Pondicherry

Since long time I wanted to write about this trip to pondicherry( or puducherry or whatever).

But its not easy to get free time these days. Doing a job sucks, but you can't help when you need money for things like- buying good clothes, party with friends and bowling . The day i will find the way by which I can get money for doing nothing, I'll be the happiest man on this planet.

Pondicheery is on the eastern coast of India. Earlier a French colony, it's a Union Territory of India now, which means that you will get duty free cheap liquor out here.

4 of us started from Bangalore via train. There is only a single train running from bangalore to pondicherry; and although it takes more time then a bus, it's much more comfortable. Jump in the train at night, sleep, and wake up in pondicherry.

We reached there saturday mornin

g. With heavy rain around we some how managed to get a rick, with the hope that rick wala will get us a decent place to stay at night. After a long search in the town we came to knew that all the hotels were fully packed with tourists.

Next few minutes we spent in mud slinging that why hotel room was not booked before starting from bangalore, but soon our bachelor minds came up with a "jumbo block-buster idea".

We decided that we will skip the hotel booking part and will jump to the part where we lie down on the beach and have fun, what if we have our bags side-by. So we straight away went to "bike on rent" shop, took 2 bikes, then bought rain coats (the rain never stopped during whole of the trip), and bingo!! we were fully loaded for a free ride. We were running around all of the town asking everyone- "Boss beach kidhar hai ?", "Where is the beach???". We looked like 4 crazy people, desperate to jump in sea water. Thanks to the language barrier, we started towards a beach far away from main town. As we were riding on outskirts of pondicherry we noticed a resort. We stopped to check it out and VOILA!! we got our roof, but the best part about this resort was that it was opposite a clean ,calm, uncrowded beach. As is evident, rest of our time was awesome in pondicherry.

Imagine you walking towards a beach in slippers and shorts with you friends

, cool sea air is filling your tee, you feeling the salt in your mouth every time you talking, sand getting in between your feet and slipper with every step you take, sky pouring the drizzle, and you don't have to worry about your office. It was immensely calming time and I was at peace.

COORG - MADIKERI

Madikeri is situated at a distance of 252 KMs from Bangalore, close to Kerala border and in the Coorg district.

It was one of the few trips that I had with office colleauges.We were total 7 of us, so we arrranged a Travera for it.

We started on saturday afternoon after the office. Mine was the last minute entry to the trip, when I came to knew that it was an all boys night out :)

When we started I didnt even knew where we were going, but I knew that it was going to be a happening trip :)

After having good time in Travera (thanks to the holy water we picked on our way :D) we reached Madikeri. We picked our food and some more holy water and landed at our apartment. Boss had already arranged this luxury 5 room apartment for us.

After changing and refreshing we started our drink session, where I turned out to be the slowest drinker. Everyone but me was finishing there pegs within 2 mins. After the drinks and food started the real fun - the dance session. Although everyone was pulled in, only 4 people prooved there mettle on the floor. We people rocked all over with our belly dance. Here I would like to define "Belly Dance". It's a kind of dance form where people try to shake there legs but end up rocking there beer bellys. So please don't confuse it with some arabic dance form or shakira's dance, there dance is obviously a cheap copy of our fabulous "Belly dance".

It was fun all over and we finally signed off to our beds with high spirits.

Next morning we reached the Abbey falls. An extremely beautiful place. Covered by rocks and trees from all around. A small bridge is there in front of it which gives a good view of the fall. I was very much interested in getting down the bridge and getting close to the fall, but was stopped by some more sensible people. We had real tough time taking out pics here since it was drizzling and water from fall was reaching us too. We spent some time at this place and then started for Talakaveri temple.

I don't understand why all famous temples are located at hill top, and without any exception this place too was located at a height of 1276m from sea level. But it was worth climing the height, place is very beautiful and peaceful. Its the origin place of sacred river Kaveri. The heavy mist around was making the view even more exhilarating. From the temple area there is one staircase reaching to another hill top. If you dare to climb some 400-500 stairs you will get the view of your lifetime.

Later we went back to Madikeri where we bought some spices and coffee powder for which Coorg is famous.

In evening we reached a Tibetan colony where there is a Golden temple. A must visit if you are planning a trip to Coorg. I liked the huge statue of Budhha and the paintings around it. We were running out of time but i took out some time to observe the paintings around. I was a little surprised to see some of the paintings. I saw some of the god's caricatures possessing weapons. Some goddesses were depicted almost nude. And some were displayed having sexual intercourse. As per whatever knowledge I have of buddhism, it was shocking for me. But nearby there was a writing which explained some of the things, and I was relieved a bit.

It was an awesome experience, relaxing for mind. Don't miss it if you are in Bangalore.

"THE LIBERAL INDIAN PRESS"

"what Israel did was right, and I applaud it.

At least they have the courage to protect themselves, and stand on what they believe in. They have the courage to protect there people no matter what. Unlike us Indians, we have no political will to protect even our innocent civilians, leave the matter of poor soldiers sacrificing there lives on the daily basis at our country's "so called" borders. Terrorists bravely come and assault us, and our authorities condemn the act.

I guess politicians have some kind of chart or table, something like this:
1-50 dead ---- condemn the act
51-150 dead ----- strongly condemn the act
151+ ---------- strongly condemn + form commission, agency etc.
and off course distribute the money depending on the gravity of the situation and the injuries of the victim.

Seems to be some kind of competition, where the most wounded will win the 1st prize thus getting the highest amount of money. You get killed and you will win the first prize, as simple as that !!!

Its just amazing how cheap and disgusting it can get.

People may call the Israeli act to be an outcome of strength provided to it by western allies, but even then I will say its a diplomatic victory for Israel. Tell me a single nation India can rely on in case of emergency !!!

I don't see any possibility in near future where we will feel safe and protected for being in India, for being belonging to India."



This is the comment that I posted on The Hindu (newspaper), in an article on Israel attack of flotilla. Comments are moderated on it before publishing, and guess what, it was not published.
I see nothing wrong in this comment ( may be cause I wrote it ). But the fact is these are the words of a common aggrieved Indian citizen. This is exactly how the common man of India feels- "UNSAFE" with no faith on Government.

Surprisingly the "SO CALLED LIBERAL INDIAN PRESS" denied me space on there blog. But I had to post it somewhere, why not my own blog :)

Dirt Mania (Quad Biking in Bangalore)

In the long line of my non-happening Sundays in Bangalore, this one turned out to be a little different. And it’s understandable by the fact that I am writing a blog on it .

So this thing started with me getting a link on a website to get some sort of deal in Bangalore for some “Dirt Biking”. I thought “that sounds cool…….”. So after discussing with my adventure buddy “Pardeep” (although he turned out to be not so adventurous :P) I bought 5 tickets to this place.

Later, on Sunday 3 of us (me, pardeep and pushkar) were sitting in Pushkar’s room discussing the usual things (babes offcourse !!!). All of a sudden me and Pardeep made the plan to use our tickets that day itself and poor Pushkar was dragged into it (he had a date that evening). Our journey started after half an hour.

We started from our place at Mysore road towards Mysore- thanks to ‘google maps’ that we had some direction sense. We took a left to get on the NICE road. Now this NICE road was really very nice (lol). It has been cut out across the rocks, and the view was good, especially in the kind of weather it was.

It can turn out to be even nicer if you have a girlfriend; the place is ideal for a long drive- you just have to pay the toll-tax (Rs. 16 only) ;)

At the Kanakpura road crossing we took a right. From here it was about 11 kms. At Nelluguli village we took a right again to reach our destination.

And there it was- we were standing at the entrance, with a board saying “Dirt Mania”. We parked our bikes and approached towards the main area, but we were stopped at a barricade. A boy asked for an entrance fee of Rs 20. We were really pissed-off, we said- “Kaisi entrance fee? We have already paid on internet. Computer par, computer hota hai naa !!!”. Poor boy had no idea what we were talking about, internet and computer was French to him. He insisted on the payment of fee but we were firmly determined that if we had to pay another 20 bucks we will return back :). Finally we managed to get pass this huge hurdle of 20 bucks, and reached where the main event was. To our surprise there were some people waiting for it and we had to wait for our turn. In the mean time we watched other people driving.

While waiting we saw a hot chick coming towards us along with her parents (probably). This girl was really awesome. Specially for us poor Mysore road residents, who see only ‘Mysore road burqa cladded women’ on Sundays, if any. Slim figure, tall, fair and she was carrying herself really well. We all three were drooling over her as she approached and took a seat near us. She also had some chat with Kumar the owner.

So this guy named Kumar is running this Quad Biking track. It’s a half a kilometer track, with two bumps. There were 3-4 bikes of 300cc, 1 bike of 660cc (Yamaha Raptor) and a 700cc bike. 300cc bikes were not in good condition.

We had 5 tickets for the 660cc Yamaha Raptor. But the guy insisted that we take some experience on the 300cc bikes then go for the 660cc as its way too powerful. I said that the 300cc is not well maintained, I will go for 660cc. The look on his face told me that I offended him by insulting his bikes.

He said-“these bikes are very expensive, 660cc bike costs some 6-7 lakhs and if I break it then I have to pay fine of 1000 bucks”.

“Okkk, now you are talking, that sounds logical, we will go for 300cc first”- we said :)

It was only two of us (me and Pardeep) who went for it, Pushkar didn’t opted for the adventure, instead preferred playing the role of a cheer leader ( actually he wanted to stay in single piece for his date ).

We were cladded with all the armor to protect us from scrapping our knee. As our turn came, this guy Kumar was giving me the instructions. He was standing on the other side of the bike, with me on one side. What ever he was telling I was not paying attention to, my full focus was on the bike. There was a foot holder on the bike and I was supposed to put my leg on it to climb on the bike. He was telling me exactly this, but I was not listening, so I tried climbing it as an ordinary bike and ‘BANG’-my leg banged on the bike. I tried again in the same fashion, in the mean time he leaned forward to show me the foot holder and once again ‘BANG’- this time my helmet banged against his head.

Then the better sense prevailed, “OKKK, better I listen to the instructions”- I said to myself.

I started with first of the 3 laps we were provided with each ticket. This bike I drove didn’t had a straight handle, was difficult to manage it initially. I completed the first lap, getting the feel of it. In second lap I pressed the accelerator harder, and on a bump accelerated it even more to get a jump. I couldn’t control it and ‘whoooop ….. thudddd’ I crash landed on the tyres spread along the sideline of the track. After some minutes of struggle I managed to take out the bike and completed my remaining laps. It was fun.

Then I insisted on taking a ride on 660cc bike. This bike was really good and powerful, it was very stable also. I even tried jumping it over the bumps but the bike handled it pretty well. Drifting it on the turns was real fun. The thrust that raptor produced was awesome. And the hot babe watching us was adding to all the thrill :)

After I completed my 3 laps, this babe stood to take a ride. To our surprise she opted for the 700cc, and maaaan she was driving pretty well, much better then we did. And then we realized that she was the owner of the track with good experience of bikes and that track.With a sigh we realized-“yaha daal nahi galne wali”, and we decided to leave :(

On our way back, we took some pics, and came all the way back through the same NICE road.

In all, it was a great experience. Good place to hang out on weekends. If you love bikes then you shouldn’t miss this one.

Chronicles of Bangalore

Here is one interesting incident happened today, would like to share:

It was a morning better then usual. I had a good sleep, woke up on time. Left for office at usual time- 9:25 AM. Reached bus stop, which is at 5 min walking distance from my house. And I also got the bus on time, only thing it was heavily crowded. But I had to jump in, else I would have got late. There were lots of people standing on the door step, so I wanted to get in (few days back I almost lost my cell phone standing on the door step)

Now here starts the trouble. In my quest to get inside, one person of age about 50, got a push from me. He glared at me with anger. And the glare was effective enough to stop me where I was. He said something in Kannada to which I didn’t replied for the obvious reason that I didn’t understood a bit, as I don’t know Kannada. So I stopped there, very close to this fellow.

As the bus moved ahead, some more jerks and shoulder rubbing with this man and he got really pissed off. He stood very close to me pushing his shoulder against me. This happened for about 15 secs, and he was staring at me time to time. I also looked at him, and he started saying something in Kannada. Which I again didn’t understand for the same obvious reason.

To save some creases on my T-Shirt and knock off the situation I had to say something. But in the last 5 months I have been able to catch only 6-7 words of Kannada. Best way I could think of- speak in English. I said- "Stand on one side, why you standing here".

To which he pointed a finger at me and shouted-
"You talk in Kannada. Why you don’t know Kannada. You living here you should talk in Kannada only. You standing here and pushing me since this long."

I said-
"If you got any push then it was not intentional, this bus is so crowded. But What Kannada has to do with this."

He-
"You should have taken another bus. You should respect Kannada. You people come here and get the shelter and money"

Me-
"I respect Kannada. But I have been here since last 5 months only, how can I understand what you saying." (Truth is, I won’t be able to understand even after several years)

He-
“Take a Kannada teacher, and learn Kannada”

This man was so angry at me that his face was literally shaking. I was wondering if he dies of high BP here, will they sue me on charges of murder.

Now this person was having his friends along with him to whom he was talking in between, in Kannada, in loud voice. I have no clue what they said, but no nice words for me for sure. Obviously bus was full of Kannada knowing people. And this man earned a lot of sympathy by talking to people around us. Since I have been in Mumbai for more then 3 years, I know well how appealing his words would have sounded to the crowd.
3-4 of his friends and other Kannada speaking people around me started shouting at me in Kannada. I felt like a defeated Gladiator in arena, and all the crowd shouting- "KILL KILL KILL" with there thumbs down.

By now I understood the situation around me, and the better sense prevailed in my mind-to stay quiet. A wise man has said- "Stay quiet when you don’t understand anything" (I am not sure if some one has really said that, but you have to admit, it seems to be said by some wise man). I stood silent there for about 1-2 min, with lots of alien words floating around me.

In the mean time a seat got vacant near me, and the person standing next to it offered it to me out of sympathy. But I denied and offered it back to him, as I wanted to talk to this "victorious Gladiator".

I patted him on his back, and asked-
"Suppose your son goes out of Karnataka for a job, and same thing that you did to me, happens to him, what you would say? Will that be right?"

He said (with lots of anger)-
"My son is not like you !!!!"

Me (the usual stubborn me)-
"So much is happening in Australia with Indian students, and we are fighting here over Kannada!!! Is this right?"

And finally there was silence from his side.

However, his friends got up and started shouting at me. Some of them were really very upset, probably they were not able to understand what I said in English.

Finally, on much public demand, I decided to stay quiet. J

I was less surprised (probably cause of Mumbai experience) but more irritated. We as a nation are so divided. We don’t respect each other on the basis of being Indian, language is what prevails most. Actually, we were never a nation. We were a bunch of fighting groups, who didn’t even knew what a Nation is. British came, defeated everyone, occupied everything. We just got back our land from them in the quest of freedom. But people have the same old feelings, they don’t know what is India. They still believe in- Maratha Kingdom, Nizamat of Hyderabad or Kingdom of Mysore.

We don’t deserve any right to raise concern for Indians abroad. We are doing it in our own house, why to point finger at others?

Anyways, don’t know why, but I enjoyed every bit of the experience. JJJ
Although, my morning was spoiled.