Just a Regular Blog

Trek to Purandar Fort

2011-11-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

It had been a while after my previous trek to Tikona Fort, so I decided to embark on another trek - and this time, all alone. After my bike accident in Goa in June this year, I had developed a fear of riding the bike. To tackle that, I decided that I would drive my bike to the trek this time. So after some researching on my favourite travel blog by Rajaram, I decided that I could go to Fort Purandar in Narayanpur. This is around 30kms from my place, so I thought it would be doable in my modest 100CC bike - which friends now call a Luna. (Note: Pl. click on the photos to get a better view)

My Starting Point (Bike under that tree in the center)

I started at 9am from home and managed to reach the starting point of the trek on the foothills by about 10am. I decided to travel light - just had my Camera and a bottle of water, knowing well that there were food stalls at the fort where could do lunch. Parked my bike under the Banian tree, I started off the trek. On looking up itself I realised, this one was much bigger a task than the last one. Few minutes into the trek, I was huffing n puffing breathlessly. The group that had started off a bit after me had caught up with me, so much for my wonderful stamina. At one point, I started feeling dizzy and self doubt cropped up - Can I really do this !? I took a break, sat down, caught a few breaths, took a few pictures and silently ordered myself - turning back was not an option - SO MOVE IT !! After that pep self-talk, I started pushing myself and I started regaining confidence as I started approaching half way mark - Binni Darwaza. When I reached there, I had also managed to leave that other group far behind and I was confidently setting foot towards my next destination of Purandar Fort. There were some points of interest at the mid-way stop which I took time to photograph.

A panoramic view just before reaching half-way point

Binni Darwaza - Finally reached !!

TL: Abandoned Church, TR&BR: Shivaji and Bajirao respectively, BL: Purandareshwar Temple (Shiva)

At the half-way mark, I found more people - who had decided to drive up to this point (which is possible) - a popular picnic spot. There were families, boy scout teams and so on who were all aiming to go to the go up to the Purandar Fort from the half way point. I also spotted the food stall and was glad that it was serving Bharkri/Pitla, Poha etc ... I decided that I would finish the trek and come back to my food reward later.

At this point I realised that I had two options. One was to do Purandar Fort or do Vajragad Fort which was just adjacent to the Purandar Fort. I decided to avoid the crowd and do the more challenging Vajragad Fort. I took couple of shots at the decision point (see below)

The other side of the valley

Vajragad Fort - Notice the flag the the top most point of the fort (I reached there :) .. you will see that in subsequent photos)

I was unclear of the route to the top of this fort, so I thought I could explore it. It was about 11:15 am at this point and when I should have been tired, I was in fact all pumped up to go ahead and reach the peak. So I started walking and seemed to be going fine until I started hitting really heavy foliage on the trail that I was following (which was sign that this path was not taken so often), but I kept going. At one point I was crouching and walking under heavy foliage for about 20-30 meters.

The path I took

I realised that I had lost my way and that I may have taken a wrong trail so I decided to trace the way back a bit. Fortunately, I was hearing some persons talking so I tried to reach in that direction. After some retracing, fortunately, I found them and they told me the correct path. After that, it was just some more huffing n puffing before I finally reached the entry point if the Vajragad Fort.

The entry Darwaza to the Vajragad Fort

Then came the point, the top most point of the fort where there was a Victory Flag (Dwaj) flying high. The view from this point was really something worth all the trouble I went through to reach all the way to the top .. It was like my own Victory Flag .. (the same tiny flag from the previous photo)

Success at last ... Also in the background you can see Purandar Fort (as seen from Vajragad Fort)

I reached this point by 12:30 pm ... After sitting there for a while, I decided to head back to have my reward lunch (Pitla/Bhakri/Techa) - Simple and tasty. I took some more aesthetic photos on my way back. Have a look below.

Awesome views !!

I reached down to my bike at around 2:45 pm and took a relaxed ride back home. On the way back I stopped by at the Sangameshwar Shiv Mandir to take some blessings from the Lord Shiva.

Sangameshwar Shiv Mandir

It felt good that I had now managed to do a pretty difficult trek on my own and my leg also felt much better - almost a year after the accident. I came back home with fond memories and a much more confident self. Looking forward to many more treks in the future.

Mommy bird feeding its babies .. Wow !!

2011-10-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

I was sitting this afternoon doing nothing in particular ... When I noticed that there was a honeycomb kind of structure in my balcony . I zoomed in to take a closer look and it was actually a birds nest. And just as I was checking it out I found that there were 3 baby birds ... And suddenly there was some activity when I took this shot ...

What I realised was that it was the mother bird trying to feed its babies .. So I got my tripod and set myself for that perfect shot with the hi-speed burst mode .. And I got some good shots multiple times ... here you go ... See some of my best shots !!

Enjoy !!

Our 5th Marriage Anniversary - Vacation - Part II

2011-10-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Chickamagalur: Our stay in Chickamagalur was all about the wonderful and memorable stay at Eagle Eye Resorts. We spent all of our 2.5 days there in the resort. Now you can imagine if we did that, how memorable the stay there would have been. All in all .. we highly recommend the place to anyone looking for a nice break and wonderful service/food and activities during the break.

The resort is actually 48 Kms. from Chikmaglur located within a large plantation land. Its a beautiful theme based resort with different types of rooms available to guests. One can choose from standard rooms, cottages, villas, tree house, and sky walk villas, water fall villas. You can check the above website to see what each looks like. We choose to go for the tree house because we have always wanted to experience the fun of staying in a tree house.

The inside of a tree house

I have to say .. It was an out-of-the-world-experience as we approached the tree house it was a short trek from the resort office. We were provided with torch lights to find our way in the dark. There was no phone range (at least for our service provider - Vodafone) which was also a relief. We made our way up to the tree house, climbing from within it. When we reached there the view was unbelievable. It was open from all sides just curtains to close if required and during rains. And it did rained now and then ... which made the climate even better. It was fully equipped with nice hammock, two double beds one inside and one outside with the typical mosquito nets .. In the night, they provided for kerosene lanterns which added to the night ambiance.

Relaxing on the Hammock

Tree House

A beautiful long exposure dusk shot

There was no sounds of civilization .. only the sounds of nature. Insects and birds and their sounds ... It was unbelievable. We had to go for breakfast, lunch and dinner to a common location. It was a nice walk during the day time from and to the dining hall. It became more exciting during nights when it was pitch dark and we had to use our torches to reach the dining hall ... There was a defined pathway but a definitely eerie (but fun) feeling to walk in the dark through the coffee plantations on both sides.

The food was outstanding and there was variety in the food spread. The service was also wonderful. As a part of the activities (part of the package) there was a morning trek (which we skipped because of our injuries and also - we needed a break no morning activities) but it should have been fun ... There was also a plantation tour where the plantation manager took us around the plantation and showed us the coffee plants. He also showed us the two different types of coffee - Arabica and Robusta. He also showed us many other plants/trees and made us taste us some fruits/spices ... Avocado, Mangoes, Oranges, chillies, pepper, cocoa, etc ... It was very informative and nice to taste fruits in their natural form right from the source.

Pepper

Coffee Beans

An extraordinarily large flower

Avocado

Pepper Again!!

Extremely Hot Chillies

Again a very unique flower

Mangoes

Cocoa Fruit

Snail

Itch worm

Beautiful Transformation of a centipede during self-defense

The other activities were Fishing and Coracle Ride. Both were fun activities. Again we had to walk into the woods to reach the pond/lake where we were going to do the coracle ride. The problem with these walks (this and the plantation walks) was that there were lots of leaches on the path and it would stick on to the leg and silently start sucking your blood. Probably my blood being sweeter (because of all the sweets that i have) the leaches choose me as their target. I was bitten by multiple leaches, in multiple places in my leg multiple times (so much so that I am now cool about leaches - I am able to pull them out on my own and throw them away). The fishing was also fun ... we were able to have our share of catches for the fun of it and we then released them back onto the pond.

Coracle Ride

Janani's Fishing Success

A beautiful panoramic shot

And ... my fishing success

Another beautiful panoramic shot

Overall, it was a really memorable experience to be so close to nature and to take a break like this away from civilization. Now, waiting for my next big break !!

Our 5th Marriage Anniversary - Vacation - Part I

2011-10-14T23:48:00.000-07:00

Again a long pending post ... (Please do click on the photos to get better view)

The month of July brings in the regular Birthday / Anniversary Vacation that we always make time for every year (except last year when i was in Joburg). This year it was more special as we completed 5 years of our marriage. We decided to take a much-deserved, long break.With 5 days leave, we got a 9 day vacation. We decided to visit the beautiful Coorg and Chickamagalur in Karnataka.

We had planned for 2.5 days in Coorg, 2.5 days in Chickamagalur, travel by train caused us 2 days in travel and we needed 2 days in Bangalore to oversee the progress of a flat that we have booked in Bangalore.
Coorg: Was a beautiful place with lots of places to see. We stayed at Prakruth and I must say that though the location of the resort was great, the service and food there left us with some bad taste. So in case anyone is thinking of staying there, I would recommend a big NO. But in spite of this problem, we did visit some very interesting places.

We first visited Nisargadhama which was a nice picnic spot beside the Cavery river. It has a thick green cover which gives you a feel of a walk in the woods. It was very quiet and pretty indeed.

We then visited Dubare elephant camp. To reach this camp, you have to take a quick ride across the cavery river. The place essentially famous for two things river water rafting and elephant interaction. Now since we both were still recovering from a leg injury (which we got in Goa - long story - later), we decided to pass the river water rafting (as much as we always wanted to try that). Also wifey's fear of any animals ruled out elephant interaction as well. So we decided to just sit on the other side of the river an just relax. :) It was indeed relaxing to just soak up on that beautiful view.

We also visited the beautiful Namdroling Tibetan Monastery. It was the first time that I was seeing a Tibetan temple. I found a striking similarity to the Nanhua Temple that I had visited in Johannesburg. But there were differences as well ... But I was definitely amazed by the sheer size and the detailing of the temple ... I also got to see some Tibetan monks performing some ceremonies. What I couldn't understand was the coke and fanta bottles that were kept near the idols !!

A swan I found in the temple premises

The good part was that all these three places were close to our resort so we were able to cover all of them in half a day. We also did some shopping for spices and coffee (which coorg is famous for). On the last day we visited two more locations slightly away from the resort - Abbey Falls and the Thalacavery.

Abbey falls was simply beautiful and I did try some photography techniques and it did come out ok I guess .. :) ...

We also visited the Serene and peaceful temple of Thalacavery which is supposed to be the origination point of the river cavery. As strange as it seems the starting point of the river starts in a small tank in the temple. The photo below taken from Manoj's flickr stream (Thanks Manoj) shows this well .. I was not allowed to take photos in that area.

It is after this that the water flows into a larger tank where people can take a dip in the holy water. (Source: Wiki)

It was indeed a very satisfying feeling. After this we headed towards Chickamagalur (Route: Bus back to Mysore - rest in the night .. Morning train to Hassan .. and then bus to Chickamagalur) .. I know its a long route ... But in the interest of making all advance bookings and a relaxed travel I chose this.

I will describe the Chickamagalur in the Part II of this post.

Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century

2011-10-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

A sort of dated post ... but nonetheless posting it .. :)

Recently (Not so recently) there was the longest Lunar Eclipse of the century .. Lasted for about 100 minutes ... given my interest for photography I was determined to catch it even though it was late in the night.So I set the alarm for 1:00 am in the night and headed out to the terrace of my 10- floor apartment with all my photography gear Camera and tripod essentially :) ..

As luck would have it, it was an extremely cloudy day (See above). Leave alone seeing the eclipse - I could not even remotely spot where the moon could have been. Even after waiting for an hour hoping for clouds to clear, I gave up when it started to drizzle. I did take some shots to pass my time for the hour. Here's some of them.

Empty roads with one or two vehicles

Hige Office complex

Also, what reminded me that i had forgotten to post about this event was the beautiful sight of the moon couple of days back (again dated). So here's my capture of the beautiful moon.

Enjoy ...

Mumbai through my Camera !!

2011-08-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

I was in Mumbai couple of months back for an official visit. I did make time after work to see this most lively city in India. Thanks to my friend Arindam who agreed to show his city off to me, I was able to see some of the most popular places in Mumbai. We started with Bandstand in Bandra (w) which is a posh sea facing residential area - homes of popular Bollywood stars like Salman, Shahrukh. Nice walk along the area and we passed the Taj Lands End to reach the Bandra Fort to get a view of the famous Bandra Worli Sea Link. I must say that its a beautiful view from there.

We then took a taxi drive through the Bandra Worli Sea Link, passing through the famous Haji Ali to reach Hanging Garden to get a view of the Queens' Necklace during sunset.

We then went to Chaupati and sat there to get some more view of the Arabian sea and the Mumbai night colors.

After being satisfied, we had dinner and proceeded to VT station (now CST) to catch our train back home.

I must say that there is a magic about the city that cannot be described in words - just need to experience it ... !!

Review: Squisito

2011-06-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ok ... Its not a movie ... Its a restaurant.

It was Janani's birthday yesterday and as a part of the celebrations we decided to dine-out. After a long time me and Janani were going to try a new restaurant - instead of repeating our regular favourite's Malaka Spice etc .. So it was Squisito in Koregaon Park.

What I specially liked is that it was exclusively Vegetarian. Apart from its speciality Italian it also had some Lebanese and Mexican options sprinkled onto the menu. The place was smaller than what i had expected but had a nice ambiance. We had couple of starters - oven baked crispy mushrooms and falafel - both of which I really liked. The quantity of the starter was also really filling ... it actually made us a bit nervous because we had ordered 3 more items for the main course - A Pizza (thin crust with spicy toppings), a tortellini pasta and a Mexican rice dish. Fortunately for us all of us were hungry so we were able to finish all of that above. The pasta was especially creamy and out-of-the-world. To top it up all, we had a Chocolate Bomb for dessert. :)

All in all - I was thrilled with the food and was overjoyed to see the many options available to us vegetarian mortals. My mind filled with all the flavours of the food, my taste buds were thanking me for the Squisite food that they had received that evening.

A must experience - I give it a 4.5 / 5 ...

The Acid Test: Tikona Fort Trek

2011-06-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Its been frustrating last 6 months recovering from my ankle injury that I got in Nov 2010. I have been wanting to get back to my normal "active" self. After lots of patience and physiotherapy, finally I decided to test myself to a trek to see if I am really back to normal. Thanks to Subbu with whom I have been planning this trek for sometime now, finally happened today. It was Tikona Fort. The verdict: I did very well :) ... I am there ... about 95% there !! :)

The Goal - Tikona Fort

The detailed information about how to get to Tikona Fort has been covered so well in this blog entry here by Rajaram (a really awesome blogger), which has been a primary reason for us to choose this fort.

Rajaram so frivolously mentioned "This is an easy trek" ... either he is more active than me !! or he is a regular on treks. I wouldn't classify this as a easy trek by any means. This would be a medium difficulty trek in my perspective. Being the first trek of my life, this did take a toll on my stamina.

Since it was just me and Subbu we managed to start pretty early and get to Tikona by 8:00 in the morning. Thanks to the rain last night and the over cast weather, it was a perfect setting for a nice trek. Precise directions given by Rajaram made sure that we reached exactly at the same place where they had also started their trek. First 10-15 mins of climbing made both me and Subbu realise that we have been out of action for a long time and that our stamina had taken a hit. So we decided to take it a bit slowly. Small steps at a time, we were slowly but surely getting there. What looked like an audacious goal at first, now slowly looked achievable as we were climbing. The wonderful scenery was adding towards us forgetting our tiredness and enjoying the beauty and sounds of nature.

We did pass through 3 temples on the way to the top. First one was Chapetdan Maruti ... named because of Lord Hanuman's pose to slap the devil who is at his feet. Pretty interesting !! Next one was Tuljadevi Mandir. At this temple there was a rishi muni residing there, was also responsible for maintaining the temple. The final Tryambakeshwar temple was on the top of the fort.

Temples on the way to the top

When I reached the top, the view from the top was truly a worthy trophy of our effort. It also gave me back my confidence that I could get back to my "active" past. So I look forward to many more such treks in the future.

I did take lots of snaps. Here are a few good ones that I am sharing. Mostly Panoramic views.

On the way back we decided to "chill out" by taking bath in a river stream. It was so refreshing and cool that it took out all the tiredness of the trek we just finished and we were ready to head back to Pune fresh and fine. We stopped by for a delicious Gujarati Thali lunch at Lonavla and we were on our way back to Pune.

At the end, a day well spent, reminiscent with fond memories.

More Birds !!

2011-06-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

While the viewers may be tired with the monotony of the photos in my blog ... but I am not tired at all "shooting" birds around my apartment .. so here's some more ... different perspective this time ... different activities .... and also in pairs !! :)

I am loving it !!

New Laptop purchased

2011-05-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

We have purchased a Dell Inspiron N4010 for our home usage. I read the review here saying "Dell has assembled a slick update to the Inspiron line that, despite a few shortcomings, will let students and home users do anything they need to without breaking the bank." ... I liked it ... That is exactly what I want ...

Hopefully, now I am going to try and be a bit more regular in the Online world ... :) ... Blog regularly ... Show up on facebook and gtalk more regularly.

Catch you all online more often now !! :)

Some more nice photos ...

2011-05-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

So, I have been doing a lot of observing after the arrival of this camera ... Its actually fun just sitting in the balcony doing nothing much and just observing ... I have actually realised that there are quite some nice birds just around my houses and if I am patient I can get some great snaps (though I don't know some of the birds that I am capturing .. May be someone can help if they know) ... So here are some pictures I took recently.

There is also a picture of a moon rising one evening ...

And some more playing around with light painting. Recently, for Vishu, obviously we have to setup a Vishu Kani. A prominent part of the flower arrangement is the Konna Pu (or flower). Now, due to circumstances I was not able to arrange for one for my Vishu Kani.So I thought I'd use some light painting so achieve the effect. So here goes ... (Ok ... No laughing !! )

I am also trying to capture a yellow bird that has been flying around my house but is too fast so I have been unsuccessful so far. Will share that soon once I catch it .. very soon. I am determined.

Sathya Sai Baba

2011-04-25T02:12:00.000-07:00

Sathya Sai Baba passed away this Sunday. My mother was an ardent follower. She has told me instances of when she had got surprise darshans of him and at times when she least expected. I believe my sister was also named Shanti after his influence. Though, its another story that she is anything but "Shanti" (or "peace" in english) ... :)

I am not much of his devotee. But I believe that he is doing a lot of good for the society as a whole. Be it his Super-specialty hospitals that serve the poor for free or be it the water-irrigation and other projects that he has single-handedly funded or be it the wonderful initiation that a child gets to good things in life by attending his Balavikas initiatives that are run all over the country.
This Balavikas initiative is a very interesting initiative that is being run by the disciples of Saibaba. They teach children basic values of life with content drawn from ancient scriptures, through the methodology of story telling, enacting plays and singing Bhajans etc. I have attended these classes as a kid and in fact when one gets a good teacher, the whole experience turns out to be good fun, as well as makes for well-rounded learning experience.
Many of my relatives are staunch disciples of Sathya Sai Baba. Overall, I think he has done enough good to the society and impacted lives of millions of people. I have been to his Ashrams in Whitefield, Bangalore and taken his Darshan and I have seen that there are lots of devotees – who have reshaped their lives to be part of his movement and serve the society in someway. If someone is able to influence so many people in a positive way there is definitely something great about him. I hope that even when he is not there his wonderful work is continued by his disciples.
But then - there are also some people like Taslima Nasreen who want to make a whole mockery of other people’s faiths and beliefs. This is what I think about what she has to say. One should also not make fun of other’s faith and beliefs. Just because one has a pen doesn’t mean someone can go about writing anything that one feels like. I think this only proves that she is not interested in the issue, she is only interested in getting some media limelight and audience’s time-share. And in the end, it comes down to these kinds of cheap tactics. I think, no one forced her into having a belief or a faith about him .. so if she didn’t believe in him then she could just leave it alone and get on with life.

So as I said earlier, I sincerely hope that his devotees take this movement to much greater heights and keep up the great work that has been going on.

Some interesting night shots ...

2011-04-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

The view is nothing so special ... View from my balcony. But the attempt was to see how my Camera behaves during night shots.

With a lesser exposure time ...I got this nice night shot.

But what is the fun if there are no effects in a night shot. So I increased the exposure time.

What you see are streaks of light of vehicles that were passing by. Since the vehicles passed by you cant see the vehicles .. what is left behind are only the streaks ... :) interesting huh .. :)

So I tried shooting the same effect at the enterance of my society, when lots of people were returning from work at that time. Pretty neat !! :)

Untill the next photos !! Enjoy !!

Some of my good photos with the new Camera

2011-04-14T03:48:00.000-07:00

Starting with some Flowers ...

And then some Birds ..

And finally the recent Super Moon ..

Proud of myself :) and happy with my camera ... Have some light painting too ... but I will upload those when I manage to take some better ones ...

My Latest thrill !!

2011-03-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

After a lot of research and planning I finally decided that I should get a better camera given that I have an eye for taking good photographs (or so I believe). I thought that instead of jumping into a DSLR (which is much more expensive and I dont know if I will use it to its fullest capacity), so I decided to get a new breed of cameras that are coming up these days which have more adjustable settings than a regular digital camera but also not to the extent of a DSLR cameras - called Bridge Cameras.

After some more research on which camera to buy, I decided on the Panasonic DMC FZ40.

So now with this camera I have already started taking some really nice photos .. Will try and share the photos soon .. I am trying some low light photos .. night photos .. light painting ... etc .. Samples to follow.

Keep watching ..

Arrrrgh!!

2011-02-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

Now a days, I have this relentless feeling to ... change "things" in my life ... its almost a nagging itch - which I want to end - and end RIGHT NOW - and bring some "peace" and "serenity" into my life - My life - which I feel has an ability to cause or be a catalyst to all the "unrest" and "chaos" around me ...

PS. Reading all this one could feel that I am in trouble... but its not like I am in some deep shit or something ... It's a feeling inside of me ... I am sure it would result in some action soon ... And No, no yoga or meditation for me !!

Wow .. reading the above again ... Its vague like shit ... :) .. Now you know !!

Coffee Connection

2011-02-21T21:45:00.001-08:00

Coffee ... an integral part of my work day ... @ Java Green ...

Blogging thru my Nokia E71

Lazy and Busy

2011-02-15T21:36:00.001-08:00

These two could be prime reasons for my abscondance from my blog ...
But will be back soon with a bang ...

--
Regards,
Hariharan Krishnamurthy

Mobile: +91 992 353 8585 | Catch all my life's action @
http://know-hari.blogspot.com/

Broken leg .. and before that !!

2010-12-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

It has happened to me in the past .. Guess about 4 years ago ... That time it was the right leg ... This time it is the left leg ... I also did tweet about it in between .. Which is the reason that I have been out of action ... Its been close to a month of cast and all that mess ... I rather skip the details ...

I got this one when we had been to Bhandardara on a weekend outing when my sister Shanti, Sekar (BIL) and Natasha were here for a Diwali vacation. As I had explained to you in my previous post, they had driven my car to Pune from Coimbatore to be with us on Diwali.

Apart from my broken leg, it was a very good time we had during their visit here. My SIL, Nandini, was also here to join us for Diwali. So overall it was a memorable Diwali for me.

Posting some family pictures and also some Bhandardara photos for you to enjoy !! Will be back in action soon ... I have to !!! :)

Back with a BANG !!! - Road Trip Down South India ..

2010-11-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

Have been out of action for obvious reasons … I have now returned back to India. Before you make hasty conclusions – that’s not what really I meant ... :) … After coming back (1st Oct, 2010), I have been unusually busy – trying to fix some operational stuff at office (like proving that I still work for Accenture, getting a place for myself in the office etc) and then by 7th Oct I took some time off for a vacation. That was an interesting part, so let me elaborate some more on that.

It was an unusual vacation and a very adventurous (and also spiritual) one at that - where I was on a Road Trip from Pune to the South of India. We drove our car for about 2200kms in total !! Here’s how we did it.

Day 1 (7th October 2010):

Kolhapur – we drove from Pune in the afternoon to Kolhapur. The main agenda was to visit the famous Mahalakshmi temple. We managed to get a beautiful Darshan with not much of a crowd around. The Navaratri was starting only the next day so the crowds had not started to pour in yet.

Day 2 to 4:

Bangalore – After staying overnight in Kolhapur we started from Kolhapur to Bangalore. We reached Bangalore by evening 6:30 pm. We could have reached much earlier but the main reason for our delay was the famous Dharwad Peda. We (Ok .. I) wanted to have the delectable peda and so we took the road into Dharwad and to get back to the Bangalore highway was a nightmare (or lets say a daymare !!) We lost about couple of hours in total because we had to stop for lunch also at Devangere. The visit to Bangalore was mainly to see some relatives and friends. Also, we wanted to check the progress of the flat that we have booked in Bangalore.

Day 4 to5:

Thiruvannamalai – We started from Bangalore on the Sunday (10th October) late afternoon to Thiruvannamalai. We reached there and took rest in one of the ashrams there. Next day morning (11th October) our agenda included the visit the Shiva temple there and also to the customary Girivalam (the 14km walk or pradakshina in the around the hill surrounding the temple). I managed to walk bare-feet for the entire 14 kms of Girivalam. Janani gave me company for first half the way after which she took an auto to complete the Girivalam.

Mailam: After the delay due to the Girivalam which took much longer than I expected, we rushed to Mailam (about 30 km away) to visit the Murugan temple there. Again, it was a quick and nice Darshan that we got there.
Thiruvakkarai – Our next stop was to Thiruvakkarai to visit the Vakrakali Amman Temple there. I was hoping that I would be able to reach there before the temple’s scheduled afternoon closure – which I thankfully managed just on time. It was a very rare and different form of Amman that we saw in the temple. The temple also has a very interesting story associated with it. The story behind this temple, Amman was about to kill the devil, finding that she was pregnant she took the child in her ear and then killed her with her leg. The posture of the deity is very different in this temple. She is slightly tilted with the small child in her right ear and her left leg extended for killing the devil. Was a nice and satisfying experience.

Pondicherry – After the above two temples we rushed to Pondicherry to visit the Auroville ashram. The near-by Manakula Vinayakar temple was close for the afternoon so couldn’t visit that unfortunately.
Tanjavur – After that quickie visit in Pondicherry we drove towards Tanjavur to visit my relative there and also to visit the famous Bragadeeshwarar temple. The temple had recently completed its 1000 year celebrations and so it looked absolutely fabulous in its full decorations and focus lights. Here are some photos that I took there. After spending that night at my relatives place, we drove to Trichy next day morning.

Day 6

Trichy – Visit to Trichy (12th October) was primarily to see my many relatives there. But I also caught the glimpse of the majestic Raja Gopuram of Srirangam. Here is the photograph.

Day 7

Rameshwaram – On 13th October, we started from Trichy towards Rameshwaram to visit the famous island city which is part of the famous Char Dhams. As a part of the darshan one has to visit the 22 theerthams present in the temple and take bath with the water from each of them. Thanks to the prior arrangement that we had done, we got wonderful darshan at the temple. It is a very scenic town with many smaller temples around the main temple – we tried and covered some of the smaller temples as well. Here are some photos taken there including the famous railroad bridge which is a still-functioning double-leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under the bridge.

Day 8

Coimbatore – We headed out of Rameshwaram on the 14th October to reach Coimbatore by afternoon. After meeting relatives we reached our final destination – my sisters residence at Coimbatore at night finishing our part of the road trip. Below is the photo taken at a wind farm on the way to Coimbatore.

We then spend the next couple of days with her and then took a train to head back to Chennai. After spending 3 days in Chennai and its horrible heat we took a train back to Pune. You may wonder what about that car !! My sister and her family would execute the other half of the plan when they drive our car back to Pune from Coimbatore when they visit us for Deepavali !!! :)

Learnings from South Africa

2010-09-27T02:54:00.000-07:00

As I leave this country, I was thinking what can I have as a parting blog post ?! And finally, I decided, it would only be fitting that I could list what India could learn from a country like South Africa. And actually – there is lots !!

Some people may read this and go – “Sala ‘foreign-return’… Shana banana ke koshish kar raha hai” – but nonetheless I would take the effort as I feel it would be worthwhile for an “open-minded” Indian to read this.

Ok … Let me list things as it comes to my head.

Dignity of Labour – I have seen many instances where I have found that people have immense dignity for labour.

I have seen restaurants where the owner’s son was waiting tables – can’t imagine that happening in India.
I have seen people in senior positions in office environment talk to workers at lower level or housekeeping etc with such respect – Can’t imagine senior officers in talk to anyone but their subordinates (anyone else is practically too low to even look at, leave alone talking to them)

Respect for Individuals – At work environment, people are treated with lot of respect. Never have I seen loose talk or disrespect. People are never forced to do an overtime. If required, it is requested and the leaders lead from the front and are present when you are in on a weekend or are working overtime. Also people work normal hours here – I mean normal – Start at 8 finish by 4 … at max it can stretch to 5 … That’s it. It would probably never happen even in dreams in India.
Civic Sense – This is something that Indian have to learn from South Africa. I am not saying that situation here is like Singapore – but its definitely much-much better than India. Streets and public places are so neat. I feel that one of the main reasons for that is the absence of Gutka in South Africa (I feel that it should be banned in India). Apart from that also there are many garbage bins in public places and people really “use” them. They hold on to the waste and walk up to the bin before disposing it off. People use designated smoking areas and smoke and drink responsibly without inconvenience to general public. How I wish I could see India like that !!
Wonderful Traffic Sense – Anyone who has seen India and South Africa would say this. It goes without saying that people here are organized and follow traffic rules. But what is amazing is that people have this automatic way to organize themselves even in a traffic jam situation or a deadlock situation. In a four road crossing where the traffic signal is not functioning also people would take turns (one from each road) to resolve the problem. All this without the intervention of a traffic cop. Even when traffic in one direction of a road is in a jam and the other side of the road is even empty – no one dares to even cross the divider line to hijack the opposite lane. This is traffic sense – and this is patience … I mean .. wow … This can never even happen in a dream in India. Can it ?
Wonderful Road Planning – This is something that is present in all big nations of the world. I am yet to see anything even close to this in any part of India. There are some main roads (freeways) that cut across city north to south and east to west. Similarly, there are ring roads that circle the city’s perimeter (Please click on teh hyperlink to see what I mean). These are really wonderful high speed roads with typically 4-6 lanes for each side of the traffic. You will not have any traffic signals on any of these roads. You only have entry and exit points to these roads that happen at interchanges (this is something people don’t even understand in India) - where traffic crosses over main roads using multi lanes multi level roads without any traffic stoppages at traffic signals. The speeds limits on these roads are typically 120kmph so that ensures fast transport from one end of the city to the other. Because of this system people here coolly travel 50-60 kms to work and back home. Just waiting for such a thing to happen in India.
Less Corruption: I am not saying that there is no corruption in South Africa. But I feel that its much less … when compared to India, people at the grass root level are more ethical and honest here. I have never paid a traffic cop money – even when I was at fault (now imagine that India). I was not able to make fake parking bills because the parking attendant told me it was “wrong” and he wouldn’t do it even when I tried to “bribe” him (shame on me to try that !!). I have dealt with government offices and got work done without bribe. Now I don’t know .. There would be corruption at the higher levels but at the lower levels people are generally honest and maintain their integrity.
Happiness Quotient - This is last but not the least – I have seen that people (rich or poor – high or low – young or old) are generally much-much more happy than any average Indian. The well-to-do people work hard and when their normal working hours end they pursue other interests – cycling, biking, boating, gambling .. or anything. This happens regardless of age or physical condition. I have seen really-really old people taking the pains to come to the casino to play and enjoy themselves (In India, I have never seen people of that age even come out of their houses, leave alone have interests – the older folk there have sort of given up on life itself). Even the poorer people that I see on the roads - I find them dancing and singing and enjoying themselves. I don’t know them personally but I get a feeling that they may have problems too but they seem to be happy when they can and enjoy life when they can.

I am not saying South Africa is the best and has no problems. There are problems in this country too - but what I am pointing out here is some really good and basic things that are “right” in this country. If India can take up even a few of the above, it would go a long way in making India a better country.

Part 2 - Kruger National Park

2010-09-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Just as I was starting to feel that the Day 1 was so awesome, we entered the Marloth Park in the South of Kruger National Park . We were booked at the Marloth Bush Retreat. As we entered the Park and were approaching the guesthouse, I couldn’t believe my eyes as I saw a Giraffe standing by the side of the road on which I was driving … a little further down some Zebras and Wildebeests on the other side of the road … I knew that there was something about this place that is going to make my Day 2 more special … And I was right !!

I had heard that Kruger National Park is famous for the Big 5 (the Lion, the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the Leopard and the Black Rhinoceros), but again there are no guarantees – after all it’s a jungle that you are going in there to see what you can .. unlike a zoo. The Key to a place like this is Patience and low expectation. So, I had a full day game drive booked (the patience part) and in the beginning of the game drive our Tour Guide Heinrich told us (the low expectation part) that we would try to see everything that we can but what we can see ultimately is based on our luck on that day. So with that mind-set we started our day long game drive from 5:15 am to 7:00 pm.

To begin with – the patience and low expectation paid off and we were able to spot all the big 5 and much more. In fact we had multiple sightings of the Big 4 (Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and the Rhinoceros) and one sighting of the Lion.

Leopard – Caught this guy relaxing on a tree after having his big meal (an impala). After a meal like that … All one can do is relax.
Elephants – Caught the elephants as the herd came by to the river to drink some water. It was fun seeing the huge animal relax, play and chill out in the water. Also got a nice close up of the elephant just minutes before leaving the Kruger Park.
Cape Buffalo – Came in a herd of about 500 together to have some water at a lake and then they also came by close to our vehicle to help some good view
Rhinoceros – Saw both the white and black rhinos … (incidentally the difference between the white and black rhinos is not because of the color … actually there is no color difference .. read more here) .. Saw the white rhino multiple times and once with a small baby rhino too. We were lucky to see the black rhino too just by the road side … considering that the white:black rhino ratio is about 5000:300 !!
Lion – saw only one male lion but it was far off the road and was deep asleep and so we couldn’t do much about that …We kept trying till then end to get a better sighting of another lion – but didn’t happen :)
Zebras, Kudus and Impalas – Loads of them … Every few kilometers … and in dozens …
Giraffe – Again loads of them … They are very shy …. Caught a photo of a baby giraffe feeding on the mother giraffe .. was so cute !! :)
Hippos – Got to see them swimming in water … basking in the sun beside the river … and showing their discomfort when the buffalos came in hundreds to drink water at the river …
Hyenas – We again had multiple sighting of Hyenas … in small groups … Somehow looks horrible :) … We saw one which was badly injured … probably by a lion or by some other hyena.
Crocodiles – Saw many of them across the banks of Crocodile river also got to see a baby croc while crossing a bridge.

Loads of Vultures, Eagles and lots of other birds

Overall, it was a pleasure to be up-close and personal with Nature. Got the time in life to hear the silent sounds of nature. I present to you some of my best shots taken at Kruger Park. As always click on the photos to take an enlarged view.

I also tried a very innovative way to take some excellent photos … All the above photos were taken with my modest Sony Cybershot 7MP Digital Camera … I enhanced the power of my simple Digital See-and-shoot camera using a Binocular … I was myself amazed at my creativity :) … I used a powerful Binocular (that belonged to my tour guide) as Extended Lens and took these real close up shots of the animals … This is how I did it. Put the Camera lens behind at the viewing eye-piece of the binocular … and then use the digital monitor of the camera to focus and click !! But before doing this I had to first see through the binoculars and focus the view in there. It was actually hard to hold the binocular on one hand and the camera on the other and still not cause a shake as well !! :) .. Quite an effort ! I am proud of myself ! Bravo Hari Bravo !!

I would like to put in a word of appreciation for Heinrich who was an awesome tour guide – he was an “walking/talking wildlife encyclopedia”. He knew all about the animals, birds, plants and trees. He had such sharp eyes that he could spot animals at such a long distances that I used to surprised every time. It was such an informative guided tour (Thanks to Heinrich) that I would strongly recommend that anyone who plans to go to Kruger can take his help and have a wonderful visit to Kruger National Park.

Indeed … It’s a perfect way to end my South Africa Stay …

Sabie and Krugar National Park – Part one – Sabie

2010-09-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

If I could just start with one Word .. It would be WOW !! I really doubt if there was a better way to culminate my stint in South Africa … Krugar and Sabie were places that I had heard about from the beginning of my South Africa visit and I wanted to go see them, but somehow it just never happened. Finally it came in the best of times … This would leave a lasting memory of South Africa in my mind for a long time to come …

Day 1 – Sabie

I had the company of my friend Arindam in this visit … Wasn’t as bad as I had expected it to be !! ;-D … So we started our Sabie and Krugar National Park weekend tour on a Friday early morning. We had planned to see Sabie and Hazyview first and then reach our Guest House in Krugar by Friday evening. As we approached Sabie weather started to chill up a bit and the view started to get prettier with every passing kilometre. At one point the fog started to get so thick that I had a visibility of only a couple of meter after my car’s bonnet. So I was relying on the road’s divider lines to drive ahead … a fog that thick was a first time for me … a very unique experience !!

We viewed Bridal Veil Falls and Lone Creek Falls for starters. Thanks to our wonderful planning, we had forgotten to withdraw money so by the time we were at Lone Creek Falls we were down to our last R5. We pleaded our way into Lone Creek Falls as the entry fees there was R10!! The person there was kind enough to allow us in for half the charge. We had to then make our way to Sabie town to get to an ATM to get money for the rest of our journey. Our next destination was the Mac Mac falls. It was a probably the highest of all the falls we saw (about 65 meters I remember reading). Looked majestic from the top where we saw it – the water then flowing into a canyon … It was a beautiful sight indeed! The last falls that we saw was Lisbon falls it was also had a very scenic panorama. Photos R to Lin the order described above.

We then went to the Pinnacle at Blyde River Canyon. This was close to the God’s window and the view that I saw was something that I had never seen before. I could never imagine that there could be a place like this. Absolutely spell bound. No wonder, its called the God’s window. There was this huge structure protruding out from the gorge between two cliffs. Just see the image to see the awesome view. When we did reach the God’s window, the fog again surrounded the area (just like before) and we couldn’t see the view at the actual God’s window. Well … Guess, God decided to close the windows for me that day. :) .. But its ok … his creations that I saw that day was satisfying enough for me.

Last destination for the day was Bourkes Luck Potholes at Blyde River Canyon (incidentally Blyde River Canyon is one of the largest Canyons on earth). This Canyon had some really huge potholes possibly formed due to water repeatedly circling specific areas for thousands of years. Its again a sight to be seen to be believed.

After that unique experience we drove past the sleepy town of Pilgrims Rest and beautiful area of Hazyview to our Guesthouse - Marloth Bush Retreat at the Southern end of Krugar National Park.

Some more photos ... surprisingly taken from my Digital Camera ... :) .. Wait for Day 2 ... soon ...

Last few weeks ...

2010-09-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Ok .. spate of laziness .. pure laziness .. was the cause of my inactivity for the last few weeks. So, anyways lots happened in the last few weeks … I will start with the one that I am most excited about.

1. Finalized Date of Departure from Johannesburg: My stint in Johannesburg is going to end after a period of close to one year. And I have to say that it has been lots of fun, learning and broadening of my horizon/perspective. Tickets booked and I am now counting days ...

Now back to chronological order.

2. Carmen (Ballet): I am a complete novice to Ballet … so I decided to try that out. And I must say that its an experience that one should experience. Coz I hadn’t seen anything like that before. Live music .. wonderful dance and in all an experience that I was completely mesmerizing. Here is some cut-paste material about the ballet. “The saga of Carmen and Don José is one theatre’s most fiery love stories, based on an original story by Prosper Mérimée and later adapted as an opera by Georges Bizet. Now this tale of tragic love comes to the stage in a sensual ballet version by choreographer Veronica Paeper. Carmen captures all the fiery heat and passion of Spain in a ballet highlighted by spectacular pas de deux that chart the unfolding story of love, pain and loss, and blends classical ballet with the dances of Spain in a ballet of lavish entertainment and excitement.”

3. Indiaday Celebrations: The week after the Independence Day was the India Day celebrations at the Brightwater Commons in Johannesburg. It was good to see so many Indians in one place … mostly “desi” Indians .. if you know what I mean .. The program was nice … with performances by Local Indians here covering the culture and dance of Major Indian States … Lots of color and lots of lively music.

4. Avaniavittam: I had my first Avaniavittam in a foreign land. And I went off absolutely wonderfully. It was conducted by local Vadhiar Mama (Mahadevan Iyer). Thanks to him - I feel that it was conducted in such a detailed manner that I would rarely have such an experience even in India. I also had a peaceful Gayatri 1008 japam on the next day. Overall it was a peaceful experience.

5. Visit to the “actual” Rooftop Market at Rosebank: I have been to the African Craft Market before but I somehow had missed the rooftop market there every time I went there before. It was a wonderful experience. The place was bustling with activity and there were so many stalls selling all kind of stuff from craft to collectables to food items. I felt that that it was a nice way to pass sometime and pick up some interesting stuff …

6. Back to Back movies and other movies I felt like I should get back to college days where we used to go for back-to-back movies. So I was able to do that when I saw “Salt” and “We are Family” back-to-back. It was nice experience given both movies were decent and tolerable. Also saw some other movies … Aashaayen … Peepli Live … Grown ups … and some others.

7. Airtel Champions League Cricket matches: It was a wonderful experience as we went for couple of matches till now. One in Wanderers where I was able to see the God himself in flesh and blood… Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. And he was playing so well … and when it was looked all well, he got out and some more quick wickets saw Mumbai Indian lose the match. Then I saw one yesterday .. Bangalore .. at Centurion it was also fun to see some big names again … Kumble, Dravid, Kallis apart from others. It was a one sided match which saw Bangalore getting to Gayana’s score in 11 just overs. We managed to get some autographs and not to mention photographs. Got one more coming up Chennai … Dhoni and his men .. lets see what they do.

A big event that is coming up .. which is going to culminate my stay in Johannesburg .. Is my forthcoming visit to Krugar National Park. I am now looking forward to that one.

Accenture's “Indian Independence Day” Outing

2010-08-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

We Indian Accenture employees at South Africa decided to celebrate the Indian Independence Day eve (14th August, 2010) in the form of a get-together filled with “action and appetite”.

Action – What better way to celebrate Independence Day than to do it with a game that is akin to a religion in India – Cricket!! We decided to commemorate the leaders who architected the freedom struggle in India and South Africa. We split ourselves into teams and named them Team Bapu and Team Madiba (Nelson Mandela is affectionately called Madiba). We thought that it would be apt to celebrate the Indian Independence Day remembering both of them.

Inspired by the game of Cricket is an action packed version that is played in South Africa called the Action Cricket. This is an exciting team game that last for approximately 70 minutes that combines fun, fitness and competition, and its simplicity allows people of all ages to enjoy the game weather - men women, young old, or cricketers or non-cricketers.

Our game was as exciting and action packed as promised. It started with the Team Bapu electing to Bat first and got off to a great start with about 96 Runs at the end of the third pair’s batting. The game changed drastically towards the end of the innings as Team Madiba managed to get the fourth pair out multiple times, reducing the final score for Team Bapu to 68 Runs. The Team Bapu managed to regain control of the game in the next innings with Team Madiba scoring just about 20 Runs at the end of second pair’s play. As the game progressed Team Madiba improved its game and now it was moving towards a cliffhanger. It was Team Madiba in the end which held on to its nerves and took the Victory Lap.

Appetite – After that exciting match between Team Bapu and Team Madiba we freshened up and headed out for our lunch to enjoy some great Indian food at Bukhara – Indian Restaurant. The restaurant claims that the food there is “arguably the Finest Indian Cuisine on Planet Earth”. Though the team thought that it was too tall a claim – But the Indian food that we enjoyed there was undoubtedly one of the best in South Africa.

It was once again that we as a team came together, had lots of fun (like always) and took back some really fond memories. What a way to celebrate Independence Day being away from India !!