Sharavati kannada Naada Bhageeratheeeeeee...

Twinge for some; fun for some. It was an unconcealed effort to visit the Sharavati backwaters. After so much of dilly-dallying around with the dates, we finally boarded the bus on 17th. Initially the team size was 18 and then, as I had expected, it was ultimately a team of 12. 18th morning we reached Mavingundi at around 4:45. A shop was open to serve us tea. We managed to get over with our morning ablutions at the cleanest government toilet I have ever seen. After the tea, we got on to the Jeep with sanctified souls to reach Muppane at 6. A welcome KASHAYA was served. We were all ripping around exploring place and were discussing the possible causes of the death of a tortoise which was lying at the shores of the back waters.

Brimful with idlies, we then got on to another Jeep to get to the base of the first day’s trek. With initial muse at the sight of the Leeches, we moved on, only to deal with a lot of them. Vidya and Kiran are the ones who I reckon, enjoyed the most. With all those ooohs, aaahs, eeeks we reached the stream beneath. Standing in the stream – the leech-less place, folks started to get rid of the possible leeches latched in their shoes. While I went across to check if I can get the shoes that Anita had let go in the stream (that too after the local lad reclined), folks managed to get on with the game. Since, the next part of the trek was in the water and against the current, I thought of doing it bare footed. Sometimes, the fool in us wakes up at the wrong place. When I realized my foolishness, another fool in me woke up – this time making me wear the shoes sitting on a slippery rock. I slipped. So did a shoe from my hand. I could manage to find myself in one piece but not the shoes. The pair which served my feet for 5 years unpaired unfairly. We finally reached the base of the water fall but not before Arvind had his 6th fall. Yes he had 6 falls. He was rocking on the rocks always trying to dock himself. But nothing happened to the bugger. Chirbi ne bachaliya saale ko – baar baar. Che baar. All of us had fun under the water fall that was ruthlessly banging on our backs. With those Yogic antics from Madhav coming to a full stop, we all got up to enter the leech zone again. We however managed, this time, with very little ooohs, aaahs and eeeks. After reaching the hut where the guide had prepared food for us, we again started checking for possible leeches on our bodies. When we were done with filling the tummys with Anna-Sambhaar we got on to the Jeep to get back to the base camp.

Enter Mr. Ram and fun started oozing out. The deadly dialogues targeting Arvind initially and Vinay later on were really dodging. We were lucky to hear some fascinating stories from Mr. Ram with some interesting inquires and clarifications flowing from Mayesh and Arvind. Then came the camp fire and started off with Antaakshari – the easiest, non-boring and non-expensive option on any kind of trip. For a change we had a buzzer round with Natesh whistling and the torches acting as buzzers. After I messed up with a song, we started off for the dinner. Bisi bele bhat and payasa were waiting for us. Certainly the best food we have ever had on a trekking spree.

It was water sports planned for day 2. After nauseated Ashwini got on her foot, we were taken to a ‘safe’ place to play around. With me and arvind swimming off to another shore, guys had fun and had swimming lessons from Mr. Ram. Santhosh was neatly trapped by his own Suma and was thrown out of Kayak. Santhosh got me a kayak when I was at the center of the stream trying to cross it. Vinay also, to his dismay, fell into the trap laid by Mr. Ram and Santhosh.

With a short stint at the Jog falls and a long one at Sagara private bus stand, we boarded the VRL bus to get back to the busy city life. An unforgettable weekend free from all networks came to an end. But, more memories are on the internet than they are in our minds.

Rich Brew of Art, Technology and Genius. .

Stage, Lights, Technology and then the MOZART of MADRAS.

Aahhh… adjectiveless musical extravaganza.

On Sunday, May 29, 2011.

3 hours; from 7:30 to 10:30 was spent in just about 2 minutes – yes that is the collective silent time between the numbers. The time gap between the songs was hardly 5-10 seconds – with in which a completely new set for the next song would be ready. WOW!!

The Maestro started off the concert with Duet Theme followed by Bombay Theme and then the voice of Rehman was heard singing Tere Bina. Remo, on stage for the first time with Rehman, came up with Daud. Vijay Prakash then sung Masakkali with some Kannada fillers to rock the locals up.

The stage setting was more than what one could ever imagine - with changing backgrounds to suit the songs and impending foregrounds with lazer beams. The backdrop of a Mughal Palace when Rehman in Muslim attire sung Maula Maula and Khwaja Mere Khwaja was just astounding.

The video present of Lata Mangeshkar for Luka Chuppi with Rehmaan completing it with his voice, made the audience feel the presence of Lata herself on the stage. That was a stunning piece of concoction between Technology and Genius.

Remo was a delight and with Shivamani he set the night up intially and set the expectations up by asking us to wait for Humma Humma which was eventually a high-energy-sync between the singer and the drummer. The rock versions of my old time favorites Chicku Buku Raile with medley of Pettai Rap got the audience at their feet. Shivamani pounding two rods on a floor drum gave a percussive start to the song Thok De Killi.

Masakkali, Sasural Ghenda Phool, Rang De Basanti, Hosanna and Ishq Bina, to name a few, were among the chosen ones for this concert. As everything has to come to an end, this one too did but with a special treat. The last three songs were Humma Humma, Boom Boom Robot and Rubaroo. The rock version of the sequence of these three songs infused with a short Vande Mataram really set us on fire. The images of Anna Hazare rightly and aptly appeared on the back ground as Rehman dedicated the last song Rubaru to the anti-corruption drive.

Special thanks to my neighbors Veena & Prasad for giving us the passes for this show. What a miss it would have been to me and my wifey!!

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Blue Lagoon, KRS, Mysore.

It was 2011’s Republic day and we decided we will show our Eeshaan some animals at the Mysore zoo. On the way, we thought of having some fun at the Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is an island formed with the backwaters of the reservoir behind the KRS dam. It’s a beautiful place without any amenities what so ever. One should carry everything required to spend some time at the shores of a lagoon – my mates know why I am saying this. I forgot to take the most important thing to carry when the intension was to play around in water. :)
On a serious note, please carry enough snacks and take proper precautions. There could be small whirlpools anywhere – so better be careful and don’t go too far from the shore.
We started off at 8AM, had breakfast at Lokaruchi and reached KRS by 11:15 AM. Good speed considering the traffic we encountered. It was as if I was driving a little faster within the city. At the end, for about a kilometer, we drove through the road between some private farms before touching the shores of the Blue Lagoon. We had a grand guard of honor from some local villagers. They ask you some money for visiting the place. They have their sticks in hand and do not hesitate to damage your vehicle. Better bargain and pay them. I could bargain from 200 to 40 bucks per person. There were 3 of them and we ‘thought’ 120 would do. Nope. They came back again and they asked for more. We gave 50 more and they were off us.
The water had receded a little bit leaving some part which we can call as a shore. My son loves water and he had a great time in the water before he started shivering with cold. We took him off and then we all got into the water, played for a while. It is such instances when the child in each of us takes a rebirth. There is an island very close to the shore. You can ask the locals there to ferry you to the island. When we went there, the boat was on the island and he took a lot of time to come to us. We had time as a constraint. The Mysore zoo closes at 5:30pm and that was our second destination. We left the Blue lagoon at around 1pm. We reached the Mysore city after having some tea en route. Every one was very hungry and finished our meals in a jiffy.
We then started off at 3pm towards the Zoo. We were into the zoo by 4. Giraffes welcomed us and to a tiger roared to announce himself to my son. My son saw a Zebra peeing and said that the Zebra wasn’t wearing diapers. :) He was lucky to see an elephant taking bath. Poor jumbo was trying anything and everything to beat the heat of the sun. Deer, Bears, Bohr, Lion all gave us a picturesque silent poses while walked past their areas. At the end, the Giraffes said bye to us at exactly 5:30pm.
We went to a restaurant to refresh ourselves with some pakodas and teas and coffees. We left Mysore only to be back soon. We were at the signal near Columbia Asia hospital at 6:43pm. Lot of traffic did not allow me to get past 100kmph. I kept the car at 80kmph to have a break-less maneuver. We stopped again at Lokaruchi for dinner and spent close to an hour there. When I parked my car at home, it was exactly 10:43pm.

Salient points for planners:


The Route:

Take the right after Srirangapatna in Bangalore-Mysore highway. Follow the signal boards to reach KRS dam. Ask locals for the route to Blue Lagoon. It is 7 kms from there. Carry food and drinking water along if you plan to stay on for a longer time. Take some loose change (some rupees 10/20/50 notes) to give it to the villagers. If you show off a 1000/500/100 rupees note you stand a chance of loosing it.


Best time to visit:

I reckon March-April-May would be good; definitely not in the rainy season. And if it’s an afternoon to early evening affair, it will be very good.


Technical Stuff:

Road condition: Very good barring a couple of kilometers. Last 500-600 meters is a mud road.
Top Speed: 120kmph
Average Speed: 54kmph.
Total Distance travelled: 342 Kms.


In Pics:


The Last stretch... you can get a glimpse of the water.





The Mud Road I mentioned... but this is less than half a kilometer.














Old Men asking for money...

The Lagoon...

An Island...










The Lagoon from the shore

...of Unspoken Emotions

Of late I have become a serious follower of Aamir khan. I don’t intentionally miss any of his movies. I watched the latest in the list – Dhobi Ghat. Directed by his wife and enacted by him. Aamir has said, the movie doesn’t carry any message. Yes it doesn’t. It carries emotions – silently.
Had Aamir not been in this movie, it would have been so easily got unnoticed. One should be aware that Aamir is not the hero or the lead in this movie. It takes guts for a figure like Aamir to accept and enact such an insignificant role and still make a significant impact. After the first look, as soon as the movie got over, my first thought was ‘Thank god this is not the usual two and half hour movie…’ And then when I thought about it after some time I realized the essence of the movie. Every scene has something to say. I feel, now, that this is a well directed and well crafted movie.
There are 4 main characters in this movie – Arun, Munna, Shaay and Yasmin. Arun and Yasmin have a relationship in the form of a video tape. Arun, the artist watches Yasmin on a video tape and likes her so much that he goes on to have her in his painting which he completes at the fag end of the movie. (Hats off to that real artist who has originally painted that master piece) Yasmin’s emotions are pictured in a camcorder and she unveils her mind to her brother in the form of explaining the city of Mumbai by actually shooting with a camcorder. The way she gets back from a woman in the Mumbai local to the way she shots the Ganesh processions silently speaks a lot about her mind and her emotions. We should notice that her excitement slows down gradually from the first scene to the last. The camcorder tapes silently speak a lot about her loneliness as well. In fact, when Arun realizes after looking at the last frame of the tape, that his perception of Yasmin’s life was exactly opposite of what she herself felt like, he bursts into tears. In the whole movie Arun looks like a strong man, but at the end he breaks down and that speaks a lot about his emotions, again in silence.
Arun, speaks (again speaks thorough silence) about his feelings after a one-night-stand with Shaay. He tries to console her. But, Shaay being an American doesn’t care and behaves as if it is very common to her. And she even gets annoyed by Arun’s consoling efforts and goes off. She then meets Munna. Munna turns out to be the common Dhobi for Arun and Shaay. The movie silently showcases his aspirations. The scene where he lends some money to his brother, being a poor man himself, and the scene where he exercises after a hectic day to keep his body toned, silently speaks a lot about his character and his willingness to succeed in life. What I liked is that the movie doesn’t depict the agonies of the poor man, but depicts the aspirations of a poor man in the midst of his agonies. Shaay is an American banker who would have come to India on a short visit. She gets acquainted with Munna and agrees to shoot for a portfolio of him and he in turn agrees to let her shoot his day as a Dhobi. In the process, he starts liking her. He even tries to kiss her in a scene and refrains from it. This scene speaks in silence about his character. He then comes to the words of another lady who tells him that Shaay would ditch him. At the same time he loses his brother as well. He stays away from Shaay and even runs away upon seeing her. These scenes silently depict his weakness. At the end, after sending a message that he doesn’t want Shaay to meet Arun again, he still runs and gives the address of Arun to Shaay. This scene silently talks about his care towards Shaay and Shaay understands this, tears roll down her eyes.
In the whole movie there is one character that always remains silent - an old lady always sitting. She keeps silent just watching whatever happens in front of her. She never reacts. Just watches. I guess that lady symbolizes Mumbai. Mumbai stays silent looking at everything around – the good and the bad.

The movie is full of unspoken emotions.

Punjab... Bhalle! Bhalle!!

Paneer, Lassi, Safed makkhan, Amritsari Kulcha, makki di roti, Sarson ka saag. Hmmm we had a yummy trip I should say. We ate more than what we had in the whole year. We need another year to burn the fat consumed. There was nothing available without Paneer and we couldn’t resist the Lassis and safed makkhans. Lassi was served in tumblers as big as buckets. Unlimited tea and Lemon tea at 12 in the night; it was an amazing feeling to sit in front of the campfire at 1 in the night savoring the lemon tea when the temperature was about 4-5 degrees. We went to the Golden temple at 2am - bare feet walking on chilling marbles. But the effort was worth it as we could get some very good pictures.

Those Shatabdhi experiences, train delays, metro rush all made our Punjab tour truly memorable. The euphoria at the Wagah border is mesmerizing and the history of Jalianwalah Bagh leaves you stunned. The Farm house we stayed in needs a special mention when ever I speak about the Punjab trip.

The cleanliness of the Golden temple, the down-to-earth nature of the Punjabis is something one should experience. The outrageous people on the road suddenly become embodiments of calmness once they enter the shrine.

We challenged our luck to visit Wagah border for the second time to witness the parade. We were late on the first day but we made it the next day. Call it Jubilation, Excitement, Euphoria but at the end it is Patriotism – more so when we are up against Pakistan. The whole of Pakistan could hear us shout the slogans Vandemataram, Hindustan Zindabad and Bharat maata ki Jai. While it is very difficult to get a seat on the Indian side, you could count the number of people in the Pakistan side. I felt the Pakistan military pays some people to come here and shout some slogans.

Before the second visit to the Wagah border, we had been to Harike Wetland also known as Hari-ke-Pattan. It is a place where we have an L-shaped dam built at the place where Sutlej and Beas rivers join hands. There is a diversion canal built to divert the water to our Rajasthan. We can see the difference – the Pakistani downstream side is dry and barren while water gushes on the other side to reach Rajasthan in a hurry. People there say that if we open the gates on the Pakistani side, a big chunk of Pakistan will be washed out in the floods.

Our trip also had a visit to Chandigarh, the capital of two states, Punjab and Haryana. Our stay was marred with intermittent but heavy rains. We could just get a glimpse of the first planned city in India. The roads are wide but too many traffic signals. Let’s not forget that the city was planned in the year 1950. We had a sneak look at the Rock garden. Created by Nek Chand, an artist, it’s an amazing park created with used materials. We could not cover the whole garden though; we were at the mercy of the rain god but there is always a next time.

We had two stays at Delhi this time – before and after Punjab. Delhi was our base we can say. We used the Delhi metro to the fullest but our friend’s mobile phone was stolen in the metro train. We had been to Swaminarayan temple, but found the gates closed before we could finish our photo session. Second time we had been to the Janpath market and the Lajpath Market. We also went to the Parliament House only to see the gates and the surrounding walls.
On 1st of 2011, we left Delhi from Nizamuddin.

We left the places we visited but have brought the memories along.
My wife has rightly made my son memorize the phrase: Punjaab… Bhalle Bhalle!!