the other hand do I have options?

I am too selfless!!- yes, on most occasions I were, but at the wrong one's. I am pessimist, when I think about the one's I am scared of. I am positive, when I saw the worst! But the trouble keeps brewing and the thoughts never cease.

I think it's time to listen to my heart. Let the world cry I were wrong, let people think I am insane, let them gossip, let the hell break loose, because after the worst comes the good time and the only companion in this lonely journey would be the almighty who must be busy preparing my To-Do list!

The "much needed" vacation

Finally, I grabbed time to update my blog after looooong vacation. Had a memorable trip down to Coastal karnataka. Watched the last sun set of last year followed by the sunrise on the first day of the year that made me spell bound(i still had the images reeling in front of my eyes).

A detailed report on the vacation will follow. But for the time being here are some pics I loved- made during the vacation.

"Makara Sankranti" is the time of the year where the farmers bring home their yield and rejoice with family. Here is the corn yield pile! Wish you all a happy sankranthi!



Here is a NATURE CANVAS I found at Bandipur at the day-break!!


I tried some B & W images off late and loved the feel in these..here are couples of them..


One more... look at the "change of times" in this one!!



I sing off this post with one beautiful image. Here is the First sun of the year.. emerging from the clouds-clad hills near Agumbe. Wishing a great beginning in your life and a great year ahead!!