Sar Pass: Here I come..........

Coming week I am heading for a 10 day long trek to Sar pass, Himachal Pradesh. Supposedly one of the best treks which YHAI ( Youth Hostel Association of India) offers. I am eagerly looking forward for this new adventure and getting ready with my travel gear for this. Only sad point is that Chandu, who initiated this trip will not be around.

YHAI SARPASS

Check out few intersting stories which I found on blogosphere!

http://thedreamtdreams.blogspot.com/2007/05/sar-pass-trek-organised-by-yhai.html

http://vinayak-k.blogspot.com/2008/05/yhai-sar-pass-trekking-tips.html

An evening eat out.........

This was the place where we used to hang out most during bachelor days......

This was the place that used feed us after doing night outs @ office......

This was the place we were planning to hang out from last 6 months for a get together and some real good fun!! And finally it happened.

• While we were whiling away our time waiting for few others to join, we thought time is better spent with a plate of Corn Masala :-) This is a special delicacy with a mixture of fruits, babycorn, corn and masala of your choice served on a platter

• After everybody arrived at the venue, it was time to kick start the Junk food marathon! We all went to the beginning of the street and started err… re-started with “Paddu”. An authentic karnataka delicacy made of "Dose hittu". I am sure some time later Sum will post this on her blog!

• Then it was some time for some “time pass items”, we had Tikki Puri and Boti Masala, which were indeed very yummy!!

• Next stop was right at the next door for some Crunching Capsicum Bajji, Balekai Bajji and some hot Bondas!

• Then it was time for traditional Idli & chutney with butter as toppings! My friend says these are the softest idlies made in Bangalore! Well I beg to differ with him since I think my mom makes the softest Idlies on earth :-)

• After all that junk, now it was some time cool our “Stomachs” with Masala Mirinda

• At this point most of us felt we were full! But couldn’t resist the site of Masala Doasas at the next shop! Double roasted with ghee were crispy and yummy and was a real treat to eat

• Aha! Now some desserts and in the fight between Basundi and Jilebi, Basundi won hands down!

• Well, a single desert is not good enough, you need to have more! The last shop in the street has some really good fruit salad with Ice cream with Gulkan

• Finally, it was time to say good bye to our eat-out in a traditional way! The reason it’s called traditional is that normally we end with some soda to wash away all atrocities on our stomach. The only difference this time was that we washed it twice during this eat out :-)

If you are wondering if I could digest all these! well.. I did.. and I knew it the very next day ……
If you want to know this favorite hangout! well, it’s the famous Chat Street @ VV Puram.

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Ashtamudi – The perfect getaway!

After a monotonous, stressful couple of months during the fag end of 2008, we had decided to have a leisure trip to Ashtamudi and planned everything towards that. Come January! Series of bad news started flowing in! First the recession, then the uncertainty about being jobless  and of course a worry some future! But eventually we decided to move on since everything was planned well ahead and we thought it should be the perfect break in the midst of all happenings around us.

Hmm… I must say! Ashtamudi, the eight cornered/branched lake didn’t fail to deliver on this!. Approximately around 10 Kms from Kollam, Asthamudi is the second largest backwater lake in Kerala. The club Mahindra Backwater Retreat @ Asthamudi situated in the unique spot, offers the great views of the lake, the fishing nets , view of green coconut trees and the calm back waters of the lake.

As the motive was, not to move around too much we didn’t plan much to move around and decided to spend the time in the resort itself. The major achievement of this trip was that, first time in my life I played Scrabble with S and won them with my super natural abilities and divine intervention:-) . The nature around the resort is beautiful, that our evenings were simply spent by sitting near the lake shore, facing the cool breeze from the waters.

This time I also managed to do some fishing in the lake. As with Photography, fishing needs tones of patience, otherwise you will keep wasting your baits :-). The most difficult part was to fix the prawns as baits to the fishing rod. But nevertheless at the end I had 4/5 fishes in my kitty :-).

The resort really offers a fabulous view of the sunrise. Having missed the sunrise on the first day, we decided to go spot on the next day to see the sunrise. Believe me it was really one of the magnificent sunrises I have ever seen! Take a look at few wonderful pics of sunrise.

I must admit that the chef at the Resort is one of the best that Club Mahindra folks have and the food here really beats the likes of Coorg, Munnar resorts of Club Mahindra. The one thing that we gave a miss was the house boat ride in and around Kollam and to the confluence of the lake with sea offered by Club Mahindra folks. With around 16~18 hrs of train journey from Bangalore, I must say this was one exhilarating trips I had ever been to! Cyao!



Other important things to do: Overnight house boat ride to Alleppy, Candle light dinner on house boat, Ayurvedic Massage
Best time to travel: Right after monsoon till January
Useful Links: Club Mahindra Backwater Retreat

Down the Memory lane – Beautiful Binsar

The winter had already stepped in when we visited Binsar in 2006. After spending a day in Delhi seeing the magnificent Akshar Dham temple, RashtrapathiBhavan and a few other places, we had to really hurry up to catch the Kathgodam express to the Almora valley. The train took us to Kathgodam by 7 in the morning and after negotiating with few taxi drivers, we kind of settled for 800 bucks for a drop to Binsar. And I must tell you this was one of the most prolific rides I ever had on tipsy, curvy ghat routes of the Kumaon mountain ranges. Otherwise also there were share taxis available, where in one might have to change a few taxis before reaching the Binsar. Regular Buses also operate from Kathgodam.



Binsar is a picturesque Himalayan destination, located 33 Kms north of Almora. It took almost 3 hours from Kathgodam, to reach Club Mahindra holiday resort in Binsar. The resort is built in a valley offering a good view of Himalayan mountain ranges from its backyard. After a warm welcome from the resort manager we just retired in to room. With the idea of spending time as leisurely as possible, we didn’t make any kind of plans for the rest of the week and just thought we should enjoy the place. As this was our first visit to any kind of resort, we were bit cautious about the budget as well.



After an evening walk near the resort we found a “Shuddh Shakhahari outlet” owned by a gentleman named Pradeep Bisht who was an ex service man! Needles to say this became our favorite hangout during out entire stay @ Binsar. As the vegetable supply to this hilly town is mostly once a week, we had very limited but very delicious choices to make from his menu.



On another evening we set out for a nearby peak & temple. We had to pass through the Binsar neighborhood to reach on top of the hill. The sunset from here was simply amazing, and we had two local lads for our company :-). On our way back we met few friendly locals who were singing along side their routine chores.




Next day we went on a small trek to a British Bungalow, just in front of the resort. Club Mahindra folks have bought this bungalow and now they have converted this to a guest house. Located a bit above the main resort this offers a vintage experience, with breath taking sceneries. One can either climb up all the way or there is motor able road too.



Next day we went on a visit to nearby Reserve forest and a few view points, which was just an hour+ drive from the resort. We made sure that we start pretty early so that we won’t miss the sunrise on our way to the forest. We stopped our vehicle at lot of points to enjoy the sunrise. We reached the Sanctuary well in time, and here we have a guest house run by KMVN -Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd.


We were told that from this guest house and a view point nearby, we can get a semicircular view of Himalayan mountain ranges. But to our bad luck due to the very bad weather we couldn’t catch the glimpse of the mountain ranges. Weather god played hara-kiri and spoiled our chances of catching the beautiful view, typically on visiting these locations one must be careful to visit these spots early during the day as the ranges would get covered by clouds during later part of the day. After visiting PatalBhuvaneshwar, it was time to bid adieu to Binsar vowing to be back again!



Useful links
Club Mahindra Binsar
KMVN Guest House

Hanumana Gundi @ Kudremukh

Enroute on a pilgrimage with my family, bumped upon this wonderful waterfalls near Kudremukh. Water gushing down from a height of approx 100 ft is really a treat to watch. Manned by Karnataka Forest Department, one needs to pay a nominal entre fee of Rs 20/Person to get to see the falls. To actually get in to water one has to climb down the rocky terrain a bit!



A word of caution though for the visitors, The entry and exit points of Kudremukh National park are monitored and one has to pass through the exit within two hours of entry.
Ofcourse, spending couple of odd hours at the falls is permitted, after showing the entry ticket for the waterfalls @ the National park exit.

Armed with my new camera I did some experiments, As I was hard pressed for the time, I could just take few snaps with the camera, and it was time to return back. I guess, it would be at its ferocious best and a treat to watch during Monsoon, except for the leeches :-). Any way I have already made up my mind to visit this during coming Monsoon season.



Location info: Inside Kudremukh National Pak, 30 Kms from Kalasa,
Best time to visit: October to March,

New Canon 450D

This time around, for my birthday S gifted me a high end camera, CANON 450D. Needless to say, I was at my gleeful best when I got this gift :-)



But, But, it comes with an unexhaustive set of riders and conditions

-> I have to teach her the photography ( what ever I know !!1)
-> Go for more trips
-> Every trip we go, she will use the camera also ( Hmm...this one is bit hard.. )
-> I have to take good pictures of all delicacies she is going to Cook (Photographer in me should work hard, otherwise I might.... you know....)
-> Blog more
-> Lenses are not part of the gift package/ neither they will be in future.. gotta buy them myself
-> .......................... and the list goes on...

Wishes for the new year

Wish you all a happy and prosperous 2009. Have fun, and a great year ahead.

My resolution this year is to blog more :-)



Have loads of fun!

Cya

A Cool Morning with Birds

As part of the Photography Workshop conducted by Sudhir Shivaram went to Hebbal lake for a shoot out on this Sunday morning. Posting here few of the best ones I was able to manage :-)

I am yet to figure out names of these birds :-)

Nanjanagud-Bylakuppe-Coorg-Nisarghadhama

Well this time it was a casual or I must say a relaxing trip to Coorg along with the family with the sole aim of unwinding from the hectic life :-). The first stop was @ Nanjanagud, 20 Kms from Mysore, famous for Nanjundeshwara temple. As we managed to reach the temple pretty early during the day, the magnificent view of the main gopura basking in the morning sun caught my attention.I realizing now that I must have paid little more attention to avoid the lamp post on the left hand side :(.



Then, what caught my attention was these ladies who were selling some pooja items. What made my curious were these smoke pots which were fuming smoke. Probably next time, I should checkout the significance of these fuming pots :-)



The Next stop was Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetian settlements in India and home to Namdroling Monastery. This is my second visit to this wonderful land of Tibet @ the heart of Karnataka. You have everything from shining gold structures, the fluttering flags of various colors, rhythmic drum beats with the background melody of pipes but for the snow capped peaks of Himalayas.







Finally we reached the destination!!! Though on the expensive side, the CLUB Mahindra resort @ Coorg is one of the excellent facilities I have visited so far. Be it the ambience, surroundings, the landscape, accommodation, be it anything, this place scores. After spending two fun filled and relaxing days we headed back to Bangalore. On our way back we had good time @ Cauvery Nisargadhama near Kushala Nagara



Check out for the Club Mahindra, Kodagu Valley Resort here.

Taare Zameen Par

As part of ESR (Employee Social Responsibility) initiative, recently I had an opportunity to spend a day out with kids from MADILU orphanage. As part of the program we took kids to picnic around Cubbon Park.



The day started as we left from our office to the MADILU orphanage at HSR Layout. Dressed in their uniforms, we really had a warm welcome from kids. This orphanage is home to kids between to 4~16 years who are deprived of their parent/s. As we embarked on our journey through busy Bangalore streets, kids kept humming various SHOLKAS, RHYMES in unison. I must say that they had all kinds of songs stored up their sleeve…a Sholka or a Bhajan or a Rhyme…… they had every thing.



The first stop was Nehru planetarium where in there was a show about our SOLAR system, little ones dozed off while their seniors watched the show. After having our lunch we headed towards Bala Bhavan (inside cubbon park) for a toy train ride. This was the most exciting part of the outing. All of them were really excited once they saw the toy train whistling around. It was really fun filled ride for the little ones as they watched the train chug along the Cubbon Park. Finally there were few games and then it was time to say bye.




Ooops.. Forgot to add...

Happy Third Anniversary my Dear blog..:-)

A Real big suprise

A couple of weeks back, I approached rediff to publish my post on Devbagh on their GetAhead column and then forgot about it.

To my suprise, they published that article on by birthday. It was such a pleasant supirse gift, on top of so many suprise gifts I got:-)

Check this out Devbagh

Chasing the Monsoon – Jog Falls @ its Best

Spending considerable time of my life in MalNad, I had only a few opportunities to see the Jog falls at its full glory or near its full glory. I must say as years are passing by its slowly on the decline.

So this time around with monsoon zooming, I had a flash trip to Shimoga to savor good moments with river Sharavathi in her full glory. Only sad point of the trip was that I lost a precious mobile which was gifted by my brother :( Sorry Bro!


Snaps from Jog.

A walk alongside the beach

I must say, this one is one of my memorable trips, when I was away from all hustle bustle of busy Bangalore life relaxing along with the nature, with thunderous waves kissing the sea shore, a royal tan in the sun, having a splash in the sea, dive into the sky  ( Yeah.. it was exiting as ever) and watching birds catching their prey, watching those diving dolphins in awe… Huffffffff… this is not going to end…


Well.. well.. we were in the Jungle Lodges resort in Devbabg near Karwar. After a good 16 hour bumpy ride from Bangalore to Karwar, we were dropped at the JLR pickup point by an forest officer in his Mahindra Bolero :-) I was left wondering from when our forest department started getting so courteous towards its visitors :-) Then we were taken in to the resort by a motor boat, there on the shores an eco friendly vehicle was waiting for us to drop near our cottage (hmmmmmm... Mogambo..Kush huva...)Right now its a battery driven vehicle, I wish in future we would have a solar powered one which is really eco friendly!!!!!!


After retiring into cottage and freshening up, now it’s the time for some fun @ sea and some evening photography. The 2+km stretch beach side is really maintained well. I must say this was one of the finest beaches along side coastal Karnataka in terms of cleanliness, privacy, personal space.. blah blah blah blah…
Then there was a evening bonfire with barbecues and some good spicy veg bonda’s and pakoda’s ( Believe me.. I am still a veggie.. or rather eggie..). The food served for dinner was OK, and this is the best stuff you get in this island apart from crabs, fishes and shells


Next couple of days were fun filled with nature walks, some photography , banana boat rides, parasailing, having splashes in the sea.. getting the skin royally tanned in the sun and of course .. Collecting the memorabilia of the trip.. (how can I forget spending hours on shore collecting sea shells).

Info about the place

Place: DevBagh, Near Karwar,
Travel: One has to reach Karwar by road,rail or air and reach devbagh by forest dept boat.
By Road: Lot of private/government buses operate from Bangalore, pretty good choice is also available, ideally its an overnight journey (but for the bad roads)
By Rail: One can alight at Hubli and take a bus to Karwar which is around 3~4 hours drive which passes through scenic terrains of Uttara kannada district
By Air: Reach Goa by Air and travel either by road or rail to karwar.
Season: Best time is October till April.
Reference: http://www.junglelodges.com/resort_overview.asp?resort=Devbagh

BE COOOOOOOOOL

Did you know that by turning the heating down by a degree or so an average family can save 400 kg of CO2 every year??

Did you know that by turning not letting electronic equipment on STANDBY Mode one would save around 150 kg of CO2 every year??

Did you know that by buying local food and vegetables one would save 4 tonnes of CO2 every year???

Check out BE COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on tips to save and conserve energy.

Conserve Energy and Save the world.

Save Energy.. Search using Blackle

A Mail extract about Blackle. Save the environment!! Search Using Blackle!!!!!!

Read this -> About Blackle

****************************************************************************
Blackle is nothing but a black version of Google...

"A few months ago, TreeHugger Mark Ontkush wrote a post on his blog
EcoIron titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year. The
post lays out the following train of thought. "An all white web page
uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59
watts." Google, which has a white background and gets about "200 million
queries a day" could reduce global energy use by 750 Megawatt-hours a
year by simply changing the color of its homepage to black.

In response to this post a black version of Google emerged called
Blackle.com .. According to Blackle's homepage at
publication time, 4,408.917 Watt hours have been saved by. The site
encourages users to "make a difference today [by] ... Blackling "energy
saving tips" or visit[ing] treehugger.com a
great blog dedicated to environmental awareness." Nice ideas. But how
does the search measure up? Very well indeed. Give it a whirl yourself
and start saving energy one search at a time. :: Blackle.com

****************************************************************************

3 Cheers to Election Commission

It's really heartening to read even after 50+years of independence one has to depend on loads of para milirtary forces to conduct a free and fair elections!!

Kudos to the whole EC team which conducted UP elections. Read out the eye opener article below from CEC.

How we ensured free and fair elections in UP

Courtesy: TOI

Getting nostalgic...

Dont you feel nostalgic when suddenly bump on something which you used to enjoy during our childhood days?? Well Yes!! Few days back while surfing the TV bumped on to some programme which featured few old ads from the Doordarshan ERA which took me back few years.. The concept and theme of this ads are so simple but still elegant they have created to an unimaginable impressions on the minds of people. Few of my all time favourites..

1. Bajaj Bulbs and Tubes: Jab my chota baccha tha.. Badi shararat kartha tha.. meri chori pakadi jaathi... Tab roshan tha Bajaj..

2. Lifebuoy: Tandurusthi ki raksha karta hai lifebyoy... Lifebuoy hai jahan.. tandurshi hai vaha..

3. Liril: Than refreshing LIRIL add.. wow... it was so good.

4. Bajaj: Yeh jameen Yeh asmaan... Hamara kal Hamara aaaj.. buland Bharath ki buland tasveer... Hamara... bajaj..

5. Another add which was based on the song.. " Gaadi bula rahee hai.. seeti baja rahi hai.." I dont remember the brand though..

6. Nirma: "Washing poweder nirma..." with that dancing kid...

and what about the inspirational ones.. few ads based on national integrity and unification..

1. Famous cartoon song of Didi and few kids " Ek our Anek": "Ek tithali.. anek thithaliya.."

2. And finally the one for national integrity "Mile sur merah tumhara.." featuring all great personalities from India..

hmmmmm.. went back to olden & golden days???? Good.. :-)
Btw what are your favourites?

Delhi Metro triperience (Trip+experience=triperience )

Well, I am starting this tripierence in reverse chronological order just to avoid scratching my head. I always loath to take notes when I travel but being too lazy never taken one so far!!! Now coming to the point, enroute to Uttranchal we had planned couple of days in Delhi. Initially we had a plan to experience the metro during our onward journey, but thanks to Delhi traders it was realized only during our arrival.

What really nice to see with metro is the sophistication, the clean and neat environment, timeliness with which it runs and of course the cost which is very affordable. A perfect showcase of emerging India built and executed to international standards by DMRC. Unlike in Mumbai, You won’t see garbage lying around the track, you won’t see that dammed MAD crowd, and you won’t see the stations with people and garbage alike.

Apparently while reading a newspaper report last week realized that the benefits of this project are measured in terms of Economic IRR rather than Financial IRR. Well in layman’s terms the benefits are not measured in terms of when does this project achieves break even in terms of expenditures incurred or When does this project starts making money and becomes profitable? But in terms of how much this project saves/contributes to society in terms of less number of vehicles or road, less number of accidents, amount of fuel saved its contribution in reducing the environmental pollution etc. Btw DMRC has advertised the Economic IRR it has achieved in few of its stations.

Have a look at the report on Social Cost Benefit analysis of Delhi Metro.. Now I am eagerly waiting for the launch of Namma Metro with loads of optimism.

Thanks to: DMRC, IEGINDIA, BMRC

After a Looooong Break...

Hmm.. I Kept wondering what kept me busy.... work? personal life? or my lazyness??? .. well never bother.. no justifications.. I am back again for good :-)

Well couple of weeks back had a chance to visit anniversary celeberations of my Music school. It was good show given that the average of singers on the stage was around 10~12. When I was going to the school I had seen the very same kids doing mistakes and learing during the process.

But then on this day they managed to put up a very good show:-) Thanks to their teachers Harish and Divakar. Couple of songs were really presented really well....

Nanage Avasaravilla (I wish my better half sings this for me .. every time I go late ;-) and Amma ninna edeYaladalli.

Btw.. I had even forgot that I have completed 2 Years of blogging now :-) Hopefully will write more on this space..