Bangalore Darshan...

It all started when we decided to go to Hyderabad for the Oct 2nd long weekend. After much research and analysis on various modes of transport we decided that going by a Volvo bus was probaby the best option. Next step was to identify the Travels to book on. After another round of analysis and consultation with the folks in Hyderabad, we zeroed upon Kesinini Travels as the most convenient option. Here 'convenient' meant that we could board in Madivala(Point 1: In my opinion if you run a travels and dont have a Madivala boarding option then thats a sure shot way to failure :) ) and get down at a walkable distance from our destination. Being a long weekend we decided to book tickets well in advance and fortunately this Travels had an online booking option(Point 2: If you want to do some business in Bangalore and dont have an 'online' option, then beware... :-)). The website said booking opens 30 days in advance. We planned to leave on 1st Oct night, so right on the morning of 1st September I made an attempt at booking. No luck. I did not persue it further. And tried on 2nd then 3rd then 4th September. Apparently for the website it was still not 30 days in advance(Would really like to meet the person who wrote the code for the site. Another fellow IT Guy :)). Anyway an SOS went out to the folks in Hyderabad and they made a visit to the agent office and he was able to book the ticket without any hassles. So it was probably just a internal conspiracy and not a code issue :). So on 1st Oct we reached our sacred boarding point well in time and to our surprise the bus was 15 min early. That was a good sign I thought. Maybe we would reach earlier... How wrong I was...

The bus left Madivala promptly at 7.15 and we were the only people in the bus. My understanding was that it was coming from Indiranagar and would go to Majestic for further pickups and then leave the city. Wrong again... We were just starting our Bangalore Darshan....

From Madivala we took a big round through HSR Layout and Silk Board and ended up in BTM Layout. From there we went to Jayanagar, JP Nagar and then on to Basavangudi, Lalbagh, Kalasipalayam Majestic, Richmond Road, MG Road, Ulsoor, Old Madras Road and finally.... you wont believe it.. Indiranagar, with the bus only 25% full. Here everyone else boarded(Smart People). Here From there again we retraced our route to Cantonement, Mekhri Circle, and Hebbal before finally hitting the Hyderabad Highway.The time was 10.30PM. A full 3 hrs after we boarded. Those who are familiar with Bangalore would now realise that we had done a nice big round of Bangalore City. We went through roads I had never gone before, saw places I had never seen before(Remember: I have been in Bangalore for 6 years and have gone around a lot :)). Only consolation was that it was in a comfortable Volvo bus.

That was about the Bangalore Darshan we went through as part of the Hyderabad Trip... So what about the trip itself? Well, that ended up being even more eventful. So have to leave all that for the next post.... :)

I am back as promised with another post. No 2 year gap this time. This post is a travelogue of our trip to my home town in Kerala from Bangalore. Since we were going for 5 days, decided to drive down. You may wonder whats is so special about a trip to Kerala. Well, here the speciality was the scenic route. Large part of the journey though forests and ghats.

So here goes....

Car: Zen Lxi

People: Me and my wife

Date: 7th Aug 2009

We decided the previous night that we would start of at 5am on 7th.To our great surprise at 5am on 7th I was in the car ready to move. Started off from Sarjapur Road, went through Silk Board and ORR to meet up at Mysore Road by 5.30 am. It was a cool cloudy morning and Mysore Road looked inviting.

Reached Mysore Byepass by 7.30. Since it was early traffic going out was minimal

From the byepass, took the left turn and via the Lalit Mahal palace reached the Gundlepet Road. The stretch of road for 10-12 km was quite bad. After that the surface was quite good and the traffic was minimal.

Some sunflower Gardens on the way

By 9am we were at Gundlepet. There is a new 24hr Cafe Coffee Day outlet opened there. Stopped for a coffee and some snacks. Had travelled around 190km.

Once we left Gundlepet, we hit a very bad stretch of road leading up to the Bandipur wild life santuary. And as the photo below shows, vehicles did not have the right of way


One we overcame that obstacle and after a stretch of non existent roads, we entered the Bandipur forests. Here the roads were excellent, lots of twists and turns and almost non existent traffic along with beautiful views of forests. The santuary is caled Bandipur on the Karnataka side and Mudumalai on the Tamil Nadu side. Following pictures show the drive through the santuary. Not much words are needed.

This deer did not like us disturbing

We exited the forest and stopped for a break amidst bamboo forests before reaching Gudalur(Gudalur is the base from where you climb to OOty)

A great view of the Western ghats just after Gudalur


We crossed Gudalur by 11.15am and then entered Kerala through the Nadugani ghats. Again great roads with almost no traffic.


Crossing this section we reached Nilambur by 12.30pm, the first major town after you enter Kerala. From here another 1.5 hours, We were at my hometown Tirur by 2pm.

Summary:
Total Distance: 387km
Time taken: 9hrs(including 1 hr break)
Roads: Apart from a couple of small stretches absolutely brilliant with plenty of twisties. No potholes. Traffic almost nil most of the way

Overall a very good trip. It was great to drive on good roads through dense forests with no traffic. We switched of AC, and music, Just cruised along listening to the sounds of nature.... Something we miss in the daily bustle of city life....

Paths of Glory...

Here I am, Back after a very very long gap. Wondering where I have been for nearly 2 years?Have i been on a tour in the wilderness of Africa? Or was I on a trek to the south pole? Or maybe climbing Mt Everest? Or was I in a gadget boycott mode? Well, not at all. It was just that I have been plain lazy to open blogger and make a post. Although I spend a great part of the day online, somehow when it came to opening blogger, I turned into a frozen block....

Having said that, after continous application of heat by many people urging me to blog again, I finally melted and here I am.. Back to blogging my 'Random Musings'...

Wondering what the title of the blog has got to all this?Nothing at all till this point. Was just coming to that. Coming back after a long gap, I needed something to write about, and a review of a recent book I read seemed to be a good choice. The book was called 'Paths of Glory' by Jeffery Archer. This was his latest book and is a fictionalized adaptation of a true story.

'Paths of Glory' is the story of the life of George Mallory, a famous English Mountaineer and his attempt to scale the highest mountain on earth. Mount Everest. Today lot of people have climbed Everest, so what is special about George Mallory? Well, it is the fact that Mallory attempted to climb Everest in 1924. That was more than 30 years before Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay did it for the first time. Mallory was last seen 200 feet from the summit of Everest by his team mate in the 1924 expendition. He was not seen since and his body was recovered only in 1999. There have been many theories as to whether Mallory actually reached the summit and went missing and died on the way down. If that is the case can Mallory be considered the first man to scale Everest?

This is what Jeffery Archer attempts to explore in this book. The book traces the life of George Mallory and his family. The narrative flows along expected lines and there are no great surprises, as it would be expected from an true story. The main point that makes you continue to read to the end is to see Jeffery Archer's conclusion as to whether Mallory scaled Everest and how he justifies the conclusion. That is one of the major plus points of the book. Also, in true Archer style, he involves you deeply with the lead characters. You feel Mallory's emotions as your own.

On the negative side, there are no major twists or surprises in the narrative. And as a person who has read all of Jeffery Archer books multiple times, this was not as fast moving and filled with surprises as his earlier books. Maybe you can expect only that much from a true story.

All things said, if you enjoy reading and like the Jeffery Archer style, you will still find this a good read. Yes, it is quite different from his earlier works, but maybe thats what would make you like it....

F.R.I.E.N.D.S...

I recently read a blog(Params Blog-Link in the "just stop by" section) describing a scene in PSG College of Technology Hostel life. That really brought back some fond memories for me. Thise three years spent in PSG Tech were 3 of the best years of my life so far. I made some of my closest friends during this period. So what am i going to write in this post? Well... as the name implies its about friends.The first meetings with some of the folks who turned out to be my best friends. The list is in kind of chronological order when the chord of frienship was formed. (Need not be time of first meeting)

First Day in PSG TECH. Just finished admissions. Realized I was the only mallu guy. I thought 'Oh man this may be difficult... i knew only broken Tamil....' Reached Additional Hostel. Alloted Room H66. Supervisor told-Your room mate is Satheesh Kumarr. Went to the room. Found it very tiny. Anyway dumped my suitcase and stood outside not knowing what to do... A huge guy came along(Head completely shaved). I thought 'Wow hes a big guy' and suddenly he came upto me and said 'I am Satheesh Kumarr. You are Rajeev??'. That was a start of a great friendship that continues to this day.. we were roommates for all 3 years in hostel. And because of his Motta Thalai when he joined, he came to be known as 'Thalai'... The Thalai of 01MX. And his tagline was.. 'Known is an Ocean, Unknown is a drop... '

Couple of weeks into the first semester. Seniors hounding for Login Collections. Threatening us with all sorts of dire consequences if we dont make money. One day I was asked to get myself hitched to a day scholar who knew Coimbatore and make sure we went and collected money. Then this really tall guy came up to me (I knew his name was Sriram) and told I can join with him. I had noticed Sriram on the first day because he came to college wearing a round neck tshirt that said "Crazy L'll Devil" (Or something like that :) ). There seemed to be some sort of bond between us. We had a great day. I went to his house, had some food, watched TV and came back to hostel. Of course we did not make any attempt to collect money. That was the start of another wonderful friendship.Sri and I were different in a lot of ways... I suppose the phrase 'Opposites Attract' makes sense. It certainly did for us. We still try to chat daily and seak regularly.

Couple of months had passed. I was never a guy who talked too much to girls. (I know half my classmates will say dei rajeev!!! Poi Sollathe... :) ). But that was the truth (atleast in that first sem). I had spoken little to few girls casually thats all. One day Sriram came and said: 'Dei these girls are having some problem with the PASCAL Spreadsheet. They came and asked me to help.. ha ha ha... '. (Typical Sriram). 'Anyway I said you are the best person to help.'. It turned out the girl who wanted the help was Padmalaya alias Padma alias Padhu. Got talking with her and slowly another great friendship started developing. That bond of friendship got created a few months after that when I chatted with her over IM... This was another awsome friendship and unlike all others we were lucky to go through college and then internship and then get job also in the same company... So this was one friendship that did not need the help of the virtual world to continue... Padma has always been a very important person to me. Of course, the friendship still stands...

So Sriram Padma and i became close friends... Satheesh and I were close and so slowly a group was formed...

Padma had formed a group of her own with Keerthy and Vidya. Popularly known as Keets and Vid. We three guys got to know them well. Keerthy was an awsome eater and would pride herself on managing to have half an idli for breakfast. Vid was a natually friendly person and I always used to say: ' You just need to say Hi Vidya... and thats it. rest non stop talking would be taken care by Vidya... '. I ended up becoming her "brother". A tradition that continues to this day.. Vidya never forgets to send a Rakhi Gift...

First sem exams were aproaching. I got talking with Arun more often. We decided to do combined study. Now, this combined study consisted of sitting in his room, listening to 'Citizen' songs on Hems (Hems coming up later) and talking about everything other than the subject we set out to study. Later we expanded our activities to plying NFS instead of studying. :). Anyways the bond of friendship with Arun was established. And through Arun we all got to know Amar, the ever helpful padam potifying guy... :)

College life got over... and life moved in different directions... Vidya and Keerthy are married and in US now. Padma is engaged and so is Arun. Satheesh, Sri, Amar and me as still single as of today!! :) (You never know what tomorrow brings... :) ). But the bond of friendship we all share is still strong. We still meet up as much as possible. And around 5-6 years have passed since we all first met. Most of us have not changed at all. We are all the same as we were 5 years ago. Hope we can continue to be like that...

F.R.I.E.N.D.S cannot be complete without mentioning Hems(We used to call each other Dobaakoor) and Pisth Yuvraj. We were the food lovers in hostel and none of us had a great opinion of the Hostel mess. So we were the partners in the regular trips to Shahi Grill, Tarot, Chandni etc... Food brought us together and still remains a major topic of discussion among us. Pisth Yuvraj is in Chennai. Hems is married and is now in Bangalore and the friendship continues...

Someone once said... Friendship is not a big thing... its a million little things.... That is something that is really true...

More on the Golden Quadrilateral...

You may think that the above is a picture of some highway in the US or maybe an Autobahn in Germany. Well you are mistaken. it is a picture of the Express Highway between Bangalore and Chennai(Picture Courtsey: Another blog, since i could not take my own pictures) . Last time I had stopped with a promise of providing more details on the Golden Quadrilateral. Now this is the biggest highway project in India. Aimed to connect the 4 Metro's. The good news is that this is almost complete. Recently I drove down to Chennai from Bangalore in my faithful Maruti 800 along with a couple of friends. I had heard that it is a great 4 lane highway, that was why I decided to drive down. Well to be frank the road was beyond my wildest expectations. it was an absolutely awesome road all the way to Chennai. Great quality and not even a tiny pothole. The best thing is that there are flyovers and byepasses across most of the major towns on the route, so you do not need to slow down as you cross towns. The road has good signage and even has proper exits which will take you into the towns on the way.

Well, how do you go? Take the Hosur Road from Bangalore and keep going till you reach Krishnagiri, from there take a left and keep going on and on and you reach Chennai. Very Simple :).

So is there any disadvantage? Sure, its not a perfect world :). The major problem is that it is not a barricaded highway. And as we all know is a highly populated country. So there is no dearth of people anywhere. So as you are speeding down this highway you may suddenly seen someone casually crossing the road, or even trying to be daring by jumping across just as you reach close. Most people dont seem to understand the velocity the modern vehicles are capable of. So be ready to stamp on the brakes at a moments notice. And remember, you are always to blame whose ever fault it is. Second major problem: people have the impression that they live in America, lots of trucks bikes tractors, prefer to come down the wrong lane to avoid going and taking a U turn further down. So dont be surprised if you are suddenly confronted with a truck or tractor looming large in front of you. Be prepared. And ofcourse this is India, so you always need to be wary of the cows, dogs and other asssorted animals who have no idea on what an express highway is.

All said and done, it is still by far the best roads in India and if you enjoy driving and have a decent car (I enjoyed it with a Maruti 800, the worst car on the road according to experts-But i beg to differ) but if you have a Ford or a Honda, then it is pure bliss. And if you are really adventurous you can try it on a Pulsar or a karizma...

The Twenty20, The Porsche The Golden Quadrilateral and more...

I suppose the euphoria of the T20 World Cup win has kind of died down now. But it was such a wonderful thing to watch. Being a die hard cricket fan all my life finally paid off. There have been some great victories over the past many years, but such a wonderful win on a world stage was heart warming. Of course so called cricket pandits will say that it is just slam bang cricket and not real cricket. Others will say that its a game played in only 10 countries and so winning is no big deal. But let people think want they want. It was a wonderful win and a time to rejoice for all criket fans. The T20 format is also great. Just 3 hours, non stop action, and unlike what the pandits say, you need considerable skill with both bat and ball to succeed. Hope this format becomes more popular...

So whats the significance of the porshe. Well that was one of the innumerable goodies offered to the Men in Blue. Now this is a little embarassing. Its ok if the BCCI gave lots of money. But some of the other goodies offered seemed terribly ridiculous!!! A porsche to Yuvraj Singh!! Where do they even get that machine from?? Promotions for 4-5 players contracted with Air India and free flights?? What about the poor fellows in Air India who actually work hard!! I am a Keralite but i cannot stop myself from mentioning this. The Kerala state government gave 5 lakhs to Sreesanth. Ok fair enough. But then they announced 3 Lakhs to Robin Uthappa because his mother was born in Calicut!!! Awesome is it not?? Trust the Kerala media to bring a mallu connection to any celebrity. I am sure even Robin would have been embarassed by that... :)

The Golden Quadrilateral!! Whats that? Sounds a bit like the Bermuda Triangle is it not? Well.. its nothing like that. That is the name given to the express highway which connects the 4 metros and also passes through various other big cities including Bangalore. It is an awesome 4 lane expressway of international quality. I got a chance to drive on the Chennai Bangalore Stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral... So what did i think of the road? Is it really an expressway? Is it really of international Quality?? Well more on all that in the next blog. I think this post has become pretty long already...

Across the 7 Seas...

I just got back from a short 2 week trip to the United States. It is amazing how developed that country is compared to us. Of course they have the advantage of having got independence 150 years before us and also it is a larger country than India with probably half the population. But still it is good to see everything spick and span. I transited through Frankfurt which is another huge airport. After the chaos at the Bangalore Airport, wandering around Frankfurt was so good. These countries have developed their airports so much. We dont even come close. Like the Bangalore Airport has just 2 gates and 2 aerobridges. Frankfurt has atleast 150 gates with 150 aerobridges. And to my surprise i realised that the new Bangalore International Airport will also have just 9 or 10 gates. I am sure that within a year that airport will become insufficient. Anyway going by the nature of Bangalore Traffic and the distance to the new airport i presume less peaople would use it. I think it would be cheaper to take a train to Chennai and take a flight from there. It will cost only a few extra hours. :)

Coming back to the US trip, this time i got a chance to visit New York and also stop at Washington for a few hours. NY is an amazing city. And the public transport system is top notch. I came away really impressed. And of course the roads the cars the expressways are all breathtaking. But in spite of all this i was glad to get on a flight back to Bangalore. After all 'there is no place like home'. While waiting for my baggage at the Bangalore Airport a German lady requested me to move my trolley little back from the conveyor belt so that other people could stand. I realised she was right and moved back. But i did tell her that if i dont do it, there will be 10 others to do it. And her response was "yes, right of course. After all we are now back in India :)". Just after she made the statement her expresssion seemed to indicate 'oh i am talking to an indian and maybe should not have told like that'. I just smiled at her and told her she was correct. :). After all India is India... still it was a good insight on what others thought of our country. But inspite of that she said she has been in Bangalore for 5 years and loves the place. India seems to have that magical capability to attract people....

Advice...

I was going through my initial posts just now. Noticed a few where i had attempted to put in some technical points related to programming languages. I found that although I do a lot of programming related stuff, I was not able to come up with good posts on a regular basis. Thats when I realised that doling out technical advice was not my cup of tea and that I would be better off writing general posts on any topic that comes into my head (Like this one :)). I think most of us live our lives listening to tons of advice from anyone and everyone. People just love to give advice. Moral of the story? Well, its easy to give advice to anyone on anything. But giving useful advice..., well thats a little more tricky.

My advice to you!! Well, keep reading my posts and put in yyour valuable comments. :)