It was a lazy friday evening when we decided to take a trip out of the crazy-busy-hectic bangalore and move into the lush green high altitudes of the ghats.The places we had in our intenary were Jog falls,Hebbe falls,shanthi falls etc.
Frankly speaking,i had absolutely no idea what was in store.I thought its just another hill station with the same kind of views we get to see from nandi hills,ooty or kodai..I had been to these conventional places so many times that my intention was to have fun along with friends and never expected anything out of the ordinary.
We were just 5 people and i was thinking maybe we would not have as much as fun afterall..BUT....what happened over the next two days..completely floored me!!
What you get to see in some of the snaps below is only a glimpse of what we all saw there.All the places we went to were...untouched by the commercial invasion that many other hill stations are facing. You could even call them virgin hill stations..barring a few handfull of visitors.
The magnificient views from these hills just took my breath away. I really liked the way people trek to reach these places although we were too lazy to take that path. The most wonderful moments shot on camera for me was on the way back from hebbe falls.The Jeep which carried us, had to stop for some reason.We got down and for a moment i thought i was transported to paradise.There were small trees all arround us..as far as our eyes can see.There were some clouds kissing on the hilltops..so the trees looked as if they were disappearing in the horizon..Thats it...This trip will go down in my memory books as THE BEST one i have ever taken.And of course not to mention...those lovely leeches which have kept up my adventuristic skills.(at least 7 or 8 leeches bit me while crossiing various water streams:-))
Ooty,Kodai....down down..!!
khemengundi....Hurrah!!!!!!
Take a look...
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Have License? Will honk!
The road was empty,hardly a soul anywhere. As the lone pedestrian,I was deeply immersed in my own thoughts lazily walking towards my home.The evening was pleasant,the weather was calm,birds were singing their tunes...Then at a distance behind me, I could slowly hear the rumbling of a Pulsar. Then suddenly as if the Satan had set foot, the serene atmosphere was killed.The Biker honked!!Pommmmmmmmmmm!!!
I was devastated. I looked around if there was any other vehicle on which he honked.Nope! None existed.I searched for any goat/hen/dog/street openings that may have prompted him to use his stupid horn.None that I could find.Then why? I got no answer.I examined myself to see if I was walking on the middle of the road.Nope I was walking on the muddy pathway adjacent to the road.I always believe in giving absolutely no reason for any vehicle on the road to get annoyed with me and consequently pull the trigger ie honk at me:-(.
I'm not sure when I developed this aversion towards illogical honking.But it truly pisses me off.In fact I believe its the worst thing that somebody could do to me.Road rage is a thing,where you can understand that at least the biker was getting a high out of it ignoring the other road-users. But here, it was plain insanity on his part to honk at me!!
Which now brings me to the larger question. Does honking habits really reflect a personality trait and/or just the mood of the person ? I believe it does reflect the person's nature to an extent. To investigate this point, I began to observe almost all the persons with whom I have traveled pillion on their bikes.I was able to categorize them into three broad groups.The first is the SOBER group.They are generally introvert and shy in nature and do not take the trouble of honking at all!They dread the thought of making any noise.They get nervous/uncomfortable if somebody attention is drawn towards them.They go about their rides without complaining about anything and anybody.Even if it is others who are at fault, they dare not show their annoyance.The second group of people are NORMAL level-headed people.They have periodic mood swings and definitely love to show it on the road.Like for eg. if they are in a very bad mood they just cannot tolerate any sort of obstruction(read vehicle!) in front of them while riding.Even though people of this group are sensible enough to understand that going by the Indian road conditions,either the vehicles need to slow down or get off the road to give way for them,they still like to do what they are best at-HONK and HONK!!
The third and the worst group for the roads are the FILMY riders. They are incapable of comprehending the definition of civic sense.They cant distinguish between,yellow light and green light.switching lanes is like trying out different trouser for them!They don't understand that their actions can irritate or compromise the safety of other people on the road.Most of the people in India belong to the second category. The guy who honked at me-an innocent pedestrian, obviously deserves to be in the third category.
Honking has reached such great proportions in India that it will become one of the major sources of noise pollution and worry for the Government. According to experts,Noise does not have be loud to be harmful.Noise in fact is any sound that bothers us.A barking dog or a dripping faucet can trigger your body's responses: heart rate increases; blood pressure rises; the mouth dries; skin loses color; muscles contract; and blood cholesterol rises.Sustained stress reactions to noise can lead to high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, ulcers, indigestion, and insomnia.
Having said that, its the responsibility of the citizens of India to keep this evil under check along with an effort to maintain a nice environment for everybody to have decent tension free ride to their destinations.
The first step starts with us. Identify things that can be changed,I have written down some of them.
1) Honking when in a traffic stop even before the green light comes up.Dude! Nobody likes to stay on the road for long.I am in as much hurry as you are.But have patience.Iam only going to move once the light turns green.If you wish you can fly above me and go on with your journey.
2) Honking from behind,when somebody slows down to get ready to stop at the red signal ahead.Dude!If you think you are some alonso who can escape the red by your sheer speeding then you better show your skills in the circuit, not on public roads. What's the point in honking when you are only going to end up just a foot ahead from the person whom you overtook anyways:-)
3) Honking when somebody on the left side of the road needs to quickly move to the right as some vehicle (especially bus or call centre cab) has suddenly decided to make a pitstop. I admit I myself have honked at times in this kind of scenarios,but hey I'm trying to quit it. One needs to understand that everybody has an equal right to the road. A journey on the Indian roads can transform into a pleasant journey if only we can learn to adjust and give way for hapless cycles and other not so fortunate vehicle riders without venting our frustration by honking at them.It will barely cost you some additional minutes if you drive slow and peaceful. To avoid getting frustrated while driving in dense traffic,try to start much early.This way you wont be forced to honk and try to make way.
4) Honking to drive past everyone and get to the first position (?). I have noticed that some people just cant tolerate any other people riding ahead of them.It's as if a live race is on.They honk and honk,the person in front wont give way resulting in some ugly stares and scenes.Some people cannot digest the fact that a bus or lorry is going ahead of them.They need to get past them at any cost even if it means inconveniencing the riders coming in opposite direction. Please understand that in Indian traffic,no matter how fast you go, no matter how many vehicles you overtake,there will always be a vehicle in front of you.Try to avoid getting into an overtaking mindset.Learn the art of peaceful lane driving.Studies overseas have shown that lane driving will get you to your destination faster than mindless lane switching because the latter causes jams :-)
5) Give respect to other vehicles on the road. As a two wheeler rider, you have sharper maneuverability and control.Please don't misuse this gift to scare or frustrate the fourwheeler riders by switching lanes at will.If you must overtake a fourwheeler look for the right moment rather than making a forced entry into the little available spaces in front of him thereby inducing him to apply the brakes.A little honk can be used here to indicate your intention to
overtake so that he can be on alert.
All said and done,this of course doesn't apply on empty roads with little or no traffic.I hope that people of India become aware of this evil and try to make it a case of sensible HONKING rather than instinctive HONKING. How about a no honking day folks?
I was devastated. I looked around if there was any other vehicle on which he honked.Nope! None existed.I searched for any goat/hen/dog/street openings that may have prompted him to use his stupid horn.None that I could find.Then why? I got no answer.I examined myself to see if I was walking on the middle of the road.Nope I was walking on the muddy pathway adjacent to the road.I always believe in giving absolutely no reason for any vehicle on the road to get annoyed with me and consequently pull the trigger ie honk at me:-(.
I'm not sure when I developed this aversion towards illogical honking.But it truly pisses me off.In fact I believe its the worst thing that somebody could do to me.Road rage is a thing,where you can understand that at least the biker was getting a high out of it ignoring the other road-users. But here, it was plain insanity on his part to honk at me!!
Which now brings me to the larger question. Does honking habits really reflect a personality trait and/or just the mood of the person ? I believe it does reflect the person's nature to an extent. To investigate this point, I began to observe almost all the persons with whom I have traveled pillion on their bikes.I was able to categorize them into three broad groups.The first is the SOBER group.They are generally introvert and shy in nature and do not take the trouble of honking at all!They dread the thought of making any noise.They get nervous/uncomfortable if somebody attention is drawn towards them.They go about their rides without complaining about anything and anybody.Even if it is others who are at fault, they dare not show their annoyance.The second group of people are NORMAL level-headed people.They have periodic mood swings and definitely love to show it on the road.Like for eg. if they are in a very bad mood they just cannot tolerate any sort of obstruction(read vehicle!) in front of them while riding.Even though people of this group are sensible enough to understand that going by the Indian road conditions,either the vehicles need to slow down or get off the road to give way for them,they still like to do what they are best at-HONK and HONK!!
The third and the worst group for the roads are the FILMY riders. They are incapable of comprehending the definition of civic sense.They cant distinguish between,yellow light and green light.switching lanes is like trying out different trouser for them!They don't understand that their actions can irritate or compromise the safety of other people on the road.Most of the people in India belong to the second category. The guy who honked at me-an innocent pedestrian, obviously deserves to be in the third category.
Honking has reached such great proportions in India that it will become one of the major sources of noise pollution and worry for the Government. According to experts,Noise does not have be loud to be harmful.Noise in fact is any sound that bothers us.A barking dog or a dripping faucet can trigger your body's responses: heart rate increases; blood pressure rises; the mouth dries; skin loses color; muscles contract; and blood cholesterol rises.Sustained stress reactions to noise can lead to high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, ulcers, indigestion, and insomnia.
Having said that, its the responsibility of the citizens of India to keep this evil under check along with an effort to maintain a nice environment for everybody to have decent tension free ride to their destinations.
The first step starts with us. Identify things that can be changed,I have written down some of them.
1) Honking when in a traffic stop even before the green light comes up.Dude! Nobody likes to stay on the road for long.I am in as much hurry as you are.But have patience.Iam only going to move once the light turns green.If you wish you can fly above me and go on with your journey.
2) Honking from behind,when somebody slows down to get ready to stop at the red signal ahead.Dude!If you think you are some alonso who can escape the red by your sheer speeding then you better show your skills in the circuit, not on public roads. What's the point in honking when you are only going to end up just a foot ahead from the person whom you overtook anyways:-)
3) Honking when somebody on the left side of the road needs to quickly move to the right as some vehicle (especially bus or call centre cab) has suddenly decided to make a pitstop. I admit I myself have honked at times in this kind of scenarios,but hey I'm trying to quit it. One needs to understand that everybody has an equal right to the road. A journey on the Indian roads can transform into a pleasant journey if only we can learn to adjust and give way for hapless cycles and other not so fortunate vehicle riders without venting our frustration by honking at them.It will barely cost you some additional minutes if you drive slow and peaceful. To avoid getting frustrated while driving in dense traffic,try to start much early.This way you wont be forced to honk and try to make way.
4) Honking to drive past everyone and get to the first position (?). I have noticed that some people just cant tolerate any other people riding ahead of them.It's as if a live race is on.They honk and honk,the person in front wont give way resulting in some ugly stares and scenes.Some people cannot digest the fact that a bus or lorry is going ahead of them.They need to get past them at any cost even if it means inconveniencing the riders coming in opposite direction. Please understand that in Indian traffic,no matter how fast you go, no matter how many vehicles you overtake,there will always be a vehicle in front of you.Try to avoid getting into an overtaking mindset.Learn the art of peaceful lane driving.Studies overseas have shown that lane driving will get you to your destination faster than mindless lane switching because the latter causes jams :-)
5) Give respect to other vehicles on the road. As a two wheeler rider, you have sharper maneuverability and control.Please don't misuse this gift to scare or frustrate the fourwheeler riders by switching lanes at will.If you must overtake a fourwheeler look for the right moment rather than making a forced entry into the little available spaces in front of him thereby inducing him to apply the brakes.A little honk can be used here to indicate your intention to
overtake so that he can be on alert.
All said and done,this of course doesn't apply on empty roads with little or no traffic.I hope that people of India become aware of this evil and try to make it a case of sensible HONKING rather than instinctive HONKING. How about a no honking day folks?
Monday, May 08, 2006
My Sisters Wedding !!
Guys,
Its been an eventful fortnight for everybody in my family.We travelled almost 5000 Kms, met and interacted with people of totally different culture,eat and sulked about the food, visited many places of Historical interest and did so many other things that i would never have done in my life.All during my Sisters wedding which happened in small sleepy town called Yara-Yari.Its actually twin village! what a coincidence:-) my twin sister got married in a twin village:-)Heheh.
I have so many things to talk about north india,10 things i hate and love about that region,my most wonderful moments of happiness during the entire trip etc..For those who wish to see the pics just ping me :-) ok?
Its been an eventful fortnight for everybody in my family.We travelled almost 5000 Kms, met and interacted with people of totally different culture,eat and sulked about the food, visited many places of Historical interest and did so many other things that i would never have done in my life.All during my Sisters wedding which happened in small sleepy town called Yara-Yari.Its actually twin village! what a coincidence:-) my twin sister got married in a twin village:-)Heheh.
I have so many things to talk about north india,10 things i hate and love about that region,my most wonderful moments of happiness during the entire trip etc..For those who wish to see the pics just ping me :-) ok?
Thursday, December 15, 2005
SDIPA rocks!
Yesterday, will go down in my memory book as another unforgettable experience. I was waiting at the gates of Ambedkar bhavan not knowing what to e! xpect. There were
Parents and kids and youngsters of all sizes moving around like crazy as though there was some bomb threat announced. I could see the excitement on their faces. Very quickly I realized that this was THE day for many of em. And not surprisingly even for the Parents. Yes, the day when their kids get to perform on stage, showcasing their dance and co-ordination skills after months of hard work and rehearsals. I was very skeptical of their enthusiasm. I thought OK. Now I know it’s definitely not going to be better than the run of the mill school stage shows where they just make a mockery of any style dance. Now, I am not any dancer but I sure know what could be called as a good performance. Any layman will say that Co-ordination and elegance and skills play chunk of the role in that order. Ya ya…Skills come at last for me J Okay Okay, agreed It’s the most importantJ.
With all these things in mind I entered the auditorium. What ran for the next 2 hours completely overwhelmed me. Kids of age starting from 4 or 5 yrs performed like Absolute pros. The steps they did, their face expressions, their elegance, smiles, their commitment My oh My!! Dus bahane,Disco dewane, Ap ki kashish, Ashiq banaya apne.I have no Words to explain what I saw there. A few handicapped and diseases infected kids too had a dance show which deserves a special mention as their pe rformance was on par with the rest.
My friend jayashree was also terrific on stage. She belongs to Advanced level dancers. And Dance what they did!!! .Some African song called Yeke yeke. It was simple superb. Then after that they did Shoe song, wherein its all dark and you can only see their shoes. Man!! What co-ordination they had.
Congrats to ‘Jaya’ for her successful show. But then you know who won the medal at the end.Who else but Devyani.For those of you who don’t know who the hell is she.. please contact jayashree.
Sad that kallu and preethi could not make it.
Parents and kids and youngsters of all sizes moving around like crazy as though there was some bomb threat announced. I could see the excitement on their faces. Very quickly I realized that this was THE day for many of em. And not surprisingly even for the Parents. Yes, the day when their kids get to perform on stage, showcasing their dance and co-ordination skills after months of hard work and rehearsals. I was very skeptical of their enthusiasm. I thought OK. Now I know it’s definitely not going to be better than the run of the mill school stage shows where they just make a mockery of any style dance. Now, I am not any dancer but I sure know what could be called as a good performance. Any layman will say that Co-ordination and elegance and skills play chunk of the role in that order. Ya ya…Skills come at last for me J Okay Okay, agreed It’s the most importantJ.
With all these things in mind I entered the auditorium. What ran for the next 2 hours completely overwhelmed me. Kids of age starting from 4 or 5 yrs performed like Absolute pros. The steps they did, their face expressions, their elegance, smiles, their commitment My oh My!! Dus bahane,Disco dewane, Ap ki kashish, Ashiq banaya apne.I have no Words to explain what I saw there. A few handicapped and diseases infected kids too had a dance show which deserves a special mention as their pe rformance was on par with the rest.
My friend jayashree was also terrific on stage. She belongs to Advanced level dancers. And Dance what they did!!! .Some African song called Yeke yeke. It was simple superb. Then after that they did Shoe song, wherein its all dark and you can only see their shoes. Man!! What co-ordination they had.
Congrats to ‘Jaya’ for her successful show. But then you know who won the medal at the end.Who else but Devyani.For those of you who don’t know who the hell is she.. please contact jayashree.
Sad that kallu and preethi could not make it.
Monday, November 28, 2005
What i learnt at Tech Support.
I had this strange and funny experience which I wanted to share with u guys. It was already 2 by the time I came back home after lunch at seenu bhai mess and was very bored not knowing what to do. So I got online to see if anyone was there to chat. It straightaway refused to connect me saying failed to authenticate-invalid username and password. I carefully entered the credentials again, this time concentrating on one letter at a time. No luck. I was beginning to panic. Too much was at stake. Tones of important mails from consultants list to email ids to chat ids in messenger, to educational contacts and not to mention the wrath I would incur from my “no compromise” dad.
I knew so many people who forgot their passwords and couldn’t care less as they didn’t have too many contacts or important mails. But for me, those minutes seemed like hours. I lay there staring at the screen which screamed: “Invalid Username and password!! “.I began to try and recollect if some friends were talking about playing a prank on me or some Psycho geek had stolen my Password or even kallu using his Hacking skills was playing a practical joke on me. The thought of creating a new ID and begin a new Yahoo journey was too Stressful and overwhelming.
With trembling fingers I clicked on “Forgot yahoo ID/password ?” . Moore’s law began to hover around my mind. Finally the law proved that it actually exists and holds true for many situations. Apparently the personal details like dob, pincode etc that I entered to get a new password did not match with their records. So there is no way I can get a new password can I? All my attempts at entering different combinations of pin code, dob etc proved futile.
By this time I was already banging my head on the table cursing my fate and the person who did this to me. And yahoo offered me no respite. In fact it apparently has this habbit of playing a cruel game on those people who do not provide the correct information.
I did not lose hope and kept looking for some way to get back my treasure. I kept looking for a way to directly contact yahoo customer service and offer my personal details, messenger contact ids or anything and everything it takes to reset my password. Suddenly on one help page I saw a link: ” Contact customer service if you still have problems with yahoo services”. I felt a sense of triumph on seeing this. I clicked on it. My mind was beginning to prepare the text of the message I was going to send them. From a hapless customer to the God of internet. But to my horror and pain, it brought me to the Yahoo login screen. How on earth could I send them a mail when I cannot sign in? And yahoo does not give any mail Ids for Complaints. All it does is to provide ample “Help yourself” docs which obviously was no succor to me. Believe me nothing is more painful than losing something you had taken for granted for so long. You feel so helpless, so small, so unwanted by the online world. Not that I am an internet addict or something but it really feels bad.
Then I began to logically reason how could this happen to me.The theory that some friend could have done this, seemed unlikely as many knew my password for years,and if they wanted they would have done it long back.
Then the theory about someone hacking into my ID.then the Question arised : Why me? Hmm..i couldn’t think of any possible answer. And kallu is not very naughty nowadays.So that theory is eliminated
I was too tired to even sit there.I was thinking whether or not to just switch off the PC and resign to my fate.
My Old dell dayz came to mind.I was thinking how I would solve this kind of a silly Issue(I call it silly because it is customers mistake) came up for troubleshooting on the phone.What would I tell him??What would be the first step that can come to mind.?Obviously I would tell the Moron (!) to check if Caps lock was on.Then I would ask him to see if all the Keys on the Keyboard are working correctly.Then I would ask him to go take a hike…..:-)hahahah…Hey wait a sec..At this moment my heart was pounding.What if some keys on the keyboard were not working.What if my Password has not been hacked and its working perfectly except for the Keyboard ???
With all these questions in mind: I quickly opened a notepad and keyed in my Password. LO and behold!! The Damn keyboard didn’t type the bloody letter ‘g’.And I had two ‘g’s in my password :J.I quickly reversed the keyboard and tapped hard on it to clear off any dust inside.I tried signing into messenger and mail.I DID it !! I DID it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!I couldn’t control the happiness and you guys should have seen the sense of victory in my face.
Who says Tech support sucks!! It Rocks man!!
I questioned myself what is it that actually helped me tackle this situation.The answer was crystal clear.My prized possession which Tech supportr Dell had taught me was patience.By this virtue,Human mind can discover infinite possible ways to solve a problem and then also give us the sense of pride and triumph at tackling something which iam sure without patience, I would have simply accepted defeat and forget about my Yahoo Id and all the valuable data in it.
Cheers to Tech Support.!!
I knew so many people who forgot their passwords and couldn’t care less as they didn’t have too many contacts or important mails. But for me, those minutes seemed like hours. I lay there staring at the screen which screamed: “Invalid Username and password!! “.I began to try and recollect if some friends were talking about playing a prank on me or some Psycho geek had stolen my Password or even kallu using his Hacking skills was playing a practical joke on me. The thought of creating a new ID and begin a new Yahoo journey was too Stressful and overwhelming.
With trembling fingers I clicked on “Forgot yahoo ID/password ?” . Moore’s law began to hover around my mind. Finally the law proved that it actually exists and holds true for many situations. Apparently the personal details like dob, pincode etc that I entered to get a new password did not match with their records. So there is no way I can get a new password can I? All my attempts at entering different combinations of pin code, dob etc proved futile.
By this time I was already banging my head on the table cursing my fate and the person who did this to me. And yahoo offered me no respite. In fact it apparently has this habbit of playing a cruel game on those people who do not provide the correct information.
I did not lose hope and kept looking for some way to get back my treasure. I kept looking for a way to directly contact yahoo customer service and offer my personal details, messenger contact ids or anything and everything it takes to reset my password. Suddenly on one help page I saw a link: ” Contact customer service if you still have problems with yahoo services”. I felt a sense of triumph on seeing this. I clicked on it. My mind was beginning to prepare the text of the message I was going to send them. From a hapless customer to the God of internet. But to my horror and pain, it brought me to the Yahoo login screen. How on earth could I send them a mail when I cannot sign in? And yahoo does not give any mail Ids for Complaints. All it does is to provide ample “Help yourself” docs which obviously was no succor to me. Believe me nothing is more painful than losing something you had taken for granted for so long. You feel so helpless, so small, so unwanted by the online world. Not that I am an internet addict or something but it really feels bad.
Then I began to logically reason how could this happen to me.The theory that some friend could have done this, seemed unlikely as many knew my password for years,and if they wanted they would have done it long back.
Then the theory about someone hacking into my ID.then the Question arised : Why me? Hmm..i couldn’t think of any possible answer. And kallu is not very naughty nowadays.So that theory is eliminated
I was too tired to even sit there.I was thinking whether or not to just switch off the PC and resign to my fate.
My Old dell dayz came to mind.I was thinking how I would solve this kind of a silly Issue(I call it silly because it is customers mistake) came up for troubleshooting on the phone.What would I tell him??What would be the first step that can come to mind.?Obviously I would tell the Moron (!) to check if Caps lock was on.Then I would ask him to see if all the Keys on the Keyboard are working correctly.Then I would ask him to go take a hike…..:-)hahahah…Hey wait a sec..At this moment my heart was pounding.What if some keys on the keyboard were not working.What if my Password has not been hacked and its working perfectly except for the Keyboard ???
With all these questions in mind: I quickly opened a notepad and keyed in my Password. LO and behold!! The Damn keyboard didn’t type the bloody letter ‘g’.And I had two ‘g’s in my password :J.I quickly reversed the keyboard and tapped hard on it to clear off any dust inside.I tried signing into messenger and mail.I DID it !! I DID it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!I couldn’t control the happiness and you guys should have seen the sense of victory in my face.
Who says Tech support sucks!! It Rocks man!!
I questioned myself what is it that actually helped me tackle this situation.The answer was crystal clear.My prized possession which Tech supportr Dell had taught me was patience.By this virtue,Human mind can discover infinite possible ways to solve a problem and then also give us the sense of pride and triumph at tackling something which iam sure without patience, I would have simply accepted defeat and forget about my Yahoo Id and all the valuable data in it.
Cheers to Tech Support.!!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Monday, July 04, 2005
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