Musings

Nagme hain shikwe hain kisse hain baatein hain

Baatein bhool jaati hain...yaadein yaad aati hain..

This is exactly how I felt when I conversed with my colleague and ex-classmate yesterday while going back home.

Well, I had safely locked away the memories of those 2 years in a dark closet somewhere deep in the abyss of my mind. I also made sure I tossed away the key into oblivion.But the talk rekindled all those memories. The lost key re-surfaced and lo-and-behold, the door was wide-open!

Sigh!! Locking away memories don’t help. Do they???

Back then, I was sincere (wasn't even bunking my language classes!!- I liked reading the so called “lessons”- but that’s a different story), studious, loyal, fidgety, clumsy, easily influenceable..and oh..silly too!! :-) A few of these aspects have stubbornly persisted. Sent the rest into hibernation.

Those years taught me a lot. Won’t get into the details of it. After all, it was supposed to have been forgotten. Remember?!?!? :-D Most importantly, I learned to survive, against all odds (well, I might be exaggerating a wee bit here, but it was what I felt then!)

And off I go to recover the lost treasures of time. Adios!

Mausam Mastaana

Weather(or should I say climate??!?!?) in Bangalore is just AWESOME from the past 1 week.

Cloudy, breezy and to top it all, a slight drizzle now and then. Barsaat mein bheegne ka kuch aur hi maza hain!! :-)
I am just chanting the "awesome weather ppl" mantra and text messaging/mailing the same to my friends and colleagues. Must be driving them nuts.
Strange as it might sound, this weather reminds me of the portrayal of the Christmas season. Joyous, spirited and sometimes forgiving too!!

And here I go..

Mausam mastaana rasta anjaana,
jaane kab kis moD pe ban jaaye koi afsana.......

[For the hindi film music novices, this is a song from the movie "Satte pe Satta"]

Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan

I have started to love taking snaps of flowers. Just can’t stop admiring the colors and beauty they possess.

Caution!! Work in progress

Jus completed 2 years at work today. Gives me a strange mixture of happiness and an eagerness about what the future has in store.

Looking back, I don't think I have been that disillusioned as people say engineers eventually become after some time at work. Maybe "some time" is relative. And the fact that I haven't let the meagre politics at workplace affect me. Happy for that.

Looking forward, I still don't know where I would stand a few years from now. Will or should I study further? Will I continue working? If yes, will I continue in this stream or explore unfamiliar terrain!! As of now, I have not thought much about all this. Eagerness,anticipation for this.

So far, so good. Blissful at the end of the day, and determined to give my best the next day.

Roller-coaster ride

This weekend, I went on a roller-coaster ride of varied moods and emotions. This is why and how it was.

One of our friends is leaving on a short-term on-site visit. So we thought of giving him a surprise party early Sunday morning and whisk him off on a one-day trip out of Bangalore. The place decided was Hogenekkal falls, located in TamilNadu, some 170 Kms from Bangalore.
Mood: Excited

Hmm..My mom freaked out. She has been hearing too many freak incidents of people being washed away in such waterfalls. So I promised her i would come back home if the plan changed (Mood: Determined), or better still, we could always change the location.
Mood: Confused

Anyways, was all ready and geared up early Sunday morning at 5.45, awaiting my friends. Well, they didn't turn up so early (they did arrive at 6.45), but the cat did :-). So took a few quick snaps.
Mood: Sleepy but Happy

We did make it to his house at around 8.00, and boy!! Was he surprised. :-) We made him cut a cake (called Mango Truffle or so..didn't taste all that well. Strictly for those who love lots of cream) and after a quick photo session, drove towards Hogenekkal falls.
Mood: Accomplished

Oh!Wait..Didn't I tell my mom that I would back off??? Oops..How could I be so stupid!!??!?!
My mom calls me up (turns out she was very worried, since I didn't give her any updates :-( ) and I am not even going into the details!!!! Just that i promosed her I wouldn't step into the water. :-(
Mood: Sad and Sulking

Well, the rest of the journey was kind of dull (for me), but my friends did their best to cheer me up. We played Antakshari for a while and that did indeed cheer me up!! Well, a lil bit.
Mood: Cheerful yet distant

We reached Hogenekkal Falls around 1.00 pm. God! Was it hot!!! Well, the falls are such that, to reach them, we should traverse a short distance in small row boats across a river. Now came the dilemma of "What to do with Vinutha!!??!!" After a lot of contemplations, and stern "NO, I wont come" and "I am not climbing into that boat!" cries, it was decided that they go and visit the falls in 2 trips. That way I wouldn't be left alone and everyone could catch the splendor of the falls.
Mood: Determined
Friends' mood: Irritated, Frustated and what not!!

Well, spent the remaining time loitering on the banks of the river. The place should strictly be avoided at weekends.
One scan around the place and you can see people bathing and washing clothes!! Looks like the surrounding locality people come here almost everyday for this. But it is even worse at weekends I surmised. It should be banned seriously. Speaking of ban, the place is supposed to be a no-plastic zone. Huge banners are placed everywhere, but one can see plastic covers and bottles strewn away carelessly. Pity no one takes it seriously! :-(
Mood: Disappointed

Ok. So after admiring the amazing falls through the pics in the camera (yes, my camera was more lucky, and had been on a ride to the falls!!), we set off towards Bangalore. The return journey was merrier with a stop at the ghats (the view was lovely) and a pit stop at a local Dhaba.
Mood: Plain Happy!!

Towards the end of the travel, I developed motion sickness. Cardamom and Lemon juice sans sugar at a friend's place did help me relax a bit. But went home feeling sick and ready to puke!!! This was a blessing in disguise. It did save me from a LOT of admonishing from my folks. :-)
Mood: Exhausted

Well, at the end of the day, my friend was happy and that was what mattered.

Sorry guys, you had to put up with a lot of my in-famous fussing!! Also thanks a lot for understanding and being there with me. :-)
And sorry mom/dad/sis, I’ll try not to behave so irresponsibly again.
Mood: Grateful and Happy again!!

Points additionally noted:
1. The feeling of sickness increases exponentially with the amount of time one spends in a doctor's waiting room.
2. Pets are great stress relievers.
3. Oh yes, the Scorpio is also very smooth at higher speed limits! :-)

Here Kitty!

Could finally get a few snaps (Not that good either). The cat just did'nt let me take the snaps. As soon asI moved a few feet away, it would just get up, walk towards me and sit. Phew! Had a tough time. :-)


 

Cat Tales

A stray cat has made its way into our home. Also into our hearts.

It had come a few weeks back and I and my mom had given it some milk. Then the cat started visiting our home everyday 2-3 times, it used to fend for itself in the remaining time.

Comes and sits patiently outside the kitchen door and lets out mellow "Meows". It happily laps up the milk my mom puts and eats idlis and dosas too! Well, I have taken up this duty in the mornings and weekends. Then it lazes around the kitchen and goes off after some time. When the door is not opened and when there is no response from us, it searches for an open window and jumps right in. (It learned this trick a few days back).

Actually the sad,helpless look that the cat makes, reminded me of a scene in Shrek 2, where Puss-in-boots, uses his secret weapon, the same expression when attacked by the soldiers, during the later half of the movie. No one can resist being compassionate to them!!

Now-a-days, it visits regularly at a gap of every 2 hrs!! Well, we must have pampered it so much, that I think it is too lazy to even search for food outside.

It has become very friendly with me and my mom and I took this as a chance to get my hand at some animal portraits. But couldn't get a decent snap yet.
I can take a stab at it, as long as the cat doesn't find other better sources for food and strays away again, this time, away from us.

Trip to God's Own Country - 2

The next day we set off early in the morning to Pokkat lake. We reached there at around 8.00 and it turns out the lake opens for public after 9.00. So we loitered around the place admiring the freshness and greenery encompassing us.

Nothing special about the lake but makes you feel at peace with the world - very serene, pleasant and the garden (well-maintained, in spite of the number of people who visit it) around it had some very beautiful flowers. Shopped at the local Ayurveda shop too!! The boat ride was ok, but some of us got a chance to row the boat too. Not me though. The lake was 60 ft deep and when the boat gets rocking, I get screaming. :-)

Later we set out to Eddakal Caves. Located a good 5000 ft above sea level, this required some climb over a rocky hill too. This cave is a narrow stretch with Neolithic age carvings. The local guide there showed us the carvings of a king and a queen and an elephant sans the trunk. It looked like a tiger though. :-) There were some writings too. Looked like some ancient dialect. The caves were very cool and it was a relief being there after the climb. The plain next to the cave also had a view point. For 5 bucks we were allowed to peer into the telescope-like-equipment and look far far away.
What could be seen: The edge of a distant hillock had a stone cross on it. A Sphinx like stone formation nearby. A school with its vast playground and a Dam (Forgot the name of it).
The view was really good, with lush green fields and tall trees all around us.

We walked all the way down stopping only for fresh lime soda and lime/orange confectionaries and for photographs. Ya, had a chance to work on my photography skills. Tried using the sepia, b/w mode and tried blurring out the background focusing only the flowers, capturing the view of the horizon and sunset in the sanctuary. They came out pretty neat. Didn’t get decent snaps of the animals though. :-(

On the return journey, we saw a huge herd of Elephants in Bandipur. One of them had also strayed very close to the road along with its baby. But the forest officials came out of nowhere and started chasing everyone out. Hadn’t risked stepping out of the vehicle though, so no harm done. All in all a very enjoyable trip. Exhausting too. Guess I need one more holiday to get over this one. :-(

On btw, did you know that the ride in a Tata Sumo Victa is very smooth even at 130kmph? And that it can go from 60-0kmph in 3 seconds!!


AND if you are still awake, have a look at these photos. :-)

Pokkat Lake

Chemra peak

Pleasing isn't it?

Focussed

Standing out

Glorious

Walk 0f Life - My fav

Carved (Eddakal Caves)

Writings in Eddakal Caves

Update: Pics were taken from a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ1 (or LZ2).

Trip to God's Own Country - 1

This weekend, I traveled out of Bangalore, after an unbelievably long time. Had been to Waynad (in Kerala, approximately 280 Kms from Bangalore) with a few colleagues. Must say, the Mysore-Bangalore highway has really shaped up well. We had hired a Tata Sumo Victa and the drive to Waynad was very smooth. Being a friday night, I slept most of the way. Got up for a moment when we passed through the Bandipur Sanctuary in the middle of the night. It was pitch dark and the vehicle's headlights gave an eerie effect. It was spooky. There was some contemplation about giving it an RDB effect. But don’t think they really switched off the headlights. Must ask the rest about it. :-)

When I woke up early next morn, we were already in Waynad in front of Woodlands Hotel. The problem was we didn’t have any reservations and since it was a long weekend, all the hotels were booked. But the people at the hotel were very helpful and after 1 hr of frantic calls all over the place, we got a reservation at an Ayurvedic Hospital!! Expecting the worst, we drove towards it, but were taken by surprise. It was a very neat and clean place and we readily agreed to stay there(like we had a choice!!). Learnt not to venture out without first booking a place to stay.

After refreshment, we landed in Woodlands again, this time for breakfast and info about the places to visit. It was Election day there and most of the places were closed. So we settled on Soochipura Waterfalls. The road to the place was lined with beautiful Tea plantations. The descent to the waterfall was peaceful. Spent some time there and then came the task of climbing uphill. The mercury was rising like there was no tomorrow and for someone like me who doesn’t fancy such strenuous(to me it was!!) activity, it indeed was tiring. Took all my efforts to reach the top. Phew!!

We then decided to go to the Waynad Wildlife Sanctuary situated in Talpetty. By the time we reached, it was late afternoon and we were just in time for the last safari ride of the day. The entrance to the place had a pic of an Elephant herds crossing the street. This looked inviting. We even got to know that someone had spotted a tiger the day before. With full spirit, we ventured into the forest. The heat had caught up with the animals too i guess. All we could spot was a bunch of langurs way up in the trees!!! The safari was nearing its end when we could finally spot a herd of deers. Thankfully!

The day ended on a cheerful mood with due credit to the waiter at the restaurant where we had dinner. He politely answered all my colleague's queries with just a smile. :-) Even the complaints were received with the same. A wide smile.

Few of the photos of the first day in Waynad.


Lush Tea Plantations


Soochipura Falls


Deers in Waynad Wildlife Sanctuary


Standing Tall


Golden Lining

Rendezvous with Photography

Nature. Has always been my inspiration and motivation.
The diversity, the pleasantness, the colors (gosh!! so many shades and hues!!), the rich and wide life-forms it sustains, the ferociousness et al.

Needless to say, I was jumping with joy when I saw that the bougainvillea shrub at home had started to bloom.
The pink small flowers thrown in amidst the lush green leaves looked picturesque. Hmmmm...Pictures!!!! A thought struck me. Why don’t I dabble in photography? I mean how tough can it get.
Turns out very!!!!

Optics and I never hit it off during my studies. I tried to understand the concepts of Focal length, aperture, but they remained what they were - greek and latin. The myopia I am gifted with didn't help in making it interesting either!! Still, I didn’t have anything to lose. So late at night, armed with my camera, I set out on this noble effort.
So far so good. Now what?

There was a soft breeze, which made the first few photos I took all shaky. I tried zooming in but somehow could not get the flowers in focus. I was missing something for sure. Finally could get a few decent snaps of the blooms.
The next morning, I clicked away a few more of them, and there was no breeze to spoil things fortunately (rather unfortunately, Bangalore this summer sucks!!)
While I was trying out the macro mode, the camera's eye caught up with an ant making its way from one branch to another. Click!! Just in time. :-)

Well, a few snaps are posted here. Not great in any way, but makes me want to revisit my optics lessons and get to know more about the art of photography. Let’s see how long this interest keeps me hooked.