The mega flop show....yet again

Well there are few people who are crazy about biking.......i have read many of their travelouges on various bike expeditions......i always dreamt of one such expedition in my life......if you think the first two lines does ot have any relevance with the title please have patience (Just came to my mind....for patience read my previous blog)


flashback - circles circling

Five months before...to be precise Aug 4..the following was the conversation between me and Kaushik(my friend...as crazy rather crazier than me)

Kaushik: http://protrek.multiply.com/journal/item/2
mother of all bike trips
me: hmm
Kaushik: nammalum polam da
me: namma himalayasa suttindhu pogalam (hee hee...too much of desire)
shall we do it this dec
for the christmas
vacation
???

Well this is how it all started......

After conversing for few hundred lines over the google chat....we decided to go till New Jalpaiguri by train ......carry the bike as luggage and proceed to Darjeeling and Bhutan by bike from there......u would trust me the entire plan was done on Aug 4th between 5:41 pm and 6:55 pm on Aug 4th.......

"for those who didnt know we were master in planning trips"


more dicussion........Aug 18

Kaushik: did u ask ur parents for permission?
me: no permission....only information.....
bhutan plan irrukunu theriyum...
Kaushik: :) there is peril in driving so much distance da
me: aana bikelanu theriyadhu
Kaushik: adappavi
roads are pretty good once in Bhutan, but on the Indian side, not so good
me: adhu parthukalam....


planning for leave...Oct 15

me: is 30000 enuf for bhutan trip?
Kaushik: should be more than enuff da, we will plan to reduce it further
me: hmmm..ok
i am yet to apply for leave
Kaushik: apply da
me: lookin for a rite time to apply
will do it next week

Nov 6

Kaushik: when is ur leave?
me: i have taken from 25th to 13th


Planning for the bike parcel
Kaushik: irukkiya?
i called irctc for information on bike transport, they said i have to goto the counter to get any information. nothing available on phone or online
me: hi
Kaushik: sunday poi vijarittu varaen
me: okie
i will also enquire here in blore



Finally decided to make the trip from 24th Dec to 13th Jan...(note: 24th night was my train to guwahati)



Nov 11....More planning

me: dai...we will have to show our accomodation details at the entry
of bhutan
Kaushik: we will book in start of dec da, its too early for that
me: okie
u r responsible for identifying the locations in Bhutan



getting few info abt bhutan....Nov 15

Kaushik: in 2008 only 21000 tourists were allowed into Bhutan, excluding Indian nationals, to protect the environment of Bhutan and to avoid excessive modernization
:)
me: excluding indians....so no problem
see being an idian is much advantageous :)
Kaushik: ya, Indians and Bangladeshies can enter at will
i was discussing the same with a guy here
:) only time , being indian is useful
me: dai being an indian we can also enter nepal freely
.
.
.
.
.


Dec 13

me: hi da
Kaushik: hi
me: yenna officela irrukiya
Kaushik: hmmm, came jus now
iru checklist anuparaen
meanwhile u check reservation status
me: ok
Kaushik: id?
me: my tkt confirmed
.
.
.
.
.
me: dai updated the chk list
chk it
Kaushik: looks good da
sweater, blanket idellam vera naan vaanganum :(
me: hee hee
Kaushik: torch edukkuda?
me: just like that....in case we face some problems ith the bike in the night


Dec 23

went to railway station for confirming on Parceling the bike...following is the conversation between me and Boking office guy (translated to english).....

me: sir, I am going to Jalpaiguri tomorrow....i am carrying my bike in the luggage van....how early should i be there for loading it as a luggage...
officer: to Jalpaiguri??? not possible....booking possible only to Howrah or Guwahati
me: but sir, when i enquired last time you told it is possible...i had enquired twice
officer: but things have changed since then....not possible...go and check in the parcel office
me: ok..thank you sir

@ parcel office

me: sir, I need to parcel my bike to Jalpaiguri...how long would it take?
officer: 15 days
me: but sir i need to send it urgently
officer: best is 7 days
me: is there any way i can get it faster..
officer: carry it as luggage...
me: but sir they told it is not possible to carry as luggage
officer: they will say all those stuff...just go there early and give it a try..
me: ok, sir.thank you

back at home....informed the same to kaushik

Kaushik: yen da
me: illa bike mudiyumanu nalaiku varikum theriyade
Kaushik: hmm, yes da
udambu vera total damage da, its becoming worse
cough escalated to fever
me: dai ozhunga medicine yeduthuko
Kaushik: taken
me: hmmm
last minute hitches
is really irritating
the bike stuff was a total shock
Kaushik: yes, even when we planned for so long
me: that too that bloody guy confirmed me that it is possible
tomorrow i will try again
Kaushik: in efficient railway buggers
still working in stone age

Dec 24 Morning

travelling by bike to the railway station to give one more try...kaushik calling

kaushik: dai oru problem da
me: yenna sollu
kaushik: i had gone to see the doctor in the morning...i was not keeping very sick
me: oh...how are you now...what did the doctor say
kaushik: he suggested me not travel...he suspects something serious....i dont think we can make the trip
me: hmmm...ok lets cancel the trip... i am going back home...will call u after reaching home

in the next one hour..tktts cancelled...vacation cancelled

@12:30
Back to office (working from home)


well for many it would have been really difficult to take this...but for us...it is not becos...

well at the start of a blog i had written a line...actually i missed out a word

"for those who didnt know we were master in planning flop trips"

hee hee hee...this is not the first time...vazhkaiyil idhu yellam sagajamappa

next trip on the planning

Patience pays but greed???

Well even if u read the title as Patient pays...it is also true......

comin back to patience......well very tough virture to follow...i accidentally happened to follow it while finding a house in blore......

well most of my blog followers would have know my adventure with hunting house.....my count reached 30+ but still cudnt find a house suitable for me.......i decided to be patient and wait for some more time.....and waited

just one week to go before my deadline to find a house......unexpectedly i got a call from one of the broker whom i had contacted on those intial days when the search had started.....i had lost hope on him and had contacted several other brokers......

well he had some good news for me...yes he had the house ready which covered all my expectations.....the news came at the right time wen i was about to lose my patience....it was unbelievable that i got a house which covered all my expectations......


so if you think that i am all happy....yes i was for two days......all formalities were over to take over the house......so wats next


jus went and started to find locations for all the household stuff.....found proper locations for all....and finally came to my room.....

oh gosh...were wud i keep my speakers....i dont have a proper provision to keep it....this is bad......


sounds ridiculous rite...yes this is wat human beings are.....the never satisfied soles.....and i belong to it........we still are not satisfied even when we are spending our life in the most beautiful house with the most gorgeous woman/handsome man and the most costliest wine.......humans are patients with greed sickness.....

What an IDEA sir(ji)

Probably u mite have read numerous articles with the same title. But i couldnt find a better title for this post....

In the past few months Mr. Nandan Nilekeni had become a sensation by taking up the unique identification number for citizens of india(only for citizens?..not too sure)......

well i happened to hear from a friend that the ID number could become our phone numbers too.....can i also say that our phome numbers will become our identity?......

Now u all know y i choose this title....yes did the govt take a cue from the Idea cellular advertisement.....who knows.....

well u cannot rule out the possibility of ur ID number becoming your phone number....

probably the goverment is already moving towards that direction by allowing mobile users to switch service providers with the same number starting next year......

and finally we need to appreciate the forward sightedness of IDEA Cellular...for those who ridiculed the adv then, do you have something to say?

House huntin....a never ending process

life was good......eating, sleeping, watching movies, listening to songs, browsing and hardly doin any work.......one fine day i realised that i had an important task to be completed....and it was hunting a house for myself in bangalore....well how long will my relatives bear my torture......so decided to give them peace and started to look for a house....

i didnt have much expectations.....jus wanted a single room with ofcourse bathroom......and one important criteria.....the room should be BIG.....


First day contacted a house broker who showed few houses...all very small...so rejected.....next day contacted another broker....again saw 3 to 4 houses....still same problem.....so next day....this time contacted two brokers......result same as before....room very small so rejected.....next day contacted one more broker and it turned out to be the same broker contacted earlier......two weeks passed similarly....total statistics..

no.of brokers contacted----- 10
no.of houses visited----- close to 40

is there anything wrong with me? everybody was sayin so......but who cares......

the hunt continued and finally got a BIG room as i wanted within my budget at a very good locality...what a relief.....paid the token advance and was getting ready to move there this October.....

if u think the story ends here.....i got it wrong.....

went home(chennai) for a weekend.......the climate was horrible...was comparing the climate with bangalore.......was wondering how my parents were toleratin it......so made a bold decesion to shift them to blore......every one happy......



but s***......what about the room for which i have already paid the token advance....well thats not a problem i can always cancel it.....

so wats the problem......

for single room.....one criteria.....10 brokers....40 houses

for 2BHK......criteria - east facing, big rooms, pooja room, min 1000sqft, 2w/p, good locality, nearness to basic amenities and so on....

any body calulating the no.of brokers and houses.....the person who guesses exactly will be invited for dinner....so keep calculatin.....

?????

so back to square one......... starting the second innings.....

huff - puff ... hurray finally completed my trek

well this time no bikes......all by foot.....more than 25 kms.....going up and down the hills for two days

if u happened to see my resume i wud have written one of my interests as trekking..... so i decided to give it a try last weekend......

the place i went to is a part of western ghats and our trek was from Mulayangiri to Kemenagundi via Baba Budhanagiri(never mind if u are not able to pronounce it properly)

so y this trek? well it all started with my plan to go a bike expedition to few famous heritages near bangalore....wen i suggested this idea to my cousin he gave an option of this trek.....the trek was organised by Bangalore Mountaineering Club......after a lot of discussion we chose to trek as we cud do the bike expedition any time later.......

friday night.....took all the neccessary accessories and packed a lots of snacks(in case we get lost somewhere)....wore my new Woodland shoes(it was a bad decision and u will come to know y soon) and got ready to be picked up by my cousin....and by the way my cousin's name is karthik and this guy has a lot more prior experience in such activities.....

left my home to the boardin point and on the way picked up a camera from my another cousin to capture the scenic beauty of the western ghats.....

reached the boardin point @9:45 pm...well ahead of time and waited patiently for the bus to pick us up........the bus came at 10:05pm.....it was a 20 seater bus and we took the seats near the door so that we cud get some extra legspace which turned out to be a wise decesion(well i gave the suggestion so it ought to be wise :).....picked up few more people on the way and it was almost 11:30pm when we hit the highway.......

reached chikmaglur at 4:30 am the next day that is saturday...we were expected to reach there ony at 6:00am....but thanks to the driver we reached there early......unfortunately the lodge that was booked by the organisers for our refreshment was given off to another big gang and we were left roomless :(

while our host(his name is Guru) accompanied by my cousin went in search for other lodges....the others continued their sleep in the bus.....it was quite uncomfortable inside so i joined Guru and Karthik who had returned back without any success....we spent some time talkin while others were snoring away to glory inside the bus....while Guru went ahead to find other possibilities me and karthik were roaming on the deserted streets waitin for it to dawn...we spent two hours on the streets and the those inside the bus started to emerge out one by one.....we had a quick meeting and decided to refresh ourselves in the bus stand nearby and head to the trek directly........

after refreshing we had our breakfast and headed to the base of Mulayangiri hill.....we took our lunch packets - readymade chapathi and MTR ready to eat Channa Masala and started to climb the hill at 9:30 am........

oh....forgot to mention about the group....we were 17 of us...most of them from IT industry......and the host Guru.....a helper Krishnapanna(a localite).....

It was drizling when we started our trek which made the trek much more interesting.....we proceeded along a route called Sarpadhari...the climb was steep and the path was quite slushy cos of the rains.......we took severals braeks to witness the slush green cover around us.....but we were a bit unfortunate as it was covered by mist most of the times.......@ 12 noon we reached the Mulayangiri peak where there was temple......there was also a cave and four of us took courage and went in to explore it and later one more joined.....probably this was the best part fo the entire trip......the cave was pitch dark and we had a very nice time exploring it.....it was very narrow at some places alowing only one person to pass at a time and there were areas where a group of four or five can sit comfortably had play a board game......the layers of metamorphic rocks neatly arranged added more beauty to it......

after our exploration we came back had lunch and started for the next leg......we had to wait some time for the rains to stop before we proceeded.....this part of the trek was quite streneous...we were heading to Baba Budhanagiri and the route was mostly uphill...this is when my shoes started givin me trouble......i was experiencing shoe bite as it was quite new......also these shoes are not much suited for climbing mountains...they are generally used for flatter terrains probably for forest trails.......it was quite uncomfortable to walk and to add on my weight was makin the climb more difficult(dont laugh).......finally we reached a road and thereon walked along the road for the next four kilometers.......we reached a small waterfall(was actually a hybrid of natural and manmade falls) and rested for some time.....again we took the hill route to climb up to Baba Budhanagiri....by this time everyone was totally exhausted and every step seemed to be a huge task.....meanwhile Guru left in a vehicle to arrange for our night accomodation.....after an hours long walk we reached another road where we met Guru again who was on the way to Baba Budhanagiri after arranging for accomodation.......it was 6:00 pm and was getting dark......so we decided to stop the trek there though the peak was jus a kilometer from there......the bus picked us up from there and reached the place were accomodation was arranged.......we took bath in the ice cold water and had our dinner(rice, sambhar and papad.....it was like havin amurtham).....finally we hit the bed at 9:00 pm and in few minutes evryone was fast asleep........


day 2....woke up 6:30am(beleive it) finished the morning routines and got ready for the day ahead.....the legs were in a bad shape and wudnt obey my commands......had our breakfast - cup noodles which gave some energy.......took some group photographs and finally boarded the bus to reach the Baba Budhanagiri peak......had a quick look around and strated walking towards Kaligere - a small lake......i was finding it very difficult to walk becos of the shoe bite and was laggin behind the group...finally we reached the lake but were unfortunate as the lake was filled with mist......we continued on our trail to Kemengundi....the trail was more flatter....the beauty of this part of the trek is that it was a mix of grasslands and very small forests.....these were called shola forests and were very small...the worse part was that the forests were covered with leeches...so ever time we entered the forest we ran through it to reach the grassland on the other side and removed the leeches from our legs......actually when all others had leeches on their legs i didnt get any...but they some how attacked my stomach and my back :)

we were told that the trek would be for almost 15 to 20 kms for that day........we continued to trek with small halts to capture the scenery.....we had a small break at 11:00 am for snacks......the journey after that was the most gruelling for me.......my legs were in a totally bad shape and i found it very difficult to walk .....my energy levels were dipping the halts became more frequent......there was a point when i started regrettin for takin up this trek......the trail was becoming more uphill and my feet started to fail becos of the shoes........thanks to the mental stamina i pushed my self beyond the limits to make to the last leg to Kemengundi.......the last was a deep downslope which i got down with the help of my body momentum(being a bit overweight also helps sometimes) and finally reached the road down ........the next one kilometer by road was covered at snail pace and finally reached the bus at 5 pm......

it was such a great relief when i removed my shoes and was bare foot for the rest of the day......we came down from Kemengundi to Begur, had our dinner and finally reached bangalore @ 1:30 am the next day.......from there again took a cab and went to Karthiks palce from where he dropped me home........it was 3:30 am when i finally hit the bed after having a good hot water bath.....

on a whole it was very good experience.......but again we have enuf time to admire the place....it was mere walking throughout with no time to enjoy.....i wud rather prefer smaller treks with ample time to enjoy yourself and with the group.....my previous two treks to Kemengundi while i was working in TCS was one such experience which i cherish till date.......

probably the next time i trek(who know cud happen next week itself) i will keep this in mind......

for pictures click here

yet an another boring day at work

ufff....life cant get worser than this....sitting at office and doin nothing.....

well as the title says it was yet an another boring day at work.....

saba classes were more intersting that sittin idle at office.....

so what do i do now....

read news - updated with whatever is happening around the world

read movie reviews - read reviews of movies in almost all websites(movies of 5 lanuages)

google chat with friends - and talk what? it is fine if u chat with a friend once in few days....what to chat every once in few hours?

go for a coffee break - no milk(remember it is not only me who is jobless...there are plenty more in the office in the same state with the same idea of spending time drinkin coffee...thanks to recession)

read travelouges - i prefer to travel rather than jus readin travelouges...but still didnt leave this option ......but how many can i read....i have reached the limit....the more i read the more i am tempted to take such trips......but no one to accompany

write blog - write what? actually did write one out of boredom, but it turned out to be a disaster....i am reffering to my previous blog......i still cant understand y i wrote that s**t

well i got a new passtime....reading old mails and chat sessions......this kept me preoccupied for the past few days....whomever noticed my gtalk status in the last few days wud know.....

was done with all my old mails........today i accidently...rather intentionally opened my sent items.......suddenly an idea struck me(i dont know where i get these wonderful ideas from....i must be a genius).....well the idea was to identify how many forwards that i have sent from my id......

y did i do that....the reason is simple.....i am bloody jobless out here without knowing what to do......let me do some thing

okay chill.....so wat was my findings(wudnt have done such an analysis even durin mba)......about 80% of my sent mails were forwards.....dont ask me how i managed to get this figure....u got to beleive this......

then i started to imagine how much of web space i am occupying in not only keeping such mails with me but also forwarding to my friends and duplicating the content on to the web........it is the same thing with billions of web users across the world....am not able to imagine the amount of duplication that we have done.....

am i becoming serious...i think so.....okay let me stop with realsing the amount of junk we contribute to this wonderful world.......but this is not goin to stop us or atleast me from receiving or sending forwards.....

if not for the forwards how do u think i wud spent some of my time at office.....

by uploading this blog of mine i am puttin more junk into this web space....but what to do....it is all fate.....

now going for a coffee break(hope the milk is refilled)....see u in the next blog

Bike ride to Shivasamudram

Bangalore and weekends never get well together.....in bangalore the more fun u want to hav the more prepared u hav to be to burn ur pocket......and the choices to do during weekends are limited to goin to malls, movies and ofcourse pubs.....

but god is not so cruel.....though there is not enuf recreations inside the city there are plenty of places to go near blore and one such place is Shivasamudram - a waterfall....

well my last weekend was spent at this place with few of my friends who had come to blore to see me.

if u think we had planned the weekend to see Shivasamudram then u got it wrong...actually we wanted to go on a long bike ride and Shivasamudram was just the destination.

we were three of us.....myself, Kaushik and Mohan....in two bikes, Bajaj Avenger(mine) and Hero Honda Ambition(my cousin's who had done a great feat of travelling in this bike to Kargil and beyond).......

We started our trip at 11 a.m and had planned to reach the destination by 1:00pm....the route was to go in Mysore road upto Madhur and take a deviation to reach Shivasamudram....

we were all thrilled to ride in the Mysore road and were expecting to rip tru the roads....but all went in vain cos of the heavy wind tru out our journey....we were restricted between 60-70 kms/hr......and as a result reached the destination at 3:00 pm.....well who cares at wat time we reach there...it was the ride we wanted to experience.....

we went down and took a parisal(bowl shaped boat) to reach the point where the falls hit the ground.......it was beautiful to experience the tiny droplets hitting your face and was totally refreshing.....we spent sometime in the water doing some silly tricks......

it was 5:00pm and was time for us to leave.......again we started off with our bikes and the return journey was much more faster with lesser breaks.....we reached home boozed, had dinner and chatted throughout the night...it was 3:30am when we finally hit the bed.....

wat am i goin to do next weekend? i dunno.......got bored of doin nothin during the weekdays.....if anybody has any suggestions please help me out......

click here to view trip photos

Me and blogging?

Ravi into blogging?

don't get surprised.....let me brief you y i ended up here

date: July 07, 2009
venue: my office

@10:00am - got into my cubicle
@10:05am - started reading mails that came to my office mail id(just one mail)
@10:10am - logged into Gmail to check mails
@10:30am - done with checking mails.....went into google news
@10:45am - done with google news India...started browsing through google entertainment news
@11:15am - went and had coffee and read the Deccan herald newspaper
@11:40am - came back to cubicle...broke my head on what to do next...
@11:45am - checked if any of my friends have updated their blogs...went through friends blogs...friends' friends blogs...
@12:30pm - went for lunch
@01:05pm - came back to cubicle and checked for more news updates...
@01:30pm - put my head down and had a nap....
@01:45pm - got up and wondered what to do
@01:50pm - went to have tea...
@02:05pm - back to cubicle with the same question....what to do next???
@02:10pm - browsed through some websites and read on some good places to visit near Bangalore....
@03:00pm - totally bored and irritated...went to cafeteria to have juice...
@03:15pm - back to cubicle.....checked for any new news.....checked for new mails(no new mail as i had checked all the mails the next instant it came to mailbox)
@03:30pm - got an idea to search blogs of my interest and finally ended up in the blog spot home page....decided to create an account hoping that creating the account will keep me busy for some time...unfortunately it happened in five minutes...
@03:45pm - was wondering on what to write for the first blog....
@03:50pm - started writing the above s**t
@04:32pm - is the time i am writing this line.....

so this is how i ended up writing a blog.....

I hereby end my first blog...probably this could be the last blog too...