Moments on images

Ladies from yore!

2011-01-18T14:05:00.001+05:30

Of course, you cannot "photograph" this - some post processing involved! :)

Note: The image in this post is licensed with creative commons.

The copyright for this image belongs to deepakkt. Click on the image or here to view the image on deepakkt's website.

New Year 2011 Kolam at our House

2011-01-01T16:45:00.002+05:30

Kolam done by our neighbors for New Year 2011.
It took about 2.5 hours to complete.

Note: The image in this post is licensed with creative commons.
The copyright for this image belongs to deepakkt. Click on the image or here to view the image on deepakkt's website.

Fleeting Captures

2010-10-31T11:51:00.001+05:30

All these pictures were taken on a BB. It's not good at all for photographs, but if you have to be carrying a camera at all times and you're not a professional photographer, the mobile is the only way out. But all of these are fleeting moments. You cannot get them at another time with a better camera!

A smile like this doesn't come every time!

I think they are mating bugs - I don't even remember where I saw them!

I took this picture because it gave me a feeling that I was standing with someone very wise!

From a birthday party at office!

Middle of a weaving project!

Kumarakom - Where the Gods unwind

2010-09-08T09:30:00.000+05:30

The title isn't mine! I borrowed it from a resort caption. But they should name Kerala, "God's own country!". Oh, they did that already?

Anyway, we used the Onam long weekend to visit Kumarakom. My trusted chariot was anyway available so we started on Friday evening. One important lesson I learnt on that trip was never to calculate trip time using average speed. Kumarakom is 240 kms from Coimbatore, so I estimated about five hours to the trip. There are always a lot of unknowns in a trip like this. In our case, it was heavy traffic (Friday evening!) and after 65% of the route, it was meandering and unmarked roads! We used the opportunity to chatter meaninglessly and listen to some songs.

We had booked a stay in Coconut creek resorts which is "home stay" but was excellent value for money and had a very hospitable owner. You always have the option of staying at any of the luxury resorts - 18K per night anyone? The owner was available on phone to guide us in case we had questions. But long story short - we took 10 hours to reach finally at about 4AM the next day.

Coconut Creek has an excellent multi tasking housekeeper called Lal Chand. He cooked great Kerala breakfast for us. In Kerala, I think you can get away with asking if water contains coconut in it. They push coconut as ingredient to the limit! Below, you are looking at coconut puttu, , kadala curry (yeah, it has a generous helping of coconuts) and steamed nendran bananas.

Our agenda was flexible though we had done some homework.

Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary

This is one of the flagship attractions of the place. Spread over 14 acres.... just read below.

The visit into the bird sanctuary involves a 2 km trek. But it is exotic! One of the few places in India where you walk into jungle like land without people! Unfortunately, the spread of the place is such that birds would be visible only from vantage points and for the patient ones - I think that's fair enough.

The bird sanctuary is nestled close to the majestic Lake Vembanad but the jungle canopy hides a lot of the view. You see veiled glimpses of the lake as you trek through. The trek is easy because there is no sun or difficulty. But no birds! Eventually, deep into the walking trail, you see a watch tower and sight the first of the birds! I think we saw just a very fleeting glimpse of what wass really there.

The entire round trip trek took nearly 4 hrs. Even though bird sightings are rare, I think a visit to this one-of-a-kind place is a must during a visit to Kumarakom.

Our first real view of the lake was when we visited Lake Kumarakom Resort for a coffee. It was part of the plan. This is the 18K per night resort and if this kind of money is for your pocket, by all means stay there. The two coffees set us back by 400 bucks, but it was well worth the view of the majestic lake and the side deck leading into it.

We also used the opportunity to visit an antique shop on the way.

Later that evening was quite memorable. We wanted to see something of authentic Kerala culture, so we visited a Kathak performance there [thanks to guidance from our stay owner]. We were supposed to watch both a Kalari and a Kathak demostration, but the Kalari folks were out for Onam vacation! So we watched the make up for the Kathak artists and their performance.

Even if not from Kerala, if you're from India, you'll know Kathak is incredibly complex. Here's why [thanks to their explanations before the play].

1) The make up - it's part of taking out the artist's personality and bringing in the protagonist's personality in. The make up is eco friendly - stone and rice paste for all the colors. Depending on the level, it can take hours to complete!
2) The eyes - training for the eyes to move in all directions
3) The cheeks and shoulders - the training to vibrate independently and in combination
4) The mudras - 24 different hand expressions to demonstrate various moods and emotions

Now combine these in permutations and you have a vast repertoire of character colors to portrait your character.

This particular play was a small section from Narakasura's life story - "The slaying of Nakrathundi", Narakasura's sister. It involved two protagonists. The preceding explanations really helped understanding what was going on. The artists were also kind enough to grant a photograph in the end!

Dinner at coconut creek was Chappati and Veg Kurma [which our cook was kind enough to cook without onions and garlic]. We unfortunately forgot to mention green chillies and this had a generous helping of it!

I was tired at this point, so I slept well and woke up late the next day. Was lazing around at the resort till noon. This time, the breakfast was coconut appam and kalan (more kuzhambu style).

The area surrounding the resort and most houses are setup in such a way that a canal runs by them. It serves as a transport channel also. The canal eventually leads to Lake Vembanad. So we took a ride through the canal. Our cook and boatman Lal Chand took us on this ride. It was about an hour, but it was offbeat and interesting.

The boat also went to Lake Vembanad briefly (see the opening picture on top) but did not go in because of the strong currents.

For lunch, we went to a different resort this time. I didn't eat much, but apparently, Radha had a fun time. The resort's name was Kayal.

All resorts have beautiful setups because the lake is so huge. All of them have a fair share of the backwaters! Here, the waves were very strong and had an extra strong breeze!

Later that evening, we had our first venture into the lake. A motor boat ride into the lake. There is no match to the open air ride into the lake for an hour. Now, I understand why the kittuvelloms (houseboats) are so popular (and expensive)! Well, it's not just the view of the lake, these house boats have a sit out, a bed room, a kitchen. If required, you can rent an air conditioned one along with satellite TV facilities. It can range anywhere from 5K to 10K per night.

Since the one hour ride got over at 6:30pm and we had time, we decided to visit Kottayam. It's about 15 kms away from Kumarakom. There is an ancient Shiva temple (supposed to be 500 years old) at Thirunikkara. After some hunting and looping around, we found the temple. It's beautiful - all Kerala temples have a similar style. I remember that the Vadakkunathan temple @ Thrissur also had a similar appearance. Kottayam is a contrast to Kumarakom's quite disposition. It's buzzing with markets, traffic, people! That day, Josco was holding a major concert in the city middle for Onam eve as well and that added to the spice.

The next day - Onam!, we checked out of our stay area after a tearful farewell with the owner. Ok, I am exaggerating. The one in the picture is Lal Chand.

We found out that the Government operated ferries to carry people from one side of the bank (our side) to the other (Allepey). We decided to ride this. It's a 2 hour round-trip. And thanks to the Government, the one way ticket is 5 bucks. Can you believe it? I think the resorts in the area have created an imaginary aura to the place that makes simple things prohibitively expensive. Anyway, the ride was beautiful. On the Alleppey side, we didn't have much time. So for the thirty minutes, we just took a walk on the backroads.

Once we returned, we had Onam Sadhya at Lake Kumarakom resort. It was an elaborate preparation, 100% vegetarian [mostly the trend on Onam day]. 25 items on the lunch plate, almost everything having coconut as ingredient. It was sumptuous. As a surprise, the chef, Kalesh came over to have a chat with us.

With lunch on Onam day, our stay at Kumarakom officially came to an end. We headed back to Coimbatore. The road back was 6 hrs long and we reached by 10:30pm or so. We covered the tricky meandering roads in day light and that helped a lot!

Note: Almost every bridge we crossed in Kerala had bountiful, clean water. It made me very sad. Almost every bridge we cross in Tamil Nadu (Palar, Noyyal, Kollidam etc) has only dry sand beds. It cannot be a coincidence. We have to be doing some serious mismanagement with water to be causing this.

Goofy Searches!

2010-07-29T23:51:00.001+05:30

In an idle moment, I typed out the following goofy searches. I have posted the first or first two results here.

Note: You will need to know Tamil for many of these!

1) I am surprised Google hit the mark with the first result!

2) Do you know what this search is? You should watch the video on YouTube :)

3) Second result! One result says "Download Sura Vijay Punch videos to your cell phone - sura sura ...". Vadivelu style "aahaa"!

4) Not entirely surprised!

5) Reminds me of the fights I had with my friends!

Visualizing the BP Oil Spill

2010-07-11T00:39:00.000+05:30

If the leak originated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, this is how it would look now. Visit this site. It's a large large area!

Sathuragiri Trip (சதுரகிரி) - 3rd July 2010

2010-07-07T12:52:00.000+05:30

Many weeks ago, my friend mentioned he had returned from a trek to Sathuragiri near Madurai. That was the first time I was hearing about the place. I later read about it and strangely, like Velliyangiri, it is also called “Kailash of the south”! That means only one thing! So I wanted to visit this place. A couple of weeks back, I planned with the same friend to visit this place on the 3rd July weekend.

The plan was to meet at the point where the main road leads to a suburb road that eventually leads to the foothills of the ghats. This point is five kilometers away from Srivilliputhur, the birth place of Andal. From Coimbatore, there is no easy option through train. The best bet is to take a train to Madurai and then go to the hills by bus. But even from our meeting point, we had to take two buses and so it is tedious. The other option is to take the same train to Sathur. It’s closer than from Madurai, but has the same problem. Only SETC (TNSTC) buses go to our meeting point. I had to take a bus to Rajapalayam and SETC does not offer online booking. How I booked the ticket was a separate story, but I got it done. I booked the return ticket by train from Sathur.

On the day of travel, 2nd July 2010, I called my friend to get a status of his preparation activities. Oh, BTW, he is at Bangalore! You know how when it starts with “Well......” you know what it means? :). My friend wasn’t coming - he had an unplanned emergency! Suddenly, fear gripped my heart at the proposition of making this trek to an unknown place all alone. This one pointed interest to visit this place bifurcated into a dilemma. I anyway returned to my home to start my final packing preparations, but my friend’s absence introduced a seed of confusion that didn’t go away easily. I anyway finished packing - and finally decided that I will make the trip. The inward propulsion to go to that place was too strong. I had a strong feeling that the regret if I let go of this opportunity would be high. Instead of viewing this as one daunting trip end to end, I had to break this into smaller steps. So...

Step 1 - Haul myself to the boarding point, Singanallur bus stand, Coimbatore

There was this fancy trekking bag I got, thanks to Chennai Trekking Club which now housed my essentials for the next two days. I was standing at the bus stand near my house and this dillemma was still not gone fully. I was wondering how it would be to get a 15G to Gandhipuram. The trip to Singanallur has to happen in two steps as well - to the town bus stand and then another bus from there. I did not know which bus to take from the town bus stand. I boarded the 15G. As the bus neared the town bus stand, the bus right in front of this bus was going to Singanallur. I unboarded this and rushed to that bus as it was departing almost immediately. As the bus was travelling, even the side views of the oft travelled roads seemed new because of what was going on inside me. The bus to Rajapalayam was to depart at 11PM and this time was close to 9PM or so. There was plenty of time to spare. When the bus arrived at the bus stand, I surveyed it to see how and where I would be boarding. The bus stand is essentially divided into two zones - one for buses leaving to destinations in the Trichy zone and the other for the Madurai zone. Rajapalayam belonged to the latter - it’s about 75 kms from Madurai.

I went out of the bus station to have my dinner and found a cheap looking vegetarian mess which was not so cheap after all. After dinner, and at about 10PM, an hour to departure, my dilemma was strongest. A push, and I could have gone either way depending on the direction. So I called Radha to explain my predicament.

“Why do you not want to go? You want company for the trip?”

“No, some unknown fear!”

“If you want company for the trip, there is reason to come back. It’s not good to take a step backwards because of fear.”

Well, that was all it took. Those words cleared my dilemma for good. She also added,

“Go with a prayerful mind. Even if you don’t make it to the top or lose your way, it would be worthwhile!”

So done deal! One pointed focus again. Which means...

Step 2 - board the bus and get to Krishnan Kovil

This was a trip of many firsts. This one was travelling in a PTC like bus all night in an uncomfortable position. Anyway, before that, I wanted to confirm with the conductor if this was the bus I was supposed to board.

“Seat number 29?”

I guess he answered the question even at my premise. I got in the bus, but seat 29 was already taken. All seats were just as uncomfortable, so I didn’t bother waking up the man there. I went and took a seat behind. Window seat! :) I didn’t want to leave my bag on the upper shelves of the bus, so I had it on my lap. The conductor was extremely polite! I love it when people work like this! He is proof that people doing this job need not be mean and nasty.

Next to me sat an old man, and he was a chatterbox! Apparently, he was a frequent traveller. He was going to get down at Kallipatti - which is about 10 kms before my stop. After the initial chat euphoria, he went to sleep. As the bus departed, I was watching the scenery outside. It was mostly dark and with the window shades down to keep the cold away, most views were fuzzy. After an hour into the journey, the lights inside the buses were off. Sleep was mostly intermittent because the bus stopped thrice in the period. After Kallipatti, where the old man got off, I knew it was a matter of time before Krishnan Kovil. So that would mean...

Step 3 - from Krishnan Kovil to the ghat foothills

To get to the foothills, the journey has to happen in two legs. First leg to a place called Wathrap. This is about 5 kms from Krishnan Kovil. From Wathrap, it is another 8 kms to the foothills of Sathuragiri mountains - called Thaniparai. This has to happen either through a share auto or bus.

I got down at 5am at Krishanan Kovil. I was drowsy so I had a tea nearby. The chai-master mentioned that there were buses to Wathrap every five minutes. At this time, I also got a message from my friend. He was up! I knew earlier that he was feeling bad at having backed out without warning or offering time. I didn’t want him to. But he was the one who had made this trek before, so I did require some guidance. I spoke with him briefly to get some assistance and directions. He messaged the same information to me. Working in IT, you always send minutes of any conversation. Old habits die hard!

The bus to Wathrap came in 10 minutes. In the mean time I saw buses plying to Sivakasi. These weren’t public buses, but belonged to Standard fireworks! The stop had also grown in size with people. I asked the conductor to inform me when Wathrap arrived. The early morning breeze was cool and I was enjoying my window seat! Almost immediately after the bus started, the terrain changed from plain land to mountainous. Occasionally, the bus would cross a bridge that once housed a flowing stream or river. We’ve really finished off most rivers in this state. I realize this is one of the symptoms of desertification.

After some kilometers of this travel, we hit Wathrap. The contrast is difficult to miss. Congested roads with cramped buildings on either side. I knew I had to get down, but I let the driver inform me. Apparently he thought it was too obvious and didn’t inform me. So the driver drove on and I sat on until the bus reached its destination - Maharajapuram. So I asked the conductor

“Is Wathrap here?”

“Wathrap was few kilometers away. Why are you asking here?”

“You were supposed to inform me!”

“You were supposed to look at name boards outside!”

Which I did and ignored! Anyway, looking at my trekking gear setup, he realized where I was going.

“Are you going to Thaniparai?”

“Yes.”

“Stay here - there is a bus to Thaniparai from here.”

Even better! As he mentioned, there was a bus to Thaniparai in five minutes. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help being awestruck at the growth of civilization in a remote place nearly 10 kilometers inside a main road that is five kilometers away from the nearest town. And buses ply here! And there is another bus to another place that is five kilometers deeper inside. If we made a bus network map of Tamil Nadu, I think it would criss cross the entire state - a network which even the impressive railway network cannot match!

I was quite enjoying this. Wearing shorts, a T-shirt and fancy trekking gear, I must have been a sight to the people here. Inside the bus to Thaniparai, there was more than one pair of curious eyes that cast a passing glance at me. One villager struck up friendly conversation. He took the liberty of calling me from my seat to sit near him. So I asked him what I was interested in:

“How long is the trek uphill?”

“If you start now, you can reach there before its sunny. It’s about two hours. Are you staying there overnight?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t help noticing that most ladies in the bus had a water pot with them. I was wondering if this was the source of their daily water usage. Did they have to travel by bus to collect water and go back? I also couldn’t help wondering if the Government knew about these places. Will their tentacles reach here? What about electricity, ration and other essentials? Did they care?

“Why are they having these water pots?”

“Oh, they are carrying water for the mango saplings!”

I didn’t probe further. Meanwhile, the bus had arrived. The bus stopped a few meters away from the foothills as the road narrowed further. My amicable friend was walking with me.

“Did you know there was a flood here?”

“Really?”

“Yes! That night, we had eaten goat meat and were sleeping when the floods hit these ghat slopes. We lifted nearly 48 bodies.”

That was scary. And goat meat meant there was some festival and these were sacrificial goats. So these were still ubiquitous here! He continued...

“There is no water here. It has to rain for the waterfalls and the catchment areas to fill.”

That was disappointing. My friend had mentioned about a small waterfall before the ascent where I could bath. I asked my guide

“There is no waterfall here?”

“Trust me! There is no water. I live here and work here!”

An arch greeted devotees who were to take up the trek uphill. Unlike Velliyangiri, there is no restriction for ladies to trek. And there were quite a few of them I would see during the trek and at the hill top as well. Our guide and I had to part ways since the ascent had to start now. It was 6:45 am on Saturday morning and the ascent was about to start. This was...

Step 4 - from the foothills to the temple

It didn’t take long to figure out that the ascent was going to be difficult. The terrain was as hard as the Velliyangiri terrain. My bag was nearly 4 kgs - fortunately, the weight was distributed evenly between my shoulders, hips and chest because of its thoughtful design. About two or three folks were already starting the ascent so I followed them briefly to get on the path. I noticed some folks were carrying heavy luggage on their head - either as labor or for business on top. In retrospect I type - I am amazed how they managed to do this!

The trek is 7kms in length and the altitude to scale is nearly 900m. I made a couple of decisions - no needless talk up hill, made easy by the fact I had no one I knew! Another was to defer any photographs until I started the descent. Finally, to keep the chant going inside constantly (Dhyan Yatra folks?). That chant helped immensely. I seriously wouldn’t have completed the trek without it! I had half a litre of glucose drink to last for the trek, hadn’t brushed my teeeth or taken a bath in the morning. It appeared I could do all this only after going up. With the overnight bus travel, the longing for a fresh water bath was high. I think there is going to be a slight difficulty for us humans after the world runs out of fresh water in a few decades! Anyway, the weather was pleasant so it was an ideal time for the ascent.

A common scenario that always occured during the ascent and descent was that a group of people would overtake me when trekking, only to me find them resting a bit later. Vice versa as well! I was anyway keeping very slow pace deliberately, partly because of the weight and partly for the chant. These mountains are considered sacred by the people living here. It’s called the “Abode of God” - God being Shiva here. Needless to say, He apparently has set foot here which means these are ancient mountains as well. The two lingams on the top, and the third more precipitous even higher - all appear to be naturally formed instead of being consecrated. I might be wrong about all this! Thus, people are very serious about two things - not using soaps and shampoos in the event there is water, and not using plastics. I was pleasantly surprised to see little plastic debris on the path which is the usual sight.

On the way up, there are a few small water sources which are marked by boards. I couldn’t find water there because there hadn’t been recent rains. “kuthirai” and “naval” (don’t read in English - naaaval) “Uttru” (water source). Both were dry. It would have been more fun and refreshing if they were sprouting! So in essence, all through the trek till we hit the top, there is no water, save for the bottles you were carrying. One important trekking lesson is to use water very judiciously and take only small sips - just what is needed to serve that moment’s needs. I think the glucose helped me as well, given I hadn’t eaten in the morning.

There are a lot of makeshift temples on the way. Some are naturally formed lingams. I am very sure about this - there are hidden caves and spots if you knew the place and terrain well. We were following a straightjacket paved path which was hard in its own right. At the basement, there is a Devi temple (Amman - not Jordan’s capital), then twin lingams, then another twin lingams called “irattai lingam” which appear to be naturally formed. Further higher, there is the “vana durga” shrine. One more temple just before we reach the top.

The forest is supposed to house all animals except lions. There are many rumors and stories about bears prowling in the area. As a result, it is advisable and safe to use the standard path, and to complete the trek before dusk. I feel there may be validity in these claims. As we trekked up, on either side which was thick canopy, we could hear strange animal noises through them. I am no jungle expert, but these weren’t familiar noises! Remember there were no recent rains, I also saw fresh dung on our path on one or two instances. For about 30 minutes in the trek in the middle, there are plenty of monkeys who were not so subtle trying to get your food. It left more than one startled and scared trekker!

Another aspect of the Sathuragiri mountains is the genuine sacredness with which the devotees hold it in their hearts. It is said, on these mountains, “When you are hungry, some one will give you food. So it is when you are thirsty!”. The devotees do their part to keep up this miracle. I actually saw an old man hand over what was left of his water to another trekker who wanted water. It was genuinely joyful to trek among these people. If only we lived like this outside the mountain ranges as well!

About an hour or so into the trek, I saw this old man I referred to above and I Namastaed him. He handed over a handful of something to me. My first impression was that he was giving me something to eat. I saw later that they were seeds. He asked me to throw them on the mountains. He then told me, “We are walking on shade that was planted by some one else!” He was doing this exercise through the trek until his cover full of seeds ran empty.

At the mid point, or probably a little before that, there is a small detour to “korakkar caves”. I presume it refers to the name of the Siddhar who used to meditate there. I took the detour and visited the cave as well. There was a spot to the right were one or two people could sit. It is said that these Siddhars would be visible in meditation at that spot. As I mentioned earlier, I am sure there are more such spots in this place.

I had to sit down at many places when the journey became too tedious. I took careful sips from my glucose bottle when my tongue went dry. My T-shirt was wet with sweat and there was no water elsewhere. I only later realized that I was the only fool with 4 kgs of load (save those business men - they were carrying the load for a purpose). My left ankle was earlier suffering from pain and it aggravated after the trek began. So slow and careful steps were the only possibility. It worked for the best. There were two “vazhukku parais” (rocks that are hard to chisel into steps, you have to find strategic supporting points to scale them) during the entire trek. They weren’t too hard. So what was mentioned as a two hour trek by my guide unfolded into four hours at the end. I still doubt if the trek could have been completed in two hours even without luggage and a brisk walk!

After three hours into the trek, I was tired and slightly famished. I really wanted some form of deeper refreshment. I didn’t know how far I had to go and sitting down for rest helped only so much. Well, it started raining! Those cold water drops on the body were very joyful. So I resumed walking. That bag had accounted for rain also on the design so the contents did not get wet. I happily walked for the remaining duration. It was more like a steady strong drizzle. I let my tongue out like a snake often to catch drops of this shower from the heavens. Suddenly, there were bell sounds. I realized that the temple was nearby. As I later found out, these uneven, spread out bell sounds came from cows grazing. All of them had bells around their necks and it was a pretty sight!

So, at 10:45 am, 4 hours from 6:45am, the ascent was complete and I was near the temple entrance! That meant...

Step 5 - At the two temples

I liked the fact that the visit to the temple was marked by tinkling bells from the cows. Apparently, a lot of old timers were visiting this temple. It was touching to see old men and women make this trek. Only devotion could have spurred them to make to the top like that!

The first sight to the right was the makeshift bathing ghat. Just what I wanted. A large water tank was being filled with a pipe. The water is supposed to be medicinal in quality and was good for the human system. So again, no soaps or shampoos. I wasn’t sure where the ladies would have their bath. But really needed this bath! There were also some showers (the standard bathroom style showers) but apparently weren’t being used. The bath was really enjoyable, even without soap! I changed to a more traditional veshti (dhoti) and kurta for the temple visit.

Slightly ahead, an old woman was making sukku kaapi. Whether it was the trek or her deft hands, the drink was refreshing and delicious! It was here that I met one person from a group of five from Madurai. I asked them if they were going to trek back down the same day. I myself had reached very early than planned. I was anticipating to reach by 3PM and then stay overnight at the temple. Now that I had a 4-5 hour headshart, I decided to trek down the same day as well.

The trail ends where the temples begin. The trail clearly bifurcates to two. The right side houses the “sundara” mahalingam (the beautiful one!) and the left side houses the “santhana” mahalingam. The left side involves a 15 minute mini-trek to the actual diety. Both temples have “annadhana” madams (duh, I am facing trouble with Tamil words that have different meanings in English! - “madam” literally means stay area). It goes back to the ancient culture where eating joints were setup so seekers who came out of devotion did not have to worry about their meals. Such a beautiful arrangement. I was nothing short of awestruck that this culture is alive in its true spirit here at these temples. Three times a day, seven days a week, food is offered to devotees, no questions asked. Of course and obviously, donations are requested (not verbally, just a notice board sits there as reminder) and are always given. People often bring raw grains to donate to the “madam”s. Sadly, at many places, such initiatives are either commercialized or because of charlatans, have died out. I consider it my privilege of having been able to have my food here. The sundara mahalingam also has a stay area if you need to stay overnight. It is common knowledge to people who arrive here often and is not openly publicized or announced.

There are scheduled poojas at both temples. At the sundara temple, they happen at 10am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm. The sundara temple is beautiful! The lingam is not erect but tilted at about 40 degrees - give a clue to its natural formation. The santhana mahalingam is deeper inside. It also has a cave that is held as a sacred space because “sattanadha” munivar (sage) meditated here. The entrance to the cave is closed with lamps, but I could see that there is a passage that goes deeper. It is advised not to meditate surrounding this space - I do not know why. At this santhana mahalingam temple, after the pooja was over, the poojari smeared sacred ash (vibhooti) on my forehead. I bent down and touched his feet, he remarked with a stern “Hmm”. Pointing to the lingam he said, “bow down to Him!”.

Visiting both temples, it all completed by about 12pm. The stay area, I used to complete my shUnyA! I then had food at the madam. This was my first meal of the day. They served rice, sambar and rasam - and achchar (urugai) as accompaniment. I then took the blessing of the madam in-charge. He again smeared sacred ash on my forehead and gave me prasadam. So by 1pm, it was all done and I was ready to get down. I think the beautiful devotees is what I will remember most from this trip. So...

Step 6 - the descent down

I was more laid back and relaxed for the descent. I also pulled out my camera and was clicking away. This is the reason you will see the photos in descending order! Needless to say, it was easier than the ascent. I was happy at how everything turned out and was walking joyfully.

Some time into the trek, I met a man who requested for alms. My first impression was that he was looking for money. My purse was tucked deep inside my shoulder bag and I shook my head and nodded away. Only a few steps ahead I realized we were on the Sathuragiri hills and devotees weren’t supposed to go empty handed after requesting for something. I felt utterly stupid and rushed back up to him. I also had this weird feeling that this was an enlightened sage trying to test me and I just failed the test miserably!

I asked him, “I have some biscuits, do you want them?”

He nodded gratefully. I then remembered I also had packed rice.

“Did you eat in the morning?”

“I am only coming up now.” - I took that to mean no!

“Do you want some rice?”
I then searched for the rice packet and handed it to him.

“Is it chappatti?”

“No, lemon rice!”

He took the rice and then walked away. I was still feeling pangs of regret at what happened. I do not know how I would have felt if I had walked on!

Later in the trek, some one called me and offered two chocolates. I accepted gratefully and happily. This is a really strange hill!

I also saw a steady band of folks coming up at this time, and I occasionally got inquiries of how far it was to the top.

By 4:45, 10 hours from the time I started, I was back at the foothills. My glucose bottle just became empty in time. I was sort of surprised that I managed with half a litre of this for the entire trek. There was of course water available at the top! There were no buses at the bottom at this time, so I took an auto back to Wathrap. And another bus from there leaving Wathrap!

1) Also take a look at the official site. I am not sure who is maintaining this though! It has a picture of the sundara mahalingam deity.
2) I want to rewrite this in thamizh also. It suddenly looks like a daunting task!

Team outing with Cooliris!

2010-06-01T23:06:00.000+05:30

Remember I said Cooliris was cool?
You can see a small demo below. This was from a recent team outing.

A Clean Slate!

2010-05-19T23:26:00.001+05:30

Each face tells a story!

2010-04-14T11:48:00.001+05:30

Pulled this one from the archives. I love the way each face tells a story:

Balaji: OMG! What did I get into?
Anand: Excitement is starting to build...
Sandeep: Whooooooooo....
Deepak: Has the ride started?

Athirapally | அதிரப்பள்ளி | அதிரம்பள்ளி

2010-03-23T18:45:00.000+05:30

This trip was a wish for a long time. I think it started with Vikatan carried an article about this place a few years ago. Then, when I came to Coimbatore, I realized that it was only hours away, but I was postponing the trip so that we could make the trip together until Radha had a proper break. One of the advantages of staying in a place like Coimbatore is the abundance of places that you can cover over a weekend. Anyway, we finally made this trip the last weekend. The place is definitely worth one visit. If they had allowed more things to do in the fall (instead of being a distant spectator), it will be worth many visits. The falls itself are spectacular and monsoon time they will definitely be majestic!

The route:
To Athirapally: Simplest is to take NH47 that goes to Cochin. You can reach in ~4hrs
From Ahirapally: Do the reverse. I took the route from Athirapally -> Sholayar -> Valparai -> Pollachi -> Coimbatore. There is no match to the scenic beauty of this route. But the total travel time was ~7hrs due to the reduced speed / hilly terrain.

If you're coming from a distant place like Chennai, you can still do it in a weekend, but it will be a hectic one.
Start Friday night, reach by Saturday morning to Coimbatore and reach Athirapally by noon and then settle down. Sunday evening, reach Coimbatore and then reach Chennai. Ideally, plan for three days.

What we did
Started on Saturday - lazily - by 10:45AM, reached Athirapally by 4PM. Visited Athirapally on Saturday
Saturday night - travelled to Chalakudy without any plan and had dinner there (round trip of 60kms).
Sunday - started at 11AM after breakfast and visited Vazhachal falls. Then started the trip to Coimbatore by 12PM - reached Coimbatore by 7:30PM after a lazy meandering drive.
There is a theme park very near Athirapally - we decided against it for a more leisurely trip.

Stay
This was our first time, so we stayed at Riverok villas. Stay was quite fine, except that the weather was very warm. And since it's close to the falls, it was quite expensive. You can stay at Chalakudy and travel to Athirapally from there. Buses ply directly to the place and you will get more comfortable stay for the price.

Oh, BTW, the falls also have a name called "Punnagai Mannan" falls - you should know why! "Athirapally falls" is quite fine though! :)

There are some crazy videos, I will see if I can put a compilation some time.

Appa's 60th birthday lunch function

2010-01-09T01:35:00.000+05:30

In summary:
We had a small temple function to make it traditional and formal and hosted a lunch party where we invited everyone.
These pictures are from the lunch party.

The people you interact with...

2009-12-12T19:00:00.000+05:30

I found this at a petrol bunk today.
"Life is not about the people who act true at your face. It is about the people who remain true behind your back!"

The Tamil quote is also nice, but not sure if it is 100% true.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 India License.

Team Outing - 3rd Dec 2009

2009-12-04T19:01:00.000+05:30

Well, I was the photographer for 50% of the photographs here and my colleague did the rest. I did the big group photo. We went to a place called Walayar near the Tamil Nadu / Kerala border. I am seeing a lot of small small interesting places in this area that are off the map!

Lost in the ravages of rain

2009-11-25T10:11:00.000+05:30

It still looks scary. I found this scorpion in my office

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 India License.

Mount Kailash mineral water

2009-11-19T11:42:00.001+05:30

Hopefully, you thought what I thought.

I later found out that the factory is at new Delhi (from their website). I think they should call this out specifically on the package!

300 - no more counting!

2009-11-16T23:43:00.000+05:30

Some time back, I commented on "95". I guess there is no point doing that anymore! :)

Uninvited guests

2009-11-01T10:16:00.000+05:30

They anyway add to the color and make us all happy!

Diwali at our home!

2009-10-18T19:55:00.002+05:30

In as few words as possible!

Diwali - Oct 17 2009

95 and counting...

2009-10-15T21:14:00.001+05:30

One of those days where you have those marathon conference calls. Just that there are a lot of those days now :)

The tiny droplet

2009-10-04T20:52:00.000+05:30

Happened to capture this just before it dripped. This was taken on my mobile cam - it takes more than usable close-up photographs!

Dussera celebrations at Isha - 27th Sep 2009

2009-09-27T22:50:00.003+05:30

Two things seem to be the norm at an Isha celebration: rain and spontaneous dancing! I was telling Radha when it started raining on the open grounds - "Had Sadhguru been here, people would have stayed. Now see what's going to happen!". Well, I was wrong - people stayed on and were dancing to the exuberant Kerala drums. Eventually, they had to announce thus: "We're ready for the rain and the dance, but unfortunately the equipments are not. So let's go into Spanda hall now". The drums and the dances continued inside and eventually when Sounds of Isha took over, almost every one was dancing - that it was an embarrassment to sit! Earlier in the day, the golu, rangoli and cycling competitions had taken place, and the prize distributions were interspersed inbetween the culturals. The culturals also included performances by children from Samskruti and the home school. The icing on the cake was a message from Sadhguru at the end of the program and sumptuous (pranic) food!

Note: Very comprehensive photo coverage from Isha on the event is here. Write-up is here [contrary to my estimate of 500-750 folks, it's 3000 folks. Wow!]

Does god exist?

2009-09-23T22:07:00.001+05:30

Read the comments by bp4life71 and by nateMN. This is why there can never be a common consensus between the theists, atheists and the agnostics. Because it is a different dimension of experience.

I loved the way many things came together in this thread :)

Get Grilled

2009-09-21T11:57:00.001+05:30

We went to this restaurant after reading a review in TOI. This is not an ad, but the place was quite different and good! (Think about a fully vegetarian "grill")!
Pictures below

Trek to Velliyangiri 7th Hill

2009-09-09T20:15:00.003+05:30

Note 1: I put this together in about one hour. So apologies for any inconsistencies, incoherence, chronological aberrations and general blabbering as such!

Note 2: Height is in meters.

Note 3: The trek was also covered in "The Hindu" as the writer was part of the trek. The article is here.

Note 4: This same write-up is also posted on the CTC blog here.

This was my first trek with CTC, and I am glad it happened with the Velliyangiri hills. I've long had a fascination with these hills and I always wanted to trek up to the 7th hill. Though we couldn't complete it, what transpired was quite worthwhile by all means.

Kirthi introduced me and Naren to CTC. The plan was to start trekking by 8:30 AM on Sunday, but we three delayed the group by 45 mins. By the time we started the trek it was 8:45 am. We were a total of about 13 folks about to trek up hill. The plan was to reach there by 1PM, take a one hour lunch break and start the trek down by 2PM. Needless to say, weather had other plans. The basement from where we started, near the Poondi temple was 550 AMSL (above mean sea level). Right from our journey from Coimbatore to Poondi, there was a mild drizzle and the climate was very pleasant.

Senthil distributed our lunch packets - an apple, one packet of "paruppu poli" and one packet of coconut "poli". He also handed out a glucose packet for the trek up. He kept the extra lunch packs and apples with him. I still wonder how he managed to trek with those up. Monkeys in the area got a whiff of humans with food and were surrounding us. They also employed some cute team work to snatch an apple from one of the trekkers hands. So, we were almost all set. Last set of instructions were to not leave plastic bags anywhere, and off we started up at 8:45 AM or so.

The gradient uphill would have been about 0.7 or so. It was at this level almost 90% of the path. I've never seen such consistent and intense gradient before. I also learned a lesson the hard way. Yeah, CTC listed "travel light", but some lessons are better learned through first hand experience. I was travelling with about 5.5 kgs or so (two water bottles, my cam, towel, lunch provided by CTC, two cookie packs, my mobile + wallet). Any optimism or confidence I had at the start of the trek, the mountain dismantled them effectively in under two minutes. The weight of the bag soon started telling, so I was trekking up slowly. It was continuously drizzling at this point.

First stop at 700 AMSL. This checkpoint was the breather and I think at this time, everyone effectively knew the trek wasn't going to be easy. We were also waiting for everyone to assemble so we could move as a group. Eventually, people with differing average speeds got separated naturally and some were ahead. I was consistently among the last three in the group. The steps were also quite high. I was musing with Kirthi about the level of commitment the people who constructed this all the way up to the seventh hill! One area was a "vazhukku parai" (slippery rock) which would have made the following area inaccessible to 90% of the population if not for the chiseled steps. I think about 45 minutes had passed by this time.

The next stop was 856 AMSL. This was a Ganesha temple. By this time, the rain picked up intensity and never faltered thereafter. At this point, there was a hut to take shelter in. The group also was divided based on speed, and Senthil was trying to play anchor to sync up every one. I hadn't packed for rain (I think only 2-3 were planned for this anyway) and was throughly drenched. Here, there were priests chanting and offering to Ganesha on account of full moon day. I thought it was amazing dedication for they couldn't have been expecting any visitors. I think about 1 hour 45 mins had passed and time was about 10:30 AM now.

Next stop was 1000 AMSL. It was still raining. Senthil took his topography map and was checking the target. It was close to 1600 AMSL - quite a long way to go. I was able to pull my camera only once in a while when rain slowed down to a drizzle. Feroz was the true journalist most of the times and was even shooting in rain. Unfortunately, at this point I learnt that one of them decided to stay back. I also got to know that two trekkers started late because their bus came late (10:30 AM). They must have started trekking up now. The time was about 11:15 am now.

Once in a while, we had majestic view points of the valley below. Mostly marred by mist, but occasionally clearing to offer a grand view. We could make out lush paddy, distant buildings and even cleaned up ground below. The far away mountains adorned with greenery and the occasional stream made for a grand sight. You could trek up to this height just to view them! From this point on, we made occasional stops at 1100, 1250 and finally 1400 AMSL. The rain was intensifying and I had perhaps drenched to that extent never before in my life. The trail winded mostly on the steps, but occasionally, it would offer some respite in the form of a horizontal walkway. We passed by some makeshift temples (under mountain rocks), mostly of Lord Shiva along the way. We assumed we were crossing a "hill" at each of those temples.

At 1500 AMSL, it already felt like a major accomplishment for me. My back was aching so badly and my legs were tiring very fast, but my enthusiasm was quite up. I was ready to go until the last. But at 1560 AMSL, I reached a small hut that offered standing room only for the 13 of us. The rain was lashing so badly that we all got in. For the first time, it dawned on us how cold our bodies were. We had walked quite comfortably till then until the contrasting temperature the hut offered showed how cold it really was. I am not sure how much the temperature would have been, I am guessing about 10C or so. Few were shivering. Time was 13:10, and we had a priest who was walking towards the temple. He estimated another 30 minutes for the final destination. Senthil took a vote, and under the circumstances, we decided to have our lunch and head back down. I was mildly disappointed, but it was in everybody's best interested to go back down.

So we at our polis (surprisingly enduring in terms of keeping away hunger) and shared some chips other trekkers had got. The rain seemed to have abated just a little but it was quite misty outside. We finally started the trek down by about 13:45. The trek was easier down, but I had to account for two new problems. Some areas, your body picks up so much momentum with just a few steps, that it is crazy! Another was that it was very slippery. I fell down thrice. Once in place, once face down, but fortunately on a bush, and third, flat on my back. Only when I reached home later at night did I saw two cuts, one on my leg and one on my hand, and the blood had already clotted. No sensation whatsoever!

The rain was lashing so madly - but it was such a long time now that it seemed abnormal to not be drenched. The valley was misty mostly and on occasion showed up. One of those moments, we got view of a might stream flowing down hill at a distant mountain. Unfortunately, it was raining and I couldn't pick up my camera. I assume it was the Siruvani river [anybody have a pic?]. This time, me, Kirthi and Naren were among the first and we trekked at steady pace without stopping. Most of our trek was accompanied by mindless chatter. I think we stopped twice to rest. When we reached the Ganesh temple [856 AMSL], it was about 3:45 PM. We ate what was left of the food and then started down. Our plan was to visit the temple before the rest of the troupe arrived.

Finally, we were at the basement by 5PM. But my legs were damaged so badly, that every step down ached. My legs couldn't take my body load any longer. Any intense step put it off balance (even a joke cracked by Kirthi caused my leg to lose balance). After we reached down, we had tea. It was incredibly welcome for the weathering my body had taken. We then visited the temple below, and by about 5:45 every one had assembled. So had the monkeys. But they started leaving once they probably figured they weren't getting any food. It was getting dark as well.

We departed by about 6PM and on the way back, well it was still raining! We shared some snacks Senthil had and were viewing some pics on Prashanth's camera. Rest of the journey was just random musings among seat mates. Finally, we off boarded by about 7:30 from the van. And that's it! The trek was officially over.

As I write this now, two days later, my legs still ache so badly and I am not able to climb stairs without holding onto a railing. But the steps are so joyous. Mainly because I attempted something so huge that I had never tried before. And failed! :)

Pictures below: