SHANDE

Lalbagh Flower Show: January 2012

2012-01-22T23:01:00.000+05:30

It's yet another day out in Lalbagh for the biennial Flower Show. With my fellow photography enthusiasts we had planned a meet-up of Bangalore Photowalk coninciding with the flower show. And this time I didn't even dare to step inside the glass house as it was more of people show inside than flower show :) Instead we did most of our floral photography at nurseries close to Siddapura Gate.

The best place to capture Honey bees is sunflower landscaping close to West Gate. Since it's easier suck nectar from these flowers one can expect dozens of honey bees here performing their duty

It's not only about flowers, there are other interesting subjects too. Following is a close of a foot massager in a stall.

Please note the show details if you are planning to visit in coming days.

Dates: 20th-Jan-2012 to 29th-Jan-2012
Timings: 9 AM to 6 PM.
Entry Fee: Rs. 30 ( + Rs. 10 on 22nd, 26th and 29th)

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T01:17:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year to all of you ! 2011 was a very significant year for me with respect travel and photography. Two of my long awaited trips i.e. to Hampi and Ladakh materialized and other major trip was an experimental weekend trip to Sri Lanka. Other major update was getting Bangalore Photowalk group back on track with my friends. The group is rocking with regular photowalk activities and has come with an awesome 2012 calendar which members of the group will be cherishing for 366 days.

Since I didn't do much of blogging instead of linking best post I am sharing a few of my best pictures.

Starting with an interesting pic from Lalbagh which was featured in World Photography Day Section of DNA-Bangalore

Flying High by shande

Next is buddhist structure at Thiksey Monastery Ladakh. This pic has featured in one of table calendars of 2012.

Gompas by shande

One more from Ladakh, pic from an unnamed location

Nubra Valley by shande

The portrait of the year goes to Angmo, lady who serves dal-chawal at an eat-out in Khardung, 25kms from world's highest motorable road

Angmo by shande

Also, I added a macro lens to my equipment list and this was my very first attempt of capturing macro of water lily.

Water Lily by shande

Now, it's 2012 and hoping it to more fruitful year with more traveling and capturing better photographs.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

2011-12-05T03:10:00.000+05:30

First of all hats off to publisher for perfect timing of the book. It was in our hands at right time, when we wanted to know more about one of the iconic entrepreneurs/businessman of our era who has built world's most valuable company through sustained innovation. Infact, the release of the book was advanced by a month to cash on sad-demise of SJ. From Indian scenario, hats off to India's flagship e-store flipkart for offering pre-order discount and delivering the book in just 1-2 days after the official release !

The book lives upto the hype in many folds and presents an interesting tale in a coherent and compelling way. The contents are very engrossing and discusses about things which were not in pubIc domain till date. Like SJ developed his intuition during his exploratory trip to India, iPod was introduced as a leapfrog product to counter the absense of tray-based CD-writer in iMac and touchscreen technology was developed first for tablets but was productized first in smartphones.

The major plus point of the book is that Steve Jobs has not supervised on the contents and gave full liberty to the author write whatever he felt. The book documents many subtle anecdotes from SJ's life like trip to junkyard with his father during formative years where he was first introduced to electronics, other experiences in cradle of tech industry i.e. the valley whose inhabitants cracked the formula for turning silicon into gold !

Due to SJ's anti-social behavior, it very difficult person to work with him and on other side of the coin he used motivate people to put more than their 100% through reality distortion field ! The best part of book was John Scully chapter which has been narrated moment by moment in the book and not to mention SJ's eternal rivalry with Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates.

Personally, I found the first half of the book overloaded with characters, you will loose track with so many names :) The second half is quite okay, may be we know many people through current affairs :)

A few excerpts from the book

One of opening comments: This is a book about the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized SIX Industries ..... PCs, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing !!!

So in dealing with him, the team adopted an audio concept called a "low pass filter." In processing his input, they learned to reduce the amplitude of his high-frequency signals. That served to smooth out the data set and provide a less jittery moving average of his evolving attitudes.

"If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will" to indicate that Apple always operated as a cohesive company under single P/L statement. Loss of sales for present cash cow product were ignored while introducing a new revolutionary product.

Regarding Bill Gates by SJ: "Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's comfortable now in philanthropy than technology"

Rivalry between SJ and BG: Throughout their careers they had adhered to competing philosophies on one of the most fundamental of all digital issues: whether hardware and software should be tightly integrated or more open.

One of concluding comments by the author: "He made devices simpler by eliminating buttons, software simpler by eliminating features and interfaces similar by eliminating options". ‎

Bangalore Photowalk: Calendar 2012

2011-11-27T20:31:00.001+05:30

Bangalore Photowalk has come up a long way since the time we rebooted the almost defunct group at the end of last year. In order to maintain the niche and sanity, we ensured that regular photowalks are organized once a month at different sometimes unique locations in the city.

To mark the conclusion successful photowalk year we have composed the selected photographs captured at our photowalks into a calendar for the year 2012.

We followed structured process for shortlisting the photographs and following was our primary criteria:

Unique subjects from regular photowalk locations
Signature stuffs from offbeat photowalk locations
No two photographs from a single location/photographer
Not to repeat tricks of photography (panning, light trails)

Kindly let us know if you want to procure a copy of this calendar. More details at Calendar 2012 - Bangalore Photowalk.

Revolution 2020

2011-10-10T00:50:00.000+05:30

The title contains the world revoluTion
It targets today's young generaTion in the era of globalizaTion
CharacterizaTion full of transiTions and convoluTions
Narrative loaded with ambivalent relaTions and emoTions
Discusses corrupTion and vicious cycle in Indian eduaTion
Concludes without any resoluTion or revoluTion

Revolution 2020 is the new book by India's writer for the masses a.k.a Chetan Bhagat ! The story which is set in India's heartland i.e in Varanasi, meticulously blends politics, corruption, romance, sacrifice along with rat-race faced by today's youth.

The protagonist of the story is Gopal Mishra who after making two unsucessful at IIT-JEE, AIEEE annd being tagged as a loser by his parents-n-peers, accidentally turns out to be director of an engineering college. Through this accidental transition, Gopal takes the reader through his ups and downs, right from not-meeting-expectations of his father, professional-n-personal rivalry with his school buddy Raghav and ambivalent relationship with his girl-of-life Aarti.

In typical CB style the book is packed with witty one-liners. Here are a few excerpts

Girls can come up with the simplest of messages that have the most complex meanings.
If you are willing to pay government offices can do more overtime than MNCs.
"We don't fix cases. We fix the people in the cases".
Varanasi is probably the only city on earth where death is a tourist attraction.
Girls get extremely upset if you give them evidence contrary to their belief.

The story is engrossing throughout but personally to me the concluding part wasn't convincing as the narrative ends without any resolution.

Bottomline: A recommended read for all CB fans and an FTP book for the rest.

An astounding service:

Hats off to flipkart for their reliable service. My pre-ordered copy was delivered at my doorsteps a few hours before the official release !

Lifeu Ishtene: Double Thumbs Up !!

2011-09-11T21:00:00.000+05:30

Lifeu Ishtene[Lifu Ishtene] is the latest flick released this weekend in Sandalwood from the renowned Yograj Bhat factory. The movie is directorial debut venture of my college-mate Pawan Kumar, who a decade ago defying all the odds, decided to drop out voluntarily from 4th semester of engineering studies and pursue a full-time career in performing arts. And the rest is history !

To put review of the movie in a nutshell (as posted on my FB wall):

Contemporary theme, Fresh treatment, Hyper-engaging screenplay, Flawless characterizations, seamless blending of comedy and emotions, Funny-yet-elegant songs, Picturesque landscapes

Here the things are in detail

Frankly speaking, I hardly could spot a negative in the movie. The screenplay is so engaging by the time you try to do any analysis the movie will be over !
The nested flashback mode with narration from the protagonist makes the screenplay interesting and climax part is very creatively executed.
The theme is very contemporary and I am sure today's generation can relate to 1-2 incidences from their personal experiences.
Emotional and Comical moments are blended seamlessly and you will never think explicitly like - 'This is a comic scene, This is a sad scene etc'
Liked the interpretation of public toilet, DVD playback etc.
Characterization is flawless. You will never feel whether a particular character should be there in the scene or not.
Supporting casts are very inclusive in the storyline. Personally, I liked the characters Diganth's friend Shivu and Ladies Hostel watchman.
Diganth in the protagonist role as Vishal has done tremendous justice to the confused character and adding to this you won't find traces from his previously portrayed roles.
Definitely tons of changes from Pancharangi. A big revamp in supporting cast was a plus point - No Ananth Nag, No Padmaja Rao and Sudha Belawadi was there only for one sequence. As I had mentioned in my Pancharangi post, I don't have personally against these talented actors but somehow I am attached to their characterization of Mungaru Male.
Songs were very much part of the narrative. Conversational songs were funny and sophisticatedly choreographed.
The two songs shot at Ladakh(at Thiksey Monastery and Pangong Lake) are dexterously executed. Definitely a major achievement in Kannada film industry with respect to new locations. It was amusing see the places on a silver screen which I had been a few months back.
The movie has been nicely promoted through social media. Hats off to Pawan for using all the means to taking his movie to a different level ! .. Read Wasted time in his personal blog. I am sure each of one of us can take a leaf out of it.

Bottomline: The movie has definitely created a new benchmark in Sandalwood industry and I am looking forward seeing it again !

An Aside:
It's been a long time I have not posted about movies. One of the major reasons for this is that the movie contents will have a short shelf life. However, when it comes to Kannada movies this reasoning will be an exception and hence this post :)

Other links:

FB fanpage of Lifeu Ishtene
Review by Raveesh Kumar.

Ladakh: Report thru Tripline

2011-09-01T19:25:00.001+05:30

The entire Ladakh road trip illustrated using Tripline.

Ladakh Trip: Brief Itinerary

2011-08-21T21:21:00.005+05:30

It was an engrossing trip of 10 days executed in the month of June-2011. Infact, the planning phase started 4-5 months advance. Here's our itinerary in brief, I hope it will helpful in planning your Ladakh trips.

Day-0: 16th June 2011

Depature from Bangalore and Arrival at Terminal-1 Delhi
Overnight stay at Terminal T3

Day-1: 17th June 2011

Morning flight from Delhi to Leh
Started the acclimatization process by resting whole afternoon.
Evening visit to Shanti Stupa. Enjoyed and captured dynamic landscapes.
Visited Leh Palace very late in evening.
Night dinner at a high frill restaurant which had a free WiFi.

Day-2: 18th June 2011

Visit to Hemis Monastery, witnessed lamas pratcising for events for an upcoming festival.
Had a glance at Shey School(featured in 3 idiots) from outside and visited Stok Palace and Sindhu Ghat
Traveled to west of Leh to see confluence Indus and Zanskar rivers and witness miracle of Magnetic hill

Day-3: 19th June 2011

Started the ride towards Nubra Valley and passed thru the highest motorable road Khardungla pass which is at a height of 18380 feet.
Continued journey through Nubra, Shyok Valley - Great Canyon of idea.
Brief visit to Panamic where civilians can get best view of Siachen glacier - world's highest battlefield.
Hiked for 15 minutes to reach a hidden lake by name Yarab Tso
Overnight stay at Diskit.

Day-4: 20th June 2011

Visited Hunder Sand Dunes early in morning and witnessed endangered double humped bacterian camels at the same place.
Drive back to Leh via Khardungla
Passed the time in evening by doing window shopping at Leh market

Day-5: 21st June 2011

Started the journey towards Pangong Tso.
Visited Thiksey Monastery on the way
Reached Pangong late in evening i.e. around 6 pm.
Overnight stay at Merak

Day-6: 22nd June 2011

Started Ride towards Tso Moriri
Brief stopover at Rezang La 1962 War Memorial.
Reached Tso Moriri early in evening.
Overnight stay at Karzok.

Day-7: 23rd June 2011

Started Ride towards Manali
On the way visited Tso Kar but due to bad timing the lake didn't look that impressive
Passed through Pang - world's highest army transit camp
Witnessed impressive landscape after Pang and crossed J&K border
Overnight stay at Sarchu in a tented accommodation

Day-8: 24th June 2011

Continued journey towards Manali
Brief stopover besides Suryatal lake
Dropped the plan of Chandratal lake as the roads leading to the lake were closed ( may be it was cooked up by drivers )
Took five hours to cross Rohtang Pass, terrible traffic jam !
Overnight stay at Manali after marathon accommodation search for two hours.

Day-9: 25th June 2011

Visited Gurudwara and Shiva Temple at Manikaran
Had a brief stopover at Kazol in evening and partially witnessed the activities for which the place is renowned :)

Day-10: 26th June 2011

Cancelled plans of local sightseeing due to rains
Departed from Manali towards by taking 6.00 pm bus

Day-11: 27th June 2011

Arrived in Delhi after 16 hours taxing journey. The distance was just 570 kms.
Stayed at YHAI hostel Chanakyapuri
Took an evening flight from Delhi
Back in Bangalore to concluding the dream trip.

If you have any queries any queries in specific please post a question here and send me an email at sandeep@shande.in

Ladakh Trip: Summary and Retrospect

2011-07-18T00:23:00.005+05:30

Geologist call it 'Desert in the Skies', Meteorologist call 'Rain Shadow region', Photographers call it 'Picture perfect' I just call it Ladakh !

I was at this heavenly place in June 2011 in a group of six people - Myself, Jatin, Ravi, Naveen(Ande), Murali and Vignesh. It was one of my dream trips and with a company of like minded people dreams always come true ! The planning phase started as early as 6 months before the trip. Most of the ground work was done by Jatin, Ravi and I took up the responsibility of fixing a deal with our jeep driver Rigzin.

To start my series of blog-posts on this trip here's a brief summary and retrospect:

With this trip I added two Indian States into my 'visited list'.
We went to Leh directly by flight and returned by road via Manali. Usually, people do onward journey via Manali and return by flight. We wanted to be risk averse w.r.t opening of Rohtang pass and any delays in onward journey would have screwed up entire trip.
The soul of the trip was our driver Rigzin and his Scorpio. He took the responsibility of entire traveling - right from pick up from Leh Airport till Manali that too at affordable rates. Plus he helped us in planning itinerary, accommodation and being ex-army man he gave us lot of local masala information about various places.
Personally, acclimatization process was tough and it was not a cakewalk as expected. I had giddiness, headache throughout the trip and by the time I got adjusted to high altitude the trip was almost over.
Weather was pleasant throughout the trip and it used to cold during nighttime. We were able to manage with only one layer of warm clothing. There were traces of drizzle here and there so carrying an umbrella will be handy.
Inner line permits are mandatory for all tourist locations close to China and PoK. Regzin helped us in this department too.
We saved a day by traveling directly from Pangong to Tso Moriri instead of returning back to Leh from Pangong.
In this trip, I used my two new gadgets extensively. One was GoPro Sports camera and other was Holux GPS Logger. Will share the results in subsequent posts.
The stay in Manali while returning was a pathetic experience especially after heavenly experience of Ladakh. Rubbing salt to the wounds was the fact that the place was hopelessly crowded with people who were there for a weekend outing. Just to exaggerate it was like half the population of Chandigarh was in so-called hill station.
In overall expenses the major component was flight tickets and it was followed by food expenses !

Expense Summary (All figures in INR):

Per Head Expenses:

Flight: Bangalore-Delhi-Bangalore: 7000
Flight: Delhi-Leh: 5000
Bus: Manali-Delhi: 1140

Group Expenses(for 6 people):

Permits: 990
Jeep Transportation:

Ladakh sightseeing: 40,700 [ Pickup from airport, all traveling in Ladakh and drop back to Manali]
Manali sightseeing: 2500

Accommodation

Leh ( 3 Nights): 5800 [ Including 3 times breakfast and 1 time lunch]
Diskit, Nubra Valley(1 Night): 1500 [ Including Dinner]
Merak, Pangong Lake(1 Night): 1500 [ Including dinner and breakfast]
Korzok, Tso Moriri Lake(1 Night): 1200 [ Including dinner and tea]
Sarchu (1 Night): 2010 [ Tent Stay, including dinner and breakfast]
Manali ( 2 Nights): 4000 [ Excluding food]

Also read: Ladakh Trip - Itinerary in brief

It's Five Years !

2011-06-25T10:12:00.046+05:30

Can't believe for a moment that it's been five year since the time I started this blog.

In the last five years, the blog undergone gradual transformation. I have attempted to make the look and feel as contemporary as possible. Content-wise this blog is turning out to be a travel blog as I am getting inclined towards the contents which have longer shelf life. It's evident from analytic reports of the blog that travelogues have majority share in terms of page views.

Here're my major travel stories in last one year

There are many travels and related stories in pipeline. Stay tuned for more amusing updates Not to mention, I am posting this from Deserts in the Skies which is popularly known as Ladakh :)

Blue City: Jodhpur

2011-06-07T17:39:00.212+05:30

After exploring Jaipur(Pink City) and Jaisalmer(Golden City) we were into Jodhpur which has a similar sobriquet called Blue City. The city is which is essentially at center of the state provides a few sightseeing locations to tourists. Generally people prefer to have a day stopover at this place when traveling one end of the state to another. We arrived in the city by a overnight train from Jaisalmer, very early in morning. We checked-in at a hotel recommended by an auto driver. While completing the formalities, the driver offered us a city tour ride on his auto. Considering the time constraint we decided to take a plunge.

First we visited Umaid Bhawan Palace the place where Royal Family of Jodhpur resides. One has to mandatorily show his/her ID proof at a checkpoint before entering the premises. Not all section of the palace are accesible to general public one side of palace is given on a lease to Taj Group of Hotels and the rest of section is for the royals. One can visit a museum inside the premises where some antique collections of the royal family are exhibited. One of the caretaker of the museum took us through the collections and narrated the story which was depicted in the Bollywood movie Zubeida. He also showed us a hall which was the venue for the high profile wedding between Arun Nair and Liz Hurley.

After the palace visit we were off to other side the city for Mehrangarh fort which is atop a hill. There are many salient features in this fort. Like halls which had special semi-closed seating for ladies who used to participate in administrative discussions. As we were extremely saturated after seeing forts at Jaipur and Jaisalmer, the enthusiasm and curiosity was at minimum level.

Coming downhill from Mehrangarh fort we visited a marble structure called Jaswant ta Thada which houses samadhis of members of royal family.

Since there was nothing else to explore in the city and got back to our hotel getting off the auto which had a royal legroom. Well, there was a hiccup while paying up the fare. Since we had not fixed the amount beforehand, the driver demanded exhoribant amount. Our effort to popularized a person similar Raju in Jodhpur failed miserably and it was choice of the person as he was keen on short term benefits.

Later part of the evening we roamed around clock tower area for timepass. We went to a cyber cafe to book our train tickets from Jodhpur to Jaipur. In the process, Ande had a casual chat with the cyber cafe guy, quenched his curiosity about a shop right in front of the cyber cafe where many foreigners were seated and munching snacks. The guy in response showed us a documentary made by a french tourist in one of the PCs. The name of the shop was "Omlette Shop", a lonely planet recommendation as depicted on board of the shop. We opted for cheese omlette from the comprehensive menu of omlettes. The taste of omlette was average and must confess that the shop owner should feel lucky to be recommended in guide books because there are so many better low-brow eat outs in India which are not recommended in guide books !

After the night walk we came back to hotel, next day we got up early and took the 5.50 am intercity express to Jaipur. From there I took a back to Mumbai and Ande took a flight to Bangalore doing Ctrl+Alt+Del to the great Rajasthan trip.

More pictures from Jodhpur:

Uttara Kannada(North Canara) Trip

2011-06-06T11:30:00.015+05:30

For moments i cudnt differentiate,,,if i was flying or was i floating,,,
it was incredible ,,it was the endless sea i saw

These were the expressions of one my colleague/friend when she was experiencing the sea for the first time. The location was a private beach close to Murdeshwar when we the group of 25 colleagues were on a two day trip to North Canara. The trip was hosted by Mr. Ganesh Kamat of Kamat Executive Inn(Honnavar) and dexterously co-ordinated by our Manjunath Bhide.

We departed from Bangalore on Friday night after picking-up people from their convenient locations. The 10 hour long journey was taxing but a brief stopover at Sharavathy Valley viewpoint and observing the sun rays piercing thru the dense anulled all niggles in our body.

Our sightseeing saga started with a visit to Mavinakurve Island which is an island on river Sharavathy just before the swift river joins the Arabian sea. At the island we offered prayers at the famous Durga temple. Later we came back to the mainland visited some mueseum and goshala in a mutt.

Late in the evening we were off to the famous Murdeshwar temple and the beach adjacent to it. We had an half hour boat ride on the sea around the temple. The major highlight of the visit was ascending to top of the temple tower(18th floor) where one can get bird's eye view of the beach.

Later in the evening, we witnessed the sunset by enjoying at a private beach owned by Mr. Ganesh Kamat. As iterated earlier this was maiden beach experience for some people in our group and the privacy at the place was a bonus. This was followed by a campfire and dinner.

Morning of day-2 we started with a visit to Dhareshwar beach, where I decided to be off the water and kept myself busy in shooting landscapes and portraits.

After sumptuous coastal Karnataka lunch at Kamat's we started our return journey to Bangalore. On the way back we had a long stopover at Jog Falls. In order to overcome our dejection of witnessing the waterfalls without water we choose to have a downhill hike to downstream of the waterfalls.

After the hike at Jog Falls we continued our return journey, had dinner at Shimoga and were back in Bangalore before dawn time concluding the wonderful and well organized trip.

Contact Details:
Mr. Ganesh Kamat
Phone : +91 8385 268751, Mobile : +91 93424 12762
E-mail : info@murudeshwarhomestay.com

West Sikkim: Pelling, Pemayangtse, Khecheopalri, Singshore Bridge

2011-05-22T01:25:00.004+05:30

Time 4.45 am, we got up with a loud beep of alarms set in our mobiles. The agenda for the morning was pre-decided before sleeping on previous day i.e to shoot orange sunlight falling on the tip of Mt. Kachenjunga. The ritual was religiously followed for 2 days of our stay at Pelling (West Sikkim), the place well regarded for providing the best view Mt. Kanchenjunga from comfort of hotels.

Highlights:

Early Morning view of Kanchenjunga
Pemayangtse Monastery
Sacred Khecheopalri Lake
Kanchenjunga waterfalls
Singshore Bridge
Night View from Pelling Helipad

After conclusion of short South Sikkim trip and while doing accomodation hunting at Pelling, we ensured that the hotel provides a decent view of Kanchenjunga. Norbu Ghang hotel at Upper Pelling was perfect fit for our requirements, the tariffs were affordable and dedicated balcony for viewing, capturing Kanchenjunga. Also, sipping morning tea served by hotel staff while witnessing the orange paint on the peak was an experience-to-cherish.

Our West Sikkim sightseeing started with a visit to Pemayangtse Monastery, one of premier monasteries of Sikkim. The major significance of the monastery was fierce looking statues depicting eight incarnations of Padmasambhava, placed at level-1 of prayer hall.

Khecheopalri pronounced as catch-o-perry is one of sacred lakes of Sikkim. And it's believed that serenity of the lake is maintained by birds around the region who voluntarily remove any floating leaf on the surface. The prayers along the jetty of the lake adds to sacredness of the place.

We added to our tally of waterfall overdose with a visit to Rimbi Falls and Kanchenjunga Falls. The latter one is created through downstream of Khecheopalri lake.

The last major sight of the day was Singshore Bridge which is second highest suspension bridge in asia. A chill down your spine is ensured when look down from center of the bridge.

The sightseeing was concluded with a visit to helipad of Pelling. It's an ideal place view Mt. Kanchenjunga at night time on a full moon day, but unfortunately we were there on a new moon day ! However we made use of our visit by experimenting with light painting and witnessing night illuminations of nearby towns Geyzing, Namchi, Ravangala and also decently lit Darjeeing at far away distance.

Around the dinner time we witnessed peaceful diwali celebrations on the streets of Pelling which was mostly dominated with Nepali song-n-dance. Next day morning we started our return journey by taking Sikkim Transport Bus to Siliguri.

Bannerghatta National Park

2011-05-20T00:51:00.004+05:30

Bannerghatta National Park is one of the closest getaway from Bangalore city. Surprisingly I have been to the place for a long time and the jinx has been broken convincingly with three visits in last 18 months. During re-visits, I have come across one or the other positive development in and around the park. The recent was the construction of dedicated bays for BMTC buses next to the parking lot.

Fares(As on April-2011):

Safari ride + Zoo: Rs. 160
Camera Fee(Safari): Rs. 25
Butterfly Park: Rs. 25
Camera fee(Butterfly): Rs. 25

To get there:
With the advent of BMTC volvos(vajra No. 365) getting to BNP has become a cakewalk. If you have a monthly bus pass then it's even more advantageous !

Safari Ride:
In this ride one can witness bears, tigers, deers and lions roaming freely in thier artificial environment. The concept is exact opposite to that of a typical zoo. Humans will be inside the caged vehicle and animals will be roaming freely(relatively) in their captive camp. With SLRs in your hand and nominal tip off to the driver you can get access to front seat in a rickety safari van. Personally to me the major attraction in safari was lions cubs which were so cute and small a year ago now have grown up into fully muscular mammals.

Butter fly park:
It's big garden with a doom enclosure and first of it's kind in India. At season time one can find lots of butterflies. Within the enclosure there's a museum which lifecycle of butterfly. At the same place there's a n AV room where some documentaries on butterflies will be screened continuously.

Zoo:
It's not as exciting as safari or butterfly. However there are some interesting things creatures such as King cobra, Ostriches, Emu and of course Leopard inside a big cage which has become an expert in giving poses.

Food:
There's a jungle lodges restaurant within premises of the national park where one can have lunch. Prices quite resanable and quality of the food is also decent. It's way better than unhygienic eat-outs which are just outside entrance of the park.

South Sikkim: Ravangala, Temi Tea Garden, Sandruptse

2011-05-18T00:21:00.006+05:30

After North Sikkim Trip it was time to venture into Southern side of the state. We had thoughts of getting there directly from North, but due to weird topography of the state we were forced to travel via Gangtok(East Sikkim). Also, we finished our pending visit to Rumtek Monastery which was on the way to Ravangala, our first destination in South Sikkim.

Highlights of South Sikkim trip:

Sunrise Point at Ravangala
Temi Tea Garden
Rock Garden
Padma Sambhava Statue at Sandruptse

Getting to Ravangala
The start up of this phase of the trip was not that smooth. When we were at dedicated South Sikkim Taxi stand, the driver of the jeep was absconding due to some miscommunication with owners of Lama tours-n-travel. The 1.5 hrs wait turned out to be most unproductive part of entire trip. The driver who infact was from yo-generation and had loads of attitude. He was totally pissed off when we spent more than 3 hours at Rumtek monastery and threatened to drop us back to Gangtok instead of Ravangala. We somehow managed to cool him down by making a few phone calls to the owner of Lama tours-n-travel. After a decently long journey we arrived in Ravangala very late in evening. The Ravangla town was essentially a single road with hotels, a few shops on either side. We had to do some amount of brainstorming in deciding the accommodation as most of hotels were offering good deals due to fast approaching off- season(diwali).

After dinner we headed out for a walk on only road of the town. Primary purpose was to fix up a deal with a taxi driver for next day's trip. We came across a guy by name Tenzing, who incidentaly was driver cum owner of a taxi. After gathering our requirements regarding the trip, he proposed a quote of 2500 Rs. He was so firm about the quote that he didn't even reduce it 100 Rs. Hats off to his speaking and negotiations skills. Inarguably he was the best driver in our entire Sikkim trip.

Next Day, our sightseeing started at 8 am. First place was Ravangala viewpoint of Mt. Kanchenjunga. On the way to the viewpoint Tenzing showed us home of Baichung Bhutia, ace footballer of India. Ravangala viewpoint is a three tier structure within a well maintained park. At the place we were welcomed with a clear weather and magnificent view of Mt. Kanchenjunga.

Temi Tea Garden
Next place was Temi Tea garden. Initially we thought it will be some boring place. But the landscape there was picture perfect. Sloping tea estate in the center, valleys in the background, snow clad Kachenjunga with other neighboring peaks on the left and beautiful pink cherry trees on the right. A group like us dominated with photography enthusiasts spent almost 2 hours at this place. Our driver Tenzing was very considerate and didn't force us leave the place early.

Rock Garden and Sandruptse
Next in South Sikkim, we visited rock garden at Namchi. Frankly speaking there was nothing spectacular about the garden which was constructed on side of a hill and one has to descend thru a hairpin path. There was some relief at rock bottom of rock garden where came across a group who were of children who were enjoying their diwali vacation. One of among of them was simply exceptional in facing the camera.

The disappointing visit of rock garden, was followed with a visit to statue of Padmasambhava at Sandruptse, a gigantic statue with a fiery face. Later on we had a stopover for lunch at Namchi at Hotel Kanchenjunga view. The ambiance of the hotel was decent but unfortunately service was pathetic. They took 10 minutes for giving us menu card and the turnaround for our order was more than one hour!

After lunch we headed to Pelling(West Sikkim) via Geyzing to conclude our South Sikkim trip.

Srilanka Trip: Negembo, Colombo and Return

2011-05-09T00:49:00.003+05:30

It was an India v/s England encounter in Cricket World Cup 2011. The see-saw battle was in the last over and equations were '11 runs required from 4 balls'. India's Munaf Patel was bowling English tailender A Shahzad. On delivery of a good length ball, the batsman just got his front leg out of the way, got the half-volley he wanted and creamed it straight down the ground, over the bowler's head and into the stands for SIX! 11 players in light blue jersey were shocked, Indian spectators in stands were stunned, English players in dressing room were on their feet and majority people gathered at an open air pub at Lewis Place, Negembo were celebrating. Yes you read it right, I witnessed the decisive moments of the pulsating contest when I was on a weekend trip to Sri Lanka. Personally to me, it was very surprising to note that local people were biased towards their colonial rulers in contrast to a norm in India, where we prefer supporting teams from the sub-continent when they are playing against the teams from English background.

We witnessed the match when our two day experimental trip was about to conclude. After our brief endeavor on Day-1 at Hill County i.e at Kandy, Nuwara Eliya we started downhill journey towards Negembo. While returning we by-passed Kandy and for evening tea we had a stopover at some hotel where we had to compromise with a sugary tea and some snacks fried in coconut oil. We arrived Negembo, when it was sufficiently dark and checked-in at Silver Sand Hotel. Myself and Ande had pre-decided to roam next to the sea after basic fresh up. Loaded with ethusiasm, while entering the hotel itself we asked the receptionist about distance of the beach from the hotel. He just showed the hand towards the backyard of the hotel and said "it's right here !".

The night life at Lewis Place was not that great and not that bad either. The place was brimming mostly with old European couples and we could hardly spot any person from younger generation. After a brief walk, we managed to spot a young firang female, may be a Russian, who approached us aggressively with a card of some night club. We also noticed in the background there was a Sri Lankan chap monitoring her actions. Realizing actual intentions of the female, we just decided to ignore her.

We explored the place further, peeped at a few pubs and did some basic shopping. Ande who usually travels with minimal luggage, decided to dedicate the free time for buying some essential stuff. The long casual walk was concluded with a sumptuous Sri Lankan dinner at our hotel.

Day-2 of the trip we had to explore Negembo and Colombo. We got up early had a casual walk on the beach at backyard of our hotel. The place was too deserted and we could find a few firangs here and there jogging and gasping fresh hair. After morning ablutions we left towards Negembo station to catch a train to Colombo. In between, we spent some time next to lagoon where there was a dutch fort which which was converted into a prison. We thought of doing some timepass at Negembo fish market which was next to the fort, unfortunately it was closed on account of Sunday being a holiday.

At Negembo station we had to wait for some time as our train to arrive and it was bit late than the actual schedule. Tickets were issued only 15 minutes before the arrival. The short journey to Colombo was hopelessly boring, the train stopped at all stations, changed tracks and reached at Colombo Fort station at 12 o' clock. It's absolutely recommended to give this option a skip while commuting between Colombo and Negembo.

Our first destination in Colombo was Natural History Museum which can reached easily by a city bus from the Fort station. The major attractions of the museum were golden crown and thrown of Kandy. There were many exhibits depicting rich history of the nation. We spent quality time at the museum and had food at the cafeteria within premises of the mueseum.

After completing the museum visit, Jamaldeen(FB friend of Praveen) joined us and we were off to city exploration with him. Firstly, we roamed around in Fort area which had a strong resemblance to South Mumbai with lot of bank offices. And not to mention there was a big office of State Bank of India which gave us homely feeling.

Then we headed to the famous seaside hangout of the city called Galle Face. It was like Chowpatty cum Marine drive of Mumbai. At one end of the beach there were three skyscrapers. Two of them were twin towers of World Trade center and third was HQ of Bank-of-Ceylon.

There were lot of security forces around the Galle Face and they were randomly doing ID check of tourists. At Galle Face beach we spotted one big huddle of people. Something was happening inside, some television interview was ongoing and we discovered that interviewee was none other than Australia pacer Brett Lee. After conclusion of the session, some people from our group took a photo standing besides him.

Continuing our walk on the beach, we witnessed sunset at and decided to return after spells of photo session. We came back to Colombo Fort station for dinner and took a bus back to Negembo. It was a nice Air-Conditioned bus which took us back to Negembo in an hour and definitely a better option than train !

After coming back to our hotel at Negembo, we quickly rushed to screening of India England match at an open air pub and witnessed final moments of the tied match.

After the match we packed our luggage and took a cab to Bandaranaike airport. We were first to check-in at the counter and had to wait for a while for seat allotment as we had opted for the emergency exit row and generally such seats are released 3 hours before the scheduled depature.

We were back in Chennai earlier than scheduled time and did a bid adieu to Srinidhi and co. While waiting for our flight to Bangalore we experienced pathetic toilets of Chennai airport and the AAI airport feeling was reloaded again. However, the stinking feeling was annulled by smooth 40 minutes Indigo flight to BLR and thus concluding our experimental weekend trip to Emerald Isle.

More photographs:

[ Please note: A few phrases in the first para are excerpts from cricinfo commentary page]

Doosra - A play on Cricket

2011-05-07T13:45:00.004+05:30

It was a long weekend on account of Good Friday and many people were outside the city to make the most out of their holidays. For some genuine reasons I had stay back in Bangalore itself and when the weekend was about to end i.e on Sunday evening, to quench my entertainment need I had an option of going to either to the latest flick "Dum Maaro Dum" or to a play on cricket by name "Doosra" at KH Kala Soudha which was just three blocks away from my home. Later, considering many factors I decided to go with an option which was close to my home.

"Doosra - a play on cricket" is majorily based on off-the-field stories in contemporary cricket. The protagonist of the story is Arjun, a young budding cricketer from a middle-class background who carries expectation of various people, especially his father who was an ex-Ranji cricket player. The story revolves around the growth of Arjun as an international cricketer in today's dynamic environment.

There are several humorous moments in the play, the best moment is when the BCCI president cum Textile minister's (enacted by Satish Chandra) replies on being offered a bribe "So many suitcases !!! I am a textile minister not a telecom minister !". Truly, a sarcastic reference to current affairs in Indian politics.

Overall, it was a nicely written and executed play with blend of all kinds of emotions. However there's a scope for improvement. Many a times there's disconnect between the scenes. The cricket-as-a-character concept which was used only in beginning and ending of the play, could have been easily used as narrative voice to glue between the scenes.

Srilanka Trip: Kandy, Nuwara Eliya

2011-04-20T20:49:00.001+05:30

This post is continuation of SriLanka Trip: Planning and onward journey

As per our initial plan, on Day-1 we were supposed to do sightseeing only at Kandy and return back to the Colombo/Negombo by taking Inter-City express at 3 pm. But after reading about Nuwara Eliya in Lonely Planet guide and subsequent recommendations from Tourist Information center we had to think about plan-B. Mr. Kapu, our driver of the taxi which we had booked in advance for the Kandy trip also acknowledged positively about our plan-B by saying morning at Kandy, afternoon at Nuwarilya and back to Negombo in evening/night. However, we decided to keep the itinerary flexible and take a call on A or B after getting to Kandy.

We boarded our taxi Toyota Hiace (which was like a big Maruti Van) and started our drive towards Kandy. Majority of glow-sign boards outside Bandaranaike airport were dominated with ads of an Indian based telco which had then recently re-branded itself with a new logo. Other noticeable thing around the airport was commandos zipping in their bikes and ordering people not to park their cars. Surely, the island nation is still not recovered from their recent past. Further ahead the roadside houses and shops had very strong resemblance to those in any coastal city in India. So the "Outside India" feeling was not really created. Most part of three hour long journey we tried to annul our sleep deficit and in between had a stopover for tea (sugar syrup) at a road side hotel.

Kandy Viewpoint and Tooth Relic Temple
On reaching Kandy we witnessed that the roads were brimming with people as early as 6.30 am. Our sightseeing kick-started with a visit to city viewpoint. The weather was sufficiently clear and majority of the view was dominated by the lake of Kandy. After spending brief time at the place we headed towards the famous Tooth Relic Temple. Had read a lot about the place in our history books and we were at the place in actual. For a while it was not digestible and needless to say that the "Outside India" was finally set.

One has to undergo two levels of security check in order to get into the temple. At the first level after formalities the security guard asked me “India ?” and he reciprocated to my yes with a thumbs up and said “ok ok” to my camera. After clearing level-1 of security we entered into garden of the temple with lush green lawns and huge trees. For a moment it was like we are into a botanical garden. The early morning settings with birds and squirrels doing their daily chores was picture perfect. Moving ahead, we cleared the second level of security to enter into actual temple premises. We had to leave footware at a designated location of foreigners which was next to the ticket counter. The entry fee was 500 LKR for vistors from SAARC countries and no fee for cameras.

One can witness numerous local people entering the temple with a big lotus which is a traditional offering while performing pooja. In front of entrance to the tooth relic i.e. core part of the temple, an elderly gentleman approached us and quoted 200 LKR for guide charges. He briefly narrated the long history of the temple and it was interesting know about legacy associated with the tooth relic. Buddha’s tooth was secretly hidden in some queen's hair ornament and was brought into Srilanka. The story was depicted through a painting in a hall with a series of paintings. In the same hall there were collection of Buddha statues donated by various foreign dignitaries and our guide pin pointed to statues gifted by various prime ministers of India.

There’s a small museum within premises of the temple where photography was not allowed. The exhibit included a few antique collections but overall it was dominated by photographs depicting the impact of LTTE suicide attacks which had partially damaged the front facade of the temple. Just besides the main complex many people predominantly in white dress were lighting lamps as part of their tradition.

Plan-A or Plan-B ?
After completing early morning visit to the tooth temple we decided to execute plan-B i.e visit to Nuwara Eliya. Before that we decided to have breakfast and unfortunately we could not find any proper eat-outs around the temple premises. Our driver Kapu took us to a hotel complex outside Kandy towards Nuwara Eliya. The place was decent but the food court there was closed, so we had to manage with the biscuits bought from the supermarket in the same complex. Some of us decided complete pending morning ablutions by renting a room by paying 1000 LKR. Our driver Kapu was slightly pissed off with one hour stopover and escalated that it's not possible to return back to Negombo by evening as he's been awake from 1 am last night and he doesn't have the habit sleeping in a car like normal drivers. He proposed that we can stay overnight at either Nuwara Eliya or Kandy. On hearing this Srinidhi thought of reverting back to plan-A because we had booked an accommodation in advance at Negembo. However, I managed to convince Kapu with some minor blasting that we are not totally responsible for his sleep deficit. So the plan-B was alive and kicking !

Labookellie Tea Center
The journey to Nuwara Eliya was nice thanks to well maintained roads. With over 2 hours of journey we reached the place which is often regarded as 'Little England'. Our first destination was Labookellie tea center. There we started with a tea factory tour which was established in 1840s under the supervision of a lady guide. She explained us specialty and significance about high altitude tea. The factory visit was informative and the complementary tea offered after that was awesome. It was easily the best tea had in my lifetime.

Our chennai boys had a brief conversation in Tamil with the lady guide who was happy to discuss about her Indian origin. After the tea center visit we started our downhill journey towards Negembo.

Ramboda Hotel
For lunch, we had a stopover at Ramboda hotel, a lonely planet recommendation. The most significant thing about the hotel was that it had a view of waterfalls with the same name. Though there were limited menu options for vegetarians like me, we were impressed by prompt service and friendliness of the manager. The hotel is bit downhill from the main highway. There's a dedicated van which offers free downhill/uphill ride, of course by giving a tip to the driver.

More Photographs:

North Sikkim: Lachen, Lachung, Yumthang, Zero-Point

2011-04-11T01:50:00.002+05:30

After sufficient sightseeing in East Sikkim we were due to get into beautiful regions of North Sikkim. If you are in the state atleast for a week then North Sikkim is a must visit and major part of energy and time should be allocated for it. For this trip we opted for a 2-Nights/3-Days package trip conducted by Lama Tours and Travel(MG Marg, Gangtok). The total expenses for 6 people was around 16k INR inclusive of transportation, accommodation and food.

Highlights:

Panaromic view of Teestha Valley at Singhik
Experiencing snowfall at Thanggu
A relaxed evening on banks of river at Lachung
Breakfast at Pema's shop at Yumthang valley
Experiencing sub-zero temperature and 360 degree snow clad mountains at Zero-point(15000+ feet)

Day-1, we departed at around 11 am in a Mahindra Max jeep from dedicated North Sikkim taxi stand at Gangtok. For initial one hour our driver didn't even speak a word. We were speculating that whether he's a dumb person or doesn't know Hindi or a Kadus person. Our first site of the day was Seven-sisters waterfalls. Frankly there was nothing impressive to mention about the waterfall, even dozens of roadside waterfalls were better than it. The so called seven tier falls can be skipped unless there's a genuine need for a pit-stop.

Moving ahead, we stopped at Phodong for lunch and entered into Mangan - district head-quaters of North Sikkim which claims itself to be 'Cardamom capital of the World'. A few kms beyond Mangan is Singhik view point which offers panoramic view of Teestha Valley. With our desperate search for a cup of tea at the viewpoint we landed into a terrace hotel(cafe) which had the best view of the valley. The combination of tea and the breathtaking viewpoint was a priceless experience.

We reached Lachen at around 7 pm for overnight stay. Our arrival was delayed due to flat tyre replacement, a usual headache for drivers in North Sikkim area due to rocky terrain. At Lachen, it was moderately drizzling and our caretaker at homestay said that it will be definitely snowing at higher altitude where we were supposed travel next day.

Day-2 morning at 4:30 am we departed towards Gurudongmar Lake. While traveling, I immediately went to napping mode after such a early morning wake-up. By the time I woke up i.e after an hour the first image on my retina was dominated with the color white, obviously due to snow on either sides of the road. At 6:30 am, we stopped at Thanggu for breakfast and simultaneously experienced snowfall. Our excitement of experiencing snowfall(maiden snowfalll for some people in our group) was short-lived as we were informed that Gurudongmar plan was cancelled considering high probability of road blockage due to heavy snowfall. With loads of disappointment, we came back to Lachen and departed towards Lachung after lunch.

On the way to Lachung, we saw Teesta-Lanchung river confluence near Chungthang, where there's big hydel power station under construction. Next site on the way was BimNalla waterfalls which was relatively graceful than other roadside waterfalls. At Lachung, we witnessed daylight fading into dusk by relaxing on banks of river below a cantilever bridge. It was nice to witness ribbon waterfalls on a big hill adjacent to the town.

Day-3, we departed at 5.30 am towards Yumthang Valley. On the way to the place we saw several boards with Rhododendrons. When I was reading it aloud, the local lady(her name was Pema) to whom our driver had offered the drop from Lachung, said that Rhododendron bloom can be witnessed only in the month of April.

After reaching Yumthang we had sufficiently long spell of photosession around Yumthang-zero kilometer stone. After the session we dropped into Pema’s Shop for breakfast. Her photogenic face was a treat our cameras. Not to mentioned the lady was very friendly and enthusiastic, a diametrically opposite personality in comparison to our driver.

Normally, the package tour will have siteseeing till Yumthang valley. Beyond this one can go upto Yumasongdeong famously known as zero-point by paying extra money directly to the driver. There we experienced sub-zero temperature at 15000+ feet amidst 360 degree snow clad mountains. The other major attraction around Yumthang is a hot spring which didn't live upto the hype. However, landscape around it was nice and good capturing in our cameras. We came back to Lachung for lunch and immediately started our return journey to Gangtok. While returning also we were unfortunate to experience hiccups of a flat tyre again and our driver had to borrow the replacement from some other jeep driver. When the tyre was being replaced all passerby drivers used to ask our driver - "Tyre Cho" .. our driver used to reply "Cho".

Finally, we were back in Gangtok at nighttime by concluding toughest part of Sikkim Trip. Next morning, we were off to South Sikkim via Rumtek.

World Champions - It's the Cup that counts !

2011-04-03T01:31:00.006+05:30

We are the world ! Team India did it ..defying all odds(a few) won the cricket world cup - the cup that counts in cricketing annals.

In an evenly fought contest with the Islanders, the captain - Mahi - MSD - Dhoni gave a fitting reply to his critics by delivering with the bat when it mattered the most. In fact, his innings turned out to be the major difference between the two sides.

The winning runs were scored in a handsome fashion i.e with a Sixer. The moment which cricketing fans of India will cherish for lifetime.

Unfortunately, the super century(100th international hundred) from Sachin could not materialize. Anyways, he has now added world cup victory medal in his CV and should be more happy to score super century some other day. After his early dismissal during the chase, the victory was written off by many fans and some had even switched off their TV ! But the silver-lining was that we were not chasing 359 ( 2003 final ).

The victory was a major relief for cricketing fans after the thrashing if final of 2003 and the heartbreaking first round exit of 2007.

Finally, Team India ne Diya Ghuma Ke .. pehle Australia, then Pakistan aur ab Sri lanka ko!

What Others says

Times of India - about breaking three jinxes

Team India created history by bucking it — not once but thrice over. No team had ever won a World Cup on home ground, no side had ever successfully chased a target in excess of 250 in a World Cup final, and no squad had ever won after a player in the opposite side had hit a century in a final. But there’s something about this squad — where previous teams would have crumbled, they soak up pressure and kept on scrapping, which explains why India are now ranked No 1 in both Tests and ODIs.

Deccan Herald - about winning six from Dhoni

It was a monster hit, a blow of authority and character and strength, a strike that was quintessential Dhoni. That stroke also signalled the end of an anxious wait dating back to 1983. Who writes Dhoni's scripts ? Dhoni himself, of course.

Deccan Herald - about factors behind the victory

The calming influence of the captain, the inspirational presence of Tendulkar, the electrifying resurgence of Yuvraj Singh, the continued incisiveness of Zaheer Khan – these were all massive factors that swept the team forward, but this triumph wasn’t a result of occasional individual brilliance. Inevitably, some parts will pull their weight more, but collectively, the sum of the parts contributed to a magnificent whole that gathered unthinkable momentum as the tournament reached its climax.

Anil Kumble - on gary's role as coach

Gary’s role in all this has been most praiseworthy. He has been a binding force and a catalyst, keeping the team so closely knit. He is at a good wavelength with every member of the team, and it is no coincidence that the performances of all individuals have gone up a notch in the last couple of years, and that includes Sachin.

Times of India - A journey which began from the longest railway platform

Today, those who don't know Dhoni too well will hardly remember. What instantly comes to mind is the 183 against Sri Lanka in Jaipur, the century at Faisalabad, many match-saving one-day innings, World Twenty20 win, Chennai Super Kings buying him for a record Rs 6 crore, Champions League triumph, India reaching Number One status in Tests and now winning the World Cup.

East Sikkim: Gangtok, Nathu La, Chaggu Lake, Rumtek

2011-03-31T00:52:00.007+05:30

This post is continuation of Summary-and-Retrospect post.

Major Highlights:

Casual walk on M.G. Road
Red Panda at Zoological Garden
Visit to Rumtek Monastery
Nathu La and Chagu Lake trip

Gangtok as Base Location :
The initial part of the trip was dedicated in hunting a good deal for package tours for North Sikkim and Nathu La trips. After a series of negotiations with various tour operators in M.G. Road we decided to go with Lama Tours and Travels for both trips. Permits are essential for both trips and one has to submit photographs, identity proofs in advance for processing the permits.

Gangtok Sightseeing:
Our east sikkim trip kick started with Gangtok sightseeing. Large utility vehicles(Sumo, Innova) with taxi number plates don't have permits to roam in the city. So for a group of six we had to opt for two Maruti Omnis. We visited Flower park, Hanuman Tok, Ganesh Tok, Zoological Park, Tashi Viewpoint, a Monastery, Bakhang Falls and some viewpoint near Assembly house. Flower park was decent, where we got opportunity to shoot lot of orchids. Hanuman Tok and Ganesh Tok gave us difference perspective of Gangtok City. We spent quality time at Zoological park. The major attraction there was Red Panda - state animal of Sikkim. Tashi viewpoint was disappointing as we had been there at wrong time. Manoastery was decent and it was too dark by the reached the viewpoint near Assembly house.

M.G. Road:
It's major road of the state capital with 100 percent foothpath. A casual walk in evening time is a must on this road. Famous eat-outs here are Roll House for Momos and Baker's Cafe for European stuffs. Don't miss vanilla shake and pastries at Baker's Cafe.

Nathu La and Chagu Lake trip:
It's a one day dedicated affair and as mentioned previously one has to get permit for this a day in advance. Our trip started as early as 7 am. On the way our destination, first few kilometers from Gangtok the army settlement in the region noticeable - constantly passing by gigantic army trucks in opposite direction and army quarters adjacent to the roads. The only significant thing on the bland structures were DTH antennas of various service providers .. truly satellite TV has come of the age in India ! Our first destination was Nathu La. On the way we passed by Chaggu Lake and a place called Thegu where there's world's highest ATM !

The unique terrain was first time experience for me i.e. full off landslide prone areas. Every 2-3 kms one can find Border Roads Organization(BRO) people at work and clearing off debris if any. We were welcomed in Nathu La with decent sunny weather with white patches of clouds. It was a maiden experience of 15000+ ft for me and even a brief ascent by steps to the army post was exhausting. In front of army canteen, jawans had kept various ammunitions like AK-47, bazokaas for display and we grabber the opportunity and took photographs with it by holding the stuffs in our hands. We had coffee break at the army canteen and took Nathu la certificate by paying 50 Rs at the same place.

After talking the certificates went upto edge of Indian border. It was like this side in India and that side is China(Tibet). One can easily distinguish contrasting structures on two sides. Indian side was decorated with images of Taj Mahal and other colorful images depicting cultural richness whereas in Chinese side it was just a bland building with grinning soldiers roaming around it. However, one among them looked to be very curious and was taking pictures of tourist on Indian side with his point-n-shoot. There was not even a single tourist on Chinese side. One reason mentioned by a jawan was that for them the nearest city to Nathu La is around 400 km and on Indian side it’s only 50 kms .i.e Gangtok. Also, it was interesting note that within a distance of two feet there was a time difference of 2 and half hours !

After completing Nathu La visit, we came downhill and visited Baba Mandir. Initially, we had thought it was place of worship of some saint. Later we figured out it's a temple dedicated to some army jawan by name Harbhajan Singh. One fine day he came in dream of his peers after his death and they made a temple dedicated to Baba-the soldier. After the temple visit, we came to banks of Chagu Lake and took photographs by sitting on yak. We had late lunch at a small hotel near the lake where we had normal stuffs momos, noodles. After lunch it was time for return journey by evening 6 pm we were back in Gangtok.

Rumtek Monastery:
We visited this Monastery after after completing the North Sikkim trip and on the way to South Sikkim. The places of interest were prayer hall and the golden stupa. I was extremely fascinated by significant and history of the Monastery. At this place there's a thrown of Karmapa who's currently in a exile at Dharmashala. But Indian government is not allowing him to sit on this by considering sensibilities of Chinese. I discussed all these stuffs with one of Lama of the monastery and who requested us not to take photos of mask which were being prepared for Tibetian New year. Before departing from the Monastery we had Veg Thupka - traditional delicacy of Sikkim at a canteen just adjacent to premises of the monastery.

Srilanka Trip: Planning and onward journey

2011-03-29T23:35:00.004+05:30

Key Highlights of the trip:

Visit to Tooth Relic Temple at Kandy
Sipping a complimentary tea at Mackwoods Labookellie Tea Centre.
Lunch at Ramboda hotel with a magnanimous view of waterfalls.
Night Life at Lewis Place, Negombo
Visit to National Mueseum of History
A casual evening walk in Fort area
Sunset at Galle Face, Colombo
Witnessing a tied match b/w India-England match on a big screen, when all local people were supporting English

FAQs: Please refer Srilanka Weekend Trip- FAQs by Srinidhi Hande

Initial Planning:
Sometime in December-2010 my blogging buddy Srinidhi Hande shot a mail to people in his network announcing that return tickets from Chennai to Colombo on then recently started Spicejet service were available at a mouth watering price and in turn invited everyone for a experimental weekend trip to Colombo. The flight timings were convenient for people staying in Chennai i.e. leaving after midnight and returning just before early morning. For Bangaloreans like me there was an overhead of 6 hrs train journey or an aggregate 3 hrs flight journey. Since most of potential trip participants were from Chennai, I had to hunt for someone to accompany me from Bangalore. Many didn’t show interest in the trip as one can’t do justice for places in Sri lanka in just two days. Finally, my reliable travel buddy Ande agreed to join me for the trip. For Bangalore-Chennai part we decided to travel by his car.

Planning Phase-2:
If it’s a trip organized by Srinidhi, one is assured to be part of comprehensive brainstorming. We had an initial plan for seeing place in Colombo only. With some basic research we realized that it’s not really worth to spend entire two days in Colombo instead one can do a day trip to Kandy. Discussions continued and some people in the group posted queries to their friends in Sri lanka. I also pitched by buying PDF chapters of Lonely Planet. The Hill County chapter was very handy in researching about places of interest around Kandy.

Actual trip: Bangalore-Chennai
The driving plan from Bangalore Chennai plan got screwed because on the day of journey Ande had some important meeting in Noida. So he decided to directly fly from Delhi to Chennai. Therefore, I opted for the evening 6.20 pm flight from Bangalore and landed in Chennai at 7 pm. After landing in Chennai I had wait for Ande as his flight from Delhi was delayed. In the mean time Srinidhi and his friends joined from Chennai and we had a light dinner at Sangeetha food court just outside international departure terminal.

Departure from Chennai:
After the dinner we started the proceedings for the boarding. The environment of the Chennai airport reminded us that Chennai is still a AAI managed airport. One has to stand in a queue for X-ray scan before the baggage check-in. We were taken aback by a long queue for the process, there was a big group of around 90 elderly ladies who seem to be returning back to Sri lanka after their trip to India. And not to mention, I had to wait behind such a big group for my turn

Somehow we managed to clear the X-ray screening process. Thanks to Ande as he accompanied me in the queue, inspite of not having his own check-in bag. The immigration clearance and security check were completed smoothly. At an outlet in between Immigration and Security check Srinidhi and Vaideesh took Matrix SIM cards for rent ( Read more about Matrix experience at Srinidhi’s blog). The flight was delayed by one hour and the departure was rescheduled to 1.10 am. We got into some eat-out and ordered for coffee/tea at regular intervals just to kill time.

Flight journey and Arrival at Colombo:
For convenience we(myself and Ande) had opted for emergency-exit row which usually has 1.5 times of normal leg room. The window seat in the row is a value add, since you will get special instruction from the hostess and a chance to build rapport :). After around 1 hour flight journey we landed at Colombo. The major curiosity was that how the immigration process will turn out be. For me it was first time experience of visa-on-arrival. At the immigration counter the person just stamped on the stamp next to Indian immigration seal and the formalities were over in a jiffy ! The Colombo airport had more glitters than Bangalore and Chennai airports. It was very evident that some event like 'world' cup was happening in the country as all interiors jazzed up with flags of participating nations.

Just before exit of the arrival terminal, I used my prepaid travel card to withdraw money in Sri lankan rupees(LKR) and Srinidhi’s group exchange their forex from USD to LKR. Also, there are array of outlets of Sri-Lankan telcos where one can buy pre-activated SIM cards. I had brief discussion at tourist information center and got to know that Nuwara Eliya is a place-to-be in Sri lanka and it was exactly in sync with the contents in lonely planet guide.

Continued at Srilanka Trip: Kandy, Nuwara Eliya.

Temples of Lakkundi

2011-02-20T23:05:00.006+05:30

Lakkundi is a small hamlet, at a distance of 11 km from Gadag, next to NH-63 towards Hospet(Hampi). The place is famous for numerous architecturally rich temples constructed during the era of Chalukyas of Kalyani and Hoysalas. Last weekend, when I was in Gadag for a family function, took some time off to visit this place.

In our brief visit, we managed to cover four temples – Brahma Jainalaya, Kasivisveshwara Temple, Manikeshwara temple, Doddabassappa temple out of 20+ temples in the village. The evolution of architecture is evident from the fact that sculptors have experimented with different designs and carvings in each temple.

Brahma Jinalaya

The temple is essentially a Jain Basadi. It was constructed in the year 1007 A.D. during the reign of the Kalyana Chalukya ruler Irivabedanga Satyashraya (source: ASI board in front of the temple). The garbagudi of the Jinalaya has ornate pillars on either side. There’s idol of Mahavira in center, idol of Padmavathi in left and Parshavnatha in right.

Kasivishveshwara Temple
From the perspective of architecture, Kashiviveshwara temple is most superior in Lakkundi. Special attention has been given to mouldings, arches and other details on the tower, and decorations on door jambs and lintels. (source: wikipedia)

Shiva Idol at Kasiviveshwara temple. It was almost dark inside any guesses how we got so much light to see the idol ?

Well, it’s a reflection from a sheet of metal holded by a little boy. Infact, he was supposed to be our guide for the temple. But his memorized knowledge about the temple was challenged by another visitor to the temple. Incidentally, he was bangalore based historian by name Mr. N. Suresh.

The architecture superiority is indicated by southern door of the temple with nine unique door jambs and lintel moulding of gaja-lakshmi

Manikeshvara Temple:

Interiors of Manikeshwara temple - The temple gets it’s name from the shining shiva idol ( not that evident in the pic embedded above). The unique architectural characteristic of the temple are pierced windows which are part of lintels and door jamb.

The temple complex has an unique artistically built stepped well with small temple inside the walls which once upon a time used to have shiva idols. People after taking a dip in the well used to worship these shiva idols.

Doddabasappa Temple:

This temple also has ornate pillars like other temples of Lakkundi. But the unique thing were the two pillars in centre towards the shiva idol. According to Mr. Suresh, this style has influenced Somnath temple in Gujarat.

Doddabasava(big nandi) statue at eastern doorway of the temple. The temple gets its name from the same statue.

Exploring with a Bangalore based Historian:

We were fortunate to have a company of a member of History Academy, Bangalore. We co-incidentally interacted with him at Kasiviveshwara temple and got a chance to explore subsequent temples with him. While doing exploration, he beautifully explained us some unique significance of each and every elements of a temple. It was very handy for us as the knowledge of so-called guides was very limited.

References:

Wikipedia – Lakkundi
Wikipedia – Kasivishveshwara temple
Wikipedia – Doddabasappa temple
ourtemples.in – Lakkundi

More Photographs:

Bangalore Loves Wikipedia: Photwalk - 560004

2011-02-10T23:20:00.003+05:30

Valentines day is around the corner ! Many people across the globe would already be bothering what to present as a gift to their valentine and people who don't have a valentine would be dejected by a having a continuous daemon running in their mind "Yet another V-day without a V". However, the members of Bangalore Photowalk group were involved in a better business last weekend. They selected their valentine to be world's largest collaborative encyclopedia i.e. by involving in second edition of Bangalore Loves Wikipedia event, an initiative which was kick-started only last month.

The second edition of series of photowalk was held at Basavanagudi, one of the oldest localities in Bangalore. The agenda of the photowalk was to cover major landmarks and sites of the locality, capture them and contribute photos to wikimedia commons. As per plan, we started the walk by having breakfast at Brahmins' Coffee Bar, one of famous low brow eat-out in the city. The response to the event was overwhelming. Totally there were 28 participants, a kind of record w.r.t to photowalks in Bangalore.

In order some sort of sanity in the activity we divided ourselves into 2-3 groups. My old-time photowalk buddy Sandeep Gokhale lead the first group and I managed the rest. To have comprehensive coverage I along with Srinivas decided take the alternative route thru Maratha hostel. On the move we shot various landmarks and spent quality time at Ramakrisha Ashrama, Vivekananda statue circle. Array of red+yellow flags of Karnataka which were put for the occasion of Kannada Sahitya Sammelena gave a unique look to the place. Futher ahead, we observed that front facaded of famous sugarcane juice outlet Cane-o-la was also decorated for the occasion of sammelana.

Proceeding ahead we reached the famous Bull Temple and decided to conclude the walk officially after a group photo and distribution of wikipedia badges by Hari Prasad (HPN). Later, many participants had an extended photowalk on theier own in Bugle Rock Park and Gandhibazaar.

Thanks you all who participated in the walk and making event a success, especially people from far off places such as Hebbal, K.R. Puram.

Please do visit FB page - Bangalore Loves Wikipedia .. and encourage us by LIKEing the page

Also, read about the event at:

Navilu Gari - ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಮಾತುಗಳೊ೦ದಿಗೆ "ಫೋಟೊ ವಾಕ್" ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒ೦ದಿಷ್ಟು... : By Ambika Bhat
Sampada.Net - ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಫೋಟೋ ವಾಕ್ - ಬಸವನಗುಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ: By Hari Prasad Nadig

Darter: Photography workshop at Hampi

2011-02-06T20:32:00.005+05:30

Hampi was in my to-visit list for a long time. But for set of collective reasons the trip to one of famous destinations of Karnataka could not materialize for a long time. However, sometime in mid of Dec-2010, renowned travel blogger cum photographer Arun Bhat announced his inaugural photography workshop at Hampi. Well, no prizes for guessing that I decided to take the plunge without any second thoughts. A perfect way to break my jinx w.r.t Hampi.

Some points about the workshop:

The workshop was conducted jointly by Arun Bhat and Shreeram MV. It was nice to have instructors with fortes. Arun is mainly into landscape photography and whereas Shreeram is heavily into wildlife photography.
Our base location was Sloth Bear Resort of Jungle Lodges. Field trips were at various sites of Hampi and to Doroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary.
The major advantage of being part of this workshop was that we were at right place at right time. The best moment for me was witnessing and capturing sunrise being atop Matanga Hill. Our hike to the summit started as early as 5.30 am ! Such kind of commitment we can hardly meet being on a casual trip with friends and family.
Unfortunately, due to commitments at my workplace I had to join this workshop a day late. Missed out the introductory session and field trip to Hemakuta Sunset point.
For me the Eureka moment of the workshop was when Arun illustrated about his efforts for getting a perfect image from Tadiandamol peak. Usually, we take nature photography for granted :) there's so much ground work and planning for getting a perfect frame.
Birding with Mr. Santosh Martin, forest warden of Bellary was a fruitful experience.
Also, I made full use of recently bought gorilla tripod and it was handy for shooting various landscape photographs with high depth of feel.

Arun and Shreeram are planning to conduct second edition on Feb-19-2011. Visit FB page of Darter for last updates.

He're a few selected photos of the tour.

Array of pillars at Sule-Bazaar in front of Achyutaraya Temple

Atop Matanga Betta: You need to very careful from these creators. One among them was about to flick away my camera bag.

Virupaksha Temple as seen from Matanga betta:

At Queen's Bath: an interesting composition with arches and shadows

Hazararama Temple: Only temple in Hampi having carvings on soft granite.