iDentity7.0

Namma Metro

2012-02-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

Friday, 21 October 2011

October 20th 2011 marked the beginning of Bangalore Metro rail service,Namma Metro. Expecting the usual rush, I took a ride the following day. As Ihad to take BMTC bus to office, I opted for metro instead. Cousin dropped me atVivekanand Station on Old Madras road at 8:15am. The helping metro staffdirected me to the ticketing counter. After a baggage security check, I enteredthe ticketing counter. I took a contact less smart card. Rs.50 charge for thecard and one can top-up upto Rs. 1500. Swiping the smart card, I entered theplatform. The infrastructure is world class. Fully automated systems justexcited my experience. Next trip was scheduled at 8:30am. It was great to seethe school and college students started using the metro. The train arrived atdot of 8:30, and metro became part of my life. Metro chugged throughIndiranagar-Ulsoor-Trinity-MGRoad stations within 10mins, an unimaginable thingin traffic clogged B'luru. I exited the station swiping the smart card and a 10 minutewalk took me to office.

ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆಟ್ರೊ, ಬೇಗ ಕಟ್ರೋ!!

Transport : Metro

Distance : 6.7km

Hoggenakal

2012-02-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday, 10 September 2011

Its been a long time since I ventured out and also my swiftwas waiting for a road trip. With my parents arrival I planned a quick trip toHoggenakal.

With different routes available, my colleague advised me totake Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri route to reach hoggenakal. Indeed it was afabulous route. We started, albeit delayed, at 9am, through the slowSaturday Bangalore traffic. But from Bommanahalli we got pace through, elevatedroad, Hosur road and the not stop toll road till Dharmapuri. @Dharmapuri, weavoided entering city, instead proceeded further and took the next deviation,which is the exit for Hoggenakal. From here the falls is 45km. It is indeedworth mentioning, class roads of Tamilnadu, even the interior roads are widerand well maintained. After a drive of 196km, we reached Hoggenakal to a scorchingsunny day. Everywhere you have to pay for parking, entry fee. We parked the carin Govt. parking and went on to see the falls at 12 noon!

Hoggenakal is famous for three things: oil massage, freshfish fry and booze. And we had to forgo all three things because of uniquecombination of people in the trip :(

We walked till the main falls, passing through the Hanging Bridge, small water fall. Snacks, fruitsand cool drinks are available every where. The fall is Majestic to the core,Kaveri at its splendor best. The water flow was full stream because of themonsoon, because of which we missed the boat ride in the lower stream. When wereturned back to have the lunch it was almost 4. Mom’s delicious lunch withfine packing was, as usual, the highlight.

After finishing lunch we were off to have coracle ride. Theentire package includes rickshaw drop, ride to other side of river (Karnatakaside), watch tower, time to get into water and ride back, with close view ofmain falls comes to Rs.950, for six people for an hour and half. Muthu was oursavior for the next one hour. It was great to see the falls from Karnatakaside, and getting close to water fall was just electrifying. Got few boatinglesson from Muthu during ride.

It was 6 o'clock when we got down from coracle. We startedour journey back in the evening sunlight. The next 5 hours of night drivingfilled with heavy rain fall added to the party. We finally reached home at11:30pm.

A day well spent with my second love, Swift, and the lovedones!

    Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal
    rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
    Nazar mein khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal
    rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum

    Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehna seekho
    Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna seekho
    Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein
    Har ek pal ek naya samaa dekhiye

    Jo apni aankhon mein hayraniyan leke chal
     rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
    Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal
     rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum

-Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

We : Dad, Mom, Pachchu, Sudee and Me.

Transport : Maruthi Swift VXi.

Distance : 392km

aNnuAl dAy @ Angsana

2011-01-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

Friday, 21 Jan 2011,

Our company's Annual day held at Angsana Oasis Spa & Resort , off Yalahanka on the Doddaballapur road on 21st January 2011. The resort is around 30km from UB City.

We were off to the resort at 9:30am, and the breakfast was served on the bus. The day at the resort started with team activities at 11, followed by lunch at the resort luncheon. 3:30pm onwards we had the cultural events like orchestra, dance, skits, songs performance. We were busy with the skit of our team "Fragile Process". The DJ night at 6:30pm played the perfect culmination of the days event. 9:30 we were back in office.

The resort is well maintained as it is from Prestige group. A pool, big ground, nice bar, ambient buffet, big hall for cultural event, squash and other indoor games.

Transport :Bus
We : CDC Employees.
Distance : Around 60km

Kaveri Fishing Camp @ Bheemeshwari

2010-12-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, 22 December 2010 10:00pm

The project release party, this time, happened at Bheemeshwari Fishing Camp. The Jungle Lodges were the perfect hosts for the whole team. We took the adventure day package, Rs. 1750, which included the adventure activities, Lunch and snacks. We have to make the booking at Bangalore.

We left office at 7:15am on a van and had our breakfast at Adigas @ Jayanagar 8th block. After a 90-100km drive on Kanakapura road, we reached Bheemeshwari at around 11:30am.
We started the day with a Burma loop, Parallel walk and a Zippy Drive. The lunch was decent one, but we were not there for a stomach full lunch. After lunch water sports started. We went on self driven kayaking . Coracle Ride too was fun, with close encounter with alligator. Since the water level was low, we could not go on river rafting :( Evening we started our journey back at 5:30pm and back in office at 8:00pm.

On seeing the jungle life, it got the memories of my child hood....
ಬಾಳಿನ ಆ ಘಟ್ಟವೇ ಅತ್ಯಮೂಲ್ಯ.
ಅಮ್ಮನ ನಿರಾಳ ಪ್ರೀತಿ,ತಂದೆಯ ವಾತ್ಸಲ್ಯ.
ಚಿಂತೆಗಳಿಲ್ಲದ ಆ ದಿನಗಳೇ ಅವಿಸ್ಮರಣೀಯ.
ಸರಳತೆಯ ಆ ಭಾವವೇ ಅನನ್ಯ.
ಮತ್ತೇಕೆ ನೀ ಬರಬಾರದು ಓ ನನ್ನ ಬಾಲ್ಯ.

Transport :MiniBus
We : CDC Saratoga team.
Distance : Around 200km whole journey

Work @ UB City

2010-11-16T00:03:00.000-08:00

15 July 2010, Thursday, Bangalore

My career interest led me to join a new company CDC Software, and I ended up in the architectural marvel of Bangalore called, UB City. Few pics of the place, which are captured on my camera. People know more about the facility than my office!!

@ Ernakulam (Kochi)

2010-10-27T03:08:00.000-07:00

Friday, 22 Oct 2010

I had to visit Kochi for a cousins marriage. This was the second visit, as i had attended the engagement few months back. The indian railway was the preferred mode of transport and I got into Ernakulam Super Fast (17:15 - 4:30) from Bangalore Central. As few relatives were traveling, it turned out to be a pretty nice journey. The train reached Ernakulam junction at scheduled time and we headed for Hotel Udupi Anand Bhavan where our accommodation was booked. Marriage was in the morning and evening there was a reception.

As I could not visit any place last time around, went to the marine drive this time. It was a walk-way on the seashore. We could see the refinery and the sea-port on the other side. The walkway ends on the port where we can catch steamers to go to other side, as there was less time, we canceled the boat ride :(

After finishing the reception in the evening, we caught the Maveli Express train @ 11:35pm to go to Mangalore. The journey was a memorable experience to have all the family members traveling together. We reached, Mangalore the following morning at 9:00 am, engaged a Tavera to go to our home. Had breakfast at Janatha Hotel (earlier PattumuDi Kalyana Mantapa), and enjoyed the drive on a rainy monsoon day. Reached Manipal at around 12 noon, after dropping all.

ಜೀವನವೆಂಬುವುದು ಹುಡುಗಾಟವಲ್ಲ "ಹುಡುಕಾಟ"...

Transport : Indian Railways, Chevrolet Tavera.
We :Me and My Family.
Distance : Covered around 1100km

A road to wilderness....

2010-09-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday 18 Sept 2010

When the car stopped on a small stretch of a road, the eyes could see water every where. It was the perfect blend of nature and human creation. The backwaters of Kadra dam had created a huge reservoir, only to be limited by western ghats that surrounded it. Wild river kali was at her utmost calmness. The words may be less to explain this pristine beauty. The following 24 hours were the most memorable ones.

Friday 17, Sept 2010

On the previous day evening four of us were rushing to majestic on a rickshaw breaking all the traffic to catch the bus. Bw3Rocks team finally reached bus stand on time to catch the 6:00pm Goa Volvo Airavatha bus, which will take us to the place where we will spend the next two days. This time we were heading to the northern coastal Karnataka, Kadra and Karwar. My friend Jaanesh, whose parents are at Kadra, were the host for this Kapi Sene! (Bus route : Tumkur-Chitradurga-Hubli-Yellapur-Karwar Rs. 690/ Dinner @ Dabas Pete)

The morning sun, the Kali river and the majestic arabian sea welcomed us at Karwar. We got down at 6:00am and caught the bus to Kadra, a small township of Karnataka Power Corporation at a distance of 35km from Karwar(1 hour journey). The township is in the middle of dense forest. After getting fresh, having stomach full breakfast and nice nap we started our first visit.

Sri Mahamaya Prasanna temple is a around 5km from Kadra. A waterfall formed by the small stream is our main trekking interest, which was deep inside the rainy forest. We had to virtually find our ways to the deep stream covered with dense bushes and dotted anthills (termite mounds). We could here only the thunderous sound of the waterfall when we reached the spot. spending some time, we were back for lunch.
Evening we went to the Kadra dam and to the picturesque Kadra back waters, near Kodasalli Dam. I think the pictures will explain more than the words.

We went to the anasi(ಅಣಸಿ) falls near to the backwaters. There is a view point to watch the entire project site of Kadra, including Kadra dam and Kadra back waters. After spending some time there, we were on to Karwar beach. On the way we had to pass through the bridge over river kali, which was a engineering marvel as well. The bridge starts from an excavated mountain on side and ends on the otherside of the river Kali and we can go to Karwar.

The multi colored sky, evening sunset, the small islands that dotted the sea, distant sailing boats just added the extra touch to end the day.

The beauty of a river in all its forms was visible to us on a single day. The small stream, a water fall, wild river flow, back waters formed by a dam, an estuary and the mighty sea.

The Next day we went to the Shaantheri Prasanna temple festival. The ocean of devotees was eye opener. A bit mis-organized, we had a distant view of goddess and a decent meal (Prasadam) from the temple. We returned at around 4pm and packed our bag for our return journey. We caught the Sugama bus at 5:45pm (Off Karwar 7:00 pm)

ಅದೇ ಭೂಮಿ ಅದೇ ಭಾನು ಈ ನಯನ ನೂತನ,
ಅದೇ ದಾರಿ ಅದೇ ತಿರುವು ಈ ಪಯಣ ನೂತನ...
(Ade Bhoomi Ade Bhanu Ee Nayana Nootana, Ade Daari Ade Tiruvu Ee Payana Nootana...)

Transport : Airavata Volvo, Sugama, Maruti Swift DZire, Tata Winger, Auto :)
We :Bhatta, Jaanesh, Me and Santhya.
Distance : Covered around 1300km

Talakadu, BR Hills, Himavad Gopalswamy Betta, Somanathpura

2010-07-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

17 July 2010, Bangalore 7:00am

Wanted to jot down this article, but could not find time. So a brief info.

Bangalore - Shivapura, Maddur - TalakaDu (Panchalinga Darshana)-BR Hills-Chamraj Nagar

18 July 2010

Chamraj Nagar - Gundlupete - Himavad Gopalswamy Betta - Bandipur - Somanthpura - Shivapura - Bangalore.

Transport : Toyota Qualis.
We :Anoop, Bhatta, Jaanesh, Mandya, Me, Putta, RV, Saithi.
Distance : Covered around 732km

ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆಟ್ರೊ (Namma Metro)

2010-07-21T05:27:00.000-07:00

೧೯ ಜುಲೈ೨೦೧೦, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು

ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ಎಂ. ಜಿ. ರಸ್ತೆಗೆ ಬಂದಾಗ.....

ಮೆಟ್ರೊ ರೈಲಿನ ಪ್ರತಿರೂಪವನ್ನು ಎಂ. ಜಿ. ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಅನಿಲ್ ಕುಂಬ್ಳೆ ವ್ರುತ್ತದ ಬಳಿ ಜನ ವೀಕ್ಷಣೆಗೆ ಇರಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಪ್ರವೇಶ ಉಚಿತ.

Sultanate of Bijapur

2010-05-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

On the way to attend a colleagues marriage at Athani, we visited Bijapur, historical city located at the Northern part of Karnataka.

The planning took place a month in advance, and we booked Railway ticket for the entire journey. On May 21st evening, we boarded the Bijapur Express from Yashwantpur @ 9:15pm. We packed food for dinner. It was the first time that we colleagues were travelling together. The chaos of B'lore soon calmed down, as we started moving away from it. Sleep followed. When we woke up the next morning, train had passed Hubli and we were running 2 hours late. The Nice view was of the Almatti Dam. The scheduled Bijapur arrival of 10:30am got delayed to 1pm, effecting our whole plan. (712km from B'lore to Bijapur, train route, via Hubli)
22 May 2010 3:30pm
Nature was kind enough and the weather was cloudy due to the Cyclone effect, so we could bear the hot summer of Bijapur. The lodging was arranged at Godhavari, and we got fresh and engaged a rickshaw for site-seeing. Since the Gol Gumbaz was our main target, which had a closing time of 5:30pm, we had to see other monuments in a hurry.

We started with Ibrahim Rouza, were a tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and mosques is located in the middle of plush green garden.(Entrance Rs.5/head + Rs.25/Camera)
Malik-e-Maidan : Where the largest cannon in the world is located on a watch tower in the center of the city.
Bara Kaman & Asar Mahal : Which we could just see from road side due to time constraint.

Gol Gumbaz : Finally, we reached the Gol gumbaz, a mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah . As it was my second visit it didnt wow me much. It may appear to be a small structure, but it stands seven floor with largest dome in the world. In the center of a large hall, we could see the tomb of King and his family. We can use the staircase to reach the top, where we can reach the dome. The dome is designed in such a way that, if we whisper at one end, the voice will travel to the diagonnaly opposite end. Also it echoes the voices seven times. Truly, amazing architecture.
(Entrance Rs.5/head + Rs.25/Camera)
A museum, located in front of Gol Gumbaz had the historical information and other details about bijapur. (Entrance Rs.5/head , Camera Not allowed)

Jama Masjid : Located around 2-3 km from GolGumbaz.

We had our food in the evening at Kamath Hotel. The site seeing ended at 6:00pm and had to pay Rs. 350 for the auto rickshaw. At 6:30pm we caught bus to Athani, which will drop there us at 9:00pm.

Join the marriage party!
Athani, a small town located at 80km from Bijapur(140km from Belgaum), had strong Maharastrian influence. As it was night, we just attended the Varapooja of Sudin. There was abundance of food for the next 24 hrs. Stomach full, we settled in our room for a good sleep.

23 May 2010
Whole day we were part of the Sudin's marriage. It was nice to see the North Karnataka Brahmin marriage, with their authentic cuisine, which included bhasundi poori, pulav, mandige to name a few.

Evening 4:30pm we started our return journey from the Athani to Bijapur, in the same bus that marriage party was travelling.

Enroute, We visited Sri Laxmi Narasimha Temple, Toravi. Specialty of this temple being the Garba Gudi located in a small cave (But the cave is renovated with tiles and exhaust fans!)

Reached Bijapur at 7:00pm, and went to VRL office to catch the bus which will take us to our Karma Bhumi, B'lore. Bus arrived 45 minutes late and we boarded it at 8:30pm (Rs.460/head). (We had to cancel the Railway ticket as it would take more travel time). We had our dinner at 11:00pm @ Ilkal. The bus reached B'lore at 8:00am the following day. (Approximately 540km from Bijapur to B'lore, bus route, via Hospet)

click here for more info about Bijapur

Maut se do pal maange uski jhalak pane ko,
gaye darr pe uske usse manane ko,
pata chala ki wo is kadar ruthe hai humse,
ki khud dua kar rhe the meri maut aane ko
-Unknown

Transport : Train, Bus, Auto
We : Kumar, Me and Sandy
Distance : Covered around 1300km

Tryst with Kumara Parvatha

2010-04-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

I was going through the old CD collection and found few past photos of the MTech days. The most memorable one being the Trekking to Kumaraparvatha with MTech friends. The words may not be enough to explain the beauty of nature. Some info that I jotted down at that time, i just copied below and few photos I uploaded.

Thursday , 08 Feb 2007 Subrahmanya/Kumara Parvatha 7:30am

The TREKKERS!!
--------------
Akshath
Avinash
Naveen
Prashanth
Praveen
Sudheer

Distance : 12 Miles ( some say 10kms!!)

8th feb'07

07:30am Woke up, Got Ready, Visited Temple and had breakfast
10:40am Star trekking
12:00pm Bimana Kallu (1/4 th completed)
01:30pm reached Giri gadde (batra mane) (Mid point)
03:15pm Started nextleg after lunch
04:00pm Kallamantapa (3/4 th completed)
06:45pm Water source
07:15pm Top
09:30pm Good Night :)

9th Feb '07

06:00am Woke Up
07:45am Return Journey
08:00am Water source and had tiffin
08:45am Started after tiffin
09:45am Kallamantapa
10:30am reached Girigadde had lunch
11:50am Left Girigadde
12:35pm Bimana Pade
01:35pm End

2:45pm Subramanya to M'lore
6:15pm Reached M'lore
6:30pm M'lore to Manipal
8:10pm Manipal

ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ..... ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಲ್ಲಿ!

2010-04-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

೧೮, ಎಪ್ರಿಲ್ ೨೦೧೦. ಜಯನಗರ ೯ ಬಡಾವಣೆಯ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡ Alien

-----oooo0O0oooo-----

ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿಗೆ ಕಾಲಿಟ್ಟಾಗ.. ಜಾಲಹಳ್ಳಿ ವ್ರುತ್ತದ ಬಳಿ..ಮೇ ೨೦೧೦

-----oooo0O0oooo-----

Trekking to Devarayanadurga, Madhugiri Fort, Siddara betta

2010-03-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday , 20 Mar 2010 Bangalore 6:00am

When the bikes roared again, after a gap of 6 months, we were heading on Tumkur road. A quick planning by RV on Friday night, we were off to Siddara Betta and Devarayan Durg on a beautiful Saturday morning (this time really early at 6am). We took a pit stop at Dabhaspete @8 for tiffin.Climb#1 Madhugiri Fort

Now Madurigi fort got added in our itinerary! about 60km from Dabhaspete, it is a fort built on second largest monolithic stone. We reached Madhugiri at 10 and started our ascent. It was a marvelous experience to climb a fort with all its nitty gritties unknown, with vertical climbs that has little support. But has to climb down without reaching the summit, missing it by 10 steps. But no regrets, as that height itself was big and was just a prelude to the things to come. We reached base camp at 12 and had a lunch at a hotel near Madhugiri bus stand.
click here for more info.

Climb #2 Siddarabetta 23km
We took a deviation after 5 km from Madhugiri to reach siddarabetta. As the road is being laid, the journey was tiresome on a summer afternoon. Things got worse, when we realized, we need to climb here as well. To our count we got 1000 steps to climb, some distance had to be trekked! A cave temple on top was our destination. When we reached top we were half fried and half baked! But it was a natures wonder that the cave had a cool temperature and chilling water source! For a nominal price you can get a 3 bucket holy bath :) in font of deity. After bath, we were re-energized, and it was like a fresh new beginning. The descent was smooth and reached our bikes at 4:30pm.
click here fore more info.

Climb #3 Devarayana Durga 30km
With proper sign boards on the way we could reach Devarayana Durga by 5:30pm, by which temple got closed. Except for few small stretches entire route was good. One could drive till top, leaving only few steps to climb. We climbed to top to see Giri NaraSimha temple, of course the doors closed. The nice pushkarni and setting sun kept us occupied for some time! Having churmuri, TumpsUp we bid adieu, to the day that go down in our memory as a thrilling day. We reached Bengaluru Mahanagari(our room) at 9pm after a dark night ride.
click here for more info.
Transport : My Pulsar 150, Yamaha FZ16 and Bajaj Discoverer
We : Jaanesh, Me, RV, Kaddi and Bhatta
Distance : Covered 271km
Started 6:00am End 9:00pm

Weekend Ride on Elevated Hosur Road...

2010-02-07T02:56:00.000-08:00

Sunday, 7 February 2010 Bangalore 11:00am

Exploring the engineering marvel of Bangalore!

After a stomach full breakfast at A2B, Adyar Anand Bhavan, at BTM, on a Sunday Morning, we were off to see the engineering marvel of B'lore, Bangalore Elevated Tollway on the Hosur Road.
With bad memories of Hosur Road traffic jam, still fresh in my mind, it was a pleasant surprise to see the smooth travel on the elevated road. As the flyover was inaugurated recently, there was no toll. Only the tall IT buildings, the clean sky of Sunday morning and flyover touching the horizon were part of the whole journey.

We started from Bommanahally end and the journey of 10km, with minimal speed took 20mins! (with added photo shoot in middle). On reaching the other end, near EC, we decided to extend the ride to Hosur. We were off to Hosur, via Chandapur, Attibele. We visited a Jain Temple near Attibele, Shri Parshwa - Sushil Dham, nicely built, well maintained, less heard temple. After crossing the Karnataka Border, the industrial town of Hosur is clearly to be seen with many well known companies like Ashok Leyland, TVS, ITC. We had a decent lunch at a road side Restaurant (Hotel Tamilnadu) in Hosur.
The return journey was not through the elevated road, as it was closed for maintenance work, so we took the old ground route. We reached back @ 3:30pm

Transport : My Pulsar 150, Yamaha FZ16 and Honda Activa
We : Jaanesh, Me, RV, Santhya and Vinay
Distance : Covered 90km

Arasavalli, Srikurmam @ Srikakulam

2010-02-07T02:45:00.000-08:00

Thursday, 31 December 2009 Srikakulam

Got some free time to spend during a official trip to Srikakulam, Andhra.

Srikurmam

A vishnu temple in the Kurma roopa is located around 25km from Srikakulam town. You are allowed to enter till the Garba Gudi. The temple is believed to be constructed by Shankaracharya. A large Sarovar is next to the temple with some nice stone works.

Arasavalli Surya Temple

A temple dedicated to lord shiva is 10km from Srikakulam. We engaged a auto rickshaw to visit all the places. and we finished the small trip in around 2-2.30 hrs.

We: Myself and colleagues.
Distance: around 25km (From Srikakulam town)
Transport: Auto

ವಿಶ್ವ ತುಳು ಸಮ್ಮೊಳನೊ - ಒಡಿಪುದೊ ಲೇಸು ೨೦೦೯

2009-12-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday, 21 November 2009 Udupi

ಧರ್ಮಸ್ಥಳೊಡು ನಡೆಪಿನ ಮುಖ್ಯ ತುಳು ಸಮ್ಮೊಳನೊದೊ ಪೂರ್ವ ತಯಾರಿಯಾತ್, ಒಡಿಪುಡ್-ದ ಎಮ್. ಜಿ. ಎಮ್ ಕಾಲೇಜ್ ದ ಸಭಾಂಗಣೊಡ್ದು ನಡೆತಿನ ವಿಶ್ವ ತುಳು ಸಮ್ಮೊಳನೊ - ಒಡಿಪುದೊ ಲೇಸು ೨೦೦೯, ತುಳು ಸಮಾಜದ ಕ್ರಮ, ಸಂಪ್ರದಾಯ, ಧರ್ಮ, ಭಾಷೆದ ಕನ್ನಡಿ ಆತಿತ್ತುಂಡು. ಧರ್ಮದರ್ಶಿ ವೀರೆಂದ್ರ ಹೆಗ್ಡೆರ್ನ ಮಾರ್ಗದರ್ಶನೊಡು ನಡೆತಿನ ಈ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ, ಇಡೀ ತುಳು ನಾಡುದ ದರ್ಶನ ಮಲ್ತುಂಡು.

ಮುಖ್ಯ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಉಜಿರೆಡು ೧೦-೧೩, ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ ೨೦೦೯.click here

We: Myself, mom, attige, chinnu and kurnool dodda.
Distance: 3 km from Manipal.
Transport: My dads Honda Activa.

A visit to Bengre

2009-12-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

Sunday, 20 October 2009 Udupi

On the back drop of Diwali vacation, with my bro, visited Bengre.

Bengre is the place where the river Swarna joins Arabina sea. The surprising thing is the calmness of the river, which joins the violent sea. The secret lies in the depth of the river, which hides the dangerous whirlpools (suLi).

From Manipal, we went on Perampally route to Ambaagilu, Santhekatte, Kemmannu, Hoode and finally to Bengre on a nice road. From Hoode to Bengre, we can see the river on right side and sea to the left.

The words or the pictures may not justify the enormousness of the natures creation. Best thing is to visit and feel it.

We: Myself and bro Vikram.
Distance: around 15 km from Manipal.
Transport: My dads Honda Activa.

On a October morning...

2009-10-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Coming Soon......

Saturday, 10 October 2009 Bangalore 6:15am

Trip to B R Hills, Shivana Samudra, Somnathpur Temple.

We : Me, Bhatta, RV, Jaanesha, Kaddi, Mote, Santhya, Cherry.
Transport : Toyota Qualis.
Distance : 450km.

Temples around Bangalore

2009-09-13T01:34:00.000-07:00

Ramanjaneya Temple, Hanumantha Nagar.
Basavana Gudi ( Bull Temple)/Ganapathi temple, Bull temple road.
Sree Varapada Venkateswar Devagiri Temple,Banashankari II stage.
Ragigudda Anjaneya temple, JP Nagar
Meenkashi Temple, Bannerghatta road. Gaali anjaneya temple, Mysore road.
Maruthi Mandira, Vijayanagar.
ISKCON, Yashwantpur/Rajajinagar.
Prasanna Veeranjaneya Swamy Temple,Mahalakshmipuram
Gavi Gangadhareshwara Swamy Temple, Srinagar

(Inconclusive)

The eat outs in B'lore

2009-09-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

The famous few eat-outs that I visited in Bangalore.

SLV Coffee Bar at Banashankari II stage,
A small canteen opposite, Sree Varaprada Venkateswar Devagiri Temple, Famous for Idlis/ Dosas.

Vidyarthi bhavan
Gandhi Bazaar.
A famous udupi style hotel, with special Masala Dosa (The speciality also lies in the way they bring the dosa to serve!)

VV Puram, the chat lane.
A lane that has different chats, Dosa, Holige.

A2B Adyar Anand Bhavan
Near Udupi garden, BTM
Modern style south Indian hotel :)

Brahmins Cafe
Near Sringeri Mutt, ChamrajPet
Idli with chutni, and delicious coffee

Upahara Darshini
DVG Road, near Netta kallappa Circle

UD, Upahara Darshini
4th Block
Vegetable Roll Dosa and many more!

Barbecue Nation
Near Shankara Netralaya, JP Nagar
Buffet Lunch unlimited food! More of a non vegetarians heaven, but vegetarians too can have stomach full food!

The Treat
80 ft road, Indiranagar
Chinese restaurant

Nandhini
100 ft road, near airport road flyover, Domlur

Inchara - Family Restaurant
Puttenahalli Main Road, JP Nagar
One of the best Restaurant, but costwise, on the higher end.

Spice Curry
80Ft Road, Indiranagar
Our Company Backyard, most of the parties happen here. Pretty reasonable price, good food.

Tamarind Restaurent
Ramamurthy Nagar Outer Ring Road Junction
Friends b'day party with our team, okay kind of restaurent.

pick n move
Near East End Circle, Bannerghatta road.

Gandharva Sip and Dine
AttiGuppe, Vijaya Nagar

Parivar
Jayanagar 4th Block

Khansama, UB City, Vittal Malya Road
Our US managers threw a lunch buffet party to the whole team. The royal indian master chef as the tag line reads, the lunch was pretty nice and the royal ambience was the catch for the eye. Rs 300+ buffet lunch was very good considering the location.

Khandani Rajdhani, Ek khandani parampara
UB City - Canberra Block, Vittal Malya Road
Gujarathi, Marwari and Rajasthani style vegetarian lunch is the famous on the menu. Rajdhani Meal boxes are also very well known. The new company joining was the occasion, the development manager played the host. The meal costs Rs. 250+(lunch) Rs.325 (dinner)

Maiya's 4th block, Jayanagar
From the people who made the MTRs, the much organized south indian restaurant. We went for a special south Indian meals. Priced at Rs.135(as on 29 Sept 2010) it has menu that one can expect from a south indian marriage ooTa :) Starting with a honey kesar juice to poori koorma to pulav - white rice -sweet - ice cream - paan. A clean and a wonderful experience. Book in advance @ 9632411352
(Inconclusive)

Toscano, The italian restaurent
UB City - Canberra Block, Vittal Malya Road
With our senior manager the development team went to this Italian restaurent. On the upper side of the price, the menu had all the italian dishes like salads, macaroni, pizza, deserts. Nice for a try, but a bit costly (per head around Rs.550)

Muthyala Maduvu (ಮುತ್ಯಾಲ ಮಡುವು Pearl Valley)

2009-09-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 12, September 2009 3:00pm

An unplanned Bike ride to Muthyala Maduvu, Near Anekal.

Having finished the Krishna Janmastami celebration at my aunts place, got a call from friends for a bike ride to Bannerghatta. We didn't had a plan as to where to go from there. Passerby told a place called Muthyala maduvu around 15km from there. Having got a destination now, we continued our journey, on the Bannerghatta-Anekal State Highway. After 20km we reached Anekal and there on about 6 km we reached Muthyala Maduvu(We have a take detour on a main road after 3km).

It was surprising to see a small valley near Bangalore. We have to climb down 200steps to reach a small water fall. As the rains were low the water fall is reduced to a small shower. But for us, it was good fun to spend some valuable time. The rock formation behind the fall was also nice. Spending around an hour and visiting the temple there, we were back on our bike.

We took the Anekal, Chandapur, Electronic City(Hosur Road - 37km) route to reach our room at 7:30pm. The traffic/dust on Hosur road was only the disappointing thing in the whole journey.

VV puram
Our long pending plan to visit VVPuram saw its light of day finally. On returning from Pearl valley, after traffic confusion, we reached there at 8:00 pm. It was like a Jathre, different varieties of food was available in different canteens(It is also called ತಿಂಡಿ street). We had hot masala dosa, thaTTe idli and holige.

"Zindagi Migzara", afghan like to say - Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end, ups or downs*

Transport : My Pulsar 150, Yamaha FZ16
We : Jaanesh, Me, Mote, RV
Distance : Covered 90km

*The Kite Runner, Khaleid Hosseini

Shimra Siddhi Vinayaka Temple, Manipal

2009-06-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

30, May 2009 Manipal

A small Vinayaka temple on the banks of river Swarna, near Manipal.

About two kilometer from my home, near to end point, Manipal, located a Ganesh temple on a scenic location. On one side the river Swarna flows with all its might and the other side is hillocks of Manipal. I took some time out from my monthly outing to Udupi to visit this temple along with my cousin. The route is not that perfect but manageable. A guest house of Manipal group is located nearby, which is having a big boat harbored next to it!!

We: Myself and my cousin Karunya.
Distance: 3km from Manipal TC circle.
Transport: My dads Honda Activa.

Eagleton, the golf resort

2009-05-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

8, May 2009

The summer of May could not dampen our spirit of Going out and having a fun filled day.

Eagleton, the golf resort, is located around 25 km. We have to take a detour after the famous kaadumane hotel, Mysore road to reach the resort, which in my guess, is the largest resort that I have visited (Even bigger than the Club Cabana, Yalahanka). As the name suggests the the main attraction of the resort is the big golf course.
I caught the company bus at Satelite bustand at 8:00am. Onboard, bus is already bustling with fun and froll. Our original plan of having breakfast at Kaadumane was cancelled and we headed straight to resort. 8:45am we were at the resort. We passed the large lobby at the resort to head to the food court, facing the golf course, to have breakfast. The variety of food and view was just impressing.

A few team activities,in a nearby hall, was the last this that we did according to plan. After which we were free birds!! Till lunch we could taste all the games that was provided for us. TT, badminton, cricket, squash, Foosball, carom and of course cricket. But, I spent most of time playing squash and mastered a bit of Foosball. The resort has good swimming pool near to the play area. Some of friends even tried golf, which was Rs.400 per basket.
We were back at food court at 1pm for the lunch. Nice delicious food served, and had our food at a nearby air conditioned dining room to beat the heat. The lunch is followed by some fun team activities like collage, dumshadarts. After a cup of coffee we were back at bus to head back to Namma Bengaluru.

We reached Satellite bus-stand at around 6pm.

We: whole team at atyati
Distance: around 50km
Transport : My Pulsar, Bus.

Nandi betta and ghaaTi subramanya.

2009-05-24T00:01:00.001-07:00

8.15am 4, April 2009

The hot summer cross country bike ride!! The BW3Rocks came together once again to finish the unfinished terrain, the Nandi Hills.

After much postponement and lots of fight :) , we packed our bag on a Saturday morning to head on Hyderabad road. The ride began at 8:15am after a quick breakfast at Upahara Sagar. We exited the city on the new airport road. To our surprise the road is widened to accommodate airport traffic. With a bit of confusion we made a quick visit to the new Airport. A neat infrastructure project to see from outside. We just made a fly-by visit and joined the Hyderabad road to head to Nandi Hills. The heat just started to rise and taking a toll on our skin!!

We reached Nandi Hills at 11am (84km). There is provision to park the bike inside, bu we thought it better to keep the bike outside. After taking a entry ticket we headed on barefoot to reach the top of the Hill. A temple dedicated to lord Narasimha is located at the center. After the divine darshan we spent some time on the edge of the hill that is facing the B'lore city(i suppose so). We also visited the Tippu drop, where the thief were pushed to death, in Tippus time!! We almost reached the edge, where according to guide it is up to 1000ft. There is a guest house of Tippu Sultan at the entrance of Nandi Hills.

We left the Hills at 12:30pm. We headed to to Ghati Subrahmanya. We choose a interior road to save the distance. We reached Ghati Subrahmanya temple at 2:15pm (29km from Nandi) Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Narasimha are carved on the same stone back to back, Subrahmanya being on the front. A mirror is used to see the Lord Narasimha. After spending few time we headed back to B'lore via Doddaballapur. We stopped at a hotel near Yalahanka to have lunch. Finally, reached Namma Bengaluru at 6:15pm with tanned skin!!

We : Me, Bhatta, RV, Jaanesha, Putta, Mote, Santhya, Cherry
Bike : Bajaj Pulsar, Discoverer, Yamaha FZ, Honda Activa
Distance : 180km

Bangara Tirupathi and Kotilingeshwara Temple

2009-04-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

6:30pm 9, March 2009

What better way to spend a leave of Holi on a trip nearby Kolar Gold Field?

On a visit to my relatives place at KGF, I had the opportunity to visit few places namely koTi Lingeshwara and Bangara Tirupathi.
I caught the evening train to KGF from Byappanahally at 6:30pm, directly from office. Surprisingly ticket price is still only Rs.13! bit more than a plat of bhelpuri outside!! The train was full with people returning from their work to KGF. It seems more than 10,000 people commute between Kolar, KGF daily on these trains. I alighted the train at Oorgaum station, which is inside the KGF at 8:45pm. The small town, which was once the gold capital of British empire has three station. Electricity(Shimsha) and train were first came to here before it reached other parts of Modern India. But now after the mining stopped the town looks silent.

My visit co-insided with the KGF Jaathre, the annual rath festival of the Venkateshwara temple. The town was decorated with all kinds of light to welcome the God. After having our dinner we went for a stroll around to see the festivities on a lightly drizzling night.

4:30pm 10th March 2009
Evening we went on bike ride to Bangaru thirupathi(also called Guttally) (via Kotilinga, Betha Mangala on Mulbagalu-V.Kota route. 16km from KGF). Mythologically, God Venkateshwara gave darshan to Rishabha Muni at this place. It is a replica of original Thirupathi and since it is near to Kolar Gold Field, they named it Bangara Thirupathi. A temple dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara is present on top of the hill.The granite temple has small window to see the main deity. A nearby temple is dedicated to Goddess Padmavathi. We could see the papanaashanam just like the one in Tirumala. After spending few time, we started our jorney back.

We could see the Kotilinga on the main road. As we had already visited the place earlier, horage kai mugidu continued our journey. It has many lingas placed across a large area. The main Linga is visible from outside. They have placed the lingas on both sides of the road to make the count to 1 Crore :)

Evening 6.30pm we were back in KGF. The outskirt is lined with mud piles of mines. The remainig sledge from the ore is piled up across the town, after the gold is extracted. It is so well planned that it looks like a fort across the town. Next day morning I caught the bus to B'lore at 6:30am reached at 8:30am.

We : Myself and Prasanna
Bike : Bajaj CT100
Distance : 32km

Melukote (ಮೇಲುಕೋಟೆ)

2009-01-02T04:33:00.000-08:00

೨೫, ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ ೨೦೦೮ 25, Dec 2008

The Bajaj bike family came together to explore one more place. This time, it was Melukote.

The chilly winter weather with cool breeze, the warm sunlight added the glitz to the ride. The trip started at 8:30am on Christmas day with morning tiffin planned at Shivapura(Maddur) at our friend Giri's hotel. We reached Maddur at 10:00am(87km from B'lore). After bitti oota(free food), we took a butti too for lunch!! One quick pit-stop at his house we started our onward journey to Mandya. We visited a jaggery processing unit(ಆಲೆ ಮನೆ) on way. They will show the whole process from sugar cane crushing - mixing of sunna - heating to make it solid jaggery. (You can taste it too but it comes at a price!)

We reached the Melukote at noon (around 150km from B'lore) and had a quick darshan of the main deity Cheluvanarayana Swamy, which is in the middle of the town.(closing time - 1:00pm) The granite stone structure is in resemblance to the hoysala architecture, with some fine carvings. We visited the ruins of a Gopura (Gopal Raya gate - In movie Guru, the song Barso Re, is picturized here), Akka-Thangi kola, Heritage house of famous Kannada poet Pu Ti Narasimhachar.

Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple was next in the list. It is located on hill top, which we can climb on the granite stone steps. As the temple was about to close (closing time - 2:00pm) we had a quick darshan of this deity as well. We spent some time looking at the panoramic view from the top of the hill. The whole Melukote still dotted with red-tiled houses unspoiled by the new RCC buildings. We had our lunch at the pushkarni which is near the hill. As far as I can recollect it is one of the largest water ponds that I have seen(Many Rajnikanths movies are shot here). It is completely covered with mantapas all corners. We had our lunch at Bhuvaneshwari Mantapa at the right side of the entrance. It is having 8 sides with some nice carvings.

We started our journey back at around 3pm.(We dropped our plans of visiting Shravana Belagola - 30km from Melukote- as it was getting late). Had a second round of tiffin at Giri's hotel and left for B'lore. It was a night ride for the first time and reached room at 8:00pm.

Even though it was a bit long journey it was good to see few new places after a long time. The country side, the nature, few temples, the ride and friends are just refreshing.

Click Here to get more info about Melukote.

ಮತ್ತೆ ಕಂಡಳು ಅವಳು, ಕಾಡುವ ಕಣ್ಣಿನವಳು*

We: Me, Shashi, Giri, Santhya, Cherri.
Bikes: Bajaj XCD, Discoverer 135, Pulsar 150.
Distance Covered 300km
* Thanks to Anoop Chandrachar for writing such beautiful quotes!

Trekking @ ಶಿವಗಂಗೆ (Shivagange)

2008-10-12T02:07:00.000-07:00

9:00am 11, October 2008

The quick planning on Friday night and we were heading north this time on the Tumkur Road.

Vidyarthi Bhavan
Our schedule got changed on Saturday morning as we woke up late ;) We planned a breakfast at Vidyarthi Bhavan on Gandhi Bazaar, a typical Udupi style hotel, the morning crowd was showing its popularity! It was a hotel of its kind, in the way the waiters bring the masala dosa. Stomach full we were on our bike and started the journey forward at 9:00am. The speciality of this trip was addition of a Honda Activa to our riding club and it was comparable in performance to our Bikes!! After a lazy start on the Bangalore traffic we were off to the Nelamangala(10:30am 42km). The toll road between Nelamangala and Tumkur is the drivers delight. My pulsar touched 95kmph without much effort!! We reached Dabaspet(53km) and finally Shivagange (60km) at 11:30am.

Lets the Trekking begin

Small gopura welcomes you to Shivagange, a small sleepy village with few houses. There are few temples on the way as you start climbing the hill. Honnadevi temple, Olakal Theertha (Where you have to put your hands inside a small hole and if you are lucky enough, you will be able to touch the water!! Strange Myth). Till here it was very easy climbing. Our trekking started from here. Halfway it is mud and granite hill and the other half is only large granite boulders. A mother carrying her small son on her shoulders, inspired us to complete the climb. The final ascent is really mind blowing with a 90° climb on small granite carved steps. At around 1:00pm we were on ground zero. There is a small temple of Giri Gangadhareshwara. There is another single stone Nandhi carved out of the granite. It looks like it is being placed on a granite pillar :) People of all age groups could be seen climbing the hill. You will be accompanied by monkeys on the whole trekking. Juices(water) and snacks available en route in many spots. The cool breeze on the top made us to forget the tiredness of the climb. The descent was quick and we were at the base camp in half an hour. Bidding adieu to Shivagange at 2:00pm we were on our journey back and had lunch at a roadside Daba.

The NICE road...

We wanted to avoid the traffic on Tumkur road and took the NICE road instead. The newly constructed 4 lane road took our breath away. The drizzling rain multiplied the riding experience on the express way. Highlight was my Pulsar touching 100kmph. We had to criss cross Magadi Road, Mysore Road, and finally the Kanakapura road(Total distance 30km). We got off at the Kanakapura road and joined the melee called B'lore traffic. We reached room at 5:30pm

ನಮ್ಮೂರ ನೊಡಲು ಚಂದ.....

We: Avinash, Girish, Naveen, Santhosh, Sathish, Shashidhar
Transport: Activa, Pulsar, XCD
Distance Covered - 150km

Tirumala Tirupathi Venkatesha...

2008-09-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

13, July 2008

On the back drop of my cousins marriage we had the chance to visit Tirupathi.
It was my second trip to Tirupathi, but first in train. The Tirupathi passenger reached Tirupathi at 6:00am (Left Majestic, b'lore at 8:30pm - One of the longest journey :( route to Tirupathi ) And went to Tirumala engaing a maxi cab(Tirupathi - Tirumala 22km). After getting fresh we engaged the same cab to visit places around Tirupathi. We visited Hanuman Statue, Kapila theertha, ISCKON temple, Srinivasa Mangapuram, Padmavathi Ammam, Sri Kalahasthi(Pictures down in order. Tirupathi - Kalahasti 33km). It was good fun to tour around with cousins and relatives.

14, July 2008
The next day early morning we had Timmappa Darshan (AAD- Archana Anantha Darshanam 6:00am). The remaining day was spent on attending the marriage. We left Tirumala amid heavy rain to catch the Mysore Passenger train at 9:30pm, which will take us back to Bangalore.

Kaaveriya Madilalli...

2008-08-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

6:30am 27, October 2007

On a chilly winter morning of October our Sumo was zipping on the majestic Mysore road. The following two days were memorable as we went off to see the most beautiful places on the banks of river Kaveri. The rain god was playing hide and seek through-out the trip, though never came in our way!!

The planning was done my chikkappa and one more chikki & Co. joined the trip. The small crowd of two family and my cousin added glitter to the trip. First place to visit was the Dodda Aladamara about 10-15 km from Kengeri off Mysore road. The road had gone completely bad and the driver had to virtually drive on water clogged road because of rain. It was 7:15am when we reached there. A tree of 400 years history and a temple was quite interesting to watch. After spending some time we were off to next place via Chennapattana, Madduru and Mandya.

Srirangapatna
After having small break at Madduru to pack Madduru vaDa, we reached SrirangapaTTaNa at around 9:30am. After cleaning our self :) in the river Kaveri (Anjaneya Temple) we went to the Bailey's Dungeon, a place where prisoners were held in the time Tipu Sultan. The Temple: The abode of Ranganatha Swamy has a history of several centuries. The hoysala architecture is festival to eye. The Ranganatha swamy in shesha shayana form brought the memories of my visit to SriRangam in Trichy (Apr 2003). Then we headed to the Daria Daulat, the summer palace of Tipu Sultan. A well maintained small palace in the center of a big garden (called Daria Daulat Bhaugh). We could see the Jumma Masjid and the place where Tipu was killed on the way to Daria Daulat. We missed Tipu sulthan tomb (Which I covered later when I visited the same place with my Team a month later: Mausoleum Of Tipu Sulthan and his family members in the middle of a lush green garden)

Ranganathittu
11:00 am -12:00 noon
Protected bird Sanctuar y with boating facility at 12km from Srirangapatna. We had to be satisfied with watching only a few birds, as it was not a breading season.(Breading season is Jan-March something). The boating was fun with constant fear of alligator!! The few bird varieties were White Ibis (Japan), Red Wittled Livington, river turn, stone plower, spoon bill. Having enjoyed the boat ride, we were off to our next part of the journey.

Mysore - Zoo, Palace and KRS
Reached Mysore at 12:15pm and headed straight to Zoo (12:30 to 2:30). Quick lunch at nearby hotel and we were next to the majestic Mysore palace. My cousin, who is studying in Mysore too joined us. For our luck, we had the chance to see the Chair of Mysore Kings, Simhasana and the Golden Houda, on which idol of the goddess chamundeswari is carried during dasara. We also visited the museum nearby. Evening we headed Brindavan garden and the KRS dam (6:30pm - 7:45pm). The highlight of the evening was music fountain watched by thousands at Brindavan garden. We booked a dormitary at Royale Lodge near to St. Philomena's church and I went to have a quick look at the Shashi's hostel in Mysore. Finishing dinner there, I headed back to lodge. The day came to an end at 10:00pm

Mysore - Chamundi Betta
8:00am 28, October 2007
Before the starting of the second day, saw the the St. Philomena's church, one of the oldest church in Southern India. Next, on the outskirts of the city (6km) we headed for the Chamundi betta and had the divine darshan of Goddess Chanmundeshwari and the biggest Nandi statue. We had our breakfast at a roadside hotel on way to Nanjanagudu.

Nanjanagudu

10:00am-11:00am
Another beautiful place 25km away from Mysore, is the temple dedicated to the Lord Nanjundeshwara. The Brown colored gopura was the start attraction.

Talakkad
12:30pm
On a rugged road we reached Talakkad via T. Narasipur and engaged a guide to show the place. It was a place with great historic and mythological importance. The remains of a old Temple, acres of sand dunes in the middle of fertile land, a number of temples , the story associated with, all were all very exciting. Having lunch at the "house-cum-hotel" we headed for the Sangama at around 2:30pm. It is the confluence of river Kaveri and another river. River Kaveri flows very shallow here and is ideal to take bath and play around.
Shivanasamudram
Last leg of our tour included the visit to the falls formed by river Kaveri. 30 km from Talakkad on the way to Kollegala, we reached first of the two falls. It is called the Bharachukki (3:30pm). We had to walk down to reach the bottom of the fall, where river was falling with all its might. It is one of the widest falls that I had ever seen. There were theppa's available for a stroll, but we did not have time to experience it :(Nearby we have the Gaganachukki falls(4:30pm) which falls from a very high point. It has two views, one behind a Mosque and another near man made viewing point. We preferred the former, which had the choice of getting down to the water. Spending some time in the water we headed back to our Sumo(5:00pm), which will take us back to Bangalore. Final journey was around 125 km and we passed Malavalli (6:00pm) Madduru (7:15pm) and reached bangalore at 8:15pm. Having dinner at a hotel on the Ring Road, we reached home at 8:45pm.
It was coincidence that we visited many places which were associated with river Kaveri: Srirangapatna and Ranganthittu gloried on the river Kaveri, Mysore where it is in the stagnant form, in Dam. Talakkad, it just disappears and again come back in Sangama, in Peaceful form. In Shivana Samudra it falls in two different places. Finally in B'lore where it comes in Tap :)

The smell of the paddy fields and scenic mountains in the distance, the cloudy weather and the cool breeze, small villages, the cattles ,was appearing as if it was calling us...ಮರಳಿ ಬಾ ಕಾವೇರಿಯ ಮಡಿಲಿಗೆ.... (maraLi Baa.... Kaveriya Madilige)

Racing the monsoon...

2008-07-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

7:30pm 2, July 2008

The day just went by finishing all the paper work, in my new office. Evening, I started off to my room and the rain started pouring with all its might. Knowing very well the B'lore rain, which stops in half an hour, I just stopped by at a Bus Stop. To my surprise, it continued raining for more than an hour or two. The crowd at the bus stop got bigger as time passed.

A bunch of students who joined crowd and the evening rain, brought the memories of my MTech days. The ultimate part of every ones life, to be a student. The sheer enjoyment, the exams, the results, the assignments, the lecturers, the internals, the copying, the GFs, the girls at the CSE classes, the breaks, the free times, the commuting, burning midnight oils...... The list just goes bigger and bigger...

My Batch
It was my privilege to have some of good people around me at the time of my Masters. Few (many!) were just out of BE, some who have passed many milestones in life and some who are just enjoying their life!! People from different corners of India: Kashmir to Kerala, Manipur to Andhra. And many from my own ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡು. Also it was good to have our lecturers, who were just like our friends.

The unforgettable experience of trekking to Kumara parvatha, the friends visit to my home, [not to forget the 1st sem result :( ],VTU fest [not so good experience], the marriage of my friend, the campus interviews and the big *$&@( thing! Still miss some of these memories, (Some have gone very far), but life has to go on. Chalthi ka naam gaaDi!!

I'm sure, the ever green memories will haunt me, time to time.

9:30pm
With the rain stopping, I started my Pulsar and started roaring on the traffic less road.

ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯೇ.. ಏನು ನಿನ್ನ ಹನಿಗಳ ಲೀಲೆ..

We can not define happiness or for that sake it can not be transferred from one to other. It has to be felt by heart. It comes from the people around you. Sometimes just the memory of few good people, will bring that happiness.

Mekedatu, Chunchi falls.....

2008-07-01T03:20:00.000-07:00

21, June 2008

The sky was bright and the weather was good, the ideal setting for a trip to Mekedatu and Chunchi falls.

A week of discussions with friends as to go by bike or a car, and few people dropping out, we finally decided on a two wheeler ride to the falls and the Sangama.

Having breakfast at Vaishali (Jayanagar 9th block) we were off to a flying start at 8:45am. Except in the city limit the traffic was relatively low on the Kanakapura road. It was fun to ride with all five bikes together. By 10am we were nearing the Kanakapura (53km from B'lore). We had to take left turn at a junction after Kanakapura town. Except for a small patch of bad road, the entire stretch was relatively good. We reached the Sangama at 11:30am (88km from B'lore and 35km from Kanakapura).

The Sangama is the confluence of river Kaveri and river Arkavathy. As we had to cross the river to go to Mekedatu we parked our bikes on the river bank and walked in the knee deep water. Some cars (not all it was a Pajero!!) and some other bike raiders indeed crossed the flowing river. All ten of us boarded a jeep to reach Mekedatu (4 km from Sangama: both way journey they charge 40/head).

After a bumpy ride on the dakota jeep and the welcome party from the Monkeys, we were at Mekedatu at 12 noon. The natures beauty just left us spell bound. The calm looking river on the Sangama, suddenly started gushing through the narrow granite ridge. Is it the same river that we just passed on our bare foot? The nature is very tricky!!

There we could see all types of rock formation, the water has craved the granite at its will. There is only one stone that might be a part of a bridge like structure which goat might have used for jumping. (So the name Mekedatu - Goats Leap). But there was no sign of any goat nearby :)

The only spoiler of this natures creation is man: We could see all plastic bottles, liquor bottles across all the places. After spending some time there, we were back to board the bus. They have built a small gazebo for resting. Having snacks we boarded the dakota bus to reach the Sangama. Spent some time playing in silent river water.

1:30pm Chunchi falls

We were off to visit another place: Chunchi falls.It is 16 km f rom Sangama. (Take a right deviation after riding for 10km from Sangama-on the same route. Travel another 6 km of interior road). When we reached, there was no signs of falls to be seen for distance away. We took the help of two small boys(child labour!!) who guided us to the small water fall(2:00pm). The place was just hair raising: the deep crater, the small stream of water rushing down the boulders, the granite formation. Thanks to those kids, without whom we could not have reached this place :)

Final trekking to reach the bike was most tiresome, as there was no food or no water. When we returned to top it was 3:00pm. We reached Kanakapura at 4 and had lunch at a road side restaurant(Suchee).

As it rained in B'lore, weather turned cool and appeared as if the city was welcoming the heroes of Mekedatu!! The roaring engines came to silence at 6:00pm.

ನೆನೆದಿದೆ ಮೈಯೆಲ್ಲ ಸುರಿಯುವ ಮಳೆಯಲಿ

ನೆನೆದಿದೆ ನನ್ನೆದೆ ನಿನ್ನೊಲವಿನ ಸುಧೆಯಲಿ*

We the people : Myself, MoTe, Shashi, Avi,BhaTTa, PuTTa, Manja, Saithi, Gauthu, Chetu
Transport : Pulsar, XCD, Discover, Victor, RX135
Total journey 190km
* Thanks to my friend Girish Shetty for writing such beautiful quotes!

Anegudde

2008-05-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

11, May 2008

Had been to Kundapur (36km from Udupi) to attend Friends Bro's marriage. Visited AaneguDDe (Also called Kumbashi) the famous GaNapathi Temple, on my return journey. Around 30km from Udupi(7km from Kundapur), two temples closeby are worth visiting. The Express buses are the life line of these areas and provide quick connectivity between Mangalore, Udupi and Kundapur.

Malpe: The Beach

2008-05-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

10, May 2008

The "usual" monthly trip to hometown was made 'exciting' with a visit to Malpe. A quick plan from my cousins and we were off to Malpe in Chetak Scooter and TVS Scooty. A few changes here and there, and it was our own old Malpe beach, but the reverberating waves, the sand and the water, made each visit a memorable experience!

A lazy stroll over the sand dunes moved us away from the summer crowd. Our several try of not getting wet in water went in vain. Not disturbed by all these happenings, the SUN was in his work of “setting”. The sky was playing in colors of sun. Few minutes later, all went calm with slow disappearance of the shades of Orange.

With darkness slowly covering the sky, we started our walk back on the beach sand. Spent few time near the musical fountain.

Distance : 5km from Udupi

End Point: Not the end, just the beginning!

2008-05-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

26, April 2008

A new feather in the International Village Manipal. A brand new lawn clad garden with fountains and lighting, on the edge of End Point. A 3km walking track surrounds it with Gazebo in between. Two stadiums come next to it. But the human creation can never beat the nature: the mighty Suvarna River just flows down under majestically. The sea breezes bring with it the much needed relief for the humid weather of Coastal Summer.

After spending some time with my cousin, chikka and chikki, and hoping they will not spoil the area with more construction, we started our journey back.

The students around us brought the memories of my visit to this place with my M.Tech friends......

Distance: 5-7 Km from Udupi. 1-2 km from Manipal Bus Stand(TC)

DoDDa Aladamara, Manchanabele Dam and Savandurga...

2008-05-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2008 9:15 am

With the engine roaring like a beast, my Pulsar was picking up speed on majestic Mysore highway. With another beast in XCD also chasing, we were cruising on a Thursday morning on a pleasant weather, getting away from the urban life.

Only two days back we planned a quick outing to Big Banyan Tree and a unknown place called Manchanabele Dam. Thursday morning brought with it the outing spirit in us and we were off to it after a quick breakfast at Hotel Vaishali (8:00 am). With the divine blessings of Goddess Rajarajeshwari at Rajarajeshwari Temple (9:15am En route) we were off to Big banyan tree on Mysore Road. It took another 20 mins to reach Amruth Distillaries/Rajarajeshwari Dental College deviation(Right turn from Mysore road), which will leave us the fourlane Mysore road to a renovated interior road. Except for a final stretch of 3 km, it is a fantastic road to Big Banyan Tree (BBT) (10:30am About 30km from Jayanagar 9th block and 7-8km off Mysore road). The BBT has a history of 400 years and is spread across a 4 acre property and maintained by Thotagarika Ilake/Bank of Maharashtra. After taking few photos and spending few minutes we were off to our next destination Manchanabele Dam.

The road was under construction in some places and in others, no road at all, it was 10 km away from BBT (I remembered the fruit vendors words - daari sumaaragide DAMge) we had to take a left turn at a place called Chandrappa circle. Ups and Downs and a right turn of the road suddenly lead to a pristine beauty which left us spell bound. The panoramic view of the water reservoir and the background granite hills were just splendid and eye catching. There was no human activities to be found for kilometers away. We just just spent some time looking at the beauty and went near the reservoir (We have to take right turn for the reservoir and the straight road will lead us to the Dam) After passing the curvy road down for about 2.5 km we were near the reservoir. Without getting down into the water we just enjoyed the beauty on top of the big stones

We got back to the main road and further down about 2 km we were near the ManchanaBele dam (Maintained by Kavari Neeravari Nigama) The entry is restricted, but we could see few people entering the dam!! Most of the route was through small villages and BMTC(KSRTC) service is there till the dam! We were resting by now, as our planned trip was about to end, when one of the passer by told that the Savandurga is just 7km.

Bingo! we were on our bike again to explore one more place. The distant hill was not visible to our naked eye as the speedo meter showed 7km. It took another 7 kilometer (14 kilometer from Manchanabele Dam via Vire GowDana Doddi) to reach the Savandu rga hills. The single large monolith hill was just amazing(Reached at 12:30pm). We planned just to see the hill and return back, but our instinct just overtook and we were climbing the hills!! As we were tired of the earlier trekking, we just restricted our climb to the ruined fort(half way mark). The 360 degree view was just picturesque. Prakruthiya madilalli, maanavana srusti naganyavo anisithu. With half hearted feeling of not reaching the top, we were back to the base. Visiting the Laxmi Narasimha temple and resting for a while we were back on track to B'lore. We will come again "Savandurga" to conquer you!!

Simhavalokana:

Pulsar started zooming again on the same route on our way back covering the same places that we visited (There was another route via Ramnagar, which would have taken 20+ km extra, but we wanted to enjoy the rugged road!!) We were back at Mysore Road at 2:30pm. The initial josh was slowly going down and we reached JP Nagar Nandini to have decent lunch. At exact 4:15pm bike came to a days final halt and we were back on our beds.

It was a refreshing experience for us, who were from small towns, different corners of Karnataka and now part of chaotic life called Bengaluru. The day which would have been spent sleeping, surfing net and watching TV was burned on a unforgettable experience....

ಸಂಜೆಯ ರಂಗಲೂ, ಮಿಂಚು ಗುಡುಗಿನ ಸದ್ದಲೂ, ನೀನೆ ನನ್ನ ಕಣ್ಣೆದುರು|
ದಿನವಿಡಿ ಕನಸ ಕಂಡರೂ ಕಣ್ಣು, ಮನಸಿಗಿಲ್ಲ ನಿದ್ದೆಯ ಮಂಪರು|| *

We : Avinash K S, Girish C, Naveen Bhat, Shashidhar RV
Transport : Hamara Bajaj - Pulsar 150, XCD 125
Food Beverages : Breakfast - Vaishali (Jaya Nagar 9th Block) Lunch - Nandhini (JP Nagar) Lots of Badavara Badami kaDlekayi.
Total tournaround distance : 120km
Remarks : Unplanned but picturesque, exciting and economic trip :)

For more pictures click Here

* Thanks to my friend Girish Shetty for writing such beautiful quotes!

Harima, the Japanese Restaurant.

2008-03-19T01:16:00.000-07:00

With a manager, not interested in Indian food, what can we expect than an exotic Restaurant. This time it was Harima, the fine Japanese Restaurant (4th Floor, Devatha Plaza, same building as Casa Picola and Reebok Showroom. Near St Mark road/Residency road Junction, walk able distance from Office). The occasion was the dinner hosted by my US manager on his "twice a year" visit. Last dinner on a Chinese Restaurant still afresh in mind, I expected a decent dinner. But to my surprise, the menu had only Japanese foods starting from Sushi’s to Tofu, Japanese beer to Meso soup. I had to contend with very few veg items.

Few of my colleagues ordered Japanese beer, Asahi. Others ordered fruit mock tails and fruits juices. First to come was the Meso soup. The starters were Japanese sushis. Sushis are live fishes/prawns/crabs stuffed with rice and consumed as such. We may not like it as it is not fried or baked; our American was all praise. I had to watch all eat as there was no veggie items on the site!!

Then the main course had all types of Teriyaki’s. These are some fried dishes which we can digest! I ordered Tofu Teriyaki. It had a 2x2 inch fried Paneer at center with Baby corn masala spread across. The real delight was eating all these with Chopstick. Others had Teriyaki’s with different flavors like chicken, fish, prawn and all..

The dessert was a Wasabi ice cream. I was surprised to have a spicy ice-cream. It was like freezed south Indian chutney or a vanilla ice-cream with spicy flavor. With only half stomach full, I had food once again in my room.

The experience was nice, but may not try it again. One thing to note is, the food were very limited. May be Japanese eat less. Less spicy, less oily, all live foods, less fried/baked. May be that’s the reason, Japanese live longer.

Obtaining, one chopstick as memorabilia, we bid Sayonara to the restaurant

Samarkhand, the Afghani restaurant...

2008-03-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our project completion, the company planned a lunch for our team at Samarkhand (7th March, 2008) Restaurant, on the infantry road. Our product line Manager from Beaverton was the host and the entire Quality team, one each from the documentation team, software and a manager accompanied us.

The ambiance of the restaurant had the touch and feel of Afghanistan, with low chairs/tables and paintings on the walls. Added to this are the Pathani style pajama outfits of the waiters/captains and the Afghani style utensils.

Much of the dishes were delights of non vegetarians, I had to be contended with few veggies ;( As it was a Afghani restaurant, dishes were a bit spicy and rest everything seemed to be a normal North Indian restaurant menu. We ordered for a Buffet Lunch(Rs. 750=00 per head) and ordered fruit juices (Fruit Punch Rs. 170, Lime Juice Rs. 120!!). The starters were so spicy, that the US manager started "sweating" (with face becoming red) with just two bites of Baby Corn Manchurian and Paneer Fry!!

As it was full buffet with unlimited food, there was more food than we could have consumed. The lunch ended one hour late at 3 pm and we were back to office by 3:30pm.

The Experience was multiplied, with half of the restaurant occupied with good looking chicks!!

Valentine's Day

2008-02-07T03:48:00.000-08:00

I have written her name on my HEART because fate didn't write her name in my DESTINY

ಹಣೆಯಲಿ ಬರೆಯದ ನಿನ್ನ ಹೆಸರ || ಹೃದಯದಿ ನಾನೇ ಕೊರೆದಿರುವೆ

ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ - ಅನಿಸುತಿದೆ ಯಾಕೋ ಇಂದು

click here

A journey to welcome 2008...

2008-01-31T05:41:00.000-08:00

As the chugging train came to a halt, I could hear the porters voice, "Happy New Year, luggage etthlikke jana beka, Sir?"... English speaking porters! Welcome to Bangalore, the IT capital..

With this, my year end-eve trip to Solapur and Shimoga came to an end.

The year 2007 had been a roller coaster ride, with visit to as many places, in as many months. I also moved from Manipal to Bangalore for my Internship. So to end the year in a journey spirit, planned a quick trip to Solapur.

First leg of the tour started off with a train journey to Shimoga, to attend my best friend Pradeep(N)'s (28th Dec 2007) marriage. The midnight train from Bangalore to Shimoga(Shimoga Express, Off B'lore 11:40pm Shimoga 6:15am), passed off in good sleep. Woke up to a chilly morning in Shimoga. With relatives in all the places, stay was planned in my brothers in-laws place. The whole day passed attending the marriage. I could not imagine we were together from the day, when we used to steal mangos from MGM ground till his marriage. After lunch, bid farewell to friend and I'm off to the next part of the journey.

MalenaDa Mussanjeyali: Caught the KSRTC Karnataka Sarige bus to Bijapur (Sakleshpura-Bijapur 6:45pm Off Shimoga-Honnali-Harihara-Hospet-Bijapur). The bus was speeding, as if, it is competition to overtake the evening setting SUN. The route was comparatively good. After the evening dinner in a roadside Daba, the journey was passed counting stars and looking at the night moon. Soon, sleep overcomes everything.

Finally reached Bijapur at 5:30am, a new full fledged KSRTC Bus Stand (even Udupi doesn't have one). The first bus to Solapur (Mangalore-Sholapur KSRTC), left very soon. The bus was running, piercing the morning chilly weather. In two hours, reached Solapur(29th Dec 2007), where Murali uncle was waiting for my arrival.

The following three days passed like anything. The highlight of the three days is obviously the delicious foods that were relentlessly prepared by Shobha aunt. So many different types of Rotis, curries and sweets that were beyond my counts. The evenings were reserved for visits to Uncles Dawakhana, relatives and other places with Pacchu. Night were again reserved for movies, after dinner with Sudeep. Watched Taare Zameen Par, Welcome, Superman, X-Men 3 The Last Stand.

The last day of 2007: The year which sent me back Bangalore, the year started with Semester exam!! the year that is very close to my heart, the year which made many people close to me, the year which saw me on top of Kumara Parvatha, The year that made me win interviews, the year which saw the arrival of a new member to our family, the year in which my dad celebrated his 60th birthday (Shashti Poorthi) with full family, the year which made my entire family NRI!! The year which saw my sister buy a house in US. To sum it all, the memorable moment of 2007 will be Vismay, my nephew.

(31th Dec 2007) With the clock ticking to 12:00 I was standing on the railway platform with Pacchu to board the Karnataka Express at 00:10am, how memorable it was to welcome New Year on a railway platform!! The train arrived 15 mins late. Bidding farewell to Pacchu, I was back to my upper berth seat, which will take me to my Karmabhumi (B'lore). Reached Bangalore next day 1:30 in afternoon.

At end, I would like to quote a sanna kavana from my friend Girish Shetty,

ಕಣ್ಣಂಚಿನಲೆ ಕೊಂದಳು ಹುಡುಗಿ ಕುಡಿ ನೋಟದ ಬಾಣವ ನನ್ನೆದೆಗೆ ಎಸೆದು

ಮತ್ತೆ ಜೀವ ಬರಿಸಿದಳು ಬೆಡಗಿ ತುಟಿಯಂಚಿನ ನಗುವಿನಮೃತವ ಎರೆದು

2007-11-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೂ ಲಭ್ಯ...... ಶೀಘ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ... ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿಸಿ........ ;)

Coming Soon.....

2007-11-02T03:18:00.000-07:00

Naveen on the web.... ;)

See u all guys here