I wonder how many people actually have the time to read blogs when there are several best sellers available.
Anyways this blog is for myself and anybody to just wants to feel good about the goodness of life or whatever it may be.
Do visit Ro's blog too.
http://failfastersucceedsooner.blogspot.com/
Her blogs are small yet makes you think.
There was one where she had posted a question about life.
I felt good she had a good question and fortunately i felt i had a good answer.
This is how it goes.....
Sometimes I feel I am loosing myself in the game of Life. People say never give up, fight for your Life. This world is only for the Survivors who are Fittest. Don't know if I am one amongst the Survivors ? If not where do I go, is there a different world for the "Not so Fittest" ?
Questions like Who am I ?, Where am I from ? Where am I to go? are still unanswered. Even if I am fittest in this world , what am I to achieve? and for what ? what Next?
Questions ? Questions ? and more Questions ?
No answer :(
Is there anyone to answer me?
Well this was my reply.....
Your questions remind me of Ramana maharishi.
And he says if you are really concerned about this question you wouldn't be sitting there and asking this. You would really be searching.
It’s like this. Say you've lost your bike keys. Will you be sitting on a sofa and saying where could the key be? You would actually be running around the house searching for the keys.
But yes we are not like Ramana maharishi we can't go under a cave and do tapas. But for this age and time all we can do is reiterate to our own mind that what ever we go is for the lord and we are merely here to serve him. Even this thought and attitude cannot happen over night it takes years. But it will lead us to the answers.
And Ramana maharishi also says that when all this answers come to you, you'll need them no more. By them you are aware of far greater things.
And you have already answered it in your previous post. "Success & Failures".
It’s not the success that finally gives you happiness it’s the process and the steps towards success that is genuine happiness.
We are all making a mistake in that way. When we are given a task we are not happy and when we work on the task we are not happy and finally when we complete the task also we are not happy. But ironically we feel so happy when a third person like the boss who so long knew nothing about you nor the task tell you that you’ve done a good job we are happy.
We first have to change our attitude towards these small things.We have to learn Zen. When we eat we have to be present there and happy when we eat that meal.
And of course that does not mean we have keep smiling all the time. Happiness is a state of the mind and we have to maintain it.
Like for example, you said a car driver almost hit you and didn’t bother. Yes what he did was wrong and what you did by complaining to the right or concerned person was absolutely correct. And I’m sure you would have felt responsible and happy when you did the right thing.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
C for Catty
Catty, short for Karthik is one among those so called VLSI engineers.
Considering himself to be very busy working on codes on chips.
Although he's better working with ketchup on chips ;)
Considering himself to be very busy working on codes on chips.
Although he's better working with ketchup on chips ;)
Lives in Chennai and eats at kai yendhi bhavans rather road side dhabas.
Oh but his all time favorite is 14 Idlies at Saravana bhavan.
After a morning walk or perhaps to put it right during his morning walks he halts at Ashok nagar Saravana bhavan fast foods and starts his breakfast with 14 idlies and gets back home to complete what his Mom has made for his breakfast.
He is now in love with his new found mobile phone, the Sony W700i.
Of course his first love is food. :)
Nano design on micro processor’s, data encapsulation for multi encryption and atomic energy coupled with cosmic energy in the evolution of mankind with programming in Java these are the kind of technical books he would never read. He prefers Calvin and Hobbes, Astrix and Tintin though.
Well enough of this entire unnecessary introduction, I could have simply said, he is best known to the world as my best friend!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Vegetarian
If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again. I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on 'Babe' that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian.
-James Cromwell, actor (1940- )
-James Cromwell, actor (1940- )
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Another Year - Another City
Last year (2005) in the month of April I moved to Pune, to be specific it was the night on 28th. I reached Pune station and headed straight to Hotel Kundan Palace with my parent's, it was company provided accommodation at Akurdi. BTW I still have not met the gentleman (who is related to my sister's in-laws) who sent us a cab at that wee hour.
Well now after a year I've left that BEAUtiful city and moved over to Hyderabad. I didn't bother changing my profiles. I still would like to say I'm from Pune and just moved to Hyderabad for a while.
Yep I liked Pune and still do, although Hyderabad is not a bad place to live. It is hot, but for a person like me coming from down south - Chennai, the heat of Hyderabad should not be a problem. And it’s well connected to the other cities and towns around. Getting around to different parts of India from Hyderabad is not a problem. Actually I had been to Chennai over the last weekend; it took almost 12 hours by bus, which was an overnight journey.
It’s easy to get out of this city at any time any where. If I want to go to Bangalore it’s just an overnight journey, again if I want to go to Pune it’s another overnight journey. Well of course these are the reasons I keep giving myself to like this city. "It’s always easy to get out and get away".
In a way its better I get to accept living in this city, because I find circumstances favoring a longer stay here. My fiancé will be moving to a new apartment next week. And after my marriage in July, I would eventually have to move in with him to "miyapur". That's where the apartment is!
But I don't know why but from the day I came here I've been thinking about way's to get out of Hyderabad. I know its not possible to move to another city in the next 6 months or perhaps in the next one year, but somehow I can't give in.
There are great many places to visit around Hyderabad, I got a map during my second week here. We visited to the most famous Hussian Sagar Lake. Well I suppose this lake seems to substitute a visit to the beach in Chennai. Why am I so sarcastic about Hyderabad I wonder???
Hmmm.. Come to think of it, I've never been to a lake and no way can I go to a beach in Pune. But there was never a time I winced about not being to a beach in almost one year.
I'll just have to take some time to get to know this place better. Hope I would have something interesting to blog rather something nice the next time I sit to write about Hyderabad.
Mumbai @ 2345
We had been to Bombay over the weekend. We took an early morning bus from Pune rather Chinchwad for 140 bucks each. After a short stop for breakfast we reached Dadar at around 9.30 am. We took a train to Mumbai CST, checked into to a hotel near Victoria Terminus, because we were warned about the price of hotel rooms in Mumbai and that it might get difficult to find accommodation during the late evenings. But we found this not so luxurious room for 400 a day. So we dumped one backpack and took only the necessary in the other and set out.
From the Hotel it was just one straight road to all the necessary "Places to Visit" in Mumbai.
The first on our list was Bombay Natural History Society; sadly we never could enter this place. We located the building but ironically we didn't know how to enter the building. We found this main door which remained locked on both the days we tried to visit it.
The second on our list was the Prince of Wales Museum. We recognized it by the gleaming doom that was as described in the travel guides. We paid for the tickets 10 bucks each and also the fee for using the Camera, boy that was 30 bucks :(
Well that was one good Museum. Everything on the 3 floors of the building was worth the sight. My partner is a history freak and he enjoyed it more that I did.
The third on our list was Jehangir Art Gallery. This time we did not find the building at all. Instead we found the National Gallery for Modern Art. We entered this place with a ticket of 10 each this time no cameras allowed. Some of the paintings though abstract were pleasing.
One artists' work we observed most was A.A. Almelkar
Note: They were selling copies of some of the paintings at one counter. We happened to like this painting of a young women holding the ropes fastened to a couple of goats. We paid 50 bucks for it. The picture was similar to the one we had seen on Omar Khayyam book. I had gifted that book to my friend.
The fourth on our list was Haji Ali Darka. That was a pleasant trip. We stepped out of the art gallery and asked the security guard as to how to get to the Darka. He gave a couple of bus route numbers. And right outside the gallery was the bus stop. We didn't spend even a minute there the bus came by immediately. The Darka was a B-E-A-Utiful sight, it was like an island, connected to the main land by a pathway making a visit possible only during the low tide.
Obviously the fifth on the list was the Mahalashmi temple. It was not crowded during our visit. So that was ggggoooooooddddd. We got a sacred thread tied around my wrist :
We had planned to go to Church gate and then return to CST so on our way back the sixth place on our list was the Chowpathy beach. We took a bus to Sur sager. I'm basically from Chennai which boasts of the second largest sea shore in the world "The Marina Beach". So I was not that excited about the visit to Chowpathy. Moreover the water as well as the beach was dirty. And oh boy, there were some 6 to 8 benches under parasols. So we ran and sat under one, had a sip of water and tried to relax, just then a guy walks up and asks us to pay 60 bucks... we were pissed off. Told him we are new to the city and we got up to walk towards the sea.
After a while we walked back to the bus stop. Took a bus to hanging gardens on Malabar hills which was the last stop. This was seven on our list. We found a park bench and rested for a while. And walked around the park, got a wonderful view of the sea from above.
We stepped out of the park; saw a vendor selling nuts again.
Nuts, now that was mandatory during the whole trip. Whenever we found a vendor selling nuts, we would do him a service by offering him 4 bucks for 2 small paper cones of peanuts. :D
Then we walked down to a tea stall had a refreshing cup of chai. Took a bus to church gate, the eighth on the list.
We walked around church gate; we saw the high court, the goal maidhan and then did some book shopping on the roadside. I picked up this book about Lance Armstrong - "it's not about the bike". And my friend bought a book called "Vedanta Treaties" some spirituality stuff, that's what he informed me:
The ninth on the list was hutatman chowk and the tenth the Flora Fountain. The two places are almost one. The hutatman chowk is known for business and the flora fountain for shopping. Shopping was not part of our itinerary so just walked down the streets and headed straight to the Hotel, had dinner and crashed.
The next morning we checked out at around 7. Walked towards the eleventh place on our list the Gateway of India. :) Something we were excited about. We clicked lots of pictures of the stone archery. There were statues of Chhatrapatin Shivaji and Swami Vivekhanda near the garden in front of the gateway.
Across the street was the famous Taj hotel.
It was 7.50 when we started hunting for a place to have breakfast. Sadly none of the restaurants were open except for one; we didn't like the place so we settled for a glass of sweet lime each.
At around 8.30 we got our tickets for the ferry to visit Elephanta caves the twelfth place on our list and the final. That rounds' to a dozen places we visited in Mumbai.
We bought "Luxury" tickets that cost 120 bucks each just 20 more than the usual. We realized we just wasted 40 bucks for the luxury that we found "written" only on our tickets and seen nowhere else.
Anyways, we were on our way to the caves, it took one hour in that slow as a tortoise motorboat. The ticket charge includes the fee for a guide. That was pretty cool. After we reached the dock we had to walk for almost 20 minutes to reach the cave.
The guide explained precisely about the cave, how it was excavated, how it was named and how it was destroyed.
We found a Maharastra tourism restaurant on our way back to the dock. So we stopped there to have dosas and a cup of chai. The price of which was our first ferry back to Mumbai :(. Yep we missed it.
It was 1:30 when we reach gateway of India. It was hot. We though of doing some shopping and then head to Dadar to catch a bus back to Pune. We took a taxi from gateway to flora fountain and we paid 13 bucks. Well it may not seem significant to mention it here but I was awestruck because in Chennai I would have to pay 40 bucks for a rick for the same distance.
We didn't do any shopping, simply to say the shops were not "my type". I wanted to check out cameras but being a Sunday most of the authorized outlets were closed. So we decided to head to Dadar immediately. My partner was never interested in shopping anyways.
So we walked to CST and took a train to Dadar. We found an air conditioned restaurant for Lunch around 3:00. Then headed right to the government bus stops to get a ticket back to Pune that was 155 bucks each. The bus started at 4:00 and reached Pune rather Akurdi at 10 to 6.
Well why the title Mumbai @ 2345? That was our "total" expense to, in and from Mumbai.
P.S: Includes all the pennies we spent for peanuts too ;)
Credits' to my partner!
From the Hotel it was just one straight road to all the necessary "Places to Visit" in Mumbai.
The first on our list was Bombay Natural History Society; sadly we never could enter this place. We located the building but ironically we didn't know how to enter the building. We found this main door which remained locked on both the days we tried to visit it.
The second on our list was the Prince of Wales Museum. We recognized it by the gleaming doom that was as described in the travel guides. We paid for the tickets 10 bucks each and also the fee for using the Camera, boy that was 30 bucks :(
Well that was one good Museum. Everything on the 3 floors of the building was worth the sight. My partner is a history freak and he enjoyed it more that I did.
The third on our list was Jehangir Art Gallery. This time we did not find the building at all. Instead we found the National Gallery for Modern Art. We entered this place with a ticket of 10 each this time no cameras allowed. Some of the paintings though abstract were pleasing.
One artists' work we observed most was A.A. Almelkar
Note: They were selling copies of some of the paintings at one counter. We happened to like this painting of a young women holding the ropes fastened to a couple of goats. We paid 50 bucks for it. The picture was similar to the one we had seen on Omar Khayyam book. I had gifted that book to my friend.
The fourth on our list was Haji Ali Darka. That was a pleasant trip. We stepped out of the art gallery and asked the security guard as to how to get to the Darka. He gave a couple of bus route numbers. And right outside the gallery was the bus stop. We didn't spend even a minute there the bus came by immediately. The Darka was a B-E-A-Utiful sight, it was like an island, connected to the main land by a pathway making a visit possible only during the low tide.
Obviously the fifth on the list was the Mahalashmi temple. It was not crowded during our visit. So that was ggggoooooooddddd. We got a sacred thread tied around my wrist :
We had planned to go to Church gate and then return to CST so on our way back the sixth place on our list was the Chowpathy beach. We took a bus to Sur sager. I'm basically from Chennai which boasts of the second largest sea shore in the world "The Marina Beach". So I was not that excited about the visit to Chowpathy. Moreover the water as well as the beach was dirty. And oh boy, there were some 6 to 8 benches under parasols. So we ran and sat under one, had a sip of water and tried to relax, just then a guy walks up and asks us to pay 60 bucks... we were pissed off. Told him we are new to the city and we got up to walk towards the sea.
After a while we walked back to the bus stop. Took a bus to hanging gardens on Malabar hills which was the last stop. This was seven on our list. We found a park bench and rested for a while. And walked around the park, got a wonderful view of the sea from above.
We stepped out of the park; saw a vendor selling nuts again.
Nuts, now that was mandatory during the whole trip. Whenever we found a vendor selling nuts, we would do him a service by offering him 4 bucks for 2 small paper cones of peanuts. :D
Then we walked down to a tea stall had a refreshing cup of chai. Took a bus to church gate, the eighth on the list.
We walked around church gate; we saw the high court, the goal maidhan and then did some book shopping on the roadside. I picked up this book about Lance Armstrong - "it's not about the bike". And my friend bought a book called "Vedanta Treaties" some spirituality stuff, that's what he informed me:
The ninth on the list was hutatman chowk and the tenth the Flora Fountain. The two places are almost one. The hutatman chowk is known for business and the flora fountain for shopping. Shopping was not part of our itinerary so just walked down the streets and headed straight to the Hotel, had dinner and crashed.
The next morning we checked out at around 7. Walked towards the eleventh place on our list the Gateway of India. :) Something we were excited about. We clicked lots of pictures of the stone archery. There were statues of Chhatrapatin Shivaji and Swami Vivekhanda near the garden in front of the gateway.
Across the street was the famous Taj hotel.
It was 7.50 when we started hunting for a place to have breakfast. Sadly none of the restaurants were open except for one; we didn't like the place so we settled for a glass of sweet lime each.
At around 8.30 we got our tickets for the ferry to visit Elephanta caves the twelfth place on our list and the final. That rounds' to a dozen places we visited in Mumbai.
We bought "Luxury" tickets that cost 120 bucks each just 20 more than the usual. We realized we just wasted 40 bucks for the luxury that we found "written" only on our tickets and seen nowhere else.
Anyways, we were on our way to the caves, it took one hour in that slow as a tortoise motorboat. The ticket charge includes the fee for a guide. That was pretty cool. After we reached the dock we had to walk for almost 20 minutes to reach the cave.
The guide explained precisely about the cave, how it was excavated, how it was named and how it was destroyed.
We found a Maharastra tourism restaurant on our way back to the dock. So we stopped there to have dosas and a cup of chai. The price of which was our first ferry back to Mumbai :(. Yep we missed it.
It was 1:30 when we reach gateway of India. It was hot. We though of doing some shopping and then head to Dadar to catch a bus back to Pune. We took a taxi from gateway to flora fountain and we paid 13 bucks. Well it may not seem significant to mention it here but I was awestruck because in Chennai I would have to pay 40 bucks for a rick for the same distance.
We didn't do any shopping, simply to say the shops were not "my type". I wanted to check out cameras but being a Sunday most of the authorized outlets were closed. So we decided to head to Dadar immediately. My partner was never interested in shopping anyways.
So we walked to CST and took a train to Dadar. We found an air conditioned restaurant for Lunch around 3:00. Then headed right to the government bus stops to get a ticket back to Pune that was 155 bucks each. The bus started at 4:00 and reached Pune rather Akurdi at 10 to 6.
Well why the title Mumbai @ 2345? That was our "total" expense to, in and from Mumbai.
P.S: Includes all the pennies we spent for peanuts too ;)
Credits' to my partner!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Valley crossing
4th March 2006
Valley crossing at Nagphani, between Duke’s nose and Dutch’s nose.
(Dukes and dutches are considered husband and wife.)
It seems 2 years ago a couple got wedded in between the valley hanging on pulleys.
Must have been some wild wedding! Hope the adventure is lasting through their marriage.
The concept of valley crossing came up when mountaineers wanted to quicken their expedition. Earlier when mountaineers had to cross two mountains they had to climb one and descend and again climb the next to cross. This consumed a lot of time. But by crossing the valley using the pulley mechanism reduced their time.
Although for the process they need to set up the equipment. One of the members has to go up to the other mountain and set up the ropes and pulleys.
First they need to fasten the ropes to trees and rocks at both ends. Then attach the pulleys. Now the ropes need to be in equal tension for the pulley to pass from one end to the other with the weight of a member hanging. The members need to ensure their harness is in place and their pulley in control.
My experience was wild enough. It was about 200 feet of distance between the dukes and dutches. Most of the members had a smooth cross.
Nagphani is about 30 minutes from Lonavala station.
The view from atop nagphani is amazing.
And the view of the valley down between dukes and dutches was a great sight.
We could also sight the Mumbai express highway hanging between the valleys!
Valley crossing at Nagphani, between Duke’s nose and Dutch’s nose.
(Dukes and dutches are considered husband and wife.)
It seems 2 years ago a couple got wedded in between the valley hanging on pulleys.
Must have been some wild wedding! Hope the adventure is lasting through their marriage.
The concept of valley crossing came up when mountaineers wanted to quicken their expedition. Earlier when mountaineers had to cross two mountains they had to climb one and descend and again climb the next to cross. This consumed a lot of time. But by crossing the valley using the pulley mechanism reduced their time.
Although for the process they need to set up the equipment. One of the members has to go up to the other mountain and set up the ropes and pulleys.
First they need to fasten the ropes to trees and rocks at both ends. Then attach the pulleys. Now the ropes need to be in equal tension for the pulley to pass from one end to the other with the weight of a member hanging. The members need to ensure their harness is in place and their pulley in control.
My experience was wild enough. It was about 200 feet of distance between the dukes and dutches. Most of the members had a smooth cross.
Nagphani is about 30 minutes from Lonavala station.
The view from atop nagphani is amazing.
And the view of the valley down between dukes and dutches was a great sight.
We could also sight the Mumbai express highway hanging between the valleys!
Monday, February 13, 2006
Tiger tiger burning bright... in the forest of the night...
Visited the Kanha tiger reserve between the 25th and 30th of January 2006.
The entire National Park area is 940 sq. km. located in the Maikal hills of the Satpuras, parts of Mandla & Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh.Apart from a healthy population of tigers, the reserve is the only habitat of Barasingha or Swamp Deer.
Fauna Found at Kanha
Mammals:
Chital
Sambar
Barasingha
Gaur
Wild boar
Sloth bear
Langur
Tiger
Birds:
The Reserve supports around 300 species of birds.Storks
Drangos
Parakeets
Herons
Teals/Ducks
Green bee eater
Getting There
Road : Kanha National Park is connected by road with Jabalpur 175-kms and Nagpur 266-kms.
Temperature
Minimum : 2°C
Maximum : 43°C
Visiting Seasons
April to June (Summer)
November to January (Winter)
The park remains closed between July and November (Monsoon)
Flora Found at KanhaMoist Peninsular Sal Forests
Southern Tropical Moist Mixed Deciduous and Dry Deciduous Mixed Forest
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Bangalore Galore
Our weekend at Bangalore was the most unexpected happy hours.
I had the time of my life. Although we were together for only 20 hours or so.
As soon as I reached Koramaogala, I took an auto to Forum. Met Ashok and Dheepak at around 1 in the afternoon, we went around the mall and finally stopped at Transit for lunch then headed off to Landmark. After browsing for a while, I bought a book for myself. Ascii had bought books for me and Dheepak. Got it gift wrapped and all.
Abbhirami joined us after her lunch at Transit with a friend then we left to a coffee shop. (A chain of coffee shops called Cafe Coffee day, have a lot to talk about this place. Referred as CCD here after)
We were chatting rather Ascii was talking and the three of us were mostly listening, at least I was only listening. (Saving my throat for the long nights chat)
Then another friend of Abhi joined us for coffee. BTW the coffees we ordered was Ascii's favorite topic then. Especially mine, i had ordered for some "Ethiopian Quawha".
Bangalore is a heavily crowded place. Man i realized it more than ever when I stepped into brigade road... phew!
Okay coming back to were i left. Well we left the coffee shop to stroll into Brigade road. Dheepak took us to a famous chaat shop called Koshy's. The chaats were authentic!
And that's where we started clicking photographs. We then walked down brigade road to M.G Road at the corner was a Art and craft store, the Cauvery Emporium.
We bought some wooden artifacts there. As usual we clicked snaps. Now after the walking and shopping, we decided to sit somewhere for a while and talking about the chain of coffee shops, we ended up at CCD actually the reason was we wanted to charge our mobile phones. In the meantime we ordered for Assam Tea.
Our shutter-bug friend Dheepak enjoyed photographing the surrounding, the tea, the spoons, the tea cups, the milk pot, and finally us. ;)
His clicky creations can soon be viewed by public at
http://sudasudacoffee.blogspot.com
Ashok called up Priya to join us at CCD. But then it took her a while so we decided to walk for a while before we meet up with Priya and go out for dinner.
So we strolled into Residency road. There yet again we saw a CCD outlet. And a Crossword bookstore. I and Ashok were doing some serious talking and Dheepak was doing some very very serious photography. Finally Priya came, we went around the bookstore. Ashok got a call from Abhi that she was at Brigade road. So we went back to Brigade road and were deciding on a quiet place for dinner. It seemed like most of the places would be crowded... man that was the limit. Bangalore crowd is just too much. I guess soon they would charge people if they want to walk through some roads like Brigade or M.G.
Unfortunately we could not travel much for a quiet place as Abhi had to catch a
train after dinner, we ended up at Pizza corner on Brigade road :(
But surprise, this place was not very crowded and no hajar music either.
We had a peaceful dinner. Ordered 3 large pizzas, most of us hogged at least 3 slices but Abhi did not have even one whole slice :(
We finished dinner around 9:30 pm and we packed up the rest for Aravind who had by then reached the Bangalore station.
From there we pushed off to the station. In two auto's, myself and Ashok we in one, trying to catch up with things. As usual he asked me to "Take Care of Myself"
There was some serious stuff we were talking about like life and satisfaction and how "happiness is a state of the mind"
Oh boy!... I'm gonna miss him even more after he leaves back to the U.S.
Anyways, coming back to the station, we met Aravind. Another round of posing for the cameras. Then we went to the platform where Abhi was to board her train back to Chennai. Sad, I couldn't spend much time with her.
After Abhi left we took a cab to Priya's house.
It was after midnight, when Aravind started having his cold pizza dinner.
We started off talking about ... "Censored" ... oops the discussion is supposed to be private. Nothing discussed within priya's house can be revealed here. ;)
But that was the most amazing part of the trip.
We were yapping till around 5 in the morning!!!
Then we realized we need some rest, so we slept for 2 hours or so.
Then by around 8.30 am we packed our stuff as i was to leave directly to the airport to catch my flight at 11:40 am.
We went to a close by restaurant for a heavy breakfast.
The Dosas were good but the Pongal was terrible, very filling rather. Over with a cup of hot coffee and tea.
We then took two auto's to the airport.
Man I had a wild time getting to the airport.
The Auto Walla stopped off at a petrol pump for more than 15 mins.
Then again half way thru his auto broke down.
I had to take another auto, finally reached the airport around 11.25 … yeikes…
Bad timings.. I couldn't stop to say my good-byes to anyone :(
It was pretty sad. The last few moments left me weeping in the flight until take-off.
Unforgettable trip that was!
Yestreen blissful thoughts rise up in my mind
Settles in a corner of my heart for me to find
Some exciting, some funny, some calm at zero degrees
Sending a chill down my spine, those sweet memories
I had the time of my life. Although we were together for only 20 hours or so.
As soon as I reached Koramaogala, I took an auto to Forum. Met Ashok and Dheepak at around 1 in the afternoon, we went around the mall and finally stopped at Transit for lunch then headed off to Landmark. After browsing for a while, I bought a book for myself. Ascii had bought books for me and Dheepak. Got it gift wrapped and all.
Abbhirami joined us after her lunch at Transit with a friend then we left to a coffee shop. (A chain of coffee shops called Cafe Coffee day, have a lot to talk about this place. Referred as CCD here after)
We were chatting rather Ascii was talking and the three of us were mostly listening, at least I was only listening. (Saving my throat for the long nights chat)
Then another friend of Abhi joined us for coffee. BTW the coffees we ordered was Ascii's favorite topic then. Especially mine, i had ordered for some "Ethiopian Quawha".
Bangalore is a heavily crowded place. Man i realized it more than ever when I stepped into brigade road... phew!
Okay coming back to were i left. Well we left the coffee shop to stroll into Brigade road. Dheepak took us to a famous chaat shop called Koshy's. The chaats were authentic!
And that's where we started clicking photographs. We then walked down brigade road to M.G Road at the corner was a Art and craft store, the Cauvery Emporium.
We bought some wooden artifacts there. As usual we clicked snaps. Now after the walking and shopping, we decided to sit somewhere for a while and talking about the chain of coffee shops, we ended up at CCD actually the reason was we wanted to charge our mobile phones. In the meantime we ordered for Assam Tea.
Our shutter-bug friend Dheepak enjoyed photographing the surrounding, the tea, the spoons, the tea cups, the milk pot, and finally us. ;)
His clicky creations can soon be viewed by public at
http://sudasudacoffee.blogspot.com
Ashok called up Priya to join us at CCD. But then it took her a while so we decided to walk for a while before we meet up with Priya and go out for dinner.
So we strolled into Residency road. There yet again we saw a CCD outlet. And a Crossword bookstore. I and Ashok were doing some serious talking and Dheepak was doing some very very serious photography. Finally Priya came, we went around the bookstore. Ashok got a call from Abhi that she was at Brigade road. So we went back to Brigade road and were deciding on a quiet place for dinner. It seemed like most of the places would be crowded... man that was the limit. Bangalore crowd is just too much. I guess soon they would charge people if they want to walk through some roads like Brigade or M.G.
Unfortunately we could not travel much for a quiet place as Abhi had to catch a
train after dinner, we ended up at Pizza corner on Brigade road :(
But surprise, this place was not very crowded and no hajar music either.
We had a peaceful dinner. Ordered 3 large pizzas, most of us hogged at least 3 slices but Abhi did not have even one whole slice :(
We finished dinner around 9:30 pm and we packed up the rest for Aravind who had by then reached the Bangalore station.
From there we pushed off to the station. In two auto's, myself and Ashok we in one, trying to catch up with things. As usual he asked me to "Take Care of Myself"
There was some serious stuff we were talking about like life and satisfaction and how "happiness is a state of the mind"
Oh boy!... I'm gonna miss him even more after he leaves back to the U.S.
Anyways, coming back to the station, we met Aravind. Another round of posing for the cameras. Then we went to the platform where Abhi was to board her train back to Chennai. Sad, I couldn't spend much time with her.
After Abhi left we took a cab to Priya's house.
It was after midnight, when Aravind started having his cold pizza dinner.
We started off talking about ... "Censored" ... oops the discussion is supposed to be private. Nothing discussed within priya's house can be revealed here. ;)
But that was the most amazing part of the trip.
We were yapping till around 5 in the morning!!!
Then we realized we need some rest, so we slept for 2 hours or so.
Then by around 8.30 am we packed our stuff as i was to leave directly to the airport to catch my flight at 11:40 am.
We went to a close by restaurant for a heavy breakfast.
The Dosas were good but the Pongal was terrible, very filling rather. Over with a cup of hot coffee and tea.
We then took two auto's to the airport.
Man I had a wild time getting to the airport.
The Auto Walla stopped off at a petrol pump for more than 15 mins.
Then again half way thru his auto broke down.
I had to take another auto, finally reached the airport around 11.25 … yeikes…
Bad timings.. I couldn't stop to say my good-byes to anyone :(
It was pretty sad. The last few moments left me weeping in the flight until take-off.
Unforgettable trip that was!
Yestreen blissful thoughts rise up in my mind
Settles in a corner of my heart for me to find
Some exciting, some funny, some calm at zero degrees
Sending a chill down my spine, those sweet memories
Friday, January 06, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)