B.R Hills trip

I'd initially thought that i'd skip the description of my trip to B.R Hills, and put the blame on Mr.Procrastination. But, just realised that i have a lot of time to kill ( at 12:25 A.M..god save me!), so here goes.

We started out soon after i put in my previous post. Early mornings are rare occasions in my life. Hence there was more excitement. The journey was to be made on bikes and both man and machine were all set. A chilly,fast and uneventful drive later we were on B.R Hills, short for Beligere Ranganatha Hills. Beligere is the place name and Ranganatha(perumal) is the presiding deity in the major temple out there. The hill side is densely forested and under protection. The biggest draw to B.R Hills is the chance of spotting wild animals in their natural habitat while travelling through the jungle roads. For that u need to get permission from the concerened authorities there who will then provide you with an armed guide and options of a safari through the jungle. Unfortunate as we were, we landed at a time when they were not giving permissions, due to reasons which didn't matter to us. So we had to be content with driving along the main road, admiring the occasional plump of elephant dung. Well, not so bad! we saw deer, peacock, a few new bird species, wild boars and some monkeys. Not the menagerie that one would expect. Nevertheless!

At dusk, we paid a visit to the temple i'd mentioned before and we were right in time for 'deeparadhana', which is a ritual performed in temples all over south (AFAIK) wherein the sanctum sanctorum is closed for a session of puja while temple musicians play typical instruments which mainly include variants of the chenda(drum). Once the puja is done the doors are swung open and the waiting devotees are treated to the 'darshan' of the deity decorated by a lot of lamps. Every such experience has invariably been very spiritual for me and this was no different. After we were done with our prayers, we all sat at the footsteps of the temple for a while looking out at the expanse below, lit up by scores of bulbs. The temple was atop a hillock and the view, even at night was very nice.

We had rented a dormitory for the night, but slept on the terrace in our sleeping bags. It was special, because we were at a high altitude and the sky was amazingly clear. Some 'gyaan' on the various constellations later, everybody had a peaceful sleep.

Early morning next day, few of us ventured out for a walk and got fresh. We started out soon towards b'lore, contemplating a course of action, as Mr. Permission had left us with a lot of time. Little did we know then, that the best part of the journey was yet to come!

While travelling the day before towards B.R Hills, we had covered the shiv samudram hydel project (estd. 1901, india's first). Nothing much to see there though. On continuing from there, we'd seen an inviting reservoir of water, but no access to it. We were hoping to find a water body nearby while returning from B.R Hills.

Between Bangalore and B.R Hills, the major places are Maddur and kollegal. Some distance down from kollegal to bangalore, we took a turn which promised to lead us to a waterfall. Boy! that was a promise well kept! One of the best waterfalls i've ever seen with respect to being able to safely play in it. We were there at noon and the heat made the water all the more inviting. Without undue haste all of us were in the water. The moment i hit the water, i was a possessed man and thenceforth my actions were determined by the challenges that the waterfall could pose to me. A few hours in the water later, we were back on our vehicles towards bangalore. We stopped for lunch at some restaurant on the way and that was when i first realised that i hadn't taken breakfast. Talk of being possessed!

Its not over yet. Sumptuous lunch later, it was the turn of the bikers to be possessed. When i say that the average speed was between 95 and 100 km/hr, i mean every pixel in it. The surroundings were mostly a blur as we zipped past honda cities, mercs(yes, one bike did!) and the sundry. A terrific journey later, we were welcomed by our first redlight and with that the bangalore city traffic engulfed us into its chaos.

We were back to normal life.

BR Hills, here i come!

its early morning 5:00 and i'm writing this while simultaneously battling battle cries from friends to get ready to move out. we 're about to embark on a road trip to BR hills! all i know is its a wild forest. So if i don't end up as sumptuous dinner for leopards ( tasty that i am!), u'll hear more from me on monday. ciao!

footnotes in the book of life

Have you ever observed how music serves as footnotes in your life? You're idling your time in front of the television, switching channels; you unexpectedly hear a long lost tune and it immediately throws you back in time ...to a place, different; ...to a time, nostalgic. As the music catches on and the lyrics seem to appear onto your lips from nowhere, your mind is flooded with events and thoughts that belong to a different time, that probably defined a different you then, and you think; ...you think about your life, begin to recollect how you were then and what you are now. Mostly you'll observe the good changes and that will make you happy and proud of yourself. But at times, you'll stumble upon the mistakes you made then, and you'll now resolve to take corrective measures.
It all happens in there. You chance upon a peppy number from the past and all the good times flood in; the song that epitomized the party atmosphere during college days, the one that was the mainstay during dance competitions when you forgot everything else and jumped around, even though you couldn't dance to save your life.
A soulful melody reminds you of your private moments; the times when,cuddled under the blanket in winter, with the same song serenading the silence of the night, you introspected and thought about your future, or about your family, friends.
Music livens up your past.It opens different chapters from your past, depending on the song or tune; some good some not so good, but nevertheless, very nostalgic.

Of fragile egos and flayed tempers

I recently had the opportunity to be the only dedicated witness to a 'middle-of-the-road' fight. That the driver of the vehicle i was in, was in the fight, didn't offer me much choice is hmm..come to think of it,a half-truth..more on that later.
So it happened one night that i hitched a ride on a cab. For the benefit of non-bangloreans, company cabs are another mode of transport here. They do official pick ups and drops for the concerned company, but take passengers for a fare on return trips. You pay them nominally (its investment free income for them) and they drop u wherever, as long as its on their route.
Hmm..so i was on a sumo at abt 10:30 in the night and travelling towards BTM layout. There was minimal traffic on the road and we were doing well, until we encountered a motorcyclist 'snaking' down the road. As we neared him, it appeared obvious, that he was drunk and not in much control of his bike. To avoid anything untoward, the sumo driver honks before going past him. Our man on the bike is not pleased and utters some pleasantries while we cross over. Not to be outdone, my guy returns the courtesy. Unfortunately, we reach a red light (silk board junction) and the biker promptly parks his vehicle across, in front of the sumo. A middle aged, shabby looking man, he looked perfect to get into a fight, he more than lived upto the expectation.
By now, the sumo driver is also out of the vehicle and the word duel has started,unfortunately for me though, in kannada. So I had to be content with the hysterical gestures and decibel level variations for entertainment. We missed the next green light, i feared for worse. So far the biker seemed to have the upper hand in the 'wordwar'. At the next red, luckily, a police car pulls up beside us. Peace seems to be restored as the biker reluctantly begins to move his bike. After all, he's totally at fault here, because the premise for the fight was, "how dare you honk from behind and disturb me!". Alas, our driver, feeling emboldened by the cop presence, starts releasing all his frustration. Idiot doesn't realize that the light is about to turn green. It promptly does, the police car leaves the scene and our sophisticated biker brings back his bike to position. Man! am i getting mad. Through all this, i have the option of leaving the vehicle and walking the remaining 1.5 kms home. Still, i stayed put.
Now both parties seem equally poised in the war. Things were escalating and I was expecting the first blow to land any moment now. But, surprisingly, it never did. It was all abt threats and phone call attempts. Our man, the biker, at one point starts to unzip to show his manhood, probably in a desperate attempt to reinforce his manliness. Fortunately, he stopped just short of displaying it. I wonder, what effect it would have had on the situation. Anyway, both of them then get busy, presumably trying to call their pally big shots. Nothing much happens on that front though. The fight goes on for a few more minutes after that and stops when both of them run out of expletives. The biker goes his way, the sumo its, but not before the biker brandishes a paper with the sumo's license no: and the sumo driver gives him an 'as if i care' look. Peace!

What do i say about people who do not carry a pen on their person while at work?

I thought it was a given until i realised to the contrary, and rather irritatingly at that, when i failed to get one from any of my colleagues nearby, when ran out of ink. I find it thought provoking, that people do not find having a pen very useful, because they sure do remember to carry their combs,cigarettes, gutkas and whatever things. Is it coz, its more convenient to borrow one when needed? Or is it coz it will be borrowed if u keep one? beats me!

Brand Equity FARCE 2006

Parnab Mukherji once replied, " Derek O' Brien? he's excellent for class 6 quizzing ". I was taken aback then, but, couldn't agree more after attending the b'lore leg of the Brand Equity Quiz -06. Absolutely trash questions interspersed with perverted jokes and obscene slides and downright PJs...thats BEQ-06 in a nutshell. When the top team to qualify in a prelim round scores 23 out of 30, u can gauge the level of questions. Morover, when u find that the National Champions of the Tata Crucible and a few other prominent teams did not even make it to the final round, it too says something about the standard of the quiz. Had i participated as a 12th grader in y'day's quiz, i would have easily managed to qualify. An example..the magazine ad of which company reads "find the dog". the first answer that popped into my mind was HMV. But quizzing at this level is all about working out. I kept HMV aside and thought. Hutch advertises with the ubiquitous pug. It would be logical for Airtel to have a go at them. Had i been a participant, i would have decided on Airtel over HMV. the answer was HMV. Another one. During the Californian gold rush, who was called the 'cowboy's tailor'? Mind you, there are teams here who can narrate the entire life story of Levi Strauss backwards and you give them such a question. Unless u're used to derek's brand of quizzing, u would be forced to think twice and thats what they must have probably done to get a wrong answer. Amidst all this nonsense, if it weren't enough, our man was dressed in army camouflages and displaying a mighty sorry sense of humour.General rumdi from ruski institute of ....disastrous interpretations.........God! get a life dude.Quizzing is not visual entertainment. Its cerebral entertainment.If u want to be a joker, join a circus. Leave quizzing to the sane