It was nearing 6 PM and Radhika felt she was getting late for one of the most important events of her life. She quickly dialed the number and heard to the caller tune. Few seconds passed and the caller tune started repeating again Ninna poojege bande Mahadeshwara... She checked the time again, it was exactly 6 PM; she had only an hour and half to go. She unlocked the keypad of the phone and was about to punch the redial button when an empty auto approached her. 'Jayanagar 4th block?' she asked anxiously. The driver noticed the slight tremor in her voice and said 'Please come'. Relieved, she climbed into the auto and it started to roar away in full throttle towards Jayanagar.
Not withstanding the frustration anymore, Mahesh said 'Okay Mr. Down, we will get back to you after our analysis in two days' time.' He waited till the person on the other end finished what he had to say and replied back 'Thanks a lot, have a nice weekend. Bye.' and cut the call. He addressed his team 'Okay guys, its really getting late for me, I have to push off. Let us discuss the repercussions over the phone tomorrow. I'm sorry to be leaving early but I hope you all can understand. Bye.' All the team members nodded happily as their boss was leaving for the day which meant they could leave after a few minutes. Mahesh stepped out of the conference and saw a missed call. He dialed the same number and waited for the person to pick up the phone. As soon as the phone was answered, he said 'Listen, I'm sorry, I was in a very important meeting. Where are you now? Have you started?'
Radhika while talking on the phone removed her footwear and proceeded towards the flower vendor. 'I'm at the venue already. Haven't you reached yet?'
'I'm sorry again dear, I'm leaving the office now, I will reach there in half an hour exactly. By the way, how did you reach so quickly?' asked Mahesh
'I took an auto to 4th block from Gandhi Bazar. I reached in just 20 minutes. But...' said Radhika
'Why on earth are you in 4th block? We were supposed to be meeting in Koramangala, don't you remember?' he asked. He was surprised to hear what she had just told and stopped her before she could complete her sentence.
Radhika was also taken aback when she heard this. 'Yeah I remember that but you were in the Shiva temple which we regularly visit in 4th block, that is why I came here thinking we both might first seek the blessings and then go'.
Mahesh was totally confused about what was happening. He asked 'When did I tell you that I was in 4th block and that too in a temple!?' She said 'Honey, when I called you, you said Ninna poojege bande Mahadeshwara...'
PS: Ninna poojege bande... is a song from a movie called Psycho composed by Raghu Dixit
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
A trip to MuLLayanagiri
I was working in office one day and my outlook suddenly popped up a message which was sent by my friend Girish asking if everybody was ready for a trip. We had a long weekend as the first national festival of the year was a Monday. The itinerary for the trip was planned by Shreyas and Girish after their meticulous research of the places; courtesy - Google.
Shreyas (Kaddi), Girish (Kerish), Anand (KaNNe), Prasanna (Pacchi), Santhosh (Tony), Pavan (Walla) and I - Sharath (Dumma) were the seven warriors all set to conquer the tallest peak of Karnataka, MuLLayanagiri near ChickamagaLur. The plan was to leave Bangalore on Saturday at 4:30 AM and reach ChickamagaLur by lunch time and then decide what to see.
Kaddi had booked for a Chevrolet Tavera as were leaving in the savera! ThammaNNa, the driver arrived at my place at 4 AM. We picked up everybody by around 5:30 AM, put all our luggage in the luggage carrier and left Bangalore. The first pit stop was to fill the diesel for the vehicle after which we stopped at a hotel named Mayura near KuNigal for breakfast.
As everybody was hungry, we ordered for a idly-vada and masala-dosa for everybody along with coffee without asking for the menu card. Though the taste was not extraordinary, the rates were out of the world. A plate of idly-vada, 40 Rupees; Single vada, 20 Rupees; Masala Dosa, 40 Rupees. The bill was a whopping 650 Rupees!
The plan was to search for a hotel to stay for night and then head to MuLLayanagiri for the trek. As it was a long weekend, almost all the hotels in ChickamagaLur were overbooked barring one hotel, Hotel Ramesh. To reach this lodge, one has to go through the MG Road of the city which looks no less than our Jayanagar 9th block. We passed through a dingy area and found ourselves in front of an old shabby building called Hotel Ramesh. Walla and Kerish gave the worst of the impressions of the hotel after having a look at the rooms. ThammaNNa suggested us to buy a sheet of tarpaulin and make a tent atop of the hill and stay there for the night. With that brilliant suggestion, we headed off in search of a plastic shop where we could find a tarpaulin sheet.
The owner of Kamal Plastic Industries laughed at us when we told him that we were planning to stay at the summit for the night in our make-shift tent. He said it would be impossible to bear the temperature; indeed we would not have survived! He called up Shiva Shankar who takes care of the small temple at the top of the hill. Shiva Shankar provides food and accommodation free of cost to the devotees of the deity. If people are satisfied with the prasada, they can give an offering which he accepts humbly.
So, with the accommodation also booked, we were all set to conquer the summit after lunch. ThammaNNa suggested us to have lunch near MuLLayanagiri and then start the trek. Unfortunately, we did not find any hotel or shop where we could buy something to eat. The trek trail is called Sarpadaari. There is a small arch at the starting point of the trek. We packed one backpack which had a few essential supplies for the trek and started the trek at 1:30 PM with a loud Jai Ho!
The initial few hundred metres of the trek was covered very quickly as all of us were brimming with energy. Slowly KaNNe, Kaddi and I started trailing behind the others in the group. We used to climb for 2 minutes and sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take rest. While resting, we were either ranting about the strenuous trek or were discussing the fantasies of married life! Soon enough, the 3 of us completely lost the rest and had a lot of distance to cover to catch up with them.
The trekking trail was a little hazy at one point and our Kaddi guessed a path which we could take and reach an intermediate resting point to continue with our fantasies. The path that he showed seemed to be a little steep but still do-able. I started the climb first and was followed by KaNNe who was followed by Kaddi. I climbed about 20 feet very easily and was waiting for the both of them to cover half the distance.
As soon as KaNNe came half the distance, I started looking for the next groove in the rock to put my feet and go up. I put my right leg into the new groove and reached for a ridge above me to take the grip for my right hand. As soon as I put my right hand, the grass near the ridge was completely wet and it just came off the rock into my hand. I lost my balance and the right leg slipped from the rock. I managed to find the groove again and put back my right leg and was searching for another groove for my right hand. Then I took a giant step and reached for the next spot where I found place only for one leg and another had to be hanging in air. Due to my size, balancing the whole weight on leg was next to impossible for me. KaNNe not able to see me in such a position came up to take the weight of one leg on himself but was not possible again due to my weight. For one moment, I thought I will have to give up and just have a free fall of about 30 feet. I might have had a few fractures but there was nothing that I could do.
My new digital SLR camera around my neck was a prized possession a few minutes ago; currently nothing seemed to be important to me other than my life. I was shit scared thinking about the next few minutes. With all the courage and strength, I lifted myself in my arms, took a big step, put my right leg somewhere and saw a place where I could sit! Thank god! I just managed to turn my body to the opposite side and landed on my back! Phew! I was alive!!
Not being able to see me in such a state, Kaddi was screaming for the others. Tony, Pacchi, Kerish and Walla came back to witness me climbing a very steep climb at the same time being worried what would happen if I fell down. As soon as I sat on the ground, Tony yelled at me not to move as Pacchi and he were coming near me to rescue. I sat there with my hands and legs totally shivering for a minute and then said I was okay.
Pacchi came beside me and helped me along with Tony to reach the "safe place" where the others were standing. All this drama lasted for about 20 to 30 minutes. I could not believe myself that I was so much tensed when it was unfolding for it was not a very difficult patch to climb. KaNNe and Kaddi went down till the hazy point and took the correct route and reached the safe place safely. All of us sat together for more than 15 minutes to take rest.
The only bottle of water that we had when we started the trek got over and there we were with no food, no water gazing at the burning sun over our heads. From that point onwards, the seven of us trekked together till we reached the summit at 5:00 PM. We just sat there for a while removing our shoes while Tony, THE MAN in our group, refilled the bottles with cold water for us and all of us just gulped it down in a few seconds.
The Sun was all set to retire for the day in some time. We spoke to Shiva Shankar and informed him that we had reached the place; he was kind enough to give us some hot coffee. ThammaNNa had reached the peak long back. We had to collect all our bags from the vehicle. The baaiz (boys) were kind enough to spare me from the exercise of climbing down and up 466 steps to reach the Tavera. Kaddi stayed back to give me company.
In the dark, all of us sat together gossipping about many things and at 8:30 we were called for dinner. Unpolished rice along with steaming hot rasam was served for all of us of which we had 2 servings each. Since all of us were tired, we just went into deep slumber at 9 PM. But the temperature would not let us to sleep peacefully. I woke up at 1:45 AM thinking it would be morning to find KaNNe and Tony awake beside me. I again tried to sleep only to get up at 4:30 AM. My head was aching a lot because of the temperature. Tony and KaNNe also woke up at 5 AM and the three of us answered mother nature in her arms.
Soon, everybody got up and all of us were tucked inside jackets, sweaters and bedsheets not being able to tolerate the wind outside. The water in the tap was so cold that our hands were going numb. In unision, we decided not to brush our teeth in the cold water. A pack of Wrigley's gums helped us fight away bad breath albeit temporarily. Kerish and Walla being the cleanliest of the boys, brushed their teeth no matter how cold the water was. We paid Shiva Shankar a 1000 Rupees, thanked him for the wonderful dinner and started climbing down the 466 steps as counted by Kaddi to greet ThammaNNa a very good morning.
We then headed towards KaLahatti water falls where we had decided to take bath. Upon reaching the place, we discovered that there was a Veerabhadra Swamy temple and the water was falling from a meagre height of about 6 feet. None of us were interested to see the temple or the water fall. We booked a room for an hour and freshned up ourselves brushing and downloading. We were all hungry again for the breakfast but there was no hotel serving a typical breakfast. All we could find was hot lemon rice, Chittranna. KaNNe, Pacchi, Tony and I took 6 plates of the rice and savoured it while the others being hygiene conscious had biscuits and cake.
After the breakfast, we headed towards Kemmanagundi to see the Z point. While everybody was busy talking, we missed the turn to be taken for Kemmanagundi and realized we had gone about 5 or 6 kms ahead. Since the next spot, Hebbe falls was nearer from where we were, we decided to see the falls first and then see Kemmanagundi. The water falls are situated inside a coffee estate where all the vehicles cannot go. Since the so-called road has obstructive rocks in between, only a vehicle with higher ground clearance can go in the road. Othewise, people have to reach the falls on foot which is more than 7 kms downhill. Kaddi, KaNNe and I were furious when we saw the others getting ready to walk. The hiring cost for the jeep was 700 Rupees to and fro which we found to be a bit costly.
Again ranting about the hopeless walk that we were about to take, KaNNe, Kaddi and I were again trailing behind the others. After about 2 and half hours of walking, we reached the place till where the jeeps stop. From there, everybody has to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the waterfalls. The 3 of us decided to take the jeep on the way back even if he charged a 1000 Rupees; we were tired, dog-tired. The water was so cold that while crossing a small stream, our feet went numb. I decided not to get into the water since I had to experiment a few techniques in my new camera.
With lot of bravery, Tony, Pacchi, Kerish and Walla got into the water only to come out of it in 10 minutes. KaNNe reluctantly got into the water and came out in a few minutes; Kaddi did not dare to bare in that temperature! The time was around 4:30 PM and none of us had had lunch that day also. We slowly marched towards the spot where the jeeps were parked and paid 500 Rupees to reach the top of the hill where our Tavera was parked.
Since all of us were hungry and were in no mood to walk/trek/get off from the vehicle, we decided not to see Kemmanagundi and headed straight to ChickamagaLur city to search for accommodation for the night. On our way, we accidentally found Hotel Vasanth Vihar that was a KSTDC lodge. Luckily, there were 2 rooms available at a good rate and we checked in ourselves into it. All of us quickly changed, freshned up and crossed the street to enter the restaurant Food Palace. We ate as if we had not eaten for ages and yet the bill amount was 950 Rupees.
Popping a paan into our mouths, we headed back to the lodge to start the most interesting thing to do when on a trip, playing a game called Bluff with a few pack of cards. After a few rounds of bluffing, we played Rummy and slept at around 2 AM. Getting up at around 8 and having our breakfast again at Food Palace, we checked out from our lodge and decided to visit either Belur or HaLebeedu on the way before reaching Bangalore; Belur was the chosen place.
What a marvel Belur is! We hired a guide for 200 Rupees who explained the most-complicated, unimaginable sculptures that I had ever seen. The sculpture is beyond words to be told. The HoysaLas had a set of highly imaginative sculptors who have done things that cannot be done by anybody else in this world. It was truly mesmerizing to see the work done by the people of our great country.
We had cool tender coconut once we came out of the temple and then headed towards Bangalore to finish the wonderful trip. We stopped at Hotel Suvarna Regency in Hassan for lunch and reached Bangalore by 5:30 PM so that we could get ample rest before we started the routine job of punching the keys of a keyboard.
Shreyas (Kaddi), Girish (Kerish), Anand (KaNNe), Prasanna (Pacchi), Santhosh (Tony), Pavan (Walla) and I - Sharath (Dumma) were the seven warriors all set to conquer the tallest peak of Karnataka, MuLLayanagiri near ChickamagaLur. The plan was to leave Bangalore on Saturday at 4:30 AM and reach ChickamagaLur by lunch time and then decide what to see.
Kaddi had booked for a Chevrolet Tavera as were leaving in the savera! ThammaNNa, the driver arrived at my place at 4 AM. We picked up everybody by around 5:30 AM, put all our luggage in the luggage carrier and left Bangalore. The first pit stop was to fill the diesel for the vehicle after which we stopped at a hotel named Mayura near KuNigal for breakfast.
As everybody was hungry, we ordered for a idly-vada and masala-dosa for everybody along with coffee without asking for the menu card. Though the taste was not extraordinary, the rates were out of the world. A plate of idly-vada, 40 Rupees; Single vada, 20 Rupees; Masala Dosa, 40 Rupees. The bill was a whopping 650 Rupees!
The plan was to search for a hotel to stay for night and then head to MuLLayanagiri for the trek. As it was a long weekend, almost all the hotels in ChickamagaLur were overbooked barring one hotel, Hotel Ramesh. To reach this lodge, one has to go through the MG Road of the city which looks no less than our Jayanagar 9th block. We passed through a dingy area and found ourselves in front of an old shabby building called Hotel Ramesh. Walla and Kerish gave the worst of the impressions of the hotel after having a look at the rooms. ThammaNNa suggested us to buy a sheet of tarpaulin and make a tent atop of the hill and stay there for the night. With that brilliant suggestion, we headed off in search of a plastic shop where we could find a tarpaulin sheet.
The owner of Kamal Plastic Industries laughed at us when we told him that we were planning to stay at the summit for the night in our make-shift tent. He said it would be impossible to bear the temperature; indeed we would not have survived! He called up Shiva Shankar who takes care of the small temple at the top of the hill. Shiva Shankar provides food and accommodation free of cost to the devotees of the deity. If people are satisfied with the prasada, they can give an offering which he accepts humbly.
So, with the accommodation also booked, we were all set to conquer the summit after lunch. ThammaNNa suggested us to have lunch near MuLLayanagiri and then start the trek. Unfortunately, we did not find any hotel or shop where we could buy something to eat. The trek trail is called Sarpadaari. There is a small arch at the starting point of the trek. We packed one backpack which had a few essential supplies for the trek and started the trek at 1:30 PM with a loud Jai Ho!
The initial few hundred metres of the trek was covered very quickly as all of us were brimming with energy. Slowly KaNNe, Kaddi and I started trailing behind the others in the group. We used to climb for 2 minutes and sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take rest. While resting, we were either ranting about the strenuous trek or were discussing the fantasies of married life! Soon enough, the 3 of us completely lost the rest and had a lot of distance to cover to catch up with them.
The trekking trail was a little hazy at one point and our Kaddi guessed a path which we could take and reach an intermediate resting point to continue with our fantasies. The path that he showed seemed to be a little steep but still do-able. I started the climb first and was followed by KaNNe who was followed by Kaddi. I climbed about 20 feet very easily and was waiting for the both of them to cover half the distance.
As soon as KaNNe came half the distance, I started looking for the next groove in the rock to put my feet and go up. I put my right leg into the new groove and reached for a ridge above me to take the grip for my right hand. As soon as I put my right hand, the grass near the ridge was completely wet and it just came off the rock into my hand. I lost my balance and the right leg slipped from the rock. I managed to find the groove again and put back my right leg and was searching for another groove for my right hand. Then I took a giant step and reached for the next spot where I found place only for one leg and another had to be hanging in air. Due to my size, balancing the whole weight on leg was next to impossible for me. KaNNe not able to see me in such a position came up to take the weight of one leg on himself but was not possible again due to my weight. For one moment, I thought I will have to give up and just have a free fall of about 30 feet. I might have had a few fractures but there was nothing that I could do.
My new digital SLR camera around my neck was a prized possession a few minutes ago; currently nothing seemed to be important to me other than my life. I was shit scared thinking about the next few minutes. With all the courage and strength, I lifted myself in my arms, took a big step, put my right leg somewhere and saw a place where I could sit! Thank god! I just managed to turn my body to the opposite side and landed on my back! Phew! I was alive!!
Not being able to see me in such a state, Kaddi was screaming for the others. Tony, Pacchi, Kerish and Walla came back to witness me climbing a very steep climb at the same time being worried what would happen if I fell down. As soon as I sat on the ground, Tony yelled at me not to move as Pacchi and he were coming near me to rescue. I sat there with my hands and legs totally shivering for a minute and then said I was okay.
Pacchi came beside me and helped me along with Tony to reach the "safe place" where the others were standing. All this drama lasted for about 20 to 30 minutes. I could not believe myself that I was so much tensed when it was unfolding for it was not a very difficult patch to climb. KaNNe and Kaddi went down till the hazy point and took the correct route and reached the safe place safely. All of us sat together for more than 15 minutes to take rest.
The only bottle of water that we had when we started the trek got over and there we were with no food, no water gazing at the burning sun over our heads. From that point onwards, the seven of us trekked together till we reached the summit at 5:00 PM. We just sat there for a while removing our shoes while Tony, THE MAN in our group, refilled the bottles with cold water for us and all of us just gulped it down in a few seconds.
The Sun was all set to retire for the day in some time. We spoke to Shiva Shankar and informed him that we had reached the place; he was kind enough to give us some hot coffee. ThammaNNa had reached the peak long back. We had to collect all our bags from the vehicle. The baaiz (boys) were kind enough to spare me from the exercise of climbing down and up 466 steps to reach the Tavera. Kaddi stayed back to give me company.
In the dark, all of us sat together gossipping about many things and at 8:30 we were called for dinner. Unpolished rice along with steaming hot rasam was served for all of us of which we had 2 servings each. Since all of us were tired, we just went into deep slumber at 9 PM. But the temperature would not let us to sleep peacefully. I woke up at 1:45 AM thinking it would be morning to find KaNNe and Tony awake beside me. I again tried to sleep only to get up at 4:30 AM. My head was aching a lot because of the temperature. Tony and KaNNe also woke up at 5 AM and the three of us answered mother nature in her arms.
Soon, everybody got up and all of us were tucked inside jackets, sweaters and bedsheets not being able to tolerate the wind outside. The water in the tap was so cold that our hands were going numb. In unision, we decided not to brush our teeth in the cold water. A pack of Wrigley's gums helped us fight away bad breath albeit temporarily. Kerish and Walla being the cleanliest of the boys, brushed their teeth no matter how cold the water was. We paid Shiva Shankar a 1000 Rupees, thanked him for the wonderful dinner and started climbing down the 466 steps as counted by Kaddi to greet ThammaNNa a very good morning.
We then headed towards KaLahatti water falls where we had decided to take bath. Upon reaching the place, we discovered that there was a Veerabhadra Swamy temple and the water was falling from a meagre height of about 6 feet. None of us were interested to see the temple or the water fall. We booked a room for an hour and freshned up ourselves brushing and downloading. We were all hungry again for the breakfast but there was no hotel serving a typical breakfast. All we could find was hot lemon rice, Chittranna. KaNNe, Pacchi, Tony and I took 6 plates of the rice and savoured it while the others being hygiene conscious had biscuits and cake.
After the breakfast, we headed towards Kemmanagundi to see the Z point. While everybody was busy talking, we missed the turn to be taken for Kemmanagundi and realized we had gone about 5 or 6 kms ahead. Since the next spot, Hebbe falls was nearer from where we were, we decided to see the falls first and then see Kemmanagundi. The water falls are situated inside a coffee estate where all the vehicles cannot go. Since the so-called road has obstructive rocks in between, only a vehicle with higher ground clearance can go in the road. Othewise, people have to reach the falls on foot which is more than 7 kms downhill. Kaddi, KaNNe and I were furious when we saw the others getting ready to walk. The hiring cost for the jeep was 700 Rupees to and fro which we found to be a bit costly.
Again ranting about the hopeless walk that we were about to take, KaNNe, Kaddi and I were again trailing behind the others. After about 2 and half hours of walking, we reached the place till where the jeeps stop. From there, everybody has to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the waterfalls. The 3 of us decided to take the jeep on the way back even if he charged a 1000 Rupees; we were tired, dog-tired. The water was so cold that while crossing a small stream, our feet went numb. I decided not to get into the water since I had to experiment a few techniques in my new camera.
With lot of bravery, Tony, Pacchi, Kerish and Walla got into the water only to come out of it in 10 minutes. KaNNe reluctantly got into the water and came out in a few minutes; Kaddi did not dare to bare in that temperature! The time was around 4:30 PM and none of us had had lunch that day also. We slowly marched towards the spot where the jeeps were parked and paid 500 Rupees to reach the top of the hill where our Tavera was parked.
Since all of us were hungry and were in no mood to walk/trek/get off from the vehicle, we decided not to see Kemmanagundi and headed straight to ChickamagaLur city to search for accommodation for the night. On our way, we accidentally found Hotel Vasanth Vihar that was a KSTDC lodge. Luckily, there were 2 rooms available at a good rate and we checked in ourselves into it. All of us quickly changed, freshned up and crossed the street to enter the restaurant Food Palace. We ate as if we had not eaten for ages and yet the bill amount was 950 Rupees.
Popping a paan into our mouths, we headed back to the lodge to start the most interesting thing to do when on a trip, playing a game called Bluff with a few pack of cards. After a few rounds of bluffing, we played Rummy and slept at around 2 AM. Getting up at around 8 and having our breakfast again at Food Palace, we checked out from our lodge and decided to visit either Belur or HaLebeedu on the way before reaching Bangalore; Belur was the chosen place.
What a marvel Belur is! We hired a guide for 200 Rupees who explained the most-complicated, unimaginable sculptures that I had ever seen. The sculpture is beyond words to be told. The HoysaLas had a set of highly imaginative sculptors who have done things that cannot be done by anybody else in this world. It was truly mesmerizing to see the work done by the people of our great country.
We had cool tender coconut once we came out of the temple and then headed towards Bangalore to finish the wonderful trip. We stopped at Hotel Suvarna Regency in Hassan for lunch and reached Bangalore by 5:30 PM so that we could get ample rest before we started the routine job of punching the keys of a keyboard.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Zurück nach Deutschland
Here I am, this is me
There is nowhere else on earth, I’d rather be…
[A song by Bryan Adams]
Well, working in the same company for the same client, there is no other place where I can go other than Germany. So, I’m back in Germany for an extension of my previous project but this time only for 20 days.
On a Friday morning, my manager called me and said “You have to travel urgently to Germany and reach the office on Monday. The client wants one person from here”. There were so many things to be done, booking the tickets, getting a laptop, getting my foreign exchange, booking the accommodation and what not! Phew, I had to do everything and make sure I reached the customer’s office on Monday morning.
At the end of Friday, I managed to get most of the things done but for the ticket which was the most important thing. Thanks to our travel team, they work on Saturday too; I got the ticket in the evening and was supposed to travel on Sunday night. Since the notice period was very short, there was no direct flight from Bangalore available and my travel co-ordinator booked the route Bangalore-Bombay-Dubai-Hamburg.
Sunday morning, I started the packing and left my place at 6 PM to catch the flight at 9:30 PM from Bengaluru International Airport. The journey in the taxi took an hour and half with the chauffer Basavaraj. As soon as I got into the taxi, Basavaraj asked me if I wanted the A/C to be switched on giving a hint that he did not want it. I said the natural air is any day better than the conditioned air. He was very happy. During the long talk with him, I realized that being a taxi driver is no easy job. They should know English, should have passed 10th Standard, should know the in and out of the city, should have 5 years of driving experience, should be aged at least 25, should be courteous to the passengers and the list of requirements goes on and on.
Even with so much of qualification, the sad thing is Basavaraj does not have a fixed salary per month. Everyday, he has to pay 900 Rupees and take the taxi from the office and start his day. He then starts bidding for calls and if he is in luck, the call centre employee assigns a request to Basavaraj. He then has to fill the fuel for the taxi out of his own money and drop the passenger to the location. Whatever the customer pays is his salary. On a given day, he may make anywhere between 100 to 1000 or sometimes 2000 rupees. Just one phone call from an irate customer to express his dissatisfaction is enough for Basavaraj to lose his job. His is a job where even a single mistake committed makes him deprived of the essential needs to run his family. The traffic jams in Bangalore add to his woes when customers scold him for not reaching the destination on time.
When we were talking about all this, I reached the airport, paid him the money and checked in my luggage at the Jet Airways counter; thus started my journey to Germany.
I reached the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai at 11:30 PM because of a slight delay in the flight. In Mumbai, the domestic and International airports are different and there is a free shuttle service for the passengers who visit Mumbai as a transit point. I approached the shuttle helpdesk and obtained a coupon with which I could board the shuttle bus and waited for the call after collecting my luggage. Soon, the announcement was made and I sat in a Volvo bus which was to take me to the International airport. On reaching the international airport, the task at hand was to locate the Emirates Airlines entrance for the check-in. The check-in did not take much time; I got a window seat from Mumbai to Dubai and then an aisle seat from Dubai to Hamburg.
After waiting for 6 long hours, I boarded the Boeing aircraft which was fully loaded with In-Flight-Entertainment (IFE). Each seat had a small LCD display monitor. The passengers had to use a small handset which served as the input to the IFE. About 200 odd movies in many languages were available to watch and about 40 audio channels for different kinds of songs. In addition to the audio/video, there were two cameras installed in the aircraft; one at the nose, another at the bottom. The view from these cameras was telecasted as two channels in the IFE. The takeoff and the landing views were very nice though the clarity was not good. Spending 4 hours to reach Dubai was not at all boring. The meal provided wasn’t good though.
The Dubai Airport is not good when compared to the Frankfurt airport. But the choice for shopping is more in this airport although the costs are a bit high. I was hungry as usual and started looking for something vegetarian. Soon enough, I found an Indian restaurant, McDonald’s serving a Veg Burger and a shop selling croissants. I quickly exchanged 10 Euros and got 49 Dirhams. Then I got myself a burger, fries and coke and sat down for my meal. It was really a very nice and filling meal as the food in the flight was not good.
An announcement was made for the 7 hour journey from Dubai to Hamburg in an Airbus aircraft which had little less in-flight-entertainment than the previous flight. I spent most of my journey sleeping and watching one of the most stupid movies ever made, “De Taali”. I really fail to understand who can think of such stories for a movie and spend so much of money for making it!
The temperature in Hamburg was around 14 degrees; sunny but cool. I waited for my luggage for about 20 minutes and then hired a taxi and reached Pali’s place in an hour’s time. Kusum received me at her place and I quickly freshened up and had a little bit of rice and dal and then left for the customer’s office.
The manager at the customer’s office was in a meeting and he could not meet me. The time was about 4:30 PM. Since there was nothing to do, I left the office and put my memory into test. The test was to remember the way back to Pali’s place which is about 4 and a half kilometres away from the office. The leaves from the trees dropped to the ground very frequently from which I remembered it was the autumn season. The golden yellow leaves on the road and the pavement looked very beautiful as though somebody had laid a carpet. On the way, I came across a traffic signal where I had to cross a road. I stood near the traffic signal waiting for it to turn red for the vehicles and green for the people to cross. A minute passed, but the signal did not turn to red. I thought it may take some more time and waited for another minute only to realize that the light was not turning red. I thought I should just run when no vehicles are around as we do in India just when a small girl came on a cycle and stood beside me. The moment she came, the traffic signal showed green for us to cross. I was wondering how lucky the girl must be to get the green light as soon as she came.
Only after I reached to the other side of the road did I realize that no luck is required but a little bit of observation sense. There is a button in a pole beside the road. When this button is pressed, the traffic light goes to red for the vehicles and the pedestrians can cross. I did not notice that this button was just beside me when I was waiting! Having learnt how to cross the road, I reached Kusum's place in a couple of minutes. Quite a few new guests had come to stay at their place, all from another company in Bangalore. During the dinner, we introduced ourselves and thus ended my first day in Germany.
There is nowhere else on earth, I’d rather be…
[A song by Bryan Adams]
Well, working in the same company for the same client, there is no other place where I can go other than Germany. So, I’m back in Germany for an extension of my previous project but this time only for 20 days.
On a Friday morning, my manager called me and said “You have to travel urgently to Germany and reach the office on Monday. The client wants one person from here”. There were so many things to be done, booking the tickets, getting a laptop, getting my foreign exchange, booking the accommodation and what not! Phew, I had to do everything and make sure I reached the customer’s office on Monday morning.
At the end of Friday, I managed to get most of the things done but for the ticket which was the most important thing. Thanks to our travel team, they work on Saturday too; I got the ticket in the evening and was supposed to travel on Sunday night. Since the notice period was very short, there was no direct flight from Bangalore available and my travel co-ordinator booked the route Bangalore-Bombay-Dubai-Hamburg.
Sunday morning, I started the packing and left my place at 6 PM to catch the flight at 9:30 PM from Bengaluru International Airport. The journey in the taxi took an hour and half with the chauffer Basavaraj. As soon as I got into the taxi, Basavaraj asked me if I wanted the A/C to be switched on giving a hint that he did not want it. I said the natural air is any day better than the conditioned air. He was very happy. During the long talk with him, I realized that being a taxi driver is no easy job. They should know English, should have passed 10th Standard, should know the in and out of the city, should have 5 years of driving experience, should be aged at least 25, should be courteous to the passengers and the list of requirements goes on and on.
Even with so much of qualification, the sad thing is Basavaraj does not have a fixed salary per month. Everyday, he has to pay 900 Rupees and take the taxi from the office and start his day. He then starts bidding for calls and if he is in luck, the call centre employee assigns a request to Basavaraj. He then has to fill the fuel for the taxi out of his own money and drop the passenger to the location. Whatever the customer pays is his salary. On a given day, he may make anywhere between 100 to 1000 or sometimes 2000 rupees. Just one phone call from an irate customer to express his dissatisfaction is enough for Basavaraj to lose his job. His is a job where even a single mistake committed makes him deprived of the essential needs to run his family. The traffic jams in Bangalore add to his woes when customers scold him for not reaching the destination on time.
When we were talking about all this, I reached the airport, paid him the money and checked in my luggage at the Jet Airways counter; thus started my journey to Germany.
I reached the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai at 11:30 PM because of a slight delay in the flight. In Mumbai, the domestic and International airports are different and there is a free shuttle service for the passengers who visit Mumbai as a transit point. I approached the shuttle helpdesk and obtained a coupon with which I could board the shuttle bus and waited for the call after collecting my luggage. Soon, the announcement was made and I sat in a Volvo bus which was to take me to the International airport. On reaching the international airport, the task at hand was to locate the Emirates Airlines entrance for the check-in. The check-in did not take much time; I got a window seat from Mumbai to Dubai and then an aisle seat from Dubai to Hamburg.
After waiting for 6 long hours, I boarded the Boeing aircraft which was fully loaded with In-Flight-Entertainment (IFE). Each seat had a small LCD display monitor. The passengers had to use a small handset which served as the input to the IFE. About 200 odd movies in many languages were available to watch and about 40 audio channels for different kinds of songs. In addition to the audio/video, there were two cameras installed in the aircraft; one at the nose, another at the bottom. The view from these cameras was telecasted as two channels in the IFE. The takeoff and the landing views were very nice though the clarity was not good. Spending 4 hours to reach Dubai was not at all boring. The meal provided wasn’t good though.
The Dubai Airport is not good when compared to the Frankfurt airport. But the choice for shopping is more in this airport although the costs are a bit high. I was hungry as usual and started looking for something vegetarian. Soon enough, I found an Indian restaurant, McDonald’s serving a Veg Burger and a shop selling croissants. I quickly exchanged 10 Euros and got 49 Dirhams. Then I got myself a burger, fries and coke and sat down for my meal. It was really a very nice and filling meal as the food in the flight was not good.
An announcement was made for the 7 hour journey from Dubai to Hamburg in an Airbus aircraft which had little less in-flight-entertainment than the previous flight. I spent most of my journey sleeping and watching one of the most stupid movies ever made, “De Taali”. I really fail to understand who can think of such stories for a movie and spend so much of money for making it!
The temperature in Hamburg was around 14 degrees; sunny but cool. I waited for my luggage for about 20 minutes and then hired a taxi and reached Pali’s place in an hour’s time. Kusum received me at her place and I quickly freshened up and had a little bit of rice and dal and then left for the customer’s office.
The manager at the customer’s office was in a meeting and he could not meet me. The time was about 4:30 PM. Since there was nothing to do, I left the office and put my memory into test. The test was to remember the way back to Pali’s place which is about 4 and a half kilometres away from the office. The leaves from the trees dropped to the ground very frequently from which I remembered it was the autumn season. The golden yellow leaves on the road and the pavement looked very beautiful as though somebody had laid a carpet. On the way, I came across a traffic signal where I had to cross a road. I stood near the traffic signal waiting for it to turn red for the vehicles and green for the people to cross. A minute passed, but the signal did not turn to red. I thought it may take some more time and waited for another minute only to realize that the light was not turning red. I thought I should just run when no vehicles are around as we do in India just when a small girl came on a cycle and stood beside me. The moment she came, the traffic signal showed green for us to cross. I was wondering how lucky the girl must be to get the green light as soon as she came.
Only after I reached to the other side of the road did I realize that no luck is required but a little bit of observation sense. There is a button in a pole beside the road. When this button is pressed, the traffic light goes to red for the vehicles and the pedestrians can cross. I did not notice that this button was just beside me when I was waiting! Having learnt how to cross the road, I reached Kusum's place in a couple of minutes. Quite a few new guests had come to stay at their place, all from another company in Bangalore. During the dinner, we introduced ourselves and thus ended my first day in Germany.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Read this na
Bhaskar: "Hi da macha, what you are doing?"
Kunal: "Hi Yaar, I was just doing time pass man. So, tell"
Bhaskar: "I told you na, that girl, remember? I saw her again da"
Kunal: "Awesome dude, full seeing girls and all nowdays aa?
Bhaskar: "Maannn!! She is awesome man"
Kunal: "So, what next dude? You will propose?"
Bhaskar: "Hey What da, I simply saw her thats all, just for that only if I propose off... thats all"
Kunal: "Ha ha, I was just kiddin man"
Bhaskar: "You are always kidding paa"
Kunal: "So, what was she wearing? Where did you see her? Tell me also no"
Bhaskar: "White T shirt and light blue jeans da, she was looking very hot da, awesome"
Kunal: "Wow dude, but where you saw her? You are not telling only"
Bhaskar: "Wait da, I will tell. Simply don't make urgent. I saw her in the mall with her mother"
Kunal: "Did you speak with her?"
Bhaskar: "No da de, I got afraid da, her mother was there no, that's why I avoided her fully"
Kunal: "aaawww. Its okay yaar, you will see her again, don't worry."
Bhaskar: "So, we will meet today or not?"
Kunal: "We will meet yaar, I told you yesterday na ki we will meet in front of the Pani Puri shop. You forgot?"
Bhaskar: "Oooo.. ok ok. I remembered just now. Ok macha, I will come there at 5 PM"
Kunal: "How you will come there? Get the bike yaar"
Bhaskar: "Mah bro will finish me off if I ask for the bike now da. Let me see, I will ask him anyways"
Kunal: "Ask your brother now only"
Bhaskar: "hmmmm, wait. Anna, can I take your bike today?"
Bhaskar: "No luck da, he is going with his friends somewhere"
Kunal: "Where it seems?"
Bhaskar: "Don't know pa, he will not tell that and all"
Kunal: "Okay yaar, both of us will again come by cycle only."
[At the 'adda']
Bhaskar: "What ra macha, you came 10 minutes late, you were doing make up-aa?"
Kunal: "Something and all you will tell yaar, I was stuck up in the traffic"
Bhaskar: "You were stucking in the jam? hopeless no, this jam? I hate it da"
Kunal: "Okay yaar, me feeling hungry, come we will have something"
Bhaskar: "No yaar, my stomach is not okay today. We will sit here come"
Kunal: "So, what your brother told about your plan of going abroad?"
Bhaskar: "The course is good it seems, he told me to start preparing"
Kunal: "Cool man. So, when will you give the exams?"
Bhaskar: "I have to start preparation now man, don' t know when I can give the exam"
Kunal: "So full belting now huh?"
Bhaskar: "Nothing like that da. Hey! look at those two items there, superb no?"
Kunal: "The red one is mine, you can take the other one if you want"
Bhaskar: "Bugger, I saw them first, the red is mine okay!"
Kunal: "Leave these girls man, you will anyway get videsi ones. You can enjoy fully there!"
Bhaskar: "Yeah da, it will very nice there. I'm just waiting to go there"
DISCLAIMER: The characters in the above conversation are fictional and any resemblance to any person is purely co-incidental.
Go to any public place and you can easily get to listen this kind of a conversation around you. Qualified software engineers who work for clients in the USA, UK or any other English speaking countries use this accent and vocabulary while talking. The effect of the vernacular languages creeps into English unknowingly and becomes a part of it by default. No wonder, the westerners make fun of our language.
Young kids too when playing in the neighborhood talk only in English even if all them talk in another language at home. But if people who have finished their education and working in a professional capacity talk in this way, it is seriously a very sad state. The importance of knowing the basics of English is very important at least in the industry that I am working in.
Many a times, business requirements will demand the employees of an organization to travel to the client's location to work which is referred to as 'Onsite' in my industry. In one such occasion where I was given a chance to travel to Germany for a month's duration, all I did was to observe how my peers would communicate with the client. A manager from a different project from my company was also working with me in Germany. His way of telling how the quality of a deliverable can be improved by following the processes defined in the system was
"We should.. like focus more on process aspect also.. so, then no, automatically the quality work will be there. So, the quality of the product will increase then"
The primary eligibility for a person to be let to work in such an environment is fluency in the language. Imagine what can the other guy understand when a dialog like the one above is said! Poor guy, the expression on his face was a rare sight, he just nodded his head and changed the topic!
If managers themselves are of this level, what can we expect from his reportees? Another famous expression used is "stuffs like that" or "kind of things" to generalize something.
"See, George told me that we can not do the module now and those kind of things. I just told him to finish the work by tomorrow and update the status. Otherwise, these kind of stuffs will be always pending only."
I'm trying to make a compilation of all such famous dialogs which I'll post shortly. Until then, either you keep wondering why is it so difficult for people to learn this language or you start enjoying the literal translations from a regional language to English, its your choice.
My choice is definitely the latter. Because, "I am like this only"!
Kunal: "Hi Yaar, I was just doing time pass man. So, tell"
Bhaskar: "I told you na, that girl, remember? I saw her again da"
Kunal: "Awesome dude, full seeing girls and all nowdays aa?
Bhaskar: "Maannn!! She is awesome man"
Kunal: "So, what next dude? You will propose?"
Bhaskar: "Hey What da, I simply saw her thats all, just for that only if I propose off... thats all"
Kunal: "Ha ha, I was just kiddin man"
Bhaskar: "You are always kidding paa"
Kunal: "So, what was she wearing? Where did you see her? Tell me also no"
Bhaskar: "White T shirt and light blue jeans da, she was looking very hot da, awesome"
Kunal: "Wow dude, but where you saw her? You are not telling only"
Bhaskar: "Wait da, I will tell. Simply don't make urgent. I saw her in the mall with her mother"
Kunal: "Did you speak with her?"
Bhaskar: "No da de, I got afraid da, her mother was there no, that's why I avoided her fully"
Kunal: "aaawww. Its okay yaar, you will see her again, don't worry."
Bhaskar: "So, we will meet today or not?"
Kunal: "We will meet yaar, I told you yesterday na ki we will meet in front of the Pani Puri shop. You forgot?"
Bhaskar: "Oooo.. ok ok. I remembered just now. Ok macha, I will come there at 5 PM"
Kunal: "How you will come there? Get the bike yaar"
Bhaskar: "Mah bro will finish me off if I ask for the bike now da. Let me see, I will ask him anyways"
Kunal: "Ask your brother now only"
Bhaskar: "hmmmm, wait. Anna, can I take your bike today?"
Bhaskar: "No luck da, he is going with his friends somewhere"
Kunal: "Where it seems?"
Bhaskar: "Don't know pa, he will not tell that and all"
Kunal: "Okay yaar, both of us will again come by cycle only."
[At the 'adda']
Bhaskar: "What ra macha, you came 10 minutes late, you were doing make up-aa?"
Kunal: "Something and all you will tell yaar, I was stuck up in the traffic"
Bhaskar: "You were stucking in the jam? hopeless no, this jam? I hate it da"
Kunal: "Okay yaar, me feeling hungry, come we will have something"
Bhaskar: "No yaar, my stomach is not okay today. We will sit here come"
Kunal: "So, what your brother told about your plan of going abroad?"
Bhaskar: "The course is good it seems, he told me to start preparing"
Kunal: "Cool man. So, when will you give the exams?"
Bhaskar: "I have to start preparation now man, don' t know when I can give the exam"
Kunal: "So full belting now huh?"
Bhaskar: "Nothing like that da. Hey! look at those two items there, superb no?"
Kunal: "The red one is mine, you can take the other one if you want"
Bhaskar: "Bugger, I saw them first, the red is mine okay!"
Kunal: "Leave these girls man, you will anyway get videsi ones. You can enjoy fully there!"
Bhaskar: "Yeah da, it will very nice there. I'm just waiting to go there"
DISCLAIMER: The characters in the above conversation are fictional and any resemblance to any person is purely co-incidental.
Go to any public place and you can easily get to listen this kind of a conversation around you. Qualified software engineers who work for clients in the USA, UK or any other English speaking countries use this accent and vocabulary while talking. The effect of the vernacular languages creeps into English unknowingly and becomes a part of it by default. No wonder, the westerners make fun of our language.
Young kids too when playing in the neighborhood talk only in English even if all them talk in another language at home. But if people who have finished their education and working in a professional capacity talk in this way, it is seriously a very sad state. The importance of knowing the basics of English is very important at least in the industry that I am working in.
Many a times, business requirements will demand the employees of an organization to travel to the client's location to work which is referred to as 'Onsite' in my industry. In one such occasion where I was given a chance to travel to Germany for a month's duration, all I did was to observe how my peers would communicate with the client. A manager from a different project from my company was also working with me in Germany. His way of telling how the quality of a deliverable can be improved by following the processes defined in the system was
"We should.. like focus more on process aspect also.. so, then no, automatically the quality work will be there. So, the quality of the product will increase then"
The primary eligibility for a person to be let to work in such an environment is fluency in the language. Imagine what can the other guy understand when a dialog like the one above is said! Poor guy, the expression on his face was a rare sight, he just nodded his head and changed the topic!
If managers themselves are of this level, what can we expect from his reportees? Another famous expression used is "stuffs like that" or "kind of things" to generalize something.
"See, George told me that we can not do the module now and those kind of things. I just told him to finish the work by tomorrow and update the status. Otherwise, these kind of stuffs will be always pending only."
I'm trying to make a compilation of all such famous dialogs which I'll post shortly. Until then, either you keep wondering why is it so difficult for people to learn this language or you start enjoying the literal translations from a regional language to English, its your choice.
My choice is definitely the latter. Because, "I am like this only"!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Enchanting Devarayana Durga
Picture this:
Beautiful shades of green around you, the bright green leaves, the dark green leaves, the rain has just stopped and cleaned the environment thoroughly, absolutely no vehicles around, no people around... just you and mother nature. Just the way to spend a weekend, isn't it? Well, this place is just 75 kilometers from Bangalore, Devarayana Durga.
Maddy and I set off on a Saturday to explore Devarayana Durga, very near to Tumkur. We decided to have our breakfast on the way in Kyathsandra which is very famous for 'tatte' idly. We left Bangalore at around 8:30 AM from Maddy's place. The traffic was horrible in the so called 'National Highway' number 4 till we went past T Dasarahalli. The climate was just perfect for a long drive, no sun, no wind. I did the driving all the way till we reached the destination. Even without being serviced, my Pulsar cruised at 100kmph easily, what a bike! I just love it.
The first pit stop was at Kyathsandra's Ravi Darshan Hotel for the breakfast. Times have changed; so has the hotel. What used to be a very old looking hotel with typical wooden seats and tables now is a plush hotel on the highway serving the customers seated on cushion seats and a separate family room. I fail to understand the concept of these Family rooms. No A/c, no special ambiance, no better taste but the rates are high. The steaming bisi bisi tatte idlies were served within minutes. The taste of the chutney was very different from what the usual hotels serve. The big fat and flat idly had a ball of butter on it which started melting right away. The taste of the idly chutney along with the butter was the typical-Kyathsandra-taste. Ah! superb. Though we were somewhat full, our greed ordered a Masala Dose each. The crisp Masala Dose was smelling full of ghee and was loaded with the aalugadde palya inside. The idly and dose filled our stomach beyond the usual capacity.
We took a deviation from the NH4 just beside the hotel and proceeded towards Naamada Chilume, which is just about 20 kms from the hotel. The roads are really very good. There were absolutely no vehicles around us, full greenery on either side of the roads. We felt really close to mother nature. We in fact got so close to mother nature that we stopped the bike, got down and just walked towards the trees to relieve ourselves in the arms of Mother Nature! After hanging up the nature call, we spotted beautiful small birds atop the tree which were giving nice Bose (Pose) to be framed in his Olympus camera.
Naamada Chilume has an interesting story. It seems when Rama and Sita were on exile, they were passing through the forests in this area and it was time for Rama to pray for which he had to apply the naama (tilak). Since he could not find water around, he pulled out an arrow and shot it on a rock. This created a hole out of which water started flowing. Even to this day, the water has been flowing continuously. Many people have tried to find out the source of the water, all in vain.
The entrance fee to get inside this place is Rs 3. I wonder what purpose it serves for the government to collect just 3 rupees as the entrance fees. We were greeted by our ancestors, monkeys as soon as we entered the gates of Naamada Chilume. Seeing their antics for a while, we spotted the deers taking rest under the shade of the trees far away. A couple of photos of the monkeys were shot by the upcoming photographer, Maddy.
The hole from where the holy water flows out has been protected with grill around out so that no one can pollute the water or do something unwanted. The water that flows out is collected in another man made hole for people to sprinkle it on themselves and consume it as theertha. We sat on the rocks for a while when admiring the beauty when a few skinks (haavu raaNi) creeped up the rocks.
Maddy shot this beautiful photo of a big skink. It was really difficult to get this angle, a brilliant effort I must say.
We then started off towards Devarayana Durga which has 3 temples all near to each other. The uphill ride was truly an enchanting experience. We just saw green hills around us everywhere with very few vehicles passing by. There is a viewpoint on the way to the temple, we got down from the bike and spent about half an hour gazing at the beauty of Karnataka. Maddy shot another very good landscape even with the lighting not being photo friendly.
Both of us were not interested in going inside the temple and hence, we did not seek the darshan of the Lord. While climbing the stairs to the temple, Maddy spotted a very small bird lifting off from a wall adjacent to us. He also noticed that this small bird was the parent of 2 baby birds that were residing in their nests within the gap between the stones of the wall. Both of us wanted to watch the mother bird feed its children and waited for about an hour sitting near the wall. Though the mother bird came near the wall, it did not risk feeding its children fearing if people discover them.
We then moved away from the wall and let the parent bird feed its babies with small worms. Maddy climbed the wall till he got a clear view of the babies. It was really difficult to stand still with the little support that he got from the stones. I switched on the camera, took off the lens cover and gave it to him.
He stood there for about half a minute and this is what he could get. What a beauty to see these innocent ones which even haven't opened their eyes.
People passing by were giving suspicious looks at us wondering what we were doing standing by the wall and not going inside the temple. One gentleman asked us where the birds were, we said we did not know and that we were waiting to see if any.
It started to drizzle and we thought it was time for us to head back to Bangalore. Both of us not hungry, courtesy - Ravi Darshan Hotel. We ate a couple of sliced cucumbers and had tender coconut water and started the ride back to Bangalore. The ride back to Bangalore was pretty slow with both of us discussing all possible things and also singing a few of our favorite songs, praising the composers of the songs, the singers and we reached Peenya by 4:30 PM. I was tired of riding for about 150 kms and gave the charge to Maddy to complete the journey to his place which took about an hour because of the heavy traffic.
Expense wise, it was a real cheap outing and one of the best ways to spend a weekend.
Fuel : 250 Rupees
Breakfast at Kyathsandra : 70 Rupees
Cucumber and tender coconut : 20 Rupees
Entrance fees at Naamada Chilume : 6 Rupees
Admiration of nature : Priceless!
Route taken from Vidyaranya Pura : Tumkur Road - Kyathsandra - Siddalinga Mutt - Devarayana Durga - Tumkur Road - Vidyaranya Pura.
Beautiful shades of green around you, the bright green leaves, the dark green leaves, the rain has just stopped and cleaned the environment thoroughly, absolutely no vehicles around, no people around... just you and mother nature. Just the way to spend a weekend, isn't it? Well, this place is just 75 kilometers from Bangalore, Devarayana Durga.
Maddy and I set off on a Saturday to explore Devarayana Durga, very near to Tumkur. We decided to have our breakfast on the way in Kyathsandra which is very famous for 'tatte' idly. We left Bangalore at around 8:30 AM from Maddy's place. The traffic was horrible in the so called 'National Highway' number 4 till we went past T Dasarahalli. The climate was just perfect for a long drive, no sun, no wind. I did the driving all the way till we reached the destination. Even without being serviced, my Pulsar cruised at 100kmph easily, what a bike! I just love it.
The first pit stop was at Kyathsandra's Ravi Darshan Hotel for the breakfast. Times have changed; so has the hotel. What used to be a very old looking hotel with typical wooden seats and tables now is a plush hotel on the highway serving the customers seated on cushion seats and a separate family room. I fail to understand the concept of these Family rooms. No A/c, no special ambiance, no better taste but the rates are high. The steaming bisi bisi tatte idlies were served within minutes. The taste of the chutney was very different from what the usual hotels serve. The big fat and flat idly had a ball of butter on it which started melting right away. The taste of the idly chutney along with the butter was the typical-Kyathsandra-taste. Ah! superb. Though we were somewhat full, our greed ordered a Masala Dose each. The crisp Masala Dose was smelling full of ghee and was loaded with the aalugadde palya inside. The idly and dose filled our stomach beyond the usual capacity.
We took a deviation from the NH4 just beside the hotel and proceeded towards Naamada Chilume, which is just about 20 kms from the hotel. The roads are really very good. There were absolutely no vehicles around us, full greenery on either side of the roads. We felt really close to mother nature. We in fact got so close to mother nature that we stopped the bike, got down and just walked towards the trees to relieve ourselves in the arms of Mother Nature! After hanging up the nature call, we spotted beautiful small birds atop the tree which were giving nice Bose (Pose) to be framed in his Olympus camera.
Naamada Chilume has an interesting story. It seems when Rama and Sita were on exile, they were passing through the forests in this area and it was time for Rama to pray for which he had to apply the naama (tilak). Since he could not find water around, he pulled out an arrow and shot it on a rock. This created a hole out of which water started flowing. Even to this day, the water has been flowing continuously. Many people have tried to find out the source of the water, all in vain.
The entrance fee to get inside this place is Rs 3. I wonder what purpose it serves for the government to collect just 3 rupees as the entrance fees. We were greeted by our ancestors, monkeys as soon as we entered the gates of Naamada Chilume. Seeing their antics for a while, we spotted the deers taking rest under the shade of the trees far away. A couple of photos of the monkeys were shot by the upcoming photographer, Maddy.
The hole from where the holy water flows out has been protected with grill around out so that no one can pollute the water or do something unwanted. The water that flows out is collected in another man made hole for people to sprinkle it on themselves and consume it as theertha. We sat on the rocks for a while when admiring the beauty when a few skinks (haavu raaNi) creeped up the rocks.
Maddy shot this beautiful photo of a big skink. It was really difficult to get this angle, a brilliant effort I must say.We then started off towards Devarayana Durga which has 3 temples all near to each other. The uphill ride was truly an enchanting experience. We just saw green hills around us everywhere with very few vehicles passing by. There is a viewpoint on the way to the temple, we got down from the bike and spent about half an hour gazing at the beauty of Karnataka. Maddy shot another very good landscape even with the lighting not being photo friendly.
Both of us were not interested in going inside the temple and hence, we did not seek the darshan of the Lord. While climbing the stairs to the temple, Maddy spotted a very small bird lifting off from a wall adjacent to us. He also noticed that this small bird was the parent of 2 baby birds that were residing in their nests within the gap between the stones of the wall. Both of us wanted to watch the mother bird feed its children and waited for about an hour sitting near the wall. Though the mother bird came near the wall, it did not risk feeding its children fearing if people discover them.
We then moved away from the wall and let the parent bird feed its babies with small worms. Maddy climbed the wall till he got a clear view of the babies. It was really difficult to stand still with the little support that he got from the stones. I switched on the camera, took off the lens cover and gave it to him.
He stood there for about half a minute and this is what he could get. What a beauty to see these innocent ones which even haven't opened their eyes.People passing by were giving suspicious looks at us wondering what we were doing standing by the wall and not going inside the temple. One gentleman asked us where the birds were, we said we did not know and that we were waiting to see if any.
It started to drizzle and we thought it was time for us to head back to Bangalore. Both of us not hungry, courtesy - Ravi Darshan Hotel. We ate a couple of sliced cucumbers and had tender coconut water and started the ride back to Bangalore. The ride back to Bangalore was pretty slow with both of us discussing all possible things and also singing a few of our favorite songs, praising the composers of the songs, the singers and we reached Peenya by 4:30 PM. I was tired of riding for about 150 kms and gave the charge to Maddy to complete the journey to his place which took about an hour because of the heavy traffic.
Expense wise, it was a real cheap outing and one of the best ways to spend a weekend.
Fuel : 250 Rupees
Breakfast at Kyathsandra : 70 Rupees
Cucumber and tender coconut : 20 Rupees
Entrance fees at Naamada Chilume : 6 Rupees
Admiration of nature : Priceless!
Route taken from Vidyaranya Pura : Tumkur Road - Kyathsandra - Siddalinga Mutt - Devarayana Durga - Tumkur Road - Vidyaranya Pura.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Foreign Return
It was almost time for me to complete the remaining work at the office as the deadline was fast approaching. I had completed the work much ahead of the schedule for which the customer was happy (Okay, I know that this is not my appraisal form. What a pain it is to talk about self!). With just 2 days left after the beautiful Paris weekend, I had a relaxing time at office with just about 4 hours of work per day. I finished the final delivery of my project by late morning on Tuesday. Stinky was on leave for a week so I had to meet another smart German Project Manager regarding the delivery. He thanked me for having finished the project, I thanked him and his team for helping me, he thanked me back for finishing it on time and I again thanked him for the help Stinky had been for this project. At last, the thanksgiving was done with!
I met all the member's of Stinky's team, bid them good bye and left the customer's office for the last time. Pali picked me up at 2 PM, I had the rest of the day to do my packing and settling of the bill for my accommodation. Only when I started the packing did I realize that I had indeed bought quite a few gifts for my family and friends. The suitcase weighed around 19 kilos after the packing. Kusum had given me a few toiletries as gift but unfortunately I did not have space in my suitcase to keep all of them. I took the deodorant and the after shave lotion and left back the shower gel, some creams etc...
The packing got over in an hour and I started browsing the net to pass the time. In the evening, when all the colleagues returned back, we sat together and were chatting for some time and I had my last dinner of the trip. Post dinner, it was time for settling the bill, checking if the dates of all the bills was correct and of course, paying the final money to Kusum and Pali. When calculating the amount of the bill, Pali gave a discount of 10 euros for an unknown reason. We decided to leave home at 4 AM to avoid problems of traffic and changing schedules of the flights. I got up at 4 AM and we left Pali's place at 4:30 to reach the Hamburg airport at 5. The journey at 4:30 AM with a temperature of 2 degrees was amazing. Pali touched a speed of 210 kmph on the highway, what an experience it was! We reached the airport very early as there was no problems on the road, I thanked Pali for everything; so did he. I pulled out my suitcase and dragged it towards the check-in counter. After the check-in which did not even take 5 minutes, I had 4 full hours before my flight left to Frankfurt. The wait was really very boring, I bought a sudoku book and solved it for an hour, roamed around all the shops near my departing gate and had my breakfast at 7:30.
The breakfast was a vegetable sandwich and black coffee. After dozing off for some time came the announcement to board the flight. The Lufthansa aircraft reached Frankfurt in and hour and a half. I just had one hour till the next fight would take me to namma bengaLooru. I was really happy to be going back to MY place and share my experiences with everybody around. The immigration officer stamped the seal and allowed me to go out of Germany. The moment I came near the terminal for the departing flight, I suddenly felt as though I was in India. Most of the people waiting were obviously Indians, gave a homely feeling! The announcement to board the flight was made and I happily boarded the Boeing aircraft. My co-passenger, also an Indian kept to himself all 9 hours during the flight and I ended up solving a few more Sudoku puzzles and watched the movie Laaga chunari mein daag, what a horrible movie it is! If you haven't watched it, please don't dare watching it.
When we were almost near Bangalore, the air hostess gave us the immigration check forms to be filled up. I filled up all the fields but for one which asked me the amount of goods being imported in Rupees. I was in great confusion not knowing what to fill up for that field. Lot of questions were racing in my mind; Should I ask my co-passenger? How will he know what I have bought and how much it would cost? Should I tell him what goodies I have bought for my friends and relatives? Should I just write NIL in the field? Oh my God, please help me! Atlast, I decided to roughly calculate the cost of everything that I had bought and convert them into rupees and write the amount. The instruction on the overleaf said upto 25,000 rupees worth items are duty free. My calculation came upto 10,000 rupees approximately. I boldly wrote 10,000/- in the specified field and felt proud about myself for having solved the problem without anybody's help.
As soon as I finished filling up the form, a person sitting near me asked me for my pen. I gave him with a smile and just was seeing what he would fill for that field. I was dismayed when he wrote NIL for that column and returned my pen back. Minutes later, my co-passenger also filled NIL for that field. Should I tear this form and ask for another form? Should I tell them that it got tore by mistake? Will a duplicate form be issued to a passenger? What if the customs people detain me for buying goods worth 10,000 rupees? I did not even have the bill for all the items that I had purchased! Will I be asked to show all the items that I had bought? Will they take away all the gifts that my suitcase had in it? Why the hell did not I ask anybody what to fill? Why the hell did not I write NIL? SHIT!!
The plane touched Bangalore's ground bang on time and holding my passport and the immigration form, I came out of the aircraft to be welcomed by the warm weather of our city. As soon as I entered the building a long line was already queued up for the immigration clearance to enter India. Waiting in the line, I again started thinking about the justifications that I would have to give. Sir, by mistake I wrote something in the form sir, forgive me. Sir, this is the first time I'm traveling, I did not know what to write, sorry sir. Oh! Have I written 10,000, how stupid of me! Sorry Sir, I must have done that by mistake.
With all possible explanations ready, I went to a counter and handed the officer my passport and the form. He looked into my passport, saw the form, and gave me back a portion of the form which I had to submit to the customs official. Thank God, I'm allowed to enter Bangalore! The wait for the baggage was really hopeless. I stood there for almost an hour and then came my black Samsonite without any damages. I picked it up and at the exit door was a customs officer collecting the remaining portion of the form and letting the passengers walk out. I handed him the form with fear, he did not even see what was written! He simply took the form and nodded which meant I could go!!! Wow, a happy man I was!
My dad, brother in law and friend K had come to pick me up, the time was 1 AM. We talked, talked and talked till we reached home and back I was at my place!
It was an amazing feeling to see the beaming faces of my parents, their son is 'Foreign Returned'! One month of stay in Germany was truly a learning in experience in all sorts. An experience that I can never forget!
I met all the member's of Stinky's team, bid them good bye and left the customer's office for the last time. Pali picked me up at 2 PM, I had the rest of the day to do my packing and settling of the bill for my accommodation. Only when I started the packing did I realize that I had indeed bought quite a few gifts for my family and friends. The suitcase weighed around 19 kilos after the packing. Kusum had given me a few toiletries as gift but unfortunately I did not have space in my suitcase to keep all of them. I took the deodorant and the after shave lotion and left back the shower gel, some creams etc...
The packing got over in an hour and I started browsing the net to pass the time. In the evening, when all the colleagues returned back, we sat together and were chatting for some time and I had my last dinner of the trip. Post dinner, it was time for settling the bill, checking if the dates of all the bills was correct and of course, paying the final money to Kusum and Pali. When calculating the amount of the bill, Pali gave a discount of 10 euros for an unknown reason. We decided to leave home at 4 AM to avoid problems of traffic and changing schedules of the flights. I got up at 4 AM and we left Pali's place at 4:30 to reach the Hamburg airport at 5. The journey at 4:30 AM with a temperature of 2 degrees was amazing. Pali touched a speed of 210 kmph on the highway, what an experience it was! We reached the airport very early as there was no problems on the road, I thanked Pali for everything; so did he. I pulled out my suitcase and dragged it towards the check-in counter. After the check-in which did not even take 5 minutes, I had 4 full hours before my flight left to Frankfurt. The wait was really very boring, I bought a sudoku book and solved it for an hour, roamed around all the shops near my departing gate and had my breakfast at 7:30.
The breakfast was a vegetable sandwich and black coffee. After dozing off for some time came the announcement to board the flight. The Lufthansa aircraft reached Frankfurt in and hour and a half. I just had one hour till the next fight would take me to namma bengaLooru. I was really happy to be going back to MY place and share my experiences with everybody around. The immigration officer stamped the seal and allowed me to go out of Germany. The moment I came near the terminal for the departing flight, I suddenly felt as though I was in India. Most of the people waiting were obviously Indians, gave a homely feeling! The announcement to board the flight was made and I happily boarded the Boeing aircraft. My co-passenger, also an Indian kept to himself all 9 hours during the flight and I ended up solving a few more Sudoku puzzles and watched the movie Laaga chunari mein daag, what a horrible movie it is! If you haven't watched it, please don't dare watching it.
When we were almost near Bangalore, the air hostess gave us the immigration check forms to be filled up. I filled up all the fields but for one which asked me the amount of goods being imported in Rupees. I was in great confusion not knowing what to fill up for that field. Lot of questions were racing in my mind; Should I ask my co-passenger? How will he know what I have bought and how much it would cost? Should I tell him what goodies I have bought for my friends and relatives? Should I just write NIL in the field? Oh my God, please help me! Atlast, I decided to roughly calculate the cost of everything that I had bought and convert them into rupees and write the amount. The instruction on the overleaf said upto 25,000 rupees worth items are duty free. My calculation came upto 10,000 rupees approximately. I boldly wrote 10,000/- in the specified field and felt proud about myself for having solved the problem without anybody's help.
As soon as I finished filling up the form, a person sitting near me asked me for my pen. I gave him with a smile and just was seeing what he would fill for that field. I was dismayed when he wrote NIL for that column and returned my pen back. Minutes later, my co-passenger also filled NIL for that field. Should I tear this form and ask for another form? Should I tell them that it got tore by mistake? Will a duplicate form be issued to a passenger? What if the customs people detain me for buying goods worth 10,000 rupees? I did not even have the bill for all the items that I had purchased! Will I be asked to show all the items that I had bought? Will they take away all the gifts that my suitcase had in it? Why the hell did not I ask anybody what to fill? Why the hell did not I write NIL? SHIT!!
The plane touched Bangalore's ground bang on time and holding my passport and the immigration form, I came out of the aircraft to be welcomed by the warm weather of our city. As soon as I entered the building a long line was already queued up for the immigration clearance to enter India. Waiting in the line, I again started thinking about the justifications that I would have to give. Sir, by mistake I wrote something in the form sir, forgive me. Sir, this is the first time I'm traveling, I did not know what to write, sorry sir. Oh! Have I written 10,000, how stupid of me! Sorry Sir, I must have done that by mistake.
With all possible explanations ready, I went to a counter and handed the officer my passport and the form. He looked into my passport, saw the form, and gave me back a portion of the form which I had to submit to the customs official. Thank God, I'm allowed to enter Bangalore! The wait for the baggage was really hopeless. I stood there for almost an hour and then came my black Samsonite without any damages. I picked it up and at the exit door was a customs officer collecting the remaining portion of the form and letting the passengers walk out. I handed him the form with fear, he did not even see what was written! He simply took the form and nodded which meant I could go!!! Wow, a happy man I was!
My dad, brother in law and friend K had come to pick me up, the time was 1 AM. We talked, talked and talked till we reached home and back I was at my place!
It was an amazing feeling to see the beaming faces of my parents, their son is 'Foreign Returned'! One month of stay in Germany was truly a learning in experience in all sorts. An experience that I can never forget!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Paris PraNaya, Day 2
Before retiring for the day on Saturday, we decided to check out from the hotel by 9 AM on Sunday and complete the Paris-on-foot expedition. We were so tired after walking for more than 20 kms that we woke up at 9:45 AM on Sunday. By the time we got ready and hit the dining hall, we saw only empty plates and glasses left unattended which meant, the breakfast time was over. My colleague had planned the itinerary for the day based on the inputs from the old man whom we met the previous day.
The first thing on our agenda was breakfast. We searched for a bakery nearby to our hotel and bought hot sandwiches. We just left the bakery and it started to drizzle. We sat in the bus stop and hogged our sandwiches, started walking again towards the first place of the day, Place des vosges. It was nice fun walking in the rain, the water was very cold; our legs were still crying with pain. We were told that there was a very nice museum in this oldest square of Paris. When we reached the place, we saw lots of shops, a church and a small museum which had a few modern art paintings displayed. Both of us were not very keen to seeing the paintings and we decided to walk
past it to the next place. The next place was a small island that is situated just beside the island in which Notre Dame church is present. We were told by the old man that this was a very quiet place and a typical Parisian colony.
The drizzling continued; so did our walk. We walked till the island of Notre Dame. There is a small road that connects the two islands, we were not able to locate that road. So, we came to the other side of the Notre Dame island and saw the map. There were about 3 roads that were leading to our island, we started walking towards the first road. We walked for more than 5 minutes but were still not able to find that road. My colleague rechecked the map to realize that we were walking in the opposite direction, thanks to my sense of direction; I had held the map upside down! He started cursing me and it started pouring heavily. We sought the shelter of a restaurant and were waiting for the rain to go away. A couple of street artists started performing break dance in the rain which helped them earn the money from the people who were waiting for the rain to stop. After a while, we continued our walk and reached the island in 5 minutes' time. This place suggested by the old man was again not what we were interested in. It had only buildings everywhere and nothing else. Small roads and small shops could be seen apart from the boring buildings. We just walked through the island to reach the other side of the river and got out of there in just 10 minutes. 2 places till then were not good. The third place suggested was the Basilica of Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. The area was quite far and we certainly could not walk at all. We reached the main road and were waiting for a taxi. A wait for 20 minutes did not even yield a single taxi on that road. Cursing our luck, we started walking down the road hoping we would get a taxi. Atlast, we spotted an empty taxi standing in a traffic signal, we ran and hopped into the taxi and showed the driver the map and told us to take him there.
This church is on top of the highest hill of Paris. The vehicles can directly go on top of the hill or people can climb the stairs from the bottom if they want. We chose the former; courtesy, the previous day's walk. The church is really huge and very beautiful. The view of the fog-filled-Paris from the top of the hill was as though we were seeing the city from almost the 1st level of Eiffel. The rule of the church was that nobody should talk or use the cameras. We walked around inside the church and sat down on the benches meant for praying. It was indeed a huge relief for both of us as we got to sit for sometime after walking for about 6 kms from morning. Sitting for more than 15 minutes we decided it was time to leave as I was a bit hungry. We came out of the church and spotted a small shop nearby where we could get something to eat. They have this dish which looks very similar to Dosa. I don't know what it is called, but it tastes very nice. The batter had a lot of beaten egg in it. He spreads the batter on the tava and tosses it just like the dosa. After it comes out of the tava, you can ask for your choice of spread on the dosa. I asked for a chocolate spread. He smeared the choco spread, rolled that 'French Dosa' and gave it to me. It cost me 2 euros. The taste was nice, something different but nothing like our own dose!
We descended the hill through the steps and walked around in Montmarte till we were hungry for lunch. There were many small restaurants which sold hot steaming pizzas. I really wanted to eat one of those by my colleague doesn't like them and we ended up in McDonald's. I bought myself a large fries and a large sprite and that was my meal. After our lunch, we spent some more time on the roads of Montmarte and hired a taxi to reach the Charles de Gaulle Airport. The driver dropped us at the international airport as we could not tell him where we exactly wanted to go. We had about an hour for our plane to depart when we reached the international terminal. We then had to take the train that runs between the airports to reach the domestic terminal. We got into the EasyJet aircraft at 6:30 PM and reached Hamburg at 8 PM. Then a taxi drive for about an hour landed us at Pali's place at Buxtehude.
2 days spent in Paris, about 30 kms of walk seeing some of the most spectacular things; what a trip it was! A perfect weekend getaway and the most successfully executed plan of mine!
The first thing on our agenda was breakfast. We searched for a bakery nearby to our hotel and bought hot sandwiches. We just left the bakery and it started to drizzle. We sat in the bus stop and hogged our sandwiches, started walking again towards the first place of the day, Place des vosges. It was nice fun walking in the rain, the water was very cold; our legs were still crying with pain. We were told that there was a very nice museum in this oldest square of Paris. When we reached the place, we saw lots of shops, a church and a small museum which had a few modern art paintings displayed. Both of us were not very keen to seeing the paintings and we decided to walk
past it to the next place. The next place was a small island that is situated just beside the island in which Notre Dame church is present. We were told by the old man that this was a very quiet place and a typical Parisian colony.
The drizzling continued; so did our walk. We walked till the island of Notre Dame. There is a small road that connects the two islands, we were not able to locate that road. So, we came to the other side of the Notre Dame island and saw the map. There were about 3 roads that were leading to our island, we started walking towards the first road. We walked for more than 5 minutes but were still not able to find that road. My colleague rechecked the map to realize that we were walking in the opposite direction, thanks to my sense of direction; I had held the map upside down! He started cursing me and it started pouring heavily. We sought the shelter of a restaurant and were waiting for the rain to go away. A couple of street artists started performing break dance in the rain which helped them earn the money from the people who were waiting for the rain to stop. After a while, we continued our walk and reached the island in 5 minutes' time. This place suggested by the old man was again not what we were interested in. It had only buildings everywhere and nothing else. Small roads and small shops could be seen apart from the boring buildings. We just walked through the island to reach the other side of the river and got out of there in just 10 minutes. 2 places till then were not good. The third place suggested was the Basilica of Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. The area was quite far and we certainly could not walk at all. We reached the main road and were waiting for a taxi. A wait for 20 minutes did not even yield a single taxi on that road. Cursing our luck, we started walking down the road hoping we would get a taxi. Atlast, we spotted an empty taxi standing in a traffic signal, we ran and hopped into the taxi and showed the driver the map and told us to take him there.
This church is on top of the highest hill of Paris. The vehicles can directly go on top of the hill or people can climb the stairs from the bottom if they want. We chose the former; courtesy, the previous day's walk. The church is really huge and very beautiful. The view of the fog-filled-Paris from the top of the hill was as though we were seeing the city from almost the 1st level of Eiffel. The rule of the church was that nobody should talk or use the cameras. We walked around inside the church and sat down on the benches meant for praying. It was indeed a huge relief for both of us as we got to sit for sometime after walking for about 6 kms from morning. Sitting for more than 15 minutes we decided it was time to leave as I was a bit hungry. We came out of the church and spotted a small shop nearby where we could get something to eat. They have this dish which looks very similar to Dosa. I don't know what it is called, but it tastes very nice. The batter had a lot of beaten egg in it. He spreads the batter on the tava and tosses it just like the dosa. After it comes out of the tava, you can ask for your choice of spread on the dosa. I asked for a chocolate spread. He smeared the choco spread, rolled that 'French Dosa' and gave it to me. It cost me 2 euros. The taste was nice, something different but nothing like our own dose!
We descended the hill through the steps and walked around in Montmarte till we were hungry for lunch. There were many small restaurants which sold hot steaming pizzas. I really wanted to eat one of those by my colleague doesn't like them and we ended up in McDonald's. I bought myself a large fries and a large sprite and that was my meal. After our lunch, we spent some more time on the roads of Montmarte and hired a taxi to reach the Charles de Gaulle Airport. The driver dropped us at the international airport as we could not tell him where we exactly wanted to go. We had about an hour for our plane to depart when we reached the international terminal. We then had to take the train that runs between the airports to reach the domestic terminal. We got into the EasyJet aircraft at 6:30 PM and reached Hamburg at 8 PM. Then a taxi drive for about an hour landed us at Pali's place at Buxtehude.
2 days spent in Paris, about 30 kms of walk seeing some of the most spectacular things; what a trip it was! A perfect weekend getaway and the most successfully executed plan of mine!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)