Somewhere I belong

Well it has been hell of a month for India. I think never ever in history of my country has anything like this ever occurred. A government trying to save it stake, two most industrial cities reeling under threat of terror and row over land allotment to a religious shrine. I think given the diversity of our country it will soon become a synonym for instability. Before looking into who is to blame for, what I have to share is something which I experienced for the first time.
Bangalore, the city am presently living in, proudly called the silicon city of India, was shaken by low intensity bomb blasts. I was in the office when all this happened and got the news from one of my friend and roommate. It was like watching 20-20 cricket. 1 blast, 2 blast… oh my god 8 blasts. Fortunately the number of causality was very less. Till the time I was in office I didn’t feel the impact of these blasts. It was around 9 in the night I left in the office in a cab since my boss advised me to take a cab instead of going by my own vehicle. As I reached the ring road, the real impact such an incedance places on the psychology of people can be seen. The road empty was more than usual. I could feel slightly tensed atmosphere and the fear invoked in people due to these blasts. I myself was feeling little uncertain about things. In a way it was like more of confusion that what is going to be next. Will everything be alright or there will be more surprises? I for the first time thought about people in parts of world who are under constant threat of such terror strikes or living in war-like situations. Everything seems so vulnerable and the confusion of what next add to a mugged up psychological state that is hard to explain. As i entered the road that lead to the place where i live, it is the main road to the place where the one of the blast happened and it was undoubtedly empty. I was much relaxed when i reached home and talked to all those who were concerned about my reaching home safe and sound.

In India lately one or more incedance are happening which shows that country is really in a bad state. If only we take last two months, the increasing naxal threat in AP, Orrisa, Bihar. The unrest in north-east states, Bangaldeshi terrorist, Amarnath land row in J&K, Blast in Bangalore & Ahemdabad. Theses issues are only related to society and security. This is not enough. On political front, left withdrawing support, cash-gate scandal, blame games. On economic front, rising inflation, diesel crisis in southerly states. All these adds up to one thing and one question. What is happening? Is this the theory of India shining? Is this the atmosphere we are preparing for our future generation to come? Well i think there is no answer to all these, at least as of now.Is the government to blame? I think there are many things to blame. But rather than blaming any government or system, I think each and every Indian holds an equal responsibility to all this. The growing complacency for each other, lesser feeling of responsibility for every act, feeling of unequalness among individuals, and what not. If our political parties are to blame, why blame them? They have people from among us. They are part of our society and given a chance any individual is ready to outperform our netas if given a chance. The need arises is that each individual instead of playing a blame game should be ready to take responsibility. How this can happen I dont know. I only remeber word by Swami Vivekanand that ” To change the world, change yourself.”

I think the situation can only improve if today we have among us at least a crore Budha who can teach harmony to people and bring peace to everybody’s heart. I bestow upon the great souls which had come in this country time and now, that this country is in despairs. We really need a revolution not of politics/economics but of minds and souls of individuals. Oh god, please help us. Let the revolution come.

Well it has been months altogether since I blogged anything. The reason are quite a few but the blame can be singled out on the office schedule. It has been quite busy since I joined the current project. I joined somewhere in the middle and was expected to perform like a geek. To add to the woes this is my first project of this domain. So it took a while before i started getting feel of things. Ok, now i am tasting things but they are very sour. The problems and issues I faced in past couple of days literally had taken everything of my time of the day. I was juggled up by these issues and they were like tall mountain standing before me. The only limitation was my limited knowledge on the subject. But then this is what life is. You either have too much information or very less information, in both cases dangers of failures loom around. In my case challange was to overcome the later part. But to aid me were a couple of my colleugues who never disgusted by my foolish querries and helped me all the way up. Heartly thanks to them . Now seems like am in an little eased pace and things look smooth, plus i feel like i have gained a lot. Letse hope for the best all the way ahead.

The tag line seems like a movie’s title but no it is real here. Yes my childhood mischief pal finally got somebody whom she considers now the secong best part of her life. Yes my sister’s married now.
It happened so early that all now seems to be a dream .It started with finalising the boy in december and marrige being fixed for 9th of March. Luckily for my sister & my parent’s satisfaction boy comes from same caste & is quite handsome. I had taken leaves from 29th of feb till 13th of Mar. Most of the shopping for cloths, jwellery and other things was taken care of by papa so that when I went there I had to work on marriage arrangements only. Time seem to fly by quickly and the day arrived when I was accompanying my sister clad in red lehnga and looking very beautiful little bride to the place of Jaymala. And in the morning she was gone. I felt very sad on the first day, and even was not able to talk to her. But the other day I felt really happy for her and my parents were really satisfied on getting their daughter married without any hitches.
I really wish her a great life ahead.

But the real motto of my writing here was to find my feeling for this moment. What I came to understand is I cant translate them into words..
I miss my childhood pal cause she is a woman now…….

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2008/feb/04vday.htm

Remember the doordarshan songs..
here a link
http://www.esnips.com/web/DoordarshanSongs/

It was Thursday, I was checking my mails and had got a notification about Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia performing in Bangalore on Sunday. The event was him getting the Sangeet Ratnakar award from Surbharti Sanskrit & cultural Foundation, Bangalore.
I love listening to the flute played by Pandit ji. I bought the ticket immediately and asked none of my friends to accompany me, coz I knew the answers(A Indian classical musical concert.. Uhh!!)
The day came and I reached there at around 4:30 pm. The concert was scheduled at 6:15 but I thought of enjoying other events also. Since it was a Sunday and I had nothing to do at home also.
The program started with some prayers and classical dances. All the recitation was in Sanskrit and I understood nothing. But I was enjoying the flow. Then the main attraction of this section was a dance drama performed on the theme of different avtaars of Lord Vishnu. It was performed by a total of 85 students and was real nice to watch. The amount of preparation the children have put up was amazing.
Then there were award giving ceremony, but I was desperately waiting for the event I had gone for. I started at 7:00 pm and from then on I was completely lost and mesmerized. Pandit ji started with a Raaga which is played in joyful mood(I have forgotten the name), then he played Raaga Hari-priya invented by him followed finally by Pahadi. The ambiance was magical. Sangat of Bansuri with Tabla and tanpura was what made it extraordinary.
Time passed by so quickly that it was the end of the show. I was left with a feeling of “yeh dil maange more.”
Hope to watch him performing again.

My annual days start from 22nd Dec. This thought began flashing in my mind after I came from home on Diwali. So there should be a really grand ride. My initial plans were to go to Kanyakumari exploring east coast. But Nipin Changed it to Goa(Bugger canceled his plan). His plan was to celebrate New-year in Goa. So I had around 10 days before New-year at my disposal. Lets do Coastal Karnataka was what came to my mind. But had no ideas as how to start. So at this point thought of Chamoli Bhai who had done this trip earlier. He told me a nice plan and then after tits-bits of planning myself started to plan for the ride.

22nd & 23rd Dec: Got the bike serviced and test rided. Got few modifications in the tuning done. Also needed cramsters for ride. Thought of buying new ones but did’nt got. At this point Venkath Sir came to help. I heartily thank him for the cramsters and his guys Mr.Sanjay and Mahesh Babu for the excellent service of bike. Since it was the longest and smoothest ride of my life.

25th Dec: Ist Day of ride
Bangalore - Hassan - Halebidu - Belur - Sringeri

Two of us me and Abhishek(pillion), left Bangalore at around 6 and reached Neelamangla at 7:30(Got some heavy traffic on the way). Was out of Bangalore by this time and clocked the next 100 Kms in 1 hr 10 min to reach the Kamat near Hassan. Had breakfast of Puri-sagu and left for Hassan. Started directly for Halebidu and reached Halebidu at around 10:30. Clocked a distance of 200 kms till there. Halebide has a famous temple dating back to Hoysala Kingdom. It a Shiva temple with wall-carvings based on Kamasutra and other epics. There is another Jain temple nearby having large monolith of Mahavira and other tirthankars. From Halebidu we headed to Belur which is a small town near to Chikmangalur and has got a similar temple as Halebidu except it is big in size and contains temples of different Gods.
After Belur, next destination was Sringeri. From Belur, got to Chikmangalur and then to Sringeri. In Belur met an German lady who was also on Avenger going to Mysore.

From Chikmangalur the Ghat section begins and the roads are average to bad. But the curves & the scenery lets one forget the atrocities of the road. After a decent ride , hit a coffee shop on the way. Surrounded by coffee & black pepper plantations, one can easily adjudge this place as one of the most beautiful coffee shop in the world. After a ride of about 2 more hours due to a wrong turn and driving around 60 kms more than stipulated, reached Sringeri. After spending couple of hours for sightseeing and a nice dinner crashed in the hotel room for a blissful sleep.

26th Dec : 2nd day of ride.

Sringeri - Udupi(Malpe)

Woke up quite early in the morning, went to Sringeri temple again and started after a breakfast of Kesari bath for Udupi. We ventured through a stretch of about 30 kms which is a naxalite area and with dense forest. The curves around Agumbe present a beautiful scenery except for really bad roads. However reached Udupi at around 11. The first stop was at Krishna Math. However the long queue deterred our plans to go inside and instead we headed for Malpe. This was the first time in my life that I was to see the sea. So I was obviously excited. Entry to Malpe is greeted by smell of fishes owing to big fishing harbor there. We went to fishing harbor first and tried to take some snaps of fishing boats but the people were not happy on seeing us clicking our lenses. Decided to stop the adventure there, and headed to Malpe beach.
So this was it. A vast stretch of water before my eyes with introduction from a a small sand beach. I have no word for the experience to witness this glory of mother nature except my heart was thrilled to see the sea.I intended to spent a day there. We got a pretty cheap and beautiful cottage facing sea in Udupi and rest is a story. Bathing in the sea for 3 hrs and then seeing a beautiful sunset and walking along the beach in the dark of the night. I was obviously having the time of my life.

27th Dec : 3rd day of the ride

Udupi(Malpe) - Marvante - Murdeshwar - Honnavar - Jog-falls(Sagar)

Next day started with a visit to St. Mary’s island. At around 12 left from Udupi and headed for Marvante. Marvante was a quick affair. After having drink and spending some time there, headed for Murdeshwar. In Murdeshwar, I was quite impressed bu the structure of temple and size of Lord Shiva idol. Beach is also pretty ok in Murdeshwar. But our stay was not long in Murdeshwar and since we had planned to cover Jog-falls, headed for Sagar. The route was through Honnavar and thr road from Murdeshwar till Honnavar is not termed right to be called a road.
From honnavour the ride till Sagar was totally through ghats. Karnataka alwaya amazes me with the diversity of its landscape. Within just 10 kms, I was away from the sea into the mountains and negotiating curves once again. The whole area is densely forested with sparse population. The route is awesome and any bikers delight. It was already dark by the time I reached sagar and badly tired. Went directly to KSTDC resort in sagar and after a tummy delighting dinner, crashed for sleep.

28th Dec : 4 th day of ride.

Jog-falls(Sagar) - Gokarna

The plan was to visit Jog-falls and head to Gokarna. Jog-falls is around 22 kms from sagar, so it did’nt took much time to reach there. Met some other bikers on the way. Here I was truly witnessing the lush green beauty of nature which I had missed during night. At jog-falls, spent a little time as the water was very less and there was no point in getting down. So tightened my gears and headed to Gokarna. I had heard a lot about OM beach in Gokarna, so was kinda desperate to get their early. Reached Gokarna by around 12 with only a single break in between. Directly headed fot the beach for accommodation. Found a simple , with amenities et nice hut for night stay. The charge was only 150. However the bathroom and toilet were open to sky. Gokarna had a great chunk of foreign tourist. The sight of babes in bikinis was really welcoming. Had a complete chill-out kinga day at gokarna. The remaing day was filled with, sea-bath, lot of beers and chiily chicken. During the night enjoyed really nice music with some foreigners playing guitar and bongo.

29th Dec : 5th day of ride.

Gokarna - Karvar

This was a extra day for us since our reservation in Goa was from 30th. So decided to check out Karvar. Reached karvar at around 11. At Karvar, Devabagh beach resort is a really nice place to stay. Its located on an island cutoff from the main land by the sea. Got tent for accommodation with price Rs 1600 per person per night. Decided to give it a try. The place is really cool to be away from the usual crowd and enjoy the serenity of nature. Its a jungle lodge on the beach. The rest of the day was spent doing couple of water sports(Banana ride, jet-ski and kayaking). in the evening the hotel people arranged for a Bon-fire followed by the dinner. This happened out to be one of the best days of the ride.

30th Dec : 6th Day of the ride

Karvar -Goa(Panji)

Day started with Dolphin-spot ride. We were unfortunate enough not to spot even a single Dolphin.
After coming from the ride, checked out from the hotel and waited for Bob, who was the third guy to join us on the trip and was coming all alone from Bangalore on his Avvy. He met us in Karvar and we all headed for Goa.
Wow! at-last I am heading to Goa was what i was saying to myself.Singing the Dil Chahta hai song(Kaisa ajab ye safar hai) entered Goa. Bob was exhausted andtoo much Hungary, so stooped for meal at Margoa. Our hotel was at Panji, so after lunch headed for Panji. Checked into Hotel and after resting for about an hour headed for Calangute beach. Goa was crowded like hell. It was kinda disappointing for me as the things totally changed as compared to last 6 days. Anyways we enjoyed at Calangute till 11 and headed for the hotel.

31st Dec : 7th Day of the ride

Goa

I spent 31st morning in Panaji market, buying stuff for me and others. Till afternoon we were in Panaji only and after lunch at about 3 headed for Agvara fort. From Agvara went to Baga beach and were there till midnight. Time filled with lots of drinks, dances and a marvelous fireworks show on the calangute and Baga on the strike on 12.

1st Jan 2008 : New year day - 8th day of ride

Goa - Karvar - Hubli

What a great way to start New-year. A ride of-course. Started from Goa at around 2 in the afternoon as others did some shopping. Got information from a cab driver that Belgaum route is really bad and its better to do Karvar-Hubli. The target was to reach Hubli and stay there. Ride till Karvar was smooth. From Karvar till Hubli(136 Kms), lot of truck traffic slowed us down and covered us with red dust. Badly tired we reached Hubly. Got a place at Ayodhya lodge and crashed for the night.

2nd Jan : 9th and last day of ride.

Hubli - Chitradurga - Bangalore

This was the last day of the ride. Had to cover around 450 kms till Banglaore and plan was to reach Bangalore by 5. Left Hubli at 9. Roads were pretty decent for first 150 kms and then till Chitradurga had to struggle a lot to keep our momentum. From Chitradurga it was a smooth ride. Reached home by 6:30(2 hours from Neelamangla).

I had a really great feeling of completing this ride without any hick-ups. Rode safely and bikes performance was really great.
As of now whenever I think of this ride, I say ” Ride of a lifetime”. Want to visit Goa again in off-season

Itinerary

Date : 25th Dec 2007 to 2nd Jan 2008

Route:

Bangalore - Hassan - Halebidu - Belur - Sringeri - Udupi(Malpe) - Marvante - Murdeshwar - Honnavar - -
Jog-falls – Gokarna - Karvar - Goa - Karvar - Hubli - Chitradurga - Bangalore

Total distance covered : 1800 kms

Bikes : Avenger

Riders : Gautam and Bob(Last three days)

Night Stay:

Ist Night : Sringeri - Rs 500(Good)
2nd night : Udupi - Rs 500(Good)
3rd night : Sagar - Rs 400(good)
4th night : Gokarna - Rs 150(OK)
5th night : Karvar - Rs 1600 per person(Very good)
Stay at goa : Rs 5000 for two days(Good)
7th night : Rs 450(Good)

Note: If going to Malpe(Udupi), food can be a problem. Better drive down to Mangalore highway(4 kms). As one reaches the crossing, there is a excellent restaurant on left hand side(coming from Malpe).

Pics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/33482969@N00/sets/72157603720577455/

Yup this has been long since I have been to my blog. But I feel this is not something which I do as under an act of compulsion but which I do when heartly I have something to write. So no regrets for being away for such long. All these days, honestly speaking I was kinda struggling with myself. It was a struggle with a very simple objective. Sleep at right time and wake up at right time. For almost two month I was like without work at office so had a nice and long honeymoon period. To be a rightly called an idiot I did’nt utilised this time for doing anything creative but just bullshitting. So no case to be regretful cos let be gone be by gone. Neways coming back to my struggle(he he.. you know how hard it is to get up early morning). Because of my honeymoon, I had shifted into relax gear, wake up late and sleep late. So for almost two weeks struggling to get rid of this habit. Slowly recovery has started.
Well the best thing about these past few days has been, I went home & celebrated Diwali with Parents. Add to add to it spent two beautiful days with my love(OMG!! How good it feels).. Met a old friend who got married. . and laughed at the silly thing he has done(ofcourse by getting married).

Coming back from there saw me going on a trip to one of the World heritage sites in Karnataka.. Well well it was a trip to Hampi(the old Vijayanagar kingdom).. A beautiful 3 days experience.
I have now a laptop of my own which I bought recently after coming back. Its a dell inspiron wide screen(good for watching movies and gaming).
I think its enough for description of these past few days. Nothing else was exciting enough to be shared..